1/2 If data about the natural world lives in a low-dimensional hyperbolic space, then a large number of measurements embedded in a high-dimensional Euclidean space can preserve info. about the “curved inner world," said Tatyanna Sharpee, @salkinstitute.bsky.social, at the Simons Institute

"Cry for me, America"

“I have done all of the things that one is supposed to do to earn a tenure-track position. And I have done approximately 85% of them by typing prompts into a large language model and then moderately editing the output.” 🤣🤣🤣 brilliant 👌🏽 open.substack.com/pub/inprepar...

"They learn the statistical residue of human discourse" is a lovely phrase that I intend to steal when I talk about what LLMs are and are not good for.

Frontiers emails are going on my block list.

Current mood youtu.be/kL5DDSglM_s?...

The first two volumes of my husband Emmet O'Brien's Vega Victrix series are now available as ebooks "Spiritually Canadian borderline transhumans solve mysteries, meet aliens and bring the benefits of peace, order and good government across human space." www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3JCNPS...

Inspired by a question tonight from @sarahgailey.bsky.social : what is a thing you were not expecting to like, but liked anyway? My most recent 2 are Dungeon Crawler Carl and K-Pop Demon Hunters.

If you are in the SF Bay Area and can show me a pneumatic tube system in action (the bigger the better), please get in touch! I am writing a story about a future pneumatic tube system and need to experience how they sound and smell and everything else.

Left my lei with the Storyteller to mark the beginning of my sabbatical of writing. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm ready to go!

Understanding is love. Understanding, and the fact that my son has learned to make coffee.

This masterwork alone is worth getting a supporting membership to worldcon.

The Internet peaked at memepool.

8647 is the only 4-digit prime that is 2 less than a square (8649 = 93^2) and 1 more than a triangular number (8646 is the 131st triangular number).

Bits of life news: I got into Clarion West! CW is a 6-wk fiction writing intensive, so I have also given notice at Cloudflare that I'm leaving mid May. We'll see once the dust settles, but, for now, I feel like I'm about to jump out of a plane and couldn't be more excited!

It took 5.5 hours for 5 people to move boxes, but my things are (6 years after coming over with a duffel bag for spring break...) finally in California!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so persuaded by an endorsement before this. Fuck, I might be voting for Tom Steyer for California governor. www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/s/...

Tonight's tagline: There is so much world.

I'm delighted to share this contest that I've been working on, and for which I'll be a judge! We're looking for stories about positive futures and how to get there.

Dazzle-Ships in Drydock at Liverpool, 1919 by Edward Wadsworth

It is somewhat appropriate that the literal only plant that I've managed to grow long enough to flower is rue.

I’m usually not a podcast person but I made an exception to watch @adapalmer.bsky.social.

Spending my day sharing some fun locks to play with here at BSidesSF

Vannevar Bush, an electrical engineer who built one of the first analog computers, was born #OTD in 1890. He headed the Office of Scientific Research and Development during WWII, proposed what became the National Science Foundation, and devised an early hypertext system. 🧪 ⚛️

Come hang out with me here! While "fantasy" is in the name, the 4th Street community is warm and welcoming to all walks of speculative and adjacent writing.

I made it through an entire evening without putting googly eyes on this I deserve an award.

"Your computer isn’t just computing; it’s reluctantly participating in relativity." cubiclenate.com/2026/03/04/d...

I just threw together a website visualizing this ICE contract data! You can browse through the companies and their contracts, and filter them by state micahflee.github.io/ice-contracts/

I don’t know how many Gene Wolfe aficionados follow me, but I’ve got to share this. This artist is planning a stop-motion adaptation of the Book of the New Sun, and here he makes his clay alzabo. Such talent, such fun.

Also, I'm cool enough to have just hung out with the lead singer of Jawbox. I'm not however, cool enough to have realised who he was until we were going to our respective cars.

Landed home safe just to be attacked by the airport museum display.

A dark and lovely reimagining of Peter Pan that explores the pain and joy of motherhood and the roles women are often forced to play - Mother, Darling by @apottern.bsky.social strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...

Mother, Darling by Allison Pottern @apottern.bsky.social "Was that gold glittering in the girl’s hair? Had the neighbors seen? Was that his laughter that rang out from Kensington Park across the way?" Link ⬇️ strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi... #shortstories #fiction #fantasy

Hey folks! Due to a series of unforeseen expenses, I need to raise some cash before royalty season rolls around at the beginning of April. Because of that, I am going to do something I don't usually do and offer paid mentoring sessions for aspiring writers.

Brilliant talk tonight by @indyjohar.bsky.social at @longnow.org . I'm still unpacking his model where doubt is foundational to intelligence, and wondering where do ml systems, where uncertainty is defined with respect to a axiomatically problematic ground truth, fit in this framework.

Just passed 11 empty charter buses at the endpoint of the San Francisco 'walk for life' march.

A wild update: these two stories are releasing *on the same day.* Stay tuned on 2/2 for two very different, feminist tales.

(1/4) For anyone else who wants to make the Gemini pop-up in Google docs go away, I just figured out an easy method. Step 1: Download the Stylus Google Chrome extension: chrome.google.com/webstore/det...

there’s stuff circulating about Wikipedia and AI; I’d ask that you dig into this thread before getting concerned.

These truly ridiculous blooms all opened up today after spending half a week in hiding, and that's the energy I wish all of you to have today.

My latest on Substack -- a write-up of the talk I gave at NeurIPS in December. aiguide.substack.com/p/on-evaluat...

If you haven't already done so, please write a positive note or story for @sheilawilliams.bsky.social as she recovers from a brain aneurysm. Sheila Williams is an amazing person and editor. The SF/F genre wouldn’t be what it is today without her decades of hard work. locusmag.com/2026/01/shei...

So excited to announce my motherhood horror story "Hollow Pines" will be published by 34 Orchard in November of this year!

obligatory

TIL: An Oreo cookie translates to about 60Wh of energy. Our brains do the amazing pattern recognition and extrapolation they do on about an Oreo and a half of power. (The conversation this came from was about car batteries, which I've learned are also incredibly Oreo efficient!)

the best antidote to blackpilling is remembering that every video you see of an ICE thug abusing their power was recorded by an American who volunteered to put themselves in harm's way for the sake of people they've likely never met and never will

2026's self care promise: take a day off of work for each time my child is in the ER with a broken bone, whether or not I think I need it.

A collection of Joanna Russ resources: www.kith.org/jed/hodgepod... (Suggestions for additions welcome!)