Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Sarah-Maria Schober @smschober.bsky.social · 1d

Want to work on the history of hair? I am looking for a doc and postdoc to join my project team researching #earlymodern hair, race, trade and multispecies history at the University of Lucerne.

Do apply and spread the word!

www.unilu.ch/en/universit...

www.unilu.ch/en/universit...

PhD position in History (100%, 4 years) - Vacancies - University of Lucerne

Assistant or doctoral positions, employment or internship: Looking for a job at the University of Lucerne? Find our listed open positions and apprenticeships here.

www.unilu.ch

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Vagina Museum @vaginamuseum.bsky.social · 6d

A beautifully-illustrated circa 1920s ad drawn by the gifted and iconic Gerda Wegener. But before you get this framed or tattooed on yourself, we regret to inform you it's advertising a soap for vaginal douching.

Illustration of two cherubs with tumbled, curly hair. They are standing over a large bowl at waist height. The angel on the left scatters in flakes from an art deco tin labelled Gyraldose. The angel on the right tips water from a Grecian-style jug into the bowl.

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Pat Bagley @bagleycartoons.bsky.social · 6d

Those Democrats are sooo unreasonable

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Jessica Cale @dirtysexyhistory.bsky.social · 6d

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/h...

F.D.A. Approves a New Generic Abortion Pill

www.nytimes.com

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Eric Bottorff @torff.bsky.social · 7d

If we had a halfway responsible government, all this kind of tech would be taken down until we could ensure a responsible way to regulate it. Instead we’re just letting them drop these incendiary devices on our society and hoping we can put out the fires before anything burns.

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 8d

OpenAI employees are very excited about how well their new AI tool can create fake videos of people doing crimes and have definitely thought through all the implications of this

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 8d

Right wingers in 2017: Dumb libs think words are violence
Right wingers in 2025: Words are violence and we're going to throw you in jail for saying the wrong ones, which is terrorism bsky.app/profile/atru...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Stephen Miller: "They say they are trying to kill the fascists & stop the fascists. It's deliberate. President Trump is saying that we as a nation are not going to tolerate it anymore & the joint terrorism task force at the FBI is going to find these terrorists & we're going to put them behind bars"

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Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 8d

I can’t believe I’m watching interviews of city mayors talking about how they are coordinating with other mayors to discuss how to protect their residents FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

I know we are “used to it” but it is absolutely insane

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 8d

Here’s my favourite miniature portrait Chapps …. an unidentified man with a Latin motto above his head ‘Alget qui non ardet / he grows cold who does not burn’.

It was painted c. 1610 by Isaac Oliver, a pupil of Hilliard. Part of the collections at Ham House.

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Brandy Schillace @bschillace.brandyschillace.com · 8d

Since I’m awake… hi there, #UK friends! I’m coming to you on book tour for THE INTERMEDIARIES, a timely history of science, #transrights and the LGBTQ+ fight against Nazis. This thread has the events, and here is the full list on my site:

brandyschillace.com

Home | Brandy Schillace

MY Book TOUR DATES Historian. Novelist. Adventurer at the Intersections. BOOKS BYLINES NEWSLETTER PECULIAR BOOK CLUB PRESS KIT CONTACT ME MY Book TOUR DATES ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. BRANDY SCHILLACE (skil...

brandyschillace.com

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Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 8d

If you were in the room during Hegseth and Trump's speech, and you'd like to share your response anonymously, reach out to me on Signal (in bio.) Share widely.

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 8d

The president just gathered the highest ranking officers in the military to tell them that he may order them to kill American citizens -- and that they better follow his orders. All in response to a series of crises that have no basis in reality.

I don't know how to yell any louder.

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Chris Kluwe @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · 8d

The revolution won’t be televised but the treason sure is

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 8d

To explain:

At the start of his opinion, Judge Young includes an anonymous note received by his chambers, which reads “Trump has pardons and tanks..what do you have?”

Responding to the note, Young says we have our “magnificent Constitution” and “here’s how that works out in a specific case —“

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 8d

Omg. I’ve never seen anything like this in a judicial opinion:

Case 1:25-cv-10685-WGY Document 261
Filed 09/30/25
Page 1 of 161
Post card dated June 19, 2025
(On file in Chambers)
1 9/S UNE 2025
TRUMP HAS PARDONS
AND TANKS..
WHAT DO
You
HAVE?
Dear Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, Alone, I have nothing but my
sense of duty.
Together, We the People of the
United States -- you and me --have our magnificent Constitution.
Here's how that works out in a
specific case --
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS -- HARVARD FACULTY CHAPTER, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS AT NEW
YORK UNIVERSITY, RUTGERS AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS-AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, and
MIDDLE EAST STUDIES ASSOCIATION,
Plaintiffs,
)
CIVIL ACTION NO.
25-10685-WGY
v.
MARCO RUBIO, in his official capacity as Secretary of State, and the DEPARTMENT OF STATE, KRISTI NOEM, in her official
[1]

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Jessica Cale @dirtysexyhistory.bsky.social · 8d

That’s what he said.

