Sometimes, Cards Against Humanity Games Get It Right.  (I Still Prefer Bards Dispense Profanity Though.)

Well, that's massively creepy! My library (and our OverDrive consortium) don't have any eAudiobooks with "synthesized voice" narrators. Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean that we don't have AI narrators that aren't identified that way. We do have books by Blake Pierce, Molly Black, Fiona Grace, Rylie Dark, and some of the other authors listed in the article though.

Our Collection Development Policy doesn't specifically mention AI; we'll have to keep that in mind for the next review. I would recommend against purchasing AI-generated materials based on our criteria of artistic and literary quality, and reputation of the author, artist, or publisher. (Not to mention the damage that it does to the literary industry and the people in it!) However, that depends on us knowing that something is AI-generated. We don't have the time to do a deep dive into every author and narrator like Robin Bradford and SB Sarah did for this article.

Personally, I'm disgusted by AI-generated material being used in place of human-created works. Machine "learning" should be taking over repetitive, boring, and/or dangerous work to give humans more time for creativity! Using AI for creative work and leaving people to do more drudgery, is sickening. The fact that most of the bases that AIs are using come from people who are neither credited nor compensated for their work just makes it worse.

(This is my personal opinion and not the opinion of my employer.)

Is your library unknowingly buying AI written and/or narrated books?

OK, I know it sounds like clickbait. But smartbitchestrashybooks.com makes a pretty compelling case in their recent article,

AI Audiobook Narrators in OverDrive and the Issue of Library AI Circulation Policy

It's a long article, but worth the read. I wonder if it started before or after KKR bought Overdrive.

Any thoughts, @bibliofran ?

Asexual dragons and unicorns -- maybe that’s why they prefer virgins.

Mythical asexual moodboard

That is very cool!  It’s on beyond Madison (Google says about 2 hours total from our place), so I don’t know if we’ll get there.  It’s a great design though!

Trilobite. Corn. Maze. Geoscientists, if you’re anywhere near the US State of Wisconsin; you have a corn maze to visit. In fact, based on the response of the family that owns the farm when I asked for an image, I think they almost insist we show up! The trilobite Calymene celebra is the state fossil of Wisconsin and they are found in Cambrian and Ordovician rocks throughout the state. The maze also features cubic Galena – the state mineral of Wisconsin, a fossil ammonite and nautiloid, a microscope, a tool, an empty jar, and a couple insects. The link to the maze’s website is below. Anyone who is there, do feel free to comment on this post while you’re lost inside! -JBB Image credit: http://treinenfarm.com/2017maze

This is oddly enthralling.  You build towers of sand, and periodically, a wave comes and dissolves them.  Then you start over.  That’s the whole game.

I can’t decide whether this little game is ultimately soothing or super frustrating. :D 

This is great advice.  Does anyone know if it works for MD-shopping as well?

How do you (“how does one”) shop for a therapist?

Can you call up a therapist and be like “hi, I’m therapist shopping”? Can you schedule an appointment with a therapist and then be like “actually I have some questions and I want to spend part of this appointment talking about your practice and whether or not it is garbage?”? Are you expected to phone interview/screen your therapists if you are shopping around for a therapist?

If you’re seeing one therapist are you supposed to/not supposed to tell them if you start seeing another therapist? Is it possible to cheat on your therapist?

Awwww, this is adorable!

“hello,” the dark lord said, “i need a library card.”

“everyone needs a library card,” the librarian said brightly, sliding a form across the desk. “fill this out.”

the dark lord produced her own elaborated plumed quill from the depths of her robes and scrawled her name in handwriting that was completely illegible but seemed to whisper the secrets of the dark from the blinding white page. “yes, but i need mine in order to take over the tri-kingdom area.”

the librarian’s polite smile barely faltered. “funny, the last dark lord to try that didn’t bother with a card.”

“yes, and do you see that fool currently ruling our kingdom? no. of course not. utterly ridiculous, to attempt to take over any size country without a library card, much less an intermediate-sized one like this.” she accepted the thin plastic card with a gracious flourish of her gloved hand.

the librarian, adding the new card’s number to the database, privately agreed, but chose not to say anything.

the librarian balanced the pile of pulled books under one elbow and held the list of call numbers in their hand for easy consultation. “intermediate spell casting for grades three and four,” they murmured, running fingers along the peeling spines until they found it. “willing to bet that’s sorrel’s request.”

they fit the large, paperbound book under their elbow and moved on, checking the list again. “magical creatures encyclopedia, L through M. that’s jackaby trying to finish the entire set by midsummer.” they would get that one last to carry it around the shortest amount of time.

“next — the complete guide to raising the dead.” they paused in front of the row of shelves with the right call numbers. they could guess the requester of that one too, but knew better than to say it out loud.

the return slot thunked loudly as it swung open and closed, having swallowed the returned books with a wet gulp.

“good morning,” the dark lord said pleasantly as she looked up from sliding her books in — or as pleasantly as “good morning” could sound when it was uttered by a voice that sounded like gravel being chewed to pieces by the jaws of a large monster.

“it is, very,” the librarian said crisply, conjuring a clean handkerchief for the still-slobbering return slot.

the mouth just visible under the dark lord’s enormous cloak hood curved into a scythe’s blade smile, but she said nothing else.

“did you enjoy your books?” the librarian asked, since she wasn’t moving and there were no other people waiting (most likely because of the dark lord standing there).

the hood nodded up and down. “extremely. especially the taped lecture by doctor dramidius ardorius of the dark arts institute.”

