Nalo Hopkinson

Google is indexing ChatGPT conversations, potentially exposing sensitive user data Thousands of shared ChatGPT chats—including deeply personal details about mental health, relationships, and trauma—are appearing in Google search results, raising major privacy concerns.

NEW: ChatGPT allows Google to index chats users share using the Share functionality - presumably misinterpreting "make this chat discoverable". The result? Frank admissions about sex lives and drug dependencies. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91376687/goo... tip @techmeme.com

"The door a writer could step through to make a career 50 or even 20 years ago, the one opening onto a life where someone who works hard and does well could buy a house on the strength of that work alone, has been slammed shut."

TIL that Hemingway made $21/word in today's dollars.

I'll be the reply guy here and point out that potatoes did not evolve from tomatoes, but rather they both evolved in parallel from a common ancestor.

You Say Potato, Evolution Says Tomato About nine million years ago, a hybridization involving the lineage of another farmers market star gave rise to the modern-day cultivated potato

Potatoes! Evolved from tomatoes! The tastiest mystery ever solved? 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

What Lanternfish Fossils Teach Us About the Future of Our Oceans A new study reveals what happens when the ocean loses its breath and why tiny fish in the deep sea matter more than you think So...

Lanternfish vanished when the ocean lost its breath 7,000 years ago.

A new fossil study shows why that matters right now.

These tiny fish stabilize the climate,
and their decline is a red flag we can't ignore.

🧪 #SciComm

The Mother of Modern Medicine by Kadir Nelson, oil on linen, 2017. Collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture. From the National Museum of African American History and Culture: Artist’s Statement: "The Mother of Modern Medicine," visually juxtaposing faith and science. Lacks smiles innocently. She stands with her beautifully manicured hands crossed, covering her womb (the birthplace of the immortal cell line) while cradling her beloved Bible (a symbol of her strong faith). Her deep red dress is covered with a vibrant floral pattern that recalls images of cell structure and division, while two of the four dime-sized buttons on her dress are noticeably missing (a reference to the cells that were taken from her body without her knowledge). Her bright yellow hat functions as a halo (recalling Renaissance paintings of the Madonna), while pearls (a symbol of the aggressive cancer that took her life) hang from her neck. The decorative wallpaper behind her forms a repeated hexagonal pattern, a design containing the "flower of life", an ancient symbol of immortality and exponential growth - two distinctive qualities of her rare and incredibly durable cells." -Kadir Nelson, 2017. Description Lacks, smiling, is depicted standing in the center of the image. She is facing forward with her hands clasped in front of her body, holding a black book with gold-colored text [HOLY BIBLE]. Lacks is wearing a red dress with a white flower pattern and small belt. The dress has central buttons, with two missing. There is a flower accessory with three pearls in the center above the buttons. Lacks is wearing a wedding ring and a pearl necklaces and earrings. She has a cream and tan hat, the circular brim of which acts like a halo behind her head. Lacks is standing in front of a cream wall with a blue geometric "Flower of Life" motif. The work is signed in the lower right.

…Three: no matter who you are, or what medical condition you might have (or not), we owe the continuity of our lives to Henrietta Lacks.

Happy belated heavenly birthday (August 1).

Caribbean LGBTQ+ activists celebrate as court strikes down colonial-era laws ‘Stride in the right direction’ as Eastern Caribbean supreme court rules St Lucia’s laws on gay sex unconstitutional

“We’re not asking anyone to change their beliefs. What we are asking for is fairness. These laws were outdated and violated the basic human rights of LGBTQ+ people.”

Cover of the book Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi.

One of my absolute favourite reads of the year! A super inventive blend of Nigerian folklore and futurism. (And the story ‘Ganger’ is just *chef’s kiss*)

Word.

Felicitations and love to you both!

Tananarive Due and Steven Barners in their wedding photo.

Twenty-seven years today. I love you @kundalinisteve.bsky.social

One of the best policies I implemented in my school library is that I will buy pretty much whatever a patron requests. No one has exploited that policy, and these requests have helped me not only build connections but also to better tailor my regular orders to what people are reading.

Oh hey, a new scam! This email purports to be from the “Chief Merchandising Officer” of Barnes & Noble, telling me that he’s interested in stocking my books in physical stores, for a mere $1000 up front costs!

Gosh.

Robot Ghost Kitchens and Memory Capitalism: August’s Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books Humidity be damned, this month’s crop of books is sparking with exciting new premises and relationship dynamics. You’ve got robots-turned-cooks, an economy built entirely on mandatory memory collec…

Thanks so much to LitHub for putting Lessons in Magic and Disaster on their list of the best science fiction and fantasy books for August, in such wonderful company.

"Big queer Practical Magic vibes" -- I love it!

lithub.com/robot-ghost-...

omg i didn't realize both @charliejane.bsky.social and @annaleen.bsky.social had new books coming out, and they both look so good 🤩 there goes some of my august book budget!

It's Bandcamp Friday!!! This is the magical day when artists get *100 percent* of the profit from anything you purchase on Bandcamp. That's right, it all goes to the artists. It's a wonderful day to buy some music and I just spent (checks notes) a small fortune.

Here are some recommendations!

Thank you @locusmag.bsky.social @cypayseur.bsky.social for this great review of "Laser Eyes Ain't Everything"!

bsky.app/profile/did:...

BREAKING: We're suing ICE for unlawfully targeting and arresting people who show up to court for their immigration hearings.

Forgive my tiny—or maybe even large—flex, but this is me on the cover of @washingtonpost.com Book World. THE. COVER. 😊🙌🏾

www.canada.ca/en/canadian-... Apparently, it’s Emancipation Day.

Amplifying.

A collage showing the faces of six authors: Charlie Jane Anders, Cecilia Tan, Becky Chambers, Andrea Hairston, Darcie Little Badger, and Annalee Newitz and the text: An evening of queer speculative fiction! Whether you’re a Seattle local or you’re in town for Worldcon, enjoy readings by six authors of queer science fiction and fantasy whose work spans galaxies and realities. Featuring: Andrea Hairston, Cecilia Tan, Darcie Little Badger, Becky Chambers, and Annalee Newitz. Hosted by Charlie Jane Anders. About Writers with Drinks For over two decades, Charlie Jane Anders has organized this spoken word “variety show” that brings together different styles and genres, complete with her irreverent, absurdist author bios. After a Writers With Drinks show, the fabric of reality will have looser stitches and a bit more frilly lace on the edges.

Good news Seattle folks and #SeattleWorldcon attendees! Writers with Drinks *did* sell out... so Town Hall moved the event into a bigger space! So there are tix again. August 14, Sliding scale, grab em here: townhallseattle.org/...

How do you get to zero pedestrian traffic deaths?

1. Lower speeds
2. Improved pedestrian and biking infrastructure
3. Increased public transit options
4. Better enforcement

Any city could do this. They used a data driven approach. Most cities know where their problem areas are.

Reawakening Memory: Tales of Tasimu book 5 by Celu Amberstone Tommo's dream-world was a grim rocky desert plain, pock-marked with large craters, wisps of blue smoke curling around some of their edges. No sun or moon illuminated the dark sky, but now and then a fiery red light lit up the horizon followed by a thundering boom. I shuddered in spite of myself. books2read.com/reawakeningmemory

The Tales of Tasimu series is now complete. Author Celu Amberstone has made a strong story arc that builds to a satisfactory conclusion of magic and realism!
Find all 6 at books2read.com/amberstone - currently in Smashwords's July sale #1 is free & the other 5 are deep discounted.

Time to start a new shinies thread!

( Everything listed here can be found in my Etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/Lioness... )

Is Olivine the Future of Battery Material Supply Chains? Aspiring Materials' process extracts valuable minerals from olivine, offering a cleaner, sustainable solution for battery material supply chains.

New Zealand engineers have figured out how to turn Earth’s most abundant mineral into zero-waste battery metals. They dissolve olivine to yield silica (50%), magnesium (40%) and nickel-manganese-cobalt hydroxide (10%) for lithium-ion cathodes, leaving only brine. buff.ly/NSzykIk
#ShareGoodNewsToo

I see grocery/takeout shaming discourse going around again, so this is your periodic historian reminder that cooking from scratch daily while working has never been sustainable, and for millennia everyone either relied on takeout & restaurants or ate in huge households w/ big dorm-like group dining.

Thank you, Melissa!

I haven't mentioned it before, but I'm thrilled to have an essay in this terrific new release of John Carpenter's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS. As always, thanks to @horrornonna.com for letting me weasel my way into the project!