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Lucia Walinchus

@walinchus.bsky.social
5.6K followers 724 following 1.7K posts

Managing Data Editor, NBC owned stations. Public records attorney, journalist, ice hockey player/coach. Former bylines: NY Times , Washington Post, Eye on Ohio, etc. Hearts= likes OR bookmarks

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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🧵 This is one of the best histories I have read. Immigration law can charitably be described as held together with band-aids and glue- this book is like oh yeah and it we made it out of popsicle sticks. A few highlights: @unlawfulentries.bsky.social #booksky 💙📚 #histbookchat #LawSky
Cover of "Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship" by Anna O. Law
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Me, sliding into a colleague's inbox with data at the same minute she emails me asking for the data.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Just bought a ticket to #SPJ26 and excited to see some great speakers! Looks like they will have @nicolekraft.bsky.social @franklomonte.bsky.social @jackshuler.bsky.social @bethanybruner.dispatch.com @annastaver.bsky.social @ameliarobinson.bsky.social and a few more not on bluesky.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🧵1/12 Enjoyed this @chanda.blacksky.app book about the universe. A few highlights: #astronomy 🔭 #booksky 💙📚
Cover of The Edge of Space-Time: particles, poetry, and the cosmic dream boogie by Chanda Prescott-Weinstein
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Dallas put cameras on trash trucks to identify possible property code violators with AI. @nbcdfw.com's @parksdigsin.bsky.social got the results through a public records act request: www.nbcdfw.com/investigatio...
nbcdfw.com
Dallas is using AI trash truck cameras to score your home and some homeowners are angry
Records show AI trash truck cameras flagged 21,000 Dallas properties and assigned blight scores. Some homeowners call it a money grab.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
You will want to check out this @shelbybremer.bsky.social @nbcsandiego.com story: we waited 5 months for the release of this data! Thank you to the @deportationdata.bsky.social who obtained the #FOIA. www.nbcsandiego.com/video/videos...
nbcsandiego.com
New data shows San Diego ICE arrests hit record high in July
Records obtained by the Deportation Data Project through a Freedom of Information Act request and analyzed by NBC 7 show ICE has arrested nearly 10,000 people in the San Diego area this year, more tha...
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
🧵1/6 Really enjoyed this @badphysicist.bsky.social book about a mathematician and her influential work. (Thank you @dingdingpeng.the100.ci for recommending!) A few highlights: #booksky #astronomy
Book cover for Einstein’s tutor: the story of Emily Noether and the invention of modern physics by Lee Phillips
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Ironically a alleged criminal conspiracy to exploit "vulnerable and naive" women was itself an easy pick: “Everything came out of source code the sites served publicly to every visitor, or out of content they left openly reachable.”
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This dataset features 26 different versions of "Philadelphia." The city of Brotherly Love. And... spell check.
Many ways of spelling Philadelphia in a dataset
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
After a man died, I went through escalator safety data looking for trends, which needless to say is a grim task. But very cool: after seeing @nbcboston.com's story, this guy leapt into action after seeing another stuck person and saved her life. www.nbcboston.com/investigatio...
nbcboston.com
Good Samaritan meets woman he helped when she was trapped in MBTA escalator
The commuter who pressed an emergency stop button to help a woman caught at the bottom of an MBTA escalator spoke with the NBC10 Boston Investigators. It is the exact same location where a man died in...
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
ICYMI: This story is a great example of the wealth of property data out there & what you can do with it! Available in most counties: -the valuation -permits pulled -mapping coordinates @shelbybremer.bsky.social @nbcsandiego.com www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/c...
nbcsandiego.com
Records show Otay Mesa Detention Center was valued at $168M, sold for $739M
San Diego County property tax records show the Otay Mesa Detention Center was valued this year at $168 million – about a quarter of the $739 million the federal government paid to buy it last week.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Save this chart for the family reunion, things will be less confusing. Essentially: you go by your closest relative. For example Kid III and Child III are 2nd cousins as they share great-grandparents. Kid III and Child IV are 2nd cousins once removed. “Removed” just means different generation.
