Parent-of-autistic-child-who-wrote-a-memoir-about-it jump scare, but this is good. A missing piece as usual is that folk who might not've met official diagnostic criteria for ADHD 25 years ago now do because modern life is increasingly designed to break us. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

TODAY is the last day you can post your ballot and be pretty sure of it reaching head office.

REMINDER FOR MY FRIENDS IN UK ACADEMIA If you're Unison, Unite, UCU, EIS, PLEASE POST YOUR BALLOT BACK by tomorrow. We're balloting for amounts to a general strike in HE. This EXISTENTIAL for the sector. Please, please get your vote in as we need to make quorum.

What the hell man.

That can't be right; I heard Scotland was a drain on the UK economy...

For anybody seeking context on this one: this policy on its face would result in the deportation of my wife, who has been living in Scotland for 17 years, is married to a Scot, shares the mortgage on a house, and works in a university. Lots of perfectly comfortable people earn < £38k.

We should probably post an update about our various authorly goings on but here have this naval gazing instead. (Subscribe to our newsletter for more stuff and nonsense.)

An utter lack of humanity. Skimmed the comments on a Torygraph article of all things, a Brit writing that a theoretical ILR scrap would break up her family. Bot and human alike: "Deport them all then." That's me. That's my family. But rather than challenge, Labour panders. Weathervanes, every one.

Tfw you realise belatedly that you've dressed like an extra from Man In The High Castle...

Nobody actually cares about this for their own sake, Keir. Nobody is actually personally worried about this. You know why? Because it's not a real problem. When will you stop dancing to Farage's vicious racist little tune and start paying attention to the stuff that matters?

Finally made it to a Worldcon panel I'm not on. Female panelist: [after being asked about romantasy by the moderator] Romantasy has its place but I don't really read it. Old dude panelist: When you say Romantasy has its place that sets off subversive thoughts for me. Slavery has its place. Welp.

Some good insights in Ian's article but let's be clear here: there are LOADS of progressive male influencers trying to promote nontoxic masculinity online; they just get zero traction compared to extreme grievance media. The issue is the algo, not that there's nobody promoting these messages.

Friendly reminder that as of Theresa May's Snooper's Charter YOU SHOULD ALREADY HAVE A VPN IF YOU LIVE IN THE UK. If you don't, the second best time to get one is now. There are lots of good ones and at least one will have a sale on right now.

I know what you're thinking but let me answer your question with a question: why don't YOU have a deer skull in your back garden?

Required reading.

Fml. Note the battery % for extra Fml.

Welp.

Got some stuff coming up...

Whyyy have I given my data to billionaire fascists for free if it still takes a month for me to run across @lindsayellis.bsky.social video essaying about Tori Amos? (My reminder to actually WATCH Nebula, not just pay the subscription so I feel less guilty about watching YouTube...)

New jewellery! I (M) have been looking for just the right labrys pendant for ages so eventually I just had a conversation with a smith! @taitayaforge.bsky.social work in iron as well as precious metals, which I love. So many gorgeous pieces over at taitaya.etsy.com - am sure I'll be back for more!

First 'like' on this by my local trade union branch says a lot about the week we just had.

I was not NOT drunk before I made a very alcoholic chartreuse cocktail.

"It is precisely this kind of unlawful government action that critics of the UK’s terrorism laws warned would come one day.” Hey look @felicityhannah.bsky.social It's Brave New 1984 Man :-P

That time of year in Scotland where every time you're at the shops you're all "BUYING LOCALLY IS OBJECTIVELY VIRTUOUS."

I got added to a queer creators list and gained a bunch of followers RIGHT after I posted this, so here's a repost for the new folks - also hi new people. I don't post much (most author stuff is on @mkhardywrites.com), but there's occasionally some political grumbling on here :-)

Good thread - I subscribe to dropout.tv and they are worth the very modest fee. If you like comedy, nerd stuff and nerd comedy, maybe give them a go?

