Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kirsty Hall @kirstyhall.bsky.social · 13m

I did buy a clip on mic at one point but I can never remember to keep it charged and I wasn’t convinced it made all that much difference. My concession to lighting is ‘film in daylight and close the curtains if it’s really bright’. If you’re lucky, I remember to grab everything I need beforehand!

Kirsty Hall @kirstyhall.bsky.social · 19m

I’m not on Tiktok because I can’t manage too many platforms but I make wee Instagram videos with almost ZERO production values!

It’s just me, my phone and a cheap tripod - the production values are basically me going, ‘is that sort of straight-ish?’

Really, you can just start.

Baldur Bjarnason @baldurbjarnason.com · 30m

Reading tech dudes enthuse about Sora , “it let’s me feel like a TikTok creator”, just confirms to me that these shitbirds are simultaneously lazy as hell and have no taste.

(There’s literally zero barrier to entry for becoming a TikTok creator.)

1 1

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Amy Hoy @amyhoy.bsky.social · 26m

that's what i don't get about the llm bros

you don't buy bread at the store and say "it makes me feel like a baker."

it can't.

and how do you even know what a baker or tiktok creator feels like? you don't, bc you've never made anything.

the feeling they're feeling is pretend play

Baldur Bjarnason @baldurbjarnason.com · 30m

Reading tech dudes enthuse about Sora , “it let’s me feel like a TikTok creator”, just confirms to me that these shitbirds are simultaneously lazy as hell and have no taste.

(There’s literally zero barrier to entry for becoming a TikTok creator.)

2 14 34

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1h

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

34 1K 2.1K

Kirsty Hall @kirstyhall.bsky.social · 32m

There’s one side of my family where you can really see that they’re trying to drag themselves up. There’s a family story about the mum taking in laundry to get one of her sons into education - apparently the rest of the family were also bright but they could only scrap the money for that one chance.

2

Kirsty Hall @kirstyhall.bsky.social · 1h

Also very sobering on child mortality and the subsequent importance of vaccines and antibiotics.

I’ll find the occasional family where they don’t seem to lose any kids but it’s rare. It wasn’t until I got to my parents generation (born in the 40’s) that neither side lost a sibling.

1

Kirsty Hall @kirstyhall.bsky.social · 1h

Doing my family tree has been eye-opening in that regard. Like I knew we weren’t posh but it’s almost entirely agricultural workers, regardless of gender.

It’s thrilling when anyone is listed as doing absolutely anything else: I got extremely excited over a couple of generations of millers.

4 6

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 3h

When you could code silly quizzes on Facebook, it was FULL of "what would you be in medieval times?!" etc.

I made one that nearly always answered "died as a child", "died in childbirth", "lived and died as a servant"

People got SUPER mad with it.

Everyone assumes they'll be at the top of the tree

William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 3h

The subtext of ‘we should be more like Dubai’, beyond the obvious racism, is ‘I should have a servant’.

25 94 470

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Maj @lif3asmaj.blacksky.app · 2h

The best part of how Portland is handling this is they’re not only protesting, but also angering the goose steppers by not taking them seriously.

Pretty genius. Because even ICE & the national guard don’t want to be displayed as that asshole fighting people in cute costumes.

7 120 390

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 2h

I was making butter beans yesterday and at the final stage decided to throw in the little pat of leftover butter. It was the right choice. I had a similar realization:

Marielle Papin @mariellepm.bsky.social · 15h

I’ve been cooking like a grandma, adding more butter, cream and/or salt to everything and I must say, there’s a reason why grandmas’ cooking is so popular.

12 10 210

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 6h

feels like yet again time to mention that the *videogames* industry (that's a creative industry, which people do creative degrees in) brings in more than twice the amount to the British economy as the fishing and steel industries *combined*

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 7h

I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?

It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?

Tim Worthington @outonbluesix.bsky.social · 7h

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

6 470 1.5K

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Corey Brotherson - ready for my close up--NOOO TOO CLOSE! @coreybrotherson.bsky.social · 5h

Hey kids!

