Newton Key
@newton-key.bsky.social
Among other hats, prof emeritus Eastern Illinois University. Historian of early modern plotting, sermonizing, politicking, gossiping, printing, and detecting before detectives. Mainly British archipelago.
Reposted by Newton Key
I profiled the startup behind Pangram, the AI detector everyone’s talking about. It works really, really well. I wanted to understand how they did it. and also: why people still don’t trust them. (also, news: Penguin Random House is using it.) gift link! ✨
The World’s Most Reliable AI Detector Has a Human Problem
Armed with a near-perfect detection tool, Pangram is fighting to convince the public AI cheating can be caught.
www.bloomberg.com
September 16, 2026 at 1:49 PM
I profiled the startup behind Pangram, the AI detector everyone’s talking about. It works really, really well. I wanted to understand how they did it. and also: why people still don’t trust them. (also, news: Penguin Random House is using it.) gift link! ✨
Reposted by Newton Key
My latest post: On the deindustrialisation of the university. And on being "in defence of history" at a time of extinction. thehistoryfactory.substack.com/p/the-histor...
The History Factory 2: The Deindustrialisation of the University
A few years ago, my employer, the University of York, commissioned a civil engineering firm named Tilbury Douglas to build a new nursery for the children of its employees and students.
thehistoryfactory.substack.com
September 7, 2026 at 2:18 PM
My latest post: On the deindustrialisation of the university. And on being "in defence of history" at a time of extinction. thehistoryfactory.substack.com/p/the-histor...
Reposted by Newton Key
"History shows that when a company starts acquiring the attributes of a state... its transformation can damage the parent country at least as much as the territories it exploits"
@willdalrymple.bsky.social with lessons from the past about corporate power
www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/o...
@willdalrymple.bsky.social with lessons from the past about corporate power
www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/o...
Opinion | What It Took to Dismantle the Most Powerful Company in the World (Gift Article)
A playbook to curb the growing power of Big Tech.
www.nytimes.com
August 30, 2026 at 7:45 AM
"History shows that when a company starts acquiring the attributes of a state... its transformation can damage the parent country at least as much as the territories it exploits"
@willdalrymple.bsky.social with lessons from the past about corporate power
www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/o...
@willdalrymple.bsky.social with lessons from the past about corporate power
www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/o...
Reposted by Newton Key
No More Muddling Through
generativehistory.substack.com/p/no-more-mu...
generativehistory.substack.com/p/no-more-mu...
No More Muddling Through
Why the détente between students and professors over AI will end in 2026.
generativehistory.substack.com
August 22, 2026 at 5:22 AM
No More Muddling Through
generativehistory.substack.com/p/no-more-mu...
generativehistory.substack.com/p/no-more-mu...
Yes, more Fable of the Bees needed in my timeline. Vain and like to distinguish ourselves from others. Of course the reductio ad absurdem is The Emperor's New Clothes.
For instance, we have skilled tailors because people are vain. Avery and I unpack his argument and explore how Adam Smith and Karl Mark might respond.
Each month, we’ll read a different philosophical text and explore what it can teach us about clothing and broader culture.
Each month, we’ll read a different philosophical text and explore what it can teach us about clothing and broader culture.
July 21, 2026 at 8:33 PM
Yes, more Fable of the Bees needed in my timeline. Vain and like to distinguish ourselves from others. Of course the reductio ad absurdem is The Emperor's New Clothes.
Reposted by Newton Key
Self-portrait of Isaac Fuller, 1606 – #otd 17 July 1672
Made in 1670 (Bodleian Library Oxford LP 142)
Best curatorial note ever: "He holds a torn sheet of drawings of putti. Said to have been painted when Fuller was drunk".
Made in 1670 (Bodleian Library Oxford LP 142)
Best curatorial note ever: "He holds a torn sheet of drawings of putti. Said to have been painted when Fuller was drunk".
July 17, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Self-portrait of Isaac Fuller, 1606 – #otd 17 July 1672
Made in 1670 (Bodleian Library Oxford LP 142)
Best curatorial note ever: "He holds a torn sheet of drawings of putti. Said to have been painted when Fuller was drunk".
Made in 1670 (Bodleian Library Oxford LP 142)
Best curatorial note ever: "He holds a torn sheet of drawings of putti. Said to have been painted when Fuller was drunk".
My grandfather ranched goats, so I knew cattle guards wouldn't slow them down. Sheep showing their own nous in the breakout game!
I think @themerl.bsky.social would love...
We laugh in the face of cattlegrids 🐑
July 16, 2026 at 1:38 PM
My grandfather ranched goats, so I knew cattle guards wouldn't slow them down. Sheep showing their own nous in the breakout game!
Reposted by Newton Key
Still time to make a comment. I wrote as loved one of a person with chronic illness, an historian, and administrator focused on undergraduate research in all disciplines. I picked a few areas for focus of my comments. Public conversation has also not captured the language of the rule change.
Public conversation about the OMB proposal has focused on science, but make no mistake: this is about ALL research and humanities are just as vulnerable. I'm back @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social w historian & @historians.org exec director Sarah Weicksel.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/07/10/t...
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/07/10/t...
The OMB Guidance Revision Threatens All Research - The Scholarly Kitchen
The OMB proposed revision is about all research — and humanities research is just as vulnerable as STEM.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
July 10, 2026 at 11:39 AM
Still time to make a comment. I wrote as loved one of a person with chronic illness, an historian, and administrator focused on undergraduate research in all disciplines. I picked a few areas for focus of my comments. Public conversation has also not captured the language of the rule change.
Reposted by Newton Key
this phenomenon enraged SC planters who nearly bankrupted their colony (1703) in one of their attempts to seize St Augustine between 1680-1821
The Enslaved South Carolinians Who Rowed to Freedom | Virginia McGee Richards
Along the Lowcountry’s Inner Passage, they steered south by starlight as slave catchers pursued them toward Spanish Florida. This #Juneteenth, their names should not be forgotten
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-enslaved...
Along the Lowcountry’s Inner Passage, they steered south by starlight as slave catchers pursued them toward Spanish Florida. This #Juneteenth, their names should not be forgotten
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-enslaved...
The Enslaved South Carolinians Who Rowed to Freedom
Along the Lowcountry’s Inner Passage, they steered south by starlight as slave catchers pursued them toward Spanish Florida. This Juneteenth, their names should not be forgotten.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
June 19, 2026 at 12:09 AM
this phenomenon enraged SC planters who nearly bankrupted their colony (1703) in one of their attempts to seize St Augustine between 1680-1821
Every essay and book, even the ones I probably did not understand fully, helped me see the world, past and present, anew.
June 17, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Every essay and book, even the ones I probably did not understand fully, helped me see the world, past and present, anew.
Reposted by Newton Key
It pairs well with my report with @drnataliemartin.bsky.social for @demos-uk.bsky.social, "Verification, Deliberation, Accountability: A new framework for tackling epistemic collapse and renewing democracy"
demos.co.uk/research/ver...
demos.co.uk/research/ver...
Verification, Deliberation, Accountability: A new framework for tackling epistemic collapse and renewing democracy
Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.
demos.co.uk
June 10, 2026 at 9:32 AM
It pairs well with my report with @drnataliemartin.bsky.social for @demos-uk.bsky.social, "Verification, Deliberation, Accountability: A new framework for tackling epistemic collapse and renewing democracy"
demos.co.uk/research/ver...
demos.co.uk/research/ver...
Reposted by Newton Key
bringing this one back because they just keep doing it
May 24, 2026 at 11:53 AM
bringing this one back because they just keep doing it
Reposted by Newton Key
200 years ago the handloom weavers of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire engaged in a 10-day rising, destroying over 1,100 power looms. To learn more check out our interactive StoryMap: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9a84...
