Dr Kat Day (she/her) 🌖
@chronicleflask.katday.com
Science & Fiction editor/writer. Krawalloger. Chemistry PhD ⚛️ Co-Editor at PseudoPod 🦑 Writer: The Crash Course Organic Chemistry & various DK science books 🧪 Short fiction ✒️ thefictionphial.wordpress.com
I found a company selling my favourite contact lenses, which I’d been told had been discontinued. I now have 12 months’ supply! And a big credit card bill, but never mind, I can see!! 😆
I’m currently reading this with my children and let me tell you, that 5.0 perfect rating is DESERVED. They are both talking constantly about what’s going to happen next. Begging me to keep reading at the end of chapters. I don’t know how Khoury does it – her pacing is flawless.
When you’re reading a romance involving Fae bargains and you start to hear a sweet little distant melody chiming through the air… Then you realize it’s an ice-cream truck. Then you remember you live on a side street backed up against the woods and have never once seen an ice-cream truck here.
There are two sides to every story. And then there's usually a secret third side involving witches, old forest magic, and slumbering cosmic spirits, but not too many folks know about that.
Good. Although (yay Brexit /s) the UK doesn’t have to follow these rules, for practical purposes most businesses probably will, because it’s easier to put the label on everything than get slapped for non-compliance later. Besides, the more normalised it becomes, the better
Safer and more transparent AI
On 2 August 2026, new rules regarding the transparency of AI systems take effect. They aim to foster trust and integrity in the information ecosystem.
commission.europa.eu
Penicillin was not, in fact, the first antibiotic.
'Cornish dusk" by contemporary painter Mary Pym, who was born in the Netherlands but who now lives in the UK #WomensArt
You probably know that ‘s’more’ is an alteration of “some more.” But did you know that ‘marshmallow’ comes from the ‘mallow’ plant that is found in MARSHES???
🧵 Snopes pored over hundreds of pages of documents to confirm that Anthropic bought millions of books in bulk and destructively scanned them to train its AI model.
They absolutely cannot claim they didn’t know. There was a whole thing with the chief whip four months ago. In three months the same people will be yelling about poppies before standing sombrely at the cenotaph.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2d agoFormer neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election
It’s #NationalWatermelonDay 🍉 Here’s a look at the compounds behind watermelon colour and aroma, as well as the chemical cause of exploding watermelons in China in 2011: www.compoundchem.com/2015/06/09/w... #ChemSky 🧪
Back when I had Twitter I used to offer free headshots for low-income authors, not sure I have much reach here but the offer is still there. London or Birmingham (although I’m in Glasgow and Edinburgh at the end of Aug and can fit in a session. Will have lights so can be indoors).
Nightmare with Lloyds bank today. They really have destroyed their customer service in the name of progress. Those "mist me" adverts from a well-known competitor? Disturbingly accurate.
"Welcome to our Gander reveal party" "Don't you mean gender reveal party" "No" *Dozens of geese burst out of a cake. Ominous honking fills the air. There are no genders only chaos*
The portal is open! 🕳️ We want horror stories up to 6,000 words, including flash. Originals and reprints. We pay $0.08 per word. Simultaneous submissions are accepted so long as you keep us informed. More details on our website (below).
Pisces: Love is in the air. Unfortunately, it’s toxic in concentrated amounts. Side effects include laughter & writing letters.
‘Sacharissa, do you know anyone who wants a job?’ ‘Know? Haven’t you been looking at the letters?’ ‘Not as such …’ ‘Lots of people want a job! This is Ankh-Morpork!’ ‘All right, find the three letters with the fewest spelling mistakes and send Rocky round to hire the writers.’ —The Truth
Dr Kat Day (she/her) 🌖@chronicleflask.katday.com · 7d ago“William wondered why he always disliked people who said ‘no offence meant’. Maybe it was because they found it easier to say ‘no offence meant’ than actually refrain from giving offence.”
This is a peculiar story. The publisher says: “The book was stunningly good, everyone fell in love with it.” And, they “did not run the manuscript through any AI-recognition software,” but after a meeting, "aspects of [the author’s] story changed.” The author… (1/2)
‘Genius’ novel sold in six and seven-figure deals at auction pulled over suspected AI use
A crime novel has been pulled from sale by an agent after securing major six- and seven-figure deals in the US and the UK due to AI allegations.
thebookseller.com
We are OPEN to manuscript submissions in the horror, thriller, & crime fiction genres! Check out our guidelines & wishlist, then submit on Moksha. Guidelines: links.ruadanbooks.com/Novels26 Submit: links.ruadanbooks.com/submitnovel #AuthorSky #writingcommunity #WriterSky #HorrorSky #ThrillerSky
A rainbow of flowers from today's walk, yes? (Yes.) Red. I love these flowers but can never remember what they're called. #bloomscrolling
Good! Everything is so dry. It only takes a tiny, stray ember. An ‘extinguished’ fire is not always safe. No one needs to be using these right now.
The latest episode of @trientertainment.bsky.social Features discussion of Ai in story submissions. May be of interest to those of us in the fiction space (e.g. me, reading subs right now 😅) Here, from about 21 minutes:
Take A Break's AI Fake Mistake
The Rest Is Entertainment · Episode
open.spotify.com
Happy Lughnasadh,* witches! This moment in the year sometimes gets missed, but it’s a good one. It’s a time to enjoy the fruits of your efforts so far this year. So have at it – enjoy yourself! (“loo-nassa”. Yes this is a tricky one, yes. No, I can’t spell it without checking either.)
Matt LeBlanc has just turned 59. I was never particularly attracted to him when he (and I indeed I) were younger, and everyone seems to be hyper-critical of his current appearance, but I think he looks fantastic. I can’t even pin down why. But, well 😆
Archivists and librarians in movies and TV wearing white gloves for handling old documents and books. We don't do that! It's bad for the documents! Also, when a character takes an old book off a library shelf and blows dust off it. No no no!
Sanjay Srivastava@sanjaysrivastava.com · 6d agoWhat is an extremely nerdy/obscure/specific thing you hate with a white-hot wrath?
