Fred Hicks

The California-based TTRPG convention Big Bad Con, which focuses on indie and marginalized creators, confirmed today that it has decided not to host a physical convention in 2026 due to the current political climate but is still determining its plans going forward.
@bigbadcon.bsky.social

Obamacare enrollee sees premium spike over 300% as sign-up period begins: 'This will devastate us' Millions across the country will discover just how much their plans will cost when open enrollment for Affordable Care Act insurance plans begins on Nov. 1.

“I don't know if I've ever cried opening a letter from an insurance or before, but it happened this time.”

Stacy’s premium this year has been $495.32 for coverage for her and her husband. Without the ACA tax credit in 2026, it will increase to $2,168.68.

Yeah, the terms for the "free" Affinity suite are shit.
Of course they are.

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

Democrats brace for Nancy Pelosi's possible retirement The former House speaker is expected to make an announcement about her political future after Tuesday's elections.

We use language like "brace" when we have done a poor job of equipping, preparing, and passing the baton~

www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

This is part of why I'd like to see more local creative scenes with regular meetups and small events that provide an alternative for networking to large, expensive cons.

a burning wicker man from the 1973 classic movie the wicker man

people magazine announces their sexiest man alive

Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to get coffee before heading to work when she encountered a chaotic scene in West Town: heavily armed, masked federal agents making arrests on a residential street. People yelled as vehicles honked their horn — a sign now used to alert neighbors that immigration federal agents are in the area — and witnesses said federal agents had arrested several landscaper workers presumed to be in the country without authorization. As Figuero tried to drive through the 1600 block of West Hubbard Street on Friday, Oct. 10, an unmarked vehicle driven by federal agents collided with Figueroa’s as it tried to speed away from a hostile crowd, multiple videos reviewed by the Tribune show. Seconds after the crash, agents abruptly stopped their vehicle and exited with weapons in hand pointing at Figueroa, a U.S citizen. Agents then forcibly opened her door and pulled her out of the vehicle by her legs without identifying themselves, presenting a warrant or informing her that she was under arrest. As bystanders yelled, “You hit her! We have it on video!” agents ignored the crowd and forced Figueroa into a red minivan and drove away. Her car was left behind in the middle of the road, her coffee still in the cup holder, and her keys in plain view.

In Chicago, a woman was driving to get coffee when a DHS vehicle fleeing an angry crowd crashed into her car. Armed agents jumped out of the vehicle, yanked her door open, pulled her by the legs out of her car at gunpoint, held her incommunicado for hours, then released her with no charges.

Chicago's children are getting caught in the chaos of immigration crackdowns In Chicago, children and families have been traumatized by an immigration enforcement action involving tear gas.

"[Chicago mom] Andrea Soria... overheard her 6-year-old whisper to her dolls: 'We have to be good or ICE will get us.'"

apnews.com/article/chic...

I mean, in general, listen to Meg about anything, but, y'know, this especially.

So my advice, to those who would ask, is not "the only way to make money as a game designer is to start with money," but "the only way to be a creative person / game designer is to figure out what tiny scraps of time you can put towards practicing your craft to produce your art, and do that."

A "career in game design" is mostly a constant hustle on a tightrope. That you do While working, While parenting, While dealing with health issues, While navigating the world's psychic maelstrom. It's something you do because that is the art you are called to do.

This was on my mind as I was talking about “real” authors yesterday, because “critic” is another one of those fiercely defended identities. We have SO MUCH good writing and reviewing about games which gets dismissed because the writer has failed some methodology test invented by a reader.

Democracy cannot function when lying and disinformation are accepted as givens.

the hands in a deep pool of water, they are giving the thumbs up

When I am asked 'Hows it going?'

“By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”

This kind of line should only be in a horror film, not a news brief.

I feel so bad because usually you’d hope the us governent would do something, but the people in charge revel in this.

Act 4

Want to see a microcosm of America? Immigrants won the World Series for the Dodgers and immigrants will be unwelcome and hunted at the victory parade.

“defund the police was a bad slogan”

“The researchers aim to show that the ‘inevitability’ of AI is just a marketing frame perpetrated by the industry and that pushback is a lot more possible than we often see.” Yes!

Children of Time ebook by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Rakuten Kobo Read "Children of Time Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel" by Adrian Tchaikovsky available from Rakuten Kobo. Humanity is overrated. **The tenth anniversary edition of...

Children of Time by @aptshadow.bsky.social.

99p, can't recommend this enough. Unless you hate spiders I guess. Lots of spiders.

www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...

uk.bookshop.org/p/books/chil...

I saw someone claiming to be a 10x engineer today. 10x engineers are a mythology, based on a misunderstanding of study results, so making such a claim is risible.

Retailers Dealing With Increasing Levels of Theft and Violence Report emphasizes importance of preventive measures, coordination with law enforcement

can't believe outlets are running moral-panic headlines again based on flimsy anecdata from the *same* trade group (the national retailer federation) and sponsored by the *same* anti-theft company (sensormatic) that had to retract this *same* "study" just two years ago for being bogus.

Racist Influencers Using OpenAI's Sora to Make it Look Like Poor People Are Selling Food Stamps for Cash Folks looking for evidence of SNAP recipients as welfare queens have no shortage of AI generated schlock to use as justification.

Again, this precise use case is why these systems exist-to proliferate people’s racist (transphobic, misogynistic…) imaginary at scale. This should not be seen as a “misuse” but rather the product being used exactly as intended.

(Granularity plays in there as well. Mechs vs Undead feels like it’s at the same category depth. Mechs vs Zombies feels like Cars vs Citrus Fruits, to me. Anyway! Onwards.)

An outlier so long as someone doesn’t go on a deep dive through SF for what are likely many other examples.

Ultimately tho like I suggested: it comes down to the semantics and definitions of your two compared categories!

Today, on Halloween, The Chaosium officially turns 50 years old. 🧵

On October 31, 1975 our founder Greg Stafford went down to the Alameda County Clerk’s office and filed the paperwork to officially register the company...

Confession: I have absolutely no idea how good or bad this newsletter is. I had never heard of it before right now.

But in a compelling argument for the power of graphic design, the style of the hero image had made me curious enough to go find out.

To an extent this portrays a narrower notion of what qualifies as a zombie vs what qualifies as a mech.

If the Borg are zombies to you (they are to me, in that they’re a personified viral infection) then perhaps things are a bit more “competitive” in this comparison than it first appears.