Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 6d

The European Blockchain Convention is almost here, and @adlrocha.bsky.social and I will be there showing off @baselightdb.bsky.social. If you're in Barcelona, come say hi!

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 11d

Not only is staff at my hotel excellent, they're also hilarious: at breakfast this morning, someone asked if I wanted to sit outside. #ThisIsSG

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 12d

Singapore with half the temperature and half the cars would be heaven. But I'd settle for good bread and Google mapping the underpass network. #token2049

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 21d

Did not predict I would witness Gilead come into being.

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 24d

We don't make data-driven decisions; we make data-driving decisions.

And that's why @baselightdb.bsky.social datasets have road rage.

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 29d

The UX could be a bit more intuitive, and some of the questions could be better, but these are the outcome of a two-line prompt (!). One can always ask Claude to fine tune both the content and the interface.

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 29d

And here is one for open-source software facts, using information from, inter alia, github and package managers.
claude.ai/public/artif...

Credence Calibration Game - Baselight Facts | Claude

Test your tech knowledge with this interactive calibration game! Answer 30 questions about programming languages, GitHub stats & frameworks. Built with Claude AI.

claude.ai

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Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 29d

Sample prompt: "Can you make a credence calibration game based on engineering projects? Use Baselight and pick questions about cost, time to build, weight, manpower, height, etc."
claude.ai/public/artif...

Credence Calibration Game - Baselight Facts | Claude

Test your engineering knowledge confidence with this interactive calibration game. Answer 30 questions about bridges & renewable energy. Built with Claude AI.

claude.ai

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Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · 29d

I've been using the Credence Calibration Game as both a team icebreaker and roadmapping prep (shoutout to @miyazono.bsky.social for showing it to me!). However, the tooling sucked. Now, I rely on @baselightdb.bsky.social and Claude to create context-specific sets of questions, and it's fantastic.

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Reposted by Jorge Soares

Sam Whyte @samwhyte.bsky.social · Sep 5

This gets progressively funnier with every use of the term "floppy".

One of Britain’s most senior police officers has launched an angry tirade against Extinction Rebellion protesters going “all floppy” when they get arrested.

Sir Stephen House, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said the tactic of going limp was a “flipping nuisance” as it required extra officers to drag protesters away.

House told a London assembly police and crime committee hearing: “We have asked them to stop being floppy. And that might seem like a silly thing to say, but when we arrest them and pick them up, they go all floppy, which is why you see four or five officers carrying them away. It’s a complete waste of officers’ time, and a complete pain in the neck.”

Extinction Rebellion: how successful were the latest protests?
Read more
House also expressed annoyance at how the tactic made the police look heavy-handed. He said: “The problem with them going floppy and four offices carrying them away [is that it] looks to the general public like police are overreacting here. We’re not making them go floppy. They’re just sort of being a nuisance.”

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Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Jun 7

Another way to read this chart is "how many people can reach city X by train in less than 2h". But Brussels is on the list and no one in their right mind would travel in that direction, so I'll stick to the alternative interpretation.

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Jun 6

Want to draw your own insights? Check the data for your country? Use a different metric? You can now fork and modify Baselight queries. Start here: baselight.app/u/jsoares/qu...

Inter-city rail reachability across Europe

Cities with the most inter-urban reachability, as measured by the population of nearby cities reachable in less than 2h by train. The chart displays the population of the city, the population of the...

baselight.app

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Jun 6

And then there's Paris. It's a curious one, as the only listed major metropolis with a reachability ratio of less than 1, i.e. the surrounding reachable population is smaller than that of the city itself. Lower ratios are expected for larger cities, but compare London.

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Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Jun 6

How do we measure this? Turns out @ec.europa.eu collected data on the time it took to travel between rail-connected city pairs, and the data is on @baselightdb.bsky.social. We're restricting our ranking to those reachable in under 2h, as it's just a weekend after all.

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Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Jun 6

The weekend is here! If you live near a 🚅 station, you get to take a weekend trip in style. But how much can you see? Quite a bit if you're in 🇬🇧, 🇩🇪, or Benelux; this is where some of the best connected cities in Europe lie.

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Reposted by Jorge Soares

Baselight @baselightdb.bsky.social · May 28

We hit the stage at @coindesk.com PitchFest to share why the future of data is decentralized, composable, and open.

Baselight enables true data ownership by allowing data providers to own, query, and monetize their structured data.

Take a look at our Consensus pitch below👇
youtu.be/Wqm2QHh4psA

CoinDesk PitchFest - Semi-Finals Pitch

YouTube video by Baselight

youtu.be

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Reposted by Jorge Soares

Jehad Abusalim @jehadabusalim.bsky.social · May 26

When the Napalm Girl photo showed a child fleeing napalm in Vietnam, it fueled outrage and changed history. Today, the world watches Palestinian children burn on live stream as Israel’s final solution unfolds in Gaza, yet the west remains silent, inept, and indifferent.

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Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · May 14

Made it to Toronto for Consensus 2025. We'll be pitching Baselight on Thursday at 1630; come by if you're around! Can't promise much, but can promise 3 brilliant minutes from @elreydetent.bsky.social and a cool @baselightdb.bsky.social shirt (while stocks last!).

Baselight @baselightdb.bsky.social · May 12

We're headed to the main stage at Consensus 2025!

We’ve been selected as a semi-finalist for CoinDesk's PitchFest, where we’ll be pitching our vision for a better, decentralized data future.

Thanks to everyone building with us. Time to go make some noise in Toronto!

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Apr 30

Also, the usual shameless plug: @baselightdb.bsky.social is the place for all your data needs!

baselight.app/u/jsoares/qu...

Iberian Blackout (April 2025) - Power Demand

Forecast and observed demand on the Iberian grid during the 2025-04-28 blackout.

baselight.app

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Apr 30

We were all in different places at the time, and only managed to establish contact with everyone 6 hours later. Seriously considering getting everyone Thuraya satphones or Starlink Roam. Any suggestions, given sporadic emergency use only?

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Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Apr 30

I was unlucky enough to be in Lisbon on Monday. Always fun when your demand floor vanishes. The power outage was not all that terrible. The fact that @vodafonegroup.bsky.social's network went down immediately, preventing any kind of coordination with the rest of the family, was.

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Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Apr 16

Yesterday, we released @baselightdb.bsky.social to the public. We wanted to go over our Linear and @github.com stats during our team recap, and what better way to dogfood our new data upload functionality? Love the sustained productivity; no crunch time here!

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Apr 15

Told you this would happen!

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Apr 15

O moment grand, for which ye all have pined!

Baselight @baselightdb.bsky.social · Apr 15

Baselight is now open for everyone!

Come see structured data like you never have before.

Jorge Soares @jsoares.bsky.social · Apr 3

Come join us on Discord and talk data!

Baselight @baselightdb.bsky.social · Apr 2

🚪The gates are open 🚪

The Baselight discord is now live!

If you’re a dev, data freak, DeSci enthusiast, crypto tinkerer who is into discovering, distributing, or monetizing data, this is your new HQ.

Pull up, drop a query, make a friend.

discord.gg/baselightdb

a man with his mouth open and the words open the gate written below him

ALT: a man with his mouth open and the words open the gate written below him

media.tenor.com