L.V. Anderson
LightNews LightNews
banner
lvanderson.bsky.social
L.V. Anderson
@lvanderson.bsky.social
1.8K followers 400 following 390 posts
Journalist, bike person, she/her. I used to be @LV_Anderson on Twitter. Opinions are mine, not my employer's.
Posts Replies Media Videos
lvanderson.bsky.social
I don't understand why editors allow personal finance journalists to make up guys to get mad at, and then talk to so-called experts about guys they've made up to get mad at, instead of actually talking to the people they're ostensibly writing about.
screenshot of text from nytimes.com: "For many Americans, their 401(k) balance is a sobering reminder that good intentions don’t always lead to good outcomes. "Perhaps you planned to increase your retirement savings each year, but instead succumbed to immediate gratification and upgraded to a nicer car each time you were promoted. Or you charged family vacations to your credit card but never fully paid them off. Maybe you diligently funded your retirement account, only to borrow from it to pay for costly home repairs because you didn’t have an emergency fund to cover the expenses." screenshot of text from nytimes.com: "When we think about expenses, we often focus on big-ticket items like our rent or mortgage, grocery bills and car and student loan payments, but smaller convenience costs can add up quickly. If you’re looking for ways to save, these minor expenses are a good place to start. "Each month, review your spending by listing all expenses on a spreadsheet, said [redacted], the founder of [redacted], a New York media company focused on retirement planning. Track every expense: from daily coffee and takeout delivery fees to major monthly bills like rent or mortgage, insurance and utilities. Don’t overlook streaming subscriptions, cellphone plans, internet services or groceries. Include bills on automatic payment. 'When you see all the numbers on one page, it’s usually when something jumps out at you,' [redacted] said. screenshot of text from nytimes.com: "Carrying credit card debt, a student loan and an auto loan can overwhelm borrowers, leading them to make only the minimum monthly payment. Most consumers don’t realize that the minimum payment on a credit card barely covers the interest rate charges, [redacted] said, which on average currently range from 21.16 percent to 22.73 percent. 'If you keep paying the minimum, the chances are you’re never going to pay that balance off,' he said."
July 28, 2025 at 7:55 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
I have now done both of @slate.com's new Pears game and am terrified it is going to become a new daily habit because it currently takes about three times as long as any of my other little word games slate.com/games/pears
screenshot from Slate: "Congratulations!" above a cute animation of a man and a cat nuzzling over the remains of an eaten pear with the handwritten caption "You complete me." The text continues, "You finished every run. Your final score was 582. You found the longest pear word in 8 of 12 runs!"
July 25, 2025 at 5:54 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
My reaction to this PR pitch email is the world's heartiest "no thank you!"
screenshot of text from an email: "AI Appreciation Day, celebrated every July 16, is kind of like a love letter to the invisible magic shaping our daily lives. From the playlists that somehow know our moods to the voice assistants helping us juggle busy mornings, AI is everywhere, often quietly working behind the scenes to make things a little smoother, a little smarter. But this day isn’t just about the tech; it’s about the people behind it, the dreamers, coders, scientists, and ethicists who pour their energy into building systems that (hopefully) make the world better. Whether you're marveling at a new breakthrough or just grateful your email spam filter didn’t let chaos in, AI Appreciation Day is our chance to step back and say: wow, look how far we’ve come, and let’s keep going… thoughtfully."
June 30, 2025 at 7:59 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
I am thrilled and bewildered that the story I wrote for @grist.org and @slate.com last year about "beanless coffee" has been nominated for a James Beard Media Award! grist.org/food/beanles...
screenshot of text from the James Beard Foundation website: Beverage This award recognizes distinctive style, thorough knowledge, plainspoken prose, and innovative approach in a single article on alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. “The best coffee for the planet might not be coffee at all” L.V. Anderson Grist and Slate “Detroit’s Third-Shift Bars Were a Lifeline. Now They’re a Dying Breed.” Mickey Lyons Punch “Want to Make Spirits in Thailand? Good Luck.” Craig Sauers Punch
May 8, 2025 at 2:34 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
This newsstand ad is my Rosetta Stone
Photograph of an ad poster on the side of a newsstand. The top says “NCA” in a flashy font, and beneath that “National Cryptocurrency Association” in a normal font. Most of the poster is a full-body photograph of two white people, a man and a woman, wearing business casual clothes. The man has longish hair and a salt-and-pepper beard, and his arm is around the shoulders of the woman, who looks a little younger and has her arms crossed in front of her chest. The tight smiles on their faces are absolutely inscrutable. Are they concerned? Proud? Trying to scam you? I have absolutely no idea what idea or mood the ad is trying to convey.
