Cap ✨ Polly Cocktail

always so funny to me when people are like “how am I supposed to explain Gay to my kids?” my kid asks me way harder shit all the time. “why did they build the road this way? why are some people bad?” I don’t know. please ask me about Gay

Book Industry Charitable Foundation Libro.fm is proud to support Binc, the only nonprofit in the United States dedicated to assisting booksellers and comic retailers in need.

Amazing news!

When you purchase the audiobook of my novel Lessons in Magic and Disaster between now and Feb. 12, ✨ 100 PERCENT ✨ of the purchase price goes to BINC, the nonprofit that helps booksellers who are having a tough time.

I love this audiobook. And BINC. It's a win-win!

libro.fm/binc

No Kings includes Draft Kings

GM: Charisma check.

Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]

GM: that’s a d6 how did you

Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊

You can also click Custom Amount and give yet even MORE to charity!

#books #humblebundle

4 frame comic. The first frame shows a loon diving underwater. Text reads : across inuit nunaat, the loon is a symbol of healing and clear-sightedness. in the popular story of lumaaq, a loon helps a boy regain his vision by leading him underwater. Second frame shows the two loon sculptures at the Greenlandic parliament. Text reads : in inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament currently in recess due to the white house threats, two loon sculptures by Jens rosing preside over the debates. because of loons' sonorous voice, they evocate eloquence and awareness. Third frame shows someone in a crowd brandishing a flag with the Minnesota Rebel Loon design on it. Text reads : it's a special kind of poetic dialogue to see loons popping up in Minneapolis as symbols of resistance and resilience. Fourth frame shows a group of loons in the water. Text reads: from kalaallit nunaat/greenland to Minnesota, loons are reminding us to stand up for what's right.

What loons teach us.

YouTube video by Italians Do It Better Music MOTHERMARY "CATCH FIRE" (Official Video)

I did a very poor job of taking a bsky break.

Oh well. I bring you a new-to-me band I’m loving:

youtu.be/_HTgyH769Is

a man wearing a black and white sweater says " that 's a hard pass " Alt: A gif of David Rose saying, “that’s a hard pass.”

The only reasonable reply!

Thanks! It’s pretty wild considering this experience has made me decide to never use either again 🫠

So now I’ve filed a dispute with my bank. This is such a frustratingly tiny thing and I’m so angry I have to waste time I frankly don’t have to spare on it.

According to some news from last year, Affirm’s CEO is a big AI fan. I hope this heads up helps someone else avoid a similar situation.

We completely understand that this isn't the answer you were expecting, but in this case, if you wish, you can reopen the dispute from your app and upload all the evidence you have related to it. If you have any issues or questions please don't hesitate to reply to this email and I will personally take care of your concerns. We will be more than willing to help and assist you.

Sent all this documentation to Affirm, who took two weeks to investigate. (For reference, a previous payment dispute through a credit card took almost 3 months.) They said I was missing information. When I asked what information was missing, this is what I received in reply:

I have documentation of the refund info & customer service saying in writing this was a mistake but they won’t do anything about it except offer a gift card if I return the items. (And keep ignoring me saying I no longer have them after 6 weeks of being told I didn’t need to return them!)

A heads up: pretty sure Affirm is using AI for reviewing payment disputes and to reply to questions or concerns about disputes.

I had to open a dispute with Halara, who promised a refund without needing to return the items. 6 weeks later, they cancelled my return for not returning items.

the idea that making art is embarrassing if you don't do it well enough to make a career out of it is an objectively harmful and toxic brainworm.

Links in the thread and quote posts!

RESULT: Democrat Chasity Martinez wins a special election for a legislative seat in Louisiana, 62% to 38%.

This was a district that Trump carried by 13% last year, so a big overperformance by Dems, but the seat was already Dem-held.

It usually surprises people when I say I came to science fiction late—a genre I now teach—but this is a big reason why.

one of the greatest human triumphs of my lifetime is the relentless, unceasing, heroic effort by DECADES' worth of doctors and scientists to find a cure for a disease much of the world didn't take seriously for years because it predominantly affected a community they thought kinda deserved it

It’s Black History Month in the US and LGBTQ+ History Month in the UK. I’m a citizen of both, and I have a book that’s both Black and queer, like me.

A photo of Norm, a grey tux who looks like he could do your taxes.

Going to try and take a break to recharge and focus on writing projects I’m excited about. Norm will be in charge of this account for the next few days.

Please be advised he will steal all chairs and prefers to purr two inches from your face.

"We would have lost so much if we'd driven him away" is the justification.

But we lost all those girls. We lost the women they would have become. We lost the work they would have done. Why was his future work so much more valuable than theirs?

🫂💚

I did come up with an idea for Neon Hemlock’s call for submissions, and that’s something—it’s nice to be writing again. The submission deadline is also my birthday, which feels like a fun coincidence so why not try?

Everything in the publishing and literary world this week on top of other bad news about arts education has worn me very thin. The only upside is I’m too exhausted to sink into despair.

Asimov's actions, and the tolerance-up-to-celebration of it, absolutely drove women out of field and out of fandom, and made it easier for others in the field, writers, editors and fans, to follow his lead for decades. Asimov pinching asses was not about his work. It kept women and their work out.

Two sanguine butchers with bleeding hearts for one another:

Meated Rivalry.

The two savviest fuel-gatherers in Scotland desperate to warm each other up:
Peated Rivalry

The scions of the two biggest grain producing families in Eastern Washington secretly long for each other:
Wheated Rivalry.

The two best chairs salesmen in the county secretly pine for each other.

Seated Rivalry.

If I think about the Epstein files and the layoffs too much, I won't apply for jobs and reply to emails. But it's hard trying to function "like normal" when things are devastating on so many levels, besides remembering why I became a reporter, and that I need to be a reliable person for myself too.