Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ruth

tama @tama00001234.bsky.social · 4h

Reposted by Ruth

Tallulah Cunningham @yesthattallulah.bsky.social · 9h

Running a little late but here I am back with #FatBatWeek extended.
This little lad is one of my favourite species – the NZ short-tailed bat, pollinator of the flower of Hades with frybread and a offbrand L&P.
@nzbatman.bsky.social @forestandbird.bsky.social @batcon.org

A little brown bat with pointy ears and a cheerful smile is perched on top of golden brown cubes of frybread. The plate the food is stacked on is based on Crown Lynn ware, a kiwi pottery. Behind the place is a parody of L &P, a local lemonade, but with the label change to read FBW in large yellow letters beneath which is fact that week and "batty good stuff 2025 quote on a red banner.

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 18h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 18h

Extremely rude of your twin, honestly.

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Dr David Joffe MB BS(Hons), PhD, FRACP @davidjoffe64.bsky.social · 19h

Influenza versus Cövid.

826 COVID vs 89 flu deaths, and within 90 days, 1,391 COVID vs 149 flu deaths, showing worse outcomes for COVID-19

Rough maths? About 10 times more fatal

journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...

Comparative risk of post-acute sequelae among adults following SARS-CoV-2 or influenza virus infection: A retrospective cohort study among United States adults

Author summary Why was this study done? It is known that people may suffer medical complications long after COVID-19, which are called post-acute sequelae (PAS). Similar sequelae are also known to h...

journals.plos.org

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Sue @cameratrapsue.bsky.social · 21h

Raven flight trails this afternoon.

It's been overcast all day but warm (70F).

#birds

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 22h

This is true and they are super endangered by poachers who shovel them up by the hundreds and sell them at flea markets and shit. You should not buy the plants and if you happen to kick the poacher in the shins on accident, no one will hear about it from me.

mossworm.bsky.social @mossworm.bsky.social · 1d

still amazing to me the number of movies, games, etc. which have Venus Flytrap-based creatures in some form compared to the actual native range of Venus Flytrap, which is like, the great untamed jungles of a few wet pine savannas in North Carolina

map illustrating the native range of Venus Flytrap plants, just a little half circle around coastal North and South Carolina in USA

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Shepherd @neolithicsheep.bsky.social · 1d

Turning a battleship is such a great metaphor but one I feel people don't really understand viscerally so let's do a little mental exercise. We've all seen a semi turning right, yes? We can remember that?

Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social · 1d

There was never going to be a moment when everyone—everyone in government, everyone in media, everyone in the population—was roused to action at the same time. We're turning a battleship. And Pritzker understands that.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 1d

By contrast, JB Pritzker told me that people should flood the No Kings protests precisely in order to let the American people know that something is deeply amiss.

More Dems should be doing this, to send the message widely that we are in real trouble right now.

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 1d

It’s chilly this morning, might be time to set up the kotatsu this weekend…

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 2d

One of my goals with this game was to promote girls and women in STEM. If the majority of the key characters in the game being women bothers some players, it means it's even more important for this game to exist.

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 2d

Classic Steam forums

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Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 1d

These days I’m trying not to lose sight of the many actual heroes on the ground

Yale Climate Connections @climateconnections.bsky.social · 1d

After a hurricane, many people worry about losing power. For trans Floridians, it can mean losing access to lifesaving medication and navigating hostility at disaster shelters. But one woman’s hurricane response team is stepping in:

When a hurricane hits, she shows up for those left behind » Yale Climate Connections

Trans advocate Jasmine McKenzie is building a lifeline for Black and trans Floridians who often can’t safely access disaster services from FEMA or religious organizations.

yaleclimateconnections.org

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 1d

Famously easy things to hide, are war zones.

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 1d

The game is Little Robot Lab, in case this makes anyone else want to buy it.

I’ve been playing video games & around gamers for my whole adult life and it still makes me feel warm and fuzzy every time I see the people who *make* the games pushing back against sexism.

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 1d

We banned a guy on the Steam forums for repeatedly saying there were “too many women” in our game

So he flipped his positive review to negative

Still totally worth it

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 1d

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 1d

I almost always pick too many apples and end up guiltily throwing a bunch away when I don’t get to them in time, but this year. This year I made four batches of apple sauce and set aside just enough for a pie and I haven’t thrown away a single rotted apple!

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Simon Rosenberg @simonwdc.bsky.social · 2d

We are witnessing the most lawless behavior by a leader in American history, just daily, extraordinary abuses of power. National Democrats must speak out in a loud and clear voice against Trump's escalating authoritarianism. It is time now.

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 2d

The Guardian reports that Letitia James has been indicted

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 1d

That is a lot of money.

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 1d

Just a tiny spicy cinnamon roll!

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Gorey Cask of Amontilladoing @coreybrickley.bsky.social · 2d

ye see this shits not inevitable never give up in advance

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 3d

Microsoft has withdrawn its proposal for a data center in a Milwaukee suburbs after community pushback.

After opposition from area residents and elected officials the 244 acre Caledonia project will not proceed.

Microsoft drops Caledonia data center after facing opposition. Company looking for new site

Outcry from residents and elected officials caused Microsoft to drop the Caledonia plan. But the company is seeking an alternative site.

www.jsonline.com

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 2d

I was thinking about genAI yesterday and had almost the same thought as Mr Simon. Namely, I’d rather eat a shotgun than use AI to tell my stories. Figuring things out is the core of the creative process. It’s fun! It’s maddening! The satisfaction when it all clicks into place is like nothing else!

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 2d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Matt Baldwin @thisbrokenwheel.bsky.social · 2d

Reading this anecdote and begging, BEGGING people who are not in creative fields to wrap their brains around the fact that figuring one's way through those stuck transitions *IS THE FUN PART*.

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 2d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 2d

This weevil looks like it’s wearing sick sneakers.

Nash Turley @nashturley.bsky.social · 2d

Big fan of this weevil's color scheme, pointy snoot, and huge feet!

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

black and yellow weevil on a green leaf with long thin rostrum and very large foot pads

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Natalia Jagielska @nataliajagielska.bsky.social · 2d

I absolutely love the fact they've Pokemon-ised the museum staff, for the upcoming Pokémon partnership with the Field Museum. Museums, take note.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah everything SUCKS but humans are still silly wonderful beautiful creatures who collaborate with slugs to make videos like this. So. All is not lost.

Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 2d

oh hell yeah youtu.be/nGZOFyLrCwk?...

Slug Eating Spaghetti Time Lapse (With Stopwatch Timer)

YouTube video by Nature's Fantastic

youtu.be

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Ruth @teapotrabbit.bsky.social · 2d

I am so glad she’s a fighter and made it through 💜

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