Paul Vierthaler
@vierth.bsky.social
Chinese Lit, DH, Machine Learning, Dad of twins
Assistant Prof of late imperial Chinese literature and interdisciplinary data science at Princeton University
Assistant Prof of late imperial Chinese literature and interdisciplinary data science at Princeton University
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
The new features are still in alpha—but @djevans.bsky.social's contextual tools for Viral Texts data are live clusters.viraltexts.org
Click "View witness in context" to see a given reprint on the newspaper page, alongside other reprints on that page—click a cluster ID here to see its other reprints
Click "View witness in context" to see a given reprint on the newspaper page, alongside other reprints on that page—click a cluster ID here to see its other reprints
November 17, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The new features are still in alpha—but @djevans.bsky.social's contextual tools for Viral Texts data are live clusters.viraltexts.org
Click "View witness in context" to see a given reprint on the newspaper page, alongside other reprints on that page—click a cluster ID here to see its other reprints
Click "View witness in context" to see a given reprint on the newspaper page, alongside other reprints on that page—click a cluster ID here to see its other reprints
Oh lord, the dreaded conference hotel room interviews. These were still around when I first went up in 2014. Not common in East Asian lit because our big conference was too late (AAS is in March). But my historian (AHA in Jan) and non-Asian lit (MLA in Jan) friends had some HORROR stories.
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
I thing I sometimes thing about is that university departments were still doing job interviews in hotel rooms in the mid aughts
November 16, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Oh lord, the dreaded conference hotel room interviews. These were still around when I first went up in 2014. Not common in East Asian lit because our big conference was too late (AAS is in March). But my historian (AHA in Jan) and non-Asian lit (MLA in Jan) friends had some HORROR stories.
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
Apropos of nothing in particular
📣 New NBER Working Paper out today 📣
"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu
"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu
November 16, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Apropos of nothing in particular
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
very funny to read these emails and then remember summers wondering whether the leaky pipeline in stem was because women are inherently bad at math
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 1:56 AM
very funny to read these emails and then remember summers wondering whether the leaky pipeline in stem was because women are inherently bad at math
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 12:13 AM
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.
Four plus years since my last video, I put together a series on sqlalchemy and datamodeling for my students. Sharing here in case it is useful: youtu.be/Bj6BzF77VK0
SQLAlchemy and Datamodeling Part 1: Introduction and designing the models
YouTube video by pvierth
youtu.be
November 15, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Four plus years since my last video, I put together a series on sqlalchemy and datamodeling for my students. Sharing here in case it is useful: youtu.be/Bj6BzF77VK0
one of the harder things about being a parent to 4 year olds is teaching them that sometimes bad things happen to us, or we sometimes we hurt, and there is no clear reason or cause.
November 15, 2025 at 3:55 AM
one of the harder things about being a parent to 4 year olds is teaching them that sometimes bad things happen to us, or we sometimes we hurt, and there is no clear reason or cause.
Delighted to be joining the board of directors of the Geiss-Hsu Foundation, which supports scholarship on the Ming Dynasty! If you work on Ming lit, history, art-history and beyond, check us out! The next grant application deadline is on March 1!
geissfoundation.us
geissfoundation.us
James P. Geiss & Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation
Visit the post for more.
geissfoundation.us
November 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Delighted to be joining the board of directors of the Geiss-Hsu Foundation, which supports scholarship on the Ming Dynasty! If you work on Ming lit, history, art-history and beyond, check us out! The next grant application deadline is on March 1!
geissfoundation.us
geissfoundation.us
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
If you have tenure at Texas A&M and aren't maliciously emailing the president a dozen times every day to ask if you can say this or you can say that, then what's the point in having tenure?
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:18 PM
If you have tenure at Texas A&M and aren't maliciously emailing the president a dozen times every day to ask if you can say this or you can say that, then what's the point in having tenure?
