I've mentioned before I've updated my contracts to make sure everything in the production of my books is done by humans and not "AI"; if you're wondering what such a thing looks like, here's a clause covering that from a recent contract.
Doctora Malka Older
@older.bsky.social
nerd with narrative disorder • humanitarian • sociopunk • evidence-based creativity • speculative resistance • predictive fictions • INFOMOCRACY • THE MIMICKING OF KNOWN SUCCESSES • …AND OTHER DISASTERS • GlobalVoices.org • opinions my own
The Great Tolkien Reread encounters "Treebeard". In this essay, I argue that Treebeard is a second pass at the same ideas that went into Tom Bombadil, and that his success is rooted in the character's fundamental sense of tragedy. wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-...
The Great Tolkien Reread: Treebeard
"Treebeard" by Tomás Hijo 'Hoom, hm, I have not troubled about the Great Wars,' said Treebeard; 'they mostly concern Elves and Men. That is ...
wrongquestions.blogspot.com
It worked in NYC. The movement started in 2012 and by 2018 NYC had raised its minimum wage.
I've said before when I worked at NYT a former coworker told me that they had wanted to go out and cover the fight for $15 and an editor told them not to bother because "those people" are always protesting.
Tasha Williams@riseupwoman.bsky.social · 12h agoYou know who are ALWAYS protesting somewhere? Native people. Union workers. The folks asking re: France vs USA will be among the first to support crushing those protests when roads or services shut down. More people want uprisings here now bc more people are FINALLY feeling the burden of oppression.
My brain cannot process this level of corruption. She was being paid $50 million to engineer a pardon from Trump *while working at the Justice Department* as a "Special Government Employee." And it worked. He got the pardon, and she got the money. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/u...
A Billionaire Wanted a Trump Pardon. His Family Gave Alina Habba a $50 Million Deal. (Gift Article)
Julio Herrera Velutini, a prominent Venezuelan, was seeking clemency. He got it not long after his daughter gave Ms. Habba, a lawyer close to President Trump, an extraordinarily lucrative job.
nytimes.com
70 Billion more than last year 😆 We have the money to reverse climate change, ensure everyone has healthcare, and even give folks a UBI floor. Instead we are spending it on... Whatever this is 🤷♀️🤠
More Perfect Union@moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 8h agoBREAKING: Anthropic reports an $80 billion net loss in the first half of 2026.
Late season color. Drying a bunch of strawflowers to have something to look at over the winter.
White Cross by Vasily Kandinsky, 1922 https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137162
We were investigating Wedgewood for faking their data and emailed them for comment this morning, ahead of publishing the findings tomorrow. They are now trying to cover up their fraud with the "we were doing a social experiment" excuse. Full story here: blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftypluso...
FiftyPlusOne just caught a pollster faking data — and they copped to it
In response to a request for comment on a FiftyPlusOne investigation, Wedgewood Polls admitted their data was bogus
blog.fiftyplusone.news
FiftyPlusOne.news@fiftyplusone.news · 8h ago50+1 has caught another pollster faking data: fiftyplusone.substack.com/p/fiftypluso...
Matisse's first Brittany trip inspired the dark, regional scene The Breton Weaver (1895). However, it was his subsequent summers at Belle-Île (1896–1897) that truly broke his academic restraint and unlocked a freer use of color.
Across Europe, governments are using criminal laws against climate and environmental protesters — a phenomenon that shows few signs of retreating. This post was part of our “Protest in Democracy" #GVSpotlight: globalvoices.org/2026/08/24...
