Post · Bonfire

Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: What the fuck is a PBM? and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/23/shield-of-boringness/

#Pluralistic

A Rube Goldberg machine for feeding a man soup. It has been placed against a background of scattered, assorted pills. In the foreground, along the bottom of the frame, are loosely stacked, bundled US one hundred dollar bills. Beside them stands a miniature caricature of a capitalist, holding a bulging, dollar-sign-emblazoned sack.

Image:
Flying Logos (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png

CC BY-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en — A Rube Goldberg machine for feeding a man soup. It has been placed against a background of scattered, assorted pills. In the foreground, along the bottom of the frame, are loosely stacked, bundled US one hundred dollar bills. Beside them stands a miniature caricature of a capitalist, holding a bulging, dollar-sign-emblazoned sack. Image: Flying Logos (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

lemgandi @lemgandi@mastodon.social · 2 months ago

@pluralistic I spent a miserable year working for one of these outfits once. Not something I look back on with pride.

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

TOMORROW (September 24th), I'll be speaking in person at the Boston Public Library!

https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/events?startDate=2024-09-24&endDate=2024-09-24

The paperback edition of The Lost Cause, my nationally bestselling, hopeful solarpunk novel is out this month!

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865946/thelostcause

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lkh @lkh@social.sdfeu.org · 2 months ago

@pluralistic So I got my copy hot off the press it seems. Finished it yesterday, took me 6 days. Now I'm urging my family to read it too 😅 Thank you!

Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

@lkh Amazing!

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/3

What the fuck is a PBM?: Matt Stoller's got you covered (but your health insurer doesn't).

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/113187483028441282

Image:
Flying Logos (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png

CC BY-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en — Image: Flying Logos (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Kevin Driscoll 📳 @kdriscoll@aoir.social · 2 months ago

@pluralistic I was hoping against all reason that this would be about the wacky .pbm image format 💾

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/4

Hey look at this

* 2275 pharmacies have closed so far in 2024 https://benjaminjolley.substack.com/p/2275-pharmacies-have-closed-so-far

* "The Apprentice"/Trump-Harris debate mashup https://archive.org/details/img-7121_202409

* Turning Everyday Gadgets into Bombs is a Bad Idea https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2024/turning-everyday-gadgets-into-bombs-is-a-bad-idea/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/5

#20yrsago Lucas put malicious Xbox trojan on Star Wars DVD https://web.archive.org/web/20040925010419/http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EpAVlAVpuZDrYOIHtX.php

#20yrsago My Sunburst Award acceptance speech https://memex.craphound.com/2004/09/23/corys-sunburst-acceptance-speech/

#15yrsago London cops finally apologise for mugging geek — four years later https://gizmonaut.net/bits/suspect.html

#15yrsago Lily Allen’s copyright problem https://memex.craphound.com/2009/09/23/lily-allens-copyright-problem/

#15yrsago HOWTO reproduce a key from a distant, angled photo https://web.archive.org/web/20090927024433/http://vision.ucsd.edu/~blaxton/sneakey.html

#15yrsago Photos of Edward Gorey’s house https://www.flickr.com/photos/mychatham/sets/72157604189279962/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/6

#15yrsago AES explained by stick figures https://www.moserware.com/2009/09/stick-figure-guide-to-advanced.html

#15yrsago France adopts law that lets entertainment goons take your family off the net if one member is accused (without evidence) of violating copyright https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2009/09/21/yet-another-adoption-of-liberty-killer-three-strikes-law-in-france/

#10yrsago Lauren Beukes’s Broken Monsters https://memex.craphound.com/2014/09/22/lauren-beukess-broken-monsters/

#10yrsago Photos from Stasiland https://www.wired.com/2014/09/eerie-architecture-east-germanys-secret-police/

#10yrsago Australian PM trades freedom for security, deserves neither https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-delicate-balance-between-freedom-and-security-may-have-to-shift-tony-abbott-20140922-10kdz7.html

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/7

#10yrsago Cops who use Stingray surveillance must sign company nondisclosure first https://www.muckrock.com/foi/tacoma-72/cell-site-simulator-acquisition-and-use-tacoma-police-department-12243/#1303020-nda_redacted

#10yrsago Scott Westerfeld’s Afterworlds https://memex.craphound.com/2014/09/23/scott-westerfelds-afterworlds/

#5yrsago Bernie Sanders promises to zero out all US medical debt and end medical bankruptciehttps://berniesanders.com/issues/eliminating-medical-debt/s https://berniesanders.com/issues/eliminating-medical-debt/

#5yrsago Towards a “nerdocratic oath” https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=4292

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/8

#5yrsago @sarahpinsker’s “Song for a New Day”: outstanding dystopian rock-and-roll novel of rebellion and redemption https://memex.craphound.com/2019/09/23/sarah-pinskers-song-for-a-new-day-outstanding-dystopian-rock-and-roll-novel-of-rebellion-and-redemption/

#5yrsago The lost audiobooks of Roger Zelazny reading the Chronicles of Amber https://memex.craphound.com/2019/09/22/the-lost-audiobooks-of-roger-zelazny-reading-the-chronicles-of-amber/

#1yrsago Apple fucked us on right to repair (again) https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

#1yrago Down in the (link)dumps https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/23/salmagundi/#dewey-102

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/9

My latest nationally bestselling novel is "The Bezzle," an ice-cold revenge story of high-tech finance crime starring the forensic accountant Martin Hench:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

Signed copies from Chevalier's Books:

https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/product-page/the-bezzle

My latest nonfiction book is "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation" from Verso Books:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Signed copies available from Book Soup:

https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245

Both are national bestsellers!

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/10

My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

https://craphound.com/shop/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/11

Upcoming appearances:

* The Right to Read, @BPLBoston, Sep 24
https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/66cf2d8bf520192f005fcc50

* @openssf SOSS Fusion (Atlanta), Oct 22
https://sossfusion2024.sched.com/speaker/cory_doctorow.1qm5qfgn

* TusCon (Tucson), Nov 8-10
https://tusconscificon.com/

11/

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/12

Recent appearances:

* Rethink: Is the internet getting worse?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022z9r

* @anniesbooksworc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYM3WOPOMC0

* @DEFCON 32 - Disenshittify or die! How hackers can seize the means of computation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EmstuO0Em8

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Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr · 2 months ago

Long thread/13

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