I feel like people are too focused on the fat shaming thing and not focused enough on the fact he said war crimes are fine now

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 8d

I’m still processing what happened this morning.

Is it now the administration’s position that the U.S. military does not observe or adhere to the laws of war?

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Leanna Renee Hieber @leannareneehieber.bsky.social · 10d

TUESDAY! RELEASE DAY! *swoon*

GOTHS! GHOSTS!

A non-fiction examination of how Gothic tropes inform modern ghost lore.

We include histories of many women we weren't able to fit in our Stoker-nominated HAUNTED HISTORY OF INVISIBLE WOMEN.

A big book of our hearts, your support means everything! 🖤

Leanna Renee Hieber @leannareneehieber.bsky.social · Aug 5

Available for pre-order wherever books are sold!
Kensington/Penguin: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/781356...
Thank you for pre-orders & signal-boosts, it's a difficult time to promote right now but your support is *dearly* appreciated!

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Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 12d

I live near this hotel and the people who live there are... Completely unremarkable. They are just in a terrible circumstance. They are my neighbours as much as anyone else and the government has mafe it ok to target them violently. It sickens me.

MAREcus 👻/ 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 12d

This is what happens when your government joins in the rhetoric that presents people seeking asylum as a threat and says racist intimidators have legitimate concerns instead of roundly condemning it. Escalation

Man arrested after fire at London asylum seekers’ hotel www.bbc.com/news/article...

Man arrested after fire at London asylum seekers' hotel

The blaze is being treated as a hate crime by officers investigating.

www.bbc.com

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SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change @siecus.bsky.social · 12d

Quality sex ed means knowing your options.

#WorldContraceptionDay Fact: DYK you can get birth control pills without an Rx in the US? Opill is the first OTC birth control pill in the US–the time is NOW to tell your friends about this new option! 🥳 bit.ly/AllAboutOpillZine

#FreeThePill

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Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 12d

A disaster that Starmer insists on ignoring the mountain of empirical evidence from across "Western" democracies that adopting rightwing positions and frameworks only ever helps the Right win legitimacy and votes.

An utter disaster that so many Democrats in the U.S. insist on doing Starmerism.

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 13d

The success of the far right is not only measured in votes and seats but in its impact on rhetoric, policy and ideology. The fact that a (nominally) social democratic head of government with a huge majority choses to say and do this is maybe the biggest success of the far right in Europe yet.

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Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 15d

Things have really changed. Now I need your help.

I wrote about why I left academia, why I left America, why I left Substack - and why I need your support as I am starting over as a full-time independent writer:

Some major personal news:

steady.page/en/democracy...

Onward. Forward. Steady.

Things have really changed. Now I need your help.

steady.page

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Jana Byars @janalena.bsky.social · 14d

The ludicrous idea that Tylenol causes autism reminds me a lot of the pre-modern idea monstrous births were the result of women having bad thoughts. Sketchy science aside it is just another way to control (and vilify!) women. I'm so tired.
#skystorians #earlymodernist #feminism #monsters #Tylenol

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Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 14d

I've written about this a half-dozen times since 2015, because it continues to be relevant that the alt-right originally weaponized irony and memes in order to 1) spread extremism without consequence and 2) cultivate all these semi-ironic violent extremist edgelords foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/15/c...

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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 16d

The most insane “anti-porn” bill I’ve seen yet

The “Anticorruption of Public Morals Act” would criminalize visual, audio, or written depictions of “sex acts,” with language broad enough to ban distribution of When Harry Met Sally & romance novels .. and that's not even the worst of it 🧵

Michigan anti-porn would criminalize ASMR, written erotica, and even nonsexual depictions of trans people

Under the law, transgender people writing about their gender identity online could face 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

reason.com

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 16d

AN #EARLYMODERN POST!! They still exist! And a lovely one at that, for five years and with the brilliant people at KCL who have turned that place in quite the hub of exciting early modern research.

Run, don’t walk.

Lecturer in the History of Early Modern Europe and the World at King's College London

Discover an exciting academic career path as a Lecturer in the History of Early Modern Europe and the World at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

www.jobs.ac.uk

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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 16d

imagine if a family of beavers randomly showed up right now and finished whatever thing you've been putting off

In early 2025, beaver activity in the Brdy Protected Landscape Area, Czech Republic, contributed to the restoration of a wetland ecosystem. A family of beavers constructed a series of dams that coincidentally accomplished environmental goals of the Czech government, which had delayed its proposed project since 2018 for bureaucratic and financial reasons. The beaver-built dams saved the Czech government approximately US$1.2 million,

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Coates is Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 16d

Well, if it’s 23 September... YES, THAT’S RIGHT! It’s the 71st anniversary of the hunt for the Gorbals Vampire, in which hundreds of children aged from four to 14, armed with dogs, knives and sharpened sticks went looking for an urban myth

Daily Mirror front page shows grainy image of horde of children in a cemetery, and the headline “Amazing scene as hundreds of children rush cemetery”

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