Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kim Wallmark @kimwallmark.bsky.social · 4h

I find this fascinating in reading older science fiction. The implicit assumptions an author has when constructing an alternate culture and context leave a ghost of the author's own culture and context. Sometimes the ghost is the most visible part of the work.

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 5h

Also, this cultural "uncanny valley" gets really weird for science fiction, which is supposed to be about "the future" but was written for a then-contemporary audience (with a then-contemporary understanding of tech/science) so it has two full vectors of cultural shift, running at different speeds

Reposted by Kim Wallmark

Chris Kluwe @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · 13h

Honestly, it needs to go further than this.

We need to confront the fact that democracy and wealth hoarding cannot coexist. Allowing people to amass the resources of a small state/country allows them to act as such, which is inimical to a shared society of “one person, one vote.”

John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 13h

“No Kings” is great , but we really don't get a functioning democracy back until we internalize, bone deep, the instinctive response to this and every other statement like it: “I don’t care what that rich guy thinks.”

Make it your morning affirmation. Say it ten times at the top of every hour.

The Independent @the-independent.com · 13h

Elon Musk calls for US troops to be sent to San Francisco for war on drugs: ‘It’s the only solution’

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 2d

This heartfelt and meaningful statement by Portland resident and author Cristina Breshears on another social media platform bears reposting here. I don't think the intent is to idealize Portland but to remind all of us what is important and why. (Posted here with permission.)

For nine nights now, the steady thrum of Black Hawk helicopters has circled over Portland. The sound is constant, invasive; a low mechanical beating above our homes. It’s expensive. It’s intimidating. And it’s unnecessary.

Our protests have been largely peaceful. There is no insurrection here. Yet this federalized military presence makes us feel like we are living in a war zone (the very kind of chaos this administration claims to be protecting us from).

The irony is painful: it is only this occupation that makes Portland feel unsafe.

Each hour of helicopter flight costs taxpayers between $2,000 and $4,000, depending on crew, fuel, and maintenance. Multiply that by multiple aircraft over multiple nights, and you’re looking at hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars burned into the sky.

Meanwhile, the Woodstock Food Pantry at All Saints Episcopal Church — which feeds working families, elders, and people with disabilities — has seen its federal funding slashed by 75%. How can we justify pouring public money into intimidation while cutting aid to those who simply need to eat?

This is waste, fraud, and abuse in plain sight:
* Waste of public resources on military theatrics.
* Fraud in the name of “public safety.”
* Abuse of the communities that federal agencies claim to protect.

Portland is a Sanctuary City. A sanctuary city is not a fortress. It’s a promise — a living vow that a community will protect the dignity and safety of everyone who calls it home. It means that local governments and ordinary people alike will refuse to criminalize survival. That schools, clinics, churches, and shelters will remain safe spaces no matter who you are or where you were born. But the term reaches far beyond policy. It’s an ethic of belonging; a refusal to criminalize need, difference, or desperation.

Sanctuary isn’t weakness. It’s courage. It takes moral strength to meet suffering with care instead of punishment, to believe that our neighbors’ safety is bound up in our own, to insist that safety is not achieved through force but through community, inclusion, and trust. It is living Matthew 25:40 out loud and in deed. It is an act of moral imagination and moral defiance. To hold sanctuary is to say: you belong here.

When we hold space for the most vulnerable — refugees, the unhoused, the undocumented, the disabled, the working poor, the displaced — we become something larger than a collection of individuals. We become a moral body. We do more than offer charity. We offer witness. We declare that the measure of a nation is found not in its towers or tanks, but in its tenderness.

Sanctuary cities are not lawless; they are soulful. They represent the conscience of the nation, a place where the laws of empathy still apply. To make sanctuary is to affirm that the United States is not merely a geographic territory, but a moral experiment: a republic that must constantly choose between fear and compassion, between domination and democracy.

A nation’s soul is measured not by the might of its military, but by the mercy of its people. When helicopters circle our skies in the name of order, while food pantries struggle to feed the hungry, we are forced to ask: What are we defending, and from whom? The soul of a nation survives only when we make sanctuary for one another. Not through walls or weapons, but through compassion and collective will. If we allow intimidation to replace compassion, we will have traded our conscience for control.

Please know that despite the hum of war machines overhead, the conscience of our city — whimsical, creative, stubbornly kind — can still be heard.

Portland is not the problem. Portland is the reminder. A reminder that a city can still choose to be sanctuary. That a people can still choose to be human.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 16h

It's time again as a notable Italian-American to note Christopher Columbus was an absolute piece of shit human who didn't land anywhere near this actual country so why the fuck should he stop the mail for the whole day

Anyway, Happy Indigenous People's Day, y'all

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 15h

The notion that those who took part in slavery or conquest were merely abiding by the moral standards of their time necessary excludes those they targeted and kidnapped from those standards; *they* were never confused about this. But other white people were frequently disgusted by this stuff too!

George Gantsoudes @pedsortho.bsky.social · 16h

Please remember that the disgust people have over Christopher Columbus is not based on some modern, 21st century “woke” ideology, but rather on contemporaneous accounts of atrocities that make many modern genocides appear quaint in comparison.

Below, are the accounts of Bartlomé de las Casas.

But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had in-vested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.
The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed.

After each six or eight months' work in the mines, which was the time required of each crew to dig enough gold for melting, up to a third of the men died.
While the men were sent many miles away to the mines, the wives remained to work the soil, forced into the excruciating job of digging and making thousands of hills for cassava plants.
Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides... they ceased to pro-create. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and fam-ished, had no milk to nurse them, and for this reason, while I was in Cuba, 7000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desper-ation.... In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk ... and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fer-tile... was depopulated... My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write....

