Laine Bell

How vote margin changed across Virginia All areas shifted massively towards Democrats in yesterday's election. The graph represents this as spiky blue cones.

Final update with the results all in and Virginia looks Sonic the Hedgehog's back

Mamdani wins New York City mayoral race, in a historic victory for progressives Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblymember, will make history as the first Muslim and South Asian person — as well as the youngest in over a century — to serve as New York City mayor.

JUST IN: Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblymember, will make history as the first Muslim and South Asian person — as well as the youngest in over a century — to serve as New York City mayor.

[Exit Clown.]

Apparently all you needed to do to predict the NYC election results was read that one N.K. Jemisin novel.

🌺☘️🌺🌿🌺🌿☘️🌼☘️
🌿🌼🌺🍄☘️🌿🌿🌷🌼
🌿🌷🌼☘️🌺🌺🌷🐍☘️
☘️🌿☘️☘️🌿🌿🌼☘️☘️
🍄🌷🌺☘️🌺🌷🌺🌷🌿
☘️☘️🌺🌷☘️🌿☘️🌼🌺
🍄🌿🌺🌿🌺🌼🌿🌺🌷

...and less than 24 hours later Condé Nast has fired Lex and the rest of the Teen Vogue political desk, even as stories like this were bringing huge numbers of readers to the site

A digital poster in the style of a World War II propaganda piece. Isolaed on a yellow background, a normal, squarish, 20-something guy with glasses is sitting working on a laptop. A ghostly figure of Hitler has his arm around the guy and is grinning and shaking a fist triumphantly looking at the laptop screen. On the lid of the laptop where an apple might otherwise be is an openAI logo, bright green, and dripping green ooze down the lid. Text on the poster, in combinations of sans-serif type and brush script reads: Using Generative AI? You’re prompting with Hitler! GenAI is a Fascist Project! Try using your brain instead Don’t surrender your creativity to the tech billionaire’s control

New awareness campaign

a stuffed animal with a beard is sitting in a box with a calculator in the background Alt: a dog puppet is sitting in a plaid pet bed with a calculator and computer parts in the background, shaking his head and covering his face with his paw.

He also looks like the dog from the Fraggles! Sprocket I think?

writing ad copy for FM radio taught me that every 2 seconds had to have a hook, or what David Lynn (former editor of the Kenyon Review) called Delight or Surprise.

this is the *same* in fiction. every few moments the reader is reading, i try to add in that delight or surprise. or...

/ctd

What if we just decided collectively not to use the dislike button?

Like what if we just liked the things we liked, and scrolled past or muted the things we didn’t like, the way we do now? If no one feeds the algorithm it won’t work, right?

And because it's actually Halloween today, come and walk through my Halloween town with me!

A brown chicken with black spots near her neck huddled up against the wire door of a pet carrier.

Trouble Chicken. (They don’t really treat chickens here so everyone loves seeing her. I don’t love the vet bill but willing to do what we can for her within reason.)

At the vet again with the Trouble Chicken. The waiting room smells like pee, but they have KPDH playing on the TV so I call it a net win.

“Why does the bird have a tiny hat?”
“I actually got it for the tiger, but the bird keeps stealing it.”

Nos dda!

Also if we're talking about Bunnicula, go read this lovely
@sarahgailey.bsky.social essay about its origins that might make you cry

Ah, is that what they mean by states’ rights? 😐

My Favorite Bit: D.M. Beucler talks about MEMORY AND MAGIC D.M. Beucler is joining us today to talk about her novel, Memory and Magic. Here’s the publisher’s description: Tamsin learned caution the hard way, spending a year in the king’s jail under s…

Memory and Magic is kindly featured on @maryrobinettekowal.com My Favorite Bit today!

maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-f...

A blue bodysuit lying on a table and decorated to look like Derpy the Tiger from K-pop Demon Hunters, including large orange and yellow eyes, painted eyebrow stripes and dots on the face, and painted leopard spots on the chest.

A crafting table with project in-progress; clockwise from top right, a light blue sewing machine, fabric scissors with an orange handle, two large yellow and orange eyes made of felt, a tomato-shaped pincushion, and a blue bodysuit with a nose and fangs but no other features crumpled in a pile.

A close up of the hood of the bodysuit with the eyes, nose, and fangs all sewn on. No paint accents have been applied yet, and the expression comes across as a bit intense and maybe intimidating.

Part 2, complete! (Paint still drying.) it’s amazing how much the face stripes make a difference in how the character looks.

