Pluralistic: Jennifer Jenkins' 'Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture' (17 Aug 2026)

Today's links

Jennifer Jenkins' 'Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture': The definitive textbook (with comics!).
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Hair-gel bombers v bras; Hair-gel bombers v chemistry; AOL digs for spammer's platinum; Stross on infosec in 2061; In-game Ponzi; Snowden on Shadow Brokers hack; Life v understanding advanced math; "Greatest of Marlys!"; Housing and precarity; LLMs as slot-machines for coders; Hypercard's backstory; Pirate Party; Fanbois' mental health v critics; Krugman calls for alien invasion; Trump x Serbian genocidaires; The last Sandman Slim; Muphry’s Law; NSA created the Shadow Brokers; DOJ kills private prisons; Walmart externalizes crime; "Sgt Augmento"; Zuckermuskian solipsism.
Upcoming appearances: Sydney, Melbourne, Brighton, London, South Bend.
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.

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Pluralistic: Austerity creates fascism (13 Apr 2026)

Today's links

Austerity creates fascism: We can't afford to not afford nice things.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: The Server of Amontillado; Flapper's Dictionary; Mastercard v rec.humor.funny; Philippines electoral data breach; A front page from the Trump presidency; Spike Lee x Bernie Sanders; France v password hashing; Algorithms as Central European folk-dances; Save Comcast; Lex Luthor v export controls; Zuckerberg in the dock.
Upcoming appearances: Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London.
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.

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Pluralistic: Love of corporate bullshit is correlated with bad judgment (19 Mar 2026)

Today's links

Love of corporate bullshit is correlated with bad judgment: Synergizing the strategic inflection points on the global data network.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Bluetooth headsets; Fruit sticker decoder; iPod batteries v DRM; Bruces's SXSW keynote; Piracy isn't funding terrorism; Hope v optimism; Identical twin time-travel prank; Prisoners draw corporate crooks; Spanish junkbots; Sheriff's rape-kit denial; Non-dorky magic; Poetic bureaucrat mourns wolf; SXSW v MPAA; "Burning Days"; NYT paywall; Police rap-battle warning; Unions de-risk labor; "Murder the Truth"
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
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.

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Pluralistic: A perforated corporate veil (20 Feb 2026)

Today's links

A perforated corporate veil: The Brazilian method for curbing corporate power.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Social media turned US parties into host organisms for third parties; "Citizens" are hired actors; Insured exoskeletons; Talking with Snowden and Gibson.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
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.

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Pluralistic: The online community trilemma (16 Feb 2026)

Today's links

The online community trilemma: Reach, community and information, pick two.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Bruces x Sony DRM; Eniac tell-all; HBO v PVRs; Fucking damselflies; Gil Scout Cookie wine-pairings; Big Pharma's opioid fines are tax-deductible; Haunted Mansion ops manual; RIAA v CD ripping; Flying boat; Morbid Valentines; Veg skulls; Billionaires x VR v guillotines; "Lovecraft Country"; Claude Shannon on AI; Comics Code Authority horror comic; Scratch-built clock; Stolen hospital.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
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.

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Pluralistic: Trump and the unmighty dollar (26 Jan 2026)

Today's links

Trump and the unmighty dollar: "Flipping the table over in a poker game rigged in your favor because you resent having to pretend to play the game at all."
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: H2G2 v BBC; Anti-capitalist bank rave; Narrative and magic; It's still censorship; Boss politics antitrust; Game library; Gamers 6-65; Google Cache; "Probiotics" aren't; "Starve"; Uptown Funk mashup; Not a crime if we do it with an app; Gibson on Stuxnet; Gates sells Tank Man pic to China; Paul Allen's yacht destroys a reef; Mass surveillance in Anaheim.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
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.

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Pluralistic: The 40-year economic mistake that let Google conquer (and enshittify) the world (06 Nov 2025)

Today's links

The 40-year economic mistake that let Google conquer (and enshittify) the world: If reality doesn't fit the theory, ignore reality.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: The Master Switch; Dueling useless machines; Chrome delists Symantec; Someone tried to buy the UK; "Made to Kill"; #Audiblegate; Sony lies about de-rootkitifier; “Aurora”; Bluesky and enshittification; Polostan; New Zealand's 3 strikes law; Open Kinekt drivers; Co-op platforms vs Uber; Chelsea Manning's surveillance reform bill.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
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.

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Pluralistic: "Privacy preserving age verification" is bullshit (14 Aug 2025)

Today's links

"Privacy preserving age verification" is bullshit: Take it from the guy who invented it.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: Vampire sf; Trickle-down Sesame Street; Transgenic mouse bribery; WPA StreetView; Walmart's policy origins.
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
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.

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Pluralistic: Iranian brickwork, arbitrated pillows, smothered comics, and aerogel desalination (26 Jul 2025)

Today's links

Iranian brickwork, arbitrated pillows, smothered comics, and aerogel desalination: Also: bricked exercise gear, Air Canada luggage mystery, and praise for *Enshittification*.
Object permanence: Unix War on Terror; Massive PVR; NIST meth lab; Georgia calls Carl Malamud a terrorist; Private equity destroys value; Facebook's poor morale; Surveillance pricing; NYC after Craigslist; D&D existentialism; Mexico vs US copyright; AI's productivity theater
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
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.

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Pluralistic: The future of Amazon coders is the present of Amazon warehouse workers (13 Mar 2025)

Today's links

The future of Amazon coders is the present of Amazon warehouse workers: It's here, it's just not evenly distributed.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
Object permanence: 2005, 2015, 2020, 2024
Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
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.

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