HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Until Kari Lake seized control of USAGM and collaborated with Elon Musk's DOGE to dismantle the Voice of America, the VOA Persian Service had a 24/7 satellite TV channel, multimedia website and five social media platforms reaching ~16% of Iranian adults.

Apparently the new Andor Season 2 issue of Journey Planet just dropped, for which I did the cover art. I painted this before seeing the second season. Still can't resist those John Berkey vibes. www.journeyplanet.org/journey-plan... #StarWars #Andor

When Mamdani becomes Mayor at midnight, it is a real political feat. Remember that. There aren't many of those. They won against the odds by getting their man into living rooms and churches. The press came late. We'll see what he does with it, but that is worthy of respect.

Outlook for the new year ...

"No Way To Prevent This," Says Company Spending Billions Of Dollars To Encourage This

lol this is just a map of where it's legal for me to get gender affirming care

Yes $5 is an end of year donation that can make a difference to your favorite organization.

Every once in a while I feel like the universe is happening at me really fast, and given that my mom has had to have two urgent surgeries in the last week on two separate areas of her body I’m starting to wonder if that’s genetic.

May 2026 be as gentle as 2025 was rough.

All I want for Christmas is this outcome

Kamar Samuels to be superintendent of New York City public schools is outstanding news for those who still care about school integration and equality. In the face of the national attacks on civil rights and dismantling of enforcement at the U.S. DOE this pick by Mamdani sends a powerful message.

breakfast for dinner

I could not put this down and it was SUCH a satisfying read.

So, librarians, do you have a contingency plan for when these goons enter your facility? You might not be able to block access to a public building, but how are you alerting your patrons? Do you have a plan to get them out safely? Because you should.

My first newsletter of 2026 comes out on Friday. I'm working on it now. It's about one of my favourite passages in Shakespeare, and turning 49 years old, and why I believe in memorizing things, and my next novel, all kind of wrapped together. Totally free. Please do subscribe if you're interested.

mini monsters 🖤🤍

Our pop stars continue to be both more accountable and more responsive to feedback than the editorial board of the New York Times

A reminder for 2026: in a time where internet algorithms are being trained on anger, & politicians & media outlets are learning how to capitalise on fear & hatred, the most radical thing you can do in public is SHARE MOMENTS OF JOY. Share what you love as much as possible. Let gratitude be fire.

I don’t expect people to know all the bad stuff about every originally famous for non-political stuff person, and think people should react to the ignorance like an evil version of this XKCD, but I do want people to act like Ms. Roan when they’re informed instead of getting defensive/combative.

i think what gets overlooked is that part of the humor and charm of edits like these is that you're perfectly aware that someone sat down and spent their own time making it. they chose to do something cool or silly or stupid or genius, regardless of the results that human element elevates the work

a diamond twill with a mixed blue wool on a white acrylic warp

Get vaccinated and pick up a pack of n95s to wear in crowded and indoor spaces, friends. Just keep one in your bag, it doesn’t have to be a lifestyle, just a precaution. Protect your family, friends, and vulnerable loved ones from the flu, measles, and COVID this winter.

He’s so good at storytelling.

I considered writing a long carefully constructed argument laying out the harms and limitations of AI, but instead I wrote about being a hater. Only humans can be haters.

Anyway, I’m starting a high end security company for retirement homes. I call it BALROG.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing us to associate optimism and a positive outlook with low intelligence

Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.

And it was Jewish refugee from the NAZIs Lise Meitner who figured out how to split the atom. Miller's racism would be bad enough, but it is amplified by his being an ignoramus who has a very limited & inaccurate grasp of actual history. The US's & anyone else's.

it’s the last night of the year to shop the shop - now’s the time to get yourself the gift nobody else got you! www.peculiarityshop.com

Someone didn’t get the memo.

Conventions, if you use AI do not be surprised if creators turn down your invitations to be guests or even to be on panels. Do not use tools trained on stolen work from creators and then tell them you want to honor or uplift them - that’s not what you’re doing. You’re stealing and being lazy.

Translation is a fucking art form, I want to tear my hair out in bloody chunks and throw it at people who don’t understand this

Definitely DO NOT outsource the reading/summarization of the legal contract to which you will be bound to a pattern matching program that can AND DOES willfully create misinformation when its algorithm tells it the misinformation is the statistically mostly likely next set of words.

Don't delegate the reading of your contracts to any one or anything. Read the whole fucking thing. If you have questions or don't understand something, this is what your agent or lawyer is for. And fucking YES get a lawyer, one that has some experience with contracts in the relevant field.

I don't know how many times it needs to be said that you absolutely should not let fucking "AI" anywhere near your legal contracts, either in creating them or evaluating them, but apparently it needs to be said at least one more time, so allow me to say it again, here, right now

From what I’m hearing from other writers, AI is already being used to generate marketing plans, etc, at major publishing houses. It isn’t great! But to say that AI is a useful tool for small press publishers is disingenuous, naive, and blinkered boosterism.

I am curious to see what will happen when one or more of the GenAI data centers gets hit with flooding. I don’t wish it on anyone or any community, but I am curious - will the tech be considered inevitable and vital then?

i love every single microscopic detail about this. Rama is the moment. Her husbands cool too I guess lol.

A fine is a price. A hell of a price. But just a price. www.france24.com/en/americas/...

what IF weaving was for kitten??

me too, gävlebocken, me too

lol let me guess which customer it is. could it be the one that has repeatedly failed to develop a better "last mile" system than the one a 250 year old state-operated infrastructure agency developed for the benefit not of tax-shirking corporations, but for u.s. taxpayers?

mods are asleep, the 10 item limit is lifted for the rest of the year 😘 www.peculiarityshop.com

My friend Mary was laid off AND diagnosed with breast cancer in the last few months; treatment is going to make it extremely hard to start a new job. She set up a GFM and I am signal-boosting. gofund.me/1b54a89c7

Game Changer is new fav right now. Highly recommend for any uk folks who love taskmaster. Same comedians who are friends tormenting eachother with weird rules to win a game vibe

Race is defined by societal beliefs, cultural norms, and institutional practices, not inherent biological differences. It is a human construct.