Probably shouldn't have let a handful of weird business perverts unwind the cultural miracle of American research universities

The first issue of SMALL PLANET: THE SF IN TRANSLATION MAGAZINE is OUT! www.sfintranslation.com?p=16928 #SFinTranslation

(it's because they basically want slaves: conscious entities—but software this time!—that they can use and dispose of when convenient. this is the big tech logic of "sentient AI.")

the value of the university and education more broadly is the production of self and world

I went to college because it was my only opportunity to change social classes in life. It worked. I also discovered a whole other universe of knowledge while I was there. I think both of these functions are important and should be preserved.

This is the way

If we're talking academic field, it's something like Outer Limits, Night Gallery, or Kolchak. If it's based on pure, goofy interest: The Sandbaggers or Spooks/MI-5. I'd also like a crack at LOST.

good call, here. I love emailing people that I liked what they made!

friends, I think we need to bring back the affordable paperback

I'm lucky enough to own a beat up paperback of Survivor and this is a great overview of its significance. My pet theory is that Butler's feelings on Survivor are part of what get in her way re: further Parable novels (due to the space colonialism element of both). Very glad it's getting republished.

Whether I'm there or not next year, here are the things that have been replaced by a generic skills module including 3 weeks on Using AI: 1. My linguistics colleagues on accent and dialect change, and atittudes towards the local accent. Led by the accents in the room.

I want to jump off this: not disagreeing exactly, because I also want to see a better spread of imprints on the Hugos, but because I've been musing on a few things about the Hugo list and how we frame issues with it. Basically: do we have a Tor problem, or do we have an *everything else* problem?

@megapolisomancy.bsky.social You were right. The Works of Vermin rips, hard.

Zach is correct and also this is my biannual reminder to read the works of M. John Harrison, who rocks at this approach.

the replies to this are fantastic and also a testament to how formative the reading years of 12-16 are. for me it's when i first encountered writers like Vonnegut, Le Guin, Baldwin, Ballard, Butler, Moorcock, Murakami... I thank goodness my folks didn't care what I read, just that I was reading

This is a really important proposal from local food justice organizer Ian Marcuse. Save Sunrise Food Market! www.vancouverfoodjustice.ca/latest-news/... #vanpoli

watching my favorite christmas movie and what is possibly the great american comedy about class and race

today's academic discourse got me feeling like john goodman in barton fink

this sentiment has been on my mind lately

Ninajirachi in Vancouver, BC Dry Cleaning in Vancouver, BC (Nourished by Time opened) Nick Cave in Tamworth, NSW They Might Be Giants in Boise, ID (I got handed John's guitar pick and hugged them after the show) @tmbg.bsky.social Andrew Bird in Boise, ID

time for me to remind everybody that Samuel R. Delany's Nevèrÿon series exists, does not take place in a European milieu, AND contains what is often referred to as the first AIDs novel. it should be much more widely read, imo.

majorly bummed about the Jays, now back to hoping Mets or Mariners make it all the way next season

rip my mariners, go jays for the series

🔱 🔱 🔱 🔱 🔱 🔱 🔱 🔱 🔱

You can't logic your way out of being burnt out. Unless you're me. Who should be able to do it and it's a personal failing that I can't

for the NYT to give Doug Wilson any kind of platform is honestly shameful

there are many things that TransLink could do to improve service in Vancouver, but living near the SkyTrain and two major bus routes means I rarely wait long for service & I'm rarely more than 15-30 minutes ride from anywhere - now I can't imagine living somewhere without that level of service

this is a basically undeniable take when reading robots in terms of their origin in Karel Čapek's play R.U.R.

I need the mariners or the jays to make it

Pritzker: "In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists & protesters when unprovoked what would we call it? If officials marched down streets harassing civilians & demanding their papers, what would we say? I don't think we'd have trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism"

What book have you bought the most copies of in your life?

a classic "Torment Nexus" scenario

Me: *through sobs* you can't just say everything is about climate change.... Please.... Weird theorists: *points at any weird fiction nearby* cli-fi hyperobject

I just want to re-post this and use it as an opportunity to post some of my favorite paperback covers from my personal collection:

congrats @jordanscarroll.bsky.social !!!

stepping away from worry to celebrate my anniversary and see weapons, let me know if anything happens while I'm gone

anyways, in 1993 Norton published an SF Anthology (edited by Le Guin and Atteberry!) that I think they should re-edit and bring back into print. the VanderMeers also did this with their "big book" anthologies. maybe the answer is more stuff like this! big, historical anthologies are good!

This means we need readers who have interests ranging from "wide and shallow" to "narrow and deep." The problem with Scalzi is he seems to suggest there's a correct way to make recommendations that will "keep" readers. I don't there is is such a correct way!

I think if you want to grow SF readership you need to recommend both old and new, ideally along the lines of thematic interests. There are as mans SFs as there are readers and writers, and the best case for building a healthy fan community is encouraging more and more reading.

anyways, fun discourse to run into today

sf discourse on the feed today, nice to see

Kim Stanley Robinson

7 of 9 planetary boundaries now crossed: “By 2020 the oceans condition were very close to or beyond the planetary boundary for ocean acidification (calcium carbonate levels >20% below preindustrial). The deeper in the ocean they looked, the worse the findings were, the scientists said.”

read Nathan's book! it's tremendous! it made me revise my dissertation introduction!

had to say goodbye to our dear cat Corb today. please, if you have pets, hold them and love them today for me.

“Expert hacks” i.e. we’ve never spoken to a working class person in our lives

OK, I see, the actual Atlantic article is behind a paywall, so people might not know: LibGen is a database used by penurious grad students all over the world. Meta didn’t build it; it just deliberately torrented the entire contents of it www.theverge.com/2025/1/14/24...

This — LibGen makes accessible research that many scholars around the world wouldn't otherwise have access to.

While in agreement that it is bad LibGen was used by Meta for these purposes, LibGen is a distinct entity and does not deserve the ire being direct towards it on some parts of this app. LibGen (like SciHub) has more in common with the Internet Archive than with torrent databases.

it’s true, pleated pants rock, esp vintage Polo RL and Chaps and L.L.Bean