2020

Wherever you go, go with all your heart. 📷

27 years in California and sometimes I’m still amazed by palm trees. 📷

Nice work, neighbors. 📷

Would you like to see a one-minute video of Minnie running around the backyard and digging? Of course you would. 📷

Lake Murray in the morning, San Diego, CA, 7:40 am PT. A Day In The Life #adayinthelife

My home office needs a name. I am choosing between: The Room Where It Happens The Cockpit The Boom Boom Room The Dangerous Exotic Bamboo Tiki Lounge and Bowling Alley

Robert A. Heinlein’s Red Planet was the gateway drug to books for me. My 3rd grade teacher, Miss Kaufman had a little area of bookshelves in the corner of her classroom. I read Red Planet and a biography of Helen Keller and was hooked. I told that story on Facebook a few years ago and in 2018 I heard from Miss Kaufman. She said she remembered me well. Holy crap. Mind-blowing for me.

FBI Demands Apple’s Assistance In Opening iPhone Packaging

This house has a dinosaur in the yard. The dinosaur wears a nametag. His name is Burt. 📷

Out of curiosity, I rewatched “Dance of the Dwarfs,” a 1983 low-budget horror-adventure that was in heavy rotation on cable TV around the time it was released. Back then, cable TV didn’t have a lot of content to choose from, so you saw a lot of the same thing over and over. I ended up seeing this movie a few times then, and then not since. It’s based loosely on “The African Queen.

We don’t get many majestic trees like this in San Diego. 📷

We’ve been living in this house more than 20 years and last night Julie showed me an extremely useful lightswitch which I had previously been ignorant of.

My brothers and me having a Tarantino moment at Niagara Falls around 1971. 📷 I think the white car was our car. Dad liked a muscle car. It was an era when you could get a family-size muscle car.

Even when I was a little boy, I understood the importance of personal style. Around 1964. 📷

Just look at this beautiful house we saw on a trip to Athens, Ohio, to visit family a few years ago. Just look at it. 📷

African safari journal: Homeward bound

June 2019 Our final Africa safari stop was Little Kulala Desert Lodge, in Sossusvlei, the Namib-Naukluft Park, Namibia. We took another small charter flight, from Hoanib Valley Camp – or, rather the nearest airstrip from that camp, which was about two hours’s drive away from the camp itself. Sossusvlei Geluk Airstrip is the usual empty airstrip, just a cleared length of land with one or two sheds. As at our other camps, one of the staff picked us up in a Toyota truck converted for passengers, enclosed but not air conditioned.

"Dance of the Dwarfs"

In the early 1980s cable movie channels didn’t have much inventory and they’d play the same movie over and over, multiple times a day. And if you had the TV on for digital wallpaper, you’d sometimes end up watching the same movie a few times over the course of a few weeks. One of those movies, for me, was called “Dance of the Dwarfs," and I quite liked it. It was a ripoff of “The African Queen,” about an uptight, beautiful woman anthropologist who hires a drunk, down-on-his-luck helicopter pilot for an expedition into the jungle to find a mythical race of monster dwarves.

I’m about halfway through reading the very first Perry Mason novel, “The Case of the Velvet Claws,” published 1932. Perry has virtually no inner life. The same for his supporting characters. Supposedly it’s this way throughout the series. We never learn Perry’s backstory, his hopes and dreams, his anxieties and fears. He just solves crimes and protects clients. Perry Mason seems similar to Nero Wolfe. You get more backstory from Nero Wolfe.

A colleague on a Zoom meeting this morning shared his Mac screen with red numbers in the dock for App Store and operating system updates, and now I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight. Thank goodness his battery was fully charged.

We are enjoying “Endeavour.” It gives me an idea for a Star Trek series: “Ensign Kirk.” This is the story of a young Starfleet Ensign, fresh from the Academy, on his first assignment. He’s a rising star of Starfleet but that doesn’t mean he’s given special treatment; it just means expectations are higher for him. He’s just another junior officer, considered expendable, sent on dangerous missions to spare more valuable officers.

In the 90s, Justin Hall was a rich kid with distant parents and a need for attention. He fell in love with the Internet and started sharing intimate details of his life on his website, links.net. He was, maybe, the very first personal blogger, and paved the way for legions of people to share their own intimate details on Facebook on YouTube. He produced an autobiographical documentary in 2015. overshare: the links.

I get relaxation from certain kinds of low-stakes digital activities, requiring little or no thought, like organizing email newsletters and suchlike. In the past I’ve beaten myself up about that, considering it wasted time. Now I think instead I need to make it work for me. Because sometimes you need to unwind. People collect stamps, right?

What is a “digital garden?”

I encountered the idea of a “digital garden” Friday and was instantly enthusiastic and spent some time this weekend nerding out about it. Here is the result – the beginning of my digital garden: mitchwagner.com. A digital garden is a personal website curated by its author, with essays and information about the subject or subjects they’re excited about. Some are wide-ranging and complex and cover a variety of subjects, while others cover a single subject, such as neurology or books,

I updated mitchwagner.com to index the best of my personal writing. I’ve heard people call that a “digital garden.”

Our Africa journal – Saying goodbye to a new friend

June 23, 2019 — Yesterday, we left the camp for our next stop. Festus drove us two hours over those rough desert roads to the same airstrip we’d flown in to. We arrived 40 minutes early so we had time to spend with our new friend. We sat in the same shelter where we’d had our first lunch together three days earlier, and talked. Festus told us how he found his way when guiding people through through the bush.

In “Man of Steel” there’s a scene at the end where Superman and the big villain are having a fight flying around midtown Manhatttan, and they’re ripping apart skyscrapers and you see these shots of Superman and the villain getting thrown through a floor of cubicles and sending partitions and desks and office furniture flying. And I kept thinking that there’s probably some poor bastard who finally got his cubicle JUST RIGHT — just the right desk chair, keyboard tray at the perfect height, little potted cactus, couple of inspirational posters, tiny corkboard in the perfect spot, two-cup USB-powered teakettle.

The house 🎃 across the street ☠ is starting 👻 to decorate 🧛‍♀️ for Halloween. 🧙 Too soon!🦇

“Digital gardens” are personal spaces on the Internet that avoid the one-size-fits-all look and feel of social media. They’re not ephemeral and stream-of-consciousness, like blogs or social media. They’re curated (to use an overused word) websites about the creator’s interests and passions: Museums, books, philosophy, politics, etc. More permanent than either blogs or social media. This is extremely intriguing to me. Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet www.

Like I said about 10 hours ago, I thought I had insomnia licked because I got a good night’s sleep five nights in a row, but last night it was back and I got about three hours of sleep total. I was pleased, however, because I got myself set up so I can work on my iPad in the living room until I’m tired. Insomnia is no longer an occasional thing for me.

“I’ve got this insomnia thing licked,” I said. “I’ve slept well six nights in a row,” I said. Note the timestamp on this post. Oh, well, at least I got work done — good progress on an article I’ve been stuck on for a month or more.

Minnie in a weird position, 2017. 📷

Casey Newton: “Few will cry any tears for Facebook… But the events of this summer have folks I know in Silicon Valley asking the same question over and over: who will Apple put the squeeze on next?”

Big Tech doesn’t have persuasion superpowers. The companies are toxic because they’re monopolies. [Cory Doctorow]

Using machine learning to optimize the layout of banana slices on a sandwich. [Cory Doctorow] I imagine this would work with pickle chips too.

I’ve learned that my resting face when I’m a zoom call looks like I’m drunk. Once I have my colleagues trained that I’m not drunk, I can start day-drinking.

RNC Speaker Mary Ann Mendoza Cancelled After Boosting Conspiracy About Jewish Plot to Enslave the World

If you want to see women walking while talking on the phone, most with dogs, some pushing strollers, get out of your house and walk around the neighborhood at 7 am.

I dropped a container of imported parmesan cheese flakes on the floor the other day and swept it up and put it back in the container and now the dog gets a little cheese with her food. She’s asking to see the wine list too.

I stopped briefly on my walk yesterday to fiddle with my iPhone, and this beautiful cat came out from behind some bushes to say hello. After pausing a moment to make sure I wasn’t going to do anything violent, she flopped at my feet. 📷

Epic Games' assertion that there's an iPhone market that Apple monopolizes, distinct from the smartphone market that includes Android, looks like bullshit to me.

Apple kicked Epic’s Fortnite out of the App Store for terms of service violations. Fortnite immediately sued. Thomas Claburn at The Register: Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, filed a lawsuit against Apple on Thursday accusing the iGiant of illegally monopolizing iOS app distribution and app payments. The game biz earlier in the day announced a promotional initiative called Fortnite Mega Drop to allow Fortnite players to purchase in-game virtual currency and in-game items directly from Epic, at a price 20 per cent below their iOS App Store in-app purchase price.

The bizarre dimming of bright star Betelgeuse caused by giant stellar eruption [Space.com]: Betelgeuse farted.

Simulate driving through dozens of world cities while listening to local radio. driveandlisten.herokuapp.com Johannesburg driving is scary.

If you start reading a book and it’s not grabbing you, how long do you give it until you give up? Or do you always read through to the end once you start?

Facebook is refusing to remove a doctored Nancy Pelosi video. Factcheckers put ‘partly false’ label on video that has been circulating since Thursday and viewed more than 2m times www.theguardian.com/us-news/2…

Photorealistic portraits of Roman emperors, generated by machine learning and Photoshop. medium.com/@voshart/…

Trump has had more nice things to say about a woman arrested for sex trafficking than he has about John Lewis.

How to spell “entrepreneur:” It’s got more Rs than you think.

Wilford Brimley was once a bodyguard for Howard Hughes. twitter.com/rstephens…

Clashing privacy laws between the US and Europe spell trouble for big tech

“If you’re a U.S. subsidiary of a big U.S. firm and you’re based in Europe, whom do you obey? The European law that says you can’t hand it over because of GDPR or the American laws that say they have extra judicial control and you’ve got to hand it over?" siliconangle.com/2020/08/0…

Why QAnon is here to stay

Mirrors only became commonplace and inexpensive in the 19th Century. Until then, almost everybody had no idea what they looked like. They had never seen images of themselves. Pessimists Archive: Mirrors

I saw this regal gentleman at Lake Murray. 📷

Drive-through communion at the church up the street from us. 📷 Communion was no longer running when I saw the sign while out walking yesterday. That’s a good thing because I would have hopped in my car, driven up and asked for a grilled cheese burrito and chalupa supreme with a pineapple twist freeze and then I would have gone straight to hell. The church is Baptist but often hosts other denominations.

Too often I try to get just a couple more shaves out of an old blade. That’s a metaphor for something.

The good: I shaved with a new blade this morning and I’m wearing a new shirt. The bad: I have a razor burn on my left cheek from the last time I shaved, and a blemish on my philtrum.

I resolved on Thursday to do less Facebook, because Facebook doesn’t make me feel good. I was on Facebook this weekend more than I would’ve liked, during which time I learned about three friends going through big life events. Doing less Facebook is not easy. People who never joined made the right choice. I’m unfollowing a lot of people I don’t feel strongly about, and leaving groups. I’m there to get updates from friends and family.

Vacation photo, Borrego Springs, California, 2013 📷

A photo essay of classic Japanese ads

A photo essay of classic Japanese movie monsters. Where Western movies used animated clay figures, the Japanese used men in costumes on miniature cityscapes. Some of those cityscapes were elaborate and beautiful. Godzilla is drawn from Japan’s lived experience at the receiving end of a nuclear bomb attack. The texture of his skin is based on the scars carried by Hiroshima survivors. Godzilla is also based on the Shinto god of destruction, “which Godzilla B-movie maker Shogo Tomiyama says operates not in service of humankind, but rather the laws of nature.

“The line of troopers walked forward, billy clubs out. They knocked Lewis to the ground and struck him on his head. He tried to get up; they hit him again with the billy club. His skull was fractured.” John Lewis Crosses Selma Bridge One Last Time

“Aggravation is an art form in his hands.” RIP Regis, my friend and companion on many a business travel hotel room morning in the 90s and 2000s.

I have an idea for a movie. An action-comedy about two cops who are partners and best friends and who bicker a lot. They are out to take down a wealthy drug dealer. There are car chases and gunfights. Their captain shouts at them.

We watched Bad Boys tonight, which we had never seen. It was the least enjoyable film I have watched all the way through.

This is a good look for me. In no way does it make me look threatening or mentally unbalanced. 📷

More than half the people born in 1980 are over 40. My brain cannot process this information.

Velveeta vs. Microsoft.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols at ZDNet: The 5 most over-hyped tech devices. Don’t be a hater – CueCat will make a comeback!

David Roth at The New Yorker: How “Starship Troopers” Aligns with Our Moment of American Defeat: Verhoeven’ s Starship Troopers depicts “a society whose fixation on force has left it preening, idiotic, and paradoxically weak. This state manifests as endless columns of cultishly revered and supremely well-equipped violence workers who know how to do only one thing, and a culture that exists exclusively to celebrate their efforts….”

Eli Reiter at OneZero: My Bizarre Stint As an Amazon Reviewer for Hire

I saw this lost dog sign on my walk yesterday. I hope they find the little guy. He looks sad. 📷

Lake Murray from Cowles Mountain, five miles from home, 2018. Maybe I’ll do the climb again this weekend. 📷

Two years ago today I was at the Google Next conference in San Francisco. I mistook another editor for a waiter at a stand-up cocktail reception and tried to take food off his plate.

Julie got me this cunning hat for my birthday yesterday, which I will wear with pride on my next trip back east in winter. I think it’s a great look for me. 📷

Such a shayna punim! 📷

The least likely scenario for the 2020 election is that Trump both loses and accepts defeat graciously. What Could Happen If Donald Trump Rejects Electoral Defeat?. By Masha Gessen at The New Yorker.

“Hurting people at scale: Facebook’s employees reckon with the social network they’ve built. Ryan Mac and Craig Silverman go in-depth for BuzzFeed News. The most charitable interpretation of Facebook’s behavior is that it’s trying to remain neutral in a fight against racism and autocracy.

I don’t know how how to spell “entrepreneur” but I know there’s an extra R in there somewhere.

“Delicious, but too messy to handle,” was how Ruth Burt described the new ice cream treat her father, Harry Burt, concocted in 1920—a brick of vanilla ice cream encased in chocolate. So her brother, Harry Jr., offered a suggestion: Why not give it a handle?” A brief history of the Good Humor ice cream truck: How the Ice Cream Truck Made Summer Cool, by Colin Dickey at Smithsonian Magazine.

That was, indeed, unexpected. Zoom and Enhance! from r/Unexpected

Ladies and gents, I present my husband who did not want a cat from r/aww

In his biography of Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson makes a case that Franklin was one of the greatest people who ever lived, anywhere at any time. Franklin rose from poverty to become a successful businessman, writer, publisher, journalist, diplomat, statesman, politician, and political philosopher. Success in any one of those fields could get him a couple of statues. Franklin succeeded in all. Franklin was a leader in building a government that has lasted longer than any other extant today.

Venice is reducing the number of people allowed on individual gondolas, as tourists have gotten fatter. “Going forward with over half a ton of meat on board is dangerous.” Previously, “Greece banned hefty tourists from riding donkeys on the popular island of Santorini, after activists complained that the animals were suffering spinal injuries.”

Biden went into this campaign with his chief credential being that he was a nonentity who would do nothing. With Biden as President, Americans could go back to ignoring politics. Instead, Biden is turning into a fire-breathing radical – and I love it. He appears to be building an FDR-style transformative Presidency, which is what the US and the world need right now. The fate of civilization and billions of lives literally depend on it.

Biden’s $2 trillion climate plan.

Country-themed sitcoms ruled the TV airwaves for a decade, but in the early 1970s, CBS axed them. The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction were just three of the shows that bought the farm. The Rural Purge: Death of the Country Broadcasting System, on Mobituaries by My Rocca.

I had not planned to spend quite so much time this morning updating my Mac but here we are.

When did we stop having “problems” and starting having “issues”? Because I have a problem with that.

That’s sorted. Moon vs. Sun utilization question answered The Monroeville Breeze, Indiana, September 20, 1934. pic.twitter.com/tU4FGC1rqX — Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) July 23, 2020

Light and time are great ways to disinfect masks. Washing is generally unnecessary

James Hamblin MD, writing at The Atlantic: Have several masks, made to fit well around your nose and mouth. Make them as heavily layered as you can tolerate. After wearing them for a day or so, or in a high-contact scenario, let them sit for a few days in a sunny, out-of-the-way place. Between the effects of time and light, there should be little need for running a washing machine or going through the hassle of hand-washing your masks….

The Amazon Critic Who Saw Its Power From the Inside: Tim Bray was a celebrated engineer at Amazon. Now, he is its highest-profile defector

Bray walked away from $1 million because he couldn’t stand Amazon’s labor and business practices anymore. Now he’s an outspoken advocate for breaking the company up. Karen Weise writing at The New York Times: SEATTLE — Tim Bray, an internet pioneer and a former vice president at Amazon, sent shock waves through the tech giant in early May when he resigned for what he called “a vein of toxicity” running through its culture.

Mexican cave relics suggest humans were populating the Americas up to 17,000 years earlier than thought

I was looking through my wallet for a particular document, which I did not find, but I did find random credit card receipts dating back to 2017. from Seinfeld GIFs via Gfycat

Facebook is adding security and privacy protections to Messenger. That’s like Ghislaine Maxwell taking first aid classes so she can be a better babysitter for your teen-age girls.

We ordered a new couch which was supposed to arrive today but which seems to have disappeared in transit. I am haunted by the vision of it being sat on by people with poor personal hygiene who are eating Cheetos and wiping their fingers on the upholstery.

America can become the country claims to be, starting by telling the truth about its history of slavery, genocide and oppression. “Until we tell the truth we deny ourselves the opportunity for beauty.” The Ezra Klein Show: Bryan Stevenson on how America can heal

Tempted

Tucker Carlson, the most popular host in the history of cable news, returned from a week-long vacation after his head writer was exposed as a raging bigot. The scandal won’t stick. Financially, it will cost some advertisers but Fox gets most of its revenue from subscribers, who love this kind of controversy. Tucker Carlson’s America

I walked a different route than I usually do today, and saw several noteworthy vehicles. Two were classics, all had character. 📷

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Lush photo essay from the golden age of shopping malls.

Cruising the Past & Future of the Retro Shopping Mall I loved to go to the mall in my 20s. I’d go alone, during the day, get a fast food lunch, see what was new on the science fiction shelves at B. Dalton and Waldenbooks — anything by Asimov, Heinlein, Niven or Zelazny? A new Robert B. Parker? In that era before the mainstream internet and before I got plugged into science fiction fandom, the only way to find out if a favorite author had a new book out was to check in stores.

From my journal two years ago: My Apple Watch alarm went off while I was watching the dishes, and without thinking about it I tapped the watch face with my nose to switch the alarm off. I believe I have hit on a breakthrough in nasal user interface design.

I was feeling down and blue so I spent a lot of time on social media and now I feel ever so much better and more cheerful, said nobody never.

📚I finished reading “Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic," by Tom “insert Spider-Man Joke Here” Holland. It’s a history of the rise to power of Julius Caesar and then a quick overview of the reign of Augustus. It’s one of the most readable histories I’ve read, very novelistic, which is not surprising, because Holland got his start as a novelist. The Romans had a republic that lasted 500 years and was quickly replaced by a monarchy.

Man, It’s Boss! Monogram’s Red Baron model kit, the Groovy Custom Show Rod Now at Your Favorite Store! (1968) via

Hula hoop ad, 1963 via

I am continuing to fiddle with handwriting recognition (aka Scribble) on the iPad. I’m getting better at it but I don’t know if it will ever replace the onscreen keyboard. I read multiple reviews that say Scribble is amazing even with the reviewers' awful handwriting. My awful handwriting is Scribble’s Waterloo.

Was Orwell an anti-Semite? Orwell struggled with anti-Semitism — others' and his own.

Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow: “Trump’s decisions to politicize voting and wearing masks means that his base have been convinced not to vote and to commit mass suicide.” Also, Trump is paying grifters millions for masks.

Americans saw the story they wanted to see. Some saw respected professionals fearing for their safety, reasonably exercising their Second Amendment rights to defend their home from violent trespassers. Others saw an overwrought, older affluent couple, recklessly pointing their weapons and asserting their white privilege. Portland Place couple who confronted protesters have a long history of not backing down - Metro - stltoday.com

The Republicans Who Want to Destroy Trump The Lincoln Project is headed by people who are just now realizing that the Republican Party has been toxic since before Trump.

A 13-Year-Old Will Be Tried As An Adult For Shooting And Killing His Brother While Playing Cops And Robbers. The father, who kept a loaded gun unsecured in a house with children, seems like the criminal here, not a boy too young to understand what he was doing.

Your mask feels uncomfortable? Get over it. As a surgeon, I know how vital they are.

The World Is Drinking Less Coffee While Office Workers Stay Home. More for me!

not all heroes wear capes. pic.twitter.com/KEG2P2Qbz2 — Love Yo Self ✨ (@MichellCClark) July 11, 2020

How old is your dog? New equation shows how to calculate its age in human years Dogs age quickly their first years, more slowly later. Minnie is 62.

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David Frumat the Atlantic, about Roger Stone: The Most Conspicuous Scandal in American History. Trump and his cronies commit their treasonous crimes in plain sight, and that helps them get away with it.

David Gerrold’s 1983 novel “A Matter for Men” features the Earth facing a biological menace which many people believe is a hoax, and the US in decline but still powerful and threatening. Oh, that old-time science fiction! So unrealistic! Very Hungry Caterpillar

Hello, again, Lake Murray. 📷

This may sound like Trump’s wackiest conspiracy theory. But it’s actually true. Republicans have been peddling insane conspiracy theories for decades, and now it is coming back to destroy them, as rank-and-file Republicans are refusing to vote using mail in ballots or to take precautions to protect themselves against coronavirus.

Scientists thought they found evidence of a new planet at the edge of the solar system. Now they think it might be a black hole. If the Solar System’s ‘Planet Nine’ is actually a small black hole, here’s how we could detect it… wait, what?

On Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic: Hospitals are using homebrew dongles with code from a Polish hacker to repair ventilators, getting around thieving licensing by manufacturer Medtronic. Datamir helps cops spy on protesters with Twitter. How arms dealers make billions on police militarization. local California businesses used clamshells as currency during the Depression. And France’s Macron demands a national database of porn preferences

For me, texting is a full-duplex conversation. I think possibly most people think of texting as half-duplex, like speech, and consider my approach rude.

“Ghislaine, Is That You?”: Inside Ghislaine Maxwell’s Life on the Lam

I did not know this: Ghislaine Maxwell is the daughter of the late media mogul Robert Maxwell, briefly famous as a rival to Rupert Murdoch. Robert Maxwell’s body was found floating near his yacht in 1991. Maybe his death was an accident. Maybe it was suicide. Maybe he was murdered to cover up … something. The yacht was named the Lady Ghislaine, for his daughter. The elder Maxwell and Richard Epstein had a lot in common.

Bill Murray dances with Gilda Radner at Studio 54. via In the 70s, overalls and high heels were considered perfectly acceptable ladies' wear for a night on the town. The 70s were a very strange decade. Gilda’s rocking it. She looks fantastic.

How AI makes policing more racist: AI is biased as the people who program it.

I like writing things by hand … in theory. I like the idea of being the guy who carries around a notebook, like Indiana Jones’s father, and writes down all my brilliant thoughts. In my mind, it’s a simple but beautiful notebook, and I write in it using a fountain pen. In reality, I type everything on my MacBook and if I’m not at my MacBook I use my phone. On the phone, I’m using voice transcription more and more.

Al Pacino with his parents, Salvatore and Rose, in 1940. via He’s just a few months old and he already looks like Al Pacino.

I often see this bus parked around the corner. I keep expecting 11-year old Danny Bonaduce to emerge. 📷

I installed the new iPad beta and I think I like the scribbling feature it takes getting Used to. I don’t handwrite anything anymore

Incoherent Conspiracy Suggests Ghislaine Maxwell Is a Powerful Redditor: Because a supercriminal setting up pseudonymous social media account to rule the Internet would absolutely use a variation on their real name.

Cory Doctorow: Cops are buying breach data. Why get a warrant when the crooks can do the work for you?

A Twitter Account Is Tracking the Cringiest Misuses Of Black Language

3 Mac apps I'm not using anymore

I configured a new MacBook Pro a month ago. Usually I use Migration Assistant for that kind of thing but this time I started from scratch and moved data and apps over manually. Three apps that still haven’t made the transition. Alfred Keyboard Maestro TextExpander All three are apps I previously used daily and would have sworn were essential to my workflow. Apparently not. I do have an idea for a thing I want to do with Keyboard Maestro – set up a series of palettes to remind me of keyboard shortcuts.

Spies, Lies, and Stonewalling: What It’s Like to Report on Facebook: “… operating with the secrecy of an intelligence agency and the authority of a state government, Facebook has arrogated to itself vast powers while enjoying, until recently, limited journalistic scrutiny.“

The Militarization Of Police: Journalist Radley Balko, author of ‘Rise Of The Warrior Cop,’ says police departments across America are increasingly using equipment designed for use on a battlefield, including tanks, bayonets and grenades, and using them against peaceful protestors.

Study finds asteroid impact, not volcanoes, made the Earth uninhabitable for dinosaurs: ‘Only plausible explanation’. I thought this was settled science years ago.

Two racist cops threw me in jail 13 years ago. Let me tell you what needs to happen now. Searing commentary from Ty Smith, a retired, decorated Navy SEAL and founder of a San Diego security company.

How to Buy Tech That Lasts and Lasts

Brian X. Chen at the New York Times: When we buy a gadget these days, we rarely assume that it will endure. We expect to play a video game console only for as long as companies make games for it. We expect to use a smartphone or a laptop for just as long as the battery has juice or until it can no longer run important software.

Sheboygan toilet clogger sentenced to probation, 150 days in jail Headline of the week.

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I got the new Facebook layout yesterday evening. That’s late – many people were getting it months ago, weren’t they? I like it. It reminds me of Google+. I like the new notifications layout. I’ve lost the ability to format text in posts, which I had for a couple of months. No big deal. But the Facebook News Feed is still a cluttered mess and inconvenient to use. And the News Feed is the only part of Facebook that interests me.

I’m not a Boomer. I’m Generation Jones

Generation Jones is the younger cohort of boomers. We are a separate generation, raised in the recession of the 70s in very early 80s, rather than the prosperous decades following World War II. We have a different attitude and different pop-culture icons than our older peers. Jeffrey I Williams writes at the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2014: Generation Jones is an actual thing. It refers to the second half of the baby boom, to a group of people born roughly from 1954 to 1965.

Julie got a new handbag. Sammy says, “Mine now!” 📷

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We watched Hamilton last night and 1776 tonight. That’s five hours and 25 minutes of movies. My butt has declared independence.

My reaction immediately before watching “Hamilton:” “Nearly three hours? You’ve got to be kidding me!” After one hour: “I sort of like it.” After watching the whole thing: “I liked it, but did not love it.” This afternoon I listened to the soundtrack. I guess I love it.

The 1776 drinking game: Take a drink — of rum — every time John Adams says “Good God!” or “Incredible!”

The first movie I saw in a theater

A friend asked her Facebook friends what was the first movie that they remembered seeing in a theater. I dug through the IMDB to find some of the earliest movies I remember seeing in theaters and enjoying. They include Doctor Doolittle, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Love Bug and the Jungle Book. They came out in 1967-68. Also at about that time I remember a movie with Sammy Davis Jr. — I probably had no idea who he was when I first saw the movie, but I recognized him later, in memory.

‪I like that the instructions for Hot Pockets say I should “prep” it first. Like sticking a thing in a cardboard sleeve makes me a chef. ‬

Minnie supervises my second Covid haircut, by Julie, who did an excellent job. 📷

I’ve had to teach myself how to read books again. When I was a kid and into my 20s I read books voraciously, but beginning in my 40s I transitioned to a diet of articles and status updates consumed on the Internet. Listening to a recent Ezra Klein podcast yesterday, he talked about the need to spend an hour or more of uninterrupted reading – get into a deep reading state, to truly absorb information and make connections.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate, has been charged with enticement of minors. This could get interesting. It seems likely she knows everything Epstein knew about the proclivities of powerful men.

Trump Mistakes Cowboy Sculpture In His Office As Teddy Roosevelt In Interview About Knowing The History Of Statues “Trump’s gaffe seems all the more ironic given that in other parts of the interview, he talks about how he believes protestors taking down statues don’t understand the history behind the statues.”

I wish Trump put as much energy into protecting live Americans as he does for dead Confederates and Vladimir Putin.

The Decline of the American World Other countries are used to loathing America, admiring America, and fearing America (sometimes all at once). But pitying America? That one is new. Tom McTague looks at the US from Britain, with a view that’s harsh, but ultimately loving and optimistic. That’s how I feel about the US these days as well. As I’ve mentioned here before, I’ve been reading ancient history recently, and that tells me the US is still a very young country.

A volcanic eruption in the Aleutians triggered climate change that accelerated the fall of the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic Was Teetering. Then a Volcano Erupted 6,000 Miles Away.

Doomscrolling Is Slowly Eroding Your Mental Health Checking your phone for an extra two hours every night won’t stop the apocalypse.

Kellogg’s Mashups Cereal Combines Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops Not enough sugar and artificial coloring.

Duke researchers say all brain activity studies are wrong

Milton Glaser, Co-founder of New York Magazine and Creator of ‘I❤NY,’ Dies at 91

Christopher Bonanos at New York Magazine: He wrote, too. Starting in our first issues, Glaser and his friend Jerome Snyder, the design director of Sports Illustrated, created “The Underground Gourmet,” becoming very possibly the world’s first columnists covering cheap ethnic restaurants in a sophisticated way. That sounds like no big deal now, but it was a minor revolution in 1968. As Glaser himself would explain when asked, nobody back then bothered to cover restaurants outside the white-tablecloth world, because they didn’t advertise.

"You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument"

Caroline Randall Williams says that as a light-skinned Black woman, her body is a monument to the Confederate legacy. I am a black, Southern woman, and of my immediate white male ancestors, all of them were rapists. My very existence is a relic of slavery and Jim Crow. According to the rule of hypodescent (the social and legal practice of assigning a genetically mixed-race person to the race with less social power) I am the daughter of two black people, the granddaughter of four black people, the great-granddaughter of eight black people.

Remastered silent movies from the 1890s look breathtakingly real and contemporary, like the people could just walk out of the frame. youtu.be/jN2E3s6Pk… Matt Loughrey uses machine learning to add additional frames to smooth the motion. The films include Broadway in New York, in 1896, and “Buffalo” Bill Cody having a conversation with an Oglala Lakota leader.

African safari journal – one year ago – we visit a tribal village

June 21, 2019 - Yesterday was busy even by the standards of this trip. Up at 6 and out at 6:30 to the main tent for breakfast and coffee. The coffee is not bad here; it’s not great, but drinkable black. I chatted with Jordanna, an Asian woman with a posh English accent. I asked where she is from; she said London. If she had said Singapore, I would not have been surprised – Crazy Rich Asians.

What happened to Brexit?

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night unable to sleep – which I’m doing now at least two or three times a week, it’s just normal now – and I thought did Brexit happen? I remember it was a really big deal for a couple of years, and then it was imminent and then it was going to be days away and then … nothing. Did it happen?

African safari journal – one year ago – never get tired of the elephants

June 19, 2019 — We got our cold weather yesterday, up at 5 am for the morning game drive. Camp Kipwe wasn’t cold. I’d assumed it might be at night, knowing the wide temperature fluctuations you get in the desert and judging by the heavy blankets the resort laid on the bed. But it remained warm all night and it felt like the mid-60s at breakfast and when we set out on the drive.

Petition calls for statue of Christopher Columbus in Ohio city to be replaced with Chef Boyardee The city is Cleveland and it’s actually not a bad idea. Ettore Boiardi was an immigrant success story.

‪Remarkable time-lapse video of a toucan growing up from hatching to adulthood. ‬‪Seems like an intelligent, playful animal that recognizes its person. ‬ ∫youtu.be/nfK6k8nCW…‬

Black Lives Matter is working

“ ... trying to shame people into wearing condoms didn’t work—and it won’t work for masks either.”

Shaming didn’t work to get men to wear condoms during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, but making condom-wearing convenient and less unpleasant was effective. The same lessons need to be applied to mask-wearing today. Julia Marcus at The Atlantic: Public-health professionals have learned this lesson before. In 1987, Congress banned the use of federal funds for HIV-prevention campaigns that might “promote or encourage, directly or indirectly, homosexual activities.

New research explores how conservative media misinformation may have intensified the severity of the pandemic “… infection and mortality rates are higher in places where one pundit who initially downplayed the severity of the pandemic — Fox News’s Sean Hannity — reaches the largest audiences.”

The White House is taking increasing measures to protect Trump from covid, even as he insists publicly the disease is no big deal

As he seeks to insert rival Joe Biden’s health into the presidential campaign, Trump has voiced escalating concern about how it would appear if he contracted coronavirus and has insisted on steps to protect himself, even as he refuses to wear a mask in public and agitates for large campaign rallies where the virus could spread. When he travels to locations where the virus is surging, every venue the President enters is inspected for potential areas of contagion by advance security and medical teams, according to people familiar with the arrangements.

Not the first time Sammy got to the glass of water I put out for myself.

Russia offered the Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers, and Trump has been dithering about a response for months, according to this report in the New York Times. Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says

House passes bill to provide D.C. statehood Republicans oppose statehood for DC because DC is mostly Black people.

Pence tries to put positive spin on coronavirus pandemic despite surging cases in South and West Dangerous moron Mike Pence says increase in cases is “very encouraging news” and a “great success.” Asked whether people should wear masks, he said they should pray.

Obamacare Must ‘Fall,’ Trump Administration Tells Supreme Court No, it is the Trump administration that must fall.

In the middle of the worst pandemic in a century, Trump wants to eliminate medical insurance for 20 million Americans. Even for Trump, this is depraved and evil.

YouTube views of sourdough videos jumped 400% in coronavirus lockdown. And “workout from home” video views more than tripled

A subsurface ocean on Europa, a moon of Jupiter, may have been habitable. For microbial life at least, possibly sometime in the past.

Paradise, California, suffered extensive damage and deaths in 2018 forest fires, and is now grappling with the pandemic and recession. The high school graduating faces uncertainty with hope for the future

Justine Calma at The Verge: For the second year in a row, graduation at Paradise High School became a tribute to triumph over disaster. The tight-knit small town — where many seniors have taken classes together since kindergarten — was almost entirely razed by the Camp Fire in 2018. It was the deadliest and most destructive blaze in California’s history. Then, COVID-19 upended the school year, and seniors once again graduated into a world that looked very different than it did when the year began.

"The Great" – it's great 📺

Julie and I are loving the Hulu series “The Great,” about the rise to power of Catherine the Great, 18th Century empress of Russia. It’s funny, appalling, endearing, tragic, bawdy, super-violent and often sad all at once. It’s visually gorgeous, with good-looking costumes and actors. Elle Fanning stands out as Catherine, who seems at first to be a beautiful nincompoop but turns out to have mettle. The subtitle for “The Great” is “an occasionally true story.

