Luminiferous Aether
@luminiferousaether.bsky.social
An occasional birder, a constant reader, and a general dork.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
December 4, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
smiling at my phone like im texting with a suitor but I'm looking at the inaturalist page for coconut crabs
December 4, 2025 at 12:17 PM
smiling at my phone like im texting with a suitor but I'm looking at the inaturalist page for coconut crabs
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Never believe the fuckers who say "why bother, they already won"
NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
December 3, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Never believe the fuckers who say "why bother, they already won"
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Amazon, please stop asking me if books I bought month ago met my expectations. I still have unread books I bought in 2012. Be real.
December 2, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Amazon, please stop asking me if books I bought month ago met my expectations. I still have unread books I bought in 2012. Be real.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.
December 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Wow.
"It gives me no pleasure to say what I’m about to say because I worked with Pete Hegseth for seven or eight years at Fox News. This is an act of a war crime .... There’s absolutely no legal basis for it.”
- Newsmax's Judge Napolitano
"It gives me no pleasure to say what I’m about to say because I worked with Pete Hegseth for seven or eight years at Fox News. This is an act of a war crime .... There’s absolutely no legal basis for it.”
- Newsmax's Judge Napolitano
Woah. Newsmax’s legal analyst just said Pete Hegseth and everyone involved in the illegal boat strike should be “prosecuted for a war crime.”
They’ve even lost Newsmax on this one.
They’ve even lost Newsmax on this one.
December 3, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Wow.
"It gives me no pleasure to say what I’m about to say because I worked with Pete Hegseth for seven or eight years at Fox News. This is an act of a war crime .... There’s absolutely no legal basis for it.”
- Newsmax's Judge Napolitano
"It gives me no pleasure to say what I’m about to say because I worked with Pete Hegseth for seven or eight years at Fox News. This is an act of a war crime .... There’s absolutely no legal basis for it.”
- Newsmax's Judge Napolitano
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Hey chat, is it good for your gerrymandering plans if the electorate swings 19 points against you?
First NYT estimate is R+3 lol
December 3, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Hey chat, is it good for your gerrymandering plans if the electorate swings 19 points against you?
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
A friend posted, “get NREL gear while you still can.” If you hadn’t heard, it’s now the National Laboratory of the Rockies.
More from @sambrasch.bsky.social:
www.cpr.org/2025/12/01/n...
More from @sambrasch.bsky.social:
www.cpr.org/2025/12/01/n...
December 3, 2025 at 2:00 AM
A friend posted, “get NREL gear while you still can.” If you hadn’t heard, it’s now the National Laboratory of the Rockies.
More from @sambrasch.bsky.social:
www.cpr.org/2025/12/01/n...
More from @sambrasch.bsky.social:
www.cpr.org/2025/12/01/n...
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
I feel comfortable and secure in my belief that democratic leadership should not be pulling their slogans from venture capitalists. That this, at minimum, is a significant indictment of who they are listening and talking to. It’s not that complicated.
No value, no villain, no vision. Sounds like the tagline for the earnings call of a collapsing appliance retailer
November 30, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I feel comfortable and secure in my belief that democratic leadership should not be pulling their slogans from venture capitalists. That this, at minimum, is a significant indictment of who they are listening and talking to. It’s not that complicated.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
The billionaires who own much of the the infrastructure of our 21st century lives have progressively enshittified that infrastructure while expanding their wealth, and then they scold us for being small-souled peasants who don’t believe in progress anymore.
it is amazing how so much tech gets unremittingly worse year on year at whatever you once used it for and less pleasant to use and more bound up with creepy politics as well as personal and environmental harms and yet also still less productive of actual goods and these are somehow great visionaries
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
The billionaires who own much of the the infrastructure of our 21st century lives have progressively enshittified that infrastructure while expanding their wealth, and then they scold us for being small-souled peasants who don’t believe in progress anymore.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
You know how billionaires end up with severe cognitive deficits as a result of becoming surrounded by yes men who constantly tell them their every idea is genius? What if we made a bot that just does that to everyone. I think that would be a good idea.
October 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM
You know how billionaires end up with severe cognitive deficits as a result of becoming surrounded by yes men who constantly tell them their every idea is genius? What if we made a bot that just does that to everyone. I think that would be a good idea.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
A rare moment of a Republican genuinely giving a damn.
November 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
A rare moment of a Republican genuinely giving a damn.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
An action shot of grey fox in the garden, not sure if it saw something to pounce on but it's a cool shot.
The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is thought to be the oldest surviving canid species, having originated at least 3.6 million years ago.
#mammals
The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is thought to be the oldest surviving canid species, having originated at least 3.6 million years ago.