#19thCentury #skystorians @sslh.bsky.social @esriuk.bsky.social
#19thCentury #skystorians @sslh.bsky.social @esriuk.bsky.social
Witnessing the Weavers’ Rising of 1826
A digital mapping project created by The National Archives and The Open University
storymaps.arcgis.com
May 14, 2026 at 2:08 PM
200 years ago the handloom weavers of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire engaged in a 10-day rising, destroying over 1,100 power looms. To learn more check out our interactive StoryMap: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9a84...
#19thCentury #skystorians @sslh.bsky.social @esriuk.bsky.social
#19thCentury #skystorians @sslh.bsky.social @esriuk.bsky.social
Reposted by Newton Key
The largest ever settlement or jury award for government violations of constitutional rights to a single person is $100 million, or 1 percent of what Trump demanding for the leak of his tax returns.
That case -- a killing by police -- was reduced to $1 million on appeal.
That case -- a killing by police -- was reduced to $1 million on appeal.
The president is negotiating against his own administration to shake down taxpayers for $10 billion.
The corruption meter is flashing red and sounding the alarm.
ca.news.yahoo.com/doj-consider...
The corruption meter is flashing red and sounding the alarm.
ca.news.yahoo.com/doj-consider...
DOJ considers settling Trump’s IRS lawsuit which could send taxpayer money directly to the president’s pockets: report
Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion in January, accusing the agency of failing to prevent a leak of the president’s tax information
ca.news.yahoo.com
May 13, 2026 at 4:44 PM
The largest ever settlement or jury award for government violations of constitutional rights to a single person is $100 million, or 1 percent of what Trump demanding for the leak of his tax returns.
That case -- a killing by police -- was reduced to $1 million on appeal.
That case -- a killing by police -- was reduced to $1 million on appeal.
Reposted by Newton Key
"Those taxes you just paid? The money is going straight into Trump's pocket" would be good messaging
Trump’s lawyers are in talks with the IRS to resolve president’s $10B lawsuit
Trump’s lawyers are in talks with the IRS to resolve president’s $10B lawsuit
www.denverpost.com
April 18, 2026 at 1:35 AM
"Those taxes you just paid? The money is going straight into Trump's pocket" would be good messaging
Reposted by Newton Key
Hegseth not only fired the Sec of the Army. He also fired head of Army Training & Command, as well as the Army's chief of chaplains. Destabilizing Army leadership during an active shooting war is another example of Hegseth's incompetence & cannon fodder philosophy
www.military.com/daily-news/h...
www.military.com/daily-news/h...
Three Generals Ousted as Pentagon Shakeup Hits War Command
Hegseth's move represents a rare leadership shakeup, raising questions about strategy and command stability.
www.military.com
April 3, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Hegseth not only fired the Sec of the Army. He also fired head of Army Training & Command, as well as the Army's chief of chaplains. Destabilizing Army leadership during an active shooting war is another example of Hegseth's incompetence & cannon fodder philosophy
www.military.com/daily-news/h...
www.military.com/daily-news/h...
Reposted by Newton Key
Yes don't forget to register your works with @britishlibrary.bsky.social to receive your PLR monies as well
www.bl.uk/services/plr
www.bl.uk/services/plr
March 23, 2026 at 1:07 PM
Yes don't forget to register your works with @britishlibrary.bsky.social to receive your PLR monies as well
www.bl.uk/services/plr
www.bl.uk/services/plr
Reposted by Newton Key
Was delighted to do an extended interview with the editors at @commongoodmag.bsky.social. This covers many of the major arguments of my @princetonupress.bsky.social book, The Greatest of All Plagues. As I told my PUP editor every time I missed a deadline, it's all still relevant!
Economic Inequality: The Unequal You Will Always Have | Common Good Magazine
The problem of economic inequality owns a long, frustrated story.
commongoodmag.com
March 19, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Was delighted to do an extended interview with the editors at @commongoodmag.bsky.social. This covers many of the major arguments of my @princetonupress.bsky.social book, The Greatest of All Plagues. As I told my PUP editor every time I missed a deadline, it's all still relevant!
Reposted by Newton Key
I don't need this because I live about an hour's train away, but this is a lovely bursary and targeted at a set of us (mid-career), who don't get much, and whomever gets it, HMU I want to hear what you're doing!
