Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Mary Gillis

Katie Tightpussy, Editor-In-Chief @katie.bzky.team · 1h

we all got that one sullen homie whose leitmotif shares a chord progression and instrumention with an enemy whose identity is yet revealed

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 19m

I'd argue a random citizen would do better because they'd do the things Carney promised and most Canadians want. An average citizen, for example, wouldn't have ordered the flight attendants back to work.

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Reposted by Mary Gillis

T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 1d

To Carney, "Elbows up" means buying American jets, building a pipeline to sell our oil to the US, joining a US missile defence system, opening our markets to more American dairy, and kissing the American president's ass at every opportunity.

This is what you voted for, is it?

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Jeff Samsonow @jeffsamsonow.bsky.social · 38m

The AI guardrails mean nothing, as found in this preprint study. "When LLMs compete for social media likes, they start making things up. When they compete for votes, they turn inflammatory/populist." futurism.com/future-society/...

New Paper Finds That When You Reward AI for Success on Social Media, It Becomes Increasingly Sociopathic

Stanford scientists unleashed AI bots in different environments, including social media, and they started behaving unethically.

zurl.co

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 38m

Shot from the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie of Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo dressed as the Mario Bros (Luigi in green overalls, Mario in red) and giving each other a high five. They're also wearing weird boots. For super jumps.

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Reposted by Mary Gillis

Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 3h

Cool how Meta bans news publishers on Facebook, yet allows this gibberish to remain:

News Now: Florida just became rhetorical first state to ban weather modification and geoengineering flights at all state airports”

“News Now by the Epoch Times is your real-time source for breaking news. Delivered with honesty and integrity, in respect for the values and wisdom that sustain a free society”

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 46m

Thinking about what an incredible bait and switch it would be if IT: WELCOME TO DERRY was basically just THE OFFICE but instead of a paper company they're tech workers and instead of the Scranton Strangler, they occasionally mention the odd number of child disappearances and mysterious murders.

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Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 54m

The brother of federal Industry Minister, Mélanie Joly, is the president and CEO of Intelcom, a courier company that exploits subcontracted delivery drivers for pennies per package. It stands to benefit mightily from the dismantlement and privatization of public postal services in Canada.

The privatization crisis at Canada Post

Canada Post is under attack. Political favouritism, privatized delivery, and precarious subcontracting are putting workers and public service at risk. From Intelcom’s exploitative practices to the gov...

canadiandimension.com

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Reposted by Mary Gillis

Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.bsky.social · 58m

Old CBS would’ve probably spelled the guy’s name right, too.

@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 1h

CBS News would never put a thinly sourced 'story' by a rookie blogger like this on it's air. Until now. The Free Press isn't a journalism outlet, it's bloggers aren't reporters. This piece is more NYPost than Tiffany Network but I guess that's the goal.

www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...

Some NYPD officers worry about Mandani becoming the NYC mayor, The Free Press reports

The Free Press spoke to several New York City Police Department officers who are worried about Zohran Mamdani becoming mayor. Olivia Reingold joins CBS News with more.

www.cbsnews.com

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 59m

Creating an entire "who's on first" bit about Stephen King's IT guy.

It does not work when spoken aloud.

Stephen King @stephenking.bsky.social · 1h

The new trailer for THE RUNNING MAN is up. My IT guy will post it. I don't "get" posting on Bluesky. That's okay. I've seen the movie, and it's a balls-to-the-wall thrill ride. The feel is like a modern-day DIE HARD.

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Reposted by Mary Gillis

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 12h

There is a local hospital system here that does a gun safety PSA with the tag line “kids are safe when a gun is locked in one” and I just want to say that it’s important to hire good copywriters

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Reposted by Mary Gillis

Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 1h

I have an ask, as they say:

My newsletter is always free on Monday. Please share it with a nerd you know! I love astronomy and space, and I bet you know a lot of folks who do too. My whole point is to get the word out, and you can help immeasurably with that. Thanks!

Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 1h

In this corner: OCSN-49, a star cluster with hundreds of members wandering the galaxy

And in THIS corner: a diffuse giant molecular cloud with 100,000 times the Sun's mass just minding its own business

It's the CLASH of the EONS! Who will win?

badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/star-clust...

🧪🔭

Star cluster vs. giant molecular cloud: who wins?

The answer surprised me, and I do so love being surprised.

badastronomy.beehiiv.com

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 3h

Front page of Scottish newspaper The National today.

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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 1h

This is bad. Share stuff from the original journalists who are putting themselves on the line, not the aggregators. ❤️

amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 13h

This really fucking sucks!!! I’m not even paid to be here by an outlet, so doing this is just fucking me personally!

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BOOOOlioraptor, PhD (spooky version) @biblioraptorphd.bsky.social · 4h

Janet saying: Fun fact: Columbus is in the Bad Place
because of all the raping, slave trade, and genocide.

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Reposted by Mary Gillis

Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 1d

I did this, took like 30 min.
Points I kept hammering: domestic cloud, regulations around copyright and likeness rights, focusing on machine learning with concrete, real world uses (creating new drugs, etc), the damage done by slop, the need to listen to AI experts who are realists, not boosters.

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 4d

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military.

If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

Help define the next chapter of Canada's AI leadership

Current status: Open from October 1 to October 31, 2025 Canada helped invent modern AI. To stay a leader—and protect our digital sovereignty—we're running a 30-day national sprint to shape a renewed...

ised-isde.canada.ca

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 9h

I've heard there's at least one that makes you old.

The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 9h

The ancient Greeks didn’t see the beach as a getaway.

They saw it as a gateway to danger, death and the gods.

The beach wasn’t always a vacation destination - for the ancient Greeks, it was a scary place

Beach vacations became popular only around the 19th-20th centuries – as part of the lifestyle of the wealthy.

buff.ly

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Micah @rincewind.run · 9h

every time someone discovers the joys of What If A Man Was Large: The Show it brings me great pleasure

rat king 🐀 👑 @mikeisaac.bsky.social · 13h

literally one episode in and this dumb fucken show rules

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Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 14h

This is very sad, but also not surprising. The science has warned for a long time, including in IPCC reports, that even modest levels of global warming will devastate virtually all coral reefs.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’

Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

www.theguardian.com

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ceej @ceej.online · 12h

caught my vampire neighbor creeping through my front door. he claims my saying “for sure dude, we should definitely hang out sometime” the other night counts as an invitation, but I disagree. we’re on hold with the etiquette hotline

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David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · Dec 16

Eyeballing Jack Reacher right now. Big guy, obviously, but I don't think he sees me coming. As a henchman, this is the sort of moment that makes or breaks your career. I think I should go for it.

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 14h

PSA: if you quote post me first, you have formally invited me in

i abide by poster’s vampire rules

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 13h

I do love the idea of some suit from Disney coming to the set and being like, dear god, Jeff! This is a kid's movie!

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 13h

I thought I remembered reading this piece of TRON trivia years ago but then I was like, what if I didn't? What if I just made it up? But it's real.

The fact that it's the only piece of TRON trivia I know off the top of my head is a different issue.

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 13h

This is helpful, thank you, IMDB.

I do feel bad for the 15 people who weren't helped by this at all.

IMDb trivia.
Jeff Bridges produced too much of a bulge in the crotch area in his computer outfit, so he was forced to wear a dance belt to conceal it.

Beneath it 434 people have rated this piece of trivia as helpful.

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