Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley.bsky.social · 3d

The RIFs that began Friday will reportedly cut 65% of CISA’s 2,540 employees, one of the dumbest and most dangerous moves imaginable. CISA defends the nation’s cyber and critical infrastructure. Destroying it now only makes sense if you’re afraid of election integrity.

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Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1h

I mask bc I have lyme disease that predates the covid pandemic, and even before I finally got a diagnosis in 2023, I was obviously sick enough that I didn't need to add anything else to my immune system's tab

Even if I make a full recovery someday, I would *never* risk having such an illness again

Frank Elavsky ⌁ @frank.computer · 1d

Masking also isn't a categorical kind of rationality either. People have different reasons.

I mask because, as someone immuno-compromised, the risks are significantly higher. There is no simple way to handwave masking as irrational and fear-based unless you unpack how each person makes decisions.

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Ariella Elm @ariellaelm.bsky.social · 7h

If you have never been to a protest before, and you’re nervous about going to no Kings, but you wanna go, comment below with your concerns.

And if you’ve protested, read the comments, and if you find one that you can alleviate their concern, reply.

Hopefully this will get more people to attend!

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dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @davehowcroft.com · 7h

Did you already get the stats/quant support you wanted?

Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

J. C. Cantwell 🌻 @segfaultvicta.aludel.xyz · 5d

FROG 🐸 SEMIOTICS 🐸 REDEMPTION 🐸 ARC

Ariella Elm @ariellaelm.bsky.social · 5d

I don’t think we’re talking enough about the fact that we successfully took back the frog. Like it has been a meme for the alt right for years now, and thanks to these Portland inflatable costumes, we’re taking it back

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Richard Wike @richardwike.bsky.social · 7h

We've got a new report looking at views about AI around the world. Roughly 8-in-10 have heard at least a little about AI. On balance, people are more concerned than excited about its growing presence in daily life. Concerns are especially common in the U.S.

www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

How People Around the World View AI

Most adults across 25 countries are aware of AI, and people are generally more concerned than excited about its effects on daily life.

www.pewresearch.org

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Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 7h

“The most common is “Chinese woman follows her African partner home and has a bad time.” These videos universally depict Africa (never a specific country) as desperately poor, socially backward, and rife with physical and sexual violence.”

foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/15/c...

Racist AI Fantasies Are Spreading on China’s Internet

Anti-Black videos speak to popular prejudices.

foreignpolicy.com

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Edgar Allen Dope @ecsweet.bsky.social · 1d

Someone once tweeted:

Don’t let ppl ruin your name. Cause they can say “Daenerys Targaryen” with no trouble!”

From then my brain shifted.

🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 1d

Racism. It’s just the racism. I know you know . It’s just exasperating to watch

They say Murkowski with now problem and just stumble over this man’s name

Aditya Mukerjee 🦦 🏳️‍🌈 @chimeracoder.bsky.social · 1d

how are people still having trouble saying "Mamdani", lmfao.

like, not only has it been months, but it's literally 100% phonetic. Just... say the letters that are written!

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

dr. caitlin m. green @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social · 1d

this is probably fine

consumerreports.org

Protein Powders and Shakes
Contain High Levels of Lead Protein supplements are wildly popular, but CR's tests of 23 products found that more than two-thirds of them contain more lead in a single serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day
By Paris Martineau
Investigative Reporter
October 14, 2025

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 2d

"Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children." —MLK Jr.

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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 1d

Senate is back in session today.

1/ So a quick 🧵on where things are at on the shutdown.

You get a lot of propaganda and spin thrown at you, so I want to give you the real, behind-the-scenes tea.

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Lukasz Olejnik @lukaszolejnik.bsky.social · 1d

A few maliciously crafted documents can poison / backdoor an AI model, regardless of model size or training data size. "attacks do not become harder as models scale up; instead, they become easier" arxiv.org/pdf/2510.071...

