S Roy Chowdhury
@sroychowdhury.bsky.social
Historian of the (very long) twentieth century. Writer.
Pinned
This app feels like a library - and god knows we need a good public library for our digital selves. A place where we can be quiet, reflective, get some coherent thoughts together, interact with people we want to interact with. When we want to experience cacophony and brawls, we all know where to go.
First Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi, dormant for over 10,000 years. Now, both Indonesia's Merapi and Hawaii's Kilauea rumbling again (both are active). New Zealand's Whakaari is also spewing ash. Looks like the Earth is trying to tell us something.
November 26, 2025 at 5:22 PM
First Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi, dormant for over 10,000 years. Now, both Indonesia's Merapi and Hawaii's Kilauea rumbling again (both are active). New Zealand's Whakaari is also spewing ash. Looks like the Earth is trying to tell us something.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
Until the invention of modern antibiotics, maternal death-rates, in the richest country in the world, ran at four to six percent of ALL births.
Modernity was built on piles of women’s corpses to escape that, and they want to go back…
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Modernity was built on piles of women’s corpses to escape that, and they want to go back…
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Absolute rancid, foetid scum, profiteering off of naivety and fear, to push women into the situation of hundreds of years ago, where a significant percentage of all births ended in a death.
Long read but worth it. Interesting that 'sovereign' is used, becoming accepted shorthand for a certain type of online influenced person?
I don't think it will be long before ChatGPT etc are implicated in women making birth choices like those described in here.
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
I don't think it will be long before ChatGPT etc are implicated in women making birth choices like those described in here.
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
November 22, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Until the invention of modern antibiotics, maternal death-rates, in the richest country in the world, ran at four to six percent of ALL births.
Modernity was built on piles of women’s corpses to escape that, and they want to go back…
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Modernity was built on piles of women’s corpses to escape that, and they want to go back…
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
Absolute rancid, foetid scum, profiteering off of naivety and fear, to push women into the situation of hundreds of years ago, where a significant percentage of all births ended in a death.
Long read but worth it. Interesting that 'sovereign' is used, becoming accepted shorthand for a certain type of online influenced person?
I don't think it will be long before ChatGPT etc are implicated in women making birth choices like those described in here.
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
I don't think it will be long before ChatGPT etc are implicated in women making birth choices like those described in here.
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Absolute rancid, foetid scum, profiteering off of naivety and fear, to push women into the situation of hundreds of years ago, where a significant percentage of all births ended in a death.
“Quality, in academia, is not just about brilliance. It is about stability. And DU, many fear, is losing that stability in perception, even if not in fact.”
10 years of anti-intellectual policymaking is affecting academic standards in both my Alma maters. 😠
www.indiatoday.in/education-to...
10 years of anti-intellectual policymaking is affecting academic standards in both my Alma maters. 😠
www.indiatoday.in/education-to...
Rs 50 lakh for a teaching post? The quiet questions around DU hiring
Teachers who were shut out of Delhi University’s hiring cycle say they were nudged toward “informal payments”. Claims they hesitate to formalise for lack of proof. Such stories float in the margins of...
www.indiatoday.in
November 22, 2025 at 3:51 PM
“Quality, in academia, is not just about brilliance. It is about stability. And DU, many fear, is losing that stability in perception, even if not in fact.”
10 years of anti-intellectual policymaking is affecting academic standards in both my Alma maters. 😠
www.indiatoday.in/education-to...
10 years of anti-intellectual policymaking is affecting academic standards in both my Alma maters. 😠
www.indiatoday.in/education-to...
Caught this on NPR while driving to work the other day. Turns out that the Global War on Terror diverted resources from tackling organized crime for nearly two decades. And here we are…with funny money everywhere, including sports.
I can’t imagine what would possess an NBA head coach, or players, to be involved in illegal, organized crime-fueled betting, in 2025
Payouts must have been generationally life changing to take on that kind of added risk, when legalized sports betting has become an aspect of American culture
Payouts must have been generationally life changing to take on that kind of added risk, when legalized sports betting has become an aspect of American culture
November 15, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Caught this on NPR while driving to work the other day. Turns out that the Global War on Terror diverted resources from tackling organized crime for nearly two decades. And here we are…with funny money everywhere, including sports.
“No one wants hope…they want gossip and carnage.”
_The Beast in Me_ Episode 1.
_The Beast in Me_ Episode 1.
November 15, 2025 at 7:23 PM
“No one wants hope…they want gossip and carnage.”
_The Beast in Me_ Episode 1.
_The Beast in Me_ Episode 1.
Grainy photos are all that remain of the 49th Bengali Regiment - a wartime unit (disbanded postwar) - deployment in Kurdistan in 1919-20. Here, the Kurdish resistance leader Sheikh Mahmud in the custody of 49th Bengali soldiers (nd). Probably en route to exile in India.
