Pluralistic: 16 Jul 2020

Today's links

Straightened Trees: Changing the buildings to straighten the trees.
AI Dungeon with GPT-3: An AI invents a grimoire in an instant.
EU court kills data-sharing deal with USA: Schrems' Revenge.
Librarians' virtual escape rooms: Trapped in a Google Forms MUD.
What's in Blueleaks: The boondoggle of Fusion Centers.
A new contract for land: Real estate is the literal basis for feudalism.
This day in history: 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

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Pluralistic: 06 May 2020

Today's links

Alvim Corrêa's War of the Worlds illustrations: They started as fan art.
America's corporate lobbyists want a bailout: It's the political version of the human centipede.
Sacrifice banks to save businesses: Either we nerf landlords and banks to save businesses and jobs, or the businesses and jobs will collapse and take out landlords and banks.
Scarfolk death statistics: Juking the stats.
Chef paints portrait of every meal he eats: Itsuo Kobayashi has been at it for 32 years.
Appeals court says Miami jail doesn't need to provide soap: When waiting for your hearing becomes a death sentence.
Ohio's got snitchline for bosses whose workers who won't go back: Reopen and/or die.
Magic Puzzles: From Max "Cards Against Humanity" Temkin and friends.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 05 May 2020

Today's links

Podcast: Part 2 of "Someone Comes to Town": Matrioshka babies.
President Supervillain: Coronavirus Trump is Red Skull.
What "writing rules" actually mean: It's not list of rules, it's a list of pitfalls.
Negativland's "This is Not Normal": Gnomic, sad and celebratory.
Leaked Trump doc projects 3000 US deaths/day: A new 9/11, every day, by the end of this month.
Pandemic profiteering could create social chaos: Societies with 25-35% unemployment do not produce vaccines.
Papercraft re-creations of classic Kenner Star Wars toys: From Marc "Paper Dandy" Hagan-Guirey.
A federal jobs guarantee: MMT has its moment in the sun.
Teen Vogue on socialist feminism: "No boss" beats "Girl boss."
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2005, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 30 Apr 2020

Today's links

Berlin in color, after the Reich's fall: So vivid you could reach out and touch it.
Nikolai Kolchitski: He defined the Soviet look of space exploration for a generation.
Medicare for All (Congressjerks): Congress is happy to fund its exclusive white-glove concierge medical system.
Swedish covid death rates soar above neighbors': "Do nothing" is not doing something.
Financial services workers dying for junk mail: Broadridge workers denied PPE, sick leave.
AMC: "We will never show another Universal movie": Watch the monopolies form in realtime.
Revived Haunted Mansion videos from early internet fandom: The squees of yesteryear.
Marc Laidlaw reads his fiction: A new Youtube series from the author of Dad's Nuke and Half-Life.
A Room of One’s Own: New pandemic sf from Tochi Onyebuchi, with a live seminar to follow.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 23 Apr 2020

Today's links

Mayor of Las Vegas says the "free market" will decide what's safe: Reality has a leftist bias.
Powell's botanically correct flower guy is in trouble: Arnold Drake World is about to lose his home.
Library of Last Resort: Interactive fiction, meet metafiction
Manyland: An open-ended virtual world you visit in your browser
Riot Baby: An incandescent Afrofuturist novella.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 17 Apr 2020

Today's links

Wenceslaus Hollar's Pack of Knaves: "Count yourself lucky that you are not cooped up with this lot."
Charlie Stross on how we'll screw up the "re-opening": Helicopter money or collapse.
Ellen DeGeneres's union crew takes paycuts while Ellen records from home with non-union contractors: Unlike Jon Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, Samantha Bee, and Desus and Mero.
Health insurance industry in rosy good health: Billions in stock buybacks, 60% paycuts for doctors.
DoJ to convicted fraudsters: keep your money!: Settlement payments suspended until at least June.
Reflections on fictional pandemics during a real one: Naomi Kritzer on the prophetic meaning of 2015's "So Much Cooking."
Coop pandemic masks: Sold at cost, including Randotti skulls.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 09 Apr 2020

Today's links

Neighbors treated to socially isolated buildingside screening: Scott Duggan treated his terrace to "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."
Philips quadruples ventilator costs: They reneged on their HHS deal and will get $646.7m for their trouble.
Kansas GOP nukes ban on large Easter gatherings: What's wrong with Kansas?
Kickpunch's Disney comics/horror movie mashups: Daniel Björk's terrifying poster children for fair use.
Plastic-eating enzyme: Leaf-branch compost cutinase to the rescue.
Cold brew coffee chemistry: Making the black stuff reproducible.
Tails adds Secureboot support: Evil chambermaids, beware!
Crisis makes heroes of IT workers: When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth.
Automating fake PDF signatures: Make it look like you printed, signed and scanned.
Pocket Art Director: Your high-handed boss in D20 form.
This day in history: 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 08 Apr 2020

Today's links

Solnit on the revelations of crisis: Pandemic speeds up processes that were too slow to notice.
Nurse suspended for distributing crowdfunded PPE: Shame on Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.
Cleveland Plain Dealer executed by union-busting owners: Firing health reporters during a pandemic.
Monster-themed covid pinup PSAs: By Alejandra Oviedo.
The Onion on Wisconsin's election: We need strategic Onion reserves for all our calamities.
NSO Group says Facebook tried to buy its malware: NSO is worse than Facebook, but it's a close-run thing.
How to pay for covid: Unearthing Keynes's "How to Pay for the War."
Smart lock hemorrhages user data: And it broadcasts its unlock code over Bluetooth.
TSA wanted to inspect 16 year old trans girl's genitals: Jon Corbett is on the case.
Roger Fuckebythenavele vs Bannatyne Manuscript: Black Plague-era f-bomb eclipsed by 14th century frottage artist.
Rube Goldberg feeding device: Now that's physical comedy.
Public domain Zoom backgrounds: Fantastic backdrops for an absurd moment.
This day in history: 2010, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 07 Apr 2020

Today's links

Pickled 2001 computer store: Deadstock ahoy!
A farewell to APIs: Greed, spam and entropy killed mashups.
Machine learning model performs butthole recognition: Peak Internet of Shit.
Covid loteria cards: Cabronavirus.
California's fiber for all bill: Tell your senator to support SB1130.
1978 Doonesbury stereotype: Come for the Indochina political humor, stay for the printer's lore.
LA crime plummets: Down 23% (domestic violence is down 11%).
US stimulus is one week's cash: Deflation ahoy.
Private equity blinks on cuts to health workers' wages: Speeding up slow destruction makes it impossible to ignore.
Virtual greenscreen: Incredible computer science paper from the 2020 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.
Landlord changes church's locks: The pastor of Cross Culture Christian Center in Lodi, CA refused to stop holding services.
This day in history: 2010, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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