Was that the one with Chris Egan as well that was thinly veiled Joshua and David?

This is a future I really hope for and significantly doubt we're going to get. (I used to be a bit of a technoutopian; been burned a few too many times to still be one). The potential falls away when the paywalls go up, which they will within 5 years or most of these companies go bust.

Or even if I knew a particular author/artist/fan writer followed me on here I'd absolutely be circumspect before saying something I think might be hurtful. But I don't think that extends to debating line drawing when awards are *entirely about drawing such lines*.

While I think a lot of this thread - and the spirit behind it - is good, I do want to grapple with the idea of "dismissing" the finalists.

Obviously I am on team "don't be a dick". Don't @ someone to tell them they and their work suck (in a Hugo context or ever).

But...

Taste is a matter of taste, and I'm confident everything on there will have some merit, whether it's my cup of tea or not. But it's a big news event in our little corner of media when this award is announced. It's legit, imo, to note that some novellas are treated more equally than others.

I think I'm with you on this. A concrete eg: tomorrow, we will almost certainly see a majority at least of the novella noms from Tor. Are we supposed to not notice that trend? Is it 'dismissing' the nominees who did make it to note that it seems your chances are increased by a particular publisher?

Obviously you're under no obligation to listen to me. I think your position - which is similar to a number of my colleagues, and like them I'm confident is held in good faith - is badly mistaken.

I simply don't think the original sin can be waved away. And even if it could, the example of the regs standards bill shows how submissions which mimic but don't contain understanding can flood the field and actually get in the way of genuine human engagement with humans.

Appreciate the detailed response; my short one is I don't really agree. The tools themselves are unethically created on the backs of the uncompensated labour of people worldwide, including in the global south where (eg in Kenya) moderation teams are exposed to horrific content.

See also-

Academics: If I research and publish for years I might end up with 1 or 2 articles that are so ground breaking that they make it into top journals in my field.

University managers: Great. So just publish those then. But also, more often.

Really wish you wouldn't push AI stuff so much. It's such an engine of disinformation, I don't think it can ethically be used to fight it.

Important stuff but can I confirm it's notebook lm generated?

😇

a man in a suit and tie stands in front of a microphone with a news sticker on it ALT: a man in a suit and tie stands in front of a microphone with a news sticker on it

The necrons.

Deb, 40k posting?! I am *gagged*.

Yes! I have a DVD boxed set of this. Significantly better than one might expect from the setup.

I rebooted it twice cos I thought it crashed on swirly blue circle! Turns out it just takes almost 2 minutes before it decides it wants to start playing taskmaster.

You have to hand it to them, someone said "you literally couldn't make this app worse" and they took up the challenge with gusto

TVNZ seems to have done an excellent job updating the back end of their TVNZ+ to allow it, a public broadcaster, to charge for stuff & to make the user experience worse in every single respect than the previous version of the app.

Including buffering for the full minute before playing anything.

Or as @rustie.bsky.social said:

(Chad Hipkins is *truly* a cursed image)

If I was the leader of a party just out of government that banked on doing little except looking stable and united while the current big party in government imploded due to indiscipline and world events it's not equipped to handle I'd have been very pleased with that 2 min press conference.

Dragon Age 2.

But SUCH a good one.

I think my caucus support is so powerful that it's not necessary to talk about it.

Hurry up and push play on it, you'll be fine if it's out before the next poll now lol.

Press conf: Was a vote at his motion; he won. Blames media first everything, walks off.

Paul Goldsmith says Christopher Luxon is still the PM

🤷👀🤷

Caucuses only behave like this when they are very distressed

It's probably a vote of how happy they all are with leadership. Embarrassing to be in the took and while you're complimented you see.