Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Vajra Chandrasekera

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 8d

Newsletter: This is The Case Against Generative AI, a comprehensive analysis of a financial collapse built on myths I’ll dispel, the markets’ unhealthy obsession with NVIDIA's growth, and the fact that there is not enough money in the world to fund OpenAI.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-case-aga...

The Case Against Generative AI

Soundtrack: Queens of the Stone Age - First It Giveth Before we go any further: This is, for the third time this year, the longest newsletter I've ever written, weighing in somewhere around 18,500 wo...

www.wheresyoured.at

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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 13h

apparently everyone who works on bsky is a clankerwanker. that explains a lot

hailey @hailey.at · 3d

an unfortunate irony about this post - and even if you are the staunchest anti-ai critic out there, i think you’d agree - is that some of the most bigoted things are being said to respond to this. copy/pasting phrasing and terminology used by bigots but replacing “dna” with “bits” doesn’t make it ok

⚡️🌙 @dystopiabreaker.xyz · 6d

i’m completely serious when i say that much of the dismissive ai discourse on here fires the bigotry neuron

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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 1d

There are a few signed copies of RAKESFALL you can get for supporting The Deadlands! psychopomp.com/the-deadland...

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The Deadlands @thedeadlands.com · 1d

it's here, The Deadlands fundraiser 💀

buy your very 2026 coin for the ferryman and help support us

we've got signed books, deadlands issues + psychopomp book bundles, and more coming soon!

please like + RT this to help spread the word

psychopomp.com/the-deadland...

behold!

Illustration of a white skull partially obscured by colorful mushrooms and plants. Different fungi sprout from and around the skull, including red mushrooms with white spots, yellow fan-shaped mushrooms, gray cluster mushrooms, and orange bulbous mushrooms, with green and purple plants filling the background. A ribbon at the bottom of the skull reads “ADMIT ONE.”

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Steen Comer @mediapathic.bsky.social · 1d

RSS is, and I say this without hyperbole, an incredibly useful tool for psychological independence in the current environment. Newsblur, as Vajra suggests, is good, I use Feedbin, there are others. Most remarkably easy to set up.

Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 1d

Speaking of the well-deserved death of social media, I've started using Newsblur as my new RSS reader (had to clean up a depressingly large number of dead links, including to sites that still publish but no longer have RSS feeds) and that does still in fact provide a source of good internet

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Ketracel Black @ketracelblack.blacksky.app · 1d

He looks like Mindy Kalling's brother trying to get into a white fraternity

the corgi from cowboy bebop @realqrampage.fightins.online · 1d

LMAO LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH
EVERY TIME I DO IT MAKES ME LAUGH

Kash Patel in his own merch looking fucking embarrassing as hell lmao

he’s so fucking ugly

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Reposted by Vajra Chandrasekera

Bix F. @bixfrankonis.bsky.social · 3d

If you spend all your time looking at an app where everything looks the same, you might forget that the web still exists and people are still blogging out there.

4x8 tile of 32 different blogs with different designs and personalities.

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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 1d

in which Dan very controversially claims that “a novella is just a novel that is slightly short”

Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 1d

📣 NEW CRITICAL FRIENDS!

In a new ep of the @strangehorizons.bsky.social SFF criticism podcast, I talk with @redfernjon.bsky.social and Nileena Sunil about books that might be longer, and others that could be shorter.

How to read a text that offers too little, or too much, stuff? Some ideas.

Critical Friends Episode 16: Length and Breadth

Dan Hartland is joined by Redfern Jon Barrett and Nileena Sunil to discuss those novels that feel too sure or not long enough: what's behind that feeling we have that a text is lacking something, o…

strangehorizons.com

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Dan Hartland @danhartland.bsky.social · 1d

📣 NEW CRITICAL FRIENDS!

In a new ep of the @strangehorizons.bsky.social SFF criticism podcast, I talk with @redfernjon.bsky.social and Nileena Sunil about books that might be longer, and others that could be shorter.

How to read a text that offers too little, or too much, stuff? Some ideas.

Critical Friends Episode 16: Length and Breadth

Dan Hartland is joined by Redfern Jon Barrett and Nileena Sunil to discuss those novels that feel too sure or not long enough: what's behind that feeling we have that a text is lacking something, o…

strangehorizons.com

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Reposted by Vajra Chandrasekera

Ancillary Review of Books @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org · 8d

End of the month, and that means: the link round-up is upon us! Some cool reviews, some great interviews, and some insightful essays from around the web:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/09/29/w...

Wow! Signal: September 2025

Jake Casella Brookins The Ancillary Review of Books was founded to address the radical possibilities of criticism, particularly in the context of the radical possibilities of speculative fiction. N…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

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Wm Henry Morris @wmhenrymorris.com · 8d

This round up is always good, but I glanced at it this afternoon and decided to spend some time with it this evening, and @casella.bsky.social found a bumper crop of thoughtful writing specifically about criticism and culture in the face of the here and now.

Ancillary Review of Books @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org · 8d

End of the month, and that means: the link round-up is upon us! Some cool reviews, some great interviews, and some insightful essays from around the web:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/09/29/w...

Wow! Signal: September 2025

Jake Casella Brookins The Ancillary Review of Books was founded to address the radical possibilities of criticism, particularly in the context of the radical possibilities of speculative fiction. N…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

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Reposted by Vajra Chandrasekera

A Meal of Thorns @mealofthorns.bsky.social · 2d

For Episode 34, @yarntheory.bsky.social joins to talk about structure, art & endings, relationships, and much more in Melissa Scott's 1993 cyberpunk space-Venice thriller BURNING BRIGHT:
ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/10/06/a...

A Meal of Thorns 34 – BURNING BRIGHT with Ursula Whitcher

Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon!Guest: Ursula WhitcherTitle: Burning Bright by Melissa ScottHost: Jake Case…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

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Renay⁷ @renay.bsky.social · 1d

This is how I run my newsletter! There are a lot of links I find via social media feeds in each issue, but that's often pure luck that I saw it. Sources with dedicated RSS feeds mean it will definitely come across my desk at some point. I use Inoreader on the basic plan (for now) and it's solid.

Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 1d

Speaking of the well-deserved death of social media, I've started using Newsblur as my new RSS reader (had to clean up a depressingly large number of dead links, including to sites that still publish but no longer have RSS feeds) and that does still in fact provide a source of good internet

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Wesley Osam @mwosam.bsky.social · 1d

This kind of pacing has bothered me for ages; I just checked and it looks like I first complained about it on my blog nearly a decade ago: www.superdoomedplanet.com/blog/2016/04...

Action and Time | Recurring Bafflement

www.superdoomedplanet.com

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Jake Casella Brookins @casella.bsky.social · 1d

I've been seeing a lot of this even in books that seem like they should be more driven, pulpier, more plot & action-focused. What frustrates me about it—to be clear, I adore a contemplative lost-in-the-landscape literary meander—is when it seems to stem from a televisual concept of *time*.

The Girl with the Green Ribbon 💀💀 (Jenny Hamilton) @readingtheend.bsky.social · 1d

I'm seeing a lot of this in the romantasy space! there are books with minimal story apart from the romance, so you end up with an iterative structure where the leads go to a series of locations or make a series of small advances on their MacGuffin quest, as set dressing for their escalating intimacy

Mythcreants @mythcreants.bsky.social · 1d

A new thing we’re noticing is books where way less happens than you’d expect for their length because of worldbuilding info dumps or long scenes of explaining plans. You get through a 100,000 word novel and realize the whole story was spent picking up magic groceries.

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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 1d

Speaking of the well-deserved death of social media, I've started using Newsblur as my new RSS reader (had to clean up a depressingly large number of dead links, including to sites that still publish but no longer have RSS feeds) and that does still in fact provide a source of good internet

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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 1d

website currently getting yelled at for their defense of famous transphobe is concerned that slopmonger is a slur

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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 1d

sloptagging mod lists are frankly the only reason this website is even readable

carrion🐛 @carrion.bsky.social · 1d

just don’t create a moderation list, bluesky said that’s bad

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DMITRI @dmitri-foto.bsky.social · 2d

Rakesfall is the most interesting novel I read this year.

Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 5d

Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me) introduces his second novel, Rakesfall, which is is shortlisted for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.

For more about this year's shortlist: www.ursulakleguin.com/prize25

Vajra Chandrasekera reads from Rakesfall

YouTube video by Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation

www.youtube.com

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Aveta👾🇭🇹 @aliafonzy.blacksky.app · 2d

Unfortunate update: Link reached out to BlueSky and got email back now on reason.

