Pluralistic: 24 Apr 2020

Today's links

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

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

Tacocat, a free print-and-play game from the Exploding Kittens team: Super smart endgame!
Adafruit offers open source PPE manufacturing: They're retooling and available to help.
It's time for a coronavirus jubilee: Debts that can't be paid won't be.
Medicare for All is an economic stabilizer: Private health insurance turns recessions into depressions.
Private Kit, a free/open app to give you control over your location history: Doing contact tracing without invading privacy.
Italy's mayors berate quarantine-breaking citizens: "Does your dog have an inflamed prostate?"
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

TSA boss doubles down on taking away health care from part-time screeners: They're touching your junk with diseased hands.
Akil Augustine on Radicalized: My book's Canada Reads champion lays out the case for Radicalized.
A former top Cigna exec rebuts Joe Biden's healthcare FUD: Wendell Potter is the prodigal corporate villain.
Ars Technica's Covid-19 explainer is the best resource on the pandemic: Beth Mole has outdone herself.
Boeing is even worse at financial engineering than they are at aircraft engineering: The $43B they incinerated through stock buybacks would sure come in handy about now.
Senate Republicans kill emergency sick leave during pandemic: Sick leave is cheaper than pandemics, but pandemics generate cost-plus contracts for the donor class.
The EU's new Right to Repair rules finally come for electronics: Snoods cocked at Apple and other US Big Tech monopolists.
How to run a virtual classroom: Masterclass from the 14-year-old Stanford Online High School.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Safe and moral societies need "firewalls" between immigration and public services: The UK's "hostile environment" puts everyone at risk.
Detroit will reconnect water services during the Covid-19 emergency: But it's $25/month thereafter.
Thomas Piketty endorses Sanders: both his program and his electability.
Sonos "recycling mode" no longer bricks working speakers: Fire the person who came up with this deeply shitty idea.
Brave will randomize browser profiles to fight fingerprinting attacks: More from the most privacy-friendly browser.
This day in history: 2005, 2010
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Trump's rhetoric fits eerily well into the Tolkien canon: AR Moxon makes Mordor great again.
The wealthy are chartering jets to avoid coronavirus: The Masque of the Red Death takes to the skies.
The US already has Medicare for All: The day that Trump declares a national health emergency.
America's uninsured will turn a covid crisis into a covid disaster: Our shared microbial destiny cannot be denied.
Jury refuses to convict Extinction Rebellion activists: Long live the "necessity defense" and the human race it protects.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

EFF is hiring a new tech projects director: It's a once-in-a-lifetime dream job.
Bond villain monologue, Medicare for All edition: "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to sign a binding arbitration waiver."
FUCK TRUMP AND HIS STUPID FUCKING WALL: A 26% alcohol habanero spirit from Empirical Spirits.
Mike Bloomberg helped the Sacklers launder their reputations: Just helping out the "Friends of Mike."
Bernie Sanders is the only candidate with a climate plan as big as the climate crisis: No one ever asked how we'd pay for WWII.
Cutting the UK housing subsidy led to massive homelessness payouts: Tories are always swallowing spiders to catch their flies.
This day in history: 2012, 2016 (leap years!)
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Brave autolinks 404s to the Wayback Machine: The internet's time-traveling, privacy respecting, ad-busting browser.
Clarence Thomas admits he blew it on Brand X: A very safe mea culpa from the man who helped kill Net Neutrality.
Medicare for All would be the biggest take-home pay increase in a generation: Even if my taxes went up by six figures (!), I'd still save money.
The Smithsonian publishes 2.8m hi-rez images into the public domain: Tired: "It belongs in a museum!" Wired: "It belongs to the world!"
McMansion Hell visits 1971: Before "lawyer foyers" there were "paralegal foyers."
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading