Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sonya

@sonyam.bsky.social

Theo and Archie are here this week for Christmas & New year.
#ProofofCat

Theo, a platinum Birman cat with chocolate points snoozes on a purple and blue wool throw on the back of a sofa, enjoying the warmth of radiator.

Theo the Birman cat sitting up on a natural colour lambswool blanket on a bed. His light blue eyes are focused comparatively in the distance.

Archie, an extremely floofy ginger cat, unbothered by too many thoughts, sits on a cream and rusty red carpet facing back towards the camera.

Archie the ginger cat is sitting surrounded by wrapped presents in front of a Christmas tree with many warm white lights, a beaded garland swooping above him. All the baubles that can be seen are unbreakable without being temptingly soft and squishy wool.

December 28, 2025 at 3:44 PM

Sonya

@sonyam.bsky.social

Quite late to this; we watched ‘the Ballad of Wallis Island’ this evening and thought it was excellent.

December 27, 2025 at 9:50 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Rhodri Marsden

@rhodri.biz

I've got to be honest, we may as well call it a night #DuvetKnowItsChristmas

Franglaise @franglaise.bsky.social · 5d

I’m entering The Teenager as potential winner of #Duvetknowitschristmas

He’s had to move from his bedroom to the unconverted attic

Cardboard floor & headboard is a nice touch which I’m sure he appreciates

He think it looks like he’s living in a meth den
#DuvetKnowItsChristmas

Dark attic room with stone walls, cardboard on floor with single mattress & antique coffee table (random)

December 24, 2025 at 7:38 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Canadian Paintings

@canadianpaintings.bsky.social

Study of a Hare in Winter
Clarence Gagnon
1922

December 21, 2025 at 6:01 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Tom Gauld

@tomgauld.bsky.social

“The last-minute christmas rush at the bookshop.” - my latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books

Title: The last-minute christmas rush at the bookshop.

Image: diagram of a small bookshop packed with coloured dots representing people. The various colours represent the following groups:

Contentedly browsing customer,
Frazzled staff member,
Can't find the book they want,
Can't remember what they came for,
Complete decision paralysis,
In the queue to pay,
Thinks they're in the queue but aren't,
Dozed off in a comfy chair,
Waiting to pounce on the comfy chair,
Crying child,
Crying adult,
Vortex of discombobulated shoppers.

December 21, 2025 at 4:02 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Chaucer Doth Tweet

@levostregc.bsky.social

The shorteste daye
The longest nighte
Welcome, sun
Welcome, lighte

December 21, 2025 at 6:05 AM

Reposted by Sonya

Wataru Tenkawa

@10wataru.bsky.social

"A new study has found that eating 50g or more of high-fat cheese a day correlates with a lower risk of developing dementia. That means all cheeses with more than 20 percent fat content, including brie, gouda, cheddar, parmesan, gruyere, and mozzarella." www.sciencealert.com/cheese-linke...

Cheese Linked to Lower Dementia Risk in 25-Year Study

One of the finest foods available to humanity may carry an unexpected benefit.

www.sciencealert.com

December 19, 2025 at 2:19 AM

Sonya

@sonyam.bsky.social

Spending this much time in Pari s I’m struggling to resist the siren song of the French pharmacy. #XmasStocking

December 18, 2025 at 6:22 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Bryan Blessed

@bryb.bsky.social

You lot need Dick Van Dyke singing Let's Go Fly a Kite on his 100th birthday more than you know.

December 15, 2025 at 10:33 PM

Sonya

@sonyam.bsky.social

Left Paris at 07:30 CET this morning & finally home 14 hours later via meetings in London. Happily watching the Muppets Christmas Carol with a glass of wine. #muppets

two muppets are standing in front of a building with the words tis the season to be jolly and joyous .

Alt: two muppets are standing in front of a building with the words tis the season to be jolly and joyous .

media.tenor.com

December 12, 2025 at 9:37 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Larry the Cat

@number10cat.bsky.social

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree. Ate it.

December 1, 2025 at 8:27 AM

Reposted by Sonya

Jeff Hollett

@jeffontherock.bsky.social

A close up of a section of the seaside cliffs at my home town in Newfoundland, Canada. For scale, the layers are mostly one to two inches thick.
#geology #rock

Photo of seaside cliffs showing many thin layers of rock.

December 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM

Sonya

@sonyam.bsky.social

Wowsa Paris traffic. Took me €10 just to leave Gare du Nord.

December 9, 2025 at 8:26 PM

Reposted by Sonya

depths of wikipedia

@depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social

happy stylish but illegal monkey day to all who celebrate!!!!! by the way his name is darwin and he lives a farm now

December 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Canadian Paintings

@canadianpaintings.bsky.social

Night Snow
Maud Lewis
c. 1958

December 9, 2025 at 12:01 AM

Sonya

@sonyam.bsky.social

Skye & Jonny were here for the weekend, so had some snuggles with Theo (pictured) & Archie (dislikes having his pic taken)
#proofofcat

December 7, 2025 at 4:04 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Canadian Paintings

@canadianpaintings.bsky.social

A Northern Night
Franz Johnston
1917

December 4, 2025 at 11:02 PM

Reposted by Sonya

❄️mari-lwyd odent❄️

@oldenoughtosay.com

This is actually a fantastic question. It’s always been my interpretation that Canadians tend to actually mean it to varying levels, whereas for Brits, it’s basically a filler word, and you convey your actual meaning via tone. Happy to hear from Canadians tho

Val Monahan @valymonahan.bsky.social · 24d

Would LOVE to know how parallel British and Canadian "sorries" are/are not. Huge range of meaning, given context of the "apology".

December 4, 2025 at 7:56 PM

Reposted by Sonya

Chris Farnell

@thebrainofchris.bsky.social

Obviously this is impossible because Alan Moore looks like he's genetically a wizard, it's simply impossible to imagine what he would look like as a schoolboy oh there he is.

Jimmy Martin @jimmygila.bsky.social · 28d

Spot Alan Moore in his 6th form Northampton Grammar School photo, taken two days before he was expelled

December 2, 2025 at 9:06 AM

Reposted by Sonya

BeijingPalmer

@beijingpalmer.bsky.social

a lovely thread. a really good live theatrical effect has a magic that cinema just can't reproduce

Ben Fletcher-Watson @bfletcherwatson.bsky.social · 29d

Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.

"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view.
And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone.

"When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”

December 1, 2025 at 7:43 AM

Reposted by Sonya

Jonathan Portes

@jdportes.bsky.social

Under Mahmood's current proposals, presumably would have been deported to Czechoslovakia in 1945, when it was "safe" again.

Ian Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 29d

R.I.P. Tom Stoppard, playwright most famous for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia he fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain at the age of eight. He later discovered all four of his grandparents had died in the Holocaust.