Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 4d

I don't post much about my writing outside of what gets published, but today I closed out the last of my outstanding agent sumbissions for The Novel.

It's ended with more of a whimper than a bang, but 70+ submissions was a pretty good run. #writing #WritingCommunity #fiction #books

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Grist @grist.org · 5d

Corals are disappearing, pushing Earth to its first major ‘tipping point’

A new report says Earth has reached a dire milestone with the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs. But it's not too late to save what remains.

grist.org/oceans/coral...

#Coral #Ocean #Environment #Climate #Science

Corals are disappearing, pushing Earth to its first major ‘tipping point’

A new report says Earth has reached a dire milestone with the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs. It's not too late to save what remains.

grist.org

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Grist @grist.org · 6d

From Afrofuturism to ecotopia: A climate-fiction glossary
Find the climate-fiction genre that inspires you.

grist.org/fix/climate-...

#Solarpunk #ClimateFiction #Fiction #BookSky #Afrofuturism #Solarpunk

From Afrofuturism to ecotopia: A climate-fiction glossary

Find the climate-fiction genre that inspires you.

grist.org

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Reposted by Kate Fathers

Justin LaLiberty @jlalibs.com · 10d

What an absolute treasure Diane Keaton was. Her wit never tired, nor did her style.

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Culture Crave 🍿 @culturecrave.co · 10d

Diane Keaton has passed away at the age of 79

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Courtney Lee Designs @courtneyleedesigns.com · 14d

Ireland declaring a permanent universal basic income for artists is the validation creators need — how VITAL our work is. The monetary, cultural, & intrinsic value of art is palpable. THIS is reputable proof of that. How much better would societies run if EVERYONE had a UBI?! It’d be life-changing.

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 12d

YES. I am SO happy about this! Making sure people's basic needs are met only benefits society. Hopefully other countries will adopt this and it will be another step in the direction of a #UniversalBasicIncome #UBI. #art

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 12d

Ireland has approved plans to permanently implement a basic income program that will support up to 2,200 artists.

A cost-benefit analysis found that for every €1 invested, society receives €1.39 back.

Officials from other countries are now expressing interest in the program.

Reposted by Kate Fathers

Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 13d

The reason the Right are so invested in the myth that the arts have no value isn’t because the arts don’t generate wealth (they do); it’s that studying the arts teaches people to imagine better ways of judging the value of an idea than by counting how much money it makes…

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Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 14d

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 15d

The acting in #MonsterTheEdGeinStory makes me want to continue watching (it's phenomenal!), and I really hate that these narrative choices make that so unappealing. I haven't watched a lot of modern TV in a while, and if this is what it's like now, it's not making me excited to explore more.

Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 15d

I think audiences are more clever than #MonsterTheEdGeinStory gives them credit for, and even if they weren't, art is supposed to push you--to expand your mind. Letting the audience draw conclusions on their own is good, actually!

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 15d

I am really worked up about this, but it was just such a horrible example of telling not showing! And so insulting to viewers! Is this where filmmakers think their audiences are now? That our critical thinking and literacy skills are so poor we need to be spoonfed?

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 15d

Not only does splitting the story between Gein and the stories he inspired not really add anything for me, but I found the explanations totally condescending. I am not a child. I could have gleaned most, if not all, of Hitchcock's explanation just from...watching Ed Gein's story.

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 15d

In other news, I started watching "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" over the weekend, but two episodes in, I'm not sure I'll continue. I was really enjoying it, but I was totally repulsed when they cut to 1959 and Alfred Hitchcock started explaining the story to me. #horror #MonsterTheEdGeinStory

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 15d

The amount of resources we're using to avoid having to pay a human being or use our brains is unconscionable. #AI #antiAI #artificialintelligence #antiartificialintelligence

Futurism @futurism.com · 22d

"Ten gigawatts is more than the peak power demand in Switzerland or Portugal."

