Jay Hancock

@jayhancock.bsky.social

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Former reporter pursuing the past. Writing book on language history. Substack on history, economics, stuff. 2020 Pulitzer finalist for investigative journalism. jayhancock.substack.com

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OK this wins the internet today. Everybody else log off.

Your move, Hemingway

Millions of well-off baby boomers have retired and are mobbing Europe and the air flights to get there. Europe has about had it. wapo.st/3xFOlAv

Fed up with tourists, Barcelona protesters blast them with water gunswapo.st Locals marched and delivered a manifesto on tourism’s cost-of-living impact, the latest backlash against a global travel surge since the end of pandemic limits.

Wages in antebellum slave states were higher than in adjacent free states, find U Mich researchers. Why? "Aversion" by free whites to work in a slave society. This was the case for my gggg grandfather, who refused to set foot in Missouri from Illinois. www.nber.org/papers/w3264...

The Economic Effects of American Slavery: Tests at the Borderwww.nber.org Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

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hilzoy

Two things. First, I have said this before but it gets special emphasis today: I never, EVER want to hear conservatives talk about originalism or judicial restraint ever again. There is nothing about Presidential immunity in the Constitution.

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A few years ago, Jon Lovett floated a theory that media treats Democrats like protagonists - to be challenged, accounted, and forced to be behave in growth-oriented ways - while the GOP are treated like antagonists - immutable, expected to disrupt, thematic obstacles. Thinking about that a lot.

I don’t recall the NYT calling for Trump to step down after being convicted of 34 counts of fraud and being called by a judge at his civil trial a rapist in the common person sense

The people we stayed with in Sicily said the house and farm had been in their family since the 1600s. They had the library to prove it!

Guessing few in the Scots diaspora have an idea about the misery and violence that forced their ancestors' emigration. Great piece from @joesaunders1.bsky.social & How-to History on the Highland Clearances. It wasn't all bagpipes and jigs in the old country. howtohistory.substack.com/p/highland-c...

Highland Clearanceshowtohistory.substack.com Scotland

"The pre-medical curriculum is tangential to medicine at best... It's abusive... Organic chemistry, calculus, these have nearly no day-to-day relevance in the practice of medicine." www.sensible-med.com/p/how-medica...

How medical school fails studentswww.sensible-med.com I previously discussed how some residents call in "fake sick", but medical schools too often provide a "fake education". Basic science esoterica, squandering time of smart people, and more...

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Pop quiz, artisan style: The picture shows two nails. Both are hand forged, but each is from a different century. Can you guess from which? What other differences can you spot? #medievalsky #skystorians #earlymodern #histsci #histtech 🗃️

Agonizing and beautiful memoir by Dr. Benjamin Black on caring for Africans in the 2014 Ebola epidemic. "My public catharsis," he calls it. My review reposted from @WIRoBooks jayhancock.substack.com/p/death-and-...

Death and Caring in the Ebola Epidemicjayhancock.substack.com Obstetrician Benjamin Black was in Sierra Leone for the worst known outbreak of a horrible disease. West Africa's crisis was virtue's opportunity. Many missed it.

Nice post by How-to History on village & manorial commons — fields & wastes owned by nobody where residents had rights to graze animals etc. The ebb of commons rights over the centuries is an often painful theme of English social and economic history. howtohistory.substack.com/p/commons

Commonshowtohistory.substack.com England

I like to think that this is part of his atonement, and that he knows he has a terrible cargo of wrongs to atone for.

You'd think George W. Bush's post-2008 arc would be enough to bury "History will judge them" forever as a talking point about powerful people doing monstrous things with six-figure body counts. But,

George W. Bush's paintings could get their biggest audience yet at Disney Worldfloridapolitics.com You can see President George W. Bush's art tribute to veterans at Disney World starting June 9.

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George W Bush is unquestionably the American with the most deadly impact on humanity of any one in my lifetime. I find his even mild rehabilitation to be morally abhorrent.

You'd think George W. Bush's post-2008 arc would be enough to bury "History will judge them" forever as a talking point about powerful people doing monstrous things with six-figure body counts. But,

George W. Bush's paintings could get their biggest audience yet at Disney Worldfloridapolitics.com You can see President George W. Bush's art tribute to veterans at Disney World starting June 9.

"Three days after the injury he selectively ripped off leaves of a liana... chewed on them, and then repeatedly applied the resulting juice onto the facial wound." Of course his insurance didn't cover it... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Active self-treatment of a facial wound with a biologically active plant by a male Sumatran orangutan - Scientific Reportswww.nature.com Scientific Reports - Active self-treatment of a facial wound with a biologically active plant by a male Sumatran orangutan

My love letter to social history and historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and his great book Montaillou. I mention the work of some of his 21st c. successors @dorialexander.bsky.social Joe Henrich, Robin Fleming, Dewei Sheng jayhancock.substack.com/p/the-search...

The Search For History's Ordinary Folkjayhancock.substack.com Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, who died last year, discovered a minutely detailed medieval world in the Vatican archives. His kind of social history lives on.

My appreciation of Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, the French historian who specialized in “truffle hunting” for what it was really like to be alive long ago. open.substack.com/pub/jayhanco...

