Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Disappointed Optimist @disappoptimism.bsky.social · 2d

If this happened at a steel plant there would be talk of government bail out to secure jobs

LopaLeach @lopa.bsky.social · 4d

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cuts-eq...

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU

Proposed job losses almost triple since March as unions prepare to vote on nationwide industrial action

www.timeshighereducation.com

4 71 230

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · 2d

Incredible thermal inversion over Edinburgh from the pentlands this morning. Taken from Carnethy hill looking north-east, you can see Turnhouse, Castlelaw, Allermuir and Caerketton hills. What you can't see is any of the city of Edinburgh!

@threadinburgh.scot @secretedinburgh.bsky.social

Looking out over the city of Edinburgh, hidden in fog. Four hills are visible, which look like islands in a sea of clouds.

2 15 88

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 3d

since we're talking about The Other Place, one now pointless gripe I still have is that actually it could have remained a fair bit more pleasant and usable and useful if more people just used the non-algorithmic timeline and I'll never understand why they didn't just do it

55 21 360

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 6d

Just because an LLM can produce a report with various figures & charts doesn't mean it is good at statistics.

Because good statistics is not about producing code.

It's about deep knowledge of study design & conduct. In my opinion, 95% of all data science problems come from poor questions & design.

Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · 6d

Y'all. I just got ChatGPT to do everything in R for this manuscript. I mean EVERYTHING. And it's all legit and reproducible. I'm shook.

How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?

scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...

Statistics in the era of AI

How do we mentor, teach, and do stats when AI can do so much of the work?

scienceforeveryone.science

13 24 100

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 15d

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

49 630 2K

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · 16d

New blog: we *think* the UK government's crucial Warm Homes Plan will launch next month. So what does it need to do to be a success?

I've set out 7 tests for the Warm Homes Plan here - from making electricity cheaper to making local delivery work.

www.nesta.org.uk/blog/seven-t...

Seven tests for the government’s Warm Homes plan

Accelerating the switch from gas to electricity, make electricity cheaper, and balancing electrification with insulation are key policies that could reduce bills and carbon emissions for households

www.nesta.org.uk

1 7 12

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · Sep 11

Despite easily being the most British fighting vehicle ever developed, the mock-Tudor AT-AT programme was sadly cancelled due to budgetary concerns

The Old Wellington Inn in Manchester, being jacked up on stilts to the new street level during redevelopment. It definitely looks like it's about to waddle out of the picture.

50 560 2.2K

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Paul Duane 🥔 @paulduane.bsky.social · Sep 10

I don't think it is callous of me to observe that it is weird to see the PM of the UK, the leader of the Opposition of the UK, and the ex UK PM all putting out solemn and devastated tweets about the death of a podcaster who is only a big name if you're constantly on Twitter

37 410 1.5K

Reposted by Ben Cooper

nude antifa goat @goat.sex · Sep 7

"but we can't support trans rights, it's unpopular!"

just a reminder that US approval for marriage between black and white people at the start of the civil rights movement was 4%, reaching a whopping 20% by the end of the movement

it's 95% now

you don't wait for popularity for a rights movement

42 2.2K 5.4K

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Ewamore, Quoth the Raven @ewacat.bsky.social · Sep 9

this is called "doing a streeting" which is to position yourself firmly on the wrong side of an issue for no reason and to no one's benefit

The National @scotnational.bsky.social · Sep 9

Wes Streeting has defended Lord Peter Mandelson’s relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein after it was revealed the Labour peer called the convicted paedophile his 'best pal'

Wes Streeting defends Lord Peter Mandelson's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

www.thenational.scot

12 440 1.7K

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · Sep 8

Ooof, chilly start to the day...

1 2

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Standplaats Kraków @standplaatskrk.pl · Jun 6

Extremely fried image of John and Paul of the Beatles being interviewed.

Reporter: "Are Space Marines the coolest faction in 40k?"

John: "Space Marines aren't even the coolest faction in the Imperium"

2 34 210

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · Aug 22

One for you @daniel-williams.co.uk

1

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · Aug 22

Oh cool, Windows 11 has tabbed file browsing. That feature that's been in most Linux distributions for 15+ years! Well, better late than never!

1 3

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · Aug 14

Tbh, especially considering its scale, the monolith is one of the simplest necron kits to assemble, I loved it.

This dude and Illuminor Szeras, however, were torture...

2 2

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · Jul 21

Frustrates me how it barely acknowledges the 30 minutes free drop off point. Sure, you have to walk ~5 minutes to the terminal, but it's still closer than the laybys on the road...

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · Jun 19

@hughrbrechin.bsky.social One from the Dark Days. The Before Times.

1

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · Jun 5

Was it a Samsung TV? And if so, how was the process? Considering making the switch from Plex.

1

Reposted by Ben Cooper

👻madeline boOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · May 27

one in a billion means statistically it should happen roughly once per lunar cycle in the UK, about 13 times in a calendar year

michael veale @michae.lv · May 27

You might be intrigued by the BBC's coverage of a 'one-in-a-billion' find of a spherical hen's egg but I bring you news that the BBC has brought you news of 2 other separate spherical egg finds in the last 9 months alone

Woman finds 'one in a billion' spherical egg

Stories like this

Rare round egg sells at auction for £420
Published
18 March
A picture of a round egg in someone's hand.

'One-in-a-billion' round egg discovered in Devon
Published
17 January
Alison Greene pictured in the processing unit with a conveyer belt running next to her. She is wearing a green jumper with a black woolly gilet and a blue woolly hat. She has red hair and is holding the brown egg in front of her.

Spherical egg sells at auction for £200
Published
16 December 2024
Spherical egg displayed on a green cloth.

Man shells out on rare spherical egg in auction
Published
17 August 2024

4 12 150

Ben Cooper @btcooper.bsky.social · May 24

Found in the Highlands and presented without comment

1

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Hugh Brechin @hughrbrechin.bsky.social · May 8

still possible that Mr Blobby bursts through the window and out onto the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square

2 15 51

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Micah @rincewind.run · May 7

the fundamental disconnect between the manosphere and reality is that they are incapable of understanding that this is - according to every woman I’ve ever met - the sexiest thing a man has ever done

shauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · May 7

eight years ago today we all watched the glory of zendaya falling madly in love with tom holland and the internet was never the same

420 3.9K 17K

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · May 7

I have a simple solution to this. Grade students entirely by means of three hour hand-written exams in a big hall with no computers. If they all fail because they never learned to write without AI, sucks to be them

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · May 7

“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate…Both in the literal sense and in the sense of being historically illiterate and having no knowledge of their own culture, much less anyone else’s.”

Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College

ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project.

nymag.com

83 100 640

Reposted by Ben Cooper

Bob Gooday @bobgooday.bsky.social · May 1

happy beltane and international workers day my celts and comrades

1 5

Reposted by Ben Cooper

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · Apr 30

My standard rule is that before anyone is allowed to talk shit about a university's economic role, they have to tell me how many people they think it employs.

They're normally wrong by a factor of ten.

This should also be the first question to any MP offering thoughts on the topic.

9 58 340