[syndicated profile] eff_feed

Posted by India McKinney

A Senate bill re-introduced this week threatens security and free speech on the internet. EFF urges Congress to reject the STOP CSAM Act of 2025 (S. 1829), which would undermine services offering end-to-end encryption and force internet companies to take down lawful user content.   

TAKE ACTION

Tell Congress Not to Outlaw Encrypted Apps

As in the version introduced last Congress, S. 1829 purports to limit the online spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), also known as child pornography. CSAM is already highly illegal. Existing law already requires online service providers who have actual knowledge of “apparent” CSAM on their platforms to report that content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC then forwards actionable reports to law enforcement agencies for investigation. 

S. 1829 goes much further than current law and threatens to punish any service that works to keep its users secure, including those that do their best to eliminate and report CSAM. The bill applies to “interactive computer services,” which broadly includes private messaging and email apps, social media platforms, cloud storage providers, and many other internet intermediaries and online service providers. 

The Bill Threatens End-to-End Encryption

The bill makes it a crime to intentionally “host or store child pornography” or knowingly “promote or facilitate” the sexual exploitation of children. The bill also opens the door for civil lawsuits against providers for the intentional, knowing or even reckless “promotion or facilitation” of conduct relating to child exploitation, the “hosting or storing of child pornography,” or for “making child pornography available to any person.”  

The terms “promote” and “facilitate” are broad, and civil liability may be imposed based on a low recklessness state of mind standard. This means a court can find an app or website liable for hosting CSAM even if the app or website did not even know it was hosting CSAM, including because the provider employed end-to-end encryption and could not view the contents of content uploaded by users.

Creating new criminal and civil claims against providers based on broad terms and low standards will undermine digital security for all internet users. Because the law already prohibits the distribution of CSAM, the bill’s broad terms could be interpreted as reaching more passive conduct, like merely providing an encrypted app.  

Due to the nature of their services, encrypted communications providers who receive a notice of CSAM may be deemed to have “knowledge” under the criminal law even if they cannot verify and act on that notice. And there is little doubt that plaintiffs’ lawyers will (wrongly) argue that merely providing an encrypted service that can be used to store any image—not necessarily CSAM—recklessly facilitates the sharing of illegal content.  

Affirmative Defense Is Expensive and Insufficient 

While the bill includes an affirmative defense that a provider can raise if it is “technologically impossible” to remove the CSAM without “compromising encryption,” it is not sufficient to protect our security. Online services that offer encryption shouldn’t have to face the impossible task of proving a negative in order to avoid lawsuits over content they can’t see or control. 

First, by making this protection an affirmative defense, providers must still defend against litigation, with significant costs to their business. Not every platform will have the resources to fight these threats in court, especially newcomers that compete with entrenched giants like Meta and Google. Encrypted platforms should not have to rely on prosecutorial discretion or favorable court rulings after protracted litigation. Instead, specific exemptions for encrypted providers should be addressed in the text of the bill.  

Second, although technologies like client-side scanning break encryption, members of Congress have misleadingly claimed otherwise. Plaintiffs are likely to argue that providers who do not use these techniques are acting recklessly, leading many apps and websites to scan all of the content on their platforms and remove any content that a state court could find, even wrongfully, is CSAM.

TAKE ACTION

Tell Congress Not to Outlaw Encrypted Apps

The Bill Threatens Free Speech by Creating a New Exception to Section 230 

The bill allows a new type of lawsuit to be filed against internet platforms, accusing them of “facilitating” child sexual exploitation based on the speech of others. It does this by creating an exception to Section 230, the foundational law of the internet and online speech. Section 230 provides partial immunity to internet intermediaries when sued over content posted by their users. Without that protection, platforms are much more likely to aggressively monitor and censor users.

Section 230 creates the legal breathing room for internet intermediaries to create online spaces for people to freely communicate around the world, with low barriers to entry. However, creating a new exception that exposes providers to more lawsuits will cause them to limit that legal exposure. Online services will censor more and more user content and accounts, with minimal regard as to whether that content is in fact legal. Some platforms may even be forced to shut down or may not even get off the ground in the first place, for fear of being swept up in a flood of litigation and claims around alleged CSAM. On balance, this harms all internet users who rely on intermediaries to connect with their communities and the world at large. 

[syndicated profile] eff_feed

Posted by Joe Mullin

California lawmakers are continuing to promote a bill that will reinforce the power of giant AI companies by burying small AI companies and non-commercial developers in red tape, copyright demands and potentially, lawsuits. After several amendments, the bill hasn’t improved much, and in some ways has actually gotten worse. If A.B. 412 is passed, it will make California’s economy less innovative, and less competitive. 

The Bill Threatens Small Tech Companies

A.B. 412 masquerades as a transparency bill, but it’s actually a government-mandated “reading list” that will allow rights holders to file a new type of lawsuit in state court, even as the federal courts continue to assess whether and how federal copyright law applies to the development of generative AI technologies. 

The bill would require developers—even two-person startups— to keep lists of training materials that are “registered, pre-registered or indexed” with the U.S. Copyright Office, and help rights holders create digital ‘fingerprints’ of those works—a technical task with no established standards and no realistic path for small teams to follow. Even if it were limited to registered copyrighted material, that’s a monumental task, as we explained in March when we examined the earlier text of A.B. 412. 

The bill’s amendments have made compliance even harder, since it now requires technologists to go beyond copyrighted material and somehow identify “pre-registered” copyrights. The amended bill also has new requirements that demand technologists document and keep track of when they look at works that aren’t copyrighted but are subject to exclusive rights, such as pre-1972 sound recordings—rights that, not coincidentally, are primarily controlled by large entertainment companies. 

The penalties for noncompliance are steep—up to $1,000 per day per violation—putting small developers at enormous financial risk even for accidental lapses.

The goal of this list is clear: for big content companies to more easily file lawsuits against software developers, big and small. And for most AI developers, the burden will be crushing. Under A.B. 412, a two-person startup building an open-source chatbot, or an indie developer fine-tuning a language model for disability access, would face the same compliance burdens as Google or Meta. 

Reading and Analyzing The Open Web Is Not a Crime 

It’s critical to remember that AI training is very likely protected by fair use under U.S. copyright law—a point that’s still being worked out in the courts. The idea that we should preempt that process with sweeping state regulation is not just premature; it’s dangerous.

It’s also worth noting that copyright is governed by federal law. Federal courts are already working to define the boundaries of fair use and copyright in the AI context—the California legislature should let them do their job. A.B. 412 tries to create a state-level regulatory scheme in an area that belongs in federal hands—a risky legal overreach that could further complicate an already unsettled policy space.

A.B. 412 is a solution in search of a problem. The courthouse doors are far from closed to content owners who want to dispute the use of their copyrighted works. There are multiple high-profile litigations over the copyright status of AI training works that are working their way through trial courts and appeal courts right now. 

Scope Creep

Rather than narrowing its focus to make compliance more realistic, the latest amendments to A.B. 412 actually expand the scope of covered works. The bill now demands documentation of obscure categories of content like pre-1972 sound recordings. These recordings have rights that are often murky, and largely controlled by major media companies.

The bill also adds “preregistered” and indexed works to its coverage. Preregistration, designed to help entertainment companies punish unauthorized copying even before commercial release, expands the universe of content that developers must track—without offering any meaningful help to small creators. 

A Moat Serving Big Tech

Ironically, the companies that will benefit most from A.B. 412 are the very same large tech firms that lawmakers often claim they want to regulate. Big companies can hire teams of lawyers and compliance officers to handle these requirements. Small developers? They’re more likely to shut down, sell out, or never enter the field in the first place.

This bill doesn’t create a fairer marketplace. It builds a regulatory moat around the incumbents, locking out new competitors and ensuring that only a handful of companies have the resources to develop advanced AI systems. Truly innovative technology often comes from unknown or small companies, but A.B. 412 threatens to turn California—and anyone who does business there—into a fortress where only the biggest players survive.

A Lopsided Bill 

A.B. 412 is becoming an increasingly extreme and one-sided piece of legislation. It’s a maximalist wishlist for legacy rights-holders, delivered at the expense of small developers and the public. The result will be less competition, less innovation, and fewer choices for consumers—not more protection for creators.

This new version does close a few loopholes, and expands the period for AI developers to respond to copyright demands from 7 days to 30 days. But it seriously fails to close others: for instance, the exemption for noncommercial development applies only to work done “exclusively for noncommercial academic or governmental” institutions. That still leaves a huge window to sue hobbyists and independent researchers who don’t have university or government jobs. 

While the bill nominally exempts developers who use only public or developer-owned data, that’s a carve-out with no practical value. Like a search engine, nearly every meaningful AI system relies on mixed sources — and developers can’t realistically track the copyright status of them all.

At its core, A.B. 412 is a flawed bill that would harm the whole U.S. tech ecosystem. Lawmakers should be advancing policies that protect privacy, promote competition, and ensure that innovation benefits the public—not just a handful of entrenched interests.

If you’re a California resident, now is the time to speak out. Tell your legislators that A.B. 412 will hurt small companies, help big tech, and lock California’s economy in the past.

wychwood: You could call science fiction my escape / but if so mainstream fiction was my prison (Fan - escape from mainstream)
[personal profile] wychwood
Survived the Week of Church (Tuesday night, Wednesday night, ten hours on Saturday), and am looking forward to a whole! week! off! work! next week - the expected project go-live date is Thursday that week, so I'm probably going to have to log on for a couple of hours to make updates to student-facing content that can't be done until live day, which is annoying, but I'll get the time back and I've made it clear that anything else launch-related will have to wait until I'm back on the Monday!

In the meantime, there's plenty of tasks that need to be done before we go live, and I'm only avoiding some of them... some tasks are just freakishly intimidating and I can never tell why; half of them only take ten minutes once you actually face them.

The buses took a long time to recover after COVID - there was a phase where it felt like I was waiting 25 minutes every time I caught a bus - but the last year or so things have been much more reliable. Of course, sometimes that doesn't work in my favour, like how my bus home from church reliably arrives three minutes too late for me to catch the bus that stops by my house instead of having to walk ten minutes home. But the other day I was waiting for a bus which was twelve minutes away when I got to the stop... five minutes later it was thirteen minutes away... seven minutes after that it was fourteen minutes away... after that I stopped checking, because I was a little bit afraid of what might happen, and walked home instead.

Mum's started chemo now, and is doing OK-ish. I'm going over to see them on Sunday for Fathers' Day, possibly along with my brother and his tribe, but we'll see. Ticking along!

Official Project Update #19

Jun. 10th, 2025 12:59 pm
doranwen: female nerds, rare and precious (Default)
[personal profile] doranwen posting in [community profile] yahoogroups
Tagging has slowed somewhat, as people have gotten busy with school and work. There are still over 5000 tabs to tag. However, experienced taggers have tagged nearly 50 apiece. If we had 100 taggers tackle the project right now and stick with it the way some of our volunteers have, it would be finished very shortly!

So this is once more a call to those of you who are interested in seeing this complete: If you want to help, consider either tagging a tab, advertising/recruiting others to tag (see the boost text from this post if you need it), or both!

I spent several years working on the metadata at the expense of working on projects that would help support me financially, so I've had to step back from actively working on it for now. However, if all the tabs get tagged, I will absolutely be there to sort the actual data. I'd love to see it organized and uploaded!


Actual stats:

Now up to 4.02% tagged.

