Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Larisa @thelolrus.bsky.social · 43m

I am going to meet a puppy today!

Reposted by Larisa

Captain Awkward @captainawkward.bsky.social · 10h

I can do and even enjoy small talk. I can endure loud, crowded environments. However, if I have to make small talk in a loud space,where we’re shouting to be heard and repeating questions & answers multiple times? I will shrivel like an earthworm trapped on dry pavement in full sunlight.

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Wool-Encased Tea Addict @passeriform.bsky.social · 5h

that you yourself are going to have every answer or fix the world. You understand that to do so is impossible. You are—at most—going to be one piece of that solution in a chain of many people that begins before you were born and continues after you die."

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Wool-Encased Tea Addict @passeriform.bsky.social · 5h

"It might sound pessimistic to see, as Coates does, the likelihood of many losses looming ahead, even as we fight for wins. But if you consider the long history of the problem at hand, it releases you from bright-kid syndrome, from the illusion

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Derf Backderf @derfbackderf.bsky.social · 3h

With the holidays upon us, don't give to Salvation Army. Not even change. It's a scumbag "charity" run by anti-gay zealots.

Habitat for Humanity is great. Your local Food Bank is great.

So many "charities" are for-profit scams. Use Charity Navigator to vet them. www.charitynavigator.org

Fascist Dem Tracker @fascistdemtracker.bsky.social · 14h

Fun fact about the Salvation Army: they use a form of substance use treatment called work therapy. Oh, and by treatment, I mean they have people who have been convicted of drug charges work for their stores & warehouses in exchange for room, board, around a $1 a week, and minimal actual therapy.

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K9Woof @k9wag.bsky.social · 19h

It absolutely ruins their little individual cosplay fantasy too.

These guys signed up for a toxic masculinity field trip. They thought they were coming to “fuck antifa” not get twerked at by a halloween parade.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 20h

One great aspect of iconic inflatable costumes (aside from how they instantly undermine propaganda about war zones) is that it's useless to arrest the person wearing one. Cuffing a frog would make law enforcement look pathetic. And carting one off just guarantees that more will show up the next day.

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cocoon of normality 🦋 @tallesteden.bsky.social · 10h

I've now read the majority of the works shortlisted for the @ursulakleguin.com award and they are all excellent. For me, it's a toss up between @vajra.me's Rakesfall and @yarntheory.bsky.social's North Continent Ribbon (the latter of which I really hope more people would read)

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Dr. NerdLove @doctornerdlove.com · 2h

Alexandra Jones, the column’s author, makes a really important point at the end: the fact that people are *hiding* their LLM use really makes it clear that they know this is ultimately a bad move.

Not to mention the number of “they/I were basically dating the AI” from folks on both sides of it.

C. Buckthorn @cbuckthorn.bsky.social · 8h

This is amazing. I laughed out loud www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

As 32-year-old Rich points out, though, "it's not like using ChatGPT guarantees success".
When he met someone in a bar one Friday night and swapped social media handles, he asked AI what his next move should be.
ChatGPT discerned that sending an initial message on Monday midmorning would set the right pace. "Then it gave me some options for what the message could be," says Rich.
"Keep it light, warm, and low-stakes so it reads as genuine interest without urgency," the bot advised. "Something like: Hey Sarah, still laughing about [tiny shared moment/reference if you've got one] - good to meet you!" Rich went back and forth with ChatGPT until he felt they'd hit upon exactly the right message ("Hey Sarah, it was lovely to meet you") but sadly she never replied, he says. "It's been two weeks now."

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Felicia Davin @feliciadavin.com · 1d

this book is delightful, you should acquire it in whatever format is accessible to you

gochenourabout @sjgochenour.bsky.social · 2d

there are still two copies of A BLOOMY HEAD at Lovestruck Books, for anyone who wants a cheesemaking Regency romance about a widowed farmwife and a doctor, with bonus MURDER

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Larisa @thelolrus.bsky.social · 16h

Oh, I saw this in Publishers Weekly the other day and it made me think of your deep sea creatures class! It looks cool.

