Robert Fleming

Robert Fleming

@flemingrob.bsky.social

FRGS AMA | Principal Maps Research Specialist @ The National Archives. Historian of armies, empire, espionage, cartography & cricket. London & lutruwita/Tasmania | Born on the traditional lands of the Palawa/Pakana people.

304 followers460 following353 posts

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

I hate the avoidable or deliberate destruction of heritage, but this feels especially galling: their worldviews were so different. Ike’s “middle way” rejected rigid labels & extremism, he fostered alliances & collective security, and kept the army and state apart. bsky.app/profile/altn...

Alt National Park Service@altnps.bsky.social

This is sad. General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s historic World War II globe was broken when Pete Hegseth’s team dropped it while trying to move it into his office.

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

Hegseth has pursued a sweeping ideological overhaul of the Pentagon, pushing a hardline "warrior ethos", purging senior officials for loyalty metrics whilst railing against diversity & inclusion, and dismantling independent military traditions (such as interventions involving Stars and Stripes).

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

Eisenhower in contrast, warned against the military becoming a tool of partisan zeal or industrial-political capture. He used armed force with sober restraint. His 1961 farewell argued for professional, non-partisan, apolitical armed forces—and cautioned against the military-industrial complex.

Robert Fleming reposted

Otto English
@ottoenglish.bsky.social

The absolute terror of car free 15 minute cities

Hackney Cyclist@hackneycyclist.bsky.social

Removing motor traffic from city centre streets creates places where people linger, relax, dine and enjoy being outside. Places where families can safely ride their bikes, people of all ages can get safely around, and where streets are dominated by people, not cars.

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

A fantastic photo from Chirang Upreti taken from Westchester, New York — the moon is in wonderful detail, lightly illuminated by "earthshine"; but look more closely and you also see Jupiter's bright Galilean satellites: Ganymede, Io, Callisto, and Europa.

Robert Fleming reposted

James Asser MP
@jamesasser.bsky.social

Eastside Community Heritage received their National Archives accreditation, a huge achievement! ECH are preserving the memories of people whose lives should not be overlooked or forgotten just because they didn't take place in grand buildings but on ordinary streets in East London.

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

It is fair to say "Equal Earth" has elevated cartography to a higher position in news interest than usual, and I saw quite a few questions about it following my online talk "Captivating Cartography" given yesterday. Here's a good article on the topic 👇🏻 www.theguardian.com/science/ng-i...

theguardian.com‘A map is never neutral’: meet the cartographers who took on centuries of western biasEqual Earth projection, adopted by the UN last week, provides an alternative to 16th-century Mercator display
Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

An extraordinary data visualisation cleanly showing the convergence between population, fertility and mortality over time. An excellent tool called Visquil from Sweden's Benjamin Niedermann. 🗺️👏🏻 Definitely a map clap for this. visquill.com/gallery/worl...

visquill.comDemographic ProfilesInteractive demographic profiles for countries around the world, showing population structure, mortality, and fertility by age group. Data from the UN World Population Prospects 2024.

Robert Fleming reposted

Covering Climate Now
@coveringclimatenow.org

Is Nepal a turning point in climate coverage? Even formerly reticent news outlets are making the climate connection clear in their coverage of the deadly flooding in Nepal, where more than 1,100 are confirmed dead and an additional 4,000 are missing.

coveringclimatenow.orgIs Nepal a Turning Point in Climate Coverage? — Covering Climate NowIt’s been slow coming, but news coverage of climate change may at last be turning a corner. For years, reporting on climate-related disasters — the super-storm Hurricane Helene that blasted the southe...
Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

An absolute pleasure to be invited by the Gallipoli Association to speak at their annual conference at the prestigious RAF club on the role of the Australian Flying Corps in Eastern theatres, and in particular on No. 1 Sqn (AFC)'s contributions to aerial photography and mapping in the Middle East.

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

South Western Railways map—still currently displayed on trains—dates from the 2017 Firstgroup franchise/rebrand. It seems to suggest several South coast ports from where you can catch ferries AND hovercraft. The last hovercraft crossing of the channel took place on 1/10/2000.

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

This is an epic thread about an epic footnote.

John Bull@garius.eurosky.social

If you ask someone today to name the builder of Hadrian's Wall, they would give you a funny look. But historical memory is odd, and right up to the 1800s we forgot who built it. Until in 1840 John Hodgson, an obscure Northumbrian clergyman, published the LONGEST footnote in history... 1/22

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

Horrendous cultural vandalism. If you can avoid Amazon and support independent booksellers, please do.

404 Media@404media.co

SCOOP: 404 Media placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it. What did we find? It ended up at an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. Yes. This is literally the logo outside the Amazon warehouse door. Read now:

404media.coWe Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training FacilityWe placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.

Robert Fleming reposted

Dr Susan Greaney
@suegreaney.bsky.social

My uni have just withdrawn Geography, History & Geography and Politics & Geography undergrad courses run from our Penryn campus. Terrible for Cornwall. How did the staff find out? When UCAS clearing opened at 8am 😡

Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

This is an unforgivable level of cultural vandalism. And it isn't done for the good of humanity but the profitability of one company.

The Guardian@theguardian.com

‘More than just objects’: Australian book sellers raise alarm over ‘horrific’ destruction of rare titles to feed AI

theguardian.com‘More than just objects’: Australian book sellers raise alarm over ‘horrific’ destruction of rare titles to feed AISecondhand booksellers believe they may have been caught up in the AI supply chain that sees old books scanned then destroyed
Robert Fleming
@flemingrob.bsky.social

I've been quite disgusted to learn of the barbaric and unjustifiable deliberate destruction of millions of books to fuel Anthropic AI. The US lawsuit which grossly permitted flagrant theft of IP was bad enough, but now they deliberately seek out & destroy rare books. www.news.com.au/technology/o...

news.com.auAI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare booksIf you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.