Pluralistic: 13 Sep 2020

Today's links

How the Attack Surface audiobook can reform Audible: Pebbles R Us.
How to buy doubt: The Koch brothers vs reality's left-wing bias.
Mr Gotcha v covid: We should improve public health somewhat.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Grace is cleared: The homeschool-to-prison pipeline is closed…for now.
Mexico's terrible copyright is in trouble: Hasta la victoria siempre.
Failed State: Chris Brown's outstanding new ecopocalyptic cyberpunk legal thriller.
Marvel's $0.10 mini-comics: Gashapon funnies from 1966.
Sorting machines snatched from post offices: Administrative incompetence vs textualism?
Payday lenders are CFPB's pandemic aid: When the watchdogs switch sides.
Trump's Solicitor General says bribery is legal: Rule 48a applies even if the judge sees the prosecutor accept a bribe in the courtroom.
RSS WTF: An explainer for the newly awakened.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Female Furies: Cecil Castellucci finds the story that Jack Kirby missed.
How to break up Google: A making things company, not a buying things company.
Facebook and Trump collaborate on rule-rigging: You can't break the rules if you make the rules.
NYC housing lottery favors the least-needy: The private sector cannot and will not solve the housing crisis.
Podcast: Part 8 of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town: Families are weird.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Oh Joy Sex Toy's new teen sex-ed book: Our Bodies and Health.
Torcon: Gaiman, Okorafor, Kowal, Schwab: …and me!
Copyright bots are slaughtering classical musicians' performances: Filternet, working as intended.
Coronavirus has made the super-rich MUCH richer: The crisis is here, it's just not evenly distributed.
How to start a platform co-op: A MOOC from NYU and Mondragon.
Mum uses GDPR to force Gran to take down pics: That's one way to settle the dispute.
Physical BLINK tag: Lenticular dominance.
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

Save Forbidden Planet NYC: Keep NYC weird.
Which guillotine is right for you: Current Affairs's guide for the perplexed.
A labradoodle breeder is in charge of America's vaccines: An actual labradoodle could do a better job.
"Inject disinfectant" vs both sides-ism: We report, you decide.
US healthcare fails insured people too: A laundry list of gaps and errors.
Masks work: Lasers reveal your revolting, spittle-flecked utterances.
US telcoms sector isn't doing better than Europe's: Net Neutrality's murderers want you to believe they saved the American internet.
Amazon uses its sellers' data to figure out which products to clone: And they lied to Congress about it.
Facebook let advertisers target "pseudoscience" and "conspiracy": Son of "jew-haters."
Security expert conned out of $10,000: If you think you're too smart to get phished…
California Adventure, Minecraft edition: New maps for the Imagineering Fun server.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Jailbreak for CPAP machine reveals hidden ventilator functionality: A $700 CPAP becomes a limited BIPAP through a software patch.
State treasurers demand ventilator manufacturers publish manuals: Colorado, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Delaware, and Rhode Island want the Right to Repair.
Ten graphic novels for kids, teens and adults in lockdown: My picks for True North Comics.
One person is in charge of oversight for $2.2T in stimulus: Bharat Ramamurti is the sole member of the Congressional Oversight Commission.
Universities want to infect students’ laptops with undetectable rootkits: Invigilation tools + shared laptops + overstretched IT departments = Bad, bad news.
I Void Warranties for a Living: Name-your-price stickers.
2600 Magazine hit hard by pandemic: Bail 'em out by buying the current ish as a download.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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

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