The Radiant Sea
Steven Haddock and Sönke Johnsen (Abrams) $55

The magnificent denizens of the deep blue are on full-spectrum display, categorized by the qualities of transparency, pigmentation, iridescence, bioluminescence, and fluorescence. Presented against black backgrounds, the images on their own inspire awe; accompanying text—"one of the most stunning and perplexing of coral reef animals is the disco clam"—delights.

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Arkady Martine | Dr. AnnaLinden Weller @byzantienne.bsky.social · 18h

This is incredibly powerful and resonant language, to the point of creating genuine emotional religious response in me (a Jewish person).

Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 19h

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 22h

Religious leaders here are not mincing words. They have repeatedly used the word "evil."

"Detention and deportation are acts that wound the body of Christ, and deny the dignity of God's people."

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Ernie Smith @ernie.tedium.co · 22h

I feel like this theory also explains why the “Trump is weird” approach that Walz hit on last year was so effective and why everything fell apart once the consultants got involved and told him to act normal.

sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 22h

I have a theory www.theverge.com/policy/79849...

American politics has devolved into shitposting and aura farming

The Frog is owning the president.

www.theverge.com

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Olivia Waite @oliviawaite.com · 1d

The problem with “virtue signaling” as a rhetorical framework was always that it pressed you not toward deeper and more sincere acts of virtue, but away from goodness as a goal at all.

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Larisa @thelolrus.bsky.social · 1d

There are so many great stickers in the world and simply not enough places to put them

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Larisa @thelolrus.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe because they’re one of those animals people tend to think is inherently kinda funny. They’re small with big round eyes, so they’re cute, but also have the round blobby fingers and silly locomotion. So they appeal to people and stick in the mind more easily than, idk, an alpaca or something.

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WIRED @wired.com · 1d

The country’s grid operator says shifting from coal to clean power is not only possible but inevitable. The work there could provide a road map for other countries.

Australia’s March Toward 100 Percent Clean Energy

The country’s grid operator says shifting from coal to clean power is not only possible but inevitable. The work there could provide a road map for other countries.

wrd.cm

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 1d

This is what I mean when I say, when it comes to political positions, most ppl just run on vibes. 100% feelings-before-facts. Japan is screaming towards a population crash at 1,000 MPH, it's not reversible at this point. But you have political parties agitating to return to hermit kingdom status.

Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 1d

Japan’s far right is on the rise, alarming foreign workers. Nowhere is that anxiety more apparent than in the city of Toyota, where immigrants power the economy while facing political backlash.

Japan Needs Foreign Workers. Its Far Right Is Turning Against Them

In the city of Toyota, immigrants help power the economy while facing political backlash.

bloom.bg

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Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 1d

If their fangs come out when they’re horny, are vampires incapable of giving head? 🤔

Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 1d

I’m rewatching “True Blood” and I forgot that HBO used to be so slutty. What a time.

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Larisa @thelolrus.bsky.social · 1d

No sleep, only KJ Charles books

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Larisa @thelolrus.bsky.social · 1d

Sometimes if I accidentally type a period instead of a space, bluesky thinks it’s a URL and creates a preview even if I go back and fix the typo.

I’ll do it here… yup, fake link stays even after I fix the space. Gotta manually delete it to go away.

it.here

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Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) @nora.zone · 1d

cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war

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Manny Suazo @smokyburnout.bsky.social · 1d

topical

a cartoon of a man in a frog costume talking to a woman

ALT: a cartoon of a man in a frog costume talking to a woman

media.tenor.com

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 1d

My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.

This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.

On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
"I wasn't planning on letting her stay, but I didn't know what the hell was going on," the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
"I didn't want them to take her," said the man, who didn't want to be named because he fears he'll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
"I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her,
'Just stay there. Don't open, don't, shh, just stay quiet," he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.

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