November 12, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Grainy photos are all that remain of the 49th Bengali Regiment - a wartime unit (disbanded postwar) - deployment in Kurdistan in 1919-20. Here, the Kurdish resistance leader Sheikh Mahmud in the custody of 49th Bengali soldiers (nd). Probably en route to exile in India.
Before I got into studying World War I & history and stuff, my imagining of Armistice Day involved Chris Selby, a theatre agent, and a watch smuggler. A Victor Canning short story in my English textbook (no one these days knows what a ticking watch sounds like).
November 12, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Before I got into studying World War I & history and stuff, my imagining of Armistice Day involved Chris Selby, a theatre agent, and a watch smuggler. A Victor Canning short story in my English textbook (no one these days knows what a ticking watch sounds like).
At the historic Data Bandi Chhor Gurudwara this summer. Gwalior seems like a dream I had - an interesting dream where old India and new India blend, a tinge of the sweet old ways, a dash of the bad new ones. Always super interesting. Thanks to my hosts and friends.
October 23, 2025 at 8:01 PM
At the historic Data Bandi Chhor Gurudwara this summer. Gwalior seems like a dream I had - an interesting dream where old India and new India blend, a tinge of the sweet old ways, a dash of the bad new ones. Always super interesting. Thanks to my hosts and friends.
Not Muji!! 😭
A cyberattack on a Japanese seller of office supplies is disrupting e-commerce and logistics for several major retailers in Japan including Muji owner Ryohin Keikaku.
Japan retailers halt online sales after cyberattack cripples supplier's operations
The disruption, coming weeks after one suffered by brewer Asahi Group Holdings, will raise questions about the vulnerability of Japan’s e-commerce infrastructure.
ebx.sh
October 21, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Not Muji!! 😭
Whatever is left of late summer flowers will all be gone after this nor’easter.
October 12, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Whatever is left of late summer flowers will all be gone after this nor’easter.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
Insurance companies can often be aggressive with their denials because “they don’t expect people to come back,” one health care advocate said.
The lesson is simple, another expert told us: “Appeal, appeal, appeal, appeal. That’s all you have.”
By @deldeib.bsky.social
The lesson is simple, another expert told us: “Appeal, appeal, appeal, appeal. That’s all you have.”
By @deldeib.bsky.social
This Little-Known Appeal Could Force Your Insurer to Pay for Lifesaving Care. Here’s How to File It.
When a health insurer refuses to pay for your treatment, you may have the right to have the denial reviewed — and potentially overturned — by an independent provider. Here are six steps experts sugges...
www.propublica.org
October 9, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Insurance companies can often be aggressive with their denials because “they don’t expect people to come back,” one health care advocate said.
The lesson is simple, another expert told us: “Appeal, appeal, appeal, appeal. That’s all you have.”
By @deldeib.bsky.social
The lesson is simple, another expert told us: “Appeal, appeal, appeal, appeal. That’s all you have.”
By @deldeib.bsky.social
I find the official rigidity in France about laïcité annoying. Unless you are in an engineering lab or doing military training (in which case your garb does have to be modified, not discarded), what you have on your head is no obstacle to learning or doing.
October 7, 2025 at 5:26 PM
I find the official rigidity in France about laïcité annoying. Unless you are in an engineering lab or doing military training (in which case your garb does have to be modified, not discarded), what you have on your head is no obstacle to learning or doing.
Indiana isn’t the most topographically interesting place but the northern part has Indiana Dunes State Park. Gorgeous!
October 5, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Indiana isn’t the most topographically interesting place but the northern part has Indiana Dunes State Park. Gorgeous!
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
"What's it like, being the UK's first Black woman professor of history?"
Yesterday: imagine managing to get the last seat on a packed train even in 1st class, just to be confronted by a frail 75+ White man who decided that the only Black person in the carriage (and NOT the only person who got on that carriage) couldn't possibly have a 1st class ticket.
October 4, 2025 at 8:12 AM
"What's it like, being the UK's first Black woman professor of history?"
I miss random things about India - Indo-Greek coins at the Indian Museum in Kolkata (here Alexander and Porus fighting), a glimpse of Humayun’s Tomb from the flyover in Delhi, an old kawariya just walking quietly on his pilgrimage.
October 3, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I miss random things about India - Indo-Greek coins at the Indian Museum in Kolkata (here Alexander and Porus fighting), a glimpse of Humayun’s Tomb from the flyover in Delhi, an old kawariya just walking quietly on his pilgrimage.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
The first steam-powered passenger rail trip was on 27th Sept 1825 (200th bday is nuanced - regular passenger steam slightly later). Here's transport carbon footprint today - Eurostar easily cleanest cos fully electrified. I hope the next 200 yrs has even more (electric) trains! With lower prices...