How to “manage up” from home

Getting ahead at the office when you’re not at the office. Crises are not a time to negotiate increased titles and compensation…. Jump in and do the work, learn new skills, build your network, and don’t be afraid to fail. When the time is right, the actual promotion will come, either at this company—or in your next job somewhere else. applied.economist.com/articles/…

He got it from the mask.. I just bet he did.

U.S. Used Missile With Long Blades to Kill Qaeda Leader in Syria American Special Operations forces used a specially designed secret missile to kill the head of a Qaeda affiliate in Syria this month…. American and Qaeda officials said on Wednesday that Khaled al-Aruri, the de facto leader of the Qaeda branch, called Hurras al-Din, perished in a drone strike in Idlib in northwest Syria on June 14.

Working at Home Means Softer Toilet Paper – and a Climate Toll Soft toilet paper is better for your butt, but worse for the climate. Commercial TP is made from recycled paper, but the kind of TP we use at home is made from “virgin fiber…. primarily from clear-cutting forests.” In other words, it’s fresh from the tree to your bathroom. Sheltering at home, we use more consumer TP and less of the commercial variety.

How big tech distorts discourse: It’s the monopoly, stupid. Making the case for job guarantees. Activists dox Chicago cops in realtime. 759 Trump atrocities, documented. Congress introduces bold, sweeping Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act. It’s great for America, and telcos will hate it. Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic

More photos from our African safaris – one year ago

These were taken June 18, 2019, in Namibia. Our cabin at Kipwe Lodge in Namibia. View from the cabin. View from the cabin toilet. The cabin bathroom. The cabin sitting room. Another view of the cabin sitting room. The cabin bedroom. Driving across the Namibian desert. Typical of the planes we used when flying between lodges in Botswana and Namibia. Plaque inside the passenger hut at a Namibian airfield. A passenger hut at a Namibian airfield.

We’ve had big, gorgeous monarch butterflies in the yard recently. 📷

Africa journal – one year ago – spectacular leopard encounter

June 17, 2019 [Note from 2020: Overlap here with yesterday’s entry. I’m repeating myself.] We arrived at Windhoek in Namibia two days ago, after a commercial flight of less than two hours, and were greeted outside customs by Antone, who put us in an enclosed VW van with air conditioning and car seats. He drove us through Windhoek, a relatively new city 29 years old [Note from 2020: That’s what Antone said.

I saw these chairs on a New York City street a few years ago. The gentlemen who occupied the chairs were very nice. 📷

African safari journal – one year ago – a travel day

June 15, 2019 – Yesterday was a travel day. We had an 11:25 am charter flight from the LLT airstrip [Note from 2020: That’s the Leroo La Tau safari camp, where we stayed for a few days], and could have jammed in a short game drive, packing and breakfast before then, but it would have been too stressful. Instead we decided to sleep in, which turned out to be 6:30 am for Julie and 6:55 am for me.

"City of Girls," by Elizabeth Gilbert, was very enjoyable and a nice change of pace from my usual reading 📚

Elizabeth Gilbert is of course the author of “Eat Pray Love” and a writer who until recently I never gave any thought to because I pigeonholed her as a women’s novelist. But I heard her interviewed on two of my podcasts recently, and she seemed wise and smart and likable. And the novel is set in 1940 New York, which is a time and place that fascinates me – it’s the time and place where my parents and aunts and uncles and many of my childhood friends' parents grew up (and then they moved out to Long Island and had us).

The pandemic comes close to home

This morning I talked with a friend who lost his sister to covid Friday. I learned about that on a professional mailing list my friend and I share; another member of the list also said he’d lost a family member to covid. I then talked with a family member of someone who is close to me, and is very sick and may well pass, well, any minute now. This person had covid a couple of months ago, and we thought they had recovered from it, but now it appears possibly not.

Rosebud at the side of the house. “Feed me, Seymour!” 📷

Alaska Airlifts ‘Into the Wild’ Bus Out of the Wild

Alaska has airlifted the “Into the Wild” bus out of the Alaska backcountry. Too many tourists made the trek to the location and had to be rescued. The abandoned Fairbanks city bus that Christopher McCandless lived and died in has been removed from the Alaska backcountry. Photos that went viral on Facebook on Thursday show the bus being hauled out by a Chinook helicopter and then loaded onto a long flatbed trailer for transport to an unknown location.

Trump wants to dismantle the OTF: Trump wants to dismantle the US Open Technology Fund, a nonprofit that funds development of open source communications tools used to counter oppression throughout the world. Cory Doctorow: The Trump admin wants to nuke the OTF and give all its money to a bunch of grifty, closed-source privacy and firewall-circumvention tools. These tools are NOT auditable, and the companied that make them stand to make BANK from the move.

Algonauts: Experimental artist Shardcore uses machine learning to generate “Algonauts” – uncanny, fake Peanuts panels – Cory Doctorow

That’s the art of the deal, people! Trump paid $7.3 million for covid “test tubes” that turned out to be contaminated miniature soda bottles – Cory Doctorow

Avia, c’est mort: French courts struck down a law that would have required the Internet Archive to remove 15 million documents, including a repository of Grateful Dead music, for violating anti-terrorism rules – Cory Doctorow. Keep on truckin', you French courts you.

Austerity in disrepute – Cory Doctorow: 75% of Americans favor maintaining or expanding extended unemployment benefits from pandemic stimulus bills. The extensions are popular even among Republican voters. But GOP politicians intend to terminate the payments, and they’ve been clear about why: poor people won’t risk death or permanent disability in order to serve cocktails or give manicures unless the alternative is homelessness and starvation.

Cory Doctorow: Microsoft criticizes Apple’s monopolism – and Microsoft oughta know about monopolies! But companies that try to sic antitrust regulators against competitors need to watch out, because that kind of thing bites back.

A Man Has Raised Over $10,000 To Tap-Dance Over His Downstairs MAGA Neighbor And Says He’s Donating All Proceeds

Thousands of tampons! The Hugo Girls discuss Mary Robinette Kowal’s Hugo award winning novel, “The Calculating Stars,” which is, they say, basically Mrs. Maisel in space. They also discuss women’s body hair. And also feminism and sexism and stuff.

Today, Explained: A good day for DREAMers: The Supreme Court’s decision upholding DACA was a wonderful surprise, but Trump can strike down DACA again in literally a few hours. The Supreme Court didn’t rule on the specifics of DACA; it just said Trump didn’t file the right paperwork. Transcript Still, it’s a good day for for DREAMers, who can breathe a little easier. And also a good day for all Americans with empathy for their fellow human beings.

Ice skating in a suit. 1930s via

My new employer needs a professional looking photo.

Medical supply company threatens to sue to stop iFixit from distributing repair manuals

Cory Doctorow: When a once-in-a-century public health emergency strikes, some people leap to help. Others leap to sue. Ifixit published maintenance manuals for medical equipment. Steris Corporation threatened to sue them for it. Steris, makes sterilizer equipment, is behaving obscenely. This is why we need “right to repair” laws – you have a moral right to do whatever you want with your own property. In this case, that right is literally a matter of life and death.

via

Oracle: How sports teams are keeping fans engaged during the pandemic shutdown: Money quote: “Sports fans are committed and involved. They are the only customers I know who are willing to have their favorite team logo tattooed on their bodies.”

Television promo photo 1970 in Hungary via

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Welcome to the future, brought to you by America’s Independent Electric Light and Power Companies, advertising art from Newsweek, April 1959. via

Cory Doctorow: “Hue and cry, posses, sheriffs: What did we do before cops?” Professional policing is a relatively recent invention, and one whose time has gone.

Cory Doctorow: Americans don’t trust Big Tech to moderate their communities: Censorship by big business in partnership with government is not the answer to harassment, hate speech and fake news on the Internet.

Cory Doctorow: The Earbuddy is experimental technology that takes advantage of wireless earbuds' microphones being sensitive enough to tell the difference between touching different parts of your face. You could control your phone or communicate with each other just by touching your face (except of course you shouldn’t touch your face). Didn’t Carol Burnett pioneer this technology?

Cory Doctorow: “Robots aren’t stealing your job: Your boss is destroying it and blaming it on automation.” Automation enables gig-economy jobs, offshoring and flexible scheduling that drives down pay and turns people into robots.

Cory Doctorow: “SF anthology to benefit covid charities: Surviving Tomorrow is a new anthology whose entire profits go to pay for covid-19 tests for front-line workers. Contributors include Neil Gaiman, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Robert Silverberg, Jonathan Maberry, Seanan McGuire, Andrew Mayne, Scott Sigler, Orson Scott Card, Alan Dean Foster, A.C. Crispin” and Cory.

Cory Doctorow: Politics and sf: People look out for each other during a crisis, despite stories about people going crazy and turning on each other during disaster, or when civilization collapses. As pulp writers, science fiction writers don’t want to confine themselves to man-against-man or man-against nature, we like the plot-forward twofer, where it’s man-against-nature-against-man, where the tsunami blows your house over and your neighbors come over to eat you.

You know that thing where I was doing daily digests of links and occasional image digests? I’m tired of that. Let the firehose resume? I seem to enjoy fiddling with how I post to the blog and social media as much as I enjoy posting.

After many years working from home, suddenly I feel like I need to wear nice shirts for work most days. The reason is Zoom, of course.

I’m doing a few Zoom calls a day now. I hate my meeting face.

Link list: Tuesday, June 16 2020

Cisco rolls out new solutions for remote work, learning, post-pandemic For instance, one solution combines video collaboration hardware and software to offer virtual visitations for inmates in correctional facilities. Another solution uses Wi-Fi and analytics software to monitor social distancing in workplaces." Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic: The technology of Uyghur oppression: How China uses technology to oppress Uyghurs and Kazakhs: While the concentration camps imprisoning 1M+ people are most visible, the entire region “has been turned into an open air prison where technology tracks and controls predominantly Muslim Turkic people while allowing Han people to go about their business largely unhindered.

Interesting finds in my home office

After my Mom passed away in 2000, and then my Dad in 2004, I inherited my Mom’s rolltop desk. It’s in my home office. If you’ve ever done a Zoom call with me, you can see it behind me. It’s not my primary desk; it’s just sitting there with piles of stuff on it. Yesterday I was looking through the drawers of the desk for a Post-It note. The drawers are mostly empty; I don’t use them.

Found images: Tuesday, June 16 2020

Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, 1910s. She wore pants, smoked publicly — often on the roof of the White House — kept a pet snake and a dagger, partied all night and slept until noon. “I can do one of two things. I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice Roosevelt. I cannot possibly do both.” — Theodore Roosevelt via via

Link list: Monday, June 15 2020

On Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic: Mad Magazine’s Al Jaffee is retiring young – he’s only 99. Jaffee launched “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” and the fold-out. Marie Foulston and her friends held a pandemic party in a spreadsheet. The pandemic is rising in red states because it turns out you can’t just ignore healthcare and trust that only brown-skilled people, who are Democrats, will die. The GOP is trapped in a prison of its own making.

As a Jewish New Yorker I’m supposed to be appalled by thin-sliced bagels – particularly thin, longitudinally sliced bagels – but honestly I think they are a great idea and I’m surprised they didn’t become popular before now.

Nathan Lane’s performance in “City of Angels” is particularly amazing because, well, he’s Nathan Lane. He’s always been talented and charismatic but I only ever associate him with roles like he’s played on “The Bird Cage” and “Modern Family.”

We hate “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” but can’t stop watching. We don’t hate Nathan Lane though. He’s outstanding.

Linked list: Sunday, June 14, 2020

The reality show “Cops” was canceled a short time ago. Should scripted police dramas follow? On the Today, Explained podcast www.listennotes.com/podcasts/… I know that depiction of police on TV is problematic, but I loved “Hill Street Blues” and “NYPD Blue.” On Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic: LA schools returned grenade launchers but kept their assault rifles. And a voting machine company won’t give election officials a login to inspect the integrity of their own voting machines.

Exercise is not just important to health; it also stimulates the mind. For example, when I was exercising recently I had the insight that “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Bewitched” are essentially the same show.

Africa journal - one year ago today - Tswana language lesson

Julie has picked up a few words of Tswana, one of the two major languages of Botswana. The other major language is English: Kealeboga =thank you Dumela mma= good morning - different ending if you’re talking with a man vs. talking with a woman. Re mono fela= we are just here Re kgobile= we are relaxed 📓 🌍

African safari journal – one year ago today – a visit to a local village

In the morning at home, I look at the news. Here in Africa, in the morning I look at the gnus. A herd of wildebeest gathers on the plain outside our cabin as the sun rises. Last night, one of the guides gave us a brief five-minute tour of the African starscape. One thing I keep forgetting is that we are in the southern hemisphere now, so the stars are completely different.

Safari journal – one year ago today – we learn the local language and speak it badly

Leroo La Tau, our current safari camp, is in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park in Botswana, on the banks of the Boteti River. The resort is on a cliff overlooking a river and plain. We can go out on a deck and see wildebeest and zebras and elephants and stuff. Last night when I woke in the middle of the night, I heard a terrible screeching. It sounded a little electronic.

African safari journal – one year ago today – Camp Xakanaxa to Leroo La Tau

We’re on a 12-seater Cessna now, on our way from Camp Xakanaxa, where we spent three lovely days, to our next stop, the name of which I cannot remember. TS, our guide at Camp X [Note from 2020: I’m not going to spell it out] is tall, thin and handsome, with dark black skin and a broad smile. He tells people his name stands for True Story, because he only speaks truth.

We are watching “The Great” and rewatching “Rome.” Great TV. So many severed heads.

I have a new job! I’m happy to say I started work this week as a senior writer at Oracle, getting out the good word about what Oracle and its customers are doing in the cloud. I’m working with former colleagues and a team of others that I’m looking forward to getting to know.

The real lesson of William Shatner's “Get a Life” sketch

William Shatner’s “Get a Life” sketch from Saturday Night Live in the 1980s. dai.ly/xmagzq I’d never seen it before. In an interview on Gilbert Gottfried’s podcast, Jason Alexander describes meeting Shatner, when Alexander was starring on Seinfeld and Seinfeld was a hit. Alexander, who’s an enthusiastic Trekkie, was thrilled. www.gilbertpodcast.com/jason-ale… Shatner told a story about how he had trouble getting work after Star Trek, and hated being typecast. He hated the fans too.

Our African journal – One year ago today – At the Okavango Delta in Botswana

I literally squeed when I saw a mother baboon carrying her baby. “Oh my god it’s a baby baboon!” I exclaimed in a high pitched squeal like an 11 year old girl. The baby dropped off the mother, stood on his hind legs a wobbly moment, then looked puzzled and fell over. Who would not squee at that? =-=-=- Dawn river cruise. Instant coffee from metal camp cups at sunrise, mixed with hot water from a Stanley insulated bottle

Julie received a text message that just said, “Mom I’m sorry.” It was a wrong number. Julie did not respond because, she said, every response she could think of seemed cruel. “Wrong number.” “I don’t have any children,” etc.

Riot aftermath here in La Mesa, California: Murals by local artists cover smashed storefronts 📷

About 10 days ago a video went viral of Amaurie Johnson, a young African-American man, apparently being bullied by police at a transit station here in La Mesa, a suburb of San Diego where Julie and I live. Charges dropped against Amaurie Johnson after controversial arrest in La Mesa www.cbs8.com/article/n… As I understand it, the incident was, sadly, unremarkable. The kind of thing African-Americans have to go through every day. Nobody was injured physically.

African travel journal – one year ago today – I complain like a Karen

Yesterday was our first full day really in Africa, when we got out of the airport/hotel complex in Johannesburg to the Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana . This place is posh, with a vaguely colonial style and dozens of staff, smiling and jumping to attention. Indeed, service is both overly attentive and not quite what we wanted.Four or five people serve us at each meal, and yet service is slow and it can be difficult to find someone if you need something.

Seen at the supermarket: a woman wearing a mask and tiara.

Our Africa trip journal - one year ago today: Botswana

We arrived at Kasane Airport, a small airport outside Chobe National Park in Botswana, yesterday, and when we stepped outside the airport that is when our trip really began. A driver from the resort met us, a dark-skinned black woman wearing a navy medium weight coat and wool beanie hat despite 80-plus degree heat. We loaded aboard our vehicle, which was not the shuttle bus I’d expected, but rather a flatbed truck with high sides and padded bench seats.

African safari journal: One year ago today, Julie and I arrived in Africa

From my travel journal, lightly edited for typoes: We’ve been in transit nearly 2 days now. And we are almost there. We left the house at 8 AM on Monday. Our flight was more than four hours from San Diego to Atlanta. I barely remember it now so I guess it was fine. We had a 90 minute connection to Johannesburg. Julie was having a little bit of difficulty with baggage, so we grabbed one of those golf cart things and were chauffeured around the airport in style, coming apparently close to bowling over pedestrians a couple of times, which made the drive more enjoyable.

Who is Alan Tarica and why does he say I’m an idiot?

I fell down an Internet rabbit hole this morning. I received an email from someone signing himself as “Alan Tarica.” It read: “How do you have nothing to say? Idiots like you need to be exposed for having no critical thinking or meta cognition and no integrity.” I had no idea what this was about. I thought it might be related to one of my political posts, but experience tells me that it could be about _anything.

📷 Baked potato, deli turkey breast, spicy brown mustard. Delicious!

📷 Jacaranda

Pluralistic: Ferguson's first black mayor, why do protests become violent and more

On Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic pluralistic.net/2020/06/0… Ella Jones is Ferguson’s first black mayor. =-=-=- Why do protests become violent? …police escalation leads to violence. Sending police to protests in riot gear begets riots. Tear-gas begets violence. These are the findings of scholars and blue-ribbon panels alike. They are roundly ignored by police. There’s a feedback loop: violent suppression of protest leads to militancy among protesters; this is the pretence for more violent suppression.

📚Reading "The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic."

I finished reading “Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic,” by Mike Duncan www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/mi… Duncan, who is the voice of the History of Rome and Revolutions podcasts, traces the decline of the Roman Republic from the mid-2d Century to the mid 1st Century BCE — from around the time of the Gracchi brothers to the death of Sulla. The Republic was straining as the middle class and poor struggled against domination by a small, wealthy elite.

QAnon: 'Where We Go One'

QAnon believers, united in a battle against what they see as dark forces of the world, reveal where the internet is headed. The Qanon community is united in the belief that they can use the Internet to make the world better, and build personal connections and friendships I do not believe the fundamental tenets of Qanon, which are as I understand it that Hillary Clinton, Obama and their allies are part of a conspiracy dating back at least 50 years, which includes a child sex ring operating out of a pizza restaurant.

How ‘antifa’ became a Trump catch-all www.politico.com/news/2020… Antifa isn’t an organized group and there’s no evidence they’re responsible for rioting but you do you, Republicans.

RIP Irene Triplett, the last living person to receive a US Civil War pension

Triplett’s father, Mose, fought for the Confederacy and then joined the North and fought as a private. After the war, he had “a reputation for orneriness.” [He] kept pet rattlesnakes at his home near Elk Creek, N.C. He often sat on his front porch with a pistol on his lap. “A lot of people were afraid of him,” his grandson, Charlie Triplett, told the [Wall Street] Journal.

75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice medium.com/equality-…

Conspiracy theories have been fundamental to American history since the Revolution. www.npr.org/2020/05/1…

George Will: ‘There is no such thing as rock bottom for Trump. Assume the worst is yet to come.’

Those who think our unhinged president’s recent mania about a murder two decades ago that never happened represents his moral nadir have missed the lesson of his life: There is no such thing as rock bottom. So, assume that the worst is yet to come. Which implicates national security: Abroad, anti-Americanism sleeps lightly when it sleeps at all, and it is wide-awake as decent people judge our nation’s health by the character of those to whom power is entrusted.

KC Short, the Army veteran who organized Saturday’s protests in La Mesa, CA, the San Diego suburb where I live, said he does not condone the looting and rioting that escalated after the peaceful movement he planned. www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca…

Fans rally around Crazy Fred’s, a comic book store in the San Diego suburb La Mesa (where I live), which was looted in riots this weekend. www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca… I shop in the Von’s supermarket in the same shopping center as Crazy Fred’s. I had forgotten the comic store was there.

Protesting is important, but it's not the hard thing, or the most important thing

To be honest, it’s not that hard to protest. It’s not that hard to go someplace. And it doesn’t mean that it’s not important. It doesn’t mean that it’s not critical. But that’s not the hard thing we need from people who care about these issues. We need people to vote, we need people to engage in policy reform and political reform, we need people to not tolerate the rhetoric of fear and anger that so many of our elected officials use to sustain power.

"It's enough to break a true patriot's heart"

I’m trying to understand why wearing a mask — which is meant only to protect the most vulnerable among us and slow the spread of the virus to everyone else — has become the political equivalent of wearing a bumper sticker on your face. It makes me weep to think about it: Our one ready-to-hand tool for getting this country back to normal as quickly and as safely as possible has become yet another symbol of the seemingly insurmountable schism between Americans.

Trump’s bailout czar makes out – how to stop police brutality

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic pluralistic.net/2020/06/0… Trump’s bailout czar, Justin Muzinich, responsible for trillions in bailout money, is getting rich sucking on the public tit. Democrats and Republicans alike love Muzinich because he talks like a grownup but doesn’t let that get in the way of thievery.

Big data shows which policies reduce police brutality: Training and bodycams don’t work. What does work? Demilitarizing police equipment, and predictive policing to identify abusive cops:

Protesters Dispersed With Tear Gas So Trump Could Pose at Church

Old Yellow Stain declared himself a friend to peaceful protesters, and then ordered in flash bang explosions and tear gas to disperse peaceful, lawful protesters so he could get a photo op in front of a church, waving a Bible. I’m just a nonobservant Jew but I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t say anything about flash bang explosions and tear gas. Correct me if I’m wrong? “He did not pray,” said Mariann E.

In late 2001, after 9/11, I got in the habit of having my clock radio set to an all-news station to wake me up in the morning. If the first words I heard were “Michael Jackson,” I knew there was no big news that morning. I could just shut off the radio. I didn’t have to rush to the Internet to find out what blew up. I could just get on with my wake-up routine.

While cowering in a bunker and doing nothing, President Tweetie demands other people get tough. www.cnn.com/2020/06/0…

@dave Winer compares Trump to Captain Queeg — Old Yellow Stain. Hell yeah. Trump in the bunker with the White House lights off, muttering about the antifa – his stolen strawberries. It’s like the scene at the end of The Stand, where Glen Bateman is in a prison cell, laughing about how foolish he feels to have been be afraid of Randal Flagg, who turned out to be just pathetic.

Let’s just leave Trump in his protective bunker until January, and shut off the Wi-Fi too.

Saturday after another night of rotten sleep I decided I need to minimize going on the Internet after dinner. I picked a bad day to start that.

Good morning! I spilled a little coffee on my hand this morning and the dog licked it off enthusiastically. That’s my girl! She says she wants maybe a light roast next time.

Minneapolis has a deep history of police abuse and racism

On Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic.net: Minneapolis police have flouted reforms. “[P]olice union boss Lt Bob Kroll kept his job even after he showed up for work with a white power badge on his uniform.” And Amy Klobuchar declined to prosecute Derek Chauvin when she was the city’s top proseecutor, “giving him license to commit a string of crimes that culminated in the daylight murder of George Floyd” pluralistic.net/2020/05/3…

Looting and arson come close to home (but we’re fine)

I slept in this morning, woke up a few minutes before 10 am and found my phone was lit up with messages from local friends. Last night there was looting and vandalism in La Mesa Village, about 2.5 miles from where we live. La Mesa, where we live, is a suburb of San Diego, about a dozen miles inland from the beaches. La Mesa Village is a few blocks of restaurants and antique stores and such.

ThreadReaderApp now has beta support for the Micropub Spec so you can publish Twitter threads directly to your blog boffosocko.com/2020/05/2… Very cool!

New York couple decides to quarantine together after one date

Gali Beeri is 37 and works as an executive assistant. Joshua Boliver is 42 and creates visual effects for movies. They both live in New York City and met at a dance class in March, as the city was preparing to lock down. At the time, they made the unlikely decision to quarantine together — after their first date. www.npr.org/sections/… What a lovely story.

US anti-vaxxers aim to spread fear over future coronavirus vaccine. A dangerously large numbers of Americans are already reluctant to take an anti-covid vaccine. www.theguardian.com/world/202…

Norway and Denmark say they will reopen tourism between their two countries soon, but will maintain restrictions for Swedes. Sweden did not impose a lockdown, unlike its Nordic neighbours, and its Covid-19 death toll - above 4,000 - is by far the highest in Scandinavia. www.bbc.com/news/worl…

Trump wants a race war to get himself re-elected

David Pell on NextDraft: Remember, this is a guy who ran on Birtherism and walls, and has led with Muslim bans, kids in cages, very fine people on both sides, shithole countries, and political enemies described as human scum. When the looting starts, the shooting starts is the brand he ran on and won on in 2016. nextdraft.com/archives/…

I don’t have any useful judgment to share for or against the rioters in Minneapolis. I understand why they are doing it. George Floyd seems to be only the spark that ignited the fire. I’ve seen discussion that you needed both Martin Luther King AND race riots to achieve the gains of the 60s. King said, look, black people just want equality. They want to live in the suburbs and mow the lawn and have barbecues on weekends and complain about work and how lousy the home team is playing and bring cookies to PTA meetings and do all those other things white people do.

How I cynically exploited "Hands Across America"

On May 26, 1986, millions of Americans across America joined hands for 15 minutes to form a line stretching from the East Coast to the West Coast because reasons. On the This Day in Esoteric Political History podcast: radiopublic.com/this-day-… I was a daily newspaper reporter and covered the event. I remember I joined up with a group that piled into a school bus and drove a couple of hours to the shore, where the designated line-up point was.

Talking about “A Canticle for Leibowitz”

📚I found myself thinking about the novel “A Canticle for Leibowitz,” by Walter M. Miller Jr., occasionally for the last week or two. It’s always been one of my favorites. It tells the story about a Roman Catholic monastery that work to preserve knowledge for a thousand years after a 20th Century nuclear war. A major theme is the tension between faith and science. Two days ago I saw a tweet praising my appearance on the Hugos There podcast, where I talked about the novel, and about Miller, with host Seth Heasley.

Agenda: Great app, but not for me

I spent some time yesterday fooling around with Agenda, an app for taking time-sensitive notes, such as notes on meetings or notes on projects with deadlines or timelines. agenda.com In addition to organizing notes by date, you can group notes together into projects and categories, and add tags to organize them further. It looks like a great app, but I do not have a place for it. Likewise, I took another look at Ulysses, which I used for years.

I don’t use ad-blockers because I hate ads

I’m a journalist. I’m fine with ads. They pay my income. I don’t use ad-blockers to protect my privacy. When it comes to the Internet, I’m just a typical shmo — I complain about privacy invasion but I do very little to protect my privacy. I use ad-blockers because ad-tech makes the web unusable. Ads and pop-ups obscure the articles I’m trying to read. Which is nuts; it’s like websites are inviting hackers to come in and break their own sites.

Sammy is very relaxed 📷

Dune is a rational space opera, as logical and geometrical as a Sherlock Holmes story, with an irrational occult spirit journey built on top. It needs both parts to succeed. The David Lynch movie attempted the occult part, and was completely uninterested in the rational genre story. 🍿📚

🍿I watched the end of the Coen Brothers comedy “Hail Caesar” yesterday. We’d watched the first part weeks ago but Julie lost interest and I finally had a chance to catch up. I quite enjoyed the movie. George Clooney does a great job playing cheerful idiots. He makes a lot of stupid faces. He seems to enjoy it and he is very good at it.

Who’s watching Lawrence Welk anymore? My grandparents watched it in the 70s. They were in their 80s then. That’s always seemed like the target demographic. Are there enough 120-year-olds around now to keep the show on the air?

I stopped in at Mystic Grill & Bakery last night to pick up a takeout dinner for myself and Julie. The chairs were down off the tables, indicating that dining service was available. But I only saw one person sitting at a table, and he may have been an employee. On a normal Saturday night at that time there would have been a couple of families there. Several people came out for takeout, which was good to see.

Julie and I watched “Dune” again not long ago. The only other time I’d seen it was in the theatrical release in the 80s. It was fine. I enjoyed it. I had zero expectations, and the movie met them. A friend said she loved it because it visualized all the settings and characters of the novel. I said it was a terrible movie and the settings and characters looked different from the way I visualized them when reading.

On the It’s the Pictures That Got Small podcast: Dune, with Karina Longworth, Nate DiMeo and Natasha Lyonne. David Lynch had no interest in the mythology of Dune. He just loved the imagery. It is the ultimate movie do to use for GIFs, or to project on the wall of a bar on the Lower East Side. Or watch in any public place with the sound off. Karina Longworth: “It only doesn’t work if you it expect to be a movie.

📷 Two ducks 🦆 🦆 hanging out in the pond, a third duck 🦆 joins them. A brisk discussion of etiquette ensues. LEEEROY JENKINS!!!!!

📽Last night we watched “Saving Mr. Banks,” about the making of Mary Poppins. The movie stars Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Bradley Whitford, etc. — excellent cast. “Saving Mr. Banks” takes great liberties with historical reality. In reality, PL Travers, the author of the series of Mary Poppins novels, never cared for the movie “Mary Poppins,” and wouldn’t permit another adaptation for 30 years. When she finally relented, for a stage production in London, she stipulated no Americans could be involved.

Patton Oswalt: Joey Pants is the real hero of “The Matrix,” and the computers are trying to be nice. “There’s a very strong case to be made for [Joey Pantoliano’s character, Cypher], like, ‘No. Plug me the fuck back into this,’ Oswalt said. [Cypher is] one of the freed humans who regrets the decision to take the red reality pill, since the simulation was so much more warm and satisfying than reality.

The last typist was kicked out of the Writers Room in New York’s Greenwich Village 10 years ago. The ribbon has run out on the last typewriter at a Manhattan writers' den. Skye Ferrante has spent six years at the Writers Room in Greenwich Village, blissfully banging away on his grandmother’s 1929 Royal typewriter. The 37-year-old writer represented a bygone era, the last typewriter-user in a special room devoted to typists.

Did the Black Death lead to the Renaissance? What does that history teach us about what to expect in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic? It’s complicated, says Professor Ada Palmer. Palmer, a historian and science fiction writer and all-around genius, appears in a wide-ranging interview on the Singularity Podcast: Prof. Ada Palmer on Pandemics, Progress, History, Teleology and the Singularity The Renaissance was in many ways a terrible time to be alive; Europeans fought many fierce wars and lifespans were drastically shorter than the preceding Middle Ages.

How Ben Stiller Will Remember His Father, Jerry Stiller

Coronavirus: The Mask Wars – Science Vs Scientific studies suggest no conclusive evidence that cloth masks help slow the spread of coronavirus. N95 masks are definitely helpful, but we’re not sure whether the same is true for surgical masks, or homemade cloth masks, or bandanas. I’m going to keep wearing a mask anyway, when I go out in public, because the difficulty is low and potential payoff is high. Also, social signaling matters.

“Shoe-leather” contact tracing works – Cory Doctorow The only effective way to do contact tracing is by paying an army of people to do it – the “shoe leather” approach. Contact-tracing apps are at best helpful in automating record-keeping. It appears that the countries that have done best at containing coronavirus are those where the people trust their government, and that government is worthy of trust. These are two conditions that do not exist on a national level in the US.

HP Lovecraft warned readers to stay away from pulp magazines – Cory Doctorow. Readers should turn to the Bible and Lord Dunsany instead, said Lovecraft in a 1920 letter to the editor of the Omaha Bee. I interviewed the science fiction writer Robert Charles Wilson, who said he read a letter or essay from some 19th Century person who was denouncing the “boys books” of the time, with their preposterous, ridiculous stories of little boys who run away from home to become sea captains.

Department of Justice Reopens Spat With Apple Over iPhone Encryption Daring Fireball: Saying you want technology companies to make a backdoor that only “good guys” can use is like saying you want guns that only “good guys” can fire. It’s not possible, and no credible cryptographer would say that it is. You might as well say that you want Apple to come up with a way for 1 + 1 to equal 3….

On Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ This is the first pandemic ever experienced by a society that understands how pandemics work, and other insights from Renaissance historian and science fiction writer Ada Palmer. ++ You can raise a person’s IQ 25% by getting that person out of poverty, as that person no longer has to devote attention to jugging bills all day, Palmer says. ++ Gig economy companies are massive Ponzi schemes.

“Get your stinking paws off me you damned dirty ape!” and 99 more favorite movie quotes.

If Not 10,000, How Many Steps Should We Be Walking Each Day?

The 10,000-step rule is completely arbitrary, writes journalist Tanner Garrity at InsideHook. There is zero science behind it. The figure was plucked from the air by a Japanese electronics company trying to sell a new pedometer in the 1960s. In the mid-1960s, a a Japanese watch company called Yamasa Clock debuted the figure that has been associated with daily step-counts, activity meters and modern wearables like Fitbit and Apple Watch ever since.

What We Might Learn From The 1918 Flu Pandemic – Fresh Air – In broad outlines, public reaction to the the 1918 flu pandemic and covid epidemic follow the same course, says historian John Barry – “the outbreak was trivialized for a long time.” Also, Woodrow Wilson was almost certainly sick with the 1918 flu during the Geneva peace talks. He wanted to argue against punitive settlement with Germany, but was too sick to do so.

Knockoffs – 99% Invisible – Dapper Dan went from street hustler to fashion impresario and has spent time on both sides of American trademark law. In the world of fashion trademarks and knockoff merchandise, it’s hard to tell the legitimate merchants from the outlaws. They’re often the same guys.

Inside Trump’s coronavirus meltdown

Edward Luce delivers a fast but deep read on the Financial Times, about how Trump and his henchmen have bungled pandemic response, unnecessarily killing tens of thousands of Americans — so far! — and destroying America’s world leadership. “America is first in the world in deaths, first in the world in infections and we stand out as an emblem of global incompetence. The damage to America’s influence and reputation will be very hard to undo.

A pandemic is no walk in the park, except yesterday that's exactly what it was

Yesterday, Lake Murray was open for the first or second day since the social distancing order became law in California (which was March 20, by the way, so that’s nearly two months now). I went there on my daily walk. Too many people! Social distancing was difficult, too easy to slip inside the six-foot distance. Only about half of the people were wearing masks. Maybe less than half. You could walk in and out freely but they had park workers set up on the entrance road to keep the parking lot from filling up.

Montgomery Ward, 1960 via

Fred Willard doing opening monologue on SNL, 1978 via

Trans World Airlines (1952) via

Janis Joplin Woodstock 1969 via

Jughead, 1970. It doesn’t require much individuality to be viewed as an eccentric iconoclast in Riverdale. via

There’s Nothing Like a ‘54 Ford via

Fred Willard, 1978. via

The death cult at the grocery store – Retail workers are being called on to enforce facemask requirements, and they’re facing threats and violence from anti-maskers.

Why Is Facebook So Afraid of Checking Facts? – Facebook refuses to factcheck fake news, based on the discredited social theory of “backfire effects,” which claims that people dig in to false views when faced with contradictory evidence. Facebook’s belief is based on a 2008 study, since discredited. In reality, when faced with contradictory evidence, people change their beliefs, just as you would like them to do. So Facebook’s fake news policy is based on fake news.

Hackers who broke into a law firm claim to have dug up dirt on Trump, and will release it in a week if they don’t get $42M ransom

Facebook’s Giphy acquisition would be a privacy disaster

How Facebook Could Use Giphy to Collect Your Data – Giphy already tracks users online behavior, and Facebook should not be allowed to buy it. Also: In America, healthcare workers can’t find PPE, “essential workers” are pooping in alleyways, but Facebook can afford to drop $500M on animated GIFs.

Coronavirus: The last ‘normal’ photo on your phone

Qanon is so popular because there are so many real-life conspiracies

Cory Doctorow: Social media isn’t particularly great at persuasion. But it is excellent at finding small, diffuse groups that are receptive to a message, and targeting those groups. That’s great if you’re a refrigerator business looking to find people who are shopping for a refrigerator. It’s even better if you’re an LGBTQ kid in a small town, looking to find community. It’s not so great for society if you’re looking to organize people who might be inclined to believe that a Presidential candidate is operating a child rape ring out of the basement of a popular Washington, D.

Former newspaper editor is now a homeless blogger

The New York Times: Rick Jackson, 54, was top editor of The Herald-Times, Bloomington, Indiana. He got laid off “in the parking lot next to the paper’s headquarters. He was also told he would have to vacate the apartment in the same building, where he had been living for 10 months.” Unable to go to the newsroom, Mr. Jackson started a blog. He called it The Homeless Editor…. He’s living in a Motel 6 now.

New Christopher Pike "Trek" series in the pipeline. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!

Hollywood Reporter : CBS All Access is doing a new Star Trek series, based on the adventures of the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike, with Anson Mount returning as Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romjin as Number One. Also in the pipeline: New seasons of Discovery and Picard, an animated series, “Lower Decks” – I think I read elsewhere that will be a comedy – another Discovery spinoff, Section 31, starting Michelle Yeoh, and a younger-skewing CG-animated series for Nickelodeon.

Losers who use “loose” when they mean “lose.” Makes me lose my shit.

Excitement during the pandemic. I like that it’s a professional model. Don’t want to use the AMATEUR equipment.

The Saga of Michael Flynn – Politics doesn’t permit nuance. Either Michael Flynn is a hero or a traitor. Either the Justice Department investigation was entirely justified or it was a witchhunt.

Rumors that some horror movies are cursed become their own kind of curse for the people who make those movies

The Curse of The Curse – Great episode of the Imaginary Worlds podcast: filmmaker Jay Cheel talks about his new documentary series “Cursed Films,” which explores why people think movies like The Exorcist, The Omen, and other horror films were cursed – targeted by demonic forces. Also, special effects artist Craig Reardon and director Gary Sherman separate fact from fiction with the alleged Poltergeist curse. And theologian Brandon Grafius, author of “Reading the Bible with Horror,” describes horror’s Biblical connections.

Thoughts following my my first-ever at-home haircut

I had long, thick hair when I was a young man and I miss it. For years I’ve wondered if I would look good with long hair today, even though my hair is extremely thin now. Social distancing gave me an opportunity to find out; I went far longer than usual between haircuts. The answer is that I look terrible with long hair. I am back to number two clippers all over, for good.

Help Garry Armacost, a Vietnam vet, fight cancer and VA bureaucracy

Garry Armacost, was wounded fighting for his country in Vietnam. Now he’s in the fight of his life, against cancer and the bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Garry is a big, cheerful, quiet 75-year-old who lives in San Diego. He needs cancer surgery for his survival. The surgery is complicated, long, done robotically, and requires sophisticated post-operative care. Garry has had bad experience with post-operative care at the VA, which proved nearly fatal in 2012.

Julie gave me my first rona haircut. Fine job and I still have all my ears!

Kiss cam finds the best couple. via Gfycat

Little Richard, Rock Pioneer Who Broke Musical Barriers, Dead at 87 – He pioneered rock and roll’s gender-bending flamboyance, throat-shredding vocals, and piano-pounding rhythm. In the years before his death, Little Richard, who was by then based in Nashville, still performed periodically. Onstage, though, the physicality of old was gone: Thanks to hip replacement surgery in 2009, he could only perform sitting down at his piano. But his rock & roll spirit never left him.

The Sopranos: How Would Tony Soprano Handle the Coronavirus? – The dancers at the Bada Bing get furloughed, starting with the lapdancers.

My Facebook profile recently got upgraded to support formatting text: Bold, italic, blockquotes and hyperlinks. I haven’t seen an announcement or news on this. Dave Winer has been — rightly — insisting on the importance of this for years. Makes Facebook ever so slightly more usable and less Internet-hostile.

Today (and yesterday) on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic – Armed Michigan voters are escorting their state reps to work to protect them from swastika-brandishing white terrorists. A good-guy hacker wrote a script to flood Ohio’s snitchline where employers are supposed to report workers who refused to come in over coronavirus fears, so those workers can be denied unemployment benefits. Ohio doesn’t have vaccines. effective therapeutics, sufficient ventilators, or adequate PPE/disinfectant, but it has a snitchline.

Ocasio-Cortez claps back at GOP criticism for playing Animal Crossing: ‘Curious for your thoughts on Trump’s golf bills’

I think I will suggest to Julie that we should watch “The Andromeda Strain” tonight. Not the 2008 remake. I hear that was fine. But it lacks the glorious microfilm-and-mainframe futurism of the 1971 original.

Wilford Brimley was only 48 when he appeared in “The Thing” and 51 in “Cocoon.” I learned about Brimley’s age in “The Thing” when I myself was 48. That freaked me out a bit. “I’m as old as Wilford Brimley?!”

As Restaurants and Stores Reopen, What’s Safe? – Are haircuts, going back to work, eating in restaurants, and visiting friends and relatives OK? Experts lay out the options.

Microsoft and AWS exchange poisoned pen blog posts in latest Pentagon JEDI contract spat – Microsoft and Amazon’s fight over the $10B DoD JEDI contract enters the pissing contest stage.

Roaming ‘robodog’ politely tells Singapore park goers to keep apart – A roaming robot dog built by Boston Dynamics is politely telling people in Singapore parks to enforce social distancing. “Let’s keep Singapore healthy,” the yellow and black robodog named SPOT said in English as it roamed around. “For your own safety and for those around you, please stand at least one metre apart. “Thank you,” it added, in a softly-spoken female voice.

Zoom is adding data center capacity in Equinix, as it signs a deal for cloud service from Oracle.

Google unifies all of its messaging and communication apps into a single team – A good move. Google has multiple redundant messaging apps. I don’t use any of them because (1) I don’t have time to sit down and figure out what’s what and (2) I’m not going to invest in yet another Google service that Google will then turn around and kill. I was burned by Google+ and Google Reader, and I saw what happened to Buzz and Wave.

House GOP urge Trump against supporting additional funding for state and local governments – Republicans see coronavirus as an opportunity to overthrow elections in states like California and Illinois, by forcing those states to go bankrupt and appointing Republican judges to run them.

James Carville Warns Trump: Your ‘Grifter’ Campaign Aides Are Lying To You — “Trump is getting fleeced by members of his own campaign who know he’s going to lose reelection but won’t tell him for one simple reason: they’re trying to make money off the campaign.”

Which Supreme Court Justice Flushed the Toilet During Oral Arguments?

Now I’m curious which book it was and what was the so-called virtue signaling? It's true: I am contractually obliged to offer at least three instances of virtue signalling in the first chapter of any book I write. If I don't I'm in violation of my contract. Also, two instances of political correctness and at least one subliminal tract on the virtues of soy. pic.twitter.com/MEYSSHnr6M — John Scalzi (@scalzi) May 7, 2020

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic The TSA is being sued for hoarding 1.3 million N95 masks: The agency isn’t even using them, while other federal agencies. like the VA, “go begging for PPE for high-risk workers…. Use of America’s airports have fallen by 95% and the TSA has asked most of its screeners to stay home. Those screeners that are working are wearing surgical masks, as they have not been trained to fit N95 masks.

Supreme Court throws out convictions of New Jersey officials in Bridgegate scandal – Political corruption is legal. That’s literally what the Supreme Court said. Unanimous ruling. Even the liberals went along with this bullshit.

The first Google account you sign in to is set as the default account. This was driving me nuts until I figured it out.

“She’s starting to shake! She’s starting to shimmy!". Thanks, @odd!

Everybody alive today will be somewhat germophobic the rest of their lives. Like the way my parents' generation, who grew up in the Depression, were always frugal in at least some ways.

[Several years ago] JULIE: “What is ‘mansplaining?'” ME: ME: “This is a trick, isn’t it?”

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ Alvim Corrêa’s beautiful, bleak illustrations from the 1900 French edition of HG Wells' “War of the Worlds.” ++ Lobbyists are lobbying for big financial bailouts for … themselves. After ensuring that the bulk of previous bailouts went to fat-cat businesses who don’t need the money, lobbyists want their turn at the trough. ++ Either we sacrifice landlords and banks to save businesses and jobs, or we lose the businesses and jobs and take the landlords and banks with them.

‪I am hosting a video conference for dozens or hundreds of people this evening so of course today seemed like a good day for me to get my first shaving cut in years. And it was a big one. My bathroom this morning looked like the Texas chainsaw massacre.‬

The grocery store was nearly out of our favorite brand of cookies, Tate’s. Lots of gluten-free cookies left, though. I guess people are all if I’m gonna be dead in month fuck it I’m having gluten.

We watched the first episode of “Rome” last night. Polly Walker is va va va voom. I am attracted to smart, sexy auburn-haired women who can have me put to death.

We may be dramatically overestimating China’s capabilities – David Ignatius on The Washington Post – We may be making China seem more capable than it actually is, as we did with the supposedly unstoppable Japanese economy of the 1980s and the US/USSR “missile gap” decades earlier. The Washington establishment needs an existential foreign threat.

via

Parking Lots Have Become a Digital Lifeline — Without home internet access and with libraries and cafes closed, people are driving to parking lots to get on Wi-Fi.

Over on Twitter, I’m suggesting to @MikeElgan that he might want to consider moving to micro.blog. I did some research in the autumn and concluded that micro.blog is the ONLY blog platform out there that doesn’t require significant fiddling and configuration. Which is sad for the blogosphere. I mean, you can do a great deal of fiddling and configuration on micro.blog if you want to do that. But if you just want to type stuff and post photos, then micro.

On Twitter, @mat asks: “With the benefit of a couple of months of hindsight, what was your best preparing for a pandemic move?" I replied: Stocking up on toilet paper. It wasn’t forethought – we routinely buy that kind of thing in bulk and prior to lockdown was when we were due to replenish. OTOH, I needed a haircut even BEFORE we went into lockdown. Interesting thread.

That is an awful lot of Rome

Yesterday I read some of “Storm before the Storm” a history of the fall of the Roman Republic, by Mike Duncan, and “Silver Pigs,” the first in the mystery series by Lindsey Davis about Marcus Didius Falco, a private detective in Imperial Rome. I’ve read that series before but I’ve forgotten most of it so it’s nearly new to me. I finished re-watching “I, Claudius” Sunday — that’s the fourth time I’ve seen that.

One year ago today I saw possibly the most ridiculous example of security theater I have ever witnessed

A young woman ahead of me at airport security was walking with a cane and had a “boot” on her foot – a removable enclosure to immobilize an injured foot. The security guy asked her if she could walk without the cane, and take off the boot, and put them through the security scanner. The security guy was nice about it; he said if taking off the boot and walking without the cane caused any discomfort at all, she should just leave them on.

📺 I have finished watching I Claudius, for the fourth time. I now realize why I didn’t have any memory of the last episode. It is because the episode is weak, bleak and uncomfortably incesty.

I just want a professional haircut. I realize this is literally the smallest problem in the universe compared with the sacrifice others are making, often unwillingly. I’ve discussed the matter with my wife, who is going to have to do the deed, and we’ve mutually agreed that I should have 100% of my pre-existing ears when the process is done.

The Hollywood Vigilante Actress Marisol Nichols, star of the TV series “Riverdale,” is a real-life vigilante, hunting down sex predators. Erika Hayasaki on Marie Claire: Nichols dresses the part in case a perp glimpses her through the window. She’s 46 but, waif-like and five foot four with a hoodie over her head and a bedsheet draped across her shoulders, can pass for a teenager. Or she might wear her long, dark hair matted and put on a beer-soaked Mötley Crüe T-shirt, and suddenly she’s a young junkie mom prostituting her kid.

“Having no plan is the plan! … Plans are for commies and the Danish. Here we do it fast and loose and dumb and wrong, and occasionally we have a man who manufactures pillows come to the White House to show the president encouraging texts. It all works!” – Dave Eggers: Flattening the Truth on Coronavirus

As a newly self-employed person, I’m learning that the weekend is a thing you schedule. My most recent weekend was Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m planning my next one for Friday and Saturday.

John Cleese: “If you’re absolutely no good at something at all then you lack the skill to know that you’re absolutely no good at it." Sadly, those of you who need to hear this the most are too stupid to realize I'm talking directly to you. #johncleese #stupid #people pic.twitter.com/TdpO6nBvgc — John Cleese (@JohnCleese) April 21, 2020

Hospital CEOs are keeping their seven-figure salaries while frontline workers go without pay

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ The pandemic could make Big Tech our permanent overlords ++ Hospital CEOs are making millions while slashing health care worker salaries and hours, announcing layoffs and furloughs. “The average hospital CEO gets $3.1m/year. The average nurse gets $75k.” ++ Workers at Wired Magazine are forming a union. ++ How open source has failed: The focus should be “on protocol documentation … in a cloud-based era, real software freedom comes from being able to make compatible clients for existing servers, and compatible servers for existing clients.

Larry Ellison Reveals His Big Data Battle Plan To Fight Coronavirus In Partnership With Trump White House Billionaire Larry Ellison has turned the Hawaiian island of Lanai into a luxury health resort, and plans to use it to save the world. Philanthropy, he said, is the definition of unsustainable. Profit is sustainable. He “is tackling three sets of complex issues on the island: the global food-supply chain, nutrition and the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources.

AWS engineer Tim Bray resigns from Amazon following worker firings – Bray quit Amazon in protest over the company firing vocally critical employees. Bray was an Amazon Web Services VP and distinguished engineer, who previously did stints at Google and Sun. “… remaining an Amazon VP would have meant, in effect, signing off on actions I despised,” he said. “The victims weren’t abstract entities but real people…. " He adds: “I’m sure it’s a coincidence that every one of them is a person of color, a woman, or both.

Inspired by a conversation with Mike Elgan yesterday, I’m going to do Facebook a lot less for a while.

This Woman Was Isolated In Her Nursing Home, So Her Grandchildren Stood Outside With Signs To Ask Her For Money

Man In Quarantine Can’t Remember How Long It’s Been Since He Danced Through Town Square Followed By Big Chorus Of Friendly Locals

The Scientists Who Won’t Give Up on the Warp Drive — Dozens of engineers and physicists are trying to do the impossible, develop a means of moving faster than the speed of light. They see it as an interesting thought experiment that could shed light on the boundaries of physics — and maybe more.

Terry Pratchett: Doctor Who is not science fiction. Thanks, Cory!

School bus converted to mobile, full-time off-grid home. And it’s a really NICE home too.

It’s the 50th Anniversary of Humanity’s Favorite Activity: Staring at an LCD

The Coronavirus Is Rewriting Our Imaginations Science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson went off the grid in mid-March, rafting down the Colorado River. He returned into a new world. He sees Covid-19 as a precursor into crises yet to come – chiefly global warming – and finds reason for hope. Possibly, in a few months, we’ll return to some version of the old normal. But this spring won’t be forgotten.

Welcome to your work-from-home dystopia: Employers are using spyware to monitor remote employees' work at home, requiring workers to leave their cameras and microphones on at all times. Surveillance software on employee computers monitors every keystroke, takes screenshots every few seconds, and tracks every email, message, the music employees listen to while working, and records facial expressions.

What The U.S. Might Learn From China’s Approach To COVID-19 – New York Times health and science reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. points to China as a model of how to stop a fast moving pandemic in its tracks. China is not to blame for this virus. They didn’t release it on purpose, or accidentally from a lab. And they didn’t cover it up. The mayor of Wuhan covered it up and when Beijing found out about it they chastised him hard, forced him to apologize on national TV, and took swift, decisive action.

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Boy raises a hammer during a solidarity rally for the 42,000 miners on strike in the Zonguldak coal fields in Turkey, November 1990. via

Wearing a mask is for smug liberals. Refusing to is for reckless Republicans. – Mask-wearing and other pandemic protections have become political virtue-signaling. Good article, but I think it overstates the polarization. Most Americans recognize that the current situation is both unsustainable and necessary. The people ranting about rights and Communism are lunatics. A tornado doesn’t care about your property rights when it knocks down your house.

John Belushi reportedly visited the set of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” on the day he died. He wanted to work on his William Shatner impression. For those of you who are not Trekkies, that was the one with Ricardo Montalban rocking the daring decolletage.

The U.S. Needs Way More Than a Bailout to Recover From Covid-19 – We need a new New Deal to fix structural problems with the US economy that long predate the current crisis. If we want to restart the engine that made this nation a superpower, we need to do something big. I mean really, really big: defeat-the-Nazis, land-a-man-on-the-moon, invent-the-internet big. By my college pal Barry Ritholtz (and by “pal” I mean we talked a few times and said hello).

Funniest work videoconferencing misadventures

When videoconferencing meetings go wrong, you get to see flossing, naked husbands and more. … I could tell both his dogs were barking frantically but couldn’t figure out what the rest of the noise was, and I was concerned. “Are you OK?” Deep sigh. “We have a parrot, and the parrot has learned to call the dogs. He waits until the dogs come in the room and then imitates my wife.

Every Question In Every Q&A Session Ever

Airplane Mode – For grounded frequent flyers, this web page replicates the experience of being on a long flight and staring out the window. Via Mike’s List @mikeelgan

Today on Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic

Pluralistic: 02 May 2020 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow ++ The mistrust epidemic The pandemic isn’t the only disease that’s annihilating our society: alongside of it, there is an epidemic of mistrust in institutions and a growth in conspiricism, a panic to save yourself and let everyone else fend on their own. Blaming Big Tech for the collapse in trust and commonly held truth is backwards: Big Tech’s bigness is en effect, not a cause, of the corruption that made our institutions so untrustworthy.

Increasingly Desperate Alex Jones Says He Will Kill and Eat His Neighbors

Microsoft lays out more detail on its 5G, edge computing and private wireless ambitions

Monty Python, 1976 via

1956 kitchen design (flooring). via

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July 1973 via

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Zenith portable radio advertisement, 1956 via

Harlan Ellison: “I don’t take a piss without getting paid for it."

Me, deciding to take advantage of pandemic downtime: “Yeah, 220, 221, whatever it takes."

Covid-19 is 9.5-44x more fatal than seasonal flu — Scientific American — Flu deaths are counted in a misleading, grossly inflated manner, as compared with how Covid-19 deaths are counted.

ME (1 month ago today): “How is it April already? This situation has been going on a long time!” ME (seemingly minutes later): “How is it May already…. ?”

We watched the latest episode of “The Good Fight” last night. I liked it. I would’ve liked it more if the stinkers hadn’t given away a major plot point in the previews. The main storyline of this season seems to be about a mysterious Memo 618. However, the previews told us what Memo 618 is. Feh. 📺

Cover art for the Erber Science Fiction series, Germany, 1976-1977. via

The Invisible Man – Today, Explained podcast: Where in the world is Kim Jong Un? Vox Journalist AlexWard says the rotund North Korean leader is probably not dead, might be very sick, and that North Korea’s leaders are watching the US, West and Western news media carefully to see how we react when we think he might be dead. Also, Kim Jong Un is EXTREMELY obese. He merely looks chubby on TV – testimony to the power of loose-fitting dark clothes.

Biden’s Campaign of Isolation – The New York Times Daily podcast: Joe Biden is campaigning from his basement, struggling to attain visibility while Trump commands the spotlight. This might be good for Biden.

URL for the micro meetup? I did not see that advance registration was required!

In the Republican solution to the Trolley Problem, the top priority is saving the trolley.

Ernest Hemingway supposedly wrote a six-word short story: “For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never Worn.” Didn’t happen. The story about Hemingway is apocryphal, appearing first in “Papa,” a one-many play about Hemingway by John deGroot, which debuted in 1996. However, something very like that ad appeared in real life in a Tucson newspaper in 1945.

A former prosecutor dismantles Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegations against Biden. It just didn’t happen. She’s lying.

California official calls for reopening so coronavirus can kill off the old and the weak: ‘It would also free up housing’

I’m hosting a “town hall” style Zoom meeting next week and I’m looking for a guide to doing such a thing. Anybody with experience willing to walk me through the process? We’re talking about seven or 8 speakers and maybe 100 attendees or more.

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ “Swedish covid death rates soar above neighbors': “Do nothing” is not doing something.” ++ “Financial services workers dying for junk mail: Broadridge workers denied PPE, sick leave.” ++ AMC: “We will never show another Universal movie”: The feds are dismantling the monopoly regulations that broke up the Hollywood studio system. Soon we will have a few companies owning all the cable companies, movie studios and movie theaters.

They died for junk mail: Six workers died of COVID-19 at a Long Island, New York, warehouse for a company that prints and mails financial documents. The company, Bainbridge Financial Solutions, pressured employees to avoid taking sick days, and delayed distributing PPE. Coronavirus Kills Six Workers at Broadridge Warehouse Thanks, Cory!

Last night, Julie and I watched the first episode of “Tales from the Loop,” an anthology series on Amazon Prime about the people in an Ohio smalltown where everybody works at some kind of paranormal research facility. The episode was long on visual style and mood, short on actual story. I’m not inclined to watch it again. On the other hand, Julie likes it and I don’t dislike it enough to not watch another episode with her.

Man Not Sure Why He Thought Most Psychologically Taxing Situation Of His Life Would Be The Thing To Make Him Productive

Zoom Crasher Becomes Too Engrossed In Sales Meeting To Scream Obscenities

Congress Concierge Health Clinic Quietly Gets Funding Boost — Congresspeople who reject government healthcare for the people — including Rand Paul and Nancy Pelosi — enjoy the finest government healthcare themselves.

The corporate right is giving us two choices: Work, or starve

67 bits of good unsolicited advice, and one modest joke, from Kevin Kelly on his 68th birthday.

Underrated Netflix gems to add to your must-watch list — I’ve added most of these to the watchlist. Since when does Looper do real articles, btw? I thought they were pure clickbait.

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ Cigna health insurers are telling investors they’re looking ahead to a great year, even while the health insurance lobby group is begging for a handout from Washington. ++ Damien Patton, co-founder of Banjo, a “grifty” AI surveillance startup that works with police, is a convicted Ku Klux Klan terrorist. As a 17-year-old, Patton “was a Nazi skinhead who once helped a KKK leader stage a drive-by shooting that ‘sprayed bullets’ into a synagogue.

101-year-old Angelina Friedman tested positive for coronavirus and recovered. Previously, she survived the 1918 flu pandemic, cancer, miscarriages, internal bleeding, sepsis and at least one husband.

Google is making Meet free for everyone — I’m sticking with Zoom for now. I know it works and I don’t feel like fooling around with another platform.

I seem to be on a Rome kick lately

I watched Britannia, with Julie, and am rewatching I, Claudius. I just started reading “Silver Pigs,” the first book of the historical mystery series by Lindsey Davis about Marcus Didius Falco, a private investigator in 1st Century Rome. I read many of those books years ago but I have essentially forgotten them so I’m quite enjoying “Silver Pigs.” I did not get through the whole series then, and plan to do so now.

Man Just Buying One Of Every Cleaning Product In Case Trump Announces It’s Coronavirus Cure

Damning Report Finds White House Ignored Skeletal Horsemen Galloping Through Sky As Early As January

Obama: ‘I’m So Proud To Endorse Joe Biden—That’s Who They Went With, Huh?—For President’

Trump Accuses New York Of Padding State’s Mortality Rate By Including African American Deaths

Undaunted Texas Waffle House Waitress Has Been Expecting To Die There Every Day For The Past 20 Years Anyway

Teleconferencing Pastor Requests Any Worshipper Currently Speaking In Tongues Go On Mute

Walgreens Introduces New Dumbass-Only Shopping Hours For Dipshits Who Don’t Know How To Stay 6 Feet Away

I’m thinking of trying Amethyst, a tiling window manager for the Mac, even though I have a mental block against adding keyboard shortcuts to my brain. I wonder if I have any Post-It notes around the office?

How to pitch an editor – Great tips from Esther Schindler, who knows, for freelance writers on how to get an editor to buy an article. I’m looking to broaden my portfolio into general-interest, tech journalism, which is an area where I have zero reputation. So I’ll be (metaphorically speaking) pinning this article prominently to my bulletin board. (I actually don’t have a bulletin board and don’t print things out. But you know what I mean.

Zoom taps Oracle for cloud deal, passing over Amazon, Microsoft

Six years ago today, a girl in the park wanted me and Minnie to participate in a science experiment about handedness in dogs. She said Minnie had to be able to to sit and give paw on command. I said Minnie wasn’t reliable on that — truth is, we have never done it. The girl said we couldn’t participate. Minnie’s self-esteem was severely damaged (by which I mean Minnie had no idea what was going on and continued cheerfully on her way).

Feels like the news has been the same every day for a couple of weeks, but something big will reach a tipping point any day now.

Doctor Who: McGann, Eccleston & Tennant Doctors Unite For New Story — New Doctor Who miniseries will feature the Christopher Eccleston, Paul McGann, and David Tennant Doctors, as well as Billie Piper’s character, Rose Tyler, on “every possible media platform apart from the main Doctor Who television series,” including “novels, comics, audio, video games, VR games and even a new series of Doctor Who themed escape rooms.” Sounds exhausting.

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Fortnite and the Metaverse: Why Epic Games may build the next version of the Internet – Fortnite is building the Metaverse – a parallel universe in virtual reality.

The Computer Scientist Who Can’t Stop Telling Stories – Pioneering computer scientist Donald Knuth started working on the book series “The Art of Computer Programming” in 1962. It’s still unfinished.

“I Forgive You, New York”

First-person account of how Covid-19 hit hard in a rural Georgia town – On the Today, Explained podcast

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter was out of stock last time I was at the supermarket. I expected the same when I went to the supermarket yesterday. But I was pleasantly surprised to see they had a good quantity on the shelves. I exclaimed joyously, “I can’t believe it’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!”

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ Indie booksellers are doing pretty well in the pandemic, including Barnes & Noble, which is rebooting as an indie chain; ++ Listen to the podcast of “Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town,” one of my favorites of Cory’s novels; ++ Billionaires are making big money on the pandemic, while their employees go broke and risk death; ++ The pandemic proves ISP data-caps were always a pretense;

A former neighbor of Joe Biden’s accuser Tara Reade has come forward to corroborate her sexual-assault account, saying Reade discussed the allegations in detail in the mid-1990s – Business Insider. I’m still for Biden but this is troubling to say the least.

The chairman of Tyson Foods warns the food supply chain is breaking – Neoliberalism treats resiliency as waste, and Tyson is a chief culprit here. If you treat your employees like disposable components, you can’t keep up with an emergency.

A New York ER doctor who treated coronavirus patients took her own life. – The New York Times “Make sure she’s praised as a hero, because she was," Dr. Lorna M. Breen’s father said. “She’s a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died.” Yes.

San Diego officials are struggling with finding permanent housing foe 1,000 homeless people now sheltering in the Convention Center.

Six years ago today was a weekend day and I went to the mall. Out and around people, not wearing a mask or gloves! From my journal: Shopped for sandals, stopped in at Apple Store, looked in at Microsoft store (an eerie clone of the Apple store but none of the computers on display connect to anything other than the Microsoft Store demo website and one of the computers was broken).

I went grocery shopping yesterday. Plastic bag reuse has been suspended in California for the crisis. The cashier said she was glad about that. People bring in some disgusting bags for re-use, she said.

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You’ll Probably Forget What It Was Like to Live Through a Pandemic — People who live through big historical events often forget details.

When all this handwashing began I was using a harsh soap that gave me a small rash on my left wrist. That means I have to wear my Apple Watch on my right wrist. That was weeks ago and I still haven’t gotten used to operating the Watch that way. Completely unrelated: I’ve just learned I’ve been nominated for the Whiny Little Pandemic Bitch Award.

John Ritter guest starred on the last episode of Mannix in 1975. They used “The Brady Bunch” set for the interiors. Screen grab and caption courtesy of Ashley Nevius via

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I went through a Southern Rock phase in college. I wore a cowboy hat. I was a pudgy Jew from Long Island. I looked ridiculous. I still love the music tho. Sometimes I crank up the Outlaws' Ghost Riders in the Sky loud and listen to it like 18 times in in a row. AirPods have saved our marriage.

Microsoft Word Now Flags Two Spaces After a Period as an Error – “Wake me up when Word starts flagging the use of Arial with ‘Did you mean to use Helvetica?’… "

I suck at not touching my face but I think about not touching my face while I’m touching my face so that’s good right?

‪Dog, me and Julie were sitting on the couch just now. Dog looked at me and straight-up belched, sounding very human. Julie said she thought I’d done it. I don’t think she’s entirely convinced it wasn’t me. ‬

Found Snapshots of a Secret 1960s Crossdressing Resort in the Catskills By Amy Faith on Messy Nessy Chic: “What struck me on that first day was the normalcy of the images, even if it was a studied illusion. Here were photos documenting everyday women, going about their everyday lives – except that these women were men who probably lived as truck drivers, accountants, or bank presidents during the week.”

What We Can Learn From 1918 Influenza Diaries Smithsonian Magazine: When Dorman B.E. Kent, a historian and businessman from Montpelier, Vermont, contracted influenza in fall 1918, he chronicled his symptoms in vivid detail. Writing in his journal, the 42-year-old described waking up with a “high fever,” “an awful headache” and a stomach bug. “Tried to get Dr. Watson in the morning but he couldn’t come,” Kent added. Instead, the physician advised his patient to place greased cloths and a hot water bottle around his throat and chest.

The 1Password team share their work-from-home setups “I’m going for “Mom from Kiki’s Delivery Service” or “Alchemist next door” kind of vibes.” By Emily Marchant

Injections of Bleach? Beams of Light? Trump Is Self-Destructing Before Our Eyes “The notion that [Trump] is bound for four more years is pure superstition.” This is a wonderful rallying cry by Frank Bruni at the New York Times about Trump’s extreme beatability this year. Indeed, Trump doesn’t have to be beaten; he’s destroying himself. Trump is extremely unpopular now. Of course, he was extremely unpopular in 2016 as well, and won anyway.

The Lockdowns Were the Black Swan [Holman W. Jenkins, Jr./WSJ] We did not need to lock down the country to flatten the curve. A reasonable argument. Not sure I agree with it. Needs evidence-based discussion.

Coronavirus Overtakes Ninjas As Top Invisible Enemy [The Babylon Bee] What makes coronavirus even worse than ninjas, according to Trump, is that there is currently no known defense against it, while the defense against ninjas is well known (train with monks for a decade in the mountains to learn the secrets of martial arts). This is of course satire but no dumber than things 45 actually says. Thanks, @chet!

The week before the shutdown here in San Diego I went to two social events – which is a lot for me – and surprised myself how much I enjoyed them. Days before the shutdown I said to myself, “I think my time as a recluse is over. I need to join community associations and clubs and get out more and socialize.” So the pandemic is my fault. My bad.

Ben Affleck Smoked A Cigarette While Wearing A Face Mask So Here Are The Pics [Lauren Yapalater/BuzzFeed] He’s one of my favorite actors and directors and I’m sorry to say this but Ben Affleck is kind of an idiot isn’t he?

Navy recommends reinstating captain of coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier [Amanda Macias/CNBC]

Opening a can if wildly corroded Spider-Man pasta [Twitter/DinosaurDracula]

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ A GoFundMe to save NYC’s Forbidden Planet store. ++ “A labradoodle breeder is in charge of America’s vaccines: An actual labradoodle could do a better job.” ++ “Inject disinfectant:” Even when faced with ridiculous objections to scientific fact, such as climate change, journalists feel the need for dangerous both-siderism. ++ “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.

I miss going to the grocery store to buy three things

I’d realize I was out of apples or coffee, and then I’d go to the store and buy that and maybe two other things and that was my errand. Related: I miss having apples every day. I now have apples most days but I do not want to risk going to the store often enough to allow me to have apples every day. I’ve been out of apples several days now, but on deadline so don’t have time for a grocery run.

Can the coronavirus be spread through farts? [Eric Hegedus/NYPost] Australian doctors aren’t sure whether farting spreads coronavirus, and advise restraining from bare-bottom farting and farting when close to other people. Which begs the question whether bare-bottom farting and farting close to other people has previously been common practice in Australia? I know I have several Australian social media friends and I would appreciate enlightenment on this subject.

How close are we to breaking encryption with quantum computing? [Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols/InsiderPro] Not very, but we need to be ready when it happens.

Breitbart literally says that Trump’s opponents misquoted him by reporting the exact words Trump used in the context he said it.

Wi-Fi is getting its biggest upgrade in 20 years [Jacob Kastrenakes/The Verge] Wi-Fi is getting 4x the spectrum for a lot more elbow room.

I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out for coffee.

TV show idea: “Zeno, Warrior Princess,” about a transgender Classical Greek philosopher who defeats evildoers using logical paradoxes.

Not a Joke: The Trump Admin Hired a Dog Breeder to Run Its Coronavirus Task Force [Bess Levin/Vanity Fair] “Don’t worry, Brian Harrison also has virtually no public health experience.” When faced with a pandemic that threatens millions of lives, I want a labradoodle man in charge.

An old friend just shared a Dropbox folder of hundreds of photos he took when we were teenagers together. This is me looking much cooler than I have ever been in my life. That hair tho. I do miss having hair. 📷 📓

Claim that coronavirus came from a lab in China completely unfounded, scientists say [Kashmira Gander/Newsweek] I expect everybody who believes the virus came from a Chinese lab will look at this article and say, “Welp, guess I was wrong about that. Thank you for sharing that information!”

The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead [Donald G. McNeil Jr./The New York Times] An excellent overview of the best science on what to expect – not just for the next year, but for years. Short version: Expect gradual, cautious “opening the economy” and going out in public, in phases. The process could take literally years. People proven immune will get passports that let them move freely anywhere. At-risk people will live more limited lives.

Are You Sitting Down? Standing Desks Are Overrated [Aaron E. Carroll/New York Times] I’ve been using a standing desk for about 10 years. Or more precisely a sitting/standing desk - I have a tall stool that I perch on when I want to take a break from standing.

