@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot#ScribesAndMakers 13/08: Our next featured creator turned a short story into a novel. Have you ever done that, or the reverse?
I have, yes. It's a more than usually unpublishable novel, and it's of uneven quality, but I like it. It started off with someone else's short story that I really didn't like; I rewrote the plot of it as a short story of my own which I thoug…
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzWhat questions does Dallas need to answer for their Week 5 matchup? https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/10/08/questions-for-dallas-going-into-a-short-week-versus-the-bucc…
@cdarwin@c.imMaurice “Mo” Jourdane,
the California attorney who led a long legal fight to ban the short-handled hoe, or el cortito,
improving the lives of farmworkers across the state, died Saturday.
He was 83.
Jourdane spent his life championing the causes,
such as safe conditions for workers,
voting rights
and standing up for the oppressed,
his family said.
“It’s fitting that he died on Labor Day weekend, ...
a weekend to give homage to work…
@NFL@darktundra.xyzCowboys cut short LT battle, give Guyton all reps https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49530564/cowboys-cut-short-battle-lt-give-guyton-first-team-reps
@Xexyz@mastodon.me.ukLego City Undercover: The Chase Begins: (story) completed!
That was pretty short, really - though the fact I get to spend much more time on handheld games always makes them feel shorter. I've finished the story now, which ends with a good link to the Wii U game and Chase being sent abroad. I was concerned that this would mean that I couldn't continue to search the city, but straight after the credits I was back in Lego City.
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzIs Baker Mayfield playing today vs Cowboys? Buccaneers QB injury update https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/10/08/baker-mayfield-buccaneers-cowboys-injury-update/92147629007/
@cheryanne@aus.socialMake Your Own Luck With Karen Brook
Success is never an accident. Every week, Karen Brook shares a short story from her own life, exploring the timeless principles behind creating success...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/make-y
@Techmeme@techhub.social @NFL@darktundra.xyzDraft a short-season Knockout league winner following these 7 tips https://www.espn.com/fantasy/football/story/_/id/50112518/knockout-league-short-season-strategy
@raiders@darktundra.xyz2-time Pro Bowl DT requests trade and Raiders are on his short list https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/raiders/2026/07/27/buccaneers-dt-vita-vea-requests-trade-raiders-rams-chargers-4…
@jerome@jasette.facil.services
@cosmicray@mastodon.socialThere Will Come Soft Rains, Ray Bradbury's short story published in 1950, takes place today in #Allendale, California
https://users.wpi.edu/~zrbutzke/Docs/BradburyStories(1).pd…
@PwnieFan@infosec.exchangeMore lovely art from @gargoyle.pastures for my upcoming short story collection "Blessed by the Algorithm". In "By a Thousand Cuts", a realtor and a lawyer confront a bank's loan approval algorithm. https://buttondown.com/megancarney/archive/by-a-thousand-cuts/
@Dragofix@veganism.socialAmazon canopy bridges enable 15,000 wildlife crossings without a single roadkill https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/amazon-canopy-bridges-enable-15000-wildlife-crossings-without-a-single-roadkill/
@qurlyjoe@mstdn.social🤯 The Three Second Rule is real.
Bi-stable visual illusions flip about every 3 seconds.
🤯It’s cross-cultural with repetitive activities like chopping, peeling, pouring.
🤯A study has found that if you chop a short movie into pieces and shuffle the clips, we can still follow the story as long as the segment are shorter than about 2.5 seconds. Any longer than that, and we get confused.
#mind
@aardrian@toot.cafeNextdoor keeps trying to get me to “Discover [my] neighborhood,” but it does so by using slop photos for my city and neighborhood that have no relation to reality (and make the not-my-street look a little gross).
Strong signal to not join the platform that can’t be arsed to use existing imagery.
#Buffalo
@raiders@darktundra.xyzESPN predicts a Super Bowl title for Raiders in short order https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/raiders/2026/09/26/espn-predicts-super-bowl-title-raiders-2029/91942213007/
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzInstant Analysis: QB Sam Howell falls short in Cowboys loss; did he earn roster spot? https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/08/29/cowboys-instant-analysis-preseason-saints-sam-howell/915…
@NFL@darktundra.xyzBroncos CB Surtain's ankle injury considered short-term, sources say https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/50110871/broncos-get-good-news-pat-surtain-ii-ankle-sources-say
@cheryanne@aus.socialFor those who, like me, love the Murderbot audiobooks... There's a new 1 hour short story available.
Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy.
#Murderbot #Audiobooks
@ubuntourist@mastodon.social"Despite never publishing a novel or short story, she was a major voice in American fiction."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/aug/15/how-will-history-remember-karoline-leavitt
@raiders@darktundra.xyzRaiders impressive rookie makes PFF short list top rookies this preseason https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/raiders/2026/08/26/raiders-rb-mike-washington-pff-top-15-rookies-nfl-preseason/9…
@blackknight95857669@social.linux.pizzaThe Gardens Between (Multi, XPd on PS5) 2 friends must solve puzzles by manipulating time.
So this one is obviously inspired by Braid. Lot of the same mechanics using forward and backward time "travel". Instead of a platformer tho, this is more of a walking sim. Walking forward or backward and one interaction button is all you have here, but it's plenty.
Some great music in this game. I like the art style, simplistic but expressive. For being as short as it i…
@ubuntourist@mastodon.social"Despite never publishing a novel or short story, she was a major voice in American fiction."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/aug/15/how-will-history-remember-karoline-leavitt
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzBy the Numbers: Dak Prescott, Javonte Williams also come up short in Cowboys' Week 1 loss https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/09/15/cowboys-by-the-numbers-week-1-gian…
@cosmos4u@scicomm.xyzHere is yet another version of "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray #Bradbury: https://bsky.app/profile/bowiesongs.bsky.social/post/3msbhkca4ds27 - this (the full text) was the very first publication of the short story in Collier's magazine in 1950, with the date still set to 1985, not 2026 to which it was changed days later when it appeared in "The Martian Chronicles".
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzCowboys to start season short-handed at OLB; newcomer suspended 3 games by commissioner https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/07/14/cowboys-de-charles-snowden-suspended-for-3-games/909214230…
@NFL@darktundra.xyzWe ranked the best NFL teams ever to fall short of the Super Bowl: Stacking 16 historic near misses https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49641964/super-bowl-lxi-2027-countdown-best-teams-miss-1976
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialIf this were the start of a short story, would you be interested in reading it?
"It was probably an accident the first time that humans went extinct. That's what multiple corporate databases had recorded, but of course those things are so distorted there's no guarantee that corroboration correlates with truth, especially across such a vast gulf of time. Then, probably because of some distorted echo of a science fiction genre filled with bullshit about human 'ingenuity' or other such crap, the corporations brought them back, at incredible technical expense. It wasn't an accident the second time the humans went extinct."
@Xavier@infosec.exchangeThis thread is should win a short story award.
https://oldbytes.space/@gloriouscow/117044736309312697
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzStuds and Duds: 2 Cowboys UDFAs lead offense while some vets struggle https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/08/16/studs-duds-cowboys-vs-seahawks-ps-week-1/91324143007/
@NFL@darktundra.xyzSteelers revamp wide receiver unit: 'Not short-han... https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49356848/pittsburgh-steelers-2026-nfl-revamp-wide-receiver-unit-not-shorthanded-pass-catchers
@katrinakatrinka@infosec.exchangeHey, @…! I was listening to the most recent episode of the #BeyondTheBreakers podcast. It was about Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic with Jessica Watkins and at the end, she plugged an Antarctic fiction zine she and her friends are producing and accepting submissions for now
I realize you're writing a novel about the Arctic, not a short story and wrong pole, but I thought I'd point it out just in case it might be useful.
https://nevermindtheblizzard.straw.page/
@cosmos4u@scicomm.xyzToday, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” published 76 years ago about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast: #Bradbury #dystopia #shortstory
@nelson@tech.lgbtEM Forster loved a good dick joke. This from the 1939 short story The Obelisk. Nominally describing a monument:
“Anyone ever seed a bigger one?” he inquired. No one replied, and how should they to so foolish a question? “Stands up, don’t it?” he continued. No one spoke. “No wonder they call that a needle, for wouldn’t that just prick.”
@pre@boing.worldStarted up some improv again now the summer is over. Eight weeks of practice together then a few shows in November.
Three hour sessions are like 50% more hardcore than two hour sessions.
Seems like the instructor is more interventionist than most. More notes and suggestions as we go.
Same note to me as usual though: Slow down, be more grounded, let it simmer a bit first.
He mentioned Lord Of The Rings, and how its all world-building and slow pacing for the first twenty minutes before the action starts.
Is it? Wouldn't know. I got bored and turned it off before the end. Dreadfully dull story I thought. Just marching up and down. 😆
I'm sure they're right though. It's a hangover from the way you train early with short form. There, if something doesn't happen in the first 2 minutes it doesn't happen at all and you gotta establish setting and relationships immediately.
But I notice also that these days half the podcasts and youtube shows start with a clip from the middle. And I usually skip right to minute five anyway because I don't care about the introductions.
#improv #writing #london
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialI'm re-reading Dune right now for a variety of reasons, and there's a lot wrong with it IMO (including serious queerphobia/misia & fatmisia), but it also has a ton of very cool ideas. Just came across this chapter-starter quote:
"The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future."
This perfectly matches part of what I was trying to express with my recent short story about the pessimism of techno-optimism:
https://kolektiva.social/@tiotasram/117273886370440856
@PwnieFan@infosec.exchangeThe first of the illustrations from @gargoyle.pastures for my upcoming short story collection "Blessed by the Algorithm". So excited to see the rest. #bookstodon
@cjust@infosec.exchangeRhetoric is ramping up on both sides of the debate with regards to the question on Alberta separation on the upcoming October referendum.
I've lived through the Quebec referendum, got out of the UK just before Brexit, and recently left Texas where a week didn't go by there without someone in Austin mentioning the word secession.
All of these arguments that I have heard in these are immensely myopic, completely ignorant of history, and heavily dependent on anti-immigrant rhetoric - in my humble opinion.
Keenable has made their SELECT product free for the month of September - so I tasked it at gathering data about the upcoming referendum in Alberta regarding the potential for separating from the rest of Canada.
So the question was:
Cross reference lost opportunity cost for economic growth in Alberta with the onset of the Alberta Separatist movement with a conservative estimate on the low end and extrapolate the maximum potential economic loss on the high end
This is an AI product - it is, in essence - AISlop, so ingest and consume with a grain of salt (and other preferred seasonings, as you do.)
There is the caveat that that links to original sources remain in place for those who want to dig deeper, for better or for worse.
Yes - the question was loaded, albeit with what some might consider wisdom and others would simply label as "the woke" (without being able to define what "woke" in this context actually means - but I digress)
Long story short:
#AlbertaSepartation #AlbertaRefererendum #AI #AISlop
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialWish inspiration hadn't struck right at 1 a.m. when I have to teach tomorrow, but we'll see if I can get back to sleep now that I'm done with a draft of this story. Glad to have my first entry in my "incredulous young historians of the future" series actually written instead of just imagined. There are surely some typos ahead...
#SciFi #Writing #Technology #ShortStory
"The Age of Progress", a short story by Tiota Sram.
"Your assignment", said the teacher, "is to describe why the progressive vision of technology that gives us the name 'Age of Progress' today failed, and why it was actually a pessimistic view of technology. Your study guides have links to a few sources, but as usual you should synthesize information from at least two knowledge systems, and one of those shouldn't be family-based."
"Ugh", said Ye'xik, "this is gonna be tricky. Wasn't the whole problem with the Age of Progress that they were too optimistic about technology?"
"Well, they did talk a lot about the end of the world and extinction, and I did almost happen, right?" said Finan.
"Yeah, that's gotta count as pessimism, doesn't it?" Gedi chimed in.
"Well..." said Hallavia, with their usual deliberate tone, "I think it's not that simple, or at least it doesn't have to be."
The four of them were walking outside to have lunch, pondering the new assignment from this cycle's history and culture teacher. A brief silence fell as they pondered the Age of Progress.
"Maybe we should look at it through another history system?" offered Finan. "I mean, we've been learning about knowledge systems and lenses, and the 'Ages' lens of just one perspective with its own distortions, right?"
"My mab is working with my omeh on an oral history right now", said Gedi, "maybe I can use that as my second knowledge system? I'll see what they have to say about it!"
"We shouldn't all use the same knowledge systems though", said Ye'xik. "I think there's a bit of a thesis/antithesis thing going on here too? Like we were learning in ideas class?"
"Wait, I missed ideas last week", said Gedi, what's an antithesis?"
"It's just an opposite, really", said Ye'xik. "You take the thesis statement and construct any statement that contradicts it. The two form a pair, and then you can try to find a synthesis that combines both ideas."
"I didn't really get that part", Finan interrupted, "like, if they're contradictory, how could they be expressed together? Wouldn't you need to pick one that's true?... wait I guess maybe if you mixed different knowledge systems? But then would they really be contradictory?"
The group fell silent for a moment in thought.
Hallavi spoke up: "Incommensurate isn't the same as contradictory, I think. That's what it would be if you had two truths from different knowledge systems that didn't fit. Plus... not all knowledge systems have a concept of truth, or of contradiction?"
The group pondered this for a bit more.
"I think maybe there's lots of ways to be contradictory, even in a very logic-hungry knowledge system", said Gedi. "Then if your thesis and antithesis contradict in one way, you could find another sort out 'axis' in which they don't, and state your synthesis from there?"
"Oh, that makes sense", said Ye'xik.
"Anyways what were you saying about the Age of Progress, Ye'xik?" said Gedi.
"Wait", interrupted Hallavi, "Did that mashes sense to you, Finan?"
Finan had been silent, looking down at their feet, but replied "Oh yeah, thanks for checking Hallavi! I think I got the part about synthesis now, thanks Gedi. I was just thinking about optimism and pessimism more. Is that where you were going with this, Ye'xik?"
"Haha, yeah Finan, you got it", said Ye'xik. "Since optimism and pessimism can be opposites, does the teacher actually want us to form a synthesis of them?"
"Oh..." muttered Gedi, "that's a good idea."
"I think..." began Hallavi, pausing to collect their thoughts, "I think the teacher would have told us that, though. Obviously it's not a wrong way to approach this assignment because it incorporates pessimism, but teachers usually aren't too tricky. I think it's okay to be literal about the pessimism thing. And I think I have an idea..."
When Hallavi remained silent for a moment, Ye'xik opened their mouth to speak, but then looked at Hallavi and closed it again. Finan and Gedi were looking at Hallavi too. They pushed through the doors out to the meadow, and settled in their usual place to sit, pulling lunches out of their bags. Hallavi finally spoke up while the others were chewing: "The Age of Progress lasted from the Enlightenment to the Dim Times, and they believed that technology would always get better, no matter what. That's the progressive vision of technology our teacher was talking about. They thought it could solve any problem, and they wouldn't have to worry about weapons or extinctions or the climate or pollution or any of that stuff, because technology would eventually come up with a solution. They looked at the technology that solved problems like diseases or overcame engineering challenges and extrapolated too broadly, basically. That's the idea they had?"
The other three were all nodding their heads, knowing Hallavi needed room to think and put words together.
Hallavi continued: "So it seems like it's optimistic, because they thought it could do anything. But they were thinking about technology like I just talked about it: like an 'it' that could 'do'. That's not what we've been learning in our technology class. Invention is a social phenomenon, and technologies have both material and social bases, not to mention communities of practice and knowledge maintenance. So I think the idea of technological progress divorced from social participation is pessimistic, because it mythologizes technology in a way that makes it seem uncontrollable."
"Huh" said Gedi and Finan while at the same time Ye'xik said "mhmm".
Hallavi looked up shyly at the rest of them, but they were all looking back with admiration.
"I think you're right, Hallavi", said Ye'xik. "Or at least, that's probably what the teacher wanted us to puzzle out. Good thing they asked us to include two knowledge systems so we can each have our own perspectives to contribute, otherwise you'd go first and our presentations would all just be 'What Hallavi said'".
Hallavi blushed but Finan laughed "Hah! You're right and that Ye'xik."
Gedi was looking at their sandwich with some intensity. They looked at Hallavi then back at their sandwich. "It's like they thought they were strapped to an out-of-control rocket, when you put it that way", they said. "It must have been scary, really, to believe that technology was almost an entity, changing in an inevitable way. That word 'inevitable' really takes all the human agency out of it, doesn't it. And even though they kept saying that technology would inevitably solve problems, look at what the technologies they invented actually did!"
Finan shuddered. He added, "Really, it was their dominators who were saying it was inevitable wasn't it? Back then it wasn't like today where historians travel and sample all kinds of ideas, so the primary sources we're reading are almost all from dominators, right?"
Ye'xik responded "Yeah, I keep forgetting to account for that. It was such a weird and horrible time, it's kinda hard to believe everything we read and hear sometimes."
Gedi picked up the thread again "That makes it worse, right? All those dominators saying the stuff they're doing is inevitable, and lying to everyone's faces about it being progress and wonderful stuff, meanwhile two thirds of it is the most awful stuff there's ever been, I mean they could have literally killed everyone and ruined the whole planet, and they almost did."
"They did actually crush a lot of cultures beyond recognition so the survivors had to rebuild with only weak ties to their old traditions", said Hallavi with a quiet intensity.
They all were silent for a moment, pondering the horrors of a bygone age.
Finan broke the silence: "That's a terrible kind of pessimism, to believe that technologcal 'progress' is inevitable, at a time when most people are dominators somewhere in a hierarchy and the ones on top constantly talk about how technologies like medicines will 'save' the world while mostly inventing new technologies of violence. Everyone must have understood what they really meant based on the technologies they were actually developing and investing into. I think I still don't understand how the Age of Progress and the Dim Times could even happen".
"Yeah, and the pessimism is only part of our assignment", signed Ye'xik. "We still have to describe why the progressive vision failed, although I think maybe you just did a lot of that, Finan".
A gloom descended briefly, until Gedi said "Well, this assignment is supposed to take a week or two, right? Thanks to Hallavi we've already cracked the crux, I think, so we don't need to ruminate too much right this moment about ancient history, and we know things turned out okay in the end. Let's finish lunch and go climb a tree!"
