'This maybe the hardest day of our lives'

'Wave of similar bans'

Geologists have known for years that from 5,000 years ago and beyond, much of what is today called the Sahara Desert was a lush grassland. Some exceptional evidence of this recently surfaced in Sudan, where a paper published on a survey done in 2018 reveals the presence of rock art that depicts cattle herders and […] The post 5,000-year-old Rock Art of Boats and Cattle Unearthed in the Sahara Shows Grassland Came Before Desert appeared first on Good News Network.

The post Do You Have a Guard Cat? How Olga Guards Her Territory by Christopher Bays appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Hi, I’m Christopher! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my silly Russian Blue cat, Olga. Aggressive cats sometimes guard their resources when they live in multi-pet homes, and they can prevent other felines from using the litter box or eating their meals. Although resource guarding and other undesirable behaviors can be addressed with training and veterinary assistance, some cats are protective over more than just their food, toilet area, and toys. The Canine Advantage Using dogs as reliable protectors is an ancient practice that still exists today, but can we rely on our housecats to protect our families and property? In most cases, I would say, “No!” If humans had been more involved in selectively breeding cats with desirable traits thousands of years ago, we could rely on larger felines to attack burglars, recover illegal drugs, rescue lost humans, and remove explosives. Dogs are easier to train for those tasks because they’re more eager to please humans, and working breeds have a long history of serving them. Most cats are more likely to hide when their owners are threatened, but there are exceptions; some risk their lives to save other animals and humans. I’m the new efficiency expert; work harder! Life-Saving Kitties You may have seen videos of cats protecting small dogs from coyotes or drawing enraged dogs away from their owners so they can get to safety. I prefer those clips to the ones of cats playing the piano, and they make me wonder whether Olga would protect me in a life-or-death situation. She’s a guard cat in some ways, but her idea of protection is much different than mine. I don’t expect her to repel a home invasion or chase a porch pirate into oncoming traffic, but she protects me from pests. A flying insect’s life expectancy plummets when it enters my home because of the gray panther prowling around. I’m impatiently awaiting my supper. Pest Control Like most healthy cats, Olga is a light sleeper. She springs to action if she hears or senses a housefly or other bug in her territory. Her impressive eye-to-paw coordination allows her to catch flies in midair, sometimes using two paws. I don’t think she’s protecting me exactly; most felines enjoy hunting insects and other small creatures because of their instincts but not out of their love for their owners. However, flies and other insects carry diseases, and when fewer pests inhabit your home, you’re less likely to have an infestation or get sick. Olga the Watch Cat Sometimes, Olga alerts me with a grunt when someone pulls into the driveway. If she’s sleeping, she may not react until there’s a knock on the door, but she usually comes to me if someone or something approaches my house. When she hears a helicopter in the distance, she jumps up and runs to the window. Do you think the helicopter will land on our house? Unlike fireworks, she’s not afraid of helicopters, but the sound irritates her, and instead of running away, she stares at the sky and paws at the windowpanes. Our cats protect us in some ways, even if they aren’t as skilled as dogs. I’m confident that Olga, like Sam the Shetland Sheepdog in Lethal Weapon 2, will alert me in time to escape a helicopter attack. The post Do You Have a Guard Cat? How Olga Guards Her Territory by Christopher Bays appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

News Locus Awards Here Are the Winners of the 2024 Locus Awards! Congratulations to all! By Molly Templeton | Published on June 24, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share This past weekend, the Locus Science Fiction Foundation announced the winners of the 2024 Locus Awards, which are selected by an open vote. The winners were announced in a ceremony in Oakland, California on June 22nd. Henry Lien emceed the awards ceremony, which had Cory Doctorow as special guest Congratulations to all the winners, which are in bold below! Science Fiction Novel The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport, Samit Basu (Tordotcom) A Fire Born of Exile, Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz; JAB Books) Red Team Blues, Cory Doctorow (Tor; Ad Astra) Furious Heaven, Kate Elliott (Ad