Available tabs (sorted by descending numbers by language):

English: 3208
Unknown*: 544
Spanish: 387
Portuguese: 336
French: 146
Indonesian/Malay: 131
Italian: 84
German: 77
Turkish: 64
Chinese: 59
Arabic: 54
Romanian: 36
Spam**: 32
Persian: 16
Dutch: 12
Filipino: 12
Swedish: 8
Hungarian: 7
Polish: 7
Vietnamese: 6
Bosnian: 3
Finnish: 3
Catalan: 2
Danish: 2
Esperanto: 2
Lithuanian: 2
Norwegian: 2
Russian: 2

Single tabs available:
African: Afrikaans, Chichewa, Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Malagasy, Somali, Swahili, Yoruba
Asian: Acehnese, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Batak Toba, Bengali, Georgian, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi/Urdu, Javanese, Kannada, Kapampangan, Kazakh, Korean, Kurdish, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Sundanese, Tamil, Telugu, Tetum, Thai, Turkmen, Uzbek, Uyghur
European: Albanian, Basque, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Galician, Greek, Icelandic, Ido, Interlingua, Latin, Latvian, Maltese, Occitan, Slovak, Slovenian, Welsh

All compilation tabs are still available as well.

* As stated in a previous post, the "Unknown" groups are by and large not unknown as far as language goes, but they can't be tagged without looking at the actual messages. Most are clearly in English.

** As stated in a previous post, the spam groups will also need to be looked at a little to confirm spam status, but many are in clear patterns and most of the groups won't need to be looked at once one or two are. I have no idea what language, if any, most of those are. My suspicion is that they were created just for email address harvesting, but we may never know for sure.


Something fun:

I've been using Random.org to generate id numbers for groups in the metadata database to give those in the Discord server a randomized peek at the variety of groups we knew about (and mostly saved). Here's one of the fan groups that came up in that process:

BetteMidlerADivineGathering
created 2004-10-23
/Entertainment & Arts/Celebrities/
Looking for a place to stop and talk about the Divine Miss M? Here's your place! Feel free to join, post messages, pictures, files, or even chat! EVERYONE is welcome!
Just remember...keep this place clean and free of hate and negativity. Bashing of Bette Midler or members of this group will NOT be tolerated. Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but if you have something negative to say to another group member, please keep it away from the group...email them personally.
And remember to HAVE FUN!!!
Thanks,
Dusty
61 members
andrewducker: (my brain)
[personal profile] andrewducker
Reading this article on advice to teachers in the UK about using AI, they suggest using it for things like "marking quizzes" and "generating routine letters".

And what really annoys me about this is that it's a perfect example of where simple automation could be used without the need for AI.

The precise example in the article is "Generate a letter to parents about a head lice outbreak." - which is a fairly common thing to happen in schools. So why on earth isn't there one standard letter per school, if not one standard letter for the whole country, that can be reused by absolutely everyone whenever this standard event happens? Why does this require AI to generate a new one every time, rather than just being a standard email that gets sent?

Same with marking quizzes. If children get multiple-choice quizzes regularly across all schools, and marking them uses precious teacher time, why is there not a standard piece of software, paid for once (or written once internally) which enables all children to do quizzes in a standard way, and get them marked automatically?

If we're investing a bunch of money into automating the various processes that teachers spend far too much time on, start with simple automation, which is cheap, easy, and reliable.

Also, wouldn't it be sensible to do some research into how accurately AI marks homework *before* you tell teachers to use it to do that? Here's some research from February which shows that its agreement with examiners was only 0.61 (where 1.00 would be perfect agreement). So I'm sceptical about the quality of the marking it's going to be doing...

No Kings, Yas Queens

Jun. 10th, 2025 06:48 pm
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by SB Sarah

Chris M. Hill, who is a member of the podcast Patreon, designed this banner because the Pride rally and the No Kings rally are at the same day: “I made myself a new sign as a treat.”

When we saw it, we collectively lost our shit, and asked if we could spread the word about it.

LOOK AT THIS.

A sign that reads NO KINGS with a NO symbol as the O against a red backgroundBelow against a black background is YAS QUEENS in rainbow stripes, with a crown rendered in trans pride tilted over the Q. Design by CrisRomantasy

There is a free printable PDF or PNG at their KoFi, along with a pre-order for stickers and tshirts, which will ship later in June.

More than 1800 NO KINGS rallies are planned for this Saturday, June 14, as counter programming to the most embarrassing example of fascist onanism ever.

And, since June is Pride month, there are a lot of Pride activities going on that date, too. Perhaps yours also overlap, and this sign will work for you, too!

Thanks to Chris for permission to share – this design is so great, I had to share it.

Stay safe out there, and wherever you are, please know that you are loved exactly as you are. Whether you can live your life openly or keep parts of yourself hidden, you’re seen and welcomed and loved.

rionaleonhart: kingdom hearts: riku, blindfolded and smiling slightly. (we'll be the darkness)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
Here's a short Hundred Line fic in which Takumi asks Yugamu to stab him with the Infuser, because I feel Yugamu should be allowed to stab everyone with their Infusers when it's time to fight. I think he'd have a great time.


Title: Piercing the Heart
Fandom: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
Rating: 14
Pairing: Yugamu/Takumi
Wordcount: 2,300
Summary: Yugamu’s face cracks open in a slow, unsettling smile. Takumi already regrets this.


Piercing the Heart )

Prodigy

Jun. 10th, 2025 12:48 pm
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

The Menopause Manifesto

RECOMMENDEDThe Menopause Manifesto by Dr. Jen Gunter is $3.99! Tara gave it an A:

If your field of fucks is completely barren and you just want some straightforward, evidence-based information served with a healthy dose of snark and the occasional jab at pseudoscience and Gwyneth Paltrow, this will be the book for you.