The Year 2038 Problem [Reset]: If you enjoyed the Year 2000 crisis, we get to do it again in 2038. Also: Making the case that Y2K was not rubbish; rather, a lot of people got together to make sure that nothing would go wrong, and very little did. Because of their efforts, we did see some problems in 2000, but they were no big deal. And, interestingly, some of the effects were felt this year, in January – one of the Y2K workarounds was to essentially kick the problem down the road 20 years.

Who’s Organizing the Lockdown Protests [The Daily] “An informal coalition of influential conservative leaders and groups has been quietly encouraging demonstrations against stay-at-home orders across the country.” Usual suspects of Tea Party backers, gun rights groups, and Trump advocates. Generally I’m happy to see Trump supporters burn their own houses down, but I am genuinely grieved and appalled to see photos of these protest groups. They’re playing Russian roulette with their own lives, their children and their families, friends, co-workers and neighbors.

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Wheels on a shopping cart be like [yeahiwasintheshit.tumblr.com]

The problem with read-later bookmarking services like Pocket and Instapaper is your queue is filled with articles you decided not to read.

My women friends are showing their coronavirus hairdos on Instagram. Here’s mine.

“Remain calm! All is well!" The White House maintains order during the coronavirus pandemic.

CDC Director Robert Redfield warned the coronavirus pandemic might come back in the winter, worse than before. The White House claims he never said it. The White House is lying. Why the CDC director wasn’t misquoted on coronavirus – no matter what the White House says [Chris Cillizza/CNN]

Why do people think 5G causes coronavirus?

The 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory[Reset] A vague throwaway line in a European newspaper in January ignited multiple conspiracy theories about a nonexistent link between 5G and coronavirus People subscribe to theories like this because there are things really going on in the world that would have been unthinkable a short time ago The best way to combat the spread of a conspiracy theory: Start by listening.

What to expect in the next year or two of the pandemic

Donald G. McNeil Jr., New York Times science and health reporter, who has successfully anticipated the pandemic thus far, polishes his crystal ball and looks at what to expect for the next year or two. Immunity passports, as people get certified immune and fit to go out in public; Start-stop lockdowns, as societies open up, infection rates increase, and then societies shut down again; and strategic self-infection – people intentionally infecting themselves in hopes of acquiring immunity.

Gentleman on Reddit espouses the brilliant fan theory that “Star Trek” takes place in the same universe as the soap opera “Days of Our Lives."

Stories to Wash Hands By [The Memory Palace/Nate DiMeo]: “20 stories, each 20 seconds, to accompany you in the proper washing of hands.”

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ Calls by the music industry to put copyright filters on the entire Internet are a terrible idea. Existing filters are utter failures at finding copyrighted material and “they also flag and block entire libraries' worth of legit materials.” Copyright filters will do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what they intend: They will encourage copyright abuse, stifle legitimate free expression and creativity and – because they cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year to implement – they will block startups from competing with the big incumbent internet companies.

Trump is going down hard in November

Everyone is in denial about November [Daniel W. Drezner/The Washington Post] We’re only in the second inning of the pandemic. Getting a little breather now, things are looking like they’re getting better, but most of the crisis is still ahead of us. And Trump can be counted on to make things worse. That is his biggest liability as a President. Not his numerous character flaws – jerk, crook, racist, narcissist, serial and compulsive liar.

"World on Fire"

Last night we watched about 15 minutes of the second episode “World on Fire,” a British miniseries about the Nazi conquest of Europe, told from the vantage point of ordinary people. Then we turned off the TV. I loved the first episode of the program and was extremely impressed by it, but somehow we’re not feeling like watching “World on Fire” when the world seems like it’s on the verge of burning.

A view into an alternate universe

A big part of my job is – or was – attending conferences. When I learn – or learned – about an interesting-looking conference, I put it in my calendar. And now that calendar is a view into an alternate universe, one where I continued to work at my previous job, and coronavirus did not happen. Today in that alternate universe, I am returning from the Open Networking Edge Summit in Los Angeles.

With the nation healthy, tranquil and prosperous, our President turns his attention to thoughtful media criticism. Trump tunes in to ‘Morning Joe,’ says he sees ‘hatred and contempt’ [Kyle Balluck/The Hill]

Barr Threatens Legal Action Against Governors Over Lockdowns [Chris Strohm/Bloomberg] Even before the coronavirus crisis began, I thought of the Republican Party as a criminal racist death cult. Really looking to be proven wrong on that one.

McConnell slams brakes on next round of coronavirus aid [Burgess Everett/Politico] Captain of the “Titanic” says he will not begin lowering the lifeboats until all the deck chairs are arranged just so.

Whole lotta love: Robert Plant gave a big donation to a company that makes PPE [Erica Banas/WMMR]

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic Beware of fake “Someone you came in contact with tested positive for COVID-19” warnings. They’re scams. Investors that own doctors' groups blew millions on ads to promote “surprise billing” even as they were denying access to PPE, cutting wages and firing doctors. Every Covid commercial is exactly the same. The Texas AG threatens to imprison people for warning about the risk of getting Covid while voting.

How far back does your resume go?

Question for my over-50 associates: How far back does your resume go? I’ve seen tips that experienced job-seekers should only have resumes going back 15 years. Mine goes back to 2003 and I’ll probably keep it that way because I was at that particular company until 2009 – 11 years ago, within the 15-year window. How about you? How far back does your resume and LinkedIn profile go? When updating my resume and LinkedIn in February I was a little sad to hit the delete key on the first 15 years of my career, which encompassed local weekly and daily newspapers, time at UNIX Today and Open Systems Today, my first gigs at InformationWeek and Computerworld, and my first 10-month stint freelancing – gone gone gone.

How Coffee Became a Modern Necessity [Augustine Sedgewick/WSJ]: “For much of its 500-year history, the drink was viewed with confusion, suspicion and disgust.”

Vintage Season: C.L. Moore and the “Golden Age” of Science Fiction [Eric Rosenfield/Literate Machine] C.L. Moore was a talented science fiction and fantasy writer whose career spanned the Golden Age of pulp magazines, from the 1930s, and briefly into television. She wrote both under her own byline and in collaboration with her husband, Henry Kuttner. She retired from writing in 1963, and died a quarter-century later. The ferocious demands of making a living writing at cheap pulp rates had burned out her talent and used her up.

The Woman Who Might Find Us Another Earth Sara Seager is a tenured professor of physics and planetary science who won a “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation in 2013. Her area of expertise is exoplanets – planets that orbit stars other than our son – specifically the search for a planet that might contain life. Chris Jones profiles Seagar for the New York Times. She emerges as the very picture of the obsessed scientist: She speaks in an unmodulated breathless tone, never learned to manage money, doesn’t celebrate birthdays, Christmas or holidays, never learned to cook.

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vintagegeekculture: Star Trek art designer Matt Jeffries, with one of his most famous creations: the Klingon battlecruiser. Bonus: his original, and in my view, far better, design for the shuttlecraft. via

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KOOL cigarette ad from the 1960s. via

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The temperature will probably get up past 90 by Saturday. I am looking forward to complaining about the heat as a break from complaining about the cold.

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic.net: Denmark is denying bailouts to companies headquartered in tax havens: If you don’t pay taxes, you don’t get to enjoy tax benefits. Zoom claims it uses AI to stop sexytimes. Zoom won’t let you zoom anybody on Zoom. Or so it says – AI has been terrible at detecting nudity, there’s no reason to think it’s gotten better. And why does Zoom believe it has the right to be sex police?

Tales of romance and relationships during the pandemic Covering Covid [Embedded] A woman tries dating by Facetime and Zoom, and has stories. A newlywed couple, married just one year, is quarantined together in a one-bedroom apartment; they’re struggling as he’s an average male slob and she had a terrible fear of death that she was seeking counseling for even BEFORE the pandemic. A man tells his wife he wants a divorce and then they get locked in together in quarantine, which is awkward.

The poop emoji was born in Japan in 1997 and launched a generation of cute poop. This is the cute poop decade. The poop fad connects with unicorns, unboxing videos, toys, marketing, Apple, the changing role of girls, slime, ice cream, emoji, glitter, Google, and middle-age people’s difficulties having bowel movements. Unicorn poop: How did excrement get cute? [Decoder Ring]

Cast of Pulp Fiction and Quentin Tarantino, 1994 via I remember I didn’t want to see this for years because I thought it would be artsy and tedious. Boy was I wrong.

“Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too?” 1970’s campaign via

A paid testimonial from Basil Rathbone. 1960. via

“Kids are murder!” - Sanatogen Tonic Wine ad with a mail-in coupon to receive a sample [1960s] via

Del Cerro hills, from a few minutes’ walk from home. The air is amazingly clear. 📷

Don’t care what the answer is. I’m keeping mine.

Coronavirus will also cause a loneliness epidemic COVID-9 exacerbates another long-standing and serious pandemic: Loneliness. Loneliness can literally cause physical illness. People most at risk from COVID-19 are the elderly and disabled, and they’re more likely to be lonely too. [Ezra Klein/Vox]

Procrastination is Not Laziness David Cain at Raptitude: … procrastinators tend to be people who have, for whatever reason, developed to perceive an unusually strong association between their performance and their value as a person. This makes failure or criticism disproportionately painful, which leads naturally to hesitancy when it comes to the prospect of doing anything that reflects their ability — which is pretty much everything.” So much here is true for me.

Why Walking Matters—Now More Than Ever Shane O’Mara at The Wall Street Journal: Walking is essential to our nature. Walking upright is one thing that sets humans apart; no other animal does it, but we can’t do without it. Walking helps the body heal, helps the brain function. Walking, rather than seeing, is how we build metal maps of our environment. And walking protects us against depression. I walk 3+ miles daily.

How NOT to Wear a Mask [Tara Parker-Pope/The New York Times]

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Aaron E. Carroll at The New York Times: “I’m a Doctor. If I Drop Food on the Kitchen Floor, I Still Eat It.” If the dog doesn’t get to it first.

Who’s Right About The Economy? Wall Street Or Silicon Valley? Brian McCullough, host of Techmeme ride home, talks with TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm. My $0.02: Wall Street is expecting they’ll be getting fat at the trough of that sweet, sweet government bailout money. Silicon Valley is seeing reality

Remdisivir, a drug that shows promising signs as a potential treatment for COVID-19, was developed using public funds. But Gilead, a pharma company, stands to profit big. Republicans were right to warn about welfare kings and queens “driving Cadillacs and getting fat on government pork.” These moochers are the wealthy, big-business donors to both Republicans and Democrats. Gilead, the remdesivir welfare queens [Cory Doctorow/Pluralistic]

“80% of the stimulus tax break will go to 43,000 people” [Cory Doctorow/Pluralistic]

“If Americans pour back out in force, all will appear quiet for perhaps three weeks. Then the emergency rooms will get busy again." And the morgues. [NextDraft by Dave Pell]

Sweet Farm, in Half Moon Bay, CA, will let you add a live goat cam to your next virtual meeting. The service is called Goat 2 Meeting. (Via Mike’s List. Thanks, Mike!)

I’m trying to remember when I last had a day off work, and I can’t recall. Weekend before lockdown when I went out to brunch with Julie, maybe? That was more than a month ago. I’m not working ALL the time. I take a few hours off every day. Indeed, I am actually not currently working very hard at all, though that needs to end very soon and I need to get back to working hard again.

Tell-Tale Tongue, Holloways Brand Pills, 1956 via

Is the Virus on My Clothes? My Shoes? My Hair? My Newspaper? - Tara Parker-Pope on The New York Times Staying safe when you come in from the big world. tl;dr: If you’re not leaving the house much, and not coming in contact with infected people, then social distancing, mask wearing and handwashing should be fine. And even mask-wearing is unnecessary if you stay outdoors and can keep your distance.

Peter Tsai, who invented the N95 mask 30 years ago, is coming out of retirement to help find safe ways to disinfect the single-use masks for reuse - Emma Bowman on NPR

An Austin school district deployed 110 buses equipped with Wi-Fi to neighborhoods and apartments where home Internet is least likely. The idea is the bus parks near students' homes - Andy Jechow on KUT90.5

I’ve done something counterintuitive to ease news anxiety: Turned on news notifications on my phone. Yes, on. If the news notifications look like the usual baloney, then I know there’s no crisis requiring my immediate attention. I used the same principle immediately post-9/11 with the technology available at that time. I had my clock radio tuned to wake me up with news radio. If the first words I heard were “Michael Jackson,” I knew there was no reason for me to rush to look at headlines.

Caleb, a young man whose life is going nowhere, finds escape and purpose on YouTube. First of a new podcast series by The New York Times. One: Wonderland - Rabbit Hole The podcast producers are nonspecific about where Caleb’s story ends, but it seems to be far-right extremism. Shocking because he seems like a pleasant young man. And Caleb even supported Obama. Not in a deep or informed way, but Caleb thought Obama seemed like a good guy, and that it spoke well for the US to have an African-American President.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interviews from quarantine with the New York Times Daily podcast and discusses why she voted against the pandemic bailout bill – because it devotes hundreds of billions of dollars to propping up share prices for megacorporations who don’t need it, and not enough to struggling people, who do. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Progressivism and the Pandemic She uses the phrase “rugged capitalism for the poor and unfettered socialism for the rich,” which she attributes, possibly incorrectly, to Martin Luther King.

Nearly a half century after the OPEC oil embargo almost brought the US to its knees, we’re now the worlds largest oil producer rather than consumer, and Trump is trying to jack up oil prices. That’s normally Presidential suicide, but Trump is trying to protect the US oil industry. Oil be back - Donald Trump’s big bet - Checks and Balances A wise economic strategy for the US would have to carefully balance protecting the oil industry while encouraging clean energy production, such as solar.

In this prophetic science fiction story from 2015, a cooking blogger keeps up a cheerful attitude and makes do while self-quarantining with her family during a global pandemic. Excellent story and a fast read: “So Much Cooking,", by Naomi Kritzer on Clarkesworld. And from a few days ago, Kritzer follows up: “Didn’t I Write This Story Already? When Your Fictional Pandemic Becomes Reality. Some interesting discussion by Kritzer about the themes she explores in the story, how fans and friends are reacting today, what the author got right and wrong about the pandemic, and how the fictional characters' quarantine struggles maps to reality.

Julie sent this to me idk why

Cory Doctorow at Pluralistic: ‪The health insurance industry is thriving during the pandemic. With Sanders and Warren out of the race, the companies are freely gouging patients and spending on stock buybacks without fear of Medicare for All. Meanwhile, doctors are getting pay cuts. ‬

An Australian family recreates a 15-hour holiday flight in their living room, after coronavirus cancels their real, planned European vacation - Naaman Zhou at the Guardian

Carnival kept sending out cruise ships while knowing it was risky. And the chairman of Carnival is on Trump’s back-to-work council. Rearranging dreck chairs - David Pell on Nextdraft

Armed far-right groups are behind anti-lockdown protests in Michigan and elsewhere. They love Trump and Trump is cheering them on. Martyrdom and dumber - David Pell at Nextdraft.

ME: I have 300+ podcast episodes in my queue. I will never listen to them all! ALSO ME: This looks like an interesting podcast. I’ll subscribe now!

Comic-Con Cancels 2020 Event, Sets 2021 Return - Erik Pederson on Deadline.com. Disappointing but not surprising, and the right decision.

John Horton Conway, a ‘Magical Genius’ in Math, Dies at 82. Siobhan Roberts writes The New York Times’s obit for mathematician and “Magical Genius” John Conway, most famous for inventing the computer Game of Life. Cause of death: COVID-19 Martin Gardner, the longtime mathematical games columnist for Scientific American, said that when the game went viral on the internet, “with addicts programming it at home and at work — one quarter of the world’s computers were playing it.

China Police Censor Tales of Post-Coronavirus Renewal. New York Times journalist Paul Mozur finds signs of a nation opening up on the streets of the big Chinese city of Hefei, population 8 million. He also finds xenophobia, and police censorship that’s both laughably clumsy, and effective. Mozur was expelled from China, along with other Western journalists, shortly after.

Some people say we need to open the economy soon and if a few thousand people – or hundred thousand people – die because of it, well, that’s a small price to pay. People who espouse this view should be asked whether they themselves are taking greater risk to help others. Are they volunteering at a food bank, blood bank, or working front lines in essential retail service? If not, they should be invited to shut the fuck up.

Dr. Tony Fauci: From One Pandemic to Another - Epidemic. AIDS activists in the 1980s were surprised to find a champion in a civil service doctor, Anthony Fauci. And for people who lived through that crisis, the coronavirus pandemic gives them a terrible sense of déjà vu.

Judy Garland and the long history of ‘Me Too’ in Hollywood - Retropod: Judy Garland suffered outrageous sexual harassment as a teen-aged movie star.

Kicked Out of China - The New York Times Daily podcast. As the pandemic spread, China expelled Western journalists, including New York Times reporter Paul Mozur, as well as reporters for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Mozur talks about the experience, and heightening tensions between China and the West. Foreigners in China are facing increase xenophobia as the Communist Party spreads rumors that foreigners brought coronavirus in China. Some rumors say it was a deliberate act of biowar by the US Army.

All praise, no pay - Today, Explained: Essential workers in the food, transportation, and retail industries are being called American heroes. They want to be paid that way.

We had drama. Julie commented at bedtime that she hadn’t seen Vivvie, our slate-gray cat, for about 24 hours. So we spent some time looking around the house for her. I went down in the courtyard, though Vivvie never, ever shows any interest in leaving the house. She’s a timid cat and runs away at any sign of busyness. No sign of Vivvie. I kept my eyes peeled around the yard when I was putting Minnie to bed.

Easter Wishes, 1908 Via

Trump meets “The Honeymooners.” - video Ralph Kramden for President!

What AOC Gets that Bernie Didn’t - Michael Grunwald at Politico Progressive pot-stirrer Sean McElwee has some thoughts about what went wrong for Sanders supporters, and how they can get what they want (eventually). McElwee defies conventional wisdom for progressives by saying progressives need to embrace conventional wisdom — polling, focus groups, and changing the message to suit the district. He popularized the slogan “Abolish ICE” — even had it as part of his twitter handle — but advises Democratic candidates to be extremely cautious using it themselves, because it’s just not a slogan that will win many elections.

Why Aren’t We All on the Same Time Zone? - Patrick J Kiger on How Stuff Works Time zones are confusing to people who routinely communicate or travel across them, and some people are proposing to put the whole world on one time zone - UTC, which is five hours ahead of Eastern time in the US. This does not mean that New York businesses would open five hours earlier. A business that opens at 9 am today would open at the same time under the new system, it’s just that the clock would say 2 pm.

One of my favorite features of the iPhone is the ability to get notifications for replies to individual email messages and threads.

Police department reminds residents to wear pants while checking mailbox “You know who you are. This is your final warning.”

“It’ll all be over by Christmas”: Charles Stross predicts a two-year coronavirus economic and political shitshow.

Watch the weird cinematic rabbit hole that is Blade Runner: The Lost Cut - Adi Robertson at The Verge “Blade Runner: The Lost Cut” is a 20-minute fan film that splices Blade Runner with … other films that star Blade Runner cast members, plus more films starring those films’ co-stars, resulting in a masterfully edited cinematic rabbit hole where Rick Deckard is hunting down a cast of replicants including Gene Hackman (via The Conversation, one of Harrison Ford’s first films), Steve Martin (via The Jerk, which stars M.

Rodney Dangerfield is cooler than you are

The coronavirus pandemic is heightening the need for “Right to Repair” – eliminating laws that make it illegal to fix the machines you own. Cory Doctorow writes about two instances: A researcher has released a proof-of-concept for a hack that allows a relatively inexpensive CPAP machine to function somewhat like a ventilator. Also, several state treasurers have demanded ventilator manufacturers release documentation so hospitals can maintain their equipment during a crisis.

(How) American Collapse Resembles Soviet Collapse: Six Ways America’s Collapse is Eerily Like the Soviet Union’s Last Days - umair haque This article seems more timely now than it was a year ago when it was published. American collapse is not preordained – we have free will, both as individuals and as a society. But every day Trump remains President and the Republicans remain in power, it’s a day closer .

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I did not love the Deadwood movie, but I loved Al Swearengen’s final line. [YouTube]

‘That Thing You Do’ cast plans reunion fundraiser for coronavirus relief [USAToday] The Wonders, the fictional group at the center of the 1996 movie “That Thing You Do,” will reunite on Friday for a community watch party of the film to benefit the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund…. Funds raised through the watch party will aid musicians and touring professionals who are out of work because of the coronavirus.

Bloomberg News Killed Investigation, Fired Reporter, Then Sought To Silence His Wife [David Folkenfilk/NPR] “ … Bloomberg News killed an investigation into the wealth of Communist Party elites in China, fearful of repercussions by the Chinese government. The company successfully silenced the reporters involved. And it sought to keep the spouse of one of the reporters quiet, too.” Bloomberg was concerned about being locked out of the lucrative Chinese market.

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Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic: Amazon fires tech workers for warehouse worker solidarity. Southern states are in for the worst coronavirus misery. Poor healthcare and social services contribute to the problem, and the burden will be borne more heavily by PoCs, who are more likely to have chronic untreated health conditions, no savings to allow them to take time off, and no healthcare – which is of course why Republicans are OK with it.

Via @JohnPhilbin

I’ve always thought that fundamentalists support Trump because they’re idiots who choose to believe he repented from his philandering, lying and other sins. Or as a calculation – Trump himself is an unrepentant sinner, but he appoints conservative judges and supports conservative policies. Here’s an alternate theory – Trump’s fundie supporters see him as being just like them. Welcome to the Trumpocalypse [Bob Moser/Rolling Stone] Maybe the administration would take a bit more care with the coronavirus pandemic if it weren’t loaded with folks who are looking forward to the end of the world…

This does not look comfortable to me but Minnie seems to love it. I think it’s because the concrete is absorbs the sun. I patted her two minutes later; she was a very warm dog. 📷

Minnie is back to herself, energetic and cheerful. This morning when she came in she was very excited, and I sat on the daybed with her for a little while and petted and praised her. Much of the time she appears to be walking normally; you have to look closely to see she’d favoring the injured leg. I am optimistic she will not need the surgery and soon she’ll be back to where she was before, or very close, and I’ll be able to take her on our regular, long, 3-mile walks.

We watched episode one of “World on Fire,” a big-budget British miniseries about England during World War II, focused, so far as I can see, entirely on regular people, not great generals or statesmen, drawn from all social classes. Two cast members I recognize: Sean Bean is a shell-shocked World War I veteran, father of a brave young woman and an insolent, obnoxious teen-age boy. It’s a very different role from the last thing we saw him in, the swashbuckling Richard Sharpe adventure stories, set in the Napoleonic Wars 200 years ago, that aired mainly in the 1990s, with two sequels in the mid-2000s.

John Scalzi talks about how he did a “reboot” of the classic H. Beam Piper novel “Little Fuzzy." Same story with many of the same characters, Scalzi just wrote his own version of it “Little Fuzzy” (both the 1962 version by H. Beam Piper and Scalzi’s version in 2010) is the story about a prospector on another planet who finds a race of cute, furry childlike aliens (I think the Ewoks in Star Wars were lifted from Piper’s Fuzzies).

Matthew Yglesias explains the argument over the post office bailout [Vox] No, the post office isn’t failing because Amazon is ripping it off, which is Trump’s stupid theory. People are just sending less First Class mail, and Congress won’t let The USPS go into other lines of business, such as banking. Yglesias is skeptical that six-day-a-week delivery needs saving. But given USPS’s popularity with the public, it’s also not really clear why spending money on this would be a big problem other than a principled opposition to having the government do anything at all.

5 of the 13 things Messy Nessy Chic found on the Internet Monday 100-year-old Bell Telephone ad; restaurant sleepover of World War II; rare 17th Century Parisian apartment for holiday rental (gorgeous!); how you get your hair done in the 1920s for a permanent wave; Harlem fashion boutique (1968) credited with popularizing Afrocentric style for the next decade; mini-dressed hostesses working for British Rail in 1972.

Trump goes postal, coronavirus in the UK vs. Ireland, and more on Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic.net

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic.net Trump plans to murder the US Postal Service, in violation of the US Constitution. The USPS is about to declare bankruptcy. It’s at the center of the longstanding plans for disaster recover and has been since the Cold War. It’s the only institution that could (for example) deliver covid meds to every home in America in one day. pluralistic.net/2020/03/2… But Congress has decided not to bail out the postal service, despite Art 1, Sec 8 of the US Constitution: “To establish Post Offices and post Roads.

Minnie is recovering nicely, but she won't eat her regular kibble or canned food.

Minnie is hopping around on three legs and occasionally using the injured one, which suggests it is healing. She’s got her old personality back – active, curious and playful. She even tried chasing one of the cats yesterday. However, she won’t eat her regular kibble or canned food. We’ve been giving her treats, a little cheese and a lot of rotisserie chicken. She loves that rotisserie chicken. I put down a bowl of kibble for her to eat a few minutes ago.

I am having my feelings and thoughts without guilt

Monotony, frustration over having to wear a mask, being unable to take the dog to the park, or go anywhere around people. And I have so many opinions! But I am also mindful that there are people out their dying in the most miserable conditions, exposing themselves to contagion to stock supermarket shelves, and medical personnel working 20 hour days without adequate protection. So yeah my problems, while large to me, are small.

Giving men false confidence starts early.

I, too, am an armchair epidemiologist and I’m pretty sure I’m spelling that right. twitter.com/markhumph…

This is one of our neighbors. He is unfriendly and never says hello. 📷

I’ve always like this house around the corner from ours. 📷

I am not a sentimental man who cries at rainbows and flowers, but when I saw this in the supermarket today I bawled.

The Jungle Prince of Delhi For 40 years, journalists chronicled the eccentric royal family of Oudh, deposed aristocrats who lived in a ruined palace in the Indian capital. It was a tragic, astonishing story. But was it true? Ellen Barry unravels the mystery at the New York Times

‪If TP shortages continue there’s always the three shells youtu.be/n7nFEnFtv… ‬

James Nicoll reviews Isaac Asimov’s 1950s time-travel novel, “The End of Eternity,” and finds it still holds up. Interestingly, Nicoll notes, the premise of Eternity is similar to the Foundation series — a secret cabal manipulating human history — but this novel takes the story in the opposite direction. Earlier I said the premise of Foundation is sinister when you think about it: The two forms of government we see are empire and rule by a secret, unaccountable conspiracy of technocrats.

Passover was a really big deal when I was a kid

We had the second seder at our house, with upwards of 20 aunts, uncles and cousins swarming over the place. Our cousins Janet and Barry even brought their dog; Mom couldn’t stand dogs but she made an exception for Dusty. Dusty is still one of my alltime favorite dogs, although I believe Janet and Barry prefer Custer, their next dog. And now that I think of it, Custer is a weird name for a dog.

Happy Easter! He is risen! But do not talk to Him until He has had coffee because seriously he’s just plain grouchy til then.

One of the crazy things about this pandemic is that it’s all going to be over in a year or a few years at most. Done. History. Past tense. Everybody who was going to get it will have gotten it, many will die, the rest of us will just get on with our lives. The disease itself might continue in the population, but it will be like the flu. Just part of normal life.

Last night I was getting ready for bed and looked at my pedometer app and saw it was at 9,800 steps and said to myself, welp, guess I’m not making it to 10,000 today. And then I got into bed and pulled the covers up and was all set up and cozy and ready to go to sleep and I looked at the pedometer app again and it was over 9,900.

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic.net [Private equity] companies that “looted healthcare want billions in bailout.” Corporations that went to binding arbitration to stiff consumers are screaming now that automation is threatening to make the playing field fair E-voting is a nonstarter for secret elections but it’ll work for public votes by elected officials such as legislators Republicans plan squads of ex-military and ex-police to intimidate black and Latino voters “‘Job creators’ are job annihilators”

I just cancelled my $119 annual Dropbox account, which expires in 10 days. I’m pretty sure I can get everything I need from iCloud plus the free Dropbox tier. As a test, I moved everything out of the Dropbox sync folder except for one small folder that I still want to use with Dropbox. We’ll see if anything breaks! I’ve been using Dropbox for at least 10 years, so this feels like more of a big deal than it probably actually is.

The vet gave us parking lot service: when I arrived, I called from the parking lot, a vet tech came out to the car, checked us in, and brought Minnie inside. I never entered the vet building. Out of old habit I almost ordered a burger, fries and chocolate shake from the vet tech. But I stopped myself in time. Still, would’ve been nice if she’s cruised up on roller skates.

I filed a bug report with Flexibits about a Fantastical 3 problem I had in February. I’m just getting a response now. Um, yay?

Manischewitz wine is popular in Caribbean communities. [Nadege Green/WLRN] This story makes me happy.

Minnie was still hopping along on three legs this morning and looking pretty miserable. I called the vet and they’re doing parking-lot check-ins. So I’m off to the vet later this morning. It’s pouring rain out. I know that’s no big deal to the real world, but we Southern Californians are big babies when it comes to any kind of foul weather. A friend says dogs just do that sometimes, and she’ll get over it in a week.

Gavin Newsom Declares California a ‘Nation-State’ Last year, Democratic state Senator and party leader Scott Weiner said, “The federal government is no longer a reliable partner in delivering health care, in supporting immigrants, supporting LGBT people, in protecting the environment, so we need to forge our own path…. We can do everything in our power to protect our state, but we need a reliable federal partner. And right now we don’t have that.

Alan Brown reviews a the recently published lost Robert A. Heinlein novel, “The Pursuit of the Pankera,” and likes it [Tor.com] “The Pursuit of the Pankera” is a kind of metafiction – fiction about fiction. It is an alternate version of “The Number of the Beast,” which Heinlein published in 1980. Both novels are about travel between alternate universes, and so they are alternate-universe novels about each other. I have never liked “The Number of the Beast,” in part because it suffers from the sins of late-period Heinlein: Long-winded political preachiness combined with the author’s creepy sex scenes.

Well, shit. Minnie injured her foot and now she’s walking on three legs. Nothing visibly wrong with it and she doesn’t react when I manipulate it. Normally I’d say give it a day and if she’s not better tomorrow she’s going to the vet. But that’s not an option now. Not for this.

Larry David, Master of His Quarantine Maureen Dowd at the New York Times: When I ask if he is hoarding anything, he is outraged. “Not a hoarder,” he said. “In fact, in a few months, if I walk into someone’s house and stumble onto 50 rolls of toilet paper in a closet somewhere, I will end the friendship. It’s tantamount to being a horse thief in the Old West.”

I've been drinking a meal replacement shake called Huel for breakfast for months

For several months, my daily breakfast has been about a pint of a thick “nutritionally complete” liquid, called Huel. Huel is a powder you mix with water to make a milky liquid, like a thin milkshake. You can add more water to make it thinner, or less to make it thicker. You can use vegetable milk, or mix it with fruit or peanut butter for added flavor. The powder itself can be unflavored, or vanilla, chocolate or berry flavored.

Kansas Republicans are fighting to kill Christians and Jews [Zack Budryk/The Hill]

Kansas’s Republican-led legislator overturned the Democratic governor’s ban on gatherings during Easter and Passover. Kansas legislature strikes down governor’s directive limiting size of religious gatherings Kansas Republicans are claiming religious persecution, which is ridiculous because (1) The law is designed to save people’s lives and (2) The law does not single out any particular religious denomination or indeed single out religions at all. This is settled law in the US and has been for many, many decades.

Automating micro.blog categories using emoji. Nerdy fun!

Listening to the Monday microcast with @macgenie and @manton yesterday, I learned that you can use filters on micro.blog to search for text in a post you write, and automatically include that post in a category. So you can automate micro.blog to search for any post containing the word “beer,” or the beer emoji 🍺, and put that in a “beer” category. Instructions are here. Additionally, micro.blog uses emoji in lieu of hashtags, which I like.

Appalling/delightful Disney horror/comic mashups! IT heroes! Forging PDF signatures! And more!

On today’s Pluralistic by Cory Doctorow Disney horror/comic mashups are appalling/delightful Daniel “Kickpunch” Björk created an incredible set of Disney Comic/horror movie mashups. The chemistry of cold-brew coffee I can’t say I have strong feelings about cold-brew coffee. I like a nice iced coffee in hot weather. But even in hot weather, I like hot coffee. The crisis is making heroes of IT workers IT workers are pulling all-nighters and multi-day marathons to set up co-workers for remote work and provision systems for new workflows.

Feds are seizing medical supplies from hospitals without saying what they’re doing with it [Noam N. Levey/LA Times] “In order to have confidence in the distribution system, to know that it is being done in an equitable manner, you have to have transparency,” says Dr. John Hick, a Minnesota emergency physician. “Are they stockpiling this stuff? Are they distributing it? We don’t know,” one official said. “And are we going to ever get any of it back if we need supplies?

New study investigates California’s possible herd immunity to COVID-19 [Caitlin Conrad/KSBW] Scientists are investigating the possiblity that California was infected with coronavirus early — in the fall. The mystery is that California gets more visitors from China than other states do, and yet has a relatively low infection rate.

The 10 Most Offensive Movies Ever Made [Keith Langston/Screenrant] (1) The writer Tad Williams and his wife, Deb, had a cat named “Henry, Portrait of a Serial Kitten.” Or just Henry. Tad told wonderful stories about that cat, and Julie and I got to meet the cat, who was indeed wonderful. (2) The following would be great names for podcasts: “I Spit On Your Grave,” “The Human Centipede,” and “Cannibal Holocaust.

Swiss physicist Nicolas Gisin may have solved one of the fundamental mysteries of physics: Does time exist?

Does Time Really Flow? New Clues Come From a Century-Old Approach to Math Relativity makes no distinction between past, present and future; they are all fixed. In relativity, “now” does not exist. In real life, though, we know that time flows from past to future and we live in the now. Quantum mechanics agrees with real life. How to resolve the contradiction? Gisin thinks he has, using an obscure, turn-of-the-20th Century branch of mathematics.

Coronavirus breaks my iPhone: FaceID doesn't work when you wear a mask

Privileged person problem: When I go to the supermarket, I keep the shopping list on my iPhone. When I’m wearing a mask, Face ID doesn’t recognize me. I have to open my iPhone by entering the passcode a dozen times or more. I heard about a feature called “Setup Alternate Appearance” for situations where you have an “appearance that can look vastly different.” I tried it with my mask on this morning.

Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic.net: Cleveland Plain Dealer massacre; TSA child molesters and more

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic.net Cleveland Plain Dealer’s new owners massacre staff The owners of the Cleveland Plain Dealer laid off all but 14 of the newsroom staff, then prohibited the survivors from covering the beats they’ve mastered over decades, giving those roles over to the non-unionized staff at cleveland.com. … Among those affected: Ginger Christ, the paper’s health reporter, who has been stripped of her beat during a pandemic.

What will you do the day social distancing ends?

I think we’ll be cautious and not rush out to any restaurants or crowded social gatherings. But I think I’ll absolutely take the dog to the park, Lake Murray, where we used to walk every day. Stop and talk to people. Let Minnie sniff out some other dogs. That sounds lovely. With Julie of course if she wants to come. 🌕

The computer language COBOL debuted in 1960, and it’s still running the world’s governments and banks It’s tried and true. And also, according to this article, not hard to learn. I do recall a remark by a programmer a few years ago – once you’ve learned one or two languages, it’s not hard to pick up another. I took a couple of computer science classes in late 1979 as a college freshman.

