Michael J. Taylor
@drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social
Associate Professor, University at Albany SUNY
Greek and Roman History
PhD UC Berkeley
Greek and Roman History
PhD UC Berkeley
Anyone interested in the hoplite controversy should tune into what promises to be an absolute banger of a series.
November 15, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Anyone interested in the hoplite controversy should tune into what promises to be an absolute banger of a series.
MechaQ just dropped (Q as in Quelle not Anon).
"Text With Jesus offers users an interactive experience with a religious deity."
Now I'm curious who the best* (maybe most entertaining?) divine text partner would be.
Now I'm curious who the best* (maybe most entertaining?) divine text partner would be.
The app Text With Jesus uses artificial intelligence and chatbots to offer spiritual guidance to users who are looking to connect with a higher power: on.nbc10.com/7XM8xrf
November 14, 2025 at 9:03 PM
MechaQ just dropped (Q as in Quelle not Anon).
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
"Text With Jesus offers users an interactive experience with a religious deity."
Now I'm curious who the best* (maybe most entertaining?) divine text partner would be.
Now I'm curious who the best* (maybe most entertaining?) divine text partner would be.
The app Text With Jesus uses artificial intelligence and chatbots to offer spiritual guidance to users who are looking to connect with a higher power: on.nbc10.com/7XM8xrf
People can text with Jesus on a controversial new app. How does it work?
Artificial intelligence app Text With Jesus lets users chat with biblical figures and it is raising debate over faith and technology.
on.nbc10.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:59 PM
"Text With Jesus offers users an interactive experience with a religious deity."
Now I'm curious who the best* (maybe most entertaining?) divine text partner would be.
Now I'm curious who the best* (maybe most entertaining?) divine text partner would be.
There is a reason we’re seeing crackdowns on academic freedom now; the old AF paradigm was rooted in the “golden age” job market where profs could and did vote with their feet if any institution or state became too restrictive.
In the US, the only leverage many academics have is threatening to leave. That leverage is growing weaker and weaker as jobs disappear. At this point, beyond a few superstars, it’s effectively nil. There are, of course, other forms of leverage, but they require working in concert.
November 14, 2025 at 5:20 PM
There is a reason we’re seeing crackdowns on academic freedom now; the old AF paradigm was rooted in the “golden age” job market where profs could and did vote with their feet if any institution or state became too restrictive.
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
Please take note folks in DoD. It is still DoD. DoW is an optional nickname (literally; that's what the White House said). So opt out.
Hegseth throwing away taxpayer money so he can sound like a tough guy with a new title.
November 13, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Please take note folks in DoD. It is still DoD. DoW is an optional nickname (literally; that's what the White House said). So opt out.
A Co, 1-160 IN, Iraq, 2007-2008.
November 11, 2025 at 2:05 PM
A Co, 1-160 IN, Iraq, 2007-2008.
Burnt out tank hull (T-72?) from Desert Storm, just north of the Kuwait border (K-Crossing) on ASR Aspen. 2007-08.
November 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Burnt out tank hull (T-72?) from Desert Storm, just north of the Kuwait border (K-Crossing) on ASR Aspen. 2007-08.
Camp Cedar II, near An-Nasiriyah, 2008. 1-160 IN (CA National Guard).
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Camp Cedar II, near An-Nasiriyah, 2008. 1-160 IN (CA National Guard).
Need that copy of Soldiers and Silver?
Now is a great time to buy: use the code UTXGIFTS to get 40% off the print version or 50% off the Ebook when you buy direct from the Press.
More soldiers for less silver....can't beat that!
utpress.utexas.edu/9781477330777/
Now is a great time to buy: use the code UTXGIFTS to get 40% off the print version or 50% off the Ebook when you buy direct from the Press.
More soldiers for less silver....can't beat that!
utpress.utexas.edu/9781477330777/
Soldiers and Silver
By the middle of the second century BCE, after nearly one hundred years of warfare, Rome had exerted its control over the entire Mediterranean world, forcing...
utpress.utexas.edu
November 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Need that copy of Soldiers and Silver?
Now is a great time to buy: use the code UTXGIFTS to get 40% off the print version or 50% off the Ebook when you buy direct from the Press.
More soldiers for less silver....can't beat that!
utpress.utexas.edu/9781477330777/
Now is a great time to buy: use the code UTXGIFTS to get 40% off the print version or 50% off the Ebook when you buy direct from the Press.
More soldiers for less silver....can't beat that!
utpress.utexas.edu/9781477330777/
Post Halloween experimental archaeology
November 4, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Post Halloween experimental archaeology
Lots of elections today! I voted early in local elections here in Upstate New York... not as exciting as NJ, VA or NYC, but wherever your are...exercise your suffragium!
November 4, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Lots of elections today! I voted early in local elections here in Upstate New York... not as exciting as NJ, VA or NYC, but wherever your are...exercise your suffragium!
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
I reflect on this grimly: if we are lucky, RFK Jr. will be the cabinet secretary that kills the most Americans by his malice, whereas if we are unlucky, it will be Hegseth who does it by his incompetence.
November 2, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I reflect on this grimly: if we are lucky, RFK Jr. will be the cabinet secretary that kills the most Americans by his malice, whereas if we are unlucky, it will be Hegseth who does it by his incompetence.
