Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 51m

indeed

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 51m

found a guy who gives reviews to cement factories worldwide

www.google.com

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Reposted by Stephen Judkins

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 4h

Today on Volts: geothermal startup Quaise is using microwaves to pulverize rock, drill down miles, & access levels of heat that cause water to go supercritical, so it holds exponentially more energy. The promise is geothermal power with 10X the productivity -- enough to lure FF giants into the biz.

Super-deep geothermal drilling ... with microwaves

I talk with Quaise CEO Carlos Araque about a technology that could persuade the oil and gas industry to drill for heat instead of fuel.

www.volts.wtf

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 2h

goddamnit

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 3h

Tragedy is when I am criticized on social media. Comedy is when you are dismembered with a bone saw and die.

Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 15h

With receipts!

www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/o...

‘Amoral, evil’: vitriolic backlash builds against comics who played Riyadh festival

Murder by bone-saw, lashings for rape victims, punishment amputation, jail for satirists … these are the Saudi human rights abuses fuelling the fury being directed at the likes of Louis CK, Dave Chapp...

www.theguardian.com

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 3h

I think a large portion of the Palestinian population being expelled and being made permanent low-status guest workers in Israel-allied gulf states, Russia, etc is a depressingly real possibility. No one will stop a nuclear-armed state from doing ethnic cleansing

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 3h

I think the global movement has been strengthened and it's inevitable Israel will become a pariah state after this, but I am more deeply pessimistic about the chances of any sort of "solution" that's better than Palestinians being expelled and made stateless

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 3h

The Trump administration’s invasion of U.S. cities and America’s collective shrug speaks to what a weak position our cities have put themselves in by walling themselves off and repelling the U.S.-born lower and middle classes. We’re turning away friends that we need.

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Charles Ghoul-ba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 4h

HOO BOY. I just acquired the FINAL, approved 2026 #ACA rate filings for #ARIZONA and it's not pretty at all.

Premiums are going up 46.3% on average...and that's for full price enrollees.

acasignups.net/rate_changes...

2026 Final Gross Rate Changes - Arizona: +46.3% (updated)

Originally posted 8/7/25 Overall preliminary rate changes via federal Rate Review database. Antidote Health Plan of AZ: (Unfortunately, no rate justification summary is available, and the full actuari...

acasignups.net

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 3h

I've never seen it, it sounds like Naked Gun: The Show. Sounds like it might be hilarious but also I'm not sure if 6 episodes before being canceled should rule it out?

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 3h

Am I alone in thinking that 30 Rock sits a tier above every other sitcom? Nothing else has ever hit quite the same, before or since

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 3h

As someone who is actually in favor of building more nuclear power, I've gotta say I am extremely skeptical that this is going to happen

Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 4h

The US may have as many as 10 large nuclear power plants under construction within five years, meeting a goal set by President Donald Trump, according to Bechtel, one of the industry’s top builders.

Bechtel Expects 10 US Reactor Projects With New Shared-Risk Model

The US may have as many as 10 large nuclear power plants under construction within five years, meeting a goal set by President Donald Trump, according to Bechtel Group Inc., one of the industry’s top builders.

bloom.bg

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Reposted by Stephen Judkins

Sexy CHOAM Nomsky costume @samthielman.com · 8h

Jenna would make Liz write jokes for her, Liz would write a bunch of feminist material because she’s mad at Jenna and then try to pull it at the last minute because she’s worried for Jenna’s safety. Jenna would ham it up so hard that the Saudis would love it as parody of shrill American women

Suss-- 🥌 @suss2hyphens.bsky.social · 8h

which 30 rock character was most likely to headline the riyadh comedy festival, tracy or jenna

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 3h

"If you just let us win a little bit, we will then go on to win a lot" is exactly this line of logic and when you put it that plainly it seems pretty obviously absurd

Ed @ed3d.net · 5h

you do not hear Platner complaining about having to run a primary against a strong and well-liked candidate

he clearly understands the assignment

and if he can't beat Mills he won't beat Collins, this is ridiculous table-pounding for the sake of it

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Reposted by Stephen Judkins

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 5h

it was obvious from the moment the attack happened that this was not only a tragedy for Israel but was going to become a tragedy for Palestine, and I still remember who was cheering it on.

Michael E. Carter @deckofcarterhist.bsky.social · 5h

If you were online on October 7, 2023, this is no surprise.

Overshadowed by the fact that Israel retaliated with a genocidal war is the reality that amid the attack seemingly professional/moral people spent days praising every report they found of Israelis, including children, being murdered.

Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 1d

This is a person who is still taken seriously and published in left-wing spaces.

To be clear: No, most Israeli Jews are not descended from Polish Jews. And even for the minority who are, it would obviously not be safe for them all to go there now, given the Polish government.

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Reposted by Stephen Judkins

Jordan Grimes @cafedujord.bsky.social · 4h

After 7 committee hearings, a senate floor vote, an assembly floor vote, a concurrence vote, and the governor's signing this morning... @scottwiener.bsky.social's #SB79, which legalizes new multifamily housing near major public transit stops, is officially law!

Thank you @gavinnewsom.bsky.social!

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Reposted by Stephen Judkins

Glonzo Journalism, But Scary 👻 @scriban.bsky.social · 5h

Matt Stoller is a perfect example of the concept of the “useful idiot”.

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 5h

remember when Matt Stoller was quoted repeatedly during the election season insisting that Trump 2.0 would be a continuation of Lina Khan's antitrust legacy and that we should take men like JD Vance and Josh Hawley seriously?

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 7h

When Pam Bondi tried her hand at insult comedy this week, four Senators asked her about antitrust corruption. It's a real point of vulnerability, and the pressure has led to a few better outcomes. More importantly, states and the public are squarely attuned to fighting corporate power. From me:

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 5h

It's both

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 5h

If my Bolt had had this I would have kept it, fwiw

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 16h

One of those things that shocked me when I became an adult. You can buy the cheap stuff but it kind of sucks!

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Reposted by Stephen Judkins

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 17h

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 17h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 16h

Really wish there were a 256gb version. These LLMs are so memory hungry!

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 16h

A major problem (but not the only problem) is, the audience is likely there for the anger instead of the truth

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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 16h

Probably true even in cases where the things to get angry about are true and the anger is righteous

Natalie Wynn @contrapoints.bsky.social · 1d

Any form of media that involves an angry man telling an audience what to be angry about for several hours a day is probably not good for the human brain

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Reposted by Stephen Judkins

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 17h

The Administration

- raised taxes on clean energy with one big beautiful bill

- is stopping or making clean energy projects harder to be built

- is raising prices on materials with tariffs

- all while AI is spiking electricity demand

They are stopping supply while demand goes up

It’s a crisis

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 17h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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