Pluralistic: 03 Dec 2020

Today's links

Monopolies made America vulnerable to covid: Pharma, hospitals and other health industries were weak before the pandemic.
The Ministry For the Future: Kim Stanley Robinson's final (?) novel.
Graffitists hit dozens of NYC subway cars: Party like it's 1984.
Breathtaking Iphone hack: Zero-click wireless worms.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 03 Dec 2020"

Pluralistic: 02 Oct 2020

Today's links

Call center workers pay for the privilege: Propublica breaks open the massive, secretive abuser Arise, fronted by Disney, Airbnb, Intuit, Comcast, Carnival and more.
Dan Hillier's Six Women/Six Men: New "box sets" from the spooky, brilliant collagist.
Apple kills RSS readers in China: Chekhov's Law for DRM strikes again.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 02 Oct 2020"

Pluralistic: 12 Sep 2020

Today's links

Bill Gates's monopolistic mask-off moment: "What's a murder?"
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 12 Sep 2020"

Pluralistic: 29 Aug 2020

Today's links

California's preventable fires: 1,000,000 acres of fire-debt.
Zuck calls Apple a monopolist: I know you are but what am I?
This day in history: 2005, 2010
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 29 Aug 2020"

Pluralistic: 31 Jul 2020

Today's links

I'm being inducted into the Canadian SF/F hall of fame: A club that would have me as a member!
Mexico's copyright vs self-determination and national sovereignty: Colonialism 2.0.
Self-bricking medical device: "Once EXOGEN delivers 343 treatments, it will not provide further treatment."
Apple's internal Right to Repair fight: Ifixit got leaked receipts.
Challenge questions suck: Your favorite food is pizza.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 31 Jul 2020"

Pluralistic: 19 Jun 2020

Today's links

Trump wants to dismantle the OTF: Replacing open, auditable tech freedom tools with closed, untrustable ones.
Algonuts: A bottomless, mutated machine learning Peanuts strip.
Trump's covid "test-tubes" are contaminated miniature soda bottles: The Art of the Deal.
Avia, c'est mort: France kills a catastrophic "anti-terror" censorship law.
Austerity in disrepute: Vast majority of Americans favor continued or expanded unemployment benefits.
Microsoft criticizes Apple's monopolism: They're the experts, after all.
This day in history: 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 25 May 2020

Today's links

Crowdfunding an open access jewelry course: Elise Matheson wants to preserve her "wandering wire" methodology.
Bahamas Company Registry leaked: Another service of the Distributed Denial of Secrets project.
Mafia logic and conservative ideology: There is a difference.
Podcast: Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town Part 4: Enter Kurt.
Google's free/open multilingual font: Banishing tofu with Noto.
Soviet Signs and Relics: A book of sovkitsch sourced from Google Street View.
Rogue UK civil service tweet damns "truth-twisters": Impunity rage.
A jailbreak for every version of Ios: Attacking is easier than defending.
Texas Instruments locks down its hackable calculators: Designed to control the user.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 07 May 2020

Today's links

The TSA is hoarding N95s: It doesn't even use 'em.
Look at this banana gondola.: Just look at it.
America is united: Turkeys skeptical about Christmas.
$3 router rebooter: If no_google then reboot.
EFF's Guide to Digital Rights During the Pandemic: Digital rights are human rights.
Wink will brick your smart home if you don't pay a monthly fee: How you act in bad times reveals your true character.
Helicopter flyover of deserted Disneyland: We find it delightfully unlivable here in this ghostly retreat.
EU: "Cookie walls violate the GDPR": Another blow to cookie consent theatre.
Unix and Adversarial Interoperability: The "one weird antitrust trick" that defined modern computing.
Sidewalk Labs pulls out of Toronto: Sic Semper Boondoggle.
Wechat spies on non-Chinese users for in-China censorship: Your dank memes, banned in realtime.
Hidden doors disguised as bookcases: No books harmed.
Vent dragons: Alas, you can't use them as working vent covers.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 07 May 2020"

Pluralistic: 02 Mar 2020

Today's links

My new podcast, "Disasters Don’t Have to End in Dystopia": Tired: Look for the helpers. Wired: Be the helper.
The next frontier for school censorware is spying on kids all the time: It's how we'll stop ISIS, apparently.
I'm coming to Kelowna on March 5: It's my first-ever trip to the BC interior and more than half the (free) tickets are gone. RSVP now!
Cool Mules, an investigative series on a Vice editor's cocaine-smuggling ring: From the people who brought you the stunning "Thunder Bay."
Soviet Space Graphics: Cosmic Visions from the USSR.
Apple, Nike and Dell's supply chain includes enslaved Uyghurs: Xinjiang Phase II.
Drugs Without the Hot Air: The best book I've ever read on drugs and drug policy, in an expanded new edition.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 02 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020

Today's links

Ripping the window-dressing off the .ORG selloff: It's not even an ethos.
CDC guide to filter-mask-friendly facial hair: You're good to go with a Zappa, Villain or Hitler, but stay away from the Dali, Hulahee and the dread F(l)u Manchu.
Don't trust Google to build Toronto's Smart City: Sidewalk Labs's sleaze has disqualified it.
A "girls-only" social service wants to analyze your facial bone structure: "It's science!"
Norman Rockwell turned into a radical civil rights activist: His last painting was of Nixon, too.
Gmail's filters are blocking opt-in election emails: Mayo Pete and Andrew Yang are winning the spam-filter primary.
Talking Radicalized with The Next Chapter: Shelagh Rogers is a national treasure.
Neoliberalism kills, the coronavirus edition: And you thought capitalism would kill us all with climate change!
Bernie Sanders and Public Enemy LA rally this Sunday: With Sarah Silverman and Dick van Dyke!
Venezuelan women's "army" break into dead factories to reboot them: "Only the people can save the people."
Meet Akil Augustine, voice of the Raptors…and Radicalized: A fighter in my corner.
This day in history: 2019, 2015, 2005
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020"

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