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Luminiferous Aether

@luminiferousaether.bsky.social
179 followers 282 following 146 posts

An occasional birder, a constant reader, and a general dork.

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Reposted by Luminiferous Aether
Chase Woodruff @chasewoodruff.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The election is 29 days away and Democrats have just decided that maybe they should try to compete in the district they lost by fewer than 600 votes four years ago.
Dwayne Romero Added to DCCC’s Coveted ‘Red to Blue’ Program
Romero will flip CO-03 blue and help take back the House majority
Today, the DCCC announced that Dwayne Romero has been added to the committee’s highly competitive ‘Red to Blue’ program, signaling that the DCCC is invested in providing Romero, a top-tier candidate, with the support needed to continue building a winning campaign as he runs for Colorado’s Third District. 

“U.S. Army veteran Dwayne Romero is the leader Coloradans deserve. While Jeff Hurd sells out working Coloradans to his D.C. party bosses, Dwayne is answering the call to serve again so that Coloradans on the Western Slope finally have a representative who puts them first," said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene.
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
You’re so focused on blaming a misinformed parent, but there’s a reason we have regulations - to prevent selling harmful products like this. This is a regulatory failure, not a personal one.
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Read the article. Most people are just uninformed. Her chiropractor was selling raw milk out of his office, so when Facebook moms groups suggested it and the farmer said it was safe, it’s kind of understandable that she didn’t suspect they were all advocating something dangerous.
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
If you have $100 million to spend on ads saying you shouldn’t be taxed you’re not being taxed enough Google cofounder Sergey Brin has spent $102 million to fight California’s proposed billionaire tax—he could owe $13 billion if he loses fortune.com/article/how-...
fortune.com
Google co-founder Sergey Brin has now spent $100 million to fight California’s proposed billionaire tax—he could owe $13 billion if he loses | Fortune
The state’s ultrawealthy, including Larry Page and Peter Thiel, have similarly donated to efforts opposing the wealth tax.
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This account is kind of great.
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Punished Cat Guy (extra punished Cenobite version) @majima.club · 03/10/2026
*record scratch* Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation… (reposted with alt text because this is an absolute treasure. Photo credit: Kevin Lohman @kevinlohman.bsky.social)
Professional photograph of a squirrel leaping down from a branch at a very startled-looking owl. The owl’s yellow eyes are wide as it looks over its shoulder up at the squirrel who clearly has zero regard for his own life, his mouth open as if shouting WITNESS ME, or potentially some sort of justification for this surprise attack, Inigo Montoya style. Whatever the Owl has to say in return is definitely in all caps. 

Caption reads: 
CALIFORNIA POST
California squirrel's flying attack is finalist in national wildlife photo competition
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Eric Blair @protecttruth.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
When we talk about the corrupt Supreme Court, we’re not just talking about Clarence Thomas getting paid off or Scalia doing billionaire junkets. John Roberts’ spouse getting paid by BigLaw firms would also be considered corrupt under federal law for other government employees.
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Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
In 1974, Cornell lecturer Lin Farley began recognizing a pattern in the experiences women shared in her Women and Work course: women were being pushed out of jobs by men’s sexual behavior. Farley coined the term, “sexual harassment.”
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
🥱 We have bigger problems than pocketbook politics here. What about the blatant cronyism and corruption? You can’t pitch a return to a normal economy without punishing the crooks who are robbing us first.
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"The current level of political animosity is exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s citizens." There are not enough exclamation points to convey how I felt reading this paragraph
Screenshot of article which reads: From this perspective, the “both sides” frame falls apart. The prob-
lem is not that the parties are divided. The problem is the existential 
threat that a reempowered ethnonationalist strain poses to pluralistic 
U.S. democracy writ large. The current level of political animosity is 
exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted 
to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s 
citizens. The only way to re-oppress most of a country is to use anti-
democratic and authoritarian tactics. And the only way to oppose those 
tactics is to push back as a population and clearly reject them. This is 
the argument happening in the United States, and its pathology is not 
anger—it is the movement to undermine a generation of rights.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Neiman Marcus closed its downtown Dallas flagship on Wednesday. The store played a notable role in the history of desegregation in Dallas. Previously, Black shoppers across the US could enter department stores, but they weren't allowed to try on clothes without adhering to certain conditions. 🧵
A notice about the Neiman Marcus store opening in downtown Dallas.An old photo of the Dallas flagship.
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Anthony Edwards @edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Breaking news: The Earth is getting rounder agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
INBOX:
Earth’s poles are rising by 0.5 to 1 millimeters per year, slowly un-squashing our planet’s slightly flattened, jelly-donut-like shape, according to a new study. Linking satellite measurements of changing altitude across Earth’s surface from 1997 to 2015 to the planet’s shape, researchers found that the rounding effect also seems to be accelerating over time, with the poles rising an extra 0.4 millimeters per year faster every decade. Though our planet seems solid, the Earth’s interior acts more like an extremely slow-flowing liquid, warping over time under forces like the weight of ice sheets and oceans. Currently, our planet bulges out a little around the equator. But as ice sheets melt and reduce the force acting on the Earth at the poles, the equator is gradually cinching in as the poles push upwards, molding our planet into a more spherical shape. [JGR Solid Earth study]

