The Constitution requires the government to undertake a census every ten years, and the results of this census are key to everything from drawing up electoral maps to allocating funding… Read the rest of the article: As the 2020 census catastrophe draws closer, it isn't getting any better
There was a time when monopolistic control over sectors of the US economy was vigorously checked through antitrust enforcement, but the neoliberal ideology of the Chicago economists (Milton Friedman et… Read the rest of the article: How the Chicago School's extremist ideology destroyed the American economy with unchecked monopolies
A survey by the Military Times found that nearly a quarter of US servicepeople see "white nationalism" among their peers, and believe that the white nationalist agenda is more of… Read the rest of the article: A quarter of US military "sees white nationalism" in the ranks
The first "wearable" computer I ever tried was a wrist-strap that let me wear my Palm Pilot like a huge, ungainly wristwatch; I tethered it with a thick cable to… Read the rest of the article: A tiny, wearable, Arduino-powered VT 100 terminal
One measure of dysfunction in a housing market is the spread between the cash value of a home and the construction cost of a replacement home on the same site… Read the rest of the article: Zoning and the housing crisis: at Manhattan densities, San Francisco could house 100 million people
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures number 2017-14937: in unspecified post-2014 passenger car models, the explosive charge that deploys the airbag is controlled by an instruction that is secured by one of… Read the rest of the article: Hackers can force airbags to deploy
The best part is when it gets to its desired depth and ejects a stream of sandy water. Bivalves! (via JWZ)
If you — like me — are a loyal listener to the Judge John Hodgman podcast, then you have a sense of what makes Hodgman a treasure: it's his combination of understated, low-key wit; his quick self-deprecation; and his deep compassion, which is what makes his comedic "fake internet courtoom" into more than a quick gag, turning it into reliable source of thought-provoking insight into how to be a better person. If that's your thing, then you will love his latest book, a memoir called Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches, which isn't just funny… it's also sneaky as hell.
By a very happy coincidence, Ada Palmer and I are both passing through London on November 8 and we're doing a joint event at the Waterstones in Gower Street, starting… Read the rest of the article: Londoners! I'll be speaking at Waterstones Gower Street with Ada Palmer on Nov 8
Last June, Portugal enacted Law No. 36/2017 which bans putting DRM on public domain media or government works, and allows the public to break DRM that interferes with their rights… Read the rest of the article: Portugal passes the world's first reasonable DRM law
dj BC (previously) writes, "This Ghostbusters bootleg mashup, originally created by myself (BC) and Tribe One of Bootie ATL, is now an official, totally legal (!) release, with new instrumentation,… Read the rest of the article: We Are Ready to Believe You: a Ghostbusters mashup from dj BC and friends
A family of three (including a 7 year old girl) on a British Airways overnight from Vancouver to London spotted bedbugs crawling on their seats and alerted the crew, but… Read the rest of the article: Family on overnight BA flight refused seat switch as they were gnawed by bedbugs
The 2018 "superdelegates" to the Democratic National Convention will include lobbyists for Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, CITGO petroleum, Citigroup, and other large corporations.
Back in April, experts warned that Trump's plan to hire 5,000 new Customs and Border Patrol officers was unlikely to succeed: the agency already loses 1,000 employees per year and… Read the rest of the article: Applicants for the Customs and Border Protection agency keep admitting to ghastly crimes during polygraph tests
Purdue cynically created the American opiod epidemic through a combination of bribing medical professionals to overprescribe Oxycontin, publishing junk science, and aggressively lobbying regulators at every level to turn a… Read the rest of the article: The Sackler Family: best known for philanthropy, they made billions promoting Oxycontin
Lukas F. Hartmann grew up on PCs like the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga 500, and while he appreciates the power and portability of modern laptops, he missed… Read the rest of the article: The MNT Reform: a modular, open source hardware, blob-free laptop inspired by classic PCs
Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery is a scandal-haunted forced-labor program that addicted convicts in Oklahoma were diverted to; they were put into back-breaking, unsafe labor for long hours with… Read the rest of the article: Republican lawmaker Doug Cox tricked legislature into exempting "Christian" forced-labor camps from regulation
Yesterday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced plans to remove the democratically elected regional government of Catalonia and replace them with direct rule by the national government in Madrid.
The Europe Together conference in Brussels brought together party leadership from "centre-left" parties across Europe; Jeremy Corbyn got two standing ovations for a barn-burning speech in which he called on… Read the rest of the article: Jeremy Corbyn to European left-wing parties: you won't win until you abandon neoliberalism
The Norwegian Consumer Council hired a security firm called Mnemonic to audit the security of four popular brands of kids' smart watches and found a ghastly array of security defects:… Read the rest of the article: Kids' smart watches are a security/privacy dumpster-fire
