Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 1h

In the midst of working out whether I fancy rebuilding my PC around a new motherboard, my GPU appears to have developed issues - literally on the day Win10 support officially ended...

Aside from prompting a conspiracy theory in my mind, I'm now considering a Mac and a PS5...

Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 7h

It's an unecessary cost, an e-waste problem, a security issue, and a pain in the backside.

I've used one of the routes to extend support for my desktop, but I either need to replace the motherboard, do a workaround, or switch to Linux. All take time and effort.

www.404media.co/the-end-of-w...

The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making

In an example of egregious planned obsolescence, as many as 400 million computers will soon hit the waste stream.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Dan Thornton

Dr David Joffe MB BS(Hons), PhD, FRACP @davidjoffe64.bsky.social · 2d

Diabetics and COVID.

Not great for your 🫀

www.frontiersin.org/journals/pha...

Frontiers | Diabetic cardiomyopathy and COVID-19: intersecting pathways and amplified cardiovascular risk

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a diabetes-induced heart condition characterized by ventricular dysfunction without other cardiac diseases. Chronic hypergly...

www.frontiersin.org

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 6d

Ouch - seen it happen a few times in rugby, judo and motorcycles, and it always makes me whince...

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 6d

Currently tired, busy, and balancing work with prepping for Peterborough STEM Festival...

If you're in the area and have a child to accompany you, it's free and great fun.
If not, you can still be involved as a volunteer.

Peterborough STEM Festival @pborostemfest.bsky.social · 18d

Just a reminder that Peterborough STEM Festival is completely FREE-TO-ATTEND! 🎉

Thanks to our amazing sponsors and partners, we're able to keep the event accessible to all 🚀

Get free tickets today! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peterborou...

#FreeEvent #Peterborough #PSF2025 #PeterboroughSTEMFestival

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 6d

So they insisted I walk into the ambulance - a couple of hours later the X-ray showed a broken fibula...

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 6d

I can't remember how long I spent in a cast, but it wasn't too bad. Main thing was trying to cope with boredom for a while (although I was working from my sofa within days), and the exercises/physio after the cast came off...

Funny thing was that I thought it was broken, the paramedics disagreed...

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 6d

Ouch - sorry to hear that, although I guess a clean break is better than the worst case.

Did my fibula years ago in a motorcycle accident, so your mum has my sympathy...

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 6d

Sorry, but that's cobblers. Most studies show infection immunity lasts a few months.

And it doesn't stop transmission to vulnerable people, or an increase in other health issues due to the damage to your immune system.

What protects vulnerable people are masks, Hepa filters and vaccinations.

Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 7d

That's just made me think of another advantage of sim racing over real world cars and bikes...

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 8d

There's part of me that dreams of a concrete house with a nice leather sofa and space to park a motorcycle.

There's another part that knows I'd fill it with bookcases, jackets, old CDs, and other clutter in days. If not sooner.

Rescogs @rescogs.bsky.social · 8d

The 2026 Ducati Scrambler Nightshift will arrive in UK dealers this month in the fresh colour of Emerald Green (which I personally prefer to the outgoing Nebula Blue).
The new Scramblers also get a smaller eight-plate clutch, lighter weight and more.
www.rescogs.com/2025/10/the-...

#Ducati #Rescogs

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 8d

It'd be more palatable if they weren't so consistently useless, and the services provided weren't already being cut back so heavily...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Peterborough council tax hike proposed to tackle £5.2m shortfall

The council says a rise of 1% above the current 4.99% cap could generate £1.1m to protect services.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 9d

I'm really surprised...

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/ref...

Reform 'set to raise Kent council tax' after Doge cost-cutting fail

Reform-controlled Kent council is likely to raise council tax next year after Musk-inspired cost-cutting efforts failed to reap rewards.

www.thelondoneconomic.com

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 12d

But the actual article contradicts itself on AI fact checking
' always fact-check outputs, as GPTs can generate plausible but inaccurate or biased information.'
'Real-time fact-checking: Assist in verifying claims, statements, and social media posts to identify misinformation and ensure accuracy...'

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 12d

If I use AI to summarise/look at a big report or data, I do it after/alongside going through it myself, more to check that I haven't missed anything, rather than relying on it to pick out everything relevant/interesting...

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 12d

When I see 12 Sponsored slots around 10 organic results, I have to question any commitment to offering a good search results experience...

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 16d

I follow a few writers who do something similar outside of SEO, and it can definitely be interesting - too often it feels like every shared article or social media post needs to be part of a well-researched 3,000 evergreen content campaign, and it loses something that used to make blogs etc so fun.

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 19d

We did it!

Or rather everyone that liked, shared, spread the word and stepped up as a business to support this year's Peterbororough STEM Festival did it!

So grateful to everyone, as it's genuinely a highlight of the year to see thousands of happy kids being inspired and amazed by STEM...

Peterborough STEM Festival @pborostemfest.bsky.social · 19d

Amazing news as we can confirm Peteborough STEM Festival 2025 will be going ahead on Saturday October 18th at ARU Peterborough from 11am-4pm (quiet time from 9:30am-11am).

Huge thanks to everyone that shared our request for help and to the businesses that stepped up. More details on them to follow!

Peterborough STEM Festival 2025 takes place on Saturday October 18th at ARU Peterborough

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 20d

I know it's a typo, but it's an appropriate one - our data is hoovered up, and our days are spent trying to sort it out when a random company gets hacked, leaks our data or just messes it up...

I've spent years explaining to doctors a supposed allergy was entered wrongly on my records.

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 20d

Every time it's a potential weak point, and I've yet to see any benefit - e.g. the NHS/healthcare system already checks passports, and can't unite the systems it has, or get enough doctors,etc, so how will an ID system solve any of that?

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 20d

Better integration across everything would be handy, but I'm more concerned about the slightly ridiculous amount of private info needing to be ever more widely shared (and hoovered up by Palantir etc).
I've had to verify my age to receive spam DMs, my ID to find out I can't edit Companies House etc

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 20d

Sheppey will do that to you - I was young and angelic until I worked there for a few months
(The above may be a complete lie)

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 20d

As much as I like and enjoy working with my current clients - part of my role is encouraging them to adopt better online security, especially the small solo business owners...

And I've seen some horror stories over the years.

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 20d

Two thoughts on digital ID cards - the first is that you need some public trust, which isn't likely when you do deals with Palantir.

The second is how will it work running a small business? More hassle, and trusting every client will keep things safe, secure and not abuse any info?

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Dan Thornton @danthornton.net · 21d

No words...

404 Media @404media.co · 22d

YouTube removed a channel that was dedicated to posting AI-generated videos of women being shot in the head following 404 Media’s request for comment. The videos were clearly generated with Google’s new AI video generator tool.

🔗 www.404media.co/ai-generated...

AI-Generated YouTube Channel Uploaded Nothing But Videos of Women Being Shot

YouTube removed a channel that posted nothing but graphic Veo-generated videos of women being shot after 404 Media reached out for comment.

www.404media.co

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