Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · 15d

A little bit of calm after work. Vicarage Pond, Llanilar

View of a small lake surrounded by trees. Water lilies cover the lake surface, except the foreground, where sky is reflected in the open water.

Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · 20d

Come and join us in Aberystwyth! Great opportunity to join the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, working with Mike Woods and team on this very topical project.

Rural Spatial Justice @ruralspatialj.bsky.social · 21d

Join our team: We're recruiting 2 x 3-year post doc researchers for the Rural-Spatial-Justice project at Aberystwyth, to undertake fieldwork on rural discontent & support for disruptive politics in the UK, Europe & USA. Closing date: 19 Oct. Details: jobs.aber.ac.uk/en/vacancy/p...

Aberystwyth University - : Post-Doctoral Research Associate (Rural-Spatial-Justice) (5874)

jobs.aber.ac.uk

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 25d

Frida Kahlo, 1937 by fashion photographer Toni Frissell #womensart

Monochrome photograph looking up at a standing woman in a long dress next to a giant cactus type plant in a garden setting

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dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · Sep 11

Peace is fragile; constitutions are fragile; civil order is fragile.

Wise political leaders realise this.

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · Sep 11

I’d think what you’d want during a highly volatile, politically polarized time marked by violence is a president who can appeal to our common values and humanity and inspire calm and unity, rather than promising revenge.

If you cared about the collective well-being of the country, that is

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Alex Hibberts @hibbertsalex.bsky.social · Sep 9

Does anyone know of any (UK-based) ECRs in geography, history & archaeology working on the Little Ice Age? I'm looking for collaborators for a potential workshop!

@eseh.bsky.social @northernenvhistory.bsky.social @esehnextgate.bsky.social @carsoncenter.bsky.social @greenhouseuis.net

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Aug 31

Megalithic Locmariaquer #standingstonesunday - The Grand Menhir Brisé and the capstone of the nearby Table des Marchands. The capstone, with an engraving of an axe was re-used from another broken menhir, likely from the same alignment as the Grand Menhir. Such an impressive site.

Four large pieces of a broken standing stone lying on the ground. This was the largest of an alignment of stelae erected c. 6,000 years ago at Locmariaquer, Brittany.

Detail of the internal face of the capstone of a neolithic burial chamber at Table des Marchands, Locmariaquer. The capstone has an engraving depicting an axe.

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Aug 26

Lucky to spend #tombtuesday waliking among the Carnac alignments. Photo 1 - dolmen on the western edge of the Kermario alignments. Photo 2 - menhir on top of burial mound at Le Manio.

In the left foreground, the entrance to a neolithic passage tomb can be seen, upright granite stones around 1 metre apart topped with granite slabs. The surrounding grass is parched brown due to the summer drought. In the background to the right is a line of standing stones with trees behind.

A 3.5 metre high menhir (breton for standing stone) is in the centre of the photo, surrounded by alignments of smaller stones. Beneath the large menhir is an opening into the tomb below. There is a sheep in the foreground. A small number are being used for conservation grazing in this fenced area.

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Michael Schwandt @michaelschwandt.bsky.social · Jul 29

"Helsinki has not recorded a single traffic fatality in the past 12 months, city and police officials confirmed this week."

This is the direct and predictable result of policy decisions, not random happenstance.

#visionzero #publichealth

yle.fi/a/74-20174831

Helsinki goes a full year without a traffic death

A city traffic engineer credits the success to lower speed limits and smarter design.

yle.fi

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · Jun 30

What a tragedy this is even being proposed on paper... 💔

NOAA FY2026 Congressional Justification: www.noaa.gov/sites/defaul...

Termination of OAR’s Climate Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes (-$102,292, -204 FTE/ -216 Positions) –NOAA will continue to support high priority ocean and weather research programs in NOS and NWS.

In coordination with the requested terminations for Weather Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes (see OAR-10) and Ocean Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes (see OAR-19), NOAA will close the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami, FL; the Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) in College Park, MD, Idaho Falls, ID, and Oak Ridge, TN, as well as a nation-wide network of soil moisture sensors; the Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL) in Boulder, CO; the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, NJ; the Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML) in Boulder, CO, Utqiaġvik, AK, Mauna Loa, HI, Hilo, HI, Big Island, HI, American Samoa, and the South Pole; the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle, WA; and the Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) in Boulder, CO.

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Jun 19

That's sad. Brought back some memories...

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · Jun 19

Liza Adamczewski (aka the Accidental Ecologist), artist and creator of the 1000 postcards project; mini paintings of natural life inspired by her ‘re-wilding’ of a Welsh farm #WomensArt

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Jun 15

Today, I am following the coastal path from Blaenplwyf to Aber. Grey and blustery but lovely views.

A coastal view with sea on the left. A path leads down hill to a shingle beach with a flat green field behind. In the distance, the town of Aberystwyth can be seen. There is a hill middle-right, this is the iron age hillfort of Pen Dinas

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Sarah Churchwell @sarahchurchwell.bsky.social · Jun 14

It is in this context that Dickinson wrote her great poem about hope: the little bird that never stops singing, sings sweetest in a storm, cannot be abashed, keeps us warm, sings where it is cold and strange and dark, and never, no matter how extreme the trials, asks anything in return. /6

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Jun 8

I had to make sure I got back for the first game, otherwise would have had a more leisurely amble around the cairns!

