Mike Murphy-Burton

If you wanna see indie creators succeed, remember you can always write reviews, talk about your play experience, do shoutouts, plenty of stuff that helps so much since there's only so many places that offer us outreach, especially if we are outside of the D&D/OSR space

I have to say, thinking about these kinds of douchebags as the ground forces for Hitler and Mussolini really makes me shift my perspective on those atrocities and the societies that created them. Give the dumbest, shittiest manchildren around carte blanche for cruelty and...yeah. This. Obviously.

The new Trump with 1000% more Overt Nazi Shit is definitely worth debasing ourselves for /s

I wouldn't share this too proudly. It is disgusting to watch our prime minister echo the gross disinformation of the increasingly oppressive and violent US government.

Mark Carney has shown he'll do whatever he needs to in order to get things done, including a lot of things he definitely was not supposed to be doing. It's been pretty disappointing thus far.

How I feel every time I see my nieces and nephew again.

Am I the only person who thinks it's a little nuts that Elections NL doesn't have a directory of candidates standing for election?

#nlpoli

How N.L. became the life (and death) of the party – The Independent We’re cutting through the undergrowth to find out why our political parties feel dead — and what might liven them up

for part 2/2 of my "NL Politics 101" series, I survey the breadth of newfoundland history to show that the reason all the problems keep repeating is because the party system hasn't changed since the last time it broke our democracy.

it doesn't have to be this way! theindependent.ca/commentary/a...

If you have debt, organize your budget to get rid of it NOW. If you don't have debt, start putting away money in a dedicated retirement account now. If you're already doing both, save up for things you'd like to do, and then do them.

Short Story Cohort WRITING, COACHING, CRITIQUE, and COMMUNITY Join Mary Robinette Kowal for a transformative three-month writing experience, designed to help you learn the craft of short stories while also generating…

If you'd like to gain more confidence writing short stories and pitching to markets, I encourage you to apply for my Short Story Cohort. You'll gain camaraderie from other writers, personalized feedback from me, and lots of accountability. Very limited space: maryrobinettekowal.com/short-story-...

Unfortunately we have a lot of folks around (including at least one housing advocate) who consider this effect to be a good one.

A Powerhouse Writer Found One Word to Change the Debate About Tech

Delighted that Cory is having a moment with "Enshittification," because it's an accurate word for what's happening in tech and he's the right person to describe it.

(Gift link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/b...

Creator-owned coops is my preferred solution, but you have to get the creators onboard and then develop the basic expertise to hire a functioning tech squad.

Or the ownership needs to be otherwise aligned with the folks being protected. Investor culture isn't, IMO, reliable enough in this case, but there are other ways to achieve the same end.

California and Oregon to fight Trump as both sue over deployed national guard Governors Newsom and Kotek push back on Trump administration as it looks to escalate crackdown in Portland

Just wondering when America is officially in a civil war again... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Yeah, the specific server TOS will vary pretty widely, and it's not as stable as a larger organization. I'm of the opinion that all sex-adjacent workers need to create their own worker-owned services, up to and including payment processors, to secure their future. But I get that's a big hard ask.

I like Mastodon, but I get that it doesn't really serve the purpose for indie creators. That sucks, because it's really the only model I can imagine ever being durable enough to keep the ecosystem functioning in the long term, but doesn't change the math.

But express lines that run every 15 minutes first, then get the rest of the shit figured out. This is the basic thing that makes public transport in mid-size cities function properly. It's hard, and it will fuck some people over. But if you don't have a good backbone it will never work.

Express lines along columbus/PPD, Brookfield/waterford bridge Road/Water St, Kenmount/Freshwater, Portugal Cove Road, Torbay Road. Local shuttles to do neighbourhood transit to hub stations at the intersections of these roots.

Everything I know about spacesuits tells me there will be fingernail removal involved.

Way ahead of ya

The Scholomance books by @naominovik.bsky.social are spectacular, though aimed a little older than 12. If she's alreasy reading YA, though , Scholomance is a great series.

As mentioned earlier today, pro per-word rates are pretty affordable, so any settlement along these lines that didn't at least pay those minimums would be insufficient. Would love to see the multiple-millions-of-words bloggers get in on the action, really.

Five choices that are breaking industrial carbon pricing In some provinces, industrial carbon pricing systems are increasingly dysfunctional. Governments must fix them.

Canada’s industrial carbon pricing systems are meant to slash emissions and reward low-carbon innovation. But right now, they’re falling short due to poor design.
We took a closer look at what’s holding these systems back. ⬇️
climateinstitute.ca/five-choices...

Saw a solicit paying half a cent a word today, and was reminded about the ongoing discussion of the relative decline in per-word rates over the last century. I have a hard time not crying for all short-form authors.

N.L. Election 2025 – The Independent Let’s talk about the provincial election. For many, elections are the linchpin of democracy, the moment when residents of a free and democratic society collectively choose the representatives and part...

Our N.L. Election 2025 coverage is here!

We'll be adding more issues and stories to this page ahead of the Oct. 14 provincial election. #nlpoli

If you're not already getting our free newsletter, sign up on our website.

theindependent.ca/n-l-election...

Alt text: The NDP's revenue figures for their costed platform, of which nearly $600M (out of just over $800M) come from the projected surplus.

#nlpoli

Tomorrow's headline:
John Scalzi recommends asymptotic compensation going to infinity as readership goes to zero.

Just gonna repost this immediately because that seems to be the only way that folks see things on here on a regular basis.

TL;DR: Austerity is a rounding error right now.

Important to note that well over 50% of the NLNDP's costed platform is paid for by the projected surplus in years to come. They're not planning to spend that entire crop of cash, which is fine, but anyone talking about paying down debt via fiscal restraint is selling you something you already own.