Pluralistic: 29 Oct 2020

Today's links

Amazon says only corporations own property: Everyone else is a licensor.
Violent cops' deadly victim complex: Murderers hiding behind victims' rights laws.
Sue your medical bully: A recipe for small-claims victory.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 25 Jun 2020

Today's links

How Big Tech distorts discourse: My free Oxford Internet Institute webinar.
Talking Job Guarantee with Pavlina Tcherneva: My latest for the LA Times.
Walkaway, Chicago-style: Protesters re-enact the climax of my 2017 novel (and it worked!)
759 Trump atrocities: McSweeney's saved the receipts.
Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act: $80B for universal fiber rollout.
Canada Reads is back: The debates will happen July 20-23.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 16 Jun 2020

Today's links

The technology of Uyghur oppression: COIN and CVE with Chinese characteristics.
Transparency without recourse: Keynote for tomorrow's Transparency By Design conference.
How covid spreads: A tale in four charts.
Why SCOTUS upheld LGBTQ rights: Time for some game theory.
Hackers on Planet Earth: HOPE 2020 is happening, and I'm keynoting.
Talking Radicalized with Podside Picnic: Science fiction, economics, politics, writing craft and beyond.
Giant worry-stone: Machinist Chris Bathgate upscales his worry stone.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 18 May 2020

Today's links

Ada Palmer, being brilliant for 2.5h: On the Singularity Podcast.
Restaurateur wreaks algorithmic vengeance upon Doordash: Nonconsensual delivery services vs arbitrage.
England's storks are back: A 600 year old deep cut.
See through walls with free software: TEMPEST, GNU Radio style.
Universal broadband now: Broadband is a human right.
Airgap-busting malware: Probabilistic sneakernet injections.
Deliveroo, without Deliveroo: The problem isn't the service, it's the social arrangements.
Podcast: Part 3 of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town: Have your read all those books?
US insurers say paying for pandemic treatment is "selfless": Blind boxes r us.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 13 May 2020

Today's links

University requires students to buy nonexistent webcams: Unobtanium vs. cheating.
Gadget that adds steps to your Fitbit: An open source hardware answer to Fitbit-tied insurance programs.
How Marcus Hutchins saved the world and lived to tell the tale: A nuanced portrait.
Red states prep for postal vote: Murdering the elderly won't help them at the ballot box.
Corporate Dems want to bail out lobbyists and dark money orgs: Centrism kills.
Feds want national snitchlines for bosses whose workers don't want to die: Homelessness or coronavirus.
Restaurants, hotels and bars cut the cord: The curse of bigness.
NSO Group tried to sell malware to US law enforcement: Khashoggi killers, doing deals.
Senate Dems want to ban internet disconnection: Broadband is a human right.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 12 May 2020

Today's links

The right's theories about human behavior are bankrupt: Immortan Joe is a shitty behavioral economist.
Adjacent, similar NYC neighborhoods with wildly different outcomes: Early warning saved Flushing, Queens.
Honey in a glue dispenser: Easy spreading ahoy.
Iceland's world-beating coronavirus app didn't help much: Shoe-leather contact tracing beats automated exposure notification.
Thunderspy: a devastating attack on Thunderbolt: Evil Maid, 2020 edition.
Talking Canada Reads and Radicalized: My chat with Canada Reads American Style.
Plane ticket refunds (without airline cooperation): Call your credit card issuer.
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: 24 Mar 2020

Today's links

This year's Nebula Awards will be held online: It's $150, and raising funds to bail out corona-shattered writers.
Make America Well Again stamps: from the artist who brought you the Trump Zero Cents stamp.
Data is the new toxic waste: It never was the "new oil" (my latest podcast).
Stock Jump: A ski-game that lets you play the stock charts of cratered businesses.
Murdering 20% of elderly Americans is bad strategy for the GOP: Terrified old people are the turkeys who vote for plutes' Christmas every four years.
Join me on the Quarantine Book Club: April 1, 3PM Pacific.
The Party of Death: It's a good time to buy exterminism futures.
Financial stability vs economic stability: Debts that can't be paid, won't be paid.
Quarantine reveals the falsity of the automation crisis: Augmentation isn't replacement.
Bailouts and moral hazard: If we never teach big business, it won't ever learn.
MIT's ingenious manual/automatic open source ventilator: Now in FDA testing.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

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Pluralistic: 19 Mar 2020

Today's links

The worst Democrat in Congress just lost his job: Dan Lipinski primaried by the amazing Marie Newman.
Canada Reads documentary on Radicalized: The Great Canadian Book debate is indefinitely postponed, but here's an hour on my book!
Africa's Facebook modders are world leaders: Technological self-determination through adversarial interoperability.
Imagineering in a Box: Interdisciplinary theme park design lessons from Khan Academy and Disney.
Data is the New Toxic Waste: It was never "the new oil."
How to structure a fair covid bailout: Stimulus, not private jets.
Fox News is a suicide cult: Telling your elderly viewers to perform tribal loyalty by engaging in high-risk behaviors is a career-limiting move.
Grocery supply chains are resilient: One less thing to worry about.
Magic in the time of coronavirus: Never let a good crisis go to waste, card-trick edition.
This day in history: 2010, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

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Pluralistic: 14 Mar 2020

Today's links

Masque of the Red Death: Macmillan Audio gave me permission to share the audiobook of my end-of-the-world novella.
When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth: A new podcast audiobook of my 2005 end-of-the-world story.
Ada Palmer on historical and modern censorship: Part of EFF's Speaking Freely project.
Glitch workers unionize: First-ever tech union formed without management opposition.
Women of Imagineering: A 384-page illustrated chronicle of the role women play in Disney theme-park design.
Tachyon celebrates 30 years of sff publishing with a Humble Bundle: DRM-free and benefits EFF.
Honest Government Ads, Covid-19 edition: Political satire is really hard, but The Juice makes it look easy.
TSA lifts liquid bans, telcos lift data caps: Almost as though there was no reason for them in the first place.
CBC postpones Canada Reads debates: But you can read a ton of the nominated books online for free.
Star Wars firepits: 750lbs of flaming backyard steel.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 14 Mar 2020"