Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Aug 3

"There is more to duty than the ability to manipulate algorithms." - Wise words from Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager

(Came across some old screenshot folders from 2017-2019. This was one of the more amusing relics...)

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jul 29

Who knew relying on businesses to self-report environmental damage would result in <1% of incidents being reported? (Good of satellite imagery, though.)
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Only 0.5% of 90,000 oil slicks reported over five-year period, analysis finds

Pollution incidents reported between 2014 and 2019 were compared against scientific study that used satellite imagery to count slicks

www.theguardian.com

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jul 21

A bomb doesn't kill people. People kill people. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jul 21

“What I had not realized is that extremely short exposures to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people.”

Joseph Weizenbaum (creator of ELIZA), 1976
99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-...

The ELIZA Effect - 99% Invisible

Throughout Joseph Weizenbaum’s life, he liked to tell this story about a computer program he’d created back in the 1960s as a professor at MIT. It was a simple chatbot named ELIZA that could interact ...

99percentinvisible.org

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Reposted by Marius Watz

CreativeApplications.Net @creativeapps.bsky.social · Jul 10

Since 2008, CAN has defied big tech’s dominance, nurturing a global network of artists, designers, educators, hackers & makers—proving alternative networks not only exist, but flourish!

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jul 11

Remember the 2003 invasion of Iraq? The US said they were trying to avoid damaging public infrastructure, nonetheless collateral damage (power, water, sanitation) set Iraqi society back decades.

In Gaza, there is no attempt at restraint. Damage to public infrastructure is a clear goal.

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jul 5

Minor win in the AI scraping arms race. Opt-in should be the default setting for life.
www.cjr.org/analysis/clo...

Cloudflare Blocks AI Bots from Scraping Web Content Without Permission

The move is a win for media publishers.

www.cjr.org

Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jul 5

Oddly amused by forensic bite / cut mark evidence in archeology. First it was cannibalism in starving Jamestown, now gladiators get their bragging rights confirmed.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Bite marks on York skeleton reveal first evidence of ‘gladiators’ fighting lions

Study offers rare insight into human-animal combat during Roman empire

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Marius Watz

Eric Roston @eroston.bsky.social · Jun 24

10 years ago today, we dropped a thing that people still ask me about regularly.

The question "What's Really Warming the World?" still has the same answer.

With Blacki Migliozzi, in conversation with NASA GISS geniuses @climateofgavin.bsky.social and @drkatemarvel.bsky.social
🎁🔗

What's Really Warming the World?

What's Really Warming the World? Climate deniers blame natural factors; NASA data proves otherwise

www.bloomberg.com

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jun 22

Side note: Since you're primarily listing blogs, might it make sense to offer a RSS feed? Maybe cross-publishing to an are.na board?

Discoverability tends to be the biggest issue in keeping up to date, and social platforms have ruined the old habits of checking in on sites regularly.

Are.na

are.na

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jun 22

Thank you for doing this. Link rot has set in on a lot of key resources from the 2005-2015 era, a natural consequence of people shifting focus over time. A new generation is due.

Blogs aren't as plentiful these days, but some links:
monachalabi.com
pudding.cool
www.datawrapper.de/blog

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Reposted by Marius Watz

William Careri @wcareri.com · Jun 20

Introducing VizDex!

An ever-growing library of personal and independent blogs and newsletters dedicated to data visualization.

vizdexproject.com

VizDex

A library of personal and independent blogs and newsletters dedicated to data visualization.

vizdexproject.com

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jun 22

And here we are. The US is bombing Iran.

Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jun 21

Watching old Clancy movies and thinking that however dumb their plots are, they sure aren’t far off the current situation. Trump moving B2’s with nothing but yes men and conspiracy theorists in the wings is not a happy thought.

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jun 22

To think only a few years ago people (myself included) were nauseated by performative corporate Pride efforts. Now the backlash against DEI and LGBTQ+ rights is so widespread, I worry about what kids are learning. And I'm in Norway, a relative liberal stronghold. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/o...

Opinion | We’ve Reached Rainbow Capitalism’s End

www.nytimes.com

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jun 21

Watching old Clancy movies and thinking that however dumb their plots are, they sure aren’t far off the current situation. Trump moving B2’s with nothing but yes men and conspiracy theorists in the wings is not a happy thought.

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jun 10

As much as I dread wide-spread AI adoption (because of humans and capitalism, not really AI), I'm still delighted by the weirdness of AI anthropology.

Case in point: Golden Gate Claude
www.anthropic.com/news/golden-...

Golden Gate Claude

When we turn up the strength of the “Golden Gate Bridge” feature, Claude’s responses begin to focus on the Golden Gate Bridge. For a short time, we’re making this model available for everyone to inter...

www.anthropic.com

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · Jun 7

David Burdeny - Saltern Study 08, Great Salt Lake, UT, 2015
www.davidburdeny.com/photographs/...

Aerial photo of fed color salt flats in squares, divided by rectangular boundaries.

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Reposted by Marius Watz

NftBiker @nftbiker.com · Jun 2

4 years ago, I set up my indexer because those of HEN, Objkt and fxhash were regularly falling or lagging. This has not been the case for a long time now and maintaining my own indexer is time-consuming, and increasingly difficult. ⬇️
1/4

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · May 29

And when I say emerging, I mean crawling over tombstones, because of course.

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · May 29

Oh I’m always ready to play with some data. 🥳

Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · May 29

BBC reporting on goths emerging in 1987. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blxq...

1987: Meet the GOTHS | London Plus | Classic BBC Music Report | BBC Archive

YouTube video by BBC Archive

www.youtube.com

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · May 26

Oh man. I read Amusing Ourselves to Death maybe around 1990, in my teens, still. It seems so quaint when you consider YouTube, Roblox and the MMO industrial complex.

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · May 26

We have the exact same word in Norwegian (as well as the tangled boxes of obsolete USB cables to match.)

🥂

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · May 26

Bot farm vs (John Deere) bot farm

Photo of farm operated by John Deere robotic tractors

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Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · May 26

Paolo Uccello (1397 - 1475), "Vase in perspective"

Recreated (right) in Blender by u/Subushie on Reddit.
www.reddit.com/r/blender/co...

Paolo Uccello (1397 - 1475), "Vase in perspective" - Drawing of a vase as a wireframe to demonstrate perspective.

Uccello's drawing recreated as an actual wireframe of a 3D model

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