commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)

Even if it takes us all down with it, it'll probably be worth it. Get the popcorn in.

What a curious development.

Predatory Opt-Out Scheme ClaimsHero Targets Anthropic Settlement Participants: What Authors Need to Know - The Authors Guild In recent weeks, a third-party law firm, ClaimsHero, has launched an aggressive online campaign urging authors to opt out of the Bartz v. Anthropic copyright settlement. ClaimsHero—which has no litiga...

I just received an email from the law firm ClaimsHero offering to pursue a claim against AI companies that have made unauthorized use of my books to train their algorithms. It all looked quite appealing until I checked it out below. Caveat scriptor!
authorsguild.org/news/claimsh...

My long COVID was so bad at one point I couldnt even remember a five digit authentication pin within a few minutes of seeing it. Its better now, but its taken years, two relapses, and done so much damage.

I emotionally detached from it years ago, but it meant I emotionally detached from the world as well, I think. Covid felt like a sliding doors moment if you continue to avoid infection – it's a bit like watching the world on TV, not real, not worth getting worked up over. Probably also unhealthy!

Warning that this is a very sobering read.

"That scale in turn raises a troubling question: whether Covid is not only leaving millions chronically unwell but also accelerating the slow neurological processes that end in dementia"

another giraffe, printed, with a dragon-like head.

And a rather small giraffe, with a clearly dragon-like head.

a printed giraffe.

A rather large giraffe.

I love the idea of some hotel receptionist saying “And we’re looking forward to welcoming Lord Mandelson next week as well“ and Hoyle saying “wait what”

'Attic black-figured skyphos, c.510BCE, Boston MFA 20.18'. A black and white photo of a vase painting of men riding ostriches.

Bernie Clifton and Des O'Connor in tuxedos, on yellow and white ostrich costumes.

Sign. Near an old railway station in Devon. "Great Western Railway NOTICE. It is forbidden for vagrants, beggars, itinerant musicians and females of doubtful reputation to enter these premises." There's what looks like a black drainpipe next to it, but this is actually the station's old 1940s "soda funnel" where country urchins from the area waiting for their fathers to return from war by rail would gather around and collectively suck a shit, early version of orangeade, made from carrots and soil, out of the bottom of it.

FFS, just go ahead and ban ALL the best people, why don't you.

10-spot Ladybird under an overhang on a gravestone

chequered form of 10-spot Ladybird in a hollow within a gravestone

2-spot Ladybird on a gravestone

Larch Ladybird, among green lichens on a gravestone

An hour in Nellfield Cemetery, Aberdeen, produced the usual dominance of 2-spot Ladybirds, a handful of 10-spots (including a striking chequered form) and the first Larch Ladybird I've seen here.

@ukladybirds.bsky.social
#cemeterywildlifewatch

UK weather: Spring-like warmth to peak as 18C forecast As well as warmer temperatures the UK could also experience vibrant sunrises and sunsets over the next few days due to dust coming up from the Sahara.

Eyes to the skies.🌄👀

'A plume of Saharan dust drifting up to the the UK is expected to paint the skies in some places with dramatic, fiery sunrises and sunsets over the coming days.'

📜💪

It is not, in fact, doctors’ job to get their patients to work; it is their job to care for them.

The lesser-known sleeping positions.

It is genuinely infuriating to live as a scientifically literate person these days. We need to develop a sort of social immune system to reject these infectious, psychopathic ideas from civil society before it kills more people.

Side, back, front and foetal.

I misread blitter as bitter and it still made sense.

It's very exciting.

Picturing Patrick Duffy washing up at the Forty Foot with webbed feet, the ability to breathe underwater and talk to dolphins. They dub him The Man from Dun Laoghaire.

My mother-in-law told me never to trust men you meet swimming in Dun Laoghaire.

a close up of a fly 's head with a blurred background . Alt: A fly's head from above with its beady red eyes. It rubs its front legs?/parts? together (in anticipation).

Ooh, it's all happening!

A Seven-spot Ladybird, red with black spots.

Green and yellow lichen on a stick.

White flowers with green veining.

A bird in a tree. Brown with mottled front and rusty red showing beneath its wings.

First Three-cornered Leek flower I’ve seen this winter; a slightly fuzzy redwing; a ladybird; lichen.

Screen shot of @commamonger.bsky.social, 496 followers, 416 following

My dance card is almost full.

Aw, gorgeous little fluffy bitey death monkey.

A bold assertion.

i bought an annotated copy of the odyssey. i love it so much

this is the ONLY annotation the previous owner made in my second-hand copy of the Sonnets

That's not fascinating. It's terrifying.