Rules Rewritten: Managing Data Centers Through the Pandemic: Data center operators are reducing headcount to minimize coronavirus exposure, and these reductions may become permanent. [Scott Fulton III/IT Pro Today]

This looks like a useful new feature on Inoreader: Convert Almost Any Webpage Into RSS Feed With Inoreader’s Web Feeds Inoreader will let you subscribe to updates for web pages even when those pages don’t offer RSS feeds. Whenever you see a web page with a series of updates, be it news articles, blog posts, classifieds, product updates, weather alerts, practically any series of HTML links, Inoreader should be able to present it as an RSS feed.

Social distancing is getting hard in our house. And we’re normally people who have a limitless capacity for solitude and not going out.

500-year-old manuscript contains one of earliest known uses of the “F-word” Scotland is the home of a 500-year-old medieval manuscript containing the oldest extant written F-bomb. “The profanity appears in a poem recorded by a bored student in Edinburgh while under lockdown as the plague ravaged Europe…. The poem is getting renewed attention thanks to its inclusion in a forthcoming BBC Scotland documentary exploring the country’s long, proud tradition of swearing, ‘Scotland—Contains Strong Language.

Life Without Toilet Paper Is Better Frank Bures at Vice: If you were walking barefoot through your yard, and felt the unpleasant squish of fresh dog do through your toes, what would be your reaction? Would you think, “Geez, I need to get some dry, easily torn paper to smear this off my foot”? No. You would quickly get yourself to a hose, or a sink. You would find some soap.

Shkreli’s plea from prison: Free me and I’ll cure COVID-19 [Beth Mole/Ars Technica]: Disgraced pharma exec, best known for raising the price of a lifesaving medicine from $13.50 a pill to $750, goes full supervillain.

This is what happens when a narcissist runs a crisis Jennifer Senior at the New York Times: Since the early days of the Trump administration, an impassioned group of mental health professionals have warned the public about the president’s cramped and disordered mind, a darkened attic of fluttering bats…. Faced with a historic public health crisis, Trump could have assembled a first-rate company of disaster preparedness experts. Instead he gave the job to his son-in-law, a man-child of breathtaking vapidity….

White House creates ‘Team Telecom’ to probe whether foreign telcos should be allowed near US networks [Tom Claburn/The Register]

New Jersey seeks COBOL programmers to fix unemployment system: “… many of the state’s systems use older mainframes, and those systems are now seeing record demand for services as the coronavirus outbreak disrupts the economy.” [Kif Leswing/CNBC]

Cato Networks raises $77 million for cloud security platform that protects remote workforces Cato Networks, which provides SD-WAN and other Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) connectivity, raises $77M additional funding, on top of $55M last year for a total of more than $200M. [Chris O’Brien/VentureBeat] Cato securely connects remote workers and branch offices, which is of course kind of a big deal right now. I’ve been doing a little work for Cato this year.

Cambridge Analytica and other abusers killed the open, collaborative, API-driven Web 2.0. “It’s amazing, in hindsight, just how naively open everything was back then.” This Video Has 3,627,803 Views - YouTube A delightful video that takes a surprisingly philosophical and optimistic turn.

Photos of a computer shop that’s been locked since 2001, when the store owner, who also owned the strip mall it sits in, went bankrupt. [Cory Doctorow/Pluralistic] Gateway 2000 PCs, LCD displays, and big beige CPUs with big fans!

LA crime drops 23% during the pandemic, including an 11% drop in family violence crime, even though family tensions often rise during crises. [Madeline Holcombe/CNN] This proves once again that in an emergency your neighbors will help you; it’s the elites you have to watch out for, notes Cory Doctorow.

The stimulus bill seems big – $2 trillion – but it’s just one week of median income for small businesses and families. Cory Doctorow: “The crisis is already four times longer than that, depending on which city you live in. The end is not in sight.” Umair Haque: “Coronavirus is an extinction level event for modern economies.” We are living through the complete collapse of the US economy. This is happening now, will play out over the summer and will take generations to recover.

After a church pastor in California announced he would defy shelter in place orders and hold services, his landlord, the Bethel Open Bible Church, changed the locks. [Lisa Fernandez/KTUTV] Via Cory Doctorow Reminds me that I’ve been looking for years for a word other than “Christian” to describe the folks like those idiot pastors who are keeping their churches open. I have Christian friends; they are lovely, SANE people. I’ve come up with “Fox News Christians” but I don’t really care for that either.

New video technique lets you replace the background on videos without any greenscreen required. Via Cory Doctorow who says it “really puts Zoom’s background switching in the shade." My MacBook Pro processor is too weak to use Zoom’s background switching, so I was forced to clean out my office instead. Or at least clean out the part of my office visible from the webcam!

Why is Trump touting hydroxychloroquine? Follow the money

Trump and his cronies are investors in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine. Trump has been touting hydroxychloroquine as a possible coronavirus cure, despite lack of scientific evidence, and also despite significant risks to people who take it, and despite its being needed for legitimate, proven medical uses, such as treating lupus. Peter Baker, Katie Rogers, David Enrich and Maggie Haberman report at The New York Times: Trump’s Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical Community

Most New York coronavirus deaths were among men and 86% were people with underlying illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes. [Joseph Spector/Rockland/Westchester Journal News/USAToday]

Irony: Calling someone stupid, naive or malicious for failing to anticipate a leak in a speech that you failed to anticipate leaking. Transcript: Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly addresses USS Theodore Roosevelt crew about ‘stupid’ ousted captain [CNN] Like a good kleptocrat, Modly echoes the boss’s party line: It’s all the media and China’s fault. Like the way the media and China laid off the pandemic response team, took numerous golf breaks and campaign rallies while the pandemic spread, ignored warnings from the Obama White House, Department of Defense and other sources that a pandemic was imminent and said the seriousness of the pandemic is a Democratic Party hoax.

“Nuclear-powered locomotive” 1979Via

Why not the best? Red Hat vet Paul Cormier takes over as CEO Red Hat’s new CEO and president has driven the company’s enterprise leadership for 20 years. [Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols/ZDnet]

Who Reads Cosy Catastrophes? Jo Walton: Cosy catastrophes are science fiction novels in which some bizarre calamity occurs that wipes out a large percentage of the population, but the protagonists survive and even thrive in the new world that follows. They are related to but distinct from the disaster novel where some relatively realistic disaster wipes out a large percentage of the population and the protagonists also have a horrible time.

Bug bounty platforms buy researcher silence, violate labor laws, critics say Bug bounty platforms were designed to provide support for researchers ethically disclosing security flaws, but instead they serve as slush funds for hush money to help businesses keep their security problems quiet And the platforms may also violate labor law by exploiting researchers. [J.M. Porup/CSO]

I have long thought that the two greatest threats the United States face are hyperpartisanship and the Republican Party. It’s not lost on me that these two beliefs are contradictory.

A Recipe for Caesar [Common Sense With Dan Carlin] Either we find our way out of the current political tit for tat cycle, or we follow it to his logical conclusion: a Caesar

Frontier says insufficient fiber investment led to bankruptcy [Mike Robuck/FierceTelecom]

New IBM CEO Arvind Krishna is shaking up the leadership team his first day on the job. [Maria Deutscher/SiliconAngle]

‘You’re basically right next to the nuclear reactor.’ Dr. Cory Deburghgraeve has volunteered for one of the coronavirus pandemic’s most dangerous jobs, despite an underlying condition that puts him at risk. This is my entire job now. Airways. Coronavirus airways. I’m working 14 hours a night and six nights a week. When patients aren’t getting enough oxygen, I place a tube down their airway so we can put them on a vent.

How do you win a war when your government abandons you? Interviews with doctors and nurses struggling to save lives in hospitals without federal support. [New Orleans nurse Yani Turang] worked in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak [in 2015], but says that experience was less stressful than what her colleagues are enduring now in the United States. In Africa, she said, “there wasn’t even a question that I would ever have to reuse any supplies.

During a Pandemic, an Unanticipated Problem: Out-of-Work Health Workers Healthcare providers are putting doctors and other caregivers on furlough, a stark prioritization of profits over lives. Americans are now merely domestic animals that serve banks. Expendable. [Ellen Gabler, Zach Montague and Grace Ashford at The New York Times via Yahoo]

Apple has sourced over 20 million protective masks, now building and shipping face shields - Jonathan Shieber at TechCrunch Managing the supply chain and getting products from Chinese factories to US store shelves quickly has been key to Apple’s success. Now the company is turning that wizardry to manufacturing personal protective equipment for coronavirus fighters.

A Letter to the City - NextDraft Ex-New Yorker Dave Pell: I lived above an off-Broadway theater on Vandam. When I’d walk into my front door around show time, I’d get yelled at for cutting the line.

YouTube is boosting ridiculous conspiracy theories about how 5G is the real cause of coronavirus. But it’s not because people are stupid – it’s because so many ridiculous conspiracies are real, says Cory Doctorow. Youtube vs 5G arsonists In real life, billionaires got rich lying about the safety of opiods, prosecutors and lawmakers covered up for pals like Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, conspirators ignored evidence about Flint’s water. Scientific journals publish fake papers, doctors get paid off by pharma companies, and regulators are captured by business.

Illinois is reinstating use of barbarically cruel physical restraints against special needs kids - Cory Doctorow

Apple acquires Voysis for natural language recognition, presumably to beef up Siri - Bloomberg News/ITPro Today

Is Huawei an open source champion now? Huawei? The company joined the US-based open-source patent non-aggression group Open Invention Group, whose members cross-license Linux system patents to one another on a royalty-free basis. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has the story: Huawei joins major US-based open-source patent protection consortium OIN

“I wouldn’t worry about even getting COVID-19 when COVID-20 is going to be released in a few months and it will support 5G.” - @joshua Too soon?

Coronavirus cooking: Isolation is teaching us a better way to think about food. - Rebecca Onion at Slate Isolation is making people less wasteful of food. Maybe. Even today, we’re still many of us a lot better off than our grandparents.

Consider the Possibility That Trump Is Right On China And consider that Trump might be right about globalization too. Nadia Schadlow at The Atlantic: At least as controversial as Trump’s critique of China is his emphasis on the importance of sovereignty and his insistence that strong sovereign states are the main agents of change. But states are the foundation of democratic governance and, fundamentally, of security. It is the citizens of states who vote and hold leaders accountable.

Coronavirus hurts Silicon Valley caterers and event businesses Salvador Rodriguez at CNBC: Performers, food caterers, event planners, venue owners, models, DJs and others that rely on the tech industry are now staring at blank calendars with no idea of when they will be able to return to their livelihoods. For much of the last 20 years I went to one or two industry events a month, mostly in San Francisco, the Bay Area and Las Vegas.

Today is looking like it was not a great day to cut down on coffee. Tomorrow is not looking great for that either. 

I think we’ll go out to brunch today at DZ Akins, an excellent kosher-style deli just a few minutes drive way. It’s often crowded on Sunday; in a truly wonderful American fashion, this Jewish restaurant fills up when churches let out. But it’s worth waiting for a table. The weather looks gray, but not rainy, which makes it a good day to visit Balboa Park and check out the museums. San Diego has some excellent museums, surprisingly so for a surfer/tourism town.

Jack Butler at the National Review calls Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” series a “comforting technocratic fable." I loved the Foundation Trilogy when I was a boy. I listened to the audiobook of “Foundation” recently and was not moved to continue on. It doesn’t hold up. Lately I am inclined to see the heroes of that series as badly misguided. Another writer might have even called them villains. One of the fundamental problems with the premise of the series is that it assumes that human beings don’t have free will.

Julie and I are both easily annoyed today. I came into her office to tell her about something that was annoying me, and before I could say a word she went into telling me about something that was annoying her. That annoyed the hell out of me. I hope she is not annoyed by my posting this. Also, I think maybe I picked the wrong historical event during which to reduce coffee consumption.

Private equity is using the pandemic to loot public health facilities, such as hospitals and medical clinics. One example: Firing medical professionals who speak out about unsafe working conditions - Cory Doctorow

A dystopian Reagan era video game foresaw the economic crises of the 21st century.

LA landlord threatens to evict 300 tenants if they don’t pay rent in full, in violation fo state and local emergency tenant protections. Landlord uses cc instead of bcc, helping tenants organize a web strike. Whoops - Cory Doctorow

Supercut of Fox News hosts insisting coronavirus is no cause concern, a Democratic/MSM conspiracy, etc. Not “ha-ha-weird, nor ha-ha-funny. It’s more ha-ha-Exhibit-A-for-a-future-war-crimes-tribunal” - Cory Doctorow

What did people do before toilet paper? The ancient Romans wiped their butts with a “tersorium,” a stick with a vinegar- or salt-water-soaked sponge attached, although these may have been used to clean the latrine rather than the person. Other ancient cultures used small stones, rags on sticks, spatulas, and – for scholars – manuscripts. Yen Chih-Thui, a sixth century AD scholar, said he didn’t dare wipe himself “on the names of sages.

One month ago today I went to the La Mesa-Foothills Democratic Club general meeting with a hundred or so of my closest friends. Following that, a small group of us had a light dinner and drinks at Hooley’s This is a historic event for two reasons: It was the-second-to-last time I spent a lot of time in close proximity to a lot of people, prior to COVID-19 ramping up. The last time was as few days later, when Julie and I went out to brunch.

Earthquake. About 50 minutes ago. Just a minor one, no damage or injury that I’m aware of. But it’s the biggest earthquake we’ve felt in a long time. Maybe ever. Because life needed to get more interesting.

Help me with a thought experiment here. Those of you who identify as Republican or conservative: What are the values you hold most dear? What should our national priorities be? What should be government’s goals? If you fell into a deep slumber and woke up in the United States 50 years from now what would you hope it would be like? Assume a cultural and political renaissance where everybody comes around to realize that your beliefs were best after all.

From Google News a few seconds ago. Republicans and Democrats perceive parallel universes with completely different realities now. But there is only one real world.

Researchers are building nearly microscopic robots, made from living cells, that live in petri dishes

Meet the Xenobots, Virtual Creatures Brought to Life Xenobots are designed to roboticists using algorithmic evolution in computer simulations. Joshua Sokol at The New York Times: Xenobots with a fork- or snowplow-like appendage in the front can sweep up loose particles (in a petri dish) overnight, depositing them in a pile. Some use legs, of a sort, to shuffle around on the floor of the dish. Others swim, using beating cilia, or link up blobby appendages and circle each other a few times before heading off in separate directions….

A long and pointless post about coffee

Just before the lockdown went in place in California, I had brunch with Julie at Farmer’s Table. The coffee was excellent, so much so that I asked the waitress about it. She said they got the coffee from a place in Barrio Logan (and now I see on Google there is more than one coffee place in Barrio Logan. I think Cafe Virtuoso was the one she said.) I asked the waitress what equipment they use to make the coffee, and she said just a restaurant coffee machine.

If you’re not nice to the barista, you’ll get decaf. 11 Behind-the-Counter Secrets of Baristas - Shaunacy Ferro at Mental Floss

I’ve been troubled by insomnia for months, but just last night I was thinking how glad I was that I hadn’t had a bout in weeks. Been sleeping soundly every night. Thank goodness for that, I thought last night. You’ll totally guess what happened!

I’ve seen a bunch of inspiring chalk messages around the neighborhood this week.

ME (grocery shopping while wearing mask, consults shopping list app on iPhone) MY iPHONE’S FACIAL RECOGNITION: “Who the hell are you?” repeat several dozen times

Report on an excursion to the supermarket

I went to the big Von’s on University Avenue to stock up today I wore nitrile gloves, as I did the other time I went to the supermarket nine days ago. I also wore an N95 mask – my first time out in public wearing one. I felt self-conscious about the mask, and over the past few days I was mentally rehearsing the conversation I might have with a hypothetical person who might confront me about using the mask when healthcare professionals are doing without.

I still get occasional comments on this article I wrote 10 years ago. Ten years!

5 reasons why people hate Apple I just got an email this morning. The email had no context. Just a short two sentences on why the sender hates Apple – he’s an Android user and was using Dark Sky until Apple bought it this week and shut off API access, including Android. I replied by asking him why he was sending the email to me. But I was still waking up when I sent that reply, because truly I already knew.

Baked potato + kosher-style spicy brown mustard: Good idea? Discuss.

I just did the census. For “origin” I put in “American,” after Julie pointed out that her great-grandparents (and my grandparents and great-grandparents) were from other countries, but she and I are from right here in the USA. I gave serious thought to putting in “human” for race, because I am becoming seriously convinced that racial differences aren’t just social constructs, they’re toxic bullshit. But I went with the conventional answer: White.

In the “Reign of Terror” episode of “I, Claudius,” a character being beaten to death at the behest of a tyrant declares: “I’ve never fully realized before how a small mind, allied to unlimited ambition and without scruple, can destroy a country full of clever men.” This TV drama is about ancient Rome, and it aired in 1976, so of course this quote has absolutely no bearing on today. Via the delightful “I, Podius” podcast, with John Hodgman and Elliott Kalan.

On a very special shelter-in-place episode of the design podcast 99% Invisible, host Roman Mars describes the history and design of things around the house.

How to play Scrabble. Classic Ze Frank. Funny - YouTube

Larry David: “I basically want to address the idiots out there…. You’re passing up a fantastic opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to stay in the house, sit on the couch and watch TV!” twitter.com/gavinnews…

The US is losing jobs drastically faster than other nations -- by design

Emmanual Saez and Gabriel Zucman, economists at the University of California, Berkeley, writing at the New York Times: According to some projections, unemployment might rise to 30% in the second quarter of 2020 in the US, far beyond what other nations are seeing. Elsewhere, “governments are protecting employment. Workers keep their jobs, even in industries that are shut down. The government covers most of their wage through direct payments to employers.

A major medical staffing company just slashed benefits for doctors and nurses fighting coronavirus

Yes, you read that right. The company, Alteon Health, slashed benefits to emergency room healthcare workers during the pandemic. These emergency room healthcare workers are literally the most important people in the world right now. Isaac Arnsdorf at ProPublica: Alteon Health, a staffing company backed by private-equity firm Frazier Healthcare Partners, will cut salaries, time off and retirement benefits for providers, citing lost revenue. Several hospital operators announced similar cuts.

Seth Davis was stranded at Los Angeles Airport for three months after his wallet was stolen Christmas Eve.

Until a few days ago, he and his seizure dog, Poppy, lived at Terminal 6, sleeping on the floor behind a pillar. Stranded and homeless at LAX. Then coronavirus hit - Los Angeles Times Devastating story, by Maria L. La Ganga with photographer Francine Orr: Davis had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and epilepsy. He had been in foster care or adult protective services for most of his three decades.

Loss of taste is a warning sign for COVID-19 so if you wear any of the following, immediately self-isolate: Socks with sandals side-cut tank tops Shoes with velcro fasteners Ugg boots Pajama pants in public

A year ago today I was at San Diego Airport and saw this tile for sale at one of the shops. For the rest of my life, I will regret not purchasing it.

That sad moment when you realize it may be time to throw one of your favorite T-shirts into the rag bag.

The GOP is pushing forward with plans to kill Obamacare because if you’re a Republican now seems to be a great time to deny healthcare coverage to 20 million Americans. - Sam Brodey at The Daily Beast

Las Vegas, with 150,000 vacant hotel rooms, has the homeless sleeping on the ground in parking lots. - Mario Koran at The Guardian

That time there was a Communist revolution inside the online game Runescape - Emilie Rākete at The Spinoff “… armed with both the revolutionary science of Marxism and dragon battleaxes, the RuneScape communists were militarily undefeatable. Within three months, the communists controlled 95% of Server 32.”

Joe Biden is getting a pass on sexual assault and misbehavior allegations Arwa Mahdawi at Common Dreams: “For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real.” Joe Biden said that. The same standard should apply to the accuser against him.

OpenTable will allow people to reserve shopping times at supermarkets - Taylor Lyles at The Verge Trials in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Good idea. I’m due to make another supermarket run in a day or two.

How social distancing looks from the virus’s point of view. Thanks, Cory!

You shouldn’t use Zoom; it’s a privacy disaster. - John Gruber at Daring Fireball I agree … but I gotta be honest here; I’m following the course of least resistance and using Zoom anyway. Gruber advises using Zoom on the iPhone or iPad, where you must use Zoom. I’m going to think about whether I can somehow elevate my iPad to give me a good camera angle on Zoom. Similarly, I’m very active on Facebook despite strong misgivings about its business model.

High Fidelity at 20: the sneakily dark edge of a comedy about bad breakups Scott Tobias at The Guardian: High Fidelity is the story of a self-centered jerk who learns to become less of a self-centered jerk. Also, this: “One of the film’s most insightful and endearing qualities is how much it’s willing to poke fun at Rob, Barry, and Dick’s record-clerk arrogance without belittling their passions entirely.” Love this movie.

His actual name is “Victor Von Doom.” Shouldn’t that have been kind of a red flag?

📷I saw this sign today on my walk. No, I have not got religion. I am still the same nonebelieving Jew I’ve always been. I just like the sign. I have seen it a million times before but this is the first time I’ve really taken a second to look at it.

Saying the quiet part very loud, Trump admits “You’d never have a Republican elected in this country again” if voting access is expanded. - John Queally at Common Dreams

A Las Vegas farm feeds 4,000 pigs slops made from waste food from casinos. The farm is now struggling.

Tiana Bohner at Fox5 Las Vegas: “Pigs are a lot like us so they love sweets, candies, ice cream,” Las Vegas Livestock co-owner Hank Combs said. “They like meat and potatoes. They’re not a big fan of salads and produce, but they will eat it. On a normal day, the farm would get 20 tons of food from casinos and restaurants across the valley. Once the strip shut down and casinos closed, their food source was cut off….

Glice is building artificial skating rinks with plastic panels instead of ice

On Roofs or in Basements, a New Way to Ice Skate You can use Glice rinks year-round or in tropical climates. Alyson Krueger at the New York Times: Glice is arguably more ecologically conscious and certainly more convenient than traditional ice rinks, which require large amounts of water and electricity, as well as noisy, cumbersome machines including refrigeration systems and compressors. “In the past I worked for a hotel that had a traditional ice skating rink,” [said David Lemmond, general manager of the William Vale hotel, which has a Glice rink installed].

An astrophysicist proves he is not a rocket scientist when he gets magnets stuck up his nose while inventing a device to keep people from touching their faces - Naaman Zhou at The Guardian

According to BMI calculations, I am at the high end of healthy weight range and could still be healthy if I weighed up to 25 pounds less. That seems nuts to me.

Making the case for municipal broadband - Cory Doctorow

The Koch network is pushing for an end to covid lockdown and social distancing, while sending its own workers home to ensure their health and safety. - Cory Doctorow. The group previously pushed to slash the CDC, contributing to US unpreparedness for the pandemic.

Lax antitrust regulations killed a plan to stockpile ventilators

Cory Doctorow:: 13 years ago, the US Dept of HHS awarded a contract to design low-cost, reliable ventilators to Newport Medical Instrument of Costa Mesa, CA. The ventilators would cost <$3k, allowing the US to procure a shit-ton of them against future pandemics. This was a problem for existing med-tech giants, who charged >$10K for competing ventilators… So Covidien, a med-tech giant, paid $100 million to buy Newport and killed the project.

Pandemic surveillance will be abused

Before using tools built by data harvesting companies to track the coronavirus pandemic, we must assume the tools will be abused, says Violet Blue at Engadget. Our failure to contain coronavirus has nothing to do with failure of “invasive surveillance,” Blue says. It’s because autocrats in China and the wannabe autocrat in the White House refused to take coronavirus seriously in the beginning. Surveillance advocates are trotting out the old canard of privacy vs.

Big tech conferences could be a COVID-19 casualty

Lindsay Clark at the Register predicts smaller, fewer tech conferences post-COVID-19. My first was CA World in New Orleans in 1998. In front of an audience of thousands, then Computer Associates CEO Charles Wang wandered across the stage pontificating as a chorus of children danced about him (no, really) and I knew I had indeed entered a whole new world of weird. A chorus of children dancing around the CEO is actually not particularly unusual for a tech conference for a billion-dollar company.

Julie took this photo of Minnie saying good morning to her. My legs at the right. 📷

Julie took this marvelous photo of a mallard swimming in the pond in our backyard. 📷

Julie took these outstanding photos of Vivvie. 📷

The problem with making coffee is you haven’t had your coffee when you’re making your coffee.

I saw this excellent sidewalk chalk art walking the dog yesterday. Drive to the flower.

Portrait of a weekly newspaper in the small town of Julian, California, circulation in the hundreds, founded in 1985, owned and run since 2004 by Michael Hart, now 67 years old, and his wife Michele Harvey, 69. Small Julian newspaper is all about community, by J. Harry Jones at the San Diego Union-Tribune: Just once, Michael Hart and his bride of 17 years, Michele Harvey, took a few days off to stay at an inn at Joshua Tree.

Social distancing vs. economic recovery is a false choice. According ta recent study, cities that enacted social distancing hard and fast during the 1918 pandemic were quicker to recover economically. “… the earlier, more forcefully and longer cities responded, the better their economic recovery.” Scott Duke Kominers at Bloomberg: That’s not to say that the flu pandemic didn’t cause an economic strain: the authors found that the areas hit hardest saw real declines in manufacturing employment and output, as well as a persistent reduction in bank assets — probably because of losses on loans amid bankruptcies.

Cory Doctorow: The US coronavirus epidemic is Part 2 of the 2008 financial meltdown, in the wake of which we elected dufus strongmen, gutted emergency preparedness budgets and passed the money to billionaries.

Zacharius Braciszewicz says Trump will be turned out of office in five weeks, but the butcher’s bill will be terrible.

Before reporting to the American people, coronavirus task force members need to say how wonderful Trump is - Meredith McGraw at Politico

Doonesbury captured Trump 44 years ago, in this strip about Chairman Mao. via

Screenwriter J.D. Shapiro on the making of the 2000 movie, “Battlefield: Earth:” “I Penned the Suckiest Movie Ever - Sorry!" “… comparing it to a train wreck isn’t really fair to train wrecks, because people actually want to watch those.”

Stella, a dog, jumps with gusto into piles of leaves. - video

Sophie Lewis at CBSNews.com: Walmart reports increased sales for tops but not pants

Via

We’ve come full rectangle: Polaroid is reborn out of The Impossible Project Devin Coldewey at TechCrunch: The Polaroid camera is back, with a sleek new model priced at just $100. But film will cost you $2 per shot! Love the headline!

Mike Dano on Light Reading: Satellite company OneWeb is reportedly filing for bankruptcy and Elon Musk’s SpaceX could be in trouble as well.

Podcast downloads in the US have fallen about 10%. True crime podcasts are down the most, and comedy podcasts are also hit hard. Coronavirus Causes Dip in Podcast Listening Makes sense. Social distancing = fewer people commuting. I listen to podcasts while walking and doing chores, so my podcast listening duration is unchanged. However, more of my podcasts now are daily news than they were before.

The San Diego City Attorney is seeking an injunction against Instacart Chris Jennewein at the Times of San Diego: The San Diego City Attorney’s Office has petitioned an appellate court to reinstate its injunction against grocery delivery company Instacart, which the city alleged misclassified its employees as independent contractors, and now places Instacart‘s workforce at greater risk because of the coronavirus pandemic. The risk is not just to Instacart workers, but to all the people they come in contact with.

British Drivers Swearing I found this enjoyable both for the colorful expletives and for the many video snippets of random British roads.

How Huawei is dividing Western nations Scott Bade at TechCrunch: Western countries are split on whether to ban Huawei outright on telco networks, like Australia does, or allow the company to be used cautiously, like Britain. The US is, of course, calling for a Huawei ban. Much of the split is geographic. The US and Australia are Pacific powers, with China as a neighbor. For Europe, China is a half a world away.

Uranus Ejected a Giant Plasma Bubble During Voyager 2’s Visit - The New York Times Uranus is very farty.

This painting by Rudolf Sieber Lonati was used on the covers of Silber-Grusel-Krimi #213 and Larry Brent #49. Via

1961 cover art by Mitchell Hooks Via

#ayyy Via

Via

SF Bar Owner on Yelp’s GoFundMe partnership: ‘Fuck All of These People Entirely” - Eve Batey - Eater SF Yelp launched GoFundMe campaigns for small businesses without their permission, which is making the small business owners angry.

Fearsome Flush - Real Ghostbusters (Kenner) Via

Steve Ditko. Via

The sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden, explained - Anna North - Vox

Opinion - The Religious Right’s Hostility to Science Is Crippling Our Coronavirus Response Katherine Stewart at The New York Times: At a time when responsible people are practicing social distancing — if they can — the Religious Right is filling church pews and claiming coronavirus is a liberal conspiracy to remove Trump from office after the Mueller investigation and impeachment failed.

‘White-Collar Quarantine’ Over Virus Spotlights Class Divide Noam Scheiber, Nelson D. Schwartz and Tiffany Hsu writing at the New York Times: … a kind of pandemic caste system is rapidly developing: the rich holed up in vacation properties; the middle class marooned at home with restless children; the working class on the front lines of the economy, stretched to the limit by the demands of work and parenting, if there is even work to be had.

I have developed my own modification to the standard hand-washing technique you’ve seen on YouTube and in GIFs, which I believe will be beneficial (although I am not a medical professional): In addition to turning off the faucets with the towel, to avoid contamination, also use the towel to open the bathroom door and turn out the lights. This further avoids touching contaminated surfaces. Then go out in the living room and let the dog lick your hand.

Nurses Share Coronavirus Stories Anonymously in an Online Document - Edmund Lee - The New York Times More than 1,200 health care workers have used a private online document to share their stories of fighting the coronavirus pandemic on the front lines. In their accounts, they say the outbreak has turned American hospitals into “war zones.” They talk about being scared to go to work and anxious that they will become infected.

How the Pandemic Will End - Ed Yong - The Atlantic

One month ago today I took Minnie in to the vet for her bordatella and heartworm test. Two years ago today I was on a train to LA for a conference. Three years ago today one of my oldest friends was in town for a conference, and so he and another of my oldest friends got together for dinner. So much activity involving being around people, at less than a 6' distance!

Coronavirus changes everything about the 2020 election. Trump is now the favorite to win. All he has to do is not fuck up egregiously. People will continue to support Trump even in the face of normal incompetence from him – it will take outrageous incompetence to undercut Trump’s support. On the other hand, outrageous incompetence is something that Trump regularly does. This is a man who went out bankrupt – repeatedly – running casinos, and whom no legitimate bank would do business with.

Cory Doctorow: San Francisco’s DNA Lounge is delivering cocktails in mason jars. A mason jar is three servings – or one if you really want to party like it’s 1999.

Cory Doctorow: “Reasonable covid food-safety advice: Sanitize your hands and your cart, practice social distancing, and…you’re done.” This pretty much matches what I’ve read on Consumer Reports, and what I did when I went out grocery shopping Tuesday. Also, I’m saving up grocery shopping for big runs. Normally, when I run out of something, I go out and get it. However, I’m running out of apples now and I’ll just do without apples a few days until I have a lot of stuff to buy.

Cory Doctorow: Right-wing extremists who denounce their opponents' incivility are using the same arguments as advocates of slavery in the antebellum US.

Cory Doctorow: Real-estate plutocrats are making a killing on the Senate stimulus. And guess what business Trump is in?

Cory Doctorow: [The US is now the epicenter of the pandemic] a: “Trump wants the country to go back to work by Easter, because in his version of the Trolley Problem, the most important thing is saving the trolley.” In cruel irony, the bulk of the people who die will be older Americans – the Trump and Fox news demographic, Cory notes. But so many people will die because of this.

Gentleman buys a DVD at a flea market containing 80 minutes of previously unseen Seinfeld bloopers.

Andrew Sullivan uses his memories of the AIDS epidemic to cast light on coronavirus and society.

How to Survive a Plague It’s quite possible that by the end of all this, almost every American will know of someone who has died. A relative, a friend, an old high-school classmate … the names will pop up and migrate through Facebook as the weeks go by, and in a year’s time, Facebook will duly remind you of the grief or shock you experienced. The names of the sick will appear to be randomly selected — the ones you expected and the ones you really didn’t, the famous and the obscure, the vile and the virtuous.

If we need to kill grandma and grandpa to save the economy, then fuck the economy.

A far-right rallying cry: Older Americans should volunteer to work This article compares current conservative calls to sacrifice older Americans against the Obamacare “death panel” scare. But that’s rubbish because the death panels never existed, whereas this kill-the-olds movement is real. Hillary was right. A good percentage of Trump supporters really are deplorable. We do not sacrifice the weak and old to protect society. The reason we have society is to protect the weak and old.

Not even three weeks on lockdown and the people who were once sneering at this as being no worse than the flu are now wetting their pants and planning on turning old people into Soylent Green.

People who say cruel things on the internet are often not the cartoon villains we imagine them to be.

He urged saving the economy over protecting those who are ‘not productive’ from the coronavirus. Then he faced America’s wrath. - The Washington Post Attorney Scott McMillan brought the wrath of the internet on himself when he tweeted: “The fundamental problem is whether we are going to tank the entire economy to save 2.5% of the population which is (1) generally expensive to maintain, and (2) not productive.” Yes, it’s wrong and appalling but so what?

Any micro.bloggers in San Diego?

As part of our morning wake-up routine I’ve been giving Minnie three chicken-flavored treats every day. They’re infused with glucosamine, which is good for her joints. This morning I dropped all three from waist height at the same time – and Minnie snatched all three from the air, simultaneously, before they hit the ground. I was in awe. The glucosamine is fantastic, btw. She’s a lot more active now.

With Affirmed Networks purchase, Microsoft looks to plug 5G into Azure - Light Reading. With its Affirmed acquisition, Microsoft is challenging telco software vendors such as Ericsson, Cisco and Mavenir.

How Triscuits got their name It has nothing to do with the number “three.” And it’s actually very cool, particularly if you’re a fan of retro-futurism — i.e., how people from past generations envisioned the future.

Trump threatened to sue media outlets that air a political commercial that accurately quoted his statements ridiculing the coronavirus threat. thehill.com/homenews/… More from Cory: pluralistic.net/2020/03/2…

Cory Doctorow reviews Thomas Pikkety's new book, "Capital and Ideology."

The thesis of the new book is that “the ‘laws’ of economics are actually policies, created to ‘justify a society’s inequalities,’ providing a rationale to convince poor people not to start building guillotines.” pluralistic.net/2020/03/2… My $0.02: You see this in one of the main conservative and so-called moderate Democrat arguments against Medicaire-for-All: That we can’t afford it. If society can’t afford to save lives, then we can’t afford to have that society.

Journalist practices social distancing in unexpected encounter with a herd of bison. “Oh my God. Oh, no, I’m not messing with you.” Funny. www.cnn.com/travel/ar…

Who would you be willing to sacrifice – have them die – to keep the stock market up? Sullen teen offspring? Obnoxious neighbor who runs the lawnmower and/or snowblower at 7 am Saturdays? Coworker who never makes a fresh pot of coffee? Discuss.

