Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 16h

Good discussion of strategy in the Senate and the underlying dynamics making it possible. Worth the read.

Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 16h

Folks should read this post on the pathways for Democrats to win the shutdown -- and why such a win is surprisingly (to many) likely. open.substack.com/pub/firstbra...

The Queen of Hearts Shutdown

Through the looking glass on conventional CR wisdom as the House is late—late—for a very important vote

open.substack.com

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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 16h

Folks should read this post on the pathways for Democrats to win the shutdown -- and why such a win is surprisingly (to many) likely. open.substack.com/pub/firstbra...

The Queen of Hearts Shutdown

Through the looking glass on conventional CR wisdom as the House is late—late—for a very important vote

open.substack.com

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 1d

Agree with best Light Beer, Best American Beer, and best Mexican Lager. Really should have a malt liquor category on here given the targeted atmosphere. Colt 45 or Mickeys?

www.foodandwine.com/best-north-a...

A Taste Test of Cheap Lagers Nearly Divided the Office — but One Beer United Us

An argument between Food & Wine editors over Miller High Life vs. Coors Banquet led us to taste test 20 popular North American Lagers, sight unseen, evaluating them for flavor, finish, and overall enj...

www.foodandwine.com

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Joshua Basseches @joshuabasseches.bsky.social · 1d

This would all be coming onto your electric bills, plus a regulated rate of return.
www.utilitydive.com/news/investo...

Investor-owned utilities could spend $1.1T between 2025 and 2029: EEI

U.S electricity generation rose 3% in 2024 “and is expected to rise for the foreseeable future,” the Edison Electric Institute said Tuesday.

www.utilitydive.com

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 1d

To your point. The organizational reforms underway are replacing a traditional structure with a corporate structure. For most places, there has to be a strategic shift in behavior that unions and colleagues should be mentoring and proffering. Saying this isn't right is just not helpful anymore.

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 1d

In the realm of domestic policy (bread and butter), this is a really big issue, even in energy producing states. 💡🔌 🏛️

NPR @npr.org · 1d

Gas utility bills are rising even though natural gas prices are down. That's because a much larger share of your gas bill now goes to infrastructure instead of fuel.

Natural gas prices are low, but your monthly gas bill is up. Here's why

Gas utility bills are rising even though natural gas prices are down. That's because a much larger share of your gas bill now goes to infrastructure instead of fuel.

n.pr

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NPR @npr.org · 1d

Gas utility bills are rising even though natural gas prices are down. That's because a much larger share of your gas bill now goes to infrastructure instead of fuel.

Natural gas prices are low, but your monthly gas bill is up. Here's why

Gas utility bills are rising even though natural gas prices are down. That's because a much larger share of your gas bill now goes to infrastructure instead of fuel.

n.pr

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 1d

The point about D's not figuring out messaging is spot on - I think it's worth considering media consolidation as allowing national messages to be both more uniform and to penetrate more deeply at the local level than in the past. And structurally, this is an asymmetric advantage for R's. 2/2

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 1d

This is an excellent read. One party, at least for now, understands much better how to channel and wield raw power. 1/2

Julia Azari @juliaazari.bsky.social · 1d

Wrote a thing. Up way too early burning the candle at both ends trying to write more things.
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/politics-i...

Politics is about power. Our conversations about political parties should be, too.

Presidential excess is really about how the rest of the political system has failed

goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com

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Julia Azari @juliaazari.bsky.social · 1d

Wrote a thing. Up way too early burning the candle at both ends trying to write more things.
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/politics-i...

Politics is about power. Our conversations about political parties should be, too.

Presidential excess is really about how the rest of the political system has failed

goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 2d

1. Breaded wings
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Strawberry Fields Forever

Grace Hill @gracehill.bsky.social · 2d

Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, & one song you can't stand:

• winter squash
• High Fidelity
• "All I Want for Christmas Is You"

Boo London @cmdrsue.bsky.social · 2d

Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, & one song you can't stand:

• Octopus
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
• Hey There Delilah

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Grace Hill @gracehill.bsky.social · 2d

Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, & one song you can't stand:

• winter squash
• High Fidelity
• "All I Want for Christmas Is You"

Boo London @cmdrsue.bsky.social · 2d

Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, & one song you can't stand:

• Octopus
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
• Hey There Delilah

Billie Bloebaum @billie.bookstoreromanceday.org · 2d

Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, & one song you can't stand:

• pickles
• Tank Girl
• Girlfriend in a Coma

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 2d

So strange.

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah - needed stronger peer review.

Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 2d

The science we need.
www.foodandwine.com/best-way-to-...

We Tested 7 Ways to Cook Bacon — Only One Gave a Perfectly Even Crisp

We put bacon to the test to find the easiest, cleanest, and most reliable method for cooking — no flipping, no splatter, and minimal cleanup required. Surprisingly, frying was not the winner.

www.foodandwine.com

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 2d

I'm definitely an outcast on Seinfeld - except for a few, specific episodes, I never thought Seinfeld was funny. Just didn't get it. I think if you grew up where I did, the lines just didn't land.

