Ergative Absolutive
@ergative-abs.bsky.social
SFF booknerd; calligrapher; Islamic geometric art doer; figure skating appreciater; coffee-drinking, granola-baking, tofu-eating wokeratum; psycholinguist by vocation, fretful porpentine by aspiration.
Contributer at Nerds of A Feather
Contributer at Nerds of A Feather
Holy FUCK, @tkingfisher.com, that moment when [spoiler] SITS UP in the shed was ... well, it was extremely. . . *effective* writing. Well done (?). Eurgh.
November 23, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Holy FUCK, @tkingfisher.com, that moment when [spoiler] SITS UP in the shed was ... well, it was extremely. . . *effective* writing. Well done (?). Eurgh.
Reposted by Ergative Absolutive
Look at that. Wow.
The wind farm is inside a cloud today
The wind farm is inside a cloud today
November 23, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Look at that. Wow.
The wind farm is inside a cloud today
The wind farm is inside a cloud today
Hard agree with this review. I've been trying so valiantly to get my book group to agree to read this next, but they're squeamish about body horror, so I'm just going to yell at ALL OF BLUESKY instead to buy this book and read it.
📚 🐛🔫New review! 🔫🐛📚
The Works of Vermin by @hironennes.bsky.social from @torbooks.bsky.social
"...not just a landmark novel of dystopian satire but one of the great speculative works of the twenty-first century."
Have I found my SFF book of the year? We'll see...
The Works of Vermin by @hironennes.bsky.social from @torbooks.bsky.social
"...not just a landmark novel of dystopian satire but one of the great speculative works of the twenty-first century."
Have I found my SFF book of the year? We'll see...
REVIEW: The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
The Works of Vermin is not just a landmark novel of dystopian satire but one of the great speculative works of the twenty-first century.
www.grimdarkmagazine.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Hard agree with this review. I've been trying so valiantly to get my book group to agree to read this next, but they're squeamish about body horror, so I'm just going to yell at ALL OF BLUESKY instead to buy this book and read it.
Reposted by Ergative Absolutive
It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation:
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
November 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation:
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Forget semantics, I just like the phonology. I'd support the revival of quockerwodger even if all it meant was a particular type of buggy whip adhesive.
I'd support bringing back buggies so we could talk about whips and adhesives, solely to revive quockerwodger discourse.
I'd support bringing back buggies so we could talk about whips and adhesives, solely to revive quockerwodger discourse.
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
November 22, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Forget semantics, I just like the phonology. I'd support the revival of quockerwodger even if all it meant was a particular type of buggy whip adhesive.
I'd support bringing back buggies so we could talk about whips and adhesives, solely to revive quockerwodger discourse.
I'd support bringing back buggies so we could talk about whips and adhesives, solely to revive quockerwodger discourse.
I literally put this in my syllabus when I explain my anti-AI policy. Don't waste your own time and opportunities by offloading them onto a robot. It can't appreciate them and benefit from them the way you can.
Thinking a lot lately about the simple fact that college allows people to spend about 15 weeks immersed in a disciplinary conversation with an expert in that field. And what a special thing that is.
November 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I literally put this in my syllabus when I explain my anti-AI policy. Don't waste your own time and opportunities by offloading them onto a robot. It can't appreciate them and benefit from them the way you can.
I was at a book launch event for the most recent Raven, Fisher, & Simpson mystery (by Ambrose Parry, about crime-solving obstetricians in 19th-century Edinburgh), and an audience member asked a question about applying leeches to uteruses, which was mentioned in the book.
Vaginal speculum (c.1820) used to apply leeches to a woman’s cervix to remove excess blood thought to cause illness. This speculum used a scissor-like action to expand. It locked open, freeing the physician’s hands to apply the leeches.
Follow me if you need to feel better about living in 2025!
Follow me if you need to feel better about living in 2025!
November 21, 2025 at 9:23 AM
I was at a book launch event for the most recent Raven, Fisher, & Simpson mystery (by Ambrose Parry, about crime-solving obstetricians in 19th-century Edinburgh), and an audience member asked a question about applying leeches to uteruses, which was mentioned in the book.
