M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 29/09/2026Just voted in the US midterms in Rhode Island... entirely electronically from Canada. Thanks to the Rhode Island Board of Elections for making it so easy to complete my ballot safely and securely. 012
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeWill Robertson @anthrowill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Spent yesterday working on a detailed critique of some of the "methods" that Joseph Henrich used in his recently released report attacking sociocultural anthropology. He was the sole anthropologist involved with the Vanderbilt Report. It's long, but the more I looked the more issues I noticed.notebook.anthrowill.comRigor for thee, but not for me! – Notebook 2216
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeDepartment of Historical Studies at University of New Brunswick @histstudiesunb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Very happy to share that this year's guest speaker for our 4th Annual Queer History Month lecture is Dr. Celeste E. Orr! 041
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 20/09/2026Here's the post: www.mail-archive.com/newbie@xfree... Feels like a very different time, this was Slackware 8.0 and I remember there were two kernels included 2.2 and 2.4, wifi worked in one and graphics in the other. I switched to Ubuntu in 2004 (the first release) and haven't looked back since.mail-archive.com[Newbie]trouble with X and a winbook XL laptop 010
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 20/09/2026I'm a bit late, but today is my 25th anniversary* of switching to Linux... *I don't remember exactly when but a few years ago I searched for an old email address of mine and found a mailing-list post where I was asking for help configuring XFree86, so that's the date I recognize. 240
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeBilly Domineau 🇵🇸 @billydomineau.bsky.social · 11/09/20269/11 is a great day to reread my viral Seinfeld spec and to remember I’m one of the most talented TV writers available to write for your show. I have $225k in student loans and my family is about to pay OOP for my dad’s post-stroke rehab, so you’d better believe I’m gonna give you my best!avclub.comRead This: A darkly comedic Seinfeld spec script set days after 9/11Read This: A darkly comedic Seinfeld spec script set days after 9/11 7250121
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 31/08/2026This is so dangerous... not in @atrupar.com's summary but in the video is a very purposeful dig into Carney's popularity, by referencing his polling before the election. They're trying to seed distrust into Canadian electoral systems, right in line with the funding of Alberta separatism. 131
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 27/08/2026Everyday when I get to work I put my lunch on this shelf... I like to think of it as a little kadrû offering, presenting food to the Neo-Assyrian spirit who resides in my office. Incidentally, the relief is from the Gipsformerei (www.gipsformerei-katalog.de/Sammlungsgeb...) 020
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 27/08/2026Whoops, forgot the link: aiandeducation.mit.eduaiandeducation.mit.eduAI and Education – Report of MIT’s Ad Hoc Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training 010
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 27/08/2026This stands out as a really important thing that MIT is trying to do that so many universities are just not at all engaging with... As so many others have said, professors feel left adrift making/implementing/arbitrating policies with no support from administration. 200
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeAndrew A.N. Deloucas @aandeloucas.com · 23/08/2026What We Know About Amargi, An Ancient Sumerian Solution to Debt. My response to Paul Vigna’s @nytimes guest essay: www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/o...nytimes.comOpinion | An Ancient Sumerian Solution to Our $40 Trillion Deficit (Gift Article)In the ancient world, debt forgiveness was a regular tool to control the economy. Why have we forgotten it? 1167
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 19/08/2026Not many... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object%...en.wikipedia.orgObject–subject–verb word order - Wikipedia 090
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeStephen Chrisomalis @schrisomalis.bsky.social · 16/08/2026I am actively recruiting MA and PhD students in linguistic, historical, and cognitive anthropology at Wayne State for Fall 2027. No GRE; multi-year funding for all PhD students. Application deadline 01/15. Share widely, or contact me for more info. clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/dz6179 0810
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeHuw TD @huwtd.bsky.social · 09/08/2026I have an hour's delay at the train station, so here's a thread about the Trojan Horse. Basically, the plot motif of sneaking into the city disguised as tribute isn't original to Homer, although the use of a horse statue might be. 1/ 1155
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeRebecca Stephens Falcasantos @rsfalcasantos.bsky.social · 07/08/2026Our department is hiring. TT position in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism. I’ve found great colleagues and students here. Please share! apply.interfolio.com/189845?fbcli...apply.interfolio.com Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio 02931
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/08/2026Ah, I assumed you used it already! It's great, I probably access my Zotero library more through the Bibtex auto-export than through the various word-processor (LibreOffice/Google Docs) plugins. Most of my lecture slides and conference talks are written in @typst.app now and it works well with that. 010
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/08/2026They might be, I think Better Bibtex offers selective folder support (retorque.re/zotero-bette...) so you could keep a Phd bibtex file as well as a full library export.retorque.reAutomatic export :: Better BibTeX for ZoteroTo export a library, group or collection, right-click on it in the left Zotero pane and choose “Export Library…” or “Export Collection…”. With BBT’s export translators (e.g., “Better BibTeX”), checkin... 110
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/08/2026Isn't this the exact use case for folders? Searching stays within a folder, so you shouldn't be exposed to the larger collection. Then if you want to search the rest just click out of the folder. 110
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/08/2026I'm thinking of finally moving away from Dropbox... I've been using it for over 15 years and always sung its praises. However, it's expensive, I'm self-hosting more of my own services and... I want to move my data out of the US. @opencloud.eu on my own server looks like a great alternative. 030
