Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

liv

@livya.bsky.social

I was perusing the NYT’s robots.txt today as part of explaining to a friend where LLMs get all their data

and discovered that NYT now has a license agreement in the comments of their robots file, that specifically disallows crawling from / by / for AI / LLMs

browser opened to nytimes.com/robots.txt, where you can read the whole thing.

the relevant highlighted bit says:
“Prohibited uses include but are not limited to: …
(2) the development of any software, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and / or large language models (LLMs).”

September 25, 2025 at 3:21 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

got the anxious dog a new toy, I think he has accepted it

a black and white dog with cow spots lies in a soft grey dog bed. his posture looks relaxed but his eyes betray the fact that he. is. watching. everything. his nose is just over the tip of the bed. under his chin is what looks like two blue rubber lumps. that would be his new peanut butter smelling bone.

he’s a huge fan.

September 1, 2025 at 2:48 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

so if I don’t confirm my age, you’ll automatically give me privacy? hmmm hard deal

I mean I don’t fully trust the SafeSearch filter not to be weirdly politicized, but otherwise - sign me up

email from Google.

“Google couldn’t confirm you’re an adult, so some account settings have changed.

“SafeSearch is on. Google may hide explicit content, like pornography, from your search results.

“Personalized ads are off. Google won’t show you personalized ads.

“Timeline is off. Timeline won’t automatically save your visits and routes anymore.

“Are you an adult? Verify your age and choose the settings that are right for you.”

August 14, 2025 at 6:31 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

perhaps it was a strange woman whose job it was to unseat the current government by way of distributing swords?? in which case at least down the line we might be able to thank her

I’m so sorry!! we had a break-in once and it’s so unsettling

scene from monty python and the holy grail, king arthur in the middle

July 31, 2025 at 3:20 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

just checking in on the alternate reality machine

header from fox news, screenshot. headline reads: "Anti-Trump rioters attacking law enforcement in Los Angeles." next to it is a video, which, if you watch it, shows absolutely no rioting and a LOT of police.

screenshot of One America News. the top headline is "Happy birthday Trump: How he made America great." followed by: "Trump, Melania arrive at military parade celebrating Army's 250th anniversary." and "Texas Capitol building evacuated due to threat against lawmakers ahead of No Kings Day protests."

June 15, 2025 at 2:07 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

I simultaneously agree and think we need less regulations around what housing growth looks like

_and_ I am in texas rn where zoning is considered laughably absurd and I get why people maybe don’t want this and / or find it jarring

I don’t quite know enough to know how to resolve that

an image of a tree lined single family neighborhood in houston, TX. there are a few 3-4 story apartment buildings on a couple blocks, but it’s mostly small homes.

then smack in the middle is a skyscraper that’s got to be about 5-10 times the height of the next tallest building around

May 3, 2025 at 2:22 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

two buildings hanging off the side of a mountain, with clouds gathering below
you’re on a trail up above it
the drop around it is so sheer that the buildings are on wooden platforms
the one on the left is a small outhouse. it cost $2.50 to go to the bathroom on the mountain in 2010
in the larger building on the right, you can find a hostel-like hotel (bunk beds booked in advance) and a small restaurant serving things like donburi and ramen

this is probably from around 10,000 feet

April 29, 2025 at 3:08 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

when our now 12-yo dog milo was a baby he also had huge ears

a tiny black puppy with a white belly and little white paws and enormous ears cocks his head and looks at the person taking a photo

his ears are at least half the size of his head if not more, and they make big triangles

the photo is blurry, like there just wasn’t enough time to get the focus right

April 19, 2025 at 7:50 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

it is 70 degrees F, at midnight, in April, in a place where we get snow through May, usually

it is too hot
it is getting hotter

I cannot _believe_ that this isn’t our biggest priority right now

as a country, as a human race

screenshot of the iOS Weather app showing how many degrees above the average the current weather is. in big numbers it says “+25 deg Fahrenheit”. the high today was 83; average high on this day in the year is 58.

April 13, 2025 at 5:42 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

screenshot from CNN. it says “Pre-markets” and some text about CNN’s Greed and Fear index. there is a meter that runs red to yellow. the pointer is all the way in the red. in dark red, it says “Extreme Fear is driving the US market.” a scream-face emoji has been placed atop it, symbolizing the extremely fearful reactions

April 9, 2025 at 4:05 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

okay this drives me nuts because only about a decade ago the quest to tax sugar was a Democrat priority

it was so big that it was regularly satirized on TV

then we collectively decided this was not really going to solve problems

the way we forget even recent history… it’s truly mindbending

scene from Parks and Recreation. Leslie and Ann are explaining why the Sweetums soda must be stopped. they’re demonstrating with a set of example drive thru cups. enormous ones already sit on the table, one labeled “128oz” and called “Regular”. Ann lifts one up that’s enormous and says “512oz”, labeled “CHILD”.

