Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 13h

I’m going to mail him a holiday card with me and my toddler wearing our matching Hail Satan t-shirts, maybe finally start to get the cult I’m founding off the ground

Candybaz @barryodonovan.bsky.social · 18h

Peter Thiel is quite, quite mad.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist

The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

www.theguardian.com

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 16h

Re Nassau County, I will admit the least cool thing about me just to prove that I know from bagels: I'm from Great Neck.

Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 16h

I'm going on record. I was born in Queens, I lived almost half my life in NYC (ok also Nassau County, we'll get to that), and I'm Jewish (also half Irish, make of that what you will) and I will say what you're all too cowardly to consider: this bagel is dope, it only needs scallion cream cheese.

Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 16h

When Cynthia Nixon ran for governor her bagel order was a city-wide scandal for WEEKS

They called it her Howard Dean scream.

(plain cream cheese, lox, tomatoes, red onion, and capers on a cinnamon raisin bagel)

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 16h

Scallion cream cheese is the right choice of shmear.

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 17h

I feel very por qué no los dos about this because definitely the masked men are quite bad, but also i'm going to have to stop being a freelancer working on unmasking authoritarianism if the health insurance i buy out of pocket starts costing 70% more

bort @crushbort.bsky.social · 17h

is it not weird that every day there’s a new video of anonymous masked men having the time of their lives beating/shooting/disappearing people and the dem response from the top down is “republicans want to double your health insurance premiums”

Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 18h

<reading my own posts> sickos-yes.jpg

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 18h

<reading my own posts> what an idiot

“Hey man did you get QA to sign off?” Gigan @gigansprogress.bsky.social · 18h

“<reading my own posts> “this guy gets it”” (2025)

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 18h

Yes! DM me your mailing address!

Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 23h

I have a few more of these, if anyone would like one lmk!

Katharine Khamhaengwong @katharinegk.bsky.social · 1d

finished slogging through that bio of shevardnadze so i can finally get started on this (very kindly mailed all the way here by @laskin.bsky.social)

my breakfast and a lovely turquoise and red book titled “tulips in bloom: an anthology of modern central asian literature”

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe the greatest reversal of my life was going from desperately craving fine, blonde hair as a teenager, to realizing in my late 20s that while my coarse, dark hair looks insane no matter what I do, it is actually incredibly easy to deal with. Like I barely even wash or otherwise touch it.

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 1d

Point taken, but WaPo journalists are muzzled, if not overtly, then by the knowledge that its editorial leadership caved when Bezos demanded their silence. It's not really journalists' fault that $$ controls information in this sinister way. I probably wouldn't risk a staff job in this climate.

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 1d

Why is this front-page news? The Washington Post doesn't say. It's a turning point in US history but our pathetic journalist class hides the relevance behind suggestion and implication, afraid to say things that everyone knows. Useless

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Nate Wolff @natewolff.bsky.social · 2d

Lots of options but let's go classic on this one and say that time we shitposted so hard they put it in a peer reviewed journal and then that issue won a prize 🐳

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 2d

It is really incredibly sad

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Frances "Are You Scared Yet" Meh @francesmeh.reviews · 2d

my fallback plan if this place fails is to lead a fulfilling life instead of posting

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 2d

The online parenting group that truly, literally saved my life (and found me housing!) when I was fleeing and abusive relationship. I would go so far as to say MOST of the great stuff in my life is on/because of the internet.

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Jay Shelat @jshelat1.bsky.social · 2d

I kid you not, some of the best friendships I’ve ever had have come from academic Twitter. What a space that was in its heyday. Fun, whimsical, supportive, kind!

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 3d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 2d

Omg so many things. I made bank in high school selling burned CDs because I figured out napster 6 months before everyone else; I met my first boyfriend in a chatroom; I honest to god got an amazing job by being a twitter shitposter; my current partner was looking for someone terminally online.......

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 3d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 2d

I was prickly about this as an academic, then I became a journalist and editors were like "sack up, write better prose" and I am very grateful to all of them.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 2d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 2d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 2d

More crowdsourcing: which US and/or Anglophone pubs might want to publish a longread on higher ed in Russia?

Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 2d

Prescriptivists get stitches.

Dave Hutchinson @hutchinsondave.bsky.social · 3d

‘Six words or _fewer_.”

A meme. There’s a skull at the top, followed by the words ‘WRITE A HORROR STORY IN SIX WORDS OR LESS’

Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 2d

Freelancers: how do you do your books? Anyone have a clever system for repeat/retainer-type clients? My current system is Chaos and Vibes™️ but there *might* be a better way aka software.

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 2d

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 2d

if you work for a publication that does this and have any idea how much $$$ your outlet makes from affiliate sale commissions on prime day, DM or signal me: jason.404

also interested if you are a journalist who is asked to do these deal roundups as part of your job

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 2d

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

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Emily L @laskin.bsky.social · 4d

I think the bottom right is XNOR

Reposted by Emily L

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 4d

It's Nobel Prize Season! Here is a handy guide to the prizes that will be awarded this month.

NOBEL PRIZES TO BE AWARDED THIS MONTH
Physiology OR Medicine
Physiology AND Medicine
Physiology XOR Medicine
Physiology NOR Medicine Physiology NAND Medicine Physiology XNAND Medicine
@kjhealy.co

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