Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

James Halls

@topsey.bsky.social

170 followers 70 following 690 posts

Jack of all trades, master of none. Knows just enough to be dangerous. Usually to himself. Lives in the north half of North America.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 9h

You weren't alone in the horror and disbelief. You still aren't.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 10h

I'm not sure the Conservative party is big enough for her and Kemi Badenoch together.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 10h

Particles or participles? 😉

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 11h

Edit: Flawed Design - Stabilo 🤦
And another song
For What It's Worth (Somethings Happening Here) - Buffalo Springfield

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 11h

JD Vance is on Bluesky. I thought about following him, but it would mostly be to repost his latest outrageous statements, and i will *not* help spread that madness.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 17h

All Canadian bands, oddly. And I think In State and Lunatic Fringe best describe what I think of him and his regime respectively.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 17h

Back when we were dealing with Trump 1.0, I made a playlist of songs for him
In State - Kathleen Edwards
People's Champ (It Ain't You) - Arkells
Flawed Design - Flawed Design
It Could Happen to You - Blue Rodeo
Lunatic Fringe - Red Rider (Tom Cochrane)

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 17h

Perhaps as part of a playlist, Lunatic Fringe.
"Lunatic fringe
We all know you're out there
Can you feel the resistance?
Can you feel the thunder?"
youtu.be/uqUa_G1h3pw?...

Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe

YouTube video by GordonYYZ

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 1d

One of the more rabid Republicans, and an outspoken Democrat. Politics does make strange bedfellows. www.npr.org/2025/10/17/n...

Senators will force a vote to prevent war on Venezuela without approval from Congress

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia says new legislation is needed to prevent the Trump administration's escalating actions against Venezuela from leading to war.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 2d

(Addendum: I'm happy to say I recognized the validity of what my professor wrote even then)

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 2d

Back before PC's a university a professor wrote on my paper that the recitation of facts was great, but I avoided "Why?" like a minefield. If that was not an effort to encourage "judgement development" I don't know what is. The author of the article really doesn't know what they are talking about

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 2d

It is a sad commentary on the Canadian military procurement system that it can't even refurbish the 25 LAV's promised to Ukraine two years ago, and that now the government seems to be trying to cover it up. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Canada's plan to donate refurbished armour to Ukraine appears to be on the scrap heap | CBC News

Ukraine was supposed to receive more than two dozen rebuilt light armoured vehicles from Canada in a deal brokered through a federal agency. However, the plan has been dropped from the Canadian Commer...

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 5d

Sadly I think the issue you pointed out about women's work not being well documented goes double for children. My experience as a child is not anything like that of a peasant child in the Republic, but I think the contribution of child labor in pre-industrial societies bears thinking on.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 5d

Kids are great for treading laundry in a tub to help clean it while the adults, or older children, would wring it to get water out of the fabric. Put 4 children under the supervision of an older adult and that's a lot of extra time freed up for spinning and cooking.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 5d

And we fetched water. Our running water was to run down to the lake and run back up (twice in a row) with a gallon of water each time while adults cooked. Sometimes more than once a day, especially if we had guests. The same with laundry.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 5d

I think you might be underestimating the labor done by children. As a child I spent my summers in a woodstove and no electricity environment. Adults might cut wood, but myself and my siblings collected kindling for fires and brought chopped wood from the woodpile

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 5d

Reading your thread crystallized something that had been floating around in my head. It seems to me that we could see both Russia and the US crack and potentially fail in the next few years, even if for completely different reasons. Overall, a most unpleasant vision.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 11d

As a Canadian, I think the only thing that will make us love the US again is to see Trump, his coterie, his minions, and his enablers in the House and Senate, either out of office, in jail, or both. Preferably before he more damage then has already hapenned www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Trump says 'Canada will love us again' — but there's still no deal on tariffs after Carney meeting | CBC News

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he's working on a trade deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney that he believes will be well-received by Canadians, telling reporters assembled for their bilater...

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 12d

I remember reading accounts of the Great Depression where men were quoted saying they joined the Army because they got three square meals a day. No other reason to join, except they wouldn't starve.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 13d

Thank you. And my apologies, I had meant to type Flamingos. Your point is taken, though, especially in terms of a more accurate missile being a better match for the task as opposed to just spamming the bridge defenses and hoping to get lucky.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 13d

The Democrats have to use what leverage they have.

James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 13d

Okay. Well, if Trump is going to attempt legal end-arounds like federalizing the NG of GOP states to send them to Dem states over the objections of governors and courts, I think the Democrats should just keep the federal government shut down indefinitely.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 13d

After watching the video, I wondered what your take is on using Flamingo hidden among other drones for a mass strike on the Crimean Bridge? The production seems sufficient for Ukraine to both deter electrical infrastructure attacks and attack other Russian targets.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 14d

"I was just following orders" only got most top Nazi officials (and their subordinates) as far as the gallows at Nuremberg. If Hegseth ever goes on trial, I would expect him to get about the same distance.

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 14d

It took humanity about 400 years of scientific experimentation before we got a handle on electricity. The return on investment has been worth every second. It has made us all richer and better off than any of our ancestors could have dreamed.

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 16d

The economic argument for doing fundamental (non-applied) scientific research is that it has a FANTASTIC return on investment. That return may take decades, and you can't predict it, but it has worked out like this since science began. Basic discoveries lead to tech advances, eventually.

2/🧵

James Halls @topsey.bsky.social · 15d

People should not be upset with corporations behaving the way Apple does. The corporate law in most (all?) countries comes down to "make money." *Everything* else about corporations is secondary. If we want corporations to behave morally change corporate law www.npr.org/2025/10/03/n...

Legal experts condemn Apple bowing to White House's request to remove ICE tracking app

It's the latest example of tech giants bowing to pressure from the Trump administration. Legal experts say the developer of the app has free speech rights that may have been violated.