My parents got their Covid shot this morning.
My mom only gets it because I practically begged her to keep getting it every year.
My dad only gets it if my mom brings him along.
They don’t even get any negative side effects like I do.
This year for whatever reason my dad declared he wouldn’t get the shot.

He is notorious for being contrary just because. Like a pouty toddler who just wants to say no.

You know what convinced him to get it?

My mom told him about the research she read that it can help ward off Alzheimer’s. His mother had Alzheimer’s so he’s seen first-hand what that looks like and he doesn’t want to experience it.

So if you know an elder who needs some selfish reason to get the Covid vaccine, that might convince them.

#silentsunday #nofilter #nature

#WritersCoffeeClub Jan. 11 – How much writing are you hoping to accomplish this month?

Probably not a lot, I'll be occupied with work and a class that'll be giving a bunch of assignments. Unless subtitle translations count as creative writing, that is — I've certainly felt that the work has a certain poetry to it, constrictions of length and form that necessitate a spark of creativity for truly satisfying results.

#Translation

Jailbreaking my Kindle and using RSS https://somethingwonderful.eu/jailbreaking-my-kindle-and-using-rss.html #Kindle #Amazon #RSS

@ljwrites oof haha that last paragraph too 🤭

These farm workers in the lower Yakima Valley are harvesting Cosmic Crisp apple. They earn $30 for each 900 lb bin. "Laura" says, "We have to work very fast to get a good day at work and earn enough to pay our bills." #WeFeedYou

I think a key usage of AI is what I call "responsibility laundering", that is, converting "dirty" dishonest mistakes into "clean" honest mistakes.

Previously, if you half-arsed a decision or task because you're lazy or incompetent and it turned out badly, you'd be blamed for the mistake.

But now, if you run the decision or task through AI and it goes badly, you can blame the AI and it will be seen as by most people as an honest mistake (with you as the innocent victim of an AI's failure).

🎨🎊SHOP UPDATE🎊🎨

Lots of stickers and more art items have been added to my shop. I will add more Choctaw prints once I get them printed but I have just 2 for now. I did just add Stripe to my shop to make it easier for those who don't have PayPal. Share and support Indigenous artists ❤️🥰

https://ko-fi.com/mahtheyzhawey/shop

“We don’t offer end-to-end encryption in our own apps, as we don’t believe it provides a meaningful increase in security for most users, while the trade-offs are significant.” #Fastmail pulling a power move :blobcat_giggle: https://www.fastmail.com/features/security/

An interesting slush pile of 26 not random Wikipedia links. I especially like the maps in the little illustration area.

https://throneofsalt.blogspot.com/2025/12/wikipedia-links-slushpile-2.html

#TTRPG

if you stole that much in bearer bonds out of a bank vault you'd be chased down by every law enforcement and intelligence agency on the damn planet but for cryptocurrency this is just an eventful thursday

Okay linux distro geeks, here is a request for advice. Suppose I am in the market for a Thinkpad that runs Linux. I'm told well-supported distros are Ubuntu, Fedora and possibly Mint.

I want to run Zotero, RStudio, Python, LibreOffice (or equivalent) and NextCloud. Some MS stuff for work (sigh) via progressive web apps.

Picture me as a 2-3 on the 1 'just works solidly' vs 7 'requires major fiddling frequently' Likert scale

Contentful comments welcome!

#thinkpad #linux #distro #FediQuestion

IT’S HERE!! The project I’ve been working on: Twisted Bodies, Borrowed Skin - a collection of speculative #horror from #trans and #nonbinary authors is out in the world!! Including five stories and two poems, with cover art by Samir Sirk Morató, all are free to read online, but ebook proceeds will be donated to Trans Lifeline.
I’m so, so excited to share this with y’all!

https://othersidespec.com/portals/twisted-bodies-borrowed-skin/

If your anti AI anger makes you so suspicious that you're willing to risk wrongfully accusing human artists and writers rather than being taken in by genAI work: you are part of the problem.

If you're willing to attack actual creative humans in your attempt to expose genAI, the reason you hate LLMs is not because you value human creativity.

You are doing the tech bros work for them and making the world even harder for creative people.

#noAI

Fun things: so The Rec Center, a fandom newsletter that collects, well, fanwork recs, is looking for non-AO3 work recs in honour of the whole ~situation 😄 Now's the perfect time to rec that work you love on a non-AO3 site, or just a cool non-fic fanwork like a vid! https://form.jotform.com/212524108605144

(Note: no self-recs per the newsletter's rules, and they've also said no fics shared via Gdrive, Dropbox, etc - they can be shared consensually that way, I know, but best to play it safe)

Tapping the sign.

"I always just ask the monster"

feel like all the lesbians on here also need to hear this

#WritersCoffeeClub 31: How did this month's writing go for you?

Very well, thank you. I finished my new Gavin Rownt novel The Informant and self-published it as an ebook on Amazon. It's selling nicely, at least nicely by my standards.

I've started a new Cordwainer book, and I think my idea for the main plot is a good one. Still considering what might make a nice subplot. I've only written a few thousand words so far, so that's my main task for next month and the foreseeable future.

Read a little horror novella last night, and thought it was very unique, only vaguely reminiscent of other stories and movies. The author wanted to do a different take on an old horror genre.

It asks interesting allegorical questions about humanity.

A PLAGUED SEA, by Kim Bo-Young, Sophie Bowman, trans.
#books #bookstodon @bookstodon @bookstodon