I might add more stripes to the back of the costume later but need to let the front paint dry first.

Against a dark, abstract backdrop, a redheaded beauty poses surrounded by ghastly faces, but she seems more conjuror than captive. Her knee is raised as if she’s springing upward. Cobwebs stretch behind her and swirl around her upraised hand. A gray bat flies off from her abracadabra flourish. The sorceress is bare-chested wearing long white skirts with a red and yellow belt that dips in a V. The bottom of her skirts blend with creatures at the bottom of the panel, a transition from ghostly white to tormented gray. The background is pure hellscape that suggests perhaps a gnarled tree or the infernal stone of a cave. On closer examination, it seems to be made of twisted souls. Orange background show through at the panel edges, criss-crossed by tendrils, cobwebs or what have you but still providing a vibrant pop of color.

ALL SOULS EVE (2024)
Acrylic on Canvas - 9 ½” x 7”

With leaves starting to fall and temperatures cooling, the color patterns on this scrap of canvas shifted me right into the Halloween spirit. 1/2

A black feathered crow toy painted to look like Sussie the magpie from K-pop Demon Hunters, with white patches on his wings and chest, a black bulls-eye on the white part of the wing, and three yellow eyes glaring at the camera from under a small black hat.

Part 1, complete! Hat is a little wobbly so more glue may be required, we’ll see how he holds up tomorrow night.

As someone who reads historical romance and fantasy this was right up my alley!

It has a Georgian-esque world but with blood magic. 👍🏽👍🏽 There’s even a dancing scene!

A woman hiding under a light blue hoodie which has large orange and yellow eyes and a pink nose made to look like Derpy the Tiger from K-pop Demon Hunters. The ears on top of the hoodie are a little long and a bit askew. Under the hoodie she is wearing a dark blue shirt with a Star Wars AT-AT walker on it.

Part 2, more progress! Smaller eyes are better but still a little funky. The ears look like piggy ears? 😂 I think they need to be smaller and more triangular. Maybe move the fangs inward…

Python was awarded a funding grant, funding grant asked Python foundation to remove all diversity and inclusion initiatives they have.

Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.

If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.

A selfie partially blocked by a hand, of a woman hiding with only her mouth and chin visible under a light blue hood with large orange and yellow eyes and white fangs pinned to it, made to resemble Derpy the Tiger from K-pop Demon Hunters. Under the blue hoodie the woman’s white t-shirt reads “Brave the Sea.”

Crafting Halloween costume shenanigans part 2, in-progress. Still needs a nose and an ear adjustment. Debating: smaller eyes, bigger fangs?

Screenshot of text: unfuck google drive by shooting gemini Hey folks! Google is fucking you via sneaky enshittification again! Want the shit in your google drive to load instantly again, instead of taking for-fucking-ever? Open your gdrive (web OR app) Settings > Manage Apps Gemini was checked "use as default" (and i sure the fuck didn't set it that way, this was a silent push) Nuke that, and suddenly, folders that took up to a minute to populate and sort do so in a fraction of a second.

friend shared this, immediately updated my settings

The lady at the charity shop today told me that she wishes people would clear out their children's old toys in the lead up to Christmas rather than after because she always sees a number of parents in the days before Christmas looking for toys for their little ones who might be strapped for cash. She said there's very rarely anything in just before, but that they get inundated with toys in the days after. And it really made me think about it in a way I never would have before. If you know your child is going to get lots of presents from father Christmas this year, by clearing out your cupboards a few days early you could make another child's Christmas a lot more special too. Saw this & thought I'd repost

Reposting with Alt-text:

Important content.

A gray tabby cat with broad black stripes asleep on a light gray blanket. His front paw is curled over his nose as if trying to keep it warm, and his expression is very content.

Hope everyone’s weekend was good! Mine was busy, but on the homestead the teen chickens were moved to the main coop and we planted a birch tree. Still covering the fig bush overnight in a vain attempt to let the fruit finish ripening before they freeze. 😞

Barbossa is extra snuggly in cold weather.

I like 2, has the most interesting scenery, except the moon placement makes it hard to read the title. 1 is my next favorite, simpler, love the trees, and definitely the most readable for text, but almost seems too bright for the title/gothic theme? The images are all really cool tho!

Correct. It has a serious effect on morale. The largest wave of attrition of police officers was the result of the George Floyd Uprising, and 75% of NatGuard deployed to LA in June said they would not re-enlist.

Destroy their self-images as tough guys doing the right thing, and remind them daily.