Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 2h

Commiserations really need to go to the v kind pharmacist who administered the jags. Was in peak menopausal hot flush and brain fog when I arrived so he ended up filling in the online forms for me. 'It's been a strange day,' he mused, as I gave an inappropriate response to the pregnancy question

Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 2h

Absolutely wrung out from a combination of flu & COVID jabs and watching Good Boy as my treat for being a Big Brave Girl. Who needs AI actors when a dog can give such a moving performance? Red carpet walkies on the horizon?

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 1d

Have heard it's on the rise again, and the train yesterday was like a plague ship. Hope you have supplies of paracetamol and food?

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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 1d

Israeli forces have killed at least nine Palestinians trying to return to their homes in northern Gaza City and southern Khan Younis, in the first major violation since the US-brokered ceasefire began.

🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage: aje.io/ttcve3

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 3d

A reminder.

Humanity has never removed an atmospheric pollutant at a global, continental or, even, regional scale — we have only ever shut down the source and let nature do the clearing up. This is the case for chlorofluorocarbons and stratospheric ozone destruction, for sulfur dioxide and acid rain, and for sulfur and nitrogen oxides and photochemical smog. We must be prepared for CDR to be a failure, leaving us to rely on the environment to stabilize atmospheric CO₂ over thousands of years. This is another argument for rapid decarbonization.

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 3d

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 3d

Dressed in a dwam this morning. Have just looked down and realised I'm unintentionally head-to-toe teal. It's like camouflage for the tragically unstylish (do like the colour, or I wouldn't own the clothes, but it's a bit 'recently repainted mid range hotel corridor')

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Kasey Gifford @kaseygifford.bsky.social · 3d

We should be asking this
c o n s t a n t l y.

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amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 3d

This really fucking sucks!!! I’m not even paid to be here by an outlet, so doing this is just fucking me personally!

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Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 5d

The Uncanny Valet

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 5d

our economy is currently being propped up by the promise of billions of fully autonomous robot butlers coming in a year or so

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Cheryl Lynn Eaton @cheryllynneaton.bsky.social · 5d

The message must be "No bailouts for billionaires." AI is not too big to fail. And should it fail, the richest men in the world should be held accountable and take responsibility for their failures.

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 6d

The robin is so pleased with yesterday's garden efforts I'm encouraged to do the same today. Can't shake the memory of an article I read that said we're effectively replacing wild boar rootling, and now kind of imagine myself with tusks rather than trowels as it waits for me to turn up tasty treats

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Ted Brassfield @tedbrassfield.bsky.social · 7d

Capitalism in a nutshell:
Studies of UBI - positive effects, cheaper than government benefits, don't directly finance capital, so WE MUST STUDY MORE

Studies of LLMs - lots of harm, very expensive, directly finance major corporations & the wealthy, so we MUST IMPLEMENT BUT BETTER SOMEHOW

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 7d

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

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The City of Edinburgh Council @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social · 8d

We’re looking for your views on our plans to improve provision for walking, wheeling and cycling along Dundee Street and in the wider Fountainbridge area.

The consultation is open until 12 January 2026.

Digital visualisation of Dundee Street and Angle Park Terrace at the junction with Henderson Terrace.

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 8d

Following up a bit on the "but how do we know Hive/Bluesky isn't lying when they say they don't train generative AI on images submitted to their moderation machine learning models": here's the page for Hive's image generation models: thehive.ai/apis/image-g...

Image Generation APIs to generate unique digital images with text prompts | Hive

Generate images using text prompts

thehive.ai

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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 9d

Scientists who study Long Covid at a conference. All are wearing N95 masks. source:
x.com/AnciraBecky/...

Becky A Robertson
@AnciraBecky
Scientists who study Long Covid pictured last week wearing N95 respirators.

photo

people sitting in a conference center ballroom with golden chandeliers overhead. they are at long, slender tables draped in black cloth that many are using for laptops or to take notes on paper.

all of the scientists are wearing face masks.

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 9d

Was going to ask, if it's a bungalow, where the stairs went, but I clicked on the link and realise it's the attic conversion. a) I'm unduly proud of myself for displaying this crumb of initiative in the modern internet and b) if they've created an upstairs, is it still a bungalow? Genuine query

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The Frito Bandito @thefritobanditoo.bsky.social · 9d

Guys, every person you see on Fox News in a mask is just Robert O'Neill, retired Navy Seal and occasional Fox News contributor. He's the former Antifa, former Gazan, former gang member. His eyes are very unique.

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 9d

Skies getting good'n'Halloweeny and it's only the start of October

Buildings silhouetted against a cloudy sky, cloud edges lit up by sunset and reflected in rock pools in the foreground

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National Library of Scotland @natlibscot.bsky.social · 10d

We have improved our links with the Allmaps project, so that any of our maps can be freely, collaboratively georeferenced and then brought back into our Georeferenced Maps viewer 🗺️

Learn more > maps.nls.uk/view/help/

#Georeference #MapMonday #Maps

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 14d

They do tins of the frogs with 3 different flavours and the pictures on the tin are delightful! This is much better than holding up a post office queue while listing the embarrassing gift choices I've made

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 14d

Thank you! This looks lovely. Will enjoy browsing

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Shona Cook @shonacook.bsky.social · 14d

Yes, that's my fallback but I REALLY do try to use 🏞️ only when I have no viable alternatives. Fingers crossed!

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 14d

Republicans control the Presidency and hold majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. They own their inability and unwillingness to govern.

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