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The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social · 1d

Watching people being brutalized by the state, secure in the knowledge that I'm safe because I don't do anything wrong. And the best part? The state can't suddenly and arbitrarily redefine what "wrong" means

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Dawn 🧟 of the Dead 🧟 @dawnbuggy.bsky.social · 1d

One of those early scientists who seems like they were a genius at everything. “Not only am I basically inventing a whole field of study and the equipment I need for it, but I’m also great at drawing it and learned two extra languages to communicate it.”
I’m glad expectations are lower today!

Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · Sep 9

For the #SciArtSeptember prompt origin a print about autodidact marine #biologist Jeanne Villepreux-Power (1794 – 1871). 🐡🧪👩🏼‍🔬🦑 Not only did she invent aquariums for scientific study, she solved the millenium-old mystery about the nature and origin of the argonaut’s shell, showing that it is in fact 🧵

My linocut portrait of Jeanne Villepreux-Power with an aquarium and one of her observation cages with anchor. There is a paper nautilus in the aquarium and she is holding a net while wear a voluminous dress. The print is in a gradient of gold at the bottom through green and purple at the top.

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Sara Nović @novicsara.bsky.social · 1d

Fun little reminder that before Bari Weiss was destroying a large media outlet, she was just a random blogger arguing for subminimum wage for disabled people. 😉
(This post is about listening to disabled people.)

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Juggalocalism @outside.bsky.social · 1d

Your briefcase was your backpack AND your laptop.
(And maybe your mobile phone, but that was also your wallet and your wristwatch.)

www.noahbrier.com/archives/201...

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dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @davehowcroft.com · 1d

Time for your irregular reminder that I host a Discord server for folks interested in #NaturalLanguageGeneration ( #NLG, #textgeneration), so hmu to join if you're a researcher or otherwise interested in an invite :)

Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 1d

this is not quite an anti-trust tragedy but it's certainly some kind of capital market regulation problem if people can buy assets that provide huge public goods specifically in order to destroy the public good provision

karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 2d

Lmao WaPo has fewer than 100K circulation now. It turns out “alienate your liberal subscriber base” is not a good strategy when the Republicans also hate you. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...

The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay

Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.

www.forbes.com

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Celeste Pewter @celestepewter.bsky.social · 1d

I literally just turned in a round of edits to my editor at Bloomsbury for my book about the founding of JPL and the Suicide Squad, and this is painful to see.

JPL has been responsible for some of our most incredible achievements in science, and this is going to set us back.

CNBC @cnbc.com · 2d

NASA unit JPL to lay off about 550 workers, citing restructure

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a research and development lab funded by NASA — the federal space agency — and managed by the Caltech.

cnb.cx

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Jessie Gender @jessiegender.bsky.social · 1d

John Oliver is what liberals imagine Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert to be — a genuine critic of America’s systemic failures who stands up for trans people and other marginalized groups, while actually offering real actions and hopeful solutions.

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dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @davehowcroft.com · 2d

Just got weak in the knees imagining this replaced with high speed rail

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Lauren "Hope is Praxis" Lastname @verbingnouns.bsky.social · 2d

I think about death pretty constantly. So does my dad. He's come close, I went to the in-between while giving birth, twice, and I've been in such pain that I left my body (not giving birth). This sounds about right.

My dad always says being dead is exactly the same as before being born. I do too.

🌈Dr. Franken Frizzle 🎃 @swilua.bsky.social · 2d

There were so many things that were so much more deeply profound than I could have possibly imagined.

But I still don’t know what to do about death.

There’s no certainty there.

CW: SI

www.kerrycoran.com/writing/litu...

Mabon — Kerry C. Òran

When I was little and used to trace the shape of the owls on her arms I asked her if it hurt—the fire, the burns. “The burns hurt,” she told me. “But the fire didn’t.” That seemed incomprehensi...

www.kerrycoran.com

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Foone @foone.bsky.social · 2d

signing up for the hot new linguistic dating site

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dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @davehowcroft.com · 2d

It sucks because his anti-monopoly posts have been nice at times

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Reposted by dave howl-croft 👻🦔 in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 2d

FYI: If you know of intersections of religion and pushback to ICE/DHS in general, but especially Chicago, feel free to drop me a line.

You can reach me via Signal at: jackmjenkins.60

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