Anyone who lives on the same planet as a terrorist or drug trafficker can be killed with impunity it seems.
Embrace the healing power of 'and' - GWOT-era targeting, especially for drone strikes, was often excessively permissive AND it is the case that current Venezuelan boat strikes would, so far as I can tell, not have been permitted under that framework (not the least because there's no valid AUMF).
November 2, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Anyone who lives on the same planet as a terrorist or drug trafficker can be killed with impunity it seems.
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
Slap this quote on the side of Air Force One, the White House, your front lawn, everywhere. We should hear this on every media outlet and echoing through the streets.
October 30, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Slap this quote on the side of Air Force One, the White House, your front lawn, everywhere. We should hear this on every media outlet and echoing through the streets.
Great book, with ominous implications.
The book to read is James Tan’s Power and Public Finance in Rome. Which argues (among other things) that Roman taxpayers had real leverage over elites due to being taxpayers. Turning point: by 167 the empire was so profitable that direct taxation ended. Which ended that leverage.
Using his powers to extract tribute from foreign countries, "donors," etc. and then using those extraconstitutional slush funds to bypass the Constitution and the rule of law. Literally the opposite of originalism and a profound threat to the continuation of constitutional democracy in this country.
October 31, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Great book, with ominous implications.
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
Retired U.S. Army Major General Randy Manner: "The deployments we’re currently seeing inside American cities…are not only un-American and wrong, they’re being done at the expense of our young men and women in uniform."
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/i-helped-l...
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/i-helped-l...
I helped lead the National Guard. Troops don’t belong in our cities.
We must not permit this gross misuse of the military to be normalized.
newsletter.ofthebrave.org
October 28, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Retired U.S. Army Major General Randy Manner: "The deployments we’re currently seeing inside American cities…are not only un-American and wrong, they’re being done at the expense of our young men and women in uniform."
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/i-helped-l...
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/i-helped-l...
Autumnal read: Rhyne King's House of the Satrap.
Fascinating dive into the basic building block of the Achaemenid empire, the satraps house, and argues that the imperial system should be viewed as a set of hierarchically structured overlapping houses: the king, his satraps and their subordinates.
Fascinating dive into the basic building block of the Achaemenid empire, the satraps house, and argues that the imperial system should be viewed as a set of hierarchically structured overlapping houses: the king, his satraps and their subordinates.
October 25, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Autumnal read: Rhyne King's House of the Satrap.
Fascinating dive into the basic building block of the Achaemenid empire, the satraps house, and argues that the imperial system should be viewed as a set of hierarchically structured overlapping houses: the king, his satraps and their subordinates.
Fascinating dive into the basic building block of the Achaemenid empire, the satraps house, and argues that the imperial system should be viewed as a set of hierarchically structured overlapping houses: the king, his satraps and their subordinates.
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
Doug Krugman is a 24-year Marine Corps veteran who chose to resign rather than participate in Trump's and Hegseth's #ForeverWars. His voice carries the weight of someone who has personally made "life and death targeting calls" in combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan.
October 24, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Doug Krugman is a 24-year Marine Corps veteran who chose to resign rather than participate in Trump's and Hegseth's #ForeverWars. His voice carries the weight of someone who has personally made "life and death targeting calls" in combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
Trump’s tearing down the East Wing to build himself a $350M ballroom while Americans struggle to afford health care.
Senator Ruben Gallego went to the site of the Trump teardown.
Senator Ruben Gallego went to the site of the Trump teardown.
October 24, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Trump’s tearing down the East Wing to build himself a $350M ballroom while Americans struggle to afford health care.
Senator Ruben Gallego went to the site of the Trump teardown.
Senator Ruben Gallego went to the site of the Trump teardown.
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
NEW: NBC News confirms that the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, on the east side of the White House, has been destroyed as part of the demolition of the East Wing.
(📸 Getty Images)
(📸 Getty Images)
October 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
NEW: NBC News confirms that the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, on the east side of the White House, has been destroyed as part of the demolition of the East Wing.
(📸 Getty Images)
(📸 Getty Images)
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
American institutions don't crumble. But they can be destroyed.
October 21, 2025 at 12:31 AM
American institutions don't crumble. But they can be destroyed.
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
Not sure why this image is so shocking, given everything he’s done but: it’s shocking!
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
White House begins demolishing East Wing facade to build Trump’s ballroom
The president had claimed construction of the $250 million ballroom wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Not sure why this image is so shocking, given everything he’s done but: it’s shocking!
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
I guess if I *had* to pick my favorite part of the video the president posted where he’s a big boy pilot and he pew pew pews his poop all over everyone, it would be the part where he shits on the American flag?
October 19, 2025 at 9:32 PM
I guess if I *had* to pick my favorite part of the video the president posted where he’s a big boy pilot and he pew pew pews his poop all over everyone, it would be the part where he shits on the American flag?
Reposted by Michael J. Taylor
The Nika riots but instead of turning soldiers on his people Justinian returns to the Blachernae and sketches pictures of elephants defecating on the Hippodrome
October 19, 2025 at 3:56 PM
The Nika riots but instead of turning soldiers on his people Justinian returns to the Blachernae and sketches pictures of elephants defecating on the Hippodrome