Kristel Zilmer
@kristelzilmer.bsky.social
Professor of runology (= runes & runic inscriptions, not urology), working with all things runic and more. Own views and random thoughts.
Pinned
Inscribed sandstone fragments of Hole, Norway: radiocarbon dates provide insight into rune-stone traditions | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
Inscribed sandstone fragments of Hole, Norway: radiocarbon dates provide insight into rune-stone traditions
www.cambridge.org
We present some results from our long-term work on the earliest #runestone found in an archaeologically datable context #runology: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Nyttig setning å kunne på livisk. Lær og del med nærmeste svenske.
Vairāk par vārdu un tā izrunu meklējiet livonian.tech/meklesanas-r..., ierakstot vārdu “motšīņ”.
To learn more about this word and hear its pronunciation go to livonian.tech/en/search-re... and search for “motšīņ”.
#līvõkēļ
To learn more about this word and hear its pronunciation go to livonian.tech/en/search-re... and search for “motšīņ”.
#līvõkēļ
November 26, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Nyttig setning å kunne på livisk. Lær og del med nærmeste svenske.
"The self-proclaimed techno-utopians in Silicon Valley who have helped build, invest in, or cheerlead for these companies have enabled this ruin. They’ve traded reality for profit and prioritized technologies that aren’t just soulless and amoral, but inhuman in the most literal sense of the word."
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
That MAGA Account Might Be a Troll From Pakistan
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:03 PM
"The self-proclaimed techno-utopians in Silicon Valley who have helped build, invest in, or cheerlead for these companies have enabled this ruin. They’ve traded reality for profit and prioritized technologies that aren’t just soulless and amoral, but inhuman in the most literal sense of the word."
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
That MAGA Account Might Be a Troll From Pakistan
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
"Tartu University is analysing other historic artefacts ... including an 800-year-old cross depicting genitalia that makes a sound when worn.
The metal cross has a hinged piece in the shape of a vulva that covers and knocks against an engraved penis design when moved around." #MedievalSky
The metal cross has a hinged piece in the shape of a vulva that covers and knocks against an engraved penis design when moved around." #MedievalSky
DNA reveals stone age teenager as chewer of 10,500-year-old ‘gum’
The prehistoric birch tar found in Estonia contained traces of saliva that were analysed by genetics experts
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:21 AM
"Tartu University is analysing other historic artefacts ... including an 800-year-old cross depicting genitalia that makes a sound when worn.
The metal cross has a hinged piece in the shape of a vulva that covers and knocks against an engraved penis design when moved around." #MedievalSky
The metal cross has a hinged piece in the shape of a vulva that covers and knocks against an engraved penis design when moved around." #MedievalSky
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
“Graduate linguists are interdisciplinary thinkers who approach subtle nuances with a sophisticated awareness of societal and historical context". (Megan Bowler) 2/3
November 22, 2025 at 12:14 PM
“Graduate linguists are interdisciplinary thinkers who approach subtle nuances with a sophisticated awareness of societal and historical context". (Megan Bowler) 2/3
“The Pravda network is one of the most prolific Russia-aligned information operations. […] ISD found that hundreds of media webpages have cited Pravda network articles by linking to them, including news outlets, fact-checkers and academic institutions.” www.isdglobal.org/digital_disp...
Link by link: Hundreds of webpages cite pro-Russia Pravda network
ISD has built a free browser extension to help individuals recognise Pravda network sites, which hundreds of media outlets still treat as credible.
www.isdglobal.org
November 21, 2025 at 8:19 PM
“The Pravda network is one of the most prolific Russia-aligned information operations. […] ISD found that hundreds of media webpages have cited Pravda network articles by linking to them, including news outlets, fact-checkers and academic institutions.” www.isdglobal.org/digital_disp...
I guess we have to get mentally ready for an increasing stream of similar emails even in small fields of scholarship, like runology - which has historically attracted everything from mad theories to direct misuse. Over the years, I have already struggled with various requests. Now: Brace for impact.
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 21, 2025 at 11:59 AM
I guess we have to get mentally ready for an increasing stream of similar emails even in small fields of scholarship, like runology - which has historically attracted everything from mad theories to direct misuse. Over the years, I have already struggled with various requests. Now: Brace for impact.
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
Livonian place names arising as part of the linguistic landscape in Latvia – slowly but still.
(Photo: Ventspils novada pašvaldība / Līvõd institūt)
(Photo: Ventspils novada pašvaldība / Līvõd institūt)
November 20, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Livonian place names arising as part of the linguistic landscape in Latvia – slowly but still.
