Just a cool emma

The Midnight Society continues to be the absolute best

If I had a nickel for every time Franz Ferdinand was involved in the precursor events of a world war, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice

If an artist isn't able to visualise their ideas on paper (or on the screen) without the use of genAI, they are not an artist. I know some artists who aren't capable of visualising things in their head, yet they can still create stunning art. I know others who brainstorm their ideas and compositions with literal scribbles and stick figures, only to end up with a beautifully rendered piece. There is absolutely no excuse for a self-respecting artist to use genAI at any point during their process.

Someone over on Instagram saying that genAI is bad for art, but can still be used by artists who have trouble visualising their ideas.

I had to reply.

Saw a thoughtful thread about AI, don't want to QT or argue. But. The biggest rage factor with LLMs is the people who, because genAI is transformative for coding, think it's transformative for everything else, because they devalue every other form of work and labor and knowledge.

I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

Very funny to me, also, that "The Arsenal of Freedom" is the name of an episode in Star Trek TNG where autonomous AI weapons killed an entire civilization and there's a sales hologram still on the planet trying to sell them. it was originally a commentary in the sale of F-14 Tomcats to Iran(!)

The promise of OpenAI and Grok being used in war is that no human can be held accountable for the war crimes it commits, all the way up to where it sits on the chain of command.

The total abdication of any kind of accountability, any kind of "am I following an unjust order" moral hesitation, etc.

There is a specific type of demoralizing fascism where people lose rights they had, in their lifetime, fought to get recognized.

Not *just* losing rights, but seeing decades of hard effort dissolve.

Reconstruction, Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute, Dobbs, the coming overturning of Obergefell, etc

Ai sä olit niinkö tosissas tästä? Kylhän mä sit tuun

stepped outside for a vibe check and saw a beast fuckin hauling ass towards Bethlehem

This wheel is to the boy squirrel the way that the football is to Charlie Brown and it still makes me laugh every time he tries to use it only to be immediately spun.

Tremendous New Year’s sermon of sorts

a shot of a god botherer in a car, next to him on the passenger seat is a skull in an ornate box

'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez

The kickstarter info for Comix Cleric, featuring the mascot Penelope infront of a blue background. The current raised amount is shown at 3,680 dollars.

Less than 24 hours in and we're humbled by the amazing support so far. This is WITHOUT sponsored ads or promoted giveaways. Why is this important to us?

This shows us that we were right, that people WANT Comix Cleric, and that people want to be able to host their own comics their way.
Thank you!

'Cloud Dancer': A Measured Response Regarding Pantone's decision, and so on, and so forth

sorry I'm late! I have at last broken my silence on Pantone's Color of the Year johnpaulbrammer.substack.com/p/cloud-danc...

So stupidly cruel, the administrative clusterfuck is just a cherry on the bigotry cake

the big hay goat from sweden or something looking very unburned and majestic with text from the old "you wouldn't download a car" but it reads "you wouldn't burn a goat"

it's advent you know what that means

Infographic with AI slop published in Nature Scientific Reports

"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se

[at unicorn fuck club]
Elon Musk: [rising from bushes] eyyyy it'sa me, elon!
JRR Tolkien: elon musk?!
Tolkien: my word! I don't think we've ever had you at OUR campfire before!
Tolkien: you're usually over there with that
Tolkien: [grumbling] midnight society

I am merely aiding the police in their inquiries, it is simply a way of passing the time for me, and the constables, they are gracious enough to accept my assistance, all unpaid, of course. If you, too, will humor me by joining the other guests in the parlor I would like to share some of my findings

Finland's Right-Wing Coalition Plans Fifty Years of Austerity Through National Debt Brake Finland's government wants public debt below 40 percent of GDP, forcing decades of cuts stricter than EU rules.

Social Europe published my piece on the Finnish government’s debt brake proposal.

The reform would cap public debt at 40% of GDP (now 88%). Until reaching this target, the debt ratio would need to fall by at least 1 p.p. per year.

By weakening domestic demand, the reform would raise the debt ratio

Someone in a frog costume facing down a line of police in riot gear

George Orwell’s Animal Crossing

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Just How Bad Would an AI Bubble Be? The entire U.S. economy is being propped up by the promise of productivity gains that seem very far from materializing.

So I'll be honest, i'd seen this article floating around, but hadn't clicked through because the headline doesn't actually give me reason to expect anything I haven't already said elsewhere (in some cases, almost 2 yrs ago). But the METR study at the heart of the article is honestly kind of crucial…

update about the cartoonists of color, queer cartoonists, and disabled cartoonists databases | MariNaomi Get more from MariNaomi on Patreon

update about the cartoonists of color, queer cartoonists, and disabled cartoonists databases

tldr: i am shuttering the databases and i am sad.

www.patreon.com/posts/139743...

1/ New @lut.fi study in collaboration with European partners finds prioritising nuclear power expansion over renewable energy (RE) leads to 71–84% higher annual system costs in Finland by 2050 compared to a cost-optimised RE system. doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

i made a helpful reference

A sketched comic wherein a stick figure has an idea, writes ”IDEA” on a piece of paper, and is gradually overwhelmed by the inabiliity to do anything with said idea, slowly sinking under the desk and presumably expiring (as we can see a spirit departing from under the desk). Caption reads ”And she never drew anything again. The End”

So much talent and creativity and lovely people at Helsinki Zine Fest, I was almost inspired!