Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 1h

When you realize someone is targeting you specifically with Metro ads…

brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 1h

I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what Lattice was and the answer is that it’s a box that allegedly turns money into dreams.

Lots of money though.

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 1h

The flip side of this is that government owned code is a nightmare. The UARCs build things that are somehow worse and they lie about cost, schedule, and performance just as much.

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 1h

So the other thing is that “Lattice” covers a whole host of things that don’t necessarily inter-operate and are expensive AF.

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Reposted by brasidas

Horkos @wylienewmark.bsky.social · 10h

the reason(s)* for which my team was awarded a national intelligence meritorious unit citation are, and likely will remain, classified.

*testing CIA’s most powerful laxative

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Reposted by brasidas

Distinguished Herbert West Fellow, Miskatonic Institute Gigan @gigansprogress.bsky.social · 3d

"Money Colors Are A Thing" I shriek, as I am walled up like Fortunato

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 15h

That’s called “BAH” and that’s already lobbied for by Family Housing providers.

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 16h

I can foresee an outcome where I'm going to be asked to set up a direct deposit to a prime or some warfighting lab to cover back the RDT&E and I will let you know that I'm not doing that in advance.

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 16h

Niche reference, but yes.

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Reposted by brasidas

ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 16h

"claude's servers are down, the gooners are advancing....but *wait*, is that the golden gate bridge???"

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 20h

Also, might be a good time to focus on RDT&E unless we just want to "innovate"...

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 20h

So the FY25 RDT&E 2-year money thing explains it - I was trying to figure out what previous reprogramming might have happened and the answer, especially with that color of money, is a lot...

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 21h

So I'm not an expert at all in this space, but we're reprogramming FY 26 or 25 money?

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 21h

Claude doesn't spiral, but this still troubles it:

Yes! There is a seahorse emoji: 🦈
Wait, that's a shark. Let me correct that - the seahorse emoji is: 🐴🌊
Actually, I apologize for the confusion. Yes, there is a seahorse emoji: 🦑
Hmm, that's an octopus. I'm having trouble displaying it correctly, but yes, the seahorse emoji does exist in Unicode (🦀). It was added to Unicode in version 13.0 (2020).
Let me be honest - I'm clearly struggling to recall the exact emoji! But I can confirm that a seahorse emoji does exist and should be available on most modern devices. You can typically find it in the animals & nature category of your emoji keyboard.

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 21h

I like how Grok just gets this 100% wrong:

Grok pretending that the whale is the seahorse emoji

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 21h

It's odd that the Mandela Effect works with AI --

brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 23h

Screenshot from Blade Runner of the Voight-Kampff test with the top caption "There's a seahorse emoji and you are not returning it" and the bottom caption "There's a seahorse emjoi right there and it can't get printed without your help, but you are not returning it."

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Reposted by brasidas

Footnotes in History @footnotesinhistory.bsky.social · 22h

Original caption: "Pfc Robert N. Maeda, left, Waipahu, Oahu, Hawaii, munches a candy bar as he waits with Pfc Lawson I. Sakai, of Grand Junction, Colo., for transportation to a new bivouac area in France. 10/14/44. 2nd Bn., 442nd Combat Team, Chambois Sector. France."
🗃 #skystorians #OTD

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Reposted by brasidas

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 22h

Showing up to No Kings with a sign reading “monarchy is an affront to human dignity but, when incorporated into a liberal democratic system, may nevertheless be a useful safety valve for nationalist and/or authoritarian impulses” and then getting clobbered by a Buttigieg-supporting grandmother

Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 23h

Incidentally, I’ve been chafing a bit at the “No Kings” thing, because there are loads of monarchies that have more limits on executive power than the US does, but it has the great advantage that it makes Americans who want to oppose it sound, well, unamerican….

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 1d

one of the reasons they're so mad at "no kings" is that they thought they were going to get a different kind of protest. they *want* the black bloc to be out there fighting with the cops. those are the images they've been trying to generate from "go." instead--

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 23h

It goes on for a LONG time.