(Photo: Ventspils novada pašvaldība / Līvõd institūt)
(Photo: Ventspils novada pašvaldība / Līvõd institūt)
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
Just learnt that there is a Manx language podcast - will defo be giving this a go www.learnmanx.com/learning/pod... #celtic #manx
Podcast Gaelgagh | Learn Manx
www.learnmanx.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Just learnt that there is a Manx language podcast - will defo be giving this a go www.learnmanx.com/learning/pod... #celtic #manx
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
Norwegian researchers have ignored repeated denials to use data collected from trans patients and published anyway. This is frankly unforgivable in the context of a long history of medical institutions not only ignoring the rights of the people they need to help, but actively harming them.
Vi har funnet enda en internasjonalt publisert forskningsartikkel der OUS har brukt data fra tusenvis av transpersoners pasientjournaler uten samtykke eller etisk godkjenning.
Tidsskriftet Acta Paediatrica har publisert bekymringene våre i dag.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...
Tidsskriftet Acta Paediatrica har publisert bekymringene våre i dag.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...
November 19, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Norwegian researchers have ignored repeated denials to use data collected from trans patients and published anyway. This is frankly unforgivable in the context of a long history of medical institutions not only ignoring the rights of the people they need to help, but actively harming them.
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
De 18 åren är alltså de som den nuvarande arkivarien jobbat med det.
IT-avdelning raderade 18 års arbete: ”Mådde så pass dåligt att jag behövde sjukskriva mig”
Digitalisering av kommunarkiv gick upp i rök med ett knapptryck.
www.hd.se
November 18, 2025 at 9:19 PM
De 18 åren är alltså de som den nuvarande arkivarien jobbat med det.
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
For anyone who's struggled with variable spelling practices before modern printing, there's a summary of what's "interchangeable" in Thomas Wright's Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English. 2 vols. London, 1857.
#orthography #English #language #dialect #manuscripts #medieval
#orthography #English #language #dialect #manuscripts #medieval
November 16, 2025 at 2:58 PM
For anyone who's struggled with variable spelling practices before modern printing, there's a summary of what's "interchangeable" in Thomas Wright's Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English. 2 vols. London, 1857.
#orthography #English #language #dialect #manuscripts #medieval
#orthography #English #language #dialect #manuscripts #medieval
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
Just to be clear, this is/was US academia
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
I thing I sometimes thing about is that university departments were still doing job interviews in hotel rooms in the mid aughts
November 16, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Just to be clear, this is/was US academia
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
It's corruption only it comes from the Corruptian Mountains of Eastern Europe, otherwise it is just a sparkling gold bar.
To negotiate a trade deal with the President of the United States, the Swiss government arrived with a "special Rolex desktop clock" and "a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar"
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab
How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.
www.axios.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:08 AM
It's corruption only it comes from the Corruptian Mountains of Eastern Europe, otherwise it is just a sparkling gold bar.
An interesting case of reinterpreting a propaganda monument: news.err.ee/1609858743/t...
Tehumardi Memorial becomes first reinterpreted monument in Estonia
The Tehumardi Soviet propaganda monument has become Estonia's first monumental heritage site to be artistically reinterpreted.
news.err.ee
November 15, 2025 at 8:53 PM
An interesting case of reinterpreting a propaganda monument: news.err.ee/1609858743/t...
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
New article from Robin Fleming on the break between Roman & Early Medieval Britain.
'the lines drawn between periods are not... inherent, but because they help us organise our data, structure our understanding of the past, & keep us sane. An historical period is a tool...[not] an explanation.'
'the lines drawn between periods are not... inherent, but because they help us organise our data, structure our understanding of the past, & keep us sane. An historical period is a tool...[not] an explanation.'
November 15, 2025 at 8:35 AM
New article from Robin Fleming on the break between Roman & Early Medieval Britain.
'the lines drawn between periods are not... inherent, but because they help us organise our data, structure our understanding of the past, & keep us sane. An historical period is a tool...[not] an explanation.'
'the lines drawn between periods are not... inherent, but because they help us organise our data, structure our understanding of the past, & keep us sane. An historical period is a tool...[not] an explanation.'
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
🎺Calling graduate students and those who have completed a higher degree in the last three years🎺
We want to read your new ideas and fresh perspectives! Consider submitting your work to the Medium Ævum Essay Prize 2026.
We want to read your new ideas and fresh perspectives! Consider submitting your work to the Medium Ævum Essay Prize 2026.
October 19, 2025 at 12:58 PM
🎺Calling graduate students and those who have completed a higher degree in the last three years🎺
We want to read your new ideas and fresh perspectives! Consider submitting your work to the Medium Ævum Essay Prize 2026.
We want to read your new ideas and fresh perspectives! Consider submitting your work to the Medium Ævum Essay Prize 2026.