The internationally renowned, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Vagina Bible , Dr. Jen Gunter has been called the world’s most famous–and outspoken–gynecologist (The Guardian), the internet’s OB/GYN, and one of the fiercest advocates for women’s health. Now, in The Menopause Manifesto, Dr. Jen Gunter brings you empowerment through knowledge by countering stubborn myths and misunderstandings about menopause with hard facts, real science, fascinating historical perspective, and expert advice.

The only thing predictable about menopause is its unpredictability. Factor in widespread misinformation, a lack of research, and the culture of shame around women’s bodies, and it’s no wonder women are unsure what to expect during the menopause transition and beyond.

Menopause is not a disease–it’s a planned change, like puberty. And just like puberty, we should be educated on what’s to come years in advance, rather than the current practice of leaving people on their own with bothersome symptoms and too much conflicting information. Knowing what is happening, why, and what to do about it is both empowering and reassuring.

Frank and funny, Dr. Jen debunks misogynistic attitudes and challenges the
over-mystification of menopause to reveal everything you really need to know about:

 Perimenopause
 Hot flashes
 Sleep disruption
 Sex and libido
 Depression and mood changes
 Skin and hair issues
 Outdated therapies
 Breast health
 Weight and muscle mass
 Health maintenance screening
 And much more!

Filled with practical, reassuring information, this essential guide will revolutionize how women experience menopause–including how their lives can be even better for it!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Last Light

Last Light by Claire Kent is $2.49 on Amazon! This a post-apocalyptic, road trip romance, and it’s been recommend previously in a couple Rec Leagues on post-apocalyptic romances.

It only took four years for the world to fall apart.

Now the last member of my family has died, and I’m forced to travel across what’s left of three states to find the only people I know left alive. To survive, I’ll have to salvage food and supplies and try to avoid violent men who’ve learned they can take what they want by force. The only way I’m going to make it is by trusting Travis.

Travis used to fix my car, and now he’s all I have left in the world. He’s gruff and stoic and unfriendly, and I don’t really know or like him. But he’s all I have left. He’ll keep me safe. We’ll take care of each other. Until we reach what’s left of our town and can finally let go of one another.

Last Light is a standalone post-apocalyptic romance set in the near future after a global catastrophe.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

A Trinket for the Taking

A Trinket for the Taking by Victoria Laurie is $3.99! Lara reviewed this and gave it a C+:

Looking at it with a bit of distance, this book is distinctly middle of the road for me. While I had a mostly good time reading it and I’m certainly curious about the next installment, it didn’t set my world on fire. 

This mesmerizing mystery series debut from New York Times bestselling author Victoria Laurie introduces the captivating Dovey Van Dalen, once the belle of 1840s Copenhagen, now charged with recovering magic property from mortals—whatever it takes.

Dovey Van Dalen has a gorgeous day planned for her 200th driving her new Porsche, admiring the cherry blossoms abloom in her adopted city of Washington DC, and a little pampering. But her boss has other ideas. A powerful artifact has been stolen, and he fears it’s causing chaos in the unmagical world . . .

The rich and connected Ariti family has suffered a string of suspicious deaths, with no signs of foul play. Yet each member has died in the way they feared most. As the enchanting agent most skilled at blending in with mere mortals, Dovey must find answers and retrieve the dangerous trinket.

There’s just one unexpected by the time Dovey arrives at the art gallery where the Ariti patriarch died, FBI agent Grant “Gibs” Bartholomew has taken control of the scene. Dovey needs his cooperation to investigate—but she’ll have to hide her abilities, and her true objective, from a man who uncovers deceptions every day. And as they inch nearer a deadly truth, both will face danger even the spellbound would be lucky to survive . . .

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Witches Get Stuff Done

Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper is $1.99! This is a small town paranormal romance between a witch and a librarian. Sounds a little too twee for me, but it could be right up your alley.

Juggling newfound witchy powers, a house full of ghosts, and verbal battles with the handsome local librarian is almost too much for a new witch to manage. A new witch with a coven, however, can get so much more done…

From the moment Riley Everett set foot in Starfall Point, magic bubbled inside of her. But with only her late aunt’s journals and a cantankerous live-in ghost butler to instruct her on all things witchy—including her newly inherited Victorian haunted house—Riley seeks out a coven for sisterhood and support. The last person she expects to be drawn to is the town’s frustrating, yet ridiculously attractive head librarian.

Edison Held knows almost everything there is to know about Starfall Point, but Shaddow House was always off-limits, thanks to its elusive owner. If he can convince the new owner, Riley, to let him take a peek inside, there’s so much he could learn. But as he gets closer to Riley, he’s fascinated by her dazzling wit and fiery spirit. Edison will do whatever he can to help Riley keep her family legacy alive, especially if it means spending more time with the captivating new witch in town.

Bestselling author Molly Harper wields a magical pen in this hilarious, delightful witchy romcom perfect for readers of The Ex Hex and Payback’s a Witch.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Just Another Day in Paradise (Monday)

Jun. 10th, 2025 09:35 am
lydamorehouse: (Default)
[personal profile] lydamorehouse
The weather here has been overcast and rainy. As Shawn told a somewhat uncertain staff person, “It’s gorgeous!” (The staff was concerned that she was being sarcastic. Shawn assured her that she was not.) Our family is very happily indoorsy. So, we spent much of the day inside, by a roaring fire, reading.

However, the weather cleared up on and off, and during one of the ‘on’s, Shawn and I headed out for an early morning canoe. We tend to canoe much like we hike, which is to say, we don’t go all that far, and we glide along at a snail’s pace.

