Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alec Perkins @alecperkins.me · 55m

So a panther is not a Panther.

Reposted by Alec Perkins

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 1h

“Maybe the intelligence we most need is the capacity to see beyond the hierarchies that determine which knowledge counts. Without that foundation, regardless of the hundreds of billions we pour into developing superintelligence, we’ll keep erasing knowledge systems that took generations to develop.”

Generative AI has access to a small slice of human knowledge | Aeon Essays

Huge swathes of human knowledge are missing from the internet. By definition, generative AI is shockingly ignorant too

aeon.co

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 22h

a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 23h

What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.

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Laurie Voss @seldo.com · 2d

Peter Thiel is fucking crazy, entirely divorced from consensus reality. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist

The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

www.theguardian.com

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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 2d

Our kids are ready to ride, it’s the adults that aren’t ready for them.

B/W shot of 3 kids on bikes, two on the sidewalk one in the bike lane

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 3d

I can’t believe an inflatable frog is my hometown’s symbol of resistance, and yet of course since I am from here I absolutely can

this is old school homegrown “rioting over the airport changing its carpet” Portland freak shit. it transcends the Portlandia mythos. writers would not think of this

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 3d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

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Mike Eliason @holz-bau.bsky.social · 3d

since denver launched its e-bike rebate program - the have sold 10,000 e-bikes and reduced an estimated 1,000,000 car trips - replacing millions of VMTs and reducing air pollution

there are no climate silver bullets... but damn - e-bikes and e-cargo bikes are close

denvergov.org/Government/A...

Denver Celebrates 10,000 E-Bike Rebates

Since its inception in April 2022, Denver has distributed over 10,000 electric bikes (e-bikes) to community members through its pioneering e-bike rebate program. As the first U.S. city to implement su...

denvergov.org

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Chris 🎃 DevPods.gg gamedev community @chrisdeleon.bsky.social · 4d

Portland protestor frog costume: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge pepper balls?

Morpheus from Matrix movie: No, Frog. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 5d

Incredible (via www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...)

A group of apparent armed agents assemble at the end of a street, as seen from the perspective of a person in inflatable frog costume, their frog’s eyes dominating the foreground. The Ice facility in downtown Portland on Monday. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP/Getty Images

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 5d

“The e-bike lets me keep riding bikes and spend time outside, even though I have this health condition,” she said. “I don’t think that a lot of people realize that e-bikes make things accessible to people with disabilities.” www.berkeleyside.org/2025/10/07/e...

Why electric bikes are everywhere in Berkeley

Residents of all ages and abilities are taking to electric bikes — used for commutes, school drop-offs, grocery trips and joy rides.

www.berkeleyside.org

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Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 5d

George Orwell’s Animal Crossing

Someone in a frog costume facing down a line of police in riot gear

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Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 5d

raging my way downtown

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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 6d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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Tony Jordan @tonyjordan.bsky.social · 6d

Imagine if a water pipe broke and the water department had to ask city council whether to fix it and then spend 12 months asking everyone on the street their opinion of how to fix it before they could start work.

That's how cities manage curbs.

Ryan Packer @typewriteralley.bsky.social · 6d

This is the process chart for the City of Bellevue's potential plan to add parking meters.

Fourteen steps completed over the course of one year

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Chibdm @chibdm.bsky.social · 6d

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

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Lucas @phoenixfire.bsky.social · 7d

The state goons are powerless before the awesome might of someone in an inflatable frog costume, and you seriously expect me to believe the situation is hopeless?

competentposter @competentposter.bsky.social · 8d

wizard frog is insane

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Bike JC @bikejc.org · 7d

Today at noon, our second free bike tour of the #JCAST art fest rolls around Jersey City. Join us! Meet 11:30 at Grove PATH Plaza with your bike. Today we visit Downtown, the Heights, and Journal Square.
Route: ridewithgps.com/events/40081...
Live tracking map: bluelane.io/wTJAL4

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Matt Shipman (he/him) @shiplives.bsky.social · 9d

I've read Casey Johnston's work for quite some time now, and I've always found her writing to be smart, engaging and worth my time. I'll be getting this book. Check it out. You may want to read it, too.

Casey Johnston @caseyjohnston.bsky.social · May 6

Today is the day! My book is out in the world. It’s not a friendly world for writing about science or women or especially women’s bodies right now. But I’m so proud to be telling a story that makes a certain type of person very, very angry. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/casey...

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Alec Perkins @alecperkins.me · 8d

👋

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Bike JC @bikejc.org · 9d

Today at noon, our first of two free bike tours of the #JCAST art fest rolls around Jersey City. Join us! Meet 11:30 at Grove PATH Plaza with your bike. Today we visit venues in Bergen-Lafayette, Greenville and the West Side.
Route: ridewithgps.com/events/40080...
Tracking map: bluelane.io/pZTh0e

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Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 9d

The mystery of medical diagnosis!

Anyone: Why are there suddenly so many AHDH diagnoses?
Dr. Jen: Same reason there are suddenly more stars after we built telescopes.

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Alec Perkins @alecperkins.me · 9d

And another bike user hit by a driver near Cast Iron Lofts just now.

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Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · 10d

With news that Bari Weiss is going to be the new EIC at CBS News, I wanted to reup this piece I wrote 6 years ago about how she and Bret Stephens helped turn NYT into a moral panic factory www.mediamatters.org/new-york-tim...

How Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss have taken the NY Times’ campus concern trolling to new heights in just 2 years

www.mediamatters.org

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 9d

Unanimous First Circuit takes pains to emphasize that this was an incredibly easy case to decide, despite writing a very long opinion knocking down every ridiculous argument the Trump admin made.

The analysis that follows is necessarily lengthy, as we
must address the parties' numerous arguments in each of the cases
involved. But the length of our analysis should not be mistaken
for a sign that the fundamental question that these cases raise
about the scope of birthright citizenship is a difficult one. It
is not, which may explain why it has been more than a century since
a branch of our government has made as concerted an effort as the
Executive Branch now makes to deny Americans their birthright.

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Alec Perkins @alecperkins.me · 9d

Meanwhile just this afternoon someone on a bike was hit by a driver in Bergen-Lafayette and a kid on a scooter was hit downtown. @safestreetsjerseycity.org

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