Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Storm "Rain of Terror" Blakley, Alleged Human @vedraven.bsky.social · 41m

Please, help if you can.

This storm has been absolutely brutal.

Alaska Beacon @alaskabeacon.com · 1d

In photos: Residents of western Alaska share storm damage of ex-Typhoon Halong, reports Corinne Smith with @alaskabeacon.com

In photos: Residents of western Alaska share storm damage of ex-Typhoon Halong | Alaska Beacon

As morning light hit flooded communities devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong on Sunday, local residents snapped photos of the storm damage across western Alaska communities.

alaskabeacon.com

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Mando @mrmandolino.itch.io · 1d

a long form researched article WITH COMMISSIONED ART in collaboration with shmuplations???

inject it directly into my veins

Design Room @designroom.bsky.social · 1d

For the Shadow of the Colossus story, we interviewed 14 people including project leads Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido, hired Gravity Rush concept artist Takeshi Oga to illustrate the cover, and put together a 10,000-word story with help from @milkman.bsky.social @shmuplations.bsky.social and others.

Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Team Ico’s masterpiece by looking back with 11 people who worked on it (and three who didn’t).

www.designroom.site

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Raffi Melkonian @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social · 2h

My super modern regulatory plan is that any entity named for a thing from Tolkien has to publicly explain why Tolkien wouldn’t immediately throw it into Mount Doom

Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 14h

Tolkein continues to resonate. The new bank being set up by Palmer Luckey and backed by Peter Thiel is named Erebor after the “lonely mountain” in The Hobbit. This was also an interesting line in this rpt on the new bank by @tabbykinder.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/202d...

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One Story @onestorymag.bsky.social · 14h

Register today for Worldbuilding for Any Story with @adeniro.bsky.social. We will read writers such as Ursula LeGuin, Kelly Link, Jorge Luis Borges and Anna Kaval to explore how they create a sense of spatiality in their stories with just a few phrases and sentences. bit.ly/4o3zsfy

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Kathleen Jennings @tanaudel.bsky.social · 3h

42 ways to fix a story
tanaudel.wordpress.com/2024/02/09/4...

42+ ways to fix a story

Here is a list of ways to fix a draft or story in progress…

tanaudel.wordpress.com

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 3h

Many YA books I try to cover by BIPOC authors don't get ARCs or do but they aren't put on netgalley or edelweiss, and if they only get final copies, at least half of the ones I'm supposed to get show up days before or weeks after release or not at all, meaning I can't cover them for trade pubs.

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 3h

Seconding this and adding that it really is that bad in terms of the lack of marketing for BIPOC authors esp. And as bad as it is in adult, it's worse in YA and kidlit.

Victoria Law @victorialaw.bsky.social · 3h

Novelist Silvia Moreno-Garcia breaks down the slump in book sales, what this means for marginalized writers, & what we as readers can do: www.patreon.com/posts/boycot...

Boycott? Not likely | Silvia Moreno-Garcia

www.patreon.com

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 8h

That’s $5 billion more than the entire annual USAID budget. All to one country. To rescue one friend of the president’s.

Ilhan Omar @ilhanmn.bsky.social · 8h

Trump found another $20 BILLION to give to Argentina, totaling their bailout to $40 BILLION.

Yet we can’t afford to prevent millions of Americans from losing their healthcare.

Shame.

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Tisha Mark @tishamark.com · 8h

Somewhere peaceful to rest your eyes and your mind.

Tisha Mark ©2022, Tide Pools VI, oil on canvas, 12"x12"

Original is available:
tishamark.com/product/tide...

#art #painting #TraditionalArt #bsnm

Original seascape oil painting by Tisha Mark, "Tide Pools VI" 12"x12" oil on canvas (2022). A soft, abstract-leaning seascape painting inspired by tide pools of wintertime. Painted in a soothing palette of light blues, whites, and soft browns.

