C. E. M. Henderson
@cemhend.bsky.social
PhD@UToronto CMS. Palaeography, codicology, forensics skeptic. Also Chaucer and video games. Wikipedia editor (AMA). AuDHD. 🏴🏳️⚧️
Also @[email protected] and cemhend on birdsite
Also @[email protected] and cemhend on birdsite
Pinned
C. E. M. Henderson
@cemhend.bsky.social
· Nov 12
Hi new folks! 👋
I’m in my last year* of dissertation-writing about Medieval English scribal identification. Can we do it: by consensus (no); with some help from forensics (also no); at all (unclear); with the help of machine learning (surprisingly maybe yes)?
*if I can stop getting in car crashes
I’m in my last year* of dissertation-writing about Medieval English scribal identification. Can we do it: by consensus (no); with some help from forensics (also no); at all (unclear); with the help of machine learning (surprisingly maybe yes)?
*if I can stop getting in car crashes
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Being in New Zealand has been glorious, and I’ve been trying to bring joy to our world that needs more joy and less rage posting.
But this is a rage post. You need to read this gift article because you need to be enraged.
But this is a rage post. You need to read this gift article because you need to be enraged.
F.D.A. Refuses to Review Moderna Flu Vaccine
www.nytimes.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:54 AM
Being in New Zealand has been glorious, and I’ve been trying to bring joy to our world that needs more joy and less rage posting.
But this is a rage post. You need to read this gift article because you need to be enraged.
But this is a rage post. You need to read this gift article because you need to be enraged.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
...thought I'd share a few excerpts today. I organized the essay around 3 false assumptions commonly made by ppl who think abandoning trans rights will help Dems in future elections. the first is that the anti-trans backlash stems from "activists gone too far"... www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
February 4, 2026 at 6:47 PM
...thought I'd share a few excerpts today. I organized the essay around 3 false assumptions commonly made by ppl who think abandoning trans rights will help Dems in future elections. the first is that the anti-trans backlash stems from "activists gone too far"... www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
If people want to understand how we got here, the destruction of the press, by both changing technology and failures to adjust and deliberate destruction, is a major reason, possibly THE largest reason, why.
Support media you value.
Support media you value.
This chart. Wow. reportearth.substack.com/p/the-washin... via @chriscmooney.bsky.social
February 8, 2026 at 5:13 PM
If people want to understand how we got here, the destruction of the press, by both changing technology and failures to adjust and deliberate destruction, is a major reason, possibly THE largest reason, why.
Support media you value.
Support media you value.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
If it brings any silly fun to your day, I had to do a couple of test runs of the Z-Image setup on my research machine, and have discovered it is wholly incapable of yielding a generic 'Henri Matisse' painting without including a chicken. First two were 'saxophones', others, just 'a painting'...
February 7, 2026 at 6:27 PM
If it brings any silly fun to your day, I had to do a couple of test runs of the Z-Image setup on my research machine, and have discovered it is wholly incapable of yielding a generic 'Henri Matisse' painting without including a chicken. First two were 'saxophones', others, just 'a painting'...
the what
oh no
oh no
I have now read through and commented on the base rules of the neopets playtest.
God this sucks lmao
God this sucks lmao
February 7, 2026 at 6:28 PM
the what
oh no
oh no
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
February 6, 2026 at 3:00 PM
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
Canada did a consultation on a new national AI strategy, formed an expert task force to write 32 reports, then used AI to analyze the responses & reports. The result is a summary that strings together 100s of vague action items & flattens nuance and policy trade-offs into false consensus
February 6, 2026 at 6:05 AM
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Ta-Nehisi Coates: With the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, "Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact—the culture war is an actual war"
“The Homeland” Is War on America: The Blood-and-Soil Nationalism That Killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti
In the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact: the culture war is an actual war.
www.vanityfair.com
January 26, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Ta-Nehisi Coates: With the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, "Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact—the culture war is an actual war"
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I knew about the tow truck wars in Toronto but I did not know that MORE THAN 1 IN 8 bullets fired by guns anywhere in Toronto in the year 2024 were related to tow truck driver turf wars???
And the police force is not just complicit but LEAKING INFO TO HITMEN????
And the police force is not just complicit but LEAKING INFO TO HITMEN????
February 5, 2026 at 12:55 AM
I knew about the tow truck wars in Toronto but I did not know that MORE THAN 1 IN 8 bullets fired by guns anywhere in Toronto in the year 2024 were related to tow truck driver turf wars???
And the police force is not just complicit but LEAKING INFO TO HITMEN????
And the police force is not just complicit but LEAKING INFO TO HITMEN????
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
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 C. E. M. Henderson
It feels like it's been impossible to get people outside of higher ed to understand that eliminating staff/programs/majors is primarily an ideological project, whatever claims are made about finances.
What's happened at the Post is what's been happening in higher ed for ages.
