Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 15h

this does sort of exist! Chris Gethard isn’t super famous but he is a somewhat well known comedian and writer: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People

Society & Culture Podcast · Updated Weekly · 1 phone call. 1 hour. No names. No holds barred. Thats the premise behind Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People, hosted by comedian Chris Gethard (the Ch...

podcasts.apple.com

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What’s the Hold Up Pod Dan @jacketdan.bsky.social · 1d

He did it again for the 5 year anniversary

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 19h

re: the flurry of “leave your phone at home for protests” advice, will just offer this—“…it’s important to take a step back and think about your specific threat context. Ask yourself: Do I actually have a reason to keep my presence at a given location a secret?”

Ask a security trainer: Is mobile device location tracking a real risk?

Yes, but before implementing steps to mitigate it, take a moment to ask: Who’s at risk, when does it matter, and what’s at stake?

freedom.press

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Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 23h

One of the most important things I teach when I teach about the history of the FDA is how supplements are not monitored and tested like drugs are. They rely on self or 3rd party regulation, which often fails in so many ways.

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 1d

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

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molly @bugmom.bsky.social · 1d

yeah

A white fluffy cat laying on a couch sleeping against a giant frog squishmallow pillow

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 1d

Sam Altman went from “AI will cure cancer" to "ChatGPT porn" in less than a month

ChatGPT boss predicts when AI could cure cancer

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.
12:02 PM · Oct 14, 2025
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Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 6d

Every fall we publish a list of the 100 Best Nonprofits to Work for in Oregon. When we started putting the issue together, we’d been reporting for months on the effects of federal funding cuts to Oregon nonprofits. We decided to put together a package about it: oregonbusiness.com/staying-the-...

Staying the Course

In 2025 Oregon nonprofits are navigating choppy waters. We talked to a few of them about how they’re navigating federal funding cuts and a challenging fundraising environment — and what keeps them foc...

oregonbusiness.com

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Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 1d

IIRC he was skateboarding to work at a potato processing facility in Idaho because he didn’t have a car. Ocean Spray bought him a new truck…full of Ocean Spray.

(recall that he was skating on a freeway, where a skateboard is not a super safe mode of transit)

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Garfield and Friends Screens @garfieldscreens.bsky.social · 1d

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Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 1d

I’m a mending guy and it’s great

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Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 1d

I am a Sewing Guy but secretly it’s all about watching the Small Appliance Guys go to town on lamps and space heaters

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Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 1d

earnest post: volunteering at repair cafés/fairs (which I did a lot last year but paused this year after spraining my ankle) is a great way to see a lot of Guys in action

ceej @ceej.online · Aug 30

not having easy access to Guys has forced me to become a tiny plumbing Guy, light electrical Guy, CAD and 3D printing Guy, computer and networking Guy, garden Guy, and Guy who has a bunch of random tools. I am ready to take my place in the Guy Economy

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ceej @ceej.online · Aug 30

not having easy access to Guys has forced me to become a tiny plumbing Guy, light electrical Guy, CAD and 3D printing Guy, computer and networking Guy, garden Guy, and Guy who has a bunch of random tools. I am ready to take my place in the Guy Economy

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ceej @ceej.online · Aug 30

my father-in-law is a “I know a guy” Guy. sadly all the old Guys are aging out of the Guy Economy. Guys are fundamentally incompatible with Hustle Culture because it’s not about “winning” a deal, it’s about collecting favors and goodwill in a mutually-beneficial cycle. protect your local Guy Economy

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Hell-issa Johnson, PhD 🎃 @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 2d

Columbus was bad! He was an enslaver! He was cruel to indigenous people! But we have to tell the truth. Otherwise history is just propaganda, and that's not okay just because it supports your political beliefs

*gingerly steps down from soapbox*

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Hell-issa Johnson, PhD 🎃 @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 2d

(He was arrested for mistreating other Spaniards. A lot of the stories told by Las Casas were about other conquistadores - the one about cutting off hands and noses was about an officer in Bogota.)

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Hell-issa Johnson, PhD 🎃 @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 2d

Ah yes, the annual day when I have to just let the historical inaccuracies wash over me and not try to correct every single thing. Columbus sucked, but he didn't do all the things people claim he did, and he wasn't arrested for mistreating Indigenous people. It's way more complicated!

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matthew @pahuski.com · 2d

Happy Columbo’s Day

Screenshot from Columbo. He his talking to his dog, which is sitting is the drivers seat of a car. “Okay, I’m gonna put you in charge. You take care of the car. You’re a responsible dog. When I get back, if the car’s okay, I’ll give you another cookie.”

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Andi Zeisler @andizeisler.bsky.social · 2d

honestly props to the Emergency Naked Bike Riders, the weather was absolute shit today

Naked bike riders crossing an intersection

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Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 3d

I read about half of Vineland ~20 years ago and had seen trailers so I had a sense of what I was in for but uh yeah. Timely

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Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 3d

(the cocktail was a French 75, I’m not made of wood)

Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 3d

I saw One Battle After Another tonight and it took fully 30 minutes and a cocktail to get my heart rate back down to normal after

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Christen McCurdy @christenmccurdy.bsky.social · 3d

I rewatched Reds a couple years ago and Keaton acts her ass off in this movie

Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 4d

There are so many Diane Keaton performances to remember, but a lot of people haven't seen Reds, and A) my God, see it, it is a masterpiece and B) her performance as Louise Bryant is one of the bravest, toughest, least sympathy-courting pieces of work by an American actress in the last 50 years.

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 4d

There are so many Diane Keaton performances to remember, but a lot of people haven't seen Reds, and A) my God, see it, it is a masterpiece and B) her performance as Louise Bryant is one of the bravest, toughest, least sympathy-courting pieces of work by an American actress in the last 50 years.

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 4d

I wrote this in March 2024 as i was trying to reckon with the implications of a possible Trump 2.0 administration. I worried about how a political culture built around absurdist lies could, when combined with real state power, produce a state of authoritarian terror. And here we are.

It turns out, those were not the right questions to ask. The question I should have been asking is "what are the implications for American politics when a large chunk of activists, leaders, and voters in one political party stop caring in the slightest about the accuracy or even plausibility of their public statements?" It's like the difference between walking into a fast food restaurant where there's a big stack of chicken nuggets behind the counter, asking for chicken nuggets, having the person at the register say "oh, we're out of nuggets," and then winking at you and handing them over...vs. having the person behind the counter say "oh, we're out of nuggets" and then refusing to give them to you. And then when you call over the manager they also look you in the face and say "we're out of nuggets." And then when you incredulously point to the nuggets behind them they have the security
guard put you in a headlock while they call the police. Absurdist lies + power = authoritarian
terror.

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