OpenAI's New Data Centers Will Draw More Power Than the Entirety of New York City, Sam Altman Says

OpenAI's planned AI data center projects would consume as much as the entire city of New York City and San Diego combined.

trib.al

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Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 16d

The Green Party of England & Wales' new housing policy:

"Green Party policy is to seek the effective abolition of Private Landlordism."

"The Green Party believes the existence of Private Landlords adds no positive value to the economy or society."

Greens Organise @greensorganise.bsky.social · 16d

Green Party Conference 2025 just passed a motion that would Abolish Landlords!

Through a programme of unprecedented council house building, taxation and housing those who need it, a Green government would eliminate profit from a human right.

Housing for all.

Letting agent sticking a FOR RENT sign to window.

Text reads

Green Conference votes to
Abolish
Landlords

Greens
Organise

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 20d

Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91

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Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 23d

when I was a kid my mom would make me give my little brother a turn on Crash Bandicoot and I would have to sit there and watch him run off the map and waste all my extra lives and that's sort of how it feels to watch the news right now

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · 25d

Every time the government announces something--Online Safety Act, ID Cards, AI nonsense--all I can think about is that there are over 1 million people looking for jobs.

Why do they keep trying to manufacture crises when there are actual crises sitting right there?

Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · Sep 17

The difference between the #COVID vaccine eligibility and the flu vaccine eligibility is ridiculous when you remember that the government kept saying we should treat COVID "like flu".

That being said, "eligibility" is ridiculous. All vaccines should be free. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Change to Covid vaccine eligibility 'puzzling', charity says

For the first time, Covid-19 booster jabs will not routinely be offered to healthy under-75s in Scotland.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Pajiba @pajiba.com · Jul 17

At Romance Con, the Shadow of J.K. Rowling and Questions of Fan Culpability Loom Overhead

This year, there are no fewer than three novels receiving wide releases from major publishers that started out life as Harry Potter fanfictions. After 50 Shades of Grey opened the floodgates and made it socially and (sorta) legally acceptable for... Read more...

www.pajiba.com

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · Sep 10

After being on the internet for 25 years, it will never stop being weird to me that a book being ex-fanfiction is now used as a selling point.

boryskit.bsky.social @boryskit.bsky.social · Sep 10

Excl: In what is the biggest book-to-film deal of the year, Legendary pays over $3M for the rights to ALCHEMISED, the upcoming romantasy novel by SenLinYu that originally started out as HARRY POTTER fan fiction. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Big Deal: Legendary Pays 7 Figures for ‘Alchemised,’ Book That Began Life as ‘Harry Potter’ Fan-Fiction (Exclusive)

The deal for SenLinYu's novel is believed to be biggest in history for a new book's movie rights, not adjusted for inflation

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · Sep 9

Also like, it's nice to be reminded that success, new ventures, etc. doesn't have a timeline. Those lists can be interesting, but they do play into the idea that innovation/art is the purview of the young. That success is only for the young. When really it can come at any age.

Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · Sep 8

I always love those lists of "35 under 35," but as I get older, I find that I would love to know about innovations/art from people over 65. "65 over 65" please. Elders have incredible ideas that are the result of having seen the full lifecycle of previous ideas and learned from it.

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Chris Pickenpaugh @mrpickenpaugh.bsky.social · Sep 6

Nice.

Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion to settle lawsuit over pirated books used to train AI chatbots

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit by book authors who say the company took pirated copies of their works to train its chatbot.

apnews.com

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Kate Fathers @katefathers.bsky.social · Sep 5

Issue 491 is out now! For your autumnal reading (and just in time for #Halloween), I take a look at #PoppyZBrite's #horror novel "Lost Souls". And over in our 1001 Films feature, I gush about the fantastic Katsuhiro Otomo #anime anthology "Memories". #scifi #fantasy #Wednesday

STARBURST MAGAZINE @starburst.bsky.social · Aug 22

The Autumn issue of STARBURST MAGAZINE is shipping to our fabulous subscribers from today, so if you've not subbed yet and would like Issue #491 delivered for FREE (within the UK) ahead of its August 29th release date, sign up below!

THE STARBURST STORE: starburstmagazine.store/products/sta...

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