Ada Palmer is a University of Chicago Renaissance historian (and so much more: librettist, science fiction novelist, and all-round polymath); she has convened a series of seminars at the University… Read the rest of the article: Tomorrow: come to our University of Chicago seminar on Renaissance censorship and internet censorship
Google sister-company Jigsaw (previously) has released an Android app called Intra that encrypts DNS queries, which allows Android users to bypass one of the most common forms of internet censorship.
The FCC has ordered American cities to hand discounted access to public resources for 5G access, and to operate a bureaucracy that rubberstamps applications to use city resources without delay.… Read the rest of the article: America's cities sue FCC for handing billions in municipal subsidy to wireless carriers
Charles Wallace writes, "In 1891 the Royal Albert Hall hosted what may be the first sci-fi convention, centered on the book 'The Coming Race' by our old friend Edward Bulwer-Lytton.… Read the rest of the article: The first science fiction con was held in 1891 at the Royal Albert Hall
Competition scholar Tim Wu has described how industries over time become more concentrated and less competitive, as executives move sideways from one giant company to another, creating a web of… Read the rest of the article: America's super-concentrated telcoms industry unites to sue California over Net Neutrality law
Susan Schorn writes, "The Political Action Committee 'Cowboys for Liberty' has released some funny, horrifying videos about the three worst GOP office-holders up for re-election at the state level in… Read the rest of the article: Profiles of the three worst Republican lawmakers running for re-election in Texas
People who live in the LGBT-identified Sydney neighborhood of Darlinghurst are getting letters through their door signed by "Jesus" that blame queer people for extreme weather (drought, hail); "Jesus" also… Read the rest of the article: Residents of Sydney's gayborhood are getting hate-mail signed by "Jesus"
After the city of Bismark, ND voted to spend $25,000 to equip school "resource officers" (a euphemism for "uniformed, armed police officers") with AR-15s, an Iowa gun distributor called Brownells… Read the rest of the article: Iowa gun distributor sends free AR-15s to North Dakota high schools
When workers at an Ikea in Stoughton, Massachusetts expressed interest in forming a union, the company responded with an illegal anti-union crackdown that culminated in locking workers into a conference… Read the rest of the article: Ikea locked workers into a room and forced them to watch "scaremongering" anti-union powerpoints
With Evernote's business on the rocks, a lot of people are waking up to the fact that commercial, proprietary cloud systems work great (easy, well-supported) but fail badly (lock-in, sudden… Read the rest of the article: Standard Notes: free, open, cross-platform, encrypted, eternal note-taking app
Yesterday, the Internet Archive published the 1983 edition of Cupola, the yearbook of Georgetown Prep, the elite academy and hive of rape-culture where would-be Supreme Court Justice drank his way… Read the rest of the article: "WASTED," Mark Judge's memoir of teen drinking with Brett Kavanaugh, free at the Internet Archive
According to an explosive report in Bloomberg, US spies and large corporate IT departments have had an open secret for years: the servers supplied by US hardware giant Supermicro for… Read the rest of the article: Report: Chinese spies snuck tiny backdoor chips onto US corporate, government and military servers
Tax Reform 2.0 was rammed through the House at the literal exact same moment that everyone in America was watching Brett Kavanaugh caper and gibber for the US Senate.
The wonderful people of the Internet Archive have posted a scan of the 1983 edition of Cupola, the yearbook of Georgetown Prep, alma mater of a rageaholic blackout drunk widely… Read the rest of the article: Now on the Internet Archive: Brett Kavanaugh's 1983 Georgetown Prep yearbook
Ontario's "A Plan for Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs" (AKA Bill 148) legislates leave for domestic abuse survivors, provides for 10 days of paid emergency leave, three weeks paid vacation… Read the rest of the article: Ontario businesses want trumpy Doug Ford to kill leave for domestic abuse survivors, allow mandatory high heeled shoes
Motherboard's Sofia Barrett-Ibarria talks to sex-worker advocates about the early history of sex-work and the net; after economically sustaining the alt-weekly industry and its excellent local journalism, sex workers found… Read the rest of the article: Sex workers pioneered the internet, and now the internet has rejected them
dj BC (previously) writes, "You might be familiar with my Beastles mashup project from some years ago. The album "Ill Submarine" is dropping on TAPE on Cassette Store Day, October… Read the rest of the article: Cassette Store Day is coming, when you'll be able to pick up the Beastles "Ill Submarine"!
The Altoids tin is something of a gold standard for teeny-weeny casemodders, artists, campers and other ingenious maker-types.
Umair Haque (previously) is on fire: If the Point of Capitalism is to Escape Capitalism, Then What's the Point of Capitalism? "You can see it in stark, comic terms. What… Read the rest of the article: Capitalism is self-annihilating, not self-perpetuating
Sara from MIT Sloan Management Review writes, "MIT SMR is unlocked for all visitors on October 2 and 3. For almost 60 years, MIT Sloan Management Review has been dedicated… Read the rest of the article: MIT Sloan Management Review suspends its paywall for two days