Astra; Tor) Translation State, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK) The Terraformers, Annalee Newitz (Tor; Orbit UK) Starter Villain, John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK) Lords of Uncreation, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US; Tor UK) WINNER: System Collapse, Martha Wells (Tordotcom) The Road to Roswell, Connie Willis (Del Rey) Fantasy Novel To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey) The Keeper’s Six, Kate Elliott (Tordotcom) Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett (Del Rey; Orbit UK) Dead Country, Max Gladstone (Tordotcom) The Water Outlaws, S.L. Huang (Tordotcom; Solaris UK) Paladin’s Faith, T. Kingfisher (Argyll) He Who Drowned the World, Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor; Mantle) My Brother’s Keeper, Tim Powers (Baen; Ad Astra) City of Last Chances, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra) WINNER: Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom) Horror Novel Vampires of El Norte, Isabel Cañas (Berkley) The Reformatory, Tananarive Due (Saga; Titan UK) A Haunting on the Hill, Elizabeth Hand (Mulholland; Sphere) Starling House, Alix E. Harrow (Tor; Tor UK) How to Sell a Haunted House, Grady Hendrix (Berkley; Titan UK) Don’t Fear the Reaper, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK) WINNER: A House with Good Bones, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK) Lone Women, Victor LaValle (One World) Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher) Black River Orchard, Chuck Wendig (Del Rey; Del Rey UK) Young Adult Novel WINNER: Promises Stronger Than Darkness, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen; Titan UK) The Making of Yolanda la Bruja, Lorraine Avila (Levine Querido) Damned If You Do, Alex Brown (Page Street) A Song of Salvation, Alechia Dow (Inkyard) The Library of Broken Worlds, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Scholastic; Magpie UK) The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, Garth Nix (Tegen; Gollancz) Into the Light, Mark Oshiro (Tor Teen) Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross (Wednesday; Magpie UK) The Siren, the Song, and the Spy, Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Candlewick) The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, Andrew Joseph White (Peachtree Teen) First Novel Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Pantheon) The Strange, Nathan Ballingrud (Saga; Titan UK) WINNER: The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom) Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou (Razorbill; Penguin UK) These Burning Stars, Bethany Jacobs (Orbit US; Orbit UK) Godkiller, Hannah Kaner (Harper Voyager UK; Harper Voyager US) The Marigold, Andrew F. Sullivan (ECW) Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (DAW; Gollancz) Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh (Tordotcom; Orbit UK) Ink Blood Sister Scribe, Emma Törzs (Morrow; Century) Novella The Crane Husband, Kelly Barnhill (Tordotcom) The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar, Indra Das (Subterranean) “Linghun,” Ai Jiang (Linghun) The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw (Nightfire; Titan UK) WINNER: Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK) Rose/House, Arkady Martine (Subterranean) Lost in the Moment and Found, Seanan McGuire (Tor) The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older (Tordotcom) The Lies of the Ajungo, Moses Ose Utomi (Tordotcom) Mammoths at the Gates, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom) Novelette “What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata,” P. Djèlí Clark (The Book of Witches) “John Hollowback and the Witch,” Amal El-Mohtar (The Book of Witches) I AM AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave) “The Year Without Sunshine,” Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny 11-12/23) “Prince Hat Underground,” Kelly Link (White Cat, Black Dog) “At Every Door a Ghost,” Premee Mohamed (Communications Breakdown) WINNER: “The Rainbow Bank,” Uchechukwu Nwaka (GigaNotoSaurus 8/23) “One Man’s Treasure,” Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 1-2/23) “Six Versions of My Brother Found Under a Bridge,” Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9-10/23) “On the Fox Roads,” Nghi Vo (Tor.com 10/31/23) Short Story “A Soul in the World,” Charlie Jane Anders (Uncanny 3-4/23) WINNER: “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub,” P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny 1-2/23) “The Mausoleum’s Children,” Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny 5-6/23) “Suppertime,” Tananarive Due (New Suns 2) “Window Boy,” Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 8/23) “Reckless Eyeballing,” N.K. Jemisin (Out There Screaming) “The Sound