His appeal is denied. He will remain permanently banned on BlueSky’s side.

Here are the screenshots he just sent me as of 8:22 AM EST(my time)

A screenshot of an email from the Bluesky Moderation Team with the subject line “Bluesky Account Behavior” sent at 22:15. The email states that a Bluesky account controlled by the recipient, with the handle @spacelawshitpost.me, posted a reply with an image where the alt text reads: Charlie Kirk sitting in a white T-shirt that says “Freedom.” A negative consequence follows. The email indicates this post violates Community Guidelines regarding violent or threatening speech, specifically listing threats of violence or physical harm against individuals, groups, institutions, or the general public, and incitement of self-harm or suicide.

A screenshot of an email continuation from the Bluesky Moderation Team displaying a bulleted list of Community Guidelines violations. The first bullet point describes threats of violence or physical harm as including threats or encouragement of violence against individuals, groups, institutions, or the general public. The second bullet point defines incitement of self-harm or suicide as content that encourages self-harm or suicide. The third bullet point explains wishes of harm as expressions of a desire for harm directed at a specific person or group. Below the bullets, a paragraph states that users may not use Bluesky to break the law or cause harm to others and that all users must be treated with respect. The next paragraph informs the recipient that as a result of these violations, your account has been taken down. A closing paragraph thanks the user for doing their part to keep Bluesky a welcoming and empowering place for all users and instructs them to email moderation@blueskyweb.xyz if they have questions or wish to appeal the decision. The email ends with the signature Bluesky Moderation Team.

A screenshot of an email from the Bluesky Moderation Team sent at 08:11 with the subject line Re: Bluesky Account Behavior addressed To: Hide My Email. The email reads:

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out to appeal the takedown of your account on Bluesky. We have carefully reviewed your case, including the information you provided and the activity that led to the suspension of your account.

After investigating, we have determined that your account activity was in violation of our community guidelines, specifically promoting hateful content or being disruptive to other users. We take these guidelines seriously to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all our users.

As a result, we regret to inform you that your appeal has been denied, and your account will remain suspended. This decision is final and cannot be reversed. We understand that this may be disappointing news, but we must prioritize the well-being of our community and maintain a consistent enforcement of our policies. We encourage you to review our community guidelines to better understand the expectations we have for user behavior on our platform. Please do not create new accounts, since those will be taken down for ban evasion.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

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Defakator (Officiel) 🧆 @defakator.bsky.social · 2d

Haddock : Quelle semaine, hein ?
Tintin : Capitaine, on est lundi, il est 10h

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Rine @rine.bsky.social · 2d

Hell of a decentralized network you have there, you can arbitrarily ban a user on a different PDS from accessing either side, but you don't/can't notify them about it because they're on a different PDS, and we only know the ban is indefinite because someone dug through the code. Great job Bsky team!

Dr ICE Scream Maker: Slasher of Fash 🔪 @pwr2dppl.bsky.social · 2d

Omg Bluesky can't email Link about the ban bc he was on Blacksky 🤡

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Katie Tightpussy, Editor-In-Chief @katie.bzky.team · 2d

bluesky: community moderation! we're all about community moderation! we want you to moderate yourselves! we are giving you the tools to do it yourself!

one of the biggest and longest running community mod lists:

Vergil @ ✊🏽🏳️‍⚧️ @vergiliaux.cryptoanarchy.network · 2d

BSky hid @asukafield.xyz's transphobia mod list. 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

Blue Sky's interface for hidden moderation lists, saying the following: "This list, created by @asukafield.xyz , contains possible violations of Bluesky's community guidelines in its name or description." Offered choices are to unsubscribe or go back.

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Keezy Young🌼 @keezyyoung.bsky.social · 2d

finding yourself wanting to use "psychotic" to describe horrible people, governments, or events? can I present to you: the thesaurus

Nina O'Neill 💉🏥🚔 @cosmomante.bsky.social · 2d

Sadistic, inhumane, cruel, barbaric, heartless, perverse, vile, so many more accurate and less offensive descriptors to use in this situation!

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Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 2d

also disinclined to switch to a different atproto-based server because I mean I already left mastodon on purpose and don't feel the need to see it rebuilt from scratch

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