May 1, 2025 at 5:28 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
I'm sorry to be pedantic but inflation-adjusted earnings by definition account for "the rising cost of pretty much everything else" www.thecut.com/article/disc...
screenshot of text from New York Magazine article: "Right now, chronically overspending seems to be the default mode for many people. The United States may be teetering on the brink of recession, which — were it to happen — could be as devastating as the 2008 crash that happened during Sarah’s college years (at least according to some experts). Even workers whose inflation-adjusted earnings have consistently grown over the past five years may feel squeezed, because the growth isn’t enough to account for the rising cost of pretty much everything else. 'People tell me rent and housing costs eat up half or more of their paycheck,' says Dasha Kennedy, the financial educator and activist behind the Broke Black Girl. 'Child care feels like a second rent. Health-care costs come out of nowhere and wipe out savings. It’s a never-ending cycle.'" The sentence "Even workers whose inflation-adjusted earnings have consistently grown over the past five years may feel squeezed, because the growth isn’t enough to account for the rising cost of pretty much everything else" is highlighted
April 14, 2025 at 9:22 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
I love that my ability to someday retire hinges on the decisions of a bunch of people who reacted like this to a social media post that failed to clarify whether the president was pausing tariffs or lowering tariffs to 10% (there's a big difference!!!)
screenshot of Dow Jones Industrial average chart from CNBC, showing the value change so far today, with the line absolutely skyrocketing at approximately 1:20 p.m., the time of Trump's Truth Social post
April 9, 2025 at 6:13 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
Lol let’s bring back the banana discourse www.ft.com/content/85d7...
Screenshot of text from Financial Times: “ Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/85d73172-936a-41f6-9606-4f1e17cb74df Economists also attacked Trump’s obsession with reducing bilateral trade deficits to zero as economically illiterate, since there will always be items that it is impossible or economically unviable for countries to grow or make themselves — for example, the US cannot grow its own bananas on any meaningful scale.”
April 4, 2025 at 12:04 AM
lvanderson.bsky.social
Park Slope Food Coop mentioned! @foodcoop.bsky.social www.askamanager.org/2025/01/aski...
Screenshot of text from Ask A Manager: "5. Food coop requires one year of membership before you can apply for a job there "I saw this prerequisite for a job at a food coop and I wonder if they can really require it. The prerequisite: Applicants must be current coop members with at least one year of coop membership immediately before application. "Membership involves a $25 joining fee and $100 equity investment for each member of the household who joins. In order to shop there, each person needs to be a member, so one person in a couple can’t join and let their partner use their membership. Plus, there is a work requirement where each member works at the coop for two hours and 45 minutes each work cycle (a work cycle is six weeks long). According to their FAQ, the member work requirement is equivalent to 75% of their labor needs."
January 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
The first paragraph is a jaw-droppingly bad-faith paraphrase of the quote in the second paragraph (including the screenshot from Nolan's tweet with alt text)
Screenshot of text from the New York Post: "MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber brushed off subway crime as 'in people’s heads' as congestion pricing launched Monday — forcing more New Yorkers into the plagued public transit system. "Lieber skirted around concerns of safety on the subways during a Monday morning interview on 'Bloomberg Surveillance,' telling listeners: 'Some of these high profile incidents, you know, terrible attacks have gotten in people’s heads and made the whole system feel unsafe.' “'The overall stats are positive. Last year we were actually at 12 and a half percent less crime than 2019, the last year before COVID,' Lieber said."
January 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
I just saw a cursèd image and now you must see it too
The text "Wealthy America Can Fix Climate" is superimposed on a Photoshop in which the heads of Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates have been grafted onto the bodies of extremely muscular, bare-chested male bodies, Renaissance painting style. Each of them is holding a globe, like Atlas. Elon has a six-pack, and Gates looks like a bodybuilder who has taken too many performance-enhancing drugs.
December 23, 2024 at 5:13 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
I want to interview the Quest Diagnostics employee or contractor whose job it was to create a jaunty illustration of tiny vials of blood hanging off a strand of Christmas lights
A screenshot of the homepage of Quest Diagnostics, one of America's largest diagnostic testing service companies. The main display says, "12 Days of Questmas" and "Unwrap new deals each day!" with an illustration of a strand of Christmas lights that includes small green vials in place of some of the lights. To the left: "'Tis the season! Shop new 20% off deals each day" and "Your lab test results can show you important patterns about your health"
December 12, 2024 at 4:25 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
I'm dying at the shade the Wikipedia article for The Bureau throws on series' final season (iykyk)
screenshot of text from Wikipedia: "The first season received positive reviews in both France and other countries, and won several awards. The second season has been universally acclaimed, and has even been seen by some as the best television ever produced in France.[6] The third and fourth seasons, respectively aired in France beginning 22 May 2017[7] and 22 October 2018,[8] have met with further acclaim, with praise for the show's acting, pacing, plot and realism.[9] There is also a fifth season."
December 3, 2024 at 9:10 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
I'm pathetically proud of my crossword stats, but I was happy to #breakmystreak in solidarity with @nytguildtech.bsky.social, who deserve a fair contract from @nytimes.com.
Screenshot of crossword statistics page from NYT games app, showing 3350 puzzles solved, 99.4% solve rate, 0 current streak, and 790 longest streak
November 7, 2024 at 4:25 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
"This message is being sent as a part of your employee wellness program with Quest."
Screenshot of text from an email. At the top in small print it says, "This message is being sent as a part of your employee wellness program with Quest." Below that is the Quest logo above large text saying, "Knowing your numbers is a gourd look," next to some weird green dot design
October 8, 2024 at 3:22 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
Last night I was carrying my groceries home from the coop in a cardboard box, and a jar of anchovies slipped through the gap between the bottom flaps. Today I retraced my steps and found it nestled in the leaves where I lost it. And they say your property’s not safe in NYC!
Very small (like 1 cubic inch) glass jar with “Crown Prince Natural Flat Fillet Anchovies in Olive Oil” label lying in pile of dead brown and yellow leaves on sidewalk, with red brick wall in background
October 7, 2024 at 4:35 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
[circling "exotic" with the giant red editor's pen I carry around everywhere] Word choice??
A sandwich board ad on a New York City sidewalk. It says, "New York Pizza / 2 slices / w. free can of soda or water / $5.99," with a picture of two slices of pizza with a can of Coke and a bottle of water next to it, Below, it says, "Exotic snacks" next to an arrow pointing outward. Below that, a photo of a bottle of Fanta, a can of Red Bull, Doritos, Airheads, M&Ms, Skittles, Twix, and a bottle of water. The same image as the last one, but zoomed in on the "Exotic snacks" portion
September 19, 2024 at 4:58 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
What the fuck
screenshot of text from Time magazine website: "memberships are available to resourceful scammers. One California family, who requested anonymity for fear of being bilked again, lost $400,000 when a scammer, armed with one of their Social Security numbers, called Bank of America 16 different times to try to change the password and information on an account, according to the family’s lawyer, Nick Barthel. Fifteen bank representatives refused, but the 16th was duped, according to Barthel, who says the scammer wired the family’s savings out of the account. The bank has not refunded the family, Barthel says. (Bank of America says it cannot comment on pending litigation. Police eventually found the perpetrator, but he was deceased and the money was nowhere to be found.) “This could happen to anybody,” says Barthel. 'All the guy needed was the basic information you would get from a data breach.'" The text "The bank has not refunded the family, Barthel says" is highlighted.
September 18, 2024 at 6:41 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
Imagine trusting gestational parents to know their own bodies and circumstances best!
screenshot of text from Asterisk: "Throughout the pilot, providers consistently reported that many women declined contraception based on their perceived protection due to abstinence or breastfeeding. Indeed, our pilot found that almost 100% of women reported breastfeeding regularly, and three-quarters were abstaining from sex at six months postpartum. We were aware that prolonged sexual abstinence was a common cultural practice in much of West Africa (many women even leave their marital homes to enforce this behavior). However, the extent of postpartum abstinence caught us by surprise after discussions with multiple experts, both Ghanaian and international, who had downplayed its significance. Similarly, many of the academics and practitioners we spoke with discounted the significance of breastfeeding as a factor affecting contraceptive programming." screenshot of text from Time: "The pressure doesn’t necessarily stop after delivery. When Rauslyn Adams gave birth at UAB in 2016, she says she was told that she would lose access to Medicaid if she didn’t get an IUD—which, she says, she later found out was untrue. Not wanting to lose her health care, Adams agreed to get the Mirena at her six-week postpartum visit. Adams says her milk production slowed soon after she got it. When she asked a doctor to take it out, the doctor refused, Adams says. When she successfully pleaded with another doctor to remove the device, she says, her milk supply improved. “They really treated me like a dumb poor Black woman,” says Adams, who went back to UAB twice to complain in the months after she gave birth. (UAB says that all patients are counseled on contraception and options available to them throughout their pregnancy, and that these conversations are documented and confirmed when they are admitted to the hospital ...)"
