Yes! They made life so simple. One didn’t need to decide anything except, well, how much soup?

I hope so too.

Yes. The difficult part is, in terms of legal action, it’s not clear if/who is earning money off it and where it is. It’s hard to get civil legal action going without a potential payday. Hence the interest in whether Meta is using it.

Yeah. My academic stuff is there. In my digital humanities workgroup some colleagues think it’s what Meta used for their AI scrape.

Thank you. Being able to make these is my experiment with AI. If I had any talent at drawing I’d do them myself. But alas. It takes longer to get usable images, even with careful editing, than I spend writing. But having illustrations feels right for this.

Paul sent me a fantastic link about Lyon's Corner in the 1950s & their darling waitress uniforms. You know, for *research*.

I clicked &, top picture, the man at the table is EXACTLY how I imagined Bertie Johnson. Maybe this is history after all. #amwriting #stclare flashbak.com/the-rise-and...

I've always wanted to use it in a story. I think this is my first. Well, in a teaser *about* a story...

Because sometimes you've just got to say it.

I would pay off the mortgages of every one of my friends and extended family. And set up trusts for educations of their children and grandchildren. Beyond that? Not too much would change, though I'd definitely do a world-wide friend tour. This summer doing that in the UK was magic.

Ain’t that the truth.

Too true. The “always keep” include the two ebony ones that have been used for play and punishment for 20+ years — they were the two kept when we did our big sale right after we married. A satinwood one that I suspect went away to school with someone. And last year’s Christmas gift.

Fantastic Chris. :) You are a 🌟

Sting tends to have an OMG I’m going to die! make it stop kind of reaction. Thud tends to go deep, leaving me sore.

The evil magic of wooden hairbrushes is they do both - landing with a deep burn.

Reminding me I’ve got to sell some…

I only have good memories, but couldn’t go in. Too many losses.

I’d love to see you there. 🧡

She did get to go. And then the rain came back.

No one leaves. Not for anything.

Heroic kindness. 💕