In the grand scheme of things this particular consideration may be small beans, but: this is going to kill faculty recruitment and retention. Even if it is reversed, no one will want to teach at a place that does this. It does a permanent disservice to the students and people of Texas.
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 14, 2025 at 12:34 AM
In the grand scheme of things this particular consideration may be small beans, but: this is going to kill faculty recruitment and retention. Even if it is reversed, no one will want to teach at a place that does this. It does a permanent disservice to the students and people of Texas.
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files:
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
Epstein Document Search
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
November 13, 2025 at 1:12 AM
For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files:
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
‘No! Not Larry Summers!’ Wails Devastated Nation
‘No! Not Larry Summers!’ Wails Devastated Nation
WASHINGTON—Responding to recent revelations suggesting the prominent economist was a close associate of the late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, a devastated nation reportedly joined together to...
theonion.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
‘No! Not Larry Summers!’ Wails Devastated Nation
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
Tax the rich. Billionaire tears not pictured.
November 13, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Tax the rich. Billionaire tears not pictured.
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
People who make primary source documents easily accessible to the public are the best
Thank you @paulgp.com
Thank you @paulgp.com
For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files:
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
Epstein Document Search
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
November 13, 2025 at 2:02 AM
People who make primary source documents easily accessible to the public are the best
Thank you @paulgp.com
Thank you @paulgp.com
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
Harvard should sack anybody who had anything to do with Epstein and use the money to load up on a bunch of promising junior faculty; lord knows there are a ton of great people out there to choose from
Interesting email here from Elisa New, Harvard professor and wife to Larry Summers, to Epstein, reflecting on Lolita.
"...it's about a man whose life is stamped forever by his impression of a young girl."
"...it's about a man whose life is stamped forever by his impression of a young girl."
November 13, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Harvard should sack anybody who had anything to do with Epstein and use the money to load up on a bunch of promising junior faculty; lord knows there are a ton of great people out there to choose from
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
The Yanai Initiative is pleased to invite proposals for a symposium entitled “Experimental Translations in/with East Asian Languages,” to be hosted at UCLA on April 10-11, 2026. Deadline November 30, 2025, 11:59 PM (PT). See more information threaded below. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 6:46 PM
The Yanai Initiative is pleased to invite proposals for a symposium entitled “Experimental Translations in/with East Asian Languages,” to be hosted at UCLA on April 10-11, 2026. Deadline November 30, 2025, 11:59 PM (PT). See more information threaded below. ⬇️
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
"This could take down Democrats, too."
I know. And I frankly wouldn't give even an itty bitty damn if it implicated every Democratic man in Congress, every Democratic hopeful for 2028 and every Democrat who has even thought about running for office.
Down with the sex predators, wherever they are.
I know. And I frankly wouldn't give even an itty bitty damn if it implicated every Democratic man in Congress, every Democratic hopeful for 2028 and every Democrat who has even thought about running for office.
Down with the sex predators, wherever they are.
November 13, 2025 at 1:15 AM
"This could take down Democrats, too."
I know. And I frankly wouldn't give even an itty bitty damn if it implicated every Democratic man in Congress, every Democratic hopeful for 2028 and every Democrat who has even thought about running for office.
Down with the sex predators, wherever they are.
I know. And I frankly wouldn't give even an itty bitty damn if it implicated every Democratic man in Congress, every Democratic hopeful for 2028 and every Democrat who has even thought about running for office.
Down with the sex predators, wherever they are.
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
Call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and they will connect you with your senator's office.
If you're represented by one of the squishier centrists, be sure to make a call. Now.
If you're represented by one of the squishier centrists, be sure to make a call. Now.
Sounds like the squishes in the senate caucus are ready to pull the plug with no ACA changes. This is real. If you want to register your opinion you shld call yr senator in the next hour. They not only want to reopen w/nothing. They want cover from their colleagues who still want to hold out.
November 9, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and they will connect you with your senator's office.
