Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Asher Hellbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 9d

GHOST DAYS is a synthesis of Appalachian folklore and history, a mosaic of short stories that -- taken together -- traces a larger emotional tale. It's got a heroine I loved writing, and some of @tiffanyturrill.bsky.social's gnarliest monsters.

www.asherelbein.com/store/ghost-...

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Aaron Bady @zunguzungu.bsky.social · 5d

“I had previously assumed a 10-year depreciation curve, which I now recognize as quite unrealistic...Based on my conversations over the past month, the physical data centers last for three to ten years, at most.” futurism.com/future-socie...

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Arlyssa D. Becenti @abecenti.bsky.social · 5d

It’s Domestic Violence Awareness month.

As a survivor of DV, I never thought to call a hotline for help because of so many reasons. To this day, I wish that I had and maybe i would’ve been able to get out years sooner.

www.thehotline.org/get-help/nat...

Native American Services

Native American domestic violence services -- free, confidential & available 24/7 -- are rooted in Native cultures and tribal sovereignty.

www.thehotline.org

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Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 6d

This extraordinary piece from Gaza by Ali Skaik about the ceasefire made me cry. It contains so much—joy, grief, determination, love, sorrow, hope. Very proud to run it in @thenation.com today. Please read it. www.thenation.com/article/worl...

Then my sister Huda, 21, was awakened by a phone call. Her friend told her the ceasefire would begin at 12 PM. "A ceasefire! A ceasefire!" she shouted, her voice shaking with disbelief. The whole house erupted— some of us laughed, some of us cried, and all of us dared to hope, if only for a moment. My 10-year-old brother Abedrahim jumped from his mattress and danced around the room shouting, "The genocide is over! We'll finally eat chicken!"

I walked through the ruins of Al-Rimal to find a cafe with internet so I could submit my exam. The streets were unrecognizable. Shops were flattened. Homes were piles of ash and steel.

I ran into my friend Khaled Al-Saqqa, 27, the sole survivor of his entire family. When I told him about the ceasefire, his eyes filled with tears. “Why was I left to suffer alone?!” he asked. I had no answer. I simply hugged him and whispered, “God gives you strength.”

We’ll welcome back loved ones who fled to the south—but not all will return. The IOF killed many who sought safety in so-called “safe zones.” Among them was the family of my father’s cousin Yusuf. A midnight strike on September 28, 2025, hit the apartment next to theirs as they prepared to pitch a tent. His wife Nidaa, daughter Ruaa, 18, and son Hamoud, 11, with curly yellow hair, were killed. Yusuf survived, along with his daughter Aya, 21, who suffered a broken leg and pelvis, and Aboud, 17, who remembers hearing his mother’s last breath.

We will remember the martyrs—those who died teaching, reporting, healing, mothering, surviving. We will carry their memory like fire in our hearts. And we will begin again.

The real war is now. The war of healing. Of remembering. Of refusing to forget. Of restarting. Of chasing our dreams.

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 7d

The thing is, to be able to determine whether AI-generated code is “legit”, you need to know both statistics and coding yourself. If we no longer teach students to learn, think, and struggle—without the help of AI—the next generation will have no clue what is and isn’t legit.

Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · 7d

Y'all. I just got ChatGPT to do everything in R for this manuscript. I mean EVERYTHING. And it's all legit and reproducible. I'm shook.

How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?

scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...

Statistics in the era of AI

How do we mentor, teach, and do stats when AI can do so much of the work?

scienceforeveryone.science

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Travis @someforeignfield.bsky.social · 7d

It's clear that when the US wants a ceasefire deal, one miraculously occurs. Makes the "working tirelessly for a ceasefire" stuff from last year even more disgusting.

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Janet Spittler @janetspittler.bsky.social · 10d

I’ve also heard instances of this at UVa: well-qualified faculty members who want to teach topics of great current interest and importance are being discouraged from doing so because it feels risky.
It’s truly a shame.

Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 10d

I was told not to teach a class on the intellectual histories of Zionism and Anti-Zionism next year - not because they doubted I could teach it fairly, but because it would attract too many politicians scrutinizing the syllabus.

A society where that is a valid fear is no longer fully democratic.

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Nick Cunningham @nickcunningham.bsky.social · 9d

“By 2028, an average family in the region will be paying around $70 a month extra on their electricity bills because of forecasted data center growth”

I'm once again asking why ratepayers are subsidizing AI titans?

www.eenews.net/articles/dat...

Data center boom sparks sticker shock for PJM ratepayers

New analyses show that costs passed on to utility customers to guarantee future electricity demand are rising rapidly.

www.eenews.net

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 12d

MSF staff are universally understood to be engaged in an essentially sacred form of work. For a state to nonetheless continuously murder them is a testament to a truly unthinkable degree of depravity.

msf.org/msf-denounce...

This morning, an attack carried out by Israeli forces killed Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff member, Omar Hayek, and seriously injured four others. The attack took place on a street where our teams were waiting to take a bus to the MSF field hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza.

All staff were wearing MSF vests, clearly identifying them as medical humanitarian workers.
We express deep sorrow and outrage over the killing, which occurs less than two weeks after another MSF colleague, Hussein Alnajjar, was killed by the Israeli forces, in Deir Al Balah.

