Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 8h

To be clear, I’m not laughing at ignorance. I’m laughing at the hubris required to demand something given freely by insulting those who gave it - with extremely weak and unimaginative insults, at that - and yet also put a full tech bio behind the name.

This is fucking ART, I tell you! 😂

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 8h

Now, wait just a minute, here - just where does this guy get off calling us SMELLY‽ 😡

I AM NEW TO GITHUB AND I HAVE ALOT TO SAY by danemadsen · Pull Request #1349 · torvalds/linux

I DONT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE FUCKING CODE! i just want to download this stupid fucking application and use it. https://github.com/torvalds/linux WHY IS THERE CODE??? MAKE A FUCKING .EXE FILE AND GI...

github.com

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 1d

Willie isn’t just awesome because of his music. He was already a legend before starting the TeaPot party and supporting Beto and Kamala, but then he did that duet with Orville Peck and became a legend among legends.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 1d

We already had to let go of Bea and Betty. We’re just not ready to let go of Dolly yet.

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Reposted by Ryan Egesdahl

National Security Counselors 🕵 @nationalsecuritylaw.org · 1d

Ngl it was kinda hilarious when someone suggested Dolly Parton might die last night and the entire Bluesky community said FUCK THAT and now she's doing better. People talk about the power of prayer but I think we tapped into something deeper and darker.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 3d

“Desensitized” isn’t the word I would use, though that’s likely also the case. I think “fatigued” is the most apt descriptor for this one because even many of us who are aware of the enormity of these events are no longer moved by them.

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KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 5d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 4d

Alternatively: just think what it must take to be considered abnormal by that person… 😬

Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 4d

Two very different things seen by me today.

A man on a street corner waving a flag with “FUCK tRUmp” in red letters on a white background.

A dark blue Tesla sedan with a vanity license plate that reads “ADD OIL”.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 4d

It took me an embarrassingly large number of years to get what privilege is.

I genuinely believe that a lot (but definitely not all) of the opposition to social justice is due to poor terminology. Every time I explain privilege this way, the person I’m talking to gets it.

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @madycast.com · 4d

these are questions hard for me to empathize with, as someone without the privilege of being able to go even a day without worrying about how racism impacts me or my friends. privilege is not visible gift, it's an invisible lack of a curse. Invisible to you, but unavoidable to us.

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Reposted by Ryan Egesdahl

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @madycast.com · 4d

these are questions hard for me to empathize with, as someone without the privilege of being able to go even a day without worrying about how racism impacts me or my friends. privilege is not visible gift, it's an invisible lack of a curse. Invisible to you, but unavoidable to us.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

Let’s leave religion out of our personal judgments, please. There are plenty of Mormons and Baptists and Muslims and others of every stripe of faith whose religious expression is at odds with what we might believe of their stated religion. Focus on actual belief and practice instead.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

Religion is a personal choice in the same way a person’s choice of sexual expression is - meaning the outward characteristics like clothes and hair and jewelry. It’s based on something relatively immovable for the vast majority of people. Religious *expression* is the analogous term.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

I should to point out that one’s religion is largely based on where someone lives and the beliefs they were brought up with. People who leave their childhood religion or join a different one are *extremely* uncommon in the general population. It’s more common to keep it and believe differently.

Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

Sanderson is Mormon, yes, but I don’t think that has much to do with his personal beliefs. @maklelan.bsky.social is another person like Sanderson, though he’s a lot more vocal about his personal disagreements with his church’s dogmas. I wish Sanderson would speak out more about social issues.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

Truesight by David Stahler, Jr.
Another Day, Another Dungeon, by Greg Kostikyan

Also, any books you can find by Eve Forward - there are two known, and they’re both rare:

Animist
Villains by Necessity (SO GOOD OMG)

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

One Quest, Hold the Dragons by Greg Kostikyan
Ardneh’s World series of series by Fred Saberhagen
Ancillary series by Ann Leckie
Ringworld series by Terry Pratchett
Chanur series by C.J. Cherryh
The Three Body Problem series by Cixin Lu
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
Witchmark by C.L. Polk
Timekeeper by Tara Sim
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (my childhood favorite)

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

That said, fiction books I recommend over any of Sanderson’s (many with LGBT+ themes):

Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Oxford Time Travelers series by Connie Willis
Matador series by Steve Perry
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Bookshops and Bonedust, also by Travis Baldree

#Books #BookList

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

Sanderson is Mormon, yes, but I don’t think that has much to do with his personal beliefs. @maklelan.bsky.social is another person like Sanderson, though he’s a lot more vocal about his personal disagreements with his church’s dogmas. I wish Sanderson would speak out more about social issues.

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

Please understand me when I say the next thing: I like Sanderson, I like his work, and I believe he’s genuinely a nice person trying to do the right thing. (The pressure on Amazon, for example.)

He isn’t the greatest writer, though. He’s just good. I have other recommendations I give before him.

Tiernan Blanched Bone Shards @gaycannibalism.bsky.social · 12d

If you ever ask me to read sanderson I immediately assume all your other reccomendations are dogshit

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Tiernan Blanched Bone Shards @gaycannibalism.bsky.social · 12d

If you ever ask me to read sanderson I immediately assume all your other reccomendations are dogshit

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

Here’s another, more “popular science” take on the projects. Do you notice any differences in the coverage? I find them *quite* interesting.

Scientists make breakthrough towards ‘universal’ antiviral drugs

Targeting sugars on the outside of viruses could offer a first line of defence against emerging pandemics.

www.gavi.org

Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

There’s another project at Columbia (also in New York!) doing something similar. This article has a bit more of the background and non-technical details.

One Universal Antiviral to Rule Them All?

Taking inspiration from a rare mutation that makes people impervious to viral diseases, a Columbia researcher is developing a therapy that could bestow this superpower on the rest of us.

www.cuimc.columbia.edu

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Ryan Egesdahl @deriamis.net · 5d

In case you wondered… also, it was six viruses, not four. 😉

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Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire.bsky.social · 5d

I'm gonna get my Kellis-Amberlee after all!

Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 5d

GOOD NEWS! Researchers have made a HUGE breakthrough towards a UNIVERSAL antiviral. By targeting sugar molecules found on the surface of many viruses that SHARE structural similarities, they identified FOUR compounds that successfully BLOCKED infections from SEVEN different viruses.

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