of Children Screaming,” Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare 10/23) “Those Hitchhiking Kids,” Darcie Little Badger (The Sunday Morning Transport 4/2/23) “Stones,” Nnedi Okorafor (Clarkesworld 9/23) “There’s a Door to the Land of the Dead in the Land of the Dead,” Sarah Pinsker (The Deadlands 6/23) Anthology The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 7, Neil Clarke, ed. (Night Shade) Christmas and Other Horrors, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Titan UK) The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022), Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki & Eugen Bacon & Milton Davis, eds. (Caezic) Never Whistle at Night, Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., eds. (Vintage) The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, R.F. Kuang & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner) WINNER: Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Random House; Picador) New Suns 2, Nisi Shawl, ed. (Solaris UK) The Book of Witches, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK) Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi, ed. (Android) The Best of World SF: Volume 3, Lavie Tidhar, ed. (Ad Astra) Collection The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volumes 1 & 2, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon) Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance and Other Stories, Tobias S. Buckell (Apex) The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Tananarive Due (Akashic) WINNER: White Cat, Black Dog, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra) No One Will Come Back For Us, Premee Mohamed (Undertow) Jackal, Jackal, Tobi Ogundiran (Undertow) Skin Thief, Suzan Palumbo (Neon Hemlock) Lost Places, Sarah Pinsker (Small Beer) The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two, Michael Swanwick (Subterranean) The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume One, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean) Magazine Analog Asimov’s Beneath Ceaseless Skies Clarkesworld F&SF FIYAH khōréō Strange Horizons Tor.com WINNER: Uncanny Publisher Angry Robot DAW Gollancz Neon Hemlock Orbit Small Beer Subterranean Tachyon WINNER: Tor Tordotcom Editor WINNER: Neil Clarke Ellen Datlow Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki Arley Sorg & Christie Yant Jonathan Strahan Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas Sheree Renée Thomas E. Catherine Tobler Ann VanderMeer Sheila Williams Artist Brom Rovina Cai Kinuko Y. Craft Julie Dillon Bob Eggleton Abigail Larson WINNER: John Picacio Charles Vess Michael Whelan Alyssa Winans Non-Fiction The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History, Jack Dann (Bloomsbury Academic) 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams, Kevin Jon Davies, ed. (Unbound UK) Wish I Was Here: An Anti-Memoir, M. John Harrison (Serpent’s Tail; Saga 2024) All These Worlds, Niall Harrison (Briardene) 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered, Sadie Hartmann (Page Street Publishing) WINNER: Space Crone, Ursula K. Le Guin (Silver Press) Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by Persons of Color, Chinelo Onwualu, ed. (Hydra House) A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, Maureen Kincaid Speller (Luna Press Publishing) Owning the Unknown: A Science Fiction Writer Explores Atheism, Agnosticism, and the Idea of God, Robert Charles Wilson (Pitchstone) Being Michael Swanwick, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Fairwood) Illustrated and Art Book WINNER: The Culture: The Drawings, Iain M. Banks (Orbit US; Orbit UK) Home to Stay! The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories, Ray Bradbury, adapted by Al Feldstein, art by Jack Davis, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Wallace Wood, et al. (Fantagraphics) The Pen & Ink Drawings of Tony DiTerlizzi, Tony DiTerlizzi (self-published) Spectrum Fantastic Art Quarterly, Volume Three, Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Spectrum Fantastic Art) The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta, Dian Hanson, ed., art by Frank Frazetta (Taschen) The Last Count of Monte Cristo, Ayize Jama-Everett, art by Tristan Roach (Megascope) Voyaging, Volume One: The Plague Star, George R.R. Martin, art and adaptation by Raya Golden (Ten Speed Graphic) Thalamus, Volumes 1 & 2: The Art of Dave McKean, Dave McKean (Dark Horse) Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s, Adam Rowe (Abrams) Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures, Kevin M. Strait & Kinshasha Holman Conwill, eds. (Smithsonian) Special Award 2024: Fostering Excellence in Craft & Career Jeanne Cavelos and the Odyssey Writing Workshop The post Here Are the Winners of the 2024 Locus Awards! appeared first on Reactor.

