Sonja Boon
@storiedselves.bsky.social
writer. researcher. flutist. teacher. stitcher of stories. https://linktr.ee/sonjaboon
I've written a longer piece on the book that's been pulled due to "AI" use allegations, what that means particularly for newer authors, and what, if anything writers can do in the "AI" era to prove their work is their own: whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/31/a...
Another Reason Not to Use “AI” For Your Writing
Back in February I did a long post about “AI” and why I wouldn’t use it for my own writing, and one of the reasons I gave was “the fact that ‘AI’-generated text …
whatever.scalzi.com
this is truly terrifying. what a dystopic world we live in.
Faine Greenwood@faineg.bsky.social · 5d agoI used to do some work on the ethical use of satellite and drone imagery for aid and disaster response, and it is genuinely hard to express in words what a dangerous, stupid thing Google is doing by making it easy to use GenAI to create faked satellite imagery:
One thing I can confidently say is that more than a few other books have been canceled for AI use--including by established authors and non-fiction books--that have just not made the news yet.
Lincoln Michel@thelincoln.bsky.social · 6d ago👀 Fascinated by the "withdrawn by its agents" detail. So the AI use was so blatant that the agents due a huge payday preemptively withdrew the contract?
New substack! mostly about worms and wetnursing, but with a hint of Anne of Green Gables. No, that doesn't make sense to me, either, but there you have it. stitchingstories.substack.com/p/worms
worms
maternal histories and politics (with a very brief detour to Prince Edward Island)
stitchingstories.substack.com
Here's Shopify CEO coming out in support of income-based voting rights. No taxes or retired = no votes and high taxes = many votes, at least according to him and a retired TD Bank exec (and probably other rich folks). www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Shopify CEO endorses idea to give more votes to wealthy Canadians | CBC News
The billionaire CEO of one of Canada's largest companies has come under fire for endorsing stripping voting rights from some and giving more votes to the ultra wealthy. Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke replied ...
cbc.ca
My genuinely brilliant colleague in Southeast Asian studies, Dr. Erik Davis at Macalester College in St Paul, faces a federal indictment and a possible six-year prison sentence, for having "ties" to "antifa" (i.e. for organizing anti-ICE protests). www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The professor facing prison in ‘antifa’ case: ‘They want to scare all who oppose ICE’
Erik Davis is accused by the government of a ‘conspiracy’ to obstruct ICE – experts say it’s part of a pattern to criminalize lawful organizing and ruin activists’ lives
theguardian.com
"finally, we have created Fahrenheit 451 from the cautionary tale,"
Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele@drdragases.bsky.social · last wk.No longer content with pillaging intellectual work and dismembering our environment (already critically weakened), AI companies are now hellbent on destroying books galore including rare editions. Shut down these nefarious enterprises already.
Oh, look! A labour party that's essentially a conservative party.
Prem Sikka@premnsikka.bsky.social · last wk.Andy Burnham to make it harder for people to claim benefits, vows to ‘get serious’ about cutting welfare bill. Silence on corporate welfare. 37.8% of Universal Credit claimants are in work. Due to hikes in retirement age, many seniors can't work, claim benefits. Women will be hardest hit.
Don’t ask AI for medical advice. Don’t ask AI for legal advice. Don’t ask AI for advice on anything. In fact, don’t use AI full stop. It’s destroying what’s left of our intelligence. It’s decimating the environment. It’s enriching the billionaire class & hurting everyone else.
ChatGPT medical advice brought man 'to brink of death', lawsuit alleges
An American man sues OpenAI and its founder Sam Altman, claiming the popular chatbot "repeatedly misdiagnosed" him.
bbc.com
new substack: on vintage textiles as thinking material (and featuring a detail from my great-aunt's card table cloth, below) stitchingstories.substack.com/p/nubbliness
nubbliness
As a stitcher, I have a large collection of fabrics of different kinds (mostly cotton).
stitchingstories.substack.com
coming up in a few weeks: delighted to joining my friend Ariel Gordon to zoom launch her fabulous mudlarking chapbook (with @pinholepoetry.bsky.social)!
Canadian arts and culture folks: the federal government has launched a (methodologically flawed) survey on "the Cultural Sector's readiness for Artificial Intelligence". If you're ready to resist or refuse genAI, here's your chance to let them know. pch.research-recherche.ca/f/s.aspx?lan...
National Survey on the Cultural Sector’s Readiness for Artificial Intelligence
Powered by SimpleSurvey.com | Build and manage your own online survey, voting, form and panel management applications.
pch.research-recherche.ca
I get that some people don't understand this. Maybe they think the chat function is a legitimate summary of actual websites. But lots of us have been yelling about this for *years* now! The information about how unreliable, thieving, and damaging to the environment is available! Don't. Use. "AI".
