Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

The Denver Botanic Gardens' ecoquest for December is "Chasing Cattails."

Here are my observations so far.

#denver #inaturalist #nativeplants

A cattail partially fluffed away as the sun sets below the horizon.

A light brown cattail is mostly fluffed away, with pinks and blues from the sunset shimmering off Belmar Lake.

A group of cattails growing with a soft pink and blue sky in the background.

The silhouette of cattails stretch across a pink, orange and gray sunset.

December 14, 2025 at 4:11 AM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

I entered my zipcode and chose my water provider, Denver Water Board.

https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=CO0116001

There are ten contaminants that exceed the Environmental Working Group (EWG) standards.

yikes.

- Bromodichloromethane
- Chloroform
- […]

[Original post on social.coop]

A screenshot of the results for Denver Water that shows there are ten contaminants that exceed the EWG's standards.

December 9, 2025 at 5:58 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

Mimi founded Fortaleza Familiar and their logo is a hummingbird. Huītzilōpōchtli is the Aztec warrior god of the sun and sacrifice.

Next spring, Mimi, my sister and I were sitting in my backyard recounting this moment. Again I wondered out loud, "I haven't seen […]

[Original post on social.coop]

Mimi grinning, with illustrations of roses and hummingbirds surrounding them.

Below reads,

"Rest in power our fierce beloved. 8/18/1988 - 11/6/2025 - infinity symbol"

November 21, 2025 at 3:35 AM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

[Transgender Day of Remembrance, remembering mi hermane 💔❤️🦁]

I remember losing our minds at Nuggets games.

I remember his wisdom on politics - community organizing, gender liberation, intersectionality, power, love.

I remember her love for her four Chihuahuas […]

[Original post on social.coop]

Me, my sister and Mimi looking our best in our Denver Nuggets gear, watching Game 2 of the 2023 NBA Finals.

Me, Mimi, my sister and my kids each holding one of their precious and feisty chihuahuas.

Another photo of us and the Chihuahuas. I love the way Mimi is holding my sister and the way they are both beaming with joy.

November 21, 2025 at 3:18 AM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

[Transgender Day of Remembrance, remembering mi hermane 💔❤️🦁]

Today on Transgender Day of Remembrance I remember mi hermane, Mimi Madrid.

I remember the way Mimi made my sister laugh, blush, light up, smile.

I remember how he loved my children in his strong […]

[Original post on social.coop]

Mimi, a beautiful brown two spirit Xicane sister in law smiling with illustrations of roses and hummingbirds surrounding them.

Below reads, "Rest in Power our fierce beloved. 8/18/1988 - 11/6/2025 - ∞ "

November 21, 2025 at 3:06 AM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

This time of year I like to do the converse of early spring, go on walks with an eye out for the very last flowers hanging around.

Most of Belmar Lake is awash with the fluffy tan of rabbitbrush gone to seed.

But there was *one* rabbitbrush still flowering […]

[Original post on social.coop]

Tan tufts of rabbitbrush with the evening sun shining softly from behind a cloudy sky.

A brown and white checkered skipper drinks nectar from a bright yellow rabbitbrush flower.

White prairie aster still blooming. Some of the flowers have wilted to pretty tans beiges.

November 4, 2025 at 8:37 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

Enjoying that post-Halloween life.

The wrappers of two finished Reese's peanut butter pumpkins are on a dining table next to a carton of Oat Nog (which I have just been drinking directly from).

November 4, 2025 at 2:58 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

[Us pol, reflections on the No Kings protest, genocide in Palestine]

I also appreciated how this rally tied into ongoing organizing.

There were a lot more orgs tabling at the rally than the last big event.

This panel on the genocide and occupation of Palestine was powerful.

October 19, 2025 at 6:28 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

[Us pol, reflections on the No Kings protest]

The rally like past ones has an overwhelming "liberal boomers made at Trump" vibe that I find so limiting.

I want to see this movement evolve to be one that is much more visionary.

Compared to the last rally, this […]

[Original post on social.coop]

A protester in a pink inflatable axolotl costume.

October 19, 2025 at 6:26 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

I showed up for the #nokings protest here in Denver with my son, mom and her friend.

Like the previous events, I walked away with a lot of ambivalence though I'm glad I went.

This was one of my favorite signs.

Some additional thoughts threaded below...

A protester holding a cardboard sign with the words, "Democracy needs your courage." All the letters are in black except a subset in red which makes the sign also read, "Our democracy needs our rage."

October 19, 2025 at 6:21 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

Whew. Glad to see that these broken RSS settings have been removed from Drupal.

They wouldn't have been all that helpful even if they did work.

With it being an open source project that champions the Open Web, creating an RSS feed should be as easy possible […]

[Original post on social.coop]

A snippet of my blog post where I include a screenshot of the RSS publishing settings page and an annotation in red capital letters, "This page is broken, ignore it completely."

