Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 10h

I went to one of the sing-along screenings of KPDH and my heart just about melted at all the kids dressed up like them singing at the top of their lungs. 🥹🥰

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Reposted by Twig Blossom

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 10h

Referring to global history during the 'Victorian era', but de-centering Europe:
The Meiji era of Japan lasted from 1868 to 1912.

So:
"Cowboys were roaming warrior-gunmen who managed cattle empires for the noble class in early Meiji-era America."

"The Meiji Emperor 明治5年. Albumen silver print. Uchida Kuichi was the only photographer granted a sitting by the Emperor Meiji and in 1872 Uchida photographed the Emperor and Empress Haruko in full court dress and everyday robes. In 1873, Uchida again photographed the Emperor, who this time wore military dress, and a photograph from this sitting became the official imperial portrait (Ishii and Iizawa). Copies of the official portrait were distributed among foreign heads of state and Japanese regional governmental offices, but their private sale was prohibited. Nevertheless, many copies of the photograph were made and circulated on the market. (Kinoshita). Published in the Japanese book, Meiji Tenno gyoden (Tokyo: Kaneo Bun'endo, 1912)"

CREDIT: Uchida Kuichi - Tenno Yondai No Shozo "天皇四代の肖像", published by Mainichi Shinbun Sha 毎日新聞社, 1999.

"A historical photograph of a group of cowboys from the American West, likely from the late 19th century. The photograph appears to be a promotional image for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show"

The name "Johnny Baker" is written at the bottom, either as the photographer or labeling a gentleman in fancy hat holding a long rifle.

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 16h

ICYMI: “And now, a response from the leader of the frog resistance...” 🐸 🎵 #Colbert

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Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 13h

This is a great one in Cincinnati, OH: The Mushroom House

A soft round fungus does look like it would make a pretty comfortable building material, and maybe that was what architecture professor Terry Brown was thinking when he decided to transform his Cincinnati bungalow into a chaotic fairytale creation. Between 1992 and 2006, the late Brown used warped shingles and oddly wrapping staircases to give his one bedroom home on the corner of Erie and Tarpis Ave. a look like no other.

The shingles covering the sides of the home are meant to resemble the delicate sheets on the underside of a mushroom, while the bulbous decorative roofing complete the fungal look. He also added a glass-walled sun room protruding from one end of the building which certainly makes it look a bit less organic, but nonetheless magical.

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Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 1d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

“It’s a simple change.”

Skeletal Viking Amy @lasrina.bsky.social · 2d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

“We’re changing the scope”

MsPraxis @mspraxis.bsky.social · 3d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

"Transcribed 100% verbatim"

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Joe Patrice @joepatrice.bsky.social · 2d

Amazing

Tweet: @vexwerewolf
Right-wingers literally straight-up admitting "it's harder to discredit the left because the left is almost always telling the truth"
Scott Jennings @Lum 21h um, yes, that's really a problem
Show this thread
9 paints • 12 hrs
The problem with left-leaning media is they're intrinsically more strict with their propaganda to only using verifiable sources so it's really hard to poke holes in their ideology and arguments in comparison to a lot of low quality rightwing content.
That makes attacking their points with fact checkers not very effective unless the fact checkers use misinformation tactics as well.
In essence people on the right have to work harder and more creatively to push their agendas as statistics and studies frustratingly arent usually on our side.

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Tammi, yeah, that one. 2.1 @tammi.bsky.social · 2d

I found a 19th century Cat Villain!

A huge chonk of a fluffy cat sitting on a table near an open fire. The cat is cream and grey and appears to be shaped like a barrel in a fur coat. They are scowling fiercely with their moustache and bewhiskered ears apparently flowing back into the cold wind. There's a definite vibe that this villainous cat twirls their moustache as they evict orphans into the aforementioned blizzard and think Scrooge was an easy-going lightweight. They are magnificent.

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 2d

the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 3d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”

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Kasey Gifford @kaseygifford.bsky.social · 2d

We should be asking this
c o n s t a n t l y.

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Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 1d

I met this cutie on my walk yesterday

#snake

Baby DeKay’s brown snake against a background of a gravel path.

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Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 3d

As I approach my 7th decade, I am focusing more and more on creativity, compassion, and curiosity. To me, those are the key ingredients of a life well lived.

Having lots of money seems like the sign of a person who distains all of these.

K.B. Spangler @kbspangler.com · 3d

I love building things. Taking an idea from spark through execution, putting something real into the world, whether it's a book or a painting or a garden.

What it means to live well is always personal but I don't get how chasing money as its own goal is real.

Hillary Monahan @hillarymonahan.bsky.social · 3d

I don't need expensive cars or a big house.

I need experiences and time with my loved ones. That, to me, is a mark of living well.

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Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 3d

It’s a sleepy #Caturday here

A black cat looks at the camera from her sisal basket. Her eyes are partially closed so she looks sleepy

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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 5d

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 5d

I’d love to be a dolphin for a week or two. Eating sushi every day. Doing areal acrobatics. Swimming really, really fast through ocean water. Not to mention the sex. Did mention the sex? That would be an awesome vacation.

Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 5d

The travel poster looked like so many others. A lush forest behind a serene beach. The text said "Be something exotic!"

"Sorry, there's a typo on your poster. I think you mean 'somewhere'?"

"No. We can make you to be, say, a bear, tiger, or hippo, for up to a week."

"A hippo? Tell me more!"

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Reposted by Twig Blossom

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 5d

The global whaling industry experienced a boom c. 1840-1950 as technology allowed whalers to hunt the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.

Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.

Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.

Change in distribution and abundance of southern right whales. (A) Shows historical and contemporary wintering distributions (Figure 1 from Carroll et al., 2018), and (B) shows decline in abundance and subsequent recovery (solid line is the mean, dashed line shows upper and lower 95% CI). Modified Figure 1 from Jackson et al. (2008). Contemporary sightings are divided into regions where large aggregations are seen during winter: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BZL), South Africa (SAF), southwest Australia (SWA), south central Australia (SCA), and New Zealand sub-Antarctic (NZSA) and regions where sightings are typically of small numbers of individuals per year. The large aggregations are IWC management units and correspond to historical whaling grounds, although another 5 whaling grounds show little sign of recovery. Summer feeding areas are poorly described and so not shown.

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Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 5d

I live in Central Ohio and it’s definitely giving me waking nightmares.

My nighttime nightmares are (sadly) about spreadsheets. Can’t wait to retire.

Reposted by Twig Blossom

Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 6d

UPDATE:

I absolutely did trigger my fire marshals to go through the code and grumble about it continually playing catch up. That part of the point of building the datacenters where they are isn't just cheap land and resource they can exploit, but older code with poor enforcement.

Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 7d

I suspect I have just triggered a "Well, shit" moment regarding the building code, its to imagine datacenters facilities like this, and the potential of people just outright ignoring the code to load as many GPUs in as possible and run them at 99.999% of maximum clock speed until they melt.

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Twig Blossom @twigblossom.bsky.social · 5d

Just reading an article about data centers in Ohio and Thors sentence popped out:

“That’s just a fraction of the 179 data centers Ohio is host to as of this month.”

It’s giving me Alien vibes.

Here’s the article:

futurism.com/future-socie...