Shawn in canoe (Bearskin 2025)
Image: Shawn in a canoe at Bearskin

I’ve also resumed my quest to walk as many of Bearskin’s ski trails as I feel is reasonable. I tend to enjoy a hike to a destination like Sunday’s accidental trip to Rudy Lake, but not all of the ski trails are set up for vistas. In fact, most of them aren’t. A person can tell, even as hiker, how excellent they are for skiers. So many up and down slopes! We are technically in the Pincushion Mountains here, (though people from the Coasts are allowed to scoff at what we call mountains around here.) However, the elevation changes are real! In fact, it usually takes me a few days to get used to the steep slopes. This time, having just come from Middletown, CT, which I feel like was built entirely at a 45-degree angle (all of it uphill!), I didn’t seem to need as much time.

At any rate, this year, I decided to try and find Ox Cart. FYI, an Ox Cart would not make it around this loop. I mean, I guess oxen are strong? But pulling a cart would be tough! Skiing however? It would be glorious.

Bob, the owner of Bearskin, did want to point out that if I walked Ox Cart, I would see the new boardwalk that they installed.

The boardwalk goes over a very marshy, swampy area. A place that my family would call “very moosey,” as this seems to be the sort of areas that we imagine moose tend to enjoy. This is a highly unscientific “hot take,” however. The one time that we saw moose in the wild, while hiking (at, of all places, “Moose Viewing Trail”) there was a place a little like this, though much more lake-y and slightly less boggy/swampy.

moosey
Moosey view.

I did not see moose here.

I will note, however, that I did see moose tracks and what was very obviously moose scat on my way back out of this trail. So, perhaps our family is not entirely wrong as to what constitutes a moosey place.

Much of my hike was just woods.

wooded path (Bearskin 2025)
Image: wooded path

However, I have been trying to stop and take pictures of wildflowers that I’ve been seeing on my hikes. Here are a few:

pussy foot?
Image: pussy feet? Something like that (looking for id, [personal profile] pameladean !)

star flower
Image: star flower
oursin: Photograph of small impressionistic metal figurine seated reading a book (Reader)
[personal profile] oursin

My attention, as they say, was drawn to this: Why Have So Many Books by Women Been Lost to History?

The question itself is reasonable, I guess, but what is downright WEIRD is they actually namecheck Persephone Press's acts of rediscovery -

- and one of the first books in their own endeavour is one that PP did early on and being Persephone is STILL IN PRINT.

And one of the others has been repeatedly reprinted as a significant work including by Pandora Press.

Do we think there is a) not checking this sort of thing b) erasure of feminist publishing foremothers?

Okay I pointed out that even Virago were not actually digging up Entirely Forgotten Works (ahem ahem South Riding never out of print and paid for a lot of gels to get to Somerville).

However, this did lead me to look up certain rare faves of mine, and lo and behold, British Library Women Writers have actually just reprinted, all praise to them, GB Stern's The Woman in the Hall, 1939 and never republished. Yay. This to my mind is one of her top works.

Also remark here that Furrowed Middlebrow are bringing back works that have genuinely been hard to get hold of, like the non-Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons, and the early Margery Sharps, and so on. (Though Greyladies had already done Noel Streatfeild as Susan Scarlett.)

Confess I am waiting for the Big Publishing Rediscovery of EBC Jones. Would also not mind maybe some attention to Violet Hunt (unfortunately her life was perhaps so dramatic it has outshone her work? gosh the Wikipedia entry is a bit thin.)

Daily notes

Jun. 10th, 2025 10:33 pm
fred_mouse: a small white animal of indeterminate species, the familiar of the Danger Mouse Evil Toad (startled)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

Today (Tuesday)

  • second day of uni - more focused. Met two other PhD students, and a said hello to another who didn't actually talk to me, so I'm not sure if they are staff or student (we are in a locked office space, because of research reasons, which is quite nostalgic. The card scanner makes the same beep as the ones at the Telethon Institute did)
  • I'm kind of keeping up with other parts of my life, but not in any way that makes it look like I have my shit together. The lounge has a teetering mound of clean washing, there is a pile of stuff on the bed I need to sort before I can go to sleep (by which I think I mean 'dump back on the floor'). I've taken some of the necessities in to the new office, and tomorrow I'll organise a locked cubby for keeping things in, which means I can bring any books in that make sense.

Yesterday

  • Didn't quite make it to bed before 11pm last night, but it was close. Awoke naturally at 6:50am, which meant that I could relax for a little bit and laze about until the alarm went off. I didn't, in the end, getting up after about 2 minutes, and getting in the shower.
  • Past me had a work day morning packing checklist, which was greatly appreciated this morning, as there were a couple of things that I would otherwise have forgotten. There are a couple of items that I've managed to misplace, and maybe I'll have time to sort them tonight, but I'm not optimistic about that. I was enough slow getting ready that I missed the 7:45am bus, so [personal profile] artisanat dropped me at the train station. Youngest gave me two options for public transport from there--either the circle route (longer, relies on Leach Hwy not being clogged), or train to Canning Bridge and either the 100 or 101 bus. I did the latter, and once I found the right stand at the interchange, got the first bus that came past.
  • Good meeting with supervisors, I have ideas of what is to come. I spent more time sorting out logging in to things than I had allowed for, including a trek to the library IT help desk, where it turned out that what I was assuming was one problem turned out to be four separate issues, one of which was solved by changing my password in Outlook. I also went and asked questions of the Library Helpdesk person, who gave me a personalised tour of all the things on the Library Webpage that might be of use to me, and pointed at things to follow up.

Sunday

  • Went boating on the river with [profile] buggs_jenny, their partner P, and their parents (G, K). This was a somewhat last minute invite, they organised for there to be a kayak for me to use, and I had a lot of fun. I hadn't allowed for the timing of how it would all fit together with the fact that it was a recorder group Sunday so it was a bit of a rush to head off and I didn't help with the clean up. I now have to work out how to get involved and go more often (this is not an every weekend thing; I could at best do the off weeks from recorder) given that the car we are looking to sell is the one with the roof racks, but I can't get our kayak on to it on my own. Although, having said that, it is some years since I've moved that kayak and I have no idea how heavy it is relative to my current strength--it is possible that all the shoulder work that I've been doing would be enough.
  • Recorder with G and [personal profile] ariaflame; L has injured their shoulder and P isn't yet back from visiting their sibling in the eastern states. G is now calling us the A minors; I gather this is a joke that is related to the name of another group they are in. We worked through several trios that I'm not sure that aria has seen before, with some swapping around of parts so that they were sight-reading the easier of the C recorder parts (ie. soprano or tenor).
  • Dinner with [personal profile] chaosmanor. One of those weeks where it turns out that we have gone through the veggie stash much faster than usual, and I under measured the amount of cabbage to cut to fill the gap for the stir fry. Fortunately, chaosmanor wasn't all that hungry, artisanat was out dancing and got dinner there, and Youngest and Eldest are able to raid the fridge if they are still hungry. And I had had one serve of each of the options at afternoon tea at recorder - G had made two things, and aria had brought one, and I have no ability to resist that kind of temptation. Particularly when G had made a serving specifically for me, because they had made a Bakewell tart (which is similar to the version I make but didn't have coconut in, which might mean that I've conflated two recipes) but had realised at the last minute that their pastry wasn't GF, and had cooked a generous serve in a ramekin.

Happy Pride.....

Jun. 10th, 2025 09:19 am
disneydream06: (Disney Friends)
[personal profile] disneydream06
You are important and you are loved.....

Pride 8
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

This HaBO is from A Very Desperate Reader, who really wants to locate this romance:

I got this book from my mom in 2016 or maybe 2017. She has had a collection of romance/erotica books since the 90s. I’m assuming the book was published around that same time: 90s to 2010s. The book cover was slightly ripped, but I’m pretty sure it had a girl with long blonde hair, and I think a long blue dress. She was in a running stance, looking over her shoulder. If you can just find me the title of the book or even just the author I would be greatly appreciative!

The description of the book:

A blonde (possibly platinum) haired girl goes to a party in the woods. There is a bonfire happening and she goes near a tree when a man that (she knows?) comes up to her and tries to assault her. Blonde girl panics and freezes him with ice (I want to say he froze all the way and then dropped to the floor making him shatter into pieces) and then she runs back to her home where she and her step-father live.

We switch point of views to the prince (I believe). He’s the bastard son of the king (I think or the king has a bastard son; it’s either one) and the king is sick and tells his son that he needs to marry. The prince not wanting to marry, doesn’t argue but decides that he’s going to join the soldiers who are going to collect different women for him to marry. He does this because he wants to see how his future wife acts without being around someone to impress.

We switch point of views again to a witch. She’s just kinda there. I think she’s trying to curse someone (I want to say the king but I don’t know) and she has this wizard that has the same powers as the blonde girl. (I think they are related but I never finished the book to prove my theory). Their point of views have a point, I just don’t know what it is, but it was often and I would usually skip them. The wizard and the witch were sleeping together. The wizard was more interested in the witch in the relationship.

We switch point of views again back to the storyline of the blonde girl and the prince. The prince and her start talking and start to fall in love. Blonde girl still thinks that he’s a solider and no one really important. She’s not really interested in marrying the prince. (During this point, I think the prince is sabotaging the other princess candidates because he loves the blonde girl. The prince and the blonde girl get married at some point and they consummate their marriage in this B&B of sorts or tavern. They continue on their journey to the palace. Once they get to the palace, the prince reveals himself as the prince and the blonde girl is pissed that he hid it from her and tries to leave. He doesn’t like that, so he puts her in the highest tower in the palace and basically keeps her prisoner. Eventually her powers start getting more powerful or she starts losing control and the prince finds out about them. She thinks this means that he will let her go and instead he wants to keep her even more.

The heroine had a pretty name and her mom either passed or just isn’t in the picture. She lives with her stepfather who treats her well and treated her mother well.

The hero potentially had dark hair and features. He doesn’t like his father much. And his father has a lot of women that he sleeps with. First scene of both of them i think is in the throne room.

The witch lives in a shack of some sort has some grand plan.

The wizard I think is a similar situation and is described as skinny.

I don’t remember any of their names sadly.

I’m sorry for this very long and seemingly hectic HaBO. I’ve been looking for this book for nearly 10 years and I need to just find this book. I’ve tried everything.

With this level of description, I know we can identity this one.

(no subject)

Jun. 10th, 2025 10:06 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] uhhuhlex!

Beta edit preps: COMPLETE

Jun. 10th, 2025 09:31 am
vriddy: Studious, smiling Eri (studious)
[personal profile] vriddy

...Just the preps, I haven't started on the actual edits yet XD But I have a roadmap and an extensive list of actionable steps, and I'm glad I do. Working offline using Pomodoro, like I mentioned the other day was super effective.

A disadvantage, I suppose, is that I can't have conversations back-and-forth in GoogleDoc comments, which is something I dearly enjoy doing with fanfic (either as beta-reader or beta-readee!). I think maybe it's just too much, on a turnaround of 40k words at once. Also because I needed to let it rest, folks might not be so interested in a reply 6 months later on a reaction they don't remember having about a story they fuzzily recall 😅 Having said that, I did write to folks after chopping their feedback into the roadmap, to thank them again and share a general reaction to their reactions :D

Stuff to ponder )

It took me 17h41 to go through all 7 beta-readers' feedback. (Thanks again everyone for offering, I am so grateful :D). I'm going to have a brief interlude now (well, brief is the plan XD). Ideally, I'd like to use that time to write something original but SHORTER so I can bask in the self-indulgence of inventing fun worldbuilding, which I loooove doing. But on the other hand, Wind Breaker Volume 22 just came out and drove me insane with the OT5 vibes so I may have to write something for that instead XD

I 100% intend to break down the work and take regular breaks when I start actually following the roadmap, if only to make the structural changes then giving it a bit of space so I can make sure the major changes didn't break something else important. I expect overall it'll likely take longer than the 17h41 prep time, so I better pace myself! I think I should learn very interesting things throughout the process. I'm already thinking about what to be careful about in the Soul Thief story, when I get back to it.

[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

Happy Tuesday!

I swear, this month has so many good releases. One a personal note, too bad June is my busiest month so far.

We have a few releases with historical settings, a fantasy romance, and plenty of contemporaries.

What new releases are you excited for this week? Let us know in the comments!

A Rare Find

A Rare Find by Joanna Lowell

Author: Joanna Lowell
Released: June 10, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: , ,

When an aspiring archaeologist teams up with her childhood enemy for a treasure hunt, they find it impossible to bury their growing feelings, in a charming queer historical romance from the author of A Shore Thing.

Elfreda Marsden has finally made a major discovery—an ancient amulet proving the Viking army camped on her family’s estate. Too bad her nemesis is back from London, freshly exiled after a scandal and ready to wreak havoc on her life. Georgie Redmayne is everything Elfreda isn’t–charming, popular, carefree, distractingly attractive, and bored to death by the countryside. When the two collide (literally), the amulet is lost, and with it, Elfreda’s big chance to lead a proper excavation. Now Elfreda needs new evidence of medieval activity, and Georgie needs money to escape the doldrums of Derbyshire. Joining forces to locate a hidden hoard of Viking gold is the best chance for them both.

Marsdens and Redmaynes don’t get along, and that’s the least of the reasons these enemies can’t dream of something more. But as the quest takes them on unexpected adventures, sparks of attraction ignite a feeling increasingly difficult to identify as hatred. It’s far too risky to explore. And far too tempting to resist. Elfreda and Georgie soon find that the real treasure comes with a steep price… and the promise of a happiness beyond all measure.

Tara: Enemies to lovers! Viking artifacts! This one sounds super fun.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Bury Your Bones in the Midnight Soil

Bury Your Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Author: V.E. Schwab
Released: June 10, 2025 by Tor Books
Genre: , , , ,

From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger.

This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.

This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.

This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.

This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.

V.E. Schwab’s ambitious new fantasy with a mix of time periods! 

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Never Been Shipped

Never Been Shipped by Alicia Thomspon

Author: Alicia Thomspon
Released: June 10, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: ,

A band reunion may be enough to change two musicians’ tune on love in this electric romance from USA Today bestselling author Alicia Thompson.

Micah’s relationship to music is complicated. As teenagers, her band took off after being featured on a popular TV show, but the group barely released their sophomore album before breaking up. Now, over a decade later, the band is reuniting for one more performance on a themed cruise, and Micah is determined to learn from her past mistakes — no losing herself in the music, and no losing her heart along the way.

John misses playing in a band, and mostly he misses Micah, who’d been his best friend until the music stopped. Back then, he didn’t take the lead, either in his guitar parts or while he sat back and watched her date another bandmate. John’s never been one to rock the boat, but he’s faced with another chance now that this cruise has brought music — and Micah — back in his life.

Onboard, Micah can’t help but see John with brand new eyes, and John’s feelings only intensify as the discordant band’s tension grows to a breaking point. With five days at sea, there’s a ticking clock on anything that might develop between them, and they’ll have to decide if their relationship is destined to be more than a one-hit wonder.

Dahlia: I see Alicia Thompson, I preorder it. She is the literal top of my autobuy list. And this one is reported to have cameos from my all time fave, Cold World.

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The Palace of Illusions

The Palace of Illusions by Rowenna Miller

Author: Rowenna Miller
Released: June 10, 2025 by Redhook
Genre: ,

The Palace of Illusions brings readers to a Paris breathless with excitement at the dawn of the twentieth century, where for a select few there is a second, secret Paris where the magic of the City of Light is very real in this enchanting and atmospheric fantasy from the author of The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill.

In the run up to the 1900s World’s Fair Paris is abuzz with creative energy and innovation. Audiences are spellbound by the Lumiere brothers’ moving pictures and Loie Fuller’s serpentine dance fusing art and technology. But for Clara Ironwood, a talented and pragmatic clockworker, nothing compares to the magic of her godfather’s mechanical creations, and she’d rather spend her days working on the Palace of Illusions, an intricate hall of mirrors that is one of the centerpieces of the world’s fair.

When her godfather sends Clara a hideous nutcracker for Christmas, she is puzzled until she finds a hidden compartment that unlocks a mirror-world Paris where the Seine is musical, fountains spout lemonade, and mechanical ballerinas move with human grace. The magic of her godfather’s toys was real.

As Clara explores this other Paris and begins to imbue her own creations with its magic, she soon discovers a darker side to innovation. Suspicious men begin to approach her outside of work, and she could swear a shadow is following her. There’s no ignoring the danger she’s in, but Clara doesn’t know who to trust. The magic of the two Parises are colliding and Clara must find the strength within herself to save them both.

Amanda: Magic and the World’s Fair in Paris sounds like an amazing combo.

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Realm of Thieves

Realm of Thieves by Karina Halle

Author: Karina Halle
Released: June 10, 2025 by Ace
Genre: , ,
Series: Thieves of Dragemor #1

Two thieves vie for dominance in the illegal dragon egg trade, putting both their lives and their hearts on the line in this scorching romantasy from New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle.

For Brynla Aihr, crime and survival have always gone hand in hand. Ever since she escaped the fanatical dragon-worshipping cult that controls her homeland, she’s had to carve out a life doing the stealing dragon eggs. Egg theft is illegal and, in most cases, fatal. To breach a dragon’s nest means a harrowing journey through the ancient wards spelled to keep the monstrous beasts confined. Dragons can’t get out and only those with a death wish can get in.