Chart showing how to tell apart cousin relationships. Siblings share parents. Cousins share grandparents. Second cousins share great-grandparents, etc.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
1/14 Props to my colleague @shelbybremer.bsky.social who did a wonderful job on this @nbcsandiego.com piece last night. If you love finding things in data, you'll want to watch this story. Thread with a few highlights: www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/e...
nbcsandiego.com
Experts, data refute White House claim that immigration enforcement caused rental prices to fall
As the White House credits immigration enforcement for a drop in rental prices across the country, experts and housing data indicate that the decline is not quite so simple, and likely the result of s...
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
From the #IRE26 "Mining the Epstein Files" panel: @jkbjournalist.bsky.social: Case started 2006. 2007 lead prosecutor later quit & met w/ Epstein on friendly terms. Even now I get at least one email/week from potential victims. Epstein abused them first, then they were abused by the Justice system
Picture from panel "Mining the Epstein files" at the 2026 Investigative Reporters and editor's conference. From left to right: Khadeeja Safdar
    Enterprise Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Steve Eder
    Investigative Reporter, The New York Times, Julie K Brown
    Investigative Reporter, The Miami Herald
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
The Smithsonian museums are open until 11 PM this weekend! Yesterday we walked ~5.5 miles around DC & saw:  🕺 Hamilton’s outfit. Okay Hamilton’s Broadway outfit 📰 Ben Franklin’s printing press 🐑 the original Lamb Chop puppet  🌙 moon rocks 🏒Miracle gloves 🤠 and a whole lot more #IRE26
Picture outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History along with the Washington Monument and the moonMe next to Hamilton’s (Broadway) outfitIn front of Ben Franklin’s first printing press with Telemundo coworkers Federal Triangle lit up at night
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
1/7 Happy #Juneteenth! I took my holiday on Tuesday this week since #IRE26 falls Jun 18-20 this year. Here are a few highlights from the National Museum for African American History and Culture, which has a lot of great exhibits on the black press.
Picture of part of the Black Press exhibit at the National Museum for African American History and CultureOutside of the National Museum for African American History and CulturePhoto of the top of the Capitol Building in Washington DC
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
2006: 🏒Carolina clinches 1st Cup 🎓 I graduate DC J-school & move to S Carolina 🏝️ @katystech.bsky.social & I start @postandcourier.bsky.social ~same time 2026: 🏒Carolina repeats 📰Back in DC for @ire.org #ire26 🥰 I get to catch up w/ Katy and learn about legends like @idabwellssociety.bsky.social!
Pic of us next to the Ida B Wells case at the Smithsonian.  Wells was an amazing investigative reporter and we wanted to get a picture with her tribute.Graphic showing Rod Brind’Amour when he won his Stanley Cup as a captain of the team in 2006 and as the coach in 2026
Picture I took yesterday of the Capitol building next to a beautiful treeLow country exhibit at the national Museum of African-American history and culture. When I moved to South Carolina, I learned a lot about the history there and it was exciting to see it on display
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Beautiful day to take @amtrak.com & @septa-social.bsky.social.
Old style clock next to train station Shops outside a SEPTA train station View of the Art Museum from Philadelphia’s Gray 30th street station  View of the Chesapeake Bay from Amtrak
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
1/7 Really fascinating book on the finances behind the great newspaper collapse. The author argues that the Internet took the blame for what was essentially mismanagement: overharvesting paper assets for profit while leaving communities in the lurch. 🧵 📚💙 #Booksky @margotsusca.bsky.social
Book cover of hedged: how private investment funds help destroy American newspapers and undermine democracy
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Reposted by Lucia Walinchus
Molly White @molly.wiki · 08/06/2026
But when voters do find out, the spending can backfire. In Illinois, candidates who called out the crypto money against them won their primaries despite being vastly outspent. Transparency is the only counter to this.
