Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1m

forbes dot com sounds fancy but it's just a blog they let any idiot post on, has been for years and years

1

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 17m

thanks!!!

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 50m

oops - alt text: a very strange scene i walked by recently - a concrete roadside planter that had apparently been run into by a vehicle, killing a very large snake who lived inside (?)

1

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1h

everything we'd known
devastated; burrowed snake's
planter smashed to shards.

#haiku #poetry

1 2

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1h

today's draft #sonnet. i've still been writing one a day, but they are all backed up in a notebook. trying to carve out more editing time #poetry

the void.

there’s nothing in my head at all, a gap
of absence where the substance isn’t there -
like at the top or bottom of a stair
where foot predicts a reaffirming tap
but lurches through a lack; confusing slap
of long expected matter missing, scare
of sudden shattered bulb, a shadow-flare
that leaves me blind and thrashing, thunderclap

that silences abruptly - and i flail
in measureless abysses, in the dark
where nothing’s there to push or pull against

to grant the least momentum. as i fail
to orient myself, you are a spark
no longer there, an aftering, unsensed.

a construction site in bangkok with a giant muddy hole and a big tangle of rebar

1 2

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1h

i think i'm finally able to stick to little daily attempts to get better at something, as long as they are relatively self-contained, without giving up... never could do it before covid lockdown

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1h

agreed!

Reposted by alex guenther

Kent N. Kachigian @kentnkachigian.bsky.social · 10h

The Eaton Fire turned my next door neighbors Avocado tree into Japanese painting

1 2

Reposted by alex guenther

clarelovespie.bsky.social @clarelovespie.bsky.social · 13h

bedazzled his eyes,
unsubdued, his thoughts, heart and feet,
chiseled memories

1 1

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 15h

thanks! 🫡

1

Reposted by alex guenther

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

what i could not see,
lichen-spackled, camouflaged -
turf-encircled stone.

#haiku #poetry

1 5 29

Reposted by alex guenther

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 16h

my main takeaways from listening to the Supreme Court oral argument today are

-the writing is on the wall for the Voting Rights Act
-the Republican justices are now throwing racist spaghetti at that wall; they'll pass of whatever sticks as the opinion's rationale
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/calla...

The Conservative Justices Have So Many Ideas For How to Kill the Voting Rights Act

The Republican justices already know where they’re going. They just have to figure out which route they’re going to take to get there.

ballsandstrikes.org

25 290 790

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 16h

oh thanks, it certainly seems like a pleasant thing to attempt getting better at

1 1

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

thanks very much, looks more than it should like a kind of salvador dali melting bamboo, but i think i'll get there slowly

1

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

what i could not see,
lichen-spackled, camouflaged -
turf-encircled stone.

#haiku #poetry

1 5 29

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

uh why are you very performatively telling us on bluesky this? aren't you supposed to be representing someone right now? frickin call j.d. vance yourself man

Rep. Jamie Raskin @raskin.house.gov · 1d

So what do you say, J.D. Vance? You once feared Trump could be the American Adolf Hitler. But that seems to be the hope of the new generation of Republicans you’ve raised. Will you denounce this outbreak of antisemitism, racism and fascism in your party?

Politico @politico.com · 1d

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

1

Reposted by alex guenther

John Moe @johnmoe.bsky.social · 1d

The responses here compel me to warn teachers: students will never forget injustices borne of your ignorance and your belittlement is gasoline poured on what becomes a durable fire.

John Moe @johnmoe.bsky.social · 1d

What meaningless thing/experience are you still mad about? Like it should not matter at all, DOES not matter at all. But you’re still MAD.

And how long has it been?

I bought some bagels at Hy-Vee four years ago. So bad. Too big. Hard. Bland. WORTHLESS.

I’m still FURIOUS.

1 9 53

Reposted by alex guenther

Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 1d

There's so much institutional rot right now, but it's been led by the supreme court, which has been and continues to be, illegitimate. Yet we're proceeding as if that body-with 3 stolen seats and justices whose corruption is a matter of public record-remains the arbiter of constitutionality. Insane

2 16 77

Reposted by alex guenther

karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 1d

Every time a Democrat gets caught on tape saying like “Some Trump voters are racist” we have a national scandal and JD Vance demands an entirely new kind of apology and meanwhile every Republican group chat is like “Good morning fellow SS members. Who’s ready to respect Hitler today?”

20 1.1K 4.3K

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

think new interest in japanese ink painting is good for my brain. needs decisive strokes, can't be retouched, so just have to resolve to keep trying and not feel bad no matter what. this is day 4. can't do bamboo leaves properly yet, (i think i need to move from elbow, not wrist?) but... see above.

a not very skilled ink painting of bamboo on one a6 notebook page

10 13 140

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

i guess the difference is scale. a pharaoh could never make a billion people suffer at once, which is child's play for a trump
or musk. humanity's eternal dream of true instant global cruelty (without the need for nuclear war) has finally been achieved

4

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

... and pharaohs always need robotic slaves and scribes. they just weren't actual robots until recently

1

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

disney adults throughout the ages have never cared where their toys come from, they just want a full toybox

2

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

maybe art has always been like this and i should calm down. to the pope, michelangelo was an automaton he bought with his billions, and the sistine chapel was the ready player one of its time

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

headline does a good job of capturing how pathetically uncreative and creepy this whole idea is. billions of dollars, theft of all the world's art, so imbeciles
can clap like seals at a melting diner mural of elvis meeting betty boop

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 3d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

2

alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 1d

headline does a good job of capturing how pathetically uncreative and creepy this whole idea is. billions of dollars, theft of all the world's art, so imbeciles
can clap like seals at a melting diner mural of elvis meeting betty boop

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 3d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

1 5