C. E. M. Henderson
@cemhend.bsky.social
PhD@UToronto CMS. Palaeography, codicology, forensics skeptic. Also Chaucer and video games. Wikipedia editor (AMA). AuDHD. 🏴🏳️⚧️
Also @cemhend@scholar.social and cemhend on birdsite
Also @cemhend@scholar.social and cemhend on birdsite
Pinned
C. E. M. Henderson
@cemhend.bsky.social
· Nov 12
Hi new folks! 👋
I’m in my last year* of dissertation-writing about Medieval English scribal identification. Can we do it: by consensus (no); with some help from forensics (also no); at all (unclear); with the help of machine learning (surprisingly maybe yes)?
*if I can stop getting in car crashes
I’m in my last year* of dissertation-writing about Medieval English scribal identification. Can we do it: by consensus (no); with some help from forensics (also no); at all (unclear); with the help of machine learning (surprisingly maybe yes)?
*if I can stop getting in car crashes
ok so one of the questions they ask you before an MRI is “have you EVER had metal in your eyes from any accidents, welding, grinding etc?” and: new body horror scenario unlocked
January 21, 2026 at 6:59 AM
ok so one of the questions they ask you before an MRI is “have you EVER had metal in your eyes from any accidents, welding, grinding etc?” and: new body horror scenario unlocked
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I always feel roguish to make such a basic point, but bias is an intrinsic feature of _data_, and transitively of any system of analysis or decision-making based on data.
The fact that this point has to keep being demonstrated over and over for more complex systems is crazy-making to me.
The fact that this point has to keep being demonstrated over and over for more complex systems is crazy-making to me.
"Drawing on a 20.3-million-query audit of ChatGPT, we map systematic biases in the model's representations of countries, states, cities, and neighbourhoods. From these empirics, we argue that bias is not a correctable anomaly but an intrinsic feature of generative AI”.
ht: Dagmar Monett
ht: Dagmar Monett
The silicon gaze: A typology of biases and inequality in LLMs through the lens of place - Francisco W. Kerche, Matthew Zook, Mark Graham, 2026
This paper introduces the concept of the silicon gaze to explain how large language models (LLMs) reproduce and amplify long-standing spatial inequalities. Draw...
journals.sagepub.com
January 21, 2026 at 2:47 AM
I always feel roguish to make such a basic point, but bias is an intrinsic feature of _data_, and transitively of any system of analysis or decision-making based on data.
The fact that this point has to keep being demonstrated over and over for more complex systems is crazy-making to me.
The fact that this point has to keep being demonstrated over and over for more complex systems is crazy-making to me.
help I’ve been away from the internet what is Bus Thread
January 21, 2026 at 5:57 AM
help I’ve been away from the internet what is Bus Thread
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
one of the single worst elements of Soviet repression were the silent disappearances overnight; at least in Minneapolis, when fedl agents are doing their kidnapping, the whole street is aware and trying to help
January 18, 2026 at 3:17 PM
one of the single worst elements of Soviet repression were the silent disappearances overnight; at least in Minneapolis, when fedl agents are doing their kidnapping, the whole street is aware and trying to help
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
this came up bc (thanks to many ppl on here!) we now have video of his arrest; when I warned him that the sounds on the video might trigger him he immediately said NO; he said the sounds of fellow activists' whistles and sirens would be the most comforting part of watching himself arrested by ICE
January 18, 2026 at 3:15 PM
this came up bc (thanks to many ppl on here!) we now have video of his arrest; when I warned him that the sounds on the video might trigger him he immediately said NO; he said the sounds of fellow activists' whistles and sirens would be the most comforting part of watching himself arrested by ICE
And while you’re doing that, start talking about it, and don’t shut up.
Maybe the most important thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that the solution to what looks like a collective action problem is to just start solving it. People will show up.
January 18, 2026 at 12:24 PM
And while you’re doing that, start talking about it, and don’t shut up.
"But why do you insist on clinging to it, when there's an easier alternative now?" a pro-AI person, who doesn't really enjoy having a brain, might ask. "All that thinking has brought you a lot of pain over the years,”
I’ve taken the paywall off this piece I wrote, triggered by AI deciding that my cat was an actual human celebrity (it decided briefly to give her a human face, too). It’s also a bit of a love letter to good old-fashioned human thinking using our messy creative brains. www.tom-cox.com/thinking-abo...
Thinking About Thinking
In some of the bigger news of the past week, this silly piece I wrote means Google's AI search engine is now telling people that my cat Roscoe is a real human woman who came to media prominence during...
www.tom-cox.com
January 18, 2026 at 8:47 AM
"But why do you insist on clinging to it, when there's an easier alternative now?" a pro-AI person, who doesn't really enjoy having a brain, might ask. "All that thinking has brought you a lot of pain over the years,”
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
If at first you don't succeed...
January 18, 2026 at 1:12 AM
If at first you don't succeed...
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
If you're looking for a sign to switch careers: this is the sign.
January 18, 2026 at 12:44 AM
If you're looking for a sign to switch careers: this is the sign.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I'm sorry, but everyone in this story is unbelievably gullible, starting and ending with the author.
January 16, 2026 at 7:34 PM
I'm sorry, but everyone in this story is unbelievably gullible, starting and ending with the author.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I have written often before - most notably in the context of Dee Farmer - that the freedom of the comfortable depends on the resistance of the marginalized.
Why?
Bc the comfortable have their freedom constrained in ways not worth risking their comfort, but the uncomfortable have little to lose.
Why?
Bc the comfortable have their freedom constrained in ways not worth risking their comfort, but the uncomfortable have little to lose.
NEW — ICE violence has spread well beyond Minneapolis, with agents landing in small cities like St. Cloud. I spoke with Alice Valentine, a local queer trans woman, who protested ICE on Monday and was pepper sprayed, beaten and jailed as a result, along with her girlfriend.
This is Alice's story:
This is Alice's story:
Queer trans ICE protester in small Minn. city recounts agents' violence and humiliation
Alice Valentine of St. Cloud was pepper sprayed and jailed by ICE for trying to protect immigrant neighbors.
www.thehandbasket.co
January 16, 2026 at 7:39 PM
I have written often before - most notably in the context of Dee Farmer - that the freedom of the comfortable depends on the resistance of the marginalized.
Why?
Bc the comfortable have their freedom constrained in ways not worth risking their comfort, but the uncomfortable have little to lose.
Why?
Bc the comfortable have their freedom constrained in ways not worth risking their comfort, but the uncomfortable have little to lose.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
It’s actually really liberating from the grip of paranoia to assume you’re being read or listened to and act accordingly. If you assume what you say is public, if you don’t want someone to see it or hear it, don’t say it or do it. But if you do say it, say it with your whole chest
January 15, 2026 at 1:16 PM
It’s actually really liberating from the grip of paranoia to assume you’re being read or listened to and act accordingly. If you assume what you say is public, if you don’t want someone to see it or hear it, don’t say it or do it. But if you do say it, say it with your whole chest
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I need people who don’t live in the Twin Cities to stop telling people not to join massive Signal groups right now. People are doing it. They’re going to keep doing it. Give them good advice about it.
The actually practical advice is don’t say anything to 1000 strangers you wouldn’t say in public
The actually practical advice is don’t say anything to 1000 strangers you wouldn’t say in public
January 15, 2026 at 12:52 PM
I need people who don’t live in the Twin Cities to stop telling people not to join massive Signal groups right now. People are doing it. They’re going to keep doing it. Give them good advice about it.
The actually practical advice is don’t say anything to 1000 strangers you wouldn’t say in public
The actually practical advice is don’t say anything to 1000 strangers you wouldn’t say in public
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Molly's being characteristically thoughtful. I'll be more of an asshole: THE AI COMPANIES HAVE USED WIKIPEDIA'S SHIT FOR YEARS. It costs millions of fucking dollars in infrastructure to serve up content to these companies. Should Wikipedia subsidize them? No? Then it's *good* they're getting paid!
I think people are erroneously interpreting the headline to mean that the Wikimedia Foundation is embracing AI for purposes like generating encyclopedia content, or are providing AI companies with more training data than they were already scraping.
January 15, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Molly's being characteristically thoughtful. I'll be more of an asshole: THE AI COMPANIES HAVE USED WIKIPEDIA'S SHIT FOR YEARS. It costs millions of fucking dollars in infrastructure to serve up content to these companies. Should Wikipedia subsidize them? No? Then it's *good* they're getting paid!
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Sure. AI companies have ALWAYS been training their models on Wikipedia content, which under the free and open access model is available to anyone — including AI companies. Agreements like these require AI companies to limit and offset the strain they place on Wikimedia infrastructure.
Hoping that @molly.wiki can help explain.
Wikimedia Foundation announces new AI partnerships with Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Perplexity and others
January 15, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Sure. AI companies have ALWAYS been training their models on Wikipedia content, which under the free and open access model is available to anyone — including AI companies. Agreements like these require AI companies to limit and offset the strain they place on Wikimedia infrastructure.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I once applied for £400 from my faculty for an airfare. They insisted on three separate meetings with three senior people including the Dean before approving the funds. Any one of those meetings probably cost £400 in wasted time.
Incredible article which points out that it often collectively costs more to apply for scarce research funding than the funds awarded to the successful proposals.
What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
January 14, 2026 at 8:31 AM
I once applied for £400 from my faculty for an airfare. They insisted on three separate meetings with three senior people including the Dean before approving the funds. Any one of those meetings probably cost £400 in wasted time.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Canada's federal gov has a new program to bring researchers to Canada & my uni is starting an internal nomination process for chairs. If you are a full or associate prof working on AI/democracy/community engagement/environmental justice and you may be interested in moving to Canada, dm me
January 7, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Canada's federal gov has a new program to bring researchers to Canada & my uni is starting an internal nomination process for chairs. If you are a full or associate prof working on AI/democracy/community engagement/environmental justice and you may be interested in moving to Canada, dm me
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
In fact we have records of at least 65,000 immigrants in the late MEDIEVAL period. This means real numbers were significantly higher. In England more than 1% of the population was foreign born (never mind 2nd gen) with numbers as high as 1 in 10 in cities. There’s a database!
