Wednesday Blog by Seán Thomas Kane

This week, the coalescence of my thoughts over the last few months about how the way we communicate today in 2025 is so rooted in our technology.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, the fourth in several scribblings about my research: borrowing from Oscar Wilde, the importance of being earnest with one's sources.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane---Sources:Ologies Podcast: https://www.alieward.com/ologies"Metropolis," Wednesday Blog 3.20: https://wednesdayblog.org/2023/01/11/metropolis/.Marie V. Alessandro, "The Workers of Metropolis" in Cinema at UMass Boston, (6 November 2020), https://blogs.umb.edu/cinemastudies/2020/11/06/workers-of-metropolis/Surekha Davies, “Here be black holes: Like sea monsters on premodern maps, deep-space images are science's fanciful means to chart the edges of the known world,” Aeon (13 July 2020), https://aeon.co/essays/how-black-holes-are-like-sea-monsters-at-the-edge-of-our-vision.Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Ed., Notes-Bibliography System Quick Guide, https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html.Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, trans. S.G.C. Middlemore, (London, 1878): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2074.

This week, the third in several scribblings about my research: how studying Thevet and his world fulfills a need to find purpose in life.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, the second in several scribblings about my research: why I chose to study André Thevet and build my career on the mound of his works.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, the first in several scribblings about my research: how I connect historic places in my sources with their modern names.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, I spoke with a friend who converted to Catholicism as an adult about her conversion and how she relates to the Catholic Church as a whole.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, I reflect on the role of love in balancing between self-praise and community in a discussion of vanity.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, some comments about my trip to Boston last month and reflections on that resilient city.---Click Here to Support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, in memory of His Holiness Pope Francis and of the revolutionary anniversaries in America and Ireland this week, some words on the humility necessary for the best sorts of leaders.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkanePhoto: By Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Photographer name), CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34828249

This week, reflections on Michel de Montaigne's perception of his changing character throughout his life.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, how our relationship with the natural world reflects on our relationships with each other.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkanePhoto by Hariprasad Ashwene, 2024.

This week, a few words on taking life slower.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, how I take nuance and particularity into account in my efforts as a translator.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, what does it mean for my community to call ourselves Irish Americans?---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, a meditation on the Name of God.---Art: Studio of El Greco, "Agony in the Garden," (1590) oil on canvas, 102 x 131 cm, Toledo Art Museum, Toledo, Ohio, USA, National Gallery, London.Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, a few words on homeownership.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

How distractions can be beneficial or detrimental, from a certain point of view.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkaneI recommend you now listen to: On PausesA link to the WBEZ Chicago story referenced in this episode.

This week, talking through three terms I've historically had trouble understanding: epistemology, ontology, and teleology.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, how numbers are both a universal language and symbols representing deeper meaning.---Click here to support the Wednesday Blog:https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, I discuss how my experience working with genealogy databases helped prepare me to be a professional researcher. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, some thoughts on the divestment of our social media attention and why I choose to use different platforms for different sorts of messages. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane Photo of the author by Hariprasad Ashwene, 2024.

This week, looking ahead to the next 25 years here are three things that I hope we see become ordinary things by 2050. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://wwww.patreon.com/sthosdkane

This week, to begin Season 5, I discuss some hopes of mine for the first quarter of the twenty-first century through reflections on three things that I imagined might be possible twenty-five years ago. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane

Season 4 Finale: This week, to celebrate Christmas I've decided to write a bit about naming conventions that I've come across, and to explain why I use my full name professionally. Nollaig shona daoibh | Merry Christmas! --- Click Here to Support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, for my birthday I want to write to you about my belief in all of us and how democracy remains our best hope. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, how the same tools can be used to weave a variety of different stories. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, some notes on the story I released here last week, more about Carruthers Smith and the other stories who populate that tale. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, a story about excess and secrets all in a museum built by an old reclusive Gilded Age tycoon named Carruthers Smith. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane The episode artwork this week was generated by Dreamstudio. I really need to get back to sketching. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, an odd sort of sorrow that explains my reading habits. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, some words on the places I visited and the people I met on this North American Tour I finished on Sunday. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, to start November, a realization I had recently about how to overcome less severe colds. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane⁠ Photo: a moose diorama on display at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia taken by the author in August 2022. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I have a spooky short story for you, based on an experience I had over the summer. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane Photo: an empty corridor in the Paris Métro as seen by the author on the evening when this spooky story takes place. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, some words about silence in communication. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane Photo: the poster for the new film "Lee" which is discussed in this episode. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I want to write to you about the revealed joys found in the experience of editing. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I discuss the two Irish words for the horse, and what they tell us about the history of the Irish language. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, a great celebration commences in our national pastime. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, to conclude a month of chaos I interviewed environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb about his book Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane. Links Ben Goldfarb's Website: https://www.bengoldfarb.com NOAA Fisheries, "Oregon Beavers Engineer Better Fish Habitat, More Fish," 14 July 2016. Popular Science, "From the Archives: Do Beavers Rule on Mars?", 6 May 2022. Harvest Public Media, "The Midwest and Great Plains are gearing up for water fights fueled by climate change", 3 Sep 2024. Photo Credit: Beaver in the Pipestone Creek, Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota. Photo: Gabe Yellowhawk. Public Domain. Learn more here. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I address news that the latest version of ChatGPT will help with your math problems. --- Links: New York Times, 12 Sep. 2024, Cade Metz, "OpenAI Unveils New ChatGPT That Can Reason Through Math and Science." Eddie Burback, 1 Sep. 2024, "AI is here. What now?" YouTube. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, some moderation in Maverick's “need for speed.” --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, some animalistic thoughts. Photo credit: Fighting African Elephants in Stanley Field Hall. Taxidermy by Carl Akeley . 41411 is on the left with two tusks and its trunk is raised. 41410 is on the right, with one tusk. (c) Field Museum of Natural History - CC BY-NC 4.0 --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I take you along on an investigation I undertook recently into a family heirloom from World War II. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

In the last week, I've learned about the impermanence of things after a flood struck our house. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

In celebration of the last few weeks of the Summer Olympics in Paris, I want to write to you about the optimism that the Olympics embody. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, how it's good to pause and notice the ways we supersede older things with the new while benefiting from the old all the same. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, some words on two books about exploration that I've read this summer: Hampton Sides's The Wide Wide Sea, and Michael Palin's Erebus. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This past weekend, history was made when President Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. The next 48 hours inspired tremendous hope again. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I feel compelled by this past weekend's events to write about the follies of political violence. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I have a short story for you that I wrote three years ago after the death of a dear friend. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I'm writing to you with this week's holiday in mind, with some of my aspirations and hopes for America. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, a few words about the trip I just completed to London and Paris. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support

This week, I have a short story for you, in the style of an Irish aisling, a dream narrative, about a tiger basking in the warm February sun. --- Click here to support the Wednesday Blog: https://www.patreon.com/sthosdkane --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sean-thomas-kane/support