Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Keith Wooo-schmann Wilson 👻 @keithwilson.eu · 3h

Manifesto:

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 4h

Sign in a bookstore window:
FUCK SOCIAL MEDIA.
MARRY BOOKS.
KILL AI.

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Mara Wilson @marawilson.bsky.social · 3h

A similar thing happened to me about 25 years ago, when I was a preteen. It was a nightmare.

Now, thanks to AI, so many young girls all over the world will have to live that same nightmare.

รℓσαɳε ℓყรɓεƭɦ 🏳️‍🌈 @sloanelysbeth.bsky.social · Aug 11

it's 30 years later and this still happens.

Jenna Ortega revealed in an interview with The New York Times that she quit Twitter after seeing explicit images of herself generated by Al when she was a teenager. She also became inundated with messages from fans that ranged from "disgusting" to "absurd."
"I hate AI," Ortega said. "I mean, here's the thing: AI could be used for incredible things. I think I saw something the other day where they were saying that artificial intelligence was able to detect breast cancer four years before it progressed. That's beautiful. Let's keep it to that. Did I like being 14 and making a Twitter account because I was supposed to and seeing dirty edited content of me as a child? No. It's terrifying. It's corrupt. It's wrong."

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Robin Hermann @tudorstuart.bsky.social · 2h

However hard we mock the Kardashians, it isn’t enough.

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 4h

the year is 2030. a doctor solemnly informs you that you have plastic in your testicles bc millions of people persuaded by celebrity marketing bought synthetic pubic hairs that were eventually consumed by fish that you ate

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Raffi Melkonian @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social · 6h

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 · 18h

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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Dr Kathleen Neal @kbneal.bsky.social · 6h

Even assuming one accepts LLMs as a specific, valid 'tool', tool-driven learning is a sure way to be Left Behind. Individual tools are inevitably superseded. Instead, foster the mind: the ultimate tool for any job. A well-nourished mind can always adapt to the task at hand.

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 7h

Lots of people with money who want to make more are telling you this is a tool you have to learn or you'll be Left Behind but as with all tools, you can use your own brain and experience to decide if it's a thing that helps you do your job better and a thing you think is ethical.

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Fear Planet @fearplanet.net · 1d

5 Tim Powers Novels for Newbies: Your Gateway Drug to Secret History

Tim Powers is an extraordinary writer of remarkable complexity, and his books often twist the events of history to serve his wild imagination. Fear Planet recommends five novels to readers yet to experience the weirdness of Tim…

5 Tim Powers Novels for Newbies: Your Gateway Drug to Secret History

Tim Powers is an extraordinary writer of remarkable complexity, and his books often twist the events of history to serve his wild imagination. Fear Planet recommends five novels to readers yet to experience the weirdness of Tim Powers and the stranger tides his mind floats upon…

fearplanet.net

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Robin Hermann @tudorstuart.bsky.social · 1d

I enjoyed the Addams Family pinball game a whole hell of a lot more than I enjoyed the first Addams Family movie. And I am an Addams Family nerd.

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bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 2d

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?
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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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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'Despite AI’s widespread use, 62% of the students said it has had a negative impact on their skills and development at school, while one in four of the students agreed that AI “makes it too easy for me to find the answers without doing the work myself”.' 1/2

Pupils fear AI is eroding their ability to study, research finds

One in four students say AI ‘makes it too easy’ for them to find answers

www.theguardian.com

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The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 1d

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson calls Sunday's naked bike ride in protest of the Portland ICE facility and and Trump troop deployment "the most threatening thing I’ve seen yet"

www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

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Robin Hermann @tudorstuart.bsky.social · 1d

Obviously their time on Uncanny produced some great stories, but,in general, Claremont and Byrne brought out the worst in each other. Byrne is my least favorite artist from the Claremont years.

X-Men Don't Need Britches 💙💛 @rphutch1975.bsky.social · 2d

What's an opinion about X-Men that'll get you sent to jail? Is Jean really interesting or really boring? Should Logan have stayed dead? Do you think a certain x-mens outfit is positively horrendous even though people seem to love it?