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Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 2d

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

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Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 5d

"Make cities safe and fun for kids to run around and play in" is a pretty good guiding light for urban planning

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 6d

“In a city once choked with cars and infamous for its traffic snarls, Paris has pulled off a remarkable turnaround…the French capital has officially become Europe’s best city for children to walk, cycle, and move around independently.” Via @momentummag.bsky.social

A victory for FAST leadership.

Paris Pedals to the Top: How the City of Light Became Europe’s Best for Young Cyclists

The French capital has officially become Europe’s best city for children to walk, cycle, and move around independently

momentummag.com

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Kim Wallmark @kimwallmark.bsky.social · 2d

Even without personal Catholic context, "Father, forgive the ones who do not know what they are doing. Have mercy on the souls of those who know exactly what they're doing." sounds like a strong (and appropriate) diss to me.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

really striking the degree to which not a single person working in the trump administration appears to be interested in serving the american people

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Marco Rogers @polotek.bsky.social · 3d

Oh shit.

Diesel Bug Has An Irrational Amount Of Freedom @dieselbug1137.bsky.social · 3d

If the only thing that's fully funded by the government is the police. Then you live in a police state. That's just how numbers work. It's fair to judge a society by how it chooses to allocate resources.

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, the underlying reason for the need for this is horrifying, stipulated, but watching so many people stand up and defend their neighbors and their community is a heartening reminder that the people who suck are not the majority even if they are the power

Slackermom @slackermom.bsky.social · 3d

Was just at a neighborhood school at dismissal. Hundreds of people with whistles surrounding the school and stationed down every block making sure ICE doesn’t snatch anyone. The same is happening at all the schools around here. I love my neighborhood and I love Chicago.

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Not Your Negress @notyournegro.blacksky.app · 3d

Black people have been asking this question for a very long time.

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 3d

Do you really have any rights if they are openly saying they will just make up reasons to detain you?

thematthill.bsky.social @thematthill.bsky.social · 6d

Wow. Greg Bovino admits on camera that his agents can detain people if you look scared, change your demeanor, or grip a steering wheel too tight.

As his unmasked agents walk around with large guns to scare you, they may arrest you just for that — even if you're a U.S. citizen.

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 3d

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 3d

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 4d

All conspiracy theories eventually lead to antisemitism.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 4d

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 5d

I agree with Donald Trump:

Trump is not the right leader for his moment.

Graphic where Senator Warren says: In 2013, Trump himself said, about a potential government shutdown, quote:

Then, a Donald Trump quote: “if there is a shutdown, I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States. He’s the one that has to get people together.”

Senator Warren says: Donald Trump today should take a hint from Donald Trump yesterday.

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Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley @pressley.house.gov · 5d

Latinas earn only 51 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men.

This wage gap isn't just unfair, it's an injustice, and Latinas deserve equal pay for equal work.

#LatinaEqualPayDay

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Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 5d

Okay, with 187 samples in (still looking for more!) let's talk about results so far!

Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 6d

Hey all, I'm trying to get a baseline for how good people are at detecting whether fiction is AI-generated or human-written (most of the research on this is for nonfiction and my hypothesis is we're better with fiction).

If you have time, give it a try?

jlp-experiment.github.io/ai-detection...

AI vs Human Fiction Detection Test

jlp-experiment.github.io

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Micah @rincewind.run · 5d

that donald trump was allowed to become president again after J6 is something we may never recover from as a nation

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 5d

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Talia Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 6d

yeah.

M. Jeffreson @mjeffreson.bsky.social · 6d

Somewhere waaay down the list of "shit im angry at these fascists for" is the general idea of robbing me of the notion that "things were going to keep getting better".

Maybe not fast enough, maybe not evenly, but as sure as water flows downhill, it was going to.

These fucks.

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Kim Wallmark @kimwallmark.bsky.social · 6d

Not quite the same, but in 2018 a Boston-area blogger "liveblogged" the 1918 flu as seen through Boston-area newspapers and such of the time. It looked remarkably different that way than in the way I've usually seen it portrayed, and I think helped me understand covid faster in 2020.

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Kim Wallmark @kimwallmark.bsky.social · 6d

I love this!

She's so focused on them and they're so focused on the move she's showing them (both watching it and trying it themselves). A beautiful example of human connection.

jordan @jordantyranny.bsky.social · 6d

"Ballerina Aesha Ash wandering around inner city Rochester breaking the stereotypes about women of color and to inspire young kids."

its a picture of a ballerina teaching future young ballerinas!!!

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Kim Wallmark @kimwallmark.bsky.social · 6d

*HER* mousie. Not for sharing. Hers.

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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 6d

One of the things that brings me the greatest despair in authoritarianism is watching people react to state violence the way they react to domestic violence.

By justifying anything and everything the perpetrators does through blaming a victim for failing to be submissive enough.

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Annalee @flowerhorne.com · 7d

This might be the most important corollary to the Golden Rule

🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 7d

The fact that you feel bad is not the same as repairing harm.

It’s based in the belief that your feelings matter more than your impact

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Kim Wallmark @kimwallmark.bsky.social · 6d

Yes.

And this applies to more than social media (although obviously it deeply applies there). "Smart" appliances. Utility websites. Location-sharing. Etc.

Nearly all consumer-facing software should be designed with attention to potential abuse.

rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · May 22

Just like you have standard use cases, you need standard *abuse* cases. Every feature we release on DW goes through the threat modeling of "acrimonious friend breakup", "stalker ex with control issues", and "working for an employer who disagrees with my entire life choices", for instance.

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