Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · 22h

“I still think back to the moment when those plants were discovered. It was joyful. This whole project has becone a celebration.” Consider this story of renewal your Friday timeline cleanse www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Creatures buried in soil for over a century burst back to life in Toronto waterfront

A project to restore coastal wetland leads to astonishing discoveries of a host of life: seeds and plant scraps, as well as water fleas, worms, larvae and plankton

www.theguardian.com

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · 12d

I’m old enough to remember when you could travel across this country easily, efficiently and comfortably by train. Mulroney tore up the tracks to make sure we’d never have that again.

Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 15d

It’s absolutely right that workers walk off the job in response to the government taking a chainsaw to Canada Post.

If we lose the unique national infrastructure the postal service has, it will never be rebuilt. We should be using it to expand services to the public, not nickel and diming it.

Canada Post workers walking off the job after government demands reforms | CBC News

The union representing Canada's postal workers has called for a cross-country strike in the wake of the federal government announcing major reforms to Canada Post.

www.cbc.ca

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · 14d

Noticing a lot of user-first platforms popping up in response to this kind of BS. There’s the Nebula video platform, the music one I can’t remember the name of, & Gander, a social media platform, founded by a non-billionaire dude, just for Canadians, and MODERATED ACCORDING TO OUR CHARTER OF RIGHTS

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 15d

“My biggest issue is the fact that Substack insists on actively supporting leading far-right activists and propagandists like Christopher Rufo, Curtis Yarvin, and Richard Hanania – not only platforming, but actively promoting them as important thinkers.”

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 16d

Things have really changed. Now I need your help.

I wrote about why I left academia, why I left America, why I left Substack - and why I need your support as I am starting over as a full-time independent writer:

Some major personal news:

steady.page/en/democracy...

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · 19d

Really ingenious. Attract doctors into family medicine by making them municipal employees so they can just provide care & don’t have to deal with the admin burden of running a practice. We need more of this kind of outside the box thinking to fix healthcare in Canada www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

'I'm a problem solver': Meet the mayor whose plan to attract family doctors is turning heads across Canada | CBC News

A clinic in a small city outside Victoria is making family doctors municipal employees. By offering them pensions, benefits and administrative support, they are giving doctors a lifestyle many say the...

www.cbc.ca

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · 23d

Can’t wait to give this a listen

Nathan Whitlock @nathanwhitlock.bsky.social · 23d

One of the many things Sean and I get into is the recent mini-controversy around an Ontario literary festival booking, then cancelling, an appearance by an "AI author."

That's almost exactly what Sean's most recent novel was about... AND he was at that festival.

thewalrus.ca/podcasts/wha...

Nathan Whitlock @nathanwhitlock.bsky.social · 24d

Music writing that is actually good! Complicated feelings about AI! The weather in YA novels!

My conversation with @swanmichaels.bsky.social

thewalrus.ca/podcasts/wha...

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Sep 10

I feel like waiting around for billionaire tech men to decide how our culture is going to work based on their various products launches has not worked out and we should turn away from them and their companies now

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Reposted by Lynn Coady

Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · Sep 8

If you create an AI-powered wearable device that sucks and nobody wants, you should be forced to eat the unsold stock

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Sep 7

This is what’s playing out in Canada now. Carney jumping thru hoops for the right, the rw echo chamber too busy screaming communist at him to care, meanwhile those of us who thought we voted Liberal last election are left going wtf

Ed Burmila @edburmila.bsky.social · Sep 6

Tapping the sign

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Reposted by Lynn Coady

nancyforde.com @nancyfjorde.bsky.social · Sep 7

Great thread on the melting of ICE in LA and the 'empowered bullies' that comprise ICE. A thread of encouragement from LA to Chicago...

Constant Scream @ajaxsinger.bsky.social · Sep 7

Alright, so I've been afraid to say this out loud, but I think after today, I can say it: In the first Battle of Los Angeles, the good people of LA County have prevailed. We beat ICE back. 1/

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Reposted by Lynn Coady

Clare Blackwood @clareblackwood.bsky.social · Sep 5

Hi. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: we have to be able to criticize Mark Carney without living in fear that doing so will help Poilievre or weaken Canada. He is our Prime Minister. Out of anyone, he deserves to be watched and critiqued. We should all be dying on this hill.

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Sep 5

There’s something so poignant about the cyborg who wants to retrieve his cargo at all costs because it’s literally the only thing that gives meaning to his existence

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Sep 3

It’s more work for everyone!

