Kathleen Sheppard 🍁

So funny that the Alberta provincial government introduced its budget about a week and a half ago.

Never thought I'd see it. If only I felt more confident it was translating to the provincial voting breakdowns.

An abstract embroidery that looks sort of like the surface of the moon, if the moon had blue and purple craters.

New abstract embroidery piece. Hand stitched on linen with silk, mohair, and wool felt overlays.

The best to ever play the game. He’ll be missed.

Saw a thoughtful thread about AI, don't want to QT or argue. But. The biggest rage factor with LLMs is the people who, because genAI is transformative for coding, think it's transformative for everything else, because they devalue every other form of work and labor and knowledge.

I do not like this gen AI
I do not like what it implies
I do not want it in my art
I do not think it makes you smart
I do not want it in my games
I do not like its goals and aims
I do not want it in my books
I do not like the way it looks
I do not like it, I don't care
I do not want it anywhere

be bad at your new hobby who cares

Congratulations!

The world could be such a nice place if we allowed it. It's all so goddamn unnecessary. There's no need for any of it. It's so beautiful here. It should be so cool to be alive

“I used to say I was Albertan with pride, but now I fear we all look like separatists and traitors to the nation. It’s a tragedy because so many Albertans love Canada.”

TRUTH

A summer scene with clouds and sky reflected in a river wetland.

Anywhere along the Oldman River.

"You'll have to speak up. I'm wearing a towel."

Here’s the thing about folks speedrunning the creative process with AI:

I could go to the beach every morning and put a grain of sand in a cup. They’d take their cup to the beach and fill it one day; but the point isn’t to have a cup of sand. It’s to fill my life with a thousand trips to the beach.

First Nation Consent is required for secession

We said it in May.

Justice Feasby confirmed it in December

So.

canlii.ca/t/kgw3s#par245

If any tech people do happen to have the ears of billionaires, I am here with my wallet open saying I would pay EXTRA for devices and software that don't have AI in them. Please take my money.

People can say it’s utopian or dreamy but it’s a fact that you have to believe new things are possible, fundamentally, in order to make them real. You have to make the choice to believe that more than this is possible & not be resigned to this being the way things have to be because it’s not at all.

Sorry to get radical but I don’t think it’s my job or yours to embrace, accept, understand - and certainly not to use - the thing being sold to us as AI. I don’t like any part of it, so I won’t. I’m missing out? Good, that’s what I want. You’re worried about me missing out? That’s fuckin weird, man.

I can’t believe you lefty Luddites hate tech so much that you embrace mRNA vaccines, heat pumps, electric bikes, hybrid work, renewable power (and awesome advancements in storage), space telescopes, and hot/cold running water but reject the planet destroying plagiarism enrich the worst people bots!

write your own fucking words
draw your own fucking pictures

I always love your blog posts, but would specifically like to thank you for using the word quiddity in a sentence (so rarely seen in the wild).

My pitch for Alberta to stay in Canada is that Canada is pretty great and I love it but if you want more than that, here are some other reasons

Dear Canada:

The vast majority of us Albertans love this country. We won’t allow the separatists to tear it apart. We’re going through some things, but we’ll be okay. Please be patient.

Love,
Sane Albertans

Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick

Whenever I see pseudoscientific conspiracy theories about ancient aliens or giant petrified trees or ice age satellites or whatever it drives me crazy because THE EARTH IS COOL ENOUGH JUST AS IT IS! WE DON’T NEED TO REACH FOR REASONS TO MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING! HAVE YOU SEEN A TULLY MONSTER??!!

I have yet to see any evidence that there is a market for AI-generated books outside of people being tricked into thinking they are not AI-generated books. AKA, it is a project of scamming and deceiving people, and really should be treated as fraud

Art isn’t about whether you can draw a straight line, it’s about expressing your humanity - something a machine can never do. AI can generate a picture, but that picture isn’t art, even if it’s pretty.

Remember, sneering works. It’s working now. That’s why the lowliest AI fan and the CEO of Microsoft are trying to get us to stop saying “slop.”

AI art is supposed to be its flashy flagship and treating it as disposable rubbish (which it is) ruins everything

❤️

We need to shut down the word "performative" until we can figure out what the hell is going on. Of course adopting symbols of protest and resistance is performative! Performance is a core strategy for mass movements!! That's why the call them demonstrations!!!