“well, we have many more taped lectures. i especially recommend the one on the healing powers of tea.” they tilted their head in a now get out sign. the poor steam-powered self-checkout contraption would get overheated if people were too scared to check out at the front desk.

they didn’t really expect the dark lord to take the recommendation seriously, but the next day they noticed the cloaked, hooded specter glide out the door with the taped lecture on magic-infused herbal teas tucked between a CD of dark chants and a step-by-step art book on drawing occult symbols.

“you give good recommendations,” the dark lord said with a shrug when the librarian raised their eyes from the front desk’s computer to the shadows of her hood.

the librarian wasn’t sure what to say. “you seem to take up quite a lot of my time.”

“i’m only a simple library patron,” the dark lord replied in a saintly voice that resembled a dragon coughing up a partially digested house. “do you enjoy mermaid song?”

“yes. you can find the library’s collection in the CD section over there.” they looked pointedly back down at the computer.

“i hear there’s a concert on the shore tomorrow evening.”

“perhaps we’ll get a recording of it.”

the dark lord continued taking out books on various unsavory topics. the librarian continued suggesting books on healing, positive thinking, and community service. the dark lord seemed more amused with each visit. her smile was almost charming, when you got past the long, sharp teeth.

the librarian was trying to go about their usual morning ritual of pulling books that had been requested the night before, but the dark lord wouldn’t stop making faces at them from behind gaps in the shelves. she seemed to find it hilarious. the librarian hadn’t decided yet if they were amused or annoyed.

“ooh, look at this,” the dark lord said, pulling a sturdy but beaten up board book featuring a werewolf mid-transformation on the cover from the shelf. “this was my favorite when i was just a little menace.”

“somehow i’m not surprised.”

the dark lord tucked the book into the ridiculous basket made of a large skull that floated alongside her. “didn’t you have a favorite picture book when you were little?”

“Barker the Sentient Book End,” the librarian said promptly. “i screamed for it every night until someone read it to me, long after i’d already memorized each page.”

the dark lord cooed, sounding like a cross between an owl and something eating an owl. “adorable. i knew you had a little monster in you somewhere.”

the librarian crossly debated denying being a monster at all or pointing out they had actual kraken blood in them.

they should have guessed how close the dark lord was from how good her mood was, but it wasn’t until they arrived at work on monday that the librarian heard the news.

“the newest dark lord managed to overthrow the faeyrie monarchy last night. something about combining traditional herbal spells with a newfangled mental magic based on the power of willful thinking… or something. the news reporter mentioned the use of mermaid song in a mild kind of mind control, i think? i wasn’t listening. the good news is, our budget stays in place.”

the librarian contemplated hurling the can of bookmarks across the room, but concluded that it would be both unprofessional and unsatisfying. they settled for aggressively stamping returned, only slightly saliva-covered books with red ink.

the phone clicked loudly. “public library, how can i help you?”

“by taking my offer,” the dark lord said, slightly hesitant voice like a rock slide that wasn’t sure it was ready to slide. “the royal library in the capital needs a new head librarian.”

“why’s that?” the librarian spun in their new swivel chair, tangling the phone cord while they were at it, thinking they wouldn’t want to leave so soon after getting it.

there was a cough like the ocean spitting out a new island. “erm, hmm, last one got… eaten. tragic. these things happen when you’re very, very small, you know.”

“so i’ve heard.” the librarian stretched the phone cord and watched it bounce back. “well, i’m happy where i am.”

“well.” her voice was more disappointed than they’d expected. “it’s a very nice library, you know. large selection of mermaid song in the CD section.”

“the royal library is part of our system. i can request any materials from there that i want to be delivered here.”

a pause. the dark lord had not considered this. “well, maybe i’ll take the royal library out of the system.”

“you wouldn’t dare disrupt the workings of our very intricate library system set up at the dawn of time.”

“maybe i would!”

“no.”

“fine. i wouldn’t.”

the librarian swiveled some more, wrapping the cord around with them until it ran out of give and spun them in the other direction. “would you like to grab a coffee sometime?”

“yes,” the dark lord said, voice too surprised to resemble anything in particular. “i can travel down meet you tomorrow morning.”

“don’t you have things to do?”

they could sense the shrug from the other end of the line. “i’ll move the capital to your town. i can do that, you know. i’m the supreme ruler of the tri-kingdom area.”

“yes,” the librarian agreed, un-spinning to return the phone to its cradle. “just don’t forget who gave you the library card.”

You have the right to vote safely!  If you have been avoiding registering to vote in the US due to domestic violence or threat of violence, please check out the resources for your state.  In Wisconsin, this includes threats to someone in your household, as well as yourself and your child/ward.

[image description: a tweet by user @indigenousAI saying

“fun fact: as a DV survivor i cannot register to vote because doing so makes my address public. anyone who is fleeing or hiding from an abuser is automatically disenfranchised from the political process and this is a feature, not a bug”]

Asexuality doesn’t have anything to do with the color of your skin!

I wanted to do this piece for two reasons; One, honestly, I saw a post about different eye types, and I really wanted to explore that and that created an urge to draw people of different ethnicities.

But the big reason is that in the ace community, people tend to associate it with white people. There’s a lot of racism and aphobia that goes into this too, like, saying that it’s a “white person’s thing”, and it isn’t. Anybody of any race or religion or gender can be asexual. It isn’t like, a “white person thing”. And I know a lot of POC feel excluded due to all of the overbearing whiteness in the ace community. I really??? Wanted to try to make people feel okay you know??? Shoot. Like, I couldn’t draw too many face types, but- I really– really want more representation for ace people of colour.

Anyway, please take care.

I can’t even draw straight lines with a ruler.

I am not a straight people.

Reblog if you are also not a straight people.

I love the juxtaposition of “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Umbrella.”  Wow, that guy can move!

Tom Holland does Rihanna’s “Umbrella” on Lip Sync Battle