Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 1d

Google Gemini’s $27 Pro Plan Is Free for Canadian Students: gemini.google/students/

Sadly for me, it is actually STUDENTS, not EDUCATORS...

Gemini for Students — your AI study buddy from Google

Unlock Gemini's power for school & beyond, from homework help to video creation. Get more Gemini with Google AI Pro and start your free trial now!

gemini.google

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 2d

I'm a little behind on that book - about 30% in, but am finding it fascinating - PEOPLE are ALWAYS the real story!

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Reposted by Paul R. Pival he/him

Jessica Horton @jessicahorton.bsky.social · 2d

Last week I was scheduled to give a presentation on grassroots activism at a university conference on censorship. That conference was censored to the point of being cancelled. So in honor of banned books week, here is some of the info I would have shared on fighting book bans at a local level:

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 3d

As always, the more you know...

Just a few chats with a biased AI can alter your political opinions www.psypost.org/just-a-few-c...

Just a few chats with a biased AI can alter your political opinions

Artificial intelligence chatbots are now a part of daily life, but these systems contain inherent biases from their training data. A new study investigates a pressing question: How might a chatbot's…

www.psypost.org

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Reposted by Paul R. Pival he/him

Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 4d

Before you hit the streets on No Kings Day, join the @aclu.org’s know your rights, protest safety, and de-escalation training to take action safely and confidently. Learn how to protect yourself and your community while standing up for your rights.

No Kings: Protest Safety, Know Your Rights & De-Escalation Training

I'm attending this event - sign up now to join me!

act.aclu.org

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 4d

One of these four red flags is seen before 99.6% of heart attacks newatlas.com/heart-diseas...

Blood pressure ≥120/80 mm Hg or on treatment
Total cholesterol ≥200 mg/dL or on treatment
Fasting glucose ≥100 mg/dL, diagnosis of diabetes or on treatment
Past or current tobacco use

One of these four red flags is seen before 99.6% of heart attacks

In a massive international study, researchers identify four precise warning signs of a heart attack, stroke or heart failure, and understanding these measurable risk factors could help people…

newatlas.com

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 5d

I didn't count, but about 20 thoughtful open-ended questions await you in this survey.

Help define the next chapter of Canada's AI leadership ised-isde.canada.ca/site/ised/en...

"We're inviting founders, researchers, workers, creators, students, public servants, and community voices to weigh in."

Help define the next chapter of Canada's AI leadership

Current status: Open from October 1 to October 31, 2025 Canada helped invent modern AI. To stay a leader—and protect our digital sovereignty—we're running a 30-day national sprint to shape a renewed…

ised-isde.canada.ca

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 6d

😮
European Death Zones googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/10/euro...

"in most of the continent's regions, more people are now dying than are being born"

#datavis

European Death Zones

Maps Mania is a blog dedicated to tracking the very best digital interactive maps on the internet and the tools used to create them.

googlemapsmania.blogspot.com

Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 7d

Introducing Kagi News | Kagi Blog blog.kagi.com/kagi-news

This app might be worth a look. I think I like the "Today in History" section best!

#News

Introducing Kagi News | Kagi Blog

*A comprehensive daily press review with global news.

blog.kagi.com

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Reposted by Paul R. Pival he/him

AAUP @aaup.org · 8d

BREAKING: WE WON!!!
💥 💥 💥

Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment.

Full ruling here:

Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com

Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...

www.courtlistener.com

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 9d

There are some important observations and considerations in this post!

The Petrol Tank for AI Discovery Might be Running Dry as Publishers close access to scholarly content such as abstracts due to AI incentives aarontay.substack.com/p/the-petrol...

#metadata #LLMs #Scholarship

The Petrol Tank for AI Discovery Might be Running Dry as Publishers close access to scholarly content such as abstracts due to AI incentives

Elicit.com, Consensus, and Undermind.ai are among the new leading comprehensive cross-disciplinary “AI-powered academic search engines” today.

aarontay.substack.com

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 9d

opi: dailynous.com/2025/09/22/w...

What Will Academia.edu Do with Its New Rights to Your Name, Likeness, and Voice? (updated) - Daily Nous

Users of the Academia.edu service are cancelling their subscriptions in response to perceived overreach by the firm in its recent update to its terms of service. Catching users' attention was a new pa...

dailynous.com

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 9d

There have been quite a few updates to the Product Tracker in the last week - sadly no super easy way to filter them, but if you CTRL-F and search for Sept they'll come up.

Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 9d

Ithaka Generative AI Product Tracker docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Product Tracker

Generative AI Product Tracker Ithaka S+R’s Generative AI Product Tracker lists generative AI products that are either marketed specifically towards postsecondary faculty or students or appear to be…

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Paul R. Pival he/him

Tara Calishain @researchbuzz.bsky.social · 11d

#mushrooms #sustainability #bathrooms

'UBC researchers are launching the world’s first mushroom-powered waterless toilet, the MycoToilet, at the UBC Botanical Garden on Sept. 26. '

news.ubc.ca/2025/09/ubc-...

UBC launches world’s first mushroom-powered waterless toilet - UBC News

UBC researchers are launching the world’s first mushroom-powered waterless toilet at the UBC Botanical Garden on Sept. 26. The MycoToilet turns human waste into nutrient-rich compost and features a mo...

news.ubc.ca

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Reposted by Paul R. Pival he/him

Jeremy Klaszus @klaszus.bsky.social · 11d

We've taken The Sprawl's election candidate tracker and made zines for all 14 wards in Calgary! Let us know if you're interested in passing 'em around. #yyccc

A new zine series for Calgary’s 2025 election | The Sprawl

One for each of the city's 14 wards.

www.sprawlcalgary.com

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 12d

Interactive IEA tracker shows AI's global energy footprint www.theregister.com/2025/06/19/i...

Interactive IEA tracker shows AI's global energy footprint

: Observatory maps datacenter hubs and power demand worldwide

www.theregister.com

Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 13d

Solar Report Cards - Solar Alberta solaralberta.ca/support-us/a...

These Solar Report Cards, and the additional Assessment Details, were created as part of a larger project completed by University of Calgary Capstone Project student, Yiming (Sebastian) Hu. #UCalgary #RenewableEnergy

Solar Report Cards - Solar Alberta

Alberta Municipal Solar Report Cards Solar Alberta has generated Solar Report Cards for 10 of Alberta’s municipalities. These Solar Report Cards, and the additional Assessment […]

solaralberta.ca

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 13d

Harvard’s Public Health Dean Was Paid $150,000 to Testify Tylenol Causes Autism | News | The Harvard Crimson www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

“I just think that to take it the next step and say this is causal, is really irresponsible,” she added.

Harvard’s Public Health Dean Was Paid $150,000 to Testify Tylenol Causes Autism | News | The Harvard Crimson

Harvard School of Public Health Dean Andrea A. Baccarelli received at least $150,000 to testify against Tylenol’s manufacturer in 2023 — two years before he published research used by the Trump…

www.thecrimson.com

Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 14d

New blog post: Science journalists find ChatGPT is bad at summarizing scientific papers (but are they, really?) – The Distant Librarian distlib.pival.me/science-jour...

#distlib #llms

Science journalists find ChatGPT is bad at summarizing scientific papers (but are they, really?) – The Distant Librarian

The Distant Librarian

distlib.pival.me

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 14d

This looks pretty useful!

󠀁󠁿⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁢⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁢⁢⁢⁢⁤⁢👻 @0x0.boo · 14d

I created this app to cut through all the Bluesky noise and get news here in a more efficient way.

It has buttons to repost to Bluesky and to take you to a Bluesky search of who posted the news links.

Its algorithm is 100% based on Bluesky engagement.

Try it.

news.stonking.com

Stonking News

View the most popular and latest trending stonking news from popular social networks. Updated in real-time.

news.stonking.com

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 14d

This looks pretty useful!

󠀁󠁿⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁢⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁢⁢⁢⁢⁤⁢👻 @0x0.boo · 14d

I created this app to cut through all the Bluesky noise and get news here in a more efficient way.

It has buttons to repost to Bluesky and to take you to a Bluesky search of who posted the news links.

Its algorithm is 100% based on Bluesky engagement.

Try it.

news.stonking.com

Stonking News

View the most popular and latest trending stonking news from popular social networks. Updated in real-time.

news.stonking.com

1

Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 14d

See Europe by Train, Hour by Hour googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/see-...

Very cool #dataviz

See Europe by Train, Hour by Hour

Maps Mania is a blog dedicated to tracking the very best digital interactive maps on the internet and the tools used to create them.

googlemapsmania.blogspot.com

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 15d

WhatsApp adds built-in text translations on iPhone and Android ino.to/1xlWKjX

Coulda used this a month ago! But nice to know it'll be there for next time.

WhatsApp adds built-in text translations on iPhone and Android

Long press and select ‘translate’

ino.to

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Paul R. Pival he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 15d

Damn, that figure 3!

Education at a Glance 2025, Part 1 ino.to/AplMQXH

#ABPSE #PSE #CanPSE

Education at a Glance 2025, Part 1 | HESA

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its annual stat fest, Education at a Glance (EAG), two weeks … Continued

ino.to