Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 8h

This is Rosie. She doesn't have a bad angle, but prefers this one because it makes her look tall. 12/10 (IG: whippyrosie)

a gray whippet puppy with white on her paws, tummy, and snoot and blue eyes sits in a living room with a gray couch behind her. she's giving us an innocent expression and the teensiest hint of a blep with her pink tongue. we're looking up at her from a low angle, so it seems as if she's towering over us.

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Cassandra @historycass.bsky.social · 8h

Naomi Alderman's The Future digs deep into this delusion. Nice solution offered too!

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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 13d

Since it resonated with the audience, I’ll recap my main argument against AGI here. ‘General intelligence’ is like phlogiston, or the aether. It’s an outmoded scientific concept that does not refer to anything real. Any explanatory work it did can be done better by a richer scientific frame. 1/3

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 13d

This was a truly heartening day, with deeply thoughtful challenges to the dominant narrative framed around AGI, coming from across disciplines and perspectives. Felt like the tide might finally be turning a bit, at least among the scientific community. Thanks @royalsociety.org!

Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 14d

1/2 I'm looking forward to taking part in a panel on AGI and the Turing Test, tomorrow afternoon (Thurs 2nd Oct) at the @royalsociety.org, w/ Dame Wendy Hall, Shannon Vallor, William Isaac, & Sir Nigel Shadbolt. royalsociety.org/science-even...

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Cassandra @historycass.bsky.social · 8h

Yum! 🍽️ 💙📚

NPR @npr.org · 8h

In a new cookbook, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty pays homage to the rich tapestry of cultures that have shaped Southern cuisine — and keeps a gimlet eye on the region's complicated history. n.pr/494a9Ws

A celebration of the South's rich — and messy — heritage, delivered on a plate

In a new cookbook, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty pays homage to the rich tapestry of cultures that have shaped Southern cuisine — and keeps a gimlet eye on the region's complicated history.

n.pr

Cassandra @historycass.bsky.social · 8h

That grin on the pilot! He's happy to see her. #sussexsquad

KarenM (Sussex Squad) @karensussex.bsky.social · 8h

@meghan IG

Love being surrounded by strong women supporting each other!

Thanks to @fortunempw , my team, DC, and my sweet friends for the 24 hours of impact (and fun!)

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Razzball @razzball.bsky.social · 9h

Someone in the crowd: “Go Cubs!”

Pope Leo XIV: “Han perdido! They lost!”

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Djamila Knopf @djamilaknopf.bsky.social · 12h

I don't have my own library, so I painted one. medium: Procreate, Photoshop

a digital painting of a woman standing in a library with a big window

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Cassandra @historycass.bsky.social · 23h

Gorgeous!

Evelyne Park @evelynepark.bsky.social · 1d

Just for myself, I'm also painting a series of art inspired by the Silmarillion.
The first two in this trilogy all about Lúthien are complete, and the final one is sitting on my easel in the drawing stage...

'Stealing a Silmaril'
&
'The Defeat of Sauron'

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70s Sci-Fi Art @70sscifiart.bsky.social · 1d

RIP Drew Struzan

Star Trek TOS art, featuring floating heads of Kirk, Spock, and Bones.

Poster for Blade Runner, featuring floating heads of the characters.

Poster for Back to the Future Part II, with Doc and Marty both lifting shades to look at their watches with the Delorean nearby.

Poster for ET, with ET in the woods reaching for a floating UFO, with the lights of a city grid in the background.

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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 1d

kieranhealy.org/blog/archive...

The Naming of Stats
June 19, 2023 • Obiter Dicta • R
The Naming of Stats is a difficult matter, It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a stat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all are the names where usage is informal, Such as Median, Estimate, Average, or Range, Such as Variance, Quartile, or else Standard Normal All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names that may be better-tasting, Some for the frequentists, some for the Bayes:
Such as Skew, or Kurtosis, Metropolis-Hastings-But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a stat needs a name that's obscurer, A name that's misleading, and hard to construe,
Else how can it keep on confusing the reader, Or frustrate professors, or pass peer review?
Of names of this kind, there are many examples, Like Hierarchical, Robust, or Omega-hat,
Such as Marginal, Confidence, or just Weighted Sample, Names that always belong to more than one stat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over, And that is the name that you never will guess;
The thing that no human research can discover-
But THE STAT MIGHT JUST KNOW, and be made to confess.
When you notice a stat getting quite widely cited, The reason, you see, is whatever its flaws, Its user's engaged, or enraged, or excited
At the prospect of pinning the root of all laws:
That inviolable, friable
Unidentifiable
Deep and inscrutable singular Cause.

