I use em dashes a lot — and I am not an AI.

Suggested edits to the warning about stones in jars of 'pitted' olives:
Get to the point: delete "Although extra care", etc., just say, likely to contain stones.
Increase font size, consider bold typeface, and/or all caps.
Position at top of label.
Replace "Pitted" with "Pitted*" throughout.

Remember when 'Internet of Things' was the thing nobody could resist dropping into a list of Exciting New Stuff? Some poor dude's still trying to finish a PhD thesis on that, while his office-mate slavishly formats her bibliography on AlphaGo. Solidarity.

My evening of parenting just got 60% more interesting.

(NB I don't own tongs, but I do have two wooden spoons.)

Madmin.

It's admin, but faster.

Disobey photographers.

Just, you know, see what happens.

Looking back, I think my first clear premonition of AI was when employers started to use the word 'talent' where once they'd have said 'workers'.
"We're about attracting top talent."
As if talent were a mineral to be precision-mined from otherwise costly sacks of cells.

Good to see a packed room for new work in an enterprising if uneven night of short plays organised by Belfast Playwrights at the Black Box in Belfast. Denise McCready's Anna and the Prick the evening's highlight for me, deliciously played by Jo Donnelly and Chris Robinson.

Truman Show sequel looks lit

So thrilled to have this opportunity, and to have the incredible @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social as a mentor. Better knuckle down!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Five writers selected to participate in New Voices: North 2025 🎉

Congratulations to the five awardees 🥳

Susanna Galbraith
Josh McCune
John Moriarty @saywhatnowjohn.bsky.social
Cameron Tharmaratnam
Caitlin Young

irishwriterscentre.ie/announcing-t...

Check out our newest blog post:

Featuring John Moriarty’s @saywhatnowjohn personal essay on Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and a walk through boyhood nostalgia and friendship

Link below

Very grateful to see my essay "If Memory Serves" out in the world. Huge thanks to the amazing editorial team at The Belfast Review your support and for helping me find the story, and for the care you put into every pixel of the site. Issues 1-3 out now!

Tell me this. If we're all in The Matrix, how come there's a film called "The Matrix" about humanity's imprisonment in said Matrix?
Strong gambit from the overlords, no?

Is Verse 2 of "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1980) the most prescient in all of pop?
#HowDidTheyKnow
#AI-pocalypse

Here, Elif Batuman is pretty great.
#BookSky

Finally made it here. Bebo got way too intense.

Right, where do I post my quiz?