If you're represented by one of the squishier centrists, be sure to make a call. Now.
If you're represented by one of the squishier centrists, be sure to make a call. Now.
Apropos of nothing, my go to meal in college, which had a killer calorie to dollar ratio, was a Totinos Party Pizza slathered in Srirarcha sauce. In those days (circa 2002) you could often get a pizza for well under a dollar. Sometimes as little as 50 cent, ircc!
November 9, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Apropos of nothing, my go to meal in college, which had a killer calorie to dollar ratio, was a Totinos Party Pizza slathered in Srirarcha sauce. In those days (circa 2002) you could often get a pizza for well under a dollar. Sometimes as little as 50 cent, ircc!
It's absolutely an unpopular idea, but I distinctly remember discussing this in my high school government class. If you don't pay people in politics enough to get by, it incentives bribery AND keeps folks without generational wealth from running for office.
people hate hearing this but it's 100% true, creating a huge pay gap between political leaders, their staffs, and other elites is a recipe for corruption. of course the flip side of that is taxes on the rich should be jacked way the hell up
The Mayor of New York only makes $260k. I bet there are police that make more than that in NY with overtime.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
November 7, 2025 at 3:52 PM
It's absolutely an unpopular idea, but I distinctly remember discussing this in my high school government class. If you don't pay people in politics enough to get by, it incentives bribery AND keeps folks without generational wealth from running for office.
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
Reminder that from the beginning of next year I’m available for work!
Writing, narrative design, historical & narrative consultancy, research, teaching.
I’m particularly fond of applying historical approaches to worldbuilding & storytelling in interactive mediums
Writing, narrative design, historical & narrative consultancy, research, teaching.
I’m particularly fond of applying historical approaches to worldbuilding & storytelling in interactive mediums
November 6, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reminder that from the beginning of next year I’m available for work!
Writing, narrative design, historical & narrative consultancy, research, teaching.
I’m particularly fond of applying historical approaches to worldbuilding & storytelling in interactive mediums
Writing, narrative design, historical & narrative consultancy, research, teaching.
I’m particularly fond of applying historical approaches to worldbuilding & storytelling in interactive mediums
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
Excited to be part of this wonderful event organized by @yrhu.bsky.social! Looking forward to the panel discussion next Monday.
Hi DH friends, join us on Nov 10, 10-11 am CT, for “New Book History Research with Internet Data”, a hybrid panel sponsored by SHAR, to explore challenges and opportunities of using Internet data and digital methods for book history research. More info in the poster attached and comments :)
November 6, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Excited to be part of this wonderful event organized by @yrhu.bsky.social! Looking forward to the panel discussion next Monday.
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
Our School of Information Sciences is running four searches, and we can hire more than four candidates. Here’s the first link, for a job that might appeal to people working in history of information, history of science, or digital humanities. +
Assistant/Associate/Full Professor in Information, Culture & Society - School of Information Science
Duties & Responsibilities
illinois.csod.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Our School of Information Sciences is running four searches, and we can hire more than four candidates. Here’s the first link, for a job that might appeal to people working in history of information, history of science, or digital humanities. +
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
Digital humanities researchers often care about fine-grained similarity based on narrative elements like plot or tone, which don’t necessarily correlate with surface-level textual features.
Can embedding models capture this? We study this in the context of fanfiction!
Can embedding models capture this? We study this in the context of fanfiction!
November 5, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Digital humanities researchers often care about fine-grained similarity based on narrative elements like plot or tone, which don’t necessarily correlate with surface-level textual features.
Can embedding models capture this? We study this in the context of fanfiction!
Can embedding models capture this? We study this in the context of fanfiction!
Reposted by Paul Vierthaler
good morning specifically to the FBI agent who introduced Mamdani’s dad to Marx
November 5, 2025 at 2:21 PM
good morning specifically to the FBI agent who introduced Mamdani’s dad to Marx