Pluralistic: 13 Oct 2020

Today's links

Attack Surface is out!: It's my book-birthday!
SF as intuition pump: Optimistic disaster stories for the future!
Beyond Cyberpunk: What it means to write technorealistic, post-cyberpunk literature.
Half-Life's G-Man performs "Once in a Lifetime": Where does this machinima go to?
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

How I write: Process notes on Attack Surface.
The Anti-Monopoly War Song: Party like it's 1882.
My other computer is…: Next-level IoT meme-generator.
Leaked EU Big Tech rules: Proposal, or trial balloon?
Self-driving cars crashing: Uber's cars can't drive half a mile without a problem.
This day in history: 2010, 2015
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

My origin story: How I got bitten by a radioactive Judith Merril.
Sudowrite: Robutts stole my jerb.
"Less lethal" is a euphemism, too: Police weapons exist to deny claims to human rights.
Florida sheriff bans masks: Purple shrouds with shiny badges.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Full Employment, the podcast edition: There's no AI employment crisis, but there IS a climate emergency.
Life as a fake Amazon reviewer: A security economics case-study.
Don't talk about cancer on FB: Facebook greets cancer diagnoses with a torrent of quack remedy ads.
Privacy as a right, not a product: Putting a pricetag on your data makes you less private.
Primary Richie Neal [D-MA]: Meet the powerful "Democrat" who defends surprise billing and zero taxes for private equity.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Copyright keeps police use-of-force training a secret: How cops are circumventing the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.
Splash Mountain to purge Song of the South: Princess and the Frog ahoy!
Let's get rid of nursing homes: An end-of-life plan.
Sympathy for the mask-shy: Abstinence-only covid prevention is a failure.
"Violent protests" vs "violent police": How to report on protests.
Microcontent guidelines for 2020: A successor to the 1998 classic.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

John Oliver's comprehensive explanation of the rot in US policing: It's in every bone and organ.
Cox violates the Geneva Conventions: The throttling will continue until morale improves.
Paramount's Unproduced Screenplays: A core sample of 1,000 ideas from the vault.
Police budgets are out of control: "More than the city spends on health, homelessness, youth development and workforce development combined."
Auditing Omniballot, a terrible e-voting system: Paper ballots, marked with pencils, accept no imitations.
Who are Dark Basin?: Outing the cybermercenaries who attacked Net Neutrality and anti-Exxon activists.
NYPD's structural racism: Bulk of NYPD human rights complaints come from Black and Latinx youth.
IBM kills facial recognition program: But the problem with facial recognition isn't just "bias."
Nutrition labels for IoT: Only works if there's competition.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Podcast: How Big Tech distorts our discourse: No mind-control required.
EFF statement on Black Lives Matter: Black lives matter on the Internet.
Why quarantine is getting harder: Sustained vigilance is impossible without perceptible feedback.
Writing while Black: Tochi Onyebuchi unpacks the impossible contradictions of being a Black writer in this moment (and all the moments like this).
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015
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

I'm teaching a teen writing class: "Stories are Super Weird. Here’s Why They Work."
Trump will deliver killing blow to the USPS: The murder's been underway since 2006.
Fighting the EU Copyright Directive in court: Former MEP Julia Reda has a new gig doing impact litigation.
Virginia's election-day holiday: They also eliminated Lee-Jackson Day.
Quantifying Boris Johnson's body-count: Ireland makes for a natural experiment.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Wood-metal worry beads: Chris Bathgate's latest, "The Woody."
Overly descriptive color palettes: Handpicked from the Colorschemez bot.
American Prospect high-school essay contest: An antidote to the Ayn Rand Institute contest.
Snowden's Box: The logistics of leaking are a mix of tradecraft and philosophy.
Alteon cuts covid-fighters' pay: $20k paycuts for docs fighting covid-19.
Tiktok Kremlinology: Systematically exploring Tiktok's algorithm.
American employment exceptionalism: Why the US is losing jobs much faster than other countries.
Solar as a beneficial fad: How good ideas spread.
This day in history: 2015, 2010, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading