Darren S. Layne
@funkyplaid.bsky.social
Historian of 18th-century Scotland focused on Jacobite Studies and Digital History. Curator of JDB1745. Chair, Jacobite Studies Trust. PhD via University of St Andrews. In love with a swan and two cats. Currently watching the leaves in Portland, OR.
Pinned
Darren S. Layne
@funkyplaid.bsky.social
· Aug 20
First post on Bluesky as a brief intro:
Hi folks, I'm Darren, an historian in the PNW interested in 18thC British & Vast Early American history, with a focus on Jacobite studies and the social and cultural identity of plebeian Scots during the Jacobite era. Looking forward to connecting with you!
Hi folks, I'm Darren, an historian in the PNW interested in 18thC British & Vast Early American history, with a focus on Jacobite studies and the social and cultural identity of plebeian Scots during the Jacobite era. Looking forward to connecting with you!
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Neither Trump, nor half of his cabinet have “ancestors” who were in North America before the revolution. I’d guess that less than half of current US citizens do. “Your ancestors” is doing a lot of implicitly white Christian nationalist work here.
November 22, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Neither Trump, nor half of his cabinet have “ancestors” who were in North America before the revolution. I’d guess that less than half of current US citizens do. “Your ancestors” is doing a lot of implicitly white Christian nationalist work here.
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
It's that time of year
November 22, 2025 at 11:54 AM
It's that time of year
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
NEW — Today, Cook County became the first county in the U.S. to establish permanent funding for guaranteed income at the county level.
The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved $7.5 million for the program through its FY 2026 budget, which totals $10.12 billion.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/cook...
The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved $7.5 million for the program through its FY 2026 budget, which totals $10.12 billion.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/cook...
Cook County becomes the first county in the US to establish permanent funding for guaranteed income • The TRiiBE
On Thursday, the Cook County Board of Commissioners approved the FY 2026 budget, which includes $7.5 million to fund the county’s guaranteed basic income program.
thetriibe.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:47 PM
NEW — Today, Cook County became the first county in the U.S. to establish permanent funding for guaranteed income at the county level.
The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved $7.5 million for the program through its FY 2026 budget, which totals $10.12 billion.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/cook...
The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved $7.5 million for the program through its FY 2026 budget, which totals $10.12 billion.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/cook...
Downtown Portland, Oregon in the morning. Lawless. Overrun. Completely aflame. And no stores at all anymore.
This is not AI. Nor is it fake news. This is my Portland and your Portland. It’s a wonderful place to be and we’re going to keep it that way.
This is not AI. Nor is it fake news. This is my Portland and your Portland. It’s a wonderful place to be and we’re going to keep it that way.
November 20, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Downtown Portland, Oregon in the morning. Lawless. Overrun. Completely aflame. And no stores at all anymore.
This is not AI. Nor is it fake news. This is my Portland and your Portland. It’s a wonderful place to be and we’re going to keep it that way.
This is not AI. Nor is it fake news. This is my Portland and your Portland. It’s a wonderful place to be and we’re going to keep it that way.
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
If an attractive young woman a third my age didn't want to date me, then why did she ask me for feedback on an economics paper?
by Larry Summers
by Larry Summers
November 17, 2025 at 6:54 PM
If an attractive young woman a third my age didn't want to date me, then why did she ask me for feedback on an economics paper?
by Larry Summers
by Larry Summers
Today's task is calculating blackmail as percentages of assessed rent in western Stirlingshire just before the last Jacobite rising. What a way to create an economy out of thin air...until it almost inevitably backfired. Truly a rock and a hard place for both tenants and landlords. #ArchiveGlam
November 15, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Today's task is calculating blackmail as percentages of assessed rent in western Stirlingshire just before the last Jacobite rising. What a way to create an economy out of thin air...until it almost inevitably backfired. Truly a rock and a hard place for both tenants and landlords. #ArchiveGlam
Sincere congratulations to @drleith.bsky.social on her receipt of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the 18th-Century Scottish Studies Society. Leith is a committed and prolific scholar who continues to make major contributions to numerous fields within Scottish Studies.
www.sfu.ca/scottishstud...
www.sfu.ca/scottishstud...
