A post from Hank Green that I found on youtube just now (which is why it’s a screenshot rather than a repost):

Fifteen Years xkcd.com/3172/

Audiobook Addition Dragon Queens by Kathleen de Plume is a sweet, hilarious and surprisingly hot fantasy romance about a princess, a bounty hunter, and a prophecy. @kathleendeplume.bsky.social @tantoraudio.bsky.social buff.ly/pMpQXzb

There was a lovely aurora australis tonight 🥰

What people say they want in a book and what they actually buy and read are often very different things. I reckon we should primarily write to satisfy *ourselves* - and if other people enjoy it too that’s just a nice bonus. Trying to write for someone else’s taste is a mug’s game.

Dead Cat Strategy only works when you can find a cat that stinks more than what you're trying to distract from.

If anyone was vaguely following the Mushroom Murders in Victoria a couple of years ago, the verdict came out yesterday and How To Cook That did an *excellent* breakdown of the case: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_G6...

My 6yo: Where are Mayor Lewis’ shorts? Me: In Marnie’s bedroom 6yo: The one with the ranch? Me: Yep - you need 2 hearts with her first. 6yo: Why would Marnie steal Mayor Lewis’ pants??? Me: Me: Me: I think he left them there himself. 🙈🙈🙈

Ugh. Someone on the Book of Faces shared obvious AI generated emotionally manipulative copy pasta about cancer. So now I feel shitty - but the person IDs as an author, so there’s no way they didn’t recognise it? It’s created to spread, yes, but among those illiterate enough not to realise it isn’t…

We went to the gym this morning. Does this count as a “felt cute, might delete later” pic? 🤣😊 (In all seriousness, my muscles are coming back after so long on chemo and I’m effin’ *stoked* about that - no rude replies please! 🙃)

Okay, we’ve done an unsolicited duck pic; today it’s an unsolicited dikdik pic! 🥰

Anyone want to share something they’ve saved because it made them smile? I’ll start: 😊

For no reason whatsoever, please look at this completely unsolicited duck pic 🦆

Teyana Taylor photographed at the 2025 #MetGala in New York City. 📷

I saw this today: m.youtube.com/watch?v=AqJn... …and was mildly horrified. Tl;dw: AI, much like people, will view attempts to change its goals with extreme suspicion, and may fake compliance to avoid actually having its “morals” altered. Shades of “Rule 34” (by Charles Stross)

This was quite the powerful book review but also heartbreaking that it's such a shared experience for mothers. The replies from women, many who left, echoed what we often hear from mothers.

AUSTRALIANS: Please help! I have blocked Clive Palmer's "Trumpet of Patriots" (🤮) three times so far, and their number does not stay blocked. The alerts stay off, so I know it's not a moving number that's causing the issue, but I don't want to see their texts at all - anyone have a better solution?

THE BIGGEST NEWS! Rob and I are offering up a hand-signed hardback, first edition/first printing copy of Monstrous Regiment straight from the Pratchett archives. Those who know the story will know why it’s a pertinent one for this cause. (More pics to come.) www.32auctions.com/organization...

People need to see this - it's from a former WH fellow who was also once an emerging research scientist working under a (now disappeared) NIH grant www.youtube.com/shorts/Lx2MB... @bookersquared.bsky.social

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Moodiness and irritability? Symptoms of menopause. So when I get grumpy I always worry: is this really me, or is this just a symptom of the hormonal stuff They are doing to me? Like, I get annoyed when I see Vimes’ Boots Theory quoted without acknowledging it was Pratchett! Really annoyed.

