Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 4m

Imagine being Sherelle Jacobs, and sucking up to mass-murderers THIS HARD.

How many days will pass without Israel shooting or blowing up anyone in Gaza?

And lest we forget, Netanyahu's stated aim for the last two years has been to annihilate Hamas, not sign a peace-deal with them...

Martin D.B. Brown @martindbbrown.bsky.social · 23m

The wrong side of history is always an 'interesting take'

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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 13m

I know a lot of it is to do with executives going through what recognisable properties they own and picking something they think they can sell, but it is a big part of what alienates me from so much american cinema now - so many remakes of films whose original contribution seems not to warrant it.

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 5h

Pretty confused by how TRON became a big-budget movie franchise. Was it a bit hit when it came out? No. Did it become a big hit on video/TV? Also no. Do people have fond nostalgic memories of it? Eh kinda but not really. Was it secretly great and critically acclaimed? No again

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Dr Kat Day (she/her) @chronicleflask.katday.com · 50m

There are hundreds of years of history of women’s scientific accomplishments not being recognised or being minimised (“not notable”). It *still* happens. Many female scientists are only acknowledged on Wikipedia thanks to the efforts of, yes, other female scientists, notably physicist Dr Jess Wade.

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 13h

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

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Oisín McGann @oisinmcgann.bsky.social · 10m

’He is not the hero we deserve, but he is the one that we need right now.’

The Portland Frog, a guy in an inflatable frog costume, facing off against ICE troops in riot gear.

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 8m

EVERYBODY KNOWS that a show with a bad script is a bad show.

Yet actually writing good scripts is already a criminally-undervalued activity.

WHAT HAPPENS if the rich really are persuaded they can save more by having a machine do it?

Transtifa @syyyyyyyyy.bsky.social · 13h

The writers' room is one of the cheapest parts of TV production. It does not make sense to economize in this way.

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Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 1d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 17h

RFK's goal is to kill children, specifically sick children.

If you assumed that was *not* his goal, you'd think that he was failing at an entirely, completely different goal: not killing children.

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 13m

The fun part in all this is working out how much of a discount the host govt is getting on the provision of a functional university curriculum, teaching resources, etc etc, compared to actually doing it themselves...

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 22m

"Global Britain" confirms that its actual message to the globe is "We want your money, we don't want you."

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William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 11h

I’d wager that there’s a lot of Conservative Britain out there that agrees with this

Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 1d

God bless The Church Times for their ongoing insistence on responding moderately but forcefully to the Reverend Canon Nigel Biggar’s nonsense. www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...

Even given all that Biggar writes about the universality of slavery and the complicity of Africans, three things might be said. First, Britain played a key part and, however others may want to respond to their own history, it is morally responsible to face up to our own heritage. Second, as a Tory, he might have made more of Burke’s view that society is a partnership not just between the living, but between the living, the dead, and those still to be born. Third, guilt is not the only spur to action. There are the obligations that we owe one another irrespective of any personal responsibility for atrocities in the past.

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Sarah Elizabeth Cox @oispooky.bsky.social · 1h

My kid's Clacton nursery has cut hot lunches for toddlers to save money, and sent round leaflets to parents advising us on preparing packed lunches for around 90p per day.

They have no waiting list for places because there's so few jobs here worth doing once you've covered childcare.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 22h

Twelve Jobs Nigel has earned over £1 million in additional income since the general election.