What's happened at the Post is what's been happening in higher ed for ages.
February 5, 2026 at 1:19 PM
It feels like it's been impossible to get people outside of higher ed to understand that eliminating staff/programs/majors is primarily an ideological project, whatever claims are made about finances.
What's happened at the Post is what's been happening in higher ed for ages.
What's happened at the Post is what's been happening in higher ed for ages.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
“Before we uncovered the first remains, our best find was a 1960s Smarties lid. I had never encountered human remains on a dig, and I was struck by how close yet distant these people felt. We were separated by only a few years in age, but over a thousand years in time.”
#MedievalSky
#MedievalSky
Students unearth remains in possible execution pit on training dig
The discovery was made at Wandlebury Country Park near Cambridge
www.independent.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 4:13 PM
“Before we uncovered the first remains, our best find was a 1960s Smarties lid. I had never encountered human remains on a dig, and I was struck by how close yet distant these people felt. We were separated by only a few years in age, but over a thousand years in time.”
#MedievalSky
#MedievalSky
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Devastatingly sad.
Every Labour MP should be forced to read this. In fact, every MP, who rushed back to Parliament to vote to save one steel mill, whilst hastening the collapse of dozens of universities - and harming the students, staff, communities and economies universities sustain and support
Every Labour MP should be forced to read this. In fact, every MP, who rushed back to Parliament to vote to save one steel mill, whilst hastening the collapse of dozens of universities - and harming the students, staff, communities and economies universities sustain and support
'When it opened, the campus housed a GP surgery and a new dental clinic offering free treatment to local people. This was followed later by the forum – a library and art gallery shared by the university and local people.' 1/2
‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university?
When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...
www.theguardian.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:06 AM
Devastatingly sad.
Every Labour MP should be forced to read this. In fact, every MP, who rushed back to Parliament to vote to save one steel mill, whilst hastening the collapse of dozens of universities - and harming the students, staff, communities and economies universities sustain and support
Every Labour MP should be forced to read this. In fact, every MP, who rushed back to Parliament to vote to save one steel mill, whilst hastening the collapse of dozens of universities - and harming the students, staff, communities and economies universities sustain and support
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
the earliest depiction of Christ’s crucifixion is among the ruins of a Roman palace turned messenger boy’s school - a student mocking one of his Christian classmates with a doodle of a boy praying to a donkey-headed figure on a cross captioned “Alexamenos worshipping his God”
February 3, 2026 at 10:41 PM
the earliest depiction of Christ’s crucifixion is among the ruins of a Roman palace turned messenger boy’s school - a student mocking one of his Christian classmates with a doodle of a boy praying to a donkey-headed figure on a cross captioned “Alexamenos worshipping his God”
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Milton tangent complete, I am returning to my work on erased/struck out/obliterated inscriptions.
For many reasons they aren't the easiest things to locate in online catalogues. So if you come across any fun ones (esp. in books published prior to ~1750), here is a public request to think of me.
For many reasons they aren't the easiest things to locate in online catalogues. So if you come across any fun ones (esp. in books published prior to ~1750), here is a public request to think of me.
February 2, 2026 at 12:11 PM
Milton tangent complete, I am returning to my work on erased/struck out/obliterated inscriptions.
For many reasons they aren't the easiest things to locate in online catalogues. So if you come across any fun ones (esp. in books published prior to ~1750), here is a public request to think of me.
For many reasons they aren't the easiest things to locate in online catalogues. So if you come across any fun ones (esp. in books published prior to ~1750), here is a public request to think of me.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Here it is! @cjg70.bsky.social blows the doors off the question of why papyrus went out of vogue in the early Middle Ages. Follow the money! An instant classic that belongs on every manuscript studies syllabus.
"The problem of the lack of papyrus [after c.1000] forced a receptiveness to new forms of papal government which the high medieval 'reformers' were able to move into and exploit from about 1050"... Absolutely enthralling new article by @cjg70.bsky.social and Ben Savill (Open Access). #medievalsky
Papyrus Economies and the Experience of Early Medieval Papal Documents*
Abstract. The medium of papyrus, a ubiquitous, state-sponsored product in the Roman world, was turned by the empire’s loss of Egypt in the 630s–640s into a
academic.oup.com
January 30, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Here it is! @cjg70.bsky.social blows the doors off the question of why papyrus went out of vogue in the early Middle Ages. Follow the money! An instant classic that belongs on every manuscript studies syllabus.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
To avoid the possibility Holocaust remembrance might lead to empathy for migrants, Trump's antisemitism envoy claims Anne Frank "was in Amsterdam legally."
In reality, Margot Frank received a summons to go to a labor camp on July 5, 1942. After ignoring this call, they were in Amsterdam illegally.
In reality, Margot Frank received a summons to go to a labor camp on July 5, 1942. After ignoring this call, they were in Amsterdam illegally.
