Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 3d

They always say "China likes to underpromise and overdeliver", don't they?
But yes, if it amounts to "I'll probably deliver less than I can, but I'll only commit to delivering way less than I can", it's not so impressive.

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 3d

They can't shrink the civil service + reduce the deficit + cut taxes by billions + quadruple deportations to 150k/year (& shrink the legal population by 500k+ by going to net zero migration)
bsky.app/profile/sund...

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 4d

The Conservatives have pledged they will increase the number of deportations to 150k/year

- while significantly reducing the size of the civil service
- without increasing government spending and taxation.
- and opposing mandatory identification.

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/co...

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Reposted by Keith Alexander

Dr Jo Swabe @joswabe.bsky.social · 4d

355 MEPs voted today to ban the use of meat denominations like burger & sausage for plant-based products.

This is a manufactured issue. Consumers are not confused.

If there was ever clearer evidence of political decision-making being heavily influenced by the animal agriculture lobby. This is it.

Voting results amendment on meat denominations
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PV-10-2025-10-08-RCV_FR.pdf

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Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 4d

I thought conservatives were supposed to believe in the wisdom of markets and that people should be free to make decisions about their own lives without government interfering?

Brush Seals Tested for Airtightness – What Works Best?

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Jesse D. Jenkins @jessedjenkins.com · 5d

The government’s own data rebuts Trump Admin claims that wind and solar are driving up electricity prices, Politico reports share.google/RTIXPPQMXrTH...
“[T]he data say pretty much the opposite” of Trump & Secretary Wright’s claims.

Among the 22 states that drew higher-than-average shares of their power from wind and solar, 17 had below-average electricity prices in June, according to EIA data.

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Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 5d

This is quite interesting and useful - testing FTW!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xirg...

YouTube video by Efficiency Matrix

www.youtube.com

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 5d

AI will bring about 100x reduction in energy costs (what does that mean? A 99% decrease?) but can't be expected to figure out how to get a handle on its own resource consumption. 🤔

Is Suleyman a little embarrassed to have his claim taken literally?

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 5d

What are the best products for retrofitting airtightness to wooden doors, loft hatches, etc?

I'm imagining a solution that can go right round the perimeter of the door/hatch, not just a brush tacked to the bottom - and ideally the design includes a thermal break between inside and outside.

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 5d

From the review paper reported on:
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

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Reposted by Keith Alexander

David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 5d

They’re right: protesting genocide is ‘anti British’, as historically it’s often been the British supporting and on occasion committing genocide.

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Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 5d

“We must stop expecting carbon offsetting to work at scale. […] We have assessed 25 years of evidence and almost everything up until this point has failed.”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

‘The president is unhinged’: Trump’s online behavior grows increasingly odd

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Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 6d

“The president is unhinged. He is unwell,” Dean told Johnson, in an encounter filmed by journalists.

“Well a lot of folks on your side are too,” Johnson responded.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The US president’s recent behavior is strange to many, from reposting a false AI video of himself to confusing comments during press conferences

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 7d

Yes I stopped using it because of their tax avoidance and their treatment of staff. Most people I know don’t seem to be able to imagine not using it, even though it is increasingly crammed with cheap junk.

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Reposted by Keith Alexander

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 7d

The Times of Israel reports that Greta Thunberg & her fellow Flotilla crew are being held in a special "terrorist" section of Ketziot prison—or in "terrorist conditions," as Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's Minister of National Security put it.

www.timesofisrael.com/thunberg-sai...

On Friday, the ultranationalist minister suggested that Israel would be better off throwing the flotilla participants in prison for several months
rather than immediately deporting them back to their home countries. Security prisoners - those incarcerated for offenses that intentionally harm national security - are housed separately from criminal prisoners and are not eligible for many of the benefits available to the general prison population. The term is a catch-all term applied to detainees, convicted prisoners and terrorists, and administrative detainees who are held
without charges for extended periods, without trial.

"We are in Ketziot prison, and as I promised, those flotilla members,
supporters of terrorism, are here in a security prison," Channel 14 reported
Ben Gir as saying. "They receive conditions for terrorists here, for everything, terrorist sweatpants, terrorist conditions. This means, there is a minimum of the
minimum, that's what I promised and that's how we are fulfilling it."

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Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 7d

“Amazon makes more than $50bn every year charging merchants for search placement. When you search for a product on Amazon, the top results aren’t the best matches: they’re the matches that pay the highest fees”

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

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Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 10d

As long as you have some storage and a heat pump, you could either go for fabric improvements or more storage as a strategy to get more of your energy use into the cheap period of various TOU tariffs - so I'm wondering what the optimal strategy is! Could I have saved myself lots of work with 🔋🔋?

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 10d

I was just thinking about the cost savings of bigger battery vs more insulation (I'm just about to fit some insulation, and ordering more...).

Kemi Badenoch vows to repeal Climate Change Act

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 10d

This was fascinating, thanks. I found the discussion on polarisation especially interesting, as UK politics has always had broad consensus on climate but recently has followed the US in becoming polarised on the issue. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Tory leader says she would replace it with ‘cheap energy’ strategy, ending decades-long consensus on climate