annoying when you try to respond to mutual aide and your bank fails to cooperate

Very much agree. There have assuredly been bad actors and people who've done real serious wrongs. But it is also true that there are so many more people who've gone out of their way to try and help me and many others.

Tyler Walpole ➡️ Dragon Con@tylerwalpole.bsky.social · yesterday

One thing that I truly value about the fantasy art community is how damned supportive they are of one another. Almost everyone wants to help other artists with their craft and connections. I don’t know who set the tone for this, but it’s been going on for on for entire career, and it fuels me.

Thaddeus Stevens was not playing around and I am more than a little sad he wasn't ever able to truly get his way.

Deacon Blues@kaibutsu.bsky.social · 2d ago

It's fun to watch their brains tie themselves in knots then watch the frayed ends fight each other.

Honestly... the thing for #Ha-Nahn that makes the most sense is music. But he recommends something you can hold in your hands here. Going to need to think on that.

David J Prokopetz@prokopetz.bsky.social · last wk.

To write in the classic high fantasy mould, you need not be hung up on food specifically, but there must be SOME very mundane thing you're sincerely interested in and prepared to describe in excruciating detail every time it comes up. Clothing. Furniture. Architecture. It doesn't work without it.

I’m tired of old ppl in Congress on the left thinking the problem with tech companies will be solved by just taxing them more. Sure, they need to pay more in taxes but what they really need is to be regulated and held accountable for the products they unleash on the public

Elizabeth Warren@warren.senate.gov · 2d ago

Do you use Instagram or Gmail? You could be helping to train AI. Big Tech has turned what all of us helped create into a trillion-dollar industry. It’s time to tax AI so you can share in its success.

We'd rather you actually held them accountable for the harm they're doing. Don't *just* tax them. Fine, regulate and if necessary, dismantle them. Let's see some accountability and yes, some damn punishment for these people making our world worse.

Elizabeth Warren@warren.senate.gov · 2d ago

Do you use Instagram or Gmail? You could be helping to train AI. Big Tech has turned what all of us helped create into a trillion-dollar industry. It’s time to tax AI so you can share in its success.

There are so many reasons I'm not a comics creator. I did that once in college and was like "ya'll are superhuman. Couldn't be me."

Sygnin@sygnin.com · 2d ago

I just re-read my comic's pages up till the point I stopped last year (for health reasons). I still love it so much but hrrrgghhhh... why comics gotta be soooo much work to even draw 1 page And so, so hard to get back to drawing once you stop😭

One of the weird things I noticed that I think came from a combination of my own insecurities, being raised almost exclusively by women and a pretty sizeable amount of bullying is that when I read this I was like, "wait, not everyone is suspicious of overly flattering praise?"

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 4d ago

There’s also something to how women are socialized to be suspicious of flattery — it’s how we transfer responsibility for men’s desire onto women’s bodies; we are taught to defend against that in service to our “innocence” or whatever — whereas men accept flattery as their due. Perfect marks.

Agreed. This is incredibly annoying at best and exactly as exhausting and disheartening as she notes at worst. When I was still on FB I'd have folks who used to think I was one of the smartest people they know flip when I disagreed with them about something.

Princess Weekes@princesmweekes.bsky.social · 2d ago

It is so exhausting and always disheartening that my credentials as someone with a masters degree in English that speaks with some kind of authority is not real because someone disagrees with me about a fantasy show

Honestly I've been guilty of this to varying levels as well and there are places where it really shows. And times when I've pushed against this impulse and been quite glad of it. Specifically when buying pants! I've had to start spending more now that I can and it has made a difference.

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈@maxdubler.com · 3d ago

I think my most genuinely unpopular take is that a widely held and genuine consumer preference for cheaper, lower-quality goods, not private equity, is driving the decline in quality of consumer goods like clothing and housewares.

There are community copies of the Griot Anthology available! If you don't have the means to buy one, grab your copy of this zine celebrating the brilliant work of black #TTRPG game designers for FREE while they last! (If you've already got one, give it a review!) thoughtcrimegames.it...

LRP I literally just spent 2 weeks of my life researching and prepping for this primary election (not a general, a primary) with a document that ended up being 96 slides and my mom, who trained me to research mind you, was still shocked at the thoroughness. I am not a normal voter.

Because less than 5% of voters know what the civil service even is. Bluesky, you gotta get it through your head that you are in the 0.01% of most informed voters, campaigns need to spoonfeed soundbites & to the 54% of Americans who cannot read at a 6th grade level.

Alan Cunningham@cadetcunningham.bsky.social · 3d ago

Why is it that I have never heard a legislator on the campaign trail talk about civil service reform or updating USAJobs for the current work force? That’s something not only active and ex-federal employees but prospective federal employees (including students, veterans etc) would want to hear

Also, this game we're currently playing is a bit of a replay of one we tried doing yrs ago so this first arc and a half is familiar territory for a few of my players. What's really fun is seeing where stuff has diverged (and not) A different character took point this arc than last time...