Leslie says: “Then, there is a horrifying 512oz version that they call ‘child’ size.”

April 3, 2025 at 6:36 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

I'm sorry make that corn

corn patties corn bread corn oil

from WorldAtlas, "List of the 20 Biggest Agricultural Products In the United States". it's a table with three columns: Rank, Agricultural Product, and Production. it reads:

1. Corn - 354M tonnes
2. Cow milk - 91M
3. Soybeans - 89M
4. Wheat - 58M
5. Sugar beets - 29.8M
6. Potatoes - 19.8M
7. Chicken - 17.4M
8. Tomatoes - 12.6M
9. Cattle meat - 11.7M
10. Pig meat - 10.5M

March 3, 2025 at 7:42 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

“AI journaling” may be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard of

what is the point of a journal that, instead of containing your own musings, holds the average of everyone else’s?

an app in the iOS app store. it’s called “stoic. journal & mental health.” the tagline is “AI journaling & daily diary.” the images from the app say things like “Take cafe of your mental health. Tools you need for a happier life. sleep sound - scientifically proven ways to help you fall asleep.”

there’s not quite enough here to really tell what it’s about, but do we really need more than the title to dismiss it out of hand?

February 22, 2025 at 7:53 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

graffiti on the side of a university building. it says, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” there is a signature, which looks like it says Brone.

February 2, 2025 at 11:26 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

yet still, in the same breath: the journey of loss is each of ours to take. may they find their way back into community with others.

smoke in the air as we evacuated the day of the Marshall Fire, three years ago

aftermath. a chimney stands alone, ashy and bleak. the brick porch is still intact. some terra cotta pots sit on the wall. snow blankets everything, as though it were a normal day instead of a devastating one.

a friend wrote a message on the framing of our new house, two years later. in a purple scrawl on a pine board, it says “Just have hope”

the newly built foyer of our replacement home. 2.5 years after the fire. stained glass leaves wind through a door in a white-walled room with a mottled slate floor.

January 8, 2025 at 7:50 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

this angle feels incredibly lazy given what turned up in the author’s own reporting.

it’s still quite clear that small-minded people motivated by access to power are devastating and distorting the information landscape.

quote from the Politico article linked in the quote skeet: “It should be noted that the most powerful misinformation isn’t spread solely by anonymous internet trolls. Instead, ‘the most consequential misinformation tends to come from prominent, powerful domestic actors, top politicians,’ said Rasmus Nielsen, professor at the Department of Communication of the University of Copenhagen.”

January 2, 2025 at 2:01 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

anybody have a reply guy blocklist? couple more for it

cw both sidesing transphobic nonsense

natetsv.bsky.social: “That isn’t entirely true, any discussion about gender will get you limited / comments removed if you don’t just outright agree with the current ideology. I’m not even saying they are wrong, but to challenge it should be natural.”

cw rude taunting about echo chambers

dayumquitplayin.bsky.social: “LOL your campaign FAILED and now you retreated to your new leftwing echo chamber”

November 18, 2024 at 1:04 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

tonight’s food: doritos and tater tot hot dish

two bags of nacho and ranch doritos, behind a still-bubbling pan of creamy potato-y goodness. recipe courtesy of tim walz!

November 6, 2024 at 12:57 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

in case anyone was wondering what the trump campaign is up to right now

August 7, 2024 at 11:37 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

Send me a photo of your pet with an explanation of what wares they would sell if they ran a tiny store.

Couch arms. Just the arms, in isolation. It wouldn’t be clear where they came from. He’d just have 50 of them in every fabric imaginable.

an orange cat with green eyes looks up from his cozy lap-blanket spot.

July 27, 2024 at 4:37 AM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

Mr Peanutbutter from Bojack Horseman skis down a mountain in a race for the governorship of California. He’s a yellow lab, and he’s off kilter trying to balance on his skis.

May 24, 2024 at 8:42 PM

liv

@livya.bsky.social

the number of men who compliment my shed and then insist on calling it a “she shed” because of its windows… is astronomical.

men: you too can have light and joy in your life! windows are not exclusively for women!