January 27, 2026 at 3:28 PM
To avoid the possibility Holocaust remembrance might lead to empathy for migrants, Trump's antisemitism envoy claims Anne Frank "was in Amsterdam legally."
In reality, Margot Frank received a summons to go to a labor camp on July 5, 1942. After ignoring this call, they were in Amsterdam illegally.
In reality, Margot Frank received a summons to go to a labor camp on July 5, 1942. After ignoring this call, they were in Amsterdam illegally.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
One thing I found deeply moving about resistance in the Twin Cities was the universalism of loving your neighbor, the philosophy driving the opposition to the ICE/BP invasion. I couldn't help but notice the contrast with the blood and soil-ism of Miller and Vance. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
January 27, 2026 at 2:38 PM
One thing I found deeply moving about resistance in the Twin Cities was the universalism of loving your neighbor, the philosophy driving the opposition to the ICE/BP invasion. I couldn't help but notice the contrast with the blood and soil-ism of Miller and Vance. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to abandon it
It can be a hard pill to swallow but you have to accept that while you will prevail in this struggle, you may not be there to witness it.
Nonviolence is, in fact, working. This administration is weaker than it was a year ago. More and more of the public is becoming galvanized against it; its agents are being impeded.
January 24, 2026 at 10:11 PM
It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to abandon it
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Part of this is that thanks to the specific Christianity that evolved in the US over the 20th Century -- which then permeated culture -- is that many Americans are unable to effectively differentiate between shame, guilt, and responsibility.
I'm not saying to dunk on this person AT ALL but because I want this point elevated.
I don't want you to be ashamed to be a white American. The history of white Americans who sided against whiteness and acted in solidarity with others has been suppressed as ruthlessly as the history of violence.
I don't want you to be ashamed to be a white American. The history of white Americans who sided against whiteness and acted in solidarity with others has been suppressed as ruthlessly as the history of violence.
At this point in the history of our country, I am very ashamed to be a white American! I don’t want to be mistaken for a thug who is so brain dead they convince themselves that they are better than anyone else because they are white!
I have never & would never BELIEVE THEIR CONVICTED FELON!
I have never & would never BELIEVE THEIR CONVICTED FELON!
January 22, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Part of this is that thanks to the specific Christianity that evolved in the US over the 20th Century -- which then permeated culture -- is that many Americans are unable to effectively differentiate between shame, guilt, and responsibility.
and for the love of god do not use your camp stove or bbq inside
Hi, for those of you unfamiliar with this sort of weather
-if the power goes out, trying to heat your home with the clay pot + candle method is not a great idea, try personal warmth (ie blankets) and blocking and sealing drafty areas instead if you can
-if the power goes out, trying to heat your home with the clay pot + candle method is not a great idea, try personal warmth (ie blankets) and blocking and sealing drafty areas instead if you can
Widespread freezing rain and sleet are expected south of the primary snow axis. Significant and damaging ice accumulations are likely, with the potential for long-duration power outages, tree damage, and dangerous travel conditions.
January 22, 2026 at 6:28 PM
and for the love of god do not use your camp stove or bbq inside
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Cool new book alert! With an open access digital edition, too.
A thread on ZEN AND SLOW GAMES (MIT Press, 2026)
January 22, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Cool new book alert! With an open access digital edition, too.
ok so one of the questions they ask you before an MRI is “have you EVER had metal in your eyes from any accidents, welding, grinding etc?” and: new body horror scenario unlocked
January 21, 2026 at 6:59 AM
ok so one of the questions they ask you before an MRI is “have you EVER had metal in your eyes from any accidents, welding, grinding etc?” and: new body horror scenario unlocked
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I always feel roguish to make such a basic point, but bias is an intrinsic feature of _data_, and transitively of any system of analysis or decision-making based on data.
The fact that this point has to keep being demonstrated over and over for more complex systems is crazy-making to me.
The fact that this point has to keep being demonstrated over and over for more complex systems is crazy-making to me.
"Drawing on a 20.3-million-query audit of ChatGPT, we map systematic biases in the model's representations of countries, states, cities, and neighbourhoods. From these empirics, we argue that bias is not a correctable anomaly but an intrinsic feature of generative AI”.
ht: Dagmar Monett
ht: Dagmar Monett
The silicon gaze: A typology of biases and inequality in LLMs through the lens of place - Francisco W. Kerche, Matthew Zook, Mark Graham, 2026
This paper introduces the concept of the silicon gaze to explain how large language models (LLMs) reproduce and amplify long-standing spatial inequalities. Draw...
journals.sagepub.com
January 21, 2026 at 2:47 AM
I always feel roguish to make such a basic point, but bias is an intrinsic feature of _data_, and transitively of any system of analysis or decision-making based on data.
The fact that this point has to keep being demonstrated over and over for more complex systems is crazy-making to me.
The fact that this point has to keep being demonstrated over and over for more complex systems is crazy-making to me.