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M. Willis Monroe

@willismonroe.com
1.6K followers 204 following 225 posts

Cuneiform Studies, History of Science/Religion, Quantitative Humanities, Associate Professor at the University of New Brunswick, Co-Director of the Database of Religious History.

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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 29/09/2026
Just 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.
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Will Robertson @anthrowill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Spent 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.com
Rigor for thee, but not for me! – Notebook
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 27/09/2026
Accidental course load
The icon representing the thread on blue sky says "4/4" which presciently predicts a heavy teaching load for history.
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Department of Historical Studies at University of New Brunswick @histstudiesunb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Very happy to share that this year's guest speaker for our 4th Annual Queer History Month lecture is Dr. Celeste E. Orr!
Poster for the UNB Department of Historical Studies' 4th annual Queer History Month lecture. Features a photo of a Celeste E. Orr standing before a brick wall, with big glasses and a leather jacket, and the following text:

Temporal Disobedience: Intersex Studies & Chronopolitics

Dr. Celese E. Orr
Associate Professor in Sociology and Wendy J. Robbins Professor in Gender and Women's Studies, University of New Brunswick

October 20, 2026, 5:30-7PM
Alden R. Clark Theatre
NB Sports Hall of Fame
503 Queen Street, Fredericton

Everyone is welcome!

Text of the poster
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 20/09/2026
Here'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
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 20/09/2026
I'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.
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Billy Domineau 🇵🇸 @billydomineau.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
9/11 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.com
Read This: A darkly comedic Seinfeld spec script set days after 9/11
Read This: A darkly comedic Seinfeld spec script set days after 9/11
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 31/08/2026
This 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.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 29/08/2026
Yeah that's shocking and disappointing...
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 27/08/2026
Everyday 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...)
A photo of a bookshelf in an academic office, on the shelf is a large replica of a Neo-Assyrian protective spirit. On the same shelf in front of the replica is my lunch...
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 27/08/2026
Whoops, forgot the link: aiandeducation.mit.edu
aiandeducation.mit.edu
AI and Education – Report of MIT’s Ad Hoc Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 27/08/2026
This 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.
A selected section of MIT's report on Generative AI: "MIT should provide a shared framework – including a common policy menu, disclosure expectations, and accountability standards – within which departments and instructors can make choices."
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Andrew A.N. Deloucas @aandeloucas.com · 23/08/2026
What 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.com
Opinion | An Ancient Sumerian Solution to Our $40 Trillion Deficit (Gift Article)
In the ancient world, debt forgiveness was a regular tool to control the economy. Why have we forgotten it?
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 22/08/2026
Congrats, so where's the tattoo?
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 19/08/2026
Not many... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object%...
en.wikipedia.org
Object–subject–verb word order - Wikipedia
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Stephen Chrisomalis @schrisomalis.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I am actively recruiting MA and PhD students in linguistic, historical, and cognitive anthropology at Wayne State for Fall 2027. No GRE; multi-year funding for all PhD students. Application deadline 01/15. Share widely, or contact me for more info. clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/dz6179
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Huw TD @huwtd.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I have an hour's delay at the train station, so here's a thread about the Trojan Horse. Basically, the plot motif of sneaking into the city disguised as tribute isn't original to Homer, although the use of a horse statue might be. 1/
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Rebecca Stephens Falcasantos @rsfalcasantos.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Our department is hiring. TT position in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism. I’ve found great colleagues and students here. Please share! apply.interfolio.com/189845?fbcli...
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/08/2026
Ah, 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.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/08/2026
They 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.re
Automatic export :: Better BibTeX for Zotero
To 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...
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/08/2026
Isn'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.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/08/2026
I'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.
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Serial Experiments Abigail @popeguilty.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
2 Vast 2 Trunkless
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 31/07/2026
My 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?
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
New 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...
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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 18/07/2026
The relationship between testosterone and grip strength, an index of physical formidability, in a representative sample of US adult men (point sizes are survey weights). 🧪
A scatterplot of combined grip strength (y-axis) vs. serum testosterone (x-axis) in 3498 US adult men (18-60) from NHANES 2011 - 2014. A polynomial smooth regression line is completely flat. Combined grip strength is the sum of grip strength in both hands. Point sizes are survey weights.
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Nicky 2 @nickyflowers.com · 15/07/2026
permanent daylight savings doesn't go far enough
GET RID OF TIME, BUT NOT THE ZONES

a map of the US, divided vertically into 12 time zones, permanently fixed to 1:00 to 12:00. it's divided horizontally by the AM/PM line

FIXED TIME FIXES TIME!
"It's always 11:00am in Philadelphia!"
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 15/07/2026
Schematic drawing of a plane with areas of damaged illustrating survivorship bias (from Wikipedia)
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
it’s amazing how often the solution to endlessly multiplying pedagogical problems turns out to be restoring an actual pedagogical relationship between instructors and students
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/07/2026
Strangely 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.
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Andrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
We 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
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Huw TD @huwtd.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Every. 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.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 06/07/2026
Another 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)
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 02/07/2026
Wish I could order my coffee by Munsell soil color... I like it right about at 10YR 5/3
A chart of Munsell soil colors for the 10YR range
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 25/06/2026
There's quite a few to be found by lurking around the galleries!
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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...)
A crab in a riverine scene from a Neo-Assyrian wall-relief found at Nineveh.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 24/06/2026
Congrats, great news!
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 22/06/2026
I had this experience as a reviewer recently on a paper, the journal handled it well... But I worry that some are still getting through.
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Will @evolvingmoloch.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
This 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
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/06/2026
Brilliant work from newly minted Dr. Deloucas: political history, microhistory, quantitative work, it's all there... and all centered on the Old-Babylonian period!
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 29/05/2026
The 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!?"
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 20/05/2026
Like nuclear decay? Seems like a cool idea
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/05/2026
Here's our wedding in the (Great) Friends Meeting House in Newport RI, we were married under the care of Providence MM.
Two people stand facing each other, other people are seated. This is a quaker wedding taking place in an old meeting house in Newport Rhode Island.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 08/05/2026
I 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...
The cover of an issue of the New Farmer's Alamanac on a white table with a cup of coffee. The cover image is a paper cut image of an agricultural scene. The title of issue at the top of the image is "premonition".The magazine held open to an article on divination and agriculture in ancient Mesopotamia. The leading page of the article features a large photo of a proto-Cuneiform tablet.
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Dr Selena Wisnom @lswisnom.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Marduk visits his ziggurat in Oxford (or: Jupiter visible over the Said Business School) @ox.ac.uk
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 01/05/2026
International at this point really...
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/04/2026
Finally, 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.ca
Federal government pulls plug on home retrofit loan program | CBC News
In 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.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/04/2026
To 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.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/04/2026
Heritage 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.
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M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.com · 11/04/2026
Less 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.
A line chart showing amount of power supplied by the grid in blue and the amount of power generated by our solar panels in red. The second to last day on the chart has the red line above the blue line meaning we generated more than we used. A pinkish-red exclamation point was drawn on top of the graph at that point adding emphasis.An aerial view of our roof showing the solar array.
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