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Bo Thompson @gaudipern.bsky.social · 1d

The use of AI to marionette a woman whose tortured existence was spent trying to carve her own life and identity out of the space men forced her into is both damningly macabre and a surprisingly perfect encapsulation of the problems with this ghoulish use of technology.

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 2d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

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MySA @mysanantonio.com · 1d

Book Nerd has officially opened in San Antonio📚

The grand opening took place on Saturday, October 11. Readers can find a unique selection of novels in many themes such as, science fiction, horror, romance and fantasy. There’s also a children’s play corner and an event center in the back. 📆

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Cassandra @historycass.bsky.social · 2d

Fantastic 🧵

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 2d

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Nathan Ellstrand @nellstra.bsky.social · 2d

***Job Opportunity***

Assistant Professor of Ancient History, University of Maryland

58/

careers.historians.org/jobs/2173045...

Assistant Professor of Ancient History in College Park, MD for University of Maryland Department of History

Exciting opportunity in College Park, MD for University of Maryland Department of History as a As...

careers.historians.org

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Pop Crave @popcrave.com · 2d

Mia Goth stuns in the new poster for ‘FRANKENSTEIN,’ coming to Netflix on November 7.

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Mark @njdoc.bsky.social · 2d

Three Share Nobel in Economics for Work on How Technology Drives Growth www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/b...

Three Share Nobel in Economics for Work on How Technology Drives Growth

www.nytimes.com

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Joshua Earle, but spookier @cyborgapologist.bsky.social · 2d

I always caution people to append the phrase "in mice" at the end of any miraculous medicine story since we can make mice do, basically, anything biologically.

This is different. While it is a study in mice, the mechanism has little to do with mice's uniquely malleable biology.

Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️‍🌈 @ssteingraber1.bsky.social · 3d

If you’re hearing news about a cancer break-through and wonder what’s hype and what’s not, here’s a good explainer of the actual findings in animal studies.

This is some elegant science that pulls together several lines of long-standing inquiry, and yes, it’s a BFD.

www.umass.edu/news/article...

UMass Amherst Researchers Create Nanoparticle Vaccine That Prevents Cancer in Mice | UMass Amherst

The vaccine also proves highly effective at preventing cancer’s deadly spread.

www.umass.edu

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Cassandra @historycass.bsky.social · 2d

Listened to him in college In the 80s. First time I’d heard Tom Lehrer and Weird Al was on his show. Always loved it when Star Trekking made the top 10.

the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 3d

so, this weekend the great Dr. Demento did his final show. I could write a lot about the importance of his show to me & my friends when we were 12 and 13. there's more to it than "he played funny stuff" and "his show is where @alyankovic.bsky.social got his start." 1/3

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Peter Cullen Bryan, PhD @pcbryan.bsky.social · 3d

I can't hear "five by five" without thinking of Aliens, and by extension Starcraft, and by further extension Buffy. #TheMartian #HATM

a woman is talking to someone and saying `` we 're five by five '' .

Alt: a woman is talking to someone and saying `` we 're five by five '' .

media.tenor.com

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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 3d

"In the end, Keaton became the rare female star whose name could reliably open a movie — not just when she was young, but well into her 60s. Women of her generation were arguably as loyal to her as men of Clint Eastwood’s." www.vulture.com/article/the-...

The Unfading Beauty of Diane Keaton

For over five decades, cinema bent itself around her profoundly original image. It had no choice.

www.vulture.com

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Deborah La Torre @deblatorre.bsky.social · 3d

I know it’s earlier in The Martian, but as a research scientist and former teacher, I love the “I’m going to have to science the shit out of this” line. #HATM

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Chris Hutchinson 🇺🇦🇬🇱🇵🇦🇨🇦🇵🇸 🕊️ @cahutch1990.bsky.social · 3d

Heh, having Sean Bean sit in on a meeting explaining what the Council of Elrond is to NASA is meta. #hatm

a man with long hair and a beard says it is a gift .

Alt: a man with long hair and a beard says it is a gift .

media.tenor.com

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Tyler Peterson @drtylerpeterson.bsky.social · 3d

The term "steely eyed missile man" in this movie is a reference to NASA flight controller John Aaron. He is the one who made that amazing call during the launch of Apollo 12 in 1969. I saw him in Tulsa, Oklahoma this year.

#HATM

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Peter Adamson @histphilosophy.bsky.social · 3d

Today's new installment in the Philosophy in China series: Non-Action in the Laozi (Daodejing)

The concept of wuwei or “non-action”: does it mean that the perfect sage or political ruler simply never does anything?

www.historyofphilosophy.net/laozi-non-ac...

#podcasts #daoism #daodejing #philsky

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