Pluralistic: 07 Jul 2020

Today's links

New Little Brother/Homeland edition is out today!: With an intro by Edward Snowden.
There is no automation employment crisis: But there is a climate emergency.
Cyberpunk Culture: An online conference, Jul 9/10.
Or What You Will: Jo Walton's new, brilliant meta-meta-novel.
#BlackOutDay2020: Pledge not to spend a dime in a store or online, except in Black-owned businesses.
Right wing press duped by state-sponsored influence campaign: Deepfakes and avatars manipulated to defeat reverse image searches.
Coronavirus tests are a taxable benefit: HMRC creates a perverse incentive.
Big 4 accounting firms headed for breakup: When the referee cheats.
Home security cameras are really insecure: Even encrypted video streams can give away sensitive info.
Why covid cases are spiking but deaths aren't: Lead-time bias.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 01 Jul 2020

Today's links

EFF on EU interoperability policy: Securing Europeans' technological self-determination.
BAHA Blues: Patrick Costello's harrowing hearing aid implant experience.
Bossware: The remote work dystopia is here.
Big Cop's corporate armorers: Corporate "charity" funds police military and surveillance black budgets.
Invigilation CEO doxes student: Proctorio's CEO "takes privacy very seriously."
Sun Ra's syllabus: Lecture and reading list from "The Black Man in the Cosmos" (UC Berkeley 1971).
Snowden on Little Brother: The new Little Brother/Homeland omnibus is almost upon us!
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 30 Jun 2020

Today's links

Impossible Music: Sean Williams's superb novel of Deafness and music theory.
Yanis Varoufakis on capitalism's self-destruction: And what to do about it.
India bans Chinese apps: Chekhov's Law, China-India cyberspace sovereignty edition.
Post-Trump trumpism: What will the right do after Trump's defeat?
Gilead's $3k covid med should sell for $10: And the research was funded by the US public.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 29 Jun 2020

Today's links

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

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Pluralistic: 22 May 2020

Today's links

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

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Pluralistic: 09 May 2020

Today's links

Armed Michigan voters escort their state rep to work: If the police won't stop the flu klux klan…
Konstantine Anthony for Burbank City Council: A candidate for working Burbankers.
Flooding Ohio's "work-refusal" snitchline: Volcano gods go hungry tonight.
Brett Favre received $1.1m in welfare money for speeches he never gave: Part of Mississippi's $98m corruption scandal.
The real Lord of the Flies kids were really nice to each other: Another paradise built in hell.
Phil Ochs rarities: Treasures from a lost and beautiful radical musician and writer.
This day in history: 2005, 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: 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: 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

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 07 Apr 2020"