Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ian Watt @watty62.bsky.social · 15h

Banner printed in Britian?

Repugs R Stinky @artfulscribe.bsky.social · 1d

Gotta luv them Red States, bless their pointed little heads.

Reposted by Ian Watt

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 17h

very interesting what is not allowed these days. in this case, basic archiving of real videos

www.404media.co/apple-banned...

Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses

Eyes Up's purpose is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." But it has been swept up in Apple's crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

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Ian Watt @watty62.bsky.social · 1d

Splendid!

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Reposted by Ian Watt

Code The City @codethecity.bsky.social · 9d

📊 Aberdeen Data Meetup - Join Us on the 7th October! 📊

📅 Tuesday, 7th Oct 2025
🕖 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
📍 The Soap Factory, 111 Gallowgate, Aberdeen (online too)

Discover Wikidata, its licensing, and use SPARQL with Python.

👉 Book now: ti.to/code-the-cit...
Sign up for updates: bit.ly/ctc-news

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Ian Watt @watty62.bsky.social · 2d

This is on tonight in #Aberdeen. Still tickets available. There will be #pizza! And #beer!

#wikidata #sparql #opendata #linkedopendata

Code The City @codethecity.bsky.social · 7d

📅 Date: Tuesday 7th October 2025
🕖 Time: 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
📍 Location: The Soap Factory, 111 Gallowgate, Aberdeen, AB25 1BU (& virtual attendance via Zoom)

🔗Haven't booked yet? We have a few spots left: ti.to/code-the-cit...

#Aberdeen #Wikidata #DataForGood #CodeTheCity #TechCommunity

Aberdeen Data Meetup 07 October 2025

"Make your data project sparkle with Wikidata!" - Ian Watt Wikidata is the world’s largest open knowledge graph, bringing together facts about people, places, culture, and science in a way that anyone...

ti.to

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Reposted by Ian Watt

fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 2d

Elderly parents living on a pension - also very proud so I signed them up for a bonus card with the nearest supermarket. Every few weeks I put money on it and then they get asked if they'd like to use their balance - they think it's from points they've collected.

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Reposted by Ian Watt

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 7d

Why is Starmer becoming more confident criticising Brexit? Because quietly, without any great drama, a consensus has been reached. It's a disaster inews.co.uk/opinion/brex...

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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 8d

Reform’s Russia connections are a danger to our national security.

It’s time for a public inquiry.

Nathan Gill’s treachery puts him in same league as the “Cambridge Five”

Reform’s Russia connections may endanger our security – time for a public inquiry

bylines.scot

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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 8d

“I would gently point out to Nigel Farage that before we left the EU we had a returns agreement with every country in the EU. He told the country it would make no difference if we left. He was wrong about that. These are Farage boats in many senses coming across the channel” 👏

PM Keir Starmer

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Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 8d

Wikipedia editors have put together a guide on signs of AI writing:

-Tone: vague attribution of opinion ("has been described as")

-Style: the now infamous em dashes; excessive use of boldface

-Communication intended for the user: "I hope this helps," "You're absolutely right," sycophantic chatter

Here’s a handy guide to help you spot AI writing.

Source image from Wikimedia Foundation It’s always a bit surprising to me how trusted Wikipedia has become, since I spent my entire childhood being told by adults to never, ever, trust it. But the …

lithub.com

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Reposted by Ian Watt

Patrick - Here for the craic 👍🏼 @patrickopatrick.bsky.social · 9d

During 14 years of Tory Government they raised the tax burden on us all to a 70 year high

Kemi BadEnoch who was part of that Govt is so supremely arrogant and thick she thinks we forgot that as she takes a pop with a pie chart the Tories made up that looks like a 5 year old did it 🙄🙄🤷🏼‍♂️

Kemi Badenoch says tax rises are coming with a shitty looking pie chart on X

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Reposted by Ian Watt

Open Data Camp @odcamp.uk · 9d

We’d like to thank our Silver sponsor, TPXimpact @tpximpact.com, for helping to make Open Data Camp 10 possible.

www.tpximpact.com

We had a great time, we hope you did too.

We really appreciate the support from all our sponsors.

#odcamp #opendata

People-powered transformation | Digital Transformation Consultancy - TPXimpact

TPXimpact is a people-powered digital transformation consultancy helping public, private and third-sector organisations build better futures for people, places and the planet.

www.tpximpact.com

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Reposted by Ian Watt

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 9d

NEW: Rachel Maddow drops unseen bodycam footage of feds coordinating the arrest of Newark Mayor Baraka.

I REPEAT: the feds ordered his arrest even though he wasn’t breaking any laws.

Federal agent: “We are arresting the mayor right now per the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.”

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Ian Watt @watty62.bsky.social · 9d

Likewise, Pauline. Hope all goes well for you back over the water! 🍀

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Ian Watt @watty62.bsky.social · 9d

Great. Thanks. I think explicit expression helps both you control what happens with the drawings and the re-user know what's permitted.

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Ian Watt @watty62.bsky.social · 10d

Am I right in recalling that @drawnalism.com 's sketchnotes for #ODCampused to have an explicit licence on them for reuse (CC-BY-SA 4.0 for example)?

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Ian Watt @watty62.bsky.social · 10d

Back from #ODCamp and Edinburgh. Had a wonderful time with great people; gave a talk on #Wikidata, attended great #opendata sessions; had several walks in the sunshine; and even managed to upload a few photos to #WikiCommons for 2025's #WikiLovesMonuments.

Some historic buildings in Edinburgh, five storeys tall, made from honey-coloured sandstone.

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Ian Watt @watty62.bsky.social · 11d

Proud to be the originator of "Open Charlatans Register" at Open Data Camp (@odcamp.uk) today.

Brilliantly captured here by @drawnalism.com's Royston!

A sketch note of an unconference session portraying 'Tackling the Malaise" and portraying a man on a shrinks couch, Donald Trump, a Flying V guitar and much more.

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Reposted by Ian Watt

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 14d

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 15d

During WW1 there was a rumour that aspirin caused the Spanish Flu. As I was writing about that last year I often shook my head in disbelief at the stupidity of our near ancestors. Seems a lot of people are still dumb enough to believe nonsense.

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 14d

Nigel Farage claims his mass deportation plan would save the UK hundreds of billions of pounds over the coming decades.

New analysis of official statistics, forecasts and Reform's own figures suggests it would actually *cost* the UK hundreds of billions over the same period

Farage’s Trillion Pound Black Hole: The Real Cost of Reform UK’s Mass Deportation Plan

Exclusive: Reform's plan, which it claims would net huge savings over the coming decades, would actually cost the UK about £70-90bn over the next ten years alone, new analysis of official statistics a...

bylinetimes.com

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Krassensteins @krassenstein.bsky.social · 18d

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Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 18d

Bye!

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 18d

British media pumps out daily propaganda pieces for Farage, fails to offer *any scrutiny* and basically legitimises rampant racism, then puts on its ‘innocent face’ and clutches its pearls at the rise of the far right…
What a grim betrayal of our democracy.
www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how...

Reform, with 0.7% of all MPs, featured in 25% of BBC's recent 10pm news bulletins

Astonishingly, a party with 18 times as many MPs as Reform has received one-third less coverage on BBC News at 10.

www.thelondoneconomic.com

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Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 19d

There goes the First Amendment.

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