Snark, #AI, Executive Orders, and maybe schadenfreude? An XO struck down a Biden XO "...required developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to conduct safety tests and share the results..." but...
When it comes to AI, the Trump administration apparently does practice what it preaches, however. And that brings us to the second connection. With an additional 24 hours to examine the flurry of Trump XOs, the evidence is pretty clear that... substantial portions of them were written by AI. The problem here is that things like commas, indents, dashes, word choices, etc. matter an awful lot when it comes to figuring out what instructions are being given to the federal agencies. With these sorts of details, however, AI isn't great. So, it could be an adventure as federal employees try to parse the XOs. Maybe they can ask AI for help.
This is an example of why people that can actually write and use logic at the same time, like being able to walk and chew bubblegum, can be of use and are worth the money you pay them. Mind you, vagueness in laws, rules, or instructions are one of the ways that those laws, ruls, or instructions get struck down by the courts.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2025/Items/Jan22-1.html
#boostingIsSharing
#uspol #genai #chatAI #Writer #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity
Don't do this with a real candle.
#BoostingIsSharing
#Photography #Photo #LivePhotos #ShotOniPhone
OK, here's the #writing secret. Let everything & anything in your mind spill out through your fingers onto the page. Don't even think about it. #Write. You can revise later when the story has bled out of you.
#IAmWriting #Writer #Author #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon
Retired today. Portraits. Joe. Blue.
#Photography #Photos #Photo #Coffee #Joe #Biden #Kamala #KamalaHarris #alttext
Every moment is new to me, no matter how many times I've done something before.
Buried in what seemed like longing and a feeling that maybe someone else's way might be better was that glorious sentence. And...
I am chaos incarnate.
That's your creativity in two sentences. Wow.
The latter is mine, also, but I think I'll strive for the former, too. Inspiring.
A teddy bear with her teddys.
(c)2025 RS - More in alt text.
#Photography #Photo #Toy #Bear #plushtodon #Writer #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity
Three tablespoons of mayonnaise later (for my cranberry turkey salad), my tablespoon is suspiciously less tarnished. Investigating further!
#AltTxt: The culprit: a bottle of mayonnaise. The victim: tarnished copper measuring spoons. Deduction: mayonnaise seems to remove tarnish from the copper tablespoon. Further investigation is necessary!
#Food #Photography #Photo #Mayonnaise
#EngenderedWriting 01 — How do you define gender? Does this differ from the dictionary definition? Do your characters reflect society's role model, or your synthesis? [Define Gender.]
I'll start with the American Heritage Dictionary definition, definitions 3 and 4.
gender /jĕn′dər/
noun
Either of the two divisions, designated female and male, by which most organisms are classified on the basis of their reproductive organs and functions; sex.
One's identity as female or male or as neither entirely female nor entirely male.
These definitions cover most everything, but as a gender fiction writer and a feminist, I think they also miss an important point: Assignment. Who decides?
Definition 3 is the definition of one's sex, of which gender is a synonym. It is scientific and rigidly defined. It is often construed legally, or by those with the power to make the distinction in the favor of their prejudices, as the only definition.
Definition 4 is better in this respect. It is what we mean when discussing gender as being more than one's sex. But... who decides? Who decides what your gender is?
By not defining gender as also the person's concept of their maleness or femaleness on a spectrum—completely ignoring the sense that a person might feel neither—is missing the most important point! It is the individual who experiences gender, their blend and their dilution of maleness and femaleness. Others can only guess—or demand.
Worse, the definition—which, again, legal and authoritative individuals ignore—is one's gender "assignment" implies their "gender role." Gender roles exist to enforce standardized behaviors on people so their behavior fits a standard that is thought to make society run smoothly.
As if that ever happened!
My characters reflect that people are individuals on a spectrum, expressing role model ideals or fighting them to get what they want out of life. That doesn't mean the characters are feminist or tolerant, or even thinking what social systems they may be validating or destroying. It's all for the sake of a good story—and to make my readers think about things like why they unthinkingly do things or why they keep others from doing things. Earlier today, I replied to another reader:
I like telling [a] story[,] and if at some point the reader realizes [some] chapters in that she's trans, or his is a female gender role though he's [very] obviously male, so much the better! The affect on the reader beside exploding some heads, is often to make them think why or why not it matters.
[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool
#fiction #gender #genderfiction #feminism #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 14 Nbr 25 — How long is the shortest story you've ever written? Can you link to it?
426 words. Lest Darkness Fall was formerly shorter. While still a very short story, it's really a scene fragment of what might become its own amnesia romance novella. It's set in my reluctance universe, so despite what looks like fantasy elements, it is actually SF. Explaining would be spoilers. It was likely around 350 words, but I took a moment to revise it to fit my more refined universe view, and I copied it below rather than linking it. Enjoy!
I asked, "Do I look like the woman you accuse me of being?"
I wanted to know. I wasn't the Sunny that Raven Caw had decided to named me because of my anemia. Even this encounter didn't spark memories.
The two day angels floated midair, gravity disturbance crackling and sparking around their feathered silver-blue wings. Twins? They wore plate armor that weighed as much as they did. They looked unimpressed, and pushed their spears closer. "Aye, you're a monster, but your face—"
Raven wasn't taking chances, using his leathery wing to pull me back. My night angel pushed his sunglasses up on his nose dismissively as he waved a similarly sparking quarter arc of folded gravity between us and them, teeth clenched. I smelled ozone mix with the corruption on the breeze.
I added, "Had she fought on this battlefield, she'd be dead." Scattered bones. Broken weapons. Tattered clothes fluttering. The stench.
I waved my arms expansively, at how bright day shine had settled as hot blinding circles of light at late afternoon height, split equally in the four cardinal directions. Though we'd had eternal day since the battle, the day shine hadn't broiled the world... yet. It left the zenith dusk blue, though.
I continued, "The old order is broken, like the sky. Would this woman you speak of leave our world like this, otherwise? Would she not let darkness fall after all these days of constant light?"
The day angels suddenly looked at different horizons. Surprised, it took me a few moments to notice the four shadows cast by each of the fire-blasted trees around us circle about, lengthening, deepening. As my heart stuttered in my chest, it seemed the shadows all pointed a skeletal finger at my chest.
Scattered cirrus transformed to strands of sparkling orange crystal, turning amethyst before dimming as the day shine vanished below the horizon. The sky went from hazy blue to midnight blue, before a bluer, dimmer, colder night shine rose to a mid-evening height in the cardinal directions.
I shivered. Night had fallen.
What an unfortunate coincidence, considering the trash I'd talked about the old order to a pair of its last soldiers. Rebels, was my guess. Or deserters, since they weren't dead. Neither good.
Not good either that my halo glowed around my head and shadows of numbers I didn't understand circulated along the faintly golden surface. I'd reflexively worked a miracle; I knew not what. Me. I did that. Coincidence? Had to be. Had. To. Be.
Night had fallen. I hoped it didn't get stuck.
[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool
#fiction #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory
Labor Day Message: The ultimate goal of #automation and #ai is to replace labor, to reduce or eliminate having to pay more than once for a cost that is recurring weekly or biweekly. Of course, when nobody earns a paycheck, who will buy the products and services is merely a can to kick down the road, right?
#labor #laborday #economy #economics #union #theComingLaborApocalypse
Are we really surprised that an AI that doesn't understand what it's answering or its significance isn't going to help learning? #chatGPT #ai #learning #education #teaching
Hat tip to nostr:npub12my5wtvkvys98dz0me5rl83u4jpwkzndcpa5erj6rk2w9yfv7slquxt0mx Can't say this better.
#theComingLaborApocalypse #AI
Los Angeles 4.4 #earthquake 4 km north of me in Highland Park, confirmed by USGS. Yep, local. If it's short, that's a good sign it's otherwise not a natural disaster. Sitting on the throne when it happened, thing, "You know sitting here and this is happening?"
https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/112950679549946085
#funny #humor #humour
#TheComingLaborApocalypse #AI #Robot #Dentist. Um. Not ready for this, but if you plan to grow up to be a dentist or dental hygienist, maybe that's not going to work out? Are Autodocs next?
#writing #author #writingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #sf #sciencefiction https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/robot-dentist-world-first/
These signs are real. All of them. Including THAT one. Is the telephone number divisible or factorable by 666? Found in LA.
#Funny #Humor #WritingPrompt? #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity
nostr:npub1dkrgz934rkamqsm7e9l6wns8au8jm0tpwtzc2g30pdtc28wmuzcs32l5qs
Pixelated does not mean or imply old.
Shoot. I guess I'll just have to say I feel very 4-bit color today.
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 2 Nbr 8 — Rough, complete or not at all. How do you plan your writing?
For larger works, I do a lot of thinking about the character or the event that interests me. If it feels serious, I often write a treatment. That's a short summary of events that popped into my conscious. It might even be a bulleted list, which becomes the story bible. It always includes what made the MC think about what they're about to undertake, their beginning agenda and their ultimate goal, and if that would change. If I can't come up with an ending, I try not to start writing.
For my very short endeavors, the thinking part is often enough so long as I know how it should end. This describes most of what I present on Mastodon, and very specifically the (hashtag)Writever micro fiction stories I'm completing mostly daily. They're short, fun, and somewhat dark considering the themes, and you can find them here: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/111173835020993722
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
nostr:npub1zys4xfdw6wue7480s8m45szcwdwumjt8t4gsathe4ulr9hrgtapqx47dd9 I like both, but I eat more of the trick without getting sick.
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 2 Nbr 5 — What are your writing project goals?
Hm. Good opportunity to think about it enumerate.
Short term:
Write a completely unique 300-500 word #microfiction story for each of the days of October's #writever hashtag. I'm doing this because I think that my writing mostly in a well-defined universe with developed characters is making me rusty. I want to prove to myself that story ideas are a dime a dozen and that I can always find something to write. So far 4 of 5 of my stories are out-of-universe. The thread—which is not ever going to be in day order—is here: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/111173835020993722.
Keep up with the #PennedPossibilities and #WordWeavers prompts. I've learned so much from everyone, and I've discovered so much about my own stories. Thank you, everyone!
Longer term:
Get through the final proofing of the serial currently in serialization. Get the whole thing done and published. Get the darn epilogue written already! Decide if I want to do a sequel.
Work out the hiccups my beta reader pointed out in my Reluctance series. Finish that story, or finish the amnesiac romance I started as a prompt on Mastodon (https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/110993252771253246). Either could serve as the start of my return to commercial publication.
Work on my earliest work, for which I've gotten back my copyright. Create an author's preferred edition, modernizing the text. Hire a cover artist. Consider writing side stories or a sequel if the characters demand it.
Work on my unpublished novellas, revise them, and make them ready for publication.
Work on my unpublished novels, converting them to 1st person, readying them for publication.
While doing all of the above, launch an author website where I can post short material and blog. Revise my photography site and start blogging images. Record audio versions of sample chapters and post those.
When I have inventory that's sellable, contact my author friends and network. Podcasts and such would be nice. Volunteer at conventions.
ASAP:
Retire in the next few months so I can accomplish all this.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
Breakfast of champions! (Or people who like Japanese style breakfast.) Tomago, tomato, mackerel, and pickled veggies.
#tomago #Tomagoyaki #japanese #food #cooking #日本食
