Steve J. Wright
@stevejwright.bsky.social
Arts and sciences person, very unprofessional SFF writer and reviewer, blogs at stevejwright.com. Mastodon @stevejwright@c.im
"How odd," I thought, as I checked my notifications. "I thought I was already following @juliettewade.com - well, I'd better do a follow-back, anyway..." But I was right, I was already following @juliettewade.com . But I was not already following @julietttewade68.bsky.social , who has the same...
I've been reading a lot of the sayings of the Desert Fathers recently, collections of quotes and parables from monks who lived in the Egyptian Desert from around 270ad. And there's a lot to be learned from them, but if I may, I'd like to paraphrase one which I think bluesky really needs to hear...
Optimist: the cup is half full. Pessimist: the cup is half empty. Lovecraft imitator: but of what nameless and blasphemous ichor, drawn from the reeking wounds of what eldritch and unknowable daemon-god from beyond quotidian space and time?
Juliet E McKenna@julietemckenna.bsky.social · 3d agoOptimist: the cup is half full. Pessimist: the cup is half empty Epic Fantasy Writer: when you say cup, is that a drinking horn, a goblet (crystal/pewter/silver/other?), a fine ceramic beaker, coarse earthenware? Holding wine, mead, ale or beer (which are different), water from a spring or a well?
Last and First Men? Probably over-ambitious. Asimov's Foundation setting might be good for Traveller-style SF adventuring... you would have to plan your adventures so they were resolved off-stage by social and economic changes, of course. Or the obvious one: Blake's Seven!
SprintingOwlDesigns@sprintingowl.bsky.social · 2mo agoOkay. You have unfortunately been hit with the curse that makes you adapt a work you liked as a kid into a ttrpg. What thing are you adapting?
Apologies to those who know this already. If you're an aspiring author who submits a manuscript to what looks like a traditional publisher, and they write back saying that they adore your book but want you to pay £3k or so for an 'editing service'... Please don't sign with them.
It appears that the disruption of the cycles of nature caused by climate change now means that hayfever season overlaps with horny spider season. So I am now sneezing and blinking, and also sharing my workspace with a spider roughly the size of Hertfordshire. I find it all a bit trying, really.
I don’t know if this really happened. But if it did, I salute you Alan.
Lots of good meaty stuff in this highly informative meta-thread. Two points in particular inspired me to comment. Incoming tedium: brace yourselves.🧵
Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 2w agoThey keep trying to make "correlation is cognition" happen. Through asserting: 1️⃣ models with only correlationist powers (data and correlations over that data) work well & 2️⃣ our own cognitive powers are no different to these machines, which can only rehash the past. @andreaeyleen.eurosky.social 1/
In 2022, before Chatgpt and everything that came next, I participated in this study. It was framed as a research on a new tool that I could try and offer my opinion on. I didn't know that it was trained on copyrighted material.
Wordcraft Writers Workshop
The Wordcraft Writers Workshop is a collaboration between Google's PAIR and Magenta teams, and 13 professional writers. Together we explore the limits of co-writing with AI.
wordcraft-writers-workshop.appspot.com
Hugo ballot finally completed! With almost a day to spare! I feel virtuous now. (Yes, I have done all the categories, like a good little boy. OK, my judgement on the artist and poetry categories is about as reliable as... a very unreliable thing... sorry, brain is tired now. But. Done.)
Had to replace a table lamp. With another table lamp, naturally, I'm not daft. Well, OK, I am, but not in that way. Anyway. Lamp was delivered by Amazon. Unfortunately, it was delivered next door... which meant, when Her Next Door came round with it, I got the lamp and also some free racism.
Thing is, when the Supreme Ruler and President for Life of Bampotania objects to Amnesty reporting on his abuses of human rights, Amnesty knows full well that any suit for defamation he brings will be tossed out by the courts at the earliest possible moment.
D Franklin@dlibris.bsky.social · 4w agoI know the lawfare and financial threats are real but this immediate backing down is something they don't do for fucking *dictators*, doing it for JKR and her ilk is grim
I can never do just one: Perdido Street Bus Station The City and the Sim City The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Sore A Murder of Quality Street The Guide Dogs of War Ice Station Zebra Crossing The Remains of the Day Trader The Jewel in the Dental Crown The Left Hand Thread of Darkness
Runalong Womble@runalongwomble.bsky.social · 4w agoRuin a book by adding a word The Speed Lathe of Heaven
"That's just what I mean," explained Milo as Tock and the exhausted bug drifted quietly off to sleep. "Many of the things I'm supposed to know seem so useless that I can't see the purpose in learning them at all." (Pure Reason’s full response is in the attached image)
There was a bit of a break in the heat this morning, so... time to rev up my small chainsaw, I thought. Pleased to report that it worked quite nicely. Only one bit fell off during the session, and I found it and screwed it back on easily enough.
This reminded me of a short thread I once posted on Twitter (RIP), which might bear repeating here. Basically, deterrent sentencing isn't effective because (nearly) all crime is committed by two sorts of people. 🧵
David Bowman@dlbowman76.com · last mo.This is cynical, but the theory of deterrence is bunk. The death penalty never prevented a single murder. Harsh penalties never prevented any crime. I suspect that within my lifetime there will possibly be a nuclear war because neither side will be deterred by the potential consequences.
A little friendly disagreement. Thatcher left office 36 years ago. Thatcherism didn't. Those are different things. Politicians leave. Political settlements can last for generations. I think we're still living inside the one she created.
Edwin Hayward@edwinhayward.com · last mo.There are suggestions that Burnham may be planning to blame Thatcher for Britain's problems. Given that she was last in power 36 years ago and that you'd have to be in your mid-50s to have ever voted for her, this feels like a stretch and a half.
What I don't understand is this: If I buy, say, a cucumber straightener for £3.99, and I try it out and it fails to straighten my cucumbers, then, under the Sale of Goods Act, I can go back to the place where I bought it, say it's not fit for purpose, and the shop has to take it back and refund me.
Reece Dinsdale@reecedinsdale.bsky.social · last mo.£10billion found to have been wasted on PPE but… ‘Barones Hallet said there was "no evidence of cronyism or corruption" by ministers or other officials when awarding the final contracts.’ 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Yeah… OK. 👀
Nigel Farage is a privately educated ex-city trader who has been in politics for more than 25 years. He is the establishment. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/07/nigel-farage-is-the-establishment
Nigel Farage is "the establishment"
Uniting capital and labour is easier in rhetoric than in government
newstatesman.com
So I've been reminded of the existence of Laurence Fox *and* Piers Corbyn - thanks a lot, I'm going to need to sign up for another hitch in the Foreign Legion now - and that reminded me, too, of someone's comment that Fox was the larval form of Corbyn.
Dear self-righteous humourless scolds: piss off. (Why, yes, I *have* just blocked someone, however could you tell?)
So, if Farage is standing as an independant in the upcoming Clacton by-election, does this mean Reform will be fielding an official candidate of its own? (It would be so funny if they did. And absolutely hilarious if they won.)
If I'm reading things right, the Belgian FA's response to FIFA may mean that the final outcome of the World Cup may be decided by legal and procedural wrangling, well after the actual event... ... in keeping with a US tradition dating back to 2000....
If there is one piece of Amazon's pervasive surveillance technology that I especially want to get rid of, it's whatever they use to make sure your deliveries coincide *exactly* with the moment you go to the loo. Oh, well. At least I have a small chainsaw now.
