Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 8h

By "irreversibly changing," they mean that the ground beneath the solar panel farms is cooler, wetter, and hosts more bacterial and botanical life.

glassalmanac.com/china-confir...

China confirms solar panel projects are irreversibly changing desert ecosystems

China’s giant solar parks aren’t just changing the power mix—they may be changing the ground beneath them. Fresh field data point to cooler soils, extra moisture,…

glassalmanac.com

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 10h

I have the spectrum problem of being terrible at recognizing innuendo. Despite having played Borderlands 2 before, I only today appreciated that the [ahem] climatic battle of the "Circle of Slaughter" side-plot occurs in Ore Chasm. 🙄

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 10h

Counterpoint: Beveridge's Law of Headlines: "Any headline that ends with a yes-or-no question can reliably be answered in the negative."

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 10h

Adventures in framing:

Headline presenting this as a real-world question. Rather than as another sign of deepening vortex of narcissistic delusion and detachment from reality.

Headline: Trump Has His Eyes on Nobel Prize. Will He Get It?

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 15h

I hear ICE is going to start taking pointers from Keith Starmer:

"Foreigner identification badges" from the fictional town of Scarfolk.

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 16h

Webcams used to be a thing, but there are far fewer now than there used to be. But here's one of a popular square in downtown Portland, showing the wreckage, carnage, and violence of ... at the moment, lunchtime. www.thesquarepdx.org/see-the-squa...

Come find a brick on Pioneer Courthouse Square!

The Square is a symbol of Portland, and the bricks symbolize the people that make Portland such an extraordinary city. Search bricks, explore Portland's Living Room and buy your own piece of The Squa...

www.thesquarepdx.org

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 17h

"They had reasonable suspicion that those people were swarthy. What more did they need?"

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18h

McLaughlin: "Pritzker said there's racial profiling, which is absolutely false. Our officials use reasonable suspicion. That's protected under the US Constitution 4th Amendment."

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Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg

nasusbot 🔞 @nasusbot.bsky.social · 1d

Urgently selling my rat girl OC to pay for wedding expenses & bills!

She comes with 20 pieces of art total (16 unique pieces + 4 alt version pieces) including a big ref sheet & icon

Most art by me, some by cepto, satanicbimbo, noisykoala, etc.

Looking for $800 OBO

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Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg

Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 2d

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 19h

The other was, trying to come up with the physical characteristics, I wrote down, "Skin like warm naugahyde." And then Muse said, "So, if anyone in the expeditionary crew finds them hot, you'd have to model the crewmember on JD Vance?"

No, Muse, that's not funny.

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 19h

I've been trying to figure out, "Where did these ... creatures ... come from?" And then my brain said, "There's no reason only Terran-descended civs (which includes the Pendorians) have sex robots." Now there's a shuddering thought. (Tyranid sex bots!)

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 19h

I had horrible writing thoughts today. I've often advise: "Think about your aliens' diversity. What tropes exist in Romulan romance novels? What kind of fursuits exist among the Asari? What sexual taboos are discussed on the Zentradi equivalent of 4-chan?"

I've been struggling with an origin, so:

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Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 1d

i know leftists have all their memes about rainbow-painted b-52s but i think resegregating the military is bad actually

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

Trump Fires Black Officials From an Overwhelmingly White Administration

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg

Isaac (from the Internet) Gantwerk Mayer @isaacgantwerkmayer.bsky.social · 1d

worth pointing out: one of the many reasons Bibi didn't give a shit about the hostages is because they were all from Shaar haNegev, a region that, before the attack, was full of peaceniks and leftists who wanted to live in peace and equity with the Gazans and consequently did not vote for him.

Alon (they/them) @alonlevy.bsky.social · 1d

Chaim Peri told another Nir Oz hostage, who was released in the first ceasefire, that a general hostage deal would take two years, because "it's Bibi and we're leftists." He was subsequently murdered last year and never saw his prediction come true to within days.

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 23h

The little bowl is Churu with the over-the-counter tummy medicine; the pilling is the steroid that keeps her intestines working at all in the face of her cancer.

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Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg

SirFox @sirfox.bsky.social · 22d

Now more than ever.

Create and protect your own spaces.

Make sure your creative works are hosted and backed up in places that can’t all be swept away at once.

Maintain your social groups through multiple networks

Shit can get scary very fast.
Be prepared.
Look into gun ownership & classes.

Dark Violet @darkviolet.bsky.social · Jul 9

No matter what - I will always, always keep it weird, and wonderful, and kind.

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Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg

CuriBawl @curibawl.bsky.social · 1d

Pot of coffee

For Dawn.KE

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

Is that a copyright notice in the upper right hand corner? She does know that you can't copyright AI-generated images, right?

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · 1d

Nancy Mace is having a normal day

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

Getting meds into the older cat is always challenging, but she's taking it better. I don't know if she's made the association that she doesn't throw up the days after she gets pilled.

A grey cat in front of a tiny feeding bowl.

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

The entire point of conservatism is to "stand athwart progress shouting 'Stop!'" New music, music that expresses desire for change, is anathema.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

"There's truth underneath all this fake outrage. Conservatives really are at a disadvantage in pop culture because most creative people are liberals, which has always been true & probably always will be. While MAGA has had some success building a culture machine, what it produces is mostly banal."

Whiny MAGA freaks out over Super Bowl halftime show

Songs in Spanish? In America?

www.publicnotice.co

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

"I think you're some kind of deviated prevert. I think General Ripper found out about your preversion, and that you were organizing some kind of mutiny of preverts."

Time to organize a mutiny of deviated preverts.

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

Ted Cruz reminds you that "Vibe Lawyering" is not protected by US Law. Cruz once argued to the Texas Supreme Court that "There is no substantive due-process right to stimulate one's genitals in the Constitution."

...

I've just been handed a note that that's not what "Vibe Lawyering" is about.

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

I hope not! My wife is in Florida at the moment!

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

Ask Ted Cruz! "There is no substantive due-process right to stimulate one's genitals."

www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/04...

Ted Cruz Doesn’t Believe You Have the Right to Masturbate

“There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one’s genitals,” his legal team argued.

www.vanityfair.com

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

Soon to be followed by "Vibe Contempt."

The Questionable Authority @questauthority.bsky.social · 1d

"Vibe Lawyering" - lord have mercy

git.law/news/gitlaw-...

a close up of a hulk 's face with a cloudy sky in the background

Alt: a close up of a hulk 's face with a cloudy sky in the background

media.tenor.com

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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 1d

Bashing a database that has 1,200,000,000,000 (1.2 TRILLION) installations and Just Works is absolutely ridiculous. SQLite is amazing, and the first thing you reach for during development. Once you need a network, sure, PostgreSQL, but SQLite is perfect for embedded.

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