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 2d

Depends on how much you like brandy, but start with 1 oz and 1 oz Bourbon. You can adjust as you like - even trading brandy for bourbon works well. I would go fo apple brandy and not Calvados (it's aromas compete too much with the banana and ginger).

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 2d

This week's cocktail "celebrates" the future of higher education, where our Supreme Overloads usher in the bright era of #AI. Fall brings the harvest and whiskey. Darker times and darker spirits. Time to tip one. #cocktails 🍸🍹

samuelworkman.owlstown.net/posts/4593-w...

Samuel Workman, Ph.D. - Without Faculty

This week's cocktail "celebrates" the future of higher education, where our Supreme Overloads usher in the bright era of AI. Fall brings the harvest and whis...

samuelworkman.owlstown.net

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 4d

Hegseth sucks. The Qataris suck. But we aren’t giving Qatar an airbase in Idaho. It’s building dorms etc. at an existing base to train them on F-15s we sold them, just like Singapore already has there. Common arrangement we have with lots of countries. This one was already being planned under Biden.

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 4d

"Protecting humanity from A.I. thus falls to overwhelmed nonprofits." 👀

Brooke Newman @brookenewman.bsky.social · 4d

🎁 link—worth your time. “In the course of quantifying the risks of A.I., I was hoping I would realize my fears were ridiculous. But the opposite happened: The more I moved from apocalyptic hypotheticals to concrete real-world findings, the more concerned I became.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

www.nytimes.com

Brooke Newman @brookenewman.bsky.social · 4d

🎁 link—worth your time. “In the course of quantifying the risks of A.I., I was hoping I would realize my fears were ridiculous. But the opposite happened: The more I moved from apocalyptic hypotheticals to concrete real-world findings, the more concerned I became.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

www.nytimes.com

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 5d

Far past the time to equally resource mitigation and response. Prevention is looking more and more like a knat in the rear view.

ProPublica @propublica.org · 5d

“We’re physically seeing the impacts of a changing climate on these communities. … And the fact that we don’t have a government framework for dealing with these issues is not just an Alaska problem, it’s a national problem.”

(Published May with KYUK)

Newtok, Alaska, Was Supposed to Be a Model for Climate Relocation. Here’s How It Went Wrong.

The project’s challenges highlight how ill-prepared the U.S. is to respond to the way climate change is making some places uninhabitable.

www.propublica.org

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 5d

“We’re physically seeing the impacts of a changing climate on these communities. … And the fact that we don’t have a government framework for dealing with these issues is not just an Alaska problem, it’s a national problem.”

(Published May with KYUK)

Newtok, Alaska, Was Supposed to Be a Model for Climate Relocation. Here’s How It Went Wrong.

The project’s challenges highlight how ill-prepared the U.S. is to respond to the way climate change is making some places uninhabitable.

www.propublica.org

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Danielle Zoe Rivera @danielle-rivera.bsky.social · 6d

This article is an amazing reconceptualization of rural water capacities! First-authored by an awesome colleague of mine! www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Linking variation in water democracy to system performance on the human right to water

Nature Water - Access to safe, affordable and accessible drinking water is influenced by various socioeconomic factors. A survey of a large number of California water systems shows how different...

www.nature.com

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 6d

I've mentioned this to a couple of reporters recently without the data at hand. But, yep.

Barry Burden @bcburden.bsky.social · 7d

The 2024 @electionstudies.bsky.social has the share of "pure independents" in the US at its lowest level since 1952 (7%)

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 7d

Agreed. Bad look.

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Jae Yeon Kim @jaeyeonkim.bsky.social · 7d

FYI, if you try to measure the strength of civil society (what Hahrie, Milan, and I call civic opportunity in our 2023 Nature Human Behaviour paper), you may want to consider using our org-, county-, and ZIP code-level datasets published in Scientific Data: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Sam Workman @sam-workman.bsky.social · 7d

Data centers are THE problem for the energy sector for the next couple of decades. Their has been great work around the water-energy nexus, but data centers make the systems much more complex, interdependent, and hence, fragile. 💡🔌 🏛️ WV

Mountain State Spotlight @mtnstspotlight.bsky.social · 7d

There are many reasons that are causing increased electricity rates for West Virginians. But the explosion of data centers is making it worse.

mountainstatespotlight.org/2025/10/05/r...

Data centers in other states are raising power costs in West Virginia

West Virginians are seeing higher power costs as AI and data centers increase electricity demand across the regional power grid.

buff.ly

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Mountain State Spotlight @mtnstspotlight.bsky.social · 7d

There are many reasons that are causing increased electricity rates for West Virginians. But the explosion of data centers is making it worse.

mountainstatespotlight.org/2025/10/05/r...

Data centers in other states are raising power costs in West Virginia

West Virginians are seeing higher power costs as AI and data centers increase electricity demand across the regional power grid.

buff.ly

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