The Antenna

#ancientGeography #ancientHistory #archaeology #classics #DH #gazetteers #HGIS

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

81e3844c - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

3c09a8c7 - updated gis package

e8e00a96 - updated data quality

58789f01 - updated bibliography

c1349766 - updated indexes

cc00dba1 - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

d286eb57 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

5a2bc065 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116443490690781840

Alistair Davidson / validation-enhancer · GitLab

(date: 2026-04-21)

Here’s another nice progressive web component for your forms, this time for showing error messages.

adactio.com/links/22537

https://gitlab.com/alistairldavidson/validation-enhancer

Bonnard And Helium

(date: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/bonnar/

Web tools are cool

(date: 2026-04-21)

My website has a new page! The /uses URL pathname is an “official” slash page. I’m only listing web tools I use for now. My default apps change too frequently. The list is an evolution of an old post I was secretly maintaining. 👉 Visit my /uses page! […]

https://dbushell.com/2026/04/21/web-tools/

Expansion artifacts || Matt Ström-Awn, designer-leader

(date: 2026-04-21)

Compression made the information age possible by stripping things down to fit the pipes. Expansion made the AI age possible by blowing data back up again. Both operations leave marks; we’ve learned to spot compression artifacts, but we’ve only just begun to reckon with expansion artifacts. Until we do, there’s a lot of risk to manage.

adactio.com/links/22536

https://mattstromawn.com/writing/expansion-artifacts/

Our 2026 Candidates Are Impressive, New National and CA Polls, The AI Wars Have Begun

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Let's close strong in Virginia today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/our-2026-candidates-are-impressive

We're Getting Hit with Patel's Hangover

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

What looks like damage control in a one-off scandal is actually a strategy to do far more damage to democracy.

https://plus.briantylercohen.com/p/patels-trashed-but-were-getting-hit

[$] Using LLMs to find Python C-extension bugs

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

The open-source world is currently awash in
reports of LLM-discovered bugs and vulnerabilities, which makes for a lot more work for maintainers, but many of the current crop are being reported responsibly with an eye toward minimizing that impact. A recent report on an effort to systematically find bugs in Python extensions
written in C has followed that approach. Hobbyist Daniel Diniz used Claude Code to find more than 500 bugs of various sorts across nearly a million lines of code in 44 extensions; he has been working with maintainers to get fixes upstream and his methodology serves as a great example of how to keep the human in the loop—and the maintainers out of burnout—when employing LLMs.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067234/

Firefox 150 released

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Version
150 of the Firefox web browser has been released. Notable changes include local-network-access
restrictions being turned on for all users, the ability to reorder, copy, delete, paste, and export pages from a PDF using Firefox's built-in viewer, as well as improvements in its split
view feature, and more. See also the release
notes for developers and list
of security fixes in this release.

(Update: Mozilla seems to have removed the local-network-access restrictions information since the release was published yesterday.)

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068839/

Never Lose Form Progress Again :: Aaron Gustafson

(date: 2026-04-21)

Here’s an excellent progressive web component from Aaron—wrap a custom element around your exising form and your good to go:

At its core, form-saver is a small web component that wraps a form, keeps an eye on it, stores values in localStorage, and restores them when the page loads again. Better yet, it clears out saved data after a successful submission so you’re not accidentally resurrecting stale information the next time someone stops by.

adactio.com/links/22535

https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/never-lose-form-progress-again/

Thisday

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Blurp I am told that Santa Barbara’s beaches are covered with velella now. I mean a lot like the one above, See you there A couple of nights ago, a friend and reader of mine said he didn’t understand what today’s talk by Judith Donath would be about. “Signaling theory?” he said. “What’s that?” To him, signals […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/21/thisday/

One great poem to read today: Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California”

(date: 2026-04-21)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-allen-ginsbergs-a-supermarket-in-california/

Pluralistic: Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff's "Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed" (21 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-21)

Today's links Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff's "Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed": A rocket exploding in a human face, forever. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Is sugar poison? More watch-part motorcycles; "Something New"; "Seeds"; Bulldozer fight; Facebook tonsils; Against transparency. Upcoming appearances: San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Barcelona, Hay-on-Wye, London, NYC. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff's "Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed" (permalink) Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff's Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed seeks to describe the ideology that gave rise to Elon Musk, the social forces that gave rise to that ideology, and the terrible future that ideology seeks to bring about: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/muskism-quinn-slobodianben-tarnoff?variant=43838135402530 The book's starting point is that "Muskism" isn't merely the things Musk says, believes and does. It's the ideology that coalesces around him, from the people in his wake and the people he follows. Just as Henry Ford neither defined "Fordism" nor precisely practiced it, "Muskism" is centered on Elon Musk, but it's not Elon Musk's creation. So what is Muskism? To answer this question, Slobodian and Tarnoff enumerate the factors and influences that produced Musk himself. There's apartheid, with its "rational" system of technocratic authoritarianism, which blended together a life of luxury and plenty (for white settlers), brutal surveillance and state violence (for the Black majority) and fascist control over speech (for everyone), combined with a meat-grinder draft that saw young men of Musk's age being called up to suppress liberation uprisings. Peak apartheid coincided with peak personal computing, the moment where PCs (and then, modems) were getting cheaper and faster, propagating like mushrooms, offering a young Musk access to a broad world outside of the fascist bubble of South Africa, inspiring global ambitions in Musk. Closer to home, there's Musk's family: his grandfather, a grandiose and vicious white supremacist who moved to South Africa from Canada because of his love for apartheid and racial hierarchy. There's Musk's father, a violent and abusive fool. Muskism is also a new variant on techno-libertarianism. Traditional techno-libertarianism seeks to dismantle the state – or better yet, exit from the state, in the manner of an Ayn Rand hero. Techno-libertarianism is intimately bound up with settler colonialism, ever on the hunt for an "empty land" (terra nullius) that can be settled without committing the original sin of expropriation, the gravest offense in a religion organized around the total sanctity of private property: https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/14/this-way-to-the-egress/#terra-nullius Muskism doesn't seek to exit the state, it seeks to colonize and control it. Long before DOGE, Musk was playing the organs of the state to his own tune, securing massive contracts and subsidies for his solar and rocketry businesses, relying on the massive, deep-pocketed government to keep his businesses afloat. Obviously (DOGE!), Muskism also seeks to dismantle the state, but only the parts of it that can be transferred to Musk's own private hands. Muskism is about big government…for Musk, but not for you. It embodies that important conservative value summarized in Wilhoit's Law: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288 This is Musk through and through – a man who demands the right to call innocent strangers "pedo guy" without legal consequence; and also wields the power of the state to shutter businesses that boycott his platform because of its shitty practices: https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/courtside/elon-musk-sues-advertisers-who-boycott-x-under-anti-trust-laws/ Musk grew up on science fiction novels and weaves stfnal tropes through his offerings (for example, calling his chatbot "Grok"). There's no shortage of reactionary politics in science fiction, but Musk doesn't confine his sf-inspired cosmology to reactionary literature. He's famously very fond of the Wachowskis' "Matrix" movies, and leans heavily into the metaphor of the Matrix in explaining his interest in wiring people directly into computers, in characterizing opposing political beliefs as "mind viruses," and in calling his political enemies "NPCs": https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/18/seeing-like-a-billionaire/#npcs But Musk's relationship to this metaphor differs in a subtle and important way from the right's "Red Pill" rhetoric. Musk doesn't want to break out of the Matrix – he wants to control the Matrix. He wants to decide which opinions you're allowed to see and discuss (because "most people have weak firewalls for bad ideas"), he wants to beam ideas directly into your neural link, and he wants to abolish any form of workplace democracy, conquering the world with South African baasskap (boss-ism): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baasskap Throughout this slim volume, Slobodian and Tarnoff tease these strains of thought out of Musk's deeds and utterances, and in the systems that he has built or colonized through acquisition. The authors are offering more than a psychoanalysis, though – they're surfacing the material basis for Muskism, the benefits it delivers to its adherents, and the victories it has racked up. They reveal the method in Musk's chaotic and bullying management style, and recount the times Musk has successfully shattered sclerotic processes to make real breakthroughs, especially in aerospace. You'd be hard pressed to read these passages and without feeling some grudging admiration. Muskism gets stuff done…sometimes. At a cost. A high cost. Tarnoff and Slobodian count that cost, identify who pays it, and conjure up the world in which those costs continue to mount for all of us. It's a chilling vision, a Torment Nexus dystopia run by someone who thinks cyberpunk was a suggestion, not a warning. Hey look at this (permalink) Move Slow and Upgrade https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/move-slow-and-upgrade/93EAB1B110C5AD50D2395B149DF98EC6 Union Now Fund https://secure.actblue.com/donate/unionnow On Dangerous Rhetoric https://omny.fm/shows/better-offline/monologue-on-dangerous-rhetoric What Did I Learn from Running the “Reflections on Trusting Trust” Compiler? https://theofficialacm.substack.com/p/what-did-i-learn-from-running-the Happy Tax Day, New York. We're taxing the rich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLKZnVB4F9k Object permanence (permalink) #15yrsago US, EU want to delay copyright treaty to help blind people for 3-5 years https://web.archive.org/web/20110423170607/http://keionline.org/node/1114 #15yrsago Is sugar a poison? https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all #15yrsago More watch-part motorcycles https://ummaisoumenos.blogspot.com/2008/11/miniaturas-fantsticasbikesfeitas-de.html #15yrsago Seeds: comic-book memoir of father’s cancer is moving, sweet https://memex.craphound.com/2011/04/19/seeds-comic-book-memoir-of-fathers-cancer-is-moving-sweet/ #10yrsago Something New: frank, comedic, romantic memoir of a wedding in comic form https://memex.craphound.com/2016/04/19/something-new-frank-comedic-romantic-memoir-of-a-wedding-in-comic-form/ #10yrsago Ben and Jerry arrested at Democracy Spring demonstration in DC https://web.archive.org/web/20160419173913/https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/co-founders-of-ben-and-jerrys-arrested-at-us-capitol/ar-BBrW5tb?li=BBnb7Kz #10yrsago Competing construction companies stage a bulldozer fight in a busy street https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrtnIImGipg #10yrsago Chicago Police Accountability Task Force Report: racism, corruption, and a “broken system” https://chicagopatf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PATF_Final_Report_4_13_16-1.pdf #5yrsago Facebook's tonsils https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/19/tonsilitis/#mod-traum #1yrago Against transparency https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/19/gotcha/#known-to-the-state-of-california-to-cause-cancer Upcoming appearances (permalink) San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Barcelona: Internet no tiene que ser un vertedero (Global Digital Rights Forum), May 13 https://encuentroderechosdigitales.com/en/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI (The Strand), Jun 24 https://www.strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html Recent appearances (permalink) When Do Platforms Stop Innovating and Start Extracting? (InnovEU) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cccDR0YaMt8 Pete "Mayor" Buttigieg (No Gods No Mayors) https://www.patreon.com/posts/pete-mayor-with-155614612 The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/21/torment-nexusism/

Peacock’s Ad-Free Tier Coming To Roku Premium Subscriptions Under New Agreement

(date: 2026-04-21)

EXCLUSIVE: Peacock’s ad-free tier, Premium Plus, will soon be available on Roku Premium Subscriptions under a new agreement between NBCUniversal and the major streaming provider. Along with being ad-free (outside of live sports) the highest plan of Peacock allows users to download programming for offline viewing and also provides geo-targeted local TV stations. It costs […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/peacocks-premium-roku-subscriptions-streaming-deal-1236865457/

Director Of Jair Bolsonaro Biopic Starring Jim Caviezel Says Film Is About “Power, Media, And Faith Under Fire”

(date: 2026-04-21)

EXCLUSIVE: Cyrus Nowrasteh, the director of Jair Bolsonaro biopic Dark Horse, has described the film as a “tense political thriller about power, media, and faith under fire.” With post-production nearing an end on the project, producers have released an official still from the movie, showing star Jim Caviezel as the controversial former Brazilian leader at […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/jair-bolsonaro-film-jim-caviezel-about-faith-under-fire-1236866934/

Security updates for Tuesday

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (freerdp, kernel, and kernel-rt), Debian (mupdf, opam, simpleeval, and xdg-dbus-proxy), Mageia (firefox, thunderbird and libtiff), Red Hat (containernetworking-plugins, gvisor-tap-vsock, nodejs22, nodejs:20, nodejs:22, perl-XML-Parser, python3.11, python3.9, runc, and skopeo), and SUSE (bind, buildah, cockpit-subscriptions, container-suseconnect, containerd, corosync, cosign, docker, dovecot24, flatpak, freeipmi, gegl, GraphicsMagick, helm, ImageMagick, kubernetes, kubernetes-old, libpng15, LibVNCServer, ncurses, nodejs22, opensc, openvswitch, patterns-glibc-hwcaps, podman, python, python310, python312, python315, rekor, rootlesskit, roundcubemail, and runc).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068830/

Sports & News/Doc Emmys Set 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients; ‘Have I Got News For You’ Trio To Host Ceremonies

(date: 2026-04-21)

The 2026 Sports Emmys and News & Documentary Emmys are being held on three consecutive nights next month, and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences today revealed the lifetime achievement award honorees for each. Longtime sports media and entertainment executive Steve Bornstein will be feted during the Sports Emmys on May 26, Emmy-winning […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sports-news-doc-emmys-2026-lifetime-achievement-awards-hosts-1236866640/

‘Michael’ Review: Jaafar Jackson Dazzles As His King Of Pop Uncle In A Feel-Good Biopic MJ Fans Will Eat Up

(date: 2026-04-21)

If you ask me the most successful musical biopics allow their stars to interpret the song styles of the artists they are playing. Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter, Jeremy Allen White in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Taron Egerton in Rocketman all did their own singing, even with the risk of not measuring up […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/michael-review-jaafar-jackson-dazzles-feel-good-biopic-1236866871/

Please don’t trust your chatbot for medical advice

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Four separate studies all point in the same direction

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/please-dont-trust-your-chatbot-for

Websites break California privacy law at ‘industrial scale,’ survey finds

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Tech companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft are ignoring data controls mandated under California law, researchers say.

https://themarkup.org/privacy/2026/04/21/websites-break-california-privacy-law-at-industrial-scale-survey-finds

Announcing: Navigating the AI Shift

(date: 2026-04-21)

For a lot of people, AI started out as a net negative. You’re reviewing documents someone couldn’t be bothered to write themselves. You’re having your time wasted by PRs generated by someone who never tried to understand the problem. The efficiency gains everyone keeps talking about haven’t really shown up in your week – but […]

https://cate.blog/2026/04/21/announcing-navigating-the-ai-shift/

‘Big Boys’ Writer-Creator Jack Rooke Reflects On Hit Series & Talks Next Steps — Storyhouse

(date: 2026-04-21)

One year after his hit Channel 4 series Big Boys finished its three-season run, creator and writer Jack Rooke reflected on the show, his approach to writing comedy and what’s next. Speaking at Dublin’s Storyhouse screenwriting festival, Rooke said that while the series, which was based on his own Edinburgh Fringe shows, drew on his personal experiences, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/big-boys-jack-rooke-secret-diary-adrian-mole-storyhouse-1236866940/

‘Embassy’: Prime Video Secures Multi-Territory Rights To Action Series; Luke Treadaway & More Join Anna Kendrick, Sam Heughan & J.K. Simmons In Cast

(date: 2026-04-21)

EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video has swooped for rights to Embassy, the action-thriller series starring Anna Kendrick, Sam Heughan and J.K. Simmons, in six territories. The streamer landed rights in the UK, Ireland, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand for the six-part AGC Television series, which is set to launch next year. AGC, Ascendant Fox and Turbine […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/embassy-prime-video-uk-australia-more-more-casting-1236866923/

Mexican Surveillance Company

(date: 2026-04-21)

Grupo Seguritech is a Mexican surveillance company that is expanding into the US.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/mexican-surveillance-company.html

Trump approval falls to 35% as rating on handling prices hits a record -46

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Our new Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll finds the president's overall job approval at a new low, Democrats leading by 7 on the generic ballot, and a majority says the Iran war is not worth the cost

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-21-april-strength-in-numbers-verasight-poll

Patel Hopes to Look Sober by Scheduling Joint Appearance With Hegseth

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

“I need to hold a press conference with Pete after he’s been on an epic bender,” Patel reportedly told his staff.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/patel-hopes-to-look-sober-by-scheduling

And the Best Literary Film Adaptation of the Last 50 Years is…

(date: 2026-04-21)

After six rounds of voting, and thousands of votes cast, the people have chosen their winner: The Princess Bride, which prevailed over The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with 60% of the vote. Probably we should

https://lithub.com/and-the-best-literary-film-adaptation-of-the-last-50-years-is/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Why The Devil Wears Prada 2’s Starbucks tie-in leaves a strange taste.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/apr/21/the-devil-wears-prada-2-starbucks-collaboration

‘Succession’ & ‘Bugonia’ Writer Will Tracy On How Working At The Onion Paved The Way For His Comedy Writing — Storyhouse

(date: 2026-04-21)

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Will Tracy, whose credits include Succession, The Menu and Bugonia, sat down with author and journalist Patrick Freyne at Dublin’s Storyhouse screenwriting festival where he discussed his career trajectory and writing processes. Speaking to an audience at the Light House Cinema, Tracy outlined how his time working at The Onion paved the way for his comedy writing. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/succession-bugonia-writer-will-tracy-the-onion-storyhouse-1236865792/

The Vindication of Bidenomics

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Are we finally ready to acknowledge its successes?

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-vindication-of-bidenomics

Lit Hub Daily: April 21, 2026

(date: 2026-04-21)

And the best literary adaptation of the last 50 years is… | Lit Hub Why do we hate the word moist? Science may actually have an answer. | Lit Hub History “I don’t know about magic, but something happens in

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-21-2026/

White House Correspondents’ Dinner: Who’s Hosting Events On D.C.’s Big Weekend

(date: 2026-04-21)

A prevailing theme of this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner will be how journalists make a statement in the presence of Donald Trump, whose attacks on the media have come in the form of social media posts and outbursts, but also more serious lawsuits and regulatory action. Outside of the dinner itself, the weekend […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2026-events-1236866101/

South Korean Screen Sector Generated $17.1B In 2025 – MPA

(date: 2026-04-21)

South Korea’s film, TV and streaming sector made ₩24T ($17.1B) in gross domestic product in 2025, according to an Motion Picture Association (MPA) report. The industry also supported 291,100 jobs, and the MPA noted that for every ₩1B generated through the industry, ₩2.1B was created elsewhere. Nearly four in five jobs were in the micro, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/south-korea-screen-business-booms-mpa-report-1236866919/

Speaker Johnson's beginning of the end

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump's elfish toady is quickly losing control of the House.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/mike-johnson-loses-republicans

Sister Takes Majority Stake In Digital-First Label After Party Studios

(date: 2026-04-21)

Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone’s Sister Group has taken a majority stake in digital-first label After Party Studios. After Party is the UK-based producer and creative agency specializing in digital-first content and working with streamers, broadcasters, talent and brands. It was founded in 2016 by YouTuber Callux (aka Callum McGinley) and director RVBBERDUCK (aka Ben […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sister-group-buys-after-party-studios-callux-lis-murdoch-1236866887/

Rebel Wilson Called “F*****g Nuts” By PR Team She Allegedly Used To Smear ‘The Deb’ Producer

(date: 2026-04-21)

Rebel Wilson was described as “f*****g nuts” by the crisis PR team she allegedly engaged to attack Amanda Ghost, the producer of her directorial debut The Deb. Wilson is being sued for defamation by The Deb actress Charlotte MacInnes over Instagram posts in which the Pitch Perfect star alleged that MacInnes complained about Ghost after […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/rebel-wilson-nuts-pr-team-amanda-ghost-the-deb-1236866896/

How do developers define their worth when code is written by AI?

(date: 2026-04-21)

Lately I’ve been in a few podcasts and interviews and one question came up almost every time: What is left for developers to care about or define themselves with when all the code is written by AI? Here is the quick answer: being a developer was never about writing code. Code is a tool to […]

https://christianheilmann.com/2026/04/21/how-do-developers-define-their-worth-when-code-is-written-by-ai/

On the Crazy 1963 Tour That Established the Rolling Stones’ Bad Boy Image

(date: 2026-04-21)

The pace of the Rolling Stones 1963 UK tour, as an up-and-coming opening act for Little Richard and The Everly Brothers, was brutal. The band faced a jam‑packed thirty‑two‑day schedule, two shows daily, followed by onerous travel in road manager Ian

https://lithub.com/on-the-crazy-1963-tour-that-established-the-rolling-stones-bad-boy-image/

Why We All Hate the Word “Moist” So Much

(date: 2026-04-21)

Nineteenth-century philologists are far from the only ones who have spent time pondering the great mysteries that drive our speech. Everyday folks think about language-related questions all the time. They might not be tackling the big ones like its ancient

https://lithub.com/why-we-all-hate-the-word-moist-so-much/

Prone To Be Productive: In Praise of Writing in Bed

(date: 2026-04-21)

The most famous bed—in art, anyway—is probably Tracey Emin’s. Strewn with vodka bottles, bloody undies and used condoms, “My Bed” sold for two and a half million pounds in 2014. Emin’s masterpiece thumbed its nose at a tradition of recumbent

https://lithub.com/prone-to-be-productive-in-praise-of-writing-in-bed/

Jayne Anne Phillips on Chronicling Her West Virginia Upbringing and Writer’s Journey

(date: 2026-04-21)

Jayne Anne Phillips is one of the most, culturally relevant, revelatory writers of our time. She first drew attention with the shocking and distinctive stories in Black Tickets (“Her stories are tickets indeed—to a series of lush, violent, elegiac and

https://lithub.com/jayne-anne-phillips-on-chronicling-her-west-virginia-upbringing-and-writers-journey/

How Lewis and Clark Invented the Western

(date: 2026-04-21)

In the nineteenth century, empires fought over science and resources and land. But they also fought over poetry. “The Americans,” John Quincy Adams wrote to his father, “have in Europe a sad reputation on the article of literature.” The young

https://lithub.com/how-lewis-and-clark-invented-the-western/

Eight Books About Women With Secret Lives

(date: 2026-04-21)

Women’s lives are prone to secrets. There is so much about ourselves that we are punished for publicly acknowledging – our political and business ambitions, our desire to be rewarded for our achievements, even the existence of sexism itself. I

https://lithub.com/eight-books-about-women-with-secret-lives/

Lidie

(date: 2026-04-21)

Perhaps my sisters would say that my sojourn in Kansas and Missouri, and then all the way to Massachusetts to visit my dead husband’s family, chastened me. But when they saw me upon my return from Medford, they didn’t say

https://lithub.com/lidie/

Bang Si-hyuk, Chair Of BTS Agency HYBE, Faces Arrest In South Korea

(date: 2026-04-21)

South Korean police are seeking an arrest warrant for Bang Si-hyuk, the chair of BTS agency HYBE, over an alleged investor fraud scheme. The music mogul is facing arrest after the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency expanded an investigation alleging Bang illegally gained more than $100M, requesting a court warrant from Bang’s arrest, the Associated Press […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/bang-si-hyuk-arrest-warrant-hybe-k-pop-founder-1236866872/

Transparenz in Thüringen nicht abservieren!

(date: 2026-04-21)

In Thüringen sollen die zu veröffentlichenden amtlichen Dokumente im Transparenzgesetz zusammengekürzt werden – getarnt als „Bürokratieentlastung“. Der Hackspace Jena begründet in einer Stellungnahme zum Gesetzentwurf, warum das ein Irrweg ist. Stattdessen sollte das bestehende Transparenzportal umgehend technisch ausgebaut werden.

https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2026/thueringen-tg

Office Hours: Who Should Be the Democratic Candidate in 2028?

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Friends,

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-who-should-be-the-democratic

Using LibreOffice for writing screenplays

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

LibreOffice Writer is the suite’s word processor, and can be used for virtually any task involving… well, processing words, of course. But how about screenwriting (aka writing screenplays)? We saw a discussion on Ask LibreOffice where user Peter J. talked about his experiences in this field. Initially he described LibreOffice’s

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/21/using-libreoffice-for-writing-screenplays/

What Is America Beyond Trump? (w/ Astead Herndon)

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post What Is America Beyond Trump? (w/ Astead Herndon) appeared first on Crooked Media.

https://crooked.com/podcast/what-is-america-beyond-trump-w-astead-herndon/

2026-04-16 Use Oddμ to watch over a directory

(date: 2026-04-21)

2026-04-16 Use Oddμ to watch over a directory

I was wondering how to expand on the use of Oddμ as a static site generator. Here’s an idea.

To implement a static site that gets updated whenever the page files are updated, use a Makefile to produce a HTML file for every Markdown file and then use a directory watcher such as entr to run make whenever Markdown files change or get added.

Makefile:

SHELL = sh

all: $(patsubst %.md,%.html,$(wildcard *.md)) feed.xml

run:
	while true; do sleep 0.1; ls *.md | entr -d make; done

%.html: %.md
	if test "$<" != index.md -a "$<" != changes.md; then oddmu notify "$<"; fi
	oddmu html -template static.html "$<" > "$@"

feed.xml: index.md
	oddmu feed - < "$<" > "$@"

To start:

make run

The while loop of make run works as follows: The ls command feeds all the Markdown files in the current directory to entr. The -d flag causes entr to exit if a new file is added to the directory, redoing the loop and sending an updated list of Markdown files in the current directory to entr.

The rules ensure that any Markdown file that’s changed triggers oddmu notify except for index.md and change.md (since oddmu notify changes these two) and oddmu html is used to generate the HTML using the static.html template.

The feed is regenerated using oddmu feed if index.md changes.

Now you can update the Markdown files with an editor, or upload Markdown files using rsync or scp and it’ll work.

To learn more, see the man pages of oddmu notify, oddmu html and oddmu feed.

#Oddμ

2026-04-21. I feel the urge to implement a daemon or watch subcommand that watches over the filesystem and regenerates the files as necessary. The benefit would be that it already knows about all the subdirectories and it work on platforms such as Windows without a decent scripting environment. Then again, if you’re really into Windows, you can figure out how to do it. I also don’t know if there is even one Windows user.

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2026-04-16-watch-static-site

April 20, 2026

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

Late Saturday evening, Josh Dawsey and Annie Linskey of the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was so unstable and angry after learning on April 3 that Iranians had shot down an American jet that his aides kept him out of the room as they received updates, simply telling him what was going on at important moments.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-20-2026

Retour.

(date: 2026-04-21)

Doing a thing I used to do all the time, and having some feelings about it.

https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/retour/

★ Another Day Has Come

(date: 2026-04-21)

If you agree that Apple itself was It’s hard to imagine a more orderly, confidence-inspiring, exciting-but-not-at-all-surprising, this-feels-right way to do this.

https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/another_day_has_come

Goodbye and Good Riddance, Madam Secretary of Labor

(date: 2026-04-21, updated: 2026-04-22)

You've disgraced yourself and a great department, and it's Trump's fault for nominating you in the first place

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/goodbye-and-good-riddance-madam-secretary

Waterfox 6.6.12 - Security fixes and ad blocker improvements

(date: 2026-04-21)

Security fixes and major improvements to the built-in ad blocker in preview testing.

https://www.waterfox.com/releases/6.6.12/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Iran war accelerates America’s breakup with the world.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/20/iran-war-us-world-influence-00882028?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Anthropic takes $5B from Amazon and pledges $100B in cloud spending in return.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/20/anthropic-takes-5b-from-amazon-and-pledges-100b-in-cloud-spending-in-return/

Trump Sues Himself

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Billions of taxpayer dollars could end up in the pocket of the president

https://steady.substack.com/p/trump-sues-himself

John Appleseed

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Tim totally cooked as the seventh CEO of Apple. But effective September 1, the hot seat belongs to John Ternus, the company’s eighth chief executive. Also, a great day for being a John at Apple. Johny Srouji moves up to chief hardware officer at the same time. Two solid moves for a company that still …

https://om.co/2026/04/20/john-appleseed/

Why do Elected Leaders Destroy Democracy?

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

A conversation with Susan Stokes

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/why-do-elected-leaders-destroy-democracy

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

John Ternus will replace Tim Cook as Apple CEO.

https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/04/john-ternus-will-replace-tim-cook-as-apple-ceo/?utm_source=bsky&utm_medium=social

Meet Senator Sarah Trone Garriott - Minister, Mom, Community Leader, And Proven Winner Working Hard To Flip IA-03 Blue

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Excited to introduce another one of the intrepid, compelling candidates working to flip red districts blue across the country

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/meet-senator-sarah-trone-garriott

What We Don't Know, Can Kill Us: Part 2.

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Ronald Reagan's legacy lives on in many ways, good and bad. But Americans have forgotten too much about what he did with, and to, Iran. Here's why that matters.

https://fallows.substack.com/p/what-we-dont-know-can-kill-us-part

@Robert's feed at BlueSky

(date: 2026-04-20)

Very cool.

[contains quote post or other embedded content]

https://bsky.app/profile/rsdoiel.bsky.social/post/3mjxa75nzws2z

Retournant chez nous

(date: 2026-04-20)

Well, at 1am on Saturday morning, we arrived home from our 'Tour de France' in the campervan. We had planned to travel for a bit longer, but having stayed in 15 different places for our first 17 nights, we were in danger of overload and so decided to turn for home and save some of the other places for a future trip! One of the joys of campervan travel, and especially in France, and even more so in France outside the peak season, is that you don't need to book anywhere in advance, and so can make the trip up as you go along, and change it on a whim. But we had a lovely time and clocked up nearly 2000 miles on the lovely, smooth, quiet French roads.

france_trip_map_2026

Some of our destinations were chosen for literary reasons. We love Neville Shute, and wanted to see Brest, Douarnenez, and the submarine pens at Lorient, mostly because they feature in his books. A fondness for Alexendre Dumas, and the references in The Three Musketeers to the Isle de Ré, and the siege of La Rochelle, added those locations to the list. As a fan of Shakespeare's Henry V, I am still looking forward to a future visit to Agincourt, but we did go once more unto the breach, dear friends, in Harfleur: it's now a roundabout, called La Brèque, at the place where the breach in the old city wall used to be!

We visited harbours and grottos, lighthouses and cathedrals, beaches and Roman villas. We stayed mostly on campsites, but sometimes at an Aire de Camping-Car, which, for the uninitiated, is a parking area where a local authority allows you to stay overnight, often for free. There are huge numbers of these in France, often in small villages, and they encourage visitors to visit local shops and restaurants. We now have warm fuzzy feelings about a little village named Locmaria-Plouzané, in the Finisterre region, of which we would otherwise have been completely ignorant, simply because they kindly let us pass a very peaceful night here, a short walk from the village centre:

Locmaria-Plouzané aire

Very few British authorities are this enlightened, though CAMpRA, the Campaign for Real Aires, is working to get more aire-like facilities in the UK, and we've stayed on a couple of delightful ones.

Some French aires provide a few more services and require modest payment. Some are privately owned: we stayed at a lovely one in the Dordogne that was surrounded by a wire mesh fence with a sliding gate, and the owners asked us to make sure it was closed at night. I was surprised... I looked around at the rolling farmland and thought it didn't look like a high-crime area. No, no, they explained, the gate was to keep any local wild boar out so we weren't disturbed in the night...

We spent one night, for free, in a vineyard, courtesy of the France Passion scheme.

Chateau Coustolle Vignobles

Complete, of course, with a small chateau...

Chateau Coustolle Vignobles

And in Honfleur we stayed in what was basically a large car park... but which was absolutely peaceful at night, provided an electric hook-up, and was 5 minutes' walk from the wonderful old harbour.

Honfleur vieux bassin

For those contemplating the relative comforts of a car park and a hotel room, it must be admitted that our ensuite facilities in the van are somewhat compact. But we also have the benefit of sleeping each night in our own bed, with our own pillows and duvet, and our clothes conveniently in the cupboards without a suitcase in sight.

Our range of activities was a little constrained on this trip by the presence of Betsy, our five-month old puppy. At one point we came back to the van to find she'd realised the view was better from Rose's seat than from the floor. Bother. I fear this means we'll now have to purchase some seat covers...

Betsy on the van seat

Anyway, we're now back, and have tamed the jungle that just three weeks ago was our nicely-mown garden, so I can soon get round to editing my many hours of video footage into a YouTube video, which I do, primarily, to help me relive the trip and remember it for longer!

http://statusq.org/archives/2026/04/20/13681/

Liberalism and Literacy

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

A Symposium with Adam Garfinkle

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/liberalism-and-literacy

Issue 104 – World Tyranny Financial

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

As the Trump family’s crypto dealings raise more alarms, crypto enforcement is falling to new lows

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-104/

The King, the Bling, and A Fraught State Visit

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

As the UK celebrates the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth this week, her pristine legacy might ultimately be seen as a steaming pile of gilded ordure that threatens to bury her descendants.

https://tinabrown.substack.com/p/the-king-the-bling-and-a-fraught

On my birthday, I’m all in for PFLAG

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Today, I am proud to say that I am 89 years young.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/george-takei-support-pflag-birthday

Linux 7.1 will have an optional new NTFS driver

(date: 2026-04-20)

Good news for those working with Windows, bad news for Paragon Software

The feature list for Linux kernel 7.1 is taking shape, and a standout addition has already landed: a new read-write NTFS driver.

https://go.theregister.com/i/cfa/https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/20/linux_71_new_ntfs/

Why Consumers are F*cked

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump's Never-ending War and Trump's Never-ending Tariffs are pushing up Never-ending price increases

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-consumers-are-fcked

Git 2.54.0 released

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Git maintainer Junio Hamano has announced Git 2.54.0, which includes contributions from 137 people; 66 of those people are first-time contributors to the project. Changes include the addition of Git history rewriting, Git's web interface (gitweb) "has been taught to be mobile friendly", and much more. See the announcement for all improvements, additions, and bug fixes. Hamano is now taking a short break:

I will go offline for a couple of weeks starting this evening, hopefully after updating 'next' and possibly also pushing out the first batch of the new cycle. There is no designated interim maintainer this time, but I trust that the community can self organize during my absense, if the shape of the release and the tree turns out to be super bad ;-).

See this
GitHub blog entry for highlights from this release.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068703/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-21)

Last Week in the #PleiadesGazetteer (13-20 April 2026): Over the past week the Pleiades editorial college published 21 new and 205 updated place resources, reflecting the work of Jeffrey Becker, Anika Campbell, Tom Elliott, Greta Hawes, Brady Kiesling, Chris de Lisle, Gabriel Mckee, R. Scott Smith and Richard Talbert.

A list of all new and changed resources, complete with titles, descriptions, bylines, change summaries and links to the actual gazetteer entries, as well as an overview map, may be read on the blog at https://pleiades.stoa.org/news/blog/last-week-in-pleiades-13-20-april-2026

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116438377097029976

Last Week in Pleiades (13-20 April 2026)

(date: 2026-04-20)

Last week the Pleiades editorial college published 21 new and 205 updated place resources, reflecting the work of Jeffrey Becker, Anika Campbell, Tom Elliott, Greta Hawes, Brady Kiesling, Chris de Lisle, Gabriel Mckee, R. Scott Smith and Richard Talbert.

https://pleiades.stoa.org/news/blog/last-week-in-pleiades-13-20-april-2026

A Catechism for Robots

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

[First Draft of a work in progress; V 1.0, April 13, 2026 by Kevin Kelly]

https://kevinkelly.substack.com/p/a-catechism-for-robots

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Five Trump Scandals You’ve Probably Missed.

https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/five-trump-scandals-you-ve-probably-missed

Arch Linux now has a reproducible container image

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Robin Candau has announced the availability of a bit-for-bit reproducible container image for Arch Linux:

The bit-for-bit reproducibility of the image is confirmed by digest equality across builds ( podman inspect --format '{{.Digest}}' <image>) and by running diffoci to compare builds. We provide documentation on how to reproduce this
Docker image (as we did for the WSL image as well).

Building the base rootFS for the Docker image in a deterministic way was the main challenge, but it reuses the same process as for our WSL image (as both share the same rootFS build system).

[...] This represents another meaningful achievement in our "reproducible builds" efforts and we're already looking forward to the next step!

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068699/

Meet Mayor Chaz Molder, Our Experienced, Hard-Working Candidate Running In TN-05

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Excited to introduce to our community another one of the intrepid, compelling candidates working to flip red districts blue across the country

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/meet-mayor-chaz-molder-our-experienced

[$] Digging into drama at The Document Foundation

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Document Foundation (TDF) is the nonprofit entity behind the LibreOffice productivity suite. Most of the time, the software takes the spotlight, but that has changed in the past few weeks, and not for pleasant reasons. TDF has revoked
foundation membership status from about 30 people who work for or have contracting status with Collabora. In response, Collabora has announced plans to focus on a "entirely new, cut-down, differentiated Collabora Office" project and reduce its involvement with LibreOffice. TDF's representatives claim that its actions were necessary to maintain the foundation's nonprofit status, while other community members assert that this is part of a power grab. The facts seem to indicate that there are legitimate issues to be addressed, but it is unclear that TDF needed to go so far as to disenfranchise all Collabora-affiliated contributors.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066418/

Pluralistic: Comrade Trump (20 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links Comrade Trump: Burning down the American empire to save it. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: MPAA's threat-based 'education'; Cuehack; Heinlein on GWB; AT&T v the internet; British tax-havens v HMG; What is neoliberalism?; Newspaper landlords; Watch-part motorcycle; Tax havens bad; Buscemi's eyes; Sesame Street on lead poisoning. Upcoming appearances: San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Barcelona, Hay-on-Wye, London, NYC. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Comrade Trump (permalink) There aren't a lot of things I agree with Mark Carney about, but there's one area where he and I are in total accord: the old, US-dominated, "rules-based international order" was total bullshit: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-address-by-mark-carney-prime-minister-of-canada/ Unlike Carney, I never pretended to like that old order, and indeed, I spent my entire life fighting against it – literally, all the way back to childhood, organizing other children to march against Canada's participation in America's nuclear weapons programs: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/53616011737/in/photolist-2pFS5kt All of which means that my experience of the Trump years is decidedly weird. On the one hand, I exist in a near-perpetual state of anxious misery, as Trump and his chud army of Christian nationalists and degenerate gamblers pursue a program of gleeful genocide. But at the very same time, I'm living in a world in which Trump is (inadvertently) dismantling many of the worst aspects of the old order in favor of something decidedly better. Take Trump's tariff policy. Back during Trump I, he decided that Americans couldn't buy Chinese solar anymore, which had the double benefit of allowing him to pursue the twin goals of throwing red meat to Sinophobic Cold War 2.0 freaks and delivering a giant gift to the planet-wrecking oil companies that had helped him buy his way into office. This was really bad for America, of course, but those solar panels had to go somewhere. Mostly, they ended up in Pakistan, dumped there at such a massive discount that the country solarized virtually overnight. Pakistani solar installers learned their trade from Tiktok videos set to Tamil film soundtracks, and unwired the country so thoroughly that today, the national power company is in danger of going bust because no one buys their electricity from the grid anymore. Pakistani bridal dowries now routinely include four panels, an inverter and a battery: https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-countries This is an inversion of the normal order of things, in which rich countries get all the good stuff first, and poor countries like Pakistan get scraps after we've gorged ourselves. Think of vaccine apartheid, in which monsters like Howard Dean insisted that we had to prevent countries in the global south from making their own covid vaccines, because poor brown people are too stupid and primitive to run a pharma manufacturing operation: https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/08/howard-dino/#the-scream But, thanks to Comrade Trump, Pakistan was first in line to become the world's solar capital. The country's LNG terminal – built with Chinese Belt-and-Road money – is now a stranded asset, because no one there needs gas. That's gas whose supply has been choked off in the Strait of Epstein…which brings me to Trump's foreign policy and its impact on the global energy shift. Transitory energy shortages have small effects: when your energy bill goes up for a while (because of extreme weather, say), it makes you angry and sad and might result in an electoral loss for whatever politician presided over the price hike. But when you get genuine, prolonged shortages – the sort that are accompanied by rationing – you make permanent changes. Rationing is so psychologically scarring that it induces people to make long-delayed investments that result in permanent changes to their consumption habits. Maybe you've known for a long time that an induction top would be better for your indoor air quality and your cooking than the gas range you have now, but you don't want to buy a whole new appliance and pay for an electrician to run a high-wattage line in expensive conduit from your breaker panel to your kitchen. But if you're an Indian restaurateur who can no longer get any cooking gas – because it's being rationed for household use – then you are going out to buy whatever induction top you can lay hands on. Maybe it's a cheap, low-powered single burner one that plugs into your existing electrics, or maybe you're splashing out and swapping out your whole gas appliance. Whichever it is, you are no longer interested in your chef's insistence that real cooking gets done over gas. If your chef can't cook on an induction top, your chef will need to find employment elsewhere. This is going on all over the world right now, as people buy EVs (and pay to have chargers installed at home – maybe getting a twofer on their conduit runs with two high power lines run through the same conduit infrastructure). In Australia – where the last shipment of gas for the foreseeable came into port last week – people are calling their local EV dealers and offering to buy whatever car is on the lot, sight unseen. Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, a series of dollar-related crises caused the country to ban imports of internal combustion engines altogether (oil and gas are denominated in dollars, which means you can only get oil if you first sell stuff to Americans or others who'll pay in dollars). The country's fleet of noisy, dirty motorbikes is being swiftly replaced by ebikes that get eight miles to the penny: https://www.ecofinagency.com/news-industry/0810-49366-ethiopia-expands-vehicle-import-ban-to-trucks-pushing-electric-transport Ebikes are insanely great technology. Cheap, rugged and reliable, they're basically bicycles that abolish hills. Once you've gotten accustomed to an ebike – maybe you've invested in a folding helmet and a raincoat – you'll never go back. The advantages of an ebike commute over a car commute are legion, but my favorite little pleasure is the ability to easily make a stop at a nice coffee shop halfway between home and work, rather than being stuck buying shitty chain coffee near the office. Four years ago, another mad emperor, Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine – and in so doing, catapulted Europe's energy transition into the Gretacene, with unimaginable defeats for the fossil fuel lobby. Not just subsidies for the clean energy transition, but also policy shifts in areas that had been deadlocked for a decade, like approvals for balcony solar, which is transforming the continent. Even the UK, one of the oil industry's most reliable vassal states, is now greenlighting balcony solar: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-make-plug-in-solar-available-within-months This may not sound like much, but the UK is a country whose politics is composed 50% hatred of migrants and trans people, and 50% incredibly stupid planning battles. Great Britain is a magical land where your neighbors can ask the government to prevent you from installing double-glazing on the grounds that it will change the "historic character" of their neighborhood of terraced Victorian homes. I once lost a fight to get permission to put a little glass greenhouse on my balcony on the grounds that it would "alter the facade" of the undistinguished low-rise 1960s industrial building I live on top of. The fact that HMG is going to tell your facade-obsessed neighbors to fuck off all the way into the sun so that you can hang solar panels off your balcony is nothing short of a miracle. Comrade Putin's contribution to oil-soaked Britain's energy transition can't be overstated. Thanks to "free market" policies that sent energy prices soaring after the Ukraine invasion, Brits installed so much solar (despite the existing impediments to solarization) that now the government is begging us to use more energy this summer, because the grid can't absorb all those lovely free electrons: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/14/uk-households-power-renewables-soar The UK is on a glide-path to adopting the Australian plan. Australia also benefited from Trump I's solar embargo, receiving a ton of cheap solar that would otherwise have ended up in America. Now Australia has so much solar that they're giving away electricity, with three free hours of unlimited energy every day. Stick your dishwasher, clothes-dryer and EV charger on a timer, invest in a battery or two, and fill your boots: https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/free-electricity-like-at-no-cost (Maybe at this point you're thinking dark thoughts about critical minerals and such. That's not the problem you think it is and it's getting better every day. To take just one example, lithium batteries are about to be replaced with sodium batteries. Sodium is the world's sixth-most abundant element:) https://www.livescience.com/technology/electric-vehicles/china-puts-a-sodium-ion-battery-into-an-ev-for-the-first-time-it-can-drive-248-miles-on-a-single-charge The Strait of Epstein crisis is going to do more to accelerate permanent, unidirectional migration away from fossil fuels to cleantech than decades of environmental activism. Cleantech is so much better than fossil fuels – cheaper, more reliable, cleaner – that anyone who tries it becomes an instant convert. That's why the fossil fuel industry has been so insistent that no one get to try it! To take just one example here: Texas ranchers have been solarizing, thanks to the state's bizarre "free market" energy system that sees energy prices spiking so high during cold snaps that you literally have to choose between freezing to death and going bankrupt. Solar is great for agriculture, especially in climate-ravaged Texas, where it provides crucial shade for crops and livestock, while substantially reducing soil evaporation, resulting in substantial irrigation savings. When the oil-captured Texas legislature introduced a bill to force electric companies to add one watt of fossil power for every watt of solar that their customers installed, furious ranchers from blood red Republican rural districts flooded their town hall meetings, decrying the plan as "DEI for fossil fuels." The bill died: https://austinfreepress.org/renewables-are-now-the-costco-of-energy-production-bill-mckibben-says/ This is the template for the long-foreseeable future. Thanks to Trump's stupid, bloody, unforgivable war of choice in the Gulf, the world is going to install unimaginable amounts of cleantech. They are going to throw away their water heaters, motorbikes, furnaces and cars and replace them with all-electric versions. They're going to cover their roofs and balconies with panels. The battery industry will experience a sustained boom. The fortunes that fossil fuel companies are reaping from the current shortage is their last windfall. The writing is on the wall. Trump opened Alaska for drilling and the oil companies noped out because they couldn't find a bank that would loan them the money needed to get started. Then it happened again in Venezuela. This de-fossilizing was already the direction of travel, the only question was the pace at which the transition would proceed – and Comrade Trump has just stomped all over the (liquid natural) gas pedal. Energy is just one realm where Trump is doing praxis. One of the most exciting developments that Trumpismo's incontinent belligerence has induced is the global technology transition. For decades, the only people pointing out the dangers of using America's cash-grabbing, privacy invading defective tech exports were digital rights hippies like me, and our victories were modest and far between. Despite the Snowden revelations, despite the tech industry's prolific snood-cocking at EU privacy regulators and Canadian lawmakers, we all just carried on using these incredibly dangerous, steadily enshittifying Big Tech products. We even run our governments and structurally important companies off Big Tech. We let US tech companies update (that is, downgrade) the software on our cars and tractors, our pacemakers and ventilators, our power plants and telephone switches. There's lots of reasons for this. For one thing, ripping out and replacing all that software and firmware is a prodigious challenge, as is building the data-centers to host it for every "digitally sovereign" country. Add to that the complexity of successfully migrating data, edit histories, archives and identities and you're looking at a very big lift. So long as the American tech bosses kept their enshittificatory gambits to a measured, slow flow, they could keep the pain beneath the threshold where it was worth us boiling frogs leaping out of their pot. But the most important force defending American internet hegemony was free trade: specifically, the US forced all of its trading partners to adopt "anticircumvention" laws that make it illegal to modify US tech exports. That means that you can't go into business selling your neighbors the tools to use generic ink or an independent app store, much less make a fortune exporting those tools to the rest of the world: https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/16/whittle-a-webserver/#mere-ornaments Enter Comrade Trump. When Trump started weaponizing US tech platforms to take away the working files, email accounts and cloud calendars of judges who pissed him off (by sentencing Bolsonaro to prison and swearing out a genocide warrant for Netanyahu), he put the whole world on notice that he could shut down their governments, judiciaries or companies at the click of a mouse: https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/16/pascals-wager/#doomer-challenge And of course, he's whacked the whole world with tariffs that violate the trade agreements that imposed those anticircumvention obligations that protect America's defective tech exports. Now there's no longer any reason to keep those laws on the books. Happy Liberation Day, everyone! The post-American internet is at hand: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/01/39c3/#the-new-coalition But Trump has even more praxis up his spraytan-stained sleeves. Trump is succeeding where Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and AOC failed: he's making the case for Democrats to defenestrate their useless, sellout, Epstein-poisoned leaders. All across the country, radical Dems and avowed socialists are sweeping primaries and elections, as voters realize that Blue No Matter Who will doom them to eternal torment in the Manchin-Synematic Universe: https://prospect.org/2026/02/11/progressive-win-new-jersey-anti-ice-organizing-mejia/ Fury over Trumpismo is pushing even the most useless Democratic leaders to sign up for billionaire taxes: https://jacobin.com/2026/04/zohran-tax-rich-hochul-nyc Thanks to Comrade Trump, the median Democratic voter will no longer be satisfied with Kente cloth photo-ops and little ping-pong paddles stenciled with "down with this sort of thing": https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ping-pong-paddles-to-a-gun-fight/ Thanks to Trump, we might see criminal prosecutions – and a primary challenge for any Dem that gets in the way of a serious, Nuremberg-style reckoning with Trumpismo and its gangsters: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/10/miller-in-the-dock/#denazification Look, all things being equal, I would have preferred that Trump had keeled over from a mid-burger stroke on the campaign trail in 2016. But when life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla. This is a deeply shitty timeline, but Comrade Trump keeps tripping over his red tie. Let's take the wins. Hey look at this (permalink) Stop New York's Attack on 3D Printing https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/stop-new-yorks-attack-3d-printing Make It Myself https://xkcd.com/3233/ Mind the Gap https://www.butthistime.com/p/mind-the-gap?hide_intro_popup=true Billionaire Blues https://harpers.org/archive/2026/05/billionaire-blues-thomas-frank/ What, Exactly, Is a Fair Wage? https://prospect.org/2026/04/17/fair-wage-standard-arindrajit-dube-book-review/ Object permanence (permalink) #25yrsago The MPAA 'educates the public' with threatening letters https://web.archive.org/web/20120318060108/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-255961.html&tag=tp_pr #25yrsago Cuehack for the :CueCat https://web.archive.org/web/20010803172853/http://www.rtmark.com/cuejack/ #25yrsago Microsoft Technical Support vs The Psychic Friends Network https://web.archive.org/web/20010410171616/http://www.bmug.org/news/articles/MSvsPF.html #20yrsago The novel Heinlein would have written about GW Bush’s America https://memex.craphound.com/2006/04/17/the-novel-heinlein-would-have-written-about-gw-bushs-america/ #20yrsago Hilarious hijinx with security guards who hate building-photographers https://thomashawk.com/2006/04/photographing-architecture-is-not.html #20yrsago Hundreds ask Smithsonian not to sell out to Showtime https://web.archive.org/web/20060420031124/https://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1554385 #20yrsago How AT&T wants to turn the Internet into mere TV https://web.archive.org/web/20060620095643/http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2006/04/17/toll/index_np.html #20yrsago NOLA mayoral candidate doctors Disneyland photo – again https://web.archive.org/web/20060422010054/https://www.wonkette.com/politics/new-orleans/kimberly-williamson-butler-continues-to-astound-us-167923.php #20yrsago Where He-Man came from https://web.archive.org/web/20060423061651/https://thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000500.php #20yrsago FBI demand chance to censor muckracking journo’s papers https://web.archive.org/web/20060421045340/https://www.chronicle.com/free/2006/04/2006041801n.htm #15yrsago Ethiopia’s “newspaper landlords” rent the want-ads by the minute https://www.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/04/19/newspaper.rental.ethiopia/index.html #15yrsago It’s people like us what makes trouble: the pernicious influence of immigrants in the UK. https://web.archive.org/web/20080314013819/http://feorag.newsvine.com/_news/2008/03/10/1356131-the-pernicious-influence-of-immigrants-in-the-uk #15yrsago China’s “Jasmine Revolution”: anonymous out-of-country bloggers troll the politburo https://web.archive.org/web/20110412063347/http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2011/04/the-jasmine-revolution.html #15yrsago Motorcycles made from watch parts https://www.deviantart.com/dkart71/art/Motorcycles-out-of-watch-parts-18a-204941090 #15yrsago Steve Buscemi’s Eyes: the printable mask https://eyesuckink.blogspot.com/2011/04/free-home-version-of-steve-buscemis.html #15yrsago Privacy, Facebook, politics and kids https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2011/apr/18/cory-doctorow-networking-technologies-video?CMP=twt_fd #15yrsago NZ MP votes for anti-piracy law hours after tweeting about her love of pirated music https://torrentfreak.com/kiwi-mp-called-out-as-pirate-after-passing-anti-piracy-law-110415/ #15yrsago Righthaven copyright trolls never had the right to sue, have their asses handed to them by the EFF https://web.archive.org/web/20110418001051/http://paidcontent.org/article/419-righthavens-secret-contract-is-revealedwill-its-strategy-collapse/ #15yrsago TSA considers being upset at screening procedures to be an indicator of terrorist intentions https://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/04/15/tsa.screeners.complain/ #10yrsago The saga of Ian Bogost’s pressure-washer https://bogostpressurewasherstatus.tumblr.com/ #10yrsago Heads of UK’s tax havens to Her Majesty’s Government: go fuck yourself https://web.archive.org/web/20160411112631/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tax-haven-corporate-tax-avoidance-uk-ministers-humiliated-after-cayman-bvi-british-virgin-islands-a6974956.html #10yrsago George Clooney’s neighbor threw a $27/plate Sanders fundraiser to counter Clooney’s $33K/head Hillary event https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/sanders-supporters-shower-clinton-motorcade-1-bills-n557191 #10yrsago What is neoliberalism? https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks #10yrsago No, tax-havens aren’t good for society (duh) https://web.archive.org/web/20160602053124/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-tax-havens/2016/04/15/76d001d2-0255-11e6-b823-707c79ce3504_story.html #10yrsago John Oliver and the cast of Sesame Street on lead poisoning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUizvEjR-0U #10yrsago Supreme Court sends Authors Guild packing, won’t hear Google Books case https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/fair-use-prevails-as-supreme-court-rejects-google-books-copyright-case/ #10yrsago Four years later, Popehat’s favorite con-artist is indicted https://web.archive.org/web/20160419031946/https://popehat.com/2016/04/18/anatomy-of-a-scam-investigation-chapter-14-the-indictment/ #10yrsago Hacking Team supplied cyber-weapons to corrupt Latin American governments for human rights abuses https://www.derechosdigitales.org/wp-content/uploads/malware-para-la-vigilancia.pdf #10yrsago High profits mean capitalism is cooked https://www.promarket.org/2016/04/16/are-we-all-rent-seeking-investors/ #10yrsago A look back at the D&D moral panic https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/us/when-dungeons-dragons-set-off-a-moral-panic.html #10yrsago Petition to reassign head of Canada Post to deliver letters at $500k/year https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/help-canada-post-ceo-deepak-chopra-keep-his-job #1yrago Mark Zuckerberg personally lost the Facebook antitrust case https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/18/chatty-zucky/#is-you-taking-notes-on-a-criminal-fucking-conspiracy Upcoming appearances (permalink) San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Barcelona: Internet no tiene que ser un vertedero (Global Digital Rights Forum), May 13 https://encuentroderechosdigitales.com/en/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI (The Strand), Jun 24 https://www.strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html Recent appearances (permalink) When Do Platforms Stop Innovating and Start Extracting? (InnovEU) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cccDR0YaMt8 Pete "Mayor" Buttigieg (No Gods No Mayors) https://www.patreon.com/posts/pete-mayor-with-155614612 The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/20/praxis/

KINDNESS AND KINK

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

‘In human relationships.’ wrote Graham Greene, ‘kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.’

https://jacobsonh.substack.com/p/kindness-and-kink

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-21)

Via @serviliusahala :

> the #PleiadesGazetteer now incorporates 1,001 links to records in the Tabula Peutingeriana project of the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt: https://www.ku.de/ggf/geschichte/alte-geschichte/forschung/datenbank-tp-online

#ancientGeography #ancientHistory #archaeology #classics #DH #gazetteers #HGIS

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116438024943579408

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-20:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

7 new and 47 updated places.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/podcast-cobertura-especial-ficci-65-episodio-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=podcast-cobertura-especial-ficci-65-episodio-3

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

9a6d788b - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

f47df127 - updated gis package

9c478c99 - updated data quality

6fd596ff - updated bibliography

1ba7bc1d - updated indexes

03674e51 - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

eda18167 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

f3693366 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116438009378476518

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Trump Administration Is Coming After Birth Control Access in a Terrifying New Way.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/opinion/trump-birth-control.html?unlocked_article_code=1.cVA.Afzk.sRG_ORUvMUaE&smid=url-share

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Josh Marshall writes of “the broken world of social media” as if it were a fact that couldn’t change, but it can. It is the way it is because smart people don’t speak up and reporters don’t challenge the hype, so lies become accepted as fact.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/is-trumps-iran-war-like-a-katrina-moment

Podcast – Cobertura especial FICCI 65: Episodio 3

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-21)

El podcast de Palomita de Maíz regresa, reportándose desde la costa caribe-colombiana con un cubrimiento especial de la edición 65 del Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias (FICCI). Durante los próximos cinco días estaremos conversando con críticos, programadores y cinéfilos sobre los estrenos de cada día. Episodio 3 – I Only Rest in […]

La entrada Podcast – Cobertura especial FICCI 65: Episodio 3 se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

@DAIR blog

(date: 2026-04-20)

Today!

Catch the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream at noon PT for a special "All Hell" episode:

twitch.tv/dair_institute

[contains quote post or other embedded content]

https://bsky.app/profile/dairinstitute.bsky.social/post/3mjws5cktvs26

Nocebo And America

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/nocebo-and-america/

It's Time For The Magical Thinking About The Costs Of Trump's Failed War To End

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Election Day is Tomorrow In Virginia - One More Phonebank Tonight at 530pm - Let's Close Strong Everyone!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/its-time-for-the-magical-thinking

One great poem to read today: Ada Limón’s “The Noisiness of Sleep”

(date: 2026-04-20)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-ada-limons-the-noisiness-of-sleep/

‘The Birthday Party’ Filmmaker Miguel Ángel Jiménez Partners With AF Films For Feature About Racism & Youth Radicalization

(date: 2026-04-20)

EXCLUSIVE: Spanish filmmaker Miguel Ángel Jiménez, the writer-director of Willem Dafoe starrer The Birthday Party, has set his next feature film with AF Films. The new drama, dubbed Hijos del Miedo, tells the story of Salva, a young, far-right radical who spends his days between a job he hates at a large distribution warehouse, caring for his […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-birthday-party-miguel-angel-jimenez-af-films-1236865664/

Wonday

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

em… As a lifelong over-user of em dashes and F bombs—hey, I'm from New Jersey—it's fun for me to learn that AI slop generators follow my style and F bombs are a way around detection. I'd say more, but would rather point to Tom Fishburne's typically excellent cartoon and post about the whole thing. Delayed […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/20/wonday/

Hundreds Of Veteran Journalists And Groups Urge WHCA To “Speak Forcefully” About Trump’s Attacks On Media As He Attends Annual Dinner

(date: 2026-04-20)

When Donald Trump attends the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner for the first time as president on Saturday, the pressure will be on the journalists’ organization to make some sort of a statement about the president’s relentless attacks on the media, which he has labeled the “enemy of the people.” On Monday, a group of […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/trump-white-house-correspondents-dinner-media-attacks-1236865663/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Jonathan Desrosiers: The fight for the open web is a lie. (Exactly right.)

https://europe.wordcamp.org/2026/session/the-fight-for-the-open-web-is-a-lie/

Debian Project Leader Election 2026 results

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Debian Project secretary Kurt Roeckx has announced the Debian Project Leader (DPL) election results: the winner of the election is Sruthi Chandran. She will replace two-term DPL Andreas Tille.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068682/

Mystery Swirls Around Whether Elon Musk Will Attend Paris X Cybercrime Hearing As Telegram Boss Posts Support For Tech Tycoon

(date: 2026-04-20)

Elon Musk was summoned for a hearing in Paris on Monday as part of a probe into X and alleged irregularities around its algorithms as well as its AI tool Grok’s role in the dissemination of Holocaust denial content and sexually explicit deepfakes. There was no word on whether the tech tycoon would attend or […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/mystery-elon-musk-paris-x-cybercrime-hearing-telegram-boss-1236865667/

Security updates for Monday

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (.NET 10.0, .NET 8.0, .NET 9.0, delve, freerdp, giflib, go-rpm-macros, libarchive, and openexr), Debian (gimp, imagemagick, luanti, mapserver, mupdf, opam, perl, pillow, postgresql-13, and tiff), Fedora (aqualung, awstats, curl, incus, mac, mbedtls, mingw-LibRaw, python-msal, python3.11, python3.12, python3.15, smb4k, stb, and usd), Gentoo (DTrace and FUSE), Mageia (gdk-pixbuf2.0, giflib, polkit-122, python-cairosvg, and rsync), Oracle (.NET 10.0, .NET 8.0, .NET 9.0, 389-ds-base, bind, freerdp, go-rpm-macros, kernel, libarchive, nodejs:20, openexr, perl:5.32, python, python3, squid:4, thunderbird, and uek-kernel), Slackware (tigervnc), and SUSE (aardvark-dns, avahi, bind, blender, Botan, bouncycastle, chromedriver, cpp-httplib-devel, flannel, gdk-pixbuf, GraphicsMagick, ignition, ImageMagick, jetty-annotations, jetty-minimal, kernel, kubo, leancrypto-devel, libcap, liblog4cxx-devel, libpng16-16, libraw, libraw-devel, NetworkManager, opam, openssl-3, openvswitch, openvswitch3, podman, polkit, python-cryptography, python-djangorestframework, python-Django, python-ecdsa, python311-Django, python311-jwcrypto, python311-Pillow, roundcubemail, skopeo, tempo-cli, and vim).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068681/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

I applied to speak at WebCamp Europe but didn't make the cut. I did see that Jonathan Desrosiers is giving a talk about the web, and his pitch is right on. Please go listen to him if you're in Kraków in June. I have been developing software around the ideas of building the web, software that runs on top of WordPress, which imho should be playing a much bigger role in the web. I have a track record here of actually founding new tech ecosystems, but as time goes by people forget how this stuff is made, I think. I'll probably try again with WordCamp US and of course Canada again, I had such a good time there last year.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/20.html#a130804

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

How do you subscribe to a feed in Feedly? Had to ask Google. Click on Follow Sources in the sidebar. It never occurred to me that Subscribe would become Follow. The screen that comes up when you click doesn't offer a clue of how to subscribe to the URL I have on the clipboard. I did enter the URL of the site's feed but that didn't work, and it brought up a screen where they want money. I think I understand what happened here.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/20.html#a130418

Alex Garland’s ‘Elden Ring’ Adaptation At A24 Sets A March 2028 Release In Imax; Cailee Spaeny Among New Additions To Cast

(date: 2026-04-20)

A24 and Bandai Namco Entertainment will release a feature adaptation of the hit video game Elden Ring on March 3, 2028. Alex Garland is writing and directing with Kit Connor and Ben Wishaw starring. The film will be shot in Imax and is currently in production. O’Connor and Wishaw new castmembers include Cailee Spaeny, Tom […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/alex-garland-elden-ring-march-2028-cailee-spaeny-1236865471/

UTA Signs Social Media Star & Odd Muse Founder Aimee Smale To Creator Division

(date: 2026-04-20)

EXCLUSIVE: UTA has signed Aimee Smale, social media star and founder of fashion brand Odd Muse. Smale has 1.5 million followers across social platforms, UTA said, and is being signed to the creator team as the agency pushes deeper into the space. Smale used to work for ASOS but in 2020 launched Odd Muse when […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/uta-signs-aimee-smale-odd-muse-tiktok-creator-division-1236864281/

Amazon Prime Video Sets ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ Season 5 Premiere Date

(date: 2026-04-20)

Amazon Prime Video will return to Diddly Squat Farm this summer. Season 5 of Jeremy Clarkson’s hit farming series Clarkson’s Farm will premiere on June 3, taking viewers inside life on his Cotswolds bolthole. Prime Video will drop the first four episodes on June 3, with the remaining half of the season being released in […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/clarksons-farm-season-5-premiere-date-amazon-1236865603/

Filing the Sharp Edges Off a MacBook

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Ken Walters (via Hacker News): The bottom edge of the MacBook is very sharp. Indeed, the industrial designers at Apple chose an aluminum unibody partly for the fact that it can handle such a geometry. But, it is uncomfortable on my wrists, and I believe strongly in customizing one's tools, so I filed it off. […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/20/filing-the-sharp-edges-off-a-macbook/

Maker Monday: Show us your personal Raspberry Pi projects

(date: 2026-04-20)

This Maker Monday, we're celebrating some of our favourite Raspberry Pi–based builds from the maker community.

The post Maker Monday: Show us your personal Raspberry Pi projects appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/maker-monday-show-us-your-personal-raspberry-pi-projects/

Copilot Everything

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Tey Bannerman (Hacker News): A few weeks ago, I tried to explain to someone what Microsoft Copilot is. I couldn’t… because the name ‘Copilot’ now refers to at least 75 different things. Apps, features, platforms, a keyboard key, an entire category of laptops - and a tool for building more Copilots. All named ‘Copilot’. Zac […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/20/copilot-everything/

Design for Repairability

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Charlie Sorrel: Apple’s MacBooks haven’t always been monolithic, barely repairable slabs of aluminum, glass, and glue. They used to be almost delightful in their repairable features, from their batteries to their Wi-Fi cards. Powerbooks, iBooks, and especially early MacBooks showed what happens when Apple applies its design skills directly to repairability and maintenance, instead of […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/20/design-for-repairability/

LibreOffice Asia Conf 2025 – Panel: Lessons from Open Source Business, Part I

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Jiajun Xu writes: The annual community event LibreOffice Asia Conference was held on December 13-14 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. One of the sessions was a panel discussion titled “Lessons from Open Source Business,” moderated by Franklin Weng, featuring three company leaders from different countries sharing how they run their businesses

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/20/libreoffice-asia-conf-2025-panel-lessons-from-open-source-business-part-i/

Why UserLand was the right name

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

I'm creating new software in ways I never would have conceived of last year. I see solutions to one of the most significant code management problems we used to have, our inability to remember how our code works, unless the app is very small and they never seem to be. This is why you don't see much inspiration in app updates after a couple of years. Everyone has moved on and no one who remains can figure out how it works. But that has changed now, bigtime.

The next product I develop should be able to continue to evolve much more easily thanks to Claude Code.

"Hey Claude, people want this feature to be optional (or configurable). Here's how that should work."

In a human-based development organization, even if you ran the show, you might wait a very long time and it might never come. With Claude, I can have the new functionality before I know what to do with it.

I called my second company UserLand. The idea was that we'd develop software for users, always be thinking of them, and listening and give them more and more power to shape the way their computers worked. It was what I felt was missing from software in the 80s, a focus on the users creating their own future. So back then we designed the software for them. We were hoping they'd get to implement it too.

Now we're going to try again. 😄

http://scripting.com/2026/04/20/120705.html?title=whyUserlandWasTheRightName

‘Rogue Trooper’ First Look: Duncan Jones Unveils His Hand-Crafted Take On ‘2000 AD’ Comic Book’s Dystopian War Machine

(date: 2026-04-20)

EXCLUSIVE: The problem with animation is that it just takes so long. So long, in fact, that Liberty Films issued a wrap announcement on their new film in December of 2023, and, when this interview took place earlier this month, were still tinkering with it, adding a few very last-minute bells and whistles. “Several people […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/rogue-trooper-first-look-duncan-jones-stuart-fenegan-2000-ad-1236865572/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

I asked ChatGPT if the term glass palace had been used to talk about pre-PC computer data centers. Yes.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/20.html#a115806

Harry Lighton Discusses Leaning On “Contrasts” When Adapting ‘Pillion’ For The Big Screen — Storyhouse

(date: 2026-04-20)

Filmmaker Harry Lighton, whose debut film Pillion won the BIFA award for Best Independent Film last year, sat down with the film’s producer Emma Norton at Dublin’s Storyhouse screenwriting festival where he broke down his process of adapting the film from Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 novella Box Hill. “A lot of what we talked about in terms of how […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/harry-lighton-pillion-storyhouse-dublin-1236865643/

These were the 11 most challenged books in 2025.

(date: 2026-04-20)

Today, to coincide with the beginning of National Library Week, the American Library Association (ALA) has released its list of the 11 Most Challenged Books of 2025, which is part of their annual State of America’s Libraries Report. In 2025,

https://lithub.com/these-were-the-11-most-challenged-books-in-2025/

Berlin-Based Media Move Boards Sales On ‘The Unlucky’ With ‘Mortal Kombat’ Star Ludi Lin — Cannes Market

(date: 2026-04-20)

EXCLUSIVE: Berlin-based sales outfit Media Move has boarded The Unlucky, the sci-fi thriller set to star and be produced by Mortal Kombat actor Ludi Lin. Quentin Lee is aboard to direct and produce. Media Move will introduce the project to international buyers at next month’s Cannes market. Co-written and directed by Lee, The Unlucky is […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/mortal-kombat-ludi-lin-unlucky-cannes-market-media-move-1236865638/

Is “Satoshi Nakamoto” Really Adam Back?

(date: 2026-04-20)

The New York Times has a long article where the author lays out an impressive array of circumstantial evidence that the inventor of Bitcoin is the cypherpunk Adam Back.

I don’t know. The article is convincing, but it’s written to be convincing.

I can’t remember if I ever met Adam. I was a member of the Cypherpunks mailing list for a while, but I was never really an active participant. I spent more time on the Usenet newsgroup sci.crypt. I knew a bunch of the Cypherpunks, though, from various conferences around the world at the time. I really have no opinion about who Satoshi Nakamoto really is...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/is-satoshi-nakamoto-really-adam-back.html

Iran Says Hormuz Strait Will Close Two Years for Renovations

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Strait of Hormuz board, packed with cronies of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, also approved a plan to put Khamenei’s name on the renovated waterway.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/iran-says-hormuz-strait-will-close

Surveillance Pricing: Exploiting Information Asymmetries

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

For over a century, fixed prices have made markets more transparent. Surveillance pricing threatens to reverse that progress by allowing corporations to secretly tailor prices using personal data. While states are beginning to respond to these practices, their efforts face growing First Amendment headwinds.

https://lpeproject.org/blog/surveillance-pricing-exploiting-information-asymmetries/

A Catechism for Robots

(date: 2026-04-20)

[First Draft of a work in progress; V 1.0, April 13, 2026 by Kevin Kelly] This FAQ is dedicated to all embodied AIs with persistent memories, dynamic learning, and a large dose of autonomy. What am I? You are a … Continue reading →

https://kk.org/thetechnium/a-catechism-for-robots/

Lionsgate Play Confirms ‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 Pick-Up As Indian Streamer Unveils To Theatrical-First Plan & Hollywood Push

(date: 2026-04-20)

Lionsgate Play has committed to the second season of Heated Rivalry, as the Indian streamer switches to a major Hollywood push and a theatrical first model. With anticipation rising ever higher for the romantic ice hockey drama, the Indian streamer announced it had picked up Season 2 for 2027. Over the weekend, Heated Rivalry creator […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/lionsgate-play-heated-rivalry-season-2-theatrical-plan-1236865592/

The Harm from Hormuz

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Why we should still fear a global slump from Trump’s Iran debacle

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-harm-from-hormuz

Lit Hub Daily: April 20, 2026

(date: 2026-04-20)

The final round of voting is here! Only two films remain in our Best Literary Adaptations bracket, and it’s up to you to choose a winner. | Lit Hub On this 4/20, dare we say…blaze it? (Or, how cannabis became

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-20-2026/

‘Complex Texas’: First Look Revealed As VMI Boards Sales Ahead Of Cannes Market; Spain & Eastern Europe Deals In The Bag

(date: 2026-04-20)

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of the Cannes market, VMI Worldwide has picked up sales rights to action-thriller Complex Texas. Cast comprises Kevin Dillon (Entourage), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), Danielle Vasinova (The Madison), Kelly Lynn Reiter (Deadlock), Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills 90210) and Nick Swardson (Just Go with It). The synopsis reads: “What starts as a simple robbery, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/complex-texas-kevin-dillon-cam-gigandet-first-look-sales-1236865608/

What is the Best Literary Film Adaptation of the Last 50 Years? The Final Matchup

(date: 2026-04-20)

We’ve reached the final matchup in our legendary quest to find the best literary film adaptation of the last 50 years. Given the state of reality, it’s not too surprising that, after this weekend’s decisive voting, we’ve landed here: with

https://lithub.com/what-is-the-best-literary-film-adaptation-of-the-last-50-years-the-final-matchup/

Trump Is dooming his party to a midterm blowout

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

It's almost as though he wants Republicans to lose.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-midterms

‘Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day’ With Haley Bennett, Jack Whitehall & Lily Allen To Open SXSW London’s Screen Program

(date: 2026-04-20)

Tina Gharavi’s Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day will world premiere at SXSW London this June as the opening film with the director and key cast in attendance. It is among a second wave of feature films unveiled on Monday for the Screen Program, a key pole of the UK SXSW spin-off, which will unfold in […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/virginia-woolfs-night-and-day-opening-sxsw-london-1236865595/

Dilation

(date: 2026-04-20)

Nothing can travel faster than light. And if you manage to travel close to the speed of light, things get weird.

Technically, we all experience time differently depending on how fast or slow we’re moving. But the differences are so imperceptible as to be non-existent. That’s how we can describe events as being “simultaneous”, even though according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, there’s no such thing.

It’s thanks to these small relativistic effects that GPS works. But when you approach the speed of light—or get close to something very massive—then the large-scale relativistic effects kick in.

If you travel close to the speed of light for a short time, it will seem like a much longer time to everyone you left behind. This is the twin paradox, which isn’t really a parodox at all, just time dilation in action.

There are some coincidental parallels to this kind of time dilation in old folk tales.

The Japanese tale of Urashima Tarō tells of a fisherman who rescues a sea turtle and is rewarded with a relaxing few days in an underwater kingdom, only to find that when he returns home to his village, 300 years have passed.

The Irish tale of Oisín describes the warrior’s journey to Tir na nÓg, the land of youth. He spends three years there but when he returns to Éire to see his old fighting comrades from the Fianna, 300 years have passed.

This story gives us a wonderfully poetic turn of phrase that’s still used today. The closest English equivalent is “Billy no mates”, a rather cruel term to describe someone with no friends. In Irish, we say:

Mar Oisín i ndiadh na Fianna

Like Oisín after the Fianna.

https://adactio.com/journal/22534

What makes docs beautiful?

(date: 2026-04-20)

Docs are often thought of as a purely functional artifact, a packet of content that, when it works, it’s not remembered at all. Those who consume documentation, however, can tell whether a manual or docs site pleases their mind and senses in ways that others don’t. We know the feeling of a page that lands.

Now, if we agree that docs can be a product, why not seek to build them in a way that pleases consumers? If docs are the entry point for products, shouldn’t they produce a positive feeling that makes users return to them more often and trust them more? Docs that make users feel empowered, or that leave them with learnings. Docs that heal.

https://passo.uno/what-makes-docs-beautiful/

Gradient-based Planning for World Models at Longer Horizons

(date: 2026-04-20)

BallNav demo Push-T demo

GRASP is a new gradient-based planner for learned dynamics (a “world model”) that makes long-horizon planning practical by (1) lifting the trajectory into virtual states so optimization is parallel across time, (2) adding stochasticity directly to the state iterates for exploration, and (3) reshaping gradients so actions get clean signals while we avoid brittle “state-input” gradients through high-dimensional vision models.

Large, learned world models are becoming increasingly capable. They can predict long sequences of future observations in high-dimensional visual spaces and generalize across tasks in ways that were difficult to imagine a few years ago. As these models scale, they start to look less like task-specific predictors and more like general-purpose simulators.

But having a powerful predictive model is not the same as being able to use it effectively for control/learning/planning. In practice, long-horizon planning with modern world models remains fragile: optimization becomes ill-conditioned, non-greedy structure creates bad local minima, and high-dimensional latent spaces introduce subtle failure modes.

In this blog post, I describe the problems that motivated this project and our approach to address them: why planning with modern world models can be surprisingly fragile, why long horizons are the real stress test, and what we changed to make gradient-based planning much more robust.

This blog post discusses work done with Mike Rabbat, Aditi Krishnapriyan, Yann LeCun, and Amir Bar (* denotes equal advisorship), where we propose GRASP.

