October 1, 2021
We can find them with this.
The most important device in the universe. The second-most important device in the universe. Both created by John Zabrucky, iconic prop maker, who closed up shop last year.
How Not to Get Lost in the Ocean
The Sound Aquatic. Hakai Magazine's 5-part podcast invites us to explore the ocean and its noisy inhabitants is. Episode 1 Can You Hear Me Now?: Eavesdropping on marine motormouths during the world’s most expensive experiment (aka the sudden drop in shipping and ship noise triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic).
Trolling for American hearts and minds
Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows, MIT Technology Review, Karen Hao, September 16, 2021 [alternate link]. In the run-up to the 2020 election, Facebook’s most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were run by Eastern European troll farms. These pages reached nearly half of all Americans through Facebook’s platform design and engagement-hungry algorithm.
Can someone explain how this video has 4.1M Views but has 200 likes?????
I really can’t think of a more perfect encapsulation of the last 10 stupid and wasteful years of bloated VC-funded digital media than a constantly-pivoting digital publisher launched by two Goldman Sachs employees abusing underpaid staffers, dangling useless stock options in front of them, and possibly committing fraud to help prop up a weird and wildly unpopular YouTube talk show hosted by the site’s founder. Internet guy Ryan Broderick dives into the rapidly disintegrating world of OZY Media, recently in the news for impersonating a Youtube executive at an investor meeting and lying about basic facts regarding their flagship "Carlos Watson Show."
2012 exit polls and the post-2012 narrative
"The popular narrative after 2012 that Obama won due to historic mobilization of young and non-white voters was completely wrong and the resulting consequences of that narrative have led to massive strategic errors that have put American democracy at risk." Nate Cohn of the NYT's Upshot on how erroneous data from the 2012 exit polls created a powerful narrative - that white working-class voters were no longer a major part of the Democratic coalition - which was completely wrong. "You know how the story ends. The real Obama coalition - an alliance of northern white working class voters and high Black turnout - evaporated in 2016." Via David Shor.
Pomes pounded out
Luke Davis waits for the muse to strike [16 mins] sitting on a lawn-chair in the sun on the South Bank in London: paper loaded in a Brother de Luxe manual typewriter, ready for someone, anyone, to ask for a poem on a pay-what-you-will contract.
It's spooky season for the Biden agenda
High drama on Capitol Hill this week as the slim Democratic majority struggles over President Biden's "Build Back Better" plan. On one side: the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF!), exhaustively hashed out this summer by a cross-party cadre of moderate senators. On the other: a $3.5 trillion "human infrastructure" package containing the rest of Biden's sweeping agenda: climate, education, social care, and so much more, all packed into a single reconciliation bill that needs only 50 Senate votes. Dem centrists (led by the inscrutable Manchin and Sinema) demand passing infrastructure first, while House progressives, doubtful of centrist support for reconciliation, insist both bills pass together. After a progressive rebellion derailed an infrastructure vote late last night, and a leaked memo shed some light on Manchin's positions, the path is open to a perilous negotiation that could make or break Biden's domestic policy. Spookiest of all: the specter of a catastrophic debt default just weeks away as Republican stonewalling blocks all attempts to lift the debt ceiling.
The Octobering: Ashes to ashes; slush to slush
"Mortality management solutions" It doesn’t get easier than this. Load the system, and the process is 100% complete in less than a day. "First, be smart from the very beginning" is complicated, compared to this. [more inside]
It's more dangerous than ever to go alone.
They call it the Indiepocalypse - the oversaturation of indie, outsider and hobbyist video games that results in poor sales for the vast majority of them. Strategies have been suggested, such as those from gamedev Jason Rohrer, but Andrew aka PIZZAPRANKS has another solution: convenient bundles of diverse, disparate games. Hence his $15 USD bundle-slash-zine series, INDIEPOCALYPSE (itch.io store - always updated first), which is literally hours away (if that) from posting Issue #21. All devs and zine writers are paid, both up front and per sale. At least ten games included with each issue. Stuff besides game info in the zine from #5 onwards. One exclusive game with each issue from #13 onwards. Anyone can submit games, comics, and mini-zines. More info and important tips after the jump. [more inside]
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