One last happy bit of news before I totter off to bed:

CNN's management is in a shake-up linked in part to a certain disastrous town hall.

But please remember that CNN is just one part of this mess.

In my year+ at OnlySky, a start-up working through the worst year for new-venture investment since 2008, I learned a *lot* about how much media is struggling.

We are in a crisis of authority under unchecked corporate rule. Tread carefully. Keep your media literacy sharp.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-licht-cedes-control-of-business-operations-as-execs-have-diminishing-confidence-report-says/

After earlier sad news, I want to share joy.

One of these photos is of cows being herded home from day-grazing. 💛🐄

The other is of an adult holding his mother's hand on the street: a *ridiculously* common sight here, because family is treasured. The pejorative idea of being a "momma's boy" *does not exist* - & Colombians feel sad for North Americans when I explain the context for our term.

There is joy in being part of a family, found, fur, or otherwise.

I wish nothing less for all of you.

Afternoon tea rocks. 🍵

#AmWriting

The expression in Spanish is:

"Dura la vuelta."

The journey is hard.

Cherish your health.
Let loved ones know they are loved.
Grow the circle of care in your community, whatever that looks like for you. 💙

Today I've already experienced:

A street person hit by a moto, sobbing on the street while awaiting the ambulance. There were too many closer for me to approach, but I kept thinking that if he weren't haggard someone there would have taken his hand, offered a consoling word, anything, instead of standing over his agony. I felt very helpless.

A Venezuelan with a 7-year-old going into surgery. More vampires demanding money first. I always carry Colombia's Health Law now, & showed him his rights.

I really enjoyed the latest Past Present Future, and I think US friends will find interesting this British assessment of US rises and falls in global power and what comes next.

(They also make an interesting point, re: India buying Russian crude oil that then sells after refinement to energy-strapped Europe, about the deep complexity of economic embargos as leverage in war.)

Just a lovely, measured, deeply informed and worldly political conversation.

#Podcasts
https://pca.st/episode/f9ae5a5f-a624-49fd-81cf-afae2ae8746b

Does anyone else feel we've fallen into a "lull" period--where the world is still pretty terrible, but plenty of personal routines are now normalizing after coming out of more intense phases of pandemic?

Tons of friends are consumed with work & community functions as if we were back in 2019. It's interesting, because we still have a heck of a struggle ahead, but after having had *time* to reflect on that struggle, the cadence of everyday living has reasserted itself. Are we less ready to act?

It's a shame this article doesn't mention Fat Head, which in 2009 debunked the hateful, classist Super Size Me by having a guy eat nothing but McDonalds while still making choices, but good for this guy all the same.

My ooooonly concern is this "half portions three times a day" business. Because if this guy is holding over that last half of a McDonalds order for the next day... that's a *side-eye-monkey-puppet-gif* from me. (But maybe he has an airfryer for the fríes?)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/03/mcdonalds-diet-weight-loss

Day 6: Rough sleep, but only because my brain wanted to Think. Still woke with great energy.

Two editorial tasks first thing, then a whole day for the novel - with a crossword break with a friend thrown in. 🎉

My friend up in Canada, working 7 days a week, 5 at two jobs, apparently receives daily messages where his mum cries at him for being gone. She's the sort who'd deny it in person, but whew. Life's hard enough without added drama. Big hugs to everyone who strives to lighten other loads. 🤗

My first five chapters are polished enough to send out to my dear friend and first reader - and the next five are shaping up nicely.

Honestly, what a thrill to have my energy returned. Just popping out for a quick walk, then a wee editorial project on my return.

🤗 Happy Friday, loves! If your dear ones are close at hand, do give them a big squeeze.

I have taken to rereading Culture novels (in order! not something I was able to do the first time through) during my work breaks. Gosh, how I love a good, expansive read - especially when the writer belonged to an era when they could just half-ass name selection for ships and characters, then let characters make inside jokes about how weird some of those selections are. 😂 Oh Banks. You belonged to a special breed.

#ItsResearchHonest
#AmWriting (Soon!)

Ohhh, now this AI drone story just got interesting.

Upper levels have now intervened to claim that the USAF has never run such a simulation, and that the initial report came from Col Hamilton, who "misspoke". He was supposedly only talking about a thought experiment.

But look at the language of Hamilton's original depiction of the event.

That's not a thought experiment.

This is the USAF managing a PR crisis. Which worries me way more than a simulated event going awry.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a33gj/ai-controlled-drone-goes-rogue-kills-human-operator-in-usaf-simulated-test

Today for #OnlySky, we're back to The Dawn of Everything.

In this instalment of Humanist Book Club, we grapple with Chapters 5 & 6, where we look at competing ideas of "culture", the role of schismogenesis in group identity formation, and the more recent human stories that get in the way of better understanding early farming and domestication practices.

Happy reading! ⬇️

#Humanism #History #CoSoBooks https://onlysky.media/mclark/humanist-book-club-on-culture-farming-and-the-myths-surrounding-both/

Day 5: Great sleep, solid energy, super keen to get a few editorial tasks out of the way before one last morning class for the week.

I cannot fully describe how much I've needed this reboot. My "people" are out of town this year, & I'm dealing with more harassment on the streets these days, which has just killed confidence in going out. It's been... a bit tough, maintaining momentum on my own.

But for now, at least, all is well.

Happy Friday, CoSo. Hope you have the loveliest weekend plans.

I am finally, finally making progress with this novel. :)

The only downside? I'm on a roll tonight, but also 20 minutes past bedtime for a 4am start after a proper 8 hours.

Ugh. In my early twenties I could pull 36ers with no problem for an editor gig, but now I have to factor long term "health" and "well-being" into my work schedules? 🤨 What is this madness?

Night all! Be good to your bodies, your brains, your people, and your familiars.

(And hydrate!)

Catch you on the predawn flipside. 👌

For folks who've been reading versions of this fun bit of AI military news, I just want to nudge you to Robert Sheckley's 1953 story "Watchbird", about anti-murder drones that go to... well, all-too-predictable extremes to carry out their mission. Long story short: SF has been all over the dangers of automating death machines for 70+ years. But apparently some folks thought those stories were instruction manuals? 🙃

#SFF #AI

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a33gj/ai-controlled-drone-goes-rogue-kills-human-operator-in-usaf-simulated-test

#Politics

My deepest, weariest sympathies to US friends today.

Every step forward seems to be met with two steps back for the construction of a country that actually gives a hoot about average citizens. You rarely see the state benefits given to the rich clawed back, but everyone else is expected to boost themselves out of poverty and precarity out of shame alone.

You deserve so much better than this constant dangling and withdrawing of state protections and better social safety nets. 🫂