<unnamed>

Public Key

npub1vlc9e5hvtawwxqadudvhdy8zcdynxxgqxqe452dyktzre54v7whqvpu5dt

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsx0uzu6tk97h8rqwk7xktkjr3vxjfnryqrqv669xjt93pu62k08tspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43q90whjs

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Last Notes

2026-08-13 18:02:41 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…lvgx Isn't that wonderful! I'm sure repeated requests will make this a priority, and the renewed attention might bring about a solution to the problem. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

2026-08-13 17:52:04 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…lvgx Ah, you've personally used it, then! I'm sure your feeback would be useful for the designers. Have you shared it with them?

2026-08-13 15:24:46 UTC

- reply

(For the curious.)
https://shieldfont.org

2026-08-13 15:19:44 UTC

"The goal, as outlined in the ShieldFont white paper, is not to get a scraping bot to reject the text as garbage, but to convince it that the text on the page is unusual but sensible."
https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/07/30/open-source-project-fools-ai-scrapers-with-poisoned-font/5281303

2026-08-07 14:32:20 UTC

- reply

At least today the air is only twice as unhealthy as usual, instead 4-5x.

2026-08-04 19:11:24 UTC

- reply

It's not as hot as it *could* be, so I guess the AC isn't being overworked. But I'm cleaning the filters every few hours.
I hate this.

2026-08-04 19:10:23 UTC

Everything outside is sepia, and not in the fun movie-filter way. There's ash on the lilac leaves, and Boxnoggin starts sneezing while we're still on the stairs going down to the backyard for his loo breaks. It reeks of burning.
At least the smoke is reflecting a lot of the sun-heat away, I guess.

2026-08-04 16:13:23 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…sg89 I wish I qualified to join. *sigh*

2026-08-04 15:53:02 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…sg89 I KNOW, RIGHT? And yet, say, Author's Guild, ALLi, and other supposedly author-centric orgs and companies seem fascinated by the slop, and longing to bathe in it. *shudder*

2026-08-04 15:40:54 UTC

- reply

And I repeat: Even the *perception* that a company is flirting with "AI" can cause immense reputational damage. While the damage might not show immediately, the instant the bubble pops, customers will absolutely remember.
And leave, the moment they can.

2026-08-04 15:37:29 UTC

Continuing the morning with an, "I'm not upset, I'm deeply disappointed" in a professional email.
It really does seem some companies providing services to authors somehow don't get how damaging the perception of "AI" contamination is.
If your company looks like it's going slopward, customers will jump ship if at all possible. The reputational damage might not immediately breach the wider trust thermocline (thank you, @nprofile…akaa, for that concept) but it gets closer and closer with each instance.

2026-08-01 15:15:03 UTC

"...but what they should have done and what they did do are two different things, and we have to live in the now. And in the now, “AI” inputs are inherently untrustable, from a copyright perspective."
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/31/another-reason-not-to-use-ai-for-your-writing/

2026-07-30 16:49:55 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…um83 Check the "Stripe Radar" section.

2026-07-30 15:46:52 UTC

- reply

To be absolutely clear, fraud protection is a good thing. But suddenly doing an opt-out hiking of the price on a “standard” free plan along with scaremongering is abusive enshittification.

2026-07-29 19:21:44 UTC

- reply

Anyway, fellow authors, please familiarise yourself with Writer Beware's series on the current email scams. Don't be taken in. And kudos to those who reached out to let me know--thank you so much! (Lordy, what a time to be alive...)
https://writerbeware.blog

2026-07-29 19:21:41 UTC

- reply

There's no benefit trying to pass yourself off as ol' Lili, scammers. I am very small, very weird potatoes so far as publishing is concerned.
Also, a Gmail address? REALLY? That part kind of hurts.

2026-07-29 19:21:41 UTC

I have been alerted to (very poorly written) impersonation scam emails involving a Gmail address, which purport to be from Yours Truly. Please rest assured that if you get a gushing email trying to bait you into a correspondence, it's a scammer, not me.
*sigh* Of all the people to impersonate...

2026-07-29 18:05:37 UTC

"Though switching can be difficult, being rid of Adobe is bliss. To know that your software is either free or buy once feels like walking on solid ground after drowning."
https://aftermath.site/i-hate-adobe/

2026-07-29 16:32:39 UTC

Robin Hood--IN SPACE! Hood: Season One is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 7/31.
https://books2read.com/hoodseason1
https://cdn.masto.host/raggedfeathers/media_attachments/files/117/004/222/985/088/299/original/68354e7654c01b5d.jpg

2026-07-29 16:09:17 UTC

Took Boxnoggin on walkies, got home, then took myself for a bit of a solo ramble. Stomping along for my stupid mental and physical health, and all that.
It was the right choice. I'm still annoyed and want more coffee, sure, but that's perennial.

2026-07-29 15:36:11 UTC

All this makes me think Nolan shot “The Odyssey: Bourne Goes Swimming”, and honestly I’d rather spend my movie money on tickets to local community college productions of Euripides instead.

2026-07-29 13:04:33 UTC

- reply

(just how much caffeine it's gonna take is still an open question...)

2026-07-29 12:59:22 UTC

Well, I'm vertical, enduring some simulacrum of consciousness, and attempting to absorb enough caffeine for neuron jump-starts.
Welcome to Wednesday.

2026-07-29 12:54:28 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…cm0q I don't really think people are fatigued by superhero stories, as those are perennially interesting to humans. I think people are fatigued by huge, transparently greedy franchises--and the use said franchises are put too by regressive asshats who coincidentally happen to loathe and fear female-led stories.

2026-07-29 12:52:48 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…h04g Yeah, they've profited short-term, at the cost of completely destroying any image of their company as anything but a greed-laced shitheap that happens to have a product people currently need. Once there's a reasonably available rival product, well…

2026-07-29 01:48:37 UTC

"The media has been fully trained to simply accept whatever slop NVIDIA shovels down their throats, and to avoid discussing messy things like “how this happens” because that wouldn’t be considered objective."
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-more-you-buy-the-more-you-lose/

2026-07-29 01:48:37 UTC

- reply

From the above-linked article: "NVIDIA’s revenues are, for the most part, propped up by FOMO rather than any real relationship to revenues, productivity, or reality, much like the rest of the semiconductor companies profiting off of AI."

2026-07-28 23:32:37 UTC

"Maybe that was just where I saw the movie and the time I chose, but it worries me that women aren’t going to see this movie because this film is about a woman refugee dealing with trauma, isolation, and grief."
https://news.chanda.science/archive/you-should-go-see-supergirl/

2026-07-28 21:22:37 UTC

"Multiple people I spoke to who were in or around Pittsburgh DSA between 2017 and 2020 described hearing about “plans” for what to do if Moraff showed up at one of his past partners’ homes."
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/exclusive-daniel-moraff-graham-platner-alleged-sexual-assault

2026-07-28 20:23:38 UTC

Grief, growing up, and a singing cult--HARMONY is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 7/31.
https://books2read.com/saintcrowharmony
https://cdn.masto.host/raggedfeathers/media_attachments/files/116/999/469/006/310/297/original/e389782b95d6b2bf.jpg

2026-07-28 19:18:47 UTC

- reply

In which Boxnoggin is regal, the bar is exceeding low, and turns of phrase survive.

2026-07-28 19:10:04 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…8t6y
https://cdn.masto.host/raggedfeathers/media_attachments/files/116/999/179/505/814/961/original/f1521b8be13a20cd.mp4

2026-07-28 19:08:39 UTC

For the afternoon crew: Below Floor Level
https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/2026/07/below-floor-level/

2026-07-28 18:22:24 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…weq5 Wilson's prose is always a ding-dang delight.

2026-07-28 18:05:37 UTC

"This is not in itself a problem, but it is a problem if the film’s own values and vision don’t hang together, and if the characters’ motivations don’t make sense on their own terms."
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/emily-wilson/an-uncomplicated-man

2026-07-28 18:05:37 UTC

- reply

(A reminder: The usual requirement of *actually reading the article in its entirety* before coming into my mentions to argue about it applies double here.)

2026-07-28 16:32:39 UTC

Robin Hood--IN SPACE! Hood: Season One is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 7/31.
https://books2read.com/hoodseason1
https://cdn.masto.host/raggedfeathers/media_attachments/files/116/998/560/653/712/653/original/1dc2877ac4c6e732.jpg

2026-07-28 13:46:58 UTC

- reply

In which Boxnoggin is regal, the bar is exceeding low, and turns of phrase survive.

2026-07-28 13:41:52 UTC

Below Floor Level
https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/2026/07/below-floor-level/

2026-07-28 13:21:32 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…uwmr Isn't it odd? Especially with how they expect teachers to parent in their stead.

2026-07-27 19:14:28 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…u76z I mean, I don't rule a Kickstarter entirely out if I have a project that would benefit, but I'd probably have to budget in paying for some outside help to deal with some aspects I cannot/would not do myself. And it's better to know that before I even start *looking* at the prospect. Which means the book did its job and was worth every penny I forked over, for either edition.

2026-07-27 19:10:07 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…u76z I contributed to that Kickstarter (for the second edition)! It was a great experience--I think Krista Ball recommended the first edition to me, and it was highly informative. Just wonderful.
And solidifies my sense that I am not the person to be running Kickstarters, alas. I just cannot even with some of the fiddly bits. But now I *know* that, and understand the process, which is hugely valuable.

2026-07-27 18:09:43 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…u76z Amen. I'm glad to have the resources to self-pub, but I'm aghast at all the stories and authors we're missing out on. The market correction can't come too soon, though it'll be super painful in its own right.

2026-07-27 18:05:37 UTC

- reply

(Not to mention the thing has serious MAGA-face...)

2026-07-27 18:05:37 UTC

"Placing a humanoid robot into the classroom to interact with our children, I believe, is a massive step in the wrong direction, and I believe that the majority of our teachers feel the same.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/25/new-york-humanoid-robot-teachers-school

2026-07-27 17:54:26 UTC

Anyway, I have both wordcount to achieve and butter chicken to make today. Which means I oughta acquire some more caffeine, and get down to it.

2026-07-27 17:50:01 UTC

- reply

There will absolutely be a market correction, and it's not going to be pretty. In the meanwhile, I mourn for the stories and authors we're missing out on because of this greedy, shiftless nonsense.

2026-07-27 17:49:51 UTC

- reply

Smaller and indie pubs are trying to pick up the slack, sure, but they don't have traditional reach or name recognition. Self-publishing is great, but still possesses barriers to entry (hardware requirements, time investments, experience).

2026-07-27 17:49:40 UTC

- reply

Now we've got: tradpubs who won't reply on submissions for *over a year*, editors who can't or won't provide even basic editorial support for longer; "marketing" departments who shuffle off all the actual publicity work onto authors; C-suites and shareholders stuffing their pockets with any money coming in, starving other departments of the funds to function; and widespread royalty fraud.
It's not pretty.

2026-07-27 17:49:06 UTC

- reply

Even before private equity completed buying out the Big Four/Five, tradpub was heading down an unsustainable path. Acquiring editors can't give a response *for more than a year*, other editors are too overworked to provide even basic editorial support, let alone in-house advocacy.

2026-07-27 17:48:45 UTC

Tradpub has always treated authors--the very people who create the books, without whom the publisher has nothing--poorly, but the current situation has become absolutely dialed-to-eleven untenable.
https://bsky.app/profile/cemurphy.bsky.social/post/3mrmmqegvyc23

2026-07-27 17:40:35 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…a90t Yeah, that sat me back in my chair for a moment. It's not at all what said billionaires (and the captive press) have been telling us for decades.

2026-07-27 16:32:39 UTC

Robin Hood--IN SPACE! Hood: Season One is $2.99USD (and CAD) in ebook until 7/31.
https://books2read.com/hoodseason1
https://cdn.masto.host/raggedfeathers/media_attachments/files/116/992/898/390/483/146/original/a2a4e9d34ca51e63.jpg

2026-07-27 15:19:37 UTC

"Maybe it isn’t that informants are difficult to spot but rather that we have collectively ignored the signs that give them away."
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/courtney-desiree-morris-why-misogynists-make-great-informants

2026-07-27 14:44:37 UTC

I’ve noticed lately that though Google still accounts for the most search traffic arriving at my site, other search engines—especially those not overly infested with “AI”—are taking increasing bites out of that primacy.

2026-07-25 23:05:37 UTC

"Have we evolved much since Telemachus told his mom to shut up?"
https://lithub.com/penelope-speaks-rebecca-solnit-on-the-western-literary-tradition-of-silencing-women/

2026-07-25 22:29:44 UTC

"Most unforgivable in the capitalist society Musk champions, it hasn't sold well."
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/looking-cybertruck-biggest-flop-automotive-145559135.html

2026-07-25 20:23:46 UTC

2026-07-25 18:42:45 UTC

"Why do the rich have such low migration rates? And why is common intuition about elite migration so wrong?"
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/20/if-you-tax-the-rich-they-wont-leave-us-data-contradicts-millionaires-threats

2026-07-25 16:42:44 UTC

"According to Pentz, these similarities raise the possibility that the famous early medieval helmet was produced in Denmark rather than Sweden."
https://www.medievalists.net/2026/07/medieval-denmark-sutton-hoo-helmet/

2026-07-25 14:44:45 UTC

Shuffle play going straight from Fleetwood Mac to Cutting Crew, two breakups in a row…

2026-07-25 02:01:45 UTC

Horned Lark Press is doing a Summer Reading Sale; you can get several paperbacks (including of COYOTE RUN) for $10USD apiece (plus shipping) until 7/31.
It's a great deal!
https://hornedlarkpress.com/product/oberons-meaty-mysteries-bundle/

2026-07-25 00:53:22 UTC

Boxnoggin cleaned his evening kibble-bowl, so it's safe to say the thunderstorms have been forgotten. Now that his stomach is full and his bladder drained, he's ready for bed and cannot understand why I'm still tapping at the glowing box.
...I can't either, my fuzzy-butt companion.

2026-07-24 23:32:45 UTC

"But the lawsuit didn’t stop Anthropic. To the contrary, it gave them license to keep going. They’re still buying rare books. As rare as possible. And feeding them into the book mulcher."
https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/07/23/ai-vendors-are-destroying-rare-books-to-feed-the-chatbot/

2026-07-24 21:22:24 UTC

"The raids and traffic stops now underway all over the US aren’t as showy as 2025’s military-style named surges, but higher arrest quotas ensure that they are just as aggressive."
https://unbreaking.org/blog/briefing-2026-07-23/

2026-07-24 19:36:12 UTC

- reply

In which tacos return me to coherence, Boxnoggin hardly moves all night, and walkies may be energetic.

2026-07-24 19:25:24 UTC

For the afternoon crowd: Dangerously Like Rest
https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/2026/07/dangerously-like-rest/

2026-07-24 17:27:51 UTC

There's really not much better than cleaning up after a hard workout, then settling with a fresh jolt of caffeine.
https://cdn.masto.host/raggedfeathers/media_attachments/files/116/976/128/246/884/545/original/e72702931c27b09b.png

2026-07-24 16:44:23 UTC

Turned in a great per-km time on this morning’s run, despite having to throttle back—some days it does feel like flying. Bees took turns riding my braids all the way home.

2026-07-24 14:53:48 UTC

Revised draft of MEMORY GAME sent off, submissions timeline agreed upon, and the rest of the day is mine.
…oddly, now am feeling the urge to spend it working. (If the kids don’t tie me to the couch, that is.)

2026-07-24 13:36:34 UTC

- reply

In which tacos return me to coherence, Boxnoggin hardly moves all night, and walkies may be energetic.

2026-07-24 13:31:39 UTC

Dangerously Like Rest
https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/2026/07/dangerously-like-rest/

2026-07-24 13:03:19 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…w080 Ed Zitron actually goes into this (he has good cogent "absolutely not" arguments), and it's one of the only comforting parts of this nonsense. Highly recommend going through some of his older posts for that particular subject.

2026-07-24 01:48:24 UTC

"...this means that there’s over 15 times more data centers being planned than the demand that actually exists, and 70% to 90% of that demand is from Anthropic and OpenAI’s unprofitable services."
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-subprime-data-center-crisis/

2026-07-23 22:28:24 UTC

...I've finished the revision, I could just go to bed. Nobody's stopping me, I'm an adult.
On the other hand, someone mentioned tacos for dinner, and in order to partake I should probably be both conscious and vertical.
A distinct conundrum.

2026-07-23 21:20:28 UTC

No, an "AI" did not "go rogue". A chatbot did what it was programmed (by humans) and told (by humans) to do, then techbro grifters released a pile of breathless marketing slop that was lapped up and regurgitated by a supine class of "tech journalists".
Chrissake, people. Respect yourselves more.

2026-07-21 19:13:49 UTC

For the afternoon crew: Reversal, Internal Equilibrium
https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/2026/07/reversal-internal-equilibrium/

2026-07-20 13:45:33 UTC

- reply

In which the temperature rises, I enjoy a Western or two, and I've probably jinxed my the chore list.

2026-07-17 23:08:25 UTC

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.

2026-07-14 14:17:10 UTC

Me: *yelling down the hall* “Happy Bastille Day!”
My daughter: *muffled from her room* “REVOLUTION! DOWN WITH THE BASTILLE!”
The kids are All Right.

2026-07-09 00:08:28 UTC

- reply

(Also, "quantum computing" is absolutely the next big tech grift, and saying as much now will get one all sorts of new and interesting bots/trolls to block.)

2026-07-09 00:05:31 UTC

- reply

Anyway, if you're being courted to come back to a place that fired you (or other people) with a "haw haw, the thieving slopbot'll do yer job, loser!", hold out for good benefits and make them fucking PAY. Don't let them call you in on piecework rates for what used to be a good-paying job.

2026-07-09 00:04:38 UTC

- reply

"AI" hasn't persisted solely because it fooled rich people who don't like being told "no". It also had significant potential for union-busting, and producing economic uncertainty in order to achieve the Wealthy Sociopath Holy Grail of a permanent serf underclass to be abused at will.

2026-07-09 00:01:25 UTC

Companies are *already* quietly hiring people to come in and clean up the digital asbestos that is "AI" slop, or re-hiring the same folk (who did the actual work) that managers and CEOs ditched with surpassing cruelty.
Please, if you're a consultant or getting re-hired, MAKE THEM PAY.

2026-07-08 15:24:28 UTC

- reply

The only problem I can see in the listed action roadmap is the determination to let an "AI" grifter organization--because all such organizations are a way for the grifters to insert the thin edge of the wedge--"certify" authorial work. This may be unbecoming of me, but I can't help it.

2026-07-05 22:28:48 UTC

- reply

ahahahahaha I’ve reached the bit where Don Quixote’s in a print shop and it’s clear publishing hasn’t goddamn changed since Cervantes’s time
I am HOWLING

2026-07-05 19:54:04 UTC

Gonna spend a Sunday afternoon winding my way through the last one-hundred fifty pages or so of Don Quixote, because I have *got* to see how ol’ Cervantes sticks this landing.

2026-06-30 20:23:14 UTC

"Welcome to the Third Empire..." HELL'S ACRE is $3.99USD (and CAD) in ebook, until 7/7!
https://books2read.com/hellsacre
https://cdn.masto.host/raggedfeathers/media_attachments/files/116/840/922/722/643/863/original/6970cdf7fa03316e.jpg

2026-06-29 15:19:29 UTC

"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."
https://www.utterlyinteresting.com/post/flash-gordon-1980-behind-the-scenes

2026-06-25 18:05:29 UTC

"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."
https://www.openculture.com/2026/06/when-the-surrealists-expelled-salvador-dali.html

2026-06-20 12:48:13 UTC

Punched myself right on the lip while struggling into a shirt this morning, so I suppose we know how Saturday intends to roll.

2026-06-19 12:56:52 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zwdg For a long while Wikipedia *was* a bad source! It got better bit by bit (though still not what I'd prefer for citing in papers), and so much other online stuff got worse that now ol' Wiki-P seems way preferable.

2026-06-18 19:28:17 UTC

- reply

In which summer is full flow, the office shelves bear reorganizing, and the Muse loves chucking bombs.

2026-06-18 19:18:06 UTC

For the lunchtime crew: Cords and Considerations
https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/2026/06/cords-and-considerations/

2026-06-18 00:18:05 UTC

"The court’s order—requiring a temporary injunction barring Google from spreading the false claims in any further AI Overviews—may have global implications, as the court seems to be the first to hold an AI firm liable for AI speech."
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/nobody-needs-ai-to-search-the-internet-court-says-in-ruling-against-google/

2026-06-15 17:20:35 UTC

Another Monday, another quad shot, another layer of eyeliner.
And now, it's time to look at the to-do list and weep.

2026-06-11 17:44:56 UTC

An absolutely, unquestionably terrible idea, but I doubt that will halt anyone involved.
https://apnews.com/article/visa-chatgpt-openai-shopping-mastercard-d769dec86344cb4977c98789e8ec492f

2026-06-11 14:58:19 UTC

Banana, with gruel,
Fragment of smoked gouda rind,
A welcome breakfast.

2026-06-10 23:32:18 UTC

"At night, he transformed into a burglar and robbed bank-houses, jewellers, goldsmiths, diamond merchants and even the private residences of some of his closest society friends."
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2026/06/the-double-life-of-william-brodie.html

2026-06-10 21:35:18 UTC

"Nobody, except maybe Barbra Streisand, thinks they are making a movie that’s going to be around forever. Nobody thinks that."
https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/john-waters-criterion-hairspray-desperate-living-interview