September 27, 2025 at 2:08 PM
The first steam-powered passenger rail trip was on 27th Sept 1825 (200th bday is nuanced - regular passenger steam slightly later). Here's transport carbon footprint today - Eurostar easily cleanest cos fully electrified. I hope the next 200 yrs has even more (electric) trains! With lower prices...
Yet another thing to watch out for in the never ending economy of endless grift.
A residential landlord demanding that the tenant, as a standard contract term, sign over all rights to intellectual property accrued while working from their property.
Like, literally, if you write a novel on the weekends, they want to own it.
There is no end to these ****ers' greed.
Like, literally, if you write a novel on the weekends, they want to own it.
There is no end to these ****ers' greed.
This is Australia but holy shit
September 23, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Yet another thing to watch out for in the never ending economy of endless grift.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
Given how much of "high quality" investment chatter - from stuff like this article to the briefs Jamie Dimon gets – is based on rumor, wishes, and misapprehension of sources, I think it's likely having an accurate, rigorous understanding of economic history would be a real market disadvantage.
September 23, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Given how much of "high quality" investment chatter - from stuff like this article to the briefs Jamie Dimon gets – is based on rumor, wishes, and misapprehension of sources, I think it's likely having an accurate, rigorous understanding of economic history would be a real market disadvantage.
The rapture didn’t happen and now I’m stuck at home annotating primary sources for class discussion.
September 23, 2025 at 6:16 PM
The rapture didn’t happen and now I’m stuck at home annotating primary sources for class discussion.
"He regards a human being as an action or a thing, not as a fellow creature. He does not hate more than he loves; for him nothing exists but himself; all other creatures are cyphers."
Uncomfortable era to be re-reading Madame de Staël (for class prep).
Uncomfortable era to be re-reading Madame de Staël (for class prep).
September 22, 2025 at 12:54 AM
"He regards a human being as an action or a thing, not as a fellow creature. He does not hate more than he loves; for him nothing exists but himself; all other creatures are cyphers."
Uncomfortable era to be re-reading Madame de Staël (for class prep).
Uncomfortable era to be re-reading Madame de Staël (for class prep).
“I recall during my PhD seeing a meme template of a man calmly mowing his lawn as an approaching tornado raged in the distance. The man was captioned with ‘me finishing my PhD’, and the tornado with ‘the academic jobs market’.”
It’s a disheartening situation out there in French History Higher Ed.
It’s a disheartening situation out there in French History Higher Ed.
“Cataclysmically bad”
This new series of ECR blog posts on the French History Network makes for grim reading, perhaps grimmer even than some in UK #FrenchHistory might have realised.
1st post, anon ECRs in French History on what it’s like right now out there:
frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6691/
🗃️
This new series of ECR blog posts on the French History Network makes for grim reading, perhaps grimmer even than some in UK #FrenchHistory might have realised.
1st post, anon ECRs in French History on what it’s like right now out there:
frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6691/
🗃️
ECR in 2025: Part One- What is it like? – SSFH
frenchhistorysociety.co.uk
September 18, 2025 at 2:30 AM
“I recall during my PhD seeing a meme template of a man calmly mowing his lawn as an approaching tornado raged in the distance. The man was captioned with ‘me finishing my PhD’, and the tornado with ‘the academic jobs market’.”
It’s a disheartening situation out there in French History Higher Ed.
It’s a disheartening situation out there in French History Higher Ed.
My alma mater LSR, Delhi, had to endure a disrespectful guest speaker who was a peculiar combination of bigot & misogynist (among other gaffes, he had the gumption to tell the students and faculty of an all-women's college their roles were to be mothers).
September 16, 2025 at 6:44 PM
My alma mater LSR, Delhi, had to endure a disrespectful guest speaker who was a peculiar combination of bigot & misogynist (among other gaffes, he had the gumption to tell the students and faculty of an all-women's college their roles were to be mothers).
I don’t think Albuquerque is picture postcard pretty but it’s still an interesting place. And I loved _Better Call Saul _ so much that I half expected to see Saul or Kim or Gus Fring driving around town or dumping someone in the scrubby desert or picking up tacos from a food truck.
September 16, 2025 at 4:09 AM
I don’t think Albuquerque is picture postcard pretty but it’s still an interesting place. And I loved _Better Call Saul _ so much that I half expected to see Saul or Kim or Gus Fring driving around town or dumping someone in the scrubby desert or picking up tacos from a food truck.
Weekly photo: I drove across from New England to New Mexico & back this summer. Lots of windmills, some giant crosses & the occasional surprise of a Punjabi Dhaba/truck stop in the empty scrubland. The flat landscape makes the sky huge in the west. It’s always an interesting place, this country.
September 6, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Weekly photo: I drove across from New England to New Mexico & back this summer. Lots of windmills, some giant crosses & the occasional surprise of a Punjabi Dhaba/truck stop in the empty scrubland. The flat landscape makes the sky huge in the west. It’s always an interesting place, this country.