Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · 21h

The last surviving child of an enslaved person in the US only passed away in 2022 www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/u...

Daniel Smith, 90, Dies; Thought to Be the Last Child of an Enslaved Person (Published 2022)

www.nytimes.com

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · 21h

That last remaining widow of a Civil War veteran only passed away in 2021. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021...

Woman believed to be last remaining widow of US civil war soldier dies

Helen Viola Jackson was just 17 when she married James Bolin, a 93-year-old veteran, in Missouri in 1936

www.theguardian.com

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · 21h

The grandson of the 10th US president, John Tyler (in office 1841-1845) only passed way in May of 2025.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriso...

Harrison Ruffin Tyler - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · 29d

This is a fantastic report!

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

Nicolas Fulghum @nicolasfulghum.bsky.social · 29d

This is why trends are more important to pay attention to than a blanket "but fossil fuel use is rising".

That's the only way to anticipate the turning points.

Falling fossil fuel use in the power sector and the WHOLE economy is now possible in China 🇨🇳

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

Ember @ember-energy.org · 29d

NEW | China’s clean energy boom and rapid electrification are creating the conditions for a FOSSIL DECLINE at home and abroad⚡

Fossil use in end-use sectors plateaued in 2015--while electricity use grew 65%, becoming central to 🇨🇳’s energy system.

https://loom.ly/psjqvhE

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Sep 3

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Aug 28

Consumers Energy has 54 data center load interconnection requests. The smallest is 4 megawatts. The larges is 2,200 megawatts. Total capacity: more than 22 gigawatts.

halcyon.io/blog/machine...

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

Halcyon @halcyonai.bsky.social · Aug 21

Energy markets move fast ⚡️

Introducing new market intelligence so you can gain an edge:

Large Load Tariff Tracker → 50 tariffs (market leading coverage)

Gas Power Plant Tracker → 146 assets / 72GW (up from 65GW in July)

Here’s @nathanielbullard.com on how we do it: hubs.la/Q03DMqcr0
#energysky

Vectors and Vectors

Halcyon Vectors and Vectors by Nat Bullard describes recent updates to Large Load Tariff Tracker and Gas Power Plant Tracker data products

hubs.la

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

Jenny Chase @solarchase.bsky.social · Aug 21

This is progress. (Though some of it is driven by a slowdown in construction. And in the past, emissions from the power sector have been substantially determined by rainfall and therefore hydro generation over the summer in southern provinces).

Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · Aug 21

NEW from me: Clean energy growth helped China’s CO2 emissions fall 1% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, extending a declining trend that started in March 2024. Power sector CO2 fell 3% as growth in solar power alone matched the rise in electricity demand.

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air @creacleanair.bsky.social · Aug 21

🇨🇳 📰 NEW | Analysis: Record solar growth keeps China’s CO2 falling in H1 2025

🌿 ☀️ CO2 output of the nation’s power sector fell by 3% in H1 2025 as growth in solar power alone matched the rise in electricity demand

@laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social w/ @carbonbrief.org

www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-rec...

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Aug 16

As long as it's near 4801 Buford Hwy I'll allow it. 40+ years later and the Auto Man Transmission ditty is burned into my cortex www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3ky...

1980's commercial for Auto Man Transmissions - 4801 Buford Hwy

YouTube video by Allen Wakefield

www.youtube.com

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Aug 12

@conorsen.bsky.social "Perhaps inevitably, there now exists a Dubai chocolate bar in the shape of a Labubu" @amandamull.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Social Media Trend Machine Is Spitting Out Weirder and Weirder Results

Trends always have an element of randomness, but our algorithmic feeds have made them unintelligible.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · Aug 12

DENNING: ".. We are in year one of a Trump administration that is determined to crush what he has called the EV 'hoax.'"

Ford's plan "must surely trouble even the most committed ideologues to see their anti-EV onslaught hasn’t .. changed the direction of travel."

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Ford's New $30,000 EV Pickup Cuts Against Washington

When it comes to electric vehicles, US automakers have set their sights far beyond Washington and 2028.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

George Pearkes @peark.es · Aug 12

The current ~$350bn run rate for tariff revenues is roughly 0.4% on core PCE (without second-round effects) or a 1.2%-pt hit to aggregate corporate sector margins. So far it looks like most of that is going to inflation.

Dom White @domw.bsky.social · Aug 12

Stocks rallying on little sign of tariff induced inflation is an interesting one. Because on one hand, more chance of a September rate cut. But on the other, who do you think is paying the tariffs if it's not consumers?

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

Liam Denning @liamdenning.bsky.social · Aug 12

EVs in America: The ruling party tries to kill them but Detroit keeps trying to build them
@opinion.bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Ford's New $30,000 EV Pickup Cuts Against Washington

When it comes to electric vehicles, US automakers have set their sights far beyond Washington and 2028.

www.bloomberg.com

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Aug 11

Mark your calendars: AOL is discontinuing dial-up internet service on September 30 help.aol.com/articles/dia...

Dial-up Internet to be discontinued

Learn about why dial up internet has been discontinued.

help.aol.com

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Aug 5

A weekly log of mastication activity in Nevada. IYKYK
halcyon.io/blog/whatsha...

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Aug 5

what comes first: AP1000s on the moon, or whalers on the moon

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Aug 4

Great short series from @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social on China solar (and wind) in the first half of 2025

Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · Jul 31

Important data drop that I've been waiting for on China's massive solar installations in H1:
🌞 solar power capacity additions doubled year-on-year to 212 gigawatts, with total capacity at the end of H1 increasing a whopping 54% year on year

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · Jul 31

Important data drop that I've been waiting for on China's massive solar installations in H1:
🌞 solar power capacity additions doubled year-on-year to 212 gigawatts, with total capacity at the end of H1 increasing a whopping 54% year on year

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Aug 4

I still have the stuffed Figment which I picked up on my one and only visit to Epcot in the mid-1980s.

Place of manufacture: South Korea.

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · Aug 4

Important details from this story:

1) Yet another news-break by student journalists (this time @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social) www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

2) Harvard saying "see you in court," not "let's make a deal."

3) Per Garber, WH/MAGA leaked news of a "deal." NYT then ran with it.

Headline from Harvard Crimson: "Harvard President Garber Tells Faculty He Is Not Considering a $500 Million Deal With Trump."

Text of story: Harvard prez Garber says report of a deal "was apparently leaked to the press by White House officials." NYT ran with it as a story.

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Reposted by Nat Bullard

Conor Sen @conorsen.bsky.social · Aug 3

At the top, universities changed from engines of upward mobility to zero-sum knife fights among the top 20% of Americans. It does feel like a metaphor for some other areas of American life.

Steve Herman @w7voa.journa.host.ap.brid.gy · Aug 3

The US could see a 30-40% decline in new international student enrollment, resulting in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer American jobs. https://www.nafsa.org/fall-2025-international-student-enrollment-outlook-and-economic-impact

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Jul 30

we are starting to approach "physical molecular limits of global trade flows expressed in dollars terms" here

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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · Jul 30

Nice to see this now-canonical @ember-energy.org chart rebuilt by GS, and in @alphaville.ft.com (thanks @robinwigglesworth.ft.com). www.ft.com/content/5a97...

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