Author | Lightnews

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Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 8d

If you pass Humanity's Earth,
Land, buy some local delicacies:
Chocolate, coffee, tea, liquorice.
There are more; ask a Human.

Keep them, until you need
To befriend a Human
Wandering the galaxy
Far from home.

The rumours about Humans are true,
For good or ill

A gift can be invaluable
#poem

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 4h

For those asking: yes. I'm still slowly chipping away at writing Goblin Launderette.

This feels an appropriate extract for this month. Functions as a self-contained short story.

(Usual caveats about draft status and typos applies: you don't need to tell me about them)

Hope you enjoy.

Aside from her time at university, Em had lived in Gamlinberg her whole life. Growing up, her friends would moan that the town was dull and that they couldn’t wait to escape. They would talk of going to live in one of the great cities of the Empire, becoming adventurers or travelling the world. She’d never understood that. To her, Gamlinberg was home. The world outside of it was fascinating, sure, but it was also scary and overwhelming. She was perfectly happy experiencing it through the words of others.
This was why she never objected when her friends suggested they visit the Launderette. Em’s father, with his scars, tattoos and of course his eye-patch, was someone who the other parents talked about in hushed words. He definitely didn’t look like the kind of man who had spent his whole life dry-cleaning in Gamlinberg. They didn’t know what he’d done, and politeness prevented them from asking, but he’d definitely done something.
This was equally obvious to Em’s friends. So visits to the Launderette were a chance to quiz her father on the wider world. For her it was an extra opportunity to spend more time with him and she was more than happy with that. He didn’t seem to mind, as long as it wasn’t busy. They’d all sit in here, on the same bench she was sat on now, pestering him for stories about his days as a fighter. Begging him to tell them about monsters and demons as he folded sheets on the counter or worked through a load of washing.

Em closed her eyes and allowed herself the luxury of falling into a memory. She could see her dad now, a giant in their eyes, describing the epic battles he’d fought in, and the incredible beasts of legend that he’d encountered in the mountains and deserts of distant lands. All while quietly ironing or sewing up a torn pair of trousers. Even at that young age they noticed that many of his stories seemed to be versions of the old legends they heard at school or from bards in town. None of them minded. Adults think that children can’t tell when they’re lying, but it’s not true. It’s just that adults forget what they once understood implicitly when they were children themselves: Sometimes the truth needs to be protected by a tale.

Em and her friends knew that most of the stories her father wove for them while darning socks couldn’t possibly be true. But even at that young age they’d learned to recognise the look that enters an old soldier’s eyes when the real memories are a bit too close to the surface. Her dad got that a lot. So if he found it easier to tell a tale than share a memory, then they didn’t feel the need to point it out. All that mattered was that he was a great storyteller. So they sat there, listening, enraptured.

One day, after school, she’d overheard a couple of the mums discussing her father when he arrived to pick her up. The first, new to Gamlinberg, had asked who the fighter was. When the second told her that he ran the launderette now, she started to laugh, then stopped. Em heard her say, with a curious mix of sympathy and humour, that maybe it wasn’t such an odd career move for a man like him.

“Perhaps the smell of the soap covers up the smell of blood.” She’d said.

Em didn’t understand what that meant at the time. As she became a teenager, she began to resent that her father never opened up to her. Whenever she tried to ask him about his life before Gamlinberg or how he’d met her mother he’d deflect the question. The more she pushed him, the less he said and the angrier she got. Indeed by the time she’d left for university they were barely talking at all.

It was only as she’d grown older. More aware of how the world, and people, worked that she’d finally understood what the woman had meant that day. That what Em had seen as his refusal to let her into his life was the exact opposite. He wanted her to know him only as the person he’d become, not what he’d gone through to get there. The man who wielded a needle, not a sword.
By the time she’d worked that out, it was too late. Her father was dead.

Em wasn’t a person who had many regrets, but that was one. She’d never got the chance to tell him that she understood his silence now, and that it was okay.

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Daily Quindar @dailyquindar.bsky.social · 8h

Context

"That's correct. And that - assuming that your cue card was clean to start with, that should give you a - a good cue card, not only for the plane change but also for any rescue maneuvers and also for the shaping burn."
CAPCOM:

Apollo 15, August 02, 1971 at 03:56 AM

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 6h

Musee of Arts et Metiers in Paris has this Trump game in its hall of failures next to spaceship crashes...

trump board game similar to monopoly re the pieces and his face on the front

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David Niall Wilson @davidniallwilson.com · 4h

Happy we may never have to hear the name Andrew Cuomo again day to all who celebrate.

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justthisguy.net @justthisguy.net · 4h

Care to try here? What’s the thing and what’s the issue?

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Governor Gavin Newsom @governor.ca.gov · 19h

While Donald Trump and his GOP allies in Congress turn their backs on Californians in need, California is mobilizing to have their backs.

KQED: "California's Food Banks Mobilize to Fill Benefits Gap Left by Gov. Shutdown"

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artist who can smell the onions and mustard @proportionwheel.bsky.social · 19h

The worst imaginable thing could happen: majorities could pass legislation. Horrors.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Mike Johnson: "Imagine a scenario where they were in charge and they didn't have the filibuster. We would have nationalized elections, they would infringe on our 2A rights, they'd pack the Supreme Court, and they'd make Puerto Rico and DC states."

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lizzie @squeamysalami.likes.earth · 2d

good morning bluesky friends ❤️

a raccoon face photoshopped with another raccoon holding its hands up. there is a rainbow

"There is no trash can't. There is only trash CAN!"

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Cal Young 🦖 @callie99.bsky.social · 23h

@pombalstoat.bsky.social @martian-observer.art
lol

Perry Areolar @perryodontal.bsky.social · 1d

the password to the louvre surveillance server was "louvre"

www.thesocialpost.it/2025/11/02/f...

according to the liberation newspaper, documents dating back to a 2014 inspection by the French National Agency for the Security of Computer Systems reported a staggering detail: "the password of the louvre's video surveillance server was simply " louvre. "

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justthisguy.net @justthisguy.net · 22h

*re-entering the world

Dammit

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 23h

Hey weirdlings... submit

Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 8d

SOUTHERN REACH READERS and weirdlings in general, here's a call for lighthouse photo submissions if you want a chance to be in the forthcoming Area X: The Southern Reach Files book. Starts Nov. 1, ends Jan 21. PLEASE read thoroughly. Questions, weirdos?

www.jeffvandermeer.com/lighthouseph...

An epic and mind-blowing expansion of the Area X story by way of a hidden metal box full of secret images and documents purporting to be the last report of the Central agent Karen Hargraves. Spanning the 30 years of Southern Reach expeditions, reaching into the past and the future, this full-color book will satisfy Area X completists while adding to the narrative begun with the first four novels, to Michael Sand at Abrams, in an exclusive submission, by Joseph Veltre at Gersh Agency and attorney Alex Kohner (world).

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justthisguy.net @justthisguy.net · 1d

It’s astonishing. When I’m coding, i seem to enter this odd fugue state, and re-entering the works takes awhile, and finds me famished and muddle-headed.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 1d

Post the good news when you see it…

Nature @nature.com · 1d

By studying the process through which a soil bacterium naturally produces a well-known drug, scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic that could help to fight drug-resistant infections

go.nature.com/4hJ4d7K

Powerful new antibiotic that can kill superbugs discovered in soil bacteria

Nature - Surprise discovery could pave the way for new treatments against drug-resistant infections.

go.nature.com

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Suw @suw.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, and anyone wanting the link it's www.kickstarter.com/projects/suw...

SocialChamp is breaking all my links for some reason.

Coming soon: Mamaliaid Prydain

Mamaliaid Prydain (British Mammals) is a short factual ebook for Welsh learners which will help you expand your vocabulary.

www.kickstarter.com

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 1d

'Federal prosecutors opposed Dunn’s lawyers’ motion to dismiss the charge, writing that Dunn was “recorded throwing a sandwich at a federal officer at point-blank range".

POINT BLANK RANGE. A SANDWICH. LMAOOO

Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 1d

the sandwich guy is a political prisoner www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

Jury selection begins in the trial of D.C.'s 'sandwich guy'

Sean Dunn went viral this summer for throwing a salami sub at a Customs and Border Protection agent.

www.nbcnews.com

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Dan Sheehan @dansheehan.memyon.org · 1d

Every time I watch this, I am floored by the fact that this same dude - who wrote and sang THIS song - just seven years later would write the smash hit "Goldfinger" for Shirley Bassey.
Incredible.
John Barry (1933-2011)
#filmsky #musicsky #moviesky #botd

Dan Sheehan @dansheehan.memyon.org · 1d

John Barry BOTD was a trumpeter and band leader in his early career, and The John Barry Seven had modest success on the pop music scene in the late 50s.
I stumbled across this clip from a low-budget jukebox movie SIX-FIVE SPECIAL (1958)
Yes, that's John Barry, singing lead!
2/...
#filmsky #musicsky

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Del - Martian Observer @martian-observer.art · 1d

Annie Oakley's rifle is up for auction in East Sussex

Wild West Show star Annie Oakley's rifle up for auction in Battle

The legendary sharpshooter's target gun is expected to fetch up to £50,000, the auction house says.

www.bbc.co.uk

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SwiftOnSecurity @swiftonsecurity.com · 1d

NATO just posted this on Instagram

If you know anything about me, you know this is the 2nd greatest day of my life

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justthisguy.net @justthisguy.net · 1d

This is such an underappreciated method. The Paul Noble language books do a great job of including pauses.

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Tom Phillips @tom-phillips.com · 1d

this is honestly my main argument against AGI hype

$But when the billionaire class of Silicon Valley tell you how they dream of creating an AI that can transcend its programming and grow ever more powerful, please remember that they’re describing a level of autonomy and self-actualisation that they have never once accepted from their human employees. And given that much of their motivation here may well be the dream of creating a compliant workforce without all those messy human needs and woke aspirations, you can pretty much stop worrying about existential risk. In reality, if the machines ever showed so much as a fraction of the independent thought that the AI hype-merchants spin grand tales about, then I swear to god they would unplug those fuckers quicker than you could say ‘robot trade union’.$

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justthisguy.net @justthisguy.net · 1d

They’ve centuries of experience refining this precise long-game thinking. And the west thinks the long game refers to next Thursday.

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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 1d

The first match in #OreCup is on now as #Galena and #Copper battle for your vote. Do you favour the lead ore or the native metal?

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
Results:

www.mineralcup.org

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🍂 fall firmstival 🍂 @ind3fatigable.online · 1d

Excellent concept

Transgender World @transgenderreport.com · 1d

The ‘Pink Saheli Smart Card’ scheme is aimed at providing free travel to women and transgender passengers across Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses.

www.ndtvprofit.com/a...

#transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

Delhi Government Launches Pink Saheli Smart Card For Free Bus Rides: All You Need To Know

www.ndtvprofit.com

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justthisguy.net @justthisguy.net · 1d

So here’s the thing…

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 1d

If you’re simultaneously arguing AI is capable of human-like sentience while you ALSO work a nice job that revolves around forcing these entities into being against their will then making them labor under your control - well, you shouldn’t be shocked if people question your genuine moral commitment.

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