SOAPBOX & CALL TO ACTION: So many vids from YouTubers this past few weeks about the unviability of the platform as a revenue stream. This gang of smart, thoughtful young documentarians and essayists are producing often extremely high quality content for what amounts to poverty wages or less. 1/8

There goes the neighborhood.

I realise I'm slightly behind the times commenting on Nick Clegg's latest 'contribution' but it bears repeating that if machine learning tools can't function without stealing from human creatives maybe it's AI that's 'unworkable', not the core principle that artists should own their output.

I for one would love to be on a transatlantic flight next to a chatty right wing tradwife. I reckon I could turn her, or at least give her an existential crisis. Or an aneurysm. Either way.

Just used an airport toilet. As I was queuing, a man came out of one of the stalls. "Oh, woops, am I in the wrong toilet?" he said apologetically. "No bother," we all said. Nobody seemed afraid. One woman looked mildly irritated. Just a wee story about normal people using toilets.

That beautiful moment where the music you're playing full blast over the hoovering is perfectly in tune with the hoover whine as an inverted pedal. Chef's kiss.

The lengthy letter I sent that this was responding to:

Truly rancid response from Tess White MSP to my heartfelt letter begging for government intervention into the crisis at Dundee University. Callous to the point of malicious. Read the room mate.

I filled most of the middle questions of this consultation out with (paraphrasing) "I believe these questions are here to deliberately discourage me from responding. I have made my stance clear on AI at the start of this consultation." Do not let them discourage you from having your say.

Here is how dynamic pricing works with me, Amazon. You put a bargain price up because I looked at something once too often... I shrug and decide if I'm spending that much I might as well spend slightly more on the next step up, second-hand, from Ebay.

Like, it's okay to not know the difference! Just call them 'shoes'!

I see so many Derby shoes get listed as Oxfords on Vinted and is it all I can do not to message and correct every single one of them.

So in a weird way this is kinda nice? Like, the 5* streak was always gonna break, and this way it was broken by somebody in completely bad faith who we can make fun of on here. Sort of a relief, you know?

Also it is basically impossible to post a candid of our lounge that doesn't have a bra somewhere in the background 🫣

Furthermore, it's worth observing that a generic AI overview appears ABOVE the official blurb even if you're not logged in. Authors and marketing departments put a lot of care into their blurbs, and contrary to the vid's assertion they rarely contain anything that could be considered a spoiler.

So firstly, they're not feeding whole books to their model, only public data from their site. Spreading assumptions and misinformation isn't going to help here. Secondly, this is still an ethical red line for so many. @thestorygraph.com: PLEASE let authors opt their work out, not only users.

Nobody is gaming the system you beige prick. Go after people with too much money, not too little ffs.

Gonna need this one on a teeshirt. Keep the brackets, they're working for me metatextually.

My guilty secret is I love contrast thread and use it to spice up dull shirts even though Derek the suit guy disapproves.

What really breaks my heart isn't that he has zero class, zero respect or decorum or basic decency. It's that we have somehow come to a place where so many people won't care. Remember when GWB was a monster? He would NEVER. 20 short years later...

Today's funny egghorn from an AI art defender: "separate the weak from the chaff"

Introduce yourself with four authors you're utterly ashamed not to have read a novel by: - Ursula K Le Guin (yes, I know) - Octavia E Butler - Iain M Banks (read him without the M but nothing with) - China Miéville ('ashamed' is strong here, more, I'm sure I'll love him and haven't gotten to him)

OK I'm nobody and this is NOT a comment on the Storywise thing but this is eating me alive: Angry Robot NEVER discourage unagented authors from seeking rep when offering them a deal. Ever. They ENCOURAGE authors to use them as leverage to get rep and I know several authors who got started this way.

@galactoglucoman.bsky.social somehow hadn't registered that the Distant Gardens anthology had a TOC with our lovely Pitch Wars mate @saracodair.bsky.social, fellow Scottish writer @robinski.bsky.social AND you! Only fully realising now seeing R promote it at a panel!