“Fantasy is nearer to poetry, to mysticism, and to insanity than naturalistic fiction is. It is a wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe. And their guides, the writers of fantasy, should take their responsibilities seriously." From Elfland to Poughkeepsie, Ursula K Le Guin

Since the "well Alaska voted for Trump so they deserve it" crowd is out in force today:

The mystery of medical diagnosis!

every time a community tests ubi or free housing for the homeless the result is always "holy fuck this works incredibly well and costs less than existing solutions!" and then every politician alive does this

Including "he said he would arrest Netanyahu" as an example of antisemitism really takes the cake. Netanyahu is a complete psycho! There is nothing bigoted about demanding consequences for a head of state when he murders thousands of innocent people!

Another critique insists AI is just a tool w/ no inherent political implications. This of course overlooks the economic, racial, climatic, class & gender dynamics underlying AI. These unequal relations are central to AI, & hiding them creates the false appearance that AI isn't a political project.

The people complaining about Bluesky are the same people who wanted us to open up a dialogue with bigots on Twitter and every last one of them can kick rocks forever. Social media is NOT OUR JOB. We don't get paid for this like the pundits and outrage grifters. We don't owe anybody ****.

Please, don’t let Jonathan Joss’s story die down. Please, don’t do this to Indigenous people on Pride month. Please, recognize his whole neighborhood was in on his premeditated death and killed his dogs and burned his childhood home. PLEASE REALIZE this is a hate crime against a gay AND Native man.

Corporate profits have hit record highs. CEOs are paid 290x as much as a typical worker. We're subsidizing huge corporations that pay lousy wages through food stamps and Medicaid. But instead of cracking down on corporate greed, Republicans want to punish the working poor.

Hey folks, seeing as it's Pride month, I want to do a little something to boost indie games from LGBTQIA+ developers, so if that's you, please reply with a little bit about your game and a link to your store page. Let's see if we can't get some more eyeballs on your games! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

any excuse to share my favorite heron meme

It's like the "and suddenly everyone is autistic!" bullshit. More people like me, of advanced age, have realized how insane our parents were and how badly they parented us, as following generations emphasize understanding of what nurtures children.

So hey: The First Amendment does not apply to private companies. Pass it on. Seriously, apparently we need to pass it on. It is not a “free speech violation” for a social media platform like X or a newsletter app like Substack to disallow hate speech. IT SIMPLY ISN’T.

Not gonna keep posting the whole thing but this feels like one of the core sicknesses of mainstream media that got us here: The refusal of journalists to assess claims on the merits. Yes, RFK Jr. "questions the system" like many on the left but he is also fucking wrong! That distinction matters!

I see soooooooo many great writers putting so much of their time, effort, skill and money squarely in the lap of a really evil and untrustworthy company. Morality questions aside: is it worth planting seeds in THIS soil, in this moment? Does it seem likely to pay off? So many alternatives!

7. Yes I know I'm a lawyer. I've also have a DHS SUV follow me around a couple of times in the last month. Don't act like going out in a blaze of glory against ICE furthers the resistance or a glorious revolution. You know what keeps the resistance going? You do, by being alive.

Yeah! I use clip studio mostly for these features, I'm not sure what has equivelants in other programs! These also might not technically be considered accessibility features but they are to me, they're what keep me able to draw with my disability. little thread below on some csp features:

🚨 Cool new project alert 🚨 WE- you, me, everyone- need to work together to get important science messages out to people. 4 artists & 3 scientists collab'd on these posters. We hope YOU will put them out in your community. Each poster comes w/info about each topic. Get 'em Squidfacts.bigcartel.com

any species: has been given the specific epithet horridus/horrida me: rude??? don't worry sweetie i think you look lovely

May the fourth, a good day for many of us to remember that if you’re going to throw your weird genocidal boss down a lift shaft anyway it’s always better to just get on with it and not spend 20+ years committing atrocities on their behalf first

I think this encapsulates the struggle I have the most often with deciding to post or submit poetry.

