Jeff Manuel
@jeffmanuel.bsky.social
Historian of Energy, Technology, and the Environment; Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Coauthor of "Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels;” Public and Oral History Practitioner.
jeffmanuel.com
jeffmanuel.com
At my university's surplus property warehouse, trying to get this beauty for my office
October 28, 2025 at 6:34 PM
At my university's surplus property warehouse, trying to get this beauty for my office
But if US farmers are telling themselves that Brazil is beating them at global low-priced commodity agriculture thanks to child labor and lax environmental regulations, they still have their heads in the sand about what's happening to them.
October 22, 2025 at 2:31 PM
But if US farmers are telling themselves that Brazil is beating them at global low-priced commodity agriculture thanks to child labor and lax environmental regulations, they still have their heads in the sand about what's happening to them.
"Energy: The Fundamental Currency"
October 21, 2025 at 10:06 PM
"Energy: The Fundamental Currency"
Digitizing some 1970s posters from our campus archive today. This one advertising a speech by Buckminster Fuller is amazing.
October 21, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Digitizing some 1970s posters from our campus archive today. This one advertising a speech by Buckminster Fuller is amazing.
Full program for "The Power of Energy" online conference sponsored by the Hagley Library, 10/30-10/31. Looking forward to this! 🗃️
October 14, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Full program for "The Power of Energy" online conference sponsored by the Hagley Library, 10/30-10/31. Looking forward to this! 🗃️
Not to downplay the serious issues it raises, but this graphic from Cerulogy's recent biofuels is funny. Are those all-corn tacos? Is it just the tortilla? I'm now imagining the US Corn Belt growing billions of tacos...
October 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Not to downplay the serious issues it raises, but this graphic from Cerulogy's recent biofuels is funny. Are those all-corn tacos? Is it just the tortilla? I'm now imagining the US Corn Belt growing billions of tacos...
Looks like it's a very recent term. Although now I'm curious about the tiny blip of usage around 1900.
October 4, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Looks like it's a very recent term. Although now I'm curious about the tiny blip of usage around 1900.
Grant Peterson—founder of Rivendell Cycles—has a blog that's one of my favorite things on the web. This month's edition has a long rant about chopsticks, some history, and this ending, which nicely sums up the current vibes:
October 3, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Grant Peterson—founder of Rivendell Cycles—has a blog that's one of my favorite things on the web. This month's edition has a long rant about chopsticks, some history, and this ending, which nicely sums up the current vibes:
As others have said here, the experiential, bodies-in-a-classroom-together aspect of college teaching feels better right now than it has in a long time. The always insightful Carlo Rotella has a good explanation:
September 25, 2025 at 5:48 PM
As others have said here, the experiential, bodies-in-a-classroom-together aspect of college teaching feels better right now than it has in a long time. The always insightful Carlo Rotella has a good explanation:
Selling point or warning label?
September 20, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Selling point or warning label?
I'm a sucker for Mississippi River paddling stories. This one has an impressive list of wildlife encounters.
agwaterdesk.bluelena.io/index.php?ac...
agwaterdesk.bluelena.io/index.php?ac...
September 17, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I'm a sucker for Mississippi River paddling stories. This one has an impressive list of wildlife encounters.
agwaterdesk.bluelena.io/index.php?ac...
agwaterdesk.bluelena.io/index.php?ac...
reflections from the last month of summer
August 11, 2025 at 10:29 PM
reflections from the last month of summer
Down a rabbit hole of past advice to history students about using technology for research and writing. The 5th (1987) edition of Turabian is fascinating because it straddles advice for typewriters--always use correcting fluid--and computer word processors (back up files, whether diskette or tape!)
August 6, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Down a rabbit hole of past advice to history students about using technology for research and writing. The 5th (1987) edition of Turabian is fascinating because it straddles advice for typewriters--always use correcting fluid--and computer word processors (back up files, whether diskette or tape!)
While we're debating AI, I'd like to remind everyone about the state of EdTech at the underfunded public regional university. (Yes, I took this photo today)
August 6, 2025 at 4:09 PM
While we're debating AI, I'd like to remind everyone about the state of EdTech at the underfunded public regional university. (Yes, I took this photo today)
Reading about vintage British 3-speed bicycles, and this description about why British bike makers were slow to adopt new materials feels like a dispatch from the future about the US automakers and EVs. Enamored by their last industrial revolution, they failed to join the one happening now.
August 4, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reading about vintage British 3-speed bicycles, and this description about why British bike makers were slow to adopt new materials feels like a dispatch from the future about the US automakers and EVs. Enamored by their last industrial revolution, they failed to join the one happening now.
Stories about Chinese EVs in Brazil are being framed as evidence of the global explosion of Chinese BEV autos. But they're also case studies in how technologies adapt to local contexts. In this case, that means making ethanol-fueled hybrids rather than pure BEVs.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...
July 25, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Stories about Chinese EVs in Brazil are being framed as evidence of the global explosion of Chinese BEV autos. But they're also case studies in how technologies adapt to local contexts. In this case, that means making ethanol-fueled hybrids rather than pure BEVs.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...
I love this footnote 😂 (from an excellent interview)
July 15, 2025 at 12:52 AM
I love this footnote 😂 (from an excellent interview)
Summertime stockpile
July 11, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Summertime stockpile
Anyways, here’s a photo I took of George with an approaching hail storm. Seemed like a metaphor.
June 29, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Anyways, here’s a photo I took of George with an approaching hail storm. Seemed like a metaphor.
She looks serene, but in the past week this jerk has eaten all my hostas, all my potted flowers, attacked my dog, and basically bullied me out of using my backyard 😂
June 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
She looks serene, but in the past week this jerk has eaten all my hostas, all my potted flowers, attacked my dog, and basically bullied me out of using my backyard 😂
Even the ag reports are gold plated now!
June 5, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Even the ag reports are gold plated now!
Could do it the way they used to on railroad passenger cars: put in a woodstove!
May 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Could do it the way they used to on railroad passenger cars: put in a woodstove!
I came to study history and culture later—the 2000s, not the 1990s—but this passage from Knausgaard captures how my thinking about culture versus science and technology has changed over time.
May 27, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I came to study history and culture later—the 2000s, not the 1990s—but this passage from Knausgaard captures how my thinking about culture versus science and technology has changed over time.