Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 11h

Now that we're getting closer to having trillionaires, we can directly observe the inverse correlation between net worth and intelligence in ways previously unavailable to science. It's like we're biologists or astronomers finally granted a new kind of glass lens.

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 15h

thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 22h

I see we've got some outrage tourism for Ghost of Yotei because it has a lady protagonist (portrayed by a non-binary actor). It's beside the point dunking on these fools, but "lady unleashes samurai vengeance" is classic genre stuff. Just highlighting that for normal folks! youtu.be/bIiuywU9ZJ4?...

Lady Snowblood (1973) 修羅雪姫 - Movie Trailer - Far East Films

YouTube video by Far East Films

youtu.be

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 22h

I'm on the last scene of The Substance and don't understand why none of you told me that it is actually the best movie in history.

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Reposted by A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe)

Dia Lacina @dialacina.com · 1d

Gamers: The writing is bad.

Me, someone who reads real books: Oh so it's like Final Fantasy 12. Okay.

Me, playing the bad writing game: Fuck me this is unimaginable.

Gamers: Final Fantasy 12 is good wtf

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 1d

I am not emotionally resilient enough to have to hear about the Cubs in October.

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 2d

Every email I get from my kids' high school is like another piece of crime scene evidence for why everybody is falling behind in English.

Reposted by A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe)

Sara McH 🤧 covid mode @saramchenry.bsky.social · Mar 30

LGBTQ

Lisan al GaiB: The QuisatzHaderach in rainbow colors

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 3d

This is like "never use passive voice," a bit of advice put out there because most people will get themselves into trouble if they don't follow it.

Joshua Blackwood @joshuablackwood.bsky.social · 3d

If you believe that “said” or “asked” are the only acceptable dialogue tags, I assume your chicken is unseasoned.

a woman in a pink dress is saying i said what i said

Alt: Nene Leakes wearing a pink dress and saying “I said what I said”.

media.tenor.com

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 3d

I and several other writers on here just got done affirming how editors have saved us and this is a prime example of that, and why you should have an old dog somewhere in your editorial process.

bendwalsh.bsky.social @bendwalsh.bsky.social · 3d

wtaf are you talking about

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 3d

Highlander is the reigning prince of the universe when it comes to this. Decades of spinoff crap that sucks total shit.

Matt Singer @mattsinger.bsky.social · 5d

Food for thought: What is the worst franchise made from the best movie?

15 Great Movies That Were Ruined By Becoming Franchises

These classic films should never have gotten sequels.

screencrush.com

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 4d

Only here but for their grace

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 4d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 4d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 4d

You have to forgive us over here in the states. CNN and the federal apparati have all prepared for the eventual death of Dolly Parton in much the same way all the brits did for Liz. We got a little jumpy for a sec there.

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 4d

Our problem is that we don't apply this logic to societal projects that actually generate net good. Huge law firms refusing to provide a quota of public defenders pro bono? Exxon and Phillips can't clean up the pacific garbage patch for free? It'll kill the human industry!!

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 4d

If I ever started raking in drug money from my job as a Baltimore dockyard logistics worker, I wouldn't say anything, but there would be signs.

Matthew Willis (Naval Air History) @navalairhistory.com · 4d

Spotted in the hospital car park, this 70s-brown Reliant Scimitar with tiger striped seat covers @tamslick.bsky.social

Brown Reliant Scimitar GT, front right three quarter view

Brown Reliant Scimitar GT left rear view

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Reposted by A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe)

Existential Comics @existentialcomics.com · 4d

The fact that everyone totally ignores C3PO when he says stuff like this makes a lot more sense if you think of him as a ChatGPT type computer who just says plausible sounding sentences without any real analysis behind them.

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 4d

What the fuck are these people ever talking about

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Mike Johnson: "If you're a young, pregnant American citizen women who shows up in an ER and you get treated and they pay the hospital less for treating you than some illegal rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm, that is wrong."

Reposted by A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe)

merritt @merrittk.com · 6d

does anyone need a sworn retainer. like a terrible instrument of your will who asks no questions and is more of a living weapon than a fully actualized human being

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 5d

That's when they tend to watch the Big Lebowski.

Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 5d

*PTSD flashbacks ensue* Why do college students always randomly get obsessed with making White Russians for a semester? Same thing happened with me. Whew, god. How I got over!!!

Stevie 'knows 8 kata now' Mattos @asmattering.bsky.social · 5d

i think about my white russian year and my teeth begin to hurt

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 5d

How are we to force our children to love us if we're not allowed to beat them?

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 5d

Breaking news: The Supreme Court sounded deeply skeptical Tuesday about a Colorado law banning conversion therapy for gay and transgender minors.

A ruling against the Colorado law could scuttle similar regulations in nearly 30 states.

Supreme Court sharply questions law banning conversion therapy

Supreme Court sharpy questions Colorado law that bans efforts to changing minors’ sexual identity, suggesting it violates free speech rights of therapists.

wapo.st

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 5d

The first two reviews of Tron: Ares I've seen have been a four-star and a 1-star, so you best believe I'm seeing it.

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Reposted by A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe)

Johanna Taylor 👻 Lightbox Expo 630 @johannamation.bsky.social · Jan 31

Them: ‘So what’s your book marketing strategy?’

Me:

Will ferrell yelling “ do you need any comic books?”

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 5d

Cuz you aided and abetted treason, my guy.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 5d

Graham: Can you tell me why my phone records were sought by the jack Smith agents. Why did they ask to know who I called and what I was doing from January 4th to the seventh? Can you tell me that?

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Reposted by A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe)

Curb Your Malthusiasm 2.0 @manucleardevice.bsky.social · 5d

"This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gondor," i holler as i overturn my uncle's funeral pyre and turn the 4th Age of Man into the 4th Age of Shit

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 5d

Part of my husbandly duties, sometimes, is reminding my wife that the reason some people are snippy at her on Facebook is because the two things people on Facebook cannot do are 1.) Read and 2.) Write.

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A Shadow Over KENsmouth (Ken Lowe) @illusiveken.bsky.social · 5d

John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 5d

I love that the Zoology department was integral to finding text about Merlin that was otherwise invisible to the human eye.

Rare Merlin and King Arthur text found hidden in binding of medieval book

The ‘extremely significant' text was hidden for centuries.

www.popsci.com

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