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026JB034224
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Has your school connected with a scientist yet this year? Skype a Scientist offers free connections with scientists for virtual Q&As with classrooms, libraries, clubs, and more! Sign up for a match at www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html 🖼️ by @hanfranstudio.bsky.social
A goofy school of fish in a science class swim while dropping green liquid that says let’s talk science in school
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geoffrey @parsnip.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
there are moral arguments against the death penalty in its ideal form but in real life you never need to get there. the prior question is "can the state be trusted to end the life only of the rightly convicted without torture?" and the answer is no
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Congress has so many funding levers over the Court, all the way down to their access to A/C. How long do you think SCOTUS would last in DC summer before deciding maybe they weren’t lords over us all?
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
There is nothing at all in the Constitution about how many Justices there must be, let alone that Congress must fund a building, clerks, etc. If the Wizards want to play Calvinball with the law & the words in the Constitution, then Congress can & should play hardball with all the stuff that isn’t.
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My 11 yo has been devouring Discworld novels. His favorite subseries were the Rincewind ones starting with Colour of Magic.
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
You know when public attention can reverse a prosecutorial decision like this you almost get the sense that the decision to shrug it off in the first place was not based on an assessment of the quality of the evidence so much as an assessment of the seriousness of the crime.
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Kylie Cheung @kylietcheung.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I can't recommend @nbedera.bsky.social's book 'On the Wrong Side' enough. I interviewed her in 2024, this part really stuck with me. Rapists often don't just not face consequences but reap benefits bc the school is so sorry for even investigating them/afraid of seeming 'biased':
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Seth Masket @smotus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
That's a full 0.5" of direct democracy
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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.
A crowded broadsheet with way too many fonts. It says:
Forget ChatGPT Flyers
Say it with 
Broadsheets
Unlimited fonts
Stretch them
Or cram a really long sentence into one line for no good reason
No whitespace
Mix capital and lowercase
Pointing hands
(They're called manicules!)
Don't be left behind
Broadsheets are the future
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Bryan 🌐 🇺🇦 Slava Ukraine personal opinions only @papootx.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What Happened Texans renewing a driver's license or state ID online could register to vote in the same DPS portal. DPS didn't properly process those applications, so counties never got them. County officials say the backlog goes back to October 2025 — almost a year of voters in limbo.
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Sophie Carr @sophiecarr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A turquoise iceberg on Fellsfjara beach at Jökulsárlón in south-east #Iceland on a very stormy day back in Feb 2022.
A very turquoise iceberg on a beach with long exposure slowing the waves a little. Black sand beach to bottom left and very grey stormy skies above.
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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“That’s right: We can no longer have towering, absurdly hirsute, functionally deranged drainpipes made from bears murdered with medieval weaponry on the heads of our rigidly immobile palace guards, because of Woke.” Amazing. Read the footnotes.
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David Ryan Miller @davidryanmiller.com · 25/09/2026
If the ballroom construction is such a sensitive national security matter, why is Trump inviting the Chinese delegation on a tour???
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Have you ever tried to read a scientific journal article and been told “you don’t have access, pay to download this article?” Did you know that the author of that article gets $0 if you pay? Instead, you can email the author and ask for a free copy! I’d be delighted to help and answer questions!
Screenshot of a scientific journal paywall
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Erie is still adding schools - and housing (although the council is tapping the brakes there).
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So they all want to build more housing to ensure young families can live in Boulder again?
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🚨Susan Collins at the center of a donations for contracts scheme that the feds were investigating until Trump returned to office and purged FBI/DOJ www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
NEW: @apnews.com confirms that ICE has begun electronically "disappearing" people in the agency's custody who have final orders of removal. As of last week, anyone jailed by ICE with a final order of removal will NOT appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, making them effectively vanish.
apnews.com
AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...
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Sara Pritchard @sarabpritchard.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Delighted to share that I'll be on @askhistorians.bsky.social to talk #ArtificialLight #LightPollution #Night #Darkness 🌌💡🌃🛰️ tomorrow, 9/22 -- the day that #TransformingNight drops! 🥳🤩 #envhist #envhum #histtech #histsci #sts #histSTM
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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 20/09/2026
when the fascists say we just need to get rid of people, if your response is to argue about which people and how, you have already stepped into their frame to play their game of make believe you need to eat their frame: nobody goes!
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🎃 Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
I just honestly can't get over that Save Women Sports, an anti-trans group could only find five trans athletes competing K through 12. Five. The NCAA president testified a year and a half ago or so that there were less than 10 college level trans athletes. What the fuck are we doing, people
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The Denver Post @denverpost.com · 19/09/2026
St. Mary’s Glacier is gone. Colorado’s ongoing drought and record-hot summer, which scientists attribute to global warming, caused the snowfield to completely melt for the first time in at least 100 years.
denverpost.com
St. Mary’s Glacier melted away. Will Colorado’s iconic snowfield ever return?
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
make the John Brown season of Reacher you cowards
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BoulderCAST Weather 🏔️⛈️ @bouldercast.com · 19/09/2026
St Mary's snowfield will likely return annually, as the terrain is favorable to collect/shade snow despite its low elevation. But will it go another 100+ years without disappearing? Not a chance.
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Sarah Gilbert @sarahagilbert.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This article by @nathaliemarechal.net couldn't be better timed. My mum was asking me the other day if she should trust the bros' calls for regulation, so I sent this to her today for more background to my answer: no. This is such a great, detailed primer about what's actually driving the tech bros
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Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 18/09/2026
Post from Amy @lolennui.bsky.social