A programmer switches gears – so to speak – and takes up a career as a bike courier. From 2005. I wonder what he’s doing today? web.archive.org/web/20050… Highlights: The most common sort of bike you will see couriers on is your standard street bike. Light frame, slick tires, no suspension and between 18 and 24 gears. Among veterans however, the favoured bikes are single speeds. There is a large variety among single speeds as well (fixed drive or freewheel, coaster brakes or hand brakes, etc.

Teaser that ran in movie theaters for the Max Fleischer “Superman” cartoons, 1941 www.youtube.com/watch

My little experiment using micro.blog categories to automate selective syndication to Tumblr and Twitter failed. Posts were not showing up in either place, except for one post that showed up on Tumblr but formatting was screwy. And even if that problem were resolved, it would drive me crazy to remember to check the little category boxes every time I post to micro.blog. So for now I’m going back to my previous default: Automatically cross-post everything to Tumblr, which results in duplicate posts when reblogging from Tumblr.

Today on Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic.net

The Internet Archive is supporting unlimited book-lending during the crisis. “… they buy and scan one copy of every book (pretty much every book, ever) and lend it out to one person at a time. They’ve just announced that during the crisis, they are lifting the one-borrower-at-a-time restriction and allowing unlimited borrowing, ‘to meet the needs of a global community of displaced learners’. They call it the ‘National Emergency Library.

Second Life-maker calls it quits on their VR follow-up techcrunch.com/2020/03/2… Linden Lab is selling off Sansar to a small company called Wookey Search Technologies.

The travel, conference and tourism industry are going to be in recession for a long time after coronavirus is a distant memory.

As Charles Stross notes here in another context, people are going to be reluctant to gather in big groups with other people who’ve come from far away. www.antipope.org/charlie/b… He says he doesn’t expect to see much activity in science fiction conventions in 2021 or 2022. I agree and see this going far beyond science fiction conventions. Most of my career has been closely tied with professional conferences. I’ve gone to one or two a month, mostly traveling by plane to get there.

Shopping run: I went to the supermarket yesterday – for the benefit of my local friends, the Vons on University in La Mesa. The crowd seemed about typical for a weekday afternoon, which is to say moderate. Neither heavy nor light. Most people were not wearing masks or gloves. I wore latex gloves – surprisingly light and comfortable, and blue, which made me think of the bad guys on the TV show “Firefly.

Julie said today that I am “contumacious.”

So like I said, I ordered a new iPad Pro last night. I am a confessed Apple fanboy, so I’m excited to get it and feel like I can barely wait the 2-2.5 weeks until it’s due to arrive. Last night as I was falling asleep, I found myself wondering what kind of world we’ll be in when the iPad gets here. Things are moving awfully fast.

I excavated my briefcase from where it was buried under cardboard boxes in my office. I thought I had packets of hand sanitizer wipes in there, but it turned out to be Coffee-Mate, which is not a substitute, I think.

"Julia Roberts’ performance is the magic spell that makes Pretty Woman work."

Appreciating “Pretty Woman,” 30 years later www.refinery29.com/en-ca/202… I didn’t see “Pretty Woman” until years after it came out because chick flick. It’s a delightful movie. Julia Roberts yes but also Laura San Giacomo, who is an underappreciated national treasure. Jason Alexander is the perfect d-bag. And Richard Gere is Richard Gere and Hector Elizondo is Hector Elizondo, two things that are excellent to be.

I see a few social media darwinists saying we should be willing to sacrifice lives in the short term to restart the economy. But nobody’s willing to lead by example.

But her emails!

I have committed iPad Pro 13"

My brain has been tempting me with the new iPad Pro, about how nice it will be to have that big screen when I’m sitting and reading or doing social media. Or whatever. I’ve been replying to my brain that hey I just got laid off two months ago and I need to focus on building an income stream or finding another job. My brain said to me this morning, well, if you had a new iPad Pro it would be a backup computer if the MacBook Pro goes belly-up and needs to spend time in the shop.

How Biscoff Cookies Became the Snack We Crave on Planes www.cntraveler.com/story/how… I never eat ‘em on the ground but I love them on planes. It’s crazy how great it is when the flight attendant comes by with Biscoff or other favorite airplane treats. Same for the Amtrak snack boxes. I’m a grown-ass adult who can afford to buy this stuff for myself if I want it.

It’s time to track people’s smartphones to ensure they self-isolate during this global pandemic, says WHO boffin. Professor Marylouise McLaws, a technical adviser to the World Health Organization’s Infection Prevention and Control Global Unit, praises Singapore, which has a system where the government sends an SMS to citizens, who click a link which uses the phone’s location services to report their location. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/23/track_phones_coronavirus_who/ It’s an intriguing system, with the advantage that citizens can easily opt out after the crisis, by simply refusing to participate.

Video: Italian mayors berate citizens for breaking quarantine. “Getting in your mobile hairdressers?! What the fuck is that for? Don’t you understand that the casket will be CLOSED?” twitter.com/GiuliaRoz…

My first multi-person Zoom coffee break this morning. We discussed bronies and the catechism. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a meeting where either was discussed, let alone both.

I saw this excellent sidewalk art near the house. “Just keep walking” can be seen as inspirational or a threat.📷 . Minnie practices her reading comprehension skills.

The Grass Is Always Greener by George Malcolm-Smith Bantam Books 410, 1948 Cover by Casey Jones gameraboy1.tumblr.com/post/6133…

Law firm warns work-from-home employees against eavesdropping by Alexa, baby monitors, etc.

Locked-Down Lawyers Warned Alexa Is Hearing Confidential Calls - Bloomberg Mishcon de Reya LLP, the U.K. law firm that famously advised Princess Diana on her divorce and also does corporate law, issued advice to staff to mute or shut off listening devices like Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s voice assistant when they talk about client matters at home, according to a partner at the firm. It suggested not to have any of the devices near their work space at all.

Tlaib proposes minting two $1 trillion platinum coins to finance monthly coronavirus debit cards Everybody gets $2,000 upfront plus $1,000/mo. to get through the crisis.

Today on Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic

A law firm is telling employees to switch off smart speakers and similar devices while working from home. We don’t have any in the house. The payoff seems low in the potential risk seems high. A Florida city sent power disconnection notices to its poorest residents during the pandemic crisis. The mayor is ducking accountability. Rashida Tlaib proposes meeting trillion dollar coins, and then using those to send “every person in the USA a $2K prepaid credit card that would receive $1K/month until a year after the crisis’s end.

Cory Doctorow: How prepper media is dealing with coronavirus

Prepperism is about being the individual savior, while solving a community or global crisis requires collective action. Now I’ve got the 1970s Dr Pepper “Be a Pepper” jingle stuck in my head, which completely undercuts the seriousness of the point being made here.

“woefully concupiscent snails” would be a good name for a podcast.

ME THERMOMETER: Your temperature is “don’t be such a hypochondriac you don’t have the rona” degrees.

ME (before the rona): <Bleeding profusely, skin inflamed, boils, hacking wheezing cough, seizures, occasional blindness> Probably nothing. It’ll go away on its own in a couple of days. ME (now): <coughs once, softly, slight headache> OMG I got the rona I’m gonna die!

We’re “taking our temperature with a mercury thermometer” years old.

ME (before the rona): I haven’t been out except to walk the dog and run essential errands. All my communications, except with Julie, are online. I’m ok with that. ME (after the rona): Same, but now I’m going nuts with claustrophobia.

From the comments: She is holding the floppy in the one spot you’re not supposed to touch it. via

If you’re going to fake paying attention with Zoom backgrounds, make it a looping video Use a looping video of yourself paying attention as a background for video conferences. Then you can just go sit in the other room, drink beer and check blogs and stuff.

I saw this hopeful sign while walking the dog. 📷 🎉

I just ordered clippers for a home haircut. I am prepared for the apocalypse.

I followed @bestoftimes this morning and added two books to my to-be-read list from his feed. Thanks!

Coronavirus: Drive-in theaters report uptick in business - Axios Fond memories of going to drive-ins with my parents and brothers as a child, and later with friends as a teenager.

Mel Gibson - The Road Warrior (1981) via

via

Jungle Comics #93 (1947), cover by Joe Doolin Via There is a lot going on here.

We need a moonshot program to build a first-class healthcare system in the US in the next year or so. This will certainly be difficult but it will benefit in so many ways.

Trump viciously attacks NBC News reporter in extended rant after being asked for message to Americans worried about coronavirus www.cnn.com/2020/03/2…

Trump is outbidding state agencies for medical supplies.

“Trump has refused to coordinate federal procurements of emergency supplies for states, saying the fed is not “a shipping clerk” for state governments.” A bidding war for medical supplies is a terrible idea right now. Cory Doctorow pluralistic.net/2020/03/2…

I saw Lake Murray looking spectacular this afternoon. 📸

We’re not going back to normal: Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks. It will upend our way of life, in some ways forever. www.technologyreview.com/s/615370/…

Senator Richard Burr Warned Of Coronavirus Effects In Private Meeting - NPR

Even while GOP leaders were ridiculing and downplaying coronavirus risks, at least one – Senator Richard Barr, the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee – was simultaneously saying the opposite to big-money constituents, warning them that the virus was extremely dangerous. https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818192535/burr-recording-sparks-questions-about-private-comments-on-covid-19?utm_source=nextdraft&amp;utm_medium=email

Cory Doctorow: Fox News is a suicide cult. Theirs and Trump’s initial coronavirus denialism is still helping fuel the spread. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow: “How to structure a fair covid bailout: Stimulus, not private jets.” pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Beijing fears Covid-19 is a turning point for China and globalization

China didn’t start coronavirus, but Chinese incompetence and authoritarianism is a big part of the reason why it’s now a global pandemic, rather than a local problem. The same Chinese government that mishandled the crisis at first is now telling us that everything’s fine in China now; they’ve got it under control. Seriously? Michael Auslin: While the world fights the coronavirus pandemic, China is fighting a propaganda war. Beijing’s war aim is simple: shift away from China all blame for the outbreak, the botched initial response, and its early spread into the broader world.

Dr. Fabiano Di Marco, a doctor in a hospital in Bergamo, Italy, shares his story: “It’s like a war,” he says. “We cry every day.” The US may be headed the same way. www.nytimes.com/2020/03/1…

The origin stories of the peace sign, smiley face and power button symbol. There are symbols all around us that we take for granted, like the lightning strike icon, which indicates that something is high voltage. Or a little campfire to indicate that something is flammable. Those icons are pretty obvious, but there are others that aren’t so straightforward. Like, why do a triangle and a stick in a circle indicate “peace”?

If you must smoke while wearing your influenza mask, 1918 reddit.com/r/OldScho…

Sister Maria Elena Romero, a cloistered nun, offers advice on social distancing, which nuns and monks have been doing for nearly 2,000 years. cruxnow.com/church-in…

Cory Doctorow: Plague precautions from 1665.

A comprehensive list, resembling extreme measures we might see today – both virtues and flaws (tippling in public houses STILL permitted). Science was just getting started then, but people had plenty of experience with plague. Among the precautions: Public entertainments, including bear-baiting, are banned. The bears must have been pleased. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow: "Bigoted Republican Congressjerk votes against coronavirus relief because it might cover same-sex partnerships."

Cory: “The Republican Party, folks. The party of death and poverty and tragedy and hate. Remember that in November.” pluralistic.net/2020/03/1… In reality, the law that hateful moron Andy Biggs (R-Az) objects to makes no change to US policy regarding same-sex partnerships. None. Also, the way infectious disease works is that for any of us to be protected, all of us need protection. Even people we find contemptible, like Andy Biggs.

John Green on coronavirus: “Togetherness is the superpower of our species. Like, yeah, we as individuals are very smart, as animals go, but it is our collective knowledge that has made us so successful.” youtu.be/dh23nwxpf…

American Airlines blew $15B on stock buybacks to benefit shareholders, jacked up prices and nickel-and-dimed customers. Now it wants a $50B bailout - 3x 9/11. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1… When companies make good decisions, management and shareholders are rewarded. When companies make bad decisions, they scream for help to Uncle Sam … and management and shareholders are rewarded at taxpayer expense. Good thing Bernie is going down. Otherwise we might have socialism or something!

NYT: Trump Now Claims He Always Knew the Coronavirus Would Be a Pandemic

www.nytimes.com/2020/03/1… Trump lies compulsively, and many times a day, about things that are easily verifiable as untrue. He claims he always knew the coronavirus would be pandemic within days of having gone on the record numerous times downplaying the seriousness of the virus and ridiculing people who took it seriously. None of this is secret. It’s all on video. You can see it for yourself. Probably you did see it.

Scientists warn we may need to live with social distancing for a year or more www.vox.com/science-a… Grim reading.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday he has put the California National Guard on alert to help protect communities and fight the spread of COVID-19. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/mili…

The Atlantic: America’s Restaurants Will Need a Miracle

Social distancing could prove devastating to the restaurant industry, as restaurants are becoming vital economic infrastructure. Americans now spend more at restaurants than at grocery stores—something they had never done before 2015. This modern dining revolution has made restaurants one of the country’s most important sources of work. In 1990, manufacturing employment was almost three times larger than the food-service industry, but today there are about as many jobs in food service as in manufacturing.

Scientific American: Time Has No Meaning at the North Pole

On the research vessel, Polarstern, at the North Pole, time zones, seasons and even day and night are meaningless.The sun rises and sets once a year, and 24 times zones converge on a single point. The captain changes the ships time zone arbitrarily, to communicate with other ships on different clocks. blogs.scientificamerican.com/observati…

“There is nothing in this world that occurs to you that has not occurred to me first. That is the affliction I live with.” maximumfun.org/episodes/…

Shit.

Cory Doctorow: Be sure to fill out your census. Do it online or by phone. Filling out your census is important to your community getting its share of federal representation and services. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow’s Twitter account was suspended for a day, because of a list of trolls he created called “colossal assholes.” Says Cory: “‘Colossal assholes’ got me suspended, but not its companion list, ‘Toe-faced shitweasels’” But he’s back now. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Family Room Decor, 1970s retropopcult.tumblr.com/post/6128…

Andrew Cuomo Is the Control Freak We Need Right Now www.nytimes.com/2020/03/1… The qualities that make him a problematic governor in normal times are right for a crisis like the one we’re in.

We are legit running low on TP. May have to use cats instead.

Andrew Sullivan: Reality Arrives to the Trump Era

Andrew Sullivan finds similarities between the initial public reactions to the coronavirus, the gay community’s initial reaction initial to the AIDS epidemic – which, as a gay man, Sullivan lived through – and the 1918 Spanish flu. In all three cases, the initial reaction was denial and complacency. Even people who accepted the reality of the situation failed to gauge its seriousness and react appropriately. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/andrew-sullivan-reality-arrives-to-the-trump-era.html?utm_campaign=nym&amp;utm_source=tw&amp;utm_medium=s1 Ira Glass, at this American Life, compared the current period to waiting for biopsy results from the doctor.

Anbara Salam on Twitter: “As a public service in these stressful times I’d like to offer, as a palate cleanser, the most embarrassing moment of my life.” twitter.com/anbara_sa… The lobster pool float completes the tale.

The Man With 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer Just Donated Them

www.nytimes.com/2020/03/1… Cut the guy some slack. He’s in a perfectly legitimate business, he saw an opportunity and he overreacted. If you hate the guys who hoarded all that hand sanitizer, wait until you find out that a few hundred people have hoarded half the wealth in the country. And they’re not keeping it in their garage, either. P.S. If you sent this guy death threats, he’s not the asshole. You’re the asshole.

Cory Doctorow: TikTok’s secret guidelines require moderators to suppress videos from old, ugly, fat, disabled and poor people. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

How to prepare for coming layoffs: Good advice from Cory Doctorow, who’s been self-employed for nearly 20 years. :) pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow: An Italian hospital fixed its ventilator with 3D printed parts. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Stupid TiVo didn’t record the debate. What’d I miss?

Went to the store. Did not buy extra TP. Did buy extra coffee. It’s called “priorities.” Look it up.

I’m ready for the debate.

NBC’s Saturday Night Live Various Artists Arista Records/USA (1976) retropopcult.tumblr.com/post/6125…

mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/6125…

The opening to Chiller Theater scared me when I was a kid. I couldn’t watch it. Still scares me now but I’m a grown-ass adult so I made myself sit all the way through. www.youtube.com/watch

Republican blogs are pushng the meme that Uncle Joe has dementia. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at that, because the Republicans are also criticizing the Bidens for nepotism. I expect they’ll next criticize Biden for having a bad combover and orange spray-tan. I’ve seen the videos that purport to show Biden’s senility and I just don’t see it. In one he wanders off-camera during a Facebook Live chat. In another, he stumbles over when he would take office as President.

He Has 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer and Nowhere to Sell Them

On March 1, the day after the first coronavirus death was announced, Matt and Noah Colvin started a three-day, 1,300-mile journey from their homes in Chattanooga, Tenn., filling up a U-Haul truck with hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes. Then Amazon cracked down on price gouging. “It’s been a huge amount of whiplash,” [Matt Colvin] said. “From being in a situation where what I’ve got coming and going could potentially put my family in a really good place financially to ‘What the heck am I going to do with all of this?

The “tragedy of the commons” is junk science developed by a racist who espoused eugenics and white supremacy. thebaffler.com/latest/fi…

We’ve stocked up on about two weeks of emergency supplies, like you’re supposed to. It wasn’t a stretch – we buy in bulk anyway. All but coffee. We only have a few days of coffee because it’s really best if you brew it soon after it’s roasted and grind it just before you make it, with a burr grinder rather than a blade grinder, and I guess I’m a hipster now where’s my moustache wax?

I have two important videoconferences scheduled for Monday, and I spent much of the day getting the office in shape to be seen – or, rather, the part of my office visible from the Mac camera, I used the Photo Booth app to photograph the office from the perspective of the Mac camera, and I picked up clutter to make everything nicer. But only within the cone of space visible to the camera.

Cory Doctorow: The CIA’s information security is really terrible pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

“Like Japan in the mid-1800s, the United States now faces a crisis that disproves everything the country believes about itself.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc…

The 1918 flu pandemic in San Diego: 366 deaths, sheep dip and mandatory masks 0.5% of San Diego’s population was killed in the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic; the equivalent of more than 6,000 today. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/heal…

The ballet dancer who led a prisoner uprising at Auschwitz

Franceska Mann, a 26-year-old Jewish ballet dancer from Poland, arrived in Auschwitz in 1943, part of a transport of 1,800 so-called VIP prisoners from Bergen-Belsen. The prisoners “had been lured into thinking they were en route to freedom as part of an exchange for German POWs ostensibly organized by the Allies. The Germans promised that Auschwitz was merely a stop on the way to Switzerland, but the women among the group soon found themselves being led to the gas chambers,” according to a 2019 report in Haaretz.

“It was my first time ordering bulk crickets off the internet….” Funny Twitter thread. twitter.com/_cingraha…

Covid-19 needs a new name. Branding matters, people!

I’m getting email from every company I’ve ever given my address to, earnestly telling me how much they care about me and don’t want me to get Covid. If they really cared about me, they’d send soup.

“Sad ukelele” would be a great name for a podcast. mcmansionhell.com/post/1834…

Trump administration blocks states from using Medicaid to respond to coronavirus crisis www.latimes.com/politics/… The GOP is a death cult.

Find out which weather service is most accurate in your area

ForecastAdvisor shows you the accuracy of major weather forecasting services in your area. It says that The Weather Channel and AccuWeather are most accurate for us, which matches my unscientific explorations. www.forecastadvisor.com There is a joke that San Diego doesn’t need weather forecasts because the weather is always the same. There is some truth to that – but only some. Generally, you can tell what the weather is going to be by looking at the calendar, and any forecasting service will give you the rest of the information you need.

AT&T CEO pay rose to $32 million in 2019 while he cut 20,000 jobs arstechnica.com/tech-poli…

Reporters Without Borders uses Minecraft to sneak censored works across borders. techcrunch.com/2020/03/1…

The Zoom virtual background for videoconferences doesn’t seem to work with my Mac. I can buy a portable green screen, that attaches to the back of a chair, for $65. Or I can just clean my office.

“Social distancing” is actually not that big a change for me. #JokingNotJoking

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (aka MBS) is a brutal tyrant, who has also implemented reforms, including expanded women’s rights and crippling the oppressive, conservative Saudi clergy. But even for his reforms: Permission is not the same thing as freedom. Permissions granted by a tyrant can be taken away by the tyrant. www.npr.org/2020/03/1…

Barbara Krasnoff: How to hide your messy room during a Zoom video conference www.theverge.com/2020/3/11… Another excuse for me to postpone cleaning up the mountain of empty Amazon boxes in my home office. Um, thanks, Barbara?

Jason Snell: How to customize the display of the Apple Watch Workouts app. Useful tips - I did it right away after reading this article. sixcolors.com/post/2020…

Twitter 101: how to follow people and discover topics. Should be headlined: “How To Tell Your @ From a Hole in the Ground.” By me on The Verge (with a lot of work from my editor, Barbara Krasnoff - thanks!) www.theverge.com/2020/3/12…

IBM says it’s number three in cloud sales, but analysts say nope. Not even close. Interesting definitional disagreement on what “the cloud is.” Analysts say if it’s not like Amazon, it’s not the cloud. www.itprotoday.com/hybrid-cl…

Cory Doctorow: “Senate Republicans have killed emergency sick leave legislation, a move that will force millions of low-waged cleaning and food-service workers to choose between homelessness and potentially spreading Covid-19.” Billions for tax cuts for the rich, but when it comes to helping the poor, the GOP suddenly gets fiscal responsibility religion. This is peak disaster capitalism. If employers are required to pay sick leave, they lose money. But if people get sick and die, the healthcare and funeral industries make bank.

Cory Doctorow: A former top Cigna exec calls baloney on Biden’s claims that Medicaire-for-all is impractical. For starters, M4A wouldn’t COST $35T; it would SAVE at least $450B/year. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

The head of the TSA says he’s standing by a decision to take away healthcare coverage from part-time agents. Because of the nature of their work, TSA agents are at high risk of spreading infectious disease, like Covid-19. www.cnn.com/2020/03/1…

Trump’s ban on European travel exempt nations where he owns resorts. What an extraordinary coincidence! How fortunate for him! www.politico.com/news/2020…

Cory Doctorow: A scam-buster hacks into a scam factory and surveills the heck out of them. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow: Details of Italy’s “I stay in the house” law. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow: Twitter upgraded its terms of service to permit academics to use bots for research and auditing purposes pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow: Sensor Tower, which provides VPN and other software it describes as privacy protecting, was in fact distributing spyware. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow: The satiety index: Which foods make you feel the most full? pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Cory Doctorow: Nobody knows why people have gotten fatter since the 1950s. Diet and levels of physical activity don’t explain it, at least not entirely. Even animals are getting fatter, both domestic animals and feral animals. pluralistic.net/2020/03/1…

Michael McConnell, a prominent San Diego homeless advocate, fought against Proposition C in San Diego, which allocated $2 billion for homelessness. He said the law didn’t do enough and would have been too easily abused. www.listennotes.com/podcasts/…

A California software engineer found paragraphs and themes in the novel “The Manchuriam Candidate,” by Richard Congdon, that were plagiarized from “I, Claudius.” www.sfgate.com/entertain… Yes, the individual sentences and paragraphs and character personalities were copied, but this doesn’t pass the sniff test for plagiarism. The novels are blatantly different from one another.

Astronomers are using computer models for for slime mold growth patterns to trace filaments connecting galaxies. phys.org/news/2020… Reminds me of season 1 of “Star Trek: Discovery!”

Cory Doctorow: Farmers are fighting John Deere for the right to fix their own tractors. This is literally jeopardizing the US food supply. pluralistic.net/2020/03/0…

Cory Doctorow: A woman sued the TSA over a “pat-down” that penetrated her vagina. pluralistic.net/2020/03/0…

Led Zeppelin wins a ruling that “Stairway to Heaven” was not plagiarized from an earlier record, potentially setting a precedent for future copyright cases. Holy Crom, is that what Robert Plant looks like now? www.rollingstone.com/music/mus…

Virginia Dare (1956) advertisingpics.tumblr.com/post/6122…

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1975 apartment danismm.tumblr.com/post/6122…

Vincent Di Fate mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/6122…

IBM’s outgoing boss Rometty awarded $20m+ in 2019 for growing revenue 0.1% Nice work if you can get it.

IBM Food Trust: Who’s using blockchain to track supply chain? IBM has pushed blockchain hard for tracking customer supply chains, and touted marquee customers such as Walmart and Nestle. But it’s a big, hairy problem and uptake is slow.

I came into my office at about 4 am. Minnie had been closed up in here for six hours. It’s now after 7 am. Minnie still hasn’t gone out to relieve herself. I’m kind of in awe.

VMware is looking to rejuvenate again with a Kubernetes injection: VMware today rolls out an aggressive plan to integrate Kubernetes with traditional applications (running on VMware vSphere, natch). I go in-depth on the news at The Next Platform.

“The power of Frenchmen in your intestines” (1919) via

Back of the famous 1 Hacker Way Facebook sign via

The back side of Hollywood Squares, 1976 via

Can You Really Hire a Hit Man on the Dark Web? The dark web is swarming with hitman-for-hire sites, with colorful names like Azerbaijani Eagles and Sicilian Hitmen International Network. They charge tens of thousands of dollars in bitcoin – but they are frauds. They don’t actually kill people.

What Bernie Sanders Gets Right About the Media: much of the U.S. media still covers elections as if they’re sporting events and that the affluent New Yorkers who run and appear on television networks are not inclined to like him. Corporate media sees Sanders and Trump as the same, which is wrong. Trump is “a star of the corporate media who hacked its commercial incentives to his advantage, delivering free lively entertainment to cable networks desperate for programming.

California’s Gig Economy Is Under Attack. AB5 is limiting freelancers' ability to work, going far beyond the Uber drivers it was intended to protect. AB5 is a disaster. Terrible legislation.

Self-described political hack James Carville thinks Trump will lose

“Don’t touch the figs."

Grace and Frankie is Golden Girls minus the rattan furniture.

Like Cambridge Analytica, “but more nefariously, arguably:" Banjo, an artificial intelligence firm that works with police, used a shadow company to create Android and iOS apps that looked innocuous but were specifically designed to secretly scrape social media.

Airlines are burning thousands of gallons of fuel flying empty ‘ghost’ planes so they can keep their flight slots during the coronavirus outbreak

Cory Doctorow: Europe looks like it may be getting the courage to take on Apple, mandating that consumers have a right to repair their phones That would be a big threat to Apple’s revenue, as the company depends on customers replacing worn out phones when Apple deems the pocket-fondles are beyond repair.

How Old Is Too Old to Work? Old age is very different today, when the average lifespan is 79, than at the turn of the 20th century, when it was 49. It’s a new stage of life, like adolescence emerged 70 or so years ago. An interview with Louise Aronson, author of the book “Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life." From the book description on Amazon: For more than 5,000 years, “old” has been defined as beginning between the ages of 60 and 70.

A driver was pulled over with expired 1997 license plate tags. He says he’s been busy

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Coronavirus really is that bad and you should work from home

We watched “Sharpe’s Gold.” I bet the men in the 95th Rifles found Hagman annoying after a couple days. “Enough with the singing,” they said.

How to Tell If You Have the Flu, Coronavirus, or Something Else I think I had norovirus almost exactly a year ago, after returning from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. And I passed the norovirus to Julie. Because you should always bring your spouse a little something when you return from a business trip.

I have been that tourist. It’s why I often patronize Starbucks when I’m out of town.

Minnie found a steak-bone on our walk the other day, and I let her carry it home and work on it in the backyard for a while. “What could go wrong?” I thought. It made her so happy. She sleeps in my office at night, separated from the rest of the house so she doesn’t terrorize the cats. Putting her to bed is the last thing I do before I go to bed myself, and letting her out is the first thing I do when I wake up.

Bernie has done fine this far appealing to a radical, burn-it-down revolutionary base. But now he needs to appeal to ALL Democrats or he’ll lose the nomination. And he’ll have to switch gears again if he gets the nomination, to appeal to that additional fraction of Americans who see him as being just as bad as Trump.

Cory Doctorow: “Libraries, of course, are the last place in our civilization where you are welcomed because you are a human being, not because you are an ambulatory wallet.”

The right to repair is the right to resilience

Cory on Pluralistic.net: It’s no coincidence that farms and farmers have been leaders in Right to Repair: when you’re isolated and you’re not allowed to fix your stuff, it means that you can neither nip down to the shops for a replacement, nor easily have an authorized repair tech come to your place. Covid can put everyone – even entire nations – into the position of that isolated farmer.

Cory Doctorow on "Right to Repair" and more

Cory Doctorow talks about how big business and government have taken away your right to repair property you own, how Facebook and other monopolies can be broken up by requiring them by law to interoperate with other services, and other issues related to monopoly control and trustbusting. INTERVIEW WITH THE FIREWALLS DON’T STOP DRAGONS PODCAST Cory and other digital rights advocates can often get branded as socialists. And yet your right to do what you want with your own property is the most fundamental right there is in a capitalist/market economy.

June Lockhart in a wardrobe test for “Lost in Space,” 1965. Via Still alive; she’s 94

Ezra Klein: Sanders can’t lead the Democrats if his campaign treats them like the enemy www.vox.com/2020/3/4/…

Trump blasts Sessions on Twitter, inadvertently confirming key Mueller finding Trump publicly admits to obstruction of justice. Again. www.vox.com/2020/3/4/…

Cisco WebEx, Google and other companies are offering free videoconferencing to help restrict coronavirus (and encourage people to subscribe and pay when the emergency is over!) www.zdnet.com/article/v…

ICE's New York office uses a rigged algorithm to keep virtually all arrestees in detention. The ACLU says it's unconstitutional

“… this ostensible problem-solving software was rigged to provide only one solution: detention,” writes Sam Biddle at The Intercept. According to a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and Bronx Defenders: While waiting for those hearings, those detained suffer under harsh conditions of confinement akin to criminal incarceration. While incarcerated, they are separated from families, friends, and communities, and they risk losing their children, their jobs, and their homes.

Why America is so vulnerable to coronavirus

Ryan Cooper: America’s atrociously inadequate welfare state makes it by far the most vulnerable rich country to a viral pandemic, and the vicious, right-wing ideology of the Republican Party has wrecked the government’s ability to manage crises of any kind…. Indeed, U.S. health care is not only by far the worst system among rich countries, it is much worse than that of many middle-income or poorer countries when it comes to confronting a fast-moving epidemic.

Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet It is one of the few remaining places that retains the faintly utopian glow of the early World Wide Web. Wonderful article. www.wired.com/story/wik…

American taxpayers have paid $152 million for Trump to play golf, making him the 10th highest paid American athlete. www.theroot.com/we-calcul…

We have watched two episodes of the second season of “Altered Carbon.” We are almost enjoying it. Does it get better?

AP: Bloomberg is thinking about dropping out after a disappointing Super Tuesday showing. apnews.com/4b7a6e2de…

Inside the race to build the best quantum computer on Earth

Google and IBM are dueling to commercialize a new generation of computing technology, quantum computing. While Google is working on a breakthrough to achieve “quantum supremacy,” IBM is dismissive of that approach, working on evolutionary development with a steady stream of commercial applications from the outset. Gideon Lichfield goes in depth at MIT Technology Review, along with explaining the principles of quantum computing and differences between the two approaches. Based on Lichfield’s article, Google is ahead but IBM looks ready for a marathon:

I tried to go 24 hours without touching my face. I made it 18 minutes

Nestor Ramos at the Boston Globe: Surely I could give up wiping my mouth, rubbing my eyes, and scratching my nose, too. How hard could it be? I’m not a 4-year-old licking the buttons in the elevator; I’m a grown man in control of my various scratching and rubbing functions. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/03/nation/i-tried-go-24-hours-without-touching-my-face-i-made-it-18-minutes/?utm_source=nextdraft&amp;utm_medium=website Wonderful article. While I read it I became aware I was scratching my nose.

China is using Uighur slave labor camps for manufacturing for US brands including Nike, Apple and Dell. www.bbc.com/news/worl…

Miss Staten Island banned from St. Pat’s parade after coming out as bi — still shows up nypost.com/2020/03/0…

Aaron Sorkin on his new play based on “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The West Wing,” “Studio 60,” and how he’d write the 2020 Democratic primary. www.nytimes.com/interacti…

How Facebook has become one of the least trusted and most profitable companies in the world.

Tech journalist Steven Levy, talks about the company’s history on Fresh Air. He’s got a new book out, “Facebook: The Inside Story,” based on interviews with Zuckerberg, other top current and former Facebook execs – some of whom share their misgivings about the company – and Facebook critics. I’m hooked on Facebook, yet I have strong misgivings about it. Living in the world requires compromising principles, and some of those compromises are appalling.

Herod Agrippa is the Lando Calrissian of “I, Claudius.” On the I, Podius podcast: maximumfun.org/episodes/…

Super Tuesday, Explained: I listened to this entire podcast episode and I’m still confused. Short version: Lots of states have their Democratic primaries today so it’s a really big deal. open.spotify.com/episode/5…

The true story behind "You've Got Mail:" The movie was based on a real conflict between a New York Barnes & Noble and a local children's bookstore.

At that time, B&N was the big bad soul-crushing superstore chain killing indy Mom-and-Pop bookstores. Later, Amazon beat down Barnes & Noble. Yes, the same technology that brought the characters of “You’ve Got Mail” together flattened B&N. On the Decoder Ring podcast: slate.com/transcrip… The reality is even more complicated than Decoder Ring portrays. B&N and Borders brought books by the tens of thousands to places that were previously bookstore deserts. Pre-B&N, if you grew up in the suburbs, as I did, or in rural America, your bookstore options were a few sad B.

Today I voted, and spent a good chunk of time updating the local Democratic Club website and social media. Also did some publicity for the next meeting, which is Wednesday. Details here: www.lamesafoothillsdemocraticclub.org/post/meet… I highly recommend volunteering for politics – local politics – as an alternative to arguing about it, on social media or elsewhere. Arguing politics makes you bitter. Volunteering is far more productive – and it’s fun.

Cory Doctorow’s got a new blog. It’s Pluralistic.net. pluralistic.net It’s his usual mix of cyber-rights, science fiction and retro pop culture. Interestingly, he’s doing it as a daily digest rather than a series of individual posts. I like it. The design is minimalist. No HTML, not even hrefs. I’m trying out the no-hrefs look here to see how I like it. Cory and Dave Winer are my blogfathers; when I’m fiddling with an idea, it’s often because I saw one of them do it.

Everybody agrees that social media needs to suppress harmful content while promoting good content, but nobody can agree on what falls into which category. Many people are not acting in good faith, and will knowingly claim that bad content which should be suppressed is actually good. None of this seems particularly insightful to me, but public policy discussions about social media tend to assume that there is some good faith arbiter somewhere who can absolutely separate good from evil.

Hollywood is bending the knee to Peking to avoid offending the authoritarian Chinese government, by excising the Chinese flag, editing out pro-LGBTQ content, etc.

What Happened to the Company That Raised Minimum Wage to $70k/yr? Business is better than ever.

