Pluralistic: 15 Oct 2020

Today's links

Dystopia as clickbait: Chris Brown on uncozy apocalypses.
Trail of Mars: New, lyrically gifted science fictional music from John McDaid.
Bride of Frankenstein and the Monster: New, limited Brian Ewing prints for Hallowe'en 2020.
The Passenger Pigeon Manifesto: "Liberate and upload all digitised photographs and artworks."
Bricked Ferrari: DRM and the accommodation of corner-cases.
The Dennis Ball Show: Dad jokes and Haunted Mansion trivia with djBC's alter-ego.
This day in history: None
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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

A new Little Brother short story collection: Inspired by your generosity.
EFF's 2020 Pioneer Awards: Livestreaming Oct 15.
Tax havens and monopolies: It's a system.
Obscure Texas election could change the world: Chrysta Castañeda for the Railroad Commission of Texas!
Motorcycle-part animals: New assemblage sculptures from Jud Turner.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2109
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

This USPS Machine Kills Fascists: If Woody was a postie.
Zombie postcapitalism: What it means for the finance economy to decouple from the productive economy.
This day in history: 2005, 2015
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Rewarding CEOs for failure: Heads they win, tails we lose.
DIY giant chalk: Tempura paint, plaster of paris, and water.
Fairness and machine learning: Open access computer science textbook.
Facebook overrules its own fact-checkers: The far right works the refs.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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

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

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

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

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