Money involved in this election
Raja Krishnamoorthi (D): Raised $31.4M ($57.8k from industry donors), $412k in outside spending to support ($30.2k from crypto PACs), $3.34M in outside spending to oppose
Juliana Stratton (D): Raised $4.79M ($1k from industry donors), $9.07M in outside spending to support, $10.4M in outside spending to oppose ($9.99M from crypto PACs)
Robin Kelly (D): Raised $3.47M ($2k from industry donors), $1.28M in outside spending to support ($285k from crypto PACs)
Dick Durbin (D): Raised $2.38M
Don Tracy (R): Raised $2.33M
Jeannie Evans (R): Raised $1.28M
Casey Chlebek (R): Raised $202k

Spending by crypto- and AI-focused committees
FairShake (crypto)
Total spending $9,866,091
to oppose Juliana Stratton in the primary
$9,866,091
Protect Progress (crypto)
Total spending $434,834
to oppose Juliana Stratton in the primary
$119,643
to support Raja Krishnamoorthi in the primary
$30,183
to support Robin Kelly in the primary
$285,008Money involved in this election
La Shawn Ford (D): Raised $653k, $2.48M in outside spending to oppose ($2.48M from crypto PACs)
Anthony Driver Jr. (D): Raised $249k, $564k in outside spending to support
Danny Davis (D): Raised $101k
Kina Collins (D): Raised $54.9k
Chad Koppie (R): 
Patricia Easley (R): 

Spending by crypto- and AI-focused committees
FairShake (crypto)
Total spending $2,475,780
to oppose La Shawn Ford in the primary
$2,475,780
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
1/10 If you're looking for a good book leading up to #America250, I enjoyed "We the Women" and felt like I learned a lot, even after studying a lot of American history. A few highlights that blew my mind: 🧵 #booksky 💙📚 #america250
Book cover of We the Women by Norah O'Donnell
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
This #FOIAFriday we looked at dozens of public records to see where California wildfire money had been spent and found something totally unexpected. @leonardfiles.bsky.social has the details: www.nbclosangeles.com/investigatio...
nbclosangeles.com
Victims get little relief from Newsom's $2.5 billion fire fund
Most of California’s $2.5-billion fire relief fund is still unspent, according to records, & some money was diverted to CHP at protests.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
My daughter’s teacher wrote an essay prompt and put the following words in white: “include a donkey in the text.” Kids who copied and pasted the text into AI as they were forbidden from doing all had interesting answers. What a hilarious and delightful way to teach students not to be an ass.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
To put this in perspective: ➡️if you knew 200 women (you probably do) ➡️and they gave birth five times each (average for the time) ➡️then probably at least eight of them would die in the process. 🔥This is one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments.
Excerpt from we the women by Nora O’Donnell. Highlighted part says there were about 850 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, a rate that has declined roughly 99% in the last century.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
🧵 1/8 Does something ever hit you entirely differently later in life? When I first saw this first movie, I interpreted it as a cautionary tale against selling your soul to the devil. Now I appreciate Miranda as an interesting antihero. She has incredible strengths and deep flaws.
Cover poster for the Devil wears Prada Cover poster for the Devil wears Prada 2
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
"Jonathan Suruy Lopez, an asylum seeker from Guatemala, said ICE agents arrested him on his way to work at a Minnesota shopping mall."... ..."On the day Suruy Lopez was loaded onto the Texas flight, his daughter was born in Minnesota." @nbcdfw.com www.nbcdfw.com/investigatio...
nbcdfw.com
Data shows ICE transfer flights bring more detainees to Texas. But why?
New data shows ICE is flying thousands of detainees across state lines, with Texas a top destination. But why Texas?