Leith Davis receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society
Professor Leith Davis has been recognized with a prestigious award for her outstanding contributions to 18th-century Scottish Studies over the course of her career.
www.sfu.ca
November 15, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Sincere congratulations to @drleith.bsky.social on her receipt of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the 18th-Century Scottish Studies Society. Leith is a committed and prolific scholar who continues to make major contributions to numerous fields within Scottish Studies.
www.sfu.ca/scottishstud...
www.sfu.ca/scottishstud...
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
For no particular reason….posting former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell’s mugshot before he went to Federal prison for committing numerous crimes on behalf and or/at the direction of President Nixon including obstruction of justice and conspiracy.
November 15, 2025 at 2:05 AM
For no particular reason….posting former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell’s mugshot before he went to Federal prison for committing numerous crimes on behalf and or/at the direction of President Nixon including obstruction of justice and conspiracy.
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Love to see community action against this AI nonsense! neighborhoodview.org/2025/11/13/d...
November 14, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Love to see community action against this AI nonsense! neighborhoodview.org/2025/11/13/d...
Holy moly, what a piece from Audrey Watters on grief and AI.
"We grieve because we love. We grieve because we care. We grieve because we know that the machines do not, and that the community we try to foster -- on campus, in the classroom, in our scholarly works -- is threatened with erasure."
"We grieve because we love. We grieve because we care. We grieve because we know that the machines do not, and that the community we try to foster -- on campus, in the classroom, in our scholarly works -- is threatened with erasure."
AI Grief Observed
These remarks were delivered this evening at the Creatively Critical Tech Speaker Series at Illinois State University.
"There is no good way to say this."
These are the opening words of Yiyun Li’s l...
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Holy moly, what a piece from Audrey Watters on grief and AI.
"We grieve because we love. We grieve because we care. We grieve because we know that the machines do not, and that the community we try to foster -- on campus, in the classroom, in our scholarly works -- is threatened with erasure."
"We grieve because we love. We grieve because we care. We grieve because we know that the machines do not, and that the community we try to foster -- on campus, in the classroom, in our scholarly works -- is threatened with erasure."
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
we need a department of kerning
November 13, 2025 at 2:54 AM
we need a department of kerning
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Normal person in a liberal constitutional democracy: "The state should be judicious in how it uses physical force and these actions seem like overreaches."
MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."
MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."
November 13, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Normal person in a liberal constitutional democracy: "The state should be judicious in how it uses physical force and these actions seem like overreaches."
MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."
MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Such an imaginative lead for heritage in Scotland. I saw similar graphic novel artists used to illustrate the Ad Gefrin Anglo Saxon museum in Northumberland in May. A hugely effective new way to communicate archaeology 👏👏
www.digitscotland.com/archaeologis...
www.digitscotland.com/archaeologis...
Archaeologists and Game Designers Collaborate to Create “Basically the Best Book on the Picts Ever Written” - Dig It!
Carved in Stone: A Storyteller’s Guide to the Picts is an illustrated and comprehensive book for anyone interested in Scotland’s past, including those who play tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). Fol...
www.digitscotland.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Such an imaginative lead for heritage in Scotland. I saw similar graphic novel artists used to illustrate the Ad Gefrin Anglo Saxon museum in Northumberland in May. A hugely effective new way to communicate archaeology 👏👏
www.digitscotland.com/archaeologis...
www.digitscotland.com/archaeologis...
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.
November 12, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
I asked about this, and one of our excellent librarians discovered that in fact AI summaries/"Research Assistant" can be switched off at the level of the library. Something to request. support.proquest.com/s/article/Eb...
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I asked about this, and one of our excellent librarians discovered that in fact AI summaries/"Research Assistant" can be switched off at the level of the library. Something to request. support.proquest.com/s/article/Eb...
h/t @threadinburgh.scot for flagging up this new release about the medieval coal mine beneath the Forth. One day during some volunteer work at Culross Palace garden, we trudged out at low tide to see what we could see. It's still there, after all these hundreds of years.
November 12, 2025 at 12:33 AM
h/t @threadinburgh.scot for flagging up this new release about the medieval coal mine beneath the Forth. One day during some volunteer work at Culross Palace garden, we trudged out at low tide to see what we could see. It's still there, after all these hundreds of years.
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Call for Papers for 5th World Congress of Scottish Literatures is out:pleased to be giving keynote,'Burns along the New Silk Road' @iassl.bsky.social @asls.org.uk @scroll-scotlit.bsky.social @sahavoice.bsky.social @glasgowburns.bsky.social @paulinemackay.bsky.social scotlit-iassl.org/2025/11/11/c...
