natskibb.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

One of the most common arguments you hear from fans of generative ‘AI’ is that it’s not plagiarizing people’s work, it’s just learning like a human learns. So I’m going to break down why that’s just not true, and why it can never be true, with the existing systems. 1/

submitted 4 days ago • 90 comments

Thread: Each week I run a simulation of Australia’s main electricity grid using rescaled generation data to show that it can get very close to 100% renewable electricity with 24GW/120GWh of storage (5 hrs at av demand) Results: Last week: 100% RE Last 183 weeks: 98.7% RE (1/5)

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

So - I've actually led Ebola outbreak response at USAID. This is bunk from Elon. They have laid off most of the experts, they're bankrupting most of the partner orgs, have withdrawn from WHO, and muzzled CDC. What's left is a fig-leaf effort to cover their asses politically.

submitted 3 days ago • 478 comments

It has come to my attention that not nearly enough of you know about Bernd das Brot, the German children's program about a clinically depressed loaf of bread who enjoys studying his wallpaper and eating gruel and whose catchphrases include "my life is hell" and "I would like to leave this show."

submitted 4 days ago • 181 comments

Happy 10th birthday to the Ea-Nasir complaint tablet meme! A glorious decade of memes, mashups, merchandise, erotic fanfic, real-life copper fraud, and pilgrimages to the British Museum. Thread 🧵:

submitted 5 days ago • 28 comments

I'm excited to finally share this story about how the US public relations industry arrived in Australia on the back of an oil tanker. Working in partnership with @rebeccajohn.bsky.social who dug up a whole bunch of new records from the Hill&Knowlton archives, this has been months in the making. /1

submitted 7 days ago • 4 comments

About one more week to send me your essay pitch! Under-represented/marginalised authors, we are VERY interested in your work (whether or not it focuses on identity!) Payment is AUD 5c/word... www.speculativeinsight.com/pitches-open

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

“My body is a miracle. It’s been attacked and scrutinized since it emerged from the womb. It exists in a society that has fought, and continues to fight, against its right to breathe in its present form,” writes @geekyjules.julessherred.com

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

With your help, Q became the first openly trans musher in Iditarod history. This year, he's ready to complete the journey. Thank you so much to everyone who's supported the team in different ways! If you're moved to contribute, we are doing some final fundraising for expenses ❤️ #uglydogs

submitted 10 days ago • 29 comments

So one of the things that I think is lost on AI proponents is what I call the card catalog effect, a thing I shouldn’t call it because a lot of people probably have no experience with a card catalog.

submitted 12 days ago • 105 comments

Friends, may I point you at these #ebook bundles? We could use some sales just now. 🙂 And if you’re not interested, might I ask you to reskeet this so that others who might be interested can see? Thanks! ❤️ www.tumblr.com/dduane/77511... #ebooksky #booksky

submitted 20 days ago • 14 comments

A year ago, @kashinggiwa.bsky.social wrote about the place of tea in science fiction, and how it connects to issues of empire both there and in the real world... Read it here, if you missed it then: www.speculativeinsight.com/essays/ceremony

submitted 22 days ago • 2 comments

“In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become a part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed. This means that we are going to have to learn to think in radical terms. +

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

When I started work on this story, I initially anticipated writing something short, sharp and pointed about how Australian conservatives have embraced nuclear energy. The more I learned about the nuclear influencers wooing the federal Coalition, the weirder things got. /1

submitted 24 days ago • 5 comments

Give Yi-Sheng a moment of your time to hear why he wrote his essay on ethnic diversity in Southeast Asian SFF... and then read his essay explaining it in detail.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Or indeed, all of the above. 😄

submitted 26 days ago • 2 comments

The decision also left a vacuum that ten years later caused national security types to get into a tizz when they looked out across the Pacific to find China offering to help people build bridges and train cops and such.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

If you have Thoughts you'd like to turn into an essay, SI is now open to essay pitches! Deep-dive into one book or examine a theme or muse about an author's oeuvre... Details (inc how to pitch, payment, etc) at: www.speculativeinsight.com/pitches-open

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

History teacher: Can someone tell me the name of the 30-day period in which Elon Musk and Donald Trump looted the former USA and then fled to Russia? Student: uh...Get out of DOGE?

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

Discworld QOTD, from Small Gods “Fear is a strange soil. It grows obedience like corn, which grow in straight lines to make weeding easier. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.”

submitted 28 days ago • 18 comments

The American Petroleum Institute is not happy with the Trump administration over its plan to impose tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China. They elected the guy to kill climate initiatives, not the industry like those dastardly Democrats.

submitted 28 days ago • 26 comments

Eh, a day early, but let's get this party started: Speculative Insight is now accepting pitches for essays about science fiction and fantasy. See here for details: www.speculativeninsight.com/pitches-open

submitted 30 days ago • 3 comments

when it comes to place names, my preference is to pronounce it as the locals do or as close to it, because for example "brizz-bane" is horrific while "Brisbane" rhymes with fizzbin and we need at least one city that rhymes with fizzbin

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

"Clippy...is a cunt." Öort St. Ultraviolet, everyone.

submitted 32 days ago • 3 comments

Another decision downstream of Australia's "Pacific Solution".

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

(sigh) This universe is more annoying than usual tonight. Who wants to go visit another? #LGBTQ -centered (but over there, so's God, so no big deal), epic adventure, #polyamory (aka True Love x5), really big spacefaring dragons, and a lot of good food. Details: ebooks.direct/products/mid...

submitted 31 days ago • 7 comments

DEATH OF AN IRISH DRUID, out now! books2read.com/irishdruid #booksky #cozy #CozyMystery #Ireland American expat & limo driver Megan Malone drives herself into another murder mystery when 'The Irish Druid,' a rewilding proponent, is found dead & local police want to write it off as an accident...

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

so hey, not to be That Guy, but remember how SFF fans called for a boycott of Chengdu Worldcon on the basis of the CCP’s actions in Xinjiang and China potentially not being safe for certain authors? are we going to have a similar discussion about Seattle Worldcon given the circumstances, or -?

submitted 36 days ago • 53 comments

The Archer's beach books are about a magical carousel, for those who enjoy excellent fantasy and everyone who rides a carousel and imagines that one scene in Mary Poppins where the carousel horses leap off and she wins the horse race.

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

okay this is a CALL FOR ESSAY PITCHES! I'm looking for freelance writers for Reactor Mag, a long-running SFF website (formerly tor dot com not the publisher). Im the senior editor for book content, focusing on contemporary sci-fi, fantasy, gothic, horror, and genre-defying books. (details below)

submitted 39 days ago • 60 comments

Please be having a pair of Australian Magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen).

submitted 37 days ago • 6 comments

If you’re struggling to disconnect and protect your peace right now… my article on radical rest might help. When you’re chronically ill you must learn to rest. You either do it voluntarily, or the body will find a way to force you. This skill will be extra important in the coming weeks:

submitted 39 days ago • 9 comments

I have only read Moving Pictures once, and @tansyrr.bsky.social's comments about how romance is performed in/by Holy Wood show how relevant it still is to consider that aspect. Also the treatment of Victor and Ginger... Read now by subscribing (AUD30/year): www.speculativeinsight.com

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Hello #BookSky! My name is April Daniels, and I'm best known for my book Dreadnought, a YA superhero adventure about a young trans woman who inherits the mantle of the world's greatest hero. It is the first volume of the Nemesis trilogy, vol 3 coming soon! diversionbooks.com/books/dreadn...

submitted 42 days ago • 18 comments

I'm so excited - our latest release is finally out. Scales of Resistance is a wonderful novella by @julietk.bsky.social and cover by @petermball.bsky.social . It's exactly the kind of read we need these days. books2read.com/u/bwOggG

submitted 43 days ago • 1 comment

Skyline cleanse

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

Heads up, awesome peeps: Speculative Insight will be opening to pitches in February. So if you've got an essay idea, you might want to start honing your 150-word explanation of it...

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Also, speaking of Tanith Lee -- Storyteller: the Tanith Lee Tribute anthology is up for preorder: tanithleestoryteller.com Edited by Julie C. Day with Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney

submitted 46 days ago • 10 comments

A year ago, @joanneanderton.bsky.social wrote about what we learn about ourselves from #Murderbot binge-watching media. You can still read it by subscribing for AUD30 (~15GBP/EUR18/USD20) - which also gets you the other subscriber essays from 2024 and those for 2025! www.speculativeinsight.com

submitted 46 days ago • 0 comments