Re: Duolingo, is there any way for long term users to collectively sue them for like, replacing all their staff with AI which is not the product anyone signed up for lol

also I don't like that it's normal for both boys and girls to like books and media with male protagonists but it's weird and bad when boys like stuff with female protagonists

Now if all the 20 million BlueSky users will re post this post it would be utterly marvellous. The counter is ready to start, so off you all go! Handmade prints available here> littleramstudio.etsy.com *sits with expectations of lots of noughts next to post* #art

Just got warned that the new "Voice Isolation" feature in Teams, if turned on and trained on a male voice, will filter out all the women in the room, while still allowing the men in the room to be heard online. *clears throat* IF YOU USE A BIASED TRAINING SET, YOUR TECHNOLOGY WILL BE BIASED.

I was going to post this article this weekend but Duolingo's recent doubling down on replacing humans with generative AI pushed me to get it out sooner. Here's a list of amazing apps for learning Japanese that DON'T use generative AI! #cancelDuolingo jtalkonline.com/japanese-stu...

Happy #MothMonday folks! Thought I'd take the opportunity to share my upcoming challenge with #TeamMoth folk. It's called #MothMay, new prompt each day. Feel free to join in be you illustrator, photographer or even lovely science folk who want to talk moth! 🚫AI or 🚫NSFW #TeamMoth #ArtSky #SciArt

Someone on here stated AI was good for editing and proofreading. I didn't feel like arguing at the time, but, ah, no. No, it isn't. Fuckin' MS Word still gets shit wrong and they've been working on that for almost as long as I've been alive

BREAKING: Duolingo is replacing customers with... Oh, they aren't replacing those, just losing them.

When I see a panel listing at an arts festival and it's just 6 whyte dudes. My family heard my disgusted sigh from across the house.

I’m begging the libs to stop using ai generative images to make their point because it completely undermines it😭 like I also want to make fun of the bad people but that ain’t it

But we on the left still succumb to carceral thinking. We think that people can simply avoid the legal system with good decision making. But that's like saying if you eat right and exercise, you won't need healthcare. That's not how it works. Shit happens.

When I left the Washington Post in 2023, my colleagues and I were worried AI would hoover up our work and enable "zombies" to churn out stories based on our reporting and writing styles. Today WaPo announced a partnership with OpenAI. And here it is: Zombie Gillian Brockell. I DID NOT WRITE THIS.

This whole thread is Very Good!

The world is kind of a mess right now: it is difficult to think of powerful or beautiful words. So instead, here's an adorable skink who lives in my yard. #reptiles #skink #nature

This is where your Harry Potter money goes

The Smart People said "Abolish ICE" was too radical. Then ICE kidnapped students, sent innocent people to a mega prison, broke into a car to take a mom from her daughter, and tried questioning elementary kids while lying that they had parents permission. Ask yourself: which part is more "radical"?

It's autism awareness month AND I AM NOT BROKEN. There is NOTHING WRONG WITH ME. There's nothing 'wrong' with autism! And instead of making stupid jokes, maybe start being accepting of people who are different and weird, because I know from experience even the 'nicest' of you don't truly accept us.

Title: Carolina Wren's Voice on the Soft Breeze Indoors, the clock glares, The numbers insist on time's impact, Outdoors, sanguine birdsong. #whistpr #haikufeels #haikuchallenge #dailyhaikuprompt #Haiku #Poetry #Micropoetry #PoetryCommunity #NationalPoetryMonth

if you regularly see posts from people online who you hate then that is a skill issue, especially on a site like this where the block is so all-encompassing

Victim complex

We found the government “waste, fraud, and abuse”.

Robert E Lee Was Overrated is my favorite civil war argument because it is a) absolutely correct and b) drives the worst people absolutely nuts

So Sticker Mule scrubbed all their pro-trump posts from their insta and they’re deleting comments that bring it up fast af. This is ur reminder they had a 100+ foot pro-trump sign installed on their building just 6 months ago. NO TAKE BACKS, ANTHONY. WE MEMBA.

Oh god I didn't even think of this until now. FUUUU.

I don't want to be nice and left alone, I want people to take compulsory sexuality seriously and move past "aces are valid" into actually integrating the essence of our queerness into their critical thoughts about the world

Lush petals Warm gold heart of saffron late frost melts #haikuchallenge #dailyhaikuprompt #Haiku #Poetry #Micropoetry #PoetryCommunity #NationalPoetryMonth

Okay lets game this out: You are a Nintendo employee given unlimited funds and authority to move Switch 2 production to the US. No new factories, that's going to take way too long, you need to work with existing American Contract Manufacturing capacity. How fast can you do it? 1/x