Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 9h

Too many actors gaming the algorithms. Google etc should privilege sites that are *not* SEO manicured.

Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 9h

That’s where the social class or caste system of knowledge kicks in. Those of us with academic access can check out latest expert research. Most of the rest can’t.

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 19h

I think this captures the AI problem well. The poacher takes the pick of the pot, but is not invested in the ecology of the river and does nothing to help sustain its banks and purity of flow. When I use AI for anything I serious, I always request and go to primary sources - same as with Wikipedia.

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Reposted by Alastair McIntosh

paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 3d

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 3d

Greatest song ever

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Reposted by Alastair McIntosh

Eddy Graham ("eddy weather") @eddywx.bsky.social · 4d

#StormAmy boomerang loop of #Meteosat12 #MTG water vapour 6.2micron channel imagery over 36h (3-4 Oct 2025) shows extent & expansion of deep dry air intrusion, before being spun majestically around the record-breaking deep cyclone centre #VorticityInAction

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 4d

I was wondering why they’d strung their nets on high to remove the fish, until I remembered they have a huge tidal range!

Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 4d

That puts it … exceptionally well.

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Reposted by Alastair McIntosh

siobhanwalsh.bsky.social @siobhanwalsh.bsky.social · 4d

I would go if I could, this last minute availability on Iona may suit someone

Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 4d

There is "limited availabity" for the Festival of Writing and Storytelling with the @ionacommunity at Iona Abbey for the week 11 - 17 Oct (due to a late group cancellation). £846 full board, and £423 concessions. I'll be present, alongside 4 women authors: iona.org.uk/event/festiv...

Festival of writing and storytelling (LIMITED AVAILABILITY)

Join our festival of writing and storytelling. Develop your literary skills and enjoy fireside readings and storytelling.

iona.org.uk

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 4d

Two contrary facts. If environmental, “a bad thing”. If ontological, conversely so.

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 4d

Is that an environmental statement or an ontological one😉

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 4d

There is "limited availabity" for the Festival of Writing and Storytelling with the @ionacommunity at Iona Abbey for the week 11 - 17 Oct (due to a late group cancellation). £846 full board, and £423 concessions. I'll be present, alongside 4 women authors: iona.org.uk/event/festiv...

Festival of writing and storytelling (LIMITED AVAILABILITY)

Join our festival of writing and storytelling. Develop your literary skills and enjoy fireside readings and storytelling.

iona.org.uk

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 5d

Not a calm to to push the boat out into Broad Bay … unless you want to join the Brevig roll call 😢

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 5d

Earlier this evening I baited a friend in Skye with this.

earth.nullschool.net#current/wind...

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 5d

No, but I have a lot of respect for Paul Hawken dating back to his 1980s Smith & Hawken garden tool days, when alongside the Whole Earth Catalog he gave us eyes to see more deeply what makes for a good DIY tool. In a nutshell, what’s his take on carbon?

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 5d

But I do find it handy for identifying primary sources, which I ask it to supply. It can search far faster than I can, albeit with dodgy reliability.

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 5d

Apparently, according to AI, I am a leading expert in Biblical Greek theology. This seems to be because I sometimes pick the brains of my good friend @kennethmacleod.bsky.social who is a student in the matter.

But I’ll proclaim and protect my newfound status jealously!

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 5d

2/2 Why is it unsurprising that, depending on forest types & context, the carbon lost from soil disturbance during planting can outstrip gains from tree growth for many years? See pp. 51-53 of my Community Land Scotland paper on carbon offset trading.
www.communitylandscotland.org.uk/wp-content/u...

www.communitylandscotland.org.uk

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 5d

1/2 Unsurprising: “In a new study, led by the James Hutton Institute (JHI) scientists found after 25 years, the carbon stored in trees … did not outweigh the carbon lost from the disturbed soil in the growing process, leading to no net carbon capture.”
app.scotsman.com/story/534298...

English firm buys large BrewDog estate home to ‘lost forest’

The firm, with eyes on rewilding, has acquired multiple estates in Scotland in recent years.

app.scotsman.com

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 6d

Utmost respect. bsky.app/profile/anti...

Resist 🕎🍉 @antizionistjew.bsky.social · 6d

🇺🇸🇵🇸 #BREAKING | Hundreds of rabbis and Jewish community members gather in Brooklyn for a mass public memorial service on Yom Kippur, demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and for the U.S. to stop arming Israel.

Rabbis and the Jewish community stand in a line

Rabbis and the Jewish community seen standing in lines

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 6d

My solidarity with Jewish friends both known & unknown on this terrifying day for their community. The atrocity in Manchester can only reactivate fears that have inhuman historical roots. Let us end all spirals of violence: “neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4) ✡️🙏🏼

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 6d

Indeed, Katharine. And we’d be “amazingly complex” too if we’d spent 85 years in the cask 😉

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Reposted by Alastair McIntosh

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 8d

Many of the men and women in the first generations of the Religious Society of Friends spent time imprisoned for challenging the intertwined religious and political power structures of England.

When you take on the world’s ruling powers, persecution comes with the job.

quaker.org/2025/09/29/s...

A portrait of John Perrot, a 17th-century Friend who was held in an insane asylum by the Vatican for several years after he tried to convince the pope to abandon Catholicism. (Since he spoke no Italian, and the pope spoke no English, the meeting went poorly.)

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 8d

I lived there 1996-2004. My son Adam now has Craigencalt Farm.

Great to see you involved with homeless and food bank work.

Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 8d

You’re doing such good work Michael, and down all these years. It’s not just scientific (though at the top of that tree), it’s a spiritual engagement too.

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