So cool that whenever someone asks the president, "did you eat the Lindbergh baby" he's like, "no but I'd be allowed to, I have the right to, I might do it later"
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The Onion @theonion.com · 18/09/2026
Trans Teen Hatches Nefarious Plot To Undergo Years Of Medical Treatments And Counseling To Win At Swimming theonion.com/trans-teen-hatches-nef…
Trans Teen Hatches Nefarious Plot To Undergo Years Of Medical Treatments And Counseling To Win At Swimming
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 18/09/2026
RFK Jr. wants people to get sick. He wants them to get sick and he thinks it is a good thing if they die, since those who live will have "natural immunity" and emerge stronger and fitter.
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Chase Woodruff @chasewoodruff.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Well this is very weird: Phil Anschutz's Gazette appears to have published a pro-Amendment 87 piece by sponsor Chris Kennedy earlier today, but the link now 404s and there's no trace of it on either the Denver or Colorado Springs Gazette websites.
Google results page showing cached version of "GUEST OPINION: Graduated tax pushes back on growing inequality" in the Colorado Springs Gazette404 page on Denvergazette.com
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Just yesterday I realized I was hearing a Muzak version of Daft Punk’s Get Lucky.
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Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The last time the U.S. reported 4 measles deaths was in 1992.
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Just keeps turning further and further right.
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Micah @rincewind.run · 14/09/2026
I’m so good at not watching television I don’t watch television all the time I was made for this
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Hannah Riley Fernandez @hannahcrileyy.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Georgia is set to execute a man named Stacey Humphreys in 3 days. 11 of his jurors voted for life without parole; the one holdout altered the foreperson’s note to the judge to hide the deadlock (!!) - because under Georgia law, a deadlock in a capital case automatically means a life sentence.
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A New Reconstruction @burleyzack.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Colorado Dems been going about countering this all wrong. They keep offering deals to limit the # of bad measures on the ballot, but I say load up the ballot with counterpunches. They run a tax cut? Put three tax the rich proposals out there. Make clear the consequences of escalation.
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Luminiferous Aether @luminiferousaether.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I suspect the alcohol improves delivery of yummy chocolate flavors to your nose, and a neutral alcohol does so without getting in the way with other flavors.
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