Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 1h

Thiel is responsible for a lot of the evils of today’s world, but setting up numerous blatantly evil companies and naming them after LOTR lore is top of the list.

Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 1h

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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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 23h

There is a real lack of good football analytics blogs and websites these days. All the nerds have gone to work for the Athletic or football clubs, and the rest of us are worse off for it.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 1d

Germany are… fine. Not good. Not bad. Which is itself a bit of a failure.

Two years ago they appointed one of football’s most promising head coaches and since then not a lot has actually improved.

Germany’s promised revolution under Nagelsmann is stagnating

Whether against Northern Ireland, Luxembourg or Slovakia, Germany look like they're going nowhere fast under their celebrated tactician

gegenpressing.substack.com

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t think that performance is remedied by Adeyemi scoring.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 1d

Germany win in Belfast but it was an absolutely dreadful performance. Aside from Woltemade bundling a corner in with the back of his shoulder, I don’t think Nagelsmann’s side did much at all to deserve all three points.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 1d

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 1d

Lovely header/shoulder from Woltemade to give Germany the lead. He’s been bouncing off defenders since the first whistle. Such a big presence in the final third and now bags a goal from the corner.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 1d

Julian Nagelsmann when he sees Northern Ireland crossing balls into the Germany box… from their own half.

a man says if i speak i am in big trouble in front of a wall of advertisements

ALT: a man says if i speak i am in big trouble in front of a wall of advertisements

media.tenor.com

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 2d

Scotland have never been more successful.

Scotland have never been harder to watch.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 3d

“Last week (Sept. 15 to Sept. 21), Threads just edged out X in the average number of daily active users, according to Similarweb data, leading with 130.2 million daily users over X’s 130.1 million.”

www.forbes.com/sites/conorm...

Zuckerberg Vs. Musk: Meta’s Threads Topples X In Daily Active Users Worldwide

While the number of daily active users for Threads has steadily grown in the two years since it launched, X’s numbers have declined considerably.

www.forbes.com

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 3d

On a side note, it’s always so interesting to note how much text-based platforms are given oversized influence by… writers. The vast majority of the population is influenced by instagram. And by extensions Threads is now more popular than X/Twitter. But both are largely ignored. Like YouTube.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 3d

The writer may have made the write call in his own personal decisions, but that doesn’t mean the article itself isn’t a flawed concept.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 3d

Twitter shaping policy (questionable, in my opinion) is probably due to lazy journalists and TV producers not looking beyond their own Twitter feeds for stories and feedback. Twitter wasn’t made popular by politicians. It was made popular by the media.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 3d

Nope. Don’t support a platform that puts money in the pocket of fascists. It’s really that simple.

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 4d

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it is still shaping policy. So were we all wrong to leave?

Was the left wrong to leave X for BlueSky?

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it's still shaping policy

www.newstatesman.com

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 4d

I’ll go to great lengths to avoid the international break.

Such as… Melrose and Bamburgh beech

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 5d

Yeah, but at what cost? I’ve never had less interest in the national team.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 5d

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 5d

Well there we go. Another four years of Steve Clarke…

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 5d

Yup

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 5d

Turned the Scotland game on and gave up after five minutes. I’ve got nothing but admiration for the Tartan Army and their devotion to the national team, but Scotland under Steve Clarke are hard work.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 5d

Man Utd are technically doing better this season compared to this point last season.

Arsenal, Liverpool and most definitely Man City… are not.

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Reposted by Stefan Bienkowski

Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 6d

German football has already rejected the prospect of playing games abroad, but what will La Liga, Serie A and eventually Premier League games around the world mean for the Bundesliga?

That’s the question I try to answer in this week’s newsletter:

Leaving the fans behind: What Serie A and La Liga games abroad means for the future of the Bundesliga

UEFA's decision to approve Spanish and Italian league games in the US and Australia could have huge ramifications on German football

gegenpressing.substack.com

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 6d

I think it’s a flawed concept too. I know Americans love the PL but PL games in front of American fans just isn’t the same thing as what the world loves about the PL. But… that doesn’t mean they won’t try. Think they wanted to let Spain/Italy go first, then they’ll follow.

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 6d

German football has already rejected the prospect of playing games abroad, but what will La Liga, Serie A and eventually Premier League games around the world mean for the Bundesliga?

That’s the question I try to answer in this week’s newsletter:

Leaving the fans behind: What Serie A and La Liga games abroad means for the future of the Bundesliga

UEFA's decision to approve Spanish and Italian league games in the US and Australia could have huge ramifications on German football

gegenpressing.substack.com

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Stefan Bienkowski @sbienkowski.bsky.social · 6d

"The shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own..."

If in doubt, turn to Tolkien for wisdom.

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