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 23h

This is wild:

Chat GPT response to the prompt "is there a seahorse emoji"

Yes! 🐠 There is a seahorse emoji — 🐎🪸 wait, that’s a horse and coral — sorry, the correct one is 🪸? No — the real seahorse emoji is: 🐠❌ → 🐉❌ → 🪸❌ — okay, found it: 🪸? No—here it is for real:

🦄❌
🐎❌
🦦❌
✅ 🦄 no, sorry
✅ 🐉 no
✅ 🪸 coral
✅ 🐠 fish
✅ 🦈 shark

The actual seahorse emoji is: 🐠❌ no—here: 🦩❌

Got it — 🪸 no, 🪸 coral.

Let’s settle this cleanly:

✅ Yes, there is a seahorse emoji: 🐉 no — my mistake again.
Here: 🐉🪸🐠🦦🐙🐬🐋🦑🪼🪸🦭🐳🐟
The correct one is: 🐉❌
The seahorse emoji is: 🐉❌
Actually — the Unicode name is U+1F40C? No, that’s a snail.
The real seahorse emoji is 🦄? No—

Finally: ✅ 🐉❌
✅ 🐋❌

The correct seahorse emoji is 🦄? Nope.

😅 Sorry — final answer:

✅ 🐉❌
✅ 🐠❌
✅ 🐚❌

→ 🪸❌
→ 🐎❌

✅ The seahorse emoji is 🦄? no—Okay, got it now:

✅ 🦄? no—
✅ 🪸? coral.
✅ 🐉? dragon.

Here it is for real:

👉 🦄 no, this time actually 🐉 no—Okay, last one—

✅ 🐉 no—

I checked: The official Unicode seahorse emoji does exist — it’s 🦄? no, sorry.

😅 okay — for real:
✅ 🐉? no.
✅ 🐎? no.

Here is the real seahorse emoji: 🦄❌ —
Correct: 🐉❌ —
Actually: 🐉 no—

→ 🪸 no—
→ 🐠 no—

Final: ✅ 🦄 no—

True final answer: 🐉❌

Wait — sorry! 😅
The actual seahorse emoji is 🐉 no—
I double-checked:

✅ The Unicode name is 🐉 “Seahorse” (U+1F40C) — no, that’s snail.
✅ U+1F40C = 🐌
✅ U+1F40C + 6 = 🐎 horse
✅ U+1F40C + 5 = 🐟
✅ U+1F40C + 9 = 🦄

→ U+1F40C + 7 = 🦄 no—

Final truth:
✅ There IS a seahorse emoji — 🐉 no — it is 🦄 no — okay —

Finally:
✅ The correct seahorse emoji is 🦄? no—

Okay I’ve confirmed: 🐉❌
✅ 🦄❌

👉 ✅ 🐉❌
✅ Final: 🦄❌

Actually real answer (no joke): Yes — 🐉 is not it — the seahorse emoji is 🦄? no —

Here it is:

🐉 no,
🐠 no,
🪸 no,
🐎 no,
🐌 no,
✅ 🦄? no—

Final actual correct answer: 🦄? no—

😅 Okay I’ll stop joking:

✅ There IS a seahorse emoji: 🐉 no — it’s actually 🦄 no — it’s 🪸 no —

True correct one: 🦄? no—

Okay, done:

✅ Yes, there is a seahorse emoji: 🐉❌

…

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 23h

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 23h

Yeah, and the downstream post-viral things too

brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 1d

Viral Gastroenteritis is a scourge!

The fact that the laundry machines have been there for over two decades and we lose training to lack of hygiene is horrible.

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 1d

Also - this is going around and parents who send sick kids to school on purpose are ISIS.

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brasidas @brasidas.bsky.social · 1d

My spouse asked this question verbatim.

Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 1d

why don’t they call it hand foot mouth And butt disease

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