When the right to protest remains, but demonstrating comes at a price
Since the 1950s, Europe’s democratic and human rights system has developed through the gradual strengthening of protections for political expression, assembly and dissent.
advox.globalvoices.org
Cambodia’s Law on Peaceful Demonstration was supposed to ensure the right of citizens to organize and participate in public assemblies by designating freedom parks in every province. Only one freedom park has been identified in the country. #GVSpotlight
How Cambodia’s law on ‘freedom parks’ curtailed people’s right to protest
"It has not only been used to confine peaceful gatherings and demonstrations to Freedom Park, but increasingly, the very use of Freedom Park has been restricted and denied."
advox.globalvoices.org
🌏 A new collaborative piece from @globalvoices.org provides a brief history and overview of protest music, including censored songs, around the world. buff.ly/pWSujGe
The sound of resistance
As part of Global Voices’ September Spotlight, “Protest in Democracy,” members of our community will be sharing examples of protest music past and present from their communities in this collaborative…
buff.ly
I've moved to Scotland. The whole reason why, and what the journey over has been like, are blogged now here in detail so I can share with everyone asking: tobiasbuckell.com/a-move-to-sc... tobiasbuckell.com/a-move-to-sc... tobiasbuckell.com/moving-to-sc... tobiasbuckell.com/moving-to-sc...
Bless you Janelle Monae and Robert Wun, for blessing us.
How insanely beautiful can sunlight on a cloud be? This insanely beautiful. The Maas at Dordrecht, 1650, by Aelbert Cuyp, whose day is today.
Very genuinely, I cannot think of a single other tech or AI major that just came out and said "we want to use fossil fuels for this, for almost everything and by default". Anthropic has cultured a reputation as 'the good one' but on climate it's basically the worst. The safety-bros are dangerous
Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 4w agoThe AI doom / extinction lie is coming from the exact people with an addiction to burning methane and a climate denialist worldview. I am pretty mad about it. New piece here: www.crikey.com.au/2026/09/22/a...
Riveted by this account of the development of the Lancelot and Galahad characters in 12th-13th century Arthurian literature by lusty troubadours v prudish monks. Has to be a Hulu series here podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/t...
King Arthur: Lancelot and the Round Table (Part 2)
Podcast Episode · The Rest Is History · 14 October · 1hr 4min
podcasts.apple.com
Party control is up for grabs in 15 state legislative chambers as Republicans are increasingly on the defensive this midterm election cycle, according to a new analysis, that says Democrats could chip away at or even break GOP supermajorities in some states. marylandmatters.org/2026/10/20/r...
Democrats could flip legislative chambers in some GOP-supermajority states - Maryland Matters
Party control is up for grabs in 15 state legislative chambers nationwideas Republicans are increasingly on the defensive this midterm election cycle, according to a new analysis that Democrats could ...
marylandmatters.org
Republican lawmakers could remove Trump any time they wanted. Any time.
Jon Cooper@joncooper-us.bsky.social · yesterdayRepublican lawmakers are incensed about Trump's dismissal of Ukraine — and powerless to stop him. That frustration hit a new peak on Monday as they sought to address Trump’s decision to purchase Russian diesel, waive sanctions on Moscow, and potentially stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
I will never get over car brained New Yorkers’ refusal to confront geometry. We’re talking about two islands, part of another island, and a peninsula. Where are the cars supposed to go?
Our ag school's master gardener program had a podcast called garden hoes and the bosses made em change it to garden thyme and this is an academic freedom issue
One of the books I checked out today. I love it. This is one I might have to buy. bookshop.org/a/4013/97815...
Make way for the new "Mayor Pete," Hizzoner Pete Fry. #Vancouver 's new mayor is the first in any Canadian city to belong to the Green Party. He might also be the first mayor to come out of the punk rock scene... www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
And, indeed, SCMs and LLMs have a great deal in common, from their ravenous appetite for data to the black holes of responsibility at their centers. That's because they share a common heritage in the mid-century sciences of systems.
Hey, it’s the official release day for Seeing Like a Supply Chain! And of course I’m swamped with grading and lesson-planning, but maybe I can say a little about the book and the process of researching it. yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
An ideological cornerstone of the AI developer community is that by putting any of your data or speech in public you de facto consent to having someone else aggregate and manipulate it (and thereby manipulate you as the data subject) for their own instrumental ends.
WIRED@wired.com · 16h agoHysteria over the agent's appearance in a 7,500-person group reveals that internet experts have outdated notions of privacy.