Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 1h

Interesting use of omafiets on the front cover!

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2h

Only 10?

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2h

I often write all sorts of bits and then spend some time "reconstructing" a plan or structure when I get stuck. In fact I'm procrastinating from this very activity right now...

Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2h

A little heavier and a little faster, yes. Let's say 35-40kg bike plus a legal maximum of 25km/hr.

Still nothing compared to 2500+kg vehicle at speeds of 40, 50, or even 60km/hr in urban areas.

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2h

That 2500 words will, of course, generate far more words in future, and probably at a faster rate. But the unevenness between effort and outcome is always challenging.

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2h

On topics that have percolated through my brain for a long time I have happily churned out 9000 words in barely a week. But for rather newer topcs/ideas/areas of interest it can take weeks to develop enough understanding to write barely 2500 words.

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2h

One of the hardest things about academic writing is the way that the amount of preparation and thinking needed does not strictly correlate to the word count of what you might need to write.

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Reposted by Lawrence Davies

elia ayoub 🌱 @ayoub.bsky.social · 5h

As a lifelong hate-watcher of #BBCQT it's been incredible to see the tone shift in last night's prog with @zackpolanski.bsky.social on. It should have never been that hard to call for common sense - and actually popular - policies. Someone is actually doing it.

Quick 🧵

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 5h

which tax cuts?

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Reposted by Lawrence Davies

Green Elects @greenelects.world · 16h

⭐️ @greenparty.org.uk polling on 15%, @zackpolanski.bsky.social appearing on Question Time, membership figures skyrocketing towards 100,000 and beyond...

It's been a great day for greens and the wider left. The future is bright. Goodnight everyone! 💚

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 5h

Calling them fascist is increasingly looking like a statement of fact though, no?

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Reposted by Lawrence Davies

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 5h

The Nobel Peace Prize committee's decision to honour someone who has tirelessly campaigned against dictatorship is both worthwhile and welcome, and objectively very funny.

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Reposted by Lawrence Davies

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 19h

EXTREMELY COOL BAT STUFF: A study out in Science today found that the greater noctule bat, Europe's largest, hunts and catches *migrating birds* while in flight. In at least one case, a bat climbed to more than 1200 feet, then chased a robin downward FAST until it caught it near the ground.

Greater noctule bats prey on and consume passerines in flight

Despite billions of passerines seasonally migrating during the night at high altitudes, only three bat species have been found to consistently tap into this rich prey resource. However, it remains unk...

www.science.org

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 19h

Do they even have email addresses?

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 19h

Trying to push a pushchair through a 1920s suburban housing estate. Cars all over the pavements, nobody observing the 20mph limits, and those wide junctions that mean cars barely slow down when turning in - and certainly not to let you cross.

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Reposted by Lawrence Davies

The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 23h

We can't keep up...

Yesterday we reached 90,000 members. Today we're at 95,000.

Be part of the Green surge. Join the Green Party today ⤵️

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Reposted by Lawrence Davies

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 1d

Not only are we at record numbers of members and growing every day - this is our highest ever poll rating.

We're just getting started.

This is the politics of the 99% Vs the 1% for a country we can all afford to live in - plenty of room to grow.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 1d

Westminster Voting Intention:

RFM: 32% (-3)
LAB: 17% (-2)
CON: 17% (+3)
GRN: 15% (+4)
LDM: 12% (=)
SNP: 3% (=)

Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 8 Oct.
Changes w/ 1 Oct.

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2d

I mean the other way to go, arguably better, is to pursue the woonerf and Puccini method approaches used in NL, which completely redesign streets to deprioritise cars. But this takes a lot longer and is more expensive. Bollards don't have to be permanent, of course!

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2d

Bollards are arguably pedestrian infrastructure, since they protect ped space. Likewise, if we want less car infrastructure in ped spaces (I agree!) does this mean we should be removing them?

Why wld more bollards be more objectionable than more cars, which is the inevitable result of no bollards?

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2d

A bollard can't obscure your presence from the traffic as you are about to step out into the road, or your own view of what traffic might be coming. Nor can it open its door into you as you cycle past! For example.

Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2d

I mean I think it's simply a question of normalisation. People are so used to seeing cars cluttering up everywhere and yet the required number of bollards needed to clear that clutter somehow looks more strange and less desirable, even though it's objectively more accessible and safer.

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2d

Bollard(s) get installed, cars driving onto pavement stops.

Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2d

This has played out in the same way several times near me. People drive onto the pavement; residents complain and ask for bollards; council says they can't because of accessibility and "clutter", + preferring "enforcement". Residents keep complaining; council decides bollard is best after all.

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2d

to judge, but it occurs to me that there needs to be a careful reckoning of the psychological friction you refer to, and the *actual* friction of there being a 2+ ton metal box in that space, or the threat of a metal box moving into that space at speed while you are there too.

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Lawrence Davies @andrenascotica.bsky.social · 2d

I think the aesthetics is the weakest argument for or against, since it's so subjective, and that so often this is just something normalised. British bollards, in the few places we have them, "look like shit" too but that's not an argument to remove them.

For accessibility, I'm not best placed...

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