Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sofi

Kate Watson @loreandordure.com · 1d

Private equity (especially the leveraged buyout model) is just fraud, actually.

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 1d

Private equity wrecked UK high street, says Iceland Foods boss

PE model - low wages, cut staff/investment, high debt, profiteering, tax abuse.

PE devoured Debenhams, Maplin, Byron Burger, Cath Kidson, Comet, Flybe, Poundworld, Toys R Us.

Controls care homes, vets, supermarkets.
archive.ph/tJVkV

Private equity has wrecked the high street, says Iceland boss

Richard Walker says private buyers take out costs and fail to invest then sell to the highest bidder in a cycle that makes retailers steadily worse

www.thetimes.com

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Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 8h

Was worried that this was going to be *yet another* of the "people should all go back to Twitter" nonsense pieces, but @ianbetteridge.com's law of headlines rarely fails. The answer here is a clear "no" with good reasons:

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that that is the reason why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

Those who stayed behind have lost something, too: the ability to not have their worldview shaped by some of the maddest people on the internet. One of the Tories’ big conference announcements was the promise of an Ice-style border force that would deport [citation needed] 150,000 people a year. That mass deportations of most existing migrants is not actually popular in the UK – that such a policy places yet more distance between the Tories and the mainstream centre which deserted them last year – seems not to have occurred.

It’s hard not to connect this to the fact that much of the political class remains on a platform now dominated by the political extremes. They might do well to remember: Twitter is not the real world.

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cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 8h

the protagonist isn't always the hero. they are just the person the book is about. sometimes authors write books about people who are bad and it does not mean that the author is bad

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 17h

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Don Zeko @donzeko.bsky.social · 8h

Fortunately it's not super common, but I definitely get clients who tell me they can't post bond because they can't call their families without getting the number from their phone, which they can't access while incarcerated

CJ 🏳️‍🌈🤘 @nemoblue.bsky.social · 9h

not that I'm trying to put anyone on blast here, but an employee of mine at my last job caught a DUI last year. he found out the hard way what all young people need to know: if you don't have any phone numbers memorized, you literally have no way to get in touch with ANYONE while you're in jail.

CJ 🏳️‍🌈🤘 @nemoblue.bsky.social · 9h

if you are ever arrested or on your way to the ICU or operating room, you are going to need to have someone's phone number memorized if you want someone to know and/or need emergency help!

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Matt Ortega @mattortega.com · 8h

Did people all get hit in the head with the a hammer at the same time? What is going on?

Business Insider @businessinsider.com · 8h

Some military leaders are turning to AI chatbots for help with decision-making, seeing this tech as a way to get the advantage.

Even top generals are looking to AI chatbots for answers

Some military leaders are turning to AI chatbots for help with decision-making, seeing this tech as a way to get the advantage.

www.businessinsider.com

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Sydney Bauer @sydney-bauer.com · 7h

Thinking classic literature is bad is not a progressive value

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 17h

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 5h

It's actually good to point out Bari Weiss's shitty inaccuracies, her lack of any real journalistic experience or original ideas, and the fact that she's failing upward, promoted by antidemocratic oligarchs who have no interest in reporting the truth.

The middle-aged white guy standing up in a crowd from Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting.

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Memento (Spooky) Morty 🌙 @mementomorty.bsky.social · 4h

I'll find you in every lifetime (menacing)

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Brett "Solidarity 2025" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 13d

"They will experience the consequences of this, but we have to be the consequence." is @democrats.org message, they just don't know it yet.

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 2h

You're living through one of the biggest technological transformations in world history and it has nothing to do with AI

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 19h

Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.

ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...

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gamera obscura @ohrobin.bsky.social · 2h

There is no malice like the glib, grinning indifference of the ruling class.

Axios @axios.com · 3h

Former Presidents Biden and Clinton praised President Trump today for the Gaza peace deal.

Biden, Clinton praise Trump for Gaza peace deal

Biden said he commends Trump and his team, and Clinton said they "deserve great credit."

www.axios.com

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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · Apr 13

The video game crash of 1982 *also* had a gendered outcome. Video games (and computers) became heavily, overwhelmingy marketed toward white middle-class boys.

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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · Apr 13

Look at what this 1982 text-based tolkien video game was doing en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hob...

The Hobbit (1982 video game) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 5h

This is, of course, only the beginning.
Neither OpenAI nor Meta care what kind of damage their tech will do as long as they get clicks and shares.

David J. Hensley @david-j-hensley.bsky.social · 1d

I am in a Facebook group where people ridicule AI slop. Someone shared a Sora video in which Hitler was giving a TED Talk about how he was forced into World War II by the Poles & the Brits. I reported it & FB said it was not "hateful." Also, Sora apparently has no qualms producing vids with Hitler.

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Gailey 🍉 @sarahgailey.bsky.social · 5h

books should have an anti-acknowledgements section where the author talks shit about all the people who fucked them over while they were trying to write the thing. not bc I personally want to write one but bc I love gossip

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 17h

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Micah @rincewind.run · 4h

“Do you know where 'policeman' comes from, sir? ... 'Polis' used to mean 'city', said Carrot. That's what policeman means: 'a man for the city'. Not many people knew that. The word 'polite' comes from 'polis', too. It used to mean the proper behaviour from someone living in a city.”

this one?

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Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · 4h

It is so easy to not be a sex pest, it is actually so much work to be a sex pest, and yet

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 7h

Not very unhinged, but: Stop reading a book if you're bouncing off of it. Stop "powering through." You're just wasting your time. You don't get a gold star for finishing books you're not enjoying reading.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 17h

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Emily J. Edwards (but witchy) @msemilyedwards.bsky.social · 7h

i feel like i need to share this oldie but a goodie today

A tumblr post that reads "WHo would have believed that the perfect wikipedia photo caption could have been improved upon?" Two identical images are then side by side. The first caption is "Piper Kerr, a member of the Scottis National Antarctix Expedition, plays the bagpipes for an indifferent penguin, March 1904". The Caption for the image on the left reads, "Piper Kerr (right), a member of the Scottis National Antarctix Expedition, plays the bagpipes for an indifferent penguin, March 1904"

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 4h

maybe this will help some realize that you don’t need access to cover the government effectively. in fact, it’s actually better.

Brian Stelter @brianstelter.bsky.social · 6h

The Pentagon is telling beat reporters to sign restrictive new rules by Tuesday or surrender their press passes by Wednesday. Many news organizations are rejecting the ultimatum and saying they will not sign. Here's my latest >>> www.cnn.com/2025/10/13/m...

Media outlets, including MAGA channel Newsmax, refuse to sign Pentagon’s press access rules | CNN Business

The Pentagon is telling beat reporters to sign restrictive new rules by Tuesday or surrender their press passes by Wednesday. Many news organizations are rejecting the ultimatum and saying they will n...

www.cnn.com

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Sofi @sofivalenciac.bsky.social · 3h

The grift must keep on grifting 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sofi @sofivalenciac.bsky.social · 3h

Uh bad day on the crypto trade too?

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ash @ashhull.bsky.social · 4h

People always assume you're angry not hurt.

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bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 11h

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 11h

i am so ready for quantum to be the next dumb buzzword the tech industry forces everyone to pretend to care about. "how are you incorporating quantum into your daily work?" i'm not but it's so refreshing you asked me a new and different stupid question

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