RaePatterson - Network

That's what I like to hear."... criticism of the town council and a few heated library board meetings, including one last month...

That's what I like to hear.

"... criticism of the town council and a few heated library board meetings, including one last month that culminated in the RCMP being called during the public engagement portion."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/northern-alberta-library-future-1.7487069

Thank you, Anonymous First Reader, for tossing my story up to the editors. That is most positive feedback I have had in months.#writing

Thank you, Anonymous First Reader, for tossing my story up to the editors. That is most positive feedback I have had in months.

#writing

There's a petition before the Canadian government to revoke Musk's citizenship, but that's not going to...

There's a petition before the Canadian government to revoke Musk's citizenship, but that's not going to happen.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/elon-musk-canadian-citizenship-1.7468330

No harm in signing it https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-5353

but there is also a petition for the federal government to stop using X for communications https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-6378 which might actually have an effect.

It's easy to do for any Canadian Citizen.

I wasn't going to donate to #Wikipedia, since they actually have lots of cash, unlike me, but I had to after Ol' Musky exhorted us...

I wasn't going to donate to #Wikipedia, since they actually have lots of cash, unlike me, but I had to after Ol' Musky exhorted us all to stop donating to "Wokepedia."

Yes, pretty young woman giving away wrinkle cream samples, I do know what stem cells are, and, unless this is a nefarious plan to create...

Yes, pretty young woman giving away wrinkle cream samples, I do know what stem cells are, and, unless this is a nefarious plan to create human-grape chimeras to provide both meat and wine for the elites, I don't believe those grape stem cells will accomplish much.

Today I learned than when someone from #SriLanka says that some dish is "a bit spicy," that dish should be approached with extreme...

Today I learned than when someone from #SriLanka says that some dish is "a bit spicy," that dish should be approached with extreme caution.

Every now and then, some visionary individuals come along with a concept that is so original and so revolutionary that your immediate...

Every now and then, some visionary individuals come along with a concept that is so original and so revolutionary that your immediate reaction is: ''Those individuals should be on medication.''
-- Dave Barry

Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day, me proud beauties. Arrr!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day

Are you supposed to wear the AR-15 pin on the same side as the ear bandage, or the other side?I wouldn't want to do anything that made...

Are you supposed to wear the AR-15 pin on the same side as the ear bandage, or the other side?

I wouldn't want to do anything that made me look weird.

In #Canada, we used to joke that living above the USA was like living above a crack house.Now it's more like the crack house is taking...

In #Canada, we used to joke that living above the USA was like living above a crack house.

Now it's more like the crack house is taking over the whole block, and there's a dumpster fire behind it, into which people, for some reason, keep throwing toxic waste, live ammunition, and dead children.

Maybe #AI could use #Crypto to invest in #NFTs and make us all rich !!1!!!!

Maybe #AI could use #Crypto to invest in #NFTs and make us all rich !!1!!!!

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between...

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

7/7

The people who benefit from this (aside from the ones selling it) are those whose behaviors and plans benefit from not being examined too...

The people who benefit from this (aside from the ones selling it) are those whose behaviors and plans benefit from not being examined too critically. If there is literally no way to tell whether someone or something is going to save or destroy you, you might as well just go out for a drink and shrug. Behind all the people who want to watch Hermione porn and empty their call centers of anything but ChatGPT, there is a small group of creaky old Fascists who know the truth, that:

6/

Now we don’t even have that. The person does not exist despite the fact that you are talking to them, the event never happened despite the...

Now we don’t even have that. The person does not exist despite the fact that you are talking to them, the event never happened despite the video showing it in detail, there is no job available despite the enthusiasm of the recruiter, you can’t actually carve a kiwi fruit like that despite the beautiful photo.

It is the destruction of the very concept of a reality beyond one’s own eyes and ears. It is the destruction of object permanence.

5/

That’s bad enough, but even worse is what it is doing to our society. Nothing can be believed anymore. Wise people, always a small...

That’s bad enough, but even worse is what it is doing to our society. Nothing can be believed anymore. Wise people, always a small minority, know that news images are cropped to support the narrative of the newspaper and speeches are carefully edited to show the speaker in a particular light. But we used to believe that the images and words actually happened, even if they were distorted.

4/

Now, we can assume none of that. It’s hard to tell real from fake, and in ten years, or even five, it will be impossible for anyone...

Now, we can assume none of that. It’s hard to tell real from fake, and in ten years, or even five, it will be impossible for anyone without specialized equipment and/or software to tell.

3/

The predatory chatbots on employment search and dating sites, the glorious images of fruit platters and rustic cottages on social media, the...

The predatory chatbots on employment search and dating sites, the glorious images of fruit platters and rustic cottages on social media, the customer “service” pop-ups that open on all service sites: all of these are just fake idealized versions of things we used to assume were real, or at least real-ish, maybe with a little embellishment and scripting and dodge/burn/enhancement, but still real objects/jobs/people actually out there somewhere.

2/

What I really don’t like about the current AI craze is the fact that by its nature, AI in its current state is best used for confusing...

What I really don’t like about the current AI craze is the fact that by its nature, AI in its current state is best used for confusing reality and make-believe.

1/

A thing that I have not seen mentioned is that if Biden dies or becomes infirm due to extreme oldness in office, you will get President...

A thing that I have not seen mentioned is that if Biden dies or becomes infirm due to extreme oldness in office, you will get President Harris, and you could do a lot worse, frankly.

If Trump dies from the oft-fatal combination of Adderall and cheeseburgers, you will get whichever bloated, decaying, monster is about to bob to the surface of the cesspool of candidates.

Both of these scenarios are totally possible.

#Biden #Trump

It is as if someone handcrafted a live hummingbird out of individual molecules and then just watched it fly away.I am in...

It is as if someone handcrafted a live hummingbird out of individual molecules and then just watched it fly away.

I am in awe.

http://raepatterson.ca/2024/06/22/octavia-butler/

And then there is Octavia Butler.I am reading Kindred—for the first time, somehow—and there is is no writing. There is only story. It is...

And then there is Octavia Butler.

I am reading Kindred—for the first time, somehow—and there is is no writing. There is only story. It is as if the story sprang fully grown, like Minerva, out of the forehead of whoever makes the universe work the way it does. The fact that Butler, like all of us, must have sweated over every sentence, grinding and hammering the writing down into the flesh of the story, makes it even more remarkable.