Jak Koke

Giant sand octopus makes a splash on English beach A fleeting masterpiece appeared in Cornwall this week, highlighted themes of nature’s beauty and fragility

beautiful sand art in Cornwall...

Worldcon Seattle Here We Come Want to hang out and chat. Let's meet!

@karawynn.bsky.social and I will be in Seattle for Worldcon (and to visit friends). #seattleworldcon #writingcommunity #sff

Strategic Resistance: Mass Demonstration Why organized nationwide rallies are an excellent use of your time and energy right now

Learn why attending a nonviolent protest is one of the most effective things you can do right now. #nokings #resist

ninelives.karawynnlong.com/strategic-re...

we all feel this way sometimes... and this is a good reminder.

#writingcommunity

News & Notes A question for readers

@karawynn.bsky.social talks about the difficulty of picking what to write in the face of an exploding world. ninelives.karawynnlong.com/a-question-f...

Crowd Counting Consortium – Ash Center Publicly available data on political crowds in the United States, including marches, protests, demonstrations, riots, and other actions.

Do you have protest photos from last weekend? Did you do any crowd-counting?

Help social scientists accurately measure protest participation by scrolling to Submit a Record at the CCC.

(If you don’t have the data, maybe someone you know does! Please pass it on.)

ash.harvard.edu/programs/cro...

Reading Fiction Boosts Empathy and Fights Loneliness - Neuroscience News While AI companions are marketed as a fix for loneliness, research shows that reading offers far more meaningful benefits.

Reading is good for your health! I've believed this for years, but recent science now confirms it!

Not mentioned in the title is that reading also seems to stave off dementia!

#neuroscience #sff #reading #writing-community #writing #books #fiction

Activation Degradation Activation Degradation is an Amazon Editor’s pick for best Sci-Fi! Purchase at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or through your local independent bookstore via IndieBound. The Murderbot Diaries ma…

The novel in question is [Activation Degradation](lostetter.wordpress.com/activation-d...) by Marina Lostetter.

@marinalostetter.bsky.social - kudos! thanks for the great experience!

Just finished this excellent science fiction book. Really engaging, exciting, and heartfelt. Highly recommended!

#booksky #sff #unreliablenarrator

The War on Empathy Resisting bully billionaires with guerrilla kindness

ninelives.karawynnlong.com/the-war-on-e...

YouTube video by The Ezra Klein Show Don't Believe Him | The Ezra Klein Show

i found this enlightening...

youtu.be/K8QLgLfqh6s?...

”Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed Meta’s alleged torrenting and seeding of pirated books complicates copyright case.

well… it’s worse than i thought…

TLDR: Meta / FB - torrented a shitton of copyrighted books from known pirate sites to train their AI… knowingly and there’s an email trail to prove it

Rep Landsman: "You're just picking on children. Our government is not supposed to be this intrusive. Your government has become incredibly intrusive. You're in our doctors offices banning treatments. You're in our classroom banning books. Now you're in my daughter's locker room"

“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.”
― George Orwell, 1984

Thinking about that quote a lot lately.

hat tip: @sunyidean.com - so true it hurts. physically hurts, actually.

#authors and other creatives should read Cory's latest ... good shit.

The number of people who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills.

Norway - 0
UK - 0
France - 0
Spain - 0
Portugal - 0
Denmark - 0
Australia - 0
Iceland - 0
Italy - 0
Finland - 0
Ireland - 0
Germany - 0
Netherlands - 0
Sweden - 0
Japan - 0
Canada - 0
United States - 643,000

Cyberpunk games are like “we somehow made up a worse version of your world do you want to spend hours of your life in it” and I’m like no thank you.

View from the Shadows Behind the scenes of my new Ryan Mercury story

a new story featuring a character i created a long time ago...

Mexican President’s Harsh Takedown of Trump Exposes an Ugly MAGA Scam Claudia Sheinbaum’s response to Trump’s threat of tariffs revealed truths that the president-elect doesn’t want Americans to know.

"...you can read whole articles about this that don’t inform you that Mexico is already doing much of what Trump wants it to do—or that this was apparently accomplished through diplomacy, without Trumpian bluster."

Screenshot of fake account for author Tamsyn Muir. Ask me how I know.

Hey. Fake account. Gideon Nav says please report and block. Thanks! #onefleshoneend

How Murderbot Saved Martha Wells' Life Martha Wells created one of the most iconic characters in 21st-century science fiction: Murderbot, reluctant savior of humanity. Then she faced an existential threat of her own.

So Wired Magazine did a profile of me! www.wired.com/story/murder...

Erudite Balls - good band name! :D

LA Times Planned 'Case Against Trump' Series Alongside Kamala Harris Endorsement Before Owner Quashed It | Exclusive Patrick Soon-Shiong's interference with the paper's editorial freedom has sparked a crisis that includes canceled subscriptions and several high profile resignations

this was 100% a decision made to curry favor with trump www.thewrap.com/la-times-cas...

Gender X A middle-aged reappraisal of the whole damned idea

In her latest (fantastic) Nine Lives, @karawynn.bsky.social - talks about her journey to understanding gender at middle age... and includes some great science.

ninelives.karawynnlong.com/gender-x/