Remember when the pandemic struck and eventually the (Tory) government told everyone to stay at home, and the arts and entertainment industries were one of the few things keeping everyone from pulling our own eyes out of our skulls from abject fear and boredom?

Remember that?

Tim Worthington @outonbluesix.bsky.social · 7h

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

1 34 110

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Ruth Watson @ruthwatson.bsky.social · 4h

Brexit.

The answer is Brexit.

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 4h

"15 years ago, Polish workers came here to find opportunity. Now Poland is growing twice as fast as we are," says Kemi Badenoch.

Any ideas what may have happened in the interim?

1 17

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 7h

I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?

It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?

Tim Worthington @outonbluesix.bsky.social · 7h

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

40 200 930

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Mark Hebden @unionlib.bsky.social · 4h

Helen Whately said on stage at Tory Conference that "millions" of people with anxiety and ADHD are getting benefits and a free mobility car.

Hands up anyone with ADHD or anxiety who got a free car?

No? No one? Didn't think so. #

Lying Tory bigot.

1 3 10

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 9h

the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed

Dr Ramsdell, whose phone had been on airplane mode when the Nobel committee tried to call him, told the BBC's Newshour Programme that his first response when his wife said, "You've won the Nobel prize" was: "I did not."

To which Ms O'Neill replied that she had 200 text messages that suggested he had.

11 380 1.5K

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Adam Sharp @adamcsharp.bsky.social · 4h

As today is World Octopus Day I’ll again mention that a Spanish equivalent to “like a fish out of water” is como un pulpo en un garaje. It means “like an octopus in a garage.”

23 180 660

Kirsty Hall @kirstyhall.bsky.social · 3h

Then die!

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

3

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Mark Brown @markoneinfour.bsky.social · 5h

I keep thinking how much richer the UK would be if everyone had a council flat or council house and everyone who fancied it could go to university.

4 9 27

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

chiller @thechiller.bsky.social · 5h

It's a tiny study (47), we don't know if it works for people with different degrees of #mecfs, or who have recently acquired it, or who have had it for decades.

What we DO know is that even if it works, it will then be used to gaslight anyone who fails it.

What we actually need is to be believed.

Action for ME @actionforme.bsky.social · 6h

1/3

🔬 Research news

Researchers at the University of East Anglia say they have developed the world's first blood test to diagnose ME

However, whilst acknowledging the research as an "interesting development", other researchers have offered cautionary responses to the results

#pwME #MEResearch

⬇️

3 4 8

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

John Reppion @johnreppion.bsky.social · 5h

A woman on the opposite platform to me at the train station keeps saying very exciting sounding things loudly to her friend, then dropping her voice so I can't hear the pay off of any of them. "About 20 cats have gone missing. 20! People say it's foxes, but I know that it's *whisper*".

2 1 26

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 5h

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 1579: If you’re going to write in any genre (children’s fiction, SFF, romance, etc), you need to read EXTENSIVELY in that genre. You need to read current authors in the genre. You need to know what’s been done; what tropes exist; how the genre has changed.

5 38 210

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 9h

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

43 480 1.2K

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 6h

highland cattle have it figured out

Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 7h

Highland cattle are famous for their ability to "disco nap". Normally these brief, efficient sleeps will last between three and twenty minutes, deploying a variety of objects as pillows, including moorland boulders, cars or any particularly large dog or sheep who happens to be nearby.

A highland cow having a little nap on a boulder on Dartmoor (ok, it was actually scratching its head)

9 120 670

Reposted by Kirsty Hall

Paul McGee @paulmcgee.bsky.social · 18h

If any of you had Tarzan retooling himself as a fearless crusader against the rising tide of neo-fascism *in his fucking 90s* on *your* 2025 bingo card, then as far as I'm concerned, you can just take the pot now.

BBC Newsnight @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social · 22h

“You described Reform and other parties across Europe today as among the 'right wing equivalents of the fascists in the 1930s'. Why?”

“Because that’s what they are”

@vicderbyshire.bsky.social asks Lord Heseltine about remarks he made at Conservative Party Conference.

#Newsnight

8 23