@seanbala@mas.to cover
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seanbala

@seanbala@mas.to

Former #ReligiousStudies student in #Chicago. Interested in #religion, #philosophy, #ethics, #culture, #environment, #ecology, and #community. Currently working in #HigherEd.

Other Tags: #Episcopal #Episcopalian #Ecotheology #Books #Folklore #Travel #Fantasy #History #Solarpunk #ScienceFiction #SFF #Bookstadon #Bookmaking #Musicals #Theater #India

Love exploring new cultures, interesting ideas, and meeting new people!

"If only I may grow - simple, firmer, kinder, warmer." Dag Hammarskjold

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

I love learning about history.
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@lowqualityfacts

It's the fluoride on the water!

jendiagammon , to random
@jendiagammon@wandering.shop avatar

I am a Nebula Award finalist, and the Nebula conference is this week. My book, THE INN AT THE AMETHYST LANTERN, is nominated for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for younger fiction (young adult in this case). So what's the book about? I've got you covered: https://jendiagammon.com/2024/03/18/about-the-inn-at-the-amethyst-lantern/

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@jendiagammon For those looking at the post above, I just started reading "The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern" (finally) and it is a really a lot of fun! A very imaginative world with unique visuals. It has especially fantastic use of colors - I feel like the images in my mind are vividly painted as I read. I am a big fan but this is my first work and I'm quite digging the vibe. Many more things to say but will save them for when I'm finished!

loren , to random
@loren@flipping.rocks avatar

reporting in from suburban northern illinois. absolutely stunning despite the light pollution

the aurora in green and pink stripes above a dark treeline, the base of some of the trees lit up from houses below
another view of the aurora in pink and green above the edge of dark tree outlines
the aurora in dark pink and purple tinged with green at the bottom edge. more stars are visible

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@loren Did it only last for a short time or is it still happening where you are?

Do you think if we got up along the North Shore tomorrow on the Metra we might find a good spot to see tomorrow night?

bunvoyage17 , to coffee group
@bunvoyage17@mastodon.social avatar

We wanted to have a quiet afternoon and so we went to go to Kapej Coffee on the Brown Line. It is one of our favorite places in with some of the best in the city. In fact, the owner was roasting coffee fresh in a little alcove off the counter.

@dohappybelove made a and @seanbala started “The Lost Cause” by @pluralistic - a wonderful Sunday!

@coffee @bookstodon

A man lounging in an armchair reading a book, with a coffee cup and a takeaway beverage on the table next to him, in a cozy room with plants and decorative items on a fireplace mantel.
A hand holding a sketchbook with a watercolor painting of a colorful balcony in front of an actual fireplace, alongside art supplies and an iced coffee on a table.
A book titled “The Lost Cause" next to a white coffee mug with the word "Kapej Coffee" written on it on calligraphy. The setting is a a cafe with a plant and window in the background.

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@FullyAutomatedRPG @bunvoyage17 @dohappybelove @pluralistic @coffee @bookstodon

Thanks - I'll take a look!

jpaskaruk , to random
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I'm not honestly sure it's such a good idea for @pluralistic to keep writing novels. He's giving them too many ideas.

https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@pluralistic Probably the most disturbing thing I've read in a long time - Galt's Gulch meets Robocop meets Technocracy meets Feudalism.

seanbala , to bookstodon group
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

Was out today and had unexpected free time but no book!

I opened my @omnivore app on my tablet and read the short story "The Mausoleum's Children" by @aliettedb in @UncannyMagazine. It was so good!! I'm so glad I discovered both the story and the magazine here. Moral of the story - do your best to always have something good to read!

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-mausoleums-children/

#speculativefiction #sff #sciencefiction #shortstory #reading #books #literature #magazine #amreading #bookstodon @bookstodon

seanbala , to bookstodon group
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

Found this way deep in my YouTube "Watch Later" collection. It's a really nice guide to getting started with Charles Dickens including a recommended order for select books from Robert Douglas-Fairhurst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aryB10D04jw

Might add these to my 2024 Reading List!

@bookstodon

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

Can't argue with that.

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@lowqualityfacts I don't know why, but I feel like I could imagine this being said....

eeyam , to palestine group
@eeyam@med-mastodon.com avatar

Israel Assures It Doing Everything Possible To Minimize Civilians
https://www.theonion.com/israel-assures-it-doing-everything-possible-to-minimize-1851085308

@palestine

seanbala ,
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@Ralph058 @eeyam @palestine Those are the best type of Onion headlines....

seanbala , to bookstodon group
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

Listening to the English audiobook of "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman narrated by J.K. Simmons. While I enjoyed Tom Hanks in the English film adaptation, Simmons would have made a truly FANTASTIC Ove / Otto. I don't normally do audiobooks (I have a book group that I really need to finish the book for) but this one has been nice.

@bookstodon

Zeb_Larson , to random
@Zeb_Larson@zirk.us avatar

One of the most tired genres of academic posting is complaining about your students. A lot of it is mean-spirited (how dare these kids not treat my exact passion with the seriousness I did!), but a lot of it is also just fucking lazy. Congrats, as a trained expert in your field you managed to nitpick a freshman to death, or discovered that they (gasp) skipped a reading.

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@Zeb_Larson Have you ever heard the idea that the people campaign for political offices are not the people that you want running those offices? The idea is that the skills you need to campaign are not necessarily the ones you need to govern. I sometimes feel the same way about academia - the skills you need to get through a PhD select for many who shouldn't be in a classroom. Or, the people who can do research are not the ones you want teaching young people.