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 7h

The Voting Rights Act has done more than perhaps any other statute to build a multiracial democracy

which is precisely why the Supreme Court’s conservative justices have spent decades casting the law as constitutionally unsound

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/calla...

The Conservative Justices Have So Many Ideas For How to Kill the Voting Rights Act

The Republican justices already know where they’re going. They just have to figure out which route they’re going to take to get there.

ballsandstrikes.org

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Ben Francisco @benfrancisco.bsky.social · 11h

In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, I wrote a listicle of awesome Latinx Science Fiction to read ASAP! W/ great books by @boriscrito.bsky.social @pazsays.bsky.social @valerievaldes.bsky.social @latinxfiles.bsky.social @willalex.bsky.social @silviamg.bsky.social

benfrancisco.net/2025/10/15/1...

Collage of covers of Latinx Science Fiction books, including Ambassador, Latinx Rising, Sal & Gabi Break the Universe, Prime Meridian, and Val Vega: Secret Ambassador of Earth.

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Sandstone @quartzen.bsky.social · 7h

What are your favorite writing craft books or resources (preferably text rather than audio/video) for plotting/outlining stories with an ensemble cast?

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Evan Simko-Bednarski @simko-bednarski.bsky.social · 8h

This is dark. But also, this display of solidarity on the part of the pentagon press corps should be a model for dealing with the regime

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 8h

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

Oct. 15, 2025
PENTAGON PRESS ASSOCIATION
STATEMENT
Today, the Defense Department confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America. It did this because reporters would not sign onto a new media policy over its implicit threat of criminalizing national security reporting and exposing those who sign it to potential prosecution.
The Pentagon Press Association's members are still committed to reporting on the U.S. military. But make no mistake, today, Oct. 15, 2025 is a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening U.S. commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all.
PPA

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pdavislibrarian @pdavislibrarian.bsky.social · 8h

New dog, same tricks in the Missouri States Attorney's office!

Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 8h

BREAKING: Missouri state officials sue a pro-voting coalition, which is organizing a veto referendum to block Republican state lawmakers' new congressional gerrymander. The map notably split apart Black communities in Kansas City to buy the GOP one district.

Missouri Republicans Sue to Block ‘People’s Veto’ of GOP Gerrymander

Read more here.

www.democracydocket.com

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Fran Wilde @franwilde.bsky.social · 9h

I wrote about my favorite high-tech future heists today at @reactorsff.bsky.social ! Includes @yumewrites.bsky.social @byzantienne.bsky.social @greatdismal.bsky.social @willalex.bsky.social Alexander Freed !!

Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 12h

Heists are already fun, but throw in some weird, futuristic spy technology? We're in. @franwilde.bsky.social, author of A Philosophy of Thieves, recommends 6 sci-fi heist stories! How many have you read?

reactormag.com/six-high-tec...

Six High Tech Heists That Defy the Odds - Reactor

These heists require tech and talent to pull off a win against impossible odds...

reactormag.com

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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 13h

Oh, by the way, I wrote in @thenation.com about how Trump is condeming millions of Americans to hunger this Thanksigiving with his accelarated timeline of adding work requirements for SNAP benefits.
I also discussed how work requirements provably don't work, for the neoliberals in your life.

Trump Has Just Condemned More Americans to Hunger

The administration’s decision to fast-track a bunch of changes to food stamps—including new work requirements—is as stupid as it is cruel.

www.thenation.com

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skellyton bones jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 11h

EVERY BOOK BANNED FROM THE READING BOWL HAS BEEN RESTORED!!!!!

The kids will be able to read and compete over all 20 books. Raising the issue made a difference. Teen advocates made a difference.

docs.google.com/document/u/0...

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Progress MO @progressmissouri.bsky.social · 9h

🧵 Over 400,000 Missourians rely on Affordable Care Act tax credits to make health care affordable for their families. But those tax credits are about to expire and the GOP is refusing to discuss an extension, even going so far as shutting down the government to avoid the conversation. #GOPShutdown

These reps want to slash your health care with Ann Wagner, Bob Onder, Mark Alford, Sam Graves, Eric Burlison and Jason Smith of MO

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Kaya Skovdatter 🏳️‍⚧️ (She/They) @gothgreenwitch.bsky.social · 15h

We're halfway through Huldra House's Samhain Sale!

