Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 4h

Things I've seen or heard to work with varying success:
* Have a routine before (check notes, instrument, breathing exercises, etc).
* Practice public performance w/o audience (perform on an empty parking place, field).
* Reinforce that process is more important than results of a single performance.

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 2d

"The inability of the media to report things honestly means not only are Ukrainians deceived, but all of Europe is as well."

Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 2d

Hi All, Just sent out my free weekend update. Big Story (which should be no surprise) Trump sandbagged Ukraine again, lied about possibly helping the Ukrainians then pivoted to work with Putin. Can we end this charade?

open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Weekend Update #155: No More, Please!

The Kill Zone Expands; Ukraine Attacks Russian Electricity Transfer

open.substack.com

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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 2d

In other issues, Syrskyi discusses the growth of the battlefield "kill zone" and the Ukrainians step up attacks against Russian electricity generation and supply.

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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 2d

Hi All, Just sent out my free weekend update. Big Story (which should be no surprise) Trump sandbagged Ukraine again, lied about possibly helping the Ukrainians then pivoted to work with Putin. Can we end this charade?

open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Weekend Update #155: No More, Please!

The Kill Zone Expands; Ukraine Attacks Russian Electricity Transfer

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Adrian Constantin

Bevis Musson @bevismusson.bsky.social · 9d

Mr Laos. Just when you though this year was a bit quiet on the insanely huge, bedazzled, symbolic costumes along comes Mr Laos and blows everyone else out of the water. This is insane, but it's also *so* good.

A photo of a contestant at Mister Global 2025

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#9 Dream @gayfabfourfan.bsky.social · 9d

Untreated HIV can take on average around 10 years to progress to AIDS. This means HIV was unknowingly circulating throughout the ‘70s (and likely before). Going by this rough timeline, we won’t know what damage a single COVID infection, let alone several, does long term until around 2030.

Oni Blackstock, MD MHS @oniblackstock.bsky.social · 9d

The first reports of what would eventually be called AIDS and its causative agent identified as HIV were published in the MMWR in 1981 alerting health care and public health systems across the country. A tremendous loss for public health.

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Janne M. Korhonen @jmkorhonen.fi · 10d

Finnish #intelligence #history keeps having wild plot twists.

A retired Finnish spy-catcher with probably a world record in catching Soviet “illegals” (“at least” 25) got the largest lottery jackpot in Europe - and used the millions to do and help counterintelligence.

www.hs.fi/tutkiva/art-...

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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 10d

The only people nuttier than those who claim to support Trump and Ukraine are those who are adamant that Trump and Maduro are great opposites. Trump is simply trying to be an American Maduro, power with no belief and, of course, a commitment to personal enrichment.

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Tuomas Mattila @tuomasjmattila.bsky.social · 11d

Se on #pandemiaPerjantai ja uudet @thlfi.bsky.social #SARS-CoV2 #jätevesi datat. Päivitetyt kaaviot, olkaa hyvät!
- viime viikko ei ollut virhe, epidemia etenee lujaa
- erikoinen pieni suvanto välissä, mutta määrät kirivät kiinni syyskuun alun tasoa
- vuosivertailussa vielä pieniä tasoja

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Matt Oliver @sameo416.bsky.social · 11d

It’s astounding that no one says - hey isn’t there a field of science specifically specializing in respiratory protection?

This is a bit like me sponsoring an electrical engineering review of neurosurgery papers. Hey it’s all electricity…

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 10d

The memory of that desperation has faded now. I hope against all hope we'll have sooner rather than later our collective epiphany that mass action is possible before we reach again insane levels of misery.
/end

Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 10d

The sad lesson of history is that, apart from military organizations, mass cooperation seems to be triggered only when a critical mass of people get desperate enough and see no other solution. In recent history, a small number of nations got there after one world war, others needed two.

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 10d

It's nice to say "let's fight together against the fascist takeover of the country", but I won't trust you in such high stakes situation, if sometimes earlier you told me "I don't care if your home burns due to climate change, if you get killed or maimed by a virus, if your kids can't go to school".

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 10d

If you screw me over in one of these games, I won't trust you, or even worse, I will screw you over in another game.

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 10d

Imagine 2 people (a generic you and I) involved in a series of situations modelled as games: taxation, climate change, building of infrastructure and homes, culture, public education and health care, pandemics, fascist takeover of government, war, etc.

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 10d

Ofc he is right, but based on game theory, we would need an enormous amount of collective coordination to achieve such a Pareto optimum. From social point of view high collective coordination requires high levels of trust.

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Janne M. Korhonen @jmkorhonen.fi · 11d

Can a pope declare a crusade against the superrich?

Asking for a friend.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 12d

Pope Leo XIV has blasted how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer. In his first teaching document Thursday, Leo confirms that he is in perfect lockstep with Pope Francis on matters of social injustice.

Pope Leo blasts economy that marginalizes poor while wealthy live in bubble of luxury

Pope Leo XIV has blasted how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer.

bit.ly

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 11d

Given how your usual crusade goes, the crusaders would fight the poor first, and only then handle the rich. And all their actions would make the situation worse for most people.

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 11d

I curse Ikea instructions the most, because a lot of my furniture is Ikea. A lot of my furniture is Ikea because the other companies are way, way worse. Hiring a half decent drawing artist is the low bar, but still an impossible task for most companies, apparently.

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Grace @gracekind.net · 11d

Asking Claude for advice 3 times, colorized

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 11d

Or that you need a good publicist.

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Prof. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · 12d

My latest animation of the global surface temperature anomaly, 1851 - 2025 (current through September).

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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 12d

As the Supreme Court term begins, keep this framework in mind: Autocratic Legalism.

Instead of “rule of law” (law constrains the power), we get “rule by law” (law as a weapon for power).

Authoritarians usually have to install allies. Trump started his second term with that step already complete.

The only effective opposition is through the language of morality and documented harm—not legal technicalities that can be swept away with a 6–3 vote.” The text is centered on a neutral background, with “morality” and “documented harm” slightly emphasized to underscore the moral and empirical contrast with “legal technicalities.”

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James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 12d

By relying on the “vaxx & relax” approach to dealing with COVID, Public Health officials backed themselves into a corner… a corner that the anti-Science lobby had set up as a trap.

The anti-Science lobby now controls vaccine research and distribution in the US.

The other tools? PH sabotaged them.

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Adrian Constantin @adriancjr.bsky.social · 14d

For what is worth it, I think Greta Thunberg is a remarkable human being.

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻🚫👑 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · 14d

Greta Thunberg speaks to the press after being released from illegal detainment in Israel: "I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me, but that is not the story.”

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