Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2h

The Canberra Times seems to be discouraging plastic grass beloved of the neat team. The neat team would be horrified at the thought of a meadow. Carefully selected native grasses and flowering herbs might be a half way house. Have a paddock not a lawn

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Don’t even think about decking! How to create a nature-friendly low-maintenance garden

Garden getting you down? Tempted to just pave or concrete over the whole thing and put your feet up? There are more enjoyable and eco-friendly alternatives, from miniature meadows to giant borders

www.theguardian.com

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 4h

Looks too good to wear. I presume you know the rather morbid use for unique family patterns on Arran jumpers aside from being warm and looking good.

1 1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 4h

My mum ran out of reused wool once and just put a thick contrast colour stripe across the the chest.

1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 14h

Love him or not George Monbiot does think. “In seeking to address our great predicaments, we should be, as much as is humanly possible, open-minded, open-hearted, receptive to evidence, argument and persuasion.”

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 1d

In any discussion of food and farming, unless your solution can be scaled to feed 8 billion people, you shouldn't be taken seriously. Unfortunately, cottagecore fantasies that would feed only the richest consumers, leaving billions to starve, are all too common.
www.monbiot.com/2023/10/04/t...

The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fed People

The astonishing story of how a movement’s quest for rural simplicity drifted into a formula for mass death

www.monbiot.com

1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 23h

Reading up on it, it was made in colour but broadcast in Australia from 1966-1967 B&W as colour wasn’t till about 1974. Sticks in my mind as as TV didn’t come to my town till 1965 & it was before moon landings. There are a lot of sequels. I will stick with my memories of a happy jungle retirement.

1 1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 1d

I may not have seen all of it as I recall Kimba always winning out through kindness and cooperation. Didn’t realise it was in colour. B&W in Oz. Though devastation seems a feature of kids films - Bambi’s mum, Babar and the hunters etc.

1 1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 1d

Oops. It’s now won the Wainwright.

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 1d

If you have kindergarteners this Wainwright children’s prize shortlisted book Flower Block, Lanisha Butterfield (author), Hoang Giang (illustrator) is a good read on the power of gardens wainwrightprize.com/shortlisted/...

A block of flats with two boys looking out of the window on the first floor with a sunflower growing all over the building

1 1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 1d

Kimba the white lion. Japanese www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQsQ...

Kimba the White Lion Theme Song

YouTube video by iamstillmyself

www.youtube.com

1 1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 1d

I was Regent Honeyeater till it missed the cut. Now Gang Gang. Used to be common, but post fires? A mob still fly over my house most days, making their squeaky door call. I worked in EBB some years back and they had a nest outside my boss’s window. Hope for APH as Barton gums are intact.

3

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2d

Sometimes they unblock them or load on YouTube if they think there is a public interest

2

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2d

The belt & sword have never looked the same since I heard the First Nation’s story of the 7 sisters. A sorcerer chased 7 girls across Australia. Forbidden pursuit, an escape, desire, magic & family. Chuckling old ladies said there is a version for adult women only. Orion is inverted in the south.

5

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2d

They closed a synthetic soccer field for a couple of months in Canberra because of a masked lapwing nest. What was surprising that there appeared to be no pushback.

1 3

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2d

Doesn’t do much for ‘social cohesion’. The pre pre school funding, which is a good idea, in some places acted as as an intro to private schools as staff and capital constraints limited public sector involvement. It looks a lot like deliberate policy. New suburbs, private first, public second.

1 1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2d

Maybe just cut the heads off before seeding and hope the bulbs rot. Now if you have a solution for Italian Arum and Onion weed that doesn’t involve multiple potent herbicides!

1 2

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2d

Try deep shading in summer after they have flowered or crowd them out with something easy to remove. They don’t need water, survive frost, grow in grass, happy in sun or light shade but deep shade seems to be their nemesis. Not much shade in the Atlas or Anatolia where many come from.

1 2

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2d

A good news story to start the week

Ewart, Dave @davidewart.bsky.social · 3d

youtu.be/vykN26FzMo4?...

Timorese abattoir workers perform at Port Fairy Folk Festival after call for musos | ABC Australia

YouTube video by ABC Australia

youtu.be

1

Reposted by Ian Thompson

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 2d

Can I just say that this is a beautiful and thrilling public example of Black community care? One member of the community has experienced a carceral lockout and the entire architecture is being reoriented to bring him home. 👏🏽👏🏽

Clinton Bowen @torrho.blacksky.team · 3d

Correct! This week we built a fallback mechanism to query slingshot, constellation, and the PDS directly.

For now it is limited "read only". Soon enough you'll be able to interact with Link on blacksky.community

3 36 160

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 2d

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Abundance returns to wetland after man-made sheep pasture removed

A sheep farmer has welcomed the restoration of an internationally significant wetland on his property outside of Hobart. The collaboration of a non-profit organisation with landowners, scientists, the...

www.abc.net.au

4

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 3d

When do you get the call for a pick up at Falls Ck or Mt Hotham?

1 1

Reposted by Ian Thompson

Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 3d

Third attack on a culturally significant site within the North East over the past six months, with another tree destroyed by fire in the Northern Beaches in April and the vandalism at Paradise Falls in the King Valley in May www.farmernews.com.au/news-news/lo...

Loss of culturally significant tree devastates community - Farmer News

www.farmernews.com.au

1 14 22

Reposted by Ian Thompson

Muz Kayak @muzdesac.bsky.social · 4d

There's a network of campsites called Camping With Custodians across the north of Western Australia.

Staying on Country with its traditional custodians, observing first hand some of the oldest cultures in the world.

Today, at the gorgeous Lombadina community, it's been an eventful day. 🧵

1 5 9

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 4d

Good maps though

1

Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 4d

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were lovesick with them; the oars were silver, …Shakespeare Cleopatra

4

Reposted by Ian Thompson

Jennifer Molidor @jennifermolidor.bsky.social · 5d

Hanging onto every bit of good news

The river has come alive in the Klamath with wild Chinook salmon. The wider ecosystem is healing.

This most powerful story of Indigenous-led #rewilding after the largest dam removal in US history keeps getting better.

lostcoastoutpost.com/2025/oct/9/o...

One Year After Klamath Dam Removal, 'There's Just Fish Jumping All Over the Place': Scientists Describe Improvements to Water Quality and Wildlife

lostcoastoutpost.com

8 320 790