iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Planning to teach from this in a 14th-c. poetry course next Spring. Very excited!

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Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.northsky.social · 06/10/2026

Another day, another page from a manuscript unique in world history. This is the "Cambridge Yiddish Codex," the earliest known collection of Yiddish texts (1382 CE). It preserves Jewish homilies, animal fables, and a lost poem of the German epic tradition, "Dukus Horant." It was discovered in Cairo.

Light brown waterstained paper folio with about 20 lines of Yiddish text in brown-black ink, much of which is faded. The background is white and a small red caption reads T-S 10K22 (https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-TS-00010-K-00022/23).

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Prof. Dimitra Fimi @dimitrafimi.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Wonderful #Tolkien news! Westminster Abbey has announced that J.R.R. Tolkien will be honoured with a memorial in Poets' Corner. I've known about this project for some years + was privileged to be consulted during its development. Great to see it made public! www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/a...

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

And to think they tried to tell us a humanities Ph.D. had no real world applications

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Shana @shanamd.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I am SORRY for sharing something that was posted on the other place, but this is too good.

The future pope at a party with a caption “they don’t know I’m the future pope”

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weeder @weeder.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Oh you welcomed your first baby? I've welcomed dozens of babies. Any baby is welcome around me.

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This is a great reading to show in the classroom—even if students don’t have any Old Irish, it helps them develop an ear for the rhythm and prosody of the verse

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I wouldn’t be the man I am today if my intro to english lit professor hadn’t abducted me, mutilated me, and abandoned me in the wilderness. Why are we robbing children of this vital part of the college experience?

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Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Every six months a writer goes on parental leave, is driven insane by watching 10,000 hours of Paw Patrol, and writes another one of these articles, and they're always great.

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Pleased to finally announce... Abdication, the last Southern Reach novel! "There will come the days of the watcher, the drowned woman and the shadow of a man who keeps falling apart with each step, but first comes the moment the birds appear at night from the gaps between the stars, far from home."

Publishers Marketplace Deal Report, August 6, 2026:

Jeff Vandermeer's ABDICATION, the last novel in the Southern Reach series, in which an ornithologist exiled to a remote coast stumbles on a terrifying secret, a self-proclaimed king pursues a mystery hidden in a strange weather station, and a man who can become a cormorant is tasked with a deadly mission through a future landscape transformed by Area X, for publication in October 2027, in a significant deal, to Jenna Johnson at Farrar, Straus, by Joseph Veltre at the Gersh Agency and Alex Kohner at Yorn Levine (world).

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

the comparisons with Galileo that everyone is rushing to make are really interesting -- but not for the reasons that most people think the Galileo affair was not an instance of a heroic scientist falling victim to a an all-powerful Catholic Church monolithically committed to obscurity and dogma,

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Joschka Meier @josserme.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

When I first heard about the bronze age line, I thought it was a joke! "Our age of bronze is collapsing" is like one step above having a character saying something like "Our era, in the 12th century BC"

"But writing dialogue is not one of Nolan’s talents. The language is relentlessly expository, humourless and flat. Attempts at vigorous speech – ‘My dad’s coming home’ or ‘Let’s get off this fucking beach’ – sit uncomfortably next to grandiose meditations: ‘Yes, my queen. The breaking of Zeus’ law, spreading like plague. Our age of bronze is collapsing, and maybe he couldn’t bear to see the ruins of what he’d done. Anywhere. Least of all, his home."

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Andrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

It is a funny bit that he was like "remember the Odyssey? well the same thing happened to this guy except nothing was ever his fault and he was entirely perfect"

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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

One of the things I research is the cooperation of cultural institutions like museums in pitching tech products--specifically AI--to the public. This is advertising for the capacity of AI to educate and thus to reshape education itself as a project better left to private tech companies. 1/n

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

This is the kind of stuff I heard growing up in evangelical circles. Weird to see it being parroted here.

