Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 4h

If you live in NJ, call your state and federal reps and ask them to DEMAND private prison operator Geo Group adhere to humane standards for ICE's kidnap victims and their families. It's the least these well-paid fascist collaborators can do. And reps should exercise their right to inspect the hall!

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 5h

Good to see reporting on this. Visitors to ICE's abductees are totally exposed to weather, including young children and babies, while their loved ones inside Delaney Hall are served partly frozen, old food in a facility with 1,000+ residents and ONE (1) microwave. patch.com/new-jersey/n...

'Inhumane, Unsafe': Visitors To ICE Prison In NJ Forced To Wait Near Metal Fence During Thunderstorm

Visitors to Delaney Hall in Newark say they have endured scorching summer heat and dangerous thunderstorms – just to visit their loved ones.

patch.com

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Reposted by Ben Applegate

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 6h

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Reposted by Ben Applegate

Ebil @ebil.bsky.social · 22h

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 11h

Clarifying: I am excited because these cats have become friends with *each other*. The one on the right was already my friend and the one on the left had already decided he doesn't care for me

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Reposted by Ben Applegate

Grant has that Dogsred in him @grantthethief.bsky.social · 14h

Tetsuya Chiba’s art! The flow of the action, the impacts, the sfx lettering, and the expressions have that kinetic oomph you need for selling meaningful fights indistinguishable from a modern boom. But it’s married to the more exaggerated body language + simpler character design ethos of the era.

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 15h

New friends!

A blue foster kitten and a tabby foster kitten are snuggling on a cat tree

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 16h

I know, right? He's totally your type heh

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 19h

If you're local to NYC/NJ you could take him and/or his sister home: www.petfinder.com/cat/sky-vega...

Adopt Sky & Vega on Petfinder

Sky & Vega is an adoptable Cat - Domestic Short Hair searching for a forever family near Florham Park, NJ. Use Petfinder to find adoptable pets in your area.

www.petfinder.com

Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 19h

🚨🔥Catopia's Next Top Model🔥🚨
The third member of our latest foster menagerie is Skye, with magazine ad good looks, the longest fur we've ever dealt with, and a sweet personality to boot.

A long-haired tabby cat sitting on a scratching post

A long haired tabby cat sitting on a couch

A long-haired tubby cat getting his butt scritched on a couch

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 20h

I'm sure they'll suddenly find their voice to defend the separation of powers again as soon as there's another Democratic president.

Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 20h

There are different types of legitimacy. This court lost its democratic legitimacy when a president who lost the popular vote got to build a supermajority.

Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 1d

Winnie and I both got 100% on this. I think it helps if you go in with the assumption that AI writing sucks ass and human writing doesn't as much

Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 2d

Hey all, I'm trying to get a baseline for how good people are at detecting whether fiction is AI-generated or human-written (most of the research on this is for nonfiction and my hypothesis is we're better with fiction).

If you have time, give it a try?

jlp-experiment.github.io/ai-detection...

AI vs Human Fiction Detection Test

jlp-experiment.github.io

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 1d

Upscaling anime produced at 720p to 4k is as bad as watching a movie meant for IMAX on your phone

unhinged eldritch abomination @rhymeswithk.bsky.social · 1d

Friends, #weebwednesday is upon us once again! You know the drill - quote-post with your weebiest hot takes, nothing racist, nothing intentionally inflammatory, have fun with it ♥

a girl in a blue dress is dancing next to a jukebox

Alt: a girl in a blue dress is dancing next to a jukebox

media.tenor.com

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 1d

She was saying "this is an accessible station". Also important

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 1d

Just thought I heard the subway lady say "this is an acceptable spaceship" and thought yeah, we all felt that way about the Enterprise-E design, it wasn't just you

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 1d

Let's get Blessing and her family over $4k this morning!

Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 3d

I've met Blessing a few times outside Delaney Hall, where her husband, a home health worker, has been held for months. Her baby Princess is the sweetest—loves being held and grabbing stuff off my snack tray.

This is a VERIFIED call to help a family suffering under ICE terror. gofund.me/02fea4ec8

Donate to Open your heart for this family, organized by Bernard Rous

My name is Blessing Nickerson, and I am a US citizen. My husband is a very gentle, kind h… Bernard Rous needs your support for Open your heart for this family

gofund.me

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 1d

Hahahahaaaa
Good things can still exist in this world

Isaiah D. Colbert @shineyezehuhh.bsky.social · 2d

Makoto Yukimura was worried that Vinland Saga's farming arc and "I have no enemies" moment was a gamble that readers wouldn't like. I told him about the J. Cole meme from the Kendrick Lamar and Drake rap beef. This is how he reacted.

If “I have no enemies” has become a meme and people remember it, then maybe people will understand what I’m really trying to say through the story, which is that humans are immature, but we can mature. To become mature is to become kind. This is the foundation of what I’m trying to say, but it really has to be much shorter for people to remember. But it does give me hope that people remember these short phrases as memes. Then, one day, it will click in their mind what I was trying to really say in the first place.

Reposted by Ben Applegate

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 3d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 3d

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 3d

If I understand it correctly, ReaderLink was supposed to acquire the business and some of the employees while all the debt/obligations remained with an independent entity, which...didn't make a ton of sense.

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 3d

Lost was cool as a one-off but not every TV show needs to be Lost

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 3d

Booooooo

Not because of Game of Thrones specifically but because I think all TV should have opening sequences

IGN @ign.com · 3d

The showrunner of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has explained one of the big differences with the other two Game of Thrones series, including a lack of intro credits to start the show. bit.ly/4nEf6dl

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Showrunner Says It Won’t Have Traditional Game of Thrones Intro Credits

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Reposted by Ben Applegate

Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 3d

I've met Blessing a few times outside Delaney Hall, where her husband, a home health worker, has been held for months. Her baby Princess is the sweetest—loves being held and grabbing stuff off my snack tray.

This is a VERIFIED call to help a family suffering under ICE terror. gofund.me/02fea4ec8

Donate to Open your heart for this family, organized by Bernard Rous

My name is Blessing Nickerson, and I am a US citizen. My husband is a very gentle, kind h… Bernard Rous needs your support for Open your heart for this family

gofund.me

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Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 3d

I've met Blessing a few times outside Delaney Hall, where her husband, a home health worker, has been held for months. Her baby Princess is the sweetest—loves being held and grabbing stuff off my snack tray.

This is a VERIFIED call to help a family suffering under ICE terror. gofund.me/02fea4ec8

Donate to Open your heart for this family, organized by Bernard Rous

My name is Blessing Nickerson, and I am a US citizen. My husband is a very gentle, kind h… Bernard Rous needs your support for Open your heart for this family

gofund.me

13 11

Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 3d

Lol, well done

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