Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 14h

Not counting today's protest, 7 of the top 10 protests by size in US history happened while Trump was president.

List of protests and demonstrations in the United States by size - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 21h

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 2d

Atari’s resurrecting the Intellivision, one of its biggest competitors in the ‘80s

The Intellivision Sprint upgrades the original with wireless controllers, HDMI, and 45 built-in games.

www.theverge.com

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 2d

It's not *just* footage of earth. For example, several hours ago, during their daily space walk, the astronauts jettisoned an old camera that had stopped working, and you could hear all their dialogue.

Space Live: the new TV channel streaming absolutely spellbinding footage of Earth … forever

ITVX’s perpetual real-time broadcast from the International Space Station is awe-inspiring … until it gets boring. But even though it’s hard to watch for long, it’s a humbling reminder of who we are

www.theguardian.com

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 3d

AI-powered textbooks fail to make the grade in South Korea

South Korea’s AI learning program was rolled back after just four months following a backlash from teachers, students, and parents, underlining the challenges in embedding the technology in education.

restofworld.org

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 3d

ISPs angry about California law that lets renters opt out of forced payments

Gov. Newsom signs broadband billing law hated by the cable industry.

arstechnica.com

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 3d

New Alzheimer's Treatment Clears Plaques From Brains of Mice Within Hours

Scientists have repaired a natural gateway into the brains of mice, allowing the clumps and tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease to be swept away.

www.sciencealert.com

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 3d

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian says 'much of the internet is now dead'

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian said that the internet was less human now, and much more "botted" or "quasi-AI."

www.businessinsider.com

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 4d

FSF Announces The LibrePhone Project

The Free Software Foundation today announced the LibrePhone project with a goal of creating a fully free software OS for mobile devices and to reverse-engineer obstacles where necessary.

www.phoronix.com

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 4d

Excellent.

US news outlets refuse to sign new Pentagon rules to report only official information

Defense department policy requires outlets to vow not to obtain unauthorized files and restricts access to some areas

www.theguardian.com

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 4d

Japanese Government Calls on Sora 2 Maker OpenAI to Refrain From Copyright Infringement, Says Characters From Manga and Anime Are 'Irreplaceable Treasures' That Japan Boasts to the World - IGN

The Japanese government has made a formal request asking OpenAI to refrain from copyright infringement. This comes as a response to Sora 2’s ability to generate videos featuring the likenesses of copy...

www.ign.com

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 5d

Why record harvests make famines far rarer — and what still holds us back

The world is growing more grain than ever, and famines today are more likely political than natural. How we got here—and what’s next.

www.vox.com

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 6d

Earth’s Climate Has Passed Its First Irreversible Tipping Point and Entered a ‘New Reality’

The second Global Tipping Points Report warns that the world has crossed a key threshold as ocean heat devastates warm-water reefs.

www.404media.co

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 6d

80% of employees say their workplace is toxic

According to a survey of 1,100 employees from Monster, 80% of workers say their job environment is toxic, a sharp increase from last year.

www.fastcompany.com

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 7d

I'm not generally a fan of Newsom, but some of the things he's done lately have been pretty cool.

Governor Newsom signs data privacy bills to protect tech users | Governor of California

www.gov.ca.gov

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 8d

I never fail to get chills when I listen to `Deliverance` by `Opeth`. I'll go out on a limb and say that `Deliverance` has the *best* outro in all of metal.

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 8d

Coal making a comeback as US datacenters demand power

: High gas prices and surging AI demand send operators back to the dirtiest fuel in the stack

www.theregister.com

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 9d

It's often said that LLMs "hallucinate", but LLMs aren't capable of hallucination because LLMs aren't capable of perception; an LLM can't perceive something that doesn't exist or isn't true because it can't perceive at all.

Executives and venture capitalists can, and often do, hallucinate.

Meta Tells Its Metaverse Workers to Use AI to ‘Go 5X Faster’

Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse chief is urging employees to adopt AI across every workflow as part of a broader shift inside the company.

www.wired.com

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 10d

Bank of England warns of growing risk that AI bubble could burst

Possibility of ‘sharp market correction has increased’, says Bank’s financial policy committee

www.theguardian.com

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Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 10d

Insurers balk at paying out huge settlements for claims against AI firms

OpenAI, Anthropic consider using investor funds to settle potential lawsuits.

arstechnica.com

Devin Anderson @surfacepatterns.bsky.social · 14d

I think the main insight I got from the article is that frailty can be mitigated and reversed to some extent. It motivates me to live somewhere less polluted.