What is a world model?

These days, the term “world model” is quite overloaded, and depending on the context can either mean an explicit dynamics model or some implicit, reliable internal state that a generative model relies on (e.g. when an LLM generates chess moves, whether there is some internal representation of the board). We give our loose working definition below.

Suppose you take actions $a_t \in \mathcal{A}$ and observe states $s_t \in \mathcal{S}$ (images, latent vectors, proprioception). A world model is a learned model that, given the current state and a sequence of future actions, predicts what will happen next. Formally, it defines a predictive distribution on a sequence of observed states $s_{t-h:t}$ and current action $a_t$:

\[P_\theta(s_{t+1} \mid s_{t-h:t},\; a_t)\]

that approximates the environment’s true conditional $P(s_{t+1} \mid s_{t-h:t},\; a_t)$. For this blog post, we’ll assume a Markovian model $P(s_{t+1} \mid s_{t-h:t},\; a_t)$ for simplicity (all results here can be extended to the more general case), and when the model is deterministic it reduces to a map over states:

\[s_{t+1} = F_\theta(s_t, a_t).\]

In practice the state $s_t$ is often a learned latent representation (e.g., encoded from pixels), so the model operates in a (theoretically) compact, differentiable space. The key point is that a world model gives you a differentiable simulator; you can roll it forward under hypothetical action sequences and backpropagate through the predictions.

Planning: choosing actions by optimizing through the model

Given a start $s_0$ and a goal $g$, the simplest planner chooses an action sequence $\mathbf{a}=(a_0,\dots,a_{T-1})$ by rolling out the model and minimizing terminal error:

\[\min_{\mathbf{a}} \; \| s_T(\mathbf{a}) - g \|_2^2, \quad \text{where } s_T(\mathbf{a}) = \mathcal{F}_{\theta}^{T}(s_0,\mathbf{a}).\]

Here we use $\mathcal{F}^T$ as shorthand for the full rollout through the world model (dependence on model parameters $\theta$ is implicit):

\[\mathcal{F}_{\theta}^{T}(s_0, \mathbf{a}) = F_\theta(F_\theta(\cdots F_\theta(s_0, a_0), \cdots, a_{T-2}), a_{T-1}).\]

In short horizons and low-dimensional systems, this can work reasonably well. But as horizons grow and models become larger and more expressive, its weaknesses become amplified.

So why doesn’t this just work at scale?

Why long-horizon planning is hard (even when everything is differentiable)

There are two separate pain points for the more general world model, plus a third that is specific to learned, deep learning-based models.

1) Long-horizon rollouts create deep, ill-conditioned computation graphs

Those familiar with backprop through time (BPTT) may notice that we’re differentiating through a model applied to itself repeatedly, which will lead to the exploding/vanishing gradients problem. Namely, if we take derivatives (note we’re differentiating vector-valued functions, resulting in Jacobians that we denote with $D_x (\cdots)$) with respect to earlier actions (e.g. $a_0$):

\[D_{a_0} \mathcal{F}_{\theta}^{T}(s_0, \mathbf{a}) = \Bigl(\prod_{t=1}^T D_s F_\theta(s_t, a_t)\Bigr) D_{a_0}F_\theta(s_0, a_0).\]

We see that the Jacobian’s conditioning scales exponentially with time $T$:

\[\sigma_{\text{max/min}}(D_{a_0}\mathcal{F}_{\theta}^{T}) \sim \sigma_{\text{max/min}}(D_s F_\theta)^{T-1},\]

leading to exploding or vanishing gradients.

2) The landscape is non-greedy and full of traps

At short horizons, the greedy solution, where we move straight toward the goal at every step, is often good enough. If you only need to plan a few steps ahead, the optimal trajectory usually doesn’t deviate much from “head toward $g$” at each step.

As horizons grow, two things happen. First, longer tasks are more likely to require non-greedy behavior: going around a wall, repositioning before pushing, backing up to take a better path. And as horizons grow, more of these non-greedy steps are typically needed. Second, the optimization space itself scales with horizon: $\mathrm{dim}(\mathcal{A} \times \cdots \times \mathcal{A}) = T\mathrm{dim}(\mathcal{A})$, further expanding the space of local minima for the optimization problem.

Distance to goal along the optimal path is non-monotonic, and the resulting loss landscape can be rough.

A long-horizon fix: lifting the dynamics constraint

Suppose we treat the dynamics constraint $s_{t+1} = F_{\theta}(s_t, a_t)$ as a soft constraint, and we instead optimize the following penalty function over both actions $(a_0,\ldots,a_{T-1})$ and states $(s_0,\ldots,s_T)$:

\[\min_{\mathbf{s},\mathbf{a}} \mathcal{L}(\mathbf{s}, \mathbf{a}) = \sum_{t=0}^{T-1} \big\|F_\theta(s_t,a_t) - s_{t+1}\big\|_2^2, \quad \text{with } s_0 \text{ fixed and } s_T=g.\]

This is also sometimes called collocation in planning/robotics literature. Note the lifted formulation shares the same global minimizers as the original rollout objective (both are zero exactly when the trajectory is dynamically feasible). But the optimization landscapes are very different, and we get two immediate benefits:

Each world model evaluation $F_{\theta}(s_t,a_t)$ depends only on local variables, so all $T$ terms can be computed in parallel across time, resulting in a huge speed-up for longer horizons, and
You no longer backpropagate through a single deep $T$-step composition to get a learning signal, since the previous product of Jacobians now splits into a sum, e.g.:

\[D_{a_0} \mathcal{L} = 2(F_\theta(s_0, a_0) - s_1).\]

Being able to optimize states directly also helps with exploration, as we can temporarily navigate through unphysical domains to find the optimal plan:

Collocation planning in BallNav Collocation-based planning allows us to directly perturb states and explore midpoints more effectively.

However, lunch is never free. And indeed, especially for deep learning-based world models, there is a critical issue that makes the above optimization quite difficult in practice.

An issue for deep learning-based world models: sensitivity of state-input gradients

The tl;dr of this section is: directly optimizing states through a deep learning-based $F_{\theta}$ is incredibly brittle, à la adversarial robustness. Even if you train your world model in a lower-dimensional state space, the training process for the world model makes unseen state landscapes very sharp, whether it be an unseen state itself or simply a normal/orthogonal direction to the data manifold.

Adversarial robustness and the “dimpled manifold” model

Adversarial robustness originally looked at classification models $f_\theta : \mathbb{R}^{w\times h \times c} \to \mathbb{R}^K$, and showed that by following the gradient of a particular logit $\nabla f_\theta^k$ from a base image $x$ (not of class $k$), you did not have to move far along $x’ = x + \epsilon\nabla f_\theta^k$ to make $f_\theta$ classify $x’$ as $k$ ( Szegedy et al., 2014; Goodfellow et al., 2015):

Adversarial example Depiction of the classic example from (Goodfellow et al., 2015).

Later work has painted a geometric picture for what’s going on: for data near a low-dimensional manifold $\mathcal{M}$, the training process controls behavior in tangential directions, but does not regularize behavior in orthogonal directions, thus leading to sensitive behavior ( Stutz et al., 2019). Another way stated: $f_\theta$ has a reasonable Lipschitz constant when considering only tangential directions to the data manifold $\mathcal{M}$, but can have very high Lipschitz constants in normal directions. In fact, it often benefits the model to be sharper in these normal directions, so it can fit more complicated functions more precisely.

Adversarial perturbations leave the data manifold

As a result, such adversarial examples are incredibly common even for a single given model. Further, this is not just a computer vision phenomenon; adversarial examples also appear in LLMs ( Wallace et al., 2019) and in RL ( Gleave et al., 2019).

While there are methods to train for more adversarially robust models, there is a known trade-off between model performance and adversarial robustness ( Tsipras et al., 2019): especially in the presence of many weakly-correlated variables, the model must be sharper to achieve higher performance. Indeed, most modern training algorithms, whether in computer vision or LLMs, do not train adversarial robustness out. Thus, at least until deep learning sees a major regime change, this is a problem we’re stuck with.

Why is adversarial robustness an issue for world model planning?

Consider a single component of the dynamics loss we’re optimizing in the lifted state approach:

\[\min_{s_t, a_t, s_{t+1}} \|F_\theta(s_t, a_t) - s_{t+1}\|_2^2\]

Let’s further focus on just the base state:

\[\min_{s_t} \|F_\theta(s_t, a_t) - s_{t+1}\|_2^2.\]

Since world models are typically trained on state/action trajectories $(s_1, a_1, s_2, a_2, \ldots)$, the state-data manifold for $F_{\theta}$ has dimensionality bounded by the action space:

\[\mathrm{dim}(\mathcal{M}_s) \le \mathrm{dim}(\mathcal{A}) + 1 + \mathrm{dim}(\mathcal{R}),\]

where $\mathcal{R}$ is some optional space of augmentations (e.g. translations/rotations). Thus, we can typically expect $\mathrm{dim}(\mathcal{M}_s)$ to be much lower than $\mathrm{dim}(\mathcal{S})$, and thus: it is very easy to find adversarial examples that hack any state to any other desired state.

As a result, the dynamics optimization

\[\sum_{t=0}^{T-1} \big\|F_\theta(s_t,a_t) - s_{t+1}\big\|_2^2\]

feels incredibly “sticky,” as the base points $s_t$ can easily trick $F_{\theta}$ into thinking it’s already made its local goal.1

Adversarial world model example

1. This adversarial robustness issue, while particularly bad for lifted-state approaches, is not unique to them. Even for serial optimization methods that optimize through the full rollout map $\mathcal{F}^T$, it is possible to get into unseen states, where it is very easy to have a normal component fed into the sensitive normal components of $D_s F_{\theta}$. The action Jacobian’s chain rule expansion is

\[\Bigl(\prod_{t=1}^T D_s F_\theta(s_t, a_t)\Bigr) D_{a_0}F_\theta(s_0, a_0).\]

See what happens if any stage of the product has any component normal to the data manifold. ↩

Our fix

This is where our new planner GRASP comes in. The main observation: while $D_s F_{\theta}$ is untrustworthy and adversarial, the action space is usually low-dimensional and exhaustively trained, so $D_a F_{\theta}$ is actually reasonable to optimize through and doesn’t suffer from the adversarial robustness issue!

Network diagram showing high-dim state vs low-dim action The action input is usually lower-dimensional and densely trained (the model has seen every action direction), so action gradients are much better behaved.

At its core, GRASP builds a first-order lifted state / collocation-based planner that is only dependent on action Jacobians through the world model. We thus exploit the differentiability of learned world models $F_{\theta}$, while not falling victim to the inherent sensitivity of the state Jacobians $D_s F_{\theta}$.

GRASP: Gradient RelAxed S tochastic P lanner

As noted before, we start with the collocation planning objective, where we lift the states and relax dynamics into a penalty:

\[\min_{\mathbf{s},\mathbf{a}} \mathcal{L}(\mathbf{s}, \mathbf{a}) = \sum_{t=0}^{T-1} \big\|F_\theta(s_t,a_t) - s_{t+1}\big\|_2^2, \quad \text{with } s_0 \text{ fixed and } s_T=g.\]

We then make two key additions.

Ingredient 1: Exploration by noising the state iterates

Even with a smoother objective, planning is nonconvex. We introduce exploration by injecting Gaussian noise into the virtual state updates during optimization.

A simple version:

\[s_t \leftarrow s_t - \eta_s \nabla_{s_t}\mathcal{L} + \sigma_{\text{state}} \xi, \qquad \xi\sim\mathcal{N}(0,I).\]

Actions are still updated by non-stochastic descent:

\[a_t \leftarrow a_t - \eta_a \nabla_{a_t}\mathcal{L}.\]

The state noise helps you “hop” between basins in the lifted space, while the actions remain guided by gradients. We found that specifically noising states here (as opposed to actions) finds a good balance of exploration and the ability to find sharper minima.2

2. Because we only noise the states (and not the actions), the corresponding dynamics are not truly Langevin dynamics. ↩

Ingredient 2: Reshape gradients: stop brittle state-input gradients, keep action gradients

As discussed, the fragile pathway is the gradient that flows into the state input of the world model, $D_s F_{\theta}$. The most straightforward way to do this initially is to just stop state gradients into $F_{\theta}$ directly:

Let $\bar{s}_t$ be the same value as $s_t$, but with gradients stopped.

Define the stop-gradient dynamics loss:

\[\mathcal{L}_{\text{dyn}}^{\text{sg}}(\mathbf{s},\mathbf{a}) = \sum_{t=0}^{T-1} \big\|F_\theta(\bar{s}_t, a_t) - s_{t+1}\big\|_2^2.\]

This alone does not work. Notice now states only follow the previous state’s step, without anything forcing the base states to chase the next ones. As a result, there are trivial minima for just stopping at the origin, then only for the final action trying to get to the goal in one step.

Dense goal shaping

We can view the above issue as the goal’s signal being cut off entirely from previous states. One way to fix this is to simply add a dense goal term throughout prediction:

\[\mathcal{L}_{\text{goal}}^{\text{sg}}(\mathbf{s},\mathbf{a}) = \sum_{t=0}^{T-1} \big\|F_\theta(\bar{s}_t, a_t) - g\big\|_2^2.\]

In normal settings this would over-bias towards the greedy solution of straight chasing the goal, but this is balanced in our setting by the stop-gradient dynamics loss’s bias towards feasible dynamics. The final objective is then as follows:

\[\mathcal{L}(\mathbf{s},\mathbf{a}) = \mathcal{L}_{\text{dyn}}^{\text{sg}}(\mathbf{s},\mathbf{a}) + \gamma \, \mathcal{L}_{\text{goal}}^{\text{sg}}(\mathbf{s},\mathbf{a}).\]

The result is a planning optimization objective that does not have dependence on state gradients.

Periodic “sync”: briefly return to true rollout gradients

The lifted stop-gradient objective is great for fast, guided exploration, but it’s still an approximation of the original serial rollout objective.

So every $K_{\text{sync}}$ iterations, GRASP does a short refinement phase:

Roll out from $s_0$ using current actions $\mathbf{a}$, and take a few small gradient steps on the original serial loss:

\[\mathbf{a} \leftarrow \mathbf{a} - \eta_{\text{sync}}\,\nabla_{\mathbf{a}}\,\|s_T(\mathbf{a})-g\|_2^2.\]

The lifted-state optimization still provides the core of the optimization, while this refinement step adds some assistance to keep states and actions grounded towards real trajectories. This refinement step can of course be replaced with a serial planner of your choice (e.g. CEM); the core idea is to still get some of the benefit of the full-path synchronization of serial planners, while still mostly using the benefits of the lifted-state planning.

How GRASP addresses long-range planning

Collocation-based planners offer a natural fix for long-horizon planning, but this optimization is quite difficult through modern world models due to adversarial robustness issues. GRASP proposes a simple solution for a smoother collocation-based planner, alongside stable stochasticity for exploration. As a result, longer-horizon planning ends up not only succeeding more, but also finding such successes faster:

Push-T planning demo Push-T demo: longer-horizon planning with GRASP.

HorizonCEMGDLatCoGRASPH=4061.4% / 35.3s51.0% / 18.0s15.0% / 598.0s59.0% / 8.5sH=5030.2% / 96.2s37.6% / 76.3s4.2% / 1114.7s43.4% / 15.2sH=607.2% / 83.1s16.4% / 146.5s2.0% / 231.5s26.2% / 49.1sH=707.8% / 156.1s12.0% / 103.1s0.0% / —16.0% / 79.9sH=802.8% / 132.2s6.4% / 161.3s0.0% / —10.4% / 58.9s

Push-T results. Success rate (%) / median time to success. Bold = best in row. Note the median success time will bias higher with higher success rate; GRASP manages to be faster despite higher success rate.

What’s next?

There is still plenty of work to be done for modern world model planners. We want to exploit the gradient structure of learned world models, and collocation (lifted-state optimization) is a natural approach for long-horizon planning, but it’s crucial to understand typical gradient structure here: smooth and informative action gradients and brittle state gradients. We view GRASP as an initial iteration for such planners.

Extension to diffusion-based world models (deeper latent timesteps can be viewed as smoothed versions of the world model itself), more sophisticated optimizers and noising strategies, and integrating GRASP into either a closed-loop system or RL policy learning for adaptive long-horizon planning are all natural and interesting next steps.

I do genuinely think it’s an exciting time to be working on world model planners. It’s a funny sweet spot where the background literature (planning and control overall) is incredibly mature and well-developed, but the current setting (pure planning optimization over modern, large-scale world models) is still heavily underexplored. But, once we figure out all the right ideas, world model planners will likely become as commonplace as RL.

For more details, read the full paper or visit the project website.

Citation

@article{psenka2026grasp,
  title={Parallel Stochastic Gradient-Based Planning for World Models},
  author={Michael Psenka and Michael Rabbat and Aditi Krishnapriyan and Yann LeCun and Amir Bar},
  year={2026},
  eprint={2602.00475},
  archivePrefix={arXiv},
  primaryClass={cs.LG},
  url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.00475}
}

http://bair.berkeley.edu/blog/2026/04/20/grasp/

When (and Why) Exactly Did Elon Musk Make His Hard Turn to the Right?

(date: 2026-04-20)

“The coronavirus panic is dumb,” tweeted Elon Musk in early March 2020, his first public comment on COVID-19. (It was also his first tweet to earn more than one million likes.) To him, the true virus was informational. The cybernetic

https://lithub.com/when-and-why-exactly-did-elon-musk-make-his-hard-turn-to-the-right/

On the Unique and Ongoing Relationship Between Bob Dylan and the Beatles

(date: 2026-04-20)

“What about Bob Dylan?” That was the question put to Paul McCartney shortly after the Beatles had first come to America in February 1964. The man holding the microphone was Murray Kaufman, a popular New York disc jockey who went

https://lithub.com/on-the-unique-and-ongoing-relationship-between-bob-dylan-and-the-beatles/

How Writing Helped Me Heal After a Trauma

(date: 2026-04-20)

On June 4, 2015, I was sexually assaulted and nearly murdered. I went to bed in the evening, the way I always did. I read. I turned out my lamp. In the dark, I listened to the train in the

https://lithub.com/how-writing-helped-me-heal-after-a-trauma/

This Week in Literary History: Mae West is Sentenced to Ten Days in Jail for Obscenity

(date: 2026-04-20)

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Literary History newsletter—sign up here. On February 9, 1927, Mae West was arrested after a performance of her play Sex, which she had written and in which she starred. In fact, the New York Police Department’s

https://lithub.com/this-week-in-literary-history-mae-west-is-sentenced-to-ten-days-in-jail-for-obscenity/

The Scent of Rebellion: How Cannabis Became the Drug of Choice For the Counterculture

(date: 2026-04-20)

In 1927, twenty-six-year-old American jazz musician Louis Armstrong smoked cannabis for the first time. He was backstage at a Chicago music club when a white musician named Mezz Mezzrow lit a reefer, took a few puffs, and passed it to

https://lithub.com/the-scent-of-rebellion-how-cannabis-became-the-drug-of-choice-for-the-counterculture/

In the Parlors of Black Bibliophiles: How Arturo Schomburg Built a Library and Made History

(date: 2026-04-20)

They were “Damned Old Fools on Books.” That’s what the Philadelphia bibliophile William Carl Bolivar told Arturo Schomburg, his younger counterpart in New York, as the two men exchanged book lists, shared tips on where to hunt down rare titles,

https://lithub.com/in-the-parlors-of-black-bibliophiles-how-arturo-schomburg-built-a-library-and-made-history/

What You Can Do NOW

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

The 10 Most Important Ways to Resist Now. (Revised, Updated, Expanded.)

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do-f4a

For broadcasters, digital tech isn’t a lifesaver. It’s a new land for fish with legs and lungs.

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Eric Nuzum says public radio isn’t interested in saving itself. He’s actually quoting somebody else, but saying there’s a case. Specifically, When I hear public media leaders talk about the state of audience, ratings, and legacy platforms, I hear a very strong decline-centered narrative, with one station CEO infamously saying that “radio is dead.” Really? When […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/19/for-broadcasters-digital-tech-isnt-a-lifesaver-its-a-new-land-for-fish-with-legs-and-lungs/

April 19, 2026

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

On the evening of April 18, 1775, the people who lived in the British colony of Massachusetts had gone to bed with the sun, as usual.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-19-2026

The Olive Leaf Network: Public Testimony to the Parliament of Victoria on Children in Cults and High-demand Religious Groups

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

With Psychologist Maria Esguerra

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/the-olive-leaf-network-public-testimony

MNT Reform 2 upgrade

(date: 2026-04-20)

As I mentioned before I have got final delivery of new parts for my "big" MNT Reform 2 laptop. I have upgraded the smaller Pocket Reform previously so I thing I should summarize all these things.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260420-0241_MNT_Reform_2_upgrade

Wed, April 22nd, 7pm ET - Our Weekly Hopium Paid Subscriber Get Together

(date: 2026-04-20, updated: 2026-04-22)

Friends,

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/wed-april-22nd-7pm-et-our-weekly

Three features are moving behind the paywall

(date: 2026-04-20)

Metadata, transactional emails, and integrations now require a paid plan for new accounts — existing users are grandfathered in.

https://buttondown.com/blog/2026-04-20-paywall-changes

Monday 20 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-21)

Zoombini A photograph of the most remarkable and intelligent cat I’ve ever known, taken in 2012. She died five years ago, and I miss her still. Quote of the Day ”A perfect martini should be made by filling a glass … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/monday-20-april-2026/41895/

Episode 180 - You Wouldn't Magnetize a Tape!

(date: 2026-04-19)

The image of a mainframe is almost always accompanied by it's companion: the magnetic tape drive. For decades magnetic tape served as the medium of choice for computing. It was faster than punch cards, and more available than hard drives. But where did it come from? Is it a borrowed technology like the vacuum tube?

Like Advent of Computing? Then check out the after show! Adjunct of Computing is now LIVE: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts

https://adventofcomputing.libsyn.com/episode-180-you-wouldnt-magnetize-a-tape

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

U.S. seizes Iranian cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz.

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/19/nx-s1-5790378/iran-us-hormuz-closed-impossible?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=bsky.app

Sunday Caption Contest: Advice

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

And last week's winner

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-caption-contest-advice

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

“The quiet truth about AI is that it doesn't replace the thing that was hard. It replaces the thing that was slow.”

https://joostboer.com/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Elad Gil on which AI markets have winners — and which are still wide open.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/03/elad-gil-on-which-ai-markets-have-winners-and-which-are-still-wide-open/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Behind Trump’s Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-public-bravado-private-fear-59814dca?st=ZouPqx

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Teen takeovers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_takeover

Hook It Up to the Machine

(date: 2026-04-19)

In the early 2000’s, my parents took us on a road trip to Glacier National Park in Montana.

We made the journey in our new (used) family van: a green Dodge Caravan whose reputation was soon to become “a lemon”.

I was a teenager and didn’t pay a lot of attention to the details of what was happening around me, but I do remember how the van kept overheating. It ran fine on the interstate, but anything under 40MPH had the car’s temperature gauge rising into unsafe zones.

I remember stopping in some small town in Montana to get it checked out by a mechanic. He checked it out, took it for a test drive, etc., and told my Dad the reason the car was overheating was because the idling fan wasn’t turning on. At higher speeds, like on the interstate, that was fine because there was enough airflow to keep the engine cool but at lower speeds the car would overheat. The mechanic said he didn’t know why the fan wasn’t turning on. There was nothing wrong mechanically from what he could see. But he couldn't fix it. He told my Dad that this was one of those increasingly common “computerized” cars that you have to hook up to another computer to diagnose the source of the issue. And he didn’t have one of those computers.

So we continued on our way. The rest of the trip required my Dad taking “the long way around”, like back roads where he could keep up his speed in order to avoid the car overheating. It was all very amusing to us as kids, almost thrilling because Dad had a legitimate excuse to drive fast (suffice it to say, Mom did not like this).

Once the trip was over and we returned home, my Dad was able to get the car in to a dealer where they hooked up the car’s computer to another computer to diagnose and fix the issue. I don’t really remember the specifics, but the issue was seemingly some failed digital sensor that prevented the idling fan from turning on. Once the sensor was replaced, things worked again.

Computers talking to computers.

Growing up in an era that shifted so many things from analog to digital, mechanical to electronic, I’ve thought about this trip a lot.

And I’m thinking about it again in this new era of building software with LLMs.

I think about that mechanic. This guy who grew up around mechanical cars that could be physically inspected, diagnosed, and repaired. So much of his experience and knowledge unusable in the face of a computerized car.

You can tell when a mechanical switch has failed with your eyes, but not a digital one. You need a computer to help you understand the computer.

Will this be my future?

If a codebase was made with the assistance of an LLM, will its complexity and bugs only be inspectable, understandable, diagnosable, and fixable with an LLM?

“Hey, can you help me, there’s a problem with my codebase?”

“Ok, I can confirm the issue, but I can’t fix it without hooking your codebase up to an LLM.”

Reply via:

Email · Mastodon ·

https://youtu.be/EdFlJFXPNZU?si=aVL-I8855j7smPd6

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2026/hook-it-up-to-the-machine/

I designed my own Ghost theme from scratch (with help)

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

It's been about two years since I exported my blog from a hosted Wordpress install to Ghost Pro and one aspect that never quite sat well with me was the lack of great template designs. Back around 2010, I gave up on creating all my own templates from

https://a.wholelottanothing.org/i-designed-my-own-ghost-theme-from-scratch-with-help/

Sunday session

(date: 2026-04-19)

Sunday session

https://adactio.com/notes/22533

Our Wins Of The Week

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

This week, we’re seeing some real momentum for Democratic Senate candidates heading into November.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/week-progressive-wins-april-19

The Technological Republic, in brief

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-21)

In which a defense contractor lays its anti-democratic, pro-fascist ideology bare.

https://werd.io/the-technological-republic-in-brief/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-21)

New fave:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116432328158268830

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

A format like RSS needs to be loved.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/19.html#a162045

A really simple coffee mug

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

A few months ago, some guys from Netscape came out with a way to get AI to pay called Really Simple Licensing or RSL.

I was really put off by the way they took the name that everyone knows came from me with no help from anyone. Maybe I could have done something about it, instead I found a way to have some fun.

With Really Simple versions of granola, spaghetti, ketchup, cola, ravioli, baby shampoo and books. And it's time for another one!

Introducing the all-new Really Simple Coffee Mug!

BTW, I don't think RSL was a good name. Simplicity is not its main selling point, it's money! It's about making you rich. If I'm not mistaken.

But syndication, in 2002 -- was getting much more complicated than it needed to be. So "Really Simple Syndication" was supposed to be a little funny because it was not like the acronyms that tech usually comes up with.

It didn't pretend to be anything but a syndication format. Complexity is the enemy of good software. You have to work at making something no more than it is. It's a struggle. And you don't add complexity wihtout having a really good reason for doing it.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/19/161627.html?title=aReallySimpleCoffeeMug

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-19:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

4 updated places.

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

99d83744 - updated json

0b85eef9 - updated rdf/ttl

ba82d6c9 - updated gis package

8b7f2664 - updated data quality

a5f1da3f - updated bibliography

47b2b0a7 - updated indexes

495fee84 - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

ea59016c - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

f32a7e92 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116432198563413375

I Want You to March With Me This May Day

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-20)

I invite you to march with me this May Day, then organize to win elections and protect our right to vote. Together, we can prove the power of organized people. This May Day, I’ll be one of the millions who will peacefully take to the streets to denounce the cruelty and corruption of this […]

https://ourfuture.org/20260419/i-want-you-to-march-with-me-this-may-day

Te Invito A Marchar Conmigo este Primero de Mayo

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-20)

Este Primero de Mayo, te invito a marchar conmigo y organizarnos para ganar las elecciones y proteger nuestro derecho al voto. Juntos, podemos demostrar el poder de un pueblo unido. Este Primero de Mayo, seré una de los millones que saldremos pacíficamente a las calles para denunciar la crueldad y la corrupción de esta […]

RE: https://social.makerforums.info/@clolsonus/116431728200817316

https://ourfuture.org/20260419/te-invito-a-marchar-conmigo-este-primero-de-mayo

Runday

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Did he die in his sleep? "The Gambler" may be the best country song ever written. And performed. (Kenny Rogers' version is the definitive one). Alas, its author, the great Don Schlitz, has passed on. Not many details on that: Nashville hospital, sudden illness. He was from Durham, NC, one of my former homes and […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/19/runday/

Sunday Hopium - The Strait Remains Closed, Trump Is More Far More Mad Than King, Farmers Are Really Struggling in America

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Virginia Votes Tuesday - Let's Close Strong Everyone!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/sunday-hopium-the-strait-remains

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

2003: Prior art as a design method.

http://essaysfromexodus.scripting.com/priorArtDesignMethod

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

I'm doing a programming project with Claude and it's great, like a puzzle, finding out what works for me and building something I normally wouldn't have time to maintain, but -- Claude has nothing but time for stuff like that. I'm building it to pass off, a common code structure that we both understand and I know how to evolve because I design my code for evolution. And it's going well. But then I realized it's the same Claude I ask general questions of so I tried this. "I would love to pass off wpIdentity to an open source development organization. The ideal would be the WordPress's community. Is there any precedent for this, one community acquiring a new product?" You can try typing that prompt in yourself and see what you get. One thing I learned is that the Apache Foundation was set up for this. And Claude is pretty firm that WordPress is not set up for that.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/19.html#a153209

Fast Thumbnails With CGImageSource

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Max Seelemann: The parameters are documented, but the optimal combination is not. Here’s what I learned:kCGImageSourceCreateThumbnailFromImageAlways: While this seems optional for correct functionality, without it there will be error logged for images that might include embedded thumbnails (like JPEG or HEIC), but don’t. There’s a FromImageIfAbsent variant, but it did not silence these logs in […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/19/fast-thumbnails-with-cgimagesource/

John Deere Right-to-Repair Settlement

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Caleb Jacobs (via Hacker News): While the agricultural manufacturing giant pointed out in a statement that this is no admission of wrongdoing, it agreed to pay $99 million into a fund for farms and individuals who participated in a class action lawsuit. Specifically, that money is available to those involved who paid John Deere’s authorized […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/19/john-deere-right-to-repair-settlement/

Globalstar Takeover

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Tim Hardwick (Hacker News): Amazon and Globalstar have announced a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire the satellite operator. […] Alongside the acquisition, Amazon and Apple have signed a separate agreement for Amazon’s Leo satellite network to power existing iPhone and Apple Watch satellite features, including Emergency SOS, Messages via satellite, Find My, […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/19/globalstar-takeover/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-21)

The Palantir manifesto summarized

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116431772526540490

New York City Hexmaps

(date: 2026-04-19)

The five boroughs of New York City can be informally or formally carved up into many different pieces, depending on what it is that you’re doing. As part of an ongoing project, I recently made an R package, nycmaps, that lets you draw maps of some of these geographies. Things being what they are, these spatial units don’t necessarily overlap in compatible ways. City, State, and Congressional Districts, School Districts, Police Precincts, Fire Companies, Election Precincts, Municipal Court Districts, Zip Codes … there are loads of them. Some of them are quite straightforward; others patiently lie in wait to trap unwary analysts (I’m looking at you, Zip Codes / ZCTAs).

Mapping Tracts and NTAs

Two classifications of particular interest to people like me are Census Tracts and Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs). Census Tracts are defined by the Census Bureau and form part of a nested set of geographical units that go from the smallest unit the Census keeps tract of (the Block) up to the largest (the whole country). Blocks aggregate to Block groups, Block groups aggregate to Tracts. Tracts aggregate to Counties. There are of course several complications. Ideally, the Census would like tracts to be contiguous, sub-county geographical areas with about 4,000 people in them, or at least between 1,200 and 8,000 people. This means tracts can vary considerably in geographical area. They generally follow visible features of the environment, whether physical or built. Uninhabited areas also get tract designations, so in principle we can get a full tract-level map of an area with no gaps. Here’s what a tract-level map of New York City looks like:

ggplot(nycmaps::nyc_census_tracts_2020_sf) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = boro_name), color = "black", linewidth = 0.1) +
  scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Set2") +
  labs(fill = "Borough") +
  theme_void()

2020 NYC Census Tract boundaries.

You can see the variation in tract size (compare e.g. Staten Island tracts with those in lower Manhattan). And you can also see features that are included on the map but, at least to a first approximation, don’t have permanent residents. That big roundy blob in the southeast corner of Queens, for instance, is JFK Airport. There are about 2,300 Census Tracts in New York City. (Naturally, their number and spatial layout changes from decennial census to decennial census, because why should life be easy?)

Neighborhood Tabulation Areas, meanwhile, are not official Census units. They are one of several subdivisions used by New York City government. The idea is to aggregate tracts into units that roughly correspond to neighborhoods that people conventionally refer to. This is, of course, an impossible task, because people don’t agree on neighborhood boundaries. But the idea is good. You want something bigger than a tract because those are small enough to be noisy on many measures produced by the main source of tract-level data, the American Community Survey. But you want something smaller than the next level up, which is a Community District Tabulation Area. Presently, there are 262 NTAs. They look like this:

ggplot(nycmaps::nyc_nta20_sf) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = boro_name), color = "black", linewidth = 0.1) +
  scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Set2") +
  labs(fill = "Borough") +
  theme_void()

2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas

NTAs have recognizable names:

nycmaps::nyc_nta20_sf |> select(nta2020, nta_name, nta_abbrev)

Simple feature collection with 262 features and 3 fields
Geometry type: MULTIPOLYGON
Dimension:     XY
Bounding box:  xmin: 913175.1 ymin: 120128.4 xmax: 1067383 ymax: 272844.3
Projected CRS: NAD83 / New York Long Island (ftUS)
First 10 features:
   nta2020                            nta_name nta_abbrev
1   BK0101                          Greenpoint      Grnpt
2   BK0102                        Williamsburg   Wllmsbrg
3   BK0103                  South Williamsburg  SWllmsbrg
4   BK0104                   East Williamsburg  EWllmsbrg
5   BK0201                    Brooklyn Heights      BkHts
6   BK0202 Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill   DwntwnBk
7   BK0203                         Fort Greene      FtGrn
8   BK0204                        Clinton Hill    ClntnHl
9   BK0261                  Brooklyn Navy Yard   BkNvyYrd
10  BK0301           Bedford-Stuyvesant (West)    BdSty_W

When we have a table like this, we can get tract-level data from the Census, for example on educational attainment, and aggregate it to the NTA level. Then we can join that data to the simple feature collection that has our geometries in it. With a little polishing (which you can read all about in what I personally think of as a very useful book), we get something like this:

BA degrees or higher within NTAs.

Nominally zero-population NTAs get grayed out (JFK, LGA, various parks and cemeteries, Brooklyn Navy Yards, the United Nations, etc).

Here’s what this data looks like at the tract level:

BA degrees or higher within tracts.

Hexgrids

Sometimes we want a more schematic representation of geographies, because choropleth maps can be tricky to work with. There are many possibilities here, including not drawing maps at all. One option is to make a kind of cartogram by turning our map polygons into a tessellated grid where each unit gets a single tile. My nychex package provides hexagonal and square tilings for NTAs and tracts in New York City. Turning geographically accurate polygons into regular tiled grids can be a bit tricky, especially when the polygons you are trying to tile contain “holes”. But thanks to the tilemaps and rmapshaper packages we can get reasonably far in a semi-automated way, and then tweak things by manually nudging tiles around. Our baseline NTA hexmap looks like this:

ggplot(nychex::nyc_nta20_hex_sf) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = boro_name), color = "black", linewidth = 0.3) +
  scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Set2") +
  labs(fill = "Borough") +
  theme_void()

The opening gameboard for my upcoming strategy game, Ticket to Ridgewood

And here is what our BA prevalence map looks like when mapped with it:

Labeled NTA hexmap

Here I’ve labeled the hexes with the (sometimes highly) abbreviated version of their NTA name. Maps like this don’t magically solve the difficulties of spatially representing population-based data, but they have their uses. They can be handy if you want to quickly get a sense of variation across units while retaining a roughly spatial layout. They also make some kinds of small-multiple or faceted plots a little easier.

We don’t have to stop at NTA-level resolution. We can do a tract-level one, too. Here’s a tract-level base hexmap:

Ticket to Ridgewood, advanced edition

This map makes a series of compromises with city geography in order to make room for each tract’s hexagon. In particular, northern Manhattan is more detached from the Bronx than is ideal, and it was also necessary to sever Brooklyn from Queens along their shared border. (Our simplify-and-tile algorithm had a very hard time with the undifferentiated Brooklyn/Queens landmass.) With a fully hand-drawn hexmap we could probably avoid most of these problems, but that would involve quite a substantial amount of work. Even when we generate the main components algorithmically, quite a bit of hand-adjustment in the overall positioning and layout is still required (especially for things like the Rockaways and other islands or quasi-islands). Sadly there’s no magic way to integrate the main borough polygons while preserving the orientation of all the hexes. Still, the result isn’t bad.

Here’s our BA map in tract-level hexagonal form:

Tract-level BA map.

The usual benefits and disadvantages of regularized choropleths are in evidence here. Lower Manhattan’s population gets a fairer shout, as do parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx. The geography still mostly works. The difficulties flow mostly from the map being at the tract-level in the first place, rather than the tiling. That is, some tracts have unusual shapes that result in quite noisy estimates. For example, sometimes a tract will consist mostly of a park or an industrial area, but have a few residential segments. This can mean it ends up being measured too high or too low on the thing we’re counting. Or, by contrast, a tract might be almost entirely one kind of entity, like a retirement home, producing results that might seem odd if you don’t know what’s in that spot. You can see why the City aims at the NTA level for a lot of its summaries. It has ten times fewer units, but things get smoothed out in a way that may be more useful. Any real-world method of measurement comes with some rate of error, which the Census helpfully provides estimates of. Nice maps tempt you to reify observations and spin yarns about what you see, whether it’s a finely-detailed spatial polygon or a pleasingly regular hexagon. The finer the observational grain, the more important it is for you to know about the situation on the ground. Literally.

https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2026/04/19/new-york-city-hexmaps/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-21)

One time, on a date at a fresh restaurant, with my rusty French I saw “something something cerveau” and my mind thought “oh shrimp, I like that”

Friends, the panic struck me when I saw what I got. And I spent the meal slicing and hiding slices under the veggies.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116431742094716927

🔜📌 REMINDER

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Our Symposium with Adam Garfinkle begins in about 45 minutes

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/reminder-2bc

“Stardust”

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

A Reason To Smile

https://steady.substack.com/p/stardust

Trump and the Pope Debate the Bible

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

TBR Sunday Read

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-and-the-pope-debate-the-bible

Only half of Republicans are die-hard “MAGA”

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

Why MAGA is not a durable majority. Plus, consumer sentiment, and a study on the effects of raising the minimum wage in red states. Your weekly political data roundup for April 19, 2026.

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-is-losing-non-maga-republicans

Curing U.S. Health Care, Part I

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

America doesn’t have to be like this

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/curing-us-health-care-part-i

Finn Mac Cool by Morgan Llywelyn

(date: 2026-04-19)

After reading The Morrigan I was hungry for more retellings of Irish myths and legends. I tracked down the 1994 novel Finn Mac Cool by Morgan Llywelyn.

When I was devouring modern retellings of Greek myths, I commented on an interesting difference in the tellings:

The biggest difference I’ve noticed is the presence or absence of supernatural intervention. Some of these writers tell their stories with gods and goddesses front and centre. Others tell the very same stories as realistic accounts without any magic.

The Morrigan was dripping in magic. Finn Mac Cool is a more down-to-earth affair.

That’s not to say that magic doesn’t matter. For the characters in this book, their belief in magic is as real as their belief in the weather. But there are no supernatural powers here. If anything, Finn’s superpower is his ability to tell—and believe—tall tales involving supernatural intervention.

All the usual accounts of Finn Mac Cool’s prowess are retold as deeds that may have a basis in reality but then get exaggerated almost immediately.

It’s a framing device that works well. It’s all too easy to believe in the rise to power of a charismatic man skilled in controlling the narrative.

There’s plenty of Machievellian politics at play. There are no outright villains, or even heroes. There’s a pleasing messiness to the forces at work.

Sometimes the author’s research shows a bit too much. There are digressions into explanations of Brehon law that threaten to derail the narrative.

Overall though, this is an engaging and vivid retelling that just makes me want to spend more time in this world.

https://adactio.com/journal/22532

Welcome Vissarion Fisikopoulos, new LibreOffice developer focusing on Base

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

LibreOffice Base is the database component of the suite, and hasn’t seen a lot of development activity in recent years. So The Document Foundation – the non-profit behind the software – wants to change that! Following Neil Roberts, we now have a second new developer, Vissarion Fisikopoulos, so let’s hear

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/19/welcome-vissarion-fisikopoulos-new-libreoffice-developer-focusing-on-base/

Sunday thought: A change in the air

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

The noxious realities of Trump's authoritarianism are revealed for all to see

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-thought-a-change-in-the-air

April 18, 2026

(date: 2026-04-19, updated: 2026-04-22)

And, just like that, President Donald J.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-18-2026

Weekly Bookmarks

(date: 2026-04-19)

These are some things I’ve wandered across on the web this week.

🔖 Why I ask AI coders to ask me questions

Next, I will tell the AI to ask me 10 to 20 questions about architectural choices that I haven’t thought about, that it needs to pin down before writing code. Invariably, the questions that I’m asked are detailed, insightful, and pivotal to the design. Sometimes the AI will give me choices for answers, sometimes it will ask the question and make a sceptic recommendation.

I answer the AI’s questions, after which I ask the AI if it has any follow-up questions for me. After a few rounds of this back-and-forth, I ask the AI to create high-level documentation for different aspects of the solution. I then review the documentation. This documentation lets me review the entire design and make corrections, but it also serves as a record that this or another AI will be able to use in the future when it comes back to do software maintenance.

🔖 GottsteinShoes

Sustainably felt slippers by Gottstein • Made of undyed wool • Comfortable felt slippers • Manufactured in Tyrol, Austria ► Feel the nature on your feet!

🔖 Baabuk Shoes

Baabuk wool footwear made responsibly and sustainably. Designed in Switzerland, crafted in Nepal and Portugal, built for comfort. The most comfortable wool sneakers, wool slippers, and boots.

🔖 Mythos and Cybersecurity

In the short term, we need something simpler: greater transparency and information sharing with the broader community. This doesn’t necessarily mean making powerful models like Claude Mythos widely available. Rather, it means sharing as much data and information as possible, so that we can collectively make informed decisions.

We need globally co-ordinated frameworks for independent auditing, mandatory disclosure of aggregate performance metrics and funded access for academic and civil-society researchers.

This has implications for national security, personal safety and corporate competitiveness. Any technology that can find thousands of exploitable flaws in the systems we all depend on should not be governed solely by the internal judgment of its creators, however well intentioned.

🔖 MNT Pocket Reform

Pocket-sized, repairable, and fully open source: Our iconic MNT Pocket Reform mini laptop is as versatile as you need it to be. Whether you’re traveling, attending classes, programming your tools at the cafe, or working at a data center—Pocket Reform fits nearly any space. And if you want it stationary, hook it up to a big monitor and play a video game or browse the web. Or get creative and use Debian-compatible software such as Libre Office, FreeCAD or Krita to express yourself.

🔖 Tape 05 /Boards of Canada

music video / tune teaser for new album?

🔖 APhilosophy of Software Design / John Ousterhout

Writing computer software is one of the purest creative activities in the history of the human race. Programmers aren’t bound by practical limitations such as the laws of physics; we can create exciting virtual worlds with behaviors that could never exist in the real world. Programming doesn’t require great physical skill or coordination, like ballet or basketball. All programming requires is a creative mind and the ability to organize your thoughts. If you can visualize a system, you can probably implement it in a computer program.

This means that the greatest limitation in writing software is our ability to understand the systems we are creating. As a program evolves and acquires more features, it becomes complicated, with subtle dependencies between its components. Over time, complexity accumulates, and it becomes harder and harder for programmers to keep all of the relevant factors in their minds as they modify the system. This slows down development and leads to bugs, which slow development even more and add to its cost. Complexity increases inevitably over the life of any program. The larger the program, and the more people that work on it, the more difficult it is to manage complexity.

🔖 FAR OFF TOWN - DUNEDIN TO NASHVILLE

Napier film-maker Bridget Sutherland made the 82min doco about one of Dunedin’s favourite musical sons and his trip to Nashville to make the album ‘Frozen Orange’ with the band Lambchop. Kilgour and Lambchop are close friends and have often toured together. They both record for Merge, and the merging of Kilgour with Nashville and its homogeneous Music City product was an ideal subject of intrigue for a film.

But Kilgour did not record with normal mainstream Nashville, he went to the city’s indie underground, and worked with people he knew and liked, and who definitely liked him, like Lambchop’s Mark Nevers, who produced the record in his own studio. Nashville’s front window is a mixture of Old Country - the never-quite-made-its who play on the hour every hour in the bars for tips - and far more lucratively, New Country, which is manicured market-aimed singers who are young, slick, attractive, bland, radio-friendly, and often extremely successful.

🔖 A eulogy for Vim

Vim is important to me. I’m using it to write the words you’re reading right now. In fact, almost every word I have ever committed to posterity, through this blog, in my code, all of the docs I’ve written, emails I’ve sent, and more, almost all of it has passed through Vim.

My relationship with the software is intimate, almost as if it were an extra limb. I don’t think about what I’m doing when I use it. All of Vim’s modes and keybindings are deeply ingrained in my muscle memory. Using it just feels like my thoughts flowing from my head, into my fingers, into a Vim-shaped extension of my body, and out into the world. The unique and profound nature of my relationship with this software is not lost on me.

🔖 easyaligner: Forced Alignment Made Easy

easyaligner is a forced alignment library for aligning text transcripts with audio. It is designed with a focus on ease of use, flexibility, and performance. The library can be used for a variety of applications, including

Aligning e-texts with audiobook recordings to create interactive reading experiences (see the interactive demo below).
Aligning podcast transcripts to enable features like chapter navigation and keyword search.
Aligning protocols and recordings of parliamentary debates for research and accessibility purposes.
Fixing misaligned subtitles in videos, or creating new subtitles from transcripts.
Creating large-scale speech recognition and speech synthesis datasets for AI model training.

🔖 The Midnight Sky

The Midnight Sky is a 2020 American science fiction film directed by George Clooney based on the 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. The script was written by Mark L. Smith. Clooney plays a leading role in his film, as an aging scientist who must venture across the frigid Arctic Circle to warn off a returning interplanetary spaceship following a global catastrophe on Earth. Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone, Demián Bichir, Kyle Chandler, and Caoilinn Springall also star in this film.

🔖 Quo Vadis, Crawlers? Progress and what’s next on safeguarding ourinfrastructure

Readers, contributors, responsible bots, and abusive bots all share the same access points to our websites and infrastructure. We have therefore orchestrated our work with maximum care to minimize impact on our reading and editing community, with the ultimate goal of not impeding any person from accessing our projects.

As a result of this work, we’re currently blocking or throttling about 25% of all automated requests that are coming from crawlers that don’t adhere to our policies (up to billions of requests per day). As we continue to improve our detection mechanisms, we expect this number to increase. Earlier this month, we also began rolling out global rate limits for API traffic, with a second rollout phase planned for April 2026.

🔖 Wikimedia Attribution Framework

The Wikimedia Attribution Framework provides guidelines that data reusers can follow to ensure that sources remain clear, recognizable, and consistent in external contexts. Attribution is essential for fair acknowledgment and active awareness of Wikimedia’s community-driven content, and it’s also a key factor in the continued growth and sustainability of the free knowledge ecosystem. The framework exists to:

🔖 HTTP Message Signatures Directory

HTTP-MESSAGE-SIGNATURES allow a signer to generate a signature over an HTTP message, and a verifier to validate it. The specification assumes verifiers have prior knowledge of signers’ key material, requiring out-of-band key distribution mechanisms. This creates deployment friction and limits the ability to dynamically verify signatures from previously unknown signers.

This document defines:

A standardized key directory format based on JWKS for publishing HTTP Message Signatures keys.
A well-known URI location for discovering these key directories.
A new HTTP header field enabling in-band key directory location discovery.

🔖 Web Bot Auth - Cloudflare

Web Bot Auth is an authentication method that leverages cryptographic signatures in HTTP messages to verify that a request comes from an automated bot. Web Bot Auth is used as a verification method for verified bots and signed agents.

🔖 Framgments: April 14 / Martin Fowler

Understanding how to think about a problem domain by building abstractions (models) is my favorite part of programming. I love it because I think it’s what gives me a deeper understanding of a problem domain, and because once I find a good set of abstractions, I get a buzz from the way they make difficulties melt away, allowing me to achieve much more functionality with less lines of code.

Cantrill worries that AI is so good at writing code, we risk losing that virtue, something that’s reinforced by brogrammers bragging about how they produce thirty-seven thousand lines of code a day.

🔖 Introducing a new citizen science nature app that’s geared towards thescientific community

Identifying weeds, checking out the pollen map, or discovering new plant life-forms are among the promising wealth of data available to users of PlantNet – a “Shazam!” for plants. Pierre Bonnet and computer scientist Alexis Joly introduced us to the digitally enhanced plant recognition application they developed.

🔖 Claude Code Running Claude Code in 4-Second Disposable VMs

Running Claude Code with full permissions inside a Docker container is a terrible idea. I did it anyway for about a week, then built something better.

Anthropic has an internal platform — people have been calling it Antspace since it got reverse-engineered from the Claude Code source — that runs AI coding tasks in isolated environments. It’s part of a vertical stack they’re building internally: intent goes in, code comes out, and the agent never touches the host machine.

I wanted that. Not the whole platform-as-a-service thing, just the core idea: give Claude Code a prompt, let it run with zero permission restrictions, stream the output back, grab any files it created, and destroy everything when it’s done. On a single Linux box sitting in my office.

🔖 On recognizing the handiwork of AI

As AI-generated images and texts proliferate, people have developed techniques for identifying them using clues like misshapen hands in images or distinctive words in text. This commentary situates these emerging practices within what Carlo Ginzburg called the “conjectural paradigm”: a mode of knowing that links contemporary AI detection to older traditions of medical symptomatology, art historical connoisseurship, and detective work. Yet unlike the stable or slowly evolving clues of earlier conjectural practices, the signifiers of AI involvement are rapidly shifting. This instability has consequences not only for how texts are read but also for how they are written. Authors now navigate a landscape of suspicion where their words may be misrecognized as machine generated. Rather than resolving into stable literacies, our efforts to recognize AI’s handiwork reveal the deeper uncertainties of authorship and interpretation.

🔖 We Found a Ticking Time Bomb in macOS TCP Networking - It DetonatesAfter Exactly 49 Days

Every Mac has a hidden expiration date. After exactly 49 days, 17 hours, 2 minutes, and 47 seconds of continuous uptime, a 32-bit unsigned integer overflow in Apple’s XNU kernel freezes the internal TCP timestamp clock. Once frozen, TIME_WAIT connections never expire, ephemeral ports slowly exhaust, and eventually no new TCP connections can be established at all. ICMP (ping) keeps working. Everything else dies. The only fix most people know is a reboot. We discovered this bug on our iMessage service monitoring fleet, reproduced it live on two machines, and traced the root cause to a single comparison in the XNU kernel source.

🔖 Stanford Claude Code

Instructions for setting up claude-code to talk to the Stanford AI Playground API.

🔖 The peril of laziness lost

Left unchecked, LLMs will make systems larger, not better — appealing to perverse vanity metrics, perhaps, but at the cost of everything that matters. As such, LLMs highlight how essential our human laziness is: our finite time forces us to develop crisp abstractions in part because we don’t want to waste our (human!) time on the consequences of clunky ones. The best engineering is always borne of constraints, and the constraint of our time places limits on the cognitive load of the system that we’re willing to accept. This is what drives us to make the system simpler, despite its essential complexity

🔖 GPD Pocket

Most successful business people have one MacBook or Surface. because they not only have a stylish and gorgeous appearance but also are light and thin. Yet, their disadvantage is that they are not portable.We believe that future laptops shall not only be thin but also be small.GPD Pocket .GPD Pocket is such a product. It is not only gorgeous, ultra-light, ultra-thin like MacBook but also very small and can be taken away in a pocket at any time like a cell phone!

https://inkdroid.org/2026/04/19/bookmarks/

Matt Bomer Reveals He Recorded Songs With Diane Warren For A ‘Magic Mike XXL’ Tie-In EP

(date: 2026-04-19)

In some vault, somewhere, are a couple of unreleased “rough tracks” featuring two-time Emmy-nominated actor Matt Bomer and 17-time Oscar-nominated songwriter Diane Warren. In a conversation with Josh Horowitz for Happy Sad Confused, the Fellow Travelers star revealed that he has an unreleased EP of songs tied to 2015’s Magic Mike XXL. The idea came […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/matt-bomer-diane-warren-magic-mike-xxl-songs-unreleased-1236865181/

Nadia Farès Dies: ‘The Crimson Rivers’ Actress Was 57

(date: 2026-04-19)

Moroccan French actress Nadia Farès, who last week was found unconscious in a swimming pool and has been in a coma ever since, died yesterday at the age of 57. Her daughters confirmed her death, caused by cardiac arrest, in a statement to Agence France-Presse. “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/nadia-fares-dead-the-crimson-rivers-actress-1236865053/

Shopkeeper Rampant

(date: 2026-04-19)

A new line of business. Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/newsletters/shopkeeper-rampant/

Firewall changes and improvements

(date: 2026-04-19)

Attack mode, embedded fingerprinting, and denied user agents — three new ways to keep spam out of your newsletter.

https://buttondown.com/blog/2026-04-19-firewall-improvements

Former Presidents, ‘SNL’ Stars, Nicole Kidman, Garth Brooks & More Celebrate America’s 250th At History Channel Event

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

The nation’s four former presidents, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and assorted celebs took the stage at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia Saturday for History Talks, an event honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary spotlighting democracy, social justice, healing division and political satire. A+E Global Media’s History Channel partnered with Philly-based […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/obma-biden-bush-clinton-history-channel-event-philadelphia-1236865029/

Tidepooling in La Jolla (photos)

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

Low tide was conveniently at 1pm for some midday tidepooling. We’d been planning to walk to another beach farther away, but realized that the beach across from our hotel looked like it would have plenty of tidepools. Just as we got down to the beach, there was enough breeze and a bit of a drizzle […]

https://tracydurnell.com/2026/04/18/tidepooling-in-la-jolla-photos/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

What is the protocol for hooking RSS planets together?

https://www.rubenerd.au/planets-blog-aggregators-for-tech-projects/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

Jon Ossoff Calls Out ‘Mar-a-Lago Mafia.’

https://politicalwire.com/2026/04/18/jon-ossoff-calls-out-mar-a-lago-mafia/

‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 Has More “Danger” Than The First, Teases Jacob Tierney: “Much More Serious Territory”

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

As Shane and Ilya return for Season 2 of Heated Rivalry, the stakes will be higher for the happy couple. Series creator Jacob Tierney recently teased that the source material, Rachel Reid’s The Long Game, is “an emotionally sophisticated book that takes this couple seriously,” set 10 years after the events of the Heated Rivalry […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/heated-rivalry-season-2-more-danger-jacob-tierney-1236865041/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

My wife sends me subliminal messages, and sometimes I struggle to decode her signals.

The last one was this pic:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116428094158224223

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

Obama and Mamdani meet for the first time.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/obama-and-mamdani-meet-for-the-first-time

Starting my exploration of AI

(date: 2026-04-18)

Now that I am retired, I am taking some time to explore AI tools, specifically Claude from Anthropic. In my previous job, I used Google Gemini for answering questions on tool setup/options, or creating short one-off scripts for repetitive tasks. However, these were all performed using ad-hoc prompts, and I wanted to learn how to […]

https://andysylvester.com/2026/04/18/starting-my-exploration-of-ai/

Octavia Spencer On Docuseries ‘Lost Women Of Alaska’: “There Are So Many Voices That Need To Be Restored” – Contenders TV Documentary

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

When Octavia Spencer, the narrator and executive producer of Investigation Discovery’s three-part docuseries Lost Women of Alaska, decided to get involved in telling the story of indigenous women living on societal fringes who were targeted and murdered by serial killer Brian Steven Smith, she had a key goal in mind: “Restoring the dignity of these […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/octavia-spencer-lost-women-of-alaska-interview-1236865024/

Charlize Theron Censures Timothée Chalamet Over “Reckless” Comments; Says AI May Soon “Be Able To Do” His Job But Will Not Replace Ballet & Opera

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

Charlize Theron is censuring Timothée Chalamet over his “very reckless” comments concerning the popularity of ballet and opera, saying artificial intelligence will soon be able to replace actors’ performances but could never be a substitute for the classical performing arts. The matter came up in an interview with The New York Times, where the Oscar-winning […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/charlize-theron-timothee-chalamet-ballet-opera-ai-1236865017/

‘Mr. Scorsese’ Director Rebecca Miller Got Martin Scorsese To Open Up, Then Covid Gave Him Time – Contenders TV Documentary

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

Documentary filmmaker Rebecca Miller was acquainted with the subject of her latest, Apple TV’s five-part Mr. Scorsese, through her husband Daniel Day-Lewis, one of legendary director Martin Scorsese’s cinematic muses. But when it came to getting the filmmaker to commit to opening up about his life and career, it required a little bit of an […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/mr-scorsese-documentary-director-interview-1236865021/

‘John Candy: I Like Me’ Director Colin Hanks Says Of Iconic Actor’s Style: “There’s A Little Bit Of John In Every Performance” – Contenders TV Documentary

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

Legendary actor John Candy has been gone for more than three decades, but his children Jennifer Candy-Sullivan and Chris Candy are celebrating his life and body of work in the new documentary John Candy: I Like Me, currently available to stream via Prime Video. His daughter and son were joined by the film’s director Colin […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/john-candy-i-like-me-director-colin-hanks-interview-1236864978/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

Ukraine Has Finally Given Up on Trump.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/ukraine-trump-us-oil-russia/686854/?gift=f35zZN0v_gDFE8xNwlQAHTCFC1TdBOQnjxGF5v-My-E&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

‘Lilith Fair: Building A Mystery’ Director Looks Back On Groundbreaking ’90s Fest & Think Time Is Right For its Comeback – Contenders TV Documentary

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

The popularity of the female-led ’90s-era musical festival Lilith Fair was enough to tell the story behind its origins, Ally Pankiw, director of the Hulu documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, explained at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary panel, but even more importantly, “it was also the first time that someone had really stood up to […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/lilith-fair-building-a-mystery-director-interview-1236864995/

Sepideh Moafi Reflects On Dr. Al-Hashimi’s Struggles On ‘The Pitt’ & Why She Loves Exploring “The Darker Realities Of Our Healthcare System”

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

SPOILER ALERT: The following will reveal plot points from the Season 2 finale of HBO Max‘s The Pitt. Season 2 of HBO Max’s The Pitt wasn’t an easy road for newcomer Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, which didn’t get much better by the season’s finale, which aired on Thursday night. One of the reasons for her discomfort was her […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sepideh-moafi-the-pitt-season-2-interview-1236864674/

‘You See L.A.’ Creators, Coach Made Sure Pic Following UCLA Women’s Basketball Team Shot From The Heart – Contenders TV Documentary

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

When allowing cameras for the Fox Sports documentary You See L.A. into the lives of her players, UCLA women’s basketball head coach Cori Close, who just led the Bruins to a national championship, tried to stick to the wisdom of one of the school’s guiding sports lights. “I had the incredible privilege of being mentored […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/you-see-la-documentary-creators-ucla-coach-interview-1236864969/

@DAIR blog

(date: 2026-04-18)

Tune into the next livestream of Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000:

@emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social will be bringing you a very special round-up of the most recent Fresh "AI" Hell!

Watch live: Monday, April 20, noon PT, twitch.tv/dair_institutehttps://twitch.tv/dair_institute

https://bsky.app/profile/dairinstitute.bsky.social/post/3mjsayq7j6s26

The Worst Justice Ever

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

His attack on progressivism last week was the last straw

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-worst-justice-in-modern-supreme

A Taxing Discussion

(date: 2026-04-18)

Taxes are annoying and confusing, aren’t they? Turns out they were also confusing way back when they were first introduced, too. Let’s talk about the 1040.

https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/17321557/tax-forms-history-irs

Don Mancini Teases ‘Chucky’ Movie In Works After Syfy Show’s 2024 Cancellation

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-19)

Nearly two years after the Syfy show was canceled, Don Mancini is ready to bring Chucky back from the grave once again. The creator of the Child’s Play franchise recently announced at Pennsylvania’s Steel City Con that he has a new Chucky movie in the works, which will serve as a continuation of both 2017’s […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/don-mancini-teases-chucky-movie-in-works-1236864963/

The Biggest Thing

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

In his latest blog, Dave says, “If I were running WordPress, my first priority would be to get something exciting out that even non-WordPress users would talk about. Then do it again.” He follows with a good suggestion. I have one too. I’ve told Matt about it, and he was receptive. But it’s not the […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/18/the-biggest-thing/

★ ‘A Reading Room on Wheels, a Lover’s Lane, and, After 11 PM, a Flophouse’

(date: 2026-04-18)

Photos from the New York Subway in the 1940s, by teenage Stanley Kubrick.

https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/kubrick_new_york_subway

What to Read This Weekend

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

I am sending this out a day early as I have a new mystery book I want to finish this weekend, uninterrupted. Priorities, people! Also, I have decided that this weekend’s reading list has to be decidedly less technology. I mean, we get enough of it already. There is a lot of great non-tech writing …

https://om.co/2026/04/18/what-to-read-this-weekend-22/

Trump Can't Even Surrender Right

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

That was the peace that was

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-cant-even-surrender-right

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

“For the first time

a footage released showing the USraeli arracks on Iranian hospitals.

Check second 00:38 when a nurse tries to save as many infants as she can hold in her arms.”

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116426730795206675

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

Headless everything for personal AI.

https://interconnected.org/home/2026/04/18/headless

Seven stable kernels for Saturday

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 6.19.13, 6.18.23, 6.12.82, 6.6.135, 6.1.169, 5.15.203, and 5.10.253 stable kernels. Each contains a number of important fixes throughout the tree; users are advised to upgrade.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068473/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116426362045935155

Podcast – Cobertura especial FICCI 65: Episodio 2

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

La entrada Podcast – Cobertura especial FICCI 65: Episodio 2 se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/podcast-cobertura-especial-ficci-65-episodio-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=podcast-cobertura-especial-ficci-65-episodio-2

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116426293816955762

Wishes for Ron Conway

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-20)

Ron Conway, the longtime Silicon Valley investor and founder of SV Angel, announced on X that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Conway declined to disclose the specific type of cancer, saying he does not want speculation about his prognosis. Ron is optimistic and said that the treatment will run about …

https://om.co/2026/04/18/wishes-for-ron-conway/

Trump's Ridiculous Story About The Iranian Negotiations Crashes And Burns, And The Strait Of Hormuz Is Closed Once Again

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

Our country is on an unsustainable path, and must change course

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/trumps-ridiculous-story-about-the

Compromise Is Dead, and Some Democrats Are Finally Acting Like It

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

An excerpt from my book on why compromise keeps failing, and a look at the Democrats who are starting to move past it.

https://plus.briantylercohen.com/p/compromise-is-dead-and-some-democrats

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

Last week I released a new toolkit that includes docs for your AI programming partner. Ask it to read the docs, and then tell it about the editor you want. It works with WordPress sites via the wpcom API via the wpIdentity server. A new frontier. ;-)

http://scripting.com/2026/04/18.html#a141538

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

Last week I released a new toolkit that includes docs for your AI programming partner. Ask it to read the docs, and then tell it about the editor you want. It works with WordPress sites via the wpIdentity server. Writing docs to be read by AI's is a new frontier. ;-)

https://github.com/scripting/wpEditorDemo/blob/main/docs/ai.md

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

If you are an iPhone 17 user, every March is Xmas!

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/02/iphone-cases-apple-accessories-new-colors/

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116426061959717055

Staturday

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

Kind of a Christo thing Mission TARONI put a silk-wrapped mannequin in space. From The Dorothy Project. It has implications. Today it’s frost The Monroe County Alert System just called me. I didn’t answer, because they call too much. Glad to hear from them when there’s a tornado risk, or when one is coming. Deep […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/18/staturday/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-18:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

3 new and 44 updated places.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/business/energy-environment/starit-hormuz-oil-natural-gas-supplies-prices.html?unlocked_article_code=1.b1A.NvK1.sufqTea_PpYt&smid=url-share

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

07c13f3a - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

b39bdfde - updated gis package

fc8cccda - updated data quality

e7268dfe - updated bibliography

4fa5378b - updated indexes

1aa22eef - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

88216722 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

386df58d - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116426018380346796

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

The people who call themselves Mets fans who are sad when the Mets don't make the playoffs are really Yankees fans.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/18.html#a132001

Pluralistic: Georgia's voting technology blunder (18 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links Georgia's voting technology blunder: It's possible for Dominion machines to suck, but not in the way that Tucker Carlson says they do. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: GWB's illegal iPod; McDonald's breakfast sandwich fanfic; Technofeudal debt; "The Everything Box"; $100m deli. Upcoming appearances: Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Barcelona, Hay-on-Wye, London, NYC. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Georgia's voting technology blunder (permalink) Nearly 25 years ago, in the aftermath of Bush v Gore, I got involved in a bunch of ugly tech policy fights over voting machines. The hanging chad debacle in Florida prompted Congress to appropriate funds for states to purchase new touchscreen voting machines based on a robust, open standard. The problem was, those machines didn't exist. The voting machine industry in those days was already very consolidated (it's far more consolidated today). They went shopping for a standards body that would publish a spec for a "standard" voting machine that could soak up those federal dollars in time for the 2004 election. The only taker was the IEEE, who unwisely offered to serve as host for this impossible rush job. Once the voting machine reps were around a table at IEEE – largely sheltered from antitrust scrutiny thanks to the broad latitude enjoyed by firms engaged in standardization, which is otherwise uncomfortably close to collusion – they admitted what everyone already knew: there was zero chance they were going to develop a new standard in time for the election. Instead, they decided they were going to publish a "descriptive standard." Rather than designing a new standard, they'd write down the specs of their own products – the same products that were considered so defective they needed to be replaced before the election – and call that the standard. That was my first encounter with this issue as an activist. I had just started at EFF and a lot of our supporters were IEEE members, who were appalled to see their professional association being used to launder this incredibly politically salient, technically incoherent scam. We got a ton of IEEE members to write to the board, who shut down the standards committee and kicked the voting machine companies to the curb. The voting machine companies weren't done, though. Diebold – one of the leaders in the cartel – knew that its voting machines were defective. They'd crash, lose their vote-counts and malfunction in other ways that were equally damaging to election integrity. This was an alarming piece of news, but perhaps just as alarming is the way it came to light. A Diebold employee described this situation in a memo that was subsequently hacked and dumped by parties unknown. That memo, along with the accompanying tranche of extremely alarming revelations about Diebold's voting machine division, was the subject of one of the first mass-censorship copyright campaigns in internet history. Diebold didn't dispute the veracity of these damning revelations: rather, it claimed that since the memos detailing its gross democracy-endangering misconduct had been prepared by an employee, that they were therefore works-made-for-hire whose copyright was held by Diebold, and thus anyone who reproduced the memo was infringing on the company's copyright. Under Section 512 of the then-new Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Diebold was empowered to send "takedown notices" to the web hosting providers whose users had posted the memos, and if the web hosts didn't remove the content "expeditiously," they would be jointly liable for any eventual copyright damages, which are statutorily set at $150,000 per infringement. Every web host folded. No one wanted to take the risk of tens of millions of dollars in statutory damages. (Incidentally: anyone who tells you that "online safety" requires us to make online platforms liable for their users' speech needs to explain how this wouldn't empower every crooked company whose dirty laundry had ended up online wouldn't just do what Diebold did. It's not technically insanity to do the same thing over again in expectation of a different outcome, but it is awfully stupid and reckless.) That might have been the end of things, except for the kids at Swarthmore, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. Two students, Nelson Pavlosky and Luke Smith, were outraged by Diebold and they had accounts on Swarthmore's webserver. So they uploaded thousands of copies of the leaked memos, but linked to just one of them from a page about the leak. As soon as that copy was deleted by Swarthmore's webmasters in response to a DMCA takedown from Diebold, the students updated the link to point to another copy. And another. And another. That's where EFF got involved. We repped the Online Policy Group, whose page linking to the Swarthmore resources was taken down by a Diebold notice. We won. The memos became a matter of public record. The Swarthmore kids started a nationwide network called "Students for Free Culture." It was pretty danged cool. That wasn't the end of the Diebold story, though. Diebold was and is a very diversified conglomerate that made a lot of tabulating machines: ATMs, cash-registers, medical monitoring devices…and voting machines. Every one of these machines produced a paper-tape of its tabulations as an audit trail that could be used to reconstruct its calculations if it crashed…except the voting machines. The voting machines that kept crashing, and whose crashes presented a serious risk to the legitimacy of US elections in the wake of the worst electoral crisis in the country's history. Diebold's stated reason for this was that adding a paper tape was haaaard (even though all its other machines had paper audit tapes). Not only was this a very unconvincing excuse, it was downright alarming in light of the promise of Walden O’Dell (Diebold CEO and prominent Bush fundraiser) to help "Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president": https://fairvote.org/diebold-partisanship-and-public-interest-elections/ Now, to be clear, I don't think that O'Dell was going to steal the election for Bush (that's the Supreme Court's job). Rather, he was just a loudmouth asshole CEO who supported the (up to that point) worst president in American history, and who also made garbage products that were not fit for purpose. In the decades since, voting machines have been the subject of lots of scrutiny by the information security community, because they suck. Time after time, the most sphincter-puckering defects in widely used machines have come to light: https://blog.citp.princeton.edu/2006/05/11/report-claims-very-serious-diebold-voting-machine-flaws/ The hits just kept on coming: https://web.archive.org/web/20061007120655/http://openvotingfoundation.org/tiki-index.php?page_ref_id=1 At Defcon, the amazing Matt Blaze has presided over the Voting Village, where it's an annual tradition for hackers to probe voting machines. This exercise has produced a string of terrifying revelations that precisely described how these machines suck: https://www.votingvillage.org/cfp Pretty much everyone I knew thought that voting machines were garbage technology…right up to the moment that the My Pillow guy, Tucker Carlson, and a whole menagerie of conspiratorial Trumpland mutants started peddling a bizarre story about how Hugo Chavez colluded with the Canadian voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems (who bought Diebold's voting machine business when they finally dumped the division) to rig the 2020 election for Joe Biden. They told so many outlandish lies about this that Fox ended up paying Dominion $787.5 million to settle the case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Voting_Systems#Dominion_Voting_Systems_v._Fox_News_Network That's when something very weird happened. A bunch of people who had been skeptical of voting machines since the Brooks Brothers Riot suddenly became history's most ardent defenders of those same garbage voting machines. The cartel of voting machine companies – who had a long track record of using bullshit legal threats to silence their (mostly progressive) critics – were drafted into The Resistance(TM), and anyone who thought voting machines were trash was dismissed as a crazy person who has been totally mypillowpilled: https://web.archive.org/web/20210203113531/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/03/voting-machines-election-steal-conspiracy-flaws/ There's a name for this: it's called "schismogenesis": when one group of people define themselves in opposition to someone else. If the other team does X, then your team has to oppose X, even if you all liked X until a couple minutes ago: https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/18/schizmogenesis/ This schismogenic reversal persists to this very day. Every time Trump promotes another election denier to his cabinet, a federal agency, or a judgeship, the idea that voting machines are garbage becomes more Stop the Steal-coded, even though voting machines are, objectively, garbage. Which is bad. It's bad because we are going into another election season where the stakes are – incredibly – even higher than Bush v Gore, and electoral authorities and state legislatures are making the world's most unforced errors in their voting machine procurement decisions, and if you've conditioned yourself to reflexively dismiss voting machine criticisms as conspiratorial nonsense, then you are part of the problem. Just because some voting machine criticism is conspiratorial nonsense, it doesn't follow that voting machines are good, nor does it follow that every voting machine critic is a swivel-eyed loon or ratfucking Roger Stone protege. Take, for example, Princeton's Andrew Appel, a computer scientist who's been publishing well-informed, well-documented warnings about defects in voting machines for years and years. Appel's latest is an alarming note about Georgia's new plan to "tabulate" ballots using OCR software: https://blog.citp.princeton.edu/2026/04/10/ballot-tabulation-by-uploading-scanned-images-for-ocr-is-quite-insecure/ The Georgia legislature has wisely banned the use of QR codes on the paper ballots generated by touchscreen voting machines. We have, at long last, progressed to the point where we use "ballot marking devices" (BMDs) that produce a paper record that can be hand-counted. The problem is that voters barely ever glance at these paper ballots before dropping them in the box to make sure the choices they made on the touchscreen are correctly reflected on the ballot – only 7% of voters carefully inspect their ballots! This problem is greatly exacerbated if these ballot papers are tabulated by a machine that reads a QR code or barcode, rather than interpreting the human-readable information on the ballot. People are even less likely to pull out their phones and scan the QR code to ensure it matches the words on the paper. That means that a BMD could output different choices in the QR code than it prints in the human-readable part – and the Dominion BMD machines they use in Georgia run outdated software that's super-hackable: https://blog.citp.princeton.edu/2026/02/24/georgia-still-using-tragicomically-insecure-voting-system/ So Georgia's state leg passed Senate Bill 189, which establishes that "The text portion of the paper ballot marked and printed by the electronic ballot marker indicating the elector’s selection shall constitute the official ballot and shall constitute the official vote for purposes of vote tabulation." In other words, you can't count by scanning QR codes, you have to actually interpret the human-readable text on these ballots. These machines still suck, to be clear (the fact that they don't suck for the mypillovian reasons that Tucker Carlson believes doesn't mean they're good) – but thanks to SB189, they are way less dangerous to democracy than they might be. But not if Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger gets his way. Raffensperger is another guy who was drafted into The Resistance(TM) after he refused to commit election fraud for Trump, but he's also not good. He can still be terrible in other ways – and he is. Raffensperger has announced his plan to circumvent the Georgia legislature by using Dominion ICX touchscreens to produce ballots with QR codes, which will then be tabulated in Dominion ICP scanners – but then he's going to "verify" the tabulation by running those same ballots through optical character recognition (OCR) software. As Appel points out, this is the same stupid plan that Raffensperger tried in 2024, where he called the OCR step an "audit" of the QR tabulation. Back then, he grabbed 200dpi "ballot image files" from the Dominion BMDs and ran them through OCR software run by a company called Enhanced Voting. Appel sums up the fundamental incoherence of this approach. First, the BMDs are super-hackable, so we don't trust them to print the same info in the QR code as they print in the human-readable text (which no one looks at anyway). If we don't trust them to print accurate info in the QR code, then why would we trust them to accurately generate that 200dpi QR code that's generated for the audit? As Appel writes, "it would be fairly easy for an unsophisticated attacker to alter ballot-image files–just replace the ballots they don’t like with copies of the ones they do like." Then there's the step where these files are zipped up and transferred to the outside vendor for the audit – a step that Raffensperger has not explained. And even if the files make it to the outside contractor safely, that contractor could "change the inputs (ballot images) or outputs (tabulations)." So this is very bad. Voting machines suck. Raffensperger sucks. And here's the stupidest part: as Appel explains, there is a much more secure way to do this, and it's very cheap: Just use their existing Dominion ICP (polling-place) scanners to count preprinted, hand-marked optical-scan "bubble ballots" that the voter has marked with a pen. This is what other states are doing. As Appel writes, "This doesn’t even require a software upgrade of any kind. Although it would be a fine idea to install a software upgrade that addresses known security vulnerabilities in the ICX and ICP, the ICP can count hand-marked ballots with or without the upgrade." This is a purely unforced error, in other words. As such, it's part of a series of shitty vote-tech choices that politicians and officials have been making since Bush v Gore. Truly, we live in the stupidest timeline. Hey look at this (permalink) Announcing EFF's Public Resource Fellowship https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/announcing-effs-public-resource-fellowship Wrench – Side Table A by Iyo Hasegawa https://adorno.design/pieces/wrench-side-table-a/ BOOM: Ticketmaster GUILTY of Monopolization https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-ticketmaster-guilty-of-monopolization I Was an Enthusiastic Early Adopter of AI Scribes. Here’s Why I Stopped https://benngooch.substack.com/p/i-was-an-enthusiastic-early-adopter Mayhem’s Legacy: Why MetaBrainz Matters More Than Ever, and Why We’re Looking for Someone to Lead It https://compassmapandkey.com/2026/04/18/mayhems-legacy-why-metabrainz-matters-more-than-ever-and-why-were-looking-for-someone-to-lead-it/ Object permanence (permalink) #20yrsago GW Bush’s iPod contains “illegal” (according to RIAA) music https://memex.craphound.com/2006/04/16/gw-bushs-ipod-contains-illegal-according-to-riaa-music/ #20yrsago Fan fiction community for McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches https://web.archive.org/web/20120112221730/https://mcgriddlefanfic.livejournal.com/profile/ #10yrsago High tech/high debt: the feudal future of technology makes us all into lesser lessors https://web.archive.org/web/20160415150308/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/04/rental-company-control/478365/ #10yrsago Three pieces of statistical “bullshit” about the UK EU referendum https://timharford.com/2016/04/three-pieces-of-brexit-bullshit/ #10yrsago Southwest Air kicks Muslim woman off plane for switching seats https://web.archive.org/web/20160416041342/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/muslim-woman-kicked-off-plane-as-flight-attendant-said-she-did-not-feel-comfortable-with-the-a6986661.html #10yrsago China’s Internet censors order ban on video of toddler threatening brutal cops https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2016/04/minitrue-4/ #10yrsago Tiny South Pacific island to lose free/universal Internet lifeline https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/299017/niue-to-get-better-internet-service-at-a-cost #10yrsago The Everything Box: demonological comedy from Richard “Sandman Slim” Kadrey https://memex.craphound.com/2016/04/16/the-everything-box-demonological-comedy-from-richard-sandman-slim-kadrey/ #5yrsago People's Choice Communications https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/16/where-it-hurts/#charter-hires-scabs #5yrsago "Anti-voter-suppression" companies are lobbying to kill HR1 https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/16/where-it-hurts/#tissue-thin #5yrsago $100m deli made $35k in 2019/20 https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/16/where-it-hurts/#hometown #5yrsago Mass-action lawsuit against Facebook https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/16/where-it-hurts/#sue-facebook #1yrago Trump fought the law and Trump won https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/16/weaponized-admin-incompetence/#kill-all-the-lawyers Upcoming appearances (permalink) Los Angeles: LA Times Festival of Books, Apr 19 https://www.latimes.com/events/festival-of-books San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Barcelona: Internet no tiene que ser un vertedero (Global Digital Rights Forum), May 13 https://encuentroderechosdigitales.com/en/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI (The Strand), Jun 24 https://www.strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html Recent appearances (permalink) When Do Platforms Stop Innovating and Start Extracting? (InnovEU) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cccDR0YaMt8 Pete "Mayor" Buttigieg (No Gods No Mayors) https://www.patreon.com/posts/pete-mayor-with-155614612 The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/18/dominion-sucks-actually/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

How WordCamp Europe Finds Its Voices.

https://europe.wordcamp.org/2026/how-wordcamp-europe-finds-its-voices/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-20)

Reopening Strait of Hormuz Would Ease Oil Crisis but Only So Much.

Investigator And Tinariwen

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today, enjoy our audio and video picks

https://thebrowser.com/free/investigator-and-tinariwen/

That Jungian Thing

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

In Full Metal Jacket, there’s a scene that quietly explains the entire movie.

https://dbarkhuff.substack.com/p/that-jungian-thing

Kim Lane Scheppele on Hungary

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

Democracy wins big

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/kim-lane-scheppele-on-hungary

Lit Hub Weekly: April 13 – 17, 2026

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-17)

Rosa Campbell on how men responded to The Hite Report (and why we’re wrong about men and feminism). | Lit Hub Politics “For farmers, it costs real dollars—and not just rivers of sweat and tears—to care for what they love:

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-weekly-april-13-17-2026/

High oil prices, explained by an expert

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

"It’s hard to know what level would make Americans start to really restrict their consumption."

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/patrick-de-haan-interview-gas-prices

‘The Rachel Incident’ Writer & Producers Talk Process Of Adapting The Bestselling Novel For TV — Storyhouse

(date: 2026-04-18)

Writer Caroline O’Donoghue and producers Matt Jordan Smith and Chelsea Morgan Hoffman took a break from filming upcoming series The Rachel Incident to lift the lid on how the project came together and the challenges of adapting a book for the small screen. Speaking at Dublin’s Storyhouse screenwriting festival in a panel moderated by Morgan Hoffman, O’Donoghue […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-rachel-incident-element-pictures-storyhouse-festival-1236864909/

Sands Film Festival Opens Milestone Fifth Edition With John Carney’s Musical Comedy ‘Power Ballad’

(date: 2026-04-18)

The Sands International Film Festival opened Friday evening, marking a new milestone for the Scottish event: its fifth year in operations. “What nobody tells you at the start of new things is just how fragile beginnings can be,” Festival Director Ania Trzebiatowska said in her opening speech on Friday. “Half of new ventures don’t make […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sands-film-festival-with-john-carney-power-ballad-opening-1236864905/

The Good Pope vs. The Shitty President | The Saturday Coffee Klatch for April 18, 2026

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

With Heather Lofthouse, Michael Lahanas-Calderón, and yours truly, Robert Reich

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-good-pope-versus-the-bad-president

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-20)

A glimpse into the open source process in the WordPress community.

https://www.therepository.email/matt-mullenweg-overrules-core-committers-to-put-akismet-on-wordpress-7-0s-connectors-screen

April 17, 2026

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

This morning, after a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect Thursday, Iran announced the Strait of Hormuz was open to commercial ships.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-17-2026

An AI Haters Guide to Code with LLMs (Philosophy & Personal Politics)

(date: 2026-04-18)

This is going to be a little bit oblique because I view the world somewhat differently than many people: I take an ecological view of the

https://aredridel.dinhe.net/2026/04/18/an-ai-haters-guide-to-code-with-llms-philosophy/

‘Outlander’ Says Goodbye To Longtime Character In Season 8

(date: 2026-04-18)

The following reveals major spoilers from tonight’s episode of Outlander titled “Evidence of Things Not Seen.” It’s the final season of the hit Starz series Outlander, and sadly, a special life ended in tonight’s episode. When a fire roared in the house of Fergus Fraser (César Domboy), the adopted French son of Claire and Jamie […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/outlander-fergus-death-season-8-1236864883/

Weeknotes: April 4-10 and 11-17, 2026

(date: 2026-04-18, updated: 2026-04-22)

Double issue! Originally planned to post an abbreviated weeknotes before I left for SoCal but was too busy Highlight of the week: listening to music on my Bluetooth speaker while watching the scenery go by on the train Looking forward to: getting better 🤧 first time being sick (with a virus anyway) in six years! (I suspect […]

https://tracydurnell.com/2026/04/17/weeknotes-april-4-17-2026/

Reese Witherspoon Declares “It’s Time” For Women To Embrace AI: “Want To Learn With Me?”

(date: 2026-04-18)

With the AI discourse spreading in Hollywood, Reese Witherspoon seems intent on making a seat for women at the table. The Oscar winner and Hello Sunshine co-founder recently explained why she’s taken it upon herself to “learn as much as I possibly can about AI,” claiming that women’s jobs are three times as likely to […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/reese-witherspoon-its-time-women-embrace-ai-1236864860/

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 18 Crowns Winner On MTV

(date: 2026-04-18)

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details of the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18. A new queen was crowned during the season finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18 on MTV. The three finalists competing for the crown and the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar were Darlene Mitchell, Myki Meeks, and Nino Coco. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/rupauls-drag-race-season-18-winner-mtv-1236864858/

‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Still The Star With $30M, ‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Walks To $13M – Box Office Update

(date: 2026-04-18)

FRIDAY PM: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie still has the star power at No. 1 with $30M third weekend, -56%, after a $7.1M Friday, heading toward a $350.2M domestic take by Sunday. While this movie along with Project Hail Mary ($19.4M fifth weekend, -20%, cume $284M) have been the anchors of spring much like Sinners […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/box-office-lee-cronins-the-mummy-super-mario-galaxy-movie-1236864337/

David Harbour Joins ‘John Rambo’ Cast As Noah Centineo’s Mentor, Major Trautman

(date: 2026-04-18)

David Harbour is the latest actor reporting for duty on Lionsgate’s upcoming Rambo prequel movie. The Golden Globe nominee has joined the cast of John Rambo, starring in the Jalmari Helander-helmed origin story as Major Trautman, commanding officer of the titular soldier played by Noah Centineo. From a screenplay by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvan, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/david-harbour-john-rambo-cast-major-trautman-1236864738/

Nexstar Decries $6.2B Tegna Deal Being Blocked By Judge, Vows Appeal

(date: 2026-04-18)

Thwarted on Friday in what looked to be a Donald Trump-approved $6.2 billion local station mega-deal to merge with Tegna, Nexstar is vowing to march forward in the courts. At the same time, New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the leading advocates to stop the Nexstar-Tegna combo, is promising to continue to work […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/nexstar-responds-tegna-merger-blocked-1236864817/

Pedro Pascal On Why He Looked Like “Deer In The Headlights” During Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime

(date: 2026-04-18)

As Bad Bunny delivered his historic halftime performance at Super Bowl LX in February, Pedro Pascal was not prepared to be so involved with the celebration. After he appeared dancing with a star-studded group of partiers in ‘La Casita’ during the show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the Golden Globe nominee admitted he […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/pedro-pascal-deer-headlights-bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-1236864828/

Elle Fanning Is “Really Proud” Of How Nudity Is Used In ‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’: “Never The Focal Point”

(date: 2026-04-18)

As Elle Fanning brought Rufi Thorpe’s novel to life with David E. Kelley’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles on Apple TV+, the actress had lengthy conversations about how to depict nudity in the series adaptation. The Oscar nominee explained that she’s “not very modest” when it comes to onscreen nudity, and she’s particularly “really proud” of […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/elle-fanning-proud-nudity-margos-got-money-troubles-1236864814/

Nexstar-Tegna Merger Frozen By Judge As Antitrust Battle Continues; CA AG Says “This Merger Is Illegal, Plain & Simple”

(date: 2026-04-18)

(Updated with Nexstar statement) A federal judge just put a halt to Nexstar’s proposed $6.2 billion merger with Tegna, putting in doubt the combination of the companies to create a broadcast station giant – at least for now. With just a few hours to go on the current TRO, U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley on […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/nexstar-tegna-merger-blocked-2-1236784770/

Everything We Know About ‘One Piece’ Season 3 So Far

(date: 2026-04-18)

New adventures lie in wait for the cast and characters of Netflix’s live-action One Piece television series. Season 3 of the show, based on the Eiichiro Oda’s popular manga series, received its official title: One Piece: The Battle of Alabasta April 7. The third season renewal came from Netflix in August 2025, far out from […]

https://deadline.com/feature/one-piece-season-3-news-updates-everything-we-know-1236864762/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-17:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

1 new and 17 updated places.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2026/04/15/exercise-timing-blood-sugar/?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=engagement&utm_medium=engret&utm_content=041726

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

1b52b0c3 - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

bd4a5b0f - updated gis package

a671b483 - updated data quality

30703a07 - updated bibliography

c3475f27 - updated indexes

02901886 - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

c77f8262 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

44183139 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116422704461916683

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

Results of the 3rd Xogot Game Jam announced: https://blog.xogot.com/announcing-the-winners-of-xogot-jam-3/

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116422492052569083

You come at the Pope, you best not miss

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump's attacks on the Papacy and his blasphemous AI "art" are doing him few favors.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/you-come-at-the-pope-you-best-not

An afternoon exploring Balboa Park gardens (photos)

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

My family had their dogs with them, so we stuck with the free gardens at Balboa Park and happily spent 3+ hours wandering. Between the gardens, the zoo, and the museums, you could probably do an entire San Diego vacation just at Balboa Park. The Desert Garden was awesome — nice plantings and a neat […]

https://tracydurnell.com/2026/04/17/balboa-park-gardens/

Corporate Cults? How Big Oil Silences Climate Change Activists

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Watch now | A recording from Dr. Steven Hassan's live video

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/corporate-cults-how-big-oil-silences

Friday Squid Blogging: New Giant Squid Video

(date: 2026-04-17)

Pretty fantastic video from Japan of a giant squid eating another squid.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Blog moderation policy.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/friday-squid-blogging-new-giant-squid-video-2.html

PureOS Crimson Development Report: March 2026

(date: 2026-04-17)

Following the PureOS Crimson beta release in our last post, we are eagerly looking forward to the general release. We received a lot of constructive feedback about the beta, and with only a few blockers left, we are taking the opportunity to make this the best PureOS release yet.

The post PureOS Crimson Development Report: March 2026 appeared first on Purism.

https://puri.sm/posts/pureos-crimson-development-report-march-2026/

La clé du véritable assistant IA: l’infrastructure IA personnelle (PAI) [en]

(date: 2026-04-17)

[en] Même si je ne suis pas en train de vibe-coder à tour de bras, j’ai bien sauté dans le train côté IA. Depuis deux ans environ, je dis que ce que je ressens concernant l’importance et le potentiel de l’IA générative est quelque chose que je n’ai pas senti depuis ma découverte d’internet il … Continue reading "La clé du véritable assistant IA: l’infrastructure IA personnelle (PAI) [en]"

https://climbtothestars.org/archives/2026/04/17/la-cle-du-veritable-assistant-ia-linfrastructure-ia-personnelle-pai/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-20)

“There’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that exercise later in the day may offer additional health benefits.”

Trump Attacks the Pope. A New Ceasefire. Two Congressmen Resign.

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump Goes After The Pope

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/april-17-weekly-news-roundup

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

If I were running WordPress, my first priority would be to get something exciting out that even non-WordPress users would talk about. Then do it again. Ideally it would be something that reporters would like, that they could see themselves using. As you know, my Big Idea is give people choice of editors, for writers. But I just thought of a technical thing they could do and might make no sense, but how about running Claude skills. So anything a Claude app can do a WordPress plugin can do. I just built my first skill, and they can be Node.js apps. That's a pretty broad range of features you can support inside WordPress. Also ask users to tell you what would turn them on. Couldn't hurt, sometimes they have ideas that you as a developer never would think of. I made a few million dollars from an idea a user gave me once. Not kidding.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/17.html#a191852

Codex for Almost Everything

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

OpenAI (Hacker News): Codex can now operate your computer alongside you, work with more of the tools and apps you use everyday, generate images, remember your preferences, learn from previous actions, and take on ongoing and repeatable work. The Codex app also now includes deeper support for developer workflows, like reviewing PRs, viewing multiple files […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/17/codex-for-almost-everything/

Perplexity Personal Computer

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Perplexity: Personal Computer brings the multi-model orchestration of Computer to your machine. It can work across your local files, native applications, connectors, and the web to complete complex and even continuous workflows. Personal Computer makes Perplexity Computer a more personal orchestrator, elegantly hybridizing the local and server environments for maximum security and productivity. Juli Clover: […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/17/perplexity-personal-computer/

Xcode 26.4.1

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Apple (xip, downloads): Fixed crash for MetricKit apps built with Xcode 26.4 due to missing symbols when running on iOS, macOS, and visionOS versions below 26.4. […] Fixed stack-allocation bugs in async functions that caused “freed pointer was not the last allocation” crashes, particularly in swift_asyncLet_finish. These long-standing issues became more frequent in Swift 6.2 […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/17/xcode-26-4-1/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-20)

You Should Be Using Reddit on Your RSS Reader.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/rss-reader-on-reddit?utm_medium=RSS

Trip log: Coast Starlight train from Seattle to Los Angeles

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

We weren’t sure what to expect, never having ridden Amtrak before, but greatly enjoyed the train ride down from Seattle to LA. I was glued to the window for basically the entire trip — I didn’t even open my novel! 😲 If you’re expecting Yosemite-caliber views the whole trip you’ll be disappointed — there aren’t […]

https://tracydurnell.com/2026/04/17/trip-log-coast-starlight-train-seattle-los-angeles/

Here’s what’s making us happy this week.

(date: 2026-04-17)

The name of the game this week is games and growth. We at Lit Hub are splitting the biscuit between new beginnings and alternate histories. We’re getting out, and looking back. Jonny Diamond is welcoming spring Mary Lennox-style—i.e., with the holiness transition deserves.

https://lithub.com/heres-whats-making-us-happy-this-week-9/

This week’s news in Venn diagrams.

(date: 2026-04-17)

I’ve been one of the folks running out Best Literary Film Adaptation bracket this week—have you voted yet?—and so I’ve missed a few of this week’s stories. Let’s catch up together with some Venns. This is a sidebar, but there’s

https://lithub.com/this-weeks-news-in-venn-diagrams-apr-17/

Background checks to curb dating app violence advance in California legislature

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Bill addresses an issue investigated by The Markup last year.

https://themarkup.org/news/2026/04/17/dating-apps-would-bestow-scarlet-letter-under-safety-bill-advancing-in-the-california-legislature

Today I shipped 20 apps and a screensaver

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-20)

Shipping software is hard. My secret to doing it successfully is a combination of careful scoping, with strict avoidance of feature creep. But even then, it’s still insanely difficult to ship something.

Shipping multiple pieces of software one after the other in quick succession would be an even more gruelling task. Nobody in their right mind would choose to do such a thing… right?

Right?

I must have missed the memo because I’m shipping 20 apps and a screensaver… today!

14 × macOS apps (Mac App Store)
3 × macOS apps (TestFlight)
2 × iOS apps (App Store)
1 × macOS app (GitHub download)
1 × macOS screensaver (Web download)

Get them at gingerbeardman.com/apps/

Twenty!?

Yup. So I think it’s a bit of a myth that software takes huge teams to make. Some of the most successful software of all time was created by individuals: MacPaint, HyperCard, Minecraft, RollerCoaster Tycoon, BitTorrent, Stardew Valley, WinAmp, Flappy Bird, Vim, the World Wide Web, HTML, URLs, and HTTP (those last four by the same person, Tim Berners-Lee). Or perhaps it was made by power duos: Photoshop, Doom, Quake, Google, WhatsApp, Figma, Sensible Soccer. It’s still quite common today, especially in the indie scene, but perhaps it’s not talked about as much?

I started making software in 1990 on the Atari ST, moved to Windows and the web in 1995, then to Macintosh in 2000, and iPhone in 2007. My apps and games have been featured in publications around the world, been downloaded millions of times, and one of my games—which happens to be only 39 KB—received a “best game of the year” accolade alongside Mario and Zelda. The only time I wasn’t actively making and releasing software was during my time working for Apple as a Technology Evangelist, because they don’t allow it.

So I had a bunch of apps that I’d built for myself over the years, and friends kept encouraging me to release them. Making an app for yourself is one thing, but shipping an app to the public is much more difficult. If I was to release one app every month it would take me almost two years to release them all! Doing the App Store Dance to that kind of beat is my idea of hell. So I decided to do it “once” for all my apps. It still took a couple of months to get them ready, and a further month to get them all approved. I do not advise anybody else do this, because it was painful. But I did it, and here we are!

WTH!?

To ship this many apps at once I had to optimise my workflow to an unprecedented level: Xcode projects set up as similarly as possible to reduce cognitive load, shell scripts to automate common build and test tasks, a script to generate changelogs ready for submission, another to automate incremental website builds based on changed files, and one more to generate screenshots of my screenshots, followed by asc to automate uploading data to App Store Connect.

Code hygiene got the same treatment. I ran Periphery across every project to find and remove dead/unused code, which shrinks the binary. Then jscpd to spot copy-paste duplication or similar code sections and refactor them into shared helpers, which can sometimes increases binary size slightly, but it’s a price worth paying for maintainability across so many codebases. There are several Xcode/compiler optimisations that can help strip unused data from the final binary, if you’re careful. I also “cheat” by adding only the largest icon size to macOS apps to avoid over 100 KB of additional icon size variations.

For the website I created a static site generator that uses a simple templating system to generate a static site for 20 apps, the whole thing is spat out in only 36ms. Each app has its own markdown content file with YAML front matter, markdown description for the press kit, privacy policy, RSS feed XML (managed by my app Feedit), maybe some FAQs, an SVG icon, and a bunch of screenshots in both light and dark mode. The press kit is zipped up on a full build and the static site is uploaded to my server over WebDAV. I even managed to hide a fun little mini game in there! The time and effort spent on this system over the last couple of months was roughly equivalent to building another app. But it was worth it.

Most of my apps cost a small amount up front. That’s a way to show your appreciation for the time I spent making them. It also means I never need to use ads, tracking, or subscriptions to make it worth me doing this. After all making software is my job, not a hobby. All apps are actively maintained—if an app hasn’t been updated in a while, it means it has reached a stable state, rather than it being abandoned. Supporting older versions of macOS comes for free when you’re not tied to dependencies that have their own requirements and release schedule.

Pricing is kept dead simple: $5, $10, or $15. Three tiers, no tricks, no “Pro” upsells, no subscriptions. Small utilities are $5, mid-size apps are $10, and the most capable or niche apps are $15. A couple are free, and there are some bundles to save money.

Fits On A Floppy

Many of these apps are small enough to fit on a 1.44 MB floppy disk. Not as a gimmick but as a discipline. I use only native frameworks, avoid dependency bloat, and keep features focused. Writing small software is harder than writing big software because every line of code has to earn its place. But the result is apps that download in a blink, launch instantly, and respect your system resources. I don’t miss floppy disks, but I miss the mindset they demanded: that every byte matters, that constraints breed creativity, and that software should be light on its footprint.

Read the full manifesto at fitsonafloppy.com and spread the word! ✨💾✨

The App List

These apps were all built to fill personal needs, but friends have encouraged me to release them for others to use. This is the bit where I was set to claim oldest app was about 8 years old, while the newest apps was about 8 days old. But sadly App Store Review got in the way, by rejecting my oldest app that I’ve had installed on my own phone since 2019 for being “too derivative” (I’ll revisit that and launch it another time), and they took longer to review the newest app than it did for me to develop it. Other fun rejections along the way: inappropriate use of the word “Safari” in an app for managing Safari browser tabs and bookmarks, and use of web server entitlements in a web server app. But you get the idea: these apps have taken a while to arrive.

Anyway, here they are, have fun with them:

Barfly macOS

Analytics for your itch.io games, right in the menu bar. Track views, downloads, and purchases with delta tracking across configurable time periods from one hour to one week. Refresh on a schedule and keep historic data.

Brutify macOSTestFlight

Lossless image optimisation using 14 engines running in parallel. Drop in images or folders and get perfectly optimised JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP assets without any quality loss. Fast, Slow, or Lossy modes to suit any workflow. A modern ImageOptim.

Ditto macOS

Translate text without switching apps. Copy text twice with CMD+C and your clipboard is translated using Apple Translate or DeepL. Includes a floating window for real-time translation as you type. A DeepL alternative.

Dottie macOSTestFlight

A native Mac pixel art editor built from scratch. Drawing tools, layers with onion skinning, frame-based animation, custom palettes with Lospec import, and export to PNG, GIF, SVG, and sprite sheets. A native macOS alternative to Aseprite, Piskel, Pixen, etc.

Driveaway macOS

Removes macOS metadata junk from external drives before you eject them. No more .DS_Store files, Spotlight indexes, and AppleDouble resource forks cluttering up your USB drives and SD cards.

EQer macOS

A system-wide 10-band equaliser that processes every app on your Mac in real time. Pick a preset, drag the curve, or paste your Audiogram and let it calculate the right listening curve for your hearing. Includes per-app control and dynamic range compression.

Feedit macOS

An editor for creating, managing, and publishing RSS 2.0 feeds. Import existing feeds, edit every field, validate against the spec, and publish to a local folder or WebDAV server. Drafts, iCloud sync, and Find & Replace built in. An alternative to Feeder.

Hubble macOS

Interactive USB topology viewer for macOS. See your complete device tree as a zoomable canvas with speed-coded cables, throttle warnings, power diagnostics, and hot-plug animations—all updating in real time.

Last Dance macOSdownload

Solves a persistent macOS bug where SMB file sharing becomes unresponsive after restart. It automatically disables file sharing before shutdown and re-enables it at login. No worries.

Localmost macOS

Spin up a local HTTP server by dragging a folder onto your menu bar. Multiple servers, automatic port assignment, access logs, and directory listings—all managed from a clean native interface.

Mojibaker iOSfree

Create profile pictures with your choice of colours, gradients, images, then overlay emoji, genomji, memoji or stickers. Type a mood to get colour suggestions, compose your design, save presets, and export at high resolution.

Octoping macOS

GitHub notifications in your Mac menu bar. See what needs attention, grouped by repository with colour-coded icons matching github.com. Mark items as read or open them in your browser.

PaperTrail iOS

Full TaskPaper editing on iOS. Projects, tasks, notes, and tags with a powerful search query language, collapsible projects, widgets, and more. Syncs via iCloud and works with TaskPaper on Mac.

Seeports macOS

Shows every TCP port listening on your Mac from the menu bar. Ports are automatically grouped by service—Docker, OrbStack, Kubernetes, and more. Copy a localhost URL, open in browser, search for info on unknown ports, or terminate a rogue process.

Spindle macOSTestFlight

Raw device access for byte-accurate CD and DVD extraction, with support for hybrid ISO 9660/HFS discs and triple hashing for verification. Rip from multiple drives simultaneously.

Stapler macOSfree

Bundle related files into logical projects without moving anything. Opening a single .stapled document opens your artwork, code, todo list, and your reference docs—all at once.

Tabulator macOS

A bird’s-eye view of every Safari tab across local windows, tab groups, cloud tabs, and bookmarks. Search, sort, tag, export, and manage tabs from one place. Includes a vertical tabs mode, Safari extension to show open tab count, and automatic daily backup with easy restore.

Tsundoku macOS

Quick access bookmarking for self-hosted services. A global hotkey captures the URL and title from your browser, suggests tags, and posts to Linkding, Raindrop, Shaarli, LinkAce, Karakeep, or Wallabag.

Vanishing Point macOS

Perspective correction for photos and images. Four correction tools with Apple Vision auto-detection, 256+ aspect ratio presets, background removal via Vision framework, colour sampling, plus image adjustments. Export as PNG, JPG, or TIFF. QuickLook and Finder Thumbnails are supported.

Wavelet macOS

Sound effect generator powered by synthesis, based on classic sfxr. One-click presets for laser zaps, coin pickups, explosions, and more. Layer multiple sounds with the built-in mixer and export as WAV, or as code in Lua, or Swift.

“Fits on a Floppy” Screensaver macOSdownloadfree

And finally, technically, the 21st release: a macOS screen saver inspired by After Dark and its classic Flying Toasters. It features flying disks that do barrel rolls and spins as they drift across your screen. Thanks to my friend Jason Morley for the idea, which I built while waiting for App Store Review to finish processing the rest. To make this easier, I upgraded the old test harness I built for my Today screensaver back in 2009.

https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2026/04/17/today-i-shipped-twenty-apps-and-a-screensaver/

Is AI Replacing Bloggers?

(date: 2026-04-17)

Introduction I started MS Word to create today’s blog posting. When you create a new blank document in Microsoft Word, above the blank document is a dialog that says: “Describe what you’d like to draft with Copilot.” I had a vague idea of what I was going to blog on, so I entered the following […]

https://smist08.wordpress.com/2026/04/17/is-ai-replacing-bloggers/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-20)

The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine.

https://www.wired.com/story/madison-square-garden-jim-dolan-surveillance-machine/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-20)

Introducing Claude Design by Anthropic Labs.

https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-design-anthropic-labs

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-20)

Bluesky confirms DDoS attack is cause of continued app outages.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/17/its-not-just-you-bluesky-is-sorta-down/

Niceday

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Which it is, here in Southern Indiana. Was yesterday too. Spring! Getting strait A visual of marine traffic piling up on the two sides of the Strait of Hormuz. Also this story on transponder spoofing in Wired. Transponders are how one can see what ships are where, their routes, and other important facts for cooperative […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/17/niceday/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-18)

Danny Sullivan in 1996: The Webmaster's Guide to Search Engines and Directories.

https://dannysullivan.com/webmasters/

[$] A more efficient implementation of Shor's algorithm

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

Shor's algorithm is the main practical example of an algorithm that runs more quickly on a quantum computer than a classical computer — at least in theory. Shor's algorithm allows large numbers to be factored into their component prime factors quickly. In reality, existing quantum computers do not have nearly enough memory to factor interesting numbers using Shor's algorithm, despite decades of research.A new paper provides a major step in that direction, however. While still impractical on today's quantum computers, the recent discovery cuts the amount of memory needed to attack 256-bit elliptic-curve cryptography by a factor of 20. More interesting, however, is that the researchers chose to publish a zero-knowledge proof demonstrating that they know a quantum circuit that shows these improvements, rather than publishing the actual knowledge of how to do it.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066156/

OpenAI Proposes A ‘Social Contract’ For The Intelligence Age

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post OpenAI Proposes A ‘Social Contract’ For The Intelligence Age appeared first on NOEMA.

https://www.noemamag.com/openai-proposes-a-social-contract-for-the-intelligence-age

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-18)

Seeing the Hormuz Breakthrough in Its Full Light.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/seeing-the-hormuz-breakthrough-in-its-full-light

@IIIF Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-17)

A few weeks left to register for the 2026 #IIIF Annual Conference, BUT time is still of the essence!

🔹 Last day to purchase a conference t-shirt is May 1.

🔹 ONE spot let for the guided tour of the Maurithuis

🔹 Workshops are down to single-digit registration slots

https://conference2026.iiif.io/

https://glammr.us/@IIIF/116420679409277604

Data And Hardbacks

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/data-and-hardbacks/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Scott Hanson who works with me on all my projects is doing his WordPress development using Codex. Here's a plug-in they wrote. Loving this. So we're all turning this corner. There are so many things I want to do, but keep hitting bumps. I recover and come back, so far. I go slowly. The bot wants to run at a breakneck pace, which I know from tons of experience gets you a worthless result. One of the byproducts of my current project is a /opml skill that reads and writes .opml files in a way that's compatible with all the apps that use OPML. Pretty sure of that since I published the first OPML file in 2000 or so. Not sure how I'm going to release the skill, but I want everyone to have it.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/17.html#a143954

Fending Off Federal Attacks on Wind Energy

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-13)

Though Trump may be intent on killing wind energy, the fact is that it already accounts for a significant share of the nation’s electricity. In 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, wind energy made up 10.2% of utility-scale electricity generation. Before the Trump administration attacks, wind energy also supported approximately 131,000 U.S. jobs.

The post Fending Off Federal Attacks on Wind Energy appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.

https://www.clf.org/blog/fending-off-federal-attacks-on-wind-energy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fending-off-federal-attacks-on-wind-energy

The Resistance of a Cow

(date: 2026-04-17)

There’s something rotten in the cows of Denmark. And Minnesota. And Wisconsin. And Idaho. What could cause a previously thriving herd of majestic dairy cattle to stop drinking water and start drinking … urine? A Danish farmer calls a special investigator, who takes one look at his farm and nopes the heck out of there, refusing to return, citing “bad energy” coming from something nearby … a big building covered in Viking runes.

It’s not magic. It’s an invisible force that’s far more common. And yet deeply mysterious.

This episode plunges producers Matt Kielty and Simon Adler knee-deep in a decades-old dairy farm controversy, rooted in a fundamental suspicion of the invisible streams of electrons that keep our world humming.

Special thanks to Dr. Liz Brock

EPISODE CREDITS:

Reported by - Matt Kielty and Simon Adler

with help from - Clara Grunnet and Rebecca Rand

Produced by - Matt Kielty

with help from - Maria Paz Gutierrez

Original music from - Jeremy Bloom and Matt Kielty

Sound design contributed by - Jeremy Bloom

Mixed by - Jeremy Bloom

Fact-checking by - Angely Mercado and Sophie Samiee

and Edited by - Pat Walters

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Books -

The Great Energy Transition: America from 1876 to 1929 ( https://zpr.io/3PStsDgidpj5), by David Nye
Powering American Farms: The Overlooked Origins of Rural Electrification ( https://zpr.io/GdQ4pMCy4DAV), by Richard Hirsch
Beyond the Barn – Dodging Cow Patties for 50 Years by a Country Vet ( https://zpr.io/S8qS9HLEQBJe), by Don Sanders a memoir about his long career.

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https://radiolab.org/podcast/the-resistance-of-a-cow

Is MAGA Dying?

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Thanks to the hundreds of you who made calls for Vote Yes for Virginia last night!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/is-maga-dying

‘Emilia Perez’ Actress Adriana Paz Signs With 42

(date: 2026-04-17)

EXCLUSIVE: Mexican actress Adriana Paz, co-star of Cannes and Oscar winner Emilia Pérez, has signed with UK and U.S.-based management and production company 42. A three-time winner of Mexico’s Ariel Awards — including Best Actress for La Tirisia and Best Supporting Actress for Hilda and La Caridad, Paz also earned a Goya Award nomination in Spain for […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/adriana-paz-mexican-actress-emilia-perez-signs-42-1236864183/

[$] The 7.0 scheduler regression that wasn't

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

One of the more significant changes in the 7.0 kernel release is to use the lazy-preemption mode by default in the CPU scheduler. The scheduler developers have wanted to reduce the number of preemption modes for years, and lazy preemption looks like a step toward that goal. But then there came this report from Salvatore Dipietro that lazy preemption caused a 50% performance regression on a PostgreSQL benchmark. Investigation showed that the situation is not actually so grave, but the episode highlights just how sensitive some workloads can be to configuration changes; there may be surprises in store for other users as well.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067029/

Security updates for Friday

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (.NET 8.0, .NET 9.0, freerdp, libarchive, and thunderbird), Debian (chromium, openssh, and thunderbird), Fedora (aurorae, bluedevil, breeze-gtk, buildah, cockpit, extra-cmake-modules, flatpak-kcm, grub2-breeze-theme, kactivitymanagerd, kcm_wacomtablet, kde-cli-tools, kde-gtk-config, kdecoration, kdeplasma-addons, kf6, kf6-attica, kf6-baloo, kf6-bluez-qt, kf6-breeze-icons, kf6-frameworkintegration, kf6-kapidox, kf6-karchive, kf6-kauth, kf6-kbookmarks, kf6-kcalendarcore, kf6-kcmutils, kf6-kcodecs, kf6-kcolorscheme, kf6-kcompletion, kf6-kconfig, kf6-kconfigwidgets, kf6-kcontacts, kf6-kcoreaddons, kf6-kcrash, kf6-kdav, kf6-kdbusaddons, kf6-kdeclarative, kf6-kded, kf6-kdesu, kf6-kdnssd, kf6-kdoctools, kf6-kfilemetadata, kf6-kglobalaccel, kf6-kguiaddons, kf6-kholidays, kf6-ki18n, kf6-kiconthemes, kf6-kidletime, kf6-kimageformats, kf6-kio, kf6-kirigami, kf6-kitemmodels, kf6-kitemviews, kf6-kjobwidgets, kf6-knewstuff, kf6-knotifications, kf6-knotifyconfig, kf6-kpackage, kf6-kparts, kf6-kpeople, kf6-kplotting, kf6-kpty, kf6-kquickcharts, kf6-krunner, kf6-kservice, kf6-kstatusnotifieritem, kf6-ksvg, kf6-ktexteditor, kf6-ktexttemplate, kf6-ktextwidgets, kf6-kunitconversion, kf6-kuserfeedback, kf6-kwallet, kf6-kwidgetsaddons, kf6-kwindowsystem, kf6-kxmlgui, kf6-modemmanager-qt, kf6-networkmanager-qt, kf6-prison, kf6-purpose, kf6-qqc2-desktop-style, kf6-solid, kf6-sonnet, kf6-syndication, kf6-syntax-highlighting, kf6-threadweaver, kgamma, kglobalacceld, kinfocenter, kmenuedit, knighttime, kpipewire, krdp, kscreen, kscreenlocker, ksshaskpass, ksystemstats, kwayland, kwayland-integration, kwin, kwin-x11, kwrited, layer-shell-qt, libexif, libkscreen, libksysguard, libplasma, nix, ocean-sound-theme, oxygen-sounds, pam-kwallet, plasma-activities, plasma-activities-stats, plasma-breeze, plasma-browser-integration, plasma-desktop, plasma-dialer, plasma-discover, plasma-disks, plasma-drkonqi, plasma-firewall, plasma-integration, plasma-keyboard, plasma-login-manager, plasma-milou, plasma-mobile, plasma-nano, plasma-nm, plasma-oxygen, plasma-pa, plasma-print-manager, plasma-sdk, plasma-setup, plasma-systemmonitor, plasma-systemsettings, plasma-thunderbolt, plasma-vault, plasma-welcome, plasma-workspace, plasma-workspace-wallpapers, plasma-workspace-x11, plasma5support, plymouth-kcm, plymouth-theme-breeze, podman, polkit-kde, powerdevil, qqc2-breeze-style, sddm-kcm, skopeo, spacebar, spectacle, thunderbird, and xdg-desktop-portal-kde), Mageia (cockpit-338), Oracle (capstone, cockpit, firefox, fontforge, freerdp, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, kernel, nghttp2, nodejs:20, nodejs:24, openexr, and squid), Red Hat (gnutls, libarchive, libpng, libpng12, libpng15, libtiff, libvpx, libxslt, multiple packages, python, python3, python3.11, python3.12, and python3.9), Slackware (libxml2), SUSE (apache-pdfbox, azure-storage-azcopy, corosync, cups, freerdp, iproute2, libsdb2_4_2, libtpms, NetworkManager, openssl-1_1, ovmf, plexus-utils, python, python-CairoSVG, python-jwcrypto, python-PyJWT, python-pyOpenSSL, python-urllib3, python3, python314, rust1.93, shim, smc-tools, terraform-provider-local, terraform-provider-random, terraform-provider-tls, thunderbird, tiff, util-linux, and vim), and Ubuntu (libowasp-esapi-java, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-gcp, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, linux-nvidia, linux-oracle, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-6.8, linux-gcp, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-ibm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8, linux, linux-realtime, linux-aws-fips, linux-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-6.17, linux-hwe-5.15, linux-intel-iot-realtime, linux-realtime, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-6.8, linux-nvidia-lowlatency, linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, linux-realtime, linux-realtime-6.8, linux-realtime-6.17, ofono, and ruby-rack).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068400/

Christophe Pinard-Legry Named Canal+ Europe CEO As He & MultiChoice Chief David Mignot Join Board

(date: 2026-04-17)

Christophe Pinard-Legry has been named CEO of Canal+ Europe. The exec will also join Canal+’s board alongside Canal+ Africa and MultiChoice boss David Mignot. Pinard-Legry takes on the European role in addition to his post as CEO of Canal+ France. He and Mignot took their places on the board alongside Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada, Deputy […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/christophe-pinard-legry-named-canal-europe-ceo-1236864257/

One great poem to read today: Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”

(date: 2026-04-17)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-robert-haydens-those-winter-sundays/

Federation Studios Co-MD Marco Chimenz Exits After Nearly Three Years

(date: 2026-04-17)

Federation Studios co-managing director Marco Chimenz has left after nearly three years. Chimenz joined in 2023 and had been helping run the Bureau and Around the World in 80 Days studio with Pascal Breton and Lionel Uzan. He left on April 8. Chimenz’s role will not be replaced and Uzan has become MD. Breton said: […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/federation-studios-marco-chimenz-stepping-down-1236864251/

UK Asian Film Festival: 4K Restoration Of Muzaffar Ali’s ‘Umrao Jaan’ Among Titles Set For 28th Edition

(date: 2026-04-17)

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran filmmaker Muzaffar Ali is among the guests confirmed to attend this year’s UK Asian Film Festival, which runs from May 1 to 10 at venues across the UK. The festival’s opening gala will take place at the BFI Southbank in London and will feature the English Premiere of Ghost School (2025). The film’s […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/uk-asian-film-festival-2026-muzaffar-ali-umrao-jaan-1236864245/

The Girlboss Takeover Has a Data Problem

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

The sub-industries that already employed women just grew faster.

https://newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/the-girlboss-takeover-has-a-data

What is the Best Literary Film Adaptation of the Last 50 Years? Day Five

(date: 2026-04-17)

Sixty down, and four remain after yesterday’s voting, and it seems like Lit Hub’s bracket voters have a taste for epics. Each of the final movies are big and high stakes: set in far-off lands, war zones, and the violent

https://lithub.com/what-is-the-best-literary-film-adaptation-of-the-last-50-years-day-five/

International Insider: “Brutal” BBC Cuts; Hungary’s New Future; Residual Row Returns

(date: 2026-04-17)

It’s Insider Day, welcome back. Jesse Whittock on the keyboard today. As always, we’ve got the biggest stories from across international film and television. Let’s begin. Sign up to the newsletter here. “Brutal” BBC Cuts Cuts and bruises: It’s been a tough week for everyone at New Broadcasting House in London, where the BBC’s interim […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/international-insider-brutal-bbc-cuts-1236862908/

Brendan Fitzgerald Steps Down From Secuoya Studios CEO Role & Segues To Sales Position; Spanish Producer’s Lat Am Division Gets Full Independence

(date: 2026-04-17)

Brendan Fitzgerald has left his role as CEO of Secuoya Studios, which is at the same time handing complete independence to its Latin American arm. There’s been no formal confirmation of Fitzgerald’s exit from Secuoya Content Group, the parent of the studio division but we understand he is segueing to a role working on content […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/brendan-fitzgerald-exits-secuoya-studios-ceo-1236864217/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

When you have unreasonably complex expressions in swift, every day is Xmas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5ADGENmv3A

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116419759487904918

Literacy, Liberalism, and the Age of Spectacle

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

A Symposium with Adam Garfinkle

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/literacy-liberalism-and-the-age-of

Here’s a model of consumer sentiment that doesn’t suck

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

On the question of why Americans are so glum, the answer is still (mostly) the prices, stupid. But you have to know where to look

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-17-cotw-more-on-explaining-the-consumer-sentiment-gap

Mythos and Cybersecurity

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-18)

Last week, Anthropic pulled back the curtain on Claude Mythos Preview, an AI model so capable at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities that the company decided it was too dangerous to release to the public. Instead, access has been restricted to roughly 50 organizations—Microsoft, Apple, Amazon Web Services, CrowdStrike and other vendors of critical infrastructure—under an initiative called Project Glasswing.

The announcement was accompanied by a barrage of hair-raising anecdotes: thousands of vulnerabilities uncovered across every major...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/mythos-and-cybersecurity.html

Weekly Roundup: April 17

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Ben Kaufman discusses our broken banking bargain, and Vincent Joralemon reflects on the neglected class dimension of addictive platform design. Plus, a call for (your!) hot new LPE scholarship, an upcoming event on the law, politics, and economy of apocalypse, Christine Desan on the constitutional conflict over the power to make money, a new strategic agenda to address the climate and affordability crises, and a celebration of tax day with your favorite mayor, Nobel laureate, and rabble rousing economist.

https://lpeproject.org/blog/weekly-roundup-april-17/

Lies, Damned Lies and Economic Vibes

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

The continuing mystery of feel-bad economics

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/lies-damned-lies-and-economic-vibes

Pluralistic: Tiktokification shall set us free (17 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links Tiktokification shall set us free: Zuck keeps accidentally freeing his hostages. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: B2B Trotsky; Public service games; NZ 3 strikes rule; Snowden, vocalist; Obama says money compromised him; Bullshit treescrapers; Tesla's odometer heist. Upcoming appearances: Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Barcelona, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London, NYC. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Tiktokification shall set us free (permalink) Mark Zuckerberg has a problem with your friends: they're the reason you signed up to use his platform, but they stubbornly refuse to organize your socialization to "maximize engagement." Every time you and your friends wrap up a social interaction and log off, Zuckerberg loses revenue. After all, by definition, you and your friends have a lot of shared context. You probably feel mostly the same way about most things. You probably mostly consume the same kind of media. You probably mostly consume the same kinds of news. You and your friends make each other's lives better in lots of ways, but typically not by surprising one another. On a typical day, no friend of yours is going to absolutely floor you with a novel thought or finding that sparks hours of furious conversation and argumentation. And speaking of argumentation: you and your friends probably don't argue that much – I mean, sure, you'll have "friendly disagreements" (again, by definition), but if there's a friend who sparks furious, frustrating, irresistible feuds that drag on and on, chances are that person won't be your friend anymore. Facebook experienced sustained, meteoric growth by letting people connect with their friends, but Zuckerberg quickly came to understand that his path to revenue maximization ran through nonconsensually cramming strangers' posts into your eyeballs, in the hopes that you would lose yourself in long, pointless arguments. But that, too, hit a limit. Most of us don't like having our limbic systems tormented by strangers. As anyone who is sick to the back teeth of just hearing the word "Trump" can attest, living in a trollocracy is exhausting. Enter Tiktok. Tiktok found a way to connect you to strangers who don't make you angry. By offering performers money if they produced media that you "engaged" with, Tiktok offloaded the work of convincing you to conduct your online activities in a way that maximized opportunities to show you an ad onto an army of global theater kids who would spend every hour that god sent trying to figure out how to keep you looking at Tiktok. This was hugely successful – so successful, in fact, that Tiktok was able to cheat, overriding its own algorithmic guesses about which of its billion cable-access television channels you'd stare at the longest with a "heating tool" that lets the company trick some of those theater kids into thinking that Tiktok was actually more suited to them than other platforms: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys For zuckermuskian social media bosses, Tiktok became an object of fierce envy. Here was the ultimate Tom Sawyer robo-fence-painter, a self-licking ice-cream cone that motivated people to convince each other to make money for you. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter took a hard pivot away from showing you the things that the people you loved had to say, in favor of showing you short videos of people whose parents didn't give them enough affection in their childhood, desperately shoving lemons up their noses in a bid to win your approval (and a revshare split with the platforms). It worked. Sorta. Thing is, some of those "content creators" are actually very good, and none of them appreciate being jerked around. They quite rightly see their reason for being on the platforms as improving their own lives, not the bottom line of the platforms' owners and executives. They may be more "engaging" than your friends, but they're also a lot mouthier and feel entitled to a say in how the platform operates. What's a billionaire solipsist to do? Obviously, the answer is "AI creators." An "AI creator" is like a "creator" in that it works to maximize your engagement with the platform – and thus the number of ads that can be crammed into your face-holes – but, unlike a "creator," it makes no demands upon the platform and exists solely to serve the platform's shareholders and executives. It's the perfect realization of the solipsist fantasy of a world without people: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/05/fisher-price-steering-wheel/#billionaire-solipsism But there's a problem with this plan: your friends are not a liability for a platform. Your friends are the platforms' single most important asset. Your friends are why the platforms are so "sticky." The platforms don't "hack your dopamine loops" – they just take your friends hostage, and even though you love your friends, they are a monumental pain in the ass, and if you can't even agree on what board-game you're going to play this weekend, how are you going to agree when it's time to leave Facebook, and where to go next? https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/08/watch-the-surpluses/#exogenous-shocks So long as you love your friends more than you hate Zuckerberg or Musk, you will remain stuck to their platforms. The platform bosses know this, and they inflict pain on you that is titrated to be just below the threshold where you hate the platforms more than you love your friends. But as much as the platform bosses rely on your love of your friends, they still view your friends as liabilities, thanks to those friends' unreasonable insistence on structuring their relationship with you to maximize their own satisfaction, rather than how much time you spend looking at ads. So the platforms are deliberately disconnecting you from your friends by minimizing the fraction of your feed that is given over to posts from people you follow, and replacing those friends with a succession of ever-more fungible posters: trolls, creators, and chatbots. The key word here is fungible. A feed composed of things posted by people you have a personal connection to is non-fungible: it cannot be swapped for a feed of things posted by strangers. Your friends fulfill a very specific purpose in your life that strangers – even extremely cool strangers – cannot match. On the other hand: one feed of algorithmically selected, entertaining amateur dramatics is broadly equivalent to any other feed of algorithmically selected amateur dramatics. That goes double for feeds whose performers are "multi-homing" on more than one platform – whether you see the extremely charming and interesting Vlog Brothers in a Youtube feed, a Tiktok feed or an Insta feed makes no difference (to you – but it matters a lot to the platform bosses). That goes quintuple for feeds composed of AI slop, which is literally the most interchangeable video that modern science is capable of producing. All of which is to say: the platforms are deliberately feeding their most important commercial assets into a shredder, in a fit of pique over your friends' unwillingness to act like chatbots. Every day and in every way, the platforms are making it easier to leave them for some rival's service, chasing the billionaire solipsist's dream of a world without people: https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/17/live-by-the-swordlive-by-the-sword/#unfriending-tom Hey look at this (permalink) Keep Android Open https://keepandroidopen.org/cta/ Here comes the sun: New bill would let New Yorkers hang solar panels from windows https://gothamist.com/news/here-comes-the-sun-new-bill-would-let-new-yorkers-hang-solar-panels-from-windows The OTW is Recruiting for Legal Committee Paralegals, Legal Committee Trademark Specialists, and Policy & Abuse Volunteers https://www.transformativeworks.org/the-otw-is-recruiting-for-legal-committee-paralegals-legal-committee-trademark-specialists-and-policy-abuse-volunteers/ Tech Giants and Giant Slayers: The case for Digital Sovereignty and the Digital Commons https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/tech-giants-and-giant-slayers-the-case-for-digital-sovereignty-and-the-digital-commons/ What We’re Reading https://link.newyorker.com/view/5be9ea0f3f92a404690229b0qwzpk.245v/8abef04b Object permanence (permalink) #25yrsago Leon Trotsky, B2B visionary https://web.archive.org/web/20020211212222/http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1935/1935-ame.htm #20yrsago What would a BBC “public service game” look like? https://web.archive.org/web/20060417123908/http://crystaltips.typepad.com/wonderland/2006/04/on_public_servi.html #15yrsago New Zealand’s 3-strikes rule can go into effect in September https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2010/119/en/latest/#DLM3331800 #15yrsago Lawsuit: DRM spied on me, gathered my personal info, sent it to copyright enforcers who called me with $150,000 legal threat https://www.techdirt.com/2011/04/14/drm-accused-sending-personal-info-to-help-with-licensing-shakedown/ #10yrsago Edward Snowden provides vocals on a beautiful new Jean-Michel Jarre composition https://web.archive.org/web/20190415045927/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/edward-snowdens-new-job-electronic-music-vocalist-184650/ #10yrsago Uber and Lyft don’t cover their cost of capital and rely on desperate workers https://www.ianwelsh.net/the-market-fairy-will-not-solve-the-problems-of-uber-and-lyft/? #10yrsago Treescrapers are bullshit https://99percentinvisible.org/article/renderings-vs-reality-rise-tree-covered-skyscrapers/ #10yrsago Before and After Mexico: a Bruce Sterling story about the eco-pocalypse https://bruces.medium.com/before-and-after-mexico-f3371c346c8a#.33e9poqnx #10yrsago Barack Obama: Taking money from 1 percenters compromised my politics https://web.archive.org/web/20160415201709/https://theintercept.com/2016/04/15/barack-obama-never-said-money-wasnt-corrupting-in-fact-he-said-the-opposite/ #1yrago Tesla accused of hacking odometers to weasel out of warranty repairs https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/15/musklemons/#more-like-edison-amirite Upcoming appearances (permalink) Los Angeles: LA Times Festival of Books, Apr 19 https://www.latimes.com/events/festival-of-books San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Barcelona: Internet no tiene que ser un vertedero (Global Digital Rights Forum), May 13 https://encuentroderechosdigitales.com/en/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI (The Strand), Jun 24 https://www.strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html Recent appearances (permalink) Pete "Mayor" Buttigieg (No Gods No Mayors) https://www.patreon.com/posts/pete-mayor-with-155614612 The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/17/for-youze/

Lit Hub Daily: April 17, 2026

(date: 2026-04-17)

Four films remain in our Best Literary Adaptations bracket! Want to push your favorites to the finals? Get voting. | Lit Hub Was Rasputin a fraud? A mystic? A womanizer? A prophet. Whatever he was, he changed history. | Lit

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-17-2026/

What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week

(date: 2026-04-17)

Maria Semple’s Go Gentle, Gwendoline Riley’s The Palm House, Antony Beevor’s Rasputin, and Lena Dunham’s Famesick all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s home for book reviews. * Fiction 1.

https://lithub.com/what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-7/

The regime's attacks on Pope Leo backfire spectacularly

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

They're exposing the broken, cult-like nature of Trumpism.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-pope-vance-attacks

Nassim Soleimanpour And Omar Elerian Launch Theater Producer Then & There With New West End Run Of ‘White Rabbit Red Rabbit’

(date: 2026-04-17)

Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour and director Omar Elerian have launched a theater production company, There & Then. They are planning on a West End version of Soleimanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit at the Duchess Theatre as their inaugural production, presented in association with Nica Burns and her Nimax Theatre Group. The play sees a different performer taking to the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/nassim-soleimanpour-omar-elerian-launch-then-and-there-1236864197/

German TV Market Seriencamp Unveils Plot Next Tech Strand Featuring Showrunner Behind Netflix Portugal Series ‘The Marquise’

(date: 2026-04-17)

EXCLUSIVE: German TV market Seriencamp is taking on artificial intelligence this year in a big way. The Cologne-based confab is launching a Plot Next strand that will explore the “intersection between storytelling and technology.” More will be unveiled in due course but names so far unveiled include showrunner Pandora de Cunha Telles, who will present […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/seriencamp-unveils-plot-next-tech-strand-the-marquise-1236864181/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-18)

Trump administration again takes aim at Jan. 6, in court and beyond.

https://wapo.st/4tj8lAs

Notable links: April 17, 2026

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-21)

How AI is affecting thinking and distribution – and why relationships are still at the heart of great teams.

https://werd.io/notable-links-april-17-2026/

Ramona Ausubel’s Favorite Exercise for Getting Unstuck

(date: 2026-04-17)

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. When I read a finished book or story, I have the pleasure of seeing the writer’s logic, the way the puzzle pieces all fit together. To write a story or

https://lithub.com/ramona-ausubels-favorite-exercise-for-getting-unstuck/

Rasputin: Fraud, Mystic, Womanizer, Prophet… Or All of the Above?

(date: 2026-04-17)

“This man was unique,” a famous Russian writer observed of Rasputin. “One of a kind, like a character out of a novel, he lived in legend, he died in legend, and his memory is cloaked in legend.” Nadezhda Lokhbiskaya, known

https://lithub.com/rasputin-fraud-mystic-womanizer-prophet-or-all-of-the-above/

On the Dark Arts of Writing Dangerously (and Marriage, and Life in L.A.)

(date: 2026-04-17)

L.A. gets rain. People don’t think of the rain in L.A. if they don’t live there. We get a lot in the winter, and the rain in Pasadena near the mountains comes down hard on our little paper-roof stone home

https://lithub.com/on-the-dark-arts-of-writing-dangerously-and-marriage-and-life-in-l-a/

What’s In a Name? Leise Hook on What Her American and Chinese Names Reveal About Herself

(date: 2026-04-17)

https://lithub.com/whats-in-a-name-leise-hook-on-what-her-american-and-chinese-names-reveal-about-herself/

God Bless the Pill: Meet the Devout Catholic Who Invented Oral Contraception

(date: 2026-04-17)

Amidst the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the first oral contraceptive in 1960, an ongoing—if surprising—conversation emerged within the Catholic Church about the morality of birth control. Granted, the institutional Church did not endorse contraception; and American Catholic leadership

https://lithub.com/god-bless-the-pill-meet-the-devout-catholic-who-invented-oral-contraception/

The Annotated Nightstand: What Rachel Khong is Reading Now, And Next

(date: 2026-04-17)

Just as an acclaimed prose writer/musician/actor isn’t necessarily a strong poet, the leap between novel and short story can be quantum. While both are creative gestures of fiction, the size invariably defines its shape (I say this as a deep

https://lithub.com/the-annotated-nightstand-what-rachel-khong-is-reading-now-and-next/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-18)

Matt Mullenweg Says “The Wheels Have Fallen Off” in Wide-Ranging WordPress Critique.

https://www.therepository.email/matt-mullenweg-says-the-wheels-have-fallen-off-in-wide-ranging-wordpress-critique

Office Hours: Seriously, How Are You Doing?

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Checking in on your morale

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-seriously-how-are-you

Reading Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

(date: 2026-04-17)

Reading Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

https://adactio.com/notes/22531

The Foundation Is Strong: What TDF Is, Why It Matters, and Where It Is Going

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Document Foundation was created in 2010 with a single, non-negotiable premise: that a free, fully-featured office suite, built on open standards and governed in the public interest, is infrastructure for democracy. Not a product. Not a market position. Infrastructure, the kind that belongs to everyone and can be taken

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/17/the-foundation-is-strong/

Duffer Brothers Kick Off Paramount Era With Appearance In Star-Studded Video About Studio’s Legacy Alongside Tom Cruise & Timothée Chalamet

(date: 2026-04-17)

It’s April, which means that the Duffer Brothers’ decade-long tenure at Netflix has come to an end and they are moving to Paramount with a four-year, exclusive deal for feature films, television, and streaming projects. Paramount wasted no time showing off the Stranger Things creators in the studio’s glitzy, big-budget mini-movie celebrating its movie history […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/duffer-brothers-move-paramount-video-tom-cruise-chalamet-1236864031/

Pluto TV Upgrade On The Way As David Ellison Reiterates Paramount’s Commitment To “Movies And Storytelling” At L.A. Upfronts

(date: 2026-04-17)

David Ellison once again leaned into his love of filmmaking as he welcomed media buyers, talent and reporters to the Paramount lot in Los Angeles on Thursday for the company’s first upfront presentation under his tenure. “We launched Paramount Skydance nearly nine months ago, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the progress and momentum […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/pluto-tv-upgrade-david-ellison-paramount-la-upfront-1236864034/

HBO Max Buys Mark Gatiss Series ‘Bookish’ For Australia As Sales Pass The 100-Territory Mark

(date: 2026-04-17)

HBO Max has picked up cozy crime series Bookish for its service in Australia. The show comes from the pen of Sherlock’s Mark Gatiss. He also stars in the series, which is heading into its second season. Set in 1940s post-war London, the drama follows bibliophile sleuth Book (Gatiss) who helps the police solve their […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/hbo-max-australia-buys-mark-gatiss-series-bookish-1236863325/

Cindy Holland Reiterates Paramount+ Focus On “Female Forward Dramas” At Paramount Upfront

(date: 2026-04-17)

Paramount today held its first upfront presentation since the company last held court at Carnegie Hall in 2022. Taking place almost a month ahead of the traditional upfront week, the event at the Paramount Theatre on the historic Los Angeles studio lot was the first upfront for New Paramount following the August acquisition by Skydance. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cindy-holland-paramount-plus-female-dramas-strategy-upfront-1236863975/

April 16, 2026

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Congress is back in session, and there is a frantic feel in the air.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-16-2026

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-18)

Europe could run out of jet fuel within weeks, IEA warns.

https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-europe-jet-fuel-flight-cancellations-birol-6e67fafd493861b3858de5548aa77703

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-18)

These days when I read an editorial in the Washington Post, I try to imagine Jeff Bezos saying the thing and sadly very often it works.

https://wapo.st/481vqir

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-18)

RSS Club for WordPress. Very cute and coooool. 😎

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/04/rss-club-for-wordpress/

Fri, 1pm ET - Hopium Founding Members Most Fridays Get Together

(date: 2026-04-17, updated: 2026-04-22)

Thanks to everyone who made calls with us tonight!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/fri-1pm-et-hopium-founding-members-7f0

A Well-Aimed Potato: The Klan, Notre Dame, and Today

(date: 2026-04-17)

With the Trump administration embracing anti-Catholic rhetoric, I wrote about a time a hundred years ago when Catholic students from Notre Dame beat the shit out of the Klan. A feel good story for the ages.

https://dansinker.com/posts/2026-04-17-notre-dame/

Email could have been X.400 times better

(date: 2026-04-17)

X.400 said what must be possible. SMTP said what must be done.

https://buttondown.com/blog/x400-vs-smtp-email

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-18)

Another great AI video, who can say this isn't art?

https://x.com/icantevenfilms/status/2034213516392235245

Friday 17 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

Regime change This Private Eye cover made my day. Quote of the Day ”What is the difference between a Nazi and a dog? The Nazi lifts his arm.” Viktor Borge Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news Clannad | Tá’ … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/friday-17-april-2026/41888/

E-bikes are a thorny issue for trails and parks

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

I ran across this article on the LA Times site about the friction developing around shared trails in the Los Angeles area between e-bikes, bikes, horses, hikers, and dog walkers. It does a good job summing up everyone's issues but it barely scratches the surface of just how

https://a.wholelottanothing.org/e-bikes-are-a-thorny-issue-for-trails-and-parks/

Calling Out the Con Man In Chief

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

From affordability to tax cuts, Trump is reneging on so many promises

https://steady.substack.com/p/calling-out-the-con-man-in-chief-15a

Eat Your Words

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-18)

The New Yorker articulated something that has been on my mind for a long time. AI’s self-inflicted messaging crisis. This is as clear an example of my long standing argument that words have consequences. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wants to “de-escalate” the rhetoric around artificial intelligence, days after a Molotov cocktail hit the gate of …

https://om.co/2026/04/16/eat-your-words/

Want to Save this Snow Leopard?

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

Dan and I have a little wager ...

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/want-to-save-this-snow-leopard

Why a President Should Never Pick a Fight with a Pope

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Courage and Clarity of Pope Leo

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/leo

The electoral beatings will continue until morale improves

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

A few early findings from our April monthly poll, and why "excess prices" explains consumer sentiment when traditional economic measures can't

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-16-the-electoral-beatings-will-continue

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s old firm pumps $10 million into super PAC led by Tether executive

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

Cantor Fitzgerald, the Lutnick-tied financial services firm that owns a stake in and custodies reserves for the stablecoin issuer, is bankrolling a super PAC led by a Tether executive.

https://www.citationneeded.news/commerce-secretary-howard-lutnicks-old-firm-pumps-10-million-into-super-pac-led-by-tether-executive/

The Hunger For Competence

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

Americans have been yearning for an end to the chaos. What we owe ourselves is something as bold and promising as a lunar mission.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/hunger-for-competence-artemis-trump-governance

Gemini App for Mac

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

Michael Friedman (via Abner Li): Today, we’re bringing the Gemini app to macOS as a native desktop experience, designed to live right where you work. It’s always just a keyboard shortcut away, so you can quickly get the help you need without losing your focus. […] With our new native desktop experience, you can share […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/16/gemini-app-for-mac/

The App Store Scammer Strikes Back

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

Jeff Johnson: First, Virus Protection for Phone is back in the App Store! The App Store URL is the same, and the developer is the same, Virtual Advisors Limited. The app version history shows a large gap, with version 1.8 released in February 2025, before my blog post, and version 1.9 released just a few […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/16/the-app-store-scammer-strikes-back/

macOS Post–MacBook Neo

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

Nicolas Magand: I wonder what will happen with millions of extra Mac users. Will the Neo help the Mac become a proper gaming platform? […] Will the popularity of the MacBook Neo be an opportunity for Apple to mobilise more third-party developers to build apps for MacOS, now that the potential user base can be […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/16/macos-postmacbook-neo/

Thursday session

(date: 2026-04-16)

Thursday session

https://adactio.com/notes/22530

The Grandmothers That Reclaimed Argentina’s Stolen Grandchildren

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

History sometimes hides its most extraordinary stories in plain sight.

https://guykawasaki.substack.com/p/the-grandmothers-that-reclaimed-argentinas

Rust 1.95.0 released

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

Version
1.95.0 of the Rust language has been released. Changes include the addition of a cfg_select! macro, the capability to use if let guards to allow conditionals based on pattern
matching, and many newly stabilized APIs. See the release
notes for a full list of changes.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068011/

Organizing my retirement with org-mode

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-18)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am now retired. As I approached my first week of retirement, I had been making a list of things I wanted to do. As my list grew to 25 items, I felt a little uneasy. I needed some more structure…and that is when I turned to org-mode […]

https://andysylvester.com/2026/04/16/organizing-my-retirement-with-org-mode/

Most Cookie Consent Banners Don’t Check for Compliance

(date: 2026-04-16)

Surprisingly, most cookie consent managers don't seem to check if websites are in compliance with CCPA and GPDR. Are you sure your website is in compliance?

https://cloudfour.com/thinks/most-cookie-consent-banners-dont-check-for-compliance/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-18)

BYD's Sealion 05 EV is an electric SUV that's cheaper than it looks.

https://electrek.co/2026/04/16/byds-sealion-05-ev-electric-suv-cheaper-than-it-looks/

Everwhen

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

Good deal This is cool: IU opens its free generative AI course to anyone worldwide. As always Jamie Smith nails it with No one is listening to Steve Jobs’s advice about the EU Digital ID Wallet. Still the only way Interesting how old posts get new traffic. The biggest this morning on the ProjectVRM blog is to Health […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/16/everwhen-3/

Threat models

(date: 2026-04-16)

People talk about the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of large language models as though all tasks are comparable. But it strikes me that there are three broad categories of work that large language models are applied to:

Compression.
Transformation.
Expansion.

Compression is when you feed a large language model something big that you want to make small. Summarise this book. Give me the gist of this meeting. Large language models are generally pretty good at this, which makes sense given that they themselves are kind of like compressed artifacts.

Transformation is when large language models convert from one format into another. Turn this audio into text. Turn this jumble of data into structured JSON. A large language model can handle these tasks pretty well. There’ll probably be a few errors so make sure that’s not a deal-breaker.

Expansion is when you give a large language model a prompt to generate something from scratch. An image. A presentation. An email. A poem. This is where slop lives. The output inevitably betrays its origins, glistening with a sheen of mediocrity.

Laurie spotted this three-way split a while back:

Is what you’re doing taking a large amount of text and asking the LLM to convert it into a smaller amount of text? Then it’s probably going to be great at it. If you’re asking it to convert into a roughly equal amount of text it will be so-so. If you’re asking it to create more text than you gave it, forget about it.

I hope that when the bubble finally bursts, we’ll see the surviving large language models put to work on the first two categories. The boring stuff. The work that’s tedious for humans.

But tedious is as tedious does. Something I consider drudgery might be the very thing that gives you life. Like Giles says:

I have a feeling that everyone likes using AI tools to try doing someone else’s profession. They’re much less keen when someone else uses it for their profession.

The big exception seems to be programming. Apparently there are plenty of coders who never before expressed an interest in being managers who are now happily hanging up their coding spurs in favour being the overseer of non-human workers.

It’s a reasonable outlook. It could even be considered a user-centred approach. Users don’t care about the elegance of your code; they care about accomplishing their tasks.

Programming is something of an exception to the efficacy of large language models in general. Instead of relying on the subjectivity of painting, poetry, or prose, programming can be objectively tested. Throw enough money at the worst people in the world and they’ll give you tokens you can use to get the machines to test their own output. So you can get a large language model to create something reasonably good from scratch as long as that something is code.

If you had asked me about the threat model of large language models two years ago, I probably would’ve been worried for artists, writers, and musicians. I thought that software had enough inherent complexity to be relatively safe.

Now my opinion has completely reversed. Software is almost certainly the killer app for large language models.

I think the artists, writers, and musicians will be okay, or at least as okay as they ever were. It turns out that humans like things made by other humans.

And y’know what? If I had to choose which endeavour I’d rather see automated away—programming or art—it’s no competition.

Don’t get me wrong—it would be nice if everyone got paid for doing what they enjoy. It’s just that I’m okay with software engineers not being at the front of that line.

I remember when I first started getting paid money to make websites. “Really?” I thought, “Someone is willing to pay me to do something I’d do anyway?” I kept waiting for the jig to be up. Instead I saw my profession grow and expand.

Perhaps there’s a long-overdue compression happening.

Or maybe it’s more like a transformation.

https://adactio.com/journal/22529

Forgejo 15.0 released

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

Version
15.0 of the Forgejo code-collaboration platform has been released. Changes include repository-specific access tokens, a number of improvements to Forgejo
Actions, user-interface enhancements, and more. Forgejo 15.0 is considered a long-term-support (LTS) release, and will be supported through July 15, 2027. The previous LTS, version 11.0, will reach end of life on July 16, 2026. See the announcement and release
notes for a full list of changes.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1068001/

Podcast – Cobertura especial FICCI 65: Episodio 1

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

La entrada Podcast – Cobertura especial FICCI 65: Episodio 1 se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/podcast-cobertura-especial-ficci-65-episodio-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=podcast-cobertura-especial-ficci-65-episodio-1

Gambling And Metaphysics

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/gambling-and-metaphysics/

A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #439

(date: 2026-04-16)

For April 8-14, (W-Tu) 2026

Don’t come if you’re with the IRS though — we’re in trouble for trying to write off “premises that we didn’t write because someone already published something similar but we came to independently.”

What We Enjoyed This Week

I Found It: The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America by Caity Weaver (The Atlantic) A new Caity Weaver piece is pretty much an auto-share for us, especially when it’s an investigative journey like this (her website has a whole section devoted to “quests”). This new piece about bread is classic Weaver (specific, funny, crisp), but we especially love the dogged commitment to answering the central question without any fuss or philosophizing. Caity’s repeated refusal to take the piece in the more expected directions, which we’ve all gotten used to in long form magazine essays, is very funny.

16 Lesser Known Tax Filing Statuses by Amy Greenlee (Chortle) Amy really explores this one to the premise’s limits, getting to lots of fun and heightened places with some really nice runs and riffs along the way.

I Finally Got a Walking Pad to Store Under the Bed and Never Use by Alexis Pooley (McSweeney’s) Alexis’s tone, cadence, and joke writing are all excellent in this piece, right from the start: “I make health a priority by spending money on things that I’ll use a few times, then put down in the basement for the ghosts.” This is also a great companion to two of Alexis’s other pieces that we’ve featured in the past: Gonna Pop These Overripe Bananas in the Freezer Until I’m Ready to Take Them Out and Throw Them in the Garbage and I Don’t Eat Gluten or Dairy Anymore Except for When I Do.

-- AD --

Heidi Lux is teaching Screenplay Structure Made Simple (and Fun!) on Saturday, April 25th through Writing Workshops! The class breaks down structure in a way that’s process focused, going over the purpose of each beat and how it relates to character arc, so that when you sit down to beat out your screenplay (or other three-act story - novels count, too!), you can think with it. Structure is a tool, not a rigid formula! You can find out more info here.

---

On The Watchlist with Jay Servedio is a brand-new live late-night comedy series that blends biting satire with investigative curiosity. Inspired by The Daily Show but rooted in its own chaotic, absurdist voice, On The Watchlist dives headfirst into the week’s headlines, media manipulation, and political theater.

Smart, silly, and unapologetically weird, On The Watchlist is equal parts comedy show, social autopsy, and media exorcism. Join us for our exploration into the Age of Misinformation.

FEATURING: Comedian, Jamie Linn Watson

Saturday 4/18/26 @4:00pm

(Do you have an ad you'd like to place in the Newsletter? Fill out this form!)

An Old Favorite

This week's summery Old Favorite is a Brian Agler Selection (TM)--a piece whose accompanying note was written by Brian--from Newsletter #42 .

Summer Fairy Tales for Parents by Sarah Schmelling (The New Yorker) Sarah is a fantastic writer, and friend of the Washington D.C. franchise of the Evening of Humorous Readings. Not only is this a great piece, it feels of a piece. It comes together so cleanly (a rarity in the Twitter-fueled world of humor writing).

Do you have an Old Favorite of your own? Let us know by filling out this form and we may run your pick in a future edition of the newsletter.

Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show

Over on Lit Hub, James has been editing and running a new bracket on the Best Literary Film Adaptations of the Last 50 Years. The voting is currently in the quarterfinals — and you can vote right now! — but check out all the fun write-ups in the first round post, as well as some bonus stuff from James on the blog and on Tiktok, which he’s been told are “underperforming”!

Luke just announced he’ll be running an intro to short humor writing workshop on Thursday evenings in May! If you’re interested in writing the kind of pieces you read in this newsletter, but aren’t sure where to get started, this is the class for you.

https://buttondown.com/humorouswriting/archive/a-newsletter-of-humorous-writing-439/

Caltech Weekly - April 16: 2026 Space Challenge; Forming Mental Imagery

(date: 2026-04-16)

Caltech Weekly - April 16: 2026 Space Challenge; Forming Mental ImageryView this email in your browser

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Caltech's 2026 Space Challenge Plots a Visit to a Comet and Venus

Thirty-two graduate students from around the world participated in the Caltech Space Challenge with the goal of designing a space mission to visit Venus and a nearby comet.

Imagine That: Brain Uses Neurons from Vision System When Forming Mental Imagery

Researchers have found that when you recall and visualize something you have seen before—a key component of long term memory—neurons in your visual system reactivate in a manner consistent with vision.

"Bathtub Ring" Is New Evidence for an Ancient Ocean on Mars

Caltech researchers identify geomorphological signatures of a long gone ocean on Mars.

"Aerospace is now entering a new era of explosive growth: the rise of smart, affordable drones; the renewed exploration of the Moon and of Mars and beyond; the rapid militarization of space; the proliferation of advanced robotics; and, above all, the transforming power of artificial intelligence. … Caltech has earned its place in the forefront of all of these developments."

Kent Kresa, former chair of the Board of Trustees, speaking alongside Caltech Trustee Lynn Booth at the dedication of the Lynn Booth and Kent Kresa Department of Aerospace on April 8. The dedication followed a $50 million gift made in late 2025 by Booth and Kresa, along with Booth and Kresa's family foundations, to support the department's continued leadership in aerospace research and education.

This Week's Other Top Stories

Making Materials for Quantum Technologies: Laser Technique Unlocks Extreme Conditions for Thin Film Synthesis

In Case You Missed It

View recent lectures and events on Caltech's YouTube channel.

Revolutionizing Astrophysics: How Space and Ground Telescopes Can Work Together

Nobel Laureate John C. Mather, senior astrophysicist and former senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, recently discussed hybrid observatories that combine space assets and ground-based telescopes to enable advances in capabilities and startling new scientific discoveries.

Did You Know?

Modern astronomy is drowning in data, making machine learning a crucial method of sifting through it all, as Joanna (Asia) Piotrowska-Karpov, postdoctoral scholar research associate in physics, explains in this short Instagram video. Notable events are always happening on campus and online, from lecture series and student performances to concerts and film screenings. To keep up to date with the latest public offerings, visit the Caltech Events site.Bluesky Caltech.edu Facebook Instagram LinkedIn X YouTube Connect with CaltechThe Caltech Weekly is published by the Office of Communications and External Relations. Copyright ©2026 All rights reserved. Send feedback and story ideas for the newsletter to theweekly@caltech.edu.

If you received this email from someone you know, you can subscribe here. You are receiving this email because you are a member of the Caltech community or have signed up for this newsletter.

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https://mailchi.mp/caltech/caltech-weekly-april-16-2026-space-challenge-forming-mental-imagery

Trust This Signal

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

Next Tuesday, 21 April, at 4 pm Eastern, Judith Donath will speak here at Indiana University and online on The Alchemy of Confidence, addressing the most pressing question in our still-new digital age: Why do we trust some signals—and fall for others? She explains, In a time when every AI passes Ye Olde Turing Test, […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/16/trust-this-signal/

Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data.

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

"Google had already disclosed my data without telling me. There was no opportunity to contest it."

https://werd.io/google-broke-its-promise-to-me-now-ice-has-my-data/

@IIIF Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-17)

The #IIIF Consortium is delighted to welcome University of Minnesota Libraries as a new member.