The four largest U.S. carriers face combined FCC fines totaling about $209M for selling customer location data without consent, even after operators were made aware of the issue. But will the carriers just look at this as a slap on the wrist?

Telco spending is weak and 5G isn’t a cure-all, according to analysis of service provider and vendor revenues.

Yesterday I did my 3+-mile walk with the dog through a residential neighborhood up at the end of Lake Murray Blvd. No access to bathrooms. After I’d gone about 1/10 of a mile, I thought, “I think I may need to pee now.” Later, I grew more certain. It was like the end of the Titanic by the time I got home. You may have even heard me exclaim “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

Radio station ad via

California Legislature’s Battle Over ‘Gig Economy’ Shows No Sign of Ending AB5 was intended to stop companies like Uber and Lyft from misclassifying employees as contract workers, depriving them of legally mandated benefits. Instead, it’s misclassifying legitimate contractors as employees, and depriving large numbers of people of their livelihood. The unions and the author of the bill, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a San Diego Democrat, gave exemptions to a few categories of work.

How And Why To Keep A “Commonplace Book” This is my commonplace book.

The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford: Mark Twain’s Marginalia: Most of Mark Twain’s books have handwritten notes in the margins.

Pocket Notebooks: A Brief History | The Art of Manliness

Unheralded ways that ordinary life has improved in the last 25 years.

The Oxford English Dictionary is adding Nigerian words, which is proving controversial with some scholars. Interestingly, opponents include Nigerians. The BBC’s Nduka Orjinmo writes from Lagos.

Remembering Laser Books, a short-lived line of mediocre science fiction novels that tore through the genre in the mid-1970s, helmed by Roger Elwood.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle = The Breakfast Club.

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There’s an Entire Industry Dedicated to Making Foods Crispy, and It Is WILD - Alex Beggs at Bon Appétit

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Jason Kottke spent three weeks in Asia, including extended visits to Saigon and Singapore and 24 hours in Dubai. As promised by Kottke, this essay is relatively long, but it’s a fast, enjoyable read. He advises taking a food tour on your first visit to a new city. That’s a great idea! My superpower is taking an extra day on a business trip to anyplace I haven’t been often, and seeing the sites.

Kottke: The secret of enduring Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) during a long winter is just roll with it. Learn to enjoy the long nights and cold weather. Relevant to me personally because Julie and I often talk about moving to Columbus, Ohio, where she grew up and where she has family. I’ve been there more than a dozen times and I like it but oh, those winters. Funny thing, for most of my life I was an indoor mole, but in the past dozen years, since I started getting fit, I’ve gotten used to spending extended periods outside every day.

Monty Python’s “Always Look at the Bright Side of Life” is now the most popular song played at British funerals.

Renowned Mathematician And Physicist Freeman Dyson Has Died At Age 96 His daughter Mia Dyson, a nurse and pastor who lives in Freeport Maine, says she fondly remembers her father being stumped by practical things, such as how to operate a soda machine, while contemplating the brilliance of the universe.

“Age of Treason” was a 1993 TV movie about Marcus Didio Falco, a threadbare private investigator working the mean streets of Rome, 2000 years ago. I haven’t seen the movie, but I read and enjoyed several of the novels, by Lindsay Davies, that the movie is based on.

‪Bailing on Afghanistan will be a disaster but staying will be worse. 20 years of the War on Terror has gone a long way to destroying America. We still have ample time to recover. Getting out of Afghanistan is the first step. ‬ ‪Now. Just go. ‬

On Selling Your First Novel After 11 Years – Min Jin Lee: A moving essay about an ex-attorney’s 11-year struggle to get her first novel published while dealing with financial difficulties, raising a child, helping her extended family and grappling with health crises. Underscores my belief that creative writing programs are a scam. lithub.com/on-sellin…

The last time Elyse saw her father was at her college graduation. They’d been close growing up, but then he disappeared, other than a few short emails every year. She learned he moved from their home in Tennessee to the Philippines, where he started a new family, including a daughter he named Elyse. gimletmedia.com/shows/hea…

Sansar, Linden Labs' follow-up to Second Life, was a victim of VR hype & failure to learn from SL mistakes – Wagner James Au nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2020/…

See Newly Digitized, "Super Detailed" Photos Of Old Greenwich Village

The turn of 20th century found Greenwich Village in the midst of a transformation – as affluent residents largely decamped uptown closer to Central Park and 5th Avenue, a bohemian enclave took shape in their wake. Residences were subdivided, housing became affordable, immigration was still on the rise, and “radicalism and nonconformity” were embraced, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation…. gothamist.com/arts-ente…

Robots aren’t taking our jobs — they’re becoming our bosses- Josh Dzieza at The Verge: On conference stages and at campaign rallies, tech executives and politicians warn of a looming automation crisis — one where workers are gradually, then all at once, replaced by intelligent machines. But their warnings mask the fact that an automation crisis has already arrived. The robots are here, they’re working in management, and they’re grinding workers into the ground.

How to delete all your saved articles in Instapaper

I wanted to delete all my saved Instapapaper article and make a fresh start, but had trouble figuring out how to do it. Here’s how: From the web, find your account name on the top right, click the dropdown, and click Archive All. Then switch to the Archive folder, click the account name again, and select Delete All. This can’t be undone.

Charlie, the store manager, 1968 “Mine’s bigger. My cucumber. It’s bigger. I think vegetables can be very sensuous, don’t you?” danismm.tumblr.com/post/6111…

One, two, and three years ago today I was in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress. Four years ago today was our nieces' Carly and Emma’s B’Not Bitzvah.

Mayor Pete says it’s ok to mix ranch dressing and salsa. I’ve never tried this combination, or even thought of trying it. Gotta admit, it sounds tasty.

“My Ex-Boyfriend’s New Girlfriend Is Lady Gaga” - Lindsay Crouse: Social media in 2020 is so ingrained that it’s no longer a supplement or even an addiction. It’s just an accelerated extension of the way humans have always behaved. We live in a culture of constant updates. You want to unsubscribe? Well, you can’t.

Facing Anger from Journalists, Assemblywoman Gonzalez Offers AB 5 Changes Good news for freelance journalists, but not other independent contractors.

Do you watch scripted TV and movies, such as dramas and comedies, on a tablet, phone, or strictly on the TV? Do you watch a few minutes at a time, or a whole episode or episodes at once?

Sarah Miller: The Diet Industrial Complex Got Me, and It Will Never Let Me Go “I did not see the body positivity movement coming, not at all.”

I just spent 15 minutes shopping for dental floss on Amazon. Sometimes choice is not a good thing.

Copied is a heck of a fine application for saving and managing multiple clipboards, particularly on the iPhone and iPad. My favorite feature is the way it uses an external keyboard to let you do text transformations while keeping another app open – multitasking even on the iPhone. I’m looking into Copied as a TextExpander replacement. Just save snippets to a list in Copied, and search for them as needed. By adding titles to the snippets, you can search for text that does not appear in the snippet itself.

Dropbox’s Reverse Migration, Out of AWS, Five Years On

Jeff Bezos pledged $10 billion to fight climate change, but Amazon is a big global contributor to the problem. Maybe he’d be more effective if he cleaned his own house first.

Sally Hemings was Thomas Jefferson’s slave and companion for many years, with whom he fathered multiple children, whose descendants are alive today. She won many concessions from him, including a comfortable life and freedom for her children. Some historians, including some of Hemings' descendants, frame their relationship as a love affair. Others point out that Hemings really didn’t have a choice in the matter, which makes the relationship look a rape victim who has managed to negotiate an arrangement with her rapist.

Interview and performance with Rachael & Vilray, a contemporary duet who write and perform new music in the style of 30s and 40s swing. Delightful! Also, remembering Ernest Hemingway biographer and friend A. E. Hotchner, who died Feb. 15, age 102. Hotchner spoke with Terry Gross in 1999.

Two San Diegans have developed an app to help “vanlifers” live on the road.

Patricia Quinn, who plays Livilla on I, Claudius, also starred in the Rocky Horror Picture snow; she played Magenta and the giant lips in the opening song.

Forget passwords: Secure yourself with a passphrase and these tools - Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

THIS SUMMER MORE WOMEN ARE TURNING TO MEDS! (1944) via

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The Pat Boone & Family Christmas Special (1979) via

New Viking Stereo Compact, 1960 via

“I’ve Done It!’ MARTIN KLASCH via

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Apparently there’s a new Indiana Jones movie coming next year and Harrison Ford, who’ll be 78, is in it.

Megadonor urges Pelosi, Schumer to pick candidate to stop Bernie Sanders

‘People don’t get it’: inside the world of hyper-realistic baby doll collecting … a doll “doesn’t turn into a teenager who wants an iPhone 11”.

Where Medicare-for-all is real Today, Explained] Looking at the healthcare systems in Taiwan, which has universal public healthcare and the Netherlands, which offers universal private health insurance. Two very different approaches, same goal.

Why liberals keep losing: We confuse slacktivism for activism

Eitan Hersh’s Politics Is for Power explains why liberals keep losing Sean Illing at Vox: If you spend a lot of time consuming news, there’s a good chance you’re doing politics wrong…. This is the thesis of a new book called Politics Is for Power by Eitan Hersh, a political scientist at Tufts University. … He coins the term “political hobbyism” to capture the problem. “We participate in politics by obsessive news-following and online slacktivism, by feeling the need to offer a hot take for each daily political flare-up, by emoting and arguing and debating, almost all of this from behind screens,” Hersh says.

Researchers are tracking coronavirus disinformation, which could be behind the market drop. - Wayne Rash

AT&T and Verizon axed nearly 30,000 jobs last year

Firefox now stops ISPs from tracking the websites you visit.

Why America Is Losing The Toilet Race It’s a race to the bottom.

Case Elliott was a big woman, with a big talent and a big, beautiful voice. In life she faced humiliating fat jokes. She didn’t die eating a ham sandwich. The ham sandwich on her nightstand the night she died was untouched. It probably wasn’t obesity that killed her. She weighed 220 pounds at the time of her death. That’s fat, but likely would not have been fatal at her young age.

“Empty Porn Sets” by photographer Jo Broughton “offers an insider’s behind-the-scenes look at the fantasy landscapes of porn." Broughton worked “as an assistant at a porn studio during her early college days.” Part of her work involved cleaning the sets at night. She says, “Dealing with the inevitable bodily fluids made me feel my own humanity and then the vulnerability of the models who had performed for the camera that day.

‪Meanwhile, at the Democratic candidates debate.

I feel judged.

Playful dog enthusiastically fails service dog tests. Alternate title: Me on a job interview. ‬

The Register: Firefox now defaults to DNS-over-HTTPS for US netizens and some are dischuffed about this: Good for privacy – or an alarming move towards further internet centralization? Also, governments and ISPs are concerned that DSN-over-HTTPS will make it harder to filter Internet traffic. That’s actually a plus, unless you need the government or your ISP telling you what you’re not allowed to look at.

Mike Dano: Mirantis co-founder targets 5G ‘oligopoly’ with private networks startup FreedomFi: A new startup in the wireless industry has set its sights on nothing less than tearing down “the oligopoly of a few large players” by leveraging unlicensed spectrum and open source technology. After all, “he who controls 5G, controls the universe,” writes Mirantis Co-Founder and CMO Boris Renski.

Warren Buffet finally upgraded from a flip phone to a smartphone – an iPhone 11 – but all he’s using it for is phone calls.

On MAGA Caps and WordCamps: The WordPress community is talking about banning red MAGA caps at its popular developer events, which are called WordCamps.

Return of the PDA. Neat!

“Like Going Out Half Dressed When you Brush Your Teeth and Neglect to Massage Your Gums,” Hemp gum massager, 1933 via

The Milwaukee - ca. 1900 Via

Mirantis co-founder leaves to create open-source 5G startup - Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Boris Renski, co-founder of OpenStack and Kubernetes power Mirantis, is turning his attention to open-sourcing 4G LTE and 5G with his new company FreedomFi.

Business owner says millennials are spoiled because they won’t work for free and are ambitious. I guess I’m a millennial now. How do you do, fellow kids?

Cory Doctorow: A Flat Earther commits suicide by conspiracy theory “Mad Mike” Hughes crashed a homemade rocket he intended to ride to prove the Earth is flat. Belief in crazy conspiracy theories is pandemic today because so many crazy conspiracies are real: climate change denialism, the opioid epidemic, Jeffrey Epstein’s pedo ring, etc.

“Authoritarian bias” kept Xi from dealing effectively with coronavirus- Cory Doctorow

Why do people listen to #NeverTrump Republicans lecturing Democrats on how the Democrats are on a path to failure beating Trump? #NeverTrumpers know nothing about beating Trump, and have nothing to contribute to that conversation. If #NeverTrumpers knew how to beat Trump THEY WOULD HAVE DONE IT.

A San Diego family cloned their dog for $50,000 “Marley,” a golden retriever, saved owner Alicia Tschirhart’s life while she was pregnant, five years ago, by jumping between her and a rattlesnake; Marley died a few months later of heart cancer. Now the Tschirharts have “Ziggy,” a 10-month-old pup, who is Marley’s clone. Sorry, Minnie. When you go, we’re not spending $50 large to clone you. If it makes you feel any better, I’m not being cloned after I go either.

Cadillac “Magnificent Beyond All Expectations!” 1950’s Nat. Geo Magazine Via

Holiday Inn, 1976 Via

I support Sanders. My first choice is Warren, but he’s a close second. And I’m glad to see the Republicans turn on him now, and I hope to see his Democratic rivals turn on the heat too. Not just about his visiting Russia in 1988 and being a socialist (which he’s not), because those things are old news. I want Sanders' opponents to dig up dirt on him now. All of it.

“I, Claudius” drinking game: Drink whenever a character shrieks, shouts or weeps. Double when they do all three at the same time. Finish the whole bottle in one draft when they do all four while begging for mercy.

ME: I’m going to have to get up and pee soon. Not right now though. [Moments later a 15-pound cat climbs up and settles in to sleep on my lap.]

A group of ex-NSA and Amazon engineers are building a “GitHub for data” A service called “Gretel” lets developers share data sets for building applications the way GitHub lets them share code.

You don’t know Esther Williams Williams starred in midcentury movies featuring her water dancing and synchronized swimming. She presented an image of delicate, wholesome femininity. In reality she was a tough athlete, who used her body as fiercely as any Hollywood stuntman and fended off sexual harassment from studio moguls and co-stars. She had four unhappy marriages, dropped acid, and made a comeback when she was in her 60s.

Two stories about Americans who fled in search of better lives. While millions of people have come to America to make a fresh start, sometimes the flow is in the other direction.

The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake While politicians and pundits say we need to preserve the American nuclear family, it’s extended families that have held society together and supported individuals for generations. David Brooks digs deep into history and anthropology, and describes how people today are building families that aren’t related by birth. Which turns out to be even older than what we usually think of as extended families

A Red Hat study finds enterprises are adopting open-source software rapidly.

When a popular genre writer dies, should their characters die with them? After mystery writer Robert B. Parker’s unexpected death in 2010, his family and estate hired a Southerner, Ace Atkins, to continue writing novels featuring Parker’s Boston detective, Spenser To cynics, the decision to carry on Parker’s novels appeared unseemly or, even worse, an act of literary grave robbing that threatened the author’s reputation. But those people didn’t know Robert B.

Plastic bag bans may be bad for the environment, as reusable grocery bags may have a more harmful effect than single-use bags. Most of the environmental impact comes from manufacture, rather than disposal, say skeptics of the bans.

Nicole Najafi went on a date with every Democratic Presidential candidate so you don’t have to. Funny. twitter.com/NicoleNaj…

Those feet tho autumnone.tumblr.com/post/1909…

Be the death of the party. mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/1909…

Planet of the Apes (1968) atomic-chronoscaph.tumblr.com/post/1909…

Supersonic Man (1979) gameraboy1.tumblr.com/post/1909…

Former California Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher confirmed he offered Julian Assange a pardon from Trump in exchange for proof that Russia didn’t hack the Democratic National Committee’s email. Rohrabacher wanted to pin the crime on Clinton staffer Seth Rich, who has been the focus of crazy conspiracy theories since he was murdered on the street in a mugging gone bad. news.yahoo.com/rohrabach…)

Sylvester Stallone on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, 1976.

“Big Tits Potato Chips 10 ₵” - This is a 1930s era wax paper potato chip bag from Dunn, North Carolina. Big Tits was the nickname of Titus Tart, one of the owners in the Tart-Chestnut Co. The image is that of Mr. Tart. Via

The Tandy TRS-80 Model 2000 Personal Computer in 1984. For only $1,500 extra, you could get it a 10mb drive.

Sixth Column by Robert A. Heinlein, 1949 Cover by Edd Cartier Via

Future President Harry Truman as a Captain, circa 1918

Mezhninskogo St. in Astrakhan, Russia, now and 100 years ago

Pablo Escobar’s hippos are running wild in Colombia.

People who paid $2,000 for a Flywheel bike had them abruptly bricked to settle a patent dispute with Peloton, in the latest episode of the Internet of Shitty Things.

Via

Mark Zuckerberg reportedly gets his armpits blow-dried before speeches

Some Staples stores in Boston are getting podcast studios Great idea and/or sign of the impending apocalypse.

Making coffee with Aeropress, according to inventor Alan Adler

Aeropress inventor Alan Adler demonstrates making three cups of coffee at once: YouTube I tried something like this technique this morning. I have three cups of coffee a day and I make it all at once in the morning. Previously I’d done it in two pressings, but this technique works for a single pressing. The taste was a little strong and one-dimensional; I need to work on that. I used an espresso grind, the finest our grinder would do.

One-day Friends-themed pop-up brunch restaurant is coming to San Diego. No one told me brunch was going to be this way.

“Then during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants, they chose a new form for him, that of a giant Sloar! Many Shubs and Zulls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of a Sloar that day, I can tell you.”

There is no Dana. Only Zuul. Via

Ramesses: The First Arab Car Via

Three views of a sleeping cat.

If I had a dime for every time I went to the grocery store and forgot to bring reusable grocery bags, I would have a big pile of dimes. Instead I have spent a lot of dimes, and we have a big pile of reusable grocery bags at home

“i heard u guys like carpeted bathrooms so i made a whole post of carpeted bathrooms.”

Fresh Air interviews Elie Wiesel, author, Auschwitz survivor, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate; as well as Holocaust historian Laurence Rees.

NASA is working on testing a prototype for a robot spaceship that could save the world if we are threatened by a killer asteroid.

After a drunken slip of the tongue, Steve Marsh and his siblings discover a secret their mother has been keeping for almost 40 years. Now, Steve wants to help his mom resolve the matter. The Marshes - Heavyweight

A new "I, Claudius" podcast

John Hodgman, Elliott Kalan and Jordan Kauwling have launched a podcast about “I, Claudius”. Special guests will include Mike Duncan, host and author of the excellent History of Rome podcast, as well as one of the stars of “I, Claudius,” a young guy with a full head of hair named Patrick Stewart. Whatever became of Stewart? Did he ever do anything else after “I, Claudius?” The name of the podcast is “I, Podivs.

This silly little $6.50 plastic gadget makes walking the dog more comfortable

It’s called the Urban Pets Hands Free Dog Poop Bag Holder Waste Knot. It’s a clip that you attach to the handle of the leash, with hooks from which you can hang a full dog-poop bag, after you’ve picked up after the dog. So now you don’t have to carry the full bag in your hand when walking. Easily holds two bags – will probably hold three if the dog is being extra-productive that day, although I haven’t tried.

Punk Princess: ‘Devastatingly Sexy’ Portraits of Debbie Harry 1977 to 1988

A California entrepreneur plans a limited production run of the iconic 80s sportscar, the DeLorean

And they’ve also restored the “Back to the Future” prop. The Original Back to the Future DeLorean DMC-12, Lovingly Restored to “Better Than New Condition The story of DeLorean is, in some ways, the story of the excess and enthusiasm of the 80s. Fired from GM, auto exec John DeLorean (“a rock star among suits”) started his own company with the aim of building a sports car like no other.

1849 guide to the brothels and prostitutes of Philadelphia. A Vintage Guide to the ‘Gay Houses’, Brothels, and ‘Ladies of Pleasure’ in 1840’s Philadelphia

“I, Claudius” rewatch, episode 2: I really appreciate the subtle, restrained acting.

40% of my home office.

If you’re going to take the dog for a random 3 mile walk around a nearby neighborhood, just to see the area you live in and for a change of routine, you should definitely carefully mark where you parked. I know that now.

Not for the first time, my barber was unfamiliar with men with copious body hair. Dude, just clipping a little below the collar line is fine – I’m not here for the full “40-year-old Virgin.”

Sometime after I turned 40 I stopped enjoying fiction as much as I used to. I think it’s been a bit more than a year since I read a novel I really LOVED. Do you find that’s true for you?

This defense of Bloomberg’s appalling defense of redlining is bullshit. Redlining isn’t denying credit on the basis of financial risk. It’s denying credit to black people, regardless of their ability to repay the loan. Opinion - Bloomberg Is Right About the 2008 Financial Crash

Mike Bloomberg has been battling women’s allegations of sexist, profane comments for years

There are two generations of Mexican luchador wrestlers named “Dr. Wagner.” How did I not know this?

The Age of Decadence. The real story of the West in the 21st century is one of stalemate and stagnation.

Holiday-Travel Twitter Is the Best Form of Social Media. Play-by-plays from airports and bus rides offer random, unpolished personal moments.

Using Tinder in Your Hometown Is Like Visiting an Alternate Reality

“One might suppose that the popular prejudice against vaccination had died out by this time,” one writer complains. It sounds like a lament from today, but in fact, it’s from 1875." Pessimists Archive

The story about how Mike "The Monkees" Nesmith's mother invented liquid paper is surprisingly interesting.

She was a secretary. She saw a need and saw that the market would be women, because secretaries were women. She priced the product low enough so that secretaries could buy it out of the discretionary fund they had for office supplies, without needing approval from a man. And she marketed the product in a bottle that looked like nail polish, so her customers would already be familiar with using it before they even tried it.

Who let “Who Let the Dogs Out” Out? 99% Invisible: The world’s greatest expert on the song “Who Let the Dogs Out” finds it surprisingly difficult to answer the question of who wrote the song.

San Diego freelance writer Beth Demmon says California Assembly Bill 5, which regulates contract workers, threatens her livelihood. She says she’s taken an immediate income hit upwards of 25% due to the law.

Tinder's Most Notorious Men

The users who reappear after countless left swipes have become modern urban legends. Like mayors and famous bodega cats, they are both hyper-local and larger than life."

The Doc nails it. The sole issue for Democratic voters in the Presidential election is “make the bad man go away.” Everything else is a distraction. However, things get complicated because for many Democrats, Bloomberg and/or Sanders are as bad as the Bad Man. And Warren, Mayor Pete and Uncle Joe are, for many voters, ALMOST as toxic as the Bad Man. Those voters will hold their noses and vote for any of those three candidates if they have to.

5’4”? 5’7”? 5’8”? How tall is Bloomberg, anyway?

Good to know the ‘doomsday asteroid’ is not going to destroy the Earth Saturday, because I’m not going to be done reading Mary Robinette Kowal’s “Calculating Stars” by then.

Dave Winer makes the case for Bloomberg: More than a candidate for president. I’m reserving judgment. I expect I’ll vote for Warren in the primary, assuming she’s still in the race, but other than that I don’t expect to support a candidate until the convention. And then I’ll support whichever Democrat wins. Until a month ago I would have said “except maybe Bloomberg.” But I like the way he’s going after Trump.

Molly Ringwald revisits “The Breakfast Club” and the other 80s teen movies that made her a star. The films were often homophobic, misogynistic and racist but they inspired women, LGBTQ people and African-Americans with their depictions of kids who were estranged from the world they lived in.

The US is charging Huawei with racketeering

TechCrunch: The DoJ alleges that Huawei and a number of its affiliates used confidential agreements with American companies over the past two decades to access the trade secrets of those companies, only to then misappropriate that intellectual property and use it to fund Huawei’s business.

Via

Rick Moranis is making a Honey I Shrunk the Kids reboot after a 23-year work break.

As part of his research into Trump’s $1+B disinformation campaign, journalist McKay Coppins “tried to live in the same information world as Trump supporters so that he’d receive the same disinformation supporters did.” He said he ended up believing everything and nothing. Rumors, lies and reported journalism ended up seeming roughly equal in credibility, even though he was following the impeachment hearings closely and could see for himself that Trump supporters were lying about what transpired there.

A brief history of the "I, Claudius" TV series

The TV production had a lot of problems, but Robert Graves, who wrote the 1930s novels on which the series is based, had faith: “I’ve communed with Claudius,” he said at the time, “and he reassured me that this would be a great success.” The series launched Derek Jacobi’s career. “I owe ‘Claudius’ so much on both sides of the Atlantic,” Mr. Jacobi said in a telephone interview.

I Claudius seemingly influenced The Sopranos – though Sopranos creator David Chase doesn’t acknowledge it. They’re both stories about men who build empires despite being undermined by toxic, maternal women named “Livia.”

Hulu is doing gender-flipped miniseries based on “High Fidelity,” the excellent Nick Hornby novel and John Cusack movie. If I can get used to a woman Doctor Who, I can give this miniseries a try. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/columnist…

We’ve started rewatching “I Claudius.” “I Claudius” is the story of a great empire that decays as its chief executive seizes dictatorial power while the Senate flatters him and otherwise stands idly by. It’s nice to escape from the news into a TV fantasy now and then.

Michael Bloomberg says 2015 stop and frisk comments were ‘five years ago’ and are ‘not the way that I think’ www.cnn.com/2020/02/1…

I saw these geese at Lake Murray. Ready to rumble!

Whenever cruise ships are in the news it’s never good.

I am prepared to call the 2020 presidential election: it’s going to be Amy Klobuchar. The Democrats will be split between Sanders and Bloomberg going into the convention. Supporters of each will loathe and despise the other. On the 60 gazillionth ballot, some desperate person will suggest Amy Klobuchar and everyone will look at each other and say actually, yes, I kind of like her. And she will easily trounce Trump, who will prove to be too chickenshit to stage a coup d’état.

Fresh Air: Michael Pollan Explains Caffeine Addiction & Withdrawal

As part of the research for a new audiobook about caffeine, author Michael “Omnivore’s Dilemma” Pollan gave up caffeine cold turkey for three months. Now that’s sacrificing for the craft! ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma’ author Michael Pollan talks about his new audiobook, ‘Caffeine: How Coffee and Tea Created the Modern World.’ He describes caffeine as the world’s most widely-used psychoactive drug. “Here’s a drug we use every day. … We never think about it as a drug or an addiction, but that’s exactly what it is,” Pollan says.

Friend of Dorothy: How did Judy Garland become a gay icon? slate.com/podcasts/…

A new wave of national conservatives are gaining power and wealth by claiming to be persecuted minorities and spreading easily fact-checked lies about liberalism. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc…

Like smartphone users today, medieval monks wrestled with distraction. aeon.co/ideas/how…

Merle Oberon, a star actress of Hollywood’s golden age, was biracial, passing as white, and the product of two generations of rape. She was born in Bombay to a 12-year-old girl who was raped by an Englishman. Oberon’s mother was herself the product of rape. omny.fm/shows/you…

Teens are scrambling their identities on Instagram, so they can use the service without divulging personal information. Reset: art19.com/shows/res…

A brief history of the Apple Newton: 20 years ahead of its time, and still has a small but loyal fan base who continue to use it. www.relay.fm/flashback…

autumnone.tumblr.com/post/1907…

Anybody tried posting automatically from Flickr to micro.blog? Should be do-able, right – last I checked, Flickr produces RSS feeds. I’d like there to be some differentiation between Flickr and other images. I post a lot of found images from the Internet, as well as a few of my own photos, and I like differentiating the two. Maybe pipe Flickr through IFTTT.com first? Hmmmmm……

Meet the Unlikely Hero Saving California’s Oldest Weekly Paper: I love this story so, so much

“High in the Sierra, Downieville, Calif., was about to become the latest American community to lose its newspaper. In stepped Carl Butz, a 71-year-old retiree.” DOWNIEVILLE, Calif. — The night before his first deadline, Carl Butz, California’s newest newspaper owner, was digging into a bowl of beef stew at the Two Rivers Café, the only restaurant open in town. “Tomorrow I have to fill the paper,” he said with only mild anxiety.

An Oklahoma University journalism professor likened the phrase "OK Boomer" to the N-word. This is such a weird story

An OU professor in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication used a racial slur during a class Tuesday morning, according to multiple students present in the class…. Gade was discussing the changes in journalism related to technology and social media and made the point that journalism should stick to its more traditional roots, according to multiple students in the class. Gade is right. With rumors and misinformation spreading like a pandemic, it’s more important than ever for journalism to get its facts right and tell the audience what’s actually going on.

MWC 2020 canceled over coronavirus health concerns

Mobile World Congress is the biggest telco conference of the year, worldwide. Maybe there’s a bigger one in China but if there is I don’t know about it. This is a prudent measure in the face of a potential health crisis. It’s not a good idea for 100K+ people from all over the world to fly to a central location, spend a week sneezing on each other in an enclosed conference center, with their immune systems compromised due to short-sleeping, and then disperse to their homes all over the world again.

This morning I updated <mitchwagner.com> and my LinkedIn profile. They look snappy.

I saw this excellent collection of stickers on a car at Lake Murray

I saw this shortcut between two streets while walking yesterday.

Former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera will challenge Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in House Democratic primary Two Latinas going head to head. www.cnbc.com/2020/02/1…

The tricky economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

They put the cheap, filling stuff first. They charge for extras. They save money on personnel, of course. One thing I would not have guessed: Preparing foods in bulk, as you do for a buffet, is far less expensive than one meal at a time. Much less food waste. And you can re-use stuff. Today’s fresh vegetable side-dish is tomorrow’s vegetable soup. thehustle.co/the-econo… I’ve never cared for buffet dining. If I’m eating out, I want somebody to bring me my food.

The making of “2001: A Space Odyssey” www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/2001&ndash;a-f… Stanley Kubrick didn’t know what he wanted, but he knew what he didn’t want. Which means his production staff had to give him a lot of choices, and he shot a lot of scenes that were never used – expensive! In a sense, Kubrick’s process matched Arthur C. Clarke’s vision of the evolution of humanity. Clarke’s vision was it was that we didn’t just invent tools.

Actor Steve Buscemi (“Fargo,” “Boardwalk Empire,” etc.) is interviewed by Gilbert Gottfried and Frank Santopadre. www.gilbertpodcast.com/steve-bus… This is one of the filthiest podcast I’ve ever heard. I loved it

I have several questions. gameraboy1.tumblr.com/post/1907…

Entertaining interview of comedian Lewis Black by Gilbert Gottfried and Frank Santopadre. Many F-bombs were dropped that day. www.gilbertpodcast.com/lewis-bla…

Comparing the relative sizes of fictional buildings. Fun. youtu.be/hjIci91FR…

Margarine vs. butter is a case study of naked, corrupt regulatory capture. The dairy industry spent more than a half-century getting laws to block competition from margarine. pessimists.co/margarine…

This magnificent, green condo is for sale - in Ramona, California, which is just a short drive from us here in San Diego. Nice, but not enough green. www.redfin.com/CA/Ramona…

Adam Sandler rips the Oscars for snubbing him. Funny.

“A few, you know, a few weeks back, when I was quote-unquote snubbed by the Academy, it reminded of when I briefly attended high school and was overlooked for the coveted yearbook superlative category Best Looking. That accolade was given to a jean jacket–wearing featherhead douchebag by the name of Skipper Jenkins.” youtu.be/ihalG3Rw_…

In leaked audio, Michael Bloomberg defends racial profiling: “throw them up against the wall” boingboing.net/2020/02/1…

I saw this school walking today.

I wear flip up sunglasses. Flip ups are cool now.

Gilbert Gottfried and Frank Santopadre interview not one but TWO Catwomen: Lee Meriwether and Julie Newmar! I feel a stirring beneath my utility belt! gilbertpodcast.com

Amazon pulled out of this month’s Mobile World Congress because of the coronavirus outbreak, in another blow to one of the telecom industry’s biggest gatherings, which attracts over 100,000 visitors to Barcelona. reuters.com

The GSMA is putting restrictions on Mobile World Congress attendees from China as big companies, including Ericsson and – reportedly – Amazon, pull out. - lightreading.com

Taiwan has a sophisticated medical records system. Why don’t we?

I’ve switched my podcast player from Castro.fm back to Overcast on the iPhone. Castro has advantages in its user interface – it’s much easier to decide on which order you’re going to listen to podcast episodes – but the audio clarity on Overcast is just plain clearer, particularly at the 2X+ speeds I listen to podcasts at. That means I can get through my massive podcast queue faster. However, when you have 260+ unlistened podcast episodes, as I do, switching between podcast players is tedious.

Zappos has quietly backed away from holacracy. Aimee Groth at Quartz: Six years ago, Amazon-owned Zappos began upending its traditional management structure. In lieu of a typical corporate structure, with power concentrated at the top, the online shoe retailer would adopt a decentralized system with “no job titles, no managers, no hierarchy.”… But in the last few years, Zappos has been quietly moving away from holacracy. It has done away with its at-times rigidly (and ironically) bureaucratic meetings and brought back managers, while retaining its circular hierarchy, a key artifact of holacracy.

Reagan and Gorbachev Agreed to Pause the Cold War in Case of an Alien Invasion. The Gipper was a bigtime science fiction fan. [Danny Lewis/Smithsonian Magazine]

Amid Layoffs, Xilinx Warns of Pause in 5G Activities - Mike Dano/Light Reading Xilinx, once a darling of 5G bulls on Wall Street, has hit hard times. The company said it will cut 7% of its workforce partly due to an unexpected slowdown in its critical 5G business. Canary in a coal mine?

17th Century pirates had gay marriage, good pay, survivor benefits and health insurance

Forget self-driving cars. We already have technology that can transform cities and help save the planet: Buses

Missing the Bus on 99% Invisible: If you heard that there was a piece of technology that could do away with traffic jams, make cities more equitable, and help us solve climate change, you might think about driverless cars, or hyperloops or any of the other new transportation technologies that get lots of hype these days. But there is a much older, much less sexy piece of machinery that could be the key to making our cities more sustainable, more liveable, and more fair: the humble bus.

Why the wrong movies win Oscars - Today, Explained

“Native American actress Sacheen Littlefeather stepped in for Marlon Brando at the Academy Awards in 1973 to protest the mistreatment of her people. Littlefeather says there still aren’t many lead roles for Native Americans today, but things are slowly changing." - KQED The California Report

The Justice Department indicted four members of the Chinese military for the Equifax breach. This will be a buzzkill for making relations between the two countries more friendly. www.axios.com/equifax-b…

Advice from Medieval Monks on Avoiding Digital Distraction kottke.org/20/02/adv…

Bloomberg plans to go after Trump’s business record

Others have tried this tactic without success — remember Hillary Clinton? — but Mike Bloomberg plans to attack President Trump on his business record. One difference: Trump’s pre-White House career can now be linked with his decisions as president. Another difference: Bloomberg will be making this argument as a multibillionaire who built a multinational company. www.axios.com/michael-b…

None of the movies nominated for an Oscar deserved to win, because none of them has Luis giving exposition or an ant playing drums.