The Brood Saga is better than Dark Phoenix imo 🤷

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Michael J. Stern @michaeljstern.bsky.social · 2d

This. And this again.

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David Ryan Miller @davidryanmiller.com · 1d

The toxic misogyny has been a reliable throughline of the Trump Era since 2015.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump ignores a question from a woman reporter but says, "I just like to watch her talk. Good job. Thank you darling."

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 1d

Who would have thought that 25 times as many people would be getting their daily news updates from a Boston College history professor (Heather Cox Richardson, who has 2.5 million subscribers) than from the Washington Post.

karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 2d

Lmao WaPo has fewer than 100K circulation now. It turns out “alienate your liberal subscriber base” is not a good strategy when the Republicans also hate you. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...

The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay

Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.

www.forbes.com

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The Onion @theonion.com · 2d

Nation’s Indigenous People Confirm They Don’t Need Special Holiday, Just Large Swaths Of Land Returned Immediately https://theonion.com/nation-s-indigenous-people-confirm-they-don-t-need-spec-1839033177/

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50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 2d

The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces.

This is truly terrifying.

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Miragenos @miragenos.bsky.social · 2d

The original is great but this one is just as good. Apparently even Bowie liked it

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Robin Hermann @tudorstuart.bsky.social · 2d

Pet Shop Boys, I Started a Joke
Metallica, Green Hell/Last Caress
David Bowie, It's Hard to Be a Saint In the City
Emmylou Harris, Pancho and Lefty
Devo, Satisfaction
Pixies, Winterlong
Tin Machine, Working Class Hero
Sinead O'Connor, Nothing Compares 2 U
The Clash, I Fought the Law

Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️ @sophianyx.bsky.social · 2d

Without saying Hurt, fav Cover Song?

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Taylor Joan Carlson @teejcarlson.bsky.social · 2d

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

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ashley scarebanks 💀🕯️ @ziibiing.com · 2d

lol “find your own instead of stealing” in defense of columbus day

AJ West • 1h
Find your own holiday instead of stealing. Today is Columbus Day as designated by the federal government
Reply
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Robin Hermann @tudorstuart.bsky.social · 2d

Omg Omggggg!

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London Topographical Society @londontopsoc.bsky.social · 3d

We have just joined BlueSky! Since our foundation in 1880, we have reproduced an unrivalled selection of historic maps, plans and views of London. We also publish books and monographs containing original research. See more of what we have to offer at: londontopsoc.org

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Dorothy Parker Fucks @dorothyparkerfucks.bsky.social · 3d

around two years ago i made the point that genAI technologies were a fascist project designed to undermine facts, truth and history and so here is some slop machine humiliating a hero of the american civil rights movement

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 3d

ai is a fascist tool. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Ilyasah Shabazz didn’t want to look at the AI-generated videos of her father, Malcolm X. The seemingly realistic clips — made by OpenAI’s new video-maker Sora 2 — show the legendary civil rights activist making crude jokes, wrestling with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and talking about defecating on himself.

“It is deeply disrespectful and hurtful to see my father’s image used in such a cavalier and insensitive manner when he dedicated his life to truth,” Shabazz, whose father was assassinated in front of her in 1965 when she was 2, told The Washington Post. She questioned why the developers were not acting “with the same morality, conscience, and care … that they’d want for their own families.”

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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 3d

My latest: "Numerous studies show that majors in the humanities—typically, in departments of English, history, philosophy, religious studies, classics and languages—lead students to employment and life satisfaction outcomes as positive as those for majors traditionally championed as 'practical.'”

Counterpoint | Minnesota humanities graduates thrive in meaningful careers

"The stereotype of the underemployed history major is simply not true," professor Andrea Kaston Tange writes.

www.startribune.com

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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 3d

"Cheer up love..."

Oh wait, no, it's a female member of the British Home Guard, a civil defence force, learns how to tackle a potential attacker during the Second World War.

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