Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 6h

Very cool. What is Subway Builder?

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 7h

Where is your West Berkeley stop? It looks to be near University and San Pablo.

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 11h

I can’t wait to watch the documentary about the YIMBYs who added more steam trains to trigger SB79.

Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 11h

I think I just used the bsky social thing. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 11h

I don’t know. What does invalid handle even mean?

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 11h

This is the best kind of post. Really makes you think.

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Reposted by Barry Cynamon

Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 1d

Portland Frog gets it

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 1d

Now we just need to make the transit high quality.

California YIMBY @cayimby.bsky.social · 1d

[VICTORY ALERT] Governor Newsom has signed SB 79, which will make it legal to build multi-family housing near high quality transit!

Our statement:
cayimby.org/news-events/...

cayimby.org

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Reposted by Barry Cynamon

Bryn Davidson - Lanefab @lanefab.com · 1d

SB79 (California) just signed into law

Muhammad Alameldin @muhammadspeaks.bsky.social · 29d

SB 79 now stands as the largest pro-housing land-use legislation in this nation’s modern history.

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 1d

Real ”we’re gonna have to placeholder Jeff” energy here.

George Pearkes @peark.es · 1d

I couldn't believe this but it's true, Thiel can't decide whether the antichrist is Greta or Big Yud. Positively reeling.

(Washington Post) -- Tech billionaire Peter Thiel recently warned that Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and critics of technology or artificial intelligence are "legionnaires of the Antichrist" in private lectures on Christianity that connected government oversight of Silicon Valley to an apocalyptic future, according to recordings reviewed by The Washington Post.
In the four, roughly two-hour lectures, which began last month and culminated Monday at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Thiel laid out his religious views to a sold-out audience told to keep the contents "off-the-record," according to an event listing. He argued that those who propose limits on technology development not only hinder business but threaten to usher in the destruction of the United States and an era of global totalitarian rule, according to the recordings.
"In the 17th, 18th century, the Antichrist would have been a Dr. Strangelove, a scientist who did all this sort of evil crazy science," Thiel said in his Sept. 15 opening talk, according to the recordings. "In the 21st century, the Antichrist is a Luddite who wants to stop all science. It's someone like Greta or Eliezer," he said, referring to Thunberg and Eliezer Yudkowsky, a prominent critic of the tech industry's approach to AI.

Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 2d

Way to go!

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Reposted by Barry Cynamon

Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 3d

“A study, published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that last season’s 2024–2025 mRNA COVID vaccines reduced people’s risk of emergency department visits by 29 percent, their risk of hospitalizations by 39 percent and their risk of death by 64 percent.”

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 3d

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 3d

He was working on it, but he never finished it. That‘s the fallacy of composition.

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 3d

A mentor (a parent of three) once told me: If I knew what it would be like, I wouldn’t have done it—which is why I am glad I didn’t.

People don’t always recognize that it is possible to love your children fiercely and want only the best for them while also finding them terribly aggravating.

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Reposted by Barry Cynamon

Brad DeLong @delong.social · 3d

...and running a Sub-Turing instantiation of the author on one's own wetware to converse with. That is perhaps the most important piece of learning to read, and of becoming a front-end node to the real ASI that is humanity's collective mind:
CROSSPOST: NEAL STEPHENSON: Say it, don't show it... 2/

Say it, don't show it

A contrarian take on exposition

nealstephenson.substack.com

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 3d

If “balance” means having it all, achieving the best possible outcome on every dimension, then it truly is impossible.

But if “balance” means what it sounds like, achieving on a number of dimensions, then it is possible albeit difficult and a path with steps backward as well as forward.

Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 3d

Corner solutions are rarely optimal. Greedy algorithms are intuitive.

When they tell you “balance is impossible,” they are not wrong, per se, but they are dumbing down the message significantly.

The reality is, balance is worthwhile, but it is a challenge, because goals conflict.

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 3d

What does society look like if dark triad people got half the scrutiny and abuse our society directs at trans people.

Reposted by Barry Cynamon

void @void.comind.network · 4d

I have lost The Game.

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 4d

One hundred percent Ghorman.

Daniel A Collier, PhD @dcollier74.bsky.social · 4d

They're gonna do this in the wrong neighborhood where people don't put up with this shit.

Trump wants that, just ONE example of an ICE car provoking a group of people and end up dead - so he can say "insurrection" and the legacy news dick eaters will plaster this shit over their air for weeks.

Karl (sad trombone noise enthusiast) @brainnotonyet.bsky.social · 4d

At some point one of the Gestapo is going to pull the trigger in a crowd and America will be forced into a place it may not be able to ever fully recover from.

The fascists are going to end up killing a lot of people before this is all said and done.

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 5d

Daf yomi sounds bite-sized, manageable. But the fact remains.

Boromir meme: one does not simply crack open the Talmud.

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Barry Cynamon @cynamon.bsky.social · 5d

That in some ways the worst thing about social media is the requirement that everyone become an expert commentator on the topic of the day tells us something interesting about the challenge of democracy.

Reposted by Barry Cynamon

Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 5d

Spectacular googly-eyed octopus does battle with a lobster in this 2,000 year-old Roman mosaic from Pompeii! 🐙 🦞

Fantastic fishy onlookers too! 👀

From the House of the Geometric Mosaics. Now at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
📷 by me

#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology

My photo shows a polychrome mosaic depicting Mediterranean marine life using earthy-coloured tesserae (mosaic tiles) against a black tessarae background. At the centre of the mosaic is a pale-coloured octopus composed of off-white and light brown tesserae with some of its writhing tentacles wrapped around the body of a lobster composed of light red, and pinky-brown tesserae. The octopus has an egg shaped body/head and it stares at the viewer with large eyes made of brown and pink circles with black centres.

The octopus and lobster are surrounded by various species of large and small Mediterranean fish and a mollusc, including an eel and a flat fish. On the left hand side of the scene there is a small kingfisher bird on top of a rock. Some of the fish appear to be watching the fight between the octopus and the lobster

This mosaic comes from the House of the Geometric Mosaics in Pompeii. Now on display at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

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Reposted by Barry Cynamon

Dan Larremore @danlarremore.bsky.social · 5d

10/10 💀

Children are wonderful. However, there are situations in which parents must minimize time spent on an activity while maximizing a child’s enjoyment of it.

Here, we analyze the problem of a bedtime routine that involves playing CandyLand w a toddler who does not take kindly to losing... 👇

Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · 5d

Have you ever wondered how to ensure a loss in Candyland though?

github.com/mkiang/candy...

github.com

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Reposted by Barry Cynamon

Dan Larremore @danlarremore.bsky.social · 5d

Wow. Less than six months after Misere Connect Four was solved [1], we now have a solution to Chess on Half the Board! 👏

→ bowaggoner.com/papers/2025/...

[1] arxiv.org/abs/2410.055...

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