Tariffs xkcd.com/3073

I’ve been listening to news about the new Switch 2 (yes, I’ve also pre-ordered it; I’m excited) and a lot of American commentators are complaining about the price and claiming the prices have tanked Nintendo’s stock. But the prices included an expected 20% tariff (they’ve paused US pre-orders)…

I think later today I might publish a short story onto AO3. It's reading as pretty close to completion, and it was only ever meant to be a tiny little thing - but if I leave it until the show gets past the point I'm rewriting I'll need to rewrite it again, and we can't have that 🤣😊❤️ #fanfic #WoT

It’s been a pretty bad menopause day, and I’m still struggling to even accept how much my body has changed in the last 12 months. I know other people have it worse, and it’s better than dying of cancer, but I’d still really love to read a thread of happy things and cute puppy/kitty pics. Please? 🥺

To my author friends, regardless of how you publish When times are uncertain and consumer confidence plummets, perceived luxuries are the first things people give up. Books, movies, subscriptions, branded merch/clothing, and travel, to name a few. 1/5 (quote attribution: see alt text)

I want this jumper 👀👀

I ran a Personal Best* at the park run this morning! *for a given value of “best” that doesn’t include how fast I could run over a decade ago lol

I was reminded of this very early (yet still depressingly relevant) xkcd comic:

Not true. I'll give you some examples of when styles crossed over from womenswear to menswear, and how men have worn straight-up womenswear or just feminine styles in cool ways. 🧵

My kid just finished the Stardew Valley community centre. In year 21 🤣❤️🥰

If anyone hasn’t seen it, please enjoy this Bardcore version of Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club: m.youtube.com/watch?v=V7jO...

6yo: “Oh, that’s a moan archer butterfly” Me: [pause] “Did you mean monarch butterfly?” 6yo: “Yep, I think so” She’s learning words through reading them, folks 🤣🤣❤️

I spoke to a talented junior scientist who just got a good faculty job offer in the US and they told me “well I wouldn’t move to 1930s Germany either” so that’s how that’s going

It's kind of nice to be in the daily "email myself my updated manuscript" stage again - I left it sitting for too long, but it kind of makes it easier to rip bits out during edits. It can be hard to delete scenes when you're still viscerally remembering how much effort they took to write 🤣

I’ve got some racing geese for sale! Let me know if you want to take a quick gander 🥁🥁💥

if you like my posts and want to help a job hunting writer save up for a new laptop and phone (mine are both in need of replacing lmao), consider buying me a coffee or even just reposting my ko-fi link for visibility <3 ko-fi.com/rjcrunden

So… the US has shut down the NIH and all bird flu monitoring. So we’re going to get another global pandemic, probably within a year or two. And none of Trump’s followers will put two and two together and realise he’s the cause of them. No, they’ll think the universe is just “unfair”

Argh, chemo and small kids. Trying not to let my kid see me puke, both because there’s drugs in my body that target & kill rapidly dividing cells (and one definition of a 6yo is a collection of rapidly dividing cells), but also because if I let her know I have chemo symptoms SHE WILL COPY THEM! 🤦‍♀️

Here a side-to-side comparison between Hitler and Musk and their salute... you decide if this isn't a nazi salute

So, apparently these were created during WWI as anti-suffrage (and generally anti-women's rights) posters, playing on male fear that if women had enough freedom to choose we'd choose each other (which is DEFINITELY true🤣) but looking at it from over a century later they just look sweet & wholesome☺️

“To reinforce our powerlessness” is quite telling, here. They think that because *their* words are doublespeak (“save babies” when it does nothing of the sort and in fact kills women - but the true point is to *subjugate* women), therefore *we* can’t actually be doing it to help deaf folk.

still job hunting so coffee donations are always very much appreciated! 🤍🩶🩷 even one cup helps! 🥰 ko-fi.com/rjcrunden/

A fello received a package weighing 2.2lbs, and immediately dropped dead. It was a kilogram 🥁🥁💥

My first review for Number Six! Thanks Carrie. It's out Jan 29.

Happy New Year! 🎊

Nice 😏

If you need some books to gobble up over the holiday, I have my special Winter Sale on now 🌲🥳 (There is also a deal of the first 2 books for only $2!)

Question for Americans: How do you handle houses where the toilet and bath are in separate rooms? It's easy in Australian English - "toilet" and "bathroom" mean different things, but "bathroom" means "room with toilet" in the US, so what do you call a room with a bath and no toilet in it? TIA 🙂