Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Lynne Murphy

David Sacerdote @davidsacerdote.bsky.social · 20h

A decade after it was written, I find myself pulling out the @cingraham.bsky.social's gerrymandering explanation to help people understand why California’s Prop. 50 is so important to pass.

wapo.st/3WfcjeB

This is the best explanation of gerrymandering you will ever see

By simplifying gerrymandering we see how problematic it really is.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Lynne Murphy

Second Mentions @secondmentions.bsky.social · 6h

"the highly intelligent cephalopods" www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/w...

Octopuses Invade the English Coast, ‘Eating Anything in Their Path’

www.nytimes.com

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Second Mentions @secondmentions.bsky.social · 6h

"the famously flexible mollusks" www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...

A new analysis of underwater videos shows octopuses are 'incredible multitaskers'

The research reveals new details about how the famously flexible mollusks coordinate some of the most complex movements in the animal kingdom.

www.nbcnews.com

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University of Manchester Child Study Centre @childstudycentre.bsky.social · 10h

🧠 New research from @OfficialUoM shows that where teachers teach affects how they talk to children — and that matters for language development. #ChildDevelopment #LanguageResearch #EarlyYears #MuseumLearning #UoMResearch #LuCiD

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Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 10h

GenAI still can't count. It's ironic that it's called 'computation' and tragedy that it's called 'information technology'

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Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 14h

www.bbc.com/news/article...

MoD spends millions on private schools to avoid Welsh language - BBC News

Military personnel receive a private education allowance to avoid lessons in Welsh in state schools.

www.bbc.com

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Michael Erard @michaelerard.bsky.social · 1d

solid language journalism here www.science.org/content/arti...

China bolsters controversial claim to Pacific languages with new museum

Nationalist narrative holds that Austronesian language and culture originated in China, not Taiwan

www.science.org

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Mister Slang @misterslang.bsky.social · 1d

If it's October it must be GDoS Update time. And so it is: #36. A few notes (and a pic of an invaluable supporter) here:
jonathongreen.substack.com/p/gdos-updat...

GDoS Update #36

New material 1 July - 1 October 2025

jonathongreen.substack.com

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d

CENSORED: “They refused to run my column this week. Too critical of Trump, they said.”

Writer Dan Conway left The Daily Memphian after editors rejected his column for criticizing Trump’s unconstitutional military incursions into US cities.

Read the censored column: www.facebook.com/share/p/16uP...

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Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 2d

"By removing the hashtag, tech platforms are redistributing organizational power away from the users and toward themselves. Now they have all the say in who gets to see which topic, and how topics are structured in the first place."
etymology.substack.com/p/why-platfo...

Why platforms are killing the hashtag

Today I write in anticipatory nostalgia for the cornerstone of a more democratic internet—one which is slowly being stolen from us.

etymology.substack.com

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2d

the best answer i got for this:

awaitsync on Threads writes: "Metrognome"

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Erik Angner @erikangner.com · 3d

The Dawit Isaak Library in Malmö is releasing a special edition of Orwell’s 1984. The book cannot be read, on account of having two spines. The “double bind” is a protest against censorship across the world: malmo.se/boundbookspr...

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 3d

The esoteric art form of ambigrammia, or pieces of writing expressly designed to squeeze in more than one reading, revealed a new “kind of beauty” to Douglas Hofstadter, he writes:

My Life in Ambigrammia

The esoteric art form that revealed a new kind of beauty to me

bit.ly

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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 3d

Correcting strangers’ grammar uninvited is an act of hostility, so either jubilantly own that or don’t do it.

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Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 5d

It’s today! No need to wish me happy birthday. Much need to help people who are helping.

Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 6d

Tomorrow is my birthday! I want gifts! Gifts to the International Rescue Committee!

If you feel any benefit from what I do (& the fact that I've made it through another year), then please donate what you can.

www.justgiving.com/page/ml-murp...

Lynneguist's fundraiser for International Rescue Committee UK

Help ML Murphy raise money to support International Rescue Committee UK

www.justgiving.com

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Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 5d

@lexicoj0hn.bsky.social Thanks so much for the IRC donation!!

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Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 5d

@simon-allen.bsky.social Thanks so much for the IRC donation!!

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Felicity Hannah @felicityhannah.bsky.social · 5d

This article manages to name her husband before it names… her.

Article reads:
Woman named as Archbishop of Canterbury in historic first

The 63-year-old archbishop-designate is married to Eamonn Mullally, with whom she has two children. Originally from Woking in Surrey, she was the UK's chief nursing officer from 1999 to 2004.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 5d

Oh wow, that's really something.

Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 5d

Really cool story - bird species from across the world make the same sound to warn against cuckoos, and they can even understand each other. Feeds into ideas Darwin had about the origin of language! www.newscientist.com/article/2498...

20 bird species can understand each other’s anti-cuckoo call

Several species of birds from different continents use and understand similar alarm calls when they see an invader that might lay an egg in their nest – this shared call hints at the origin of languag...

www.newscientist.com

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caasbrey @caasbrey.bsky.social · 5d

’Tragedy of Macbeth’ review: The Thane Insane, Slays Mainly in Dunisinane. Demzil Washington and Francis McDormand play a toxic power couple in Joel Coen’s crackling adaptation of Shakespeare’s Scottish play.

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Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 5d

It’s today! No need to wish me happy birthday. Much need to help people who are helping.

Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 6d

Tomorrow is my birthday! I want gifts! Gifts to the International Rescue Committee!

If you feel any benefit from what I do (& the fact that I've made it through another year), then please donate what you can.

www.justgiving.com/page/ml-murp...

Lynneguist's fundraiser for International Rescue Committee UK

Help ML Murphy raise money to support International Rescue Committee UK

www.justgiving.com

1 8

Reposted by Lynne Murphy

Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 5d

👇🏻

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 6d

All right, I just launched my newsletter, "Good Grief." Of course, the first post is about "Peanuts," specifically its 75th anniversary (tomorrow), my favorite character (Charlie Brown), and my favorite theme (failure). Enjoy and subscribe if you'd like. lepplin.substack.com/p/charlie-br...

Charlie Brown and the Futility of Positive Thinking

A celebration of "Peanuts" at 75

lepplin.substack.com

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Reposted by Lynne Murphy

Ryan Enos @ryanenos.bsky.social · 6d

Somebody actually sat down and wrote these two sentences, one after another. www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/u...

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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 6d

I applaud @civixplorer for this delightful little bit of flag nonsense.

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Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · 6d

Tomorrow is my birthday! I want gifts! Gifts to the International Rescue Committee!

If you feel any benefit from what I do (& the fact that I've made it through another year), then please donate what you can.

www.justgiving.com/page/ml-murp...

Lynneguist's fundraiser for International Rescue Committee UK

Help ML Murphy raise money to support International Rescue Committee UK

www.justgiving.com

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