Kate Lance

@katelance.com

597 Followers 623 Following

Once an astronomer, then an Internet techie, then award-winning maritime-history author, now an infrequently read novelist. My books are at https://seabooks.net. Mastodon: https://aus.social/@katela. Glass art avatar by Annie Rie.

Imagine if dingoes were legislated as our official national animal, a culturally significant and protected native species that could also kill you. Perfectly Australian. First Dog on the Moon.
Gigantic Mountain Ash tree trunk on the back of a truck after felling.
They nearly caught me at the Waterhole when I thought I was at least a day ahead. I was so tired. I’d walked for kloms from the transport hub through the twisting dirty lanes of Jumptown. My envirocoat had kept off the rain but my shoes hadn’t, and with cold wet feet I was now sitting in the Waterhole behind a pillar, nursing a stimbeer, watching the window droplets catch the evening lights and wishing I were closer to the fire. But then, I’d have to be closer to the other people in the tavern, and I’m not sure I could cope. Perhaps the smell of Beasts isn’t as bad as I’d always imagined, but it’s the sight of them that keeps shocking me. Look, I studied Beast inner-ear anatomy for my thesis and they’re a fascinating phenomenon, but in real life? I shiver, and it’s not from the cold. Of course I’ve outgrown those stories my nannies told me to make me obedient, the breathless childhood tales of teeth and claws and sudden violence. Just myths, obviously. If they were true, would Beasts really be allowed to crew the interplanetary ships? Yes, of course they’re the only ones who can survive space shutdown, but doesn’t that say something about how … well, different, how primitive they are? No, I scold myself, don’t be bigoted. We’re still one species after all. Except … over to one side a Beast gets up from her chair to go to the bar, and my peripheral vision, riph, kicks in before I can switch to direct sight. With a jolt of terror all I can see is her Beast genus, Hyaenid, a hyena. One species? Hard to believe. In direct sight, of course, she’s a pleasant-looking woman with scruffy hair and big teeth. I cautiously let myself flicker for a moment to riph, but the sheer oddity of her existence still shocks, so I force myself back to direct vision.
Image showing forecasts of up to 40% time improvement with AI, compared to actual time slowdown of almost 20% for experienced developers.
Graph of Tesla market cap, same levels shown between Musk offering to buy Twitter and trump election, and same levels when Twitter actually bought and current collapse.
image via windy.com of waves around cyclone Alfred.
Image from windy.com of winds in region of cyclone Alfred.
Graph of Tesla share price for 6 months showing it has dropped to same level as on 6 Nov 2024.
Diagrams of how BlueSky and its AT Protocol functions, compared to how The Fediverse and its ActivityPub protocol functions. BlueSky's traffic flows from servers to corporate-owned relays, and these relays communicate with each other before allowing traffic to flow to servers. The servers cannot communicate with each other at all. The Fediverse's traffic flows directly between cheap-to-run servers, with no need for any corporate involvement. While technically these are both forms of decentralisation, the BlueSky interpretation puts corporations, rich people and wealthy organisations in full control of the network. The Fediverse interpretation puts ordinary people in full control of the betwork.
Cover of book, fair woman against Vietnamese landscape, with tagline 'Make love not war? If only.' Text: Growing up - and growing wiser - in Australia's turbulent Vietnam era. Yet afterwards, when the shadows overwhelm, how does anyone recover?
Small red poodle looking concerned in a suitcase.