We are reaching out to mid-career historians who specialise in 17th-century British history! 📜 The IHR Ian Roy Mid-Career Library Bursary offers support for travel and accommodation for research using the IHR's incredible library collections in London. www.history.ac.uk/fellowships-...
IHR Ian Roy Mid-Career IHR Library Bursary
The Ian Roy Mid-Career IHR Library Bursary is offered with the generous support of the estate of Ian Roy.
www.history.ac.uk
March 13, 2026 at 9:42 AM
I don't need this because I live about an hour's train away, but this is a lovely bursary and targeted at a set of us (mid-career), who don't get much, and whomever gets it, HMU I want to hear what you're doing!
Reposted by Newton Key
Are you a mid-career historian researching 17th & 18th-century British Protestant dissenting traditions? 🏛️ Apply for the Dr Williams's Trust Library Bursaries at the IHR! Three awards of £3,500 are available to support your research in London libraries and archives www.history.ac.uk/fellowships-...
The Dr Williams’s Trust Library Bursaries for Mid-Career Researchers
The Dr Williams’s Trust has generously provided funds to support the work of mid-career historians researching the British Protestant dissenting traditions.
www.history.ac.uk
March 10, 2026 at 12:01 PM
Are you a mid-career historian researching 17th & 18th-century British Protestant dissenting traditions? 🏛️ Apply for the Dr Williams's Trust Library Bursaries at the IHR! Three awards of £3,500 are available to support your research in London libraries and archives www.history.ac.uk/fellowships-...
Reposted by Newton Key
I had a great chat last week with @cward1e.bsky.social, looking back at the growth of open source investigation from when it was just a small bunch of people trying to figure stuff out, how the counter-disinformation community formed out of that, and why it's causing us all so many headaches now.
Bellingcat founder @eliothiggins.bsky.social and Cornell University’s @cward1e.bsky.social unpack how disinformation evolved, why trust in institutions is collapsing, and what tools we all need to stay sharp in a world of misinformation. Listen back to last week's Stage Talk: rss.com/podcasts/bel...
"How We Got Here: The Rise, Backlash and Future Of Counter-Disinformation" with Eliot Higgins and Dr Claire Wardle | Podcast Episode on RSS.com
In our first Stage Talk of 2026, we were joined by Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins and Cornell University's Dr. Claire Wardle sharing their expertise on the formation of fact checking and verificatio...
rss.com
February 7, 2026 at 2:49 PM
I had a great chat last week with @cward1e.bsky.social, looking back at the growth of open source investigation from when it was just a small bunch of people trying to figure stuff out, how the counter-disinformation community formed out of that, and why it's causing us all so many headaches now.
Reposted by Newton Key
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
February 5, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
Reposted by Newton Key
Did everyone else know about researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/ already? Searches 7 million records at 1,400 archival institutions all in ONE PLACE
ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid connects you with archives around the world to find historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more.
researchworks.oclc.org
January 26, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Did everyone else know about researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/ already? Searches 7 million records at 1,400 archival institutions all in ONE PLACE
Reposted by Newton Key
This morning, I recorded a video on TikTok about why DHS’s arguments for the power to enter homes without judicial warrants in immigration cases are bunk.
Nine hours later, TikTok still says my video is “under review,” and can’t be shared.
Well, here’s a link:
georgetown.box.com/v/Vladeck-IC...
Nine hours later, TikTok still says my video is “under review,” and can’t be shared.
Well, here’s a link:
georgetown.box.com/v/Vladeck-IC...
January 26, 2026 at 2:00 AM
This morning, I recorded a video on TikTok about why DHS’s arguments for the power to enter homes without judicial warrants in immigration cases are bunk.
Nine hours later, TikTok still says my video is “under review,” and can’t be shared.
Well, here’s a link:
georgetown.box.com/v/Vladeck-IC...
Nine hours later, TikTok still says my video is “under review,” and can’t be shared.
Well, here’s a link:
georgetown.box.com/v/Vladeck-IC...