Our thoughts are with Omar’s family and colleagues at this tragic time. Omar, 42 years old, is the fourteenth MSF colleague to be killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

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Faith Kearns, Ph.D. @fkearns.bsky.social · 12d

This is a truly hopeful story on the data center front, and I hope folks will give this and our episode from last week a listen to understand the data center playbook and what is becoming a community organizing blueprint.

Faith Kearns, Ph.D. @fkearns.bsky.social · 13d

One city decided it didn’t want a data center and the community had about three weeks to organize. We talked with Dr. Mike Bogan from the University of Arizona about what went into Tucson’s efforts, including his role as a scientist, and learned A LOT www.watertalkpodcast.com/episodes/epi...

Episode 72: A Blueprint for Community Organizing around Data Centers — Water Talk

A conversation with Professor Michael Bogan (University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment) about data center water use, the concept of water neutral development, and community...

www.watertalkpodcast.com

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 13d

University of Texas leaping to the top of the rankings of higher ed institutions most eager to cozy up to the authoritarian, taking over the top spot from previous leader, Columbia University. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 13d

Let’s not forget the nectar-feeding bats! 🦇 Ipomoea ampullacea is a night-blooming, bat-pollinated species from western Mexico. 🦇 📷: Efraín Octavio Aguilar Pérez CCBYNC4 #Convolvulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Night photo of a single white, short-tubed, trumpet-shaped flower with exserted stamens.

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Dylan Schwilk @schwilk.org · 13d

Thinking of y'all.

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High Country News @highcountrynews.org · 13d

Who is furloughed, and who isn’t, remains uncertain, according to agency employees and observers interviewed by High Country News; it is not being carried out in an orderly or consistent fashion across the agency.

Shutdown causes ‘confusion’ across the Forest Service - High Country News

Prescribed burns are on hold during shutdown while logging continues.

buff.ly

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Tim Steller @timsteller.bsky.social · 13d

The University of Arizona faculty are slamming the deal offered by the Trump administration and demanding that it be rejected.
tucson.com/news/local/e...

Faculty chair slams 'dirty compromises' White House asks of University of Arizona

White House asks the U of A and eight other universities to pledge support for President Trump's political priorities in return for priority access to federal funds.

tucson.com

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Dylan Schwilk @schwilk.org · 13d

I might be a total weirdo, but there is this one benefit.

Dylan Schwilk @schwilk.org · 14d

I had to sign in to office365/outlook/whatever recently while on a classroom computer and was immediately assaulted by intrusive "AI" help. I've never been so happy that I run linux for everything in the lab and use emacs and plain text for everything from lecture presentations to email.

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Bluesky mods aid genocide by banning Palestinians @pastures.myatproto.social · 14d

Whatever happens, this is more proof that if you want the world to be better you just have to make it so. Take a risk and put yourself in the situation you want to improve. Whether or not this flotilla reaches Gaza, there will need to be another even larger. I hope to God I can join it

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Dylan Schwilk @schwilk.org · 14d

Many vessels of the Samud flotilla still sailing in international waters despite ongoing piracy attempts. www.youtube.com/live/uEN2bWF...

24/7 LIVESTREAM OF GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA

YouTube video by Global Sumud Flotilla

www.youtube.com

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Bluesky mods aid genocide by banning Palestinians @pastures.myatproto.social · 14d

Rima Hassan on the Captain Nikos is urging people to contact their political leadership and protest in the streets to put pressure on our governments for Gaza and the flotilla.

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Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 15d

Today in @thenation.com: Taqwa Ahmed Al-Wawi, a 19-year-old in Gaza, describes what it's like to be so scarred by genocide that you lose your very ability to speak.

Taqwa is brilliant and profound and deserves to be listened to. Please read her words. www.thenation.com/article/worl...

In my own life, it feels like there is a constant fog inside me. I often know what I want to say, but the words just don't come. My thoughts get tangled, and even when I try to speak, my voice falters or dies in my throat. Sometimes my body reacts too-my chest tightens, my hands shake, or I find myself frozen, unable to move forward. It's not just about grief or fear; it's the sensation of being muted from within. I feel as if my inner landscape has been shrouded in silence, and navigating even simple conversations or expressing my needs becomes exhausting. Every attempt to speak out loud feels like breaking through an invisible barrier, and the frustration of being trapped in my own mind is overwhelming.

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Dylan Schwilk @schwilk.org · 15d

Summary of discovery here. knightcolumbia.org/content/land...

Landmark Trial Ends, With Court’s Ruling to Come; Record Uncovers New Details on Ideological-Deportation Policy and Its Effects on Academic Life

knightcolumbia.org

Dylan Schwilk @schwilk.org · 15d

Worth reading the decision and summary of discovery in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio
knightcolumbia.org/documents/ah...

Opinion

knightcolumbia.org

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Bluesky mods aid genocide by banning Palestinians @pastures.myatproto.social · 15d

They're getting close

globalsumudflotilla.org/tracker/

Sumud flotilla 150km NW of Port Said heading towards Gaza

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