Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 1h

Preaching the good word of King Crimson.

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic｜Vinyl Monday

YouTube video by Abigail Devoe

youtu.be

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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 18h

Social Security got hit with more body blows this week: its commissioner is moonlighting as the made-up "CEO" of the IRS, and 750,000 applicants could be denied disability benefits. More from Bob Kuttner:
prospect.org/blogs-and-ne...

More Sneak Attacks on Social Security

Today on TAP: It's hard to kill America's most loved program outright—so Trump is strangling it by stealth.

prospect.org

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 5h

For an October Caturday, a frame of my Klaus looking spooky. 🎃📷😻 #LeicaM

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 13h

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 1d

A little jumping spider sitting on the shoulder of this Monster High doll, didn’t let me get a closer shot. Pretty cute though. 💀🕷️📷 #Arachtober

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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 3d

DJ Bruce Lee and Jackass Mr. Rogers—dead celebrities become puppets in Sora 2 videos

OpenAI’s likeness protections for living “public figures” don’t apply to “historical figures.”…

arstechnica.com

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 4d

Full moon over Nampa.
#iphone15ProMax

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 5d

"There are currently one to two Starlink satellites falling back to Earth every day ... Soon, McDowell told us, there will be up to 5 satellite reentries per day." 😳

1 to 2 Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth each day

earthsky.org

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Canary Books @canarybooks.bsky.social · 5d

Today 5-7pm!

#idaho #boise #nampa #bannedbooks

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Saly Luz @salyluz.bsky.social · 4d

Evidently DT now wants to kick hundreds of thousands of people off of Disability & Medicare! Yet another way to steal from the poor! If you know anyone who is disabled, please recommend them to keep their medical documentation current. We may have to re-prove our cases. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Despite campaign promises, White House eyes new changes to Social Security and Medicare

“I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare,” Trump vowed in 2024. I have bad news for voters who believed him.

www.msnbc.com

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 5d

Another little house spider from years ago taken with the Lumix/Leica 45mm f/2.8. #Arachtober

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 7d

Look at the little face on this jumping spider. 😻 #Arachtober

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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 7d

Most Americans want ACA tax credits extended—even 57% of MAGA supporters

Without the extension, premiums for plans on the ACA Marketplace will more than double.

arstechnica.com

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 7d

Aside from all the other obvious points it strikes me as particularly cringeworthy to feel you need to put your own face on BOTH sides of the coin

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 7d

Julius Caesar was the first Roman to put his own living face on coins, weeks before his death. It is one of the deepest cultural signifiers of something autocracies do and republics do not.

“Render unto Caesar.” A practice so notoriously arrogant Jesus himself dunked on it with snarky wordplay.

Treasury Department Has Plans To Mint Dollar Coin Featuring Donald Trump's Likeness | Defector

The United States Department of the Treasury has developed, to the brink of production, a dollar coin that features the face and likeness of President Donald Trump, according to a source within the Tr...

defector.com

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 7d

Shut it Down

YouTube video by Luke Nickle

youtu.be

James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 7d

Small house spider, 2015. Micro 4/3 was a pretty good system for macro, this is with Panasonic’s Leica branded 45mm f/2.8. #Arachtober

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 8d

“if you wish to see a virgin on-screen” WTF? I did not know this was a specific kink. 🤔

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Embrace the Void @etvpod.bsky.social · 8d

How did we get from bs AI startup media blitz to a 63 old economist writing about wanting to see a virgin with just the right amount of sex appeal and zero agency on-screen, and how he’s keen to turn to AI to meet that need. This feels like many red flags all around!

Article titled: My Favorite Actress Is Not Human

Subtext: Tilly Norwood doesn't need a hairstylist, has no regrettable posts, and if you wish to see a virgin on-screen, this is one of your better chances. That's because she's Al.

By Tyler Cowen

Opening paragraph from the article:

Tilly Norwood is the actress I most want
to see on the big screen, or perhaps the little screen, if she gets her own TV show.
She is beautiful, but not too intimidating.
She has a natural smile, and is just the right amount of British-a touch exotic but still familiar with her posh accent. Her Instagram has immaculate standards of presentation.

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nilay patel @reckless.bsky.social · 9d

"What is this entire anti-terrorism memorandum if not an admission that terrorism works, and that terrorism has secured the White House?"

wake up babe @lopatto.bsky.social and @sarahjeong.bsky.social banger alert www.theverge.com/policy/79051...

It is of course helpful to remember that in the Trump regime, every accusation is a confession. Antifa might not be organized, but the Department of Homeland Security sure is. George Soros might not be paying professional protesters, but right-wing media personalities are bankrolled by Trumpist billionaires. In the case of Ben Shapiro, that’s billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks; for Rumble, thank Peter Thiel. This is to say nothing of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, or Elon Musk’s X, or the Daily Caller itself, which is funded by Charles Koch.

Indeed, the memo’s description of the environment that leads to terroristic violence applies cleanly to the entire right-wing ecosystem. But perhaps the most striking accusation-as-confession is this paragraph from the national security presidential memorandum:

This political violence is not a series of isolated incidents and does not emerge organically. Instead, it is a culmination of sophisticated, organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence designed to silence opposing speech, limit political activity, change or direct policy outcomes, and prevent the functioning of a democratic society.

What is this but an elegant encapsulation of the past 10 years? It describes everything from the removal of Jimmy Kimmel from the air to the Libs of TikTok pattern of incitement to Charlie Kirk’s Professor Watchlist to Fox News’ defamation of Dominion Voting Systems and its employees to the celebrity worship of people like Kyle Rittenhouse.

What is this entire anti-terrorism memorandum if not an admission that terrorism works, and that terrorism has secured the White House?

a verge feature story with the headline / subheadline of "Everything is terrorism in Trump’s America /
Identifying faceless ICE agents. Mutual aid for jailed protesters. Calling JD Vance a fascist. The war on ‘antifa’ is a war on free speech, and it’s just getting started."

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 9d

So happy to have just learned about the #Arachtober tag, now I can share all my spider pics! 😻
I don’t know what species, very small, lives behind a wall plug night-light.

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 9d

Photography as mindfulness practice.

How An Old Camera Healed My Broken Brain

YouTube video by Gerald Joehri

youtu.be

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Burrito Justice @burritojustice.bsky.social · 10d

quick while the government is shut down let’s all switch to metric

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nilay patel @reckless.bsky.social · 9d

This is a lot of desperate dancing but the funniest thing is these jokers spent the 25 years since 9/11 militarizing the police and now they’re like, yeah they suck at keeping us safe call in the troops

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10d

BASH: Are you okay w/ the military using American cities as 'training grounds'?

JOHNSON: I don't know what's being implied by that

B: It suggests troops are going to be in cities & use them military training

J: That's been very beneficial for the Guard

B: So it's ok?

J: It's a win-win scenario

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nilay patel @reckless.bsky.social · 9d

Tariffs meant replacing the dead main board on my RX100m5 took three months and $600 and somehow that was the most economical option because camera market new and used is bananas right now

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James @9voltdc.bsky.social · 10d

This came in the mail today. I wish Criterion had been clear on the website that six of the ten films are upscaled from old 2K digital intermediate files. Some of the weakest UHD Dolby Vision releases I’ve seen. 🤔

The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years

Wes Anderson’s first ten features represent twenty-five years of irrepressible creativity, an ongoing ode to outsiders and quixotic dreamers, and a world unto themselves, graced with a mischievous wit...

www.criterion.com

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