@academicchatter

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@Zeb_Larson @academicchatter That is not to say that I'm not sympathetic to those problems that come from teaching. I used to teach university courses and I loved so much of it. But I remember encountering that archetype of academics who were brilliant with research but loathed students with a burning passion.

ml , to AcademicChatter group
@ml@ecoevo.social avatar

Most of Plant Science Twitter seems to be on Bluesky. What are your favorite Fediverse accounts (institutional and/or personal) for keeping up with academic botanical news? @plantscience @academicchatter

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@ml @plantscience @academicchatter @PlantTeaching @jennifermach @ELS @botanyone @AnnBot @bomengidsnl One thing to keep an eye out for - I think that Mastodon will be launching Groups soon. It is on their roadmap and that might eventually make organizing via topic a bit easier! I hope that is correct @MastodonEngineering?

1/2

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@ml @plantscience @academicchatter @PlantTeaching @jennifermach @ELS @botanyone @AnnBot @bomengidsnl @MastodonEngineering I noticed in an analysis of my inactive accounts many inactive academic ones seem to have shifted over to BlueSky. A bit sad but maybe they will come back someday, or maybe someone the ActivityPub + BlueSky Bridge will finally launch and then you can continue to follow them here!

2/2

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

Wow, that's so interesting.
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@lowqualityfacts Explains a lot....

DejahEntendu , to bookstodon group
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

I feel like he spent too much time working at being cutesy and not enough at internal consistency. It was an amusing book, however. Taken as a light historical fiction about the run-up to modern life, it's good enough.

One example of the issues with the book follows:
He sets up the straw man of biological essentialism, then knocks it down with social consctructs.

1/
@bookstodon

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@DejahEntendu @bookstodon Thanks for posting. I used to teach the book to my undergraduates for a course on big ideas. I think my problem with the book is that he is nuanced when convenient and paints in broad brush strokes when convenient. For me, the one that sticks in my teeth is his views on religion, which is simplistic and lacks any sense that religions are wide umbrellas with MANY different features. @religion

Full disclosure: my academic background is comparative religions.

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@DejahEntendu @bookstodon @religion It is good text to introduce students to thinking on broader time scales and about big ideas, but one needs to use it as a jumping off point rather than a destination.

1dalm , to random
@1dalm@deacon.social avatar

In an alternate history timeline, do you think the industrial revolution happens without the Protestant movement?

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@1dalm One of the more thought provoking books I have read over the past few years is "The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson. Its central premise is that if Europe was wiped out by the Black Death, history would have unfolded roughly in the same manner but in different places. So the Renaissance happened in Samarkand and the Industrial Revolution took place in South India in Travancore. So yes, I think it would have happened.

1/2

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@1dalm In a non-fiction example, in Amitav Ghosh's "The Great Derangement" the author points out that many of the compontents of fossil fuel consumption like the use of oil and coal are actually much older than we think and were used heavily in places like Burma and China. So the point is that things could have gone differently with different circumstances.

2/2

@bookstodon

fediversereport , to random
@fediversereport@mastodon.social avatar

Last Week in - ep 55

  • drops the invite codes, and turns out to be a massive hit in Japan. The network grew by more than 50% in less than a week's time.
  • The different federated event planning apps (, .io and Event Federation) are working together for a better unified experience
  • @theverge explains the fediverse.

Read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-ep-55/

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@fediversereport @theverge

The article by @davidpierce is one of the best intros to the I have come across. That's because it is written in clear language with a bit of humor, and it acknowledges the positives and the places for improvement. Bookmarked as a go-to Intro to the Fediverse for new people!

https://www.theverge.com/24063290/fediverse-explained-activitypub-social-media-open-protocol

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@SymbolicCity @fediversereport @theverge @davidpierce I see what you mean but your point is exactly why I liked it as well. I didn't join Mastodon because I was a Twitter user but I was really intrigued by the idea of the Fediverse and am consistently surprised by its versatility across platforms.

seanbala , to bookstodon group
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

Craft Project! I have a beloved Kobo Libra H2O. It has a proprietary case covered in a blue fake leather that began to flake. I took it off and for a while went with the cloth underneath. But that was beginning to fray and so I decided to fix it with my ninja bookmaking skills. Probably should have used a thinner cloth for the magnet but it looks beautiful!

#Craft #Books #EBook #EReader #Kobo #DIY #Recycle #Reuse #Bookmaking #Bookbinding #Handcraft #Crafts #Bookstodon @bookstodon

A red ebook cover opened up on its back with a vintage pattern laid flat on a cutting mat with grid lines.
A dirty closed fabric-covered ereader case on a textured fabric surface.
An open fabric ereader cover.

Glastomichelle , to random
@Glastomichelle@c.im avatar

Another view of those stunning lilac colours this morning. Imbolc sunrise on Glastonbury Tor taken from St Michael's tower. Lilac archway.

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@Glastomichelle WONDERFUL PHOTO!!

arielkroon , to AcademicChatter group
@arielkroon@wandering.shop avatar

Pretty excited that the Solarpunk Conference Journal is out! I have a paper in it called "Disrupting the present in a positive way: Solarpunk and learning from the past". I'm so happy to see it out, and amongst such fantastic company!

Click the link below to give it a read:

https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:62961/

@academicchatter

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@arielkroon @academicchatter Added to my reads for the weekend - congrats to both you and @xtinadlr!

auschwitzmuseum , to random
@auschwitzmuseum@mastodon.world avatar

16 January 1883 | Polish Jew, Josef Goldkranz, was born in Tomaszów Lubelski. He was a kosher inspector. During the war he lived in Marseille.

In 1943 he was deported to and murdered in a gas chamber.

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@auschwitzmuseum I just wanted to say how glad I am that you are here in the Fediverse and continuing to bear witness. Thank you!

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

Makes you think.
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

seanbala ,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@lowqualityfacts 😩😫😖😭

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