We have *six days* left until the Academy of Natural Sciences, North America's oldest Natural History museum, is scheduled to close it's doors. Here are *six reasons* why we cannot - and will not- let that happen.
Lauren Triola
@3followsso.bsky.social
Speculative fiction nerd and John Torrington enthusiast. I like to write things. Represented by Jess Gilbert of D4EO. Creator of @experiment31e.bsky.social https://www.fiverr.com/lauren_triola https://linktr.ee/laurentriola
We've reached 40% of our funding goal & we added a bunch of new add-on rewards, including signed books by Chuck Wendig, Daniel H. Wilson, Ken Liu, Paul Tremblay, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Stephen Graham Jones, Veronica Roth, Victor LaValle, Olivie Blake, P. Djèlí Clark, Seanan McGuire & Martha Wells.
Lightspeed Magazine@lightspeedmagazine.com · last wk.The 2026 LIGHTSPEED + NIGHTMARE Kickstarter is NOW LIVE! Check out our star-studded lineup of authors & peruse our rewards: subscriptions, signed books, rare magazine collectibles, t-shirts, mugs, and other fun stuff. Thank you in advance if you're able to offer your support.💖 bit.ly/LS-NM-26
An underrated fandom experience is having a friend you can privately complain about your least favorite ships or headcanons with so you can have your petty bitch time without ever insulting or offending anyone in the fandom, and I think more people need to learn to do this
Absolutely essential reporting from @mashazart.bsky.social at Fansplaining today for indie artists and the fans who want to support them. If you've been to a con in recent years, you've probably sensed that smaller artists were being pushed out. Here are the on-the-ground realities:
The Death of the Artist Alley?
For smaller artists, increased costs and outsized merchandise expectations are putting convention-selling out of reach.
fansplaining.com
I love Lightspeed and Nightmare Magazine: they have been some of my staunchest ongoing supporters over the years, they publish amazing fiction, and they are always a joy to work with. Check out their Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lig...
LIGHTSPEED & NIGHTMARE: Award-Winning SF, Fantasy, & Horror
We've published nearly 10 million words of science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction. Help us write the next chapter.
kickstarter.com
Between the PRs of (largely likely stolen) math breakthroughs, claims of "rogue AI" (actually cybercrimes by companies, but whatevs), and doomerist "whistleblowers", it feels like we've been subjected to a gish gallop of hype recently. >>
this is, I think, one of the inherent problems with LLMs using natural language interfaces: they are a statistical tool *that looks like* a logical tool statistical approaches can be a useful way to find related information! BUT for it to be useful you have to *know that's what it's doing*
Amy Hoy@amyhoy.bsky.social · 2w agoi found it the best post
We just don’t know if it’s fair to the other kids to let a child who is tortured all the time have a brief respite to play sports.
alix e. harrow@alixeharrow.bsky.social · 2w agosorry, but torturing the omelas kid is just a smart move, polling-wise. i personally wish there wasn't a kid in the omelas hole--of course i do!--but let's not get distracted by purity tests, here.
Sixty years ago today, the starship Enterprise launched and with it, a vision of the future where humanity had moved beyond its divisions. I was there at the beginning, and I can tell you...
60 YEARS OF STAR TREK 🖖 “To boldly go where no one has gone before.” September 8th, 1966 → September 8th, 2026 Happy 60th Anniversary, #StarTrek. 🚀 #StarTrek60th
I pledged and couldn’t resist a handmade bookmark. Last year I got a great woodcut print. Be sure to check out the add-ons when you pledge!
Three-Lobed Burning Eye magazine@3lobedmag.com · 2w agoIf your reading pile is anything like ours, you need lots of bookmarks! Pledge to support us and grab some handmade bookmark rewards with monsters burned in via pyrography. kck.st/4x4r1oz
The United Nations has voted to formally phase out the #Mercator #map of the globe in favour of one that more accurately displays the relative size of #Africa. 164 countries voted in favour of the resolution. Only the US voted no There were six abstentions.
UN votes to adopt new world map that shows Africa’s true scale
Togo-sponsored resolution called to phase out traditional map that depicts continent as similar size to Greenland
theguardian.com
What if Trump now helps AI giants swallow the American press whole? This is an essential read from our CEO @monikab.bsky.social We’re Suing ChatGPT—And Trump Just Got Involved www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
ChatGPT took our stories. We’re suing.
Guess whose side he's on?
motherjones.com
I have known many trans kids (and cis kids who needed procedures that would fall under "gender-affirming care"). None of them have suffered harmful consequences for getting the care they needed. The harmful consequence for having that care denied is frequently death.
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3w agoBREAKING: The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday that it reached an “agreement” with Mount Sinai Health System in which it will “cease providing” gender-affirming medical care to minors and dedicate $2 million to providing care to those “suffering harmful consequences” of such care.
They call him Batman Beyond because he's made entirely of plant proteins
“The litmus test for America’s future is what happens in the South. And so we need to be paying attention to what’s going on here, because here is where the test cases for autocracy happen."
The fight for America’s future is happening in the South
Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson talks about how national debates over data centers and redistricting are hyperlocal issues in his state.
motherjones.com
been thinking about how both henson & parton were raised in the rural south of the 40s &50s, how universally beloved they are now, & how a lot of folks canonizing them are the same ones sneering about how all the people of today's south should be punished for every asshole below the mason dixon line
Gaijin Rando@gaijinrando.bsky.social · 4w agoDolly Parton and Kermit the Frog sing Sly Stone's "Everyday People" #RIP youtu.be/egN7l793DyU?...
Motown songwriter behind 'Money (That's What I Want)' and other hits dead at 87: Janie Bradford Hobbs, an early Motown songwriter known for co-writing "Money (That's What I Want)" and penning songs for Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and other icons, has died at 87. She … https://ranked.news/1285411?u=b
On July 8th, we published a piece on AI in Heated Rivalry fic fandom. On July 30th, the New York Times ran a piece on the same subject. We weren't surprised—because we knew a Times reporter had read our coverage. A tale of two fandom articles, part of a longstanding dynamic in the media industry:
Lessons From a Heated Media Rivalry
How we learned that the New York Times has a Fansplaining account.
fansplaining.com
no one has ever had, or will ever have, a better creative day than Dolly Parton writing Jolene and I Will Always Love You on the same day
Here's the official announcement of Parton's passing from her reps, along with the request that in lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at www.imaginationlibrary.com
Alex Zalben@azalben.bsky.social · 4w agoDolly Parton, among a thousand other amazing things she did in her life, gifted over 330 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the world, but you can support the program today to keep it going imaginationlibrary.com
Dolly Parton with Keith Haring in 1985, incredible woman and supporter of LGBTQ people for decades going back to a time when few others dared.
Dolly Parton, among a thousand other amazing things she did in her life, gifted over 330 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the world, but you can support the program today to keep it going imaginationlibrary.com
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth until they begin school in participating areas.
imaginationlibrary.com
Sometimes, when someone dies, what helps me is thinking about how wonderful it is that they were even alive in the first place. Dolly was the closest you could get to an American saint. We all loved her.