There are so many reasons to be anti-AI. Setting aside the environmental fuckery and the goddamn wholesale thievery (which SHOULD BE ENOUGH, but here we are), it's *wrong*, in the sense of "can't reliably get anything right." Some people have looked at my copyeditor self and said, "You're just

Today’s noon-time (UTC 0/GMT) picture of the sky.

Along with the racist fake grievance of "apologizing for being white," there's also the fact that a bunch of white folks seem to believe (and/or are willing to suggest) that even acknowledging systemic advantages they get for being white is the equivalent of being "forced to apologize."

Good morning

I've been procrastinating on the right moment to share this, but the cover release and opening pre-orders might just be it. AGENCY by me! It's a cosmic horror about commercial landlords from nether-hell dimensions. #nonfiction #fnar www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GBYKFTV8 www.amazon.com/Agency-Tor-O...

We had congressional hearings when parents just suspected heavy metal was leading some kids to suicide.

Remember: When Tylenol was poisoned *by an outsider* and killed people, the company recalled all their products & redesigned them. When Intel’s Pentium had a bug so obscure it affected 1 in _9 billion_ long division calculations, they recalled their chips. ChatGPT was made deadly *by its team*.

A nice thread in which an actual expert patiently explains why the Secretary of Health and Human Service is not simply a liar, but an especially stupid one.

I loved this. And I want to note the whole “there were no autistic people before …” discourse has an answer here: just the people were sent away in the incarceration (yes “care homes” like this), and if they fled, they were just abandoned by society, usually to die.

ew, blocked.

I feel like there's no way this won't look like a spam post but OH WELL. Anyways! Join our community Discord! We've got ~950 members and there are lots of channels for sharing links, asking for help, chatting about books/art, and/or the writing/publishing processes! discord.com/invite/4AcZj... 😊🤍

A Nichelle Nichols tribute post for her birthday. What an incredibly beautiful woman.

I am once again begging historical/fantasy stock photo sites to hire BIPOC models and put them in the same fun costumes all the white models get to wear and/or accurate-ish historical costumes from non-European cultures. You're not only annoying me tremendously, you're leaving money on the table!

Why do none of these fuckers call their companies Gandalf or Samwise

A pair of happy hammerhead sharks (ca. 1735 Edo period Japan)

If you want to make it illegal in your jurisdiction, petition your local government to add "residential location" to your local discrimination laws.

Since some people have questioned whether this really happened—or whether such a policy actually exists—here's an auto-generated transcript (with errors) from the voicemail canceling our reservation, and a sign posted next to the front desk when we arrived.

And to those scoffing at the idea that homeless people stay in hotels: when shelters are full, local agencies regularly place clients in hotel rooms. Many unhoused individuals also have jobs and cycle between hotels, cars, friends' apartments, and the street.

A Hampton Inn in Asheville just canceled my family's reservation because our address (incorrectly) showed Asheville—and the hotel bars locals within 50 miles. When I asked why, they said, "because of our homeless population," adding that most hotels here have similar policies. This is outrageous.

This is so gross and weird. And another example of businesses choosing punitive discrimination even when it costs them all kinds of other business too. I have not heard of this happening in Canada (and I stay in Ottawa hotels a fair bit) but would love to know if anyone has encountered it here.

.....if memory serves, when Sauron directed security at Mordor, three people were able to walk right in mostly undetected and later blew up an entire mountain and a relatively valuable ring, but, ok, sure.

Ooooh this is a great tip if someone makes a not-ok joke at work/ family gathering/whatever. Totally stealing this.

Samesies

I've seen people reference the claim that RFK Jr. believes the 1918 influenza came from lab research, but since no one provided a link, I was skeptical that even he could be that stupid. Boy, was I wrong. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

BTW, if you want nice patterns for plush toys in crochet, highly recommend Kerry Lord's Edward's Menagerie (even if Mr Floppy's legs aren't from the book. I copied them from K2's plush rabbit, and then had a devil of a time crocheting two identical legs, lol).

Capitalism constantly creates new structures both culturally & economically irresistible AND absolutely destructive to workers & users. In the 90s, Walmart killed local shopping because the forces of capitalism made it first the most economical store, and then the only one. Now we have LLMs.

Trump's most successful business, by far, is the presidency. Up until the presidency, we were being told he was a brilliant successful businessman by people eager to lie their way into reality. In a better world, he'd have died in debt after declaring bankruptcy a dozen more times.

I truly do hope that at some motion to dismiss, the defense uses the roundworld version of Mr. Slant’s Sini Plenus Piscis argument.

It was a free concert. Cancelling saved them money.

New Year's resolution: Gonna mix it up, try something new, stunt on the skyline a little less dipshit, more cumclown

1/2 If you know and are friendly with enough writers in your general cohort you will likely know one or two or a few who are "famous" for whatever value of "famous" is relevant to others. None of us knew who was going to be "famous" at the time, we just hung about enjoying each other's company. ALSO

Oh, and incidentally. Those other writers, they are not your competition. They are your colleagues, and the kinder, more generous you are to them the better things will go for you.

This is very good on the recent grotesque behaviour of BBC news editorial:

Folk have confirmed that this applies to ebooks from Apple & Bookshop as well!

It’s not often I read something that changes how I behave at once but this is it. I love my Apple CarPlay and… “when using Apple CarPlay by touch reaction times were nearly five times worse than when a driver was at the drink-drive limit, and nearly three times worse than when high on cannabis”

🤍 estranged husbands 🥺 close brothers x2 🗡️ an mc who is 100% done 🐺 a love interest ready to grovel 🏫 a haunted, gothic school 🔍 buried secrets ❄️ snowy setting 🔖 universal link: mybook.to/aBMB 💌 itch.io link: rebecca-crunden.itch.io/the-strange-... 📖 gr: www.goodreads.com/book/show/22... [ 💙📚🪐 ]

Good of them to warn us not to get TOO friendly with him! He was naughty, not nice, but he's coming to town anyway.

TL;DR be a decent human, do the work, and make some friends. The rest is just dumb fucking luck, but even if you don’t have the dumb fucking luck, *you will have been a decent human, done some work, and made some friends.*

A reminder that the key to writing is getting the very best out of your brain, but in order to get the best out of it you have to take care of your mental health. Stress, concern, and depression will take a toll on your work. So always make sure to take care of YOU and you'll get your best work.

Some of you are grinding or suffering anxiety because you're not going to make your self-imposed New Years deadline on your manuscript. Stop. Take a deep breath. Targets motivate you to get the words out, but the minute that motivation feels bad is when it poisons the well. Finish when you finish.

In 2023, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of Bernice Summerfield at @bigfinish.bsky.social and this newly-released documentary has so much great stuff to say about her and her legacy of creativity. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUCL...

There are some great suggestions here, but I feel like Elrond deserved at least one F-bomb somewhere. “Men. Men are fucking weak.”

These folks @pmpress.bsky.social are the for-real deal. Keep them sharing our stories this way: www.gofundme.com/f/book-by-bo...

These cars are dangerous! They absolutely should NOT be allowed in taxi or private-hire service. It's one thing an owner knowing how to get out in an emergency, but a fare paying member of the public likely would not! www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

I also took a bunch of pics of the tops of concrete fence posts at the bottom of the dike for you #lichensubscribe freaks 😂 #mosstodon #Fryslân #frisia #friesland

SEASON'S GREASONS

for comparison, here are the previous terms, which the site operated under for quite a while without issues archive.ph/X0ML1 NC banned most of the former site staff (for telling him what he was doing was insane), and then he proceeded to host staff's new translations/hacks w/o approval. cool guy

romhacking.net updated their TOS so that in a situation where, if you do not want your work hosted by their site, and someone uploads it anyway the site owner, nightcrawler, personally requires you to send him photos of yourself, and he "may" retain them for as long as he likes :) archive.ph/0B750

The lessons to take from this: 1) If you're in the US, leverage that legal protection to say these things for your UK friends who can't! 2) Stop fucking giving Head Bigot JK Rowling money to finance legal terrorism against people who identify raging bigots as raging bigots.

This is because for every dollar you spend on Harry Potter media or merchandise, a large portion of it goes to Head Bigot JK Rowling, who specifically uses that money to finance her fellow raging bigots threatening ruinous lawsuits against UK people who point out their raging bigotry.