Kelly McCullough

Yep, absolutely not how it read for a northern boy until someone pointed it out. At which point: why would anyone care?

Meh. It was fine and of its time and that time has passed.

A small bit of good news

It’s perfectly fine to celebrate a win with “and” instead of “but.” Like, hellz yeah and looking forward to the next win! As opposed to, sure it’s a start but it hardly matters when…

Yellow bird with black face and red eye, all puffed out and slightly damp.

Let me start a belated thread of Aotearoa New Zealand silvan birds.

To lead things off, a New Zealand Bellbird photographed on Kapiti Island.

A middle-aged couple in winter gear, taking a selfie in a Ferris wheel with the frozen Helsinki bay in the background

Oldieweds

unembarrassed enthusiasm about learning new things is genuinely the best way to live

A tripod tuxedo cat glare is up at the camera from amidst clothes hanging on a rack

I’m in yer clothes pillaging yer tees.
.
Proof of cat (Pirate)

@fenrisgames.com

look! A cool rock. A picture of a rock from another fucking planet! Beamed to us from a fucking robot buggy on MARS. Fucking MARS. We put a robot buggy on fucking Mars and we get to look at them.

What a time to be alive.

Never forget the good stuff.

Fucking Mars, man.

Nice to know

Dozens of things. I was a theater kid who grew in the Twin Cities and got a theater degree at U of M. Among other things I saw all but a couple of their Shakespeare productions between ‘85 and when they moved into their new space.

Optical illusion of a woman bent over some papers. Her sunglasses are pushed up and she is wearing a hair band so the top of her head looks exactly like a Muppet face

Sorry I know the world is in a terrible fix but I've been laughing at this for ten minutes now

I wrote a whole novel about Richard III, but I love Macbeth and Midsummer nearly as much, with Julius Caesar and The Tempest not far behind.

A couple in sunglasses and dark clothes on the back of a ferry with its wake showing in the sea ice.

Sea ice is cool!*
.
*Actually really really cold, but also…

I'll take this in one more direction. How about when you're reading for a lit review and you come across something that's NOT relevant, but you mentally file it away, and then years later, it becomes the cornerstone of something else? A whole new project? gAI can't do this.

"you need to learn how to use gAI or you'll get left behind!"

counterpoint!

the absolute fastest way to render yourself unemployable is to build your skillset around a tool that does your thinking for you, that everyone has access to, and that one company can change or take away at any time

Found some giant slimes to add to flamed elves. Just going to pop over to the gingerbread house and steal some shutters so I can make s’mores. Maybe day not a total loss after all.

An orange tabby looking existentially concerned.

Did I remember to scrub my browser history?
.
Proof of cat (Oddgrr)

The knight stood, triumphant, over the prostrate dragon. He raised his sword high above his head and-

"I wouldn't if i were you"

The voice was in his head. Confused, he glanced around. A black cat was cleaning a paw, casually nearby.

He raised the sword again.

"Are you REALLY, really sure?" /1

a pack of kittens closes in a a large dog standing on a chair

David Attenborough [whispering]:

“As the predators close in on their helpless prey, we can only watch in silent horror, for it is not man’s role to interfere in the hierarchy of nature.”

Oh, the Shit You’ll Do After You’re Tenured! We regret to inform you: Today’s not your day Though you’ve sweated and labored Every August through May You have brains in your head And a CV for ...

You have brains in your head
And a CV for miles
(Or so we have read
In your annual files)
But tenure is coming, just a few more years—
And the shit you’ll do, it’ll bring them to tears!

I do not have enough profanity available to properly respond to that. Have sent out for several fucktons more with expedited delivery requested.

i think enthusiastic LLM use is mostly a stack of cognitive biases, unacknowledged plagiarism, and unmet needs in a trenchcoat

but also my main objections aren't about them being bad at tasks so i don't care if you think they've gotten better at it

Good news: my dragon is now on Netgalley!

It’s a different sort of dragon rider novel: one from the dragon’s POV. He’s just here for the free food, he swears.

If you are an ARC-ish sort, there is a Read Now window open through Friday.

I dunno. I often don’t like reality. Especially political reality. But as someone who heads a small local government, I have found that denying it is like denying gravity. No matter how far you fall the ground is always waiting for you.

The declyne of readinge ys caused by manye thinges. A huge cause ys a systematic & decades-long devaluinge of literature at all levels of educacioun. We kan not put instrumentalitye above meaninge and still thrive. Fundinge the humanityes ys key to a just societye of well-informed citizens.

The fate of fossil fuel systems in the "mid-transition" I talk with Emily Grubert about the hidden dangers of letting the free market manage the decline of our legacy energy infrastructure.

Today on Volts: for the next few decades, we'll be in the "mid-transition," with clean energy systems growing as FF systems decline. Those FF systems will not decline smoothly -- there will be thresholds, "cliffs," where they suddenly crumble -- so maybe we should, I dunno, plan for it?

Glad people are settling on the term "pervert glasses". Bonus points if you also say it while posting a picture of Mark Zuckerberg or call them Mark Zuckerberg's pervert glasses.

I love this for you!

The AI debate tends to blur those together because, well, they’re all bad, and for most gen AI there is a case to be made for something between 1 and 3 of those, and a lot of people are trying to skate by 2 and 3 by arguing 1 is wrong.