Despite the risks, dragon eggs are highly coveted for their magic. An illegal trade flourishes under competing criminal empires, and Brynla’s loyalty has always been to the highest bidder. Until she finds herself kidnapped and blackmailed by Lord Andor, a formidable lieutenant of House Kolbeck, and thrust into the dangerous political games of rivaling dynasties.

Brynla and Andor clash at every turn, sparking heat in ways Brynla’s never felt before. But in a world that’s prophesized to return to the dragons, and rife with betrayal and secrets at every turn…how close to the flames is she willing to stand?

Amanda: I think this is the first fantasy romance in a while that made me really perk up.

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Roommating

Roommating by Meredith Schorr

Author: Meredith Schorr
Released: June 10, 2025 by Forever
Genre: ,

Sizzling chemistry and tender friendship develops between two accidental roommates in this hilarious rom-com from the author of As Seen on TV.

Sabrina is too busy with grad school and her job as a library page to think about dating. Until her elderly roommate Marcia invites her estranged grandson Adam to move into their two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan temporarily to “find himself.” Sabrina doesn’t mind sharing the small space with Adam if it helps Marcia repair her relationship with her grandson. But she’s not expecting to fall for him herself. Adam is not only gorgeous, he’s kind, funny, shares her love of reading, and clearly adores Marcia. After one too many accidental midnight rendezvous in the bathroom (him shirtless), the tension between them is hotter than ever. But they’re not the only ones feeling the heat. After Marcia has a health scare, her doctors advise that one of her younger roommates must go.

In a comical and sexy battle to prove who deserves to stay, the two pull out all the stops. All’s fair in love and real estate, but in the end victory is not so sweet when winning the apartment could mean losing each other.

Dahlia: This has the sweetest premise, and I keep getting drawn in by that cover. Books and a dog! What could be better?

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Slow Burn Summer

Slow Burn Summer by Josie Silver

Author: Josie Silver
Released: June 10, 2025 by Dell
Genre: ,

A talent agent hires an actress to play the part of “novelist” on a book tour for his agency’s publicity-shy client

She’s playing the part of romance author, but has she found her own real life love story?

Talent agent Charlie Francisco has three problems: a divorce that ended his screenwriting career, a business he never planned to inherit, and a take-your-breath-away romance novel whose author wants nothing to do with its publication. The book is a surefire hit, if only his agency can find someone to “play” author on its summer book tour.

Enter Kate Elliott, a former soap actress who’s miraculously right for the part at the very moment her life seems to be going all wrong. Kate is still recovering from her own divorce and Charlie’s job offer is a lifeline. She agrees to the pretense for all interviews, signings, and appearances surrounding the novel’s publication. But she can’t know who really wrote the remarkable story—the one so beautiful it’s made her believe in love again.

When Kate and Charlie meet they’re all friction and sparks—the one thing they have in common is they’re determined to play their respective parts. But as the summer heat ups and the lies get bigger and bigger, can they stick to their lines . . . or will they go off-script?

Lara: I absolutely love this premise!

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35 Years for Your Freedom Online

Jun. 10th, 2025 07:04 am
[syndicated profile] eff_feed

Posted by Aaron Jue

Once upon a time we were promised flying cars and jetpacks. Yet we've arrived at a more complicated timeline where rights advocates can find themselves defending our hard-earned freedoms more often than shooting for the moon. In tough times, it's important to remember that your vision for the future can be just as valuable as the work you do now.

Thirty-five years ago, a small group of folks saw the coming digital future and banded together to ensure that technology would empower people, not oppress them—and EFF was born. While the dangers of corporate and state forces grew alongside the internet, EFF and supporters like you faithfully rose to the occasion. Will you help celebrate EFF’s 35th anniversary and donate in support of digital freedom?

Give today

Protect Online Privacy & Free Expression

Together we’ve won many fights for encryption, free speech, innovation, and privacy online. Yet it’s plain to see that we must keep advocating for technology users whether that’s in the courts, before lawmakers, educating the public, or creating privacy-enhancing tools. EFF members make it possible—you can lend a hand and get some great perks!

Summer Swag Is Here

We love making stuff for EFF’s members each year. It’s our way of saying thanks for supporting the mission for your rights online, and I hope it’s your way of starting a conversation about internet freedom with people in your life.

Celebrate EFF's 35th Anniversary in the digital rights movement with this EFF35 Cityscape member t-shirt by Hugh D’Andrade! EFF has a not-so-secret weapon that keeps us in the fight even when the odds are against us: we never lose sight of our vision for a better future. Choose a roomy Classic Fit Crewneck or a soft Slim Fit V-Neck.

And enjoy Lovelace-Klimtian vibes on EFF’s new Motherboard Hooded Sweatshirt by Shirin Mori. Gold details and orange poppies pop on lush forest green. Don't lose the forest for the trees—keep fighting for a world where tech supports people irl.

Join the Sustaining Donor Challenge (it’s easy)

You'll get a numbered EFF35 Challenge Coin when you become a monthly or annual Sustaining Donor by July 10. It’s that simple.

If you're already a Sustaining Donor—THANKS! You too can get an EFF 35th Anniversary Challenge Coin when you upgrade your donation. Just increase your monthly or annual gift and let us know by emailing upgrade@eff.org. Get started at eff.org/recurring or go to your PayPal account if you used one.

Support internet freedom with a no-fuss automated recurring donation! Over 30% of EFF members have joined as Sustaining Donors to defend digital rights (and get some great swag every year). Challenge coins follow a long tradition of offering a symbol of kinship and respect for great achievements—and EFF owes its strength to technology creators and users like you.

With your help, EFF is here to stay.

Join EFF

Protect Online Privacy & Free Expression

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