Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 11h

Then Frog and Toad ate a big breakfast. And after that, they spent a fine, long day together.

Frog and Toad romp through the woods together, having the time of their lives

From "The Dream"
In *Frog and Toad Together*

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Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 14h

This is disturbing and creepy for so many reasons, but it’s also bizarre how much of a push there is for people to ignore listening to their own bodies and instead outsource those decisions to flawed technology.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 15h

“Like a smartwatch reminding you to stand up or drink water, Evergreen will notice if a student who normally visits the fitness center hasn’t done so or encourage a student to leave the library after studying for six hours…”

Dartmouth Builds Its Own AI Chatbot for Student Well-Being

The undergrad-assisted research project will draw on students’ data to provide chatbot support and personalized plans for health and wellness.

www.insidehighered.com

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paris martineau @paris.nyc · 22h

i was surprised to learn that bc most protein powders are considered dietary supplements, they basically fall into a regulatory grey area

there's no federal limit on the amount of lead they can contain and neither manufacturers nor the FDA have to prove these products are safe before they're sold

Protein powders and shakes, like all dietary supplements, fall into something of a regulatory gray area.

There is no federal limit specifying the amount of lead allowed in protein powders. And while the FDA requires that manufacturers keep their products free of harmful contaminants, it largely leaves it up to companies to decide what counts as harmful and test their own products for compliance.

Before 1994, manufacturers had to prove herbal products were safe before selling them. That changed after Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. The law sharply limited the FDA’s authority, leaving supplements far less regulated than drugs.

Today, supplements are “presumed safe unless found otherwise,” says Cohen at Harvard Medical School, and most products face scrutiny only after reaching the market—meaning unsafe or contaminated supplements can reach consumers before problems are caught.

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paris martineau @paris.nyc · 23h

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 2d

By popular demand, @aceckhouse.bsky.social and I have put together a deep-in-the-weeds explainer on SB 79. Enjoy!
substack.com/home/post/p-...

Everything You Need To Know About SB 79

…but were too afraid to read about in the actual bill.

substack.com

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Lori Emerson @loriemerson.net · 2d

I am curious: have there been instances where faculty at particular institutions (not as members of a professional organization) have come together to call for a complete ban on AI on their campus except for special circumstances where it is being studied or researched? #ai

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 4d

"If you believe, as Ellison does, that Americans will be better off when they are subjected to 'supervision at all times,' then buying microvideo platforms, enterprise software, streaming services, cable networks, gaming developers, & internet publishers is just buying supervision capacity."

The Ellisons Are Beta-Testing Big Brother.

If your feeds, subs, streams, games, and sports don't ensure you are on your "best behavior," your school and its EdTech partners will.

theamericanvandal.substack.com

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 3d

About a month ago, the Trump administration got rid of the de minimis exemption, whereby packages valued under $800 could slide in without import duties. Now there's a backlog as the government can't process all of this paperwork, leading to UPS just destroying packages

Business Insider headline reads: UPS is telling customers that their packages coming to the US are marked for destruction.

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Adam Rogers @jetjocko.bsky.social · 3d

A lot of what we’d think of as the journalists’ code—tell the truth, be accurate, credit your sources—is actually about establishing provenance and chain of custody for evidence. Fact-check codifies those tracks. This is all how you know you know. It’s what marks something as journalism.

☠️mawls slaughter☠️ @oddletters.bsky.social · 3d

look i dont want to get all historian/art history/journalism posty about AI videos but we *have* ways of autheticating recorded/archival material, its chains of custody and provenance research, and you shouldn't have been trusting random videos on the internet to begin with???

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Ryan North? But - he died... 30 years ago this very night!! @ryannorth.ca · 4d

I used to get mad when people misused "decimated" to refer to things that weren't 1/10th destroyed, but I've given it some thought and now I've done a complete 360 on it

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M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 3d

“…Some states use their own money, not federal funds, to provide health care to immigrants who don’t have lawful status. An earlier version of Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts bill tried to curb these programs, but the provisions did not make it into the final version.”

