Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 3d

tenor.com/view/monkey-...

Monkey Computer GIF - Monkey Computer Angry - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF

tenor.com

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 3d

It's time. chasingmailboxes.com/2025/09/29/c...

Coffeeneuring Challenge 2025: You’re Only 15 Once

Readers. Bike riders. Randonneurs. Always Be Coffeeneuring Club members. Scenesters. People (on Earth)! It’s back again and it’s a big one. That’s right, it’s the 15th edition of the Coffeene…

chasingmailboxes.com

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 3d

Imagine studying a technology whose presence in the classroom is so detrimental to the development of writing and research skills (including even the will to know the sources behind claims!) that mitigating its effects becomes a central goal of course design, and concluding with tips on adopting it.

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 4d

(This webpage contains information about violence related to the Indian residential school system, which may be distressing to some readers.)

sencanada.ca/en/info-page...

Missing Records, Missing Children

Indian Residential School records still scarce: Senate report

sencanada.ca

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 11d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 14d

I learned that it exists just last week, when one of my current students -- who was apparently a top-level participant -- gave the class a mini-tutorial about the sport.

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 15d

ai-laws.org/werobot-2026...

WeRobot 2026 - Robotics & AI Law Society - RAILS

ai-laws.org

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 15d

OpenAI's VP for education recently said the company wanted to become "core infrastructure" for schools and universities. Any infrastructure, though, always depends on habituating users to its technical affordances - so I've been trying to track how it's doing that 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...

Welcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 18d

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

The Boston Globe @bostonglobe.com · 17d

At a time of profound public confusion over vaccine policy and access, the City of Boston will host free vaccine clinics throughout the city through Dec. 15.

Boston opens free clinics to ease vaccine access - The Boston Globe

The clinics offer COVID, flu, and childhood immunizations.

trib.al

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 18d

I winced.

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 19d

luma.com/l7m3nzzn

Let Them Eat Compute: Computer Says Maybe Climate Week Livestream · Luma

Hearing a lot about AI and data center expansion? That it's happening quickly, behind closed doors, putting huge demands on strained energy grids, leading to…

luma.com

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 19d

oof

www.thenerdreich.com/libertariani...

Libertarianism, 13, Dies in Argentina Chainsaw Accident

It was preceded in death by conservatism, which fell to a terminal case of fascism in 2016.

www.thenerdreich.com

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 19d

Oh. My. God.

www.popsci.com/environment/...

First known wild ‘grue jay’ hybrid spotted in Texas

Green and blue jays are crossing paths as temperatures rise.

www.popsci.com

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

City of Boston @boston.gov · 20d

🟠 Orange Line closure: the MBTA has announced there will be no train service between Forest Hills and North Station this Saturday, September 27 through Sunday, September 28.

Use shuttle buses between Forest Hills and Back Bay. Use the Green Line between Copley and North Station. mbta.com/orangeline

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 20d

Screen capture of juxtaposed newspaper items. On top is a description of the Ohio State University's "AI Fluency Initiative" requiring that "from 2029 onward, every Ohio State graduate will be fluent in field-related AI applications. On the bottom is a headline: "DOGE revokes $23 million grant intended to help Ohioans without internet access".

Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 20d

www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-st...

Ohio State University launches initiative requiring that students study AI

Beginning this year, all Ohio State University freshmen are required to take a course in generative AI and multiple workshops aimed at real-world applications to help them master the technology.

www.cbsnews.com

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · 24d

www.404media.co/librarians-a...

Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books

It’s a trippy time to have a library card.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 25d

So many of the half-baked AI implementations are happening in professional arenas that have been hollowed out by extraction and divestment. No journalist needs a writing aid unless they’re being paid too little to write too much, no teacher needs a commenting tool unless they’re overextended.

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

Paresh Dave @peard33.bsky.social · 27d

www.wired.com/story/hundre...

Hundreds of Google AI Workers Were Fired Amid Fight Over Working Conditions

Over 200 contractors who work on improving Google’s AI products, including Gemini and AI Overviews, have been laid off, sources tell WIRED. It’s the latest development in a conflict over pay and alleg...

www.wired.com

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · Sep 12

If I'd known ahead of time that @imaniperry.bsky.social would be the emcee and interlocutor with Justice KBJ tonight, I would have paid double.

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · Sep 11

I pre-unsubscribed years ago!

Reposted by Vance Ricks

Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · Sep 11

Do you love public transit and science fiction? Of course you do! Now you can have them at the same time! Next Tues, 9/16, at 6pm, an astonishing panel of activists and creators are coming together to talk about the future of transit. Seriously do not miss this one-of-a-kind event. luma.com/0olo6szj

Public Transit Visions in Speculative Fiction · Luma

Flying cars in the Jetsons; trains snaking around towers in Wakanda, or the sentient rail system on the newly terraformed Sask-E planet. In building future and…

luma.com

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Reposted by Vance Ricks

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · Sep 10

WATCH: Tonight on public television across the nation, the premiere of the new documentary “Becoming Thurgood.” It’s so good. Check your PBS and public television schedules. It is part of #HBCUWeek on PBS.

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Vance Ricks @ricksva.bsky.social · Sep 8

The "using AI for completing assignments is like using a forklift at the weight room" analogy leads me to notice that most gyms I visit have many weight machines and comparatively few free weights. Extending the analogy - if gen AI is the forklift, then is the instructor the weight machine?