I write books.
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nprofile1qqsx0uzu6tk97h8rqwk7xktkjr3vxjfnryqrqv669xjt93pu62k08tspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qz9thwden5te0wfjkccte9ekk7um5wgh8qatzmndx8v
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2026-07-18T02:01:49Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow To hell with it. Am knocking off for the rest of Friday. The couch (and a history book) are better for me than anything else, at this point. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow An afternoon of talking to writing friends is healing for the soul (even if all we're discussing is how grim everything is right now). npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "Director Hodges told his cast to play everything completely straight. De Laurentiis expected something loud and macho. The Italian crew and the English crew couldn't communicate clearly with each other." npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "Oyler points out that Dalí’s “wickedness,” as Orwell put it in his scathing review of the artist’s “autobiography” (a spurious category in the case of serial fabricator Dalí), matters even if it were pure provocation rather than genuine commitment." npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Another Monday, another quad shot, another layer of eyeliner. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Banana, with gruel, npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "Nobody, except maybe Barbra Streisand, thinks they are making a movie that’s going to be around forever. Nobody thinks that." npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow The morning is full of a warmish, fragrant summer breeze. It’s like a gatdamn Seals & Crofts song out there. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow It's... interesting, I guess? that articles in the mainstream tech press about the shift to token-based "AI" pricing are grasping so hard at "no, no, users will actually keep using the slopbot even if the prices spike, we just have to convince them hard enough" straws. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "Like the power looms, automated threshers, and robotic assembly lines before them, platform technologies are not neutral. They are designed to allow management to wield unilateral power over production and scale rapidly to become infrastructural, thereby extracting monopoly rents." https://lithub.com/the-digital-economy-is-destroying-our-lives-and-our-planet-and-ai-is-only-going-to-make-it-worse/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "The AI economy is circular: Google funds Anthropic, Anthropic runs on Google Cloud, Amazon funds Anthropic, Microsoft co-invests with OpenAI." npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Seriously, every ongoing problem I was having with my WordPress install has utterly vanished since I deleted the Jetpack plugin. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Have spent most of the day so far nose-down in a history book, when I haven't been watching the weather attempt to turn to rain. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "The point of this kind of marketing is that nobody is supposed to notice it. But lately, the machinery has started to show." https://web.archive.org/web/20260515113210/https://www.vulture.com/article/social-media-feeds-chaotic-good-projects-clipping.html npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow thinking about the startling amount of cannibalism themes and mentions in Victorian literature npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…995k Jetpack seems to be the major attempt to force slop into WordPress sites. There's the new "connections" area in Settings, but thankfully that seems opt-in. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Welp, finally disabled Jetpack on my site. The update to WordPress 7.0 has added "AI" slop, and that's something I can do without. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…8r6m I’ve had luck with Proton Calendar, actually. The switch was super easy and I don’t miss Google. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "Every time Sundar Pichai reconfigures Google products to further force generative AI on users he assumes are hopelessly locked in, he increases the risk they finally throw up their hands and go somewhere else. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "That was the intent, but the decision we made was an abandonment of the core counterculture, f*ck the establishment spirit of Kickstarter, and it left our community vulnerable." https://updates.kickstarter.com/an-apology-rethinking-our-mature-content-guidelines/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow (On the one hand, you’re working at Meta, fa cry-eye. On the other, nobody needs or deserves this nonsense…) npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "The brazen AI-ification of work — and the fact that it’s the workers creating and training the AI who are first on the chopping block — is what makes this moment in tech layoffs different from all those that came before." https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/2026/05/15/meta-employee-gets-real-horror-working-right-now/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow No, we do not have a “male loneliness” epidemic. We have, as so often in history, a male *selfishness* epidemic, and the body count is, as usual, astronomical. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow It's amazing how every paragraph holds progressively *worse* details. Just an absolute dumpster fire of a car, company, and human being. https://www.the-independent.com/tech/tesla-cybertruck-recall-elon-musk-b2975042.html npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow (I've often made this point about genre constraints in fiction; nothing forces one to tweak convention and upend expectation like a set of seemingly unbendable rules...) npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow For the afternoon crew: Spring Cleaning (And Reading) npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow One-day sale! Cyborgs, murder, and motherhood--SHE-WOLF AND CUB is $1.99USD in ebook today, 5/9. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…2ecd I am now replete but uncertain if stomach upset will follow. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…z80j ahahaha the closest I’ve seen to a chocolate laboratory is Amaury Guichon, who is known in our household as “that fucking chocolate guy (affectionate)”. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow I'm an adult. I can have all the gingersnaps I want and nobody can stop me. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow A good hard run has mostly dispelled a somewhat-foul mood; indeed the only drawback was a selfish git staring at his phone while allowing his poor sweet dog to run loose. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "They predicted that women would benefit from all-women training groups, but they didn’t expect the percentage gaps would be so large. Their qualitative analysis explains why." https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-women-need-other-women-at-work/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "These fucknuts have spent over a trillion dollars on AI and all they have to show for it is either nothing, vague statements about “everything lifting because of AI,” or pathetic revenues that only get worse the more you think about them." https://www.wheresyoured.at/am-i-meant-to-be-impressed/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow I know I keep posting articles about Google using Chrome to repeatedly reinstall “AI” bullshit *absolutely without user consent*; it’s just so absolutely gobsmacking. I’m unsurprised, and yet completely aghast. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…zwdg I wouldn’t know, that’s above what little programming knowledge I have. I’m just never going to use Chrome or any derivative thereof. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "This week I discovered the same pattern, executed by Google. Google Chrome is reaching into users' machines and writing a 4 GB on-device AI model file to disk without asking." https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/chrome-silent-nano-install/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…9kpe I've had the updater etc. turned off since I *bought* the damn package! It opens a nag each time the program spools up, reminding me that I've done so. I looked in settings and both the autoupdater and license updater were off, can't run in the background. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…9kpe I am just entirely taken aback that the program did that with all the settings turned off. Just a complete violation of user consent. It was fine last week, then it looks like somewhere after Wednesday the version number just... changed. Without me even opening the program. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow I just can't believe that despite having ALL autoupdate options turned off (with a vengeance), MSWord *still* apparently talked to Redmond and changed the version number on my desktop, then tried to force me to buy a 360 subscription. I'm nauseated by this nonsense. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow So it looks like I'm going to be testing LibreOffice this upcoming week, and if it does what I want with a minimum of fuss, I'll probably delete all the MSOffice stuff from my desktop. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow What an *irritating* way to spend a Sunday morning. But I've walked Boxnoggin and done some yardwork, too, so at least there's that. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…gent @nprofile…u76z Good enough for me, I reckon! npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…gent @nprofile…u76z All I’m worried about is if it’ll handle TrackChanges without choking or inconsistencies. All the rest is negotiable—I write and revise in Scrivener, so there’s that at least. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow So APPARENTLY, even though I had autoupdates and everything turned off, the specifically non-“AI” MSOffice version bought last year *still* “spoke to the mothership” and changed version numbers. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…8m4g That's good news--the only thing I'm really worried about is the TrackChanges compatibility. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…u76z It involved Time Machine on Mac and a separate hard drive to take me back to a week ago and a different "version" (while turning the wifi off to force it NOT to talk to the mother ship while rolling back). I'm going to finish and save this damn document, then install LibreOffice instead and start using/learning that. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Okay. I've found a workaround. But I will *also* be downloading LibreOffice and starting to get acquainted with it. Because trying to *force* me to swallow this "AI" slop (even when I've paid for a non-slop version) is not at ALL cricket. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…u76z No link, I just tried opening a Word doc this morning and it won't even let me type in it (though I have autoupdate etc. turned off, and have ever since I bought the non-"AI" package). Keeps trying to sell me a 365 subscription. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow ...I've reinstalled but it's still trying to force me into an Office 365 subscription. What the absolute *hell*. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow So, uh, is Microsoft now *requiring* an Office 365 subscription even if one deliberately bought an non-“AI” version last year that was supposed to… not require that bullshit? Because if so, I am angrier than a hornet right now. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow I have been fed tacos and told to go to bed. Really this is the ideal way for a Wednesday to end. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow I stopped doing Shuffle Plays for a while since some guy got shirty with me over them, saying he followed me for “other things” and he hated how it filled up his feed. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow And now, Alan Parsons Project with “Days Are Numbers”, which was the closing song for DEAD GOD’S HEART. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Straight into the Bee Gees. I may be bopping a bit. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow “How Soon Is Now?”, and suddenly I’m a teenager again. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Shuffle’s taking me through the Cinema Paradiso theme to the Arctic Monkeys. We’re not fooling about today. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Shuffle Play this morning reminding me I need to set a “lady assassin shooting up the bad guys” scene to Mika’s “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)”, just because. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow We just did terrible things to a package of deep-fried mozzarella sticks; now for a cuppa and a return to work. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Had the park to myself (thank gods) for the last half of this morning’s run. My zen is much improved. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Just had a lovely time chatting with some podcast folks; now comes the social anxiety, certain that I was Too Much and gave The Worst Interview Ever. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow No-one: npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow For the afternoon readers: Light, Shakespeare Galaxy npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Boxnoggin, in a fit of pique, just tried to eat a dandelion, then gave me the *filthiest* look when the taste became apparent. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "Using an AI chatbot to help me write would be like using the kitchen garbage disposal to help me eat dinner." https://defector.com/why-would-you-ask-ai-to-tell-the-story-of-your-own-life npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow And yeah, one can list directly at several distributors, but between different formats, the pittances paid, promotions teams playing favourites, and price drop discrepancies… yeah, it’s not tenable once backlist reaches a certain point. At least, not for me. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow I think we are going to start seeing more third-party distribution aggregators looking for ways to stem the tide of plagiarist "AI" slop, since it's becoming increasingly clear readers prefer work by real humans. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Poor Boxnoggin, caught between loathing a cold spring downpour and having to find the absolute perfect spot to relieve his bladder. A tension between competing necessities. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Brushing my teeth, staggering to bed, and watching Bob Ross make an almighty mountain or two before I pass out is the summit of my ambitions this evening. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Have re-edited and re-formatted *checks notes* five books, of varying difficulties, over the past few weeks. Have figured out covers for four of them, dealt with preorder scheduling, and updated so many goddamn website pages. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Pupdate: He’s found out. And golly, is he PEEVED. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Boxnoggin is absotively, posolutely DESPERATE for walkies, perhaps because yesterday’s were truncated. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Dinner conversation revolved around which member of the Office cast would be what Thundercat. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow In which I am concerned with now, a moment will be had, and the Muse is outright cackling. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow For the lunchtime readers: Rearranging Subtle Bits npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "The allegations paint a picture of manipulation cloaked in worship, exploitation justified by spiritual language and a trail of traumatized people left in the wake of one man’s greed." https://leftcoastrightwatch.org/articles/how-sean-feucht-built-a-ministry-empire-with-believers-free-labor/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow APPARENTLY my body cannot live on caffeine, clearance candy, and kimchi alone. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow The number of times I’ve said, “I love you, can we please NOT DO THAT?” to the dog this morning… npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow In which I live in just the right place, the coffee is perfect, and the year might be other than I planned. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Brick and Velvet npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Weekly serial chapters, sneak peeks, or exclusives! Not to mention every paid Patreon tier (yep, from Two-Buck Chuck upward) gets access to my personal Discord, where we have a pretty good time if I do say so myself... npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "But we need only look back a few years and to another continent to find an earlier publication, serving German-speaking fans—Der Orchideengarten (“The Garden of Orchids”), the very first horror and fantasy magazine, which ran 51 issues from January 1919 to November 1921." https://www.openculture.com/2026/04/discover-the-first-horror-fantasy-magazine-der-orchideengarten.html npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…kpkt I think it’s the double prospect of cruelly harming “the peasants” and “getting free money” that appeals to them so. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "Posts on social media indicate that the authors had not been consulted before the deal was made or announced, so there was no way they could opt out. As with much new generative AI technology, corporate executives proceeded with the project without the consent of the writers whose work would actually power the output." https://lithub.com/dear-harlequin-nobody-asked-for-your-weird-new-ai-video-microdramas/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow "If it ended the body-snatching trade, the Act hardly dispersed popular fear about the violation of bodies after death. Workhouse shame could now extend beyond burial in a pauper’s grave to (legal) desecration by dismemberment." https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-great-majority/ npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow In which past Lilis are lauded, future Lilis will be thankful, and the metaphors are almost too apt. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow For the afternoon readers: Breaking Room npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Said today: "Remember, kids, a block list won't grow if you don't feed it!" npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow It's a new month, which means the Monthly Sales page is refurbished, featuring price drops, new releases, and more. (Be sure to check the dates!) npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…u76z bwahahahaha omg don’t get me started on “peaks” vs “peeks” npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…g8z8 As I said elsewhere, at some point the erroneous but more common usage might become correct by default because language is a living thing. Which is super cool, and helps me regard it philosophically, no matter the irritation. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow (I have read SO MANY WWII memoirs…) npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow @nprofile…ccpp The original term was “bale out” because one was thrown like a hay bale from the back of a farm truck. This was necessitated by the bulk of the parachute gear worn. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow I’ll break grammar rules all day, punctuation ones idiosyncratically, and spelling occasionally when it pleases me. But by and large I want to break them *consciously*, to impart meaning. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow (Not so incidentally, newspaper editors ought to know these differences, if only to appear of basic competence.) npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Using these terms precisely and correctly adds meaning (or in certain cases in-jokes and shades of irony) to one’s writing. It’s part of the fun of making art, and you must *know* the rules before you can break them *effectively*. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow No, really, I swear, English is fun! npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow To “reign” is to rule over something; “free rein” is when a horse’s reins (leather bridle straps) are held loosely to allow the horse its choice of speed and direction. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow A strange knock-on effect of corvids knowing I’m reasonably friendly seems to be other birds thinking the same. I don’t know if I move differently when the feathered are present or if the crows’ lack of alarm means other avians don’t startle as much. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow Also, to “bail out” is to remove water from inside a boat so it may continue to float. To “bale out” is to jump from a plane. A “bailout” is when a company is kept afloat by an infusion of cash. npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt Lili Saintcrow To “hone” something is to sharpen its edge. To “home in” is to find and follow the signal that helps a plane return to base.
