Laura Hilliger

Announcement for Public accountability. I am starting Not a Masters

https://laurahilliger.com/models/not-a-masters-in-creative-writing/

Yesterday I learned the German word for "liable". It's "Rufmord". Ruf == Reputation and Mord == Murder. German is great.

"These charging decisions followed receipt of a further file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police and bring the total number of alleged victims in this case to seven"

3 or 4 people murdered is considered a "mass murder" but women being raped and trafficked ... Nevermind, I see the difference.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwymly9yd33o

Don't trust anyone who only reads nonfiction.

Oh the comments on this why are AI evangelists even more insufferable thread are gooood https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48765450

This is my Unit 1 syllabus for my not a masters. The unit requests that I read two books, and reflect on what might be called female intuition, the legitimacy of art, and archetypes of the modern world. Given that I am designing my own study, I find it really weird that I'm already irritated by the first assignment ;)

#NaM

https://laurahilliger.com/models/unit-1-the-stories-i-tell-myself/

I will publish my unit 1 plan this week! Already working on the first assignment (and already stuck too) @adamprocter@fosstodon.org commented on my announcement post and it gave me ideas for future content. You can do the same. Also, still looking for a crit group: https://laurahilliger.com/models/not-a-masters-in-creative-writing/ #NaM

Today it's international labour day and our cooperative @weareopencoop@mastodon.social turns 10. We're also closing down. I feel all the things, but mostly gratitude and pride: https://blog.weareopen.coop/we-are-composting

Despite not seeing and talking to each other everyday, it seems that @dajb@social.coop is also thinking about legitimacy and archetypes. His reflection on what he calls credential armour: https://substrate.dougbelshaw.com/legitimacy-without-credential-armour-my-third-coaching-session

Pure coincidence (or maybe @dajb@social.coop has my house bugged!?)

Just reading @todayintabs@bird.makeup latest and one of the links is to this 2025 wired article. Uber Just Reinvented the Bus … Again. Reminds me of the time I was at a conf and a dude thought he invented circles: https://www.wired.com/story/uber-just-reinvented-the-bus-again/

Just wrapped my last meeting with the Amnesty International UK team! We spent 18 months. Big project. Big feels about all the changes happening in my life atm

Attention! I have just learned that "scrapbooks" are now called "junk journals", so we should all modify our regular conversations about scrapbooking accordingly. Actually...I have a strong suspicion that I learned this vital information many moons ago and did not adequately store said information. Still, if it's new to you, you should probably write it down and work to commit it to memory.

The great AI leap forward is worth a ponder. H/t @funnelfiasco@hachyderm.io :
https://leehanchung.github.io/blogs/2026/04/05/the-ai-great-leap-forward/

Who knows if my shoddy, bandaided together piece of absolute shit infra will send my stupid newsletter. I'll find out at 4pm. If you are A) Not subscribed B) Subscribed but don't get it or C) want to read it an hour and a half early, here you go: https://www.laurahilliger.com/fbt/fbt-on-wear-and-waffle/

As I said a few weeks ago, I don't consent to cleaning up the slop. Looks like I'm not alone: https://stopsloppypasta.ai/

I "vibe coded" for the first time this week. Wrote about it in ye olde newsletter that is actually just a blog post that gets sent to people who said they want it in their inbox: https://www.laurahilliger.com/fbt/fbt-on-sellouts-and-savants/

2nd to last @weareopencoop@mastodon.social blog post coming at you. Avoid the hype: https://blog.weareopen.coop/avoid-the-hype/

There really are a number of substack essays I genuinely think are worth sharing. But I'm not sharing shit people post on substack except for sometimes when I forget. Anyway, read an unsettling essay about AI eroding our patience for other humans. I've been impatient the whole time though. Patience is not one of my virtues.

LOL we were on the phone with @weareopencoop@mastodon.social 's accountant and learned that we actually have to put a notice in the London Gazette saying that we're closing so that anyone can object. Love those old timey laws hahahah

Civic solitude, anti conformity and a Song of Myself https://www.laurahilliger.com/fbt/fbt-on-awkwardness-and-anti-conformity/

Woke up happy to realise that we can use WYSIWYG to replace "vibe coding" in all our conversations. The 'S' is now "say" instead of "see". It works because the code is pretty much like Dreamweaver code was in 2003. Bloated, complicated, riddled with poor practice but works good nuff for personal projects, and can open doors for learning if one is so inclined.

