Pip Hemplow

Must've rewritten this scene 6x already, and just found a catastrophic logistical problem hidden in it. Back to the gd drawing board... Writing sucks, I'm going for a run.

Science fiction writing tips:

don't call your future currency "credits"

don't have robots address a human being as "citizen"

when having a character brew tea somewhere other than Earth, consider the atmospheric pressure you've already established

(Not mine, don't know the backstory!)

Stop Palantir in the NHS | Good Law Project NHS trusts are rolling out Palantir software, but we’re fighting back

We've created a simple tool so you can find out whether your local NHS trust is using Palantir's software and asking them to resist Wes Streeting's push to sign up for it. goodlaw.social/zr8w

A professor was lecturing to his English class: “In English, a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, a double negative is still a negative. However, there's no language where in a double positive can form a negative.”

A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.”

Makes mental note to check my attic when I get home tonight.

I am hopelessly stuck on this scene in the WiP and I simply cannot fathom why. It should be a completely straightforward one but I just can't land it. Extremely frustrating.

Poster for the South Korean stage production of Macbeth showing Lady Macbeth whose back is turned to us, and Macbeth posed towards us with his hand on the back of his wife's neck. The long cut in the back of her dress reveals skin in the shape of a sword/dagger that Macbeth seems to be holding.

Poster for the South Korean stage production of Macbeth showing Lady Macbeth facing us with her cleavage cut into three pointy triangles. Macbeth is kneeling in front of her, away from us, his face in his wife's chest. The exposed skin of Lady Macbeth looks like a crown that aligns with the top of Macbeth's head.

These posters for the South Korean stage production of Macbeth are the greatest thing ever? #art

That is very cool.

A comic in which we open on master artist, god amongst men, creator of Garfield, Jim Davis. He sits at a graphic tablet, drawing his latest masterpeice. There is a look of happiness on his face, but the way he is underlit by the screen tells us something is off. Jim says: "HA HA, 'DID YOU EAT MY LASAGNA,' HA HA" In the next panel we switch to Jim's POV and see what's on the tablet's screen. There is a full colour drawing of Garfield. Jim's hand, holding a stylus, is obscuring part of the image, as he writes in Not-Heathcliff's dialogue. All that is written is "SM" The next panel is the same view, but now the dialogue is complete, and Jim's hand isn't visible, allowing us to see the image --and dialogue-- in full: "SMITE THE NON-BELIEVERS, JIM... BUILD ME A THRONE OF THEIR SKULLS" Final panel. Jim looks as weirdly happy as ever, but now his face is beaded in sweat. There is a beat, before he quietly says "y-yes... master"

I've been getting back into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series after many years, and the most relatable part is how everyday objects like doors and elevators have been imbued with artificial intelligence and it just makes them obnoxious and frustrating to use and everyone hates it.

Having way more fun with Infection Free Zone than I expected. Not least because it allows me to indulge the far-out, wildly improbable fantasy of ever owning a house in this town.

The one year I manage to publish something in time for Halloween, I forget to actually promote it on Halloween. What a dolt. Anyway, uh, it's here: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FTWG3LG6

Feel like I need to apologise to the packaging designers for convenience foods in general, for my years of snarling about the cooking instructions being printed too small. It turns out I did just need glasses.

An ex-Intel CEO’s mission to build a Christian AI: ‘hasten the coming of Christ’s return’ Patrick Gelsinger, executive chairman of Gloo, has made it his mission to advance Christian principles in Silicon Valley

At a fundamental level, we have to accept much of silicon valley has gone insane.

This occurs more often than people think.

atlantic article screenshot headline: no one knows how big pumpkins can get sub head: a decade ago, the worlds heaviest pumpkin weighed 2,000 pounds. now the 3,000 pound mark is within sight by yasmin tayag

this headline hums with ancient autumnal dread

A book shop called yesterdays books a large sign reads books will turn you on

soon as you pointed it out I could see it

Oh wow, you're not wrong.

ok but that's not how bread works

I am absolutely seething, ftr.

Uh, so does anyone know -why- KDP suddenly requires us all to send them a picture of our passport? Do they seriously expect us to trust them with that? How long before they're emailing us to admit a security breach and tell us those deets are out in the wild?

This story's shaping up quite nicely, I think. 5k words of scene setting but now finally getting to the Dagonian doings.

Good. Leeches.

The south definitely has its own distinct vibe. And yes, it's very picturesque.

Ostuni? Nice town, nice region, Adriatic beaches, lots to see, just be prepared to drive defensively!

a small pumpkin with a smiley face drawn on in sharpie pen sits within a larger pumpkin carved to look like its home

a pumpkin man sits inside a pumpkin house, is the house made of flesh, or is he made of house? he smiles for he does not know

Nice! I bought one for my niece last Xmas. Glad you went with the Struzan one, it's definitely the best. Was v annoyed I didn't manage to cop one of the ltd edition lenticular ones though - they looked killer, but not easy to come by. Might get her an illuminated frame for it this year...