Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by j4

OxfordHacker @oxfordhacker.bsky.social · 1h

bouba in the streets, kiki in the sheets

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potion of @candlestick.bsky.social · 14h

installed the feed that lets me read every bluesky post in alphabetical order. lot of screaming thus far

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Jeremy Hot Wheels @kateneely.bsky.social · 13h

my therapist: sometimes you simply have to experience an emotion instead of thinking about it
me, nodding sagely: and then it goes away
therapist: well not necessarily
me, shaking my head furiously: no, I don't like that

Kendra, regular version @kendrawcandraw.bsky.social · 13h

Me: I just don't understand why I can't just out-think my anxiety and emotions and simply react and respond in the most ideal way every single time and never feel bad
My therapist of eight years: *audibly loading gun*

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wendy copium @alicebennett.bsky.social · 14h

one thing LLMs have revealed is that the belief that there is a magical incantation that will give you what you want is not just confined to pick-up artists and freemen on the land

Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 16h

Seeing people nonchalantly post stuff like makes me feel like I'm going crazy honestly.

A post from an academic on blue sky that says: "I'm learning about "prompt engineering" when asking LLMs to extract data. I now add this to all instructions:

Style
Be concise, analytic, and specific (cite page/figure if provided). If essential info is missing, keep going but flag Unclear and exact data needed. Never invent data.

#academicsky"

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Philippa East (Author) @philippaeast.bsky.social · 21h

Here we go! 📝📝📝
🚽 Scrap the Bathroom Ban🚨🏳️‍⚧️

Our work so far is already working (see here: archive.ph/gaCN4)

Now we’re demanding that any new Code must outline how providers can lawfully *include* trans folk in their services.

✍️ Write to your MP with our easy tool: actionnetwork.org/letters/scra...

Scrap the Bathroom Ban

🚨This is urgent🚨 Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities, has a decision to make. The EHRC, a regulator mired in controversy over anti-trans views, has sent a new draft Code of Prac...

actionnetwork.org

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Doug Clow @dougclow.bsky.social · 5h

This is not good. We need to substantially improve the insulation on older properties and two government schemes to do that have been a disaster, with a deeply-failed QA body, and the afflicted homes blighted.

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 6h

98% of homes with external wall insulation installed under the government’s ECO scheme require work to correct major issues that will cause problems such as damp and mould - our new @nao.org.uk report www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (full report www.nao.org.uk/reports/ener...)

Thousands of homes with botched eco insulation 'must be fixed'

Insulation programmes costing billions of pounds have led to widespread problems with damp and mould.

www.bbc.co.uk

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piper @roodypatooti.bsky.social · Aug 21

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 13h

I _knew_ I shouldn't have worn my 6" platform New Rocks to all those GP appointments!

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Kasey Gifford @kaseygifford.bsky.social · 1d

We should be asking this
c o n s t a n t l y.

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 15h

She actually came in & sat on my lap & purred! For the first time in about 6 months! 🖤🖤🖤🐈‍⬛

Cat selfie! A gorgeous little black cat's face is very close to the camera so only half of it is visible, the half you can see looks quite unimpressed, I am grinning like an idiot behind her.

Neck scritches! Seen from above: my hand curls round & scritches the neck of a little black cat who is looking up at the camera, still looking remarkably unimpressed, I guess she has resting unimpressed face, but trust me she's purring like an outboard motor

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 15h

May be worth getting a second opinion if you can -- I don't have a tall wall around mine (& the requirement for the heat pump to be 1m away from boundary has been ditched as well), & my installers were generally v helpful about working with the location I've got rather than just telling me "no".

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 15h

This question is now tying up 80% of my brain processes, "thanks"

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qntm @qntm.org · 19h

Now I'm legitimately wondering if I would describe myself as a bouba or a kiki

Foone @foone.bsky.social · 20h

signing up for the hot new linguistic dating site

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𝕍∃, Cyber closed shell syndrome relief fund coordinator @vortexegg.com · 19h

We should have an economy that isn't based on a small number of people self-dealing and wash-trading a make-believe future that nobody asked for

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 15h

Yay! Pre-ordered :-)

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1d

"Another example of the antichrist in great works of art," continued Thiel, "is the masked terrorist who, no matter how many times he is foiled, continues his schemes."

Thiel paused for effect then spoke slowly, his words carrying the weight of the world:

"Swiper, no swiping. And yet he swipes."

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Climate News @climatenews.bsky.social · 2d

THE LONDON ECONOMIC

"We should all be angry that we had 14 years of Tory austerity. They shut our libraries, they shut our community centres. And then to say integration is a problem - how do you expect people to integrate if you've taken away their services?"

-ZACK POLANSKI, GREEN PARTY LEADER

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Sexy Andrew Hickey Costume @andrewhickey.500songs.com · 18h

Also, all the people he tortured, raped, enslaved and mutilated were also people of their time. I suspect if anything they felt rather *more* strongly that Columbus was a bad person than even the most fingerwagging person on Bluesky does.

Always worth thinking who we count as "of their time".

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 18h

yearly reminder to people insisting that we view Christopher Columbus as "a man of his time" that *the people responsible for the Spanish Inquisition* thought Columbus was out of pocket

Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 21h

Christopher Columbus was dragged back to Spain in chains by a crusading knight, convicted of tyranny and immeasurable cruelty, pardoned by Isabella but banned from returning to Hispaniola.

Fuck Columbus.

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 17h

Really important reminder of how Reform aren’t just Little Englanders, but part of an international far-right network which wants to take away fundamental rights we all take for granted - and wants to use “free speech” as a lever

Jane Bradley @bradleyjane.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: How a U.S. anti-abortion group has quietly positioned itself as a powerbroker between the Trump administration and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Latest investigation w Elizabeth Dias.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...

They Helped Topple Roe v. Wade. Now Their Sights Are Set on Britain.

www.nytimes.com

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lumberjack wharfie @lumberjackwharfie.bsky.social · 16h

The plan to send in unaccountable agents to kidnap your neighbors *might* have overplayed its hand when they've lost the people on the "I Saw A Person I Didn't Recognize In My Neighborhood And I Want The Cops To Come Take Them Away" social media app.

Super Nintendo Chalmers @snchalmers.bsky.social · 17h

It’s happening on Nextdoor too

lumberjack wharfie @lumberjackwharfie.bsky.social · 21h

soooo my Chicagoans, has anyone else's neighborhood facebook group gone from desperately apolitical (regarding federal politics) to at least 40% about ICE/DHS activity and organizing against it? like it's hard to overstate this shift

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KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 16h

This is it, the most unhinged literary opinion. I will be adopting it as fact immediately.

Luke Seaber @thelong1930s.bsky.social · 19h

Lord Peter Wimsey is the narrative voice of The Waste Land.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 23h

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 17h

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 16h

Yeah tbh I dunno if I have _actually_ got shorter or just been misled about my height for years, it's not like I actually check it ever, I've just been saying 5'1" because that's what I thought it was, & when doctors measure it they do it in cm so I wouldn't know if it was right or not, so ... 📏🤷🏻‍♀️

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 16h

Bon Marché are GREAT for length & fit but the bootcut jeans I liked from them are now all scrunchy-elastic-waist which makes me feel ooooooold (but actually they are quite comfy so I'll take it) but I should probably look again as they might change again!

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j4 @jaffa.bsky.social · 16h

That's mad! The last ones I used here have different prices for one-off and regular -- obvs they suggested I might want to sign up for the regular thing, but I said I was fine with paying for a one-off clean when I remember, & they were just like "well, cool, see you in 5 years then lol".