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 Continue reading "Pluralistic: 07 Jul 2020"
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 Continue reading "Pluralistic: 30 Jun 2020"
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 Continue reading "Pluralistic: 29 Jun 2020"
Pluralistic: 22 Jun 2020 Today's links The Case for a Job Guarantee: Pavlina Tcherneva's urgent pamphlet, in the midst of the employment crisis of the century. The real cyberwar is Goliath, slaughtering an army of Davids: It's asymmetric, but the asymmetry goes the other way Coders as RPG classes: Product managers are bards. Podcast: Someone Comes to Town Pt 7: The Father's Day episode. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading Continue reading "Pluralistic: 22 Jun 2020"
Pluralistic: 23 Apr 2020 shared microbial destiny,las vegas,carolyn goodman,crowdfunding,arnold drake world,origami,botany,art,games,text adventures,metafiction,games,virtual worlds,manyland,crowdfunding,science fiction,reviews,Tochi Onyebuchi,science fiction Mayor of Las Vegas says the "free market" will decide what's safe; Powell's botanically correct flower guy is in trouble; Library of Last Resort; Manyland; Riot Baby Pluralistic: 23 Apr 2020 riot-baby _,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_ Today's links Mayor of Las Vegas says the "free market" will decide what's safe: Reality has a leftist bias. Powell's botanically correct flower guy is in trouble: Arnold Drake World is about to lose his home. Library of Last Resort: Interactive fiction, meet metafiction Manyland: An open-ended virtual world you visit in your browser Riot Baby: An incandescent Afrofuturist novella. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading Continue reading "Pluralistic: 23 Apr 2020"
Pluralistic: 28 Mar 2020 Today's links Charter techs get $25 gift cards instead of hazard pay: No hand-san or PPE, either. The Pandemic Playbook: Trump won't rtfm. Boardgame Remix Kit: Make 26 new games out of Monopoly, Clue, Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble sets. McMansion Hell visits 1972: "Architecture store? I'd like one of everything." Free Cheapass Games print-and-plays: KILL DOCTOR LUCKY, GIVE ME THE BRAIN, LORD OF THE FRIES, UNEXPLODED COW and so many more! Trump officials killed Walmart opioid prosecutions: With help from Jones Day. United gets $25B stimulus and announces layoffs: The biggest corporate giveaway in history. FLICC vs denialism: A taxonomy of scientific denial, just in time. This Waifu Does Not Exist: Autogenned anime characters, with backstories. Fever cameras are garbage: It's the pivot-to-covid for grifty police enablers. Employers scramble to buy remote-worker spyware: Even if you're paying for the product, you're the product. Canada Reads Q&A on Apr 23: Unfortunately, it's on Facebook. Cowboy Economist on covid stimulus: Congress doesn't spend taxes, it spends and then taxes. 88 Names podcast: Talking VR, AR and gold farming with Matt Ruff. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading Continue reading "Pluralistic: 28 Mar 2020"
Pluralistic: 26 Mar 2020 Today's links EFF's videoconferencing backgrounds: With a deep cut from the NSA's secret listening post. The ideology of economics: Economics doesn't have "laws" it has "policies." LoC plugs Little Brother: Open access FTW. Canada nationalizes covid patents: An Act respecting certain measures in response to COVID-19. Exponential Threat: Trump threatened to sue media outlets that aired this spot. Sanders on GOP stimulus cruelty: "Millions for plutes, but not one cent for workers." Record wind-power growth: Covid stimulus could start a Green New Deal. Social distancing and other diseases: Do we trust IoT thermometer companies, though? Badger Masks: UW Madison's open facemask design. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading Continue reading "Pluralistic: 26 Mar 2020"