Near the Tafarn Zinc? Yesterday brought back some memories. Boys started their school days in Eglwyswrw.

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Jun 8

Oh, I bet that was fascinating. So much wonderful archaeology around us.

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Jun 8

It was a lovely walk...more spectacular from the air though, your images of Foel Drygarn are stunning!

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Jun 8

Today's walk was along the Ystwyth Trail, Llanilar to the bandstand in Aber.

13.5 miles this week, walking 60 miles in June to support pancreatic cancer research. Thinking of special friends all the way.

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/...

A calm river viewed from a bridge, there are trees along both banks, overhanging the water in places

A gravel track through some woods. A fox red labrador on a lead is stood in the middle of the track. His name is Jasper and he is a very good boy.

A coastal scene, with grey skies and sea. It is low tide and grey rocks are exposed in the foreground. In the background, there is a pier and row of coloured buildings along a promenade. A green hill is at the end of the row of buildings, with a steep drop to the sea.

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Sarah Davies @sarahdavies.bsky.social · Jun 8

Managed a quick walk up Foel Drygan yesterday while waiting for the junior football tournament in Crymych to kick off.

A hilltop with a stone cairn, one of three bronze age burial mounds at Foel Drygarn

An information board titled 'Battle of the Preselau'

These mountains would not be accessible to walkers today if it were not for the brave stand by local inhabitants at the end of the 1940s. Soon after the Second World war, in November 1946, the War Office declared its intention to turn the Preselau into a permanent military training area.

That would mean turning more than 200 farmers from their homes. However, under the leadership of Nonconformist ministers and local headmasters, a spirited campaign was organised to withstand the threat. A barrister was employed to represent the Prescelly Preservation Committee and it was made abundantly clear that not an inch of land would be surrendered.

‘We nurture souls in these areas,’ was the precise comment of the Rev R. Parri Roberta when confronted by military officers. The ‘sanctity’ of the mountains was emphasized with their 38 bluestones transported to Stonehenge, over two thousand years ago, to become part of English heritage.

By spring 1948 the Government had give in to the determination of the people of Preselau. All present day farmers and walkers are indebted to those heros of yesterday. The full story can be read in the book ‘Battle of the Presaelau – the campaign to safeguard the ‘sacred’ Pembrokeshire Hills’ by Hefin Wyn.

This stone was unveiled on May 16, 2009 by Dyfed Davies on behalf of the mountain shepherds Organised by Clychau Clochlog

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$profrachelgan.bsky.social$

Prof Rachel Oliver @profrachelgan.bsky.social · Jun 2

A group of Labour MPs, peers and supporters write:

“We should legislate to root out DEI in hiring practices, sentencing decisions and wherever else we find it in our public bodies.”

Devastated to see how quickly this has arrived in the UK mainstream.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Blue Labour group urges ministers to ‘root out DEI’ to win over Reform voters

Faction influencing No 10 says government should legislate against DEI in hiring, sentencing and ‘wherever else’

www.theguardian.com

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Prof Andrew Mackintosh @andrewmackintosh.bsky.social · May 31

🌏 Rare opportunity to join us!

We’re hiring two new Lecturer/Senior Lecturers in the School of Earth Atmosphere & Environment #MonashUni, a top 50 global university

🔬 Isotope Geochemistry
🛰️ Remote Sensing/Geospatial
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

Wilson’s Promontory or Yiruk Wamoon, 3 hours drive from Melbourne, Australia, is National Park with magnificent peaks, beaches, rainforest, and the world’s southernmost mangroves. A hiking and boating paradise, the promontory and surrounding islands are the exposed portions of a Devonian granite batholith.

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · May 25

Alexandra Buckle, contemporary printmaker known for her woodland scenes created via linocuts #WomensArt

Print featuring a lush green woodland scene with dappled bright sunlight and reflections on a stream to the right

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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · May 17

Wales and Scotland rarely exist in the minds of London-based political commentators and news organisations.

Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · May 17

It is really quite remarkable how everybody is talking about “we are a five-party-system now”, as if the SNP or Plaid Cymru didn’t exist.
Political fragmentation is not a new phenomenon.

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NationCymru @nation.cymru · May 15

Award-winning author and screenwriter Fflur Dafydd returns with her most gripping novel yet - a psychological crime thriller that blends crime, identity, and buried secrets against the haunting backdrop of a Welsh town devastated by floods

New crime novel from Fflur Dafydd hailed as 'magnificent' by Russell T Davies

Award-winning author and screenwriter Fflur Dafydd returns with her most gripping novel yet – a psychological crime thriller that blends crime, identity, and buried secrets against the haunting backdr...

nation.cymru

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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · May 14

3/3 Only at the very end of this rehearsal of the lore do we get to the real basis of the problems here:

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Dr Rachel Hughes (she/her) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🌱 @rachelgwenllian.bsky.social · May 14

The UK is not a single-language state.

A powerful argument by @owswills.bsky.social for understanding and valuing multiculturalism.

nation.cymru/opinion/the-...

The UK is not a single-language state. It’s time Starmer caught up

Owen Williams When Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared that “if you want to live in the UK, you should speak English,” he wasn’t just parroting a tired line about integration. He was exposing a deepe...

nation.cymru

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