Ian Milligan
@ianmilligan1.bsky.social
Professor of History and Associate Vice-President in the Office of Research, University of Waterloo. Interested in digital history and preservation. Posts in a personal capacity only.
I feel like if you're working for a strange cult-like company to build "The Orb," things are going off the rails.
(That said, I work in academia, where I have also heard people boasting about "working weekends and ignoring anything outside your job," so...)
(That said, I work in academia, where I have also heard people boasting about "working weekends and ignoring anything outside your job," so...)
“The Sam Altman-founded company behind the ‘Orb,’ a volleyball-sized metal sphere that scans irises to prove people's humanity, had a message for employees: work weekends and ignore anything outside your job — for the good of humanity.”
Sam Altman's eye-scanning Orb startup told workers not to care about anything outside work
Tools for Humanity CEO Alex Blania said that "if you should care about something else, and if you want something else, you should just not be here."
www.businessinsider.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I feel like if you're working for a strange cult-like company to build "The Orb," things are going off the rails.
(That said, I work in academia, where I have also heard people boasting about "working weekends and ignoring anything outside your job," so...)
(That said, I work in academia, where I have also heard people boasting about "working weekends and ignoring anything outside your job," so...)
On this trip to BC, I've largely just kept Eastern Time. Kinda fun waking up at 4:30am and writing, although now I'm gettin' hungry..
(I would never, ever do this on Eastern Time)
(I would never, ever do this on Eastern Time)
November 19, 2025 at 2:47 PM
On this trip to BC, I've largely just kept Eastern Time. Kinda fun waking up at 4:30am and writing, although now I'm gettin' hungry..
(I would never, ever do this on Eastern Time)
(I would never, ever do this on Eastern Time)
I personally would not trade tenure for timbits.
Maybe the sour cream glazed ones..
universityaffairs.ca/opinion/trad...
Maybe the sour cream glazed ones..
universityaffairs.ca/opinion/trad...
Trading tenure for Timbits - University Affairs
Everything you didn’t know about relocating to Canada.
universityaffairs.ca
November 17, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I personally would not trade tenure for timbits.
Maybe the sour cream glazed ones..
universityaffairs.ca/opinion/trad...
Maybe the sour cream glazed ones..
universityaffairs.ca/opinion/trad...
Have really been struggling with East --> West jet lag over the last two years (must be getting older).
I now embrace it and just get up at 5am after giving it a good thirty minutes of the old college try. Something fun about wandering the streets of a dark city that's waking up.
I now embrace it and just get up at 5am after giving it a good thirty minutes of the old college try. Something fun about wandering the streets of a dark city that's waking up.
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Have really been struggling with East --> West jet lag over the last two years (must be getting older).
I now embrace it and just get up at 5am after giving it a good thirty minutes of the old college try. Something fun about wandering the streets of a dark city that's waking up.
I now embrace it and just get up at 5am after giving it a good thirty minutes of the old college try. Something fun about wandering the streets of a dark city that's waking up.
Have a meeting over in the Arts building, where I no longer have an office, and since I've arrived early am hanging out in the general study space.
(I joke but I probably learn more about main campus as a digital nomad now that my admin office is on the dreaded "east campus")
(I joke but I probably learn more about main campus as a digital nomad now that my admin office is on the dreaded "east campus")
a man wearing a music band shirt is holding a skateboard over his shoulder
ALT: a man wearing a music band shirt is holding a skateboard over his shoulder
media.tenor.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Have a meeting over in the Arts building, where I no longer have an office, and since I've arrived early am hanging out in the general study space.
(I joke but I probably learn more about main campus as a digital nomad now that my admin office is on the dreaded "east campus")
(I joke but I probably learn more about main campus as a digital nomad now that my admin office is on the dreaded "east campus")
Reposted by Ian Milligan
Let’s GO (train) Blue Jays!
Good news for Kitchener-Waterloo residents who like watching big league sports in Toronto:
The 22:34 Kitchener Line train that used to end (frustratingly) in Guelph, will be extended to Kitchener from 22 November. Attending weekday ballgames will be easier next season!
Good news for Kitchener-Waterloo residents who like watching big league sports in Toronto:
The 22:34 Kitchener Line train that used to end (frustratingly) in Guelph, will be extended to Kitchener from 22 November. Attending weekday ballgames will be easier next season!
November 13, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Let’s GO (train) Blue Jays!
Good news for Kitchener-Waterloo residents who like watching big league sports in Toronto:
The 22:34 Kitchener Line train that used to end (frustratingly) in Guelph, will be extended to Kitchener from 22 November. Attending weekday ballgames will be easier next season!
Good news for Kitchener-Waterloo residents who like watching big league sports in Toronto:
The 22:34 Kitchener Line train that used to end (frustratingly) in Guelph, will be extended to Kitchener from 22 November. Attending weekday ballgames will be easier next season!
November 12, 2025 at 3:53 AM
See, I hate the phrase "read the room," but I gotta admit, reading that the "Slow Professor Ages Well" is mostly just raising my blood pressure today.
universityaffairs.ca/opinion/the-...
universityaffairs.ca/opinion/the-...