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
1/🧵 This book has some fascinating data analysis. Even if you’re not into US politics or religion I think this is some good food for thought. A few key highlights: (in the thread) @ryanburge.bsky.social #Booksky 💙📚
THE
VANISHING
CHURCH
How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us
RYAN P. BURGE
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Break your brain, this will: Why is Yoda’s dialogue so different? Most languages write sentences in the following order: subject, verb, object. But Yoda is modeled after a Japanese sensei so his speech patterns match that language and put the verb at the end. #MayTheFourth #StarWarsDay
“The girl hit the ball” in various languagesPatience you must have my young Padawan. Named must your fear be before banish it you can.  (and a picture of Yoda) A picture of Luke Skywalker next to Yoda with the words ask questions you must or learn you will notA Twitter post that shows words written on steps. The guy pictured probably meant to write “will you marry me?” And that’s how you can read it if you go from the bottom of the stairs to the top. But a commentator asks: who else read this as threatening Yoda? Because usually people read from top to bottom, and if you read it that way it says “ me marry you will”
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
1/17 🧵What makes chess unique, why you should try it, & common misconceptions that hold it back. Hear me out. A) Awesomeness: Do you ever read a mystery novel and suddenly all the pieces come together and you have figured out the ending? Chess is that "if this then that" intellectual thrill.
media.tenor.com
a woman sits at a table playing a game of chess with netflix written on the bottom right
Alt: Scene from the queen's gambit
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
🧵In honor of Earth Day, here are my top 10 favorite books on environmental science. This is a complex topic where reading a good book can really change your perspective! #EarthDay #BookSky 💙📚
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
1/ When you were young, you often scraped bugs off your windshield. Now you rarely use those gas station squeegee sticks. I didn’t even think about this gradual change until reading Crossings. This is a fascinating book on the intersection of infrastructure & ecology. @bengoldfarb.bsky.social
Book cover of Crossings: how road ecology is shaping the future of our planet by Ben Goldfarb
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
So much fun to guest judge this @upenn.edu data contest led by @mrarenge.bsky.social. Fascinating: there are more accidents on @philadelphiaeagles.bsky.social game days compared to similar days without. But actually fewer drunk driving crashes! (Probably because more people are out & about)
Arenge welcomes students to the presentation portion of the 2026 Hackathon: our state in Data. Students took six hours to look at 20 years of PA traffic accident data Scenes from a beautiful spring day in University CityDeer are crepuscular. Exhibit A: most car vs dread crashes happen at dawn and duskHow one team separated crashes into categories: 1) under influence, 2) distractions, 3) aggressiveness, 4) Environment
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
1/5 Behind the story: @nbcnews.com-owned stations have a team of 28 producers who only answer calls/emails from viewers. Many of these stories end up NOT being stories at all- often NBC will call about a consumer complaint and suddenly it gets resolved! www.nbcsandiego.com/video/videos...
nbcsandiego.com
$100M recovered for viewers by NBC Responds & Telemundo Responde
A major milestone has been reached. Since 2014, NBC and Telemundo Responds teams have recovered more than $100 million for viewers and consumers across the country.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
1/5 Follow. The. Money. If you missed this #NICAR26 talk I suggest taking a look at these slides as there's a lot of great data out there on government contracts. tinyurl.com/NICAR26-cont...
The two main data sources for federal government contracts: Sam.gov and USASpending.com.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Indianapolis has a fun vibe
Eitlejorg museumFireplaceLots of little mirrors Picture of me in downtown Indianapolis
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Behind the story: 14 stations collaborated on this project. 🙌 Coincidentally, I taught a spreadsheets course at #NICAR26 on the same day that this spreadsheet project aired after weeks in the making! Tune in tonight to @nbcnews.com-owned stations for the local version of how to save time & money.