Matthew R Francis@bowlerhatscience.org · 3w agoClass, repeat after me: "AI" is not a search engine. "AI" does not search webpages and return results. "AI" scrapes together random shavings from the internet and presents them as though they're answers. If you use "AI" as a search engine, you're better off consulting your own rectum with a mirror.
"After boarding a handful of boats — stuffed to the brim with people and pets — community members drove across the lake as their entire First Nation burned to the ground behind them. " www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
'It's a miracle': First Nation members escape northwestern Ontario wildfire as community burns to the ground | CBC News
Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, also known as Collins First Nation, has been destroyed by a wildfire that spans over 350,000 hectares in northwestern Ontario. Community leaders spoke to CBC News about...
cbc.ca
Johnnie Jae@johnniejae.bsky.social · 3w agoI want people to understand the full impact of the devastation that First Nations in Canada are facing. It's NOT just that people and wildlife are losing their homes...it's the history that is being lost for generations to come.
Dear @theglobeandmail.com: our mayor is being investigated by the RCMP for financial "irregularities" and you seriously want to argue that he needs *more* power?
Stoo Metz 🏳️⚧️ 🏳️🌈@stoometz.bsky.social · 3w agoMayor Andy Fillmore takes out an editorial in the Globe & Mail to pine and whine for his “Strong Mayor” powers so he can enact his own personal agenda for the city of Halifax. Under the guise only he can lead us through the pressure of a growing city. “Sure Jan” #Halifax #HaliSky #NovaScotia
Woke urbanites just don't understand the importance to hunting culture of owning, checks notes, a cannon www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Former Manitoba MP Inky Mark charged with firearms trafficking after hundreds of weapons seized | CBC News
Inky Mark, a former federal politician in Manitoba, has been charged after police say they seized hundreds of improperly stored firearms from his home last week.
cbc.ca
"I believe the people of Maine deserve better than Susan Collins, and so even though I had some misgivings about Toht, I ignored every click and whirr of my moral compass to cheer him on."
If Only There Had Been a Sign That the Face-Melting Nazi from Indiana Jones Wouldn’t Make a Good Senator
“There’s simply no way any of us could have predicted a Nazi SS guy with his eyeballs dangling out of his sockets and the Staff of Ra broiled into his flesh ...
buff.ly
Vicki Hallett and I are in the current issue of Newfoundland Quarterly with an essay on letters as material objects We think beyond text to context: handwriting, formatting, spelling, paper, marginalia and more. @nlhistorical.bsky.social @memorialup.bsky.social
back to thinking about motherhood, this time the entry into it: stitchingstories.substack.com/p/personal-t...
the mother raga
the personal is always political
stitchingstories.substack.com
Phrenology. Used in the past to justify racism, white supremacy and eugenics. Now being advocated by the head of the *EQUALITIES* & *HUMAN RIGHTS* commission in the UK. Next up, Lamarkism. Not, a white, cishet, neurotypical, non-disabled, middle class, Christian man…? Be afraid.
Rose Schmits@roseschmits.bsky.social · last mo.Head of the EHRC really did just say Phrenology will help solve the issue of transgenders in society
In which our protagonist does stuff she doesn't enjoy. Except boiling ants. That part was fun. stitchingstories.substack.com/p/observatio...
observations on digging
I hate gardening.
stitchingstories.substack.com
every country is going to lead on ai. every country is going to have the biggest data centres. every country is going to build small modular reactors to power them. every country is gearing up to compete on quantum computing. i’m so tired of all this bullshit.
Opening this Friday at Acadia Art Gallery: Textiles as Resistance.
A federal judge in California has issued a nationwide block against the Trump administration’s policy of making arrests at immigration courts, putting an end to a practice that garnered national attention. https://cnn.it/4gI5s8y
Uuuuhhhhh, this is VERY, VERY BAD. I haven’t been on socials much today, so I can’t say “no one is talking about it,” but I am surprised I haven’t seen more www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Texas anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges sentenced to at least 50 years in prison
Activists accused of being part of antifa get long prison terms in case seen as test of Trump’s crackdown on dissent
theguardian.com
straight up fascism.
Ryan Estrada@ryanestrada.com · last mo.A cartoonist named Daniel "Des" Rolando Sanchez Estrada was tried as a terrorist and sentenced to 30 years in prison for having anti-Trump comics in his car. Prosecutors connected him to a 2025 anti-ICE protest he didn't even attend because he was in the same book club as others who were.