#mammals
November 27, 2025 at 2:35 PM
An action shot of grey fox in the garden, not sure if it saw something to pounce on but it's a cool shot.
The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is thought to be the oldest surviving canid species, having originated at least 3.6 million years ago.
#mammals
The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is thought to be the oldest surviving canid species, having originated at least 3.6 million years ago.
#mammals
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
in which the Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Simplify Asset Management discovers how anachronistic & damaging “the poverty line” metric is in the USA— www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:37 PM
in which the Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Simplify Asset Management discovers how anachronistic & damaging “the poverty line” metric is in the USA— www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Oregon's Willamette Valley is filled with farms of all kinds, including vineyards, flower fields, and orchards. This oil painting, "Mustard Fields," captures a pair of oaks standing above a field of blooming mustard, with clouds swirling overhead on a classic Oregon day.
#pnw #oregon #dailyart 🎨
#pnw #oregon #dailyart 🎨
November 26, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Inside you there are two wolves...
November 26, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Inside you there are two wolves...
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
This is the type of hater energy that will fuel us in the years ahead.
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM
This is the type of hater energy that will fuel us in the years ahead.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
It's axiomatic! You have to hold them by the head!
In pre-modern England, the expression, "Holding an eel by the tail" meant that you were doing something the wrong way. Like...did you just buy a cyber truck so that you could look cool and pick up women? You, sir, are holding an eel by the tail.
In pre-modern England, the expression, "Holding an eel by the tail" meant that you were doing something the wrong way. Like...did you just buy a cyber truck so that you could look cool and pick up women? You, sir, are holding an eel by the tail.
If you ever wonder why people say "slippery as an eel" I can confirm that one time we had to hold an eel for a vet to do a blood draw and that eel ended up on the floor 47 times out of 48 attempts
November 26, 2025 at 12:12 AM
It's axiomatic! You have to hold them by the head!
In pre-modern England, the expression, "Holding an eel by the tail" meant that you were doing something the wrong way. Like...did you just buy a cyber truck so that you could look cool and pick up women? You, sir, are holding an eel by the tail.
In pre-modern England, the expression, "Holding an eel by the tail" meant that you were doing something the wrong way. Like...did you just buy a cyber truck so that you could look cool and pick up women? You, sir, are holding an eel by the tail.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Before DOGE, systems meant to serve millions of people were being run by a few harried employees using outdated systems. And now, after DOGE, they are being run by even fewer, even more harried employees on those same outdated systems!
So, DOGE, What Would You Say You Did Here?
An exit interview
www.theatlantic.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Before DOGE, systems meant to serve millions of people were being run by a few harried employees using outdated systems. And now, after DOGE, they are being run by even fewer, even more harried employees on those same outdated systems!
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
But on issues such as respectability and morality, I think you should judge people by their deeper, more important actions. That doesn't mean how they dress, but how they treat others on a more meaningful level.
I will end with something I wrote five years ago about the messy nature of dress codes.
I will end with something I wrote five years ago about the messy nature of dress codes.
November 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
But on issues such as respectability and morality, I think you should judge people by their deeper, more important actions. That doesn't mean how they dress, but how they treat others on a more meaningful level.
I will end with something I wrote five years ago about the messy nature of dress codes.
I will end with something I wrote five years ago about the messy nature of dress codes.
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
High school senior, a U.S. citizen, detained by ICE in Oregon
The 17-year-old was held more than five hours Friday in an ICE facility, his brother said.
www.oregonlive.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
It's been a few years since I participated in @skypeascientist.bsky.social (just too sick to commit to extra tasks for a few years there)
I forgot how exciting it is to be matched with a teacher, I really hope the students want to learn about bird evolution
I forgot how exciting it is to be matched with a teacher, I really hope the students want to learn about bird evolution
November 20, 2025 at 12:00 AM
It's been a few years since I participated in @skypeascientist.bsky.social (just too sick to commit to extra tasks for a few years there)
I forgot how exciting it is to be matched with a teacher, I really hope the students want to learn about bird evolution
I forgot how exciting it is to be matched with a teacher, I really hope the students want to learn about bird evolution
Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
17 year old high school student in McMinnville, OR (whose family says he is a US citizen) is kidnapped by ICE while getting lunch off campus.
www.opb.org/article/2025...
www.opb.org/article/2025...
ICE arrests McMinnville High School student during Friday lunch period
Family told local news the 17-year-old is a U.S. citizen.
www.opb.org
November 22, 2025 at 7:45 PM
17 year old high school student in McMinnville, OR (whose family says he is a US citizen) is kidnapped by ICE while getting lunch off campus.
www.opb.org/article/2025...
www.opb.org/article/2025...