Haha have you seen the Make It Shitty video from the Norwegian consumer council? It's awesome: https://youtu.be/T4Upf_B9RLQ?si=RqWeHbu0xHyCy0xA

A human pretending to be AI pretending to be a University of Washington, PhD in English, creative writing professor sent me an AI review of #maybezombies and then asked me loads of leading questions and I liked it. I didn't respond, and I know it's AI, but the review made me feel like I had had a plan back when I was writing. I definitely didn't have a plan. I am not really a planner. I kind of want to respond and see what kind of hijinks I get into by doing so...

Excellent narration, history lesson and legend from @dansinker@omfg.town on hate, hope and potates: https://dansinker.com/posts/2026-04-17-notre-dame/

A friend told me about this accidental discovery that during birth female whales from other pods come to act as midwives and my jaw dropped to the floor. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady9280

Ah man, Chuck Norris died!

Stephen Colbert and Edward Norton talking about Walt Whitman reminded me of the piece I wrote last year about "Song of Myself". I reread and it's pretty decent. https://www.laurahilliger.com/fbt/fbt-on-awkwardness-and-anti-conformity/

i wrote this script: https://archive.org/details/PopcornstorycampOpeningVideo

New post: #Activists, #Campaigners and #Advocates versus AI:
#GreeningAI A Roundtable Reflection https://blog.weareopen.coop/activists-campaigners-and-advocates-versus-ai-cabfd87c0f46

Is it cringe that I just built a rickroll into @weareopencoop@mastodon.social archives?

Although I'm fairly confident most of these happened between 2010 and 2015 (aka while I was at Mozilla), I'm quite proud to have made the top 50 referenced list @thoughtshrapnel ! https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/28/thought-shrapnels-mostreferenced-sources.html

I struggled hard to write about tech sovereignty in today's Freshly Brewed Thoughts. The pithy little term doesn't imo make it easy for people to understand the complex ideologies behind it. And yes, ideologies plural. https://www.laurahilliger.com/fbt/fbt-on-sovereignty-and-stacks/

Another reminder of why you can't stick your head in the sand when it comes to The World and Everything. "Your country can't feed you": https://www.not-ship.com/self-sufficiency-food/

"Anthropic is ... making unilateral decisions about which pieces of our critical global infrastructure get defended first, and which must wait their turn." https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/mythos-and-cybersecurity.html

We are catastrophes of inexplicable fallacy in how we perceive ourselves. https://www.laurahilliger.com/fbt/fbt-on-anniversaries-and-art/

A friend is "catching up on old newsletters" and I have a bunch of responses from her on stuff I wrote last year. I have to reread my stuff to understand wtf she's talking about. Old coins? Squirrels? Oh, Laura dear, what random: https://www.laurahilliger.com/fbt/fbt-on-acorns-and-authorship/

A lovely piece from @audrey@mastodon.audreywatters.com invoking Mary Oliver and reminding us to consider our choices https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/miseducative-experiences/

Why do I feel like heading down to the bayou and poking at some river slime? Where's that coming from!?

The President of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia looks like he's taking his role as judge in a reality singing competition way too seriously.

Source: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/04/07/admission-is-now-a-one-way-ticket-kremlin-escalates-crackdown-on-western-universities-amid-brain-drain-fears-a92377

If you were thinking you'd be able to outrun the robots, you are wrong.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/apr/19/humanoid-robots-race-beijing-half-marathon

No more "yes, and..." in the age of AI. It's now gone back to "ok, but..."

idk if this is a warranted association but when I finished reading @ianbetteridge@social.vivaldi.net fantastic post "the Freedom stack" the first thing my brain did was blurt out some random Barlow phrasing from the declaration of the independence of cyberspace. Great post (again) Ian! https://www.ianbetteridge.com/the-freedom-stack/

Believe it or not it's a different kind of participating in capitalism if you take a minute to search for worker owned shops and support #coops with your purchasing power: https://www.workerowned.info/marketplace