Books queer SFF Twelve Poems to Help Celebrate Pride Month As June draws to a close, spend some time with these joyful, powerful expressions of queer experience and identity… By Holly Kybett Smith | Published on June 24, 2024 Photo by Jason Leung [via Unsplash] Comment 0 Share New Share Photo by Jason Leung [via Unsplash] We’re in the midst of Pride Month, and with it comes an opportunity to celebrate the creativity of the LGBTQ+ community’s many, many poets. Being part of the queer community can mean facing numerous challenges—especially in parts of the world where there are no legal protections (yet)—but it is also an honour: one that connects you to a large and powerful legacy of art, expression, passion, and love. This month I’ve selected twelve poems that radiate queer joy and encapsulate different facets of queer experience… although they are just the tip of a very large iceberg, and if you go digging, you will find much, much more. Whether you’re an ally to the community, hoping to learn from our perspectives, or you fall somewhere under the queer umbrella yourself, I hope you find something here that resonates with you. “Jesus at the Gay Bar” by Jay Hulme He’s here in the midst of it –right at the centre of the dance floor,robes hitched up to His kneesto make it easy to spin… The first poem I’ve selected is by transgender performance poet Jay Hulme, best known for his work as an LGBTQ+ activist and writer in Christian spaces (notably old churches, which he explores and writes about in loving detail on Substack). “Jesus at the Gay Bar”acknowledges the common belief amongst religious communities that queerness is something one must cure, and gently but firmly assures the reader otherwise. “Fragment” by Sappho I said: ‘Go with my blessing if you goAlways remembering what we did. To meYou have meant everything, as you well know…’ It wouldn’t be a list of queer poetry without acknowledging Sappho: the poetess whose legacy birthed the terms “Sapphic” and “Lesbian” as ways of talking about women who love women. The above excerpt—one of many suffused with gay undertones—is translated by Aaron Poochigan. If you’re interested in exploring a unique angle on the ancient poet and the symbol she has become in modern culture, lesbian fashion historian Eleanor Medhurst talks further about Sappho’s significance in this article. “i love you to the moon &” by Chen Chen not back, let’s not come back, let’s go by the speed of queer zest & stay up there & get ourselves a little moon cottage (so pretty), then start a moon garden… This gorgeously romantic poem was included in Poem-a-Day in 2021, and breathlessly captures the whirlwind of a new love. Chen Chen’s writing is a joy, frequently exploring queerness as a theme. “Warming Her Pearls” by Carol Ann Duffy Next to my own skin, her pearls. My mistressbids me wear them, warm them, until eveningwhen I’ll brush her hair. At six, I place themround her cool, white throat. All day I think of her… As a lesbian myself, with a proclivity for historical fiction, Warming Her Pearls is probably one of my all-time favourite queer poems, so I had to give it a spot on this list. In elegant verse, Carol Ann Duffy—the first female poet, first Scottish-born poet, and first openly lesbian poet to be appointed Poet Laureate—tells a story of forbidden and subtle romance between the maid and mistress of a historical house, which feels as though it could have slipped from between the pages of a Sarah Waters novel. “Statue of David with Top Surgery Scars” by Devin S. Turk I see the smooth dip in surfacewhere pectorals meet a ribcageand I envision into existence two scarsperhaps still fresh with stitch marks… This playful poem re-imagines Michelangelo’s David—a symbol of high art and traditional beauty in the Western world—as an emblem of transness: this figure is, after all, a man that had to be created, chiselled free, in much the same way that a trans man carves himself into the world. There is something fiercely beautiful about that, isn’t there? “Romance of Possible Contrasts” by Alison Rumfitt They met in a no-good gay nightclub in Kemptownand the Sea danced with the Forestto Madonna, twirling around each other, laughingup to the top where the smoking area was… This sixth poem makes the ordinary extraordinary, weaving a fantastical love story between two forces of nature who happen to meet for the first time in a Brighton nightclub. Rumfitt’s use of magical realism here elevates the mundane to match the heady sensations evoked from queer connection. “Home Wrecker” by Ocean Vuong And this is how we danced: with our mothers’white dresses spilling from our feet, late Augustturning our hands dark red. And this is how we loved:a fifth of vodka and an afternoon in the attic, your fingerssweeping though my hair—my hair a wildfire… Perhaps best known for his debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong writes lyrically in poetry and prose. “Home Wrecker,” whichappears in his poetry collection, Night Sky With Exit Wounds, tells a tantalising and dangerous queer love story. “Seeking Trans Ancestors in Old Provincial Graveyards” by Jay Hulme Every day breaks like a man,and every night falls like a woman,and the dawn arises and the moonin the daytime hangs silent and awkward,like the rest who’ve never belonged… Yes, Jay Hulme gets two spots on my list. Sue me, he’s fantastic! This poem—which appears with “Jesus at the Gay Bar”in Jay’s collection, The Backwater Sermons—follows its narrator through the winding path of a graveyard, musing on the unknown and unspoken queer history that came before. “The