Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5h

Labubus a-go-go: ostentatious display of wealth, Hong Kong 2025 style

Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 14h

“Given the major payouts at stake, the tides could be turning in favor of artists who had their lifework sucked up by AI models without permission, who could be looking at another consolation prize in the form of a settlement fee.” futurism.com/artificial-i...

OpenAI in Danger After Authors Suing It Gain Access to Its Internal Slack Messages

Authors and publishers, who are suing OpenAI, secured access to internal Slack messages and emails discussing the deletion of pirated books.

futurism.com

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 16h

“New articles generated by AI briefly outnumbered those written by humans online, but the two are now roughly equal…” - I read this while listening to Maron’s last podcast, confirming my sense of a turning/inflection point. Good time to hug a librarian. www.axios.com/2025/10/14/a...

Exclusive: The web is still mostly written by humans, study finds

New data shows AI-written content is plateauing — and doesn't perform well in search.

www.axios.com

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 16h

Today’s Harry Harrison cartoon takes the seasonal temperature of Hong Kong

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 1d

There is nothing quite like the blast of air-con set to refrigeration levels mixed with stale cigarette smells to let you know you’re in the back of a taxi, back in the funky fragrant harbour. Autumn looks good on you, Hong Kong.

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 2d

‘Many Chinese crypto investors took to social media to mourn their losses - “From hundreds of thousands to millions to zero in a few days, my crypto life is over,” one user wrote on Xiaohongshu.’ sc.mp/8r0b2

‘My crypto life is over’: sell-off triggers angst on Chinese social media

Exchanges will forcibly sell a trader’s leveraged positions if their losses approach the amount of their initial investment.

sc.mp

Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 2d

Is a unicycling Darth Vader playing bagpipes in his undies peak Portland protest? Might it get more extreme? A harrowing video report from the frontlines

Reuters @reuters.com · 2d

Hundreds of Portland, Oregon, residents rode their bicycles in the nude to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s continuous threats to send the National Guard to the city.

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 2d

The fix was in, then Trump made his China tariffs call… “According to several reports, a whale or large trader had opened massive short positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum before the tariff announcement and then closed them for huge profits once the crash began.” www.forbes.com/sites/digita...

Did Trump’s Tariff Trigger A Crypto Purge Or Just A Panic?

Trump’s 100% China tariffs sent crypto into chaos, wiping out $16B in longs. Bitcoin plunged, traders panicked, and speculation rose over who saw it coming.

www.forbes.com

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 2d

I do love a good parade in Hong Kong... the Cheung Chau Piu Sik parade to the Man Mo temple captured nicely in this photo story (this pic courtesy Eugene Lee - love to know which syringe-wielding figure is being honoured here) www.scmp.com/photos/today...

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 2d

Anyone know the translation of ‘chutzpah’ into Bahasa? Wow… double the money for lawmakers after massive GenZ-led protests over politicians’ perks.

Reuters @reuters.com · 2d

Indonesian lawmakers get allowance hike after protests against perks reut.rs/3WAtiYI

Indonesian lawmakers get allowance hike after protests against perks

Indonesia has nearly doubled a key allowance for its lawmakers, an official said on Monday, one month after cancelling some of the benefits given to parliamentarians in an effort to assuage public anger following a series of violent demonstrations.

reut.rs

Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 2d

Provocative and interesting read from former SCMP editor in chief Wang Xiangwei in CNA touching on "Apprehensions that Hong Kong is settling for a diminished role - a regional player on par with Dubai - rather than reclaiming its perch as a global financial titan rivalling New York and London."

Matthew Bradford @matthewbradford.bsky.social · 2d

‘Beneath this uneven recovery looms a larger, strategic question: Is Hong Kong rebounding to reclaim its cherished mantle as Asia’s World City – a cosmopolitan powerhouse akin to New York or London – or is it morphing into China’s World City, a specialised outpost serving the mainland’s ambitions?’

