iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sometimes your institution will just suddenly break 98% of your old school's personal pages while trying to set up webpages for the new school you're being moved into. Oh, sorry you were hoping to see who works in linguistics here, we've vanished! #InFactItsHappeningRightNow #YesIStillWorkHere

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Pavel Iosad @anghyflawn.net · 30/09/2026

Fantastic bookshop find: a Latin textbook in Welsh, complete with glossary and a guide to spotting Latin borrowings in the modern language.

Cover of Llyfr Dysgu Lladin — Latin Textbook

Explanations of Latin grammar in Welsh. Examples include Insula Mōna - Ynys Môn and Urbs Dēva - Dinas Caer

A classic Latin glossary with principal parts and everything, but the translations are into Welsh

Table showing the outcomes of various Latin consonants in Modern Welsh, with examples

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Last night I was on ITV News at Ten for all of 5 sec (for an item about Catherine Zeta-Jones using her Welsh accent in her new show). My mom, who lives in Switzerland and definitely doesn't get ITV, texts about a minute after saying she'd heard from a friend I was on tv & why hadn't I told her 😂

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christhebarker @christhebarker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Admittedly there are potential risks in the rapid development of Dalek tech: extermination, loss of civilisation, possible destruction of all human life. But we must consider potential benefits in productivity, medicine, scientific discovery. And even if we DO slow down, other countries might not...

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Translation: Oh AI! I’m sure it was worth: - destroying the environment - making millionaires richer - using stolen work - wasting drinking water

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

@madeley.bsky.social I had to check you weren’t the one who reposted this

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 09/09/2026

From The Crimson editorial board: “…to encourage unfettered use of AI, especially for “writing-intensive” courses, is antithetical to promoting learning and jeopardizes the purpose of a liberal arts education.”

thecrimson.com

Don't Tell Us To Write Our Papers With AI | The Harvard Crimson

It’s still unclear how AI could be used to support academic writing without meaningfully outsourcing one’s thinking. Professors might not be able to enforce a prohibition on its use for larger take-ho...

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

How do they know? I finally (and slightly belatedly) sent off my review for a research grant about an hour ago. Guess what just pinged into my inbox? A request to review a grant (from a research body in a completely different country from the first one, but still)

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Matt Baldwin @thisbrokenwheel.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

What's bothering me about AI on Bluesky, and which for the sake of civility I have been biting my tongue about probably more than I should, is the increasing number of people willing to turn a blind eye to the fact that *all of these products* are built with stolen labor and copyright violations.

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Claire Vaughan @pixieglas.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

As someone has noted - there are not 10,000 Trans people in Wales so this is the time we need to step up and protect those more vulnerable than us. These surgeries were scheduled by DOCTORS for ADULTS who had often been waiting years. Stop this cruelty.

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Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Ha! This is exactly the kind of "your research output changed our practice" confirmation academics need for REF impact case studies.

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Dominic Watt @domwatt.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The definition of 'juice' in Scotland is really wide. It includes fizzy drinks like Irn Bru and Coke, iced tea, etc. Some syrups for diluting, such as Ribena - all of which would be classed as 'juice' - are not unlike actual fruit juice. But others...

Advertisement for Swizzles Squash new range of soft drinks (Raspberry Squash, Bubble Gum, Sour Apple Squash, Lemon Squash, Love Hearts Squash), in various lurid colours.

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

#linguistics instance of the Scots diluting juice (ie squash) in the wild. (North?) American English speakers squash is kind of cordial/juice concentrate you add water to to make a drink. French speakers, squash is similar but less syrupy than sirop

List of drinks and prices from café - including one for a jug of diluting juice (I.e. squash, cordial)

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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 02/09/2026

New York City Public Schools, the largest school system in the country, has banned student-facing generative AI tools in classrooms through eighth grade for this school year, adopting one of the most aggressive AI policies in the nation. wapo.st/46EjUbw

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Toss @stevenspoints.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I really cannot think of a greater honor than to have the Muppets say this about you upon your passing

Instagram post from the official Muppets account: Few humans have earned the title of honorary Muppet more than the legendary Tim Curry. As a performer he was unparalleled - witty, charming, unnerving, and deeply funny. We will always consider it one of our greatest treasures to have been part of Long John Silver’s crew. Thank you for everything, Tim.

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I'm going to Montreal for a conference (yay #nwav54) and I've never been before. I'll have about a day at the end to see stuff - what should I do? Je vais à Montreal pour la première fois et j'aurai un jour pour visiter - faut que je fasse quoi?

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Tiffany C. Li @tiffanycli.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

So many things to choose to do with your one wild and precious life. Living so you’re remembered for your kindness is the only goal worth anything.

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Nitish Pahwa @nitishpahwa.com · 25/08/2026

I think the universal grieving comes in no small part from the fact she represented the best of what America could be, and that she never stopped chasing that ideal, artistically and socially

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Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin @ecmclaughlin.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Goddammit. Dolly Parton of all people deserved to outlive him.

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American Museum of Natural History @amnh.org · 24/08/2026

Twenty years ago today, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet. Discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the ninth planet in our solar system until 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to reclassify it. Image: NASA, PD, Wikimedia Commons

A composite image of the planet Pluto. It is primarily pale gray with a rust-colored splatter. It has a textured surface.

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Tal Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

parents in ancient mesopotamia 🤝parents in contemporary america "damn these kids playing with their tablets"

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

We went to a nearby park for the eclipse - it was lovely, so many people together to (not exactly) stare at the sun. Got to give the two spare pairs of glasses we had to friends of small person and shared mine here and there with people who didn’t have any.

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Shaily Patel @vox-magica.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

and i think teaching is an inherently hopeful calling. it demands that we cede our own cynicism and jadedness. i don’t know about y’all, but i don’t prepare students for this world. why? it’s shit. i do, however, want to give them the tools to imagine and then build better worlds.

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Stephen Lucek @stephenlucek.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Hi there, an educator here. We don’t need training on AI. We know what it is. We’re holding on for dear life until private equity decides to move on to the next shiny thing. I just hope there are enough of us still around to pick up the pieces.

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FT @fucktheory.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Emily is a genius; I am extremely, genuinely thrilled for her! But also: as The Odyssey sells out books and theaters alike, Classics departments and language classes are being decimated across the US. If you want more Emily Wilsons we have to FUND SCHOLARSHIP and FUND TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS.

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Martin Johnes @martinjohnes.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

A particular problem in Welsh history. Is there anyone under 40 teaching Welsh history in a university on a permanent contract?

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Rachel Hall-Clifford, PhD, MPH, MSc @rahallclifford.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Hi. We're in the Age of Diarrhea. I'm a global health expert on helping children survive diarrhea. Here's what to do if you might have picked up cyclospora. 🧵 1. Call your primary care if possible. 2. Take oral rehydration therapy, which isn't just drinking fluids. 1/

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Adam Schembri (ˈʃɛmbɹi/ˈʃkɛmbri) @adamcschembri.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Tentative save the date: 8-10 September 2027 for the next UK Language Variation and Change conference (UKLVC 16) in Birmingham! More information and confirmation of these dates to follow. Please get in touch if you know of any clashes with other events planned at this time.

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Kathryn Brightbill ✒️ @kebrightbill.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Florida folks: If you have O- blood and are of African or African American descent, OneBlood is searching for donors who have a rare antigen that matches with a teenager with sickle cell disease who needs 50 units of blood so she can have a bone marrow transplant.

wfla.com

Rare blood needed to save life of Florida teen needing bone marrow transplant

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WFLA)— Blood donors of African descent are needed to save the life of a Florida 18-year-old fighting an aggressive form of sickle cell disease, OneBlood announced. Gigi Felix,…

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𝖏𝖆𝖘 @vores.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

the entire point of life is to be kind and weird btw

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Heading back to Cardiff after a lovely #ICLaVE13 conference. Just the antidote to all the horrors of UK academia these days. Hoping I can keep up the research momentum for a bit

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Wim Remysen @kwebek.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Je pense qu’il y a débat 😅 (Peu importe, l’endroit est magnifique!) #Lausanne #Léman 🇨🇭

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Maybe I have to get up earlier than most to get to conference on time this morning (staying at my mom’s) but do get this view from the train on the way #ICLaVE13

(Fuzzy, through train window) View of the Château de Chillon, Dents du Midi and Lake Geneva

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Heading over to #ICLaVE13 in Lausanne now and presenting two talks tomorrow. Back where I started since it’s where I did my first degree many years ago! (We’ll be in the very building where my first linguistics lectures were)

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Not sure it’s the oldest thing I regularly use but I really like that I still use my Texas Instruments solar calculator from the early 1990s

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Back in Switzerland for a conference. Here we don’t have train delays just because the lines are too hot, we get actual fires on the lines 😬 (Thankfully resolved within a couple of hours)

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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/06/2026

Petition against redundancies at Exeter. Humanities and Social Sciences staff are hardest hit, with 25% of posts in subjects including History, English, Modern Languages and Politics slated to be cut.

c.org

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

My nine year old asked for a Rosetta Stone cake for his birthday

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 20/06/2026

Never ever do this. Close the tab. The website has been compromised.

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Mel Andrews @bayesianboy.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

When utilized in literature review, LLMs consistently 1. fail to mention female authors in female-led literatures, 2. insist that men are more influential or more heavily cited when this is contradicted by objective citation counts, and 3. attribute women’s work to hallucinated male scholars.

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Sociolinguistics is asking, “why is it Waldo in NAmerica and Wally in UK?” (and Charlie in French)

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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 16/06/2026

More words for students: The administrators who push "A.i." on you are your enemies. They do not care about your education, about your minds, about your actual abilities. They serve only money. Treat them with utter contempt. Do the actual work. Learn all you can in spite of them.

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Academia 2026: spam emails from people (companies?) offering to write your wikipedia page for a fee...

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Maaike @maaikeverbruggen.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

People are now debating what the proper earring placement is.

Nijntje with the earring below the headdress vs up in her bunny ears

Nijntje with the ear folded down under the head dress

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I’m a professor of sociolinguistics in the UK and I approve this message 🤣 #linguistics (doubly because I’m originally from the US)

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Mercedes Durham @drswissmiss.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

My university is seemingly planning to remove most of the humanities books from our library to build open teaching space. My humanities colleagues and I are having to move to new shared offices this summer where the expectation is that we won't have space for (or need!) all the books we have now...

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