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeSerial Experiments Abigail @popeguilty.bsky.social · 28/07/20262 Vast 2 Trunkless 29239
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 31/07/2026My colleagues and I wrote a whole programming language in cuneiform and coded a neural network in it... the paper was published in the prestigious proceedings of SIGBOVIK 2024: bsky.app/profile/will... strong /s for this article or should that be /𒊓? 020
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeNathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 31/07/2026New reporting from @breachmedia.ca shows that Canadian universities operated a secret national effort to coordinate surveillance and policing of anti-genocide activism and encampments. breachmedia.ca/canadian-uni... 27367231
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeEd Hagen @edhagen.net · 18/07/2026The relationship between testosterone and grip strength, an index of physical formidability, in a representative sample of US adult men (point sizes are survey weights). 🧪 34213
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeNicky 2 @nickyflowers.com · 15/07/2026permanent daylight savings doesn't go far enough 4147691100
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeTed McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 15/07/2026it’s amazing how often the solution to endlessly multiplying pedagogical problems turns out to be restoring an actual pedagogical relationship between instructors and students 623678
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/07/2026Strangely enough here in NB our university got more under the Conservatives in the form of a performance bonus (classic conservative policy) which it always met, under the Liberals the bonus was removed and replaced with a slightly higher flat rate resulting in a net loss of funding. 110
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeAndrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · 06/07/2026We often blithely say stuff like "indoctrinate them, I can't even get them to do the reading!" which is true but also indoctrination isn't the point! Me teaching you about the history of ancient Israel isn't trying to get you to like or dislike 'em or want to be an ancient Israelite 2121
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeHuw TD @huwtd.bsky.social · 06/07/2026Every. Damn. Time. It drives me up the wall. For all the conniptions over the term 'Classics', the way they use 'Ancient' is infinitely more problematic, IMO. 021
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/07/2026Another one today on BMCR "Impaired Consciousness in Ancient Medical Texts" sounds fascinating it would be really interesting to look at cross-cultural descriptions of these mental phenomena (see: @moudhy.bsky.social), oh wait, it's only ancient Greek texts... (NB: the reviewer does point this out) 1103
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 02/07/2026Wish I could order my coffee by Munsell soil color... I like it right about at 10YR 5/3 130
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 25/06/2026There's quite a few to be found by lurking around the galleries! 110
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 25/06/2026🦀 see a crab, post a crab 🦀 (Neo-Assyrian wall-relief found in Nineveh from the time of Assurbanipal, ~645 BCE, www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...) 1297
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 22/06/2026I had this experience as a reviewer recently on a paper, the journal handled it well... But I worry that some are still getting through. 010
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeWill @evolvingmoloch.bsky.social · 22/06/2026This nonsense claim from this paper is making rounds on Twitter, claiming fertility & gender (in)equality correlated at .81. But the Gender Inequality Index includes adolescent fertility as part of the measure! When you rebuild the index without circular reproductive outcomes correlation cut in half 24113
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/06/2026Brilliant work from newly minted Dr. Deloucas: political history, microhistory, quantitative work, it's all there... and all centered on the Old-Babylonian period! 0121
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 29/05/2026The classic kids song Down by the Bay, popularized by Raffi, was a prescient warning of parents being taken in by AI-generated engagement slop... "my mother will say: Did you ever see a moose kissing a goose!?" 030
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/05/2026Here's our wedding in the (Great) Friends Meeting House in Newport RI, we were married under the care of Providence MM. 130
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 08/05/2026I wrote a short piece for the most recent issue of the New Farmer's Almanac (greenhorns.org/almanacs/). The theme was "premonition". I wrote on agriculture and divination in ancient Mesopotamia... it's a gorgeous (full-color) volume and full of fascinating short pieces of fiction and non-fiction... 040
Reposted by M. Willis MonroeDr Selena Wisnom @lswisnom.bsky.social · 02/05/2026Marduk visits his ziggurat in Oxford (or: Jupiter visible over the Said Business School) @ox.ac.uk 081
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/04/2026Finally, we got our solar project funded by a federal program that offered interest free loans for environmental upgrades. This project was cut soon after we got approved (www.cbc.ca/news/canada/.... such a shame to lose a job creating, climate healing, financial assistance program.cbc.caFederal government pulls plug on home retrofit loan program | CBC NewsIn a few weeks, the federal government will close a program that encourages homeowners to retrofit their properties through energy efficiency upgrades, such as improved insulation, window replacement and purchasing a heat pump. 000
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/04/2026To the officer's credit they didn't want to reject but it was clearly in opposition to the antiquated bylaws. I've since advocated for future revisions that enable easier (and necessary!) environmental upgrades to heritage homes. 100
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/04/2026Heritage review was an interesting process, the officer rejected the application outright saying it was against the bylaws (from 2005), I went before the review board and argued our case. The board voted against the officer for the first time ever (!) and approved our project without modifications. 100
M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/04/2026Less than a month after getting our solar panels hooked up to the grid we had our first negative power day ever! It was a battle against the city's heritage protection bylaws to get the solar panels installed on our victorian house, but this makes it all worth it. 151