The Search For History's Ordinary Folkopen.substack.com Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, who died last year, discovered a minutely detailed medieval world in the Vatican archives. His kind of social history lives on.

RIP Daniel Dennett. Just finished his memoir. "The earth has grown a nervous system, and it's us." dailynous.com/2024/04/19/d...

Daniel Dennett (1942-2024) - Daily Nousdailynous.com Daniel Dennett, professor emeritus of philosophy at Tufts University, well-known for his work in philosophy of mind and a wide range of other philosophical areas, has died. Professor Dennett wrote extensively about issues related to philosophy of mind and cognitive science, especially consciousness. He is also recognized as having made significant contributions to the concept

Why is this so hard to understand? Criticizing the ideas of others is not "shutting down the debate." Retorts to academic or political assertions are PART OF THE DEBATE, not free-speech crimes. (Plus Shakespeare authorship deniers really are tinfoil-hatters.) www.theguardian.com/books/2024/a...

A good historian is like the legendary ogre. “Where he scents human flesh — he knows that there is his quarry.” My appreciation of Emmanual Le Roy Ladurie, who died last year. For @Howto_History howtohistory.substack.com/p/montaillou...

Montaillou and the History of Ordinary Folkhowtohistory.substack.com The Pyrenees, and beyond

NBC's top political reporter should not interview politicians, guy says.

I cannot stress enough how, week after week, Chuck Todd lended NBC’s credibility to election deniers like Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Roger Marshall, Kevin Cramer, Mike Rounds, Mike Braun, Tate Reeves, and Rick Scott, and after every appearance said “thank you for sharing your perspective”

The "twitterstorian community is really strong," says Jessica Storoschuk in this @Howto_History piece w/ @lucyjanesantos.bsky.social. Happy to be getting to know some of these wonderful folks. howtohistory.substack.com/p/be-a-freel...

This really isn't hard. Facebook and TikTok (and Fox and Breitbart etc) are publishers. They can decide what the hell they want and don't want on their sites. www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/u...

Supreme Court to Hear Free Speech Challenges to Social Media Lawswww.nytimes.com The tech industry argues that laws in Florida and Texas, prompted by conservative complaints about censorship, violate the First Amendment. The court’s decision could fundamentally alter the nature of...

Nice result on the Braintree Hoard auction of pennies buried by someone in 1066. A King Harold II silver penny, minted in short reign of King Harold, last Anglo-Saxon king of England, goes for £11,000, twice the estimate. www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/arc...

In 1066 somebody buried a hoard including dozens of pennies minted by the new king, Harold Godwinson. Something happened in 1066 (hmm...). They were never recovered. Detectorists found them in 2019. Now Noonans is auctioning them off. www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/cal...

The Braintree Hoard of Late Anglo-Saxon Pennies (21 February 2024): Auction Catalogue | Noonans Mayfairwww.noonans.co.uk

The Braintree Hoard of Late Anglo-Saxon Pennies: Lot 1121, 21 February 2024 | Noonans Mayfairwww.noonans.co.uk

Great images from @meduza_en of global Navalny demonstrations. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

‘Putin, hell is waiting for you’ Protesters in Russia and around the globe gather to mourn Alexey Navalny — Meduzameduza.io On February 16, people in Russia and around the world took to the streets following news from Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service that leading opposition figure Alexey Navalny had died in an Arctic ...

The Braintree Hoard of Late Anglo-Saxon Pennies (21 February 2024): Auction Catalogue | Noonans Mayfairwww.noonans.co.uk

Demonstrations around the world today for Alexey Navalny in front of Russian emabassys & consulates. New York, London, Dublin etc etc. If you're near one, go! meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Worldwide demonstrations for Alexey Navalny A list — Meduzameduza.io On Friday February 16, local administration of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN reported that opposition politician Alexey Navalny had died. According to the FSIN’s statement, Navalny “felt...

McCartney's 1961 Hofner bass, stolen in 1972, has been returned. www.paulmccartney.com/news/stateme...

Paul McCartney | News | Statement on Höfner Basswww.paulmccartney.com Following the launch of last year's Lost Bass project, Paul’s 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been returned.

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About 80 % of students thought this was a swanky straw hat from the 1950s. Truth is that it’s the oldest Roman grasswork "Panama hat" extant, from Fayum in Egypt. In 2017 they radiocarbon dated it to 420-568 CE. Turns out the “Dark Ages” was really more about cool shade (Pitt Rivers Museum, UK) 🎩

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As a 13-year-old girl I was the biggest Lord of the Rings geek, so I treated her to the Doors of Durin today 🤓 According to local legend, these Cotswolds church doors inspired Tolkien’s artwork 🧝‍♀️ (St Edward’s church, Stow on the Wold)

Amazing news from Nat Friedman, Vesuvius Challenge & Co. "We now know that this scroll is not a duplicate of an existing work; it contains never-before-seen text from antiquity." Can't wait to see what other lost works are found. scrollprize.org/grandprize

Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the scrolls!scrollprize.org The 2000-year-old scroll discusses music, food, and how to enjoy life’s pleasures.