Pluralistic: 04 Sep 2020

Today's links

Fight the Power: Another summer.
Physicists overestimate their epidemiology game: Dunning-Kruger, meet the vaporisation of qualitative factors.
Trump is a salesman: He lacks the attention-span for fascism.
CO asphyxiation accounts for half of Hurricane Laura deaths: Generators are as deadly as 40mph winds.
Political ads have very small effect-sizes: Mind-control rays remain elusive.
Incredible Proof Machine: Lineal descendant of Sierra's Incredible Machine.
Kickstarting a Girl Genius game: Adventures in Castle Heterodyne.
This day in history: 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

Judge won't release Black learning-disabled kid jailed for missing homework: Mary Ellen Brennan is up for re-election in 2020.
Podcast: Part 10 of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town: "A glorious book unlike any book you’ve ever read" -Gene Wolfe.
Christopher Brown's Failed State: I'm helping him launch an outstanding and timely novel on Aug 12.
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist: Comparison is the thief of joy.
Luxury homes to be washed away: Australian plutes voted for climate deniers and now they're about to literally fall off a cliff.
As We May Think: Danny O'Brien on the past future of news.
Trump's spent a billion on re-election: Biden spent $165m.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Trump convinces GOP supporters not to vote: You're supposed to take him seriously, not literally, guys.
Trump handed grifters millions for masks: Failed boner-pill entrepreneurs get a second chance in Trump's America.
What it's like to be a man: Phil Christman's beautiful, frustrating, illuminating tale of masculinity.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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

Podcast: Part 2 of "Someone Comes to Town": Matrioshka babies.
President Supervillain: Coronavirus Trump is Red Skull.
What "writing rules" actually mean: It's not list of rules, it's a list of pitfalls.
Negativland's "This is Not Normal": Gnomic, sad and celebratory.
Leaked Trump doc projects 3000 US deaths/day: A new 9/11, every day, by the end of this month.
Pandemic profiteering could create social chaos: Societies with 25-35% unemployment do not produce vaccines.
Papercraft re-creations of classic Kenner Star Wars toys: From Marc "Paper Dandy" Hagan-Guirey.
A federal jobs guarantee: MMT has its moment in the sun.
Teen Vogue on socialist feminism: "No boss" beats "Girl boss."
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2005, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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

The US is now the epicenter of the pandemic: Trump has murdered millions.
Plutes cash in on stimulus: $170B for real-estate tycoons.
States prep for postal voting: But the GOP has all but murdered the USPS.
"Civility" and the Confederate playbook: The right's call for "civility" has a long, dishonorable history.
Boris Johnson has coronavirus: He greenlit national pox-parties, now he has it.
Reasonable covid food-safety advice: Sanitize your hands and your cart, practice social distancing, and…you're done.
San Francisco cocktail delivery: Courtesy of the DNA Lounge.
Flu pandemic photos: Mask-slackers beware!
Free hi-rez covid stock art: Make your pandemic more visually varied.
Warren campaign frees its software: Free, open and universal campaigning tools.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading