For fuck's sake, sign up for The Onion, and get a free limited edition IW tote.
A share of merch sales will go to the Sandy Hook families, which will be the first time they get any money since they filed this lawsuit eight years ago.
Legal fees have been insane. Please sign up and help us out!
Or don't look at the Mayor of Minneapolis who is a performative paid for crony of rich suburbanites no better than Cuomo. He trashes homeless encampments at will despite running on helping homeless. His cops are under consent decrees for misconduct, murdered #GeorgeFloyd, he doesn't do squat.
Zine cover reading: MAY DAY STRONG Friday, May 1, 2026 HERE'S WHAT YOU DO No school, no work, no shopping
Made a #MayDayStrong zine! Here's what we're all doing on Friday, May 1, 2026, friends -- and why! Check out the zine in this thread and check out maydaystrong.org for events near you!
This Is Just To Say
I have turned off
the AI features
that were in
the update
and which
you were probably
hoping
to monetize
Fuck you
they were stupid
so unnecessary
and so annoying
Shiny things, get your shiny things, pendants for all!
Today in social justice toolkit:
A dilemma action is a strategic action that forces your opponent into a lose-lose situation.
You've given them only bad options.
I give some examples
& then we talk about how to design them.
This one's pretty important.
Read and share, please?
This seems deeply unfair, and I'm so sorry.
Now working on next month - spirals for all!
He so fat!
This is what they've done.
This is what they've done.
Fuck Recuse; time to remove.
The rate of sex offenders among pardoned J6 defendants is 3x the national average.
Look, for my money the absolute game changer technologies right now are batteries and biosciences, not statistically modeling a mid conversation, but you do you.
The older I get, the more I find the distinction between science fiction and fantasy to be useless. Why is faster than light travel science fiction, just for starters.
Despite multiple attempts, I've never warmed to _Foundation_. Partly, I think, because I was raised a Calvinist, and have hated Predestination with a white hot passion for a very long time.
I mean, I did like it, but I was desperate for models of femininity that would work in my Fundamentalist milieu while also providing a shred of agency. I think it's interesting that the story Heinlein actually wanted to tell was one about neglectful parents.
I think that your #3 is the biggest factor. For a long time, fantasy was "girl" coded, and so the boys didn't feel the need to do gatekeeping.
One of the most tiresome arguments in sff fandom is the difference between science fiction and fantasy.
Oh, I do wish it was only on Facebook! But it's great that there are places where it isn't happening.
Oh, man, that is super disappointing. I wasn't a huge KISS fan, but I liked their rebellious aesthetic.
I have never heard Asimov referred to as highbrow, before. In my personal opinion, his prose style is kinda terrible. Not as bad as Clarke, but not good.
I mean, one of the things the New Wave was about was "Maybe we could actually care about style and beauty" and there were a bunch of writers and readers who rejected that utterly. Honestly, it sounds like a simple question, but the answer is pretty complicated and I can't do it justice. /6
But back to your original question, the other thing about antique sff is that most of them were not great stylists. I don't know that it had to do with grinding out prose to make a living so much as just...not very skilled? There are exceptions, but also... /5
It is, THANK GOD, not the water a 12 year old right now is swimming in. So, there has to be something really valuable in a work to make it worth ignoring that kind of bullshit. And, depending on what the reader wants, there might be! /4
I was raised a very sheltered Fundamentalist, so my social understanding and mores were a lot more like the 1950s than the 1970s, so when I encountered older sff, it reflected my own social assumptions. I didn't trip over stuff, because it was the water I swam in. /3
However, the things that a lot of elder fan try to get younger fans to read past are just straight up sexism, racism, and homophobia. And my argument is that it doesn't matter that these attitudes were normal at the time, people shouldn't have to read past that if they don't want to. /2
My impression, based on reading memoirs of the time and having a lot of friends as working authors, is that it was actually a bit easier to make a living as a writer in the 40s and 50s than it is, now. Also, famously, a bunch of them churned out porn when they were short on cash. /1
I am on board with letting kids read widely. Some of them are gonna find 1960s sff exactly their jam! But a lot of them will bounce off, too. I feel like all this is fine, and the people I'm kicking against are the ones who get super upset when kids bounce.
But, THERE ARE NO GIRLS! A thing which I didn't notice when I was in my teens, because all media was like that, but which most 12 year olds will notice, these days.
Honestly, I love that for us!