The Slow Professor ages well - University Affairs
The recently published 10th anniversary edition adds new material to this classic text.
universityaffairs.ca
November 10, 2025 at 7:19 PM
See, I hate the phrase "read the room," but I gotta admit, reading that the "Slow Professor Ages Well" is mostly just raising my blood pressure today.
universityaffairs.ca/opinion/the-...
universityaffairs.ca/opinion/the-...
Spending the morning reading and exploring "I'm safe" e-mails from September 11th. Really heart-wrenching stuff, but testament to the love and care people can have for each other during terrible times.
November 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Spending the morning reading and exploring "I'm safe" e-mails from September 11th. Really heart-wrenching stuff, but testament to the love and care people can have for each other during terrible times.
First snowfall!!
November 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
First snowfall!!
Working from home.. for the morning (alas, Friday afternoon sare busy meeting time), first time since August.
Remembering that I used to do this more than once every three months. And that I make a better coffee than Starbucks.
Remembering that I used to do this more than once every three months. And that I make a better coffee than Starbucks.
November 7, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Working from home.. for the morning (alas, Friday afternoon sare busy meeting time), first time since August.
Remembering that I used to do this more than once every three months. And that I make a better coffee than Starbucks.
Remembering that I used to do this more than once every three months. And that I make a better coffee than Starbucks.
So friends, my wife shot down my idea to go see “Nuremberg” on our first date night in months…
November 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
So friends, my wife shot down my idea to go see “Nuremberg” on our first date night in months…
Always fun citing Internet posts (I am sure there's a better citation convention...).
November 6, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Always fun citing Internet posts (I am sure there's a better citation convention...).
I have entered the stage of my life where I am at children’s events every night, learning the social convention for when laptops are ok to use.
Hockey practice: no
Swimming: yes
Dance: yes
Ski dryland training: only if you drive rapidly away, leaving child to run up mountain alone
Hockey practice: no
Swimming: yes
Dance: yes
Ski dryland training: only if you drive rapidly away, leaving child to run up mountain alone
November 5, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I have entered the stage of my life where I am at children’s events every night, learning the social convention for when laptops are ok to use.
Hockey practice: no
Swimming: yes
Dance: yes
Ski dryland training: only if you drive rapidly away, leaving child to run up mountain alone
Hockey practice: no
Swimming: yes
Dance: yes
Ski dryland training: only if you drive rapidly away, leaving child to run up mountain alone
Great to see this coverage of our most recent CCUNESCO Memory of the World inscription. Proud to be on this committee and always excited to see the announcements go out.
www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...
www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...
McGill’s handwritten copies of In Flanders Fields recognized by UNESCO program ahead of Remembrance Day
Days before Remembrance Day, four handwritten copies of John McCrae’s iconic poem In Flanders Fields, preserved at McGill University, have been recognized as documentary heritage of “outstanding unive...
www.ctvnews.ca
November 5, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Great to see this coverage of our most recent CCUNESCO Memory of the World inscription. Proud to be on this committee and always excited to see the announcements go out.
www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...
www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...
My daughter has abandoned me and now I’m determined to finish this children’s puzzle alone.
November 2, 2025 at 9:46 PM
My daughter has abandoned me and now I’m determined to finish this children’s puzzle alone.
I dreamed that bench-clearing brawl (ok, shoving match) last night in Game 7 of the World Series, right?
November 2, 2025 at 3:50 PM
I dreamed that bench-clearing brawl (ok, shoving match) last night in Game 7 of the World Series, right?
Reposted by Ian Milligan
Stand by this. Brutal ending, but an amazing game. It was a privilege to have my heart ripped out by it. Jays did themselves and the country proud.
Craziest damn game I've ever watched.
November 2, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Stand by this. Brutal ending, but an amazing game. It was a privilege to have my heart ripped out by it. Jays did themselves and the country proud.
Reposted by Ian Milligan
Fwiw, it’s nice to have a place to chat during a live event. That was one of the things that Twitter was great for. Before the dark times. Before the empire.
November 2, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Fwiw, it’s nice to have a place to chat during a live event. That was one of the things that Twitter was great for. Before the dark times. Before the empire.
Reposted by Ian Milligan
The Jays lose the World Series in one of the greatest baseball games ever played
November 2, 2025 at 4:18 AM
The Jays lose the World Series in one of the greatest baseball games ever played
Well, shit. Kudos to the Dodgers. Good game.
See you next year..!
See you next year..!
November 2, 2025 at 4:20 AM
Well, shit. Kudos to the Dodgers. Good game.
See you next year..!
See you next year..!
Reposted by Ian Milligan
If you're in line to bat at Game 7 of the World Series STAY IN LINE
November 2, 2025 at 3:59 AM
If you're in line to bat at Game 7 of the World Series STAY IN LINE
Reposted by Ian Milligan
Craziest damn game I've ever watched.
November 2, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Craziest damn game I've ever watched.
Omg
!!!!!!!!
Now this is baseball. Let’s go Jays let’s do it in ten.
!!!!!!!!
Now this is baseball. Let’s go Jays let’s do it in ten.
November 2, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Omg
!!!!!!!!
Now this is baseball. Let’s go Jays let’s do it in ten.
!!!!!!!!
Now this is baseball. Let’s go Jays let’s do it in ten.
I love that they’re not even doing commercials on Sportsnet. Let’s do this Jays.
November 2, 2025 at 3:21 AM
I love that they’re not even doing commercials on Sportsnet. Let’s do this Jays.