Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1m

Every large city should have a big mural of a frog that says Dear Leader.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 25m

President Trump has used apocalyptic language to describe Portland, Oregon. Some demonstrators protesting ICE are responding with colorful animal suits. “It was just to contrast the narrative that we are violent extremists. The best way to show that for me is being in a frog costume.”

Among Portland Protests, It’s Frogs and Sharks and Bears, Oh My!

Images of anarchists clad in black gave the city a bad name in 2020. Now, demonstrators in Portland are poking fun at President Trump’s apocalyptic talk with colorful animal suits.

nyti.ms

Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 3h

You absolutely do not want to get me going on urbanism and cities. Feel bad for this server listening to my riff on LA/NYC/TC.

Next up The Gnome? 😬

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 3h

Typing this over a sour beer at Bad Weather. Trying Waldmann next.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 3h

It's not really accurate to compare it to anywhere in NYC but my walks this year in St. Paul have picked up the East Coast vibes more strongly.

Still needs a lot of work but that's kind of the appeal too.

What's tragic about St. Paul is that the terrible decisions decades ago are tough to rectify.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 4h

The itch for moving to Downtown St. Paul is too strong at this point. Curiosity and novelty will probably get the best of me next year.

It's also a pattern. I generally only live in one neighborhood for 3 years before moving.

One reason I was cold on St. Paul was it felt too much like Queens/BK.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 5h

Ended up in Downtown St Paul because we skipped the Snelling stop.

Guess I'll roam around the gem of the Twin Cities.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 5h

And I didn't know 94 was closed this weekend because I don't drive lol

So the 94 is a weird local bus now.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 6h

Taking the 94 to Smelling then going for a walk to daydream in St. Paul.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 7h

I keep looking at the radar and it shows rain, but I see no rain looking out my window.

Afternoon fall walking is peak. Yesterday was idyllic with the sun and blue skies. Cloudiness is generally a bummer for me but gotta get over it.

Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 10h

Walking tour!

Saturday, October 25th, 9:30am-noon – Walking Tour and Social Hour at FRGMT Coffee in St. Anthony Main

Streets.mn @streets.mn · 11h

Join the Streets.mn Board in 2026!: https://streets.mn/2025/10/12/join-the-streets-mn-board-in-2026/

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 19h

Happy to be in the 1%!

Although it might be dromomania so maybe that's disqualifying.

Bill Lindeke @blindeke.bsky.social · 22h

I think about this a lot. 99% of people walking in the Twin Cities at any given time are walking their dogs or walking to their car.

Sam Bergman @violanorth.bsky.social · 23h

Having lived through 25 years of Minneapolis arguments over transit, cats, and bikes, I have to say as (now) a visitor that as imperfect as the solutions have been, there are a lot of ways to get around this city now. BUT, and this is a big one…

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 19h

There are probably like 10 of us that are car free and walk everywhere because we prefer it AND enjoy it.

The real hack is that walking=productivity and creativity.

I actually think a lot of knowledge work of the future will be done through movement because we'll learn that's how we think better.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

RIP. Keaton was an accomplished and interesting photographer as well. Totally legit.

She co-edited a book for Twin Palms called Dead of Night which are car crash photos from the archive of Bob Boltz, a photographer from Wisconsin.

Terrifying book.

www.twinpalms.com/products/dea...

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

Mariners v Brewers all the way. That would be a classic by virtue of happening.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

Jonas Bendiksen is a Magnum photographer. The most esteemed photojournalism and documentary agency in history.

"Six months after its publication, Bendiksen revealed the project itself was a forgery – all the people portrayed are computer-generated 3D models, and all text was written by an AI."

The Book of Veles | World Press Photo

www.worldpressphoto.org

Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

Photo manipulation goes all the way back to the beginning of the medium. Spirit photography is really fascinating.

I have a good photography pal who has been documenting the spiritualism community for decades. They are masters at this stuff.

Spirit photography - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

More people really need to study the history of photography. Even the most dedicated documentary photographer will tell you that documentary photographs are a type of fiction with elements of the truth.

Literally the way you frame a scene can completely change the meaning.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

Category error. The issue is that we trust citizens with large social media accounts to tell the truth.

You don't see the WSJ, NYTimes or Bloomberg publishing this stuff.

They may lie in their own ways and certainly do at times but will always be more trustworthy than randos on social media

Cohen is a Ghost @skullmandible.bsky.social · 1d

"even if it's AI, it's at least true" hard to overstate the damage this stuff is doing to people's brains. we're gonna be cleaning the slop out of archives for decades

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

That's it, tapping out. Good luck Seattle.

Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

Facing a serious sunk cost with this Mariners Tigers game.

If I turn it off now, it'll be over in 20 minutes. If I keep watching, it goes 18 innings.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

Yeah it's like Broadway in NYC or Wilshire in LA. It's the main corridor connecting the Twin Cities!

It's insane. If St. Paul gets it together with University and downtown, it will take off again.

I just don't know where all the people are going to arrive from.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

Oh I think there's plenty of opportunity for blocks and blocks of development along University. It seriously has to be one of the biggest opportunities for transformation in any American city. It's wild.

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Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 1d

always check the bio and 90% of the time AI skeptics are freelance creatives, academics, or attention economy grifters (Substack)

Rarely PMC because they tend to be more savage about upskilling and telling your boss "nah to AI" is career killer.

Downside is the AI everything corporate comms.

Bryan @bryanformhals.com · 2d

Almost a perfect distillation of how crime downtown is perceived by some. Hear about a murder, and assume it's a white collar office worker during the day when in reality it was outside Rick's at 1am and involved drunk men beefing. Almost all the crime revolves around nightlife in some way.

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Reposted by Bryan

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 2d

Three newly published books argue that cars are destroying society as well as the planet.

Is the world finally ready to rein in the automobile?

My essay, in @bloomberg.com (gift link below)

‘Car Brain’ Is Making the US Unhealthy and Dangerous. EVs Won’t Fix It.

A trio of new books argue that we need to confront the full range of costs that car-based living has imposed on our cities, our health and our society.

www.bloomberg.com

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