August 13, 2024 at 8:55 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
Overall I like using Kagi as my main search engine, but this is very strange preview text on the top result for Tim Walz
Screenshot of search results from Kagi. The top result is to Tim Walz' Wikipedia page, and the preview text says (and I'm reproducing this with verbatim punctuation): Tim' Walz — Walz Introduces Resolution Calling for Exit Strategy of the Federal Government's Ownership of Car Companies" .
August 6, 2024 at 8:24 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
The medical profession is long, long overdue for a very serious reckoning.
screenshot of Ethicist advice column letter from NYTimes website: "I’m a family physician. A young woman expecting her second child came to me for obstetric care. She had a black eye — not the first one, she told me. She worked as a topless dancer, but her boyfriend was so controlling and abusive that she did not have money of her own; he didn’t even let her have much gas in her car. We developed a relationship meaningful to us both. "About a year later, she told me that she was getting breast augmentation, at a cost of thousands of dollars, which she intended to pay for in cash from her earnings. Around the same time, I discovered pre- to early cancer in her reproductive tract, and treatment was imperative to prevent progression of the disease, or risk dire consequences. She was insured by Medicaid, which is paid for with tax dollars. I think she probably didn’t report her entire income to the I.R.S. or Medicaid, or she probably would not have been eligible." screenshot of Ethicist advice column letter from NYTimes website: "I told her I didn’t think I could ethically bill Medicaid for the diagnosis and management of the potential cancer while she was paying cash for breast surgery. (I was also not willing to risk my medical license, though I did not say this to her.) I told her we’d need to look at payment options and discuss them at her next appointment. "She never came back. I still wonder what happened to her and pray she found a new, self-respecting way of life. I wonder if I handled it as well as I could have. — Name Withheld"
June 26, 2024 at 5:12 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
Jesus

H

Christ
screenshot of Ethicist advice column letter from NYTimes website: "I’m a family physician. A young woman expecting her second child came to me for obstetric care. She had a black eye — not the first one, she told me. She worked as a topless dancer, but her boyfriend was so controlling and abusive that she did not have money of her own; he didn’t even let her have much gas in her car. We developed a relationship meaningful to us both. "About a year later, she told me that she was getting breast augmentation, at a cost of thousands of dollars, which she intended to pay for in cash from her earnings. Around the same time, I discovered pre- to early cancer in her reproductive tract, and treatment was imperative to prevent progression of the disease, or risk dire consequences. She was insured by Medicaid, which is paid for with tax dollars. I think she probably didn’t report her entire income to the I.R.S. or Medicaid, or she probably would not have been eligible." screenshot of Ethicist advice column letter from NYTimes website: "I told her I didn’t think I could ethically bill Medicaid for the diagnosis and management of the potential cancer while she was paying cash for breast surgery. (I was also not willing to risk my medical license, though I did not say this to her.) I told her we’d need to look at payment options and discuss them at her next appointment. "She never came back. I still wonder what happened to her and pray she found a new, self-respecting way of life. I wonder if I handled it as well as I could have. — Name Withheld"
June 26, 2024 at 5:10 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
There’s a first time for everything, and today was the first time one of the pedals fell off my Citi Bike while I was riding it
Photograph of my arm extended holding a Citi Bike pedal, separated from the body of the gray e-bike, which is seen docked in the background in front of some green leaves Photograph of detached pedal lying in front basket of gray Citi e-bike, docked with some leafy shrubs behind the dock
June 23, 2024 at 8:41 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
Food $200
Data $150
Rent $800
Bike share $4,126.10
Utility $150
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
Screenshot of Citi Bike annual membership page, with the Citi Bike logo at the top. It says my membership is active, and "You've saved $4,126.10! As a member, you're $0 unlocks and ride discounts really add up." Then it's some fine print and a list called "Explore your perks," touting unlimited 45-minute classic bike rides and 33% off ebikes
June 21, 2024 at 4:07 PM
lvanderson.bsky.social
Citi Bike's savings estimates remind me of countries with runaway inflation where a loaf of bread costs $200 or whatever. Numbers just completely devoid of any reason or intuitiveness.
Screenshot of Citi Bike annual membership page, with the Citi Bike logo at the top. It says my membership is active, and "You've saved $4,126.10! As a member, you're $0 unlocks and ride discounts really add up." Then it's some fine print and a list called "Explore your perks," touting unlimited 45-minute classic bike rides and 33% off ebikes
June 21, 2024 at 4:05 PM