In case you’re searching for things to take your mind off the immediate horrors of the real world for, you know, some reason, here are ten: 3D Workers Island is a horror story told in the form of late-nineties screenshots from forums, websites, and a mysterious screensaver. Practical Betterments
Technology
[Senator Ron Wyden at MSNBC] Senator Wyden has long been a loud voice for surveillance reform and stronger data protections, so this op-ed isn't really a surprise - but it's still nice to see him weighing in here: "Data brokers are selling the ability to
Notable Links
[ProPublica] "With just days to go before Election Day, political coverage is everywhere. At ProPublica, we avoid horse race reporting and focus on telling stories about deeper issues and trends affecting the country. Here are some stories from the last year about issues that are important to voters."
Notable Links
[Versha Sharma in Teen Vogue] This is a remarkable kind-of-sort-of-endorsement from Teen Vogue. "As the head of this publication, dedicated to young readers, I have been closely following younger generations’ collective disbelief at the Biden administration’s support of the Israeli government during its all-out assault on Gaza, following
Notable Links
[Craig Silverman at ProPublica and Priyanjana Bengani at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism] "The network, which uses the name Patriot Democracy on many of its ad accounts, is one of eight deceptive Meta advertising operations identified by ProPublica and Tow. These networks have collectively controlled more than 340
Technology
[John O'Nolan] This is a genuinely inspiring post from John O'Nolan about the foundation behind Ghost and how it operates. It feels like a blueprint for so many open source projects. "The business model was simple: We would make a great open source product that
I’m aware that a lot of my linkblog posts have been about the state of America this week. That’s because — well, I’m sure you can figure out why. There is nothing bigger to talk about than this election. So much is at stake, and it really, truly
Notable Links
[Cassandra Jaramillo and Kavitha Surana at ProPublica] The deeply tragic stories of how abortion bans lead to preventable deaths continue. "The fetus was on the verge of coming out, its head pressed against her dilated cervix; she was 17 weeks pregnant and a miscarriage was “in progress,” doctors noted
Notable Links
[Nilay Patel at The Verge] This is, uh, the opposite of this year's trend of a bunch of newspapers refusing to endorse anyone: "Donald Trump is a dangerous maniac who can barely complete a sentence, and it is lunacy to believe he can even recognize the existentially
Notable Links
[Molly Redden and Andy Kroll, ProPublica, and Nick Surgey, Documented] "A key ally to former President Donald Trump detailed plans to deploy the military in response to domestic unrest, defund the Environmental Protection Agency and put career civil servants “in trauma” in a series of previously unreported speeches that
Media
[Heather Bryant] A characteristically sharp piece on the Washington Post's spiked Presidential endorsement and ensuing fallout from Heather Bryant: "Good journalism is not unique to the Washington Post. Or the L.A. Times. Or the New York Times. Or any other specific organization. Their historical reach and
Fediverse
[Ghost] "Last week we officially started the ActivityPub private beta and sent invitations to our first 3 publishers to start testing things out. This was the first big milestone we've been working toward for months, and it felt great to get there! 🚀" The Ghost team continues