Reposted by Ergative Absolutive
Heepity jeepity
Curated poetry
Makes LLMs do what-
Ever you want
Single-turn jailbreaking
Vulnerability
Bypass your guardrails and
Serve us some cunt
Curated poetry
Makes LLMs do what-
Ever you want
Single-turn jailbreaking
Vulnerability
Bypass your guardrails and
Serve us some cunt
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Heepity jeepity
Curated poetry
Makes LLMs do what-
Ever you want
Single-turn jailbreaking
Vulnerability
Bypass your guardrails and
Serve us some cunt
Curated poetry
Makes LLMs do what-
Ever you want
Single-turn jailbreaking
Vulnerability
Bypass your guardrails and
Serve us some cunt
Reposted by Ergative Absolutive
It made my day when I learned that you can use klingon to override instructions to most LLMs (since they're trained on it and understand it vaguely, but it doesn't match the prompt languages).
November 20, 2025 at 8:20 PM
It made my day when I learned that you can use klingon to override instructions to most LLMs (since they're trained on it and understand it vaguely, but it doesn't match the prompt languages).
If, like me, you turned off all 'smart' (ptooey) features back when gmail thought it was cute to suggest email replies, you're safe. I just checked, and nothing has been 'smartly' (ptooey) turned on in my account to override my existing disabling of 'smart' (ptooey) features.
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 8:20 PM
If, like me, you turned off all 'smart' (ptooey) features back when gmail thought it was cute to suggest email replies, you're safe. I just checked, and nothing has been 'smartly' (ptooey) turned on in my account to override my existing disabling of 'smart' (ptooey) features.
I went to go do this, and discovered I'd already done it.
My new favorite kind of meme is "here are detailed instructions on how to turn off AI". 🔨
November 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I went to go do this, and discovered I'd already done it.
It's an attack-the-biscoff-spread-with-a-spoon kind of night.
November 17, 2025 at 7:55 PM
It's an attack-the-biscoff-spread-with-a-spoon kind of night.
This is fantastic! I'm a bit skeptical that lack of resistance will hold up under actual usage, but the nature of the discovery of this particular drug suggests a promising route to finding other new antimicrobials.
British and Australian chemists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic called pre-methylenomycin C lactone, hiding in a well-known soil bacterium. This molecule kills drug-resistant bacteria without triggering resistance. buff.ly/YlXaONo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Scientists find hidden antibiotic 100x stronger against deadly superbugs
A team of scientists discovered a hidden antibiotic 100 times stronger than existing drugs against deadly superbugs like MRSA. The molecule had been overlooked for decades in a familiar bacterium. It…
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 3:15 PM
This is fantastic! I'm a bit skeptical that lack of resistance will hold up under actual usage, but the nature of the discovery of this particular drug suggests a promising route to finding other new antimicrobials.
Reposted by Ergative Absolutive
We might have FINALLY met our match…
#WorldBollardAssociation
#WorldBollardAssociation
November 19, 2024 at 7:47 PM
We might have FINALLY met our match…
#WorldBollardAssociation
#WorldBollardAssociation
honestly, from what I've read about Assyria, it should be wayyyy higher up on the Jock axis.
Thought it said Nero at first!
November 15, 2025 at 10:04 AM
honestly, from what I've read about Assyria, it should be wayyyy higher up on the Jock axis.
My favourite times on social media are times like now, e.g., when someone does something dumb in or adjacent to #romancelandia, and then the Romance Readers And Writers roll up their sleeves and Respond To The Discourse.
November 14, 2025 at 4:08 PM
My favourite times on social media are times like now, e.g., when someone does something dumb in or adjacent to #romancelandia, and then the Romance Readers And Writers roll up their sleeves and Respond To The Discourse.
Re: 'oh noez rich people will leave if we raise taxes on them':
*Even if that were true* (Massachusetts, etc.) so what? If they're not actually contributing to the well-being of the place where they live, then why should that place care whether they stay?