M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 3d

“…This would affect the 40 states, plus Washington, D.C., that have adopted a Medicaid expansion created by the ACA…

The law Trump signed would also restrict the eligibility of lawfully present immigrants such as refugees and asylees for insurance through the ACA, Medicaid and Medicare.…

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M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 3d

B/c people don’t click into articles:

“Among the Medicaid cuts Dems are seeking to reverse is a reduction to reimbursements hospitals receive when they perform emergency care they are legally mandated to provide on people who would qualify for Medicaid if not for their immigration status.…

Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 4d

President Donald Trump and other high-ranking Republicans claim Democrats forced the government shutdown fight because they want to give free health care to immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

That's not true. Here are the facts.

Fact Check: No, the Shutdown Isn't About Immigrant Health Care

President Donald Trump and other Republicans claim Democrats forced the government shutdown over giving free health care to immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

buff.ly

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Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai @lorenzofb.bsky.social · 4d

SCOOP: Spyware maker NSO Group confirmed to us that the company has been acquired by a U.S. investment group.

NSO's spokesperson said the group "has invested tens of millions of dollars in the company and has acquired controlling ownership," but declined to say who is behind the investment.

Spyware maker NSO Group confirms acquisition by US investors | TechCrunch

NSO Group confirmed to TechCrunch that an unnamed group of American investors has taken “controlling ownership” of the surveillance tech maker.

techcrunch.com

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M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 4d

“One company has relationships w/ smart home appliances for data….”

This one is for all the “I don’t care if the government knows my home temperature” people.

Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 18d

I spent the week at the police surveillance convention and let me tell you my biggest observation: The name of the game now is consolidating as much information as humanely possible from surveillance devices, the internet, other governmental data, and literally a million other places. 🧵

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 18d

Big takeaway here is a mass erosion of barriers between governmental and corporate data collection/surveillance--and the idea that the one-off surveillance of walking past a single CCTV camera is over, the consolidation of ALL data means true mass surveillance from 100 redundant pieces of data.

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 18d

I spent the week at the police surveillance convention and let me tell you my biggest observation: The name of the game now is consolidating as much information as humanely possible from surveillance devices, the internet, other governmental data, and literally a million other places. 🧵

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Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 6d

oh hell yeah youtu.be/nGZOFyLrCwk?...

Slug Eating Spaghetti Time Lapse (With Stopwatch Timer)

YouTube video by Nature's Fantastic

youtu.be

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M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 5d

Companies sure did work hard to shift the narrative on this.

And who wouldn’t want to reduce capital expenditures on real estate by millions per year? It’s truly confusing, and I’ve run thru the arguments, and am left thinking there must be a hidden incentive or motive, b/c it’s not rational.

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M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 6d

An all-browser and mobile operating system opt out is coming by January 2027.

Newsom had previously vetoed the same legislation a year ago (and the Assembly had a veto-proof majority but didn’t use it).

ZwillGen @zwillgen.com · 6d

California Governor Newsom signs data privacy bills into law www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/08/g...

Governor Newsom signs data privacy bills to protect tech users | Governor of California

www.gov.ca.gov

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Erika Hall @erikahall.bsky.social · 8d

I've been through so many tech hype cycles that if they were tree rings I'd be a fucking sequoia.

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Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 8d

Tragic news from Canada where the Canadian Supreme Court has gone from the official dress on the left to the one on the right

Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in bright red wooly gowns, with a beige trim. It looks sort of like a Santa robe

The Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in black gowns with a bright white kravat, and two thin red vertical lines on the side of the robe

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M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 10d

A great owl rescue story

Dr Delyth Badder @folklorewales.com · 10d

Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.

After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵

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M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 15d

All true!

M Berk @mberk.bsky.social · 15d

That’s a whole mess of hardware disaster. I’m so sorry!

Capable as you are, could you just hand it to someone else to fix, and save the despair and rage and frustration?