Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 19h

@tomjennings @jeppe @pluralistic
I get your point. I make it a goal to prefer local, honest, respectful outlets, but we lack ressources to find them (because we can't trust search engines or AI). I really miss the “directories” and the “rings” of the early days of the internet. They were […]

Original post on mastodon.social

mastodon.social

Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 1d

@jeppe @pluralistic
Fair point: my personal ethics is to seek all other avenues and to only turn to Amazon if what I need is significantly less expensive or if I just can't find it anywhere else (safely). This includes local brick and mortar shops where too often the answer is "sorry, we don't […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 1d

Online shopping is such a hot mess. Take Amazon: the price of a product I'm looking for varies by more than *25%* betw. Amazon.nl & Amazon.fr (and every shades of grey in other countries). Same product exactly, same brand and reference. It makes every […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

A screenshot from an Amazon website for vendors:

"One account - all of Europe
With just one account you can reach customers all across Europe with our ten European marketplaces (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.it, Amazon.es, Amazon.pl, Amazon.nl, Amazon.se, Amazon.com.be and Amazon.ie) and manage all your listings and inventory in Europe."

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Headlines in French news media on Sunday night: “Who are the 18 ministers of the new government?”

Edited headline on Monday morning: “Who were the 18 ministers of the new government before the prime minister resigned this morning?”

(Printed papers didn't have the luxury of the editing.) […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 7d

”Outlandish and pointless fantasies (…) exist to be recited and shared, acting as instruments of online influence and coordination rather than narratives to make sense of the world. They may identify enemies and reinforce prejudices, but they don’t explain anything or provide a political plan […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 7d

“the central problem is that we live not so much in a time of lies as one of stupidity” writes William Davies.
“The challenge posed by this political crisis is how to take the stupidity seriously without reducing it to a wholly mental or psychiatric phenomenon.”
“In a fully platform-based world […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 9d

The approval rating of Trump among US voters has not changed for the past 6 months at about 43%.

#uspolitics

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/upshot/poll-analysis-trump-times-siena.html

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 9d

@w7voa
Alternative take:
*43%* think he's right or should do even more.

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 9d

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com

p.s. my new book of science cartoons 'Physics for Cats' is out now. Visit www.tomgauld.com for details

A group of scientists huddle excitedly around a monitor. One says:
"The program has detected a signal sent from another galaxy, but we need to upgrade to a paid version before we can reply."

The screen reads "Choose a plan To unlock replies: 1. Student 2. Basic 3. Pro 4. Expert "

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Dan Gillmor @dangillmor.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11d

Google deletes history: https://www.thebriefing.ie/google-just-erased-7-years-of-our-political-history/

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11d

For years I've been fiddling with idea of familiarise myself with Linux by setting up a virtual machine on my Mac, just to be ready when the time comes to leave Windows and MacOS behind. The time nigh.

#linux #bigtech

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12d

.@pluralistic: “[AI companies] can't be profitable. They keep the lights on by soaking up hundreds of billions of dollars in other people's money and then lighting it on fire. (…) This isn't like the early days of the web, or Amazon, or any of those other big winners that lost money before […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12d

@ntnsndr
Nah, we already have “fraudulent.”

Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14d

I'm a loyal customer of some Apple products. But the arrogance of a company challenging regulatory efforts by threatening to stop shipping products to the EU is only encouraging me to start looking for alternatives. Like I already did with other arrogant companies abusing their dominant position […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15d

Trying to silence a public figure can badly backfire: Jimmy Kimmel's ratings averaged 1.6 million viewers. His return on air, though barred from all 30 Nextar and all 40 Sinclair affilate stations, scored 6.2 millions viewers. Not to mention over 15 millions views (and counting) on YouTube. It's […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16d

@ionica
Maar alleen *één* hangslot!
(Verenigd in frituurolie.)

Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22d

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/115224321548138026

Big Tech: Move fast, break things.

Mastodon: Take you time, get it right.

(And you can quote-post me on that.)

Eugen Rochko @gargron.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22d

Good morning! If you’re on mastodon.social (or another server running nightly builds) you can begin quoting posts in your posts (quooting?) starting today. Remember, you control whether you can be quoted, and call always retract your post from a specific quote. And you can quote me on that!

Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22d

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/115224321548138026

Consistent with the spirit of Mastodon to take the time to get it right, it becomes gradually possible to "quote post," but in a way that mitigates the risks of abuse (dunking, etc.) seen on other micro-blogging platforms.
(And this was […]

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Eugen Rochko @gargron.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22d

Good morning! If you’re on mastodon.social (or another server running nightly builds) you can begin quoting posts in your posts (quooting?) starting today. Remember, you control whether you can be quoted, and call always retract your post from a specific quote. And you can quote me on that!

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 24d

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com

p.s. this week I am on a USA/Canada tour with my new book. Details and preorder links at tomgauld.com

Panel 1. image of a huge nuclear plant.
“Reactor Overheating”

2. A worker in a hazmat suit works at a computer. The screen reads:
“Press cancel to avoid critical overload”

3 - 9. The worker continues to type at the computer. The screen changes in each panel and reads:
“Enter password to confirm”
“Incorrect password”
“Incorrect password”
“Do you want to reset your password?”
“Reset link has been sent to your email”
“Please choose a new password”
“New password can't be the same as old password”
The colour gets hotter in each panel. Starting blue in 1 and ending in red in 9.

Panel 10. Wide view. The entire earth is blown up.

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Sep 4

Margaret Sullivan identified new issues that need be added to journalism ethics codes. E.g. “How news organizations should deal with artificial intelligence. How to cover politicians who lie and mislead the public as an essential part of their personas—and who get away with it (…). How social […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Björn Brembs @brembs.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Sep 3

1. This development essentially entails that all authors in the participating countries now have a venue where they can publish #openaccess without any fees.
2. The vision is to develop Open Research Europe (ORE) "as a collective non-profit open access publishing service for the public good" […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 31

“The contemporary proliferation of bullshit also has deeper sources, in various forms of skepticism which deny that we can have any reliable access to an objective reality, and which therefore reject the possibility of knowing how things truly are. These […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

A small red book with a short title: "ON BULLSHIT" by Harry Princeton University moral philosophy professor Harry G. Frankfurt. The cover indicates "ANNIVERSARY EDITION" showing that it is a re-print, in 2025, of a book first published in 2005.

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 31

“Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person's obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic exceed his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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J. Nathan Matias 🦣 @natematias.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · Aug 19

How is independent tech research faring in 2025 amidst extraordinary headwinds & what can we do to preserve / grow it?

A new report, "Power in Numbers" @transparenttech summarizes reports on interviews with 90+ researchers on the struggle for public-interest tech research worldwide:

1 […]

Original post on social.coop

social.coop

Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 18

@dangillmor @scalzi
The secret sauce, I found, is the prominent presence, always, of a lead character with a perfect mastery of sarcasm. Makes me smile or LOL at every page, and that is so welcome in this day and age…

Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 13

Stunning: This morning's front pages of the British press display utterly contrasting framing: FT and Guardian use a photo framing Channel crossing migrants as desperate victims narrowly escaping horrific death, while The Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

The front page of the Daily Telegraph shows refugees in a way that makes them look like invaders beach-landing, while the front page of the Financial Times shows a picture of refugees being rescued from the water.

The front page of the Daily Mail shows refugees in a way that makes them look like invaders beach-landing, while the front page of The Guardian shows a picture of refugees being rescued from the water.

Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 7

It takes some effort, but if you try to find Europe-based providers for tech-related products or services, most of the time not only will you find one, but you'll be surprised how good and different it is. The marketing of US and Asia-based big-tech companies is overpowering any effort by […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 7

How do you teach the humanities (and evaluate your students) in the age of AI? “Through a combination of oral examinations, one-on-one discussions, community engagement and in-class projects.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/opinion/humanities-college-ai.html

#ai #humanities #teaching

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Francois Heinderyckx @fheinderyckx.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Aug 5

Detailed account of, and concrete recommendations against, the rising threats on academic freedom and freedom of expression: “[W]e call for a reorientation of our field’s normative foundations—one that not only emphasizes democracy but also resists authoritarianism, thereby more explicitly […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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