thinking about how mail-in ballot deadlines are *usually* applied based on postmark

loving the replies pointing out that these bitches could not survive without access to the bespoke shit they're used to. as someone who flipped out from a year in Madison (no good boba!), it's *true*

Species declared extinct in 2025. Includes 3 bandicoots (marsupials, not closely related to the Indian bandicoot rat) news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

important to note the violence of twisting legal means to starve out Palestinian families - this is in addition to Israel taking over the majority of arable land around Gaza

I am not convinced it is worth sharing that poorly constructed "AI" piece at all. Feels about 20 steps back on meaningful and necessary discourse.

They say imitation crab is the sincerest form of crab

One of the pernicious things about GOP domination of the Gerrymandering Wars is that even in what could be a wave Dem year they're gonna have to win a bunch of red-tinted seats and that means candidates who think they have to run like squishy moderates to win (and to win and then hold the seats)

In case there was any doubt about where big tech stands.

And before the inevitable racist and sinophobic comments that China only accomplishes this because they use thousands of low wage workers to build railways... Here's real footage of a crew of ~20 Chinese people laying more miles of high speed track in 8 minutes than California has in 18 years. 🤷🏿‍♂️

One of the things I hear a lot is "contracts mean different things than the language in them says and that's why you need a lawyer" This is generally not true.

THIS. Read Asterix in English, and see how Hockridge and Bell don’t just transliterate but remake whole puns and wordplays that sparkle in English culturally as well as linguistically. Flawless work that simply cannot be done without true understanding of *the concept of meaning*

I read this instead of the original letter and it was the right move Yes there are conversations we need to have, no that letter isn't helping at all (especially since it conflates all forms of ML and LLMs)

I found a Screaming Tree Frog in the garden tonight.

Guillermo del Toro: "I've taken some liberties in adapting the Mary Shelly novel, I hope everyone understands." Ishiro Honda: "Frankenstein the deathless will fight a burrowing dinosaur with a glowing horn and radiation breath, signifying mankind will never understand the monsters we create."

Obligatory Naomi Wolf reference www.thecut.com/2019/05/naom...

"Did you see what Mark Cuban posted? Oh did you see the clapb—" You shake yourself awake in the cold North Atlantic water. You are not online. It is July of 1858. You are a baleen whale, and you have changed your mind. The future most not come to pass. The telegraph cable must break.

You know what IS being pushed out of "our" lives? Diverse voices. Google "book bans." Google "DEI bans." Or just turn on the fucking news. Choosing to frame white men's apparent struggles to be rewarded, awarded and cheered as the problem to be solved sure is a fucking choice in 2025.

jeremy strong in the springsteen movie looks like they made an oscar bait minions adaptation

I think people today don't understand just how dramatically the night sky has changed - it looked like it does in super remote areas *everywhere* before the invention of electric lighting, and light pollution that obscures the sky has gotten dramatically worse in the last 25 years.

Delightful

Ok seriously have you all *seen* accurate renderings of Hellenic art or... y'know, literally anything satyr related, they would extremely have been into this

Once a year I abandon all morals and go ham on white fudge Oreos...and NABISCO GOT RID OF THE BOXES?!!

Man I forgot how scathingly on point Inside Job is, fuck Netflix for cancelling it

Crying as I realize my main excuse for looking like shit is gone

Riders on CTA buses and trains have a low chance of being a violent crime victim, a Tribune review shows, despite high-profile crimes this year.

A great example of how the @nytimes.com centers white Americans and Trump supporters in its anecdotal political coverage. You never see stories like this about Black Democrats whose cities are cracked in Republican gerrymandering to give them Republican elected officials.

I once overheard a girl on a bus say "there was no love involved in the creation of that bitch"

"I was around ten years old when I first saw death carried through the street like a neighbor." "To the outside world these are case studies and evidence." "To my sister, they are the empty side of the bed and 5 children asking where their father went." #Gaza #Palestine #Israel #Genocide #Military

Heavy breathing into paper bag

Today is my birthday! That means it's also time for my birthday recommendations thread! 🎂 Recommend me something that you really enjoyed this past year - can be anything, a song, a book, a story, a poem, a game, some art, some interesting factoids, anything! 🎂 I will be very happy to hear!

Trying to be excited that Carol is reading LeGuin but she is *breaking the spine* #pluribus

a lot of people don't realize that Christmas carols and traditions are actually folk memories of suppressed pre-Christian events, namely the end of the Third Age and the Fall of Sauron.

the OP goes on to explain “not only that, but it removes watermarks and credits the user who generated it.” i feel surprisingly comfortable just saying you’re a bad person i wouldn’t let into my house or allow to pet my cat if you’re using this shit.

As Christmas approaches, it’s time for me to re-share my ancient illustration of Santa devouring one of his elves

So I have the cover story in next month's TNR. I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol. They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.

🇧🇷Inhambu-chintã 🌎Crypturellus tataupa Conservação: Pouco Preocupante O inhambu-chintã é uma ave tinamiforme da família Tinamidae 📷 Eudes Feitosa

“Pray tell, the Baron, what sort of gentleman is he?” “Well…”

Fuck cars

Yeaaaah I have friends who legit do not understand why European governments keep doing nice things for their people I do not know where they think existing public goods (when they're aware of them) came from tbh!

HWHAT

Wow. Genuinely shocked, and a hugely consequential decision. Importantly, this is a case where @martylederman.bsky.social's amicus brief appears to have made a MAJOR impact. Before he wrote it, courts were sidestepping the "regular forces" issue entirely. And that's what the Trump admin lost on.

"This story doesn't need a sandworm" This is almost always wrong. Arguably, EVERY story benefits from adding a huge subterranean worm with quasi-mystical or semi-supernatural powers, or equivalent (similar to Moby Dick). Obviously the bigger the worm, the more literary quality it adds.

Why am I watching Culinary Class Wars while hungry 😭

The survey is open to non-members (I am not one) and to readers (who here is not &c.) so I encourage you to share your feelings on the matter. Don't assume that everyone already understands that AI is bad or why! I mean, people *should*, but you could say that about a lot of things.

Holiday festivities in medieval and Tudor England included a celebration of social chaos and misrule, a tradition now honored in vestigial form for the next ~30 hours at supermarkets

call us old fashioned but, if you've built a machine that makes child porn, we really don't care if can do anything else. unplug the machine.

I.... I really have questions about that last one 😬

You don't have to be a member to tell SFWA how you feel about AI.

Where those Harper’s Letter folks at