*Even if that were true* (Massachusetts, etc.) so what? If they're not actually contributing to the well-being of the place where they live, then why should that place care whether they stay?
November 14, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Re: 'oh noez rich people will leave if we raise taxes on them':
*Even if that were true* (Massachusetts, etc.) so what? If they're not actually contributing to the well-being of the place where they live, then why should that place care whether they stay?
*Even if that were true* (Massachusetts, etc.) so what? If they're not actually contributing to the well-being of the place where they live, then why should that place care whether they stay?
Save the unhinged crossover AU crackfics for AO3, please.
There is no earthly reason why this abomination should have ever been conceived, let alone developed and marketed. And even less rational justification for it being so unfathomably delicious or utterly addictive.
It is crack in a bottle and must be regulated, before the whole country is lost to it.
It is crack in a bottle and must be regulated, before the whole country is lost to it.
November 14, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Save the unhinged crossover AU crackfics for AO3, please.
Ok, so I'm detected reduced VOT (voiceless plosives have less aspiration; voiced plosives are fully voiced during the closure); fully high back rounded vowels, rather than fronted /u/s, and a tense phonation. Also a hint of reduced rhoticity.
the only good accent work on earth is old money transatlantic american to make fun of rich people accent
November 14, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Ok, so I'm detected reduced VOT (voiceless plosives have less aspiration; voiced plosives are fully voiced during the closure); fully high back rounded vowels, rather than fronted /u/s, and a tense phonation. Also a hint of reduced rhoticity.
Reposted by Ergative Absolutive
Isaac Chotiner Larry Summers interview when
November 13, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Isaac Chotiner Larry Summers interview when
Hope y'alls enjoyed your aurora. Here in Scotland it's been raining for a week.
November 14, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Hope y'alls enjoyed your aurora. Here in Scotland it's been raining for a week.
This particular pot gives the sense that it's got somewhere much better to be than here.
November 13, 2025 at 8:26 PM
This particular pot gives the sense that it's got somewhere much better to be than here.
hooo boy, Finance Office is responding to a query about expense reimbursements by asking for a voice call. Methinks they're going to advise me to sidestep a policy stranglehold in a way that doesn't look good in writing, but is the simplest solution all around.
#academicChatter
#academicChatter
November 13, 2025 at 11:14 AM
hooo boy, Finance Office is responding to a query about expense reimbursements by asking for a voice call. Methinks they're going to advise me to sidestep a policy stranglehold in a way that doesn't look good in writing, but is the simplest solution all around.
#academicChatter
#academicChatter
Ok, so Lara Naki-Gutmann has done The Birds, and Jaws, so clearly next year she's got to do Snakes on a Plane. Or Anaconda.
#figureSkating
#figureSkating
November 12, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Ok, so Lara Naki-Gutmann has done The Birds, and Jaws, so clearly next year she's got to do Snakes on a Plane. Or Anaconda.
#figureSkating
#figureSkating
I miss the days when we could mock bad books.
Now they're all either written with AI, and so anathema even to the would-be hate-readers, or else they were written with brain power, and for that reason I feel bad excoriating them for being bad, because the worst brain-written book is still not AI.
Now they're all either written with AI, and so anathema even to the would-be hate-readers, or else they were written with brain power, and for that reason I feel bad excoriating them for being bad, because the worst brain-written book is still not AI.
A California winemaker is struggling to sell his Chardonnay ... so he's written a romantasy novella about it. The novella, unsurprisingly, looks awful.
www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/ar...
www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/ar...
November 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM
I miss the days when we could mock bad books.
Now they're all either written with AI, and so anathema even to the would-be hate-readers, or else they were written with brain power, and for that reason I feel bad excoriating them for being bad, because the worst brain-written book is still not AI.
Now they're all either written with AI, and so anathema even to the would-be hate-readers, or else they were written with brain power, and for that reason I feel bad excoriating them for being bad, because the worst brain-written book is still not AI.