bookandswordblog @bookandswordblog@scholar.social

Myths academics believe about publications, number ...: monographs have publication dates (counterexample: Roger Matthews (ed.), Ancient Anatolia: Fifty Years' Work by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara [British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara: London])

In a time of crisis, Germany organized a special train to send a bunch of exiled socialists from Switzerland to Russia. In another time of crisis, Germany ordered a special train to bring pasta to Aldi.

I don't have energy for a blog post this week but how about some Egyptian #necromancy (a =defixio=) from Papyrus Stories? https://papyrus-stories.com/2019/12/27/the-powers-of-hell-a-deadly-curse-from-medieval-egypt/ #egyptology #medieval

The excellent Violet Blue has a piece on the jerks who are saying "we need to unleash the panopticon because epidemic" https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-27-the-surveillance-profiteers-of-covid-19-are-here.html (warning, script-heavy site) #security #privacy

New Posts: Some Terrifying Numbers (from back before worrying about numbers was cool)
https://bookandsword.com/2020/03/28/some-terrifying-numbers/
#ancient #methodology #achaemenid

DIS MANIBUS PAUL McDonnell-Staff who went by the handle Xenophon https://bookandsword.com/2020/03/26/cross-post-dis-manibus-paul-xenophon-mcdonnell-staff/ #disManibus

Episode #555 of the excellent #podcast Science for the People has interviews with a Canadian virologist and a bio-ethicist http://www.scienceforthepeople.ca/episodes/coronavirus #CanCon

Dr. Shaun Duke continues L. Sprague de Camp's work from the 1950s: "guys! venomous snakes, like most 'dangerous animals,' won't bother you unless you get too close ... and some of your audience knows what a corn snake or a ball python looks like, don't use them as visual standins for something terrifying" https://shaunduke.net/2020/03/snakesinsffh/

Just how many ancient sources and modern contributions do I cite in my book manuscript? After checking the footnotes against the bibliography I now have an estimate https://bookandsword.com/2020/03/21/important-assyriological-discovery/ #ancient #bibliometrics #academicNavelGazing

The number of creators on #patreon increased from 139,000 to 168,000 in just one week https://graphtreon.com/patreon-stats

By the second millennium of the Seleukid Era, the barbarians beyond the Upper Sea had figured it out too! (I am not responsible for anyone who attempts to perform necromancy in a newfangled language like Latin) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321352.Forbidden_Rites#

Looking for some at-home projects? Try some #necromancy with Irving Finkel (the bit on how to protect yourself from the angry dead is damaged, but any trained exorcist should be able to figure that out) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq2ccSZkmn8

By the second millennium CE, even the barbarians beyond the Upper Sea had learned a bit of astral science. Check out this verse translation of a 15th century booklet on the seven planets and their influence (with historically accurate garish colouring of the woodblock prints!) https://billyandcharlie.com/planets/mars.html #astronomy #astrology #medieval #earlyModern

Forthcoming #viking age living history workshop cum historical fencing workshops in Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein 2020 https://bookandsword.com/2020/03/09/cross-post-roland-warzecha-workshops-2020/

#patreon has introduced a better search engine within accounts. Yay for them! If they want to become a platform, then they have to provide useful tools.

New post: What is a martial art? My answer from ten years ago when I was hanging out with the weird and wonderful historical fencers. https://bookandsword.com/2020/03/07/what-is-a-martial-art/

When you realize you were wrong, but the study you were criticizing may be worse than you thought: https://bookandsword.com/2020/02/29/a-correction-on-lists-of-empires/ #ancient #worldhistory

There are a lot of unspoken taboos in my academic field, like in journalism or other kinds of writing. I am feeling better and better about naming a particular writer of historical fiction/warrior self-help in the first chapter of my PhD thesis even though that violates one of them. #academicCustoms #historicalFiction