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

i don’t know much about soccer buddy i just watch the cup and root against countries i hate

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ariel @toomuchpiano.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

5. Arabic verbs aren’t that scary. Hebrew verbs should have a reputation for being scarier. (and Biblical Hebrew reference grammars should really get more into weirder derived stems. they’re kind of everywhere)

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Sam Frantics @dsoart.com · 23/06/2026

Garffeld

Three panel comic of an homage to the first Garfield strip, but Jon is a monk and Garfield is a medieval rendering of a cat. In the first panel, Jon says, “HWÆT, LAM JON ARBUCKLE. I AM A MONK, AND THIS MY CATTE, GARFFELD.” In the second panel, Garffeld is thinking, “ HWÆT, I AM GARFFELD. I AM A CATTE, AND THIS IS MY MONK, JON.” In the last panel, Jon says, “OUR ONLY THOUGHT IS TO GLORIFY GOD.” Garffeld thinks, “FEDE ME.”

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

If they can handle It they can handle Backrooms without issue

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JP @jpbrammer.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

[me immediately after Plato anxiously proposes the concept of the world of forms] this dude thinks beds borrow their bedness from another world LMFAO

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Lake Superior! Live! @lake-superior.live · 17/06/2026

Current* conditions near Beaver Bay, MN:

View looking SE from Cove Point Lodge overlooking a small bay on the rugged shoreline of Lake Superior. // Image captured at: 2026-06-17 01:48:03 UTC (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: covepointlodge.com // Current Temp in Beaver Bay: 51 F | 11 C // Precip: scattered clouds // Wind: NE at 6 mph | 9 kph // Humidity: 90%

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Lake Superior! Live! @lake-superior.live · 15/06/2026

Current* conditions near Duluth, MN:

View looking NE from Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center overlooking the Duluth Entry, the Duluth North Pier Lighthouse and Lake Superior beyond. // Image captured at: 2026-06-15 09:48:12 UTC (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: youtube.com/@DuluthHarborCam1 // Current Temp in Duluth: 53 F | 12 C // Precip: clear sky // Wind: NW at 2 mph | 3 kph // Humidity: 77%

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

If I had a nickel for every time a paleographer made a fetish pun in one of their article or book titles, I’d have two nickels—which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice

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wint @dril.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

why breed dogs with jaws large enough to tear through Flesh, when you could breed dogs with minds large enougj to tear through Fallacy.....

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Stephen Hopkins @phil-lol-ogist.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

ca. 700: northumbria was the powerhouse of the (monastic) cell

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

My English prof in my freshman year of college had a pet theory based on this scene that Homer was in fact a 14 year old boy when he composed the Odyssey

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LRB Bookshop @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 03/06/2026

eavesdropping on a couple of english lit academics in st. john, i overheard confirmation of what is surely going to be the biggest literary news story of the year

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Seth L. Sanders @nabalkattu.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Who Invented (Written) Hebrew? I once posed this question in the form of an article, "What was the Alphabet For?" and a book. Posing it that way opens up interesting, even disorienting questions about media, and belonging. People tended towards a single answer: Israelite scribes. But it's wrong...

press.uillinois.edu

The Invention of Hebrew

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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Fishermen at Sea -JMW Turner (1796)

Fisherman at Sea depicts a moonlit view of fishermen on rough seas near the Isle of Wight, and is a work of marine art. The small boat contains a flickering lamp. Overhead the sky is dark and clouded. There is wide sea, and threatening rocks in the background. The cold light of the Moon at night contrasts with the warmer glow of the fishermen's lantern. The chalk formations on the left of the work were traditionally thought to be the Needles on the western tip of the island; however, this has been contested, with some scholars suggesting that the chalk cliffs are instead the ones at the nearby Freshwater Bay.

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Andrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Grade inflation is like so many other problems in american society where people are unable to grapple with it as a practical problem instead of a moral problem, clear evidence of decline. I think the two main reasons it's so prevalent are course evals and grad admissions.