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Sep 3

This was always the scam. Writers: CHARGE MORE to fix AI docs

Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · Sep 3

I called this part a while back: “But many clients don’t appreciate the work that goes into revamping a poorly written AI article, she said, noting that companies often offer less pay for these gigs based on the assumption that they’re less demanding.”

angela yang @angelayang.bsky.social · Sep 2

The AI boom has created a new type of work: fixing botched AI. Designers are being hired to remake wonky AI art. Writers are asked to make ChatGPT’s writing sound more human. Even software developers are tasked with fixing buggy vibe coding.
www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 30

I liked it when Aimee Mann was on Buffy

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 30

This is exactly the wrong time to kneecap arts and culture in this country

Kathryn Mockler @themockler.bsky.social · Aug 30

Carney plans to cut 15% to the arts. Here is a letter template to send to politicians to oppose this.

nwmd.social/s/copylink/4...

New/Mode | Make your voice impossible to ignore

nwmd.social

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 29

Do the Alberta book banners worried about children being exposed to inappropriate content know that there is an internet

Investigative Journalism Foundation @theijf.org · Aug 29

Edmonton school libraries plan to remove books by Margaret Atwood and George R. R. Martin after pressure from the Government of Alberta to get rid of “inappropriate” books. IJF reporter Brett McKay breaks down how we got here and what happens next.

buff.ly/TZniyGe

#abpoli #bookban

Edmonton banning Margaret Atwood book Alberta government promised wouldn’t be touched by provincial restrictions

221 titles will be pulled from shelves by Oct. 1

buff.ly

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 29

Solomon’s priority should be protecting Canadians from the excesses of these dodgy companies and making sure they’re not permitted to heedlessly Kool-Aid Man themselves into every aspect of our lives

David Reevely @davidreevely.bsky.social · Aug 29

AI Minister Evan Solomon says he used an AI tool to get briefed up on the Liberals’ last AI bill. We tried it and, well … if a human briefer briefed a minister like this, I don’t think they’d get a second call up.

https://thelogic.co/news/evan-solomon-ai-podcast

We tried the AI tool Evan Solomon used to summarize an AI bill. It didn't go well - The Logic

Canada's AI minister used a Google tool to learn about an unpassed bill on privacy and AI. When The Logic did the same, the results were far from perfect.

thelogic.co

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 25

New human just dropped

Cheryl in Nova Scotia 🇨🇦🍁🍁 @minibubbly.bsky.social · Aug 25

DNA sequencing of ancient remains by Colombian scientists reveals unknown human lineage

www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/art...

DNA sequencing of ancient remains by Colombian scientists reveals unknown human lineage

Scientists in Colombia have discovered a previously unknown lineage of human beings after fully sequencing the DNA of ancient remains excavated at archeological sites near the country’s capital Bogota...

www.ctvnews.ca

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 24

How?!

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 23

Say it louder

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · Aug 23

You can add up all the enjoyable pursuits of LLMs and the work productivity hacks and none of them, separately or together, will be more important than AI’s ecological costs or political disruption.

“We” is more important here.

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Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · Aug 19

For the cynics who think it doesn’t matter, that the compensation for authors whose work was stolen will be so low it’s not worth fighting, I personally think it’s worth making the monetary punitive damage these companies suffer as big as possible to deter similar theft in the future.

The Authors Guild @authorsguild.org · Aug 19

A federal court ruled that ANTHROPIC illegally copied MILLIONS of books to train its AI.

All authors and publishers whose books were downloaded by Anthropic from pirate websites are subject to receiving compensation. This could involve your work.

For more info: authorsguild.org/news/anthrop...

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Reposted by Lynn Coady

Maria Bustillos @mariabustillos.com · Aug 21

The money and time squandered on self-infatuated megalomaniacal bullshit by Musk, Zuckerberg, and Altman alone could have built rail networks and clean energy, replanted forests, paid teachers and researchers, fed and educated millions

quit Facebook
quit ChatGPT
boycott Tesla

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Reposted by Lynn Coady

The Authors Guild @authorsguild.org · Aug 19

A federal court ruled that ANTHROPIC illegally copied MILLIONS of books to train its AI.

All authors and publishers whose books were downloaded by Anthropic from pirate websites are subject to receiving compensation. This could involve your work.

For more info: authorsguild.org/news/anthrop...

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 19

Same. Really nails it

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Lynn Coady @lynncoady.bsky.social · Aug 18

Worthwhile thread on AI, what it’s really for and who it really serves—especially pertinent after the Eden Mills debacle

Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · Aug 18

Plainly, the people mad about the work required to write well and make great art who are justifying various artificial intelligence tools as shortcuts to that creative process don't value the labor inherent to it.

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