October 9, 2025 at 5:49 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

I visited the Botanic Gardens at Chatfield (South of #denver ) especially for the butterfly house where right now they have 8 or so native species fluttering around for people to see.

Monarchs, Queens, Painted Ladies, Spicebush Swallowtail, Buckeye, some others […]

[Original post on social.coop]

A Queen butterfly drinks nectar from a yellow flower.

A butterfly with burnt orange wings and black edges sits atop a bright pink flower.

A monarch butterfly drinks nectar from a yellow flower.

A Spicebush Swallowtail sits on a piece of plywood. It has black wings with beautiful grayish creamy patterning on its tail and along the edges of its wings.

August 25, 2025 at 4:16 AM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

Wow. It seems really early for the cottonwoods to be changing colors. Maybe I just never noticed? Or maybe this is another "new normal" from global warming?

Anyone else in #denver know what's typical?

An eastern cottonwood with almost all of its foliage now a bright yellow.

August 18, 2025 at 3:44 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

One of the neat things about heightening my focus towards life around me, even the smallest of insects, is that when I pause to observe one thing, my stillness often invites others to move into frame.

In this case a sutured longhorn beetle caught my attention […]

[Original post on social.coop]

A red and black sutured longhorn beetle noshing on the pollen of a prairie coneflower.

A ligated furrow bee collects pollen next to a longhorn beetle, atop a prairie coneflower.

August 17, 2025 at 2:46 AM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

My local movie theater's metatag description is chef's kiss. 🍻🍕

Search result snippet for the Cinemark Century movie theater with its summary text attracting visitors by stating, "Visit Our Cinemark Theater in Lakewood, CO. Enjoy alcohol and Pizza Hut."

August 10, 2025 at 11:32 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

when I searched about it, Google's AI overview came up with a very plausible sounding explanation of the whole event. And in the absence of a journalist writing an actual article on it, this theoretically could be helpful.

But really I think this is another […]

[Original post on social.coop]

Google's AI overview text for the search query "firefighters chase off ICE" which reads,

"In Bell, California, firefighters intervened during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid, preventing the agency from carrying out an operation and effectively chasing them away from the community. Videos show local fire crews blocking ICE vehicles and urging the agents to leave, with the community cheering them on, according to an Instagram post and another Instagram post. This incident is part of a larger context of ongoing immigration enforcement actions and community responses in the Los Angeles area, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
The incident in Bell involved a confrontation between community members, including firefighters, and ICE agents, according to a video on YouTube. A stretcher was present at the scene, suggesting someone may have been injured, and a child was reportedly hit by a vehicle. The situation escalated to the point where someone was yelling about "unloading a clip," indicating a high level of tension and potential danger.
The incident in Bell is not isolated, and ICE operations in the area have been met with resistance from community members and local authorities. Some of these operations have involved controversial tactics like "roving patrols," which have been linked to racial profiling. In one instance, a bogus 911 call led to the FDNY responding to ICE headquarters, where a van carrying detainees was seen speeding away from the scene."

August 8, 2025 at 3:22 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

My favorite flower spotted today is Liatris punctata also known as the Dotted Gayfeather.

What a fantastic name for this showy, sun loving beauty.

It's used in prairie restoration, including post-fire recovery and land healing from mining, because of its […]

[Original post on social.coop]

Liatris punctata- alight purple spike of many feathery flower heads, with vibrant green narrow and long leaves.

August 3, 2025 at 7:33 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

It's #BandcampFriday and our band Elegant Everyone recently released our first two tracks.

* All the Old Chaos
* We're Not Cute Anymore

eleganteveryone.bandcamp.com

The tracks are pay what you want and whatever you decide you want to pay all goes to our band […]

[Original post on social.coop]

Elegant Everyone's cover art, a color pencil based drawing of a bunch of lilac flowers. Emblazoned across the album art is the message, "It's Bandcamp Friday!"

August 1, 2025 at 7:31 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

Hang in there. 🤎🩷

A brown four-spotted moth hanging from a pink showy milkweed flower from it's long proboscis.

July 31, 2025 at 1:33 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

This is a cool feature I just noticed. Mastodon detected I was typing in a language other than English.

The language button is highlighted in the compose window of Mastodon because I typed in the text, "estoy practicando mi"

July 30, 2025 at 3:35 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

Wix is raising their prices.

- Combo is rolling into the Light Plan; $3/month increase
- Unlimited, Pro and Business Basic are being replaced by Core Plan; $11, $6 and $6 increases respectively
- VIP is rolling into Business plan; no price change plus increase […]

[Original post on social.coop]

Pricing chart showing the price increases as outlined in the text of this post.

July 30, 2025 at 3:33 PM

Clayton Dewey

@clayton.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

I keep hearing this refrain when it comes to AI and work

"Departments' budgets are shrinking, but expectations are rising. By using AI you can increase your efficiency to meet this challenge."

NO. This has always been a losing battle.

Productivity is already […]

[Original post on social.coop]