Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 14h

And that policy was made by? And how did Biden/Harris + Congress let it die w/o renewal? (and thank you very much for the reply ✨)

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 22h

Oh this looks so cool - would love to see a physics thread explaining what these things are if you feel like it - thanks for sharing ✨

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Reposted by Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD

Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 1d

Valuable info about the Physics Nobel Prize today from Prof. Joseph Barranco at SFSU on Martinis and Devoret being a grad student and postdoc in Clarke's lab at UC Berkeley & Clark and Devoret being immigrants. "California *public* education made this happen. Immigration made this happen." ⚛️

Joseph Barranco posted on social media: Go Bears! Nobel Prize in Physics goes to 3 physicists studying mesoscopic quantum phenomena... Work was done in the 1980s in UC Berkeley Professor John Clarke's lab with his graduate student John Martinis and postdoctoral fellow Michel Devoret... all 3 share the Nobel Prize. Must also point out that both Clarke and Devoret are immigrants from the UK and France, respectively. All 3 are pioneers in the race to build the most powerful quantum supercomputers. California *public* education made this happen. Immigration made this happen.

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Reposted by Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD

clyde bruckman's ghost's final repost says free link @ultralaser.bsky.social · 5d

terrible things are happening outside. poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. families are torn apart. men, women, and children are separated. children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.

diary of anne frank, january 13, 1943.

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Reposted by Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 3d

I think lots of folks would benefit from reading the history of the civil rights movement, which targeted America’s home-grown fascist movement. Resistance was constant, even amidst the terroristic threat of lynching. People push back against oppression in big and small ways.

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 3d

Pynchon on "Warlock":
"For we are a nation that can, many of us, toss with all aplomb our candy wrapper into the Grand Canyon itself, snap a color shot and drive away; and we need voices like Oakley Hall’s to remind us how far that piece of paper, still fluttering brightly behind us, has to fall." 💘

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 6d

Love this all. Grassroots voter guides 💚

The Upshot @upshot.nytimes.com · 6d

As always, @boltsmag.org puts out a great guide to all the elections coming up.

"We’ve identified more than 180 key elections that will be decided this fall—from mayors and governors to school boards and judges—and explain why they matter."

boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

Your Cheat Sheet to the 2025 General Elections - Bolts

Four contests have come to largely define the 2025 elections: the elections to lead New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, plus California’s redistricting measure. But there’s so much else... Read M...

boltsmag.org

Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 8d

Rolling through Tuscany, to a workshop for Italian theorists, dirty train windows but so beautiful & peaceful...on my way home from Como 2 days ago a giant rock fell onto the train tracks in front of the train prior to mine, no one hurt, took ages to get home...my talk on Friday, must write it 💜

Bright green Italian countryside as seen through blurry and smudged train window - blue skies above a bright bright green vineyard, a white pebbled path cuts across the photo horizontally near the bottom...green grass above and below the pebble path....farmhouse blurry but visible to the left, scattered dark green trees around...somewhere in Tuscany, taken from Trenitalia train from Firenze to Cortona...

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Reposted by Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD

Eyes on the Fright 🎃 @eyesontheright.bsky.social · 12d

Disbanding ICE and prosecuting everyone who led and worked for it is, in fact, the moderate position.

Laura Belin @laurarbelin.bsky.social · 12d

Breaking news from Des Moines: ICE has detained Dr. Ian Roberts, the superintendent of Iowa's largest school district.
The Des Moines Public Schools said "We have no confirmed information as to why Dr. Roberts is being detained or the next potential steps."
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/09/26/i...

ICE detains Des Moines Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts

Iowa's largest school district had "no confirmed information" on why ICE detained Dr. Ian Roberts, the superintendent since 2023.

www.bleedingheartland.com

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 12d

Thinking thinking thinking. On the shores of Lake Como for a set of memorial concerts, such good darling interesting people here & grey blue rainy skies with the steel blue lake, I can't believe it...deep breaths and just for some moments feeling that it is so good and incredible just to be alive 💜

Stone wall with stone railing on the shore of Lake Como...a ferry boat in the middle distance on the lake, the far shore goes up in hills and clouds sit on top of the hills...all is bright and clear but it is a rainy misty day too, so the few green trees on the left really pop out as do the little pieces of red on the ferry, maybe they are life vests but I cannot see what they are exactly...the rest is ivory grey black stone with steely grey blue water and dark grey far shores...gorgeous....

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 15d

I know it makes us sound like idiots, damn it all, but we didn't describe it well! Defund sounds like take ALL money away for all police. I am sure I was one of the ones coming out against Obama (it was him, or Harris?) who said the "defund the police" was badly messaged/managed. I will do better.

Peter Sterne @petersterne.com · 15d

More from the Suffolk University poll: www.suffolk.edu/-/media/suff...

Do you support or oppose "defund the police"?
Support - 21%
Oppose - 74%

Would you support or oppose cutting some of the police budget and using the money for social services?
Support - 54%
Oppose - 41%

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 15d

Oh this brilliant beauty...

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Reposted by Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD

Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 20d

I stand with PBS.

I stand with NPR.

I stand with Stephen Colbert.

I stand with Jimmy Kimmel.

I stand with the First Amendment.

PERIOD.*

*Also #ReleaseTheEPSTEIN_Files

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 21d

I will travel (by train) to see them! What wonders! Where could they be, I am in northern Italy....

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 21d

Difficult to get a distance scale on the Mars Exploration images - roughly it could be 20 cm or could be 6 m across. It seems like we should better. There is a paper with a possible website to do it, but why not put a scale bar on the image to start? agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 21d

Beautiful, curious. The image on the left also does not open for me. I do wonder about the length scale on the images. They have such awesome images, I wish they all came with length scales.

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 21d

I don't know if they are here, but Led By Donkeys is certainly on insta: www.instagram.com/ledbydonkeys/

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 21d

Love them 💙

Pepe B. @srlansky.bsky.social · 21d

Sin buscarlo, imagino que son la gente de Led By Donkeys, que son únicos en lo suyo
www.ledbydonkeys.org

Led By Donkeys

Art, Activism and Accountability. Join the mailing list or become a supporter.

www.ledbydonkeys.org

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · 27d

Celebrating with Brazil!! And hoping to one day soon be as rigorous with our justice system 💜

Deborah Leão 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸 @deborahleao.bsky.social · 27d

Dear friends from other countries:

please join the Brazilians as we celebrate this groundbreaking decision.

CNN @cnn.com · 27d

A majority of Brazil's Supreme Court judges have voted to convict former President Jair Bolsonaro of plotting to overturn the 2022 election. https://cnn.it/3VIY1Cn

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · Aug 29

Cheers indeed!! 🥂🥂🥂!!

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · Aug 29

Oh boy, September here we come. Turin in August, being adorable & captivating, as ever, plus a bottle of 1979 wine that two little old shopkeepers told me was 115 euros then asked me how much I had in my pocket to spend, I pulled out a 20 laughing and they swapped!! Deep breath, onward & upward....

A brightly lit after-sunset piazza, Piazza Carlo Emanuele II as a matter of fact, in Torino near the center of the city...a big tree plus some other trees in the center of the photo, buildings ring the piazza on 3 sides (actually on 4 sides but the photographer has to stand somewhere, if she is not a drone, and she is not a drone) - sky is bright dark blue, you can see tiny people at tiny tables beyond the trees, sitting outside at the cafes and restaurants, plus a few cars on the right and a row of scooters parked on the left.

A hand is holding a bottle of 1979 Barbera D'Asti wine, even back then they had bio-organic etc. wines, apparently, because the label seems to indicate it is one of the natural type wines (I should translate the Italian but I haven't done that yet). Behind the old bottle, in the blurry background, is a stovetop looking like it is in the middle of dinner prep, a saucepan on the left has bright green things simmering, a pasta pot on the right is not yet boiling...it is a nice cosy photo I think

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · Aug 22

And!! I was just reminded, I am very concerned that I forgot, about Newsom's brutal method of dealing with homelessness, clearing encampments without a long term strategy in place for taking care of the people living under the freeways and in the encampments. I saw it in Oakland and Berkeley.

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · Aug 21

Complete agreement, there is no other way than all of us together. Regarding Gavin Newson, whose redistricting plans I strongly support - it does not undo the harm he is causing to the trans community and therefore to all of humanity. It doesn't undo it. His behavior on these podcasts is despicable.

Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · Aug 21

Every single person who thinks a trans person should just pipe down until we restore democracy is, in my view, an enemy of democracy.

I’m not doing it.

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Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · Aug 20

Excellent article and I love the thing - two things confused me - does it really only get 24 mpg? My old Ford c-max got ~42 mpg, no comparison really but I wouldn't like to go back down to that. And, is it sold anywhere other than China? Like Europe or the US?

Jennifer Rittenhouse West, PhD @rittenhousewest.bsky.social · Aug 19

As it is for our nations, so it is for us. Tell the truth. Digest what you do & have done, the awful the beautiful. Look in the mirror. No filter. It is hideously difficult much of the time. Do it anyway. Reel & stagger, as W.E.B. Du Bois says. REEL & STAGGER. You will become a poem. I promise you.

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · Apr 16

"Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?"

W. E. B. Du Bois, "The Propaganda of History" 🗃️

Snip from Du Bois, "The propaganda of History" The closing chapter of black reconstruction in America

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