Michael E. Smith

My book is now out in paperback! It is a comparative perspective on early cities, from a social-science perspective (population, economics, politics). I cover both top-down & bottom-up influences on urban life. 29 case studies, and many illustrations. bit.ly/40iU33d

Yes, says Kino

@nexon_tweets AI slop

Animal camouflage gone wrong 😱😱😱😭

@elenacute01 AI slop

The Heart-Stopping Moment a Guardian Stepped In.

The Post story was probably written by AI

Ha ha, the NY Post plagiarized parts of an unpublished report of mine on the "Roman" figurine from Calixtlahuaca, but ignored the logical conclusions and added bogus info to produce a sensationalized account. nypost.com/2026/03/19/sci… My account is here: public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/tval…

@GrumpyRando @TerribleMaps I’ve always had it (in Santa Fe) served in the frito bag.

@TerribleMaps Frito Pie is not weird. Frito Pie is delicious.

The weirdest foods in each U.S. state

@Majora__Z @Trey_Explainer Ha ha, this old joke. I talk about it here: public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/tval…

For people curious, here is @MichaelESmith 's (who is a Mesoamerican archeologist who has done work at the site the head is from) page about the specimen web.archive.org/web/2023032609… The dating is suspect and the field notes are iffy, so it's probably nothing Even if it is a legit Roman sculpture that was buried in Prehispanic times, that doesn't necessarily mean that the Romans had a colony in Mexico or anything: It could have washed up and then been ritually re-deposited, since the Aztec and possibly other Mesoamericans collected foreign and ancient goods and would ritually bury them as offerings

Don’t waste your time, this object has been known since the 90s and is most likely of dubious provenance Why the New York Post has randomly promoted this decades old story with no new information is a mystery to me

Photo challenge: shot from inside the vehicle.

Just share your cute pet pictures I’ll go first.

@RepJimmyPanetta Jimmy Panetta supports funneling billions of our tax dollars to Israel to fuel forever wars and genocide. VOTE @Sean4congress_ to invest those tax dollars here at home instead! #CA19

@HonkIfUrHoary Congratulations. Give ‘em hell!

With a full tuition waiver and stipend! Hell yeah!

I JUST GOT IN TO GRAD SCHOOL!!!

@JoshLipnik Glad you got to see this, one of Arizonas gems. It was built by Padre Eusebio Kino, whose name we used for our dog, Kino

San Xavier del Bac Mission (1783-97) Tucson, AZ

"Unconditional love has a furry face." Let’s see a photo of your furry friend! 🐾🐾

@8ntmuch Teotihuacan.

We need more photography on 𝕏!📸 If you agree, post a picture!

@WalterC62247671 @Majora__Z @nonregemesse 20-minute city does not refer to the entire city, but to the services available in neighborhoods. Teotihuacan was not very large (100,000 pop), Imperial Rome and Tang period Chang'an each had 1 million people. There was enough food, and people wanted to live in these places.

@Majora__Z @nonregemesse The common thought is that the constraint of city size pre-mechanization was walking/animal transport distances, the "20 minute city". How did Teotihuacan get away with being bigger?

No, we yearn for the domus

Cantando TANGO con mi PADRE youtu.be/ojOS-tflVC4?si… via @YouTube. My new favorite YouTube channel. Paola Hermosin!

No cheating, post the last saved dog pic on your phone

This energy >>> 🙌 #NCAAWBB x 🎥 @SunDevilWBB

J.S. Bach: Chorale Prelude “Wachet Auf” (Synthesized) youtu.be/SMMpKYd63Gw?si… via @YouTube. This is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t find Wendy Carlos Switched on Bach on YouTube or Spotify, but this is a very cool version of one of my favorite pieces of music

And, she has ten proposals for action. This is an outstanding paper in many ways! philpeople.org/profiles/emili…

public trust in science. 3. Feedback loops in metric related to scientific publishing exacerbate inequalities and make it difficult to change the rules of the system. 4. For-profit academic journal publishing is contrary to the ethos of science and research ethics standard.

Are you dissatisfied w/ scientific publishing? Then this article is for you: Kaczmarek, E (2025) Why the Current Model of Academic Publishing is Ethically Flawed-and What We Can Do to Change It. utppublishing.com/doi/full/10.31… 4 reasons why the current model is flawed ethically: