Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 33m

Bluntness can be cultural. I'm Canadian & I've had more than one colleague from eastern Europe tell me they find Canadians weirdly indirect. My Polish boss thought it was ridiculous to frame her directions as polite requests. And my Canadian colleagues thought the eastern Europeans were too direct.

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 41m

SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...

Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year

Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File

www.gamefile.news

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 38m

I hate the "AI is inevitable" crowd. Nothing is inevitable except death.

Our history is littered with ideas, technologies, beliefs etc. that were sold as the be-all and end-all, only to be replaced and doomed to fade into vague memories.

britt hayes @britthates.bsky.social · 3h

Jason Blum's take on AI sucks. an AI takeover isn't inevitable, and treating it as such (while also referring to filmmaking as "content creation," smdh) helps AI companies promote the lie that their deeply unprofitable, destructive tech is more powerful and useful than it actually is.

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 41m

My dad predicted the Jays wouldn't have an easy go in their first game in Yankees' stadium this series. But he also predicts they'll bounce back for Game 4. 🍀

Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 2d

Like many sixty-something dads in Ontario, my dad spent this evening glued to the TV, watching his beloved Blue Jays hit homer after homer against the Yankees. For the dads' sakes, I hope the Jays go 90s retro and go all the way this year.

a baseball player wearing a number 29 jersey is running towards a referee .

Alt: Vince Carter running the bases after his game winning at bat in the World Series.

media.tenor.com

Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 1h

Chat bots are irritating when you're trying yo get an answer about a utility bill. A robot saying "I didn't catch that. Can you repeat it?" while in a life or death crisis is unconscionable.

The Banner Montgomery @bannermoco.bsky.social · 7h

For 911 calls of the future, AI is on the line

AI might answer your 911 calls

By the end of next year, Montgomery County’s call center hopes to use artificial intelligence to answer nonemergency phone calls. The goal is to lighten the workload for a chronically understaffed center.

buff.ly

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 2h

Jesus Christ. This dude could put this energy into thinking about ways parenting could be made to suck less. Like free childcare, universal healthcare, free school lunch programs, expanded funding for education, remote work, better sick leave etc. But no "let's tax those barren hags for pensions".

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 2h

Ugh. Typos. *if they're willing to sacrifice people for political expediency

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 2h

All of us or none of us. I dont want people making decisions for the country of they're willing to sacrifice people for political expediency.

If these losers can't get there for selfless reasons, you'd think selfishly they'd grasp who's to say they won't be next to be on the altar of expediency?

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 2h

Congratulations! What a beautiful family!

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 2h

I got my first publishing offer via a social media pitch.

And, more importantly, it expanded my worldview.

Like many tools, its benefit or harm is in its use. You can use an axe to cut wood to heat your home with or to kill someone.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 15h

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Oakland Review of Books @oaklandreviewofbooks.org · 3h

Tommy Orange got a MacArthur! HELL YEAH!
www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...

Tommy Orange

Illuminating the richness and complexity of contemporary, urban Native Peoples’ lives.

www.macfound.org

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 3h

Despite getting whatever anti-trans narrative they wanted out of the Charlie Kirk shooting, the American right is now blaming the Jews instead, because content must be created. It is almost like the "first they came for" thing is not hypothetical!

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 3h

It's the golden rule of grievance politics: you will never be happy. You are a permanent captive to the infinity goalpost.

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Niko Stratis @nikostratis.com · 20h

look if Dolly Parton needs you to pray for her then you find a scrap of floor and get to fucking work

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Cannonball Adderall @leupp.bsky.social · 19h

Has anyone made a gif of him thrusting his hips at the ICE goons yet?

The Portland Protest Frog standing up to a group of weak fascist jackboots

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 2d

Whenever anarchism — or any idea more radical than the status quo — gets dismissed as unserious, it's worth remembering the current system runs on things like "we put all the money on a scam machine that tells rich dipshits they're god."

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 2d

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Anne Trubek @atrubek.bsky.social · 1d

Had a book published before mid-2021? Take 5 minutes to see if it's listed here and if so another 5 to enter info. And look up your grandma's book, the book of your friend, etc. and let them know

PSA: Get Your AI Money, Authors

The Anthropic settlement has been preliminarily approved, which means people can join in to be a member in this class action suit.

notesfromasmallpress.substack.com

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Gorey Cask of Amontilladoing @coreybrickley.bsky.social · 1d

this should be our generations (im 17) OBEY sticker

Radical Graffiti @radicalgraffiti.bsky.social · 1d

Cracker Barrel Vance sticker spotted in Denver, Colorado

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Litbowl @litbowl.bsky.social · 1d

What a lovely message from @bookshop.org. Glad to see them growing and growing. We CAN claim back what has been taken from us by these monstrous corporations, and it starts with things like this. Grab some books these next couple days!

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Eyes on the Fright 🎃 @eyesontheright.bsky.social · 1d

Look at what they have to face

Person dressed in a silly looking frog costume at a protest.

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 2d

After driving to and from Toronto today, I sort of see why Doug Ford is like "traffic bad" but I have no idea how you look at the numerous lanes and overpasses that already exist and think "more lanes will fix this".

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv) @theserfstv.bsky.social · 2d

Indigenous Nations Plan Tariff-Free Trade Corridor Across US-Canada border

“We’re not begging for crumbs anymore. We’re demanding what’s rightly ours.”

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Indigenous Nations Plan Tariff-Free Trade Corridor Across US-Canada border

“We’re not begging for crumbs anymore. We’re demanding what’s rightly ours."

www.motherjones.com

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 2d

Fiona Apple's 'Extraordinary Machine' turned 25 yesterday, so here's a few reminders, for you and for me
www.youtube.com/watch?v=adaX...

Waltz (Better Than Fine)

YouTube video by Fiona Apple - Topic

www.youtube.com

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Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 2d

Like many sixty-something dads in Ontario, my dad spent this evening glued to the TV, watching his beloved Blue Jays hit homer after homer against the Yankees. For the dads' sakes, I hope the Jays go 90s retro and go all the way this year.

a baseball player wearing a number 29 jersey is running towards a referee .

Alt: Vince Carter running the bases after his game winning at bat in the World Series.

media.tenor.com

1

Reposted by Bess Hamilton

G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 5d

In all seriousness, publishers are going to have to figure out how to market books in the post-social-media landscape. That should be an implicit part of their job. What authors/artists can do on their own is increasingly limited and siloed.

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Reposted by Bess Hamilton

Jeremy Ghost Shipp @jeremycshipp.bsky.social · 3d

Authoritarians love LLM AI because it's an easy way for them to manufacture reality, to manipulate numbers, to force their agenda on others. And users of AI, the botlicking technosloppers of the world, will not only say "these are interesting ideas the AI is telling me" but "these are my ideas."

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