We talk about the "political class" here but I think some folks are missing the forest for the trees here. See, at the start of Covid what I recall was the moment the "we're all in this together" rhetoric ended was when we got indication Black folks had worse outcomes.

the Mountain Goats@themountaingoats.bsky.social · 3d ago

I agree strongly with this -- in that difficult moment, the possibility of collective effort was conceivable. Not everybody felt it, but many did. I think the political class did not like this one bit.

Last night's DnD was good and I needed it. The party had a boss fight with a particularly loathsome antagonist who was brainwashing children. Now they have to figure out what to do with the kids and what their next path forward will be.

If we fuck this up, Republicans will sweep in with someone to blame, and the "someone" will be queers and Jews.

So I see the rules for authors. But if an illustrator wanted to be considered would we submit our portfolios to the same place?

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine@newedgeswordmag.bsky.social · 4d ago

📣 New Edge Sword & Sorcery is open to short story submissions now through 8am EST, Sept 1st! 👉️ newedgeswordandsorcery.com/submissions/

It never stops amusing me that my partner and I cook in very different ways... that are also incongruous with our personalities. My partner has adhd and is the more chaotic of the two of us cooks like a wizard. All recipes, analysis and some measuring.

They certainly PRETEND to be useful. They pretend to make things soooo much easier, soooo much faster. Soooo much less friction. The moment you buy into the pretense, you also buy into that philosophy of effortless ease. And that's when your process and your work starts becoming sloppy.

Hank Green@hankgreen.bsky.social · last yr.

There are a lot of critiques of LLMs that I agree with but "they suck and aren't useful" doesn't really hold water. I understand people not using them because of social, economic, and environmental concerns. And I also understand people using them because they can be very useful. Thoughts?

Who is the fictional character you relate to the most.

Spock's Fascinating Reaction in Star Trek TOS

Alt: Leonard Nemoy as Spock with the caption: "Fascinating"

static.klipy.com

David Naylor@profcedar.bsky.social · 5d ago

Who is the fictional character you relate to the most?

My life would be so much easier if I could just write people off that disappoint me instead of insisting they can be better. Basically if I believed in tabula rasa less I'd probably be less irritated by other humans.

Fun fact, this dust up with the Amazigh is a small part of the inspiration for by the Zanza in my #Ha-Nahn setting maintain the warrior tradition more strongly than many other nations on the continent.

Wallet Inspector MetaBlueSky ♨️@metabluesky.bsky.social · 5d ago

The result of this was the consolidation of a domain the Muslim world called Al-Andalus. It very narrowly came close to misfiring in its first decade when the Arab armies tried to cheat the Amazigh, who waged a civil war to stop it. www.spainthenandnow.com/spanish-hist...

#savespeech #stopKOSA #NoToDigitalID Friday FYI Megathread - KOSA/KIDS Act No hearing in Senate for House KOSA/KIDS Act. Senate CST comm. Will have markup Aug. 5th for Senate KOSA, SCREEN, & 3 other bills. No AI preemption. KEEP CALLING. WE WILL STOP THEM IF WE FIGHT BACK. badinternetbills.com

🔞OnyxNuva || PLUS 🔞@onyxnuvaplus.bsky.social · last mo.

#savespeech #stopKOSA #NoToDigitalID Friday FYI - KOSA/KIDS Act Edition - KIDS Act passed 267-117 or so - Senate out till July 13 - Blackburn & Blunth. Claim its DOA due to lacking duty of care - August & Oct. are recess months for voting bsky.app/profile/dies...

QRP with your most popular piece on bsky I think it's this one

Graey Erb@sporkarena.bsky.social · 5d ago

QRP with your most popular piece on bsky ~ It's close, but it turns out the Captain from the Gossamer Frontier cover is the winner for me! I'm a little surprised since it was a little different to my usual fare but I'm glad people dig it 😄

"Winter Solstice Festivities!" My last commission from 2025. (Then I started a day job and took a hiatus from comms) #dragon #kobold

While I always have my own tales in mind I adore hearing what stories come to mind when folks see my illustrations. So if you ever feel inclined please feel free to share any flash fiction a piece conjures for you.

It always warms my heart a little bit when folks make up their own stories from my work. I'd love to see what other stories folks think up. While I always have my own tales in mind I would love to hear more of what other folks envision when they see my stuff so please feel free to riff.

Duncan Wilson@duncanwilson.bsky.social · 7d ago

'It was so strange, so absurd. She was the goddess of wild places and all natural life but her adherents worshiped her, not in old high places nor in sacred groves or streams, but in highly artificed temples, in sanctuaries of stone and silence, far from the wild world she ruled. So… unnatural….'

Trying to lock in enough to get some important stuff done. I've got the last drawing finished for applying to Everyday Original and just in time. I've got a commission I'm still waiting on follow up from the client on and more ideas than I have time! Exciting.

This is a gentle reminder that if your vote didn't matter Republicans would not be working so hard to strip it from you.

Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social · 6d ago

🚨BREAKING: In a decisive win for voters, the Kansas Supreme Court rejected Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s (R) final emergency effort to revive a strict Election Day receipt deadline for mail-in ballots right before the state’s primary. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...