Call for Papers: 5th World Congress of Scottish Literatures: Scotland Along the New Silk Road (17-20 June 2027)
The Fifth World Congress of Scottish Literatures will be held at Nanjing Normal University in Nanjing, China, on 17-20 June 2027. Being China’s first city designated as a “UNESCO City of Literature…
scotlit-iassl.org
November 11, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Call for Papers for 5th World Congress of Scottish Literatures is out:pleased to be giving keynote,'Burns along the New Silk Road' @iassl.bsky.social @asls.org.uk @scroll-scotlit.bsky.social @sahavoice.bsky.social @glasgowburns.bsky.social @paulinemackay.bsky.social scotlit-iassl.org/2025/11/11/c...
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Who made this and why are you choosing nerd violence? ✍️ I mean, it is true, but still.
November 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Who made this and why are you choosing nerd violence? ✍️ I mean, it is true, but still.
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
I know it’s been here a while but for those who don’t know, you are able to leave your unwanted coats here for those who may need one this winter #MorrisonSt #Edinburgh #WallofKindness ❤️
November 9, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I know it’s been here a while but for those who don’t know, you are able to leave your unwanted coats here for those who may need one this winter #MorrisonSt #Edinburgh #WallofKindness ❤️
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
I honestly don’t get the value of this company. They hoover up energy and water. Their product constantly gets things wrong and, in extreme cases, coaches people into suicide.
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
“authors & publishers who filed a lawsuit against the Sam Altman-led firm have secured access to internal Slack messages… discussing the mass deletion of a pirated books dataset… A NY district court ordered OpenAI to hand over the communications regarding data deletion”
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
OpenAI in Danger After Authors Suing It Gain Access to Its Internal Slack Messages
Authors and publishers, who are suing OpenAI, secured access to internal Slack messages and emails discussing the deletion of pirated books.
futurism.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:35 AM
I honestly don’t get the value of this company. They hoover up energy and water. Their product constantly gets things wrong and, in extreme cases, coaches people into suicide.
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
Shouldn’t we be asking “where is all that money DOGE saved us?” Billions slashed from agency budgets, but that funding was already appropriated. Where’s the billions in funding congress directed under the bipartisan infrastructure bill? Where’s that? It’s all papering accounts, but where is it?
November 8, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Shouldn’t we be asking “where is all that money DOGE saved us?” Billions slashed from agency budgets, but that funding was already appropriated. Where’s the billions in funding congress directed under the bipartisan infrastructure bill? Where’s that? It’s all papering accounts, but where is it?
I've been lucky to have interacted with many, but one of the standouts was and continues to be Paul Monod, recently of Middlebury. Always with a kind word to say, always constructive and supportive discussion, and always egoless enthusiasm for the work and initiatives of others who are not him.
Right, enough of James Watson - who's a senior academic you've met who's been an utter delight?
I'll go first: Jocelyn Bell Burnell
I'll go first: Jocelyn Bell Burnell
November 8, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I've been lucky to have interacted with many, but one of the standouts was and continues to be Paul Monod, recently of Middlebury. Always with a kind word to say, always constructive and supportive discussion, and always egoless enthusiasm for the work and initiatives of others who are not him.
Huge thanks to @agdanrayfield.bsky.social and team for leading the charge to protect our city and all Oregonians. This might not stand for long, but any 'permanent barring' of cruel and fascistic actions is a good barring in my book.
A federal judge has permanently barred the Trump Administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, following a long back-and-forth battle. Oregon leaders are celebrating the decision, but DOJ lawyers are already discussing an appeal.
Federal Judge Rules Against Trump, Barring Him from Deploying National Guard to Oregon
US District Judge Karin Immergut ruled Friday, November 7, that the Trump administration is permanently barred from deploying the National Guard to Oregon. The decision was a long-awaited ruling in a ...
www.portlandmercury.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Huge thanks to @agdanrayfield.bsky.social and team for leading the charge to protect our city and all Oregonians. This might not stand for long, but any 'permanent barring' of cruel and fascistic actions is a good barring in my book.
Give this man his Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump on nuclear weapons: "We could blow up the world 150 times. There's no need for this."
November 7, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Give this man his Nobel Peace Prize.