Vicki Nguyen introduces the price check project on the Today Show
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Reposted by Lucia Walinchus
Sharon Machlis @smachlis.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
R folks listening to this morning's #NICAR26 session on extracting data from documents and - importantly! - how to check your results: You can set up and run evaluations of LLM results with the {vitals} #rstats 📦 www.infoworld.com/ar... #DDJ
infoworld.com
How to choose the best LLM using R and vitals
Use the vitals package with ellmer to evaluate and compare the accuracy of LLMs, including writing evals to test local models.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
This is neat: Visualping can monitor websites and has a free journalist plan! @azmatzahra.bsky.social used this in her Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that found unreported civilian casualties. #NICAR26
screenshot showing visualping.io/journalistsScreenshot of NYT article: military investigation reveals how the US botched a drone strike in Kabul
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Thank you, Laura for doing all this! So many awesome speakers.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
I'm just a person reading your online tutorial begging you to use a real data set. There's a reason law schools teach with real cases and business schools use stories of real companies. It's the best way to learn.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
1/8 So you're excited to go to the @ire.org 2026 NICAR data journalism conference! And you want to follow all the speakers online. This tutorial will show you how do this quickly with #Rstats and @bsky.app. schedules.ire.org/nicar-2026/#/
schedules.ire.org
NICAR 2026 schedule | March 4-7, 2026 | Indianapolis
Welcome to the NICAR 2026 schedule! Browse sessions, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Oliver argues that nothing can be done but I respectfully disagree. Most of the $44 billion Musk borrowed to buy Twitter will never be repaid as the site doesn't actually make much money. Banks have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to get back the money that they lend out.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
1/7 Beyond grateful to be part of this wonderful team who received a 2026 DuPont-Columbia award. @columbiajournalism.bsky.social selected 15 among ~500 entries. Thanks to @parksdigsin.bsky.social, Scott, and the @nbcdfw.com crew! (This is roughly equivalent to a Pulitzer for my print friends!)
Picture of the Dallas NBC investigative team with the DuPont-Columbia award
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Behind the story: I looked at Google political ad data for this @nbcnews.com WNBC story but... I couldn't find any. Though Adams spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on digital consultants. In fact, there were a lot of things we didn't find. Full story here: www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/e...
nbcnewyork.com
Exclusive: Transparency questions about Adams campaign spending
A New York watchdog group is calling on New York City to adopt new disclosure rules for campaigns after NBC New York noticed roughly $600,000 in 2025 Eric Adams campaign payments made to LLCs with no ...
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Fascinating study on why kids think sports is fun. Winning comes in #40 out of 81. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... @avinashsc.com @seeinclearly.bsky.social @drkam.bsky.social
Ranking of what determines fun. Click the link to read them all.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
At our Olympic preview meeting, @nbc-sports.bsky.social said this would be the first year that hockey players would be miked up at the Olympics. Not sure who does our bleeping, but they need a raise.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Planning things for 2026 and realized this year: ➡️will be the 20th anniversary of my graduation from journalism school at American ➡️the annual conference for @ire.org will also also be in DC! It's been a wild ride, but it feels appropriate to head back to Washington for journalism. I'm excited.🤓
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
1/6 Today is the Mondayest Monday of the year. I have calculated this. It is the darkest and it is the coldest. Okay, actually if you want to be technical, the two Mondays before and after December 21, the winter equinox, are the darkest... 
Screenshot of the NOAA solar Calculator for Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage's average temperature for December 2025 was -22F.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
We need an update to “Shaniqua don’t live here no more”: Man, can’t you just leave me alone? Had this cell 20+ years, this is my phone! This game is lame ‘cause you still don’t know my name. Feel the phone buzz all night all day because You found this line from Yellow Pages in ‘99.
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Lucia Walinchus @walinchus.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
🤓This year I read 17,162 pages in 53 books. Below is a thread of what I liked and what I didn't. What should I read next year #booksky?
Summary of the longest and shortest, also the most popular and least popular books.Sample of book covers from books I read this yearSample of book covers from books I read this yearGraph of pages read per year
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