Moon Is Trans” by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza From this moment forward, the moon is trans.You don’t get to write about the moon anymore unless you respect that.You don’t get to talk to the moon anymore unless you use her correct pronouns.You don’t get to send men to the moon anymore unless their job isto bow down before her and apologize for the sins of the earth… This gorgeous, emotive poem takes the moon and personifies her as a trans woman. (“Scientists theorize the moon was once a part of the earth that broke off when another planet struck it. Eve came from Adam’s rib.” Who can argue with that logic?) In the writing of it, Espinoza expresses her feelings about womanhood and personhood with powerful clarity. “Poem For My Love” by June Jordan How do we come to be here next to each other   in the nightWhere are the stars that show us to our love   inevitable… June Jordan was a prolific and highly-acclaimed Jamaican American poet, who identified herself within her poetry as bisexual, even when the label was stigmatised. This tender, romantic poem is one of many in her oeuvre. “If You’re Staying, I’ll Stay Too” by Meg Day I know a girl like youwho used to be a thing she isn’t anymore            but hasn’t changed at all.Whose orbit didn’t circle straight—whose            size & distance never quiteseemed right—but no one cared til now… Just as Espinoza reaches into space to express a her identity with The Moon Is Trans, Meg Day chooses Pluto as a locus for expressing theirs as a genderqueer poet. No two celestial bodies are the same, even within the bounds of their categorisations, and isn’t that a wonderful thing? “Boy in a Stolen Evening Gown” by Saeed Jones In this field of thistle, I am the improbablelady. How I wear the word: sequined weightsnagging my saunter into overgrown grass, blondesplit-end blades. I waltz in an acre of bad wigs. This final poem by Saeed Jones uses vivid, tactile imagery to play with gender and sexuality. Elegant and fanciful, deliberately strange and yet simultaneously earnest, each word paints a picture of hope, desire, and possibility. As always, please do feel free to share your own favourite queer poems in the comments. (And if this article has left you yearning to read more by queer writers, why not check out this interview with three of this year’s finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ speculative fiction?)[end-mark] The post Twelve Poems to Help Celebrate Pride Month appeared first on Reactor.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a UK think tank that was in 2021 awarded a grant by the US State Department and got involved in censoring Americans, has come up with a “research project” that criticizes YouTube. The target is the platform’s recommendation algorithms, and, according to ISD – which calls itself an extremism researching non-profit – there is a “pattern of recommending right-leaning and Christian videos.” According to ISD, this is true even if users had not previously watched this type of content. YouTube’s recommendation system has long been a thorn in the side of similar liberal-oriented groups and media, as apparently that one segment of the giant site that’s not yet “properly” controlled and censored. With that in mind, it is no surprise that ISD is now producing a four-part “study” and offering its own “recommendations” on how to mend the situation they disfavor. The group went for creating mock user accounts designed to pretend to be interested in gaming, what ISD calls male lifestyle gurus, mommy vloggers, as well as news in Spanish. The “personas” built in this way received recommendations on what to watch next that seems to suggest Google video platform’s algorithms are doing what they were built to do – identifying users’ interests and keeping them in that loop. For example, the account that watched Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson (those would be, “male lifestyle gurus”) got Fox News videos suggested as their next watch. Another result was that accounts representing “mommy vloggers” but with different political orientations got recommendations in line with that – except ISD complains its personas (built in five days, and then recording recommendations for one month) basically, weren’t kept in the echo chamber tightly enough. “Despite having watched their respective channels for equal amounts of time, the right-leaning account was later more frequently recommended Fox News than the left-leaning account was recommended MSNBC,” the group said. More complaints concern YouTube surfacing “health misinformation and other problematic content.” And then there are ISD’s demands of YouTube: increase “moderation” of gaming videos, while giving moderators “updated flags about harmful themes appearing in gaming videos.” As for more aggressively censoring what is considered health misinformation, the demand is to “consistently enforce health misinformation policy.” Not only that, but ISD wants YouTube to add new terms to that policy regarding when content gets removed or deleted. This “update” should come by “creating a definitive upper bound of violations could make enforcement of the policy easier and more consistent,” said ISD. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post UK Think Tank, Once Funded by US State Department, Calls for Stricter YouTube Censorship appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

We present you funny dog posts from Jun 16 to Jun 22 that will paws-itively make you through the rest of the week!

Finding Food, and Hope, During Difficult Times