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
This is a thoroughly delightful video from some linguists in Finland marrying Finnish etymology with Finnish folk dancing and even if you know nothing about any of these things their enthusiasm is contagious
(and it has English subtitles)
youtu.be/0FoOuV76vKA?...
(and it has English subtitles)
youtu.be/0FoOuV76vKA?...
Jankata
YouTube video by Kärhämä
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 11:57 PM
This is a thoroughly delightful video from some linguists in Finland marrying Finnish etymology with Finnish folk dancing and even if you know nothing about any of these things their enthusiasm is contagious
(and it has English subtitles)
youtu.be/0FoOuV76vKA?...
(and it has English subtitles)
youtu.be/0FoOuV76vKA?...
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
I haven't had such a great time watching linguistics singing and dancing since last year's "I put the glamour/back into grammar" video
This is a thoroughly delightful video from some linguists in Finland marrying Finnish etymology with Finnish folk dancing and even if you know nothing about any of these things their enthusiasm is contagious
(and it has English subtitles)
youtu.be/0FoOuV76vKA?...
(and it has English subtitles)
youtu.be/0FoOuV76vKA?...
Jankata
YouTube video by Kärhämä
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 11:59 PM
I haven't had such a great time watching linguistics singing and dancing since last year's "I put the glamour/back into grammar" video
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
Remind yourself of Hebrew, Greek, and Runic.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 878; Vademecum of Walahfrid Strabo (ca. 808 CE-849 CE, Abbot of Reichenau); between about 825 CE and 849 CE; Reichenau; pp.320-1
(e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 878; Vademecum of Walahfrid Strabo (ca. 808 CE-849 CE, Abbot of Reichenau); between about 825 CE and 849 CE; Reichenau; pp.320-1
(e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)
November 13, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Remind yourself of Hebrew, Greek, and Runic.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 878; Vademecum of Walahfrid Strabo (ca. 808 CE-849 CE, Abbot of Reichenau); between about 825 CE and 849 CE; Reichenau; pp.320-1
(e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 878; Vademecum of Walahfrid Strabo (ca. 808 CE-849 CE, Abbot of Reichenau); between about 825 CE and 849 CE; Reichenau; pp.320-1
(e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.
November 12, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.
“What’s certain is that the Big Five will no longer reap the obscene profit margins they’ve enjoyed for decades. Their multimillion-dollar agreements with artificial intelligence companies may be the last windfall. For the rest of us, hope lies around the corner.”
Opinion: Chaos is coming for scholarly publishing.
Buckling of commercial models alongside maturing of community-led efforts promises major shifts, says Caroline Edwards (@theblochian.bsky.social).
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
Buckling of commercial models alongside maturing of community-led efforts promises major shifts, says Caroline Edwards (@theblochian.bsky.social).
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
Chaos is coming for scholarly publishing - Research Professional News
Buckling of commercial models alongside maturing of community-led efforts promises major shifts, says Caroline Edwards
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:27 PM
“What’s certain is that the Big Five will no longer reap the obscene profit margins they’ve enjoyed for decades. Their multimillion-dollar agreements with artificial intelligence companies may be the last windfall. For the rest of us, hope lies around the corner.”
Gi din støtte til norskundervisning i utlandet. Og ja: "De positive ringvirkningene av lektoratordningen gjelder også norsk akademia. Ved norske universiteter og høgskoler er det ansatt flere utenlandske forskere som begynte karrierene sine ved å studere norsk i utlandet." (Jeg er en av dem.)
There is an imminent plan to cut education in Norwegian language and culture overseas. Do consider signing the petition, which you can find here #norway #languages #academia #scandinavia docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Angående statsbudsjettet for 2026 og regjeringens forslag om å avvikle ordningen for Norgeskunnskap i utlandet
Høringsuttalelse 12. november 2025 til medlemmer av Stortingets utdannings- og forskningskomité Angående statsbudsjettet for 2026 og regjeringens forslag om å avvikle ordningen for Norgeskunnskap i ...
docs.google.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Gi din støtte til norskundervisning i utlandet. Og ja: "De positive ringvirkningene av lektoratordningen gjelder også norsk akademia. Ved norske universiteter og høgskoler er det ansatt flere utenlandske forskere som begynte karrierene sine ved å studere norsk i utlandet." (Jeg er en av dem.)
Reposted by Kristel Zilmer
How aware is/are your MP(s) of what your local universities deliver beyond taught programmes? Little in political debate or media suggests that their understanding is high. Perhaps it's time to add tutorials with worked examples to the mix, before it's too late. ICSs offer easy starting points. 8/8
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 AM
How aware is/are your MP(s) of what your local universities deliver beyond taught programmes? Little in political debate or media suggests that their understanding is high. Perhaps it's time to add tutorials with worked examples to the mix, before it's too late. ICSs offer easy starting points. 8/8