Karl Relf

The wind is howling around the eaves. The rain is driving against the windows. Nice night for sitting in the warm & dry, feet up, reading spooky stories.

No explanation is required. There is no ethical use of GenAI. None. At all. Ever. It is based on theft. The End.

So, it's illegal to sell Sally Rooney's books, but perfectly fine to have organised groups wear balaclavas, block ports & intimidate people. That right? Gotcha. Bunch of cupid stunts.

There’s no ethical use for AI. Fuck off

Make a war film rubbish. The Buns of Navarone

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Modern Tories (& Labour) would probably say she's too left-wing.

It's currently #SpaceWeek and picking up some space-based adventure books is a great way to celebrate. So why not give mine a go? Travel to Mars, the Moon, Neptune, Jupiter, and more in the Augment Saga. www.alankdell.co.uk/... 💙📚🪐 | 📢📚

Fancy an Amazon Prime Day deal? Dead Line and Parallel Execution are half price on Kindle today and tomorrow.

Join me on Monday over on the UK Crime Book Club where I'll be talking with the author Mark Ezra about his novels, including his latest thriller, A Nest of Wasps.

I'm fortunate. They already knew, so I didn't have to. I *did* make sure to tell my nephews & their friends, though. Repeatedly, & in no uncertain terms.

when ai leaves u behind

Not to mention gas & electricity supply, fresh water & sanitation. They'll need to enter trade negotiations for all that.

I’ve reached the point - well actually, I reached it a while ago - where I’m militantly anti-AI. Fine - use it in bioscience labs and radiology where it might help analyse data more effectively. Use it sparingly for systems engineering. Everywhere else, it can fuck off.

I've been a fan of Star Trek since the 70s and while it may have its problems right now (it's not all bad, just as the older series' eps weren't all good), it's been an escape when I've needed one, a comfort when I've needed that & a beacon of hope when I've felt hopeless. To the future! 🖖

80 year-olds with pro-Palestine signs: arrested as terrorists. Greens planning to block a road, to highlight an existential crisis: sent down for years. Masked far-right thugs blocking roads and ports, using intimidation, obstruction & threatening behaviour: no arrests. The real two-tier policing.

History teaching in the UK is/was pretty bad. E.g. I've learnt much more about British India from listening to @vaseemkhanuk.bsky.social & @radiomukhers.bsky.social than I did in GCSE History - and *that* specifically covered British social & economic history 1750-1900!

Sad to see that @chilternkills.bsky.social appears to have bitten the dust.

Journalists need to stop describing these incidents in terms implying software has agency and intent. It does not. The people who created a faulty and dangerous product are the ones responsible for whatever happens, and must be held to account, with punitive financial penalties for damage done.

Confirmed.

Yo, check out my sci-fi books! I've got classic space opera, hard sci-fi, space exploration, first contact, political thrillers, cosmic horror and more. www.alankdell.co.uk/... 💙📚🪐

Great. Now I want noodles. Ah well...

Obligatory "please do not look directly into the sun tonight" reminder. Yes, in 1999, we were told that, *during totality*, we can safely look up and see the corona. This one will *not* have 100% coverage though where I am, so for the love of god, get some glasses!

That cover!

Ah! I've got the mix wrong. Mine's 49% stubbornness, at this point 50% inability to do anything else and 1% luck...which, seeing as if I don't get bad luck I get no luck at all, means nothing.

2000 words before lunch (*well* before, actually). That's not happened in donkey's ages. Pretty pleased. New story too. This one might have legs.

100% this.

Most of my ancestors were boat people.

We're joining the Creators' Rights Alliance (CRA) in calling on Government to protect creators from the existential threat of GenAI. Fairness and transparency must be at the heart of the UK's approach to AI. Help our mission by signing the petition buff.ly/j7NooKw

OK, this makes me angry. Cuts to science. The mothballing of facilities & loss of jobs leading to a brain-drain that'll cost the UK & benefit others. How bloody short-sighted do they want to be?

Ah, Bill Oddie. Funny, informative, enthusiastic, honest about his passion for wildlife & his personal struggles. One of a kind. Thanks for all the laughs, sir. RIP.

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Goode?

Huge congratulations to @ellygriffiths.bsky.social on winning the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award! Commiserations to the other nominees, any of whom would have been worthy winners.

Safe travels to anyone heading to Harrogate for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. Hope you all have a great time! (I say 'hope', you absolutely will.) Best of luck to all taking part in Creative Thursday! @harrogatefestivals.bsky.social

So it's goodbye then, King Kev, my first proper football hero. Rest in peace.

We now live in a society where if you are incapable of operating a smartphone or another digital device, You will be excluded from mainstream society. That includes access to government services, It also includes banking & shortly the NHS. Be aware of the direction of travel we are heading to.

My partner & I met Sam Neill at a Comic Con event in 2019. We were totally starstruck, either babbling away (her) or struck dumb (me), but despite that (he was probably used to it) he spent a few minutes chatting with us & was an absolute gent. Condolences to family & friends, & farewell, Sam. RIP.

My kind of shed.

RIP, Bonnie Tyler.

I think this settles it, I've actually died & gone to Hell. Bloody weather.

RIP Kenny Jackett. Gone too soon.

What? How in the actual fuck??? As for Streeting, when is he going to realise his true allegiances are to the Tories or, more likely, Reform?

The Thing They Live Christine Escape from New York Halloween