Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

tom slists

@tomslists.bsky.social

270 followers 560 following 2.3K posts

of acquiescent temper, miscellaneous opinions, and uncertain vote.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · Jul 24

‘A world of disorderly notions, picked out of his books, crowded into his imagination.’

1 8

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 39m

If they made pear cider we could drink Greyson’s Perry

A green bottle of gin labelled ’Greysons’

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 2h

'Did Socrates have no tiny voice in his head with whom he could talk and generally think things through? This is ironic as he claimed to have just such a voice which warned him against courses of action that would be detrimental to him.'

(I think intuitions are separate from internal dialogue)

text says 'For Socrates, thinking was an activity most fruitfully done with others. For those of a more solitary persuasion, who find thinking a hard and painful undertaking, and consequently prefer to do their thinking alone, this is an alien mindset. I don't know for sure why Socrates was this way, but I have a suspicion. Sometimes it seems to me that Socrates' behaviour bears the hallmarks of someone with little to no internal soliloquy: no tiny voice in his head with whom he could talk and generally think things through.

This is ironic, as he claimed to have just such a voice - his daemon - which warned him against courses of action that would be detrimental to him. It is unclear what this daemon was doing in 399 BC, when the Athenians finally got around to condemning him to death. Doubly ironic would be the fact that the man who introduced the idea of the examined life may not have been particularly good at examining his own life.'

from Mark Rowlands (2025) The Happiness of Dogs : Why the Unexamined Life is Most Worth Living

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 4h

one ringo to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them

James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 4h

Here is why the National Parking Platform is cool:

takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/national-p...

The National Parking Platform is a big, exciting deal and you should know about it

How the government nearly squandered an enormous opportunity

takes.jamesomalley.co.uk

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 4h

a charming short film about a golden age - in so far as your view of it is carefully edited

Perhaps this is the appeal of nostalgia - not having to see the unpleasant parts of life. But now and then, it's good to focus on the pleasant moments

British Transport Films Stills @btfstills.bsky.social · 5h

CYCLISTS SPECIAL (1956) | https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-cyclists-special-1956-online

An image captured from CYCLISTS SPECIAL (1956)

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 5h

I would say it's a work by Keith Haring, but is it signed?

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 5h

I suppose in a church it's more likely to refer to "They offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it." (Matthew 27:34 NIV)

1 1

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 5h

or they just have a lot of gall

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 5h

could it be something to do with the source of the ink used by scribes

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 6h

This was fun! Not as easy as I expected

There was one area which I could see was somehow ‘wrong’ but had to turn the image around to see it as something

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 8h

An observation test for you - for your inner 8 year-old

“The artist has hidden 12 things in this picture. How many can you find?”

Treasure magazine, 1964
Official answers coming soon

(Even if you don’t reply, could you please ‘like’ or share this one? 🙏)

Black-and-white picture of two children playing in woodland. Also in the picture, there are 12 hidden animals including an owl, a bat and a squirrel.

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 6h

It’s an easy pivot from the philosophy of ‘the next big thing’ to the philosophy of ‘the madness of crowds’
It’s all a teaching opportunity

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 17h

Swap Shop was boring – and yet I watched it. Why?

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 17h

love that gate - it feels like a metaphor, but I'm not sure what of

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 18h

Oh, I think seven sisters could get around that

Reposted by tom slists

The Art Newspaper @theartnewspaper.bsky.social · 20h

Archaeologists in Turkey have uncovered an 11,000-year-old carved face at Karahan Tepe, offering new insight into early human expression and symbolism.

buff.ly/JbuYz8k

2 5

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 20h

That cat should be wearing a hat

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 21h

Never change

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 22h

Well I never knew that ’Camilla’ was a Romanian camel !

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 22h

Sad to hear. I hope they line the coffin with white satin

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 22h

Thank you! As a non-linguist I just found it an odd number novelty .
I had guessed that ’thing-is’ was being taken to be a new word meaning ‘the point at issue’ and therefore required ‘is’ in addition

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 22h

Is there a name for the tendency for a common pair of words to become treated as one? I notice ‘the thing is’ becoming ‘the thing-is is’
Maybe something similar happening with would-‘ve ?

2 1

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 1d

when setting up a new country on the model of the Roman Republic, I wonder if the founders ever considered how that went for the Romans?

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 1d

I never get tired of this view on my morning walk. I love a tunnel of trees, the intricate streams of branches, the buff-coloured dusty path, and the promise of sunlight at the end

a tunnel of green trees partly hidden behind the intricate streams of dark branches, a buff-coloured dusty path between them, and bright green trees in the sunlight at the end

2 10

tom slists @tomslists.bsky.social · 1d

Can confirm this breach - today is a learning day

Reposted by tom slists

Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcc.bsky.social · 1d

Higgledy piggledy
Timothée Chalamet
Has a name meriting
Endless design

Much like his forerunner
Benedict Cumberbatch:
Hexasyllabically,
Easy to rhyme

tweet from childish branzino @absflora:
timothée chalamet is the new benedict cumberbatch in the sense that you can say ANYTHING and we know who you mean. tiffany chevrolet. timpanogos charlemagne. symphony cabernet. jiminy castaway.

52 620 2K

Reposted by tom slists

Jon M. Sweeney @jonmsweeney.bsky.social · 1d

Sometimes it just feels like a poem was written exactly for you. I've read this one a hundred times, have even heard WB read it, but when I began to read it this morning the first line brought tears to my eyes.

10 24 140