3 FREE horrorotica stories!
50% off subs! ($9 USD for 24 stories, plus collected edition w/extras once out.)

Sub sales go to me yeeting my deadname! Now 9/15 of goal - just 6 more to go!

www.huldrahouse.com/shop/samhain...
itch.io/s/160941/the...

A sale banner with a dark background, centred on a red-hooded figure holding a long axe with its blade pointed toward the ground. They stand in an open doorway, and moths flutter around them. In the foreground is matte white text that reads: The Huldra House Samhain Sale is on now, through October 31st!

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Danny Wicentowski @dtowski.bsky.social · 14h

"Placing prohibitions on certain procedures for trans children in the [Missouri] constitution — would be unprecedented in the United States and likely impossible to reverse."

-- via Annelise Hanshaw @missouriindependent.com

missouriindependent.com/2025/10/15/h...

How Missouri became a battleground over gender-affirming care • Missouri Independent

Gender-affirming care for minors has become largely inaccessible in Missouri following national attention and political outcry.

missouriindependent.com

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 6d

It's Murderbot time! I'm back with a discussion of Artificial Condition and everyone's favorite Asshole Research Transport.
reactormag.com/martha-wells...

Martha Wells Book Club: Artificial Condition - Reactor

When we last left our grumpy SecUnit, it had ditched the PresAux team and set out for the great beyond...

reactormag.com

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 1d

Remember when you tried to tell us “the younger generations don’t think that way.” And “the young people will save us.” There are a lot of great, humane, decent, bright young people out there. But there are also a lot of these young people. And they’re not going anywhere.

Erin Maye Quade @erinmayequade.bsky.social · 1d

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Christopher Caldwell @seraph76.bsky.social · 1d

Black queer surfers. Black queer bank-robbers. Black queer sea monsters. Black queer sorcerers. Black queer rootworkers. Black queer sailors. Black queer saints. Black queer sinners.

It’s Black!
It’s queer!
It’s Here!

Now available!
www.neonhemlock.com/books/call-a...

Call and Response by Christopher Caldwell (pre-order) — neon hemlock

A collection of short stories. Publication date: October 14th, 2025. An 8” x 5” paperback. 188 pages. This is a pre-order—any other books ordered with it will ship when the pre-order is ready to ship....

www.neonhemlock.com

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Prof Gavin Yamey @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 1d

Wait, WHAT? The IRB gone. The IRB!

What an extraordinarily dangerous, harmful, unethical bunch of MAGA and MAHA lackeys we now have running US public health, healthcare, and health research; they have totally lost their moral compass (assuming they once had one?).

HELLody SchreiBOO @melodyschreiber.com · 1d

The entire HR department at the CDC is gone. Everyone at the IRB, which makes sure studies are conducted ethically and rigorously, and the ethics office, which oversee conflicts of interest for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘Instability and confusion’ as CDC slashes 1,300 jobs before reinstating half

Trump administration says 700 notices were sent in error, while top CDC officer says ‘they didn’t think through what they were doing’

www.theguardian.com

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Claudie @clh2oars.bsky.social · 1d

I dipped my toe in IF over summer, and it was great fun! Play as one of Emmanuelle's cats (from Val-de-mer) as you try to escape a bath... or perhaps you'd rather try to get as many treats as possible?

No knowledge of PAINTED FLOCK needed to play.

claudiearseneault.itch.io/painted-kitty

An image with a white cat that has splotches of red and blue paint. Besides it are pawprints of blue paint and the title “Painted Kitty” in red. Above is written “I made a small interactive fiction game and it’s completely free to play!” and “In which you are a dirty little kitty, and you’re trying to escape a bath!”

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