The March equinox – aka the vernal equinox – marks the sun’s crossing above Earth’s equator, moving from south to north. Earth’s tilt on its axis is what causes this northward shift of the sun’s path across our sky at this time of year. Earth’s tilt is now bringing spring and summer to the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, the March equinox marks the beginning of autumn – and a shift toward winter – in the Southern Hemisphere.
I did spot a lovely V of Canada Geese a couple of days ago, and hopefully we’ll see more signs of spring soon!
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association has released its list of finalists for the new Nebula Awards. These are some of the best stories, movies, games and more from 2025, and a great way to boost your to be read list. If you’re an SFWA member you have until April 15th to vote on your favorites.
The list is available in lots of places but I’ll link to Andrew Liptak’s site because he has already done the work of finding links for the stories that are available online. Thanks, Andrew!
I’ll copy the short stories here, but click through to Andrew’s site for links to the novelettes and more. And do I love that many of the top short story markets are open access? I do!
There are a number of reasons why AI can be problematic, but lawsuits over stolen copyrights and the like don’t touch on one of the more interesting and important reasons why AI should be used judiciously in creative work.
It can undermine your skills. And who among us wants to fall victim to that most dreadful of problems, creative atrophy?
This essay by Storm Humbert goes deeper into the perils of cognitive offloading, skill atrophy, and more.
Don’t be drawn in by the allure of never having to go through the “being-bad-at-it” phase of learning a craft. We must allow ourselves to be bad—to downright suck—for a little while. Outsourcing our infinite potential to limited tools is how we become limited ourselves. Instead, pick up a pencil. Sit at a keyboard. Contend with the blank page and the empty canvas—the unsullied slab of granite. It’s the only path to greatness.
Like any tool, AI can be good at some things and not great at others. Knowing the why and when and how is critical to making good use of such tools, and those decisions require thought and good judgement. And what’s the best tool for building people who are good at thinking?
My list of things to do today is extensive, but there’s only one thing I really have to do: taxes. Ok, fine, I baked some chocolate chip cookie bars. But also taxes! Time to put ye olde nose to the grindstone and get this done.
What is pi, anyway? Divide any circle’s circumference by its diameter; the answer (whether for a pie plate or a planet) is always approximately 3.14, a number we represent with the Greek letter π. Keep calculating pi’s digits with more and more accuracy—as mathematicians have been doing for 4,000 years—and you’ll discover they go on literally forever…
Infinite, like my love for pie. I might go savory this year, actually.
If you are a friggatriskaidekaphobe, or someone who fears Friday the 13th, I’m afraid I have some bad news: not only is today not your day, but 2026 has not one not two but three Friday the 13ths!
I also have some good news: We had one last month and it went pretty okay. Here’s hoping the rest are as manageable!
If you’d like to know more, or aim to defang your phobia through knowledge, here’s an article that goes in-depth on this scariest of dates:
This is a tough year for people with friggatriskaidekaphobia, which is, yes, a fear of Friday the 13th. (Apologies if you have hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, or a fear of long words.)
Maybe this is a good year to try to kick your fear through exposure therapy? Or you can just count down the hours until it’s over. In that case, happy 14th!
Yesterday’s storm has come and gone, leaving icy gems scattered across the ground. The pines are encased in sleek silver robes and the world in treacherous beauty.
“You were born and with you endless possibilities, very few ever to be realized. It’s okay. Life was never about what you could do, but what you would do.” — Richelle E. Goodrich
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