January 8, 2026 at 12:27 PM
In fact we have records of at least 65,000 immigrants in the late MEDIEVAL period. This means real numbers were significantly higher. In England more than 1% of the population was foreign born (never mind 2nd gen) with numbers as high as 1 in 10 in cities. There’s a database!
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
In the next four years you’ll see a lot of New York Post articles about City Hall that don’t make sense when you read them as an outsider because they’re just permission to hit the anger button in the reader’s brain. This is about seeing someone non-binary in power and getting permission to be mad.
December 28, 2025 at 1:13 AM
In the next four years you’ll see a lot of New York Post articles about City Hall that don’t make sense when you read them as an outsider because they’re just permission to hit the anger button in the reader’s brain. This is about seeing someone non-binary in power and getting permission to be mad.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up.
I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.
I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.
December 29, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up.
I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.
I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I'd believe this anecdote because I've met guys like this at conventions. People do ask (politely) about their work and they can't pitch it because what makes it special is that they are the specialest boy. They go to panels and hear queer and BIPOC writers talk about their work and think "ah ha". +
This shit is made up, actually
December 26, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I'd believe this anecdote because I've met guys like this at conventions. People do ask (politely) about their work and they can't pitch it because what makes it special is that they are the specialest boy. They go to panels and hear queer and BIPOC writers talk about their work and think "ah ha". +
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
Public discourse on this subject has utterly failed to direct citizens' attention to the actual problem, which is that a commercial industry is assaulting education. So every week we get another thoughtless op-ed on blue books or the death of the college essay, etc etc.
December 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Public discourse on this subject has utterly failed to direct citizens' attention to the actual problem, which is that a commercial industry is assaulting education. So every week we get another thoughtless op-ed on blue books or the death of the college essay, etc etc.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
It is EXHAUSTING not only being made responsible for coming up with new kinds of assignments for our students; it's also tedious reading op-eds that suggest the core problem is a crisis in teaching. But, as Chris and I lay out here, this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning.
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 24, 2025 at 7:39 PM
It is EXHAUSTING not only being made responsible for coming up with new kinds of assignments for our students; it's also tedious reading op-eds that suggest the core problem is a crisis in teaching. But, as Chris and I lay out here, this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning.
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
THE MONTH OF DICK 2026 IS COMING IN JANUARY
Get ready!
1. Follow the feed: bsky.app/profile/jaco... and ask me to add you
2. Download the planned reading sequence (source doc here bit.ly/4p4oYwA)
3. Get yourself an edition (book, free e-book, whatever)
4. Notify your bosom friends
5. Whale tattoo?
Get ready!
1. Follow the feed: bsky.app/profile/jaco... and ask me to add you
2. Download the planned reading sequence (source doc here bit.ly/4p4oYwA)
3. Get yourself an edition (book, free e-book, whatever)
4. Notify your bosom friends
5. Whale tattoo?
December 20, 2025 at 6:34 PM
THE MONTH OF DICK 2026 IS COMING IN JANUARY
Get ready!
1. Follow the feed: bsky.app/profile/jaco... and ask me to add you
2. Download the planned reading sequence (source doc here bit.ly/4p4oYwA)
3. Get yourself an edition (book, free e-book, whatever)
4. Notify your bosom friends
5. Whale tattoo?
Get ready!
1. Follow the feed: bsky.app/profile/jaco... and ask me to add you
2. Download the planned reading sequence (source doc here bit.ly/4p4oYwA)
3. Get yourself an edition (book, free e-book, whatever)
4. Notify your bosom friends
5. Whale tattoo?
Reposted by C. E. M. Henderson
I RELEASED A NEW TTRPG!! it's very silly & full of jewish shitposting!!
your attributes are "GREAT", "MIRACLE", "HAPPENED", and "THERE!", your progress clock is candles on a menorah, and these are the kind of tables i put in there.
if we do $613 in sales before Jan 1 i'll do a trifold print run!
your attributes are "GREAT", "MIRACLE", "HAPPENED", and "THERE!", your progress clock is candles on a menorah, and these are the kind of tables i put in there.
if we do $613 in sales before Jan 1 i'll do a trifold print run!
December 24, 2025 at 8:02 PM
I RELEASED A NEW TTRPG!! it's very silly & full of jewish shitposting!!
your attributes are "GREAT", "MIRACLE", "HAPPENED", and "THERE!", your progress clock is candles on a menorah, and these are the kind of tables i put in there.
if we do $613 in sales before Jan 1 i'll do a trifold print run!
your attributes are "GREAT", "MIRACLE", "HAPPENED", and "THERE!", your progress clock is candles on a menorah, and these are the kind of tables i put in there.
if we do $613 in sales before Jan 1 i'll do a trifold print run!