Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 20h

Quite extraordinary, in one German state the government ministries are still using over 1,400 fax machines.

From: @heiseonline
https://social.heise.de/@heiseonline/115337814379873336

heise online (@[email protected])

In Baden-Württembergs Ministerien wird weiterhin gefaxt Über 1.400 Faxgeräte sind in Baden-Württembergs Ministerien noch im Einsatz. Das Innenministerium hält daran fest – und stößt auf Unverständnis bei der FDP. https://www.heise.de/news/In-Baden-Wuerttembergs-Ministerien-wird-weiterhin-gefaxt-10737443.html?wt_mc=sm.red.ho.mastodon.mastodon.md_beitraege.md_beitraege&utm;_source=mastodon #Digitalisierung #eGovernment #FDP #IT #news

social.heise.de

Reposted by Luke Drury

Björn Brembs @brembs.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22h

TIL: apparently one of the main technical hurdles for universities to run their own #mastodon instances is to make the instance work with the institution's SSO (most often Shibboleth). It seems there would be a huge opportunity to facilitate the entrance of such major multiplicators into the […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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⚯ Michel de Cryptadamus ⚯ @cryptadamist.universeodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 2d

why do the window designers in #russia keep creating such dangerous products?

#defenestration #defenestrate #putin #vladimirputin #windows #window #ukraine #ukrainewar #oligarch #oligarchs #sadoligarch #pravda #vyacheslavleontyev #leontyev

Publisher of famous Soviet newspaper Pravda falls to his death from a seventh-floor window

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 2d

DORA is looking for members of its steering committee. Reform of Research Assessment is key to solving many of the pathologies that afflict the research system at the moment!

#openscience #researchassessmentreform

https://sfdora.org/2025/10/03/steering-committee-global-call/

Join DORA’s Steering Committee: Global Call for Members

sfdora.org

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Reposted by Luke Drury

Björn Brembs @brembs.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d

So true for so many problems of our times! @pluralistic got it so right:

"Systemic problems have systemic solutions, not individual ones. You can’t shop your way out of a monopoly."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish

早已过气：亚马逊怎么变得这么糟糕？

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish? (www.theguardian.com) 13:47 ↑ 132 HN Points

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Luke Drury

Aleks Scholz @aleks.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 2d

British journalists still need to figure out that fascists rarely go around and advertise that they want to abolish democracy and become authoritarian leaders, because, well. They are all liars. You can't detect fascism with a check list before it actually happens. It's a tiny bit more complex.

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 2d

Well at least one thing seems certain - the next president of Ireland will be a woman! #aras25

Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 3d

A better "debate" today, but still no mention of climate change or biodiversity loss. Of course the president of Ireland has no executive powers, but she or he has to represent out values and aspirations, both domestically and on the world stage, and I would like to be sure that our 10th […]

Original post on mastodon.dias.ie

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petersuber @petersuber.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Update. The #ucalifornia Academic Council unanimously called on the UC President and Regents "to
unequivocally reject governmental demands that compromise institutional autonomy and academic freedom." […]

Original post on fediscience.org

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petersuber @petersuber.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Update. The American Association of Colleges & Universities (#aac&U, @aacu) just issued a statement on #Trump's “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”.
https://www.aacu.org/newsroom/aac-u-statement-on-the-trump-administrations-compact-for-academic-excellence-in-higher-education […]

Original post on fediscience.org

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David Stifter 🍵📄🦊 @davidstifter.bsky.social · 4d

@muahi.bsky.social are recruiting an experienced research administrator. MU AHI are proud to support 3 @erc.europa.eu grants and two prestigious @researchireland.ie Laureate Fellowships, the HiddenCOST Network, and many other awards. Join us! #research #ireland

my.corehr.com/pls/nuimrecr...

Job Description Details

my.corehr.com

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Reposted by Luke Drury

petersuber @petersuber.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 5d

The federal govt shutdown is halting or slowing operations at #openaccess #repositories like #pubmedcentral: "Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be […]

Original post on fediscience.org

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 6d

This resolution of the International Association of Genocide Scholars #iags deserves to be better known - their scholarly assessment is that what is happening in #gaza is a genocide.

https://genocidescholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IAGS-Resolution-on-Gaza-FINAL.pdf

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Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 7d

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
― Jane Goodall

💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero

Jane Goodall with monarch butterfly scarf

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 6d

Good to see that James Lawless has initiated the search for members of a science advice forum to assist evidence-based policy formation in Ireland and that the social sciences and humanities are included.

#irishpolitics #policyformation […]

Original post on mastodon.dias.ie

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 6d

More attempted Gleichschaltung of academia in Trump’s US.

From: @Nonilex
https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/115303144489922587

Nonilex (@[email protected])

The #Trump admin Wednesday sent letters to 9 of the #US’ top public & private #universities, urging campus leaders to pledge support for Trump’s political agenda to access federal #research #funding. The letters came attached to a 10-pg “compact”—a priority statement for the admin’s educational goals—the most comprehensive accounting of what Trump aims to achieve from an unparalleled pressure campaign on #academia. #law #AcademicFreedom #dictatorship #indoctrination https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/politics/trump-college-funding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource;=articleShare

masto.ai

Reposted by Luke Drury

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 7d

This area where the Trump Library is expected to be built is projected to be flooded in about 100 years due to sea level rise, and I'm sad I won’t be around to see it.

Florida Hands Over Prime Miami Property for Trump Library

www.nytimes.com

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 9d

Also no mention of the corrosive influence of the commercial social media…

#aras25

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 9d

No mention of climate change although Catherine Connolly did use the word sustainable once in the presidential debate. #aras25

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 9d

Not impressed with any of the candidates so far…#Aras25

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Chuck Darwin @cdarwin.c.im.ap.brid.gy · 9d

NASA is facing backlash after reportedly being ordered to destroy a fully operational satellite that plays a crucial role in monitoring the Earth’s atmosphere.

Imagine a perfectly good, high-tech spacecraft gathering invaluable data on carbon dioxide
– a key player in climate change
– only to […]

Original post on c.im

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Reposted by Luke Drury

Jon Worth @jon.gruene.social.ap.brid.gy · 9d

German railways: right in theory, can be poor in practice

French railways: wrong in theory, can be OK in practice (if you can get where you want to go on a TGV)

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 9d

This was an affluent middle-class American crowd - it just shows how Trump has coarsened American society.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/golf/2025/09/28/ryder-cup-mcilroy-and-lowry-suffer-psychological-assault-on-ugly-and-unforgettable-day/

Ryder Cup: McIlroy and Lowry suffer psychological assault on ugly and unforgettable day

Crowd’s baiting of Irish pair at Bethpage carries a sense of US anxiety and shrillness

www.irishtimes.com

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Luke Drury @luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy · 9d

The invention of the legal fiction that certain entities are "people" and enjoy some of the rights of natural persons presents big problems when, as we see in extreme form currently in the US, these unnatural persons acquire political power. The demos must be restricted to natural persons if […]

Original post on mastodon.dias.ie

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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10d

I'm supposed to give a talk online for a hybrid conference in a couple of days on my "real" research: finding Kuiper Belt Objects and measuring their orbits. And even though I LOVE this stuff (orbital dynamics! Mean-motion resonances! Observation biases!) I am having a very hard time getting […]

Original post on mastodon.social

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