To understand the scale of it, since the July 2024 election he's earned roughly £100k more as a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion than Starmer gets as PM.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Nigel Farage earns over £1m from 12 'second jobs' - check how much your MP earns

The Reform UK leader's most lucrative second jobs include hosting on GB News, serving as a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion and recording videos for Cameo

www.mirror.co.uk

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 1h

Love how we can opinion-poll basic facts, but not do anything else about them…

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 17h

Most Americans say Trump has improperly used his office to:
💠Punish those who say things he does not like (66%)
💠Encourage federal investigations of his political opponents (62%)
💠Enrich himself or his friends and family (61%)

new @pewresearch.org findings

Most Americans think Trump is trying to exercise more power than previous presidents

49% of U.S. adults say Trump is trying to exercise more presidential power than previous presidents and that this is bad for the country.

www.pewresearch.org

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 4h

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 4h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Kate Watson @loreandordure.com · 1h

Conned by a confidence-trick…

Sue Cowley @suecowley.bsky.social · 1h

I'm sorry but how many more examples do people need before they stop trusting and naively using this technology? It's like people have switched off their brains!

www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...

The perils of letting AI plan your next trip

An imagined town in Peru, an Eiffel tower in Beijing: travellers are increasingly using tools like ChatGPT for itinerary ideas – and being sent to destinations that don't exist.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Yorkshire Bylines @yorkshirebylines.co.uk · 1h

✍️ Gibb it a rest!

Nick Gibb’s Reforming Lessons aims to defend his ministerial legacy, but instead reads like a desperate attempt to rewrite England’s education failures

By Joe Hanley

@joehanley.bsky.social

Gibb it a rest! A review of Nick Gibb’s Reforming Lessons

Nick Gibb’s Reforming Lessons aims to defend his ministerial legacy, but instead reads like a desperate attempt to rewrite England’s education failures

yorkshirebylines.co.uk

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 1h

Fairly obviously all of Lowe's ideas here are xenophobic batshit, however, this is the inevitable extension of the false "first safe country" claim you hear so many politicians and pundits bang on about. Not only does such a principle not exist, it would lead to this type of nonsense in practice.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 8h

Restore Britain's convoluted way of calliing for Britain to take no refugees at all.

UK should only ever give refugee status to genuine asylum seekers from neighbouring countries, which, given every one of our neighbours is a safe country "would effectively mean scrapping our whole asylum system"

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Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 1h

Ivor (3) was watching me charge something up using a USB C cable, and he asked if he could plug it in, and I said sure, and he asked which way up it goes, and I was able to proudly say “IVOR IT DOES NOT MATTER WHICH WAY UP IT GOES AND THAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF HUMAN PROGRESS”

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Anita R @venividiverily.bsky.social · 10h

I could watch Zack Polanski utterly wreck Zia Yusuf ALL DAY LONG.

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 1h

He just couldn’t stay out of the trough…

Sunak joins Microsoft and AI firm as paid adviser www.bbc.com/news/article...

Rishi Sunak hired by Microsoft and Anthropic as paid adviser

The former prime minister has been told not to lobby the UK government by the appointments watchdog.

www.bbc.com

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 11h

“I … met with the governor, met with the mayor, met with the chief of police, and the superintendent of the highway patrol. They’re all lying, and disingenuous, and dishonest people,” Noem said, because they wouldn’t back up her baseless claims that the streets were overrun with terrorists.

ICE Barbie Says an Entire State’s Worth of Officials Are “Lying”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is convinced, against all evidence, that Portland is a war zone.

trib.al

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Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 13h

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

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Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 14h

Perry: DOJ's definition of rebellion would mean that
"literally all nonviolent protest” could be considered evidence of rebellion. Is that your argument?
Hamilton: The president has determined there is a danger of a rebellion, and you must defer to that finding

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Agence France-Presse @afp.com · 13h

🇫🇷 "Robert Badinter entre au Panthéon avec les lumières et l'esprit de 1789, la promesse accomplie de la révolution. Robert Badinter entre au Panthéon avec les principes de l'état de droit", a déclaré Emmanuel Macron lors de la cérémonie en hommage à l'artisan de l'abolition de la peine de mort ⤵️

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 14h

Nigel Farage accuses teachers of "poisoning our kids" on race issues.

Here's a reminder of what teachers and fellow pupils at Farage's own school remember of his own views on that subject.

www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/nigel-fara...

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 14h

All conspiracy theories eventually lead to antisemitism.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 14h

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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