Commentary: Is Hong Kong still ‘Asia's World City’?

As China prepares for a key meeting to discuss its next five-year plan, repositioning Hong Kong must take focus, says former SCMP editor-in-chief Wang Xiangwei.

www.channelnewsasia.com

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 4d

Banned Books Week ends today and I thought I'd try and catch up on some reading... sadly this list is American only. Big ups to Judy Blume - celebrating 50 years of bans on her book "Forever". pen.org/banned-books...

Banned Books List 2025

What books are banned in 2025? Thousands of titles have been removed from public schools across the country.

pen.org

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 4d

Not a yellow patch on clothing - stickers. "Doors of raided units were also marked with what appeared to be some sort of makeshift sticker system. White stickers, made with duct tape & a marker, labeled as “PC” hung on doors of units that had been broken down." chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid, one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before t...

chicago.suntimes.com

Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 4d

David Rowe's cartoon in the AFR: Donald ducks the details while others calculate the peace dividend for Gaza

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5d

"In the eyes of tech CEOs, it’s never about changing the world, improving how we function as a society, or helping us spend more valuable time with our loved ones. From the beginning, it was only ever about one thing: putting more commas in Zuckerberg’s bank account" theshot.net.au/uncategorize...

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5d

😀you just know it's going to be the Kirk Peace Prize...enraging Star Trek fans worldwide...

Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5d

...with the obvious follow-up: how many Hong Kong homes would be powered by 175 gigawatts per year? Answer: 53,000

Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5d

I took the challenge and asked AI how much power this data centre in the Northern Metropolis might use - given Hong Kong is sweating through a record-breaking Autumn, it's going to need a lot of air con... and how much water will it be sourcing?

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5d

The forecast is for tantrum... the online cabal of digital news folk worldwide are placing bets on how it will manifest. A thousand words of complaint on TruthSocial? Special tariffs for Norway? I'm backing the dark horse - Fox News campaigns with Turning Point USA to create their OWN peace prize

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5d

Turrns out a monopoly on how people search online is bad. "Some publishers are discussing "Google Zero": the hypothetical moment when Google Search stops sending any traffic to third-party websites, instead providing AI overviews directly on the search results page" www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

A tiny new button in your search bar could kill the open web

The launch of 'AI Mode' ushers in a future where news sites are kept alive to train AI chatbots for a US tech company.

www.abc.net.au

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5d

Déjà vu for Trump's gangster trade policy: "Farmers across the Midwest, a key constituency for the president’s party, now face swelling stockpiles, plunging prices and losses eerily reminiscent of the first US–China trade war during Trump’s initial term in 2018." www.scmp.com/news/us/arti...

Trump threatens to halt Chinese imports – but counts on Xi to buy US soybeans

Although Trump has sounded certain about meeting Xi later this month, the Chinese government has not made any official announcement yet.

www.scmp.com

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 5d

Harry Harrison drops in on Hong Kong retailers after a flaccid ‘Golden Week’: today’s cartoon

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 6d

I've always wanted to do a photo feature on the truckies in Hong Kong who go to great lengths to personalise their cabins... but this is next level. Woe to the lone driver on an empty highway who has one of these roll up behind them...

Edge of LOL @edgeoflol.bsky.social · 7d

Trucks in China 🇨🇳

#trucking #china #crazy #wild

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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 6d

Is there a dummy big enough for the big man to spit? Will Seal Team 6 be mobilised for a targeted strike on the Nobel Committee base in Norway? We are about to find out...

a person is laying on the ground with leaves around them .

ALT: a person is laying on the ground with leaves around them .

media.tenor.com

Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 6d

Is it just me or does Trump think a "peace deal" signed for Gaza before Friday will get him the Nobel Peace Prize?
"...Israeli troops will be withdrawn from an “agreed-upon line” but his statement left open the question of what comes next..." www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

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