Jack Kirby’s 2001: A Space Odyssey Via 70sscifiart.tumblr.com/post/1903…

I’ve been on a nostalgia kick the past couple of days. This morning, I hit YouTube and found and listened to the theme song to a kiddie TV show I adored when I was 5: Winchell Mahoney. The good news is it drove the F Troop earworm out of my brain. Hooray, hooraw!

Person who offered $500 for lost cat gets mad when cat finder wants the reward boingboing.net/2020/01/2… WTF? If you offer a $500 reward for whoever finds your lost cat you should not be surprised and offended if the person who finds your cat asks for the reward.

College essay writing services – contract cheaters –are using aggressive email marketing and on-campus parties to attract customers, many of whom are unaware of the shadiness of the business. www.edsurge.com/news/2020…

ME: I have very important financial documents I need to review today. ALSO ME: Helllooooooo, social media!

A modest proposal: Bernie should endorse Warren for POTUS, and immediately Warren should commit to Bernie for VP.

After a vote in Iowa that reeked of third-world treachery – from monolithic TV propaganda against the challenger to rumors of foreign intrusion to, finally, a “botched” vote count that felt as legitimate as a Supreme Soviet election – the Democrats have become the reactionaries they once replaced. The Iowa Caucus Was Waterloo for Democrats - Matt Taibbi/Rolling Stone

Climate change killed libertarianism - Jacobin

Tyler Cowen coins the phrase “state capacity libertarianism” as an evolution of libertarianism that recognizes that a big, muscular, strong state is necessary to preserve and extend markets and individual freedom. (1) This is just plain silly. The defining characteristic of libertarianism is that governments should be tiny, ideally only providing police, military and contract enforcement. To call yourself a “state capacity libertarian” is like being a “meat eating vegetarian.”

Bram Moolenaar started work on the vim text editor on an Amiga in 1988, and has been its lead developer ever since. Many others contributed pieces, I decide what goes and and often end up fixing all the bugs. Vim is now the most popular text editor. Linux Journal stopped doing a poll for “best text editor” because Vim would always win.

US Attorney General William Barr suggested the United States purchase a controlling stake in either Nokia or Ericsson for access to secure 5G equipment and go up against China and Huawei. [Mike Dano/Light Reading]

🦉 twitter.com/newyorkne…

We must fact-check this. Mission accepted. San Diego is a great pizza town. Here are the top 10. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

“Now we’re going to hear more suggestions from the failed mayor of Chicago and New Jersey’s corrupt ex-governor, who should be in prison.”

Marie Dressler was the biggest female star of American movies in 1933. She wasn’t a sex symbol like Jean Harlow or Marlene Dietrich. Dressler was homely, overweight, in her 60s – and moviegoers adored her. You Must Remember This: The public loved nothing better than to see their Marie play a drunk or a dowager and steal every scene from the glamour girls less than half her age. Dressler had been down and out for most of the 1920s.

The Ukraine was part of a broad pattern of behavior that makes Trump manifestly unfit to be President. Why didn’t Congress go after all of it rather than just one, very narrow incident? On Impeachment: A Daily Podcast with Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and host Brian Lehrer.

Animal rights activists say it’s cruel to keep elephants in captivity. [San Diego News Fix]

Ezra Klein: America is a better country today than it has ever been: More inclusive and more prosperous. There has been no better time to be alive and be American. But the trend is going in the wrong direction. Things are not getting better. They’re declining rapidly. Acquitted [Today, Explained]

Gilbert Gottfried and Frank Sontopadre interview the delightful Ken Berry, star of “F Troop” and “Mama’s Family.” Berry discusses working alongside George Burns, Don Rickles, and Carol Burnett, as well as a brief variety series he did in 1972, “The Wow Show,” featuring then unknown Steve Martin, Teri Garr, and Cheryl Ladd, then known as Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor. I was 11 when “The Wow Show” aired, and I remember I loved it.

PETA claims victory after SeaWorld says no to trainers riding atop dolphins [San Diego Union- Tribune] PETA launched a campaign in 2019 to pressure SeaWorld parks to ban “circus-style” behaviors where trainers stand atop the dolphins’ snouts during park performances.

How will coronavirus end? [Today, Explained]

Youtube: Charlie bit me. Some days you’re Charlie. Other days you’re Charlie’s brother.

A brief history of YouTube’s codependent relationship with content creators, after Google disclosed, for the first time, how much revenue YouTube generates. Charlie bit my finger, now pay me! [Reset]

Nat Eliason: How to take notes on what you’re reading. I never did highlights or took book notes in school. I just did the reading (or didn’t – I was a slacker student), crammed everything into my brain and hoped it stuck there. Likewise, I tried to highlight text, but I didn’t really see the point. I ended up highlighting more than half the book … or nothing. Eliason proposes a simple rule: Only highlight passages that give you an idea.

Candidates don’t matter much. What matters is getting your voters to come out and vote against the other party. Yep. An Unsettling New Theory: There Is No Swing Voter [David Freedlander/Politico]

Not a lot: What $250,000 buys in NYC right now [Curbed NY]

I can think of a couple of theories why the Republicans might want to do this. But it’s weird: GOP-affiliated group intervenes in Democratic primary for US Senate seat in North Carolina [CNN] The first significant ad buy for state Sen. Erica Smith, a Democratic candidate for US Senate in North Carolina, appears to be backed by Republicans. Faith and Power, a new political action committee with ties to Republicans, formally launched on January 29 and spent more than $1.

Via @iamjaco. Thanks!

Dave Winer says we need a candidate who a Republican who believes in the rule of law will vote for. Respectfully to Dave, but this is dead wrong. No Republican will vote for a Democrat in 2020. Trump has 90+% approval rating in his party. The winning candidate in 2020 will be the one who gets their own party most excited. We don’t need a candidate who will appeal to Republicans.

RIP Issur Danielovitch, aka Kirk Douglas, 103 [nbcnews.com]

Companies including Dell, Microsoft and AT&T are part of a White House effort to develop US 5G Huawei alternatives, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow says. [WSJ]

Why IBM Choosing Arvind Krishna Over Jim Whitehurst Was a Smooth Move [Christine Hall/ITPro Today]

I’m working on updating my resume today. I’ve decided to use the Pet Resume template in Google Docs. In other news: Google Docs has a Pet Resume template. Why does a pet need a resume? What are their skills? Minnie is a dynamic leader in eating poops from the ground.

Werner Herzog: ‘Piracy Has Been The Most Successful Form of Distribution Worldwide’ [Jenning’s Brown/Gizmodo] He also shares thoughts on Twitter: “I have never seen a single tweet that I found interesting at all.” And Pokémon Go: “When two persons in search of a pokémon clash at the corner of Sunset in San Vicente is there violence? Is there murder? … Physically, do they fight?… Do they bite each other’s hands? Do they punch each other?

Podfasting: I Tried Listening to Podcasts at 3x and Broke My Brain [Steve Rousseau/OneZero] Most of us are familiar with binge watching and speed reading, but there’s a relatively new mode of conspicuous consumption that’s emerged in recent years: podfasting. First profiled in 2017, podfasters love listening to podcasts so much that they’re speeding them up — 1.25x, 1.5x, and even 2x speed — in order to fit more into their day.

Brave, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla gather together to talk web privacy… and why we all shouldn’t get too much of it [Thomas Claburn/The Register]

You know the President is able to shut down all US comms, yeah? An FCC commish wants to stop him from doing that [Kevin McCarthy/The Register] Does Donald Trump have the legal authority to demand that mobile phone networks be shut down? Yes. That Twitter and Facebook stopped sending updates? Yes. That the internet itself be suspended? Yes. Does he has the same authority to push his own messages? Yes, it is literally written into US law…

Ex-principal in Holocaust furor defends his right not to say the genocide is a fact [The Palm Beach Post] Former Spanish River High Principal William Latson defended his refusal to call the Holocaust a historical fact, saying opinions on whether the genocide occurred are a “personal ideology” and that it was his job to be tolerant of people who didn’t believe. While acknowledging the Holocaust was a real event, the ousted principal said Monday that some parents at his school did not agree, and that state law required him to show “tolerance” in dealing with them.

I think I need to read “Atomic Habits." All four of these tips excerpted from the book seem like great advice.

Column: San Diego author Laura Preble turns a germaphobe into a heroine you’ll want to hug [San Diego Union-Tribune]

Karla Peterson: It’s the usual love story. Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl drives a borrowed Cadillac Eldorado from Southern California to Colorado to break up boy’s wedding. And by the way, the boy is the girl’s therapist, which is perfectly fine because she loves him and she is sure that he loves her. Pretty sure, anyway. OK, so Laura Preble’s new novel, “Anna Icognito,” is not your usual love story.

'People were breaking down crying': Iowa vote-counters tell of caucus debacle [Tom Cullen/The Guardian]

You had one job, Iowa! The drawbacks of electronic voting have been well known for more than 20 years. Republicans want a voting system that’s easily hacked, because Republicans can’t win honest elections. Democrats should know better. My crystal ball says Iowa’s importance in the primary/caucus process is done. It’ll continue first chronologically but its position will be ceremonial. Maybe Bloomberg is right and the real action starts Super Tuesday. As I recall, in previous primaries the action pretty much ended then too.

Two people trying to protect a monarch butterfly sanctuary in Mexico from logging have been found dead in a week [Fox News]

IBM, Marriott and Mickey Mouse Take On Tech’s Favorite Law [David McCabe/NYTimes] Section 230 protects Google, Facebook and other platforms from legal liability from content users post to them. The law has been a shield for abuse and harassment. But IBM, Marriott and Disney aren’t heroes here. Likely they just want to change the laws to protect themselves and other big business interests.

If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t be Yours [Peter Gosselin/ProPublica] My prospects are looking good but that’s far from true for everyone. Most workers over 50 will be laid off, and for most it’s a financial blow they won’t recover from. It will take them a long time to find work and when they do it will be a fraction of their former pay.

Socially conservative mom says racy halftime entertainment drove distraught 13-year-old son to his bedroom [Mark Frauenfelder/Boing Boing] At that age sometime I became distraught five times a day.

Corruption in America: How the US became the center of global kleptocracy - Casey Michel - Vox When it comes to the US’s role as a massive laundromat for dirty money, the Trump administration is simply continuing a trend years in the making. The US money laundering business has been decades in the making; the Obama administration gave it a big push forward.

Waze’s Cookie Monster voice is the only thing keeping me sane right now - Thom Dunn - Boing Boing

‪Remarkably, this is six years to the day after I started at LR. I opened my journaling app to make a note of the event, flipped through the “on this day” timeline and found my “first day at Light Reading” entry for Feb. 3 2014. ‬

Big news: I’ve left Light Reading after six years. It’s been a great ride but it’s time to move on. I’m looking into other options now and excited for the future.

How to torture telemarketers with one word

Gary Gutterman design, New York 1980

Remembering Clark Gable on this birthday, here with David O.Selznick on the set of GONE WITH THE WIND (‘39)

Young woman writes her boyfriend in the Navy a thank-you note for the bleached skull of a Japanese soldier he sent her (LIFE Magazine - May 22, 1944)

I’m grateful for the iPad and social media because without them I wouldn’t be able to stare at a screen for an hour and a half at shit I’m not really interested in when I should be getting ready for bed.

I’m becoming convinced, for the third or fourth time in as many years, that the hassles of DevonThink are not worth the benefits. At least for me. Your mileage, as they used to say in car commercials, may vary. But this seems to be an app I need to try for about a month every year and a half or so.

Asian countries have a century of tradition wearing face masks, and they’re starting to appear in the west. But their effectiveness is disputed. [The Guardian]

Chicago is getting a “Princess Bride” themed popup bar - nbcchicago.com Have fun storming the castle!

Stephen King quits Facebook over concerns of ‘false information’ - CNN

The Democrat candidate for President this year could win the popular vote by six percentage points – and lose the election. Similarly, Democrats could win decisive majority votes for House and Senate, and lose both houses. The Electoral College, the Senate, & other ways our democracy is rigged [Ian Millhiser/Vox]

Why this Seattle geek finally gave up and bought a car four years after going ‘full Uber’ [Kurt Schlosser/GeekWire] “… the golden era of massively-subsidized car sharing is coming to a close.”

Fractured America is uniting in its hatred of expatriate Californians [Derek Thompson/The Atlantic]

Sammy is having a moment with my sweaty exercise T-shirt.

Jim Whitehurst Becomes President of IBM. Why? He gets Culture. [Jono Bacon/Forbes]

IBM’s New CEO Is Mastermind Behind Cloud Strategy for Growth [Olivia Carville/Bloomberg]

Why Iowa? [Dan Zak/The Washington Post] I have been to Iowa more than once, and liked it.

South Carolina seeks volunteer pig cuddlers [CNN] I foresee a career change.

Headline of the week: As a 28-Year-Old Latino, I’m Shocked My New Novel, Memoirs of a Middle-Aged White Lady, Has Been So Poorly Received [McSweeney’s Internet Tendency]

An intriguing list of “little-known but obvious facts”. The word “helicopter” has two components. They aren’t “heli” and “copter”. They are “helico” and “pter”. “Helico” (helix) and “pter” (wing, like with “pterodactyl”)… u/TikiTC asked on r/askreddit: “What’s a little-known but obvious fact that will immediately make all of us feel stupid?” Many of the 20,000+ replies are funny, useful, and fascinating [Mark Frauenfelder/Boing Boing]

New Jersey mayor John Roth admits to taking off pants, passing out drunk at party. Photo accompanying the article presumably taken while wearing pants. [New York Daily News]

New Bill Would Bar Duncan Hunter from Collecting a Congressional Pension Duncan D. Hunter is years from collecting a congressional pension, but a bill proposed Friday would keep the Republican awaiting sentencing from getting it. Democratic Reps. Josh Harder of California’s Central Valley and Max Rose of New York introduced the “No Pensions for Corrupt Politicians Act of 2020.” The bill specifically prevents the payment of pensions to members of Congress who commit – or conspire to commit – campaign finance crimes, they said….

The Crown will end after five seasons – or “series,” as they say in the UK – bringing the story to 2003. Imelda Staunton, of Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, will take over the role of Queen Elizabeth, with Olivia Colman doing one more season, airing later this year. [The Sun] Also: buzzfeednews.com variety.com

Flamingo Road (1949) via

Original 1965 ad for The Addams Family Haunted House kit, made by Polar Lights. The original kit was a simple grey, but the company reissued the kit in 1995 in a luminous, glow-in-the-dark plastic. via

“This facility has gone 5843 days without an assimilation.”

A Collection of 40 Bad Christian Album Covers With Unfortunate Titles [vintage everyday]

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has gone from Nobel Peace Prize winner to apologist for genocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority. [Today, Explained]

How an 'election meltdown' could throw the US into crisis in 2020 [Fresh Air]

There are lots of ways the election could go terribly wrong What happens if one side doesn’t concede? Not just Trump – the Democrats might well have reason to call foul too. What if the power grid goes out in a major city on Election Day, knocked out by terrorists or an unfriendly nation-state? What if voting machines are hacked, or strongly suspected of being hacked? These are among the things law professor Rick Hasen considers in his book, ‘Election Meltdown.

Sex predators are operating against children through online video games. What can be done about that? [Reset]

I have a Johnny Cash t-shirt that I wore today. When I’m wearing it I often forget I have it on. People will say to me, “Johnny Cash!” And then I wonder why people are going around randomly saying “Johnny Cash!”

San Diego smart streetlights raise privacy concerns

San Diego sees privacy concerns from so-called “smart streetlights,” that collect data and surveillance video, installed without full public disclosure [San Diego News Fix with Lori Weisberg and Teri Figueroa] The city council will look at the issue.

IBM Names New CEO: Arvind Krishna, Red Hat Deal Mastermind, Replaces Rometty [Me/Light Reading]

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Minnie Mouse throws down. The cartoon shoes complete the scene. Somebody come look at this 😂😂

  1. can you imagine being a kid and seeing Minnie fighting somebody?!
  2. The way Pluto walked off carrying the heads 😭 he look like it happens on a regular and he sick of it pic.twitter.com/J4UxeKzbxI — joni (@Xx_JoniBravo_xX) January 29, 2020

#Avasarala's hand terminal with the predictive text: "fck | fcker | fcked | fcking" has me screaming! It's like looking at my own iPhone honestly 😆🚀 #screamingfirehawks #chrisjenavasarala #TheExpanse #shohrehaghdashloo pic.twitter.com/TnBUafhsaG — OrionLodubyal (@orionlodubyal) January 28, 2020

I bought a 16-ounce bottle of Dr. Brommer’s liquid soap a couple of weeks ago. It is concentrated. I use about four drops to wash my hands a half-dozen times a day, and to wash my face once a day. At this rate, I expect to leave the soap to our grand-nieces and nephews, and their children after them.

Surprisingly, China actually benefits from the perception that its vendors are government stooges. [Ray Le Maistre/Light Reading]

It saddens me that it’s too late in my life for me to get a cool nickname, like “Ace.”

Boston-area natives Chris Evans, John Krasinski, Rachel Dratch and David “Big Papi” Ortiz in a wicked good commercial for Smart Park for the Hyundai Sonata.

PR pitch of the day: “Parents find sex education conversations easier than technology conversations.” Because unlike USB connectors, with sex it’s easy to figure out which direction it should be facing when you stick it in.

Panasonic ad, 1970 via

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This trailer for "Spenser Confidential" looks great!

The Netflix movie coming March 6 stars Mark Wahlberg, Winston “Black Panther” Duke, and Alan Arkin. I wasn’t sure about the movie after reading on Wikipedia that it’s only very loosely based on one of the Spenser books and merely “uses the names of characters created by Robert B. Parker.” I’m a huge fan of the novels, and I was afraid this would be travesty. But the preview looks great. It has some hints of the novels and the Parker characters, and that’s all – but that’s enough.

Juniper Returns to Growth – No Thanks to Service Providers lightreading.com My latest on Light Reading: Juniper returned to growth in its fourth financial quarter, but cloud and enterprise had to carry the stumbling service provider sector.

You look like you’re having a tough day so here is the Addams Family dancing to Joy Division’s “Disorder."

Cory Doctorow: Climate denial has destroyed the libertarian movement boingboing.net

The agony of weekend loneliness: ‘I won’t speak to another human until Monday’ theguardian.com Paula Cocozza: “For growing numbers of people the weekend is an emotional wilderness where interaction is minimal and social life non-existent.”

Business Fashion, Australia, Summer, 1975. The socks make the outfit. via

The iPad is fantastic but also disappointing daringfireball.net Great short essay by John Gruber. Among other things, he perfectly captures why iPad split screen, slideover and multitasking confuse the jeebers out of me and I almost always don’t bother.

Ivanka tells donors she got her moral compass from her dad politico.com Only Monday and we already have the headline of the week.

Trump Impeachment: A Ukraine Smoking Gun Exposes Republicans bloomberg.com The White House knew Bolton’s book was coming, but they let it blindside their Republican Congressional allies anyway.

Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez was suspended after tweeting a link to an article about Kobe Bryant’s rape case, following up with screenshots of the hate mail and death threats she received. vox.com

I feel that song would be POPular.

Seeing reports about a woman physicist who developed a theory of gravity that, if proven, would fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. If only there were a song to commemorate this event, a Broadway type anthem about female empowerment and defying gravity.

Sound sleeper.

"Spenser Confidential," a movie based on the Robert B. Parker novels, hits Netfllix March 6.

It stars Mark Wahlberg as Spenser and Winston “Black Panther” Duke as Hawk. “It is very loosely based on the novel Wonderland by Ace Atkins, and uses the names of characters created by Robert B. Parker.” Spenser is an ex-cop and ex-con and Hawk is an MMA fighter. wikipedia.org Okaaaaay. What the hell, I’ll watch. I loved the early novels and the later ones are fun. It’s an action-comedy directed by Peter Berg.

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Quiz: Which of these 2020 Democrats agrees with you most? I came out Mayor Pete and Yang, which wow. [washingtonpost.com]

20 questions on the issues. I do not support Mayor Pete – the best thing I’ll say for him is he’s inexperienced; other days I just hate him. I don’t know much about Yang. On many of these issues, I picked a side but really I don’t know. For example, on health insurance I strongly support a public option. Should we then outlaw private insurance? Don’t know. Let’s see how the public option works first.

Kansas City library via

How is the most unpopular and divisive president on his way to a second term? – theguardian.com

It’s the economy, says David Smith. Also, unlike 2016, Trump is running a highly organized, well-funded campaign. And Trump’s opposition is split. On that last point: The Republicans are a minority party and, paradoxically, that is their strength. Every Republican is signed on to their agenda of white supremacy, xenophobia, gun fetishization, sex policing, preserving property rights, and their version of Christianity, which conveniently leaves out the bits about loving the stranger and least fortunate.

The Story of Two Monks and a Woman: A parable about letting go of the past. kottke.org

Ode to San Rafael: my unremarkable hometown [Carolyn Jones/SFChronicle.com] I had a vision recently: I’m at a little market buying cream soda and Ding Dongs. Bathed in luscious, late-afternoon amber light, I head out to the levee and perch on some rocks. Seagulls soar overhead. Somewhere in the distance, a Camaro blasts “Frampton Comes Alive.” Now and then, I have the same nostalgia for Long Island. Hearing “Frampton Comes Alive” does it.

Scary Sea Monster Really Just Hundreds of Tiny Fish in a Trench Coat [kottke.org] As a defense against predators, these juvenile striped eel catfish from Jemeluk Bay near Bali organize themselves into an ambling, pulsating sea creature that looks like something out of a Miyazaki film.

Copyright was designed to serve creators, but instead it serves big business against creators [Cory Doctorow/Boing Boing] Expecting more copyright to help artists beat a concentrated industry is like expecting more lunch money to help your kid defeat the bullies who beat him up on the playground every day.

No more free rides: US seeks to limit emotional support animals on planes [Joanna Walters/The Guardian ] Some animal lovers and nervous fliers may squawk but the US government wants a definitive “neigh” to the question of passengers bringing rabbits, turtles, birds, miniature horses and other unusual emotional support animals on planes in future, especially free of charge.

The head of ICE says he will deport DREAMers if the Supreme Court ends DACA - vox.com To Trump and his supporters, cruelty is not an unfortunate by product of his policies. They are the point. These are people who believe government should be putting children in cages.

Gentleman ticketed for driving in carpool lane with plastic skeleton in passenger seat Mark Frauenfelder/boingboing.net Totally should be allowed.

Laff-o-rama, 1964 via

Dapper Adam overcoats. 1943. Via

Role model Lord Jim hairpiece ad [1970s] via

We’re All in the Bathroom Filming Ourselves

Taylor Lorenz/nytimes.com Bathrooms are “the perfect stage set” for TikTok videos. “Most home bathrooms are well lit and have nice, bright acoustics. Unlike the kitchen, living room or even bedroom, bathrooms are private spaces, where parents and siblings are trained to not barge in.” Also, that big mirror is great for filming selfies. “Spending a lot of time on TikTok, and it seems that knowing how to film yourself speaking with a cellphone in a bathroom mirror is a new skill to be mastered,” Jon-Stephen Stansel, a digital marketer, tweeted.

The case for replacing air travel with high-speed sleeper trains

Cory Doctorow/Boing Boing. Like Cory, I’ve taken the sleeper train from London to Edinburgh and found it was a great trip. I’ve often wished there was a sleeper train running between San Diego (where we live) and San Francisco (where I often travel for work). There’s a sleeper bus that runs between LA and SF but I don’t think that’ll work for me.

DirecTV Satellite at Risk of Exploding in Orbit — Jeff Baumgartner/Light Reading AT&T and Boeing need to move the DirecTV Spaceway-1 satellite to a new orbit, over fears that a crippling battery malfunction could cause the bird to explode and threaten other satellites.

Podcast: Don’t Call Us an SD-WAN Provider – Cato Networks – Me/Light Reading Cato Networks would rather you didn’t call them an SD-WAN provider anymore. Instead, Cato is delivering a new kind of service – Secure Access Service Edge – or SASE (pronounced “sassy”). I talked with Cato’s David Greenfield about what the heck SASE is anyway, the shifting needs of the market formerly known as SD-WAN, and the relative virtues of gelato vs.

Automating cross-posts to Tumblr, using duct tape and rubber cement

I’ve been having a lot of trouble over the years posting to Tumblr. The native Tumblr apps and web page for creating new posts have gotten more and more difficult to use. I suspect the software has been redesigned over and over again by people who do not actually use Tumblr, and think Tumblr users are semi-literate idiots and perverts. We are not semi-literate idiots. There are several automated channels for posting to Tumblr, but they all result in ugly, ugly formatting errors, or duplicate posts.

I have seen this car parked at Lake Murray occasionally for years. It’s always been beat up and decaying, but I used to think it looked beautiful, like a well worn leather jacket. Now it looks like it wants to die.

On my walk today. Hello, Lake Murray, you’re looking fine.

An earlier product name, “Gee, Your Hair Smells Like a Cheesesteak,” was rejected by focus groups. 1982 ad via

Clocks change in six weeks in most of the US (March 3). Are you ready?

La Mesa Shop Owner Arrested After Attack on San Diego Media (I have a slight personal connection to this story)

NBC 7 San Diego A La Mesa shop owner – already the subject of a sexual harassment investigation – was arrested on battery and vandalism charges Tuesday following a physical altercation between him and local media members recorded on video. Peter Carzis, 76, was being investigated for reports of alleged harassment on female customers when members of the news media appeared at his shop, Peter’s Men’s Apparel on La Mesa Boulevard, Monday afternoon.

Black Texas teen told to cut his dreadlocks to walk at graduation nbcnews.com

VMware Extends Its SD-WAN Tentacles With Nyansa Acquisition Me/Light Reading

CenturyLink Inks $1.6B Networking Deal With US Interior Department – Me/Light Reading

Minnie says good morning.

“In every artist’s depiction of a meteor that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, there’s always one T-Rex looking up at it like “That can’t be good."

Clearly we should not elect people President just because they are celebrities, but if we’re going around electing people President just because they are celebrities, why couldn’t we have elected Dolly Parton?

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We’ve started watching The Morning Show, which I am pleased to see continues an unbroken record of TV characters named Mitch being jerks.

Every time I read up about IndieWeb I get a headache. So confusing! I get that regular people may never be interested in IndieWeb but the technology is downright hostile to people who don’t already understand it.

Martin Luther King: Blacks and poor people get "welfare" but whites and rich people get "subsidies"

kottke.org quotes King: Whenever the government provides opportunities and privileges for white people and rich people they call it “subsidized” when they do it for Negro and poor people they call it “welfare.” The fact that is the everybody in this country lives on welfare. Suburbia was built with federally subsidized credit. And highways that take our white brothers out to the suburbs were built with federally subsidized money to the tune of 90 percent.

It is absolutely fine to rip your books in half

Constance Grady/vox.com: On Monday morning, an apparently innocuous tweet summoned a storm of controversy on Twitter. “Yesterday my colleague called me a ‘book murderer’ because I cut long books in half to make them more portable,” said the novelist and editor Alex Christofi. “Does anyone else do this? Is it just me?”… There is something deeply romantic about the idea of holding a physical book in your hands: feeling the weight of it, the smoothness of the pages, and above all else the smell.

Also, same deal for sockpuppetknifefight.com. If you want that domain for a real project – not to squat on – it’s yours.

My blog used to be called Monkeys in my Pants. Explanation. I own the domain monkeysinmypants.com. It expires Feb. 19. You can have it at cost. Just promise to put a real website there – no domainers.

The Black Six (1974)

On Reddit: “My great uncle Charley Brock. Played football at Nebraska then the Green Bay Packers. Pic taken ~1936.” That young gentleman knew how to wear a hat. Via

Brooklyn, 1945. Students protesting the “no pants to school” rule via

Does it have to be either/or? 1968 Via

“Are you ready to get out the vote in 2020? Because I guarantee you these fuckers are.” mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/1903…

yeahiwasintheshit.tumblr.com/post/1903…

Batman and the Fonz Via

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Silicon Valley Abandons the Culture That Made It the Envy of the World theatlantic.com Alexis Madrigal: Silicon Valley is killing startup culture. Now, executives from Facebook and Google are facing antitrust action and argue they need to be big to compete with China.

Opening shot of one of my favorite movies, “Almost Famous,” then and now. Ocean Beach, San Diego – about 12 miles from our house. Via

Bernie Sanders getting arrested at a civil rights march, 1963 Via

Escape from a burning skyscraper by floating gently down like a giant inflated badminton birdie.. Or just, y’know, do it for funsies.

Nonprofit plans to bring mobile showers to San Diego’s homeless – sandiegouniontribune.com

The lost neighborhood under New York’s Central Park

The land that is now Central Park was site of a village of 1,600 people, “many of whom were escaping the crowded and increasingly dangerous conditions of lower Manhattan.” Ranjani Chakraborty, vox.com: Among them was a predominantly black community that bought up affordable plots to build homes, churches, and a school. The area became known as Seneca Village. And when Irish and German immigrants moved in, it became a rare example of racial harmony in an integrated neighborhood during this period.

Nototo note taking software organizes notes on a literal map, with islands, flowers, trees, etc. Nifty, but practical?

Meanwhile, on the internet

I have several questions. Via

A dentist was convicted on 46 felony and misdemeanor counts after filming himself performing a dental extraction while riding a hoverboard – cnn.com Oddly, this did not happen in Florida.

Isaac Asimov's roaming hands

Asimov’s Empire, Asimov’s Wall – daily.jstor.org Alec Nevala-Lee reflects on Asimov’s twin legacies: As a prolific and talented writer who made strides for science fiction, science and reason; and as a serial groper and sexual harasser who made science fiction and the scientific community more hostile to women – even as Asimov declared himself to be a feminist and spoke out loudly in favor of women’s rights.

Wild elephant walks into a Sri Lanka hotel, wanders around gently poking at stuff with its trunk. (video)

Thanks to @manton for responding to a help request from me on Friday night, within minutes, and without pointing out that the problem was my own fault in the first place. Within minutes, he responded. On a Friday night.

Dave Winer: I'm re-thinking RSS now

RSS forces “blogging into the title-description-body model of journalism. But blog posts are more free-form, they don’t all fit into that structure,” Dave says. One major reason I’m taking a break from WordPress now and trying micro.blog full time is that micro.blog is more graceful in how it handles untitled posts. For most blog posts, I dislike titles intensely. It’s a big deal for me. Somewhere in the mid-2000s, there evolved a consensus opinion that blog posts needed to be at least a few hundred words long, with a title.

A four-year-old answers job interview questions. ‪The advice about writing is spot on. ‬

“911—what’s your emergency?” “Hi, I . . . uh . . . I work from home." [Colin Nissan/The New Yorker] I never watch “meerkat videos.”

Tennessee governor seeks to amend law honouring Nathan Bedford Forrest, leader of Ku Klux Klan [The Guardian]

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National Archives sorry for blurring anti-Trump signs in Women’s March photo [The Guardian]

The British “full breakfast” is dying: The fry-up may be toast – but, much to my own surprise, I don’t really care [Tony Naylor/The Guardian] When my wife and I first visited Britain in 1994, even then people told us “full breakfast” was mainly for old people and tourists.

Brawny Disneyland guest removes park’s sword in the stone/Boing Boing I guess he’s the king of Disneyland then?

This statement could be read as Dave Winer disavowing blogging and RSS. Which would be extraordinary. I expect I’m misunderstanding him.

TSA issues apology to Native American woman who had braids pulled by agent

The federal Transportation Security Administration has apologized to a Native American woman who said an agent at Minneapolis-St Paul international airport “pulled her braids” and said “giddy up!” when she took a flight from there this week. “The agent said she needed to pat down my braids,” tweeted Tara Houska, an indigenous rights advocate and attorney. “She pulled them behind my shoulders, laughed and said ‘giddyup!’ as she snapped my braids like reins.

National Archives edited Women’s March picture to be less critical of Trump Vox The National Archives' justification here – golly! they just wanted to avoid controversy and political partisanship! – is bullshit.

More pizza, fewer vegetables: Trump administration further undercuts Obama school-lunch rules The Washington Post The U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken another whack at former first lady Michelle Obama’s signature achievement: Establishing stricter nutritional standards for school breakfasts and lunches. And on her birthday. On Friday, USDA Deputy Under Secretary Brandon Lipps proposed new rules for the Food and Nutrition Service that would allow schools to cut the amount of vegetables and fruits required at lunch and breakfasts while giving them license to sell more pizza, burgers and fries to students.

Man hijacks Portland airport monitor to play video games, until PDX officials declare ‘game over’ oregonlive.com Operations supervisors approached the gamer, [Port of Portland spokesperson Kama Simonds] said, “and very kindly asked this person to unplug and cease using the monitors at the airport.” According to Simonds, the man asked “very politely” if he could finish his game. Sadly for him, the answer was no. Thanks, @macgenie!

Larry David: The Incredibly Happy Life of TV’s Favorite Grouch Brett Martin: It is almost reflexive—for reasons of temperament and ethnicity—to describe David as “neurotic.” Sitting there with him in what I had already begun to think of as Larry World, I start to believe maybe this is exactly wrong. It occurs to me that Larry David may be the most self-actualized person I have ever met. Delightful profile.

That moment when you’re sitting on the couch and you tilt your head back to get the last few drops of your delicious breakfast shake, but you forgot you had your glasses on top of your head and you feel them slip off and hear them hit the carpet behind the couch. On the other hand, the dog’s reaction was most gratifying when I moved the couch while she was sitting on it.

I am enjoying Jack Ryan enough to watch one episode a night, but not enough for two. I’m glad Jim found a new career; he seemed unhappy at Dunder Mifflin. 📺

Jack Reacher series author Lee Child ‘quits and lets brother step in’ [The Guardian]

Seems like Jean is really into wieners 1940’s Visking Skinless Wiener Ad advertisingpics.tumblr.com/post/1903…

Bankers Flooding JPMorgan Event Bemoan San Francisco Squalor www.bloomberg.com/news/arti… My work takes me to San Francisco several times a year and I dislike it more and more. Downtown, where conferences happen, is a urinal. Outside there, the city is still beautiful, but you can’t find a hotel room for less than $600/night unless you’re willing to commute a half hour and often stay in a walkup with no private bath.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley reveals she has alopecia: ‘It’s important I’m transparent about this new normal’ www.cnn.com/2020/01/1… Interesting. My nephew has alopecia, which leads to drastic hair loss – in his case, as a teen-ager. He’s a good-looking kid, just bald.

San Diego destroyer commander fired www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/mili… Cmdr. John “Bob” Bowen was relieved of command due to a “loss of confidence in his ability to command,” according to a Navy statement. The term is a catch-all used by the military to justify commander firings without detailing a cause. ??!!

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Wants To Ban ‘Virginity Tests’ In California www.kpbs.org/news/2020… “Virginity tests”? In America? In the 21st Century? Dafuq? Also: “There is no scientific way to tell whether or not someone is a virgin. Hymens vary among girls and some are born without one.”