Ainur Elmgren
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aelmgren.bsky.social
Ainur Elmgren
@aelmgren.bsky.social
500 followers 460 following 260 posts
Docent in Nordic history, university lecturer in history and social studies (University of Oulu). Draws comics. Interests: History education, 1910s/1920s politics & culture, Tatars, Avars, Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages.
Suomi/Svenska/English/Deutsch
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aelmgren.bsky.social
Ainur's museum year Advent calendar starts today with this 12thC brooch and chain ensemble excavated in Latvia, Aizkraukle, now in the British Museum. The bird pendant looks familiar to fans of Permian and Iron Age Finnic and Baltic jewelry. Read more: www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
December 1, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
annahojarual.bsky.social
Visiting Oulu Central Library Saari the first time after its renovation. Still a concrete brutalist marvel. May have overestimated the time I have for reading...

#booksky #concretebrutalism #architecture
A photograph of the Oulu Central Library Saari (Island) a photograph from inside the Oulu Central Library Saari. Concrete staircases and glass walls. A pile of books
November 30, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
alexharvv.bsky.social
'Once men turned their minds over to machines. This only allowed other men to manipulate them.' (Herbert 1965)
November 30, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
ottomanhistory.bsky.social
📜 From Old Books, 18th Century

“I saw that #knowledge is a light for humankind,
Like the brightness of the sun when free from clouds.
For the light of the sun fades with every day,
Whereas the light of knowledge remains everlasting.”
November 30, 2025 at 12:52 AM
aelmgren.bsky.social
Kul interaktiv karta. "17,3% av befolkningen i de sydöstra delarna av centrala Gislaved har finländsk bakgrund, vilket är högst andel i Jönköpings län." Så var det nog redan på 1980-talet då jag bodde i Gislaved (dock i nordväst).

www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/inte...
Interaktiv karta: Här är det mest finländska bostadsområdet i ditt län - Sveriges Radio Finska
Sveriges Radio Finska har undersökt hur stor andel personer med finländsk bakgrund bor i olika delar av Sverige.Klicka på kartan och se vilket område i ...
www.sverigesradio.se
November 30, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
medievalists.bsky.social
“Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”: Revisiting Bernard of Chartres’ Metaphor and Its Hidden Legacy www.medievalists.net/2025/08/stan... #MiddleAges
"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants": Revisiting Bernard of Chartres’ Metaphor and Its Hidden Legacy - Medievalists.net
A look at the medieval origins and deeper meaning behind the metaphor of standing on the shoulders of giants.
www.medievalists.net
November 25, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
dieworkwear.bsky.social
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.

My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
A Twitter account called Ivanka News tweets an AI image of a young woman wearing Muslim garb. The woman is holding a sign that says "I came here illegally. Should I be deported?" Ivanka News writes: What is your response to this person ?? In the "About this account" tab, it appears the account is based in Nigeria An account called MAGA scope writes: Who, in your view is the great enemy of the United States? Communism, Islam, Democratic Party, or Satan? The account is based in Nigeria. An account called MAGA Nadine writes: You go to work and find this. What would you do? The attached pic is an AI image that shows a microwave. The microwave has a sign that says "For religious reasons, this microwave is now making halal food only." The account is based in Morocco. An account called America First posts an AI image of Tulsi Gabbard. They wrote: How would you rate your trust in Tulsi Gabbard on a scale of 1-10?
November 23, 2025 at 9:23 AM
aelmgren.bsky.social
Tänään paistoin pärämätsejä. #tatarasmr #peremeçköne
November 23, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
three53.bsky.social
It's a huge cycle of stupid - verisimilitude is the point, not verity; hiding and obfuscating provenance is a feature. Only the most trivial of prose will yield to automated testing against any definition of truth or even correctness. And yet for this we burn.
November 23, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
carlhendrick.substack.com
A new paper argues that current generative AI tools offer little benefit for genuine learning unless students already have substantial prior knowledge. genAI gives probabilistic summaries, not the kind of support that builds expertise.
November 23, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
benpaites.bsky.social
I’ve sold more copies of my “50 LGBTQ+ Finds “ book in the past 6 months than my “50 Finds from Essex” book has sold in the past 8 years. 😭

Thank you everyone who has bought a copy!
A copy of the book 50 LGBTQ+ Finds. The title is in yellow with a large white 50. A green bust of a young man is in the centre bottom. The cover is dark. The author Ben Paites is written at the bottom of the cover. It sits on green fabric.
November 22, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
rincewind.run
evergreen
Tweet from @PPathole Tech enthusiasts: my entire house is smart Tech workers: the only piece of technology in my house is a printer and I keep a gun next to it so I can shoot it if it makes a noise I don’t recognize
November 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
soneero.bsky.social
Hyllyy: Naisten kohtaloita sisällissodasta kertova Sisaret 1918 sai ilmestyessään kohtalaisesti huomiota, eikä relevanssi ole kadonnut seitsemässä vuodessa mihinkään. Tämä on antologia, jossa toimitustyöllä on suuri ja näkyvä merkitys. #sarjakuvat 📚
Arvio: Sisaret 1918 – Vähintään yhtä ajankohtainen tänään kuin 2018
Suomen itsenäistymisen ja sitä seuranneen sisällissodan 100-vuotisvuosipäivät toivat muutama vuosi sitten valokeilaan ja kulttuurikenttään kaikenlaista aallollaratsastajaa, paremmin ja huonommin on…
hyllyy.wordpress.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
samisyrjamaki.bsky.social
Tiedekeskustelusta ja erityisesti metsistä, tällä kertaa asialla metsässä kävellyt Wahlroos.

Montako kertaa tutkijoiden pitää toistaa, että metsä ei tarkoita vain puita vaan muuta kasvustoa ja maaperää kuten esimerkiksi soita?

Mahtaa asiantuntijoita turhauttaa. 1/
November 23, 2025 at 9:00 AM
aelmgren.bsky.social
Lauri Harvilahti kertoo että Mongolien salaisen historian käännöshanke on ollut suunnitteilla ainakin yhtä kauan kuin minä olen ollut olemassa. Meille ikuisuushankkeiden kanssa painiskeleville tutkijoille innostava viesti: Toivoa on!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3H_...
Lauri Harvilahti: Mongolien salainen historia (Rosebud)
YouTube video by Sivullisen lava
www.youtube.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Feeling queasy now I've learned that Google is not only now offering Gemini ambassador certificates to teachers but also awarding students and *children* to be corporate AI mascots. Coercive normalization of commercialized digital education. blog.google/outreach-ini...
We have created three distinct certifications tailored to key audiences: Gemini Certified Educator: for teaching innovation and student success. Gemini Certified University Student: for academic excellence and professional preparedness. Gemini Certified Student (K12) for responsible, informed use by high schoolers. Please note a foundational course completion is required before the assessment can be taken.
November 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
nkalamb.bsky.social
This story is not getting enough attention.

Unions affiliated with UC fought the Trump administration *and* the UC administration and WON, preserving academic freedom that was under enormous financial threat.

dailybruin.com/2025/11/14/j...
A federal judge barred the Trump administration from freezing or threatening to freeze the UC’s federal funding Friday. The lawsuit was filed by the American Association of University Professors, as well as 21 labor unions and faculty associations that represent 100,000 UC employees altogether. It alleges that the Trump administration’s suspension of $584 million in federal research funds to UCLA and proposed $1 billion settlement demand to regain said funding amounts to financial coercion and violates the free speech and due process rights of the University’s employees.
November 22, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
tabularius.bsky.social
Faces from the Finnish Middle Ages. Initial (Alle) of an attestation by the district judge on the execution of a will on 24 March 1476 in Sipoo. The scribe was either that of the judge or the castellan of Raseborg who attended the session. RA Stockholm, Pic from my article in 2023. #skystorians
November 22, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
alisonfisk.bsky.social
A very good boy! 🐾🐕😍

An amazing c. 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian dog carved from ivory. This leaping dog opens and closes its mouth as if barking by using a lever below its chest.

The Met 📷 by me

#Archaeology
My photo shows a three quarter profile of an ancient Egyptian figurine of a leaping dog facing left. Carved from ivory, now a warm caramel brown colour with glossy surface. The dogs eyes are outlined in black, the ears are floppy, the mouth is slightly ajar (the inside of the mouth is painted red - not sen in my photo). The front and back legs are outstretched as if running at full speed. A lever under the dog’s chest opens and closes the mouth so that the dog looks as if it’s barking. Dimensions: L 18.2 cm × H 6.1 cm × W 3.6 cm. Dated to Late Dynasty I8, I400-I350 BC, reign of Amenhotep III who was Tutankhamun’s grandfather. The dog is mounted on a thin metal rod in a display case. In the background in the same display case is a ‘galloping’ brown horse, which is the handle of an ancient Egyptian fly whisk or light whip.
November 22, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
katsoo.bsky.social
I took a photo of this beautiful boi last year 🧡 incredible, isn’t it!
Are there thousands of us snapping pics of animals in art and museums? Must be a big appreciation club 🤩 here is my less than refined, but cute anyway, little pup I found in V&A, London (I think 🤔)
Small primitive clay animal figurine (probably a dog) that looks like he is smiling ~ on a glass museum shelf
November 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
mtoiv.bsky.social
The first output of my global forestry project is now out, in the form of this essay I wrote for the Finnish magazine Voima. It's about Finland, Indonesia and networks of colonial expertise. An academic, English-language article is currently in peer review, and much more in the works!
Saha puhuu universaalia kieltä – suomalaisen metsäosaamisen viennillä maailmalle on pitkät perinteet ja synkät seuraukset
Suomi on vuosikymmeniä vienyt metsäteollisuusosaamistaan Indonesiaan ja aiheuttanut paikallisia ympäristökonflikteja. Historioitsija Mikko Toivanen analysoi suomalaista metsäkolonialismia esseessään.
voima.fi
November 21, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
dbellingradt.bsky.social
Here is a little story about the #earlymodern emoticon "<3" and the complex symbolic meaning of this typographical entity that I posted yesterday. Follow me, for catholic symbolism and some #bookhistory, dear #skystorians of the blue skies. Here we go...
A detail from a page of a 1702 German publication with the title "Reimb Dich, Oder Ich Liß Dich, Das ist: Allerley Materien, Discurs, Concept, und Predigen, welche bißhero in underschiedlichen Tractätlein gedruckt worden" (vd18 10307974). The author explains on this page, and on pages before and after the Holy Trinity. Part of the detailed explanation if a human heart, made of a V (in German printing a "U") and a three as a cap. In the text, the "V" stands for the Latin "unum" (meaning: one, as in: together as one) and the number 3 is of course the Holy Trinity. This heart symbol, explained in the text, looks like a contemporary emoticon: <3 . The typographical entity highlighted consists of a the letter "i", the number "3", the word "HOMO" (in which all letters are crossed out except for the "M"), a small "z" as part of the M, and the mentioned emoticon: a "V" with a "3" on top.
June 28, 2025 at 6:27 AM
aelmgren.bsky.social
Tiitu Takalon piirtämä sarjakuva #Yhteiselämää jatkuu hankkeemme #KeidenKaupunki blogissa osalla 5!

keidenkaupunki.com/2025/11/21/y...

#Kotipehku #yhteisöllinenasuminen #sarjakuvaasuomesta
Yhteiselämää, osa 5
Tässäpä taas jatkoa Kotipehkun tarinaan. Tämä on jatkokertomus. Jos aiemmat osat ovat menneet ohi, paina alla olevaa nappia. Pääset siitä sarjakuvan alkuun. Seuraava osa ilmestyy kahden viikon pääs…
keidenkaupunki.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
dyfrgibach.bsky.social
Back in my day, we got cool cursors with our malware. Now we get passive aggressive robots that lie to you...
November 19, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Ainur Elmgren
irisvanrooij.bsky.social
Left: washing machine with the words “Critical Washing” on it Right: A quote: “"When we critique AI, we should do so with intellectual honesty and in a principled way. Utmost care is needed to avoid ethics washing, greenwashing, and generally — what we dub — critical washing. Critical reflection cannot be reduced to a mere ‘check box’ before unleashing AI technologies in our daily life after all (as has been done in other areas such as vaping and combustion engines). Researching and reflecting on the harms of AI is not itself harm reduction. It may even contribute to rationalizing, normalizing, and enabling harm. Critical reflection without appropriate action is thus quintessentially critical washing.” —Suarez, Müller, Guest, & van Rooij (2025) https://zenodo.org/records/15677840
November 18, 2025 at 9:50 PM