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Lake Superior! Live! @lake-superior.live · 21/05/2026

Current* conditions near Duluth, MN:

Traffic cam looking east from intersection of US-53 and Piedmont Ave with Lake Superior in the distance. // Image captured at: 2026-05-21 10:04:05 UTC (about 14 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: windy.com // Current Temp in Duluth: 36 F | 2 C // Precip: clear sky // Wind: ENE at 11 mph | 19 kph // Humidity: 83%

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U of T Centre for Medieval Studies @uoftcms.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Postdoc opportunity! The Dictionary of Old English invites applications for two grant-funded postdoctoral fellowships. 1. Postdoctoral Fellow, Editorial, DOE - deadline June 12. 2. Postdoctoral Fellow, DEfOE / Ansund project - deadline June 19. www.medieval.utoronto.ca/news/postdoc...

medieval illumination of a figure blowing a buisine

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Lake Superior! Live! @lake-superior.live · 17/05/2026

Current* conditions near Saxon, WI:

Northern view from a boat launch in Saxon Harbor overlooking the breakwaters and Lake Superior. // Image captured at: 2026-05-17 10:18:03 UTC (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: travelironwood.com // Current Temp in Saxon: 41 F | 5 C // Precip: broken clouds // Wind: ENE at 10 mph | 16 kph // Humidity: 82%

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Nate Wolff @natewolff.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Canvas is down, ye say? Aye lad hearken to me and I'll tell thee of a time when a man might say canvas was down! When the leviathan booms his bulk upon ye an' thy splintered masts surrender their sails to the foaming, merciless drink!! then, lad, ye say might say with some authority that can (1/135)

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

"scheduled maintenance"

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Stephen Hopkins @phil-lol-ogist.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

🔥🔥🔥hottest summer read just dropped 🔥🔥🔥

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

I’m delighted to share that I’ve just accepted an offer to join the remarkable faculty in the Department of English and Creative Writing at @colgate.edu as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Medieval Literature! I’m so humbled by and grateful for this incredible opportunity!

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Slightly diminish a book Sir Gawain and the Green Squire

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Austin J. Benson @austinbenson.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Find the Sutton Hoo hoard and put my now-useless iPhone in it to mess with archeologists

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Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

"Scholars from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) uncovered the manuscript that contains Caedmon’s Hymn at the National Central Library of Rome." #MedievalSky #speirgorm #Spéirghorm www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

theguardian.com

Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library

Dublin scholars find 1,200-year-old manuscript of Caedmon’s Hymn composed by Northumbrian cattle herder

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Stephen Hopkins @phil-lol-ogist.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Shameless book promotion time! Why buy my book? + Missionary lumberjacks (St Boniface) 🪓 + A demon in an outhouse + Miltonic gloomy Satan + Jesus melting the gates of hell + A monastery built by a giant from hell manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526175038/

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

Manchester University Press - Translating hell

Translating hell - Browse and buy the Hardcover edition of Translating hell by Stephen C. E. Hopkins

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Benjamin Suchard @bnuyaminim.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

How about a short thread about the expression translated "know of a surety" here. The #Hebrew of Gen 15:13 reads יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע yāḏṓaʕ tēḏaʕ. This is the infinitive 'know' followed by an inflected 2m. sg. imperfect of the same verb, 'you will/should/must/can know'. Why the repetition? 1/6

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Stephen Hopkins @phil-lol-ogist.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

To make a point about just how artful Tolkien is with his archaism, a student asked chatgpt to reword the witch king's speech to eowyn without any. Only a machine from Mordor could yield something so lifeless 💀💀💀

The witch King's revised speech reads "don't get in the nazgul's way. Seriously just don't. It's not even going to kill you right away. It'll drag you off somewhere way worse like some nightmare dungeon pass the edge of reality. Your body is basically done for and your brain? Yeah that's getting left completely exposed to the lidless eye."

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