Pluralistic: How labor rights rescued Ultima from a monopolist (12 Oct 2026)

Today's links

How labor rights rescued Ultima from a monopolist: If you care about labor justice and artists' rights, stop focusing on copyright.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: China unblocks Wikipedia; CCC cracks the Bundestrojaner; "Children of the Sky"; "Messy"; Every top Icelandic banker is guilty; Climate activism x digital activism; Gene Kan on P2P's future; Larry Ellison x mass surveillance; W3C v patents; "Work from home" in the cybercrime supply-chain; "Nursery Rhyme Comics"; Glitchy tea-set; Tourist Guy; Vista v reinstallation; Ryanair v your bladder; Wells Fargo CEO loves "sales culture"; "Attention Merchants"; Orban v free press; AI v GIGO; Dylan wins the Nobel; India's starving kids app; Adobe's spyware copyfraud; Charter blackmails customers with bad credit threats; Fix UK housing.
Upcoming appearances: Paris, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa, Kilkenny, Sheffield, Oxford, Montreal.
Recent appearances: Where I've been.
Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
Colophon: All the rest.

The Scholars of Night: John M Ford was a goddamned WIZARD.
This day in history: 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2020
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Laura Poitras fired from First Look: She says it's because she spoke out on Reality Winner.
Kickstarting a pad of "Tiny Paper Dungeons": Procedural paper adventures for your pocket.
Facebook says it's the best henhouse fox: Only we can stop Qanon.
I was investigated by the FBI: It took 20 years!
Yugoslavia's Cold War obsession with Mexican music: Nonaligned Yumex gave us Celovečernji the Kid.
Machine learning is a honeypot for phrenologists: "AI" researchers just can't put away the fucking calipers.
Disneyland kills annual passes: No more Disney at a stroll.
Tesla's valuation is 1600x its profitability: Finacialization, in green and white.
This day in history: 2006, 2016, 2020
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Post Paladin: A homebrew class for DnD5e.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town: Part 13 on my podcast.
No one wants an H1B visa: America in retreat.
This day in history: None
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Self-driving cars are bullshit: Ford CEO: I "overestimated."
How to Argue With a Racist: Adam Rutherford on "race science."
Combat Wheelchairs: Homebrew rules for a new kind of D&D; mount.
Amazon bans podcasts that criticize Amazon: The purpose of "IP" is controlling competitors, critics and customers.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Ukrainian steampunk masks: The gorgeous work of Dmitriy and Aleksandra Bragin.
OTF spared (for now): Trump's administrative incompetence saves the US Agency for Global Media from becoming Global Breitbart.
Insurers are secret, powerful police reformers: Money talks, bullshit walks.
Ohio GOP leadership arrested for racketeering: Largest corruption scandal in Ohio history.
Little Brother as a role-playing game: Notes from the Fiction & RPG Podcast.
Anti-facial recognition tool: Fawkes will alter your images in ways that are invisible to humans but confounding for algorithms.
Kentucky AG sues top GOP donors: Kentucky's Republican lawmaker is the best kind of class-traitor.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Straightened Trees: Changing the buildings to straighten the trees.
AI Dungeon with GPT-3: An AI invents a grimoire in an instant.
EU court kills data-sharing deal with USA: Schrems' Revenge.
Librarians' virtual escape rooms: Trapped in a Google Forms MUD.
What's in Blueleaks: The boondoggle of Fusion Centers.
A new contract for land: Real estate is the literal basis for feudalism.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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