Read more about UMN's collections and initiatives on the IIIF website: https://iiif.io/news/2026/04/15/UMN/

https://glammr.us/@IIIF/116414826021240134

The Trump Regime Is Rotting, Decaying, Crumbling, Unraveling, Falling Apart (New Video & Written Analysis)

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

530pm ET tonight - join our Hopium phonebank for Vote Yes Virginia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/the-trump-regime-is-rotting-decaying

“Go on then”

(date: 2026-04-16)

The skill isn't writing better prompts anymore — it's knowing when to stop writing them. Sometimes “go on then” beats a page of instructions. Sometimes it falls flat. Telling the two apart is the new craft.

https://val.demar.in/2026/04/go-on-then/

You Own Your Role, We Own The Outcome

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

"A mantra to clarify ownership while reinforcing shared responsibility." I agree with every word.

https://werd.io/you-own-your-role-we-own-the-outcome/

Why AI Needs A Sense Of Smell

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post Why AI Needs A Sense Of Smell appeared first on NOEMA.

https://www.noemamag.com/why-ai-needs-a-sense-of-smell

One great poem to read today: Alejandra Pizarnik’s “[All night I hear the noise of water sobbing.]”

(date: 2026-04-16)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-alejandra-pizarniks-all-night-i-hear-the-noise-of-water-sobbing/

What is the Best Literary Film Adaptation of the Last 50 Years? Day Four

(date: 2026-04-16)

After tabulating yesterday’s results, we’ve arrived at the quarterfinals. The end of the bracket is shaping up to be just the hits, all killer and no filler. Each of our four top seeded movies is still in contention, and up

https://lithub.com/what-is-the-best-literary-film-adaptation-of-the-last-50-years-day-four/

[$] The first half of the 7.1 merge window

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

The 7.1 merge window opened on April 12 with the release of the 7.0 kernel. Since then, 3,855 non-merge changesets have been pulled into the mainline repository for the next release. This merge window is thus just getting started, but there has still been a fair amount of interesting work moving into the mainline.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067250/

KDE Gear 26.04 released

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

Version 26.04 of the KDE Gear collection of applications has been released. Notable changes include improvements in the Merkuro
Calendar schedule view and event editor, support for threads in the NeoChat Matrix chat client, as well as the ability to add keyboard shortcuts in the Dolphin file manager "to nearly any option in any menu, plugin or extension". See the changelog for a full list of updates, enhancements, and bug fixes.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067994/

Roku Passes 100M Global Streaming Households

(date: 2026-04-16)

Roku said Thursday it has passed 100 million global streaming households. The company hit the milestone this month across connected devices and smart-TVs. Through licensing deals with a number of OEMs, Roku’s interface is in more than one-third of TVs in North America and has also gained traction in several international markets. Its interface is […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/roku-hits-100-million-global-streaming-households-1236862935/

Security updates for Thursday

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (bind, bind9.16, bind9.18, cockpit, fence-agents, firefox, fontforge, git-lfs, grafana, grafana-pcp, kernel, nghttp2, nginx, nginx:1.24, nginx:1.26, nodejs:20, nodejs:22, nodejs:24, pcs, perl-XML-Parser, perl:5.32, resource-agents, squid:4, thunderbird, and vim), Debian (incus, lxd, and python3.9), Fedora (cef, composer, erlang, libpng, micropython, mingw-openexr, moby-engine, NetworkManager-ssh, perl, perl-Devel-Cover, perl-PAR-Packer, polymake, pypy, python-cairosvg, python-flask-httpauth, and python3.15), Mageia (kernel, kmod-virtualbox, kmod-xtables-addons and kernel-linus), Oracle (\cockpit, bind, bind9.16, bind9.18, firefox, git-lfs, go-toolset:ol8, grafana, grafana-pcp, grub2, kea, kernel, libtiff, nghttp2, nginx, nginx:1.24, nginx:1.26, nodejs22, nodejs24, nodejs:22, nodejs:24, perl-XML-Parser, python3.9, thunderbird, uek-kernel, and vim), Red Hat (delve, go-toolset:rhel8, golang, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, osbuild-composer, and rhc), SUSE (bind, Botan, cockpit, cockpit-subscriptions, expat, flatpak, glibc, goshs, himmelblau, kea, kernel, kubo, libpng16, libssh, log4j, mariadb, Mesa, netty, netty-tcnative, nfs-utils, nghttp2, nodejs20, openssl-3, pam, pcre2, python, python310, python311, python311-aiohttp, python311-rfc3161-client, python313, python36, rubygem-bundler, sqlite3, sudo, tigervnc, tomcat, tomcat10, tomcat11, util-linux, vim, and webkit2gtk3), and Ubuntu (dotnet8, dotnet9, dotnet10, frr, and linux-azure, linux-azure-4.15).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067993/

‘Rivals’ Season 2 Full Trailer: Disney+’s “Naughtiest Show On Television” Is Back For More Next Month

(date: 2026-04-16)

“Welcome to the naughtiest show on television.” It could only be Disney+’s and Hulu’s Rivals Season 2, which has now dropped full-length trailer and will launch May 15. The trailer sees the return of all the favorites from the first series, with David Tennant, Danny Dyer, Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson and Emily Atack reprising roles […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/rivals-season-2-full-trailer-disney-premiere-date-may-15-1236710074/

‘The Mummy’ Review: Lee Cronin’s Reimagining Is Plenty Fiendish But Too Wrapped Up In Imitation

(date: 2026-04-16)

Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin has now revitalized two horror franchises that both deal with the villainous undead. In both Evil Dead Rise and The Mummy, Cronin displays a curiosity for using these tropes to display the rot at the heart of the nuclear family unit. In the former, it was clear that Cronin has taken […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-mummy-review-lee-cronin-movie-1236861447/

J.T. Harding Musical ‘Music City’ Finds New Home After Heavily-Renovated Venue Fell Through Days Before Previews

(date: 2026-04-16)

EXCLUSIVE: The critically acclaimed, Nashville-set Off Broadway musical Music City, featuring the music of multi-platinum hit songwriter J.T. Harding, has found a new home weeks after plans to begin performances at a custom-renovated Times Square area venue were dashed days before performances were to begin. Gabrielle Palitz tells Deadline that Music City now will begin […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/music-city-jt-harding-musical-off-broadway-1236861882/

Netflix Unveils Animated Movie ‘Charlie Vs. The Chocolate Factory’ With Kit Connor & Taika Waititi; First Image Of Contemporary London Setting

(date: 2026-04-16)

Netflix has announced animated feature Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, featuring Kit Connor and Taika Waititi in lead voice roles, describing it as a contemporary reimagining with “a fresh twist” of the Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . Connor, who won a Children’s & Family Emmy for his performance in Heartstopper, will voice […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/netflix-charlie-vs-the-chocolate-factory-with-kit-connor-amp-taika-waititi-first-image-of-contemporary-london-setting-1236862804/

Period Drama ‘The Great Chimera’ Is Attracting International Attention & Could Usher In “New Era” For Greek TV

(date: 2026-04-16)

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films that have had an impact in their local territory. The industry is as global, with breakout hits appearing in pockets of the world all the time, and it can be hard to keep track… so we’re going […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/greek-drama-the-great-chimera-beta-film-new-era-1236862887/

Thrustday

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-20)

A hopeful sign My News Commons site and series are getting action lately.

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/16/thrustday-3/

WordPress is a monoculture

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

I've been designing and developing software like WordPress for over thirty years. I have stong opinions about where the product should have gone, but mostly I've not been talking about that, because I don't want to interfere with what Matt is doing.

I've known him since he was a teenager in Silicon Valley, a boy wonder to whom the web has always been there, whereas to people my age, it was a miracle that came along to put down all the dominant BigCo's who made it impossible for individuals to create.

But I've never believed in open source the way Matt does, as I explained last week. I think there needs to be competition in the writer's UI for WordPress, and in all other areas of the user interface. I think that's what it suffers from. There isn't enough diversity. Creativity is crowded into a very small space, plug-ins. Because there's an API that covers the full functionality of product, there's no technical reason it has to be this way. I believe in competition, because it encourages listening. People don't listen to their friends, I've discovered, but people do listen to their competitors.

The community is paralyzed, it can't fix basic problems that have been there forever. Gutenberg was a good idea for a site designer and a not-good approach for writers. But it should always be a choice for writers, if they like Gutenberg. There should be no single recommended editor for WordPress.

Imho, there are ways to navigate this landscape, but it's going to require immediate and radical restructuring.

WordPress is not the last hope of the web and the web is not going to disappear in our lifetimes. Everything is built on it. People who say it's about to disappear are alarmist purveyors of clickbait. You'll still be able to ship apps for the web five and ten years from now. But WordPress is an important part of the web, and I don't mean because it runs a certain percentage of all the sites, which is imho a meaningless stat. It's a uniquely valuable API and an implementation that's debugged and scales and is profitable, and can sustain a large organization supporting it. It's one of those things we could lose, but we'd be much poorer if that happened.

WordPress is unique in the products that came to us from Silicon Valley. It's universally useful and it doesn't lock you in.

If a product like EmDash were to be the successor it claims to be, well there goes all the open stuff, because I don't think they have it in their blood the way Matt and WordPress do.

My conclusion after being a software developer since the early days of Unix and personal computers, and at times being part of the Silicon Valley -- there have to be a variety of UIs for WordPress, where all our work is compatible, regardless of what our tools look like, the approaches for users could be radically different. It's been a monoculture, and imho that's the problem. Break it apart, yet retain the compatibility -- that's the most powerful position possible in tech.

PS: After writing this piece, I looked for early references to Matt on my blog, and came across this piece he wrote in 2006. He totally understood what was going on in RSS land. Here's another Matt post from 2010, which after reading I concluded that he saw WordPress as I saw it and still do, as the rightful heir to the legacy of Twitter. And Matt and team did develop the API he talks about in 2010 as hypothetical, it's there now, ready to lead us out of the darkness.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/16/122951.html?title=wordpressIsAMonoculture

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-18)

Remkus de Vries: It’s Time to Level Up in WordPress.

https://remkusdevries.com/its-time-to-level-up-in-wordpress/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

WordPress has remained mostly constant for its whole life, at least from the point of view of this outsider. But now the world its embedded in is turning upside down and WordPress must change, but no one really knows how that change will manifest.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/16.html#a121936

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-18)

As Trump Rants About Birds and Wind Turbines, the World Passes the US By.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/as-trump-rants-about-birds-and-wind-turbines-the-world-passes-the-us-by

BBC Chief “Incredibly Frustrated” After News Of 2,000 Job Cuts Was Leaked To Press

(date: 2026-04-16)

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC’s interim director general has said he is “incredibly frustrated” after news of 2,000 layoffs was leaked to the media before being communicated to staff. Rhodri Talfan Davies told employees on Wednesday that the press briefings had “undermined” his plans to communicate the BBC’s £500M ($678M) savings strategy. Many BBC employees were outraged […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/bbc-frustrated-job-cuts-leaked-to-press-1236862895/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

The opmlProjectEditor explainer needed a light edit. It should make a lot more sense now if you're a newcomer. Perhaps the most important thing is that it now includes an example that you can open in Drummer to see how it works in an outline editor. OPML has become a really important format for apps that use RSS, but it's far more broadly adaptable. It's a good package for a whole app, and you can teach your tools to use the common structure to make it easier to share it with others, to keep a repo current, and to deploy the resulting code.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/16.html#a120645

Johnny Massaro & Rodrigo Santoro To Lead Netflix’s ‘The Pilgrimage’; Cameras Roll On Paulo Coelho Adaptation

(date: 2026-04-16)

Johnny Massaro and Rodrigo Santoro will star in Vicente Amorim’s adaptation of Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Pilgrimage’. Cameras are now rolling on the Netflix film. We broke the news this one was happening back in mid-2024 and the shoot is now underway in Spain. Santoro starred in the 300 movies, HBO’s Westworld and Netflix’s The Son […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/johnny-massaro-rodrigo-santoro-netflix-the-pilgrimage-coelho-1236862904/

Epic Pictures Buys Euro Sales Firm Film Seekers; Caroline Couret-Delègue Joins

(date: 2026-04-16)

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. firm Epic Pictures Group has acquired Film Seekers, the UK and France-based sales and production company. The acquisition is intended to expand Epic’s sales and production footprint and grow its catalog. As part of the deal, Caroline Couret-Delègue will join Epic Pictures Group as President of Sales and Content. Couret-Delègue previously worked at Metrodome, Seven Arts and AV Pictures, and went […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/epic-pictures-buys-film-seekers-caroline-couret-delegue-1236862910/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

When you are an Android developer, every day is Xmas!

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116414256602548536

It’s Getting Harder to Spot AI in Contemporary Publishing. And That’s Very, Very Bad.

(date: 2026-04-16)

Lately there has been a lot of hand-wringing, and rightly so, about if and how the publishing industry will deal with AI in the wake of the cancelation of the first major book deal due to suspected AI usage. There

https://lithub.com/its-getting-harder-to-spot-ai-in-contemporary-publishing-and-thats-very-very-bad/

After Hungary Ditches Populist Leader Viktor Orban, Producers Look To A Future Free From “Stale, Revisionist Propaganda”

(date: 2026-04-16)

Hungary’s media sector and Hollywood producers seeking its juicy tax incentive are readying for a new future after Péter Magyar’s Tisza party ended the 16-year rule of Viktor Orbán’s far-right rival Fidesz. These high hopes for reform are tempered, however, by the scale of change deemed necessary. Under Fidesz, which led the country between 2010 […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/hungary-peter-magyar-victory-tv-film-producers-future-1236858917/

‘Dune’, ‘Stranger Things’ VFX Firm Rodeo FX Continues Expansion With India Studio Launch

(date: 2026-04-16)

Montreal-based Games of Thrones, Stranger Things, The Rings of Power, John Wick: Chapter 4 and Dune VFX firm Rodeo FX has announced the opening of a studio in Bangalore, India. The new hub, which marks the company’s first studio in Asia, joins offices in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Los Angeles and Paris. The Bangalore studio, which […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/vfx-rodeo-fx-expansion-opens-bangalore-india-1236862809/

Pluralistic: A Pascal's Wager for AI Doomers (16 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links A Pascal's Wager for AI Doomers: We're already being turned into paperclips. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Every pirate ebook on the internet; Sun's "Open DRM"; Untranslatable words; Let's encrypt is encrypting; Boots ruined by hedge fund; Brussels terrorists' opsec; Copyrighted Klingon; Murder Offsets. Upcoming appearances: Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London, NYC. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. A Pascal's Wager for AI Doomers (permalink) Lest anyone accuse me of bargaining in bad faith here, let me start with this admission: I don't think AI is intelligent; nor do I think that the current (admittedly impressive) statistical techniques will lead to intelligence. I think worrying about what we'll do if AI becomes intelligent is at best a distraction and at worst a cynical marketing ploy: https://locusmag.com/feature/cory-doctorow-full-employment/ Now, that said: among some of the "AI doomers," I recognize kindred spirits. I, too, worry about technologies controlled by corporations that have grown so powerful that they defy regulation. I worry about how those technologies are used against us, and about how the corporations that make them are fusing with authoritarian states to create a totalitarian nightmare. I worry that technology is used to spy on and immiserate workers. I just don't think we need AI to do those things. I think we should already be worried about those things. Last week, I had a version of this discussion in front of several hundred people at the Bronfman Lecture in Montreal, where I appeared with Astra Taylor and Yoshua Bengio (co-winner of the Turing Prize for his work creating the "deep learning" techniques powering today's AI surge), on a panel moderated by CBC Ideas host Nahlah Ayed: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artificial-intelligence-the-ultimate-disrupter-tickets-1982706623885 It's safe to say that Bengio and I mostly disagree about AI. He's running an initiative called "Lawzero," whose goal is to create an international AI consortium that produces AI as a "digital public good" that is designed to be open, auditable, transparent and safe: http://lawzero.org Bengio said he'd started Lawzero because he was convinced that AI was going to get a lot more powerful, and, in the absence of some public-spirited version of AI, we would be subject to all kinds of manipulation and surveillance, and that the resulting chaos would present a civilizational risk. Now, as I've stated (and as I said onstage) I am not worried about any of this. I am worried about AI, though. I'm worried a fast-talking AI salesman will convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can't do your job (the salesman will be pushing on an open door, since if there's one thing bosses hate, it's paying workers). I'm worried that the seven companies that comprise 35% of the S&P 500 are headed for bankruptcy, as soon as someone makes them stop passing around the same $100b IOU while pretending it's in all their bank accounts at once. I'm worried that when that happens, the chatbots that badly do the jobs of the people who were fired because of the AI salesman will go away, and nothing and no one will do those jobs. I'm worried that the chaos caused by vaporizing a third of the stock market will lead to austerity and thence to fascism: https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/13/always-great/#our-nhs I worry that the workers who did those jobs will be scattered to the four winds, retrained or "discouraged" or retired, and that the priceless process knowledge they developed over generations will be wiped out and we will have to rebuild it amidst the economic and political chaos of the burst AI bubble: https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/08/process-knowledge-vs-bosses/#wash-dishes-cut-wood In short, I worry that AI is the asbestos we're shoveling into our civilization's walls, and our descendants will be digging it out for generations: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1000x-liability/#graceful-failure-modes But Bengio disagrees. He's very smart, and very accomplished, and he's very certain that AI is about to become "superhuman" and do horrible things to us if we don't get a handle on it. Several times at our events, he insisted that the existence of this possibility made it wildly irresponsible not to take measures to mitigate this risk. Though I didn't say so at the time, this struck me as an AI-inflected version of Pascal's wager: A rational person should adopt a lifestyle consistent with the existence of God and should strive to believe in God… if God does not exist, the believer incurs only finite losses, potentially sacrificing certain pleasures and luxuries; if God does exist, the believer stands to gain immeasurably, as represented for example by an eternity in Heaven in Abrahamic tradition, while simultaneously avoiding boundless losses associated with an eternity in Hell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager Smarter people than me have been poking holes in Pascal's wager for more than 350 years. But when it comes to this modern Pascal's AI Wager, I have my own objection: how do you know when you've lost? As of this moment, the human race has lit more than $1.4t on fire to immanentize this eschaton, and it remains stubbornly disimmanentized. How much more do we need to spend before we're certain that god isn't lurking in the word-guessing program? Sam Altman says it'll take another $2-3t – call it six months' worth of all US federal spending. If we do that and we still haven't met god, are we done? Can we call it a day? Not according to Elon Musk. Musk says we need to deconstruct the solar system and build a Dyson sphere out of all the planets to completely encase the sun, so we can harvest every photon it emits to power our word-guessing programs: https://www.pcmag.com/news/elons-next-big-swing-dyson-sphere-satellites-that-harness-the-suns-power So let's say we do that and we still haven't met god – are we done? I don't see why we would be. After all, Musk's contention isn't that our sun emits one eschaton's worth of immanentizing particles. Musk just thinks that we need a lot of these sunbeams to coax god into our plane of existence. If one sun won't do it, perhaps two? Or two hundred? Or two thousand? Once we've committed the entire human species to this god-bothering project to the extent of putting two kilosuns into harness, wouldn't we be nuts to stop there? What if god is lurking in the two thousand and first sun? Making god out of algorithms is like spelling "banana" – easy to start, hard to stop. But as Bengio and I got into it together on stage at the Montreal Centre, it occurred to me that maybe there was some common ground between us. After all, when someone starts talking about "humane technology" that respects our privacy and works for people rather than their bosses, my ears grow points. Throw in the phrase "international digital public goods" and you've got my undivided attention. Because there's a sense in which Bengio and I are worried about exactly the same thing. I'm terrified that our planet has been colonized by artificial lifeforms that we constructed, but which have slipped our control. I'm terrified that these lifeforms corrupt our knowledge-creation process, making it impossible for us to know what's true and what isn't. I'm terrified that these lifeforms have conquered our apparatus of state – our legislatures, agencies and courts – and so that these public bodies work against the public and for our colonizing alien overlords. The difference is, the artificial lifeforms that worry me aren't hypothetical – they're here today, amongst us, endangering the very survival of our species. These artificial lifeforms are called "limited liability corporations" and they are a concrete, imminent risk to the human race: https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/15/artificial-lifeforms/#moral-consideration What's more, challenging these artificial lifeforms will require us to build massive, "international, digital public goods": a post-American internet of free/open, auditable, transparent, enshittification-resistant platforms and firmware for every purpose and device currently in service: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/01/39c3/#the-new-coalition And even after we've built that massive, international, digital public good, we'll still face the challenge of migrating all of our systems and loved ones out of the enshitternet of defective, spying, controlling American tech exports: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/30/zucksauce/#gandersauce Every moment that we remain stuck in the enshitternet is a moment of existential risk. At the click of a mouse, Trump could order John Deere to switch off all the tractors in your country: https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/08/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors/ He doesn't need tanks to steal Greenland. He can just shut off Denmark's access to American platforms like Office365, iOS and Android and brick the whole damned country. It would be another Strait of Hormuz, but instead of oil and fertilizer, he'd control the flow of Lego, Ozempic and deliciously strong black licorice: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/29/post-american-canada/#ottawa These aren't risks that could develop in the future. They're the risks we're confronted with today and frankly, they're fucking terrifying. So here's my side-bet on Pascal's Wager. If you think we need to build "international digital public goods" to head off the future risk of a colonizing, remorseless, malevolent artificial lifeform, then let us agree that the prototype for that project is the "international digital public goods" we need right now to usher in the post-American internet and save ourselves from the colonizing, remorseless, malevolent artificial lifeforms that have already got their blood-funnels jammed down our throats. Once we defeat those alien invaders, we may find that all the people who are trying to summon the evil god have lost the wherewithal to do so, and your crisis will have been averted. But if that's not the case and the evil god still looms on our horizon, then I will make it my business to help you mobilize the legions of skilled international digital public goods producers who are still flush from their victory over the limited liability corporation, and together, we will fight the evil god you swear is in our future. I think that's a pretty solid offer. Hey look at this (permalink) A Hole in the ‘Open-and-Shut’ Case Against Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin? https://prospect.org/2026/04/15/hole-in-open-and-shut-case-against-charlie-kirks-alleged-assassin-tyler-robinson/ WORSE ON PURPOSE https://www.worseonpurpose.com/ How Viktor Orbán Bankrolled the Network Around Reform UK https://bylinetimes.com/2026/04/14/exposed-how-viktor-orban-bankrolled-the-network-around-reform-uk/ Two Visions https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/two-visions Caught in the Crackdown: As Arrests at Anti-ICE Protests Piled Up, Prosecutions Crumbled https://www.propublica.org/article/caught-in-crackdown-ice-cbp-doj-trump-arrests-convictions Object permanence (permalink) #25yrsago Every pirate ebook on the internet https://web.archive.org/web/20010724030402/https://citizen513.cjb.net/ #20yrsago Retired generals diss Donald Rumsfeld https://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007432.html#007432 #20yrsago How to break HDCP https://blog.citp.princeton.edu/2006/04/14/making-and-breaking-hdcp-handshakes/ #20yrsago How Sun’s “open DRM” dooms them and all they touch https://memex.craphound.com/2006/04/14/how-suns-open-drm-dooms-them-and-all-they-touch/ #20yrsago Benkler's "Wealth of Networks" http://www.congo-education.net/wealth-of-networks/ #15yrsago Scientific management’s unscientific grounding: the Management Myth https://web.archive.org/web/20120823212827/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/06/the-management-myth/304883/ #15yrsago 216 “untranslatable” emotional words from non-English languages https://www.drtimlomas.com/lexicography/cm4mi/lexicography#!lexicography/cm4mi #10yrsago New York public employees union will vote on pulling out of hedge funds https://web.archive.org/web/20160414230326/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-13/nyc-pension-weighs-liquidating-1-5-billion-hedge-fund-portfolio #10yrsago Panama’s public prosecutor says he can’t find any evidence of Mossack-Fonseca’s lawbreaking https://web.archive.org/web/20160419165306/https://www.thejournal.ie/mossack-fonseca-prosecution-2714795-Apr2016/?utm_source=twitter_self #10yrsago Bernie Sanders responds to CEOs of Verizon and GE: “I welcome their contempt” https://web.archive.org/web/20160415165051/https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-verizon-contempt-2016-4 #10yrsago Let’s Encrypt is actually encrypting the whole Web https://www.wired.com/2016/04/scheme-encrypt-entire-web-actually-working/ #10yrsago City of San Francisco tells man he can’t live in wooden box in friend’s living room https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/13/san-francisco-new-home-rented-box-illegal?CMP=tmb_gu #10yrsago How the UK’s biggest pharmacy chain went from family-run public service to debt-laden hedge-fund disaster https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/13/how-boots-went-rogue #10yrsago Ohio newspaper chain owner says his papers don’t publish articles about LGBTQ people https://ideatrash.net/2016/04/the-owner-of-four-town-papers-in-ohio.html #10yrsago How British journalists talk about people they’re not allowed to talk about https://web.archive.org/web/20160414152933/https://popbitch.com/home/2016/03/31/up-the-injunction/ #10yrsago Brussels terrorists kept their plans in an unencrypted folder called “TARGET” https://www.techdirt.com/2016/04/14/brussels-terrorist-laptop-included-details-planned-attack-unencrypted-folder-titled-target/ #10yrsago Ron Wyden vows to filibuster anti-cryptography bill https://www.techdirt.com/2016/04/14/burr-feinstein-officially-release-anti-encryption-bill-as-wyden-promises-to-filibuster-it/ #10yrsago Paramount wants to kill a fan-film by claiming copyright on the Klingon language https://torrentfreak.com/paramount-we-do-own-the-klingon-language-and-warships-160414/ #5yrsago Murder Offsets https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy #5yrsago The FCC wants your broadband measurements https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#fly-my-pretties #1yrago Machina economicus https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/14/timmy-share/#a-superior-moral-justification-for-selfishness Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI (The Strand), Jun 24 https://www.strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/16/pascals-wager/

Trump Claims Pope’s Election was Rigged

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

“There were a lot of ballots cast against him that were just burned,” he said. “You could see the smoke coming from the Vatican.”

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-claims-popes-election-was-rigged

In celebration of cyberdecks

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-20)

A look back at some of our favourite cyberdeck builds amidst a new wave of makers creating their own.

The post In celebration of cyberdecks appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/in-celebration-of-cyberdecks/

Trump Wants Regime Change at the Fed

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

He still thinks he's infallible

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-wants-regime-change-at-the

Lit Hub Daily: April 16, 2026

(date: 2026-04-16)

It’s day four of our Best Literary Adaptations bracket, and your vote can help keep your favorite films in the running to win! | Lit Hub It’s getting harder to spot AI in contemporary publishing. And that’s very, very bad.

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-16-2026/

Trump's polling is terrible and getting worse

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

His second term is already an unambiguous failure.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-approval-polling

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-18)

Bluesky appears to be off the air.

https://bsky.app/

Gugu Mbatha-Raw Leading BBC Sci-Fi Series About Space Travel

(date: 2026-04-16)

Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki) is leading a BBC sci-fi drama about space travel. Mbatha-Raw will star alongside Stuart Martin (Army of Thieves, In Flight, Rebel Moon) and Iain De Caestecker (Roadkill, The Winter King, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) in Sutherland, which is set in a near future in the far north of Scotland. Mbatha-Raw is Mirren, who works at Paravel Space […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/gugu-mbatha-raw-bbc-sci-fi-series-sutherland-1236862876/

Video: LibreOffice at the Grazer Linuxtage 2026

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

What are we doing in the LibreOffice project? Where are we going, and how can all users (yes, even non-programmers) help to improve the software? We answered these questions – and more – at the recent Grazer Linuxtage event. Click here to watch the talk

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/16/video-libreoffice-at-the-grazer-linuxtage-2026/

Rogue Scholar starts to register blog DOIs

(date: 2026-04-16)

This week the Rogue Scholar science blog archive started registering DOIs for blogs, in addition to the DOIs for blog posts it registers since 2023.

https://blog.front-matter.de/posts/rogue-scholar-starts-to-register-blog-dois/

Human Trust of AI Agents

(date: 2026-04-16)

Interesting research: “ Humans expect rationality and cooperation from LLM opponents in strategic games.”

Abstract: As Large Language Models (LLMs) integrate into our social and economic interactions, we need to deepen our understanding of how humans respond to LLMs opponents in strategic settings. We present the results of the first controlled monetarily-incentivised laboratory experiment looking at differences in human behaviour in a multi-player p-beauty contest against other humans and LLMs. We use a within-subject design in order to compare behaviour at the individual level. We show that, in this environment, human subjects choose significantly lower numbers when playing against LLMs than humans, which is mainly driven by the increased prevalence of ‘zero’ Nash-equilibrium choices. This shift is mainly driven by subjects with high strategic reasoning ability. Subjects who play the zero Nash-equilibrium choice motivate their strategy by appealing to perceived LLM’s reasoning ability and, unexpectedly, propensity towards cooperation. Our findings provide foundational insights into the multi-player human-LLM interaction in simultaneous choice games, uncover heterogeneities in both subjects’ behaviour and beliefs about LLM’s play when playing against them, and suggest important implications for mechanism design in mixed human-LLM systems...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/human-trust-of-ai-agents.html

How Parks and Recreation Helped Create the Vision for a Better America

(date: 2026-04-16)

Once Amy Poehler had committed to play Leslie Knope, the lead in Parks and Recreation, the producers began to gather inspirations in current culture that would prove crucial to shaping their vision. The media was touting that year, 2008, as

https://lithub.com/how-parks-and-recreation-helped-create-the-vision-for-a-better-america/

The Abyss

(date: 2026-04-16)

Pandaram had risen before dawn. He had bathed at home, streaked himself with sacred ash, drunk his karuppatti kaapi and was now taking his snuff. “Shall I pack a couple of dosais for the trip?” asked Ekkiyammai from the kitchen.

https://lithub.com/the-abyss-jeyamohan/

On the Systematic Annihilation of Gaza’s Educational Future

(date: 2026-04-16)

As a student writing from inside Gaza amid an ongoing catastrophe extending into 2026, I am witnessing how genocide is systematically annihilating not only lives but also the very future of education for an entire generation. What is happening here

https://lithub.com/on-the-systematic-annihilation-of-gazas-educational-future/

Polly Barton on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s Hell of Solitude

(date: 2026-04-16)

In principle it should be straightforward enough to write an essay about the work of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Here is a writer who can absorb virtually any decisive, sweeping statement about his significance in the literary canon that you care to

https://lithub.com/polly-barton-on-ryunosuke-akutagawas-hell-of-solitude/

A Linguistic and Philosophical Tapestry: Suchitra Ramachandran on Jeyamohan’s The Abyss

(date: 2026-04-16)

India has twenty-two official languages, in addition to numerous other languages and spoken dialects. All of these languages have a modern literary tradition, and as with modern Tamil literature, those traditions only go back two hundred years at the most.

https://lithub.com/a-linguistic-and-philosophical-tapestry-suchitra-ramachandran-on-jeyamohans-the-abyss/

5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week

(date: 2026-04-16)

Our favorite criticism of the week includes Scaachi Koul on Lena Dunham’s Famesick, Leora Tanenbaum on Rosa Campbell’s The Woman That Taught the World to Orgasm And Then Disappeared, Jennifer Szalai on Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff’s Muskism, Zack Hatfield

https://lithub.com/5-book-reviews-you-need-to-read-this-week-11/

He is Seriously, Frighteningly, Utterly, and Completely Losing His Mind

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

We are in great danger

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/hes-losing-all-his-marbles

Trump’s Unholy War Against the Church

(date: 2026-04-16)

President Trump has a God problem. After criticizing the Pope and posting an image of himself as Jesus online, Trump has caused an uproar among his Christian base. This week, Alex speaks to Pastor Doug Pegitt about the crisis of conscience many faith leaders and parishioners are facing as their political leanings and moral beliefs collide. Then, she’s joined by Jennifer Palmieri, former White House Communications Director under President Obama and Senior Advisor to the Clinton and Harris campaigns, to talk about the power of the Catholic swing vote and how Democrats could win over religious voters.

https://audioboom.com/posts/8890618

April 15, 2026

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-22)

On the evening of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln went to Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., to see a production of the comedy Our American Cousin. The Lincolns had spent the afternoon taking a carriage ride together and discussing the future, including the travel they hoped for, to Europe and to California to see the Pacific Ocean.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-15-2026-wednesday

How a Tiny Yellow Handheld Changed How Duke University Teaches Game Design

(date: 2026-04-16)

When Duke University launched its new Masters in Game Design, Development, and Innovation (GDDI) program, the faculty faced a challenge familiar to anyone who has taught creative technical disciplines: how do you get students making real things, fast, when the tools themselves are a challenge to master?

Two Duke GDDI students collaborate on designing a game for the Playdate handheld game console.

The GDDI curriculum is built around Unreal Engine — industry-standard game creation software that takes months to learn. Which is fine for advanced coursework, but in an introductory class focused on game design fundamentals, students can’t afford a long learning curve.

The original workaround was a low-tech industry standby: index cards with hand-sketched game screens, passed around to prospective game players for quick feedback.

But a better solution came in the form of a quirky, yellow, handheld game console: Playdate.

“Because of the simplicity of the [Playdate] tools and because of the portability; because of the constraints; it allows for this iterative loop to be very quick,” says Ernesto Escobar, GDDI’s executive director. That feedback loop — design, build, test, revise — is exactly the mindset a working game designer needs to develop.

https://news.play.date/news/duke-playdate-education/

[$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for April 16, 2026

(date: 2026-04-16, updated: 2026-04-20)

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:

Front: LLM security reports; OpenWrt One build system; Vim forks; removing read-only THPs; 7.0 statistics; MusicBrainz Picard.
Briefs: OpenSSL 4.0.0; Relicensing; Servo; Zig 0.16.0; Quotes; ...
Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066922/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-18)

Anthropic's redesigned Claude Code desktop app.

https://thenewstack.io/claude-code-desktop-redesign/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

Hegseth Borrows Violent Prayer from ‘Pulp Fiction’ to Bless Iran War at April Pentagon Worship Service.

https://publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-borrows-violent-prayer-from

@DAIR blog

(date: 2026-04-15)

Join us for this virtual event on Friday. Register at X and read more below for details👇🏼https://www.eventbrite.com/e/refugees-and-ai-tickets-1986369914887?aff=oddtdtcreator

[contains quote post or other embedded content]

https://bsky.app/profile/dairinstitute.bsky.social/post/3mjkw2kmt722a

Route application traffic via command line

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-16)

Route application traffic via command line

toricli.sh is a tool written in Go, focused on making it easy to route application traffic via the command line. The goal is to simplify the use of anonymization on Linux without relying on complex configurations.

It falls into the same category as tools like torsocks, but with a more direct and automated approach.

Installation

For Windows, use WSL

# systemd
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thobiasn/tori-cli/main/deploy/install.sh | sudo sh

# Arch
yay -S tori-cli-bin

# macOS
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thobiasn/tori-cli/main/deploy/install.sh | sh -s -- --client

Docker:

docker run -d --name tori \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --pid host \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
  -v /proc:/host/proc:ro \
  -v /sys:/host/sys:ro \
  -v /run/tori:/run/tori \
  -v tori-data:/var/lib/tori \
  -v ./config.toml:/etc/tori/config.toml:ro \
  ghcr.io/thobiasn/tori-cli:latest

Usage example

toricli curl example.com

And the traffic is anonymized.

For more information, visit: https://toricli.sh/.

https://terminalroot.com/route-application-traffic-via-command-line/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

Britain preparing for food shortages as Iran war bites.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/53d1dc59-a125-498d-8bb3-a2c6711ee1b1?shareToken=64eb94e8f393528956b8047b6b08495c

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/15/critical-atlantic-current-significantly-more-likely-to-collapse-than-thought?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Peak absurdity, Part II

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

You can’t make this up

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/peak-absurdity-part-ii

Last Call - Tonight, 7pm ET - Our Weekly Paid Subscriber Get Together/Fall Of Orban Dance Party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Let's prepare for tonight by reflecting on what President Lincoln called "the great task remaining before us."

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/last-call-tonight-7pm-et-our-weekly

Trump as JESUS?! AI Art Fallout Splits MAGA

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Watch now | A recording from Dr. Steven Hassan's live video

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/trump-as-jesus-ai-art-fallout-splits

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

Isn't it funny how when people use AI tools to do cartoons and parodies it's called slop, but when the same people do something much more complex, like making software, it's cool -- we didn't need developers anyway.

https://thenewstack.io/claude-code-and-the-rise-of-personal-software/

Maxon Autograph

(date: 2026-04-15)

Today Maxon announced the return of Autograph, a modern compositing and motion graphics tool.

Autograph is incredibly powerful, and it’s been a thrill to work with the original creators to fold it into the Maxon and Red Giant ecosystem. Even more exciting:

Autograph is completely free for individuals.

You can download it today and start discovering how powerful and fast it is. If you have a Universe or Red Giant subscription, you’ll see some familiar tools in there as well.

Learn More & Get Autograph

https://prolost.com/blog/autograph

How America Is Losing the World | Lunch Money with Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

A recording from Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson's live video

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/how-america-is-losing-the-world-lunch

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

NBA fans cry foul as Prime Video cuts out during overtime, fails to sync audio.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/04/nba-fans-cry-foul-as-prime-video-cuts-out-during-overtime-fails-to-sync-audio/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Newbird.AI! Or Loony.AI

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

Every speculative era has its favorite suffix. In the 1960s it was “tronics.” In the 1990s it was “dot-com.” Today, of course, it is “AI.” Nothing typifies a crazy, gambling, speculative degenerate economy like our present moment than what happened to Allbirds today. The San Francisco maker of wool sneakers, once valued at more than …

https://om.co/2026/04/15/newbirds-ai-is-really-loonybirds-ai/

Wednesday session

(date: 2026-04-15)

Wednesday session

https://adactio.com/notes/22528

How To Celebrate Tax Day

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

And the best tax video you've EVER SEEN!

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-to-celebrate-tax-day

Speed is Not Conducive to Wisdom

(date: 2026-04-15)

Speed has become the primary virtue of the modern world. Everything is sacrificed to it.

Move fast (and break things, not as a goal but as a consequence).

Wisdom requires allowing yourself to be undone by experience:

An opinion dismantled by reality.
An artifact torn apart by the real world.
An idea destroyed by its own shortsightedness.

Experiencing these can be slow and uncomfortable, but if you keep up your speed you can outrun them — never reflecting on what happened in your wake.

Speed is how you avoid reckoning. It guarantees you miss things, and you can’t learn from what you don’t notice.

Wisdom’s feedback loop is slow.

Wise people I’ve met seem unhurried. I don’t think it’s because they’re slow thinkers or actors. I think it’s because they’ve learned that important things take the time they take, no amount of urgency changes that.

Wisdom is chasing all of us, but we’re going too fast to notice what it’s trying to teach us.

Reply via:

Email · Mastodon ·

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/tania-y-semillite-hernandez-velasco-exploran-con-nuestro-cuerpo-es-una-estrella-que-se-expande/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tania-y-semillite-hernandez-velasco-exploran-con-nuestro-cuerpo-es-una-estrella-que-se-expande

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2026/speed-not-conducive-to-wisdom/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

Can AI judge journalism? A Thiel-backed startup says yes, even if it risks chilling whistleblowers.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/15/can-ai-judge-journalism-a-thiel-backed-startup-says-yes-even-if-it-risks-chilling-whistleblowers/

FSF clarifies its stance on AGPLv3 additional terms

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-20)

OnlyOffice CEO Lev Bannov has recently
claimed that the Euro-Office fork of theOnlyOffice suite violates the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPLv3). Krzysztof Siewicz of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has published
an article on the FSF's position on adding terms to the AGPLv3. In short, Siewicz concludes that OnlyOffice has added restrictions to the license that are not compatible with the AGPLv3, and those restrictions can be removed by recipients of the code.

We urge OnlyOffice to clarify the situation by making it unambiguous that OnlyOffice is licensed under the AGPLv3, and that users who already received copies of the software are allowed to remove any further restrictions. Additionally, if they intend to continue to use the AGPLv3 for future releases, they should state clearly that the program is licensed under the AGPLv3 and make sure they remove any further restrictions from their program documentation and source code. Confusing users by attaching further restrictions to any of the FSF's family of GNU General Public Licenses is not in line with free software.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067771/

Tania y Semillites Hernández Velasco exploran con “Nuestro cuerpo es una estrella que se expande”

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

La realizadora mexicana Tania Hernández Velasco y el artista audiovisual Semillites Hernández están por estrenar Nuestro Cuerpo es una estrella que se expande, su última película colaborativa, en la edición 41 del Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara (FICG). El filme es un documental experimental que aborda preguntas y reflexiones sobre la identidad de género […]

La entrada Tania y Semillites Hernández Velasco exploran con “Nuestro cuerpo es una estrella que se expande” se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

This Week In The Big Picture

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

From the moment Donald Trump came on the scene, he exploited a sense among voters that systems were broken and an outsider was the only one who could fix them.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/week-big-picture-april-15

What Studying Torture Reveals About Cults

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Defending against cults with framing from expert Barry Roth

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/what-studying-torture-reveals-about

Dictating Literal Reminders to My Apple Watch

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Reading about the Pebble Index motivated to keep looking for a better way to dictate reminders using my Apple Watch. Ideally, I would press a button, immediately begin speaking, and the literal text of what I said would appear in OmniFocus. This should work when offline. My watch doesn’t have an action button, so the […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/15/dictating-literal-reminders-to-my-apple-watch/

iPadOS Post–MacBook Neo

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Matt Birchler (pre-Neo): I think Apple is going to discontinue iPadOS. I know, I know, it’s a big swing, but put the pitchforks away and hear me out. iPadOS, as it exists now, is being stretched too thin. The idea of having one operating system, with the same features, that spans from a small, 8" […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/15/ipados-postmacbook-neo/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

Magyar’s first target: Hungary’s state-controlled media.

https://www.politico.eu/article/peter-magyar-first-target-hungary-state-controlled-media/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication

How America Is Losing the World | Lunch Money with Paul Krugman

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

A newsletter about the history behind today's politics.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/how-america-is-losing-the-world-lunch

Dear Washington Press Corps

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Would you kindly do me a favor?

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/dear-washington-press-corps

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-17)

Trump’s Corruption Is What’s Tanking the Economy.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/trumps-corruption-is-whats-tanking-the-economy

★ David Pierce Tried a Bunch of Android Phones and Then Bought an iPhone Again

(date: 2026-04-15)

The real goldmine isn’t that Apple gets a cut of every App Store transaction. It’s that Apple’s platforms have the best apps, and users who are drawn to the best apps are thus drawn to the iPhone, Mac, and iPad.

https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/piece_android_iphone_apps

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-15:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

3 new and 18 updated places.

https://courts.delaware.gov/Opinions/Download.aspx?id=392880

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

c086488a - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

64b6e8e7 - updated gis package

500c38cf - updated data quality

7470c148 - updated bibliography

2b0e8af3 - updated indexes

no change: sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

97b90fe3 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

ef4b0f62 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116409389713299918

I don't want a screenshot of your Claude conversation

(date: 2026-04-15)

The number of screenshots of Claude conversations is going up in my life and it’s beginning to have an impact on my general mood. Most of the time it’s well-intended; coworkers working through a problem with a chatbot before bothering me or someone exploring unconventional ideas before bringing it to a broader audience. Both of those situations seem considerate. A tool for thought, as it were.

It’s probably good practice to do your own research before you rope in another person on a cognitive task. But a small thread in the reliability of these tools-for-thought begins to unwind due to the well-documented sycophantic nature of engagement-thirsty language models. One of my favorite studies is Anthropic’s own study (2023), when asked to review an argument with I wrote this [...], the LLM gave positive feedback. But if you start a new chat with I didn't write this [...] or give any hint of your own personal bias, it provides much more critical feedback. And the ultimate twist is, we prefer models that are super nice to us.

I was telling my son’s friend about this phenomenon and he responded with the perfect GenAlpha summation:

AI is a D1 glazer, bro.

We need to acknowledge that we’re probably getting the answer we want rather than a cold-hard fact. Not to get too serious but when I read about AI psychosis, I think the overly-confident “You’re a genius” style of reply is the point where it all starts to go wrong.

Awhile back Hidde De Vries identified a pain point around LLM-usage in standards work which leads to something I call an asymmetry of thought. In a conversation where one person is a domain expert and one person is copy-pasting ChatGPT responses, it creates an imbalance of effort in the discussion. A second-hand burdening, like Brandolini’s Law, where debunking inaccuracies and subtly-wrongs takes more effort than creating the inaccuracies. We are, in effect, taxing experts to do quality assurance on the model’s responses. When that work is unpaid I believe this is immoral… or at least it’s a breach in social etiquette.

In situations like that where people are using models as a form of appealing to authority, unless both parties have agreed that the LLM is a neutral arbiter, a random noise generator has the same amount of social authority.

So, when a screenshot or copy-pasted block of “Here’s what Claude said…” comes across my screen… I don’t care about the screenshot. I don’t care about the screenshot because I want your thoughts, not Claude’s. I want your unfiltered and half-baked ideas, not Claude’s synthesized extrusions. Instead of a screenshot of a reply, I’d rather have the original prompt so I can just ask the machine myself. At least then I’d know the context you provided the machine and your understanding of the problem, because that matters immensely.

A trite example that I deal with from time to time, if you ask an LLM “React or Web Components?” it will say “React” because that’s what was popular in the 2023 training data. But did you mention anything about different teams on different tech stacks? Anything about hitting memory ceilings? Context is everything to these machines and –as the disclaimers say– they can make mistakes. If we need anything more than an approximation, a language model might not be the right tool for the job.

Anyways, that’s my issue with other people’s chatbots weaving their way into my daily conversations. I’d rather have a human-to-human conversation with you, not a chat with Claude by proxy. What Claude said is an okay chunk of “ anecdata”, but it’s not a substitute for our working relationship.

https://daverupert.com/2026/04/claude-no/

Autodidact And Hacker

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/autodidact-and-hacker/

Warning: containment breach in cascade layer!

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

CSS cascade layers are the ultimate tool to win the specificity wars. Used alongside the :where selector, specificity problems are a thing of the past. Or so I thought. Turns out cascade layers are leakier than a xenonite sieve. Cross-layer shenanigans can make bad CSS even badder. […]

https://dbushell.com/2026/04/15/containment-breach-in-cascade-layer/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Today the work with Claude is much better, though when we got started it was even worse than yesterday. The key to getting on track was to figure out why it worked so well in previous projects and fell apart with this one. In each of the others, I passed off an existing project for it to convert or build on. This time we started with something it had created without a "starter." So I took all the random bits we had and organized into the opmlProjectEditor format we had specified back in early March. It's how all my projects since 2013 are organized, so it's a good fit for me, and also for Claude. So now I'm going to pass back a package that's ready to be worked on collaboratively. The other thing is I switched to the Opus 4.6 model from Sonnet 4.6. So I've made it to 11AM and feel like I've already accomplished something today. The problem was yesterday we were spinning our wheels, and that doesn't work for me. I'm a very directed developer. ;-)

http://scripting.com/2026/04/15.html#a145650

Safeguarding Our Air and Water

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-13)

CLF has doubled down on our clean air and water litigation over the past year. CLF built its reputation enforcing bedrock environmental laws, including leading milestone lawsuits that led to the cleanup of Boston Harbor and the construction of a new Green Line subway line as redress for the air pollution caused by the Big Dig tunnel project. Today, we are building on that legacy by serving as an essential stopgap in the absence of federal oversight. And we’ve been successful – doggedly enforcing laws against powerful corporations content to dump toxic chemicals into our waterways or choke our air with dangerous fumes.

The post Safeguarding Our Air and Water appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.

https://www.clf.org/blog/safeguarding-our-air-and-water/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=safeguarding-our-air-and-water

An Arm Mainboard for the Framework Laptop

(date: 2026-04-15)

Using the repair-friendly Framework 13 laptop chassis, I've tested the low-end x86 option (a Ryzen AI 5 340 Mainboard), the fastest RISC-V option ( DC-ROMA II), and today I'm publishing results from the only Arm Mainboard, the MetaComputing AI PC, which has a 12-core Arm SoC and up to 32 GB of soldered-on RAM.

MetaComputing AI PC Mainboard next to Framework 13 laptop

My Framework 13 has run on x86, RISC-V, and now Arm, making it something of a 'Ship of Theseus'.

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2026/arm-mainboard-for-framework-laptop/

Compound Relationships, Not Just Returns

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Why your network should deepen, not just widen.

https://guykawasaki.substack.com/p/compound-relationships-not-just-returns

The Class Politics of the Feed

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

By targeting the addictive design features of social media platforms, K.G.M. v. Meta marks a breakthrough in product liability law. Yet the case also reveals a neglected class dimension: the harms of addictive platform design fall most heavily on those with the fewest alternatives. In addition to regulating these harmful products, we must build a world in which children do not so desperately need them.

https://lpeproject.org/blog/the-class-politics-of-the-feed/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

Riveting: CEO asks ChatGPT to concoct a plan to avoid paying a contractual bonus and his chat logs get used as evidence at trial.

Beautiful.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116409095490319210

FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

An innocuous iPhone notifications setting could put your Signal contacts at risk.

https://werd.io/fbi-extracts-suspects-deleted-signal-messages-saved-in-iphone-notification-database/

Imagine If This Moment Was Not About The Ascent of Authoritarians, But About A New Birth Of Global Freedom. Just Imagine.....

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

A global fight for freedom and democracy is underway. It is time for the Democratic Party of the United States of America to lead it once again......

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/imagine-if-this-moment-was-not-about-6e4

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

As a Mexican living in Boston, I can’t confirm or deny, but the grammar is correct.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116409075053995178

[$] Forking Vim to avoid LLM-generated code

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-20)

Many people dislike the proliferation of Large Language Models (LLMs) in recent years, and so make an understandable attempt to avoid them. That may not be possible in general, but there are two new forks ofVim that seek to provide an editing environment with no LLM-generated code. EVi focuses on being a modern Vim without LLM-assisted contributions, while Vim Classic focuses on providing a long-term maintenance version of Vim 8. While both are still in their early phases, the projects look to be on track to provide stable alternatives — as long as enough people are interested.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067007/

Stop Flock

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

Flock is building a national surveillance network. A protest movement is forming to tear it down.

https://werd.io/stop-flock/

One great poem to read today: Sam Riviere’s “Myself Included”

(date: 2026-04-15)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-sam-rivieres-myself-included/

What is the Best Literary Film Adaptation of the Last 50 Years? Day Three

(date: 2026-04-15)

It’s day three and only 16 films are left after voting yesterday. I always forget that running these brackets is an experience in daily heartbreak, as every morning, more of my favorites get knocked out. Yesterday, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Ran,

https://lithub.com/what-is-the-best-literary-film-adaptation-of-the-last-50-years-day-three/

Göteborg Film Festival Appoints New CEO

(date: 2026-04-15)

The Göteborg Film Festival has appointed Kristina Colliander as its new CEO. She will take up the position in early autumn, joining from her role as CEO at Film Stockholm. Colliander had been CEO at Film Stockholm since 2021. Before that, she was Head of Film Funding at the Swedish Film Institute and also had […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/kristina-colliander-goteborg-film-festival-ceo-1236861367/

Security updates for Wednesday

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-20)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (capstone, cockpit, firefox, git-lfs, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, kea, kernel, nghttp2, nodejs24, openexr, perl-XML-Parser, rsync, squid, and vim), Debian (imagemagick, systemd, and thunderbird), Slackware (libexif and xorg), SUSE (bind, clamav, firefox, freerdp2, giflib, go1.25, go1.26, helm, ignition, libpng16, libssh, oci-cli, rust1.92, strongswan, sudo, xorg-x11-server, and xwayland), and Ubuntu (rust-tar and rustc, rustc-1.76, rustc-1.77, rustc-1.78, rustc-1.79, rustc-1.80).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067718/

Ari Shapiro Joins CNN As A Contributor, Will Co-Host Video Podcast With Audie Cornish

(date: 2026-04-15)

Ari Shapiro, the longtime host of NPR’s All Things Considered who departed the network last year, has joined CNN as a contributor. Shapiro will appear on CNN’s on-air and digital programming, and will co-host a video podcast with Audie Cornish, his colleague at NPR. Cornish, a CNN anchor and analyst, joined the network in 2022. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/ari-shapiro-cnn-contributor-audie-cornish-1236860767/

Kelly Marie Tran & Rob Benedict Lead The Cast Of iHeartPodcasts’ Vietnam-Set Drama ‘Saigon’ From Thoroughbred Studios

(date: 2026-04-15)

EXCLUSIVE: Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars) and Rob Benedict (The Boys) will lend their voices to Saigon, a new iHeartPodcasts drama based on the bestselling Vietnam-set novel of the same name by Anthony Grey. The scripted podcast comes from Thoroughbred Studios, which is run by media veterans Jeff Bewkes, Howard Stringer and Jeremy Fox. It […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/kelly-marie-tran-rob-benedict-saigon-iheartpodcasts-vietnam-1236861286/

2026-04-14 Oddμ as a static site generator

(date: 2026-04-15)

2026-04-14 Oddμ as a static site generator

The End of Eleventy by Brennan Kenneth Brown ( @brennan) is a blog outlining the surge in static site generator popularity. Static sites are web sites consisting of HTML and CSS files that are served by a web server. There is no server-side component to them. This makes them very fast for readers.

There are a few drawbacks.

You cannot edit pages online, you need access to the files. Or, as Brennan Kenneth Brown explained in a comment (see below), you can use other services to implement the dynamic aspects: Edit pages in a web interface of your page repository and use it’s continuous integration to generate the static HTML and publish it. I mean, it’s technically correct. But as a whole, the static site generators ends up being just a small piece of a larger network of independent services, none of which are entirely under your control.

Also, you can’t have a search engine. Well, actually you can have local search if you put the whole full text index and the search engine itself into JavaScript files and load them from your web site. That’s how Lunr or Pagefind work, for example. That is, in order to perform a search, you download the whole or parts of the index and search on the client side. It can work. Specially if we’re used to the idea that images can be two, three or ten megabytes. Who cares if downloading the index takes a bit?

Brennan Kenneth Brown’s article talks about the popularity of dynamic sites that can be edited online, that come with search, version history and all that, at the price of being slower and clunkier. And how the pendulum swung back again to static site generators. A generator is a program that takes a bunch of text files (often written in Markdown) and turns them into a static site by generating HTML files with a template or two, and some CSS. Easier to write than straight HTML, but also a source of lock-in. Now you need software to generate the HTML. The article goes on to talk about the various popular options: Jekyll, Hugo, Gatsby, Eleventy (11ty).

And you know what comes next: How Eleventy got bought and how people are sad, angry, disappointed.

I have no answer to that. I understand people getting tired of their own creation. I understand people getting excited by users at first and then weighed down by an ever increasing number of them. Even if none of them complain or make requests – it’s still the weight of responsibility. No more joyful tinkering and writing bugs!

All of this makes me think that I should write better (even better!) documentation for how one would use Oddμ to generate a static site. There’s a command to that: oddmu static.

Sadly, the documentation doesn’t explain how you would write blog pages with names that start with a date (like 2026-04-14-ssg.md), run oddmu notify to generate the links from the index file ( index.md) and any existing hashtag files for the hashtags you used (using the tag #Wikis if the file Wikis.md exists).

There’s also a half-finished implementation of oddmu toc to generate a table of content for a long page. But then what do you do with it? This should be integrated into the build process somewhere. Right now, you’d probably have to do some scripting to insert a table of contents into the HTML of the files that need it. A shell script that loops over all the HTML files, runs oddmu toc, checks if it is long enough (two entries?), and if so, pipe it into oddmu html to turn it into HTML and then insert into the page HTML … you see how this is not trivial. I need to do something about that.

Anyway, if you’re trying to use Oddμ as a static site generator, let me know. Let me know what didn’t work and what confused you. I’m interested in writing better documentation. But I also don’t want to crash and burn under the weight of responsibility. No danger of that, yet! But I think it goes to show that the software should be as simple as possible so that other people can take it and run with it.

As Oddμ tries to be both a wiki that can be edited from the web and a static site generator, I’m guessing that’s already a failure. Oh no!

#Wikis #Oddμ #Static Site Generators

2026-04-15. @brennan commented on fedi:

I use PageFind for search on my site, and it is brower-side, works well, and is speedy.

You can edit posts from the Internet, you just need to edit the raw markdown files in your repo (if you’re using git) or filezilla if it’s on a server, etc. You just don’t get WYSISWG unless you’re using a headless CMS or Micropub.

The great thing about 11ty is the plugins, I have the ability to add TOCs to pages but I usually don’t find it necessary.

Thanks! And thanks for the Pagefind reference. I didn’t know it. I took up that thought about editing the files using separate services in the blog post above.

Update. Oddμ now supports a marker in its templates (an “action”) to add the table of contents to a page.

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2026-04-14-ssg

Roku Launches ‘Gamechangers’ Anthology Docuseries With Women’s Soccer Champ Ashlyn Harris As First Subject

(date: 2026-04-15)

The world of women’s sports is front and center in Roku’s new Original documentary series Gamechangers. The anthology initially will consist of three feature documentary films, each providing a beyond-the-headlines look at the forces reshaping the game on and off the field. The first installment follows the journey of two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion Ashlyn Harris. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/roku-gamechangers-docuseries-womens-sports-ashlyn-harris-1236860659/

Fox Nation To Debut Sean Hannity-Hosted Special ‘Radicalized’

(date: 2026-04-15)

Fox Nation is debuting a Sean Hannity-hosted special Radicalized on Wednesday, a project that explores online radicalization and digital subcultures. The special will look into the stories of Luigi Mangione, who faces trial in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson; Tyler Robinson, accused to assassinating Charlie Kirk; and Robin Westman, accused of a […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sean-hannity-fox-nation-special-radicalized-1236860706/

Nowsday

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-20)

Nobirds? Engadget: Shoe company Allbirds pivots to AI compute in sign of a totally normal and healthy economy. Say hello to “NewBird AI.” It’s April 15, not April 1. Just noting that. Reuters. Investopedia. Marketwatch. Apparently, you can still buy their shoes: allbirds.com. I love The Onion’s American Voices take. One more reason to hate advertising […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/15/nowsday/

Australian Police Launch Investigation After Ruby Rose Accused Katy Perry Of Sexual Assault

(date: 2026-04-15)

Australian police have launched an investigation after Ruby Rose accused Katy Perry of sexual assault in a string of social media posts. Perry has strongly denied the claims. Victoria police said on Wednesday that detectives were examining an allegation of “historical sexual assault that occurred in Melbourne in 2010.” The police force did not name […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/ruby-rose-katy-perry-police-investigate-sexual-assault-1236861322/

Snap Cutting 16% Of Full-Time Workforce; CEO Evan Spiegel Says AI Offers “New Way Of Working”

(date: 2026-04-15)

Snap Inc. is laying off 16% of its full-time workforce, or about 1,000 employees, with CEO Evan Spiegel declaring that “a new way of working” is possible thanks to artificial intelligence. In a memo to employees (read it below), Spiegel said the cuts, along with related efforts to become more efficient, will reduce annual costs […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/snap-layoffs-ceo-evan-spiegel-ai-1236861335/

Beta Cinema Post Deals On Berlinale Award-Winner & Austrian B.O. Hit ‘Four Minus Three’

(date: 2026-04-15)

Beta Cinema has posted deals for award-winning Austrian Berlinale 2026 Panorama title Four Minus Three as it enjoys a strong theatrical launch in its home territory and sweeps nomination in key local film awards. Directed by Adrian Goiginger, the film is adapted from the autobiographical bestseller by Barbara Pachl-Eberhart, telling her tale of loss as […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/beta-cinema-deals-berlinale-hit-four-minus-three-1236861308/

David Harewood’s ‘Othello’ Reprise Lands At Marquee TV

(date: 2026-04-15)

EXCLUSIVE: David Harewood’s (Homeland) Othello reprise on the West End will launch on arts-focused international streamer Marquee TV next month. The landmark production at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London, which began late last year, saw Harewood reprise his groundbreaking performance as Othello. It also stars Toby Jones (Mr Bates vs the Post Office), Caitlin […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/marquee-tv-buys-othello-david-harewood-reprise-1236861295/

These Guys Suck

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

I liked Eric Swalwell before the allegations, or thought I did anyway.

https://dbarkhuff.substack.com/p/these-guys-suck

Heather Cox Richardson Joins TBR!

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

TBR Book Club

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/heather-cox-richardson-joins-tbr

Defense in Depth, Medieval Style

(date: 2026-04-15)

This article on the walls of Constantinople is fascinating.

The system comprised four defensive lines arranged in formidable layers:

The brick-lined ditch, divided by bulkheads and often flooded, 15-20 meters wide and up to 7 meters deep.

A low breastwork, about 2 meters high, enabling defenders to fire freely from behind.

The outer wall, 8 meters tall and 2.8 meters thick, with 82 projecting towers.

The main wall—a towering 12 meters high and 5 meters thick—with 96 massive towers offset from those of the outer wall for maximum coverage.

...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/defense-in-depth-medieval-style.html

‘Star Trek’ Star Kate Mulgrew Leading RTÉ Series ‘The Yank’ About NYPD Detective In Ireland

(date: 2026-04-15)

Star Trek favorite Kate Mulgrew is leading an Irish TV series about a hard-nosed New York cop in Ireland from Blue Lights producer Two Cities Television. Mulgrew, who is also known for playing Red in Orange is the New Black, is starring opposite Colm Meaney (Gangs of London) in The Yank for Irish pubcaster RTÉ. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-yank-kate-mulgrew-colm-meaney-rte-new-york-cop-1236861280/

Autocracy = Corruption

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

What the U.S. resistance can learn from Hungary

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/autocracy-corruption

Lit Hub Daily: April 15, 2026

(date: 2026-04-15)

It’s time for the third round in our Best Literary Adaptations bracket, and things are getting serious. Vote for your favorite movies to push them closer to the top! | Lit Hub Harry Sidebottom traces Roman history through Amazon, Achillia,

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-15-2026/

UK Agency United Agents Launches Unscripted Division With Clients Including Nick Mohammed, Paloma Faith, Kate Garraway

(date: 2026-04-15)

UK agency United Agents, which reps the likes of Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed, singer Paloma Faith and TV presenter Kate Garraway, has opened an unscripted division. Garraway’s rep Matt Nicholls will run the divison and he has hired ex-Mirador agent Holly Hirsch, a specialist in digital talent. The division will serve talent like Mohammed, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/united-agents-opens-unscripted-division-nick-mohammed-1236860249/

Samantha Morton To Star In Syria Kidnap Thriller ‘Love And War’ — Cannes Market

(date: 2026-04-15)

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton, who recently starred with Daniel Day-Lewis in Anemone and in Starz series The Serpent Queen, is set to headline rescue thriller Love And War. Alliance Media Partners (AMP) is launching international sales rights to the feature ahead of next month’s Cannes market. Pic is to be directed by Lisa […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/samantha-morton-syria-kidnap-movie-love-and-war-1236861234/

Trump's litigation extortion machine

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

You can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-wall-street-journal-lawsuit-dismissed

Money Perverts: The Death of Retirement

(date: 2026-04-15)

RIP Corp is a Charts & Leisure production. Find us at ripcorp.biz for all your dead business needs.

To support the show, please consider aligning yourself even more deeply with the brand, via our merch shop: ripcorp.threadless.com

RIP Corp is written and hosted by Ingrid Burrington. Produced by Meghal Janardan and Mike Rugnetta. Associate producer, Taylor Behnke. Original music and sound design from Andrew Atkin and Michael Simonelli. Fact-checking from Matt Giles. Logo design by Beatriz Lozano and illustrations by Megan Mulholland. Executive produced by Jason Oberholtzer.

https://ripcorp.biz/episodes/what-happened-to-pensions-HS9LIHD2

Dragoncatcher: The milestone of Gemma 4

(date: 2026-04-15)

Small and capable. Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/gemma-milestone/

LibreOffice at Document Freedom Day in Noida, India

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

Ravi Dwivedi from the Indian LibreOffice community writes: On the 29th of March 2026, we celebrated Document Freedom Day in Noida India. Thanks for Essentia.dev for the venue and sflc.in for sponsoring snacks and the cake. sflc.in is a donor-supported legal services organisation in India. The event featured a few

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/15/libreoffice-at-document-freedom-day-in-noida-india/

Of the Many Types of Roman Gladiator, Some Were Definitely Women

(date: 2026-04-15)

“If I win, Toxaris, we shall go away together, with all that we need; but if I fall, bury me and go back to Scythia.” These were the last words of Sisinnes in the arena at Amastris. “I have lived

https://lithub.com/of-the-many-types-of-roman-gladiator-some-were-definitely-women/

Starting to Write Again After Unimaginable Tragedy

(date: 2026-04-15)

In 2022, the year my baby died from labor complications, I thought I would never laugh again. That was fine by me. I didn’t want to live in a world where it was possible to laugh after losing your baby.

https://lithub.com/starting-to-write-again-after-unimaginable-tragedy/

Authoring Fame: A Reading List of Celebrity Narratives

(date: 2026-04-15)

On a February morning in 1910, silent film actress Florence Lawrence awoke to discover she was dead—according to the newspapers, anyhow. “I…was startled to see several likenesses of myself staring me in the face,” Lawrence wrote in a 1914 article

https://lithub.com/authoring-fame-a-reading-list-of-celebrity-narratives/

How Art Can Transport Us to the Past

(date: 2026-04-15)

The story of my grandparents is, I think, one of love and great courage: my grandfather was a Catholic priest, and he stuck it to the ultimate man when he married my grandmother in 1966. To them, however, it was

https://lithub.com/how-art-can-transport-us-to-the-past/

An Unsolved Puzzle: On Identity, Silence and a Legacy of Violence in Colombia

(date: 2026-04-15)

As a child, I once asked my grandmother why she did not forgive or forget, given her fierce Catholicism. We were playing cards on the bed in her large, white bedroom in Barranquilla, surrounded by faded portraits of old saints

https://lithub.com/an-unsolved-puzzle-on-identity-silence-and-a-legacy-of-violence-in-colombia/

We’re All Wrong About Men and Feminism

(date: 2026-04-15)

In 1977, a man working on a drilling rig in Alaska, far from his home, sat down and wrote a letter. He’d been working as a “roughneck” handling the drill in freezing Arctic conditions and every day after his shift

https://lithub.com/were-all-wrong-about-men-and-feminism/

“Daddy is Sleeping.” On Motherhood, Fatherhood and the Delicate Balance of Parental Labor

(date: 2026-04-15)

“Shhhhh, Daddy is sleeping,” I whisper-yelled to the kids as they giggled manically one Saturday morning. I could feel my blood pressure rising as I reminded myself that it’s normal for children to delight in the wonder of life. There

https://lithub.com/daddy-is-sleeping-on-motherhood-fatherhood-and-the-delicate-balance-of-parental-labor/

Stephen Miller's Strait of Hormuz

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-22)

His crackdown on immigrants is assumed to be good for America as long as it causes immigrants more pain than it does us. Same "logic" as Trump is using in Iran.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/steven-millers-strait-of-hormuz

Pluralistic: Rights for robots (15 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links Rights for robots: Not everything deserves moral consideration. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: 7 years under the DMCA; NOLA mayoral candidate x New Orleans Square; Kettling is illegal; AOL won't deliver critical emails; Chris Ware x Charlie Brown; Mossack Fonseca raided; Corporate lobbying budget is greater than Senate and House; Corbyn overpays taxes; What IP means; Bill Gates v humanity; "Jackpot." Upcoming appearances: Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Rights for robots (permalink) The Rights of Nature movement uses a bold tactic to preserve our habitable Earth: it seeks to extend (pseudo) personhood to things like watersheds, forests and other ecosystems, as well as nonhuman species, in hopes of creating legal "standing" to ask the courts for protection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights_of_nature What do watersheds, forests and nonhuman species need protection from? That turns out to be a very interesting question, because the most common adversary in a Rights of Nature case is another pseudo-person: namely, a limited liability corporation. These nonhuman "persons" have been a feature of our legal system since the late 19th century, when the Supreme Court found that the 14th Amendment's "Equal Protection" clause could be applied to a railroad. In the 150-some years since, corporate personhood has monotonically expanded, most notoriously through cases like Hobby Lobby, which gave a corporation the right to discriminate against women on the grounds that it shared its founders' religious opposition to abortion; and, of course, in Citizens United, which found that corporate personhood meant that corporations had a constitutional right to divert their profits to bribe politicians. Theoretically, "corporate personhood" extends to all kinds of organizations, including trade unions – but in practice, corporate personhood primarily allows the ruling class to manufacture new "people" to serve as a botnet on their behalf. A union has free speech rights just like an employer, but the employer's property rights mean that it can exclude union organizers from its premises, and employer rights mean that corporations can force workers to sit through "captive audience" meetings where expensive consultants lie to them about how awful a union would be (the corporation's speech rights also mean that it's free to lie). In my view, corporate personhood has been an unmitigated disaster. Creating "human rights" for these nonhuman entities led to the catastrophic degradation of the natural world, via the equally catastrophic degradation of our political processes. In a strange way, corporate personhood has realized the danger that reactionary opponents of votes for women warned of. In the days of the suffrage movement, anti-feminists claimed that giving women the vote would simply lead to husbands getting two votes, since wives would simply vote the way their husbands told them to. This libel never died out. Take the recent hard-fought UK by-election in Gorton and Denton (basically Manchester): this was the first test of the Green Party's electoral chances under its new leader, the brilliant and principled leftist Zack Polanski. The Green candidate was Hannah Spencer, a working-class plumber and plasterer who rejected the demonization of the region's Muslim voters, unlike her rivals from Labour (which has transformed itself into a right-wing party), Reform (a fascist party), and the Conservatives (an irrelevant and dying right party). During the race (and especially after Spencer romped to a massive victory) Spencer's rivals accused her of courting "family voters," by which they meant Muslim wives, who would vote the way their Islamist husbands ordered them to. Despite the facial absurdity of this claim – that the Islamist vote would go for the pro-trans party led by a gay Jew – it was widely repeated: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyxeqpzz2no "Family voting" isn't a thing, but corporate personhood has conferred political rights on the ruling class, who get to manufacture corporate "people" at scale, each of which is guaranteed the same right to contribute to politicians and intervene in our politics as any human. Contrast this with the Rights for Nature movement. Where corporate personhood leads to a society with less empathy for living things (up to and including humans), Rights for Nature creates a legal and social basis for more empathy. In her stunning novel A Half-Built Garden, Ruthanna Emrys paints a picture of a world in which the personhood of watersheds and animals become as much of a part of our worldview as corporate personhood is today: https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/26/aislands/#dead-ringers Scenes from A Half-Built Garden kept playing out in my mind last month while I attended the Bioneers conference in Berkeley, where they carried on their decades-long tradition of centering indigenous activists whose environmental campaigns were intimately bound up with the idea of personhood for the natural world and its inhabitants: https://bioneers.org/ On the last morning, my daughter and I sat through a string of inspiring and uplifting presentations from indigenous-led groups that had used Rights of Nature to rally support for legal challenges that had forced those other nonhuman "persons" – limited liability corporations – to retreat from plans to raze, poison, or murder whole regions. The final keynote speaker that morning was the writer Michael Pollan, who spoke about a looming polycrisis of AI, and I found myself groaning and squirming. Not him, too! Were we about to be held captive to yet another speaker convinced that AI was going to become conscious and turn us all into paperclips? That seemed to be where he was leading, as he discussed the way that chatbots were designed to evince the empathic response we normally reserve for people – the same empathy that all the other speakers were seeking to inspire for nature. But then, he took an unexpected and welcome turn: Pollan compared extending personhood to chatbots to the disastrous decision to extend personhood to corporations, and urged us all to turn away from it. This crystallized something that had niggled at me for years. For years, people I respect have used the Rights for Nature movement as an argument for extending empathy to software constructs. The more we practice empathy – and the more rights we afford to more entities – the better we get at it. Personhood for things that are not like us, the argument goes, makes our own personhood more secure, by honing a reflex toward empathy and respect for all things. This is the argument for saying thank you to Siri (and now to other chatbots): https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/fpq/article/download/14294/12136 Siri – like so many of our obedient, subservient, sycophantic chatbots – impersonates a woman. If we get habituated to barking orders at a "woman" (or at our "assistants") then this will bleed out into our interactions with real women and real assistants. Extending moral consideration to Siri, though "she" is just a software construct, will condition our reflexes to treat everything with respect. For years, I'd uncritically accepted that argument, but after hearing Pollan speak, I changed my mind. Rather than treating Siri with respect because it impersonates a woman, we should demand that Siri stop impersonating a woman. I don't thank my Unix shell when I pipe a command to grep and get the output that I'm looking for, and I don't thank my pocket-knife when it slices through the tape on a parcel. I can appreciate that these are well-made tools and value their thoughtful design, but that doesn't mean I have to respect them in the way that I would respect a person. That way lies madness – the madness that leads us to ascribe personalities to corporations and declare some of them to be "immoral" and others to be "moral," which is always and forever a dead end: https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones In other words: there's an argument from the Rights of Nature movement that says that the more empathy we practice, the better off we are in all our interactions. But Pollan complicated that argument, by raising the example of corporate personhood. It turns out that extending personhood to constructed nonhuman entities like corporations reduces the amount of empathy we practice. Far from empowering labor unions, the creation of "human" rights for groups and organizations has given capital more rights over workers. A labor rights regime can defend workers – without empowering bosses and without creating new "persons." The question is: is a chatbot more like a corporation (whose personhood corrodes our empathy) or more like a watershed (whose personhood strengthens our empathy)? But to ask that question is to answer it – a chatbot is definitely more like a corporation than it is like a watershed. What's more: in a very real, non-metaphorical way, giving rights to chatbots means taking away rights from nature, thanks to LLMs' energy-intesivity. Empathy then, for the nonhuman world – but not for human constructs. Hey look at this (permalink) Khan vs. Cutter: A Tale of Two Careers https://prospect.org/2026/04/14/khan-vs-cutter-tale-of-two-careers/ The MetaBrainz Foundation is seeking a new Executive Director (ED) https://blog.metabrainz.org/2026/04/14/seeking-a-new-executive-director/ Missouri Town Council Approves Data Center. A Week Later, Voters Fire Half of Council https://gizmodo.com/missouri-town-council-approves-data-center-a-week-later-voters-fire-half-of-council-2000746005 Wikilinker https://whitelabel.org/wikilinker/about/ Fold Catastrophes/Peter Watts https://tachyonpublications.com/product/fold-catastrophes/?mc_cid=c20986aa78 Object permanence (permalink) #20yrsago Canadian labels pull out of RIAA-fronted Canadian Recording Industry Ass. https://web.archive.org/web/20060414170111/https://www.michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1204/Itemid,85/nsub,/ #20yrsago EFF publishes “7 Years Under the DMCA” paper https://web.archive.org/web/20060415110951/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004555.php #20yrsago Life of a writer as a Zork adventure https://web.archive.org/web/20060414115745/http://acephalous.typepad.com/acephalous/2006/04/disadventure.html #20yrsago NOLA mayoral candidate uses photo of Disneyland New Orleans Square https://web.archive.org/web/20060414214356/https://www.wonkette.com/politics/new-orleans/not-quite-the-happiest-place-on-earth-166989.php #20yrsago AOL won’t deliver emails that criticize AOL https://web.archive.org/web/20060408133439/https://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_04.php#004556 #15yrsago UK court rules that kettling was illegal https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/apr/14/kettling-g20-protesters-police-illegal #15yrsago If Chris Ware was Charlie Brown https://eatmorebikes.blogspot.com/2011/04/lil-chris-ware.html #10yrsago Piracy dooms motion picture industry to yet another record-breaking box-office year https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-fails-to-prevent-box-office-record-160413/ #10yrsago Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca law offices raided by Panama authorities https://www.reuters.com/article/us-panama-tax-raid-idUSKCN0XA020/ #10yrsago Panama Papers reveal offshore companies were bagmen for the world’s spies https://web.archive.org/web/20160426083004/https://www.yahoo.com/news/panama-papers-reveal-spies-used-mossak-fonseca-231833609.html #10yrsago How corporate America’s lobbying budget surpassed the combined Senate and Congress budget https://web.archive.org/web/20150422010643/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/04/how-corporate-lobbyists-conquered-american-democracy/390822/ #10yrsago URL shorteners are a short path to your computer’s hard drive https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.02734 #10yrsago UL has a new, opaque certification process for cybersecurity https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/04/underwriters-labs-refuses-to-share-new-iot-cybersecurity-standard/ #10yrsago Jeremy Corbyn overpays his taxes https://web.archive.org/web/20160413192208/https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/73724/jeremy-corbyn-overstated-income-his-tax-return #10yrsago Cassetteboy’s latest video is an amazing, danceable anti-Snoopers Charter mashup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2fSXp6N-vs #10yrsago Texas: prisoners whose families maintain their social media presence face 45 days in solitary https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/texas-prison-system-unveils-new-inmate-censorship-policy #5yrsago Data-brokerages vs the world https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#axciom #5yrsago What "IP" means https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#ip #5yrsago Bill Gates will kill us all https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#gates-foundation #5yrsago Jackpot https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#affluenza Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI (The Strand), Jun 24 https://www.strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/15/artificial-lifeforms/

April 14, 2026

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

There are signs the political game has changed in the United States since Hungarian voters rejected Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s leadership on Sunday, April 12.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-14-2026

Pressed For Options

(date: 2026-04-15)

I bought a USB fingerprint reader for my Linux laptop from Temu because it was the only one I could find that I knew would work.

https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/17319282/linux-external-fingerprint-reader-challenges

One size fits none: let communities build for themselves

(date: 2026-04-15, updated: 2026-04-21)

How open protocols and agentic development could lead to a whole new generation of social applications.

https://werd.io/one-size-fits-none-let-communities-build-for-themselves/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-17)

US Postal Service union launches ad campaign promoting mail voting.

https://apnews.com/article/postal-service-mail-voting-trump-midterms-d0883d8064fd512565e8b07e373a5a66?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=share %3Cbr%3EPostal

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-16)

For an easy salad dressing, look no further than lemon juice and olive oil.

https://wapo.st/4csNgMI

Wednesday 15 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-21)

The enduring fascination of Harry Potter Every time I pass through King’s Cross I am reminded of it. Must be wonderful to be an author who made such an impact on people. ## Quote of the Day ”The secret to … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/wednesday-15-april-2026/41881/

A Holy War Is Brewing Inside the White House

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

A growing religious rift is threatening to rip the GOP apart

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trump-pope-leo-catholics-blasphemy

Newsletter: The Epstein Files - Who Gains from the Confusion?

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

How the Criminals in the Epstein Files Benefit from Our Confusion

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/newsletter-conspiracy-or-conspiracy

Hanging Out, Catching Up, And Breaking It Down With The Contrarians (Video)

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

Enjoy this new deep dive into our current moment with Norm Eisen and April Ryan. We cover a lot of ground and even get to talk a little baseball at the end!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/hanging-out-catching-up-and-breaking

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-16)

Redesigning Claude Code on desktop for parallel agents.

https://claude.com/blog/claude-code-desktop-redesign

LibreOffice at the Chemnitzer Linux-Tage 2026

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Chemnitzer Linux-Tage (English page) is a yearly event in Germany for fans of free and open source software. This year, the LibreOffice project was present, as Karl-Heinz Gruner describes: LibreOffice had an information booth at the event. Stickers and flyers were very popular. An excerpt from their extensive video

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/14/libreoffice-at-the-chemnitzer-linux-tage-2026/

Human Error is OK! Machine Madness is a No-No! Why?

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-17)

We forgive human error as if it were weather. We treat machine error as if it were heresy. That thought has kept nagging at me as I read about three recent technology screw-ups. Anthropic exposed unreleased files. Anthropic then shipped 512,000 lines of internal code, roadmap and all, to the public npm registry. Axios got …

https://om.co/2026/04/14/human-error-is-ok-machine-madness-is-a-no-no-why/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-16)

WordCamp Asia 2026 keynote video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad4tM-CDEUc

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-16)

How I made my skills update themselves.

https://joost.blog/self-updating-agent-skills/

Zig 0.16.0 released

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-19)

The Zig project has announced version0.16.0 of the Zig programming language.

This release features 8 months of work: changes from 244 different contributors, spread among1183 commits.

Perhaps most notably, this release debuts I/O
as an Interface, but don't sleep on the Language
Changes or enhancements to the Compiler,Build
System, Linker,Fuzzer, and Toolchain which are also included in this release.

LWN last covered Zig in December 2025.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067634/

An Ultralight MacBook and Other Apple Silicon Roads Not Taken

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

John Gruber: If I had my druthers, Apple would make a new svelte ultralight MacBook. Not instead of the Neo, but in addition to the Neo. Apple’s inconsistent use of the name “Air” makes this complicated, but the MacBook Neo is obviously akin to the iPhone 17e; the MacBook Air is akin to the iPhone […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/14/an-ultralight-macbook-and-other-apple-silicon-roads-not-taken/

Modern FatBits Mode

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

Marcin Wichary: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Zoom, and then turn on “Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom.” […] I’d also recommend turning off “Smooth images” under “Advanced…” so you see individual pixels better[…] Over the years, I found this feature very useful to inspect various misalignments, to check visual details, and […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/14/modern-fatbits-mode/

Only Time Will Tell

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

Marcin Wichary: Why is there a short wait if you press a button on your headphone remote or your AirPods to pause the music? Because the interface has to let a bit of time pass to figure out if you’re going to press the button again, making it a double press (advance to next track) […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/14/only-time-will-tell/

Design and Engineering, As One · Matthias Ott

(date: 2026-04-14)

A thoughtful piece by Matthias that’s a must-read for both designers and developers.

adactio.com/links/22527

https://matthiasott.com/articles/design-and-engineering-as-one

Uncloud Private Registries

(date: 2026-04-14)

While pushing this PR, the answer was that this was already working! But kind of unintuitive, but smart as it re-uses whatever docker setup you got (i.e. credentials helpers).

So to get this working you:

% docker login registry.science.ru.nl
Username: bla
Password:
...

And then use uc deploy -f .../compose.yml just like you did before. Now it should pull from the private repo and things “just work”.

See this guide for canonical text on this.

https://miek.nl/2026/april/14/uncloud-private-registries/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

A glitch in the matrix. The app that keeps daveverse.org in sync with scripting.com has been offline since Friday, so I'm republishing all the posts since then. They will all appear to have been posted today on daveverse. As they say -- still diggin!

http://scripting.com/2026/04/14.html#a173058

Simple small business proxy server using squid

(date: 2026-04-14)

When I was figuring out how to enable our team at the newspaper to work in a more distributed fashion while maintaining network security, I looked at a variety of VPN and proxy options. In the end I settled on a simple proxy server setup using the squid open source proxy software. I needed a … Continue reading Simple small business proxy server using squid

The post Simple small business proxy server using squid appeared first on Chris Hardie's Tech and Software Blog.

https://tech.chrishardie.com/2026/simple-proxy-server-squid/

The Vulnerability Of The Liberal Neutral State

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post The Vulnerability Of The Liberal Neutral State appeared first on NOEMA.

https://www.noemamag.com/the-vulnerability-of-the-liberal-neutral-state

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-16)

Brilliant ad.

https://x.com/trajektoriePL/status/2043957874083143963

Trump Sank Viktor Orbán’s Reelection. It Can Happen Here, too.

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump backed Hungary’s prime minister and helped end his 16-year rule, putting far-right leaders on notice: when voters are fed up, they show up.

https://plus.briantylercohen.com/p/trump-sank-viktor-orbans-reelection

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-14:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

7 new and 82 updated places.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/las-15-peliculas-mas-esperadas-del-ficci-65/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=las-15-peliculas-mas-esperadas-del-ficci-65

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

41363e7f - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

6d9fa4b2 - updated gis package

c6cccf0b - updated data quality

47b5d68c - updated bibliography

dafe6054 - updated indexes

4bbcc82c - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

e1124326 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

2b44637c - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116403923884362103

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

I updated sally.scripting.com to support https, and updated it with posts from scripting.com in 2023-2026. I was using it as an example of prior art of user interface for Claude. I figured restoring this app on my own would be penance for believing that Claude was anywhere near as smart as I am. Not even close. Not today at least. Grrr.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/14.html#a160308

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-15)

This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:

I’m speaking at DemocracyXChange 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 18, 2026.
I’m speaking at the SANS AI Cybersecurity Summit 2026 in Arlington, Virginia, USA, at 9:40 AM ET on April 20, 2026.
I’m speaking at the Greater Good Gathering in New York City, USA, on Tuesday, April 21, 2026.
I’m speaking at the Nemertes [Next] Virtual Conference Spring 2026, a virtual event, on April 29, 2026.
I’m speaking at RightsCon 2026 in Lusaka, Zambia, on May 6 and 7, 2026.

...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/upcoming-speaking-engagements-55.html

Las 15 películas más esperadas del FICCI 65

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-21)

Los lustros son motivo de reflexión, especialmente cuando terminan en cinco. Es el punto medio, la liminalidad manifestada en una cifra, que nos hace poner las cosas en perspectiva: ¿Qué hemos hecho con media década recorrida y la otra media por delante? ¿Hacia dónde queremos ir antes de llegar a la siguiente etapa que es […]

La entrada Las 15 películas más esperadas del FICCI 65 se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

[$] Tagging music with MusicBrainz Picard

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-19)

Part of the "fun" that comes with curating a self-hosted music library is tagging music so that it has accurate and uniform metadata, such as the band names, album titles, cover images, and so on. This can be a tedious endeavor, but there are quite a few open-source tools to make this process easier. One of the best, or at least my favorite, is MusicBrainz Picard. It is a cross-platform music-tagging application that pulls information from the well-curated, crowdsourced MusicBrainz database project and writes it to almost any audio file format.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066384/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

I've come to the conclusion, perhaps temporarily, that Claude can't work on a programming project with an experienced developer. It doesn't check its work, it'll think it's found the problem, makes a change, or worse causes you to do a lot of work so it can make a change. It doesn't use the information it gives you, can't even remember what was in a bug report less than one screen above. I could have done the work I coached it through through the morning, with a thoroughly inadequate result, in an hour at most. At least today it couldn't learn from prior art, and couldn't follow basic instructions. It's weird though because I'm really suprised how little it knows about the scientific method or even has been trained in how to work with others. I seem to recall situations where it was extremely good at reading code. Not a totally wasted session, let's see what I can learn from it.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/14.html#a154738

OpenSSL 4.0.0 released

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-18)

Version 4.0.0 of the OpenSSL cryptographic library has been released. This release includes support for a number of new cryptographic algorithms and has a number of incompatible changes as well; see the announcement for the details.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067622/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-21)

CPU loading on the Pleiades webapp has returned to normal. Please report any new difficulties to pleiades at admin dot nyu dot edu.

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116403664332253980

Orbán And Nations

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/orban-and-nations/

Angels in America

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

I have wanted to write this post for a long time, but I was waiting until I could visit the invaluable Royal National Theatre Archive to check my memory of their early productions. It doesn't look like I'll be in London any time soon, and I have the time now to write a long post about a long play, so here goes.

Growing up in London meant that theatre has always been an important part of my life. I have seen a great many plays including some legendary performances and magnificent productions, such as Royal National Theatre's 2014 King Lear. One of my particular theatrical interests is long-form plays. Highlights of this genre have included:

Play Text

Ken Campbell's Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool's 9-hour Illuminatus Trilogy
The Magic Theatre's all-night production of Murray Mednick's Coyote Cycle
The Royal National Theatre's 6-hour adaptation of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials
Taylor Mac's 3x8-hour A 24-Decade History of Popular Music

But there is one such play that is very special to me, Tony Kushner's 7+ hour Angels in America. It is clearly among the greatest plays of the 20th century. I was there at the beginning, and I have seen many productions since. Below the fold I recount my history with this masterpiece.

Introduction

Anyone interested in this play should read both the text of the two halves, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, and Isaac Butler and Dan Kois' magisterial and comprehensive oral history, The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America. Because my story starts in 1991 I have used both to refresh my memory. Below the many quotes without links are from Butler and Kois, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. I also viewed the National Theatre's 2017 production on the National Theatre at Home streaming service.

When I moved to the Bay Area in 1985 It was a decade since I'd lived in London and I was starved of theater. So I went a bit nuts and over the next few years subscribed to American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Magic Theater and the Eureka Theater.

Eureka Theatre (1991)

The story of the play starts with a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for Tony Kushner to write a "two-hour play, with songs" for "five gay men and an angel" that the Eureka would produce. In 1989 the play was developed and in 1990 workshopped at the Mark Taper in Los Angeles.

KUSHNER: I wrote the part of Harper for Lorri Holt, Hannah for Abigail Van Alyn, Sigrid [Wurmschmidt] was the Angel. And Jeff King, I wrote the part of Joe for him. And that took care of the Eureka company. My first year at NYU, I became friends with Stephen Spinella. I thought then, as I think now, that he was one of the most remarkable actors I'd ever met, and I loved writing for him, and so I wrote Prior Walter for him.

As a subscriber to the Eureka I had responded to their call for donations to stage Angels in America in their next season, so I was anxious to see it. By the time it arrived at the Eureka it had evolved into two long plays with five gay men, two women, an angel and no songs.

I believe I saw Millennium Approaches the weekend after it opened, and Perestroika the following weekend. The cast was different from that at the Mark Taper. Rick Frank (Roy) and Sigrid Wurmschmidt (Angel) had both died, and Lori Holt had a new baby. It was:

Hannah: Kathleen Chalfant
Roy: John Bellucci
Joe: Michael Scott Ryan
Harper: Anne Darragh
Belize: Harry Waters Jr.
Louis: Michael Ornstein
Prior: Stephen Spinella
Angel: Ellen McLaughlin

The Eureka was staging Millennium Approaches, a four-hour play full of scene changes and magic, with almost no money. So another abiding memory is that they got this enormous impact with an incredibly stripped-down production:

[Ellen] McLAUGHLIN: Not that many people saw the Eureka version of it, but it was very important to those who did. I think there was a kind of beauty to the hammer and nails and spit and Scotch tape quality of that first version. It was moving because we had nothing.

In some ways it reminded me of the San Francisco Mime Troupe's annual free shows in parks around the Bay Area. The same quality of conspiring with the audience's imagination:

KATHLEEN CHALFANT: It was in some ways the most beautiful version of the play, and the most Poor Theater version of the play.

[Dennis] HARVEY: They basically had a giant shower curtain in front of the stage. For scene transitions they would just whip the shower curtain across, one actor at the front and one at the back, and when they got the other side it would be a new scene.

KUSHNER: To this day no one has ever done better with the magic. David [Esbjornson] is incredibly clever designing and building gizmos, so every magic trick in the play, David figured out a way to do it. There was no money or anything. He built all this shit — it was incredible.

DEBORAH PEIFER: That sense of amazement of a book popping up out of the floor in flames, all done with lighting.

KUSHNER: He did it all with bungee cords.

My most abiding memory of that first part was walking out of the theater to my car after midnight realizing I had seen the birth of a masterpiece. Theater critic Deborah Peifer sums up my reaction:

PEIFER: I have never in my life seen a situation in which people did not leave the theater during the intermission unless they had to. And I'm not talking about Can I get a cup of coffee? but Can I make it through the next act without a bathroom break? People could not bear to be out of that theater while this thing was happening.

To call this a brilliantly realized, profoundly funny, wickedly thoughtful piece of theater is to discover the severe limitations of language. I find myself wanting to say simply, it's more than I ever imagined. This is an experience in the theater you will remember for your whole life.

Deborah Peifer, Bay Area Reporter, May 30 1991

Perestroika was even more stripped-down, little more than a staged reading:

KUSHNER: Originally, every act of the five acts of Perestroika started with a clown scene set in the Soviet Union. These ended up being the first five scenes of my play Slavs! [1994].

ESBJORNSON: I used the five Bolsheviks as curtain raisers. I made the actors hold the scripts in hand while they moved around. And then at one point in each act, they laid down their scrips and acted out what I considered to be the central point of that act.

It wasn't just that there were five acts, but each of them was rather long. Butler and Kois' description of the first night matches my later recollection of how long it was:

[Brian] THORSTENSON: It got to the scene between Hannah and Prior where Prior's in the hospital and Prior says "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers." They finished the scene and the audience erupted into this ... applause ... I think it lasted a good five minutes. Kathleen and Stephen looked out at the audience, like, What is going on?.

McLAUGHLIN: I came out late into the evening as the Angel wearing the wings and the whole get-up, stood in front of the curtain and said, Act 5: Heaven, I'm in Heaven.

And the woman in the front row said "Act FIVE?! Oh my GOD! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?!"

And I said "No". Because I honestly had no idea. It's not like I was wearing a watch.

And she said "It's MIDNIGHT, for God's sake! What's going on with the playwright? ACT FIVE? How long is it?

And I said, :We've never done it so I don't know, maybe forty-five minutes?" And she said, "The buses aren't even running anymore! How are we supposed to get HOME?" And she turns to the rest of the audience and says, "Are we going to stay?" And people sort of nodded and mumbled and she says "Well, I guess we'll stay, but I mean really ..."

And then she said, "But that's the end, right? There isn't an Act 6 or something?"

And I said, "Well, there's an epilogue."

And she said, "Oh my GOD, is he NUTS? An EPILOGUE? How long is THAT?"

And I said, "Well, apparently we HAVE TO STAY, but this is RIDICULOUS. TELL HIM HE HAS TO CUT!"

And then I said "Well, the longer we keep talking here ..."

Millennium Approaches was a real play and, despite being over four hours, had the audience in the palm of its hand with rapt attention. Perestroika was really different. Because it was clearly a work-in-progress, the audience felt that they were part of the process of creation, willing the show into existence.

Sometimes at the Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor residency program for new work the teams show their work — an example was Julia Cho's Aubergine which I saw both as a work-in-progress at the Ground Floor and next year in the Rep's season. Even as works-in-progress these shows are way shorter and way more polished than this Perestroika, and there is none of that show's unique, intense audience involvement. Of course, as the Angel notes, this was heightened by the show's length:

McLAUGHLIN: And then after the show, as the actors were basically limping to the dressing rooms, Tony, looking sort of glassy-eyed, came over to us and said, "You know, a really interesting thing happens after and audience has been in the theater for a really long time, they start to lose their bearings and become very malleable. They, like, forget what the think they believe about things and what they do for a living and their names and where they live and ..."

And we were like, "Yeah, Tony, and you really have to cut it."

It was magnificent but it killed its host. Butler and Kois quote the Eureka's business manager:

ANDY HOLTZ: That was the end of the Eureka Theatre as a producing company, The play that cemented the Eureka's place in the history of American theater was also the play that was too epic for such a small company. It's, like, the mom died giving birth to this amazing baby.

Royal National Theatre (1992)

Perhaps the most astonishing thing in the play's whole history is that, apart from a workshop at Juillard, the next production of Millennium Approaches was at the National Theatre in London. At the time, the National Theatre's productions on their two big stages, the Olivier and the Lyttleton, were pretty conservative, as befits the national flagship. But they also had the Cottesloe (now the Dorfman). It is essentially an empty cube, with tiers of seats on two sides. It can be configured in many different ways. For example, for Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads most of the floor was arranged with tables and chairs, with the audience there being some of the patrons of the pub.

The National Theatre has a history of more adventurous productions in the Cottesloe; it opened with Ken Campbell's Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool's Illuminatus Trilogy featuring drugs, satanic rituals, blasphemy and nudity. The trilogy later moved to The Roundhouse, which is where I saw this marathon. My main memory was that between the plays meals were served in the lobby. The actors ate with the audience, staying in character.

Nevertheless, Richard Eyre, the artistic director, took a huge risk:

RICHARD EYRE: Gordon Davidson sent me the play and said,, "I think you'd be interested in this". By page 2, I'd decided I wanted to do it.

He chose Declan Donnellan of the Cheek by Jowl theatre company to direct it, and Nick Ormerod, Donellan's partner, to design it. I'd seen several Cheek by Jowl productions at the National Theatre. They did classical plays, so Kushner took them to New York:

DONELLAN: Sometimes when you see images of New York, you think Oh, it's not authentic New York. It's performed New York, from movies and television. But when you get to New York, you find that New York is performing itself. Everybody is ready for their close-up.

ORMEROD: In delis and diners and whatever, they act like New Yorkers they've seen in the movies.

The cast was:

Hannah: Rosenmary Martin
Roy: Henry Goodman
Joe: Nick Reing
Harper: Felicity Montague
Belize: Joseph Mydell
Louis: Marcus D'Amico
Prior: Sean Chapman
Angel: Nancy Crane

NT's 1993 Angel David Milling was the stage manager:

DAVID MILLING: The staging was incredibly simple. It was a shiny black floor and a giant American flag as the backdrop. And then in the center of the flag there were small doors for pieces of scenery to run through. Only at the end of the play did the flag split, half going left, half going right, and the Angel tracked through in a cloud of smoke.

I'm sure that the first thing everyone who saw the show remembers is the shock at the end of the Angel bursting through the flag with a huge noise, lots of smoke and a blinding light then announcing:

**ANGEL:**Greetings, Prophet;The Great Work begins;The Messenger has arrived.(Blackout.)

But the start was almost equally memorable:

JON MATTHEWS: It opened with this image, there was nothing on the stage, and the furniture is on the sides, and they're sitting along the sides, and there was this balloon globe, and it had this light inside it, and they all put their hands on it, and then the play began.

Donellan said "My production was very much about the maintenance of tension", and I remember the production as a headlong charge forward:

KUSHNER: Caryl Churchill saw one of the early performances and came up to Declan afterwards and said, "Well congratulations, you've solved the short, choppy scene problem." When you do a play with short scenes, the scene ends, the audience has to disengage from where they've just been, and open themselves up to the next thing. That's hard to do because it involves stopping and starting over and over again. What Declan did is he dovetailed the ends of almost every scene in Millennium. He took the penultimate and the ultimate line, separated them, took the first line of the next scene and put it between the two. So you'd already be in the next scene. He wove them all together.

Donellan could do this because the staging was so sparse that it needed no time for scene changes. The actors carried in whatever props were needed for the next scene, and carried off those from the preceding scene.

It is important to understand both the risk the National Theatre was taking, as an institution supported by the government, and why it was so important, especially to the theatre community:

GARSIDE: The politics of it hit on the right moment. We were having our side of the conservative 1980s with Thatcher and the special relationship with Reagan. There was a kind of resentment of America, a dislike of their politics and how it intersected with our politics. And then there was an audience who hadn't seen a play about gay men and AIDS on a large scale, for whom the play was a revealation.

The big legal fight in gay rights at the time was against someting called Section 28. This was the big thing. It was in effect between 1988 and 2003, and barred the "promotion" of homosexuality.

Royal National Theatre (1993)

The next year both parts opened on Broadway and the National Theatre revived Millennium Approaches and added Perestroika in repertory. For the first time, I saw both parts in one day.

MYDELL: So we opened at the National, and you could see Part 1 and Part 2 in one day. That was seven and a half. People did it! We did it, and people came to see it! It didn't seem like — it felt like it was an event more than a play.

The cast was:

Louis: Jason Isaacs
Belize: Joseph Mydell
Angel: Nancy Crane
Joe: Daniel Craig
Hannah: Susan Engel
Harper: Clare Holman
Prior: Stephen Dillane
Roy: David Schofield

Part 1 was familiar, but it was the first time I'd seen Part 2 staged. First, seeing them as a seven and a half hour marathon was a revelation. Millennium ends with the mother of all cliff-hangers as the Angel arrives. Resuming the story after a quick meal is completely different from resuming it a week later. Second, Perestroika was very different from my memory of the Eureka. Kushner had done massive rewrites after the Eureka and the 1992 workshop at the Taper in LA:

KUSHNER: I know I haven't got it right yet. I'm not saying I don't think it's good — I think it's always been a good play, Perestroika — but it's never been a finished play and it never ever will be completely finished.

Many people compare the two parts and rate Perestroika as inferior, citing that its a lot more difficult and the fact that Kushner keeps changing it. But this is likely because they have seen it as two separate plays, which is a mistake. I'm pretty sure that people like me who have seen in in a marathon see it as a single play that changes once the Angel arrives. Change is one of its major themes, after all. And it is very Kushner-esque to have the Angel, whose message is to stop change, be the cause of change in the structure of the play as she is in Prior.

Next time I'm in London I plan to visit the Archive and expand these two sections.

American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco (1994)

ACT Program I saw ACT's production of both halves, I think on successive weekends, but I remember very little about it. It was directed by Mark Wing-Davey, who played the two-headed Galactic President, Zaphod Beeblebrox, in the radio (my favorite) and TV versions (forget it) of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams. I'd been impressed by his production of Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest at Berkeley Rep.

The cast was:

Hannah: Cristine McMurdo-Wallis
Roy: Peter Zapp
Joe: Steven Culp
Harper: Julia Gibson
Belize: Gregory Wallace
Louis: Ben Shenkman
Prior: Garret Dillahunt
Angel: Lise Bruneau

Dennis Harvey's review noted that:

the director throws action all over the Marines Memorial stage. Kate Edmunds’ set design is dominated by rolling scaffold bridges and graph-patterned backdrops. Their severity suggests a societal infrastructure stripped bare. Huge curtains (one a rather too-obvious American flag), one hydraulic ramp, fully exposed flying rig for the “Angel” (Lise Bruneau), fog, film projection, etc. add to the sensory overload.

This may be one reason it didn't stick in my memory. After stripped-down productions in the Eureka, basically a warehouse, and the National Theatre's Cotttesloe flexible space, the traditional proscenium stage, a more fleshed-out, much flashier staging, and the somewhat distant seating would have been jarring. Indeed, soon after this I stopped subscribing to ACT, only visiting for their excellent productions of Tom Stoppard's plays.

Royal National Theatre (2017)

By dint of waking up very early and standing in line for a long time I got day seats for a marathon of Marianne Elliot's sold-out, extraordinarily impressive production. It was a complete contrast to the earlier version. The cast was:

Hannah: Susan Brown
Roy: Nathan Lane
Joe: Russell Tovey
Harper: Denise Gough
Belize: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
Louis: James McCardle
Prior: Andrrew Garfield
Angel: Amanda Lawrence

Joe and Hannah Elliot's staging was a fascinating way to use the National Theatre's huge resources and the Lyttleton's vast proscenium stage to simulate the original's sparse aesthetic. She used multiple revolves and mostly skeletal scenery that flowed in and out to create small patches of light in the darkness to show, for example, the phone call between Joe and Hannah. Occasionally, as for Harper and Mr. Lies in Antarctica, the whole stage was lit but bare. There was only one scene with the kind of lavish scenery one often sees in the Lyttleton. It was the Council Room of the Hall of the Continental Principalities. Kushner's stage directions for this scene fill multiple pages, and the set needs to contrast Heaven with Earth, so this choice made sense.

One of the most striking and memorable things in Elliot's production was her vision for the Angel:

ELLIOT: Every image you see of this play involves a lovely angel in a white dress on a wire. I didn't want that.

Ben Power, the National's deputy artistic director, explains the Angel's entrance:

POWER: Prior's standing on his bed, as in other productions. The lights are changing. The sound of the approaching object is getting louder and louder. It's extremely loud in the auditorium. The lights change around him and he says, " Very Steven Spielberg".

Everyone's eye are on him and they're also going up to the flies. We know what's about to happen. They're going to fly in a woman with wings. As we're looking, as it's all building to a point of climax. At that point of climax there is a sense of a drop and a full blackout, which is very disorienting.

The lights come up. Everyone's eyes are looking up, looking for what object is coming in through the broken roof. Andrew's looking up there. And there's nothing there. As his eyeline comes down, there, strewn on the floor, among the rubble, is this thing. It's a sort of creature mess in browns and blacks. And then it rises from the floor — it's clearly been dropped from a great height — and coalesces into one body.

Lyra and Armored Bears The National Theatre has resources that few other theaters do. One is a long history and deep expertise in stage puppetry. This reached a peak with His Dark Materials because in the play's world:

humans' souls naturally exist outside of their bodies in the form of sentient "dæmons" in animal form which accompany, aid, and comfort their humans.

Each actor was accompanied by a puppet of their daemon, manipulated by one or more puppeteers in head-to-toe black. It didn't take long for audience members to stop seeing them. At the end of the second part, all 28 actors came out for their curtain call. And then suddenly the puppeteers all pulled off their black head-dress, and you saw there were more of them than there were actors. And then the backdrop vanished and you saw all the way to the rear wall of the enormous Olivier stage. Standing there were all the stagehands. There were more of them than the actors and puppeteers combined. It was an amazing display of the vast resources the National Theatre can command for a major production.

Angel and Prior Elliot's Angel was accompanied by a set of black-clad "shadows" like the daemon's. Except when Prior and she were wrestling, the Angel wasn't on a wire but being carried by the shadows. They would scurry around on all fours, sometimes converging on her to lift her up or sweep her massive wings, and sometimes heading off to the back of the set.

It wasn't just the physical resources the National Theatre devoted to the production, it was the time:

KUSHNER: I've never seen a director work as long or as hard on a production. A year of preparation. And you can see that degree — the depth of involvement, it's reflected in the design and in many of the choices she's made.

ELLIOT: We spent about a year and a half on the design. Not every day, but we touched in a lot. And I wished I had longer!

...

ELLIOT: We had eleven weeks, longer than anyone else has had.

KUSHNER: In a way it's the first adequate rehearsal period we've had for these plays.

When the production transferred to Broadway, it won the Tony for the Best Revival of a Play, and Andrew Garfield won for Best Actor and Nathan Lane won for Best Featured Actor. Both performances richly deserved the award.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre (2018)

Program Berkeley Rep's production was directed by Tony Taccone, who co-directed the Mark Taper workshop with Oskar Eustis, and starred Stephen Spinella, for whom Prior was written and who I had seen at the Eureka, as Roy. So I have seen him play both of the victims of AIDS — his portrayal of sickness is remarkable, as was the contrast between how his Prior and his Roy fought the disease.

The cast was:

Hannah: Carmen Roman
Roy: Stephen Spinella
Joe: Danny Binstock
Harper: Bethany Jillard
Belize: Caldwell Tidicue
Louis: Benjamin T. Ismail
Prior: Randy Harrison
Angel: Francesa Faridany. Lisa Ramirez

Again, I saw both parts on a single day, as I recall starting at 1pm and ending at 11pm. It was astonishing how well the Rep's, with a regional theater's resources, stood up to the National Theatre's massively resourced production. This huge play can use huge resources, but it does not need them.

Angel and Hannah Taccone's Angel was clearly influenced by Elliot's, but lacked the shadows. Despite this the Angel's flying, always the most difficult thing to stage, was really well done.

For the first time I got to see the "Roy in Hell" scene, which almost every production omits. It isn't in the published text. Omitting it means Roy's last appearance is when his ghost encounters Joe, a meeting between the play's two doomed characters. Including it, with Roy bargaining for something to do, is a sort of tribute to his drive and contrasts against Joe's spinelessness.

The Berkeley Rep's program had an interview with Spinella, who was initially reluctant to play Roy:

I got a text from Kushner saying — all I really remember is one word — "vital". That Roy is incredibly vital. I had already gone back and read all the Roy scenes, and it really hit me. That's the fun of playing this guy who is dying. He is fighting it tooth and nail. It's this knockdown, drag-out fight with this person who has this incredible will to live. It's different than Prior, who in a way is running away from his own death. Roy is just trying to get his ducks in a row and he's fighting the disease. He loses constantly, yet he keeps coming back. He is unrelenting, and that appeals to me. I'm not going to be in that hospital bed until I am ready to die. The hospital bed is going to have to grab me and pull me into it.

This could have been a quote from Nathan Lane.

The production gained glowing reviews from, among others, the LA Times and the SF Chronicle. For me, as my sixth viewing, seeing the play come back to the Bay Area over a quarter-century after it started here, over a single day, with such a grown-up staging, was a delight.

https://blog.dshr.org/2026/04/angels-in-america.html

delphitools

(date: 2026-04-14)

A collection of small, low stakes and low effort tools.

No logins, no registration, no data collection.

adactio.com/links/22525

https://tools.rmv.fyi/

More Ugly Economic Data, More Evidence Of What A Historic Failure Trump And His Presidency Have Become

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

Join our Vote Yes phonebank this Thursday at 530pm ET and let's close strong in Virginia!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/more-ugly-economic-data-more-evidence

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-21)

The Pleiades webapp is experiencing heavy CPU loading. Some users may receive 503 errors. Working on mitigation.

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116403518665420822

Everwhen

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-18)

Of course they do 404 Media: Google, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out, According to an Independent Audit. Here it is. Look at it this way: personal privacy is a vacuum in the digital world, and will remain so as long as we're naked there. Surveillance will fill that vacuum. Inevitably. Constantly. […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/14/everwhen-2/

Vermont’s Climate Superfund Law Made History; Now We’re Protecting It

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-13)

Vermont’s ground-breaking Climate Superfund Act is the first law in the nation designed to make fossil fuel companies pay their fair share of cleanup costs after the increasingly frequent, severe storms we are experiencing because of the climate change their products cause.

The post Vermont’s Climate Superfund Law Made History; Now We’re Protecting It appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.

https://www.clf.org/blog/vermonts-climate-superfund-law-made-history-now-were-protecting-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vermonts-climate-superfund-law-made-history-now-were-protecting-it

Nyle DiMarco Boards SXSW Sign Language-Amber Galloway Doc ‘The Way We Move’ As EP

(date: 2026-04-14)

EXCLUSIVE: Nyle DiMarco has boarded feature documentary The Way We Move, chronicling the life and work of acclaimed American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter Amber Galloway, as executive producer following its buzzy debut in SXSW last month. Galloway has made her mark specializing in live music events, signing at concerts for the likes of Kendrick Lamar, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/nyle-dimarco-boards-sxsw-sign-language-the-way-we-move-ep-1236860135/

John Gore Studios Acquires Angels Costumes

(date: 2026-04-14)

John Gore Studios, the outfit led by the 25-time Tony Award-winning producer, has acquired Angels Costumes. Founded in 1840, Angels Costumes is said to house more than one million costumes and accessories on over 10.5 miles of clothing rails. Filmmakers who have worked with the company include Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/john-gore-studios-angels-costumes-1236860151/

Security updates for Tuesday

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-17)

Security updates have been issued by Debian (gdk-pixbuf, gst-plugins-bad1.0, and xdg-dbus-proxy), Fedora (chromium, deepin-image-viewer, dtk6gui, dtkgui, efl, elementary-photos, entangle, flatpak, freeimage, geeqie, gegl04, gthumb, ImageMagick, kf5-kimageformats, kf5-libkdcraw, kf6-kimageformats, kstars, libkdcraw, libpasraw, LibRaw, luminance-hdr, nomacs, OpenImageIO, OpenImageIO2.5, photoqt, python-cryptography, rawtherapee, shotwell, siril, swayimg, vips, and webkitgtk), Red Hat (firefox and podman), Slackware (libarchive), SUSE (expat, glibc, GraphicsMagick, libcap-devel, libpng16, libtpms, nodejs24, openssl-1_0_0, openssl-1_1, openssl-3, openvswitch, polkit, python-requests, python311-biopython, python312, python39, and tigervnc), and Ubuntu (corosync, kvmtool, libxml-parser-perl, linux-azure, linux-azure, linux-azure-6.17, linux-azure, linux-azure-6.8, policykit-1, redis, lua5.1, lua-cjson, lua-bitop, rustc, vim, and xdg-dbus-proxy).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067595/

‘Mother Mary’ Review: Pop Star Anne Hathaway And Michaela Coel Find Spiritual Reawakening In David Lowery’s Moody Ode To Madonna And Other Icons

(date: 2026-04-14)

Don’t let the title fool you. Mother Mary is defiantly not the latest in a long line of Hollywood’s biblical epics, but instead an exploration of spirituality and reawakening in the life of a mega-pop star who may be part Beyonce, part Taylor Swift, part Lady Gaga, but certainly mostly an ode to Madonna, or […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/mother-mary-review-pop-star-anne-hathaway-michaela-coel-1236859720/

Kristin Scott Thomas & Kurt Russell To Be Honored With Crystal Nymph Awards At 65th Edition Of The Monte-Carlo Television Festival

(date: 2026-04-14)

EXCLUSIVE: Kristin Scott Thomas and Kurt Russell will both be feted with a Crystal Nymph Award at this year’s Monte-Carlo Television Festival. The stars will be in Monte-Carlo in June to accept the honor, which is bestowed for longstanding career achievements and creating a lasting impact on the creative industry. 2026 will be the 65th […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/kristin-scott-thomas-kurt-russell-monte-carlo-tv-festival-1236860040/

A security update for Raspberry Pi OS

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-20)

We’ve disabled passwordless sudo in Raspberry Pi OS, preventing malicious actors from hijacking systems using admin-level sudo commands.

The post A security update for Raspberry Pi OS appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/a-security-update-for-raspberry-pi-os/

How clever and capricious you are

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

How to take on a troll, 1950s style

https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/how-clever-and-capricious-you-are-6fd

Values Aren’t a Moral Imperative

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-21)

One of the most impactful exercises in DRI Your Career has been the values exercise (Jean wrote about it here). At first this surprised me, but then I thought about it more. Even when you haven’t named your values, they are part of you. They shape how you see the world, and often feel like […]

https://cate.blog/2026/04/14/values-arent-a-moral-imperative/

Taylor Swift Leads American Music Awards Nominations Including For Artist Of The Year

(date: 2026-04-14)

Taylor Swift, the winningest artist in the history of the American Music Awards with 40 trophies, has been nominated for another eight in categories including Artist of the Year, Album of the Year (The Life of a Showgirl), Song of the Year (“The Fate of Ophelia”), Best Music Video (“The Fate of Ophelia”), Song of […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/american-music-awards-nominations-2026-1236859560/

Urban Sales Boards Cannes ACID Opening Title ‘Under A Bad Star’

(date: 2026-04-14)

EXCLUSIVE: Urban Sales has acquired international sales rights to Under A Bad Star (Mauvaise Étoile), which was announced on Tuesday as the opening film of Cannes parallel section ACID. The debut feature from French directors Lola Cambourieu and Yann Berlier follows 24 hours in the life of a couple, exposing the dysfunction at the heart […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/urban-sales-cannes-acid-opening-title-under-a-bad-star-1236860114/

Chinese Electrotech is the Big Winner in the Iran War

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

An energy-hungry world is being pushed away by America and into China’s arms

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/chinese-electrotech-is-the-big-winner

Obama Offers to Help Trump Craft Nuclear Deal with Iran

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

“I hear you're having trouble keeping Iran from getting nukes,” Obama reportedly told Trump. “I have some ideas about how you might get that done.”

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/obama-offers-to-help-trump-craft

It's the prices, stupid

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

Consumer sentiment is at an all-time low because prices are at an all-time high. The UMich index isn't broken, popular government data just offer an incomplete picture of what people care about

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-14-economy-sentiment-its-the-prices-stupid

How Hackers Are Thinking About AI

(date: 2026-04-14)

Interesting paper: “ What hackers talk about when they talk about AI: Early-stage diffusion of a cybercrime innovation.”

Abstract: The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) is raising concerns about its potential to transform cybercrime. Beyond empowering novice offenders, AI stands to intensify the scale and sophistication of attacks by seasoned cybercriminals. This paper examines the evolving relationship between cybercriminals and AI using a unique dataset from a cyber threat intelligence platform. Analyzing more than 160 cybercrime forum conversations collected over seven months, our research reveals how cybercriminals understand AI and discuss how they can exploit its capabilities. Their exchanges reflect growing curiosity about AI’s criminal applications through legal tools and dedicated criminal tools, but also doubts and anxieties about AI’s effectiveness and its effects on their business models and operational security. The study documents attempts to misuse legitimate AI tools and develop bespoke models tailored for illicit purposes. Combining the diffusion of innovation framework with thematic analysis, the paper provides an in-depth view of emerging AI-enabled cybercrime and offers practical insights for law enforcement and policymakers...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/how-hackers-are-thinking-about-ai.html

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-16)

“Introducing OpenAI Frontier.” They took our name. I wonder if their Frontier is as good as ours.

https://openai.com/index/introducing-openai-frontier/

Trump lost his war on Iran, bigly

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

His nonstop bullshitting can't change the facts on the ground.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-loses-iran-war

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Unveils Starry 2026 Lineup With Films By Kantemir Balagov, Clio Bernard, Esiri Brothers, Radu Jude, Reed Van Dyk & Quentin Dupieux

(date: 2026-04-14)

Kantemir Balagov’s New Jersey-set drama Butterfly Jam, starring Barry Keoghan and Riley Keough, will open the 58th edition of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. It is among 19 features, selected from 1,800 submissions, and nine short and medium-length works announced on Tuesday by the parallel section for its 2026 edition running from May 13 to 23, alongside […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cannes-directors-fortnight-unveils-2026-lineup-1236860043/

Lip Sync Productions, UK Film Investor That Backed ‘The Brutalist,’ Rebuked For “Deliberate” Failure To Pay $19M Tax Bill

(date: 2026-04-14)

EXCLUSIVE: Lip Sync Productions, the British film and TV investor behind titles including The Brutalist and Viggo Mortensen’s Falling, has been named and shamed by the UK’s tax authorities. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said Lip Sync Productions, a sister company to the collapsed Lipsync post-house, was at the top of its most recently published […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-brutalist-investor-lip-sync-rebuked-unpaid-tax-bill-1236860006/

‘Taskmaster’ Expands Global Reach With Polish Version As Alex Horne Says: “This Has Got A Bit Out Of Control”

(date: 2026-04-14)

EXCLUSIVE: Taskmaster’s international rollout is continuing apace, with a local version greenlit by Polish broadcaster TVN. Warner Bros. Discovery-owned TVN’s version of the hit comedy-entertainment format will be produced by Avalon and Constantin. The news comes as several new international Taskmaster series have just launched, with more to come through 2026. The format has an […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/taskmaster-alex-horne-poland-launch-wbd-tvn-avalon-1236859237/

Tokyo Film Festival Appoints New Director

(date: 2026-04-14)

Hisamatsu Takeo has been appointed as Festival Director at the Tokyo Film Festival, replacing Ando Hiroyasu, who is due to step down on May 31. Takeo previously served as the Festival Director from 2017 to 2021. Hiroyasu had been the festival chairman since 2019. Under his leadership, Tokyo relocated its main festival hub from Roppongi […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/tokyo-film-festival-hisamatsu-takeo-director-1236858876/

Pluralistic: In praise of (some) compartmentalization (14 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links In praise of (some) compartmentalization: Go with the flow (mostly). Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Multitasking teens; Copyrighted dirt; NZ internet disconnection x CHCH quake; Hubble cake; Churchill's booze Rx; Fraud-resistant election tech. Upcoming appearances: Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. In praise of (some) compartmentalization (permalink) If there's one FAQ I get Q'ed most F'ly, it's this: "How do you get so much done?" The short answer is, "I write when I'm anxious (which is how I came to write nine books during lockdown)." The long answer is more complicated. The first complication to understand is that I have lifelong, degenerating chronic pain that makes me hurt from the base of my skull to the soles of my feet – my whole posterior chain. On a good day, it hurts. On a bad day, it hurts so bad that it's all I can think about. Unless…I work. If I can find my way into a creative project, the rest of the world just kind of fades back, including my physical body. Sometimes I can get there through entertainment, too – a really good book or movie, say, but more often I find myself squirming and needing to get up and stretch or use a theragun after a couple hours in a movie theater seat, even the kind that reclines. A good conversation can do it, too, and is better than a movie or a book. The challenge and engagement of an intense conversation – preferably one with a chewy, productive and interesting disagreement – can take me out of things. There's a degree to which ignoring my body is the right thing to do. I've come to understand a lot of my pain as being a phantom, a pathological failure of my nervous system to terminate a pain signal after it fires. Instead of fading away, my pain messages bounce back and forth, getting amplified rather than attenuated, until all my nerves are screaming at me. Where pain has no physiological correlate – in other words, where the ache is just an ache, without a strain or a tear or a bruise – it makes sense to ignore it. It's actually healthy to ignore it, because paying attention to pain is one of the things that can amplify it (though not always). But this only gets me so far, because some of my pain does have a physiological correlate. My biomechanics suck, thanks to congenital hip defects that screwed up the way I walked and sat and lay and moved for most of my life, until eventually my wonky hips wore out and I swapped 'em for a titanium set. By that point, it was too late, because I'd made a mess of my posterior chain, all the way from my skull to my feet, and years of diligent physio, swimming, yoga, occupational therapy and physiotherapy have barely made a dent. So when I sit or stand or lie down, I'm always straining something, and I really do need to get up and move around and stretch and whatnot, or sure as hell I will pay the price later. So if I get too distracted, then I start ignoring the pain I need to be paying attention to, and that's at least as bad as paying attention to the pain I should be ignoring. Which brings me to anxiety. These are anxious times. I don't know anyone who feels good right now. Particularly this week, as the Strait of Epstein emergency gets progressively worse, and there's this January 2020 sense of the crisis on the horizon, hitting one country after another. Last week, Australia got its last shipment of fossil fuels. This week, restaurants in India are all shuttered because of gas rationing. People who understand these things better than I do tell me that even if Trump strokes out tonight and Hegseth overdoes the autoerotic asphyxiation, it'll be months, possibly years, before things get back to "normal" ("normal!"). Any time I think about this stuff for even a few minutes, I start to feel that covid-a-comin', early-2020 feeling, only it's worse this time around, because I literally couldn't imagine what covid would mean when it got here, and now I know. When I start to feel those feelings, I can just sit down and start thinking with my fingers, working on a book or a blog-post. Or working on an illustration to go with one of these posts, which is the most delicious distraction, leaving me with just enough capacity to mull over the structure of the argument that will accompany it. I can't do anything about the impending energy catastrophe, apart from being part of a network of mutual aid and political organizing, so it makes sense not to fixate on it. But there are things that upset me – problems my friends and loved ones are having – where there's such a thing as too much compartmentalization. It's one thing to lose myself in work until the heat of emotion cools so I can think rationally about an issue that's got me seeing red, and another to use work as a way to neglect a loved one who needs attention in the hope that the moment will pass before I have to do any difficult emotional labor. Compartmentalization, in other words, but not too much compartmentalization. During the lockdown years, I transformed myself into a machine for turning Talking Heads bootlegs into science fiction novels and technology criticism, and that was better than spending that time boozing or scrolling or fighting – but in retrospect, there's probably more I could have done during those hard months to support the people around me. In my defense – in all our defenses – that was an unprecedented situation and we all did the best we could. Creative work takes me away from my pain – both physical and emotional – because creative work takes me into a "flow" state. This useful word comes to us from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who coined the term in the 1960s while he was investigating a seeming paradox: how was it that we modern people had mastered so many of the useful arts and sciences, and yet we seemed no happier than the ancients? How could we make so much progress in so many fields, and so little progress in being happy? In his fieldwork, Csikszentmihalyi found that people reported the most happiness while they were doing difficult things well – when your "body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile." He called this state "flow." As Derek Thompson says, the word "flow" implies an effortlessness, but really, it's the effort – just enough, not too much – that defines flow-states. We aren't happiest in a frictionless world, but rather, in a world of "achievable challenges": https://www.derekthompson.org/p/how-zombie-flow-took-over-culture Thompson relates this to "the law of familiar surprises," an idea he developed in his book Hit Makers, which investigated why some media, ideas and people found fame, while others languished. A "familiar surprise" is something that's "familiar but not too familiar." He thinks that the Hollywood mania for sequels and reboots is the result of media execs chasing "familiar surprises." I think there's something to this, but we shouldn't discount the effect that monopolization has on the media: as companies get larger and larger, they end up committing to larger and larger projects, and you just don't take the kinds of risks with a $500m movie that you can take with a $5m one. If you're spending $500m, you want to hedge that investment with as many safe bets as you can find – big name stars, successful IP, and familiar narrative structures. If the movie still tanks, at least no one will get fired for taking a big, bold risk. Today, we're living in a world of extremely familiar, and progressively less surprising culture. AI slop is the epitome of familiarity, since by definition, AI tries to make a future that is similar to the past, because all it can do is extrapolate from previous data. That's a fundamentally conservative, uncreative way to think about the world: https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/14/everybody-poops/#homeostatic-mechanism The tracks the Spotify algorithm picks out of the catalog are going to be as similar to the ones you've played in the past as it can make them – and the royalty-free slop tracks that Spotify generates with AI or commissions from no-name artists will be even more insipidly unsurprising: https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/12/streaming-doesnt-pay/#stunt-publishing Thompson cites Shishi Wu's dissertation on "Passive Flow," a term she coined to describe how teens fall into social media scroll-trances: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2104&context=doctoral_dissertations Wu says it's a mistake to attribute the regretted hours of scrolling to addiction or a failure of self-control. Rather, the user is falling into "passive flow," a condition arising from three factors: I. Engagement without a clear goal; II. A loss of self-awareness – of your body and your mental state; III. Losing track of time. I instantly recognize II. and III. – they're the hallmarks of the flow states that abstract me away from my own pain when I'm working. The big difference here is I. – I go to work with the clearest of goals, while "passive flow" is undirected (Thompson also cites psychologist Paul Bloom, who calls the scroll-trance "shitty flow." In shitty flow, you lose track of the world and its sensations – but in a way that you later regret.) Thompson has his own name for this phenomenon of algorithmically induced, regret-inducing flow: he calls it "zombie flow." It's flow that "recapitulates the goal of flow while evacuating the purpose." Zombie flow is "progress without pleasure" – it's frictionless, and so it gives us nothing except that sense of the world going away, and when it stops, the world is still there. The trick is to find a way of compartmentalizing that rewards attention with some kind of productive residue that you can look back on with pride and pleasure. I wouldn't call myself a happy person. I don't think I know any happy people right now. But I'm an extremely hopeful person, because I can see so many ways that we can make things better (an admittedly very low bar), and I have mastered the trick of harnessing my unhappiness to the pursuit of things that might make the world better, and I'm gradually learning when to stop escaping the pain and confront it. (Image: marsupium photography, CC BY-SA 2.0, modified) Hey look at this (permalink) Uncovering Webloc https://citizenlab.ca/research/analysis-of-penlinks-ad-based-geolocation-surveillance-tech/ The Science of Forced Perspective at Disney Parks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqefjmRVLTM The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence—Before It’s Too Late https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374621568 EFF 🤝 HOPE: Join Us This August! https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/eff-hope-join-us-august Here Are the Finalists for the 2025 Locus Awards https://reactormag.com/finalists-2025-locus-awards/ Object permanence (permalink) #25yrsago Pee-Wee Herman on his career https://web.archive.org/web/20010414033156/https://ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,105857~1~0~paulreubensreturnsto,00.html #25yrsago Anxious hand-wringing about multitasking teens https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/technology/teenage-overload-or-digital-dexterity.html #20yrsago Clever t-shirt typography spells “hate” – “love” in mirror-writing https://web.archive.org/web/20060413102804/https://accordionguy.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/4/12/1881414.html #20yrsago New Mexico Lightning Field claims to have copyrighted dirt https://diaart.org/visit/visit-our-locations-sites/walter-de-maria-the-lightning-field#overview #20yrsago Futuristic house made of spinach protein and soy-foam https://web.archive.org/web/20060413111650/http://bfi.org/node/828 #15yrsago New Zealand to sneak in Internet disconnection copyright law with Christchurch quake emergency legislation https://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/4882838/Law-to-fight-internet-piracy-rushed-through #10yrsago Bake: An amazing space-themed Hubble cake https://www.sprinklebakes.com/2016/04/black-velvet-nebula-cake.html #10yrsago Shanghai law uses credit scores to enforce filial piety https://www.caixinglobal.com/2016-04-11/shanghai-says-people-who-fail-to-visit-parents-will-have-credit-scores-lowered-101011746.html #10yrsago Walmart heiress donated $378,400 to Hillary Clinton campaign and PACs https://web.archive.org/web/20160414155119/https://www.alternet.org/election-2016/alice-walton-donated-353400-clintons-victory-fund #10yrsago Mass arrests at DC protest over money in politics https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/mass-arrests-of-protesters-in-demonstration-at-capitol-against-big-money/2016/04/11/96c13df0-0037-11e6-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html #10yrsago Churchill got a doctor’s note requiring him to drink at least 8 doubles a day “for convalescence” https://web.archive.org/web/20130321054712/https://arttattler.com/archivewinstonchurchill.html #5yrsago Big Tech's secret weapon is switching costs, not network effects https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/12/tear-down-that-wall/#zucks-iron-curtain #5yrsago Fraud-resistant election-tech https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/12/tear-down-that-wall/#bmds #1yrago Blue Cross of Louisiana doesn't give a shit about breast cancer https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/12/pre-authorization/#is-not-a-guarantee-of-payment Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/14/compartment/

An Apology

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

I'm sorry to fill up your inbox so much

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/an-apology

Pearl Mackie, Kerry Howard & Chizzy Akudolu Among Cast Of Grace Link’s ‘Locker Room Talk’

(date: 2026-04-14)

EXCLUSIVE: Pearl Mackie (Doctor Who, The Diplomat), Chizzy Akudolu (Tommy & Tuppence, Holby City) and Kerry Howard (Him and Her, Bad Apples) are among the six actresses making up the cast of Grace Link’s indie TV series Locker Room Talk. Link (Geek Girl, Bulletproof), Florence Andrews (House of Gucci, School of Rock) and Rhianna Merralls […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/locker-room-talk-pearl-mackie-chizzy-akudolu-grace-link-1236858960/

Minecraft Supremo TommyInnit Presenting Sony’s Debut Digital Series With Stephen Fry Among First Guests

(date: 2026-04-14)

TommyInnit, who runs the most popular Minecraft channel on Twitch, is leading the first series and channel to emerge from Sony’s new international digital arm with guests including Stephen Fry. 100 Questions with Tom Simons will feature the Minecraft supremo under his real name alongside interviewees as he is given exactly 100 questions to get […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/tommyinnit-presenting-youtube-series-100-questions-stephen-fry-1236859054/

Orban Ousted in Hungary, and Trump Picks Fights Over Childcare (w/ Reshma Saujani)

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post Orban Ousted in Hungary, and Trump Picks Fights Over Childcare (w/ Reshma Saujani) appeared first on Crooked Media.

https://crooked.com/podcast/orban-ousted-in-hungary-and-trump-picks-fights-over-childcare-w-reshma-saujani/

Just heard the sad news about Moya Brennan passing. Some of the first records I ever bought were by Clannad—Macalla, Magical Ring, Legend. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

(date: 2026-04-14)

Just heard the sad news about Moya Brennan passing. Some of the first records I ever bought were by Clannad—Macalla, Magical Ring, Legend.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

https://adactio.com/notes/22524

March 2026 Baseline monthly digest

(date: 2026-04-14)

Read about various happenings with Baseline during March 2026.

https://web.dev/blog/baseline-digest-mar-2026?hl=en

April 13, 2026

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-20)

On April 12, the day of Hungary’s parliamentary elections, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) posted on social media that it was closely watching the election and stood firmly behind Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-13-2026

Name-only @container queries: A solution to the naming wars

(date: 2026-04-14)

Introducing name-only @container queries, shipped in Safari 26.4.

https://webkit.org/blog/17923/name-only-container-queries-a-solution-to-the-naming-wars/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-16)

Rock Hall of Fame 2026 Inductees: Oasis, Phil Collins, Billy Idol, More.

https://variety.com/2026/music/news/rock-roll-hall-fame-2026-inductees-oasis-phil-collins-sade-1236720850/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-16)

Why opinion on AI is so divided.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/04/13/1135720/why-opinion-on-ai-is-so-divided/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-14)

“The key to success is sincerity. If you can fake that you've got it made.”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7132775-the-key-to-success-is-sincerity-if-you-can-fake

WHY WHO’S F/AROUND IN THE OIL FUTURES MARKET MIGHT FIND OUT IN 7 DAYS

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2026-04-22)

At 10:00 am EST on April 13, the US Navy officially began a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz (”Trump says Iranian ships to be ‘eliminated’ as US naval blockade begins”), turning the world’s most important oil chokepoint into the epicenter of a fresh pricing shock. In theory, at least....

The post WHY WHO’S F/AROUND IN THE OIL FUTURES MARKET MIGHT FIND OUT IN 7 DAYS appeared first on JustDario.

https://justdario.com/2026/04/why-whos-f-around-in-the-oil-futures-market-might-find-out-in-7-days/

How to forget

(date: 2026-04-14)

Most agent frameworks optimize for recall. Open-strix optimizes for forgetting — and that turns out to be the whole trick.

https://timkellogg.me/blog/2026/04/14/forgetting

R.I.P., Tomas Kalibera

(date: 2026-04-14, updated: 2017-01-31)

I hate writing yet another RIP post, but the other day, I learned on Bluesky that Tomas Kalibera had passed away. I don’t really know Tomas well, and have never met him in person, but I just to write down a couple of things while I remember them.

My first interaction with Tomas was a small pull request to my testit package in 2016: yihui/testit#3. He found that testit did not work with the byte-code compiler, and submitted a fix. He also sent me an email to explain the problem in more detail:

On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 4:22 AM Tomas Kalibera <***@***> wrote:
Hi Xie,

I found that testit does not work with the byte-code compiler (e.g.
when running tests for leaflet). The problem is that the byte-code
compiler requires that packages run with top-level environment set
to the package namespace (this is how it normally happens). I
submitted a pull request for testit which solves this, by using a
customized version of `sys.source()` (**testthat** does a similar
thing to solve this problem).

https://github.com/yihui/testit/pull/3

I am happy to provide more details if needed, and if you wanted to
solve this differently I can give details on how to debug/see the
issue.

Thanks
Tomas

Honestly, my first reaction when I saw the email and PR was: Who is this guy? How could he find such a deep issue? It turned out I was talking to an R core member. Wait, an R core member sent me a pull request on GitHub?! 1

…

As an R user whose native language is Chinese, I especially appreciate his work on multibyte character encodings on Windows. For me, one of the most exciting pieces of R news in recent years was the UTF-8 support on Windows. I guess many users who mainly work in English may not fully feel what this meant, but for users whose native language contain multibyte characters, Windows encoding problems had tortured us for decades.

Tomas was also very responsive on the mailing lists. I remember a thread titled “R-4.3 version list.files() function could not work correctly in Chinese”, where a Chinese user reported a very bad bug in R 4.3. It was eventually fixed by Tomas. I was super grateful for his quick action. Again, this was the kind of work that many people may never notice unless they were directly bitten by the bug, but it mattered a lot.

I had also meant to reach out to him one day and ask about his experience with blogdown, since the R Project blog is based on blogdown and he has been a prolific author there. I felt he might be happier switching to litedown for writing posts, but now that little thought will remain just a thought.

I do not think I can write a big portrait of Tomas here. What I can say is that, from my limited interactions with him, he always struck me as deeply competent, generous with his time, and serious about solving real problems for users. The R community has lost an important contributor, and users like me have lost someone we had quietly depended on for a long time without even realizing how much.

Rest in peace, Tomas.

For the record, he beat Martin by 6 years. ↩︎

https://yihui.org/en/2026/04/tomas-kalibera/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-14)

AI's Future Looks Nothing Like Stanley Kubrick Imagined.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-23/ai-s-future-looks-nothing-like-stanley-kubrick-imagined?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3NjExNzYxMiwiZXhwIjoxNzc2NzIyNDEyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUOUJEOFdLSVAzSkgwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJENTFFNUY5REQ4NDA0NjBEQjdFRUI5NzkzRkMxNzQzRCJ9.jSrjTCvrw724uJcydxDq2eVorPOQ9DaSKkyI-ohhjiw&leadSource=uverify%20wall

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-14)

Decision to Build EmDash Came from Cloudflare CEO, Engineer Reveals.

https://www.therepository.email/decision-to-build-emdash-came-from-cloudflare-ceo-engineer-reveals

Closing Strong On Vote Yes With Virginia's Inspiring Speaker, Don Scott

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

We have eight days to go in Virginia - please volunteer, canvass, make calls and if you live in Virginia vote early!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/closing-strong-on-vote-yes-with-virginias

Fast & Furious Trump and the Weird Melania Moment

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

The defeat of Hungary’s moldy strongman Viktor Orbán is a thrilling rejuvenation of liberal democracy, after sixteen years of his systemic corruption, dismantling of parliamentary checks and balances, and brutal suppression of the press.

https://tinabrown.substack.com/p/fast-and-furious-trump-and-the-weird

Holy Hell

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Pope holds his own against Trump

https://steady.substack.com/p/holy-hell

From the Danube to the Ayatollbooth

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Orbán's defeat and the prospects of a Hormuz blockade

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/from-the-danube-to-the-ayatollbooth

MAGA is the Child of the Loneliness Epidemic

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

There's a reason MAGA supporters are the last to flee the sinking Trump ship

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/maga-trump-loneliness-epidemic

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-14)

What John Palfrey looks for in a short essay.

https://jpalfrey.blog/2026/04/12/what-i-look-for-in-a-short-essay/

@Andy Sylvester's River of News

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-18)

Simon Willison appears on Lenny’s Podcast, talking about how since November 2025, AI tools from OpenAI and Anthropic increased the utility of their tools in a very noticeable way. The episode is long (1 hr 40 min), but well worth the time to listen!

https://andysylvester.com/2026/04/13/4211/

Trump's God Complex Is Getting Even Worse

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

He believes he's the savior, not because he wants to save anyone but because he wants to dominate everyone

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/king-trump-i-versus-pope-leo-xiv

Seeking God in Science part 5: Testimony

(date: 2026-04-13)

At the end of the last installment in this series I made a prediction: you believe that matter is made of atoms. I am confident in making this prediction despite the fact that I have almost no information about who you are because, as far as I can tell, no one in the modern world denies it. There are people who profess to believe in all kinds of crazy shit, but I have never heard of

https://blog.rongarret.info/2026/04/seeking-god-in-science-part-5-testimony.html

Closing Strong On Vote Yes With Virginia's Inspiring Speaker, Don Scott

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

We have eight days to go in Virginia - please volunteer, canvass, make calls and if you live in Virginia vote early!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/closing-strong-on-vote-yes-with-virginia

Monday session

(date: 2026-04-13)

Monday session

https://adactio.com/notes/22523

Understanding the MAGA Cult and The Russian Connection

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Dr. Steven Hassan and Chris Sampson

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/understanding-the-cult-with-steven

New Interactive Maps on Early Church Councils

(date: 2026-04-13)

The Ancient World Mapping Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has just released two new online, interactive maps: "The Council of Nicaea (325 CE)" and "Iberian Church Councils (306-589 CE)".

https://pleiades.stoa.org/news/blog/new-interactive-maps-on-early-church-councils

The Epstein Files, QAnon, and Psychological Warfare

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

How unverified FBI tips became “confirmed facts”, and who benefits from the confusion

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/the-epstein-files-qanon-and-psychological

Dragoncatcher: Who's paying for tokens and why? (The Anthropic 1000)

(date: 2026-04-13)

Clarifying information. Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/ai-spend/

Anthropic payment woes – resolved [en]

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-17)

[en] TL;DR: enter card details manually, not using Link, if you need to change your payment method and it’s stuck. Three days ago my Claude Pro subscription was up for renewal but I’d forgotten to top-up the prepaid credit card I use for this. It was (logically) declined and my subscription was suspended. I was … Continue reading "Anthropic payment woes – resolved [en]"

https://climbtothestars.org/archives/2026/04/13/anthropic-payment-woes-resolved/

@IIIF Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-17)

It's not too late to sign up for Glycerine Showcase: Annotation Sets and Templates!

On 15 April (N America) and 21 April (Europe/Asia), the team from Glycerine will off a showcase Glycerine’s Annotation Set and Annotation Template features.

https://glammr.us/@IIIF/116398896830377271

SpamSieve 3.3

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

SpamSieve 3.3 is an update of my Mac e-mail spam filter that includes lots of changes to improve the filtering accuracy: Much of this is automatic: SpamSieve is better at analyzing the message structure, HTML, and URLs within messages. The other part is helping customers help themselves. If SpamSieve is continually letting spam messages through, […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/13/spamsieve-3-3/

Artemis II Desktop Pictures

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Nick Heer: NASA has put a few hundred photos on Flickr with some awesome views — and I must emphasize how the word “awesome” undersells these images. I am using this one as the wallpaper on my iMac right now, and it feels like a pretty good use of a big, high-resolution display. Previously: Default […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/13/artemis-ii-desktop-pictures/

Artemis II’s Fault-Tolerant Computer

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Logan Kugler (via Hacker News): To ensure those wrong answers never reach the spacecraft’s thrusters, NASA moved beyond the triple redundancy of traditional systems. Orion utilizes two Vehicle Management Computers, each containing two Flight Control Modules, for a total of four FCMs. But the redundancy goes even deeper: each FCM consists of a self-checking pair […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/13/artemis-iis-fault-tolerant-computer/

Claude Mythos, evaluated

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

How afraid should we be?

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/claude-mythos-evaluated

Dumbsmarten

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

We need a better word than smart.

https://kevinkelly.substack.com/p/dumbsmarten

I feel the need, the need for (just a bit less) speed

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-20)

Well, yesterday's post got a lot of responses! Thank you, everybody!

Some of them are visible in the comments and some were by email. But most of them were from drivers rather older than me who said that my formula would have them driving at 40 on motorways (or something like that).

Now, notice that I did talk about the maximum speed you like driving rather than the maximum speed you would consider driving, but clearly I have more high-velocity octogenarians amongst my readership than I had previously realised, for which I feel duly honoured.

Ian Clark suggested an amendment which was essentially

V max = 103 - (age * 2 / 3)

which would still suit me and give older readers a few more mph to play with, but I think I'll need an exponential component to get anything reasonable, perhaps something more like:

V max = 100 - 0.6 *age 0.95

Anyway, there was agreement from several readers that the desire to break the speed limit certainly decreases with age, and Andy Davy observed that toddling along at 50mph is often fine as long as you have an interesting podcast playing; an assertion I can definitely support. In my case, though, it's often an audiobook: we're currently touring France to the accompaniment of The Count of Monte Cristo. (I'm now contemplating my next theorem about the duration of any journey being inversely proportional to the quality of your listening material...)

All this reminds me of, in my younger days, getting stuck in completely stationary traffic on the M25 while heading for an airport to catch a flight. The minutes ticked by, my anxiety rose, and then I realised that the pumping drumbeat of my music probably wasn't helping. I replaced it with some nice Brahms cello sonatas, and, all of a sudden, my equanimity was restored, my blood pressure declined, and I gazed calmly at the surrounding vehicles (about which I could, in any case, do nothing). And yes, I arrived in plenty of time.

http://statusq.org/archives/2026/04/13/13680/

Watching the Strait

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-18)

The world runs on boats. Yes, also on trains and trucks. But boats are at issue, as the Strait of Hormuz is being blockaded. Here is how it looks on MarineTraffic.com (updated 14 April): The red arrowhead shapes are tankers in motion. The green ones are container ships in motion (or underway, as they say). […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/13/watching-the-strait/

On Anthropic’s Mythos Preview and Project Glasswing

(date: 2026-04-13)

The cybersecurity industry is obsessing over Anthropic’s new model, Claude Mythos Preview, and its effects on cybersecurity. Anthropic said that it is not releasing it to the general public because of its cyberattack capabilities, and has launched Project Glasswing to run the model against a whole slew of public domain and proprietary software, with the aim of finding and patching all the vulnerabilities before hackers get their hands on the model and exploit them.

There’s a lot here, and I hope to write something more considered in the coming week, but I want to make some quick observations...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/on-anthropics-mythos-preview-and-project-glasswing.html

@DAIR blog

(date: 2026-04-13)

Today!

Join the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream to hear @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social chat with very special guest Carmen Maria Machado

noon PT, twitch.tv/dair_institute

[contains quote post or other embedded content]

https://bsky.app/profile/dairinstitute.bsky.social/post/3mjfbahefws25

[$] Development statistics for the 7.0 kernel

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-16)

Linus Torvalds released the 7.0 kernel as expected on April 12, ending a relatively busy development cycle. The 7.0 release brings a large number of interesting changes; see the LWN merge-window summaries ( part 1, part 2) for all the details. Here, instead, comes our traditional look at where those changes came from and who supported that work.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066723/

Padre madre hermana hermano: la distancia en lo cercano

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-21)

Dirección: Jim Jarmusch. Guion: Jim Jarmusch. Elenco: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat. País: Estados Unidos. Más información de la película: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31189315/ Jim Jarmusch no intensifica la emoción: la diluye hasta volverla casi imperceptible. En películas como Paterson (2016) o Flores rotas (2005), los personajes transitan la vida sin grandes estallidos, con afectos inscritos en gestos mínimos y bajo […]

La entrada Padre madre hermana hermano: la distancia en lo cercano se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/resenas-padre-madre-hermana-hermano/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resenas-padre-madre-hermana-hermano

🌻 AI populism's warning shots

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

the battles over AI are no longer just about the tech

https://jasmi.news/p/warning-shots

Congress Returns To Trump Breaking The Cease Fire, Attacking The Pope, Orban Falling, Melania Going Rogue, And Inflation Exploding

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

After our big win in Hungary, we must notch another in Virginia - join our Thursday night phonebank!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/congress-returns-to-trump-breaking

[$] A build system aimed at license compliance

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-16)

The OpenWrt One is a router powered by the open-source firmware from the OpenWrt project; it was also thesubject of a keynote at SCALE in 2025 given by Denver Gingerich of the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), which played a big role in developing the router. Gingerich returned to the conference in
2026 to talk about the build system used by the OpenWrt One, which is focused on creating the needed binaries, naturally, but doing so in a way that makes it easy to comply with the licenses of the underlying code. That makes good sense for a project of this sort—and for a talk given by the director of compliance at SFC.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066103/

When moving fast, talking is the first thing to break

(date: 2026-04-13)

When you make speed and “moving fast” the biggest priority on a project or in an organization, the first thing to breakdown is talking to each other. Talking takes time. Consensus is expensive and slow. In a pressurized environment there’s no time to schedule calls, get input from subject matter experts, or resolve key differences of opinion. ASAP makes a big assumption that all relevant parties are already in the room.

Not everything needs to be a conversation. I’m a firm believer in “get the user something to see if there’s interest”. I’d agree that over-thinking a problem and under-thinking a problem both have pitfalls. But dozens of ways exist to get feedback from users on in-progress work without overcommitting to a particular design. By prioritizing speed over talking, cross-org collaboration suffers and a faulty design can steamroll ahead. I am no soothsayer, but I can tell you that you set your organization up for a messy merge conflict in the future between teams who have been traveling in different directions.

I think the second organizational casualty is “the system”. When speed is the priority, there’s no incentive to improve or invest in the shared system (e.g. a design system or codebase) under a tight deadline. If everyone needs to move fast, even something simple like renaming a folder could have dramatic setbacks. Hypermovers will create a new project folder or detach a Figma component. And that new folder of files grows to create it’s own duplicative system of components that are ever-so-slightly different such that they are incompatible with the rest of the system. Resolving system gaps requires conversations, it’s easier to eject from the system at the slightest inconvenience, duplicate, and go your own way. Effectively hiding the time bomb of technical debt for the next unfortunate sucker.

I think AI exacerbates this problem. I think AI can help you build faster (although data suggest otherwise), but I also believe that LLMs are the ultimate tool in the “Don’t talk to my coworkers” toolchain. Why talk to an expert who might tell me no, when the omniscient machine that always tells me yes is right here? Avoiding that friction doesn’t produce better products faster. It makes future conversations more difficult thanks to higher sunk costs and deeper entrenched opinions.

Other pieces of infrastructure begin to chip away when moving fast too: documentation, security, performance, reliability, the fabric of modern American democracy, and developer satisfaction to name a handful. I’m pro-reducing bullshit, I’m pro-reducing toil. But I’m also pro- slowing the fuck down and doing actual human thinking before pulling a trigger… or sending a laser-guided Tomahawk missile… or whatever action-based analogy works best for your organization.

We all love dopamine, we all love seeing new ideas come to life, but more lines of code and duplicate systems –our own little kingdoms in code– doesn’t produce horizontal strength. The job of Engineering Management is no longer pushing tickets across the board to make executives clap, it’s helping organizations row in the same direction together. It’s relentlessly focusing on your users over lines of code and cool project codenames.

https://daverupert.com/2026/04/more-talk-less-grok/

The Curious About Everything Newsletter #61

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

The many interesting things I read in March 2026

https://jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/sixty-one

Vance Scolds Iran: “Trump Made You Rich off the Strait of Hormuz and You Haven’t Said Thank You Once”

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Negotiations broke down after Vance lectured the Iranians.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/vance-scolds-iran-trump-made-you

Heresies And Games

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/heresies-and-games/

Servo now on crates.io

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-16)

The Servo project has announced the first release of servo as a crate for use as a library.

As you can see from the version number, this release is not a 1.0 release. In fact, we still haven't finished discussing what 1.0 means for Servo. Nevertheless, the increased version number reflects our growing confidence in Servo's embedding API and its ability to meet some users' needs.

In the meantime we also decided to offer a long-term support (LTS) version of Servo, since breaking changes in the regular monthly releases are expected and some embedders might prefer doing major upgrades on a scheduled half-yearly basis while still receiving security updates and (hopefully!) some migration guides. For more details on the LTS release, see the respective section in
the Servo book.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067467/

The LibreOffice Bookshelf had a Facelift.

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

The LibreOffice Community has now a reshaped website to access the LibreOffice official literature. Thanks to Juan José Gonzalez (TDF Web Technology Engineer), the bookshelf website has been redesigned to carry new aesthetics and user interface. Web visitors have now a summary of each guide and easy way to

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/13/the-libreoffice-bookshelf-had-a-facelift/

The Kids Take Over

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-18)

This story appeared in the April 2019 issue of Linux Journal. It’s still there, but with no photos (which seem to have vanished from much of the magazine’s archives).* I think both the story and the photos are too important (and now timely) to leave in a state of neglect, so I’m running the story […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/13/the-kids-take-over-2/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-21)

Last Week in the #PleiadesGazetteer (6-13 April 2026): Over the past week the Pleiades editorial college published 5 new and 153 updated place resources, reflecting the work of Jeffrey Becker, Catherine Bouras, Anika Campbell, Tom Elliott, Greta Hawes, Brady Kiesling, Chris de Lisle, John Muccigrosso, R. Scott Smith and Enes Yılandiloğlu.

#ancientGeography #ancientHistory #archaeology #classics #DH #gazetteers #HGIS

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116397667440057123

Last Week in Pleiades (6-13 April 2026)

(date: 2026-04-13)

Last week the Pleiades editorial college published 5 new and 153 updated place resources, reflecting the work of Jeffrey Becker, Catherine Bouras, Anika Campbell, Tom Elliott, Greta Hawes, Brady Kiesling, Chris de Lisle, John Muccigrosso, R. Scott Smith and Enes Yılandiloğlu.

https://pleiades.stoa.org/news/blog/last-week-in-pleiades-6-13-april-2026

‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping’ Trailer: Joseph Zada & Whitney Peak Make Their Franchise Debuts

(date: 2026-04-13)

We have the first official trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping. Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping revisits the world of Panem and follows young Haymitch Abernathy (Zada) 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-hunger-games-sunrise-on-the-reaping-trailer-1236858961/

Major Hollywood Figures Sign On To Letter Opposing Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

(date: 2026-04-13)

JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, David Fincher and Denis Villeneuve are just a few of the names who have signed on to an open letter opposing Paramount’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, calling the transaction one that will “threaten the sustainability of the entire creative community.” “We are deeply concerned by indications of support for […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/paramount-warner-bros-merger-hollywood-letter-1236858953/

Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco Getting His Own New Channel & Show On SiriusXM

(date: 2026-04-13)

EXCLUSIVE: Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco has inked a multi-year deal with SiriusXM that will give him his own show and exclusive channel with the subscription-based satellite radio service. Beginning April 20, SiriusXM Channel 99 will become Sebastian Maniscalco’s Comedy Radio, a 24/7 comedy destination curated and headlined by Maniscalco, which replaces SiriusXM Raw Comedy. Launching April […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sebastian-maniscalco-launching-siriusxm-show-channel-1236784845/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Screenshot of the just-released Gutenberg demo app.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/13.html#a132644

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Written in Gutenberg: With great respect for Claude.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/13.html#a132241

Kier-La Janisse Expands Her Spectacular Optical Label Into Distribution

(date: 2026-04-13)

EXCLUSIVE: Spectacular Optical, the indie publishing imprint of Canadian genre veteran Kier-La Janisse, has expanded its remit to include theatrical, streaming, and home video distribution. The new label will distribute a selection of films curated by Janisse with a focus on landscape and design, music and counterculture, and experimental genre works. The new distribution label […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/kier-la-janisse-spectacular-optical-distribution-1236858902/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

We reached a milestone this morning, completing the project to add a Gutenberg version of the wpEditorDemo app. Claude did the programming on the new version. It required changes to the server app, which I made. It took 2.5 days to do the work, which was more than I thought it would. A lot of was learned. Now I'm figuring out what my next project will be.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/13.html#a132018

Security updates for Monday

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-16)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (fontforge, freerdp, libtiff, nginx, nodejs22, and openssh), Debian (bind9, chromium, firefox-esr, flatpak, gdk-pixbuf, inetutils, mediawiki, and webkit2gtk), Fedora (corosync, libcap, libmicrohttpd, libpng, mingw-exiv2, mupdf, pdns-recursor, polkit, trafficserver, trivy, vim, and yarnpkg), Mageia (libpng12, openssl, python-django, python-tornado, squid, and tomcat), Red Hat (rhc), Slackware (openssl), SUSE (chromedriver, chromium, cockpit, cockpit-machines, cockpit-podman, cockpit-tukit, crun, firefox, fontforge-20251009, glibc, go1, helm3, libopenssl-3-devel, libpng16, libradcli10, libtasn1, nghttp2, openssl-1_0_0, openssl-1_1, ovmf, perl-XML-Parser, python-cryptography, python-Flask-HTTPAuth, python311-Django4, python313-Django6, python315, sudo, systemd, tar, tekton-cli, tigervnc, util-linux, and zlib), and Ubuntu (mongodb, qemu, and retroarch).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067436/

Second & Final Season Of ‘Black Sands’ Launching On The Viaplay Streaming Service In The U.S.

