Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 8h

<christian charity voiceover voice> By withdrawing just 50c a day you can kill a child.

Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 10h

The bland statements from Salesforce aren’t reassuring. The hackers did get vast amount of data and it was allegedly done via a social engineering hack. Are staff trained (and paid) better now? Will compromised customers get compensated if fraud occurs?

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Hackers leak Qantas data containing 5 million customer records after ransom deadline passes

Hacker collective Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters demanded payment in return for preventing the stolen data of nearly 40 companies from being shared

www.theguardian.com

Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 11h

A bizarre tech project requiring an implausible number (and area) of satellites.

To produce “full noon” light at one site with flat mirrors in space would require satellites with a surface area of over 24 square kilometres at 600km.

theconversation.com/a-us-startup...

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Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 11h

Like many in the surrounding community, Dr Wright suspects the contamination is coming from the upstream Mount Piper Ash Repository.

ABC News Bot (unofficial) @abcnewsbot.bsky.social · 11h

Almost 190 years on, in the place where Charles Darwin first spotted a platypus, the egg-laying mammal seems to have disappeared.

Platypus vanish from river where Charles Darwin pondered evolution

Almost 190 years on, in the place where Charles Darwin first spotted a platypus, the egg-laying mammal seems to have disappeared.

www.abc.net.au

Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 12h

That feeling when you meet a student who has been taught not to cite academic papers more than 10 years old.

Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · 12h

WHAT people.com/diane-keaton...

Diane Keaton, Famed for Roles in 'Father of the Bride,' 'First Wives Club' and More, Dies at 79 (Exclusive)

Diane Keaton has died at age 79, PEOPLE can confirm exclusively. The actress was best known for roles in movies like 'Annie Hall,' 'The First Wives Club,' 'Something's Gotta Give' and 'The Godfather.'

people.com

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Reposted by Michael Brown

Brett Holman @airminded.org · 22h

A good article on the psychological aspects of the current European drone scare, which brings in the (Scandinavian) 1930s ghost planes, 1940s ghost rockets, and 1980s ghost subs (thanks to an interview with Robert Bartholomew, who was an inspiration for my own mystery aircraft research)

‘A collective anxiety attack’: the psychology of unexplained drone sightings across Europe

Incursions have so far caused few physical effects but experts say such incidents can leave people feeling more vulnerable

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 1d

This man is being Gorilla Channel'd with a rotating selection of AI slop riot porn by several known white supremacists who are secretly running the government.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 1d

Not commenting on over water matters apparently.

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Theo Priestley @tprstly.bsky.social · 1d

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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 2d

The attack on @frediotto.bsky.social was seeded years ago by Roger Pielke Jr, who started arguing that this table from a recent @ipcc.bsky.social report proved that climate science cannot attribute extreme weather to climate change.

But Roger is of course lying. And we know this for 2 reasons.

🧵

CLIMATEWIRE
Climate critics try to discredit IPCC author for linking
disasters to global warming
By LESLEY CLARK, SARA SCHONHARDT, CHELSEA HARVEY | 10/09/2025
06:22 AM EDT Roger Pielke Jr. and oil industry supporters are attacking climate scientist Friederike Otto, whose
work has been used in lawsuits against polluters.

Table 12.12 | Emergence of CIDs in different time periods, as assessed in this section. The colour contesponds to the confidence of the region with the highest confidence: white cells indicate where evidence is lacking or the signal is not present, leading to overal bu confidence of an emerging signal.

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Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 1d

WFH presumably?

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Dr Space Junk (Alice Gorman) @drspacejunk.bsky.social · 1d

Do we really want 250,000 mirrored satellites in Low Earth Orbit? Hasn't the Starlink megaconstellation already done enough damage?
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social

A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?

Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.

theconversation.com

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Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 1d

I haven’t seen the economics laid out. And the number of satellites needed per Solar farm was something we calculated as they haven’t provided an estimate (it’s a simple calculation).

Keeping the constellation operational and safe must have significant costs but we haven’t seen their estimates.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 1d

They're going to put an enormous lawsuit magnet in the sky.
mastodon.social/@sundogplane...

Prof. Sam Lawler (@[email protected])

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that Reflect Orbital's fucking stupid giant mirror satellite, with absolutely NOTHING useful to offer, which will cause countless safety issues, ecological disas...

mastodon.social

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Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 1d

@mattkenworthy.bsky.social and I have a Conversation article on this today.

Light for one Solar farm would require about 3000 mirror satellites. If accidentally viewed with a telescope, the mirrors would be similar in brightness to Sun’s surface (not good).

theconversation.com/a-us-startup...

A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?

Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.

theconversation.com

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Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 2d

Just need to scale it up by a factor of a million and I’m in business.

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d

This article by two astronomers details many of the points I just talked about and more, and just came out in The Conversation Australia, perfect timing: https://theconversation.com/a-us-startup-plans-to-deliver-sunlight-on-demand-after-dark-can-it-work-and-would-we-want-it-to-264323

A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?

Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.

theconversation.com

3 7

Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 2d

A US tech startup is proposing to use mirrors in space to power solar farms on Earth at night. Is this even feasible? And what are the light pollution dangers?

Myself and @mattkenworthy.bsky.social have crunched the numbers for The Conversation.

theconversation.com/a-us-startup...

A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?

Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.

theconversation.com

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Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 2d

Every free speech warrior’s favourite word is “defamatory.”

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Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 3d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

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Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · 2d

If his information has been shared online this isn’t surprising.

I had a flight out of Newark cancelled once and I suspect that was due to a different Michael Brown trying to cancel his ticket and staff cancelling my ticket instead.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled

www.theguardian.com

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The Onion @theonion.com · 2d

Israel Agrees To Go Back To Killing Palestinians On Less Frequent Basis

CAIRO—As part of a historic ceasefire agreement with Hamas following two years of war, the Israeli government reportedly agreed Thursday to go back to killing Palestinians on a less frequent basis. “I...

theonion.com

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CBS News @cbsnews.com · 2d

President Trump is going to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday morning for what the White House says is his "routine yearly checkup," just six months after undergoing what the White House at the time described as his "annual physical examination" at the same facility.

Trump to visit Walter Reed for "routine yearly checkup" 6 months after annual physical exam

President Trump's annual physical examination in April showed his vital statistics were all within normal limits.

cbsn.ws

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ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 2d

It's preposterous and tragic that there is no governance that can control this kind of deployment.

Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that Reflect Orbital's fucking stupid giant mirror satellite, with absolutely NOTHING useful to offer, which will cause countless safety issues, ecological disasters, and destroy the night sky, is going to launch.

A bunch of astronomers and I have sent out […]

Original post on mastodon.social

mastodon.social

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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 5d

Startup Reflect Orbital aims to power solar farms at night by reflecting sunlight from about 4,000 satellites, has recently requested a license for a 2026 demo. But astronomers warn the bright objects could be “ruinous” to vital scientific research.

Plan to Reflect Sunlight to Power Solar Panels at Night Upsets Astronomers

Reflect Orbital aims to launch its first of a planned 4,000 satellites into orbit next year. Scientists worry that it would be “ruinous” for research.

bloom.bg

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