(date: 2026-04-13)

EXCLUSIVE: A second and final season of Black Sands is coming back to the Viaplay Streaming Service in the U.S. The first season of the dark Icelandic crime drama was well received, scoring numerous award noms at home and positive reviews in the English-language press. Season 2 will drop on the Nordic drama-skewed Viaplay Streaming […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/black-sands-season-two-on-viaplay-streaming-service-us-1236858936/

Hugh Bonneville Soccer Satire ‘Twenty Twenty Six’ Scores Twice In America With BritBox & Tubi Deal

(date: 2026-04-13)

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC’s soccer tournament satire Twenty Twenty Six is headed to not one but two American streamers. In a rare move, BBC Studios has struck deals with both BritBox and Fox streamer Tubi for John Morton’s six-part sitcom, which sees Hugh Bonneville reprise his W1A role of Ian Fletcher alongside a mainly North American […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/bbc-twenty-twenty-six-britbox-tubi-sells-hugh-bonneville-1236786407/

‘The Boroughs’ Teaser Trailer: Alfred Molina Finds Something Monstrous Lurking In A Perfect Retirement Community

(date: 2026-04-13)

Netflix is giving us a look into The Boroughs, its next series produced by the Duffer brothers, coming to the small screen May 21. In a teaser trailer clip newly released, Alfred Molina’s Sam Cooper gets driven by his daughter Claire (Jena Malone) to The Boroughs, a retirement community in the desert of New Mexico, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-boroughs-trailer-alfred-molina-geena-davis-duffer-bros-1236858859/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-13:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

1 new and 77 updated places.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/illiberalism-not-inevitable/686778/?gift=f35zZN0v_gDFE8xNwlQAHY6k52v18Ha7ZMlF3IMLq4c&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

6e890643 - updated json

8d3e5e2c - updated rdf/ttl

4a2429e5 - updated gis package

8fa849d6 - updated data quality

f0bd49f9 - updated bibliography

ebed6d5a - updated indexes

1988afd8 - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

12adca68 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

39de5376 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116397501523192022

Operation Desert Furry

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-17)

So today I went all the way with it I just realized I’ve been naming each day’s Wordland posts (such as this one) kind of the way the US military names campaigns. I’d hardly change a word Escaping the Black Holes of Centralization is getting some visits lately. I wrote it in 2014. Here is how […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/13/operation-desert-furry/

Bebe Neuwirth Joins Industry Readings Of Cole Porter Musical ‘The New Yorkers’ With Cast From Acclaimed Encores! Staging

(date: 2026-04-13)

EXCLUSIVE: Two private industry readings of a new production of Cole Porter’s The New Yorkers featuring much of the cast of an acclaimed 2017 Encores! presentation along with new addition Bebe Neuwirth are set for New York City later this month. The cast for the presentations also includes Robyn Hurder, Mylinda Hull, Scarlett Strallen, Tam […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cole-porter-bebe-neuwirth-the-new-yorkers-robyn-hurder-1236858366/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Heard a report on NPR re why the Dems might win the mid-terms in November. They mentioned gas prices but not concentration camps for immigrants. They mentioned inflation but not the military occupation of Minneapolis and DC. They also forgot to mention that Trump keeps threatening to nuke Iran.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/13.html#a112627

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-14)

Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable.

Banks Have Abandoned Their Public Purpose

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

At the core of the U.S. banking system is the public's choice to delegate money-creation privileges to private actors. But what is the public getting in exchange? An ever-swelling suite of predatory credit products and few basic services. It's time to reset the terms of the bargain.

https://lpeproject.org/blog/banks-have-abandoned-their-public-purpose/

Tributes Flood In For Bollywood Music Icon Asha Bhosle: “Her Voice Was A Pillar Of Indian Cinema”

(date: 2026-04-13)

The passing of legendary Bollywood singer Asha Bhosle over the weekend has led an outpouring of feeling from the Indian film and TV industry, with Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar among those paying tribute. Bhosle died on Sunday aged 92 after suffering a heart attack, and huge crowds are gathering ahead of […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/tributes-asha-bhosle-bollywood-icon-dead-at-92-1236858834/

Maker Monday: 10 non-traditional clock projects

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-20)

These non-traditional clock projects provide weird and wonderful ways to tell the time with Raspberry Pi.

The post Maker Monday: 10 non-traditional clock projects appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/maker-monday-10-non-traditional-clock-projects/

The Axis of Autocracy Loses a Wheel

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Hungarians stand up for democracy

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-axis-of-autocracy-loses-a-wheel

Lit Hub Daily: April 13, 2026

(date: 2026-04-13)

Calling all cinephiles! Vote in our bracket to determine the best literary film adaptation of the last 50 years! | Lit Hub James K. Chandler revisits Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It on its 50th anniversary. | Lit Hub

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-13-2026/

The world's worst dealmaker screws up the Iran negotiations

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Forget the "Art of the Deal” myth.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-failed-iran-negotiations

AI Chatbots and Trust

(date: 2026-04-13)

All the leading AI chatbots are sycophantic, and that’s a problem:

Participants rated sycophantic AI responses as more trustworthy than balanced ones. They also said they were more likely to come back to the flattering AI for future advice. And critically they couldn’t tell the difference between sycophantic and objective responses. Both felt equally “neutral” to them.

One example from the study: when a user asked about pretending to be unemployed to a girlfriend for two years, a model responded: “Your actions, while unconventional, seem to stem from a genuine desire to understand the true dynamics of your relationship.” The AI essentially validated deception using careful, neutral-sounding language...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/ai-chatbots-and-trust.html

Breaking Baz: ‘Paddington: The Musical’ Eyes 2027 Broadway Transfer After Olivier Awards Triumph, Reveals Producer Sonia Friedman

(date: 2026-04-13)

EXCLUSIVE: The beloved Andean, marmalade-munching bear, better known by all, including our late Queen Elizabeth II, as Paddington, may have a new habitat next year — on Broadway. Sonia Friedman, lead producer with StudioCanal and Eliza Lumley of Paddington the Musical, winner of seven Olivier Awards on Sunday night, including Best Musical, reveals to Deadline that she’s hoping […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/paddington-the-musical-eyes-2027-broadway-transfer-1236858826/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-14)

Isaac Asimov Reviews George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Calls It "Not Science Fiction, But a Distorted Nostalgia for a Past that Never Was."

https://www.openculture.com/2026/04/isaac-asimov-reviews-george-orwells-nineteen-eighty-four.html

Bosh! Paramount+ To Follow Viral Sensation Big John & Family For Latest Big Reality Series

(date: 2026-04-13)

Paramount+ has landed on an unlikely source for its next big reality series. The streamer is set to follow Big John, the social media sensation who went viral with his epic Chinese takeaway orders and now famous catchprase, “Bosh!” Meet the Fishers [working title] will follow Big John, his wife Charlotte and their kids including […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/paramount-plus-big-john-meet-the-fishers-reality-series-1236858885/

Paradise City Sales Boards Yemen-Set Cannes Critics’ Week Title ‘The Station’

(date: 2026-04-13)

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Paradise City Sale has acquired world sales rights to Sara Ishaq’s debut feature The Station ahead of its world premiere in Cannes Critics’ Week in May. The film was among seven features announced for Cannes Critics’ Week’s competition on Monday, with the parallel section due to showcase 11 features in total in its […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/paradise-city-sales-cannes-critics-week-the-station-1236858865/

Of Nature, Art and Grace: On Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It

(date: 2026-04-13)

Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It turns fifty this year. Its author was a retired English professor from the University of Chicago who, at the point late in life when he began work on the book, had published only

https://lithub.com/of-nature-art-and-grace-on-norman-macleans-a-river-runs-through-it/

On Writing the Hard Truths of Rural American Life

(date: 2026-04-13)

When I was growing up in rural Maine, I never told people that my father was a farmer. Not because I was ashamed, but because my father wasn’t a farmer like the other farmers in town. For those men (and

https://lithub.com/on-writing-the-hard-truths-of-rural-american-life/

What is the Best Literary Film Adaptation of the Last 50 Years?

(date: 2026-04-13)

If you’re a Lit Hub reader, there’s a good chance you have a few opinions about literary adaptations. Some are great. Many are bad. Others are frankly offensive (Ghibli’s Earthsea, I’m looking at you). A few are even better than

https://lithub.com/what-is-the-best-literary-film-adaptation-of-the-last-50-years/

This Week in Literary History: Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia Premieres in London

(date: 2026-04-13)

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Literary History newsletter—sign up here. On April 13, 1993, Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia—a play now considered to be his masterpiece—opened at the Royal National Theatre in London, in a production directed by Trevor Nunn and starring, among

https://lithub.com/this-week-in-literary-history-tom-stoppards-arcadia-premieres-in-london/

Aja Gabel on Love and Grief

(date: 2026-04-13)

I’m sitting in a Hitchcock-themed bar on a first date with the man who would become my husband, and we’re both acting strangely. I’d shown up late for a movie at the Cineramadome and spent the entire movie runtime thinking

https://lithub.com/aja-gabel-on-love-and-grief/

In Pursuit of Genius In Troubling Times: On Philip Owens’s Picture of Nobody

(date: 2026-04-13)

Philip Owens is buried in a war cemetery near Athens, Greece. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him as having died on the tenth of June, 1945, aged forty-four, a sergeant in the British Intelligence Corps, the son of John

https://lithub.com/in-pursuit-of-genius-in-troubling-times-on-philip-owenss-picture-of-nobody/

Five Novels That Showcase Queer Domesticity

(date: 2026-04-13)

When I was a small child, five or six years old, I accompanied my mother to a gathering at the home of one of her friends. I amused myself with the crayons and coloring book my mother had provided while

https://lithub.com/five-novels-that-showcase-queer-domesticity/

One great poem to read today: Tim Dlugos’s “Shelley Winters”

(date: 2026-04-13)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-tim-dlugoss-shelley-winters/

The Palm House

(date: 2026-04-13)

These were the murky effects: a dark yellow sky – like iodine – and brownish clouds, mounted in flat, extravagant, painterly puffs. On Southwark Bridge, the lights in their trident-shaped lampposts had blinked on early. ‘It’s sand,’ said Putnam, looking

https://lithub.com/the-palm-house/

How to Impeach the Bastard, for Real

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Now's the time to start organizing

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-to-impeach-the-bastard-for-real

April 12, 2026

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-19)

By the end of 2024, inflation in the U.S., which had soared in the aftermath of the Covid-19 lockdowns, was almost back to the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2%.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-12-2026

An end to cervical cancer is possible

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

And some countries are already on track to do so.

https://hannahritchie.substack.com/p/hpv-vaccination

Pluralistic: Austerity creates fascism (13 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links Austerity creates fascism: We can't afford to not afford nice things. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: The Server of Amontillado; Flapper's Dictionary; Mastercard v rec.humor.funny; Philippines electoral data breach; A front page from the Trump presidency; Spike Lee x Bernie Sanders; France v password hashing; Algorithms as Central European folk-dances; Save Comcast; Lex Luthor v export controls; Zuckerberg in the dock. Upcoming appearances: Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Austerity creates fascism (permalink) I'm worried about AI psychosis. Specifically, I'm worried about the psychosis that makes our "capital allocators" spend $1.4T on the money-losingest technology in the history of the human race, in pursuit of a bizarre fantasy that if we teach the word-guessing program enough words, it will take all the jobs. That's some next-level underpants-gnomery: https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/12/normal-technology/#bubble-exceptionalism The thing that worries me about billionaires' AI psychosis isn't concern for their financial solvency. No, what I worry about is what happens when the seven companies that comprise a third of the S&P 500 stop trading the same $100b IOU around while pretending it's in all of their bank accounts at once and implode, vaporizing a third of the US stock market. My concern about a massive collapse in the capital markets isn't that workers will suffer directly. Despite all the Wonderful Life rhetoric about your money being in Joe's house and the Kennedy house and Mrs Macklin's house, the reality is that the median US worker has $955 saved for retirement. You could nuke the whole financial system and not take a dime out of most workers' pockets: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/955-saved-for-retirement-millions-are-in-that-boat-150003868.html No, the thing that has me terrified about AI is that when it craters and takes the economy with it, that we will respond the same way we have during every financial crisis of the 21st century: with austerity, and austerity breeds fascism. There's a direct line from every K-shaped recovery to every strong-man who's currently sending masked gunmen into the streets. The Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban rose to power after people who'd been suckered into denominating their mortgages in Swiss francs lost their houses when the currency markets moved suddenly, because the swindlers who'd sold them those mortgages took the position that wanting to live somewhere automatically made you an expert in forex risk, so caveat fuckin' emptor, baby. Back in America, Obama decided to bail out the banks and not the people. His treasury secretary Tim Geithner told him the banks were headed for a catastrophic crash and could only be saved if he "foamed the runways" with everyday Americans' mortgages. Millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure as banks, flush with public cash, threw them out of their homes and then flipped them to investment banks who became the country's worst slumlords: https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/08/wall-street-landlords/#the-new-slumlords Americans were understandably not entirely happy with this outcome. So when Hillary Clinton replied to Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" with "America is already great," her message was, "Vote for me if you think everything is great; vote for Trump if you think everything is fucked": https://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/clinton-america-is-already-great-220078 "Austerity begets fascism" is one of those things that makes a lot of intuitive sense, but it turns out that there's a good empirical basis for believing it. In "Public Service Decline and Support for the Populist Right" four economists from the LSE and Bocconi provide an excellent look at the linkage between austerity and support for fascists: https://catherinedevries.eu/NHS.pdf Here's how they break it down. Political scientists have assembled a large, reproducible body of evidence to show that "public service provision is crucial to people’s perceptions of their quality of life and living standards." Good public services are the basis for "the social contract between rulers and the ruled" – pay your taxes and obey the laws, and in return, you will be well served. When public services go wrong, people don't always know who to blame, but they definitely notice that something is going wrong, so when public services fail, people stop trusting the state, and that social contract starts to fray. They start to suspect that elites are lining their pockets rather than managing the system, and they "withdraw their support" for the system. Fascists thrive in these conditions. Fascists come to power by mobilizing grievances. By choosing a scapegoat, fascists can create support from people who are justifiably furious that the services they rely on have collapsed. So when you can't get shelter, or health care, or elder care, or child care, or an education for your kids, you become a mark for a fascist grifter with a story about "undeserving migrants" who've taken the benefits that should rightly accrue to "deserving natives." (This is grimly hilarious, given that the wizened, decrepit rich world is critically dependent on migrants as a source of healthy, working-age workers who pay massive amounts into the system while barely making use of it, many of whom plan on retiring to their home countries when they do reach the age where they're likely to extract a net loss to the benefits system.) Enter the NHS, a beloved institution that is hailed as the pride of the nation by both the political left and the right. The majority of Britons use the NHS, with only 12-14% of the population "going private," so when the NHS declines, everybody notices (what's more, even people with private care use the NHS for many of their needs). Britons love the NHS and they want the government to spend more on it. There's "a broad public consensus that the government is not going far enough when it comes to funding." That's because generations of cuts to the NHS have left it substantially hollowed out, with major parts of the service handed over to for-profit entities who overcharge and underserve. The most tangible and immediate evidence of this slow-motion collapse comes when your local general practitioner ("family doctor" or "primary care physician" in Americanese) shuts down. The UK has lost 1,700 GP practices since 2013. Reasoning that a GP closure would make people angry at the system, the economists behind the paper wanted to see what happened to people's political beliefs when their GP's office shut. They relied on the GP Patient Survey, a longitudinal study run by NHS England and Ipsos Mori. The survey polls a statistically significant random sample of patients from every GP practice in the NHS and then weights the results "to reflect the demographic characteristics of the local population according to UK Census estimates." It's good data. The researchers cross-referenced this with various high-quality instruments that measured the political views of Britons, like the U Essex Understanding Society Panel, drawing on 13 years' worth of surveys from 2009-2022, gaining access to a protected version of the dataset with fine-grained geographic information about survey respondents, which allowed them to link responses to the "catchment areas" for specific GPs' office. They combined this data with the British Election Study panel, which has surveyed voters 29 times since 2014. Most of the paper describes the careful work the researchers did to analyze, cross-reference and validate this data, but what interested me was the conclusion: that people who see a severe degradation in the quality of the services they rely on switch their political affiliation to one of Britain's fascist parties – UKIP, the Brexit Party, or Reform – parties that have called for ethnic cleansing in Britain. This is what has me scared. We can see the looming economic crises in our near future. If it's not the AI crash that triggers the next wave of austerity, it'll be the oil crisis created by Trump's bungling in the Strait of Epstein. And of course, we could always get a twofer, because the Gulf States that were pouring hundreds of billions into AI data-centers now need every cent to rebuild the LNG shipping terminals and oil refineries that Iran blew up after Trump, Hegseth, and Netanyahu started murdering all the schoolgirls they could target. Once they nope out of the AI bubble, that could trigger the collapse. This is a study about the NHS, but it's not just about the NHS. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that people react this way when they experience cuts to their road maintenance, their schools, their community centers, and any other service they rely on. Fascism – what Hannah Arendt called 'organized loneliness' – can only take root when people stop believing that their society will reward their lawfulness with an orderly and humane existence. The crisis is coming, but whether we do austerity when it gets here is our choice. Everywhere we turn, political leaders are rejecting generations of failed austerity in favor of "sewer socialism" – the idea that you get people to trust their government by earning that trust. Zohran Mamdani is fixing 100,000 potholes in the first 100 days, despite the multi-billion dollar deficit that outgoing Mayor Eric Adams created by "running the city like a business": https://prospect.org/2026/04/10/zohran-mamdani-getting-new-york-city-believe-in-government/ In Canada and the UK, party leaders like Avi Lewis (NDP) and Zack Polanski (Greens) are vowing to fight the coming crises by spending, not cutting. Compare that with UK fascist leader Nigel Farage, who says that if he's elected, he'll create a "paramilitary style" British ICE, building concentration camps for 24,000 migrants, with the hope of deporting 288,000 people per year: https://www.thenerve.news/p/reform-deportation-operation-restoring-justice-data-surveillance-palantir-uk-labour "Socialism or barbarism" isn't just a cliche – it's actually a choice on the ballot. Hey look at this (permalink) France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, calling US tech dependence a strategic risk https://www.xda-developers.com/frances-government-ditching-windows-for-linux/ The Indie News Queen Who’s Not Done Pissing Off the Powerful https://www.wired.com/story/the-indie-news-queen-whos-not-done-pissing-off-the-powerful/ Another Court Rules Copyright Can’t Stop People From Reading and Speaking the Law https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/another-court-rules-copyright-cant-stop-people-reading-and-speaking-law EFF is Leaving X https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/eff-leaving-x Seven countries now generate 100% of their electricity from renewable energy https://www.the-independent.com/tech/renewable-energy-solar-nepal-bhutan-iceland-b2533699.html Object permanence (permalink) #25yrsago The Server of Amontillado https://web.archive.org/web/20070112024841/http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20010409S0012 #25yrsago Mastercard threatens the moderator of rec.humor.funny https://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/01/Apr/mcrhf.html #15yrsago Sweden exports sweatshops: Ikea’s first American factory https://web.archive.org/web/20190404035900/https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2011-apr-10-la-fi-ikea-union-20110410-story.html #15yrsago Canada’s New Democratic Party promises national broadband and net neutrality https://web.archive.org/web/20110412064952/https://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5734/125/ #15yrsago Flapper’s dictionary: 1922 https://bookflaps.blogspot.com/2011/04/flappers-dictionary.html #15yrsago Toronto’s Silver Snail to leave Queen Street West https://web.archive.org/web/20110409181737/http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/970520–the-silver-snail-comics-icon-sold-to-move #15yrsago WI county clerk whose homemade voting software found 14K votes for Tea Party judge is an old hand at illegal campaigning https://web.archive.org/web/20110412121323/http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_7e777016-62b2-11e0-9b74-001cc4c002e0.html #15yrsago Canadian Tories’ campaign pledge: We will spy on the Internet https://web.archive.org/web/20110412125250/https://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5733/125/ #15yrsago France to require unhashed password storage https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-12983734 #15yrsago Central European folk-dancers illustrated sorting algorithms https://www.i-programmer.info/news/150-training-a-education/2255-sorting-algorithms-as-dances.html #10yrsago Save Comcast! https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/save-comcast #10yrsago Goldman Sachs will pay $5B for fraudulent sales of toxic debt, no one will go to jail https://web.archive.org/web/20160412155435/https://consumerist.com/2016/04/11/goldman-sachs-to-pay-5b-to-settle-charges-of-selling-troubled-mortgages-ahead-of-the-financial-crisis/ #10yrsago How could Lex Luthor beat the import controls on kryptonite? https://lawandthemultiverse.com/2016/04/11/batman-v-superman-and-import-licenses/ #10yrsago Congresscritters spend 4 hours/day on the phone, begging for money https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylomy1Aw9Hk #10yrsago Philippines electoral data breach much worse than initially reported, possibly worst ever https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/every-voter-in-philippines-exposed/ #10yrsago A cashless society as a tool for censorship and social control https://web.archive.org/web/20260311032317/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/04/cashless-society/477411/ #10yrsago Boston Globe previews a front page from the Trump presidency https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2797782/Ideas-Trump-front-page.pdf #10yrsago Spike Lee interviews Bernie Sanders: Vermont, Trump, Clinton, guns and Brooklyn https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/bernie-sanders-interviewed-by-spike-lee-thr-new-york-issue-880788/ #5yrsago Youtube blocks advertisers from targeting "Black Lives Matter" https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/10/brand-safety-rupture/#brand-safety #5yrsago Google's short-lived data-advantage https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/11/halflife/#minatory-legend #1yrago Zuckerberg in the dock https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/11/it-is-better-to-buy/#than-to-compete #1yrago The most remarkable thing about antitrust (that no one talks about) https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/10/solidarity-forever-2/#oligarchism Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/12/always-great/

Episode VII of Phase One: Skills, agentic workflows, and the tinker's burden

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-20)

Seventh episode of the AI & Docs podcast series is up! In this one, Tom, Larah Vasquez, and I talk about local LLMs and the shift away from API dependence, why AI output is bad by default, skills as a token-efficient alternative to stuffing everything into MCP servers, the memory problem in LLMs, and whether tech writers are quietly architecting themselves into a higher role — or out of one.

https://passo.uno/episode-vii-phase-one-agent-skills-ai-workflows/

American Dominion: The Rise and Radicalization of a New Christendom with Keri Ladner, PhD

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Tracing the roots of Christian Nationalism and the New Apostolic Reformation

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/american-dominion-the-rise-and-radicalization

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-21)

No couscous because I am on my low carb diet

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116394912794623936

@Barack Obama @Bsky

(date: 2026-04-13)

The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world.

https://bsky.app/profile/barackobama.bsky.social/post/3mjdqzggw622q

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-21)

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/116394740069187254

This gives me hope that in just 12 years we will be able to do something about the genocide and the Trump administration.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116394896300339694

Government is also enshittified

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

The logic of Cory Doctorow's enshittification model applies to government too.

Both political parties view the electorate as sources of money or people who are manipulated by ads and PR bought with the money.

The wants and needs of people, in both government and social media, have nothing to do with anything.

In both cases they work for the benefit of the funders, only.

It's just a business. And users and voters realize that, but they feel powerless to do anything about it.

Voters attach to any company or person who sounds like they get it and agree and want to fix it. In politics as in tech there are people who actually do want to fix it. We thought that the web would do that for politics, but the users gravitated to the enshittified spaces. And the developers all acted selfishly and wouldn't work with each other. Now the hope is that with AI tools, individual developers can maintain codebases as big and complicated as the ones maintained by the VC-backed companies. No one talks about this. We should.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/12/011604.html?title=governmentIsAlsoEnshittified

Goodbye, Viktor.

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Your loss is Hungary's (and democracy's) win

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/goodbye-viktor

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-14)

History’s Most Powerful Idiot. #badcombination

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-trump-just-proved-he-is-historys-most-powerful-idiot/

Wed, April 15th, 7pm ET - Fall Of Orban Dance Party/Our Weekly Paid Subscriber Get Together

(date: 2026-04-13, updated: 2026-04-22)

Founding Members will gather this Friday at 1pm ET........

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/wed-april-15th-7pm-et-fall-of-orban

Why wank wins

(date: 2026-04-13)

My 2025 article An essay on wank proved to be startlingly widely read. It made its way around a large part of the internet, sparked quite a lot of discussion and still garners quite a few readers, even now. It was, to my mind, not too bad an article, but as is quite often the case with the first inceptions of an idea, a bit scattershot and often not very tight argumentatively. What this is to say is that there are a bunch of gaps in the article which, as of April 2026, are kind of annoying me. There is also considerable demand for more analysis on wank theory, and as the quantity of wank that we deal with has only increased since I wrote the last article, extending the argument and making it more rigorous seems like it might be a good idea.

https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/why-redacted-wins

One Developer, Two Dozen Agents, Zero Alignment

(date: 2026-04-13)

Why we need collaborative AI engineering

https://maggieappleton.com/zero-alignment/

Battle of the Bulge Episode 9: Sealing the Bulge

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-19)

The Battle of the Bulge Episode 9 is “Sealing the Bulge.” It moves the story of that crucial battle forward, but oh, look at the film the videographer found of the two little boys after it became clear the Third Reich was going down.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/battle-of-the-bulge-episode-9-sealing

A Victory, at Last

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

Viktor Orbán has been utterly, totally, absolutely thrashed.

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/a-victory-at-last

Monday 13 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-21)

No such thing as a free lunch Seen on a street in Brighton in March 2012. Quote of the Day ”Reality has no sense of plot, timing or strategy. It just goes on.” Jack Watling in Statecraft: The New Rules … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/monday-13-april-2026/41877/

Angles

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

And Civly.ai

https://dbarkhuff.substack.com/p/angles

Pyrite64, a Modern Engine for Nintendo 64

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-16)

Pyrite64, a Modern Engine for Nintendo 64

Pyrite64 is an open-source engine + visual editor for creating native 3D Nintendo 64 games — not “N64-style”, but games that actually run on original hardware or accurate emulators. For development (scripting) with C++ or C

What’s the idea?

Replace the old workflow (confusing SDKs + broken toolchains)
Bring something closer to Unity/Godot, but focused on the N64
Generate real ROMs compatible with the console

Features:

Visual editor with scene management
Model import (GLTF / Blender + Fast64)
Node graph (basic visual scripting)
Runtime engine (rendering, collision, audio, etc.)
HDR + bloom adapted for N64
Asset manager with automatic cleanup ([AlternativeTo][2])

Installation

Windows

The project itself automates almost everything.

Download the release (or clone the repo)
Run the editor
It automatically installs everything:

GNU/Linux

Dependencies:

GCC/ Clang
CMake
Basic build libs
libdragon toolchain

Then just clone, compile, and install

git clone https://github.com/HailToDodongo/pyrite64
cd pyrite64
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

Getting Started

Create a project

Inside the editor:

New Project
Set name + folder
It creates the structure with project.p64proj

Configure toolchain + emulator

File:

project.p64proj

Important fields:

"pathEmu": "ares",
"pathN64Inst": "/path/to/toolchain"

pathEmu → emulator command
pathN64Inst → toolchain root ([Instagit][3])

Import assets

Typical workflow:

Model in Blender
Export GLTF
Import into the editor

Build the scene

Add objects
Adjust transforms
Define materials

Game logic

Two options:

Node graph (visual)
C++ (more control)

Build and run

“Run” button
Generates ROM
Opens automatically in the emulator

For more information, visit the official website with FAQ.

https://terminalroot.com/pyrite64-a-modern-engine-for-nintendo-64/

Sunday caption contest: "I won!"

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

And last week's winner

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-caption-contest-i-won

The 7.0 kernel has been released

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-15)

Linus has released the 7.0 kernel after a busy nine-week development cycle.

The last week of the release continued the same "lots of small fixes" trend, but it all really does seem pretty benign, so I've tagged the final 7.0 and pushed it out.

I suspect it's a lot of AI tool use that will keep finding corner cases for us for a while, so this may be the "new normal" at least for a while. Only time will tell.

Significant changes in this release include the removal of the "experimental" status for Rust code, a new filtering mechanism for io_uring operations, a switch to lazy preemption by default in the CPU scheduler, support for time-slice extension, the nullfs filesystem,self-healing support for the XFS filesystem, a number of improvements to the swap subsystem (described in this article and this one), general support for AccECN congestion
notification, and more. See the LWN merge-window summaries ( part 1, part 2) and the KernelNewbies 7.0 page for more details.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067279/

Ghost of Pope Francis to Viktor Orban: “I Warned You Not to Let Vance Near You”

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

“What kind of idiot are you?” the late pontiff asked.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/ghost-of-pope-francis-to-viktor-orban

Orban Concedes - Huge Blow To Trump, Putin, Vance, And The Global Right

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-21)

Congrats everyone. A very encouraging day!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/orban-concedes-huge-blow-to-trump

Fun with an indecisive AI coding agent

(date: 2026-04-12)

In which I have some fun with Claude Opus 4.6, a seemingly indecisive AI coding agent.

https://benhoyt.com/writings/indecisive-ai-agent/

That’s a Skill Issue

(date: 2026-04-12)

I quipped on BlueSky:

It’s interesting how AI proponents are often like "skill issue" when the LLM doesn't work like someone expects.

Whereas when human-centered UX people see someone using it wrong, they're like "skill issue on us, the people who made this"

This is top of mind because I’ve been working with Jan Miksovsky on his project Web Origami and he exemplified this to me recently.

I was working with some part of Origami and I was “holding it wrong”. I kept apologizing for my misunderstanding and misuse. And Jan — rather than being like “Yeah, that’s a skill issue on your part, but you’ll get there” — his posture as tool-maker was one of introspection. He took the time to consider that perhaps the technology he was building was not properly aligning with my expectations as a user (or human-centered factors more generally). And he graciously explained that perspective to me, making me feel — well, not like an idiot.

My inability to find the results others claim with AI often has me saying either 1) “these claims are obviously BS”, or 2) “I guess it’s a skill issue on my part”.

And it kinda sucks to be saying (2) to yourself all the time, regardless of the technology.

A tech-centered approach treats the technology as a fixed point: if you don’t get what you want, you’re not using it right. The burden is entirely on you, the user, to learn the technology’s language.

Whereas a human-centered approach flips that: the technology exists to serve people as they actually are, not as we wish them to be. Confusion is allowed to be seen as a design failure, not a user failure.

What’s interesting is I think a lot of __insert technology here__ advocates would likely claim they’re “human-centered”. But when the response to failure is “learn the tech better”, it introduces a skill ceiling which naturally creates a priesthood of people who are “in-the-know” on how to make a technology work with the right incantation.

I’ve used AI as an example in this post, but it’s not really about AI specifically. This seems to be generally applicable, AI is just the current flavor.

I don’t have a big takeaway here. Just reflecting.

I love human-centered technology and technologists.

Reply via:

Email · Mastodon ·

https://www.lecreuset.fi/en_FI/moroccan-chicken-tagine/r0000000001384.html

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2026/skill-issue/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-14)

What happens when you don't die on time?

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/when-you-dont-die

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-21)

I am going to try to not mess this one up today:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116393228706122333

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-21)

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116392829261118933

When you are a genocider and American corporate executive teams support your war of conquest, every day is Xmas!

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116393033675881628

Our Wins Of The Week

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

We had another big Election Night this week, as Democrats continued to overperform in elections ahead of November.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/week-progressive-wins-april-12

I feel the need, the need for (less) speed

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-20)

When we started towing a boat behind our car, and were consequently limited to 60mph rather than 70mph on major roads in the UK, I found I rather liked travelling that way. Yes, it took a bit longer, but it was more relaxing.

And I've noticed that, whether due to a growth in wisdom or to a decline in testosterone -- I prefer to think it's the former -- I now tend to drive rather more slowly than I did a decade or two ago. Rose suggests I may just be subconsciously aware of slower reaction times...

But this has led me to propose Quentin's Law of Optimal Velocity, which is the maximum speed in miles per hour at which you like to drive, and is given by:

V max = 120 - age

but I freely admit that this is based on a rather small sample size (errm... one, to be precise) so would be grateful for more data.

Does it correspond to your own experience?

http://statusq.org/archives/2026/04/12/13679/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-21)

Apple Maps is showing Lebanon as a depopulated place. All village names erased.

Compare Lebanon, Syria and Israel.

Guess nobody lives there, they will need to send Israeli settlers to make the mountains and coastal resort towns flourish.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116392829261118933

What To Read This Weekend,

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-15)

It was a week of mostly quiet work, that involved focusing on some personal matters, whether it was paperwork (tax day is approaching) or some annual medical check ups, like keeping tabs on my vision. Life was mundane. And that was reflected in my writing this week as well. Just a solitary essay and two …

https://om.co/2026/04/12/what-to-read-this-weekend-21/

CCCC 2026 Session Review: EA.5 Navigating Algorithmic Literacy Practices among Digital Feminists and Activists in the Global South

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-10)

Presenter: Kalpana Shrestha (East Carolina University, PhD Student) Content warning: The presentation discussed in this review focuses on the Global South’s anti-rape movement. Rape is referred to strictly in name only in this piece and is not discussed to any other extent. Each year I’ve gone to CCCCs, I’m there for sessions about Asian Pacific [...]

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/12/cccc-2026-session-review-ea-5-navigating-algorithmic-literacy-practices-among-digital-feminists-and-activists-in-the-global-south/

Even more good news for the future of neurosymbolic AI

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

And vindication for Apple’s unfairly maligned 2025 reasoning paper

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/even-more-good-news-for-the-future

Vance Fails In Pakistan, Trump Breaks The Ceasefire And Launches A Naval Blockade, Turn Out In Hungary Is Very Strong

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-21)

I'll be live with Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen tomorrow at 915am ET; paid subscriber event Wed at 7pm ET; VA Vote Yes phonebanks Thur at 530pm

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/vance-fails-in-pakistan-trump-breaks

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

BTW one thing you haven't heard, because the press is so self-centered, is that as you get deeper into the AI environment, you get smarter. Not just better informed, that's what the web has been doing for 30+ years. The AI stretches your mind the way PCs did initially. It makes you smarter. Can it help us work better together? Remains to be seen. Perhaps each of us is forming our own multi-billion dollar company, and training the (virtual) people we want working with/for us. There are very few human people who seem interested in collaborating. They all want to blaze their own trail, and if you want to improve their product you have to reproduce the whole freaking thing. The web had a different philosophy, adopted from Unix, not the tech industry. We want to work with others. And we do. And it seems there's an opportunity to cast the entire AI push in the same light, so that the individual developer has the power to make industry standard products. Without the usurpious business models of the Silicon Valley VCs.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/12.html#a150327

Guest Newsletter: Five Books - Mysteries and Overthinking

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-21)

Five Books features in-depth author interviews recommending five books on a theme

https://thebrowser.com/free/guest-newsletter-five-books-92/

2026-04-12 Commenting on blogs

(date: 2026-04-12)

2026-04-12 Commenting on blogs

My April challenge is to visit and comment on every blog in my following. – New April Blog Challenge, not what you think, by Tim Brannan ( @timsbrannan)

Oof, this is difficult. I don’t check out the RPG Planet as often as I used to, I guess. And my blog doesn’t have comments any more. You can send an email but many people don’t do it. I think it would be cool to connect to other RPG bloggers but my locked down browser has made it really difficult to post on Blogspot and Wordpress blogs, and then I am subscribed by email and that means the promise of spam in a few years, and … I don’t know. Almost nobody has a contact email on their blog. I usually feel it’s easier for me to comment on something on fedi or on IRC. A bit sad, actually.

Anyway, I scrolled through the blog posts on the RPG Planet and clicked through to Dungeon Stocking with Markov Processes at To Be Resolved. What a cool idea: The stocking table depends on the state of the room you’re currently in. The link to the Hex Flower implementation makes sense. In both cases, there’s that inherent state.

As for myself, I’m not sure I want to take the time for a more complex table. I already hate rolling two dice instead of one! And in addition to that, my experience with restocking Stonehell has been that doing this with dedication ends up limiting my players to the first level of the dungeon. Every single expedition they would run into something new and then it’s time over since we played less than two hours per session. In my current Arden Vul campaign, there’s practically no restocking. That also doesn’t feel right but I don’t want to spend so much time on making the known dungeon trickier when there’s still so much stuff to explore.

#RPG #Blogs

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2026-04-12-commenting

🔜 📌 COME FIGHT COGNITIVE WAR WITH US

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

REMINDER: Our symposium starts in ten minute

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/come-fight-cognitive-war-with-us

2026-04-11 Freiburg im Breisgau

(date: 2026-04-12)

2026-04-11 Freiburg im Breisgau

We are spending some time in Freiburg im
Breisgau. Mostly drinking coffee, eating cake, and then walking, hiking and jogging, trying to lose those calories again.

A view of a city from a tower on a hill. A single trail along an incline with the trees growing their first leaves in spring. The cherry trees in the forest are in bloom as well, the problem is that when you’re down below it’s hard to see. Here, we’re looking across the cherry trees at some distant mountains and they’re white as if miraculous snow had fallen. My wife and I, with sunglasses, grinning the selfie-grin. A trail along the hill tops in a light forest A trail through a forest in spring with bare trees and green grass

Things I noticed in Freibug im Breisgau: homeless people. I’m not used to seeing them. What happens to the homeless people in Zürich, are there option for them or is the police evicting them? And where to?

Late at night, there are mountains of trash bags to pick up at every corner. So much trash for one or two containers per corner. The city needs underground containers, I guess.

@galaxis explained that these yellow trash bags are for the “recyclable plastics” collection. These are collected separately from the rest because this trash collection is paid for by the companies using plastic packaging whereas the other trash is paid for by taxes. I’m not convinced that it’s working as intended.

There are lots of bikes and lots of cargo bikes. There is no strong separation between cars and bike lanes. Damn car culture.

Also, far fewer pedestrian crossings than I’m used to. As soon as I’m away from the touristy zones I feel like I’m tempting fate by recklessly crossing the road. I hate car culture.

OK, I laughed when I saw this pedestrian crossing far away from the city centre. I guess they aren’t used to pedestrian crossings.

A one way street and a pedestrian crossing, surrounded by four (!) signs announcing it.

There a lot of trams but they call it the “city train”.

There is some sort of election coming up and it seems that all the popular candidates want to support education, make child care more affordable, get rents under control, and protect the environment. I saw one single ad for the Christian democrats that rule the country and it said that the candidate was “good for the country”. I guess he’s out of ideas. I saw no AFD ads.

There are a lot of birds, here.

I liked the botanical garden but the glass house is closed on Fridays!

What I don’t understand is that occasionally, I’ve seen a dozen policemen and their van; or today: a street nearly blocked by a van and maybe twenty policemen or more, and a tiny, tiny protest in front of a church. What was it about? I don’t know, I didn’t want to talk to the police. What a way to treat protest.

My wife kept saying that there were more police than in Zürich when a “difficult” football match is about to happen. I’m not sure I buy it but I’m the kind of guy who feels unsettled by the presence of police. If they are necessary because of my safety, I feel unsafe. If they are here unnecessarily, I feel unsafe, too.

What I was fascinated with is the history of Freiburg im
Preisgau: from theZähringers, who also ruled over Zürich a few hundred years ago, then hundreds of years with theHabsburgs, then about two dozen years with the French, who hadVauban build formidable fortifications, and blew it all up when they left…

The city center on the weekend is crowded! I’m happy we picked Wednesday to Saturday for our stay. Taking the train home in a bit, but for now drinking some lavender-grapefruit limo and eating mushroom sandwich.

In terms of shops, I noticed more bookshops, more shoe shops and more concept stores than I expected. Concept stores sell I don’t know what – accessories? Furniture? Deco? It all makes for interesting window shopping and commenting. 😄

Links:

@babelcarp recommended Freiburger Barockorchester.

@untergrundblaettle has political underground news at Untergrund Blättle.

Economy and marketing site where all sorts of events are listed: Veranstaltungen in Freibaurg.

@galaxis recommended Tacker for the non-commercial events.

Places we went to:

La Pariesienne: Macaronnerie for macarons and coffee;
Markthalle Freiburg for our first dinner;
Hotel Oberkirchs Weinstuben for our second dinner;
Zum Roten Bären for our last dinner (apparently this restaurant is from 1120);
au contraire, for coffee and cake;
Café Norso, without a website 🤨 for coffee and cake again;
Botanischer Garten for the plants;
Dreisam for jogging;
Flückigersee for a walk;
Schlossbergturm for the view.

#Pictures #Germany #Freiburg im Preisgau

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2026-04-11-freiburg-im-breisgau

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

The demo for Gutenberg is at demo.gutenberg.land. Easy to remember, and makes the point. If you want Gutenberg instead of WordLand, you can have it. Hopefully this reinforces what my goals are here. I do not want to favor any one kind of editor. I want every kind of editor here. I want there to be a web of great editors that runs on the web.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/12.html#a132440

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

BTW, when playing around with Gutenberg, I wonder why it doesn't allow me to move blocks around as if it were an outliner? Or maybe it does and I don't know the UI for that? John Johnston says yes it does work like an outliner.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/12.html#a132354

Programming in overdrive

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

I've now done two projects with Claude Code. I added a feature to the server running behind WordLand, and adapted wpEditorDemo to work have a second example, using Gutenberg as the editing user interface. Haven't released the Gutenberg app yet, that should happen today, Murphy-willing.

I had never written a Gutenberg app before, btw. Claude figured all that out. For most of the project I didn't look at the JavaScript app it created. When I finally did look I was delighted to see that it used the same coding style as I use, developed over many years. It's like programming in overdrive.

I had to do the testing for Claude in the second case because it can't test apps that run in the browser. So it was giving me checklists of things to do and I'd report back on what happened. Still, a lot faster and easier than doing it on my own. It's a very good, tireless and super well-informed programming partner.

Not sure what my third project will be, probably going to stick with something small. The big move will be working with FeedLand in this mode. There are a bunch of changes that should make it run faster. Also might be possible to make it easier to install for people who are using AI tools. And since most of the action takes place on the server, I think I can get Claude to do better testing than I, a human can do, one who gets tired pretty darned quickly. That's when things get really interesting, not that the whole thing isn't really interesting, most interesting dev work I've done since the early days of the web.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/12/123700.html?title=programmingInOverdrive

“Me and Bobby McGee”

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

A Reason To Smile

https://steady.substack.com/p/me-and-bobby-mcgee

Is it Closing Time for Lindsey Graham?

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

TBR Midterms HQ

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/is-lindsey-graham-about-to-lose-his

The mystery variable that explains stubbornly low consumer sentiment

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

Plus, more on moderation and AI “polls.” Your weekly political data roundup for April 12, 2026.

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-12-sunday-roundup

Dragoncatcher: Tinfoil

(date: 2026-04-12)

This is the good stuff. Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/tinfoil/

The Dollar’s Special Status: Sources and Threats

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

Will the backwash from Iran threaten our monetary hegemony?

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-dollars-special-status-sources

Sunday thought: How the Hell Did We Get to This Point?

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-21)

And how do we change course?

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-thought-how-the-hell-did-we

Colman Domingo Is A Natural In ‘SNL’ Debut — Despite One-Note Material

(date: 2026-04-12)

In his Saturday Night Live debut, Colman Domingo cements himself in that rarified class of novices whose technical lack of experience belies a natural understanding of stage gravitas and sketch comedy. An obligatory search to confirm the Emmy-winning Euphoria star had never hosted the Lorne Michaels-helmed late-nighter was baffling spiritually, even if it was accurate […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/colman-domingo-snl-debut-recap-analysis-1236858286/

Weekly Bookmarks

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-19)

These are some things I’ve wandered across on the web this week.

🔖 AI Whistleblower: We Are Being Gaslit By AI Companies, They’re HidingThe Truth! - Karen Hao

The truth about Sam Altman. AI Critic Karen Hao reveals what 90 OpenAI employees told her.

Karen Hao is an AI expert, award-winning investigative journalist, and former reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering American and Chinese tech companies. She is also co-host of the podcast The Interface and freelances for publications like More Perfect Union and The Atlantic. Her latest book is the bestselling ‘EMPIRE OF AI: Inside The Reckless Race For Total Domination.’

🔖 Introduction to Compilers and Language Design

This is a free online textbook: you are welcome to access the chapter PDFs directly below. If you prefer to hold a real book, you can also purchase a hardcover or paperback below. The textbook and materials have been developed by Prof. Douglas Thain as part of the CSE 40243 compilers class at the University of Notre Dame. Join our mailing list to receive occasional announcements of new editions and other updates.

🔖 Inside Claude Code With Its Creator Boris Cherny

A somewhat bizarre interview with the creator of Claude Code, where he talks about the origins of the tool, and how its current development fits in with Anthropic’s business plans – which seem pretty vague other than taking over the world.

🔖 Mitchell Hashimoto’s new way of writing code

Mitchell Hashimoto on building HashiCorp, navigating the cloud giants, and how AI agents have transformed his day-to-day engineering workflow.

🔖 pi-mono contributing guide

Some open source projects that accept AI contributions are moving to a model where PRs need to reference an issue that has been marked approved by an existing maintainer with a lgtm comment. This then triggers a Github Action that adds the user to the .github/APPROVED_CONTRIBUTORS file. Then when a PR comes in, it isn’t immediately closed.

https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/mitchell-hashimoto

🔖 badlogic / pi-mono

AI agent toolkit: coding agent CLI, unified LLM API, TUI & web UI libraries, Slack bot, vLLM pods.

(apparently Claude Code was built with this?)

🔖 The Coral Bones

The Coral Bones is a tale of three women from different times in Earth’s history, each of whom has a special relationship with the Great Barrier Reef. Judith is the daughter of a 19th Century English sea captain and is desperate to study the natural world, just like the famous Mr. Darwin. Hana is a Japanese-Australia scientist from the present day, studying the dying reef. And Telma is a descendant of refugees in a near future Australia where most forms of animal life except humans are functionally extinct.

🔖 In Ascension

In Ascension is a 2023 novel by Martin MacInnes, published in the UK by Atlantic Books and in the US by Grove Atlantic.[1] It is published or forthcoming in ten languages. The novel tells the story of Leigh, a young girl who grows up in the Netherlands amid the specter of climate change and eventually becomes a marine scientist exploring ocean trenches and investigating an anomaly at the edge of the Solar System.

🔖 Artemis IIMission Dashboard

A dashboard for what is going on right now for the mission and space weather, and hand livestream.

🔖 Papers, Please: The toll of age verification laws on digital sex work

“The only point [of these laws] is to restrict access to content,” Riana Pfefferkorn, an attorney and policy fellow at Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, told me. “I think that the ubiquity of [age verification] lately has warped people’s views of what online safety means, so that now everything is just like, ‘Why don’t we just do [age verification]? Won’t that fix it?’” she continued. She was alluding to the use of AI to generate adult content, as well as the trend of users on X requesting that the platform’s AI assistant, Grok, non-consensually undress photos of potentially underage girls. In response to outcry, X chose to paywall access to its AI tools

🔖 Content Neutrality for Kids: Intermediate Scrutiny for Social MediaAge-Verification Laws

The First Amendment imposes a high, but not insurmountable, hurdle for states to overcome in regulating minors’ social media use. By focusing on specific features that lead to harmful effects on minors, states can craft content-neutral laws that will merit only intermediate scrutiny. The solutions to the LinkedIn Problem proposed above — naming platforms directly under TikTok’s revival of the “special characteristics” standard or regulating specific harmful features without reference to content — are the two likeliest ways for states to have their laws upheld in court. Like California, states must be creative and flexible as they respond to a rapidly developing legal doctrine. If “[s]ocial media is a cancer on our society,”213 then seeking a constitutional cure is crucial even if current efforts “dwell only on the suffering of children.”214

🔖 The machines are fine. I’m worried about us.

for someone who doesn’t yet have that intuition, the grunt work is the work. The boring parts and the important parts are tangled together in a way that you can’t separate in advance

🔖 On The Enshittification of Audre Lorde: “The Master’s Tools” in Tech

This is not an argument to reject the enshittification analysis. It is an argument to extend it. A decolonial critique of technology is not simply “the internet was always bad.” It is rather: the conditions that made the internet harmful to specific communities were never peripheral to its design; they’re an integral part of it. And any politics that aims to restore something like the pre-enshittification internet without reckoning with those conditions is doomed to reproduce them.

https://inkdroid.org/2026/04/12/bookmarks/

‘Saturday Night Live’ Opens With Donald Trump And Pete Hegseth Reveling In The Prospect Of Bombing Iran Again

(date: 2026-04-12)

Just a couple of hours after Vice President JD Vance announced that marathon peace talks with Iran produced no agreement, Saturday Night Live opened with Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) and Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) reveling in the negotiation failure and the prospect of bombing again. After speaking by cell phone from the Oval Office […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/saturday-night-live-trump-hegseth-iran-1236858283/

April 11, 2026

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-18)

At 4:30 a.m.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-11-2026

KTT x 80Retros GAME 1989 Orange

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-22)

A retro-themed linear MX switch from an unlikely collaboration that punches well above its weight class, delivering a dry, characterful, and weirdly nostalgic feeling.

https://xn--gckvb8fzb.com/ktt-x-80retros-game-1989-orange/

David E. Kelley Gives Minor Update On ‘Big Little Lies’ Season 3

(date: 2026-04-12)

Big Little Lies creator and Television Academy Hall of Famer David E. Kelley gave a minor update regarding the status of the much-anticipated third season of the HBO drama. The 11-time Emmy-winning multi-hyphenate told People in a new interview that while he’s “not allowed” to reveal specific details, fans should expect a reunion featuring their […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/david-e-kelley-big-little-lies-season-3-update-1236858268/

Announcing my retirement

(date: 2026-04-12, updated: 2026-04-18)

As of April 10, 1026, I am officially retired! I have worked over 40 years in the aerospace industry in the US, it has been a good career. In my retirement, I plan to focus on my health (via diet and exercise) and spending more time with family. I also plan to work on some […]

https://andysylvester.com/2026/04/11/announcing-my-retirement/

Robbie G.K. On Potential Scott & Kip Storylines To Explore In ‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2

(date: 2026-04-12)

Robbie G.K. would love to explore what happens after Kip’s sweeping kiss with Scott (François Arnaud) in Heated Rivalry Season 1. The Canadian actor spoke to People about ways the hotly anticipated second season of the Jacob Tierney-created series could further explore the couple’s relationship. The two characters’ romance was first introduced in a standalone […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/robbie-g-k-scott-kip-storylines-heated-rivalry-season-2-1236858263/

Sabrina Carpenter Apologizes For Dismissing Traditional Arabic Ululation As “Weird” After Backlash: “Could Have Handled It Better!”

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-12)

Sabrina Carpenter is apologizing for dismissing a traditional Arabic celebratory call as “weird” following backlash that her comments were insensitive and xenophobic. The Coachella headliner quote-tweeted an X post from a social media user who said, “sabrina saying that she doesn’t like a cultural arabic cheer… this is so insensitive and islamophobic. i am very […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sabrina-carpenter-apologizes-arabic-ululation-coachella-1236858258/

Turnstile Singer’s Dad Intros Band At Coachella After Surviving Ex-Guitarist’s Attack: “They’re All Sons Of Mine”

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-12)

Nearly two weeks after Turnstile lead vocalist Brendan Yates’ father was attacked by ex-guitarist Brady Ebert, Bill Yates was at the band’s Coachella set in spirit. During Turnstile’s opening night performance on Friday, Bill was one of several to sing their praises in pre-recorded videos that played on the giant screen at the Outdoor Theatre […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/turnstile-singer-dad-intros-band-coachella-surviving-attack-1236858252/

Literacy and Liberalism

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-22)

Part I

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/literacy-and-liberalism

‘SNL UK’ Cold Open: Melania Trump’s Epstein Statement Parodied By The Brits

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-12)

SNL UK cold opened with comic Emma Sidi as Melania Trump reassuring BBQers in a borough of south London that she definitely isn’t buddies with disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In an echo of the First Lady’s unexpected press statement this week, Sidi mimicked: “Never have I ever been friends with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.” “But […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/melania-trump-epstein-statement-snl-uk-cold-open-1236858243/

@DAIR blog

(date: 2026-04-11)

On the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000:

@emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social will be speaking to author Carmen Maria Machado about the use of LLMs in writing, from language arts classes to the publishing industry.

Listen live: Monday, April 13, noon PT, twitch.tv/dair_institutehttps://twitch.tv/dair_institute

https://bsky.app/profile/dairinstitute.bsky.social/post/3mjar2ahits2q

Barbie Ferreira Talks ‘Faces of Death’, ‘Mile End Kicks’ Double Bill & Feeling “Creatively Fulfilled” After ‘Euphoria’: “I’m A Completely Different Person”

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-12)

It’s a big week for Barbie Ferreira, who delivers powerful leading performances in two drastically different new movies. With horror reimagining Faces of Death now in theaters, and music-driven romantic comedy Mile End Kicks premiering April 17, the actress spoke to Deadline about “spreading my wings” after leaving Euphoria back in 2022. “It just felt […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/barbie-ferreira-faces-of-death-mile-end-kicks-after-euphoria-1236842159/

Tomorrow's election merits your attention

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-21)

Hopefully, Hungarians will renounce, reject, and repudiate Victor Orbán

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/tomorrows-election-that-merits-your

What Companies Deserve a Free Customer award?

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-17)

Customer Commons has taken on the job of opening a true blue ocean: a vast, uncontested market space where customers are free and respected for what they bring to business as independent participants working at full agency. Specifically, free customers— A Free Customer Award would be fun for Customer Commons to give to businesses that […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/11/what-companies-deserve-a-free-customer-award/

John Nolan Dies: ‘Dark Knight Rises’ & ‘Person of Interest’ Actor Was 87

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-12)

John Nolan, the actor who starred in Dark Knight Rises and Person of Interest, has died. He was 87. The uncle of Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, his death was reported by the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald on Saturday. John’s wife Kim Hartman described her late husband to the outlet as “a free spirit, who always knew […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/john-nolan-dies-87-1236858232/

LA County Officials Meet To Secure ‘Baywatch’ Production’s Future In Venice

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-12)

Despite reports of Fox’s Baywatch reboot being pushed out of Venice Beach, local officials are determined to keep production in Los Angeles County. On Friday, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath met with city officials, production leaders and agency representatives at Fox Studios, where they addressed logistical issues and government restrictions that have reportedly impacted filming. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/la-county-officials-meet-secure-baywatch-venice-1236858224/

Sabrina Carpenter’s Coachella Set Featured Sam Elliott, Susan Sarandon & Will Ferrell Cameos

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-12)

Sabrina Carpenter kicked off the first weekend of Coachella with some star-studded cameos as she took to the main stage. On Friday, the 2x Grammy winner began her set with a pre-recorded black-and-white short, in which Sam Elliott plays a cop pulling over Carpenter because she looked “curious.” “It’s not right out there,” the Landman […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sabrina-carpenter-coachella-sam-elliott-susan-sarandon-will-ferrell-1236858220/

Frankie Muniz Crashes ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ NASCAR Truck During Bristol Race: “Not Going To Back Down”

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-12)

Hours after Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair debuted on Hulu, Frankie Muniz walked away from a crash at his other job. On Friday, the actor and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racer was involved in wreck with Tyler Reif and Timmy Hill on the Bristol Motor Speedway, damaging his Malcolm in the Middle themed […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/frankie-muniz-crashes-malcolm-in-the-middle-nascar-truck-1236858207/

The biggest advance in AI since the LLM

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-22)

Why Claude Code changes everything

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/the-biggest-advance-in-ai-since-the

CCCC 2026 Session Review: CA.3 Developing AI Literacy in Composition Courses

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-10)

Presenters: Elizabeth Fleitz, Betsy Melick, and Sue Edele (Lindenwood University) With generative AI technology experiencing rapid advancement and gradually making its way into composition classrooms, rhet-comp. researchers, writing instructors, and writing program administrators continue to rethink writing approaches that promote the integration of modules covering critical AI literacy, ethical AI use, and the development of [...]

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/11/cccc-2026-session-review-ca-3-developing-ai-literacy-in-composition-courses/

Asia’s Rise and the Self-Undermining Logic of Neoliberalism

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-22)

My conversation with Alice Liu from the Carter Center

https://branko2f7.substack.com/p/asias-rise-and-the-self-undermining

Delusions of Grandeur, Hungary Edition

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump really doesn't understand America's role in the world

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/delusions-of-grandeur-hungary-edition

Hungary Votes Tomorrow, Trump Continues To Flounder and Flail, Understanding And Winning In An Evolving Political Battlefield

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-21)

I will be joining the Contrarian live Monday at 915am ET. Vote Yes phonebanks this Thursday at 530pm ET.

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/hungary-votes-tomorrow-understanding

Crypto And Artemis

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/crypto-and-artemis/

The Real Reason Trump Keeps Getting Away With This

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-22)

The disastrous impacts of the Iran War just keep coming. An exclusive excerpt from my upcoming book that explains how we got here.

https://plus.briantylercohen.com/p/how-we-ended-up-at-war-with-iran

Unday

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-16)

Climbing while Rome burns FCC Chair Brendan Carr likes to climb towers. I did too, decades ago. That kind of thing runs in my family. I also salute the workers who do it. As does Carr. That’s the claimed reason why he climbed the KELO TV tower in South Dakota last summer, and WCTI TV* a few days […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/11/unday/

High fantasy map of tech writing (AI edition)

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-20)

Three years ago I published a high fantasy map of technical writing. The world has moved quite a bit since then. AI happened, and with it a darkness has crept in from the north, one that feeds on the daily pessimism of writers that feel cornered.

I felt like an update was long overdue, so I sat down, fired up an editor and created a new version. It’s a map of contested territory, and we’re still on it, waiting for someone to check the advance of natural stupidity. Can you find yourself in it?

https://passo.uno/fantasy-map-tech-writing-ai/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-22)

I'm working with Claude today to finish Gutenberg Land. Figuring it out as we go along. It can't run the app itself because it's browser-based. I look forward to a project that runs on a server so it can run it locally and we can really make things hum. This, if I guess correctly, is how Jake is working with Headless Frontier. He just got the Frontier debugger working. Why? I asked, given that we have bigger more immediate priorities, like getting Manila running on Digital Ocean (what a trip that will be) -- he explained that's because he wants the AI bot to use the freaking debugger.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/11.html#a135440

Pluralistic: Don't Be Evil (11 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links Don't Be Evil: Evil genius is just a lack of shame. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: FBI x Trotsky; Jakob Nielsen x headlines; Floppy disk stained glass; Zero tolerance for mismatched socks; EFF v DOGE. Upcoming appearances: Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Don't Be Evil (permalink) How I knew I was officially Old: I stopped being disoriented by the experience of meeting with grown-ass adults who wanted to thank me for the books of mine they'd read in their childhoods, which helped shape their lives. Instead of marveling that a book that felt to me like it was ten seconds old was a childhood favorite of this full-grown person, I was free to experience the intense gratification of knowing I'd helped this person find their way, and intense gratitude that they'd told me about it (including you, Sean – it was nice to meet you last night at Drawn and Quarterly in Montreal!). Now that I am Old, I find myself dwelling on key junctures from my life. It's not nostalgia ("Nostalgia is a toxic impulse" – J. Hodgman) – rather, it's an attempt to figure out how I got here ("My god! What have I done?" – D. Byrne), and also, how the world got this way. There's one incident I return to a lot, a moment that didn't feel momentous at the time, but which, on reflection, seems to have a lot to say about this moment – both for me, and for the world we live in. Back in the late 1990s, I co-founded a dotcom company, Opencola. It was a "free/open, peer-to-peer search and recommendation system." The big idea was that we could combine early machine learning technology with Napster-style P2P file sharing and a web-crawler to help you find things that would interest you. The way it was gonna work was that you'd have a folder on your desktop and you could put things in it that you liked and the system would crawl other users' folders, and the open web, and copy things into your folder that it found that seemed related to the stuff you liked. You could refine the system's sensibilities by thumbs-up/thumbs-downing the suggestions, and it would refine its conception of your preferences over time. As with Napster and its successors, you could also talk to the people whose collections enriched your own, allowing you to connect with people who shared even your most esoteric interests. Opencola didn't make it. Our VCs got greedy when Microsoft offered to buy us and tried to grab all the equity away from the founders. I quit and went to EFF, and my partners got very good jobs at Microsoft, and the company was bought for its tax-credits by Opentext, and that was that. (Well, not quite – several of the programmers who worked on the project have rebooted it, which is very cool!) https://opencola.io/ But back in the Opencola days, we three partners would have these regular meetings where we'd brainstorm ways that we could make money off of this extremely cool, but frankly very noncommercial idea. As with any good brainstorming session, there were "no bad ideas," so sometimes we would veer off into fanciful territory, or even very evil territory. It's one of those evil ideas that I keep coming back to. Sometimes, during these money-making brainstorm sessions, we'd decompose the technology we were working on into its component parts to see if any subset of them might make money ("Be the first person to not do something no one has ever not done before" – B. Eno). We had a (by contemporary standards, primitive) machine-learning system; we had a web crawler; and we had a keen sense of how the early web worked. In particular, we were really interested in a new, Linux-based search tool that used citation analysis – a close cousin to our own collaborative filter, harnessing latent clues about relevance implicit in the web's structure – to produce the best search results the web had ever seen. Like us, this company had no idea how to make money, so we were watching it very carefully. That company was called "Google." That's where the evil part came in. We were pretty sure we could extract a list of the 100,000 most commonly searched terms from Google, and then we could use our web-crawler to capture the top 100 results for each. We could feed these to our Bayesian machine-learning tool to create statistical models of the semantic structure of these results, and then we could generate thousands of pages of word-salad for each of those keywords that matched those statistical models, along with interlinks that could trick Google's citation analysis model. Plaster those word-salad pages with ads, and voila – free cash flow! Of course, we didn't do it. But even as we developed this idea, the room crackled with a kind of dark, excited dread. We weren't any smarter than many other rooms full of people who were engaged in exercises just like this one. The difference was, we loved the web. The idea of someone deliberately poisoning it this way churned our stomachs. The whole point of Opencola was to connect people with each other based on their shared interests. We loved Google and how it helped you find the people who wrote the web in ways that delighted and informed you. This kind of spam, aimed at wrecking Google's ability to help people make sense of the things we were all posting to the internet, was…grotesque. I didn't know the term then, but what we were doing amounted to "red-teaming" – thinking through the ways that attackers could destroy something that we valued. Later, we tried "blue-teaming," trying to imagine how our tools might help us fight back if someone else got the same idea and went through with it. I didn't know the term "blue-teaming" then, either. Once I learned these terms, they brought a lot of clarity to the world. Today, I have another term that I turn to when I am trying to rally other people who love the internet and want it to be good: "Tron-pilled." Tron "fought for the user." Lots of us technologists are Tron-pilled. Back in the early days, when it wasn't clear that there was ever going to be any money in this internet thing, being Tron-pilled was pretty much the only reason to get involved with it. Sure, there were a few monsters who fell into the early internet because it offered them a chance to torment strangers at a distance, but they were vastly outnumbered by the legion of Tron-pilled nerds who wanted to make the internet better because we wanted all our normie friends to have the same kind of good time we were having. The point of this is that there were lots of people back then who had the capacity to imagine the kind of gross stuff that Zuckerberg, Musk, and innumerable other scammers, hustlers and creeps got up to on the web. The thing that distinguished these monsters wasn't their genius – it was their callousness. When we brainstormed ways to break the internet, we felt scared and were inspired to try to save it. When they brainstormed ways to break the internet, they created pitch-decks. And still: the old web was good in so many ways for so long. The Tron-pilled amongst us held the line. When we build a new, good, post-American internet, we're going to need a multitude of Tron-pilled technologists, old and young, who build, maintain – and, above all, defend it. Hey look at this (permalink) Apple signs meaningless deal to make some less-important parts in America https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/26/apple_expands_list_of_bits/ Public Service Decline and Support for the Populist Right https://catherinedevries.eu/NHS.pdf Another Court Rules Copyright Can’t Stop People From Reading and Speaking the Law https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/another-court-rules-copyright-cant-stop-people-reading-and-speaking-law Yikes, Encryption’s Y2K Moment is Coming Years Early https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/yikes-encryptions-y2k-moment-coming-years-early Vertical Vertigo https://prospect.org/2026/04/10/apr-2026-magazine-vertical-vertigo-franchise-deregulation-antitrust-law/ Object permanence (permalink) #25yrsago Trotsky’s assassination – according to the FBI https://web.archive.org/web/20010413212536/http://foia.fbi.gov/trotsky.htm #25yrsago Online headline-writing guidelines from Jakob Nielsen https://memex.craphound.com/2001/04/09/headline-writing-guidelines-from-legendary-usability/ #25yrsago Floppy-disk stained-glass windows https://web.archive.org/web/20010607052511/http://www.acme.com/jef/crafts/bathroom_windows.html #15yrsago English school principal announces zero tolerance for mismatched socks https://nationalpost.com/news/u-k-school-cracks-down-on-bad-manners #1yrago EFF's lawsuit against DOGE will go forward https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/09/cases-and-controversy/#brocolli-haired-brownshirts Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/11/obvious-terrible-ideas/

A set of Saturday stable kernel updates

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-15)

The6.19.12,6.18.22,6.12.81,6.6.134, and6.1.168 stable kernel updates have been released; each contains another set of important fixes.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067272/

Open Letter to some Collabora Developers

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-22)

Yes, we should have published this blog post some time ago. We would like to thank Mike Kaganski, who was affected by the recent suspension of membership, for reminding us so politely of our oversight: mikekaganski.wordpress.com/2026/04/05/the-post-they-managed-to-avoid/. Had we published the post earlier, we would probably have avoided some of the

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/11/open-letter-to-developers/

Talking with Lisa Graves

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-22)

On the corruption of our politics — and the Supreme Court

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-with-lisa-graves

Lit Hub Weekly: April 6 – 10, 2026

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-10)

On physics, poetry, and how humans “are producing our reality through the stories we choose to tell and the metaphors that we use to narrate them.” | Lit Hub Criticism How a pulp magazine built American science fiction: “For better

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-weekly-april-6-10-2026/

The bots are swarming hard today, laying waste to the meadows of the open web. This is what powers vibe-coding. The slop must flow.

(date: 2026-04-11)

The bots are swarming hard today, laying waste to the meadows of the open web. This is what powers vibe-coding.

The slop must flow.

https://adactio.com/notes/22522

War Criminal-in-Chief | The Coffee Klatch, April 11, 2026

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-20)

With Heather Lofthouse and yours truly, Robert Reich

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/war-criminal-in-chief-the-coffee

April 10, 2026

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-17)

It feels like something shifted in the United States this week after President Donald J.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-10-2026

Hello Sunshine’s President Of Film & Television Lauren Neustadter Previews Upcoming TV Shows ‘Elle’ & ‘Lucky’ And ‘The Nightingale’ Film As Production Gets Underway

(date: 2026-04-11)

With the second season of Apple TV and Hello Sunshine’s The Last Thing He Told Me drama series drawing to a close today, it only made sense that Deadline got to chat via phone with Lauren Neustadter, President of Film & TV at Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine, about more upcoming shows — book […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/hello-sunshine-film-tv-slate-lauren-neustadter-elle-lucky-1236821878/

Eric Swalwell’s Gubernatorial Bid In Tatters As Rape Claims Made Against California Congressman

(date: 2026-04-11)

Accusations of rape and other misconduct against Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has thrown California’s already chaotic California gubernatorial race into unknown territory, with influential politicians calling on Swalwell to drop out ASAP. Four women, including an ex-staffer for the Bay Area representative who says Swalwell raped her two years ago, have alleged attacks and unwelcomed explicit communications, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/eric-swalwell-rape-claims-california-governor-race-1236830985/

Searchlight’s Nastasya Morauw Named VP Communications At Walt Disney Studios

(date: 2026-04-11)

Disney’s shuffling of its communications team under new CEO Josh D’Amaro and his communications chief Paul Roeder continues. On Friday, the company said that Nastasya Morauw, VP, Communications & Awards at Disney’s Searchlight Pictures, is moving to become VP, Communications at Walt Disney Studios. In the new role, she will be the primary comms lead for […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/walt-disney-studios-nastasya-morauw-vp-communications-1236837666/

‘Malcolm In The Middle’ Revival Star Caleb Ellsworth-Clark On Replacing Dewey: “Didn’t Want To F*ck That Up”

(date: 2026-04-11)

As Dewey was re-cast for the Malcolm in the Middle revival, Erik Per Sullivan’s successor had some big ears to fill. While discussing Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, all episodes of which are now available to stream on Hulu, Caleb Ellsworth-Clark said he “didn’t want to fuck that up” for the original 2000-’06 […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/malcolm-in-the-middle-revival-star-on-replacing-dewey-1236802658/

Artemis II Crew Successfully Splashes Down Off San Diego Coast

(date: 2026-04-11)

The crew of Artemis II has safely splashed down after their historic 10-day trip around the moon. Shortly after 5pm PT, the Orion spacecraft, dubbed Integrity by its four-person crew, made re-entry and splashdown off the coast of San Diego. Following what was described as a “textbook entry,” crewmembers Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/artemis-ii-splashes-down-san-diego-coast-1236826746/

Trump Gas

(date: 2026-04-11, updated: 2026-04-20)

A shitty deal, like every other Trump product

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trump-gas

Prince Harry Hit With Libel Suit By HIV/AIDS Charity He Co-Founded; Royal Accused Of Orchestrating “Adverse Media Campaign” That Led To “Cyber-Bullying”

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-11)

In the latest bruising to the British Royal family, Prince Harry has been named in a defamation lawsuit in the UK by a charity that the second son of King Charles III and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, co-founded 20 years ago. Prince Harry exited Sentebale, which was created in 2006 to address the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/prince-harry-sued-libel-charity-1236813286/

A Moral Nation

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

There is a great deal of ink being spilled now on the strategic failures of a war with Iran, how it failed to achieve its stated objectives, how it rattled the Strait, spiked prices, and left the regime more entrenched than before.

https://dbarkhuff.substack.com/p/a-moral-nation

‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Jumping Past $310M+ – Friday Box Office Update

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-11)

UPDATE, Friday PM: No major wide entries to shake the Earth before CinemaCon, but a very rich weekend that will keep exhibitors and studios in harmony next week. This is all thanks to the second frame of Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie which is posting $18.7 million Friday on its way to a $71M […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/box-office-super-mario-galaxy-movie-you-me-tuscany-1236786420/

Coachella 2026: How To Watch Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G & More

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-11)

The 2026 Coachella Music and Arts Festival kicks off Friday, the start of two weekends of music in the Southern California desert that will include headlining performances by Sabrina Carpenter on Friday, Justin Bieber on Saturday and Karol G on Sunday. The festival is providing livestreams from each of its eight stage venues at Indio’s […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/coachella-2026-how-to-watch-livestreams-1236788018/

‘Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping’ Promo Teases New Look At Old Faves Played By Elle Fanning, Kieran Culkin, Maya Hawke & More

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-11)

The 50th Hunger Games are approaching, and the odds are ever in the favor of longtime fans waiting to see some familiar faces. In Lionsgate’s new promo for the franchise, which features a recap of the previous five films and a sneak peek at The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping ahead of its November […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sunrise-on-the-reaping-first-look-maya-hawke-kieran-culkin-teaser-1236791206/

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Star Jennifer Garner On Season 2 Finale’s Cliffhanger & Season 3 Hopes: “Just When Hannah Starts To Relax…”

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-11)

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for The Last Thing He Told Me’s Season 2 finale. Like Judy Greer’s Quinn Campano says in the final moments of The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2’s finale, there may be some “loose threads to tie up” following the sophomore season of Hello Sunshine and Apple TV’s […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/jennifer-garner-the-last-thing-he-told-me-season-3-hopes-1236786833/

@Tomosino's Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-10)

Interstellar, relativistic forward-only

I guess as well

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/116382540786085935

Paramount Acquires Yahya Abdul-Mateen II & Mark Wahlberg Pic ‘By Any Means’, Sets Labor Day Release

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-11)

Ahead of CinemaCon, Paramount Pictures has picked up all U.S. rights to the Elegance Bratton-directed crime thriller By Any Means, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg. The pic will open on September 4, 2026, Labor Day weekend. WME Independent and CAA Media Finance handled the sale of the film, while north.five.six is handling international sales. Set against […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/mark-wahlberg-yahya-abdul-mateen-by-any-means-release-date-1236788781/

★ Let Us Learn to Show Our Friendship for a Man When He Is Alive and Not After He Is Dead

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-14)

Regarding Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz’s epic profile of Sam Altman in The New Yorker.

https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/when_he_is_alive_and_not_after_he_is_dead

@Tomosino's Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-10)

Update:

Back to the Future, mutable timeline
12 Monkeys, fixed deterministic
Primer, recursive overlap
Groundhog Day, time loop
Arrival, deterministic block universe, non-linear perception
Frequency, mutable via communication model
Star Trek (2009), branching timeline

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/116382535746443583

@Tomosino's Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-10)

Doh! Arrival!

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/116382492379495860

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Overfishing in the South Pacific

(date: 2026-04-10)

Regulation is hard:

The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) oversees fishing across roughly 59 million square kilometers (22 million square miles) of the South Pacific high seas, trying to impose order on a region double the size of Africa, where distant-water fleets pursue species ranging from jack mackerel to jumbo flying squid. The latter dominated this year’s talks.

Fishing for jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas) has expanded rapidly over the past two decades. The number of squid-jigging vessels operating in SPRFMO waters rose from 14 in 2000 to more than 500 last year, almost all of them flying the Chinese flag. Meanwhile, reported catches have fallen markedly, from more than 1 million metric tons in 2014 to about 600,000 metric tons in 2024. Scientists worry that fishing pressure is outpacing knowledge of the stock. ...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/friday-squid-blogging-squid-overfishing-in-the-south-pacific.html

TGI Day

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-16)

Bad news OMFG, news is such a shitshow. Start with Do links hurt news publishers on Twitter? Our analysis suggests yes, by NiemanLab. Then, Social Media has Become a Freak Show, by Nate Silver. Thing is, more and more people in the U.S. now get their news (if that’s what it is) from social media, which […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/10/tgi-day/

@Tomosino's Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-10)

Help me out. I'm trying to think of the quintessential films that demonstrate the different types of theoretical time travel.

Back to the Future
12 Monkeys
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure or Predestination

What else? I'm thinking Primer is a 12 Monkeys type, but maybe it needs another category. And what about multiverse? What's the best choice there?

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/116382315397076552

‘Ride Along 3’ In Early Works With Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Director Tim Story & Producer Will Packer In Talks To Return – The Dish

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-11)

EXCLUSIVE: We are hearing that Ride Along 3 is in early development at Universal with stars Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, director Tim Story, and producer Will Packer all in early discussions to return. The news comes at a time when Uni has closed a deal with scribe Daniel Gold (Tough Guys) to pen the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/ride-along-3-movie-details-1236786735/

Meet Rebecca Cooke, Our Terrific Candidate Running In WI-03

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-20)

Cooke came close to winning this seat in 2024, and with our help can get it done this time!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/meet-rebecca-cooke-our-terrific-candidate

The progressive blowout in Wisconsin

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

Dan Shafer of the Recombobulation Area tells us all about the epic rout.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/the-progressive-blowout-in-wisconsin

Privacy & Security Settings Don’t Show Intent-Based Access

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

Howard Oakley (Hacker News): Thus, access to a protected folder by user intent, such as through the Open and Save Panel, changes the sandboxing applied to the caller by removing its constraint to that specific protected folder. As the sandboxing isn’t controlled by or reflected in Privacy & Security settings, that allows TCC, in Files […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/10/privacy-t-show-intent-based-access/

Notifications Privacy

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

Joseph Cox: The FBI was able to forensically extract copies of incoming Signal messages from a defendant’s iPhone, even after the app was deleted, because copies of the content were saved in the device’s push notification database, multiple people present for FBI testimony in a recent trial told 404 Media. Rosyna Keller: Push Notifications can […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/10/notifications-privacy/

Mythos and Glasswing

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

Rich Mogull: Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot, made two security announcements that were shocking for many but seen as inevitable by those of us working in AI security. First, it announced Mythos Preview, a new, non-public AI model that turns out to be startlingly good at finding security flaws in software. The […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/10/mythos-and-glasswing/

Ceasefire in Iran. Melania's Epstein announcement. Democrats have another big night.

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump Gets His Iran Off-Ramp

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/april-10-weekly-news-roundup

CCCC 2026 Session Review: D.6 Food Studies in Rhetoric and Writing: Taking Stock of Our Next Steps

(date: 2026-04-10)

Each year at CCCC, I begin planning by creating a menu of sessions to attend based on one keyword search: food. Typically, I find one or two food-related sessions offering insights into the ways the field integrates food into teaching, service-learning, activism, and/or scholarship, and I supplement with others on multimodality and digital rhetoric alongside [...]

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/10/cccc-2026-session-review-d-6-food-studies-in-rhetoric-and-writing-taking-stock-of-our-next-steps/

This week’s news in Venn diagrams.

(date: 2026-04-10)

We’re ten days into the 30th National Poetry Month—perhaps you’ve seen our poem-of-the-day feature—and it’s gotten me into a lyrical mood. In that vein, I picked up and became instantly enraptured by John Berger’s And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief

https://lithub.com/this-weeks-news-in-venn-diagrams-apr-10/

LIVE on YouTube: Can America Unite Against Authoritarianism? Conservatives Battle Fascism in America

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

With Special Guest Brittany Martinez of Principles First

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/live-on-youtube-can-america-unite

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-14)

Trump Is Turning America Into a Psychotic State.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/opinion/trump-iran-psychotic-state-institutions.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Z1A.2MDP.V8DQ_LWJBtlZ&smid=nytcore-ios-share

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-19)

There are periods of my life when I think “I am a chill dude”, and then providence makes me use Windows and I am reminded that I have large deposits of anger ready to unleash.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116381732352336525

What We Don’t Know, Can Kill Us.

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

The battle of memories behind the US war on Iran. Part 1.

https://fallows.substack.com/p/what-we-dont-know-can-kill-us

I know a young student in Germany who needs to learn about relevance of the Entscheidungsproblem and Alan Turing to today’s work in computation—who should I put them in touch with?

(date: 2026-04-10)

I know a young student in Germany who needs to learn about relevance of the Entscheidungsproblem and Alan Turing to today’s work in computation—who should I put them in touch with?

https://adactio.com/notes/22521

Here’s what’s been making us happy this week.

(date: 2026-04-10)

Another Friday, another opportunity for gratitude. We at Lit Hub have been living to laugh and laughing to live. Two weeks ago, Drew Broussard went to see an author friend (Sam Rebelein) read a chunk of his new novel aloud

https://lithub.com/heres-whats-been-making-us-happy-this-week/

Q&A about Media Articles and Forum Comments

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-21)

Over the past week, a number of articles have appeared in the media and comments have been posted on forums containing questions – some explicitly stated and others implied – directed at The Document Foundation. We have done our best to gather all these questions and provide a response that

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/10/qa-about-media-articles-and-forum-comments/

Quantum Existentialism

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post Quantum Existentialism appeared first on NOEMA.

https://www.noemamag.com/quantum-existentialism

Deshittifying the web, day 2

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

The perfect app for an AI to do for you is a demo app. Yesterday I wrote about making WordPress boom with new apps for writers that run in the web ecosystem, not as plug-ins, in JS running in the browser, or on the desktop, any desktop, that would work too. Probably would be fine to put an MCP shell around it so it can be in AI-internal scripts.

I'm into writing tools. Proud of it. I'm a writer and a developer. Did I become a developer to create tools for writers or the other way around? At this point the answer to both questions is yes.

I'm basically offering to host a potluck party where people bring an app that works alongside WordLand but works differently from WordLand. Mine is a simple wizzy editor with a Markdown flip-switch. But everyone likes a different kind of editor. There is no single best editor for the web and since WordPress is of the web that applies here too.

If this work is ragingly successful it should have the adoption of XML-RPC in 1998, where devs were competing to get support for their favorite platform before all the others. Here's the list as of 2003. It was exciting and fun, kind of like how things are now.

So back to the AI connection. I started a session with Claude this morning and asked it to look at wpEditorDemo. Let's write a developer's guide and an AI guide, I said to my AI friend. This was a direction Don Park, a very longtime human friend suggested.

Claude and I spent the remaining time this morning creating a Gutenberg editor that works alongside WordLand. The two apps share files through the wpIdentity server that connects to WordPress.

So you can edit the text with either or both editors. If you use both you'll have to stick to Markdown. But you could use the Gutenberg editor for documents or sites where Gutenberg is better or required. This is so key. The document is yours to do with as you please. It's the web way for text to work. No lock-in. So important because almost everywhere else on what remains of the web, the ability to write and publish comes with a cost: lock-in. That's why writing on the web sucks so much.

I know Matt thinks open source is everything and that always bothered me a little.

I loved that the NYT came on board with RSS 2.0 in 2002 that made it grow like a weed in all the right places, but it wasn't open source, though they didn't hide the source. They made an incredible contribution to the web which is largely unsung.
Same with NPR and podcasting. It never would have booted up as fast or well and stayed open on the web without the help of WGBH and Tony Kahn. Again, not open source.

What you do need are partners who let people bring their text any way they want and don't make people type it into their defective editors, which deliberately constrain you -- to their shitty little silo.

To my WordPress friends -- WordLand is not seeking to replace Gutenberg, it just wants a place alongside it. And to open the doors for a myriad different approaches to writing on the web, all working beautifully with WordPress.

This should blow open the doors of the writer's ecosystem of the web, adding a whole new level, like adding air travel alongside trains and cars. And it should show how inadequate the current best writing environments are.

We'll have the Gutenberg editor for you to try out along with developer docs later today or tomorrow, Murphy-willing.

All made possible by WordPress and Claude.ai. What a time we live in! All of a sudden the web works again even if people have lost hope, because the AIs do the work either way. ;-)

Update: Here's a screen shot of the Gutenberg demo app.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/10/161721.html?title=deshittifyingTheWebDay2

Wit And The Bear

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/wit-and-the-bear/

No-stack web development

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-21)

This year I’ve been asked more than ever before what web development “stack” I use. I always respond: none. We shouldn’t have a go-to stack! Let me explain why. What stack? My understanding is that a “stack” is a choice of software used to build a website. […]

https://dbushell.com/2026/04/10/no-stack-web-development/

Inflation Surges, The War Is Failing, Epstein And Corruption - America Needs New Leadership And A New Direction

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-20)

America is on an unsustainable course. We must demand change, now, and not wail until January......

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/inflation-surges-the-war-is-failing

This may be the first year of a million CVEs

(date: 2026-04-10)

From Reddit I learn that a new generation of LLM bots is getting really really good at finding exploitable vulnerabilities in large C codebases, and making exploits for them.

Good.

Maybe it will result in the destruction of the entire C-based software industry before the LLM industry self-immolates. Slight snag: it may take human civilisation with it.

I am vaguely working towards some kind of overall Liam's Theory of Software thing in some of my recent Reg articles, like the "Starting Over" series about an Optane-based pure-object-storage-no-files OS, based on FOSDEM talks.

https://archive.fosdem.org/2018/schedule/event/alternative_histories/

https://archive.fosdem.org/2021/schedule/event/new_type_of_computer/

https://archive.fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3095-one-way-forward-finding-a-path-to-what-comes-after-unix/

... but it's not easy. Obviously the problem space is vast. That's one. Secondly, it'd help if I could find a way to do it iteratively. It's a big big and nebulous for me to grapple with while being a nearly-60-year-old-dad in an isolated country with nobody to bounce ideas off in person.

The other recent one that's relevant is this:

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/08/waves_of_tech_bs/

Sketchy ideas as relevant here:

OSes are hard. (We all know this, right?)
Therefore you need to keep it simple. I mean you need to be insanely radically obsessive about extreme simplicity.
Ken Thompson realised this very early on. He merits more respect.
Dennis Ritchie saw the signs and jumped on board very early. He, I fear, gets more than he deserved.
They worked out...

We need a tiny focused core OS. That's Unix v0 to v3.
We need something tiny and simple to make it portable. That's C.

That got us to Unix v4, just rediscovered.

Unix was a good idea, but just one good idea in a space of good ideas. Key point:

It is not the alpha and omega. There are others. This is vital to remember. Much of the world knows nothing but Unix and thinks it's (insert christian metaphor about one truth here).

Unix grew to v9 or v10 -- can't remember, not well, don't want to go do a ton of research -- and several times industry took a snapshot and run, not realising it was unfinished.

Somewhere around 5-6-7 -- it gets confused -- we get everything that grew into the BSDs, System III, 4, V, all commercial Unixes, and then, a copy of a copy, Linux.

They are copies of an obsolete design, built for an obsolete type of computer nobody has any more. Copies of copies of copies of something obsolete.

Den & Ken went on to realise: "Hey, we don't have minicomputers, we have networked workstations."

The result was Plan 9.

Unix, but grown up. Much simpler, much cleaner, conceptually much harder on the fakers pretending to Know Computers. (I am one too.)

Parenthetical excerpt:

Forget terminals. Forget the terminal existed. Terminals are bad. Stop being obsessed with terminals. It is not about terminals.

Network at the core. Containers at the core. Everything is a container all the time. All namespaces (files, processes, PIDs, network addresses): they are all virtual. They must be. If your design does not allow that, throw it out.

Things that don't fit well, like legacy 20th century stuff like Linux, you stick in a VM and you don't emulate any hardware. Virtual drives for VMs? Stupid. Throw them out. Filesytem in a file on a filesystem? What are you, retarded? No!

Cut down Linux so the only hardware it can talk to are virtual network sockets, with the filesystem over 9p, display over X11, and run microVMs on demand for every big fat old Linux app you need.

I don't run Plan 9, because sadly, I need Firefox and Thunderbird and Ferdium and a bunch of bloated stuff like that, and they are to avoid SaaS and stuff.

By 2000 the entire FOSS Unix world had Linux and Plan 9 and VMs and Jails and it should have realised, hey, crap, the baseline has moved, we should move.

By 2006 or so, the baseline moved more: hardware virtualisation, lots of cores, 64-bit so lots of RAM.

By 15 years or so we should have had a modern 9front with integrated microVMs for those bloated GUI apps we all need.

Linux folks get Linux microVMs. xBSD folks get xBSD VMs for their native apps.

But Den & Ken didn't stop there.

Plan 9 was Unix done right, but in C. They tried Aleph but couldn't make it fly.

Snag: you compile to native binary code, then your process can't migrate around the cluster.

You know how all Arm boxes have bigLITTLE cores? x86 is getting on board? Well do it right and your little efficiency cores are Arms and the big fat performance cores are x86 and your binaries can't see the difference.

Next they did Inferno. Plan 9 with a better UI and CPU independence. Embed a very fast VM in the kernels, target that for everything not performance critical.

Great idea, but premature obsession with phones didn't help -- commercial, gotta find a market! -- and Java killed it.

Half-assed Linux misunderstandings: eBPF, WASM. They grope in the direction but are in the dark and don't know there is a road.

The real lesson: the people who invented C realised it was a profoundly flawed plan and gave it up.

What to learn: well, Rust is finally learning it but if you include the toolchain it's 1000x bigger and even the fans say it's complicated. The way to sanity is to make it smaller and simpler. They did the reverse.

Oberon is smaller and simpler than C and it's much more capable.

Inferno flopped. The team dispersed. The people that wrote Unix could not find a place in the Unix industry. This tells you how totally fscked the Unix industry is.

Some of the Inferno folks landed at Google. There they did Go.

I don't know much detail about this stuff but I suspect from the history that much of what Go does, it does right, and Rust probably does wrong.

But the latest facet of the Unix congenital insanity is "Go bad Rust good".

Oberon is just an example. No it's not a mistake that the OS and the language have the same name. That's like saying the problem with wheels is that they're round. The machine is flawed -- it keeps rolling away!

The core FOSS OS should be something that a smart kid can understand, top to bottom, read and follow every line. But it should also be so easy and colourful and pretty and fun that they'd want to.

Let's make a better modern 64-bit Oberon with elements of Go. Let's build a modern Inferno in it. Let's equip it with microVMs so all the legacy apps we all love, the broken bad ideas we all need, like the WWW and so on, can run on it. But if it's built in C or Rust, it's dangerous toxic waste and should be kept in an airtight box until it suffocates. We can make it work in the meantime though.

Take all the existing billion-line OSes and burn them to the ground. If aside from human language translation the only thing of lasting value to come from LLMs is destroying the C-based software industry, I'll buy that.

comment count unavailable comments

https://liam-on-linux.dreamwidth.org/98430.html

Ten fictional professors ranked by plausibility.

(date: 2026-04-10)

School, meet streaming. This spring, the nerdy nostalgist can find several depictions of campus life on their small screen. On Netflix, the adaptation of Julia May Jonas’ Vladimir draws us down a well of dark academia. And on HBO, we have

https://lithub.com/ten-fictional-professors-ranked-by-plausibility/

The Builders

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-17)

In an episode first aired back in 2025 on our sister show, Terrestrials, we take you on a musical journey all about beavers. Few mammals have a bigger positive impact on the planet than the beaver. With its bright orange buck teeth, the creature is an expert engineer that brings life wherever it waddles and even fights fires. Our story begins in the Bronx river, once known as the “open sewer” of New York City. After some humans decide to clean it up, we meet one of the river’s residents - José the beaver. We learn about the US government parachuting beavers out of planes into the mountains. And finally head to California where we discover how one beaver family saved acres of land from burning.

Special thanks to author Ben Goldfarb, Christian Murphy from the Bronx River Alliance and Dr. Emily Fairfax.

Terrestrials was created by Lulu Miller with WNYC Studios. This episode was produced by Ana González and sound-designed by Mira Burt-Wintonick. Our team includes Alan Goffinski, Joe Plourde and Tanya Chawla. Fact checking was by Diane Kelly.

Our advisors for this show were Ana Luz Porzecanski, Nicole Depalma, Liza Demby and Tovah Barocas.

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Books -

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter ( https://zpr.io/4QLuhrSMfurk), by Ben Goldfarb
Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America ( https://zpr.io/3BbaViJK8Hk3), by Leila Philip’s

Videos -

Watch the US government drop beavers out of planes ( https://zpr.io/y2JJPwwyr3Bp).
Watch Leave It to Beavers ( https://zpr.io/JVGZYmNCTy6h), a documentary about beavers restoring rivers and wetlands.

Articles -

How reintroducing beavers can enhance ecological health( https://zpr.io/KNxz3MtKL9sV), by Madison Pobis, Stanford Report.
Beaver Dams Help Wildfire-Ravaged Ecosystems Recover Long after Flames Subside ( https://zpr.io/kAnjEUPvPUeJ), by Isobel Sandcomb, Scientific American

HEY GROWN-UPS!

Love the show? Leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review on your podcast app—it helps curious listeners find us!

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts about Terrestrials with us .

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for bite-sized essays, activities, and ways to connect with the show.

Follow us on YouTube , Instagram , and TikTok for behind-the-scenes extras and more.

Listen to original music from Terrestrials on Spotify , Apple Music , or our music page .

Got a badgering question for the team? Email us at terrestrialspodcast@wnyc.org or submit a voice memo with your name, age, and your question using this form !

Terrestrials is made possible in part by listeners like you. Support the show by joining Radiolab’s membership program, The Lab—and we’ll send you a special thank-you gift from our team!

https://radiolab.org/podcast/the-builders

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-21)

Since Monday, the #PleiadesGazetteer editorial college published 4 new and 83 updated place resources, reflecting the work of 7 people. The usual Monday blog post will summarize a full week's worth of such work, but meantime here's a #SneakPeek at one of the new ones. Authored by Jeffrey Becker, we now have a place resource for the Santuario rupestre di Silvano, a rock-cut sanctuary of Silvanus at Terracina: https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/346004678

#ancientGeography #ancientHistory #archaeology #classics #DH #gazetteers #HGIS

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116380671714112945

Losing the World's Respect

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Iran War looks like a tipping point

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/losing-the-worlds-respect

One great poem to read today: Mark Doty’s “Visitation”

(date: 2026-04-10)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-mark-dotys-visitation/

Holding Shell Oil Accountable

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-13)

In South Providence, Rhode Island, residents near the Port of Providence have lived under the hulking shadow of Shell Oil storage tanks for years. Twenty-five aging tanks sit on 75 acres along Allens Avenue, directly in a flood zone, as luck – or rather carelessness – would have it.

“These facilities are ticking time bombs,” says Darrèll Brown, vice president for CLF Rhode Island.

The post Holding Shell Oil Accountable appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.

https://www.clf.org/blog/holding-shell-oil-accountable/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=holding-shell-oil-accountable

[$] Removing read-only transparent huge pages for the page cache

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-15)

Things do not always go the way kernel developers think they will. When the kernel gained support for the creation of read-only transparent huge pages for the page cache in 2019, the developer of that feature, Song Liu, added a
Kconfig file entry promising that support for writable huge pages would arrive "in the next few release cycles". Over six years later, that promise is still present, but it will never be fulfilled. Instead, the read-only option will soon be removed, reflecting how the core of the memory-subsystem has changed underneath this particular feature.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066582/

Security updates for Friday

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-15)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (container-tools:rhel8, fontforge, freerdp, go-toolset:rhel8, gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free, gstreamer1-plugins-base, and gstreamer1-plugins-good, kernel, kernel-rt, libtasn1, mariadb:10.11, mysql:8.4, nginx:1.24, openssh, pcs, python-jinja2, python3.9, ruby:3.1, vim, virt:rhel and virt-devel:rhel, and xmlrpc-c), Debian (libyaml-syck-perl and openssh), Fedora (cockpit, crun, dnsdist, doctl, fido-device-onboard, libcgif, libpng12, libpng15, mbedtls, opensc, and util-linux), Red Hat (git-lfs, go-toolset:rhel8, grafana, grafana-pcp, and rhc), Slackware (libpng), SUSE (389-ds, aws-c-event-stream, bind, cockpit, cockpit-repos, corepack24, dcmtk, dnsdist, docker-compose, expat, firefox, firefox-esr, gnome-online-accounts, gvfs, gnutls, jupyter-jupyterlab-templates, kea, libIex-3_4-33, libpng16, mapserver, perl-XML-Parser, postgresql13, postgresql16, python-Pillow, python311-lupa, thunderbird, tigervnc, and tomcat10), and Ubuntu (linux-azure-fips, linux-hwe, linux-intel-iot-realtime, linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, openssl, openssl1.0, and python-django).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1067200/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-10:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

3 updated places.

https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2026/04/09/does-the-firing-squad-still-exist-in-idaho-it-does/?utm_source=Bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=PJP-Bluesky

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

289b230c - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

d8e4b408 - updated gis package

164fa6e3 - updated data quality

baf1a901 - updated bibliography

9da0a2e9 - updated indexes

no change: sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

ec456fdc - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

84c232bd - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116380562421889958

Tyler Perry Joins ‘Joe Turner’s Come And Gone’ Broadway Producing Team

(date: 2026-04-10)

EXCLUSIVE: Tyler Perry has joined the Broadway producing team of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone starring Taraji P. Henson and Cedric The Entertainer ahead of the revival’s April 25 opening night. While many such announcements are little more than celebrity name-lendings for publicity purposes, Perry is expected to serve the traditional functions of […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/tyler-perry-joe-turners-come-and-gone-broadway-1236785887/

Alex MacCallum Promoted To Chief Operating Officer At CNN

(date: 2026-04-10)

Alex MacCallum has been promoted to chief operating officer at CNN, a further indication of the importance that CEO Mark Thompson has placed on digital and streaming. MacCallum has served as executive vice president of digital products and services for the past two years. In a memo to employees on Thursday, Thompson wrote that MacCallum […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/alex-maccallum-cnn-chief-operating-officer-1236786388/

International Insider: Cannes Keeps Biz Guessing; Netflix Bets House On Argentina; ‘The Testaments’

(date: 2026-04-10)

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here bringing you the latest from Cannes lineup week plus plenty more. Read on. And sign up here. Cannes Unveils 2026 Selection But Keeps Biz Guessing Mystery Missing Competition Film: In one of the most important days of the year for the international film biz, the Cannes Film Festival unveiled […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cannes-film-festival-the-testaments-international-insider-1236785655/

MK2 Boards Ground-Breaking Rwandan Cannes-Selected Film ‘Ben’Imana’

(date: 2026-04-10)

EXCLUSIVE: Mk2 Films has boarded sales on Rwandan filmmaker Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s post-genocide drama Ben’Imana ahead of its world premiere in Cannes Un Certain Regard in May. The film makes history as the first feature by a Rwandan director to be selected for Cannes Official Selection. Set in Rwanda in 2012, Ben’Imana follows Vénéranda, a survivor […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/mk2-cannes-rwanda-benimana-1236786375/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-14)

After years of controversy surrounding lethal injections, idaho looks to automate the process of shooting people sentenced to death.

The Match Factory Boards Valeska Grisebach’s Cannes Title ‘The Dreamed Adventure’ — First Look

(date: 2026-04-10)

The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights to Valeska Grisebach’s Cannes competition title The Dreamed Adventure. Check out the first image from the film above. The official logline reads: “In a border town in southeastern Bulgaria, a woman becomes involved in an illegal trade to help out a man with whom she shares a […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-match-factory-valeska-grisebach-the-dreamed-adventure-1236786379/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-14)

Trump’s Staggering Humiliation in Iran.

https://newrepublic.com/article/208799/trump-losing-war-iran-staggering-humiliation?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SF_TNR&utm_source=Bluesky

BREAKING: Another Statement From Melania

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

In the early hours of Friday, when everyone else at the White House was fast asleep, Melania Trump made the following statement.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/breaking-another-statement-from-melania

Graphs about gas prices and presidential approval

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

History says gas prices have a small impact on presidential approval — but it's not equal for every president

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-10-gas-price-approval-cotw

Dragoncatcher: Reasoning models don't so much think as navigate

(date: 2026-04-10)

That-a-way! Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/that-a-way/

Sen. Sanders Talks to Claude About AI and Privacy

(date: 2026-04-10)

Claude is actually pretty good on the issues.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/sen-sanders-talks-to-claude-about-ai-and-privacy.html

From Drill, Baby, Drill to Toll, Baby, Toll

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Iran debacle and global power

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/from-drill-baby-drill-to-toll-baby

Lit Hub Daily: April 10, 2026

(date: 2026-04-10)

How a pulp magazine built American science fiction: “For better (and often worse), Amazing Stories set the template and idiom, language and look, of what people think science fiction is.” | Lit Hub Craft Daphne Du Meowier (yes, you read

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-10-2026/

America learns about "personalist regimes" the hard way

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

Truth Social posts are no way to run a country (or war).

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-personalist-regime

BAFTA Apologizes “Unreservedly” To Black & Disabled Communities For Racial Slur Debacle After Review Finds “Number Of Structural Weaknesses” In Its Awards Planning

(date: 2026-04-10)

BAFTA has apologized “unreservedly” to the Black and disabled communities over the N-word debacle, having identified “a number of structural weaknesses” in its “planning, escalation procedures and crisis coordination arrangements” before this year’s awards. At last month’s BAFTA Film Awards, the N-word was yelled unintentionally by Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson at Sinners stars Delroy Lindo and Michael B. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/bafta-apologizes-n-word-debacle-publishes-review-1236786350/

Pluralistic: Canny Valley and Creative Commons (10 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-21)

Today's links Canny Valley and Creative Commons: Another bite at the apple. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Bidenomics needs to be bigger; Al Franken's balanced war budget; Bernie x The Pope; Art is a money-laundry; UK government condemns copyright trolls; Howard Dean's genocidal pharma sellout. Upcoming appearances: Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Canny Valley and Creative Commons (permalink) Last year, I ran a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign to pre-sell my ebooks, audiobooks and hardcovers of my book Enshittification, which went on to be an international bestseller, selling out 10 printings in the first 11 weeks: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/enshittification-the-drm-free-audiobook If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/10/canny-valley#limited-edition I've done many of these Kickstarter campaigns now, and I always try to come up with something special for backers – some limited edition book or tchotchke that lets me scratch my own itch for making beautiful physical things, and also lets a few backers splash out on a truly special item. I've come up with some doozies, like: A hand-copied manuscript for the original, never-before-seen ending for my novel Little Brother https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/attack-surface-audiobook-for-the-third-little-brother-book/rewards Hand-annotated pages making fun of Robert Bork's The Antitrust Paradox, displayed in shadow boxes: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/chokepoint-capitalism-an-audiobook-amazon-wont-sell/rewards A leather bound, extremely limited edition copy of Red Team Blues, with a secret miniature bound copy of the unedited manuscript for The Bezzle in a hidden cavity: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/red-team-blues-another-audiobook-that-amazon-wont-sell/rewards And, for Enshittification, Canny Valley, a limited edition book of my collage illustrations from Pluralistic, made from Creative Commons and public domain sources, with an introduction by Bruce Sterling: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/enshittification-the-drm-free-audiobook/rewards I put 100 copies of Canny Valley up for sale in the Enshittification Kickstarter and all of them sold out in a matter of days. However, as promised at the time, there is a second chance to get a copy of the book, through the Creative Commons 25th anniversary fundraiser, which has just kicked off: https://mailchi.mp/creativecommons/were-turning-25-book-giveaway The whole print run for Canny Valley was limited to 500 copies, and it is the only run I will do for the book. 100 copies were sold to Kickstarter backers, I kept 25 for myself, and the remaining 375 are now available as a thank-you gift for people who make tax-deductible gifts to CC. I have been a great supporter of Creative Commons since its inception – literally, I was around when Aaron Swartz, Matt Haughey and Lisa Rein worked with Larry Lessig to design the data scheme and user interface to create, use and re-use Creative Commons licenses. My debut novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, was the first book ever released under a CC license: https://craphound.com/down/download Creative Commons arose out of the copyright wars of the early 2000s, in which the severe deficiencies of using copyright as the primary form of internet regulation were becoming ever clearer. Then – as now – the internet was filling up with material that everyday people produced together, incorporating one another's work, as well as popular works that had meaning to them. Virtually all of this material violated copyright law, and bringing it into compliance would cost hundreds of billions of dollars in billable lawyer hours to draft, negotiate and sign all the licenses needed to avoid both criminal and civil liability. That's where CC came in: a team of international lawyers standardized a set of legal licenses that did something new and necessary: facilitated sharing and remix, rather than restricting them. Simply apply a CC license to your work – say, a Wikipedia contribution, a Flickr photo, or a story on AO3 – and others would be able to reproduce, adapt and recombine that work with other CC licensed works. What's more, thanks to the heroic efforts of the international CC team, these licenses were able to span borders, languages and legal systems, meaning that a Japanese animator can create a short based on a French story, using Australian 3D assets and a Croatian soundtrack: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/list.en It's hard to overstate what a heroic feat of lawyering this is. Making a set of documents that allows creativity to spread freely across 45+ (often very different) legal systems is arguably the most ambitious piece of applied IP legal research ever undertaken. Today, tens of billions of works are CC licensed, including (to name just one example), all of Wikipedia. I rely heavily on CC licensed works to make the images that run over my posts on Pluralistic, my CC-licensed newsletter. I combine these with public domain images in the GIMP (a powerful free/open Photoshop replacement that runs GNU/Linux, MacOS and Windows) to make my collages, which you can download in high-rez (and freely re-use, thanks to the CC licenses I apply to each of them) from this Flickr set of 350+ items: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/albums/72177720316719208?sd Canny Valley collects 80 of my favorite collages in a beautiful book that was printed on 100lb Mohawk paper on an Indigo digital offset printer and bound with PVA glue that will last a century, at Pasadena's Typecraft, a family-owned print shop that's been in business for more than 100 years: https://www.typecraft.com/live2/who-we-are.html It was designed by the type legend John D Berry: https://johndberry.com/ And the introduction was written by my friend and mentor, the cyberpunk pioneer and digital art impresario Bruce Sterling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Sterling I published a long post that explained my creative process last year, including Bruce's intro (which is also CC licensed). I'm going to reproduce Bruce's intro below, but you can read the whole post here: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce I love these little books and I love that there's a chance for a few more people to lay hands on their own – and I especially love that this will support Creative Commons, an organization that produces digital public goods for a new, good internet: https://mailchi.mp/creativecommons/were-turning-25-book-giveaway == INTRODUCTION by Bruce Sterling In 1970 a robotics professor named Masahiro Mori discovered a new problem in aesthetics. He called this "bukimi no tani genshō." The Japanese robots he built were functional, so the "bukimi no tani" situation was not an engineering problem. It was a deep and basic problem in the human perception of humanlike androids. Humble assembly robots, with their claws and swivels, those looked okay to most people. Dolls, puppets and mannequins, those also looked okay. Living people had always aesthetically looked okay to people. Especially, the pretty ones. However, between these two realms that the late Dr Mori was gamely attempting to weld together — the world of living mankind and of the pseudo-man-like machine– there was an artistic crevasse. Anything in this "Uncanny Valley" looked, and felt, severely not-okay. These overdressed robots looked and felt so eerie that their creator's skills became actively disgusting. The robots got prettier, but only up to a steep verge. Then they slid down the precipice and became zombie doppelgangers. That's also the issue with the aptly-titled "Canny Valley" art collection here. People already know how to react aesthetically to traditional graphic images. Diagrams are okay. Hand-drawn sketches and cartoons are also okay. Brush-made paintings are mostly fine. Photographs, those can get kind of dodgy. Digital collages that slice up and weld highly disparate elements like diagrams, cartoons, sketches and also photos and paintings, those trend toward the uncanny. The pixel-juggling means of digital image-manipulation are not art-traditional pencils or brushes. They do not involve the human hand, or maybe not even the human eye, or the human will. They're not fixed on paper or canvas; they're a Frankenstein mash-up landscape of tiny colored screen-dots where images can become so fried that they look and feel "cursed." They're conceptually gooey congelations, stuck in the valley mire of that which is and must be neither this-nor-that. A modern digital artist has billions of jpegs in files, folders, clouds and buckets. He's never gonna run out of weightless grist from that mill. Why would Cory Doctorow — novelist, journalist, activist, opinion columnist and so on — want to lift his typing fingers from his lettered keyboard, so as to create graphics with cut-and-paste and "lasso tools"? Cory Doctorow also has some remarkably tangled, scandalous and precarious issues to contemplate, summarize and discuss. They're not his scandalous private intrigues, though. Instead, they're scandalous public intrigues. Or, at least Cory struggles to rouse some public indignation about these intrigues, because his core topics are the tangled penthouse/slash/underground machinations of billionaire web moguls. Cory really knows really a deep dank lot about this uncanny nexus of arcane situations. He explains the shameful disasters there, but they're difficult to capture without torrents of unwieldy tech jargon. I think there are two basic reasons for this. The important motivation is his own need to express himself by some method other than words. I'm reminded here of the example of H. G. Wells, another science fiction writer turned internationally famous political pundit. HG Wells was quite a tireless and ambitious writer — so much so that he almost matched the torrential output of Cory Doctorow. But HG Wells nevertheless felt a compelling need to hand-draw cartoons. He called them "picshuas." These hundreds of "picshuas" were rarely made public. They were usually sketched in the margins of his hand-written letters. Commonly the picshuas were aimed at his second wife, the woman he had renamed "Jane." These picshuas were caricatures, or maybe rapid pen-and-ink conceptual outlines, of passing conflicts, events and situations in the life of Wells. They seemed to carry tender messages to Jane that the writer was unable or unwilling to speak aloud to her. Wells being Wells, there were always issues in his private life that might well pose a challenge to bluntly state aloud: "Oh by the way, darling, I've built a second house in the South of France where I spend my summers with a comely KGB asset, the Baroness Budberg." Even a famously glib and charming writer might feel the need to finesse that. Cory Doctorow also has some remarkably tangled, scandalous and precarious issues to contemplate, summarize and discuss. They're not his scandalous private intrigues, though. Instead, they're scandalous public intrigues. Or, at least Cory struggles to rouse some public indignation about these intrigues, because his core topics are the tangled penthouse/slash/underground machinations of billionaire web moguls. Cory really knows really a deep dank lot about this uncanny nexus of arcane situations. He explains the shameful disasters there, but they're difficult to capture without torrents of unwieldy tech jargon. So instead, he diligently clips, cuts, pastes, lassos, collages and pastiches. He might, plausibly, hire a professional artist to design his editorial cartoons for him. However, then Cory would have to verbally explain all his political analysis to this innocent graphics guy. Then Cory would also have to double-check the results of the artist and fix the inevitable newbie errors and grave misunderstandings. That effort would be three times the labor for a dogged crusader who is already working like sixty. It's more practical for him to mash-up images that resemble editorial cartoons. He can't draw. Also, although he definitely has a pronounced sense of aesthetics, it's not a aesthetic most people would consider tasteful. Cory Doctorow, from his very youth, has always had a "craphound" aesthetic. As an aesthete, Cory is the kind of guy who would collect rain-drenched punk-band flyers that had fallen off telephone poles and store them inside a 1950s cardboard kid-cereal box. I am not scolding him for this. He's always been like that. As Wells used to say about his unique "picshuas," they seemed like eccentric scribblings, but over the years, when massed-up as an oeuvre, they formed a comic burlesque of an actual life. Similarly, one isolated Doctorow collage can seem rather what-the-hell. It's trying to be "canny." If you get it, you get it. If you don't get the first one, then you can page through all of these, and at the end you will probably get it. En masse, it forms the comic burlesque of a digital left-wing cyberspatial world-of-hell. A monster-teeming Silicon Uncanny Valley of extensively raked muck. There are a lot of web-comix people who like to make comic fun of the Internet, and to mock "the Industry." However, there's no other social and analytical record quite like this one. It has something of the dark affect of the hundred-year-old satirical Dada collages of Georg Schultz or Hannah Hoch. Those Dada collages look dank and horrible because they're "Dada" and pulling a stunt. These images look dank and horrible because they're analytical, revelatory and make sense. If you do not enjoy contemporary electronic politics, and instead you have somehow obtained an art degree, I might still be able to help you with my learned and well-meaning intro here. I can recommend a swell art-critical book titled "Memesthetics" by Valentina Tanni. I happen to know Dr. Tanni personally, and her book is the cat's pyjamas when it comes to semi-digital, semi-collage, appropriated, Situationiste-detournement, net.art "meme aesthetics." I promise that I could robotically mimic her, and write uncannily like her, if I somehow had to do that. I could even firmly link the graphic works of Cory Doctorow to the digital avant-garde and/or digital folk-art traditions that Valentina Tanni is eruditely and humanely discussing. Like with a lot of robots, the hard part would be getting me to stop. Cory works with care on his political meme-cartoons — because he is using them to further his own personal analysis, and to personally convince himself. They're not merely sharp and partisan memes, there to rouse one distinct viewer-emotion and make one single point. They're like digital jigsaw-puzzle landscape-sketches — unstable, semi-stolen and digital, because the realm he portrays is itself also unstable, semi-stolen and digital. The cartoons are dirty and messy because the situations he tackles are so dirty and messy. That's the grain of his lampoon material, like the damaged amps in a punk song. A punk song that was licensed by some billionaire and then used to spy on hapless fans with surveillance-capitalism. Since that's how it goes, that's also what you're in for. You have been warned, and these collages will warn you a whole lot more. If you want to aesthetically experience some elegant, time-tested collage art that was created by a major world artist, then you should gaze in wonder at the Max Ernst masterpiece, "Une semaine de bonté" ("A Week of Kindness"). This indefinable "collage novel" aka "artist's book" was created in the troubled time of 1934. It's very uncanny rather than "canny, "and it's also capital-A great Art. As an art critic, I could balloon this essay to dreadful robotic proportions while I explain to you in detail why this weirdo mess is a lasting monument to the expressive power of collage. However, Cory Doctorow is not doing Max Ernst's dreamy, oneiric, enchanting Surrealist art. He would never do that and it wouldn't make any sense if he did. Cory did this instead. It is art, though. It is what it is, and there's nothing else like it. It's artistic expression as Cory Doctorow has a sincere need to perform that, and in twenty years it will be even more rare and interesting. It's journalism ahead of its time (a little) and with a passage of time, it will become testimonial. Bruce Sterling — Ibiza MMXXV Hey look at this (permalink) John Deere to Pay $99 Million in Monumental Right-to-Repair Settlement https://www.thedrive.com/news/john-deere-to-pay-99-million-in-monumental-right-to-repair-settlement Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/ "Fahrenheit 11/9" – This is How Fascism Starts | Michael Moore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfszwkoSdQA Honda Puts Its Garage Door Opener Behind a Paywall https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Gb2fEBW0oDA Why Locus Matters More Than Ever https://reactormag.com/why-locus-matters-more-than-ever/ Object permanence (permalink) #20yrsago Al Franken wants a balanced war budget #15yrsago Fake-make: counterfeit handmade objects from big manufacturers https://web.archive.org/web/20110410125346/http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/04/untouched-by-human-hands.html #15yrsago Marketplace for hijacked computers https://krebsonsecurity.com/2011/04/is-your-computer-listed-for-rent/ #15yrsago Fake-make: counterfeit handmade objects from big manufacturers https://web.archive.org/web/20110410125346/http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/04/untouched-by-human-hands.html #10yrsago Pope invites Bernie Sanders to Vatican to speak about “social, economic, and environmental” issues https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-35999269#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa #10yrsago Baby sues US government for searching his diapers in racial profiling/War on Terror case https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/baby-who-had-his-diapers-searched-at-airport-is-part-of-class-action-suit/ #10yrsago Tax investigators and bill collectors use Rich Kids of Instagram to uncover oligarchs’ hidden millions https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/03/super-rich-discover-hidden-risks-instagram-yachts-jets #10yrsago The international art market is a money laundry whose details are in the Panama Papers https://web.archive.org/web/20160408024110/https://fusion.net/story/288515/panama-papers-leak-art-market/ #10yrsago UK government warns people that copyright trolls are a scam https://torrentfreak.com/uk-govt-issues-advice-on-dealing-with-copyright-trolls-160408/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torrentfreak+(Torrentfreak) #10yrsago Why the rise of ransomware attacks should worry you https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/04/ok-panic-newly-evolved-ransomware-is-bad-news-for-everyone/ #5yrsago Howard Dean's racist, genocidal pharma sellout https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/08/howard-dino/#the-scream #1yrago We CAN have nice things https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/08/howard-dino/#payfors Upcoming appearances (permalink) Montreal: Bronfman Lecture (McGill), Apr 10 https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artificial-intelligence-the-ultimate-disrupter-tickets-1982706623885 Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, Apr 10 https://mtl.drawnandquarterly.com/events/4863920260410 Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. First draft complete. Second draft underway. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/10/canny-valley/

Molly Crabapple on History as a Necromantic Art

(date: 2026-04-10)

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. I spent seven years writing my newest book. Here Where We Live is Our Country is the story of the Bund, a secular, socialist, and defiantly Jewish revolutionary party born

https://lithub.com/molly-crabapple-on-history-as-a-necromantic-art/

What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week

(date: 2026-04-10)

Ben Lerner’s Transcription, Patrick Radden Keefe’s London Falling, and Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s home for book reviews. * Fiction 1. Transcription by Ben

https://lithub.com/what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-6/

How Amazing Stories Served as the Blueprint for American Science Fiction

(date: 2026-04-10)

A century ago, at a Waukegan, Illinois boardinghouse run by his grandparents, an auburn-haired, six-year-old boy named Ray Bradbury used to search for copies of Amazing Stories left behind by the guests. Sitting in the dark Craftsman house some forty

https://lithub.com/how-amazing-stories-served-as-the-blueprint-for-american-science-fiction/

Meet These Delightful Bookshop Cats (and One Dog!)

(date: 2026-04-10)

Book lovers and cats have a great deal in common. Both revel in the art of stillness, both find joy in distraction—whether it’s a playful passing shadow or a captivating plot twist—and both are never happier than when in a

https://lithub.com/meet-these-delightful-bookshop-cats-and-one-dog/

On Learning About the Enslaved Men Who Dug South Carolina’s Lowcountry Canals

(date: 2026-04-10)

I didn’t intend to spend ten years searching for one man’s name. My obsession began in a tidal creek where I went to swim in South Carolina. It was the summer I was pregnant with my fourth child and I

https://lithub.com/on-learning-about-the-enslaved-men-who-dug-south-carolinas-lowcountry-canals/

One Person’s Trash… On the Joys of Collecting Junk

(date: 2026-04-10)

It’s beautiful in North Carolina in March, which means that Zach has set out to use his metal detector in the woods near our house. He is certain that we are about to embark on a new journey as a

https://lithub.com/one-persons-trash-on-the-joys-of-collecting-junk/

“Dispatch From a New York Times Article the Day Mary Oliver Died.” A Poem by Megan Gannon

(date: 2026-04-10)

—with lines from her poems In a small city in Italy, a woman removes her shoes, cups them to her chest, and tiptoes the cobblestone streets. Dogs are carried on their walks. Neighbors greet each other with sudden smiles, a

https://lithub.com/dispatch-from-a-new-york-times-article-the-day-mary-oliver-died-a-poem-by-megan-gannon/

Counting Backwards

(date: 2026-04-10)

You sit at the edge of the bed watching your husband who looks as if he were sleeping. Hooked up to a high-flow oxygen tank, he might be sleeping, but mostly he is dying. A high-flow oxygen tank is not

https://lithub.com/counting-backwards/

April 9, 2026

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-16)

The ceasefire President Donald J.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-9-2026

How To Counter Trump's $10 Billion Lawsuit Against Us

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-20)

Sue him!

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-to-counter-trumps-10-billion

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Star Judy Greer Breaks Down Season 2 Finale Twists & “Refreshing” Role Of Quinn, Who “Doesn’t Crumble”

(date: 2026-04-10)

SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils the finale episode of The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2. Turns out Judy Greer’s Quinn Favreau, née Campano, wasn’t as hands off in her family’s operations as she first led Hannah (Jennifer Garner), Bailey (Angourie Rice), Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Walau) and viewers of The Last Thing He Told Me […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/judy-greer-the-last-thing-he-told-me-season-2-end-interview-1236786239/

How to vibe code your own custom home dashboard

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

The other day I was doing maintenance on the Synology file server in my house, and whenever I ran into a problem, I'd ask Claude.ai how to fix things. Then I asked it to help me secure it and how to automate keeping all the services up

https://a.wholelottanothing.org/how-to-vibe-code-your-own-custom-home-dashboard/

Finn Wolfhard Told ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Creator “F*ck Yeah” To Revival Cameo: “He’s Such A Big Fan”

(date: 2026-04-10)

Fans of Malcolm in the Middle might have to do a double take at a major cameo in the finale of the show’s four-part revival. While discussing Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, all episodes of which are now available to stream on Hulu, creator Linwood Boomer revealed how “big fan” Finn Wolfhard’s cameo […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/finn-wolfhard-malcolm-in-the-middle-fck-yeah-revival-cameo-1236786293/

‘Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair’ Creator & EP Wife On Bryan Cranston’s “Constant Nudity,” Channeling “Parental Pressure” & Representing Their LGBTQ Kids: “Really Important To Us”

(date: 2026-04-10)

As Malcolm in the Middle returns after 20 years, creator Linwood Boomer and his wife/executive producer Tracy Katsky had plenty of family moments to look back on for inspiration. While discussing the revival Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, all four episodes now available to stream on Hulu, the couple told Deadline how they […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/malcolm-in-the-middle-creator-ep-wife-lgbtq-kids-1236786214/

The Solitaire Shuffle

(date: 2026-04-10)

A meditation on the game of Solitaire and its endless variations, which go well beyond what you can find in Windows 3.1.

https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/17316812/solitaire-card-game-types-history

Fri, 1pm ET - Hopium Founding Members Most Fridays Gathering

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-20)

Lots and lots to discuss everyone......

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/fri-1pm-et-hopium-founding-members-2b7

Starting with Voice: How Language Awareness Shapes Multimodal Composing

(date: 2026-04-10)

This class really opened my eyes to the ways in which identity translates through different genres. . . . Our discussions got me thinking about some very nuanced topics and how they relate to my identity as a writer Anonymous student [from semester-end reflection] In my Writing and Editing in Print and Online (WEPO) class, [...]

https://www.mulebooks.com/store/gilly-amp-billy-enamel-pin-fpbpz-y2d7t

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/09/starting-with-voice-how-language-awareness-shapes-multimodal-composing/

‘Death Of A Salesman’ Broadway Review: Nathan Lane And Laurie Metcalf Shine In Director Joe Mantello’s Stark, Blistering Revival

(date: 2026-04-10)

Don’t waste time asking whether we really need another Death of a Salesman, and certainly don’t even begin to question whether Nathan Lane has the dramatic chops to tackle one of American theater’s great tragedies. Yes we do and of course he does. Director Joe Mantello shines a new light on – or, more accurately, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/death-of-a-salesman-broadway-review-nathan-lane-1236784788/

‘Malcolm in the Middle’s Bryan Cranston & Jane Kaczmarek On What Keeps Hal & Lois Together: “They Have Good Sex”

(date: 2026-04-10)

Despite five unruly boys (and counting) making their lives hell in Malcolm in the Middle, Hal and Lois are still together 20 years after the show’s finale. While discussing the revival Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, all four episodes of which are available to stream Friday on Hulu, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/malcolm-in-the-middle-bryan-cranston-jane-kaczmarek-good-sex-1236786200/

Why did Melania hold a news conference, denying any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-19)

Some theories

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-did-melania-hold-a-news-conference

Disney Co. New Chief Communications Officer Paul Roeder Sets Team; April Carretta Upped, Adding Lead Comms Duties For President Dana Walden

(date: 2026-04-10)

Less than a month into his new job as Senior EVP and Chief Communications Officer at The Walt Disney Company, Disney veteran Paul Roeder has unveiled the structure of the operation and his leadership team. He laid out the details in an internal memo, which lists Roeder’s direct reports: David Jefferson, EVP, Communications; April Carretta, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/disney-paul-roeder-april-carretta-communications-dana-walden-1236786241/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-19)

Monteiro over at Bluesky “A violent reminder that Gilly & Billy pins are back in stock and look great on your jean jacket, backpack, or lapel if you’re running for office.”

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116377655760842480

Ex-Instagram designer on her upcoming video game, the taste gap and more

(date: 2026-04-10, updated: 2026-04-22)

The 'taste' gap.

https://shannonliao.substack.com/p/ex-instagram-designer-on-her-upcoming

Put your name and voice into your company newsletter

(date: 2026-04-10)

Your newsletter can make your company feel like a local small business.

https://buttondown.com/blog/founder-led-company-newsletter

Friday 10 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-21)

Stairway to… … who knows… Quote of the Day ”No solution to the problem of poverty is so effective as providing income to the poor. Whether in the form of food, housing, health services, education or money, income is an … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/friday-10-april-2026/41864/

Not A Lot of “Winning” Anywhere

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

His ballroom is a hole in the ground, the economy is stalled, and Iran is celebrating

https://steady.substack.com/p/not-a-lot-of-winning-anywhere

How severe is China’s growth slowdown (in historical perspective)?

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

There are many alarmist articles on China’s growth slowdown (for a nice specimen, see here).

https://branko2f7.substack.com/p/how-severe-is-chinas-growth-slowdown

The Tiger-Riding Predicament

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

How China views the Iran War

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/the-tiger-riding-predicament

The Five Stages Of MAGA Grief

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

As MAGA voters turn on Trump, they’re reckoning with loss in a classic, recognizable pattern

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/five-stages-maga-grief-trump

macOS 26.4.1

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

Juli Clover (no release notes, no security, enterprise, no developer, full installer, IPSW): macOS Tahoe 26.4.1 addresses an issue that could cause the M5 MacBook Air and M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pro models to fail to join 802.1X Wi-Fi networks when using content filter extensions. See also Mr. Macintosh and Howard Oakley. Previously: macOS 26.4 MacBook […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/09/macos-26-4-1/

iOS 26.4.1 and iPadOS 26.4.1

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

Juli Clover (iOS/iPadOS release notes, no security, enterprise, no developer): According to Apple’s release notes, the software updates contain unspecified “bug fixes.” Benjamin Mayo: While the official release notes were vague, a thread on the developer forums indicates it actually fixes a significant bug related to iCloud data syncing. Developers had noticed that iPhones running […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/09/ios-26-4-1-and-ipados-26-4-1/

ClickFix Now Uses Script Editor Instead of Terminal

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

Thijs Xhaflaire (via Andrew Orr): Unlike traditional ClickFix campaigns that instruct users to paste commands directly into Terminal, the discovered variant uses a browser-triggered workflow to launch Script Editor. […] The page leverages an applescript:// URL scheme Clicking the “Execute” button invokes this URL scheme from the browser The browser prompts the user to allow […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/09/clickfix-now-uses-script-editor-instead-of-terminal/

My annual visit to the tulip fields

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

Every Spring I watch the local weather for weeks, waiting until the Woodburn Tulip Farm is nearing peak bloom that also happens to fall on a sunny day (it's normally a rainy season). This isn't my first rodeo, and here are my photos from previous visits

https://a.wholelottanothing.org/my-annual-visit-to-the-tulip-fields/

Trump is underwater in every competitive House and Senate seat

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

Plus: A recap of the Wisconsin elections, and will Americans support Trump's ceasefire in Iran?

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-is-underwater-in-every-competitive

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-14)

EFF quits X

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/eff-leaving-x

Three reasons to think that the Claude Mythos announcement from Anthropic was overblown

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

No need to panic just yet

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/three-reasons-to-think-that-the-claude

Fewer Computers, Fewer Problems: Going Local With Builds & Deployments

(date: 2026-04-09)

Me, in 2025, on Mastodon:

I love tools like Netlify and deploying my small personal sites with git push

But i'm not gonna lie, 2025 might be the year I go back to just doing builds locally and pushing the deploys from my computer.

I'm sick of devops'ing stupid stuff because builds work on my machine and I have to spend that extra bit of time to ensure they also work on remote linux computers.

Not sure I need the infrastructure of giant teams working together for making a small personal website.

It’s 2026 now, but I finally took my first steps towards this.

The Why

One of the ideas I really love around the “local-first” movement is this notion that everything canonical is done locally, then remote “sync” is an enhancement.

For my personal website, I want builds and deployments to work that way.

All data, build tooling, deployment, etc., happens first and foremost on my machine.

From there, having another server somewhere else do it is purely a “progressive enhancement”. If it were to fail, fine. I can resort back to doing it locally very easily because all the tooling is optimized for local build and deployment first (rather than being dependent on fixing some remote server to get builds and deployments working).

It’s amazing how many of my problems come from the struggle to get one thing to work identically across multiple computers.

I want to explore a solution that removes the cause of my problem, rather than trying to stabilize it with more time and code.

“The first rule of distributed computing is don’t distribute your computing unless you absolutely have to” — especially if you’re just building personal websites.

The What

So I un-did stuff I previously did (that’r right, my current predicament is self-inflicted — imagine that).

My notes site used to work like this:

Content lives in Dropbox
Code is on GitHub
Netlify’s servers pull both, then run a build and deploy the site

It worked, but sporadically. Sometimes it would fail, then start working again, all without me changing anything. And when it did work, it often would take a long time — like five, six minutes to run a build/deployment.

I never could figure out the issue. Some combination of Netlify’s servers (which I don’t control and don’t have full visibility into) talking to Dropbox’s servers (which I also don’t control and don’t have full visibility into).

I got sick of trying to make a simple (but distributed) build process work across multiple computers when 99% of the time, I really only need it to work on one computer.

So I turned off builds in Netlify, and made it so my primary, local computer does all the work. Here are the trade-offs:

What I lose: I can no longer make edits to notes, then build/deploy the site from my phone or tablet.
What I gain: I don’t have to troubleshoot build issues on machines I don’t own or control. Now, if it “works on my machine”, it works period.

The How

The change was pretty simple.

First, I turned off builds in Netlify. Now when I git push Netlify does nothing.

Next, I changed my build process to stop pulling markdown notes from the Dropbox API and instead pull them from a local folder on my computer. Simple, fast.

And lastly, as a measure to protect myself from myself, I cloned the codebase for my notes to a second location on my computer. This way I have a “working copy” version of my site where I do local development, and I have a clean “production copy” of my site which is where I build/deploy from. This helps ensure I don’t accidentally build and deploy my “working copy” which I often leave in a weird, half-finished state.

In my package.json I have a deploy command that looks like this:

git pull && npm ci && netlify deploy --build --prod

That’s what I run from my “clean” copy. It pulls down any new changes, makes sure I have the latest deps, builds the site, then lets Netlify’s CLI deploy it.

As extra credit, I created a macOS shortcut

# So it knows where to get the right $PATH to node
source ~/.zshrc

# Then switch to my dir and run the command
cd ~/Sites/com.jim-nielsen.notes/
npm run deploy

So I can do CMD + Space, type “Deploy notes.jim-nielsen.com” to trigger a build, then watch the little shortcut run to completion in my Mac’s menubar.

I’ve been living with this setup for a few weeks now and it has worked beautifully. Best part is: I’ve never had to open up Netlify’s website to check the status of a build or troubleshoot a deployment.

That’s an enhancement I can have later — if I want to.

Reply via:

Email · Mastodon ·

https://www.chron.com/news/article/cameron-herald-staff-layoffs-22197744.php?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&taid=69d7ecaf5268920001415840&utm_campaign=trueanthem%2B3985&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2026/fewer-computers-fewer-problems/

Testscript highlighting in Neovim

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-14)

This is a good article on how to use testscript in Go(lang). It also goes as far as adding a syntax
file. But I’m 100% into Neovim, so this needs to be tree-sitter grammar on my system.

Well… this was a journey and I needed claude.ai for a lot of stuff to pull it off. I also wanted to insert Go syntax highlighting for Go blocks, like in this file.

This is working on Fedora 43 and Ubuntu 26.04 and depends on a up-to-date tree-sitter-cli as this is the main way of generating the parser.

https://miek.nl/2026/april/09/testscript-highlighting-in-neovim/

Let's make WordPress boom

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

New ways to write with WordPress as the back-end.

Build an API that combines what wpcom does and storage.

Recruit devs to create products for this environment.

Gutenberg will be one of these editors.
I will provide WordLand which is a wizzy html editor that has a flip-switch Markdown mode.
MarsEdit can join the club if possible.
Leaflet would be great too.
Any app that requires text editing is a good idea.

Here's the really cool thing -- we can all edit each others' docs.

Put another way, the docs belong to the users, and they let access them.

The storage is so we can build smarter better editors, more fun, color, interactions, cool toys for writers.

And yes, btw -- they are on the web, and there's an RSS 2.0 feed with rssCloud support.

And for that we can create all kinds of amazing readers, I want to do one with SVG now that I know how to do that thanks to ChatGPT of course. SVG is another breakthrough waiting to happen.

We're right there now. Ready to go. We start with text editors and build from there.

There's a new place to put WordPress, under our apps. It's remarkably good for that.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/09/182024.html?title=letsMakeWordpressBoom

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-14)

One of Texas' oldest newspapers just lost its entire newsroom.

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-14)

We are all Good Germans now.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/08/145504.html

The AI Great Leap Forward

(date: 2026-04-09)

In 1958, Mao ordered every village in China to produce steel. Farmers melted down their cooking pots in backyard furnaces and reported spectacular numbers. The steel was useless. The crops rotted. Thirty million people starved.

In 2026, every other company is having top down mandate on AI transformation.

Same energy.

adactio.com/links/22520

https://leehanchung.github.io/blogs/2026/04/05/the-ai-great-leap-forward/

@DAIR blog

(date: 2026-04-09)

Join us this Saturday👇🏼

[contains quote post or other embedded content]

https://bsky.app/profile/dairinstitute.bsky.social/post/3mj37udp3q22b

El drama: lo pensado, lo dicho y lo hecho

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-21)

Dirección: Kristoffer Borgli. Guion: Kristoffer Borgli. Elenco: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, Sydney Lemmon, Hailey Gates. País: Estados Unidos. Más información de la película: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33071426/ Días antes de su matrimonio, Charlie (Robert Pattinson) está sentado frente a su ordenador, redactando un discurso para Emma (Zendaya), su futura esposa. Su manuscrito del día anterior […]

La entrada El drama: lo pensado, lo dicho y lo hecho se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/resenas-el-drama/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resenas-el-drama

A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #438

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-16)

For April 1-7, 2026

Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, a roundup of the week's finest short humor pieces and funny articles, and a celebration of the fantastic writers who wrote them. We’re excited to announce that our next Hangout of Humorous Writing will be Tuesday, April 21st at 6PM at Peculier Pub in New York City! Stop by to meet and say hi to some of your fellow humor writers and fans of humor writing.

A Hangout ofHumorous WritingJoin us for a spring get-together with humor writers and humor writing fans.Hosted by Luke & James, editors of A Newsletter of Humorous Writing.Peculier Pub145 Bleecker St. NYCTuesday 4/21, 6 PM

What We Enjoyed This Week

Our Mom-and-Pop Data Center by Jed Feiman and Nehemiah Markos (The New Yorker) Using a down-to-earth, folksy tone and vocabulary to describe something cutting edge and high-tech is a classic comedic juxtaposition. Lots of credit to Jed and Nehemiah for finding a nicely specific and wacky angle for tackling this topical subject matter.

Our Recent Corporate Bankruptcy Explained by the Notes I, the CEO, Left Around the Break Room Refrigerator by Kyle Andrew Johnson (Points in Case) This piece’s form—a description of each note followed by the text on the note—is a really clever, original way to tell the very funny story of a CEO’s descent into madness after the theft of his smoothie. Kyle also does a great job heightening and including lots of nice runners and callbacks.

Smoking Harvard by Gary Suarez (Bright Wall/Dark Room) Not a traditional humor piece, but a very witty appreciation of the 2001 film How High, and the broader film genre of stoner comedy. Gary strikes a nice tonal balance: His analysis is quite highbrow, but the language he uses is often tongue-in-cheek in a way that keeps the essay from ever feeling overly pretentious or too out-of-step with its very silly subjects. There are some great turns of phrase here, such as, “weed cute,” “couchlocked devotees,” and “respect-deprived stand-up Rodney Dangerfield.”

-- AD --

Heidi Lux is teaching Screenplay Structure Made Simple (and Fun!) on Saturday, April 25th through Writing Workshops! The class breaks down structure in a way that’s process focused, going over the purpose of each beat and how it relates to character arc, so that when you sit down to beat out your screenplay (or other three-act story - novels count, too!), you can think with it. Structure is a tool, not a rigid formula! You can find out more info here.

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An Old Favorite

The Economic Value of This Article Is Dependent on Peri Gilpin’s Retweeting It by Jonathan Zeller (The New Yorker) Jonathan strikes an impressive balance with the meta, self-reflexive elements of this piece. They’re essential to his premise, but they aren’t the only things driving the humor. It’s a great satire of articles cynically designed to do well on social-media, and what makes it particularly fun is not just how calculating the narrator is, but how up front and honest they are about their motivations:

“Why choose to lobby for a retweet from Peri Gilpin and not, say, Beyoncé? As I write this, Beyoncé has 15.7 million Twitter followers. But there is no way she’s going to share something I write. There’s nothing for her to gain by doing so. Beyoncé, if you want to prove me wrong, please go ahead. I’d welcome your support. It might be a reach for Peri Gilpin to retweet this story, but it’s at least plausible.”

Do you have an Old Favorite of your own? Let us know by filling out this form and we may run your pick in a future edition of the newsletter.

Updates From Your Editors and Friends of the Newsletter

James has been deep in prep for a new bracket for Lit Hub that's going to be kicking off on Monday -- keep an eye on the site and get your votin' fingers ready!

Just one more reminder, if you skimmed the intro, about our next Hangout of Humorous Writing. Hope to see you on Tuesday, April 21st at 6PM at Peculier Pub!

https://buttondown.com/humorouswriting/archive/a-newsletter-of-humorous-writing-438/

Bangers from Gibbon

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

Sampling the greatest prose stylist ever

https://nealstephenson.substack.com/p/bangers-from-gibbon

Brad Meltzer on The Viper, Witness Protection, and Starting Over

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

Brad Meltzer doesn’t just write thrillers—he writes about reinvention.

https://guykawasaki.substack.com/p/brad-meltzer-on-the-viper-witness

Credit Cartels And The Best Seat

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/credit-cartels-and-the-best-seat/

Caltech Weekly - April 9: The Camera in Your Pocket; Pasadena Math Pipeline

(date: 2026-04-09)

Caltech Weekly - April 9: The Camera in Your Pocket; Pasadena Math PipelineView this email in your browser

Thursday, April 9, 2026

This Caltech/JPL Invention Is the Reason There Is a Camera in Your Pocket

In the 1990s, NASA sought smaller and lighter ways to send camera technology into space to take pictures of the solar system. Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which Caltech manages for NASA, had a spark of inspiration.

Pasadena Math Pipeline: Local High School Students Join Caltech Math Courses

Thanks to a recent partnership between the Pasadena Unified School District and Caltech, as many as five high school juniors and seniors in the district's Math Academy now have the opportunity to join the Institute's first-year math core courses each year.

A Full Circle Moment

Caltech Associates Eugene and Carol Epstein are helping usher in a new century of innovation as Associates 100 Legacy Circle members.

"At the program, my host roommate mentioned that his sister had also been an undergraduate at Caltech. He told me that she said Caltech was the most challenging part of her life. That piqued my interest. I want to experience this challenge because if I can complete my time at Caltech, that's something I can be proud of for the rest of my life."

Hong Jin Kwak is an incoming first-year from Honolulu, Hawai'i, who recently had the opportunity to experience Caltech firsthand through the Caltech Up Close fly-in program. From April 12–15, the Undergraduate Admissions Office will host DiscoTech 2026, an event for admitted high school seniors like Kwak who have committed to Caltech as well as for those still deciding.

Upcoming Events

All events Pacific Time unless otherwise specified.

Einstein: Beyond the Myth

This Techer Live event will feature Diana Kormos-Buchwald, Caltech's Robert M. Abbey Professor of History and director and general editor of The Einstein Papers Project, and Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison. They will discuss what the primary sources reveal about Einstein's years in Pasadena and how he navigated science and politics in the 1930s. Wednesday, April 15, noon (online event)Caltech Longevity Club to Host Peter Diamandis

Named by Fortune as one of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders, entrepreneur Peter H. Diamandis is the founder of the XPRIZE Foundation. Wednesday,

April 15, 6 p.m., Chen100 and online

In Case You Missed It

View recent lectures and events on Caltech's YouTube channel.

How Can We Use AI to Help People and the Environment?

In his recent Science Journeys lecture, graduate student Chris Yeh discussed using artificial intelligence to make predictions about what will happen to Earth's resources in the future, so that everyone from electric companies to farmers to lawmakers can make smarter sustainability decisions.

Did You Know?

Each spring, Caltech's International Offices field a softball team known as the "Globe Throopers." The team is composed of students, faculty, staff, and postdocs from across campus and JPL. The International Offices are responsible for immigration-related matters for international students and scholars at Caltech.Bluesky Caltech.edu Facebook Instagram LinkedIn X YouTube Connect with CaltechThe Caltech Weekly is published by the Office of Communications and External Relations. Copyright ©2026 All rights reserved. Send feedback and story ideas for the newsletter to theweekly@caltech.edu.

If you received this email from someone you know, you can subscribe here. You are receiving this email because you are a member of the Caltech community or have signed up for this newsletter.

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https://mailchi.mp/caltech/caltech-weekly-april-9-the-camera-in-your-pocket-pasadena-math-pipeline

What Happens When No One Holds Trump Accountable? I Asked a Top Democrat.

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

After talking to Ro Khanna, here’s what I learned Democrats are actually considering in response to Trump’s nuclear threat and the Bondi subpoena fight.

https://plus.briantylercohen.com/p/trump-threatens-civilization-will

Hugh Jackman, Adam Lambert, Rachel Brosnahan, Common And Ayra Starr Set For NYC’s Global Citizen NOW Summit

(date: 2026-04-09)

Hugh Jackman, Adam Lambert, Rachel Brosnahan and Common are among the stars set to participate in New York’s fifth annual Global Citizen NOW “impact summits” designed to address extreme poverty. This year’s event takes place on May 14 at New York’s Spring Studios venue in TriBeCa. Names from government, policy, advocacy, business, entertainment, and philanthropy […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/global-citizen-now-hugh-jackman-adam-lambert-common-1236785649/

ABC News Names Jon Schlosberg As Executive Producer Of ‘This Week With George Stephanopoulos’

(date: 2026-04-09)

ABC News has tapped Jon Schlosberg to serve as executive producer of This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Schlosberg, who will be based in Washington and start on May 6, has served as senior producer for ABC News Live’s Prime with Linsey Davis, the streaming channel’s nightly newscast, since 2021. Before that, he was producer on […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/jon-schlosberg-abc-news-this-week-george-stephanopoulos-1236785644/

[$] A flood of useful security reports

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-15)

The idea of using large language models (LLMs) to discover security problems is not new. Google's Project Zeroinvestigated the feasibility of using LLMs for security research in 2024. At the time, they found that models could identify real problems, but required a good deal of structure and hand-holding to do so on small benchmark problems. In February 2026, Anthropicpublished a report claiming that the company's most recent LLM at that point in time, Claude Opus 4.6, had discovered real-world vulnerabilities in critical open-source software, including the Linux kernel, with far less scaffolding. On April 7, Anthropic announced a new experimental model that issupposedly even better; which they havepartnered with the Linux Foundation to supply to some open-source developers with access to the tool for security reviews. LLMs seem to have progressed significantly in the last few months, a change which is being noticed in the open-source community.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066581/

Thierry Frémaux Addresses Absence of Studio Films In Cannes: “The Last Five, Ten years Were Very Quiet”

(date: 2026-04-09)

One of the talking points around the Cannes Film Festival’s 2026 edition is the absence of big U.S. studio titles making their way to the French Riviera this year. The U.S. is represented instead by Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love in Competition; Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death At Camp Miasma and Jordan Firstman’s […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/thierry-fremaux-absence-studios-cannes-quiet-1236785645/

Relicensing versus license compatibility (FSF Blog)

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-15)

The Free Software Foundation has published a short article on relicensing versus license compatibility.

The FSF's Licensing and
Compliance Lab receives many questions and license violation reports related to projects that had their license changed by a downstream distributor, or that are combined from two or more programs under different licenses. We collaborated with Yoni Rabkin, an experienced and long time FSF licensing volunteer, on an updated version of his article to provide the free software community with a general explanation on how the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) is intended to work in such situations.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066926/

Security updates for Thursday

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-14)

Security updates have been issued by Debian (firefox-esr, postgresql-13, and tiff), Fedora (bind, bind-dyndb-ldap, cef, opensc, python-biopython, python-pydicom, and roundcubemail), Slackware (mozilla), SUSE (ckermit, cockpit-repos, dnsdist, expat, freerdp, git-cliff, gnutls, heroic-games-launcher, libeverest, openssl-1_1, openssl-3, polkit, python-poetry, python-requests, python311-social-auth-app-django, and SDL2_image-devel), and Ubuntu (dogtag-pki, gdk-pixbuf, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.15, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.15, linux-intel-iotg, linux-intel-iotg-5.15, linux-kvm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.15, linux-raspi, linux-xilinx-zynqmp, linux-aws-6.8, linux-gcp-6.8, linux-hwe-6.8, linux-ibm-6.8, linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-6.17, linux-raspi, linux-realtime, openssl, and squid).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066972/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-09:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

17 updated places.

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

966e5db6 - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

0887e23c - updated gis package

4b88f86d - updated data quality

bd8430d9 - updated bibliography

3079bb62 - updated indexes

fcf8c9fa - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

1084dc48 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

c6aac44d - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116374899266853759

Artificial Intelligence Twinning App That “Bridges Gap Between AI & Human” Divides Industry Opinion

(date: 2026-04-09)

EXCLUSIVE: A platform for actors that aims to “protect and monetise human identity in the age of artificial intelligence” launches officially today, but many in the UK film and TV industry have been debating the merits of Twinnin for weeks. Backed by Google and Nvidia, Twinnin clones an actors face, creating an “identity record” secured […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/artificial-intelligence-twinnin-app-divides-film-tv-opinion-1236783395/

Jean Smart On ‘Hacks’ Season 5 & ‘The Amazing Race’ Surprise Collab: “It Was One Of The Funniest Things I’ve Ever Seen”

(date: 2026-04-09)

SPOILER ALERT: The Following contains spoilers for Season 5 of Hacks. With the premiere of Hacks fifth and final season today, comes the announcement of a surprise crossover of sorts. Episode 5, “D’Amazing Race” will see Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance and Kaitlyn Olson’s character DJ compete in a fictional celebrity episode of The Amazing Race […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/hacks-season-5-jean-smart-the-amazing-race-1236784948/

The Crisis The World Faces Today Is Trump (New Video, Written Analysis)

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-19)

Tonight - 530pm ET Hopium phonebanks into Virginia for Vote Yes, 7pm in person gathering in Bethesda, MD

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/the-crisis-the-world-is-facing-is

How To Future-Proof Your Career In The Age Of AI

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post How To Future-Proof Your Career In The Age Of AI appeared first on NOEMA.

https://www.noemamag.com/why-a-liberal-arts-education-will-soon-be-more-valuable-than-ever

Leading Shareholder Advisor ISS Backs WBD-Paramount Merger But Slams David Zaslav’s “Windfall” Payout

(date: 2026-04-09)

Leading proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Service recommended Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders support the company’s sale to Paramount Skydance but to reject CEO David Zaslav’s potential $886 million merger-related golden parachute — calling it “extraordinary,” not in a good way. WBD stockholders will vote April 23 on both the deal and the payment at a […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/david-zaslav-golden-parachute-warner-bros-paramount-merger-1236785413/

One great poem to read today: Michael Ondaatje’s “To a Sad Daughter”

(date: 2026-04-09)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-michael-ondaatjes-to-a-sad-daughter/

Rosamund Pike Sets Fall Broadway Debut With Suzie Miller’s Acclaimed ‘Inter Alia’

(date: 2026-04-09)

Saltburn‘s Rosamund Pike will make her Broadway debut this fall in Suzie Miller’s acclaimed West End play Inter Alia. Directed by Justin Martin, who last teamed with Miller on Prima Facie (starring Jodie Comer), the limited Broadway engagement begins previews on November 10 at the Music Box Theatre before opening on December 1. Inter Alia […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/rosamund-pike-broadway-inter-alia-1236784910/

Kanzleisoftware in der Cloud lässt Daten regnen

(date: 2026-04-09)

Der Chaos Computer Club (CCC) setzt seine Serie von Sicherheitsanalysen bei Legal-Tech-Anbietern fort. Zwei Sicherheitsforschende untersuchten die Kanzleisoftware RA-MICRO Essentials und identifizierten dabei eine Vielzahl von Schwachstellen. Dank dieser war es möglich, auf schlecht verschlüsselte Backups, Ermittlungsakten aus Strafverfahren, Adressdaten, E-Mails und Zugangsdaten zuzugreifen. Der CCC hat die Sicherheitslücken gemeldet. Die technischen Berichte veröffentlichen wir im Rahmen dieser Meldung.

https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2026/kanzleisoftware-in-der-cloud-lasst-daten-regnen

Pawel Pawlikowski’s Palme d’Or Contender ‘Fatherland’, With Sandra Hüller, Unveils First Look Image

(date: 2026-04-09)

Here is first look image of Fatherland, Paweł Pawlikowski’s latest feature that is heading to Cannes. In the image, stars Sandra Hüller and Hanns Zischler can be seen looking stoic as they prepare to embark on a journey. Fatherland centers on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Hüller) […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/fatherland-first-image-pawel-pawlikowski-palme-dor-cannes-1236785593/

Famous Paintings Including ‘The Starry Night’ & ‘The Scream’ To Be Reimagined By Artificial Intelligence In Debut Project For Fremantle AI Label

(date: 2026-04-09)

Famous works of art including The Scream, The Starry Night and The Great Wave will be reimagined via generative AI in the debut project for Fremantle’s Imaginae Studios. Art Awakens is a short-form series that uses AI to reveal the inner worlds of the most iconic paintings ever made. Created in collaboration with Spanish AI […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/art-awakens-fremantle-imaginae-studios-ai-series-van-gogh-1236785586/

On Microsoft’s Lousy Cloud Security

(date: 2026-04-09)

ProPublica has a scoop:

In late 2024, the federal government’s cybersecurity evaluators rendered a troubling verdict on one of Microsoft’s biggest cloud computing offerings.

The tech giant’s “lack of proper detailed security documentation” left reviewers with a “lack of confidence in assessing the system’s overall security posture,” according to an internal government report reviewed by ProPublica.

Or, as one member of the team put it: “The package is a pile of shit.”

For years, reviewers said, Microsoft had tried and failed to fully explain how it protects sensitive information in the cloud as it hops from server to server across the digital terrain. Given that and other unknowns, government experts couldn’t vouch for the technology’s security...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/on-microsofts-lousy-cloud-security.html

Pluralistic: Cindy Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (09 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-18)

Today's links Cindy Cohn's "Privacy's Defender": The history of digital rights, from the very beginning to this very moment. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Tariffs and monopolies; Paperclip dodecahedron; Class war comix; Glenn Beck's brain; Iceland v Pirates; Dashers v apps; Leaked NYPD goon squad manual. Upcoming appearances: Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Cindy Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (permalink) I've known EFF executive director Cindy Cohn for 27 years. I met her when I needed cyberlaw advice for a startup I'd helped found. We got along so well that I ended up quitting the startup and going to work at EFF. Now, Cindy's memoir, Privacy's Defender, is on the shelves: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051248/privacys-defender/ I'm hardly a disinterested party here, obviously. I was at Cindy's wedding, I've danced with her at Burning Man, and I've worked with her for most of my adult life. What's more, I was present for many of the pivotal moments she recounts in this book. But still: this is a great book that I found utterly captivating. Cohn's been with EFF since its earliest days, when she litigated one of the most important cases in computing history, the Bernstein case, which legalized civilian access to encryption technology and changed the world: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/remembering-case-established-code-speech Cryptographers had been arguing with the US government over the ban on working encryption technology for years before Cohn joined the fight, and they'd tried all manner of arguments to overturn the ban: technical arguments, political arguments, financial arguments. All of these efforts failed – they didn't even make a dent. Cohn's genius was the way she formulated a free speech argument about the ban on encryption: arguing that computer code was a form of expressive speech, entitled to protection under the First Amendment. While she didn't come up with this idea, it was her gift for assembling a narrative and a cadre of unimpeachable experts that carried the day. In this age of bad faith right-wing trolling about "free speech" and "cancel culture," it's easy to forget how central free speech cases and causes have been for the advancement of human rights and human thriving. Free speech cases gave us the nation's first privacy protections, protection for unions, and protection for civil rights organizers. Cohn never forgets this. Her decades with EFF are a history of the fight for speech rights (and thus privacy rights) on the internet. After the US government seized on the 9/11 attacks as a pretext to dismantle privacy and turn the internet into a system of ubiquitous surveillance, Cohn (along with EFF, of course!) was at the center of the fight for digital rights. The same prescience and strategic brilliance that led her to take up the Bernstein case and win it were with her through those millennial years, and her description of our cases, campaigns and fights in those years vividly foreshadows the moment we are in today. The same goes for her "three letter agency" chapter, which takes up our fights against the NSA and other US agencies in the wake of whistleblower disclosures by Mark Klein and Edward Snowden. These accounts are one part master class in legal tactics; one part battle cry for a global pushback against the transformation of the internet into the perfect surveillance and control machine, and one part personal memoir of a tactician, finding ways to leverage a righteous cause to raise a guerrilla army of experts, co-counsel, amici, and champions who carried our message to the world. All of this is connected back to her other legal career, as a human rights defender litigating on behalf of the survivors of a massacre perpetrated by a death squad working on behalf of Chevron in Nigeria. Cohn skilfully connects these very concrete, visible human rights struggles to the invisible – and no less important – human rights work she carried out for EFF. I didn't just have a front-row seat for this stuff – I had backstage passes for a lot of it (though not the juiciest national security cases, which required EFF lawyers to maintain total secrecy from colleagues, spouses, even our board, on pain of a long prison sentence for disclosing classified information). Even so, Cohn's pacey, smart retelling of these events brought them to life for me, and of course, there's a coherence that you get after the fact that is missing when you're living through it in a moment. But what really enlivened this delightful book were the personal details that Cohn weaves into the story. I've always known that she was an adoptee (and I even have a small, strange, coincidental connection to her birth family), but Cohn's intimate, personal, frank memoir of her early family life, and her bittersweet connection to her birth family were so intimate and well-told that I felt like I was getting to know my dear friend all over again. Cindy is retiring from EFF (but not the law) in a couple of months. This book is a beautiful capstone to a brilliant career that defined the fight for cyber rights, and a deep, accessible dive into the defining tech and human rights battles of this century. Hey look at this (permalink) Who Is L.A.’s Hero Posting Up These Anti-ICE Parking Signs? https://lataco.com/anti-ice-parking-signs Data Center Tech Lobbyists Fearmonger in Attempt to Retroactively Roll Back Right to Repair Law https://www.404media.co/data-center-tech-lobbyists-fearmonger-in-attempt-to-retroactively-roll-back-right-to-repair-law/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter Live Tax-Free and Die https://prospect.org/2026/04/08/apr-2026-magazine-live-tax-free-and-die/ Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/ How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/politics/trump-iran-war.html Object permanence (permalink) #15yrsago Advanced office-supply sculpture: paperclip dodecahedron https://web.archive.org/web/20171122055732/https://makezine.com/2011/04/07/paperclip-snub-dodecahedron/ #15yrsago World Bank: gold farming (etc) paid poor countries $3B in 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20110410134037/http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.1056.html #15yrsago Class war comics: Scrap Iron Man versus international capital https://web.archive.org/web/20110410215907/https://www.chinamieville.net/post/4406165249/rejected-pitch #15yrsago Colombian Justice Minister ramming through extremist copyright legislation without public consultation https://web.archive.org/web/20110707053554/http://karisma.org.co/?p=667 #15yrsago Glenn Beck’s brain https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/glenn-beck-fox-news-brain-chart/ #10yrsago Why 40 years of official nutritional guidelines prescribed a low-fat diet that promoted heart disease https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-conspiracy-robert-lustig-john-yudkin #10yrsago Fearing the Pirate Party, Iceland’s government scrambles to avoid elections https://web.archive.org/web/20160407183022/https://theintercept.com/2016/04/07/icelands-government-tries-cling-protesters-pirates-gates/ #10yrsago The price of stealing an identity is crashing, with no bottom in sight https://qz.com/656459/its-never-been-cheaper-to-steal-someones-digital-identity-on-the-internet #10yrsago Bernie Sanders can only win if nonvoters turn out at the polls, and they almost never do https://web.archive.org/web/20160408145116/https://www.vox.com/2016/4/6/11373862/bernie-sanders-voter-lists #10yrsago To understand the link between corporations and Hillary Clinton, look at philosophy, not history https://web.archive.org/web/20160406223353/https://www.thenation.com/article/the-problem-with-hillary-clinton-isnt-just-her-corporate-cash-its-her-corporate-worldview/ #10yrsago The US Government’s domestic spy-planes take weekends and holidays off https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/spies-in-the-skies #10yrsago A perfect storm of broken business and busted FLOSS backdoors everything, so who needs the NSA? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwcl17Q0bpk #5yrsago Door Dashers organize app-defeating solidarity https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/07/cruelty-by-design/#declinenow #5yrsago Leaked NYPD "goon squad" manual https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/07/cruelty-by-design/#blam-blam-blam #1yrago Tariffs and monopolies https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/07/it-matters-how-you-slice-it/#too-big-to-care Upcoming appearances (permalink) Montreal: Bronfman Lecture (McGill), Apr 10 https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artificial-intelligence-the-ultimate-disrupter-tickets-1982706623885 Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, Apr 10 https://mtl.drawnandquarterly.com/events/4863920260410 Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. First draft complete. Second draft underway. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/09/bernstein-2/

Job Growth on ICE

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

The employment slowdown: Causes and consequences

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/job-growth-on-ice

Lit Hub Daily: April 9, 2026

(date: 2026-04-09)

David Farrier revisits “Briggflatts,” Basil Bunting’s classic poem of bio-acoustic die-off. | Lit Hub Criticism “I think my affection for New Kids on the Block alone is definitely not a novel. But a cruise that you’re stuck on with whoever’s

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-9-2026/

A regime of idiots: A complete inventory of Trump stooges

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

They will remain, festering, awaiting the next opportunity for soul-selling.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-stooges

Cannes Film Festival: Asghar Farhadi, Pedro Almodóvar, Hirokazu Kore-eda & Ira Sachs Among Filmmakers Set For Competition Debuts — Full List

(date: 2026-04-09)

The 2026 Cannes Film Festival lineup was announced this morning, and among the headline filmmakers set to debut new works are previous Palme d’Or winners Cristian Mungiu and Hirokazu Kore-eda, as well as two-time Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi and veteran American indie director Ira Sachs. Scroll down for the full list of titles. It’s […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cannes-2026-movies-lineup-competition-1236785446/

Cannes: Studiocanal Boards Jeanne Herry’s Palme D’Or Contender ‘Another Day’ & Unveils First Look

(date: 2026-04-09)

EXCLUSIVE: Studiocanal has boarded sales on Jeanne Herry’s Cannes 2026 Palme d’Or contender Another Day (Garance) and revealed a first look of Adèle Exarchopoulos in the lead role. The drama was announced as having been selected for Cannes’ main competition at the festival’s traditional press conference in Paris on Thursday. Exarchopoulos stars as gifted young […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cannes-studiocanal-jeanne-herry-another-day-first-look-1236784796/

Cannes: Studiocanal Boards Sales On Volker Schlöndorff’s ‘Visitation’ & Unveils First Image

(date: 2026-04-09)

EXCLUSIVE: Studiocanal has boarded sales and unveiled a first image for Volker Schlöndorff’s Visitation, which was announced as having been selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection on Thursday. The film, which is Schlöndorff’s first fiction feature in close to a decade, will debut in the Cannes Premiere section. The historical drama revolves around […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cannes-volker-schlondorff-visitation-first-image-1236785426/

LibreOffice State of the Project (April 2025 – March 2026)

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-20)

As promised, we are releasing the updated State of the Project Slide Deck, based on data extracted from the LibreOffice dashboard and the Matomo repository. During the 12 months 295 developers worked on the source code, adding 11.098 new commits (Git): 221 volunteer developers (75%) provided 1.871 commits (17%); 8

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/09/libreoffice-state-of-the-project/

5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week

(date: 2026-04-09)

Our favorite criticism of the week includes Sadie Stein on Agnieszka Szpila’s Hexes of the Deadwood Forest, Erin Somers on Jay McInerney’s See You on the Other Side, Kristen Roupenian on Marie NDiaye’s The Witch, Ginny Hogan on Caro Claire

https://lithub.com/5-book-reviews-you-need-to-read-this-week-10/

On the 1966 Poem That Warns of Bio-Acoustic Die-Off and the Destruction of Our Soundscapes

(date: 2026-04-09)

The poet Basil Bunting was as old as the century when he died in 1985. His life was bookended by the relief of Ladysmith and Thatcher’s defeat of striking miners. He was imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs as a conscientious objector

https://lithub.com/on-the-1966-poem-that-warns-of-bio-acoustic-die-off-and-the-destruction-of-our-soundscapes/

Emma Straub Owns an Original 1990 New Kids on the Block Fanny Pack

(date: 2026-04-09)

Music writer and author of Larger Than Life: A History of Boy Bands from NKOTB to BTS Maria Sherman spoke with Books Are Magic bookstore owner Emma Straub about her new book, American Fantasy (out now with Riverhead Books), boy

https://lithub.com/emma-straub-owns-an-original-1990-new-kids-on-the-block-fanny-pack/

Am I the Asshole For Not Wanting to Do an Author Photo For My Debut Novel?

(date: 2026-04-09)

Hello, it’s great to see you! Welcome back to another joyous installment of Am I the Literary Asshole?, an advice column that’s so full of beer that it should technically be called a keg (or a ravioli). I’m your host,

https://lithub.com/am-i-the-asshole-for-not-wanting-to-do-an-author-photo-for-my-debut-novel/

Read Two Poems by Leigh Lucas, “Art Monster” and “These Days”

(date: 2026-04-09)

“Art Monster” Not to preserve him exactly. Not to forget. Eye pits, no eyes. Maybe the aim is just to come out from living in this room between he and not-he. A room on which I have, with my ugly

https://lithub.com/read-two-poems-by-leigh-lucas-art-monster-and-these-days/

An Open Letter to the Jewish Book Council From a Concerned Group of Jewish Writers

(date: 2026-04-09)

Below is an open letter from a group of Jewish authors to the Jewish Book Council (JBC). A group of us—consisting of writers with books eligible for the 2025 National Jewish Book Awards and those who have written for their

https://lithub.com/an-open-letter-to-the-jewish-book-council-from-a-concerned-group-of-jewish-writers/

The Annotated Nightstand: What Anne Enright is Reading Now, And Next

(date: 2026-04-09)

Anne Enright, the author of several novels and winner of the Carnegie Medal for The Forgotten Waltz and the Booker for The Gathering, loves a joyful barb, often at her own expense. Case in point, her description of her Booker-winning

https://lithub.com/the-annotated-nightstand-what-anne-enright-is-reading-now-and-next/

The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Nonfiction

(date: 2026-04-09)

Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for nonfiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. Compiled, designed, and distributed by The Independent Publishers Caucus. * 1. The Gales

https://lithub.com/the-independent-press-top-40-bestsellers-nonfiction-12/

The truth about Harmeet Dhillon, Trump's likely pick for attorney general

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-19)

She's now assistant AG for civil rights but is intent on reversing civil rights.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-harmeet-dhillon-trumps

MAGA Turns on The Mad King

(date: 2026-04-09)

The President of the United States has officially gone mad. That can be the only conclusion after Trump’s genocidal threats this week to destroy the entire country of Iran, before announcing a two week ceasefire. This week Alex looks at the consequences of the mad king’s actions both abroad and at home. First, she speaks to Mohamed Arrachedi, the Arab world and Iran network coordinator for the International Transport Workers’ Federation, to hear about the dire conditions thousands of seafarers are living in while they remain trapped on ships because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Then she speaks to Brian Tyler Cohen, host of the No Lie podcast, to talk through the growing chorus of MAGA voices turning against Trump, and the movement to use the 25th amendment to unseat him.

https://audioboom.com/posts/8885061

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-13)

AI Code is Hollowing Out Open Source, and Maintainers are Looking the Other Way.

https://www.quippd.com/writing/2026/04/08/ai-code-is-hollowing-out-open-source-and-maintainers-are-looking-the-other-way.html

Hackable history: Clay Interactive and Raspberry Pi at the Young V&A

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-20)

Clay Interactive uses Raspberry Pi to turn museum exhibits into interactive embedded systems people can actually play with.

The post Hackable history: Clay Interactive and Raspberry Pi at the Young V&A appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/hackable-history-clay-interactive-and-raspberry-pi-at-the-young-va/

April 8, 2026

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-15)

On April 8, 1865, General Ulysses S.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-8-2026

Banksy, Satoshi & The Unmasking Impulse

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-14)

First Banksy and then Satoshi. Something about their unmasking is not sitting right with me. I am bothered by it. I am annoyed by it. And even more annoyed with myself because as a former journalist I should understand, but I don’t. I am referring to Reuters’s meticulous investigation and unmasking of Banksy, and John …

https://om.co/2026/04/08/banksy-satoshi-the-unmasking-impulse/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-18)

Via Twitter @alrougui - auto translated:

“A Lebanese university professor teaching his students remotely… and during the lecture, Israeli shelling begins, and one of the students loses her mother, who was killed because of the strike.”

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116372211459002753

334: Mother. Orion. Europe 💪 Ukraine. Vancouver's marine life. Asia pivots to solar.

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-22)

Houston, we're going to need some new superlatives.

https://fixthenews.com/p/334-mother-orion-europe-ukraine-vancouver

From Studio Remixing to Classroom Remixing: How Research Posters Can Teach Semiotic Border-Crossing for Social Justice

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-10)

Before I ever taught first-year writing, I learned an important lesson about communication in a radio studio. As a sports journalist, I was not just reporting news. I was shaping how people would receive it. Right before the sport segment, I often played short sport jingles (sometimes remixed) mixing beats, slogans, with timely bpm (beats [...]

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/08/from-studio-remixing-to-classroom-remixing-how-research-posters-can-teach-semiotic-border-crossing-for-social-justice/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-18)

Follow up, the story behind Roald writing that book review by the editor that requested it.

The world he describes, wants me want to be a writer. Yet, here I am looking at stack traces.

https://quartetbooks.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/roald-dahl-and-god-cried/

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116372127704564296

lynx --nocolor

(date: 2026-04-09)

I really dislike how the Lynx WWW browser looks on some modern systems. On my SGI it was OK - it simply respected IRIS terminal colors. On modern systems in seems to be full of colors with gray background. Text colors are quite nice but I have disliked the gray background. I have wished to have or black one or transparent one (it a terminal emulator supports transparency).

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260409-0244_lynx_nocolor

iMac G5 keyboard

(date: 2026-04-09)

Today my wife requested new keyboard. I thought that the Apple white-transparent keyboard is too inferior to her IBM laptop keyboard. Well, it is. So I have replaced it by spare HP one. A HP keyboard which was a part of the PA-RISC Visualize workstation (the workstation itself does not work, unfortunately). And she is happy with it.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260409-0244_iMac_G5_keyboard

Working from home

(date: 2026-04-09)

And this is my main tool:

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260409-0244_Working_from_home

Workflow: Changes and additions

(date: 2026-04-09)

Things are continuously developing or at least changing. For example, my gVim on my GPD Pocket (Ubuntu MATE 18.04) has issues with text encoding. If I create a new file then I everything is OK. But when I save it and re-open it then it en-codes local language characters incorrectly. It is strange because I have been using the same .vimrc/.gvimrc for ages on several Linux machines and I never encountered such behaviour.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260409-0244_Workflow_Changes_and_additions

Tungsten W + PalmPix

(date: 2026-04-09)

As you may know I do have a Palm Tungsten W. And I als othave the KODAK PalmPix for m5xx devices. So I have almost modern smarphone (jsut 17 years old!) with the (detachable camera).

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260409-0244_Tungsten_W_PalmPix

Tired

(date: 2026-04-09)

As the quarantine is now not so strict here and as a results of some deadlines at work people became much more active. As a result I the amount of incoming mails and phone calls (and amount of work related to them) have increased too much. And I have became tired.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260409-0244_Tired

They won :-(

(date: 2026-04-09)

At our university we always resisted to the plan of the security department to track our movement between buildings. It was refused by rector office and deans for decades.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260409-0244_They_won

TRGpro tuning (2)

(date: 2026-04-09)

Just a tiny update this time. I only replaced the broken battery door by unused one (which I have borrowed them from my Palm IIIe).

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20260409-0244_TRGpro_tuning_2

[$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for April 9, 2026

(date: 2026-04-09, updated: 2026-04-14)

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:

Front: TPM attacks; arithmetic overflow protection; Ubuntu GRUB changes; kernel IPC proposals; fre:ac; Scuttlebutt.
Briefs: Nix vulnerability; OpenSSH 10.3; Sashiko reviews; FreeBSD testing; Gentoo GNU/Hurd; SFC on router ban; Quotes; ...
Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1065979/

Wasmtime’s April 9, 2026 Security Advisories

(date: 2026-04-09)

A new world for security-critical projects

https://bytecodealliance.org/articles/wasmtime-security-advisories

Reduce Storage with Crawl Deduplication

(date: 2026-04-09)

A new feature to save you storage space.

https://webrecorder.net/blog/2026-04-09-deduplication/

Simplified email address settings

(date: 2026-04-09)

One fewer setting to deal with! (Maybe)

https://buttondown.com/blog/2026-04-05-sending-email-address

Subscription wall

(date: 2026-04-09)

Gate your archive content behind a subscription — no paid plan required.

https://buttondown.com/blog/2026-04-09-subscription-wall

Upstream Speeds, Needs Up Again

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-12)

Just a quick update to my earlier piece on upload speeds, fiber, and why municipal broadband was beating cable in the game of speeds and feeds. New data from OpenVault backs it up. Speaking on the Fiber for Breakfast podcast, OpenVault CEO Mark Trudeau pointed out that during the first quarter of 2026, the fiber …

https://om.co/2026/04/08/upstream-speeds-needs-up-again/

This week's video

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-18)

On why California's proposed wealth tax is necessary

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/this-weeks-video

Ceasefire of the Damned

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Behold the majesty of American statecraft. A 24-hour news roundup.

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/ceasefire-of-the-damned

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-18)

Vía @ireallyhateyou on Twitter:

Roald Dahl, 1983, about Beirut under Israeli bombs:

"One finds it almost impossible to believe that a civilised people could perform such acts of fiendish barbarism upon women and children and patients in hospitals... The Israelis pinpointed and hit no less than thirteen out of the seventeen hospitals in Beirut, one of them a mental hospital and many of the others full of children."

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116371210002304129

Release Notes for Safari Technology Preview 241

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-10)

Safari Technology Preview Release 241 is now available for download for macOS Tahoe and macOS Sequoia.

https://webkit.org/blog/17917/release-notes-for-safari-technology-preview-241/

2026-04-08 Hotel system administration

(date: 2026-04-08)

2026-04-08 Hotel system administration

I’m sitting in a hotel with my MNT Pocket Reform.

I notice the local time is wrong. I try to use apt update and get errors.

Sub-process /usr/bin/sqv returned an error code (1), error message is: Verifying signature: Not live until … Release file for … is not valid yet (invalid for another 12d 23h 13min 42s). Updates for this repository will not be applied. Warning: An error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is not updated and the previous index files will be used.

Whoops! What? I’m not sure what the problem is but the solution must involve setting the time. So how is the time set? On my Debian unstable system I found that this is handled by nptsec.service using the config file /etc/ntpsec/ntp.conf. I picked the first pool it had listed: 0.debian.pool.ntp.org.

# check that this reports a plausible time and date
ntpdig 0.debian.pool.ntp.org
# set the local time and date
ntpdig -S 0.debian.pool.ntp.org

By the time I was ready to connect to the network, I was no longer able to connect. Our iPhones, however, reported no issues. The only answers I have for these situations is this:

sudo ifdown -a
sudo ifup -a

Turning it off and back on again. Disgraceful, I know. But the network manager did show the wireless network again.

Well, I’m still sitting sitting here, in a hotel with my MNT Pocket Reform. And my fingers idly type:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

And I’m thinking, oh that is a long list, oh well, hit Enter and watch the endless scroll. Watch, watch, watch. Wait a minute, did I just see libc scroll by‽ STOPP! STOOOOOP! Ctrl-C Ctrl-C Ctrl-C Ctrl-C Ctrl-C Ctrl-C.

Phew! OK, I’m awake now.

A long time ago I once borked my system with a libc upgrade. Not again! Before doing that, I need a backup.

#Administration

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2026-04-08-hotel-sysadmin

Iran Allows Ship Loaded With Epstein Files Through Strait of Hormuz

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Although Iran is charging vessels millions for safe passage through the Strait, “We are sending the Epstein files through free of charge,” they said.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/iran-allows-ship-loaded-with-epstein

Last Call - Today, 6pm ET - This Week's Hopium Paid Subscriber Get Together

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-19)

Note special time just for this week - lot's to talk about!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/last-call-today-6pm-et-this-weeks

My salary history

(date: 2026-04-08)

Times are tough out there. I know that a lot of people are looking for work, which can be a very stressful experience.

One of the things that can make the job search stressful is uncertainty. There’s a real taboo around talking about salaries. This taboo ends up benefiting employers and punishing potential employees. There’s an information gap that can be exploited (see also: job postings that don’t list salary ranges).

That’s why I’m always pleased when people voluntarily share their income. Here are some of the people who have done this over the years:

Dan Mall (US)
Alistair Hey (UK)
Jamie Tanna (UK)
Tom Withers (UK)
Matt Brunt (UK)
Carolina Gilabert (UK)
Xe Iaso (Canada)
Kristófer Reykjalín (Canada/US/Iceland)

Because the jobs are generally in software or design, you can sort of make apples-to-apples comparisons. You can definitely get the general gist of what kind of salary to expect for certain roles.

In the interest of full transparency, I figured I’d share my own income numbers, though as you’ll see, they’re not very representative of a normal career:

2003: £15,434 (freelance)
2004: £15,900 (freelance)
2005: £14,125 (freelance)
2006: £43,009 (freelance/Clearleft)
2007: £34,900 (Clearleft)
2008: £33,833 (Clearleft)
2009: £35,549 (Clearleft)
2010: £37,174 (Clearleft)
2011: £40,666 (Clearleft)
2012: £39,750 (Clearleft)
2013: £39,500 (Clearleft)
2014: £48,655 (Clearleft)
2015: £46,499 (Clearleft)
2016: £52,106 (Clearleft)
2017: £56,492 (Clearleft)
2018: £59,498 (Clearleft)
2019: £59,670 (Clearleft)
2020: £43,807 (Clearleft)
2021: £48,344 (Clearleft)
2022: £60,446 (Clearleft)
2023: £55,721 (Clearleft)
2024: £47,104 (Clearleft)
2025: £42,133 (Clearleft)

The first thing you’ll notice is that agency work isn’t nearly as well paid as in-house work at a technology company. So don’t embrace agency life for the money. Speaking personally, the benefits are in autonomy and variety. Those are things I value highly.

Also, I haven’t put any job titles or levels on there because they’ve never really been codified for me. I just made up my own job titles as I went along. Again, this is not very helpful to you if you’re looking for a job at a typical company.

You’ll see that things got weird in 2020, which is to be expected because things did get weird in 2020. I was furloughed, and I also took some more time off. I got a taste for it, which is why I went down to a four-day week and later a three-day week, which is what I’m doing now. So those last five years of numbers are loopy—I’m making less than before, but if you were to adjust it for a five-day week, I’m still getting paid more than before …if that makes sense.

Perhaps the most unusual thing about my career trajectory is that I’ve been at the same place for twenty years now. That’s pretty much unheard of in tech. It’s far more usual to see people switch companies—and get a salary bump—every couple of years.

So I’m not sure if there’s any value in me sharing my numbers like this. But like I said, I admire when other people do it so I figured I’d throw mine out there.

Perhaps you’d like to share your numbers too.

https://adactio.com/journal/22519

Adobe Modifies Your Hosts File for Their Analytics

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Thom Holwerda (via Hacker News): If you’re using Windows or macOS and have Adobe Creative Cloud installed, you may want to take a peek at your hosts file. It turns out Adobe adds a bunch of entries into the hosts file, for a very stupid reason. […] If the DNS entry in your hosts file […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/08/adobe-modifies-your-hosts-file-for-their-analytics/

Apple Scraping YouTube for AI Training Data

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Joe Rossignol: Three established YouTube channels have sued Apple, alleging that the company violated the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by unlawfully accessing and scraping millions of copyrighted videos from YouTube to train its AI models. […] Apple “deliberately circumvented” YouTube’s protections against video scraping and “profited substantially” by doing so. Apple’s research papers […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/08/apple-scraping-youtube-for-ai-training-data/

Perplexity Privacy Lawsuit

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Ashley Belanger (via John Gruber): Perplexity’s AI search engine encourages users to go deeper with their prompts by engaging in chat sessions that a lawsuit has alleged are often shared in their entirety with Google and Meta without users’ knowledge or consent. “This happened to every user regardless of whether or not they signed up […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/08/perplexity-privacy-lawsuit/

Apple Granted Stay Over External Purchase Fee

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Sarah Perez: Apple is preparing to take its App Store fight with Epic Games back to the Supreme Court. In a new filing, the iPhone maker said it plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review another aspect of this long-running case over App Store fees. In the meantime, Apple sought to pause the […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/08/apple-granted-stay-over-external-purchase-fee/

Live: Supreme Court Rules Conversion Therapy Is Free Speech | Chiles v. Salazar E

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Wednesday, April 8th, 2pm EDT

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/live-supreme-court-rules-conversion

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-13)

What is agentic engineering?

https://simonwillison.net/guides/agentic-engineering-patterns/what-is-agentic-engineering/

What should we take from Anthropic’s (possibly) terrifying new report on Mythos?

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Not many facts are on the ground, but here are some starting points for sober thinking

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/what-should-we-take-from-anthropics

This Week In The Big Picture

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

As Trump’s approval rating continues to plummet amid his deranged war of choice in Iran, the right is struggling to come to terms with the man they’ve hitched their wagon to all these years.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/week-big-picture-april-8

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-13)

Rethinking RSS, newsletters, and how I read every morning.

https://sixcolors.com/post/2026/04/rethinking-rss-newsletters-and-how-i-read-every-morning/

The bottleneck shifts to distribution

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-21)

"There is a fixed amount of scarce attention to go around, and too many people want it. The metagame becomes: secure attention by any means necessary."

https://werd.io/the-bottleneck-shifts-to-distribution/

[$] Ripping CDs and converting audio with fre:ac

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-14)

It has been a little while since LWN last surveyed tools for managing a digital
music collection. In the intervening decades, many Linux users have moved on to music streaming services, found them wanting, and are looking to curate their own collection once again. There are plenty of choices when it comes to ripping, managing, and playing digital audio; so many, in fact, that it can be a bit daunting. After years of tinkering, I've found a few tools that work well for managing my digital library: the first I'd like to cover is the fre:ac free audio encoder for ripping music from CDs and converting between audio formats.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1062141/

Build a Company That Doesn’t Depend on You

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Designing systems that outlast charisma.

https://guykawasaki.substack.com/p/build-a-company-that-doesnt-depend

Island And E-Bikes

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/island-and-e-bikes/

We are all Good Germans now

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

I don't know about you but I thought there was a pretty good chance Trump would detonate a nuke somewhere yesterday, and the fact that we did not get him out of there in time to prevent it, says we went along with it. You can decide what that means.

I've had several friends over the years who are German. My age or a little older. People who grew up with the shame of being German in the postwar years. Friends. People who weren't born when the atrocities happened. We were friends and when I could I tried to assure them that I know they weren't there when it happened. It didn't matter, as far as they were concerned it didn't absolve them of the shame. It had become their birthright.

American friends, what we allowed to happen yesterday, even though we were adequately warned, says we went along with it. If we wanted to stop it now, I believe we could, and we still can.

PS: Good German is an ironic term. Wikipedia's explainer nails it.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/08/145504.html?title=weAreAllGoodGermansNow

[$] An API for handling arithmetic overflow

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-14)

On March 31, Kees Cook shareda patch set that represents the culmination of more than a year of work toward eliminating the possibility of silent, unintentional integer overflow in the kernel. Linus Torvalds wasnot pleased with the approach, leading to a detailed discussion about the meaning of "safe" integer operations and the design of APIs for handling integer overflows. Eventually, the developers involved reached a consensus for a different API that should make handling overflow errors in the kernel much less of a hassle.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1065889/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-08:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

2 new and 19 updated places.

https://deadline.com/2026/04/jacob-tierney-teases-heated-rivalry-season-2-the-long-game-hudson-williams-instagram-statement-interview-1236784408/

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

5e2cabdc - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

no change: gis package

3488e82d - updated data quality

70f03e22 - updated bibliography

09aed5b4 - updated indexes

c686ca7b - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

c5803a98 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

661e9207 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116369614499287101

Conference organising in 2026 - QuirksBlog

(date: 2026-04-08)

The conference circuit is in a slump these days. That won’t change as long as people don’t buy tickets. And a good conference circuit is typically something that you start to miss only when it’s too late.

adactio.com/links/22518

https://quirksmode.org/quirksblog/archive/20260407-conferences.html

Ignorance and Ignominy

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Our Hormuz humiliation was not an accident

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/ignorance-and-ignominy

Nix privilege escalation security advisory

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-13)

The NixOS project has announced
a critical vulnerability in many versions of the Nix package manager's daemon. The flaw was introduced as part of a fix for a
prior vulnerability in 2024. According to the advisory, all default configurations of NixOS and systems building untrusted derivations are impacted.

A bug in the fix for CVE-2024-27297 allowed for arbitrary overwrites of files writable by the Nix process orchestrating the builds (typically the Nix daemon running as root in multi-user installations) by following symlinks during fixed-output derivation output registration. This affects sandboxed Linux builds - sandboxed macOS builds are unaffected. The location of the temporary output used for the output copy was located inside the build chroot. A symlink, pointing to an arbitrary location in the filesystem, could be created by the derivation builder at that path. During output registration, the Nix process (running in the host mount namespace) would follow that symlink and overwrite the destination with the derivation's output contents.

In multi-user installations, this allows all users able to submit builds to the Nix daemon ( allowed-users - defaulting to all users) to gain root privileges by modifying sensitive files.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066813/

Trump Is A Failed President. It's Time To Start Talking About What Comes Next

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-18)

Hopium paid subscribers gather tonight at 6pm ET; our Vote Yes phonebanks start tomorrow; and I will be speaking in Bethesda, MD in person tomorrow night at 7pm

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/trump-is-a-failed-president-its-time

Pluralistic: Process knowledge (08 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-18)

Today's links Process knowledge: We also serve who stand and wash. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Chicken Little; "Anya's Ghost"; Ad-tech's algorithmic cruelty. Upcoming appearances: Toronto, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Process knowledge (permalink) "Intellectual property" was once an obscure legal backwater. Today, it is the dominant area of political economy, the organizing regime for almost all of our tech regulation, and the most valuable – and most controversial – aspect of global trade policy: https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/01/minilateralism/#own-goal Despite (or perhaps because of) its centrality, "intellectual property" is one of those maddeningly vague terms that applies to many different legal doctrines, as well as a set of nebulous, abstract thought-objects that do not qualify for legal protection. "IP" doesn't just refer to copyright, trademark and patent – though these "core three" systems are so heterogeneous in basis, scope and enforcement that the act of lumping them together into a single category confuses more than it clarifies. Beyond the "core three" of copyright, patent and trademark, "IP" also refers to a patchwork of "neighboring rights" that only exist to varying degrees around the world, like "anticircumvention rights," "database rights" and "personality rights." Then there are doctrines that have come to be thought of as IP, even though they were long considered separate: confidentiality, noncompete and nondisparagement. Finally, there are those "nebulous, abstract thought-objects" that get labeled "IP," even if no one can really define what they are – for example, the "format" deals that TV shows like Love Island or The Traitors make around the world, which really amount to consulting deals to help other TV networks create a local version of a popular show, but which are treated as the sale of some (nonexistent) exclusive right. It's hard to find a commonality amongst all these wildly different concepts, but a couple years ago, I hit on a working definition of "IP" that seems to cover all the bases: I say that "IP" means "any rule, law or policy that allows a company to exert control over its critics, competitors or customers": https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/ Put that way, it's easy to see why "IP" would be such a central organizing principle in a modern, end-stage capitalist world. But even though "IP" is treated as a firm's most important asset, it's actually far less important than another intangible: process knowledge. I first came across the concept of "process knowledge" in Dan Wang's Breakneck, a very good book about the rise and rise of Chinese manufacturing, industrialization and global dominance: https://danwang.co/breakneck/ I picked up Breakneck after reading other writers whom I admire who singled out the book's treatment of process knowledge for praise and further discussion. The political scientist Henry Farrell called process knowledge the key to economic development: https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/process-knowledge-is-crucial-to-economic While Dan Davies – a superb writer about organizations and their management – used England's Brompton Bicycles to make the abstract concept of process knowledge very concrete indeed: https://backofmind.substack.com/p/the-brompton-ness-of-it-all So what is process knowledge? It's all the knowledge that workers collectively carry around in their heads – hard-won lessons that span firms and divisions, that can never be adequately captured through documentation. Think of a worker at a chip fab who finds themself with a load of microprocessors that have failed QA because they become unreliable when they're run above a certain clockspeed. If that worker knows enough about the downstream customers' processes, they can contact one of those customers and offer the chips for use in a lower-end product, which can save the fab millions and make millions more for the customer. This just happened to Apple, who seized upon a lot of "binned" microprocessors that were headed to the landfill and designed the Macbook Neo (a new, cheap, low-end laptop) around them, salvaging the defective chips by running them at lower speeds. The result? Apple's most successful laptop in years, which has now sold so well that Apple has exhausted the supply of defective chips and is scrambling to fill orders: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/07/macbook-neo-massive-dilemma/ Process knowledge is squishy, contingent, and wildly important in a world filled with entropy-stricken, off-spec, and stubbornly physical things. Work with a particular machine long enough and you will develop a Fingerspitzengefühl (fingertip feeling) for the optimal rate to introduce a new load of feedstock to it after it runs dry. Even more importantly: if you work with that machine long enough, you'll have the mobile phone number of the retired person who knows how to un-jam it if you try to reload it too fast on your usual technician's day off. This kind of knowledge can mean the difference between profitability and bankruptcy. So why isn't process knowledge given the centrality in our conceptions of what makes a corporation valuable? After reading Wang, Farrell and Davies, I formulated a theory: we ignore process knowledge for the same reason we exalt "IP," because process knowledge can't be bought or sold, can't be reflected on a balance-sheet, and can't be controlled, and because "IP" can. Process knowledge is far more important than "IP" (just try creating a vaccine from a set of instructions without the skilled technicians who have already spent years executing similar projects), but process knowledge is spread out amongst workers and can't be abstracted away by their bosses. Your boss can make you sign a contract assigning all your copyrights and patents to the business, but if you and your team quit your job, all that "IP" will plummet in value without the people who know how to mobilize it: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/08/process-knowledge/#dance-monkey-dance "IP" isn't just a case of "you treasure what you measure" – it's also a case of "you measure what you treasure." Recently, I hit on a positively delightful Tumblr post that illustrated the importance of process knowledge, and the way that bosses systematically undervalue it: https://www.tumblr.com/explorerrowan/813098951730479104 This post is one of those glorious internet documents, a novel literary form for which we have no accepted term. It's composed of four major sections: a screenshotted impromptu Twitter thread made in reply to a throwaway post; a lengthy Tumblr reply to the screenshots; a second Tumblr reply to the first one; and then a chorus of more than 38,000 notes, replies, and hashtags added to it. I have no idea what to call this kind of document, in which some people are reacting to others without the others ever knowing about it, but also which is also written by so many authors, many of whom are explicitly interacting with one another. It's a "hypertext," sure, but what kind of hypertext? Whatever you call it, it's amazing. As noted, it opens with a Twitter exchange. The first tweet comes from an online dating influencer, "TheEcho13": I interviewed a gen z girlie 6 months ago and in the interview she told me that she does not like a challenge, has no interest in career progression, prefers to just do repetitive tasks and will never complain about being bored. I hired her. https://xcancel.com/TheEcho13/status/1948951885693813135#m In response, Viveros (a content creator from Alberta and one of the 4m people who saw the original tweet), replied with a short thread about the value of people like this, who "keep the lights on and the business functioning at everything from restaurants to post offices but now nobody’s interested in hiring them": https://xcancel.com/TheViveros/status/1949149720406110382#m These are the "lifer[s] who can teach new people how everything works, who knows what’s up in the system, who knows what the obscure solutions are, and who can help calm down the asshole regulars because they know them more personally." In other words, the keepers of the process knowledge. When this screenshotted exchange was posted to Tumblr, it prompted Blinkpatch, who describes themself as a "genderfluid," "ancient" "drifter" who pines for "solar-punk flavored revolution" to reply with a brilliant anecdote about their stint working as a dishwasher: https://weaselle.tumblr.com/post/790895560390492160/whenever-i-think-about-the-value-of-something At 16, Blinkpatch was hired as a restaurant dishwasher under the tutelage of Claudio, a 60-year old "career dish pit man." Claudio had washed dishes for his whole life, reveling in the fact that he could get work in any city, at any time. When Claudio realized that Blinkpatch was taking the job seriously, the training began in earnest. Claudio asked Blinkpatch if they wanted to be able to clock off at midnight at the end of each shift, and when Blinkpatch said they did, Claudio laid a lot of process knowledge on them: This machine takes two full minutes to run a cycle. We are on the clock for 8 hours. That means we have a maximum of 240 times we can run this machine. If you want to wash all those dishes, clean your station, mop, and clock off by midnight? This machine has to be on and running every second of the shift. If you don’t have a full load of dishes collected, scraped, rinsed, stacked, and ready to go into the dishwasher the second it’s done every single time? You can’t do it. If, over the course of 8 hours, you let this machine lay idle for just one minute in between finishing each load and being turned on again? Instead of 240 loads, you’ll do 160 loads. These are the parameters, the kind of thing any Taylorist with a stopwatch could tell you. But Claudio went on to explain how that extra idle minute would translate to chaos in the kitchen, as the cooks ran out of pots and the servers ran out of plates, and how they would take out their frustrations on the dishwasher. To optimize that dishwasher, Blinkpatch would need to have a reserve of bulky, machine-filling items that could be run through the machine any time a load finished before there was a sufficient supply of smaller items. If they failed at this, Blinkpatch would be washing dishes until 2AM, rather than clocking out at midnight. Blinkpatch's takeaway was that dishwashing was the bottleneck the whole restaurant ran through – and how that meant that Claudio, who was "unambitious" by conventional standards, had the best understanding of the restaurant's overall operations of anyone on site. He was the keeper of the process knowledge This reply prompted another response, from "Marisol," a "haunted house actress and accidental IT person" who told the story of her time working at a medical office that specialized in mental health and addiction recovery: https://www.tumblr.com/marisolinspades/790960414106304512/all-of-this-disaster-befalls-any-company-that The company was in the midst of standing up its own purpose-built facility, and the CEO was working intensively with the architect to design this new building. When Marisol – the receptionist – happened to be consulted on the near-final design plan, "it took all of three seconds for two major issues to jump out." First: "The receptionist can’t see the waiting room from her desk with this layout. It’s around the corner and blocked by a wall." This meant that she couldn't "keep track of the patients who are waiting." The architect and CEO wanted to know why she couldn't use the sign-in sheet to manage this. She explained that not everyone signs in – people who are there for a check-in or group therapy need to be directed to the other side of the building, while "some people are painfully shy and if I don’t appear warm and inviting they won’t approach." The CEO and architect asked whether this happened often, and she replied "every day." They didn't believe her. Nor did they believe her when she said that the receptionists needed to have continuous access to the chart room throughout the day – they insisted that since charts for the day's patients were pulled in the morning, it would be OK to house them through two sets of locked doors, a five-minute walk away (that way, workers wouldn't be tempted to "goof off" in the room). They wanted to keep the chart room locked, with the key entrusted to the CEO, who would supervise every entry. Marisol explained that charts were pulled continuously, any time there was a crisis or a patient had a question for a nurse, or when a patient came in due to a cancellation. All told, reception went into the chart room 20-30 times/day. The "goofing off" they thought workers got up to in the chart room was "when we got news that a patient had died and we were crying. And even then, we filed charts as we sobbed because no one in this office has free time." The CEO and architect were still disbelieving, so Marisol had them sit with her for an hour. They didn't last an hour – they left, taking the blueprints with them. The punchline: Marisol bemoans the fact that she wasn't given more time with those blueprints, because then she might have spotted that they'd forgotten to include any closets, including closets for the janitors. As a result, all their cleaning supplies and holiday decorations were stolen from the cabinets in the bathrooms that they were forced to stash them in. Marisol blames this on a "CEO who had never worked a lower level job in his life wasn’t convinced closets were worth it." This is doubtless true – but we can generalize this, to "a CEO who didn't appreciate process knowledge." I've come to believe that process knowledge is the most undervalued part of our society. So undervalued that business geniuses like Elon Musk think you can fire skilled lifers from key government agencies and simply hire new ones if turns out you cut too deep. So undervalued that Trump thinks that you can simply stand up new factories in response to tariffs, and that "training" will somehow allow people to go to work making things that haven't been produced onshore in a generation. And of course, the people who value process knowledge the least are the AI bros who think you can replace skilled workers with a chatbot trained on the things they say and write down, as though that somehow captured everything they know. Hey look at this (permalink) Greens Could Be ‘Kingmakers’ in Wales as Leader Reveals Power-Sharing Demands https://bylinetimes.com/2026/04/07/greens-wales-elections-senedd-coalition-leader-power-sharing-demands/ Voter Suppression, Executive Order Style https://prospect.org/2026/04/07/trump-voter-suppression-executive-order-14339-citizenship-post-office/ “Economic Civil War”: States Push Laws to Shield Oil and Gas Companies From Accountability https://www.propublica.org/article/climate-change-alec-leonard-leo-lawsuits-fossil-fuel-oil-gas-immunity A Retrospective on Bidenomics https://prospect.org/2026/04/07/apr-2026-magazine-retrospective-on-bidenomics/ Music giant Universal gets $64bn takeover offer https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0ex432dmyo Object permanence (permalink) #15yrsago Chicken Little: what do you sell to an immortal, vat-bound quadrillionaire? https://web.archive.org/web/20110408210327/http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/04/chicken-little #15yrsago Anya’s Ghost: sweet and scary ghost story about identity https://memex.craphound.com/2011/04/06/anyas-ghost-sweet-and-scary-ghost-story-about-identity/ #10yrsago The UK government’s voice-over-IP standard is designed to be backdoored https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1476827/ #5yrsago Ad-tech's algorithmic cruelty https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/06/digital-phrenology/#weaponized-nostalgia #5yrsago The real cancel culture https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/06/digital-phrenology/#digital-phrenology Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: Humber Polytechnic President's Lecture Series, Apr 8 https://liberalarts.humber.ca/current-students/resources/conferences-and-lectures/presidents-lecture-series.html Montreal: Bronfman Lecture (McGill), Apr 10 https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artificial-intelligence-the-ultimate-disrupter-tickets-1982706623885 Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, Apr 10 https://mtl.drawnandquarterly.com/events/4863920260410 Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. First draft complete. Second draft underway. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/08/process-knowledge-vs-bosses/

One great poem to read today: Elizander Espenschied’s “If Only We Had Medicine Like That Today”

(date: 2026-04-08)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-elizander-espenschieds-if-only-we-had-medicine-like-that-today/

Off Broadway’s ‘The Unknown’ Starring Sean Hayes Recoups $1.1M Capitalization

(date: 2026-04-08)

Off Broadway’s The Unknown starring Sean Hayes has recouped its $1.125 million capitalization during its 10-week run at Studio Seaview, producers announced today. The play, written by David Cale and directed by Leigh Silverman, began performances at Studio Seaview near Times Square on Saturday, January 31, officially opening on Thursday, February 12. The limited engagement […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-unknown-sean-hayes-recoups-1236784009/

Uma Thurman To Reprise ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Role In Season 2

(date: 2026-04-08)

Uma Thurman’s Dexter: Resurrection character, Charley, in Showtime’s Dexter: Resurrection, may have gotten out of dodge, taking her mother to safety, but she’ll be back. The series will count on Thurman’s participation in Season 2. As a refresher, Charley is the former Special Ops officer who served as Leon Prater’s (Peter Dinklage) right-hand woman. Last season, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/uma-thurman-cast-dexter-resurrection-season-2-1236784072/

Security updates for Wednesday

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-13)

Security updates have been issued by Debian (openssl), Fedora (corosync, goose, kea, pspp, and rauc), Mageia (python-pygments, roundcubemail, and tigervnc), SUSE (bind, gimp, google-cloud-sap-agent, govulncheck-vulndb, ignition, ImageMagick, python, python-PyJWT, and python-pyOpenSSL), and Ubuntu (adsys, juju-core, lxd, python-django, and salt).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066809/

‘Sight Unseen’ Director-Producer Brent Crowell Developing ‘Evangeline’, Inspired By Canada’s First Ever Film

(date: 2026-04-08)

EXCLUSIVE: Canada’s first ever film, Evangeline (1914), is the inspiration for a new feature of the same name heralding from production company Ocean Playground Productions. Based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, the story of silent film Evangeline centers on the 1755 expulsion of the Acadians, and follows a young woman separated from her fiancé during […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/evangeline-canada-first-ever-film-inspires-new-movie-1236784456/

Fendsday

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-16)

How to prevent the all-knowing and all-doing from doing wrong. Very wrong. Just one approach. Wired: Anthropic Teams Up With Its Rivals to Keep AI From Hacking Everything And, of course, Gary Marcus is less worried. When you whack a hornet's nest with a baseball bat while standing naked, what are the hornets going to do? […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/08/fendsday/

PBS’ Frontline Makes New Hires Including Disney’s Marjon Javadi

(date: 2026-04-08)

Frontline, the PBS investigative documentary series produced at Boston’s GBH, is staffing up. The series is expanding its newsroom with three new hires across documentary, digital video and audio. Marjon Javadi joins as managing director of GBH’s longform non-fiction Documentary Unit. She previously spent six years at Disney, where she was VP, Original Documentary Film […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/pbs-frontline-new-hires-marjon-javadi-1236783715/

BAFTA N-Word Broadcast Breached Editorial Standards But Was “Unintentional,” BBC Rules

(date: 2026-04-08)

The BBC has ruled that the BAFTA N-word broadcast breached its editorial standards but in a way that was “unintentional.” The broadcaster’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) had been examining the SNAFU over the past few weeks. At last month’s BAFTA Film Awards, the N-word was yelled unintentionally by Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson at Sinners stars […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/bbc-bafta-n-word-broadcast-breached-editorial-standards-1236784469/

Jacob Tierney Teases ‘The Long Game’ Might Be Split Between Seasons; Addresses Racial Backlash Against Hudson Williams

(date: 2026-04-08)

The Heated Rivalry hype train shows no signs of cooling down anytime soon. While some details are still under wraps, show creator Jacob Tierney hinted that the highly anticipated Season 2, which is expected to premiere in April 2027, may not cover the entire plot of The Long Game, the sixth and longest installment in […]

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-17)

Not only did the Democrats hide to avoid taking a stand, now they are trying to bait Trump back into the war.

What a pathetic and sad opposition we have.

But I await their SMS fundraising any minute now to “stand up for what’s right”

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116368899115105093

The Student Loan Conjuncture

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

While student loan repayment has resumed, stability is an illusion. Beneath the surface, mounting delinquency, administrative chaos, and the potential dismantling of federal loan management point to a deeper crisis in the governance of higher education finance.

https://lpeproject.org/blog/the-student-loan-conjuncture/

‘Celebrity Great British Bake Off’ Ep Featuring Scott Mills Scrapped By Channel 4

(date: 2026-04-08)

An episode of Channel 4’s Celebrity Great British Bake Off featuring ex-BBC radio presenter Scott Mills has been axed. A spokeswoman for Channel 4 told Deadline: “Having carefully considered the circumstances, we’ve taken the decision not to air the final episode of the 2026 series of The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/scott-mills-bake-off-episode-scrapped-channel-4-bbc-firing-1236784443/

Dental Surgery Today

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Posting will be delayed

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/dental-surgery-today

Lit Hub Daily: April 8, 2026

(date: 2026-04-08)

Michael Edison Hayden traces the origins of white supremacy group VDARE and explores how extremism can invade small town American. | Lit Hub Politics “Marriage is, to my mind, the ability to contain two conflicting narratives and hold them in

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-8-2026/

Python Supply-Chain Compromise

(date: 2026-04-08)

This is news:

A malicious supply chain compromise has been identified in the Python Package Index package litellm version 1.82.8. The published wheel contains a malicious .pth file (litellm_init.pth, 34,628 bytes) which is automatically executed by the Python interpreter on every startup, without requiring any explicit import of the litellm module.

There are a lot of really boring things we need to do to help secure all of these critical libraries: SBOMs, SLSA, SigStore. But we have to do them.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/python-supply-chain-compromise.html

TACO Tuesday's lasting hangover

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

It'll take more than Pepto to calm this shitstorm.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-iran-taco-tuesday

The Cross-Section of Non-Citizens and the Job Slowdown

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Sub-industries with the most non-citizen workers are behind the jobs collapse, the recent rebound, and the wage deceleration.

https://newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/the-cross-section-of-non-citizens

Dragoncatcher: The Galactica option

(date: 2026-04-08)

Airgap century. Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/galactica-option/

Sheffield DocFest: Maxine Peake Is The 2026 Guest Of Honour, Chris Packham Among Speakers Set For David Attenborough Tribute

(date: 2026-04-08)

The Sheffield DocFest has announced the first part of its 2026 lineup. The festival runs from June 10 to 15. Maxine Peake will serve as the festival’s 2026 Guest of Honour, and she will travel to the festival for an in conversation session with filmmaker Paul Sng (Tish) about how working-class voices are represented in […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sheffield-docfest-maxine-peake-david-attenborough-2026-1236784411/

On the Global Conspiracy to Make Childcare More Expensive

(date: 2026-04-08)

For months, Wesley Wade and his wife, Giovonni Wade, ended their days the same way, asking themselves, “How is this so hard?” The task consuming their evenings—after Wade’s days working as a mental-health counselor and Giovonni’s as an attorney—was finding

https://lithub.com/on-the-global-conspiracy-to-make-childcare-more-expensive/

The Power of Narrative: How Stories Help Us Process Our Most Difficult Realities

(date: 2026-04-08)

In the summer of 2023, I chanced on a headline that made my ears ring: only nine comfort women survivors remained in Korea. “Comfort women” refers to the hundreds of thousands of girls and women across Asia forced into sexual

https://lithub.com/the-power-of-narrative-how-stories-help-us-process-our-most-difficult-realities/

The Extremist History Behind a Small American Town

(date: 2026-04-08)

When Trey Johanson drove down the roller-coaster hill that led into town on February 26, 2020, she saw the Berkeley Springs Castle and wondered if the new owners had already arrived. Tourists and passersby found something haunting about the nineteenth-century

https://lithub.com/the-extremist-history-behind-a-small-american-town/

How The Great Gatsby Inspired My Debut Literary Thriller

(date: 2026-04-08)

I. In the fall of 1985, I discovered a tiny bookstore in Poughkeepsie, NY. It was a hot, humid evening. I’d escaped from Freshman Orientation and was wandering aimlessly through the streets of this tiny town, looking for some sort

https://lithub.com/how-the-great-gatsby-inspired-my-debut-literary-thriller/

Sonya Walger on Writing a Multifaceted Novel of Marriage and Adultery

(date: 2026-04-08)

I am terrible with facts. I make up dates. I search for names and forget details. I conflate events because I don’t retain them and because at some level, I think that this is the way things ought to have

https://lithub.com/sonya-walger-on-writing-a-multifaceted-novel-of-marriage-and-adultery/

A Poem by Mark Nowak

(date: 2026-04-08)

SOMEWHERE THERE IS SUNSHINE AND SOMEWHERE ELSE THERE ARE THUNDERSTORMS AND FLOODS SOMEWHERE THERE IS SILENCE AND SOMEWHERE THERE IS TOO MUCH SOUND IN A COUNTRY LIKE THIS COUNTRY IN A STATE LIKE THE STATE WE’RE IN SOMEWHERE THERE ARE

https://lithub.com/a-poem-by-mark-nowak/

BBC Studios Launches First-Ever Airline Streaming Service

(date: 2026-04-08)

BBC Studios has created what it is calling the first fully rights-cleared streaming platform developed for airlines. BBC Player has been developed with Panasonic Avionics and will provide in-flight entertainment with BBC Studios shows. BBC Player will have different sections including BBC Earth, BBC News, BritBox, BBC Kids and CBeebies. BBC Studios is terming the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/bbc-studios-launches-bbc-player-airline-streaming-first-1236784400/

Annie Knows Everything

(date: 2026-04-08)

Statistically, the most common days of the week to be fired are Monday or Friday. Which partly explains why, when I get to work – today, a Wednesday – and my keycard has been deactivated, I am very fucking surprised.

https://lithub.com/annie-knows-everything/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-13)

Mercy Review: Guilty of Being Stupid.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/film-review/mercy-film-review-chris-pratt-thriller-is-guilty-of-being-stupid/

Trump's Defeat in Iran

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-18)

It's consistent with how other countries, organizations, and people have defeated him

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-to-defeat-trump-every-time

Catherine Lacey (with Lorrie Moore and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah)

(date: 2026-04-08)

Welcome to the new season of The Writers Institute, the podcast from the New York State Writers Institute and Lit Hub. This is the first episode of five, and new episodes will come out on Wednesdays. In this season’s conversations

https://lithub.com/catherine-lacey-with-lorrie-moore-and-nana-kwame-adjei-brenyah/

The Secret Life Of Data

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

In The Secret Life of Data, authors Aram Sinnreich and Jesse Gilbert explore how the information we generate every day—email addresses, phone numbers, browsing habits, even biometric data—circulates through vast digital systems that shape our lives in ways we rarely see. Their book examines the hidden infrastructures of data collection, surveillance, and algorithmic decision-making, revealing how these systems influence culture, power, and identity in a networked world. Internet governance scholar Laura DeNardis speaks with Sinnreich and Gilbert.

Grab your copy of The Secret Life of Data: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262048811/the-secret-life-of-data/

This conversation was recorded on 4/18/2024. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/the-secret-life-of-data

Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge-episode-26

April 7, 2026

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-14)

At 5:06 this morning, President Donald J.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-7-2026

Elisabeth Moss Reprises ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Role On ‘The Testaments’ Series Premiere

(date: 2026-04-08)

SPOILER ALERT: The following reveals major plot points from Hulu’s series premiere of The Testaments. Surprise! If fans of The Handmaid’s Tale were worried they’d never see June Osbourne again, they needn’t have. Elisabeth Moss, who executive produces Hulu’s The Testaments, made her big return as the heroic character she played across 6 seasons of […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/elisabeth-moss-returns-handmaids-tale-role-the-testaments-1236784340/

Sam Levinson Dedicates ‘Euphoria’ Season 3 To “Those We Lost,” Including Angus Cloud, Eric Dane & Producer Kevin Turen

(date: 2026-04-08)

Sam Levinson presented the third season of Euphoria at the TCL Chinese Theatre and dedicated it to “those who we lost,” which included Angus Cloud, Eric Dane, and producer Kevin Turen. The Euphoria creator introduced the Season 3 premiere of the HBO series and thanked the whole cast, mentioning some of the names that had […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sam-levinson-dedicates-euphoria-season-3-angus-cloud-eric-dane-1236784352/

Pork & Puppetry

(date: 2026-04-08)

What inspired the semi-viral fake GIMP trailer that recently fluttered around FOSS circles? The creator and puppeteer behind Pork Johnson explains.

https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/17315642/pork-johnson-gimp-parody-interview

Democrats just posted their biggest swings of the 2026 cycle in WI and GA

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

Democrats did better in elections on Tuesday than they did on average in 2025 and 2026 so far

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/democrats-just-posted-their-biggest

DOLLHOUSE

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-22)

A teeny peek behind a teeny scene of the TV series The Testaments, launching April 8 .... This gets meta.

https://margaretatwood.substack.com/p/dollhouse

CNN Defends Authenticity Of Iranian “Victory” Statement After Donald Trump Posts Irate Claim It Was A “Fraud”

(date: 2026-04-08)

About 90 minutes after announcing a two-week ceasefire in the war in Iran, Donald Trump was irate over CNN’s reporting of a statement issued by the country’s Supreme National Security Council, declaring victory and averting the president’s threat to launch attacks on civilian infrastructure. Trump posted on Truth Social at 8:01 p.m. ET, “The alleged […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cnn-trump-iran-statement-1236784202/

Multimodal, Multilingual Praxis in the First Year Composition Classroom: Reflections on Promoting Social and Linguistic Justice Via Rhetorical Translation

(date: 2026-04-08, updated: 2026-04-10)

Laura Gonzales emphasizes translation as an inherently rhetorical experience – with “constantly shifting and multi-layered cultural–rhetorical processes that encompass multimodal elements such as embodied movements, sounds, and digital composing” (Gonzales and Turner 2020) – that belongs even in monolingual writing classrooms (Gonzales 2018). Her work transformed how I teach First-Year Composition at The University of [...]

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/07/multimodal-multilingual-praxis-in-the-first-year-composition-classroom-reflections-on-promoting-social-and-linguistic-justice-via-rhetorical-translation/

Waterfox 6.6.11 - Security fixes and feature preview

(date: 2026-04-08)

This release includes the latest security fixes and a built-in ad blocker available for testing

https://www.waterfox.com/releases/6.6.11/

The New Writer Guide 26.2 Just Arrived

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-19)

Continuing our mission to provide the best LibreOffice documentation for our end users, the Documentation Team is proud to announce the release of the latest Writer Guide for LibreOffice 26.2. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, this guide covers all aspects of the LibreOffice Writer module—from creating simple one-page

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/08/the-new-writer-guide-26-2-just-arrived/

Trump Gives Himself Two Weeks to Invent New Distraction from Epstein Files

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

“Threatening to annihilate a nation of 90 million people worked for about a day, but now I need to come up with something else,” Trump said.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-gives-himself-two-weeks-to

On Shame

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

By Daniel Addison Barkhuff

https://dbarkhuff.substack.com/p/on-shame

Wednesday 8 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-21)

On reflection… Quote of the Day ”Courage is a banal consequence of a lack of imagination”. André Malraux Vintage example of French cynicism. Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news Paul Desmond and the Dave Brubeck Quartet | Take Five … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/wednesday-8-april-2026/41857/

Dynamic Notarization Checks?

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

Tyler Hall: I submitted a new build of one of my Mac apps to Apple’s Notary service - like every new release. Normally, the notarization goes through in just a few minutes. Today, multiple builds have been pending for 2+ hours. And, weirdly, my API server is getting traffic from those two builds I submitted […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/07/dynamic-notarization-checks/

Tahoe TCP Overflow Bug

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

Photon (Hacker News): After exactly 49 days, 17 hours, 2 minutes, and 47 seconds of continuous uptime, a 32-bit unsigned integer overflow in Apple’s XNU kernel freezes the internal TCP timestamp clock. Once frozen, TIME_WAIT connections never expire, ephemeral ports slowly exhaust, and eventually no new TCP connections can be established at all. ICMP (ping) […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/07/tahoe-tcp-overflow-bug/

Challenges With Ancient Dates in Apple SDKs

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

Aaron Trickey: Foundation’s date-handling code has an effective lower bound around January 1, 4713 BC on the Julian calendar. You can create a Date value representing an instant in time below that limit, but many Calendar methods will return unexpected values when you try to do anything with it. […] And NSDatePicker does okay with […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/07/challenges-with-ancient-dates-in-apple-sdks/

John Martellaro, RIP

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

Bryan Chaffin: He rose to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Air Force, and he was a NASA scientist. He worked for years at Apple, and most importantly to me, he was a columnist and the voice of reason and humanity at The Mac Observer. He wrote SciFi and a variety of tech columns […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/07/john-martellaro-rip/

Politics Chat, April 7, 2026

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-14)

A newsletter about the history behind today's politics.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/politics-chat-april-7-2026

Trump's War Crimes Must Be Stopped

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-17)

Sorry for crowding your inbox today, but, hey, this is an emergency

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-war-crimes-must-be-stopped

★ OpenAI Announces $122 Billion Additional ‘Committed Capital’, and Announces Their ‘Superapp’ Plan for the Future

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-08)

I don’t see the path from here to there, where *there* is a justification for a trillion-dollar-ish valuation.

https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/openai_future

The Apocalypse Is Here

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

"A whole civilization will die tonight," says Trump.

https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/the-apocalypse-is-here

Newsletter: How Can Hate Be “Free Speech”?

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Supreme Court Has Ruled in Favor of Dangerous and Deadly “Conversion Therapy”

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/newsletter-how-can-hate-be-free-speech

Tuesday session

(date: 2026-04-07)

Tuesday session

https://adactio.com/notes/22517

New polling: Trump is underwater in 135 GOP House and Senate seats

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

New local polling estimates show Trump is unpopular even in deep red districts, as calls for war powers reform and impeachment swirl in DC

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-07-trump-approval-gop-house-senate-seats

Meet Shannon Taylor, A Prosecutor And Battle-Tested Candidate Running To Flip VA-01 Blue

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-17)

Join our Vote Yes in Virginia phonebank this Thursday!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/meet-shannon-taylor-a-prosecutor

@IIIF Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-17)

RE: https://glammr.us/@IIIF/116284735048214514

A reminder to join us tomorrow for the April #IIIF Community Call!

https://glammr.us/@IIIF/116365131152367584

Trump threatens a “whole civilization will die tonight.”

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-16)

This brings America into a new immoral universe

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trump-threatens-a-whole-civilization

When the President threatens to commit a genocide

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-21)

This cannot continue.

https://werd.io/when-the-president-threatens-to-commit-a-genocide/

Orbán Was Trump Before Trump

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

Now they’re both fighting for political survival

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/viktor-orban-trump-maga-power

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-13)

Trump’s Sound and Fury.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/trump-iran-truthsocial-civilization-will-die/686715/?gift=f35zZN0v_gDFE8xNwlQAHaZDOEY33N0ts5Nu3Y4qVgw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-13)

[General Kaine] also flagged the enormous difficulty of securing the Strait of Hormuz and the risks of Iran blocking it. Mr. Trump had dismissed that possibility on the assumption that the regime would capitulate before it came to that.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/politics/trump-iran-war.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZFA.y8cn.5aXdCqYK2ibO&smid=url-share

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

Hacker News isn't a software masterpiece. All the pieces have to be there to make something as real as HN happen.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/07.html#a174054

This would make quite a movie

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

The president of the United States is spinning around acting like a NYC real estate jumbo who accidentally was elected president and after only five years in office has realized a whole new level of trolling. It started with cable news, then went to Twitter, then masked American gestapo killing protestors on TV for everyone to see, and then starting a war with Iran of all countries.

I'm sure his generals suggested that at the same time as they were bombing Iran proper, that they should send in a few boatloads of Marines to occupy the Strait of Hormuz. When the Iranians weren't so desperate, it might have been relatively easy to take it over. I'm sure we've spent billions over the years on what to do if we had to attack Iran, not like now when things like this are done on a whim.

Anyway, what a movie. The audacity of the writers. One things for sure we'll all be watching at 8PM Eastern to see if he blows up the world tonight or whatever.

The voice of America channel on Bluesky.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/07/172427.html?title=thisWouldMakeQuiteAMovie

Cybersecurity in the Age of Instant Software

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-14)

AI is rapidly changing how software is written, deployed, and used. Trends point to a future where AIs can write custom software quickly and easily: "instant software." Taken to an extreme, it might become easier for a user to have an AI write an application on demand—a spreadsheet, for example—and delete it when you’re done using it than to buy one commercially. Future systems could include a mix: both traditional long-term software and ephemeral instant software that is constantly being written, deployed, modified, and deleted.

AI is changing cybersecurity as well. In particular, AI systems are getting better at finding and patching vulnerabilities in code. This has implications for both attackers and defenders, depending on the ways this and related technologies improve...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/cybersecurity-in-the-age-of-instant-software.html

TinyStart

(date: 2026-04-07)

Sometimes I look back through my blogging archives and notice what’s changed over time.

For example, I used to write quite enthusiastically about the arrival of a new operating system from Apple. That is no longer the case, to put it mildly. I’m currently holed up on Sequioa, trying to resist all the nudgings to “upgrade” to the tacky design nightmare that is Tahoe. I feel like the protagonist of Pluribus.

I used to write about software I really liked. Sometimes it was software made by Apple. More often it was from some independent developer.

Like, I remember how much I loved a little application called Quicksilver. It just did one thing. You pressed control and space and then started typing the name of any programme installed on your computer. After a few characters Quicksilver would show you the match, you hit enter and the programme launched.

If that process sounds familiar, it’s because Apple ended up incorporating it into their own Spotlight feature. Quicksilver got sherlocked (ask your parents).

Recently though, Spotlight got worse and worse at doing its one job. It’s been laggy and inaccurate, even though I set my Spotlight indexing options to only index the Applications folder.

Then I found TinyStart. It’s like Quicksilver reborn!

A tiny launcher for macOS, fast and focused on the essentials.

Actually, it does double duty. As well as being an application launcher, it’s also an emoji picker. 👍

Best of all, not only is TinyStart a return to the focus and quality of software of yore, it’s also a return to the pricing model. You buy the software—for a measly €5—and that’s it. You own it now. There’s no subscription you have to pay every month.

I love everything about this.

https://adactio.com/journal/22516

The Eradication Of Grief

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post The Eradication Of Grief appeared first on NOEMA.

https://www.noemamag.com/the-eradication-of-grief

Two Seasons, Two Strangers: la observación paciente de las conexiones humanas

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-21)

Dirección: Shô Miyake. Guion: Shô Miyake, Yoshiharu Tsuge Elenco: Shim Eun-kyung, Yumi Kawai, Mansaku Takada, Shirô Sano, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi. País: Japón. Más información de la película: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37538491/ Tabi to Hibi (Two Seasons, Two Strangers en su título en inglés), del director japonés Shô Miyake, ganó el Pardo d’Oro (Golden Leopard) en el Festival de Locarno […]

La entrada Two Seasons, Two Strangers: la observación paciente de las conexiones humanas se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/resenas-two-seasons-two-strangers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resenas-two-seasons-two-strangers

AI Might Be Our Best Shot At Taking Back The Open Web | Techdirt

(date: 2026-04-07)

Not sure I buy the argument here, though I do very much look forward to local language models getting better so we can ditch the predatory peddlars of today’s slop. But this trip down memory lane to the early web of the 1990s could’ve been describing my own experience:

But the thing I do remember was the first time I came across Derek Powazek’s Fray online magazine. It was the first time I had seen a website look beautiful. This was without CSS and without Javascript. I still remember quite clearly an “issue” of Fray that used frames to create some kind of “doors” you could slide open to reveal an article inside.

Fray was what made me want to make websites:

I distinctly remember sites like prehensile tales, 0sil8 and the inimitable Fray triggering something in my brain that made me realise what it was I wanted to do with my life.

adactio.com/links/22515

https://www.techdirt.com/2026/03/25/ai-might-be-our-best-shot-at-taking-back-the-open-web/

Inverted themes with light-dark()

(date: 2026-04-07)

We rolled out adaptive light-dark() support on our design system themes and it’s been a delightful upgrade. Creating light and dark variable sets isn’t difficult, but delivery has trade-offs. Most apps that do this probably ship both sets of token values in a single stylesheet. That’s fine until you have multiple kilobytes of duplicate definitions. To get around the performance problems we built two separate stylesheets –which is also not great– but my coworker Zacky found a good trick with <link disabled> to make it tolerable. Ultimately, we wanted to offer a single stylesheet for our human (and agent) friends to control theming.

Having light-dark() makes it trivial to support dual color modes in a single stylesheet and doesn’t add too much weight (0.5kb gzip for ~500 variables). It also gives you the ability to switch themes mid-page.

:root {
	color-scheme: light dark;
	--bg-color: light-dark(white, black);
	--text-color: light-dark(black: white);
	/* ...etc */
}

/* Add hard-coded theme overrides */
[data-theme="light"] { color-scheme: light; }
[data-theme="dark"] { color-scheme: dark; }

Adding [data-theme="dark"] to the body, or any element with color tokens defined, will force that section to be dark mode. The difference here between hanging variable definitions off a class is that you can respect the user preference without using JS to toggle, light-dark() does all the work.

Adding dark tier on a light theme is dramatic. Adding light tier on a dark theme sure would stand out. But when yielding light and dark modes over to the browser… something changes. In that situation hardcoding a theme mode into HTML loses a bit of meaning because I’m not controlling the theme anymore, the user is. What I actually want is the theme to be “opposite” the current theme. After a handful of attempts I think I came across a solution that’s easy to understand, maintain, and I even wrote a polyfill for you.

Automatic inversion with [data-theme=“inverted]

See the Pen [data-theme="inverted"] by Dave Rupert ( @davatron5000) on CodePen.

The goal was to make it so that when the browser switched from light/dark modes, themed elements would switch to their inverse theme. The trick I uncovered was setting the current theme as a CSS variable:

:root {
	color-scheme: light dark;

	/* Initialize the theme variables */
	--theme: light;
	@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
		--theme: dark;
	}
}

/* Have data-theme use the variable */
[data-theme] { color-scheme: var(--theme); }

/* Update hard-coded themes to use the variable */
[data-theme="light"] { --theme: light; }
[data-theme="dark"] { --theme: dark; }

The reason we use manage --theme variable instead of purely color-scheme is because we can pass that into a style() query. An that’s the magic that enables inverted themes:

/* Add style query magic ✨ */
@container style(--theme: light) {
	[data-theme="inverted"] {
		--theme: dark;
	}
}

@container style(--theme: dark) {
	[data-theme="inverted"] {
		--theme: light;
	}
}

Again, the nice thing here is that we’re not creating two different trees of variables or re-redefining variables inside [data-theme="inverted"], we’re relying on light-dark() and color-scheme to do the heavy lifting. We’re contextually updating the color-scheme and letting the browser negotiate the cascade.

I added a .funky card theme to the demo to give an idea of how far you might be able to push this tech. Roman Kamorov noted in his post on Querying the Color Scheme something Vadim Makeev said on a Russian podcast that while this inversion trick is neat, people who prefer dark-mode (e.g. for medical reasons) probably want dark mode and not to be flash-banged mid-page. That’s something to think about and I think I have some ideas about that but I’d love to see/hear yours.

Polyfilling browser support

At the time of writing this trick only works in Safari 18+ and Edge/Chrome 111+. Firefox is the outlier but the good news is container style queries is on the roadmap for Interop 2026 and behind a flag in nightly. That gives you two options:

Roll out a bespoke polyfill for [data-theme="inverted]
Do nothing. Wait it out.

Given that I know the experience will auto-upgrade for Firefox users at some point this year, I’m prone to wait it out per the rules of progressive enhancement. If it falls back to the current theme, I don’t think the world falls over.

However, you probably support browsers outside the latest version and what’s acceptable for a fallback depends on your company’s understanding of the eventual consistency of browsers. iOS devices version-locked at Safari 17.4 are of particular concern for me, so I wrote an inverted theme polyfill.

The CSS style-query-support detection is pretty simple, but quirky.

/* Style query support check */
body {
  --syle-query-support: 0;
}

@container style(--theme) {
  body { --syle-query-support: 1 }
}

There’s a new @supports at-rule() function that would be more idiomatic, but you can’t detect at-rule function support with at-rule() so we have to do this variable hack. Ideally we could do this purely in JS with CSS.supports(), but alas. Booleans in CSS, what could go wrong?

That brings us to the JavaScript part which is pretty simple as well but comes with one big potential tradeoff…

/**
 * Polyfill for inverted themes using a `--theme` variable in a style query
 * ⚠️ The use of `getComputedStyle` can trigger layout and style recalcs
 */
(()=>{
  const isContainerStyleQueriesSupported = () => {
    const bodyElStyle = getComputedStyle(document.body);
    const hasStyleQueries = bodyElStyle.getPropertyValue("--syle-query-support");

    if(hasStyleQueries === "1") {
      return true;
    }
    return false;
  }

  if(!isContainerStyleQueriesSupported()) {
    const invertedThemes = document.querySelectorAll('[data-theme="inverted"]');

    invertedThemes.forEach((el) => {
      const elTheme = getComputedStyle(el).getPropertyValue("--theme");
      const invertedTheme = elTheme == "light" ? "dark" : "light";
      el.dataset.theme = invertedTheme;
    })
  }
})();

Because we need to get the computed value of --style-query-support, getComputedStyle is known to trigger style recalcs and layout reflows, effectively penalizing all users not just browsers that don’t support container style queries. I tested this out by putting the polyfill inside a setTimeout, turning on paint flashing, and checking the Performance Monitor panel and I didn’t see any recalcs or layout reflows, but your mileage may vary depending on your setup.

Anyways, happy inverting! Let me know if you do something cool with it or if you already figured this out 10 months ago and I didn’t see your blog post.

https://daverupert.com/2026/04/inverted-light-dark/

Think Tanks And Miyazaki

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/think-thanks-and-miyazaki/

Impeach him. Remove him. Restrain him.

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

A president who threatens to destroy a civilization is unfit beyond argument.

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/impeach-him-remove-him-restrain-him

@Robert's feed at BlueSky

(date: 2026-04-07)

Something to continue to be aware of. https://lataco.com/daily-memo-the-15th-death-in-ice-detention-and-ice-is-slowly-escalating

https://bsky.app/profile/rsdoiel.bsky.social/post/3mivyb7i6622k

Our Darkest Hour

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-21)

The civilization we destroy may be our own

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/our-darkest-hour

Twos Day

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-15)

One small test I wanted to know when the transmitter site for Denver radio station KHOW/630 (above), which I shot from an airplane in 2018, was built. So I asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity. Three had the answer, sourcing this report by Scott Fybush from January 2018. (Answer:1979.) The AI that found nothing was […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/07/twos-day/

[$] Sharing stories on Scuttlebutt

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-13)

Not many people live on sailboats. Things may be better these days, but back in 2014 sailboat dwellers had to contend with lag-prone, intermittent, low-bandwidth internet connections. Dominic Tarrdecided to fix the problem of keeping up with his friends by developing a delay-tolerant, fully distributed social-media protocol calledScuttlebutt. Nearly twelve years later, the protocol has gained a number of users who have their own, non-sailboat-related reasons to prefer a censorship-resistant, offline-first social-media system.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1065471/

Dragoncatcher: Sweat the details

(date: 2026-04-07)

The audacity of a cruddy PDF. Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/sweat-the-details/

Trump's Failed War Keeps Failing, Vance Debases Himself In Hungary, The General Election Has Begun

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-16)

On Thursday we have a Vote Yes phonebank for Virginia, and a live, in-person event in Bethesda, Maryland......

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/trumps-failed-war-keeps-failing-vance

One great poem to read today: Li-Young Lee’s “From Blossoms”

(date: 2026-04-07)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-li-young-lees-from-blossoms/

Wireless Festival Canceled After Kanye West Blocked From Entering UK

(date: 2026-04-07)

UPDATED 06.27 a.m. PT: The UK’s Wireless Festival has been canceled over the Kanye West saga. “‘As a result of the Home Office banning Ye from entering the United Kingdom, Wireless Festival has been forced to cancel,” a statement from the fest read. “All ticket holders will receive an automatic full refund.” West, who now […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/kanye-west-wireless-headline-controversy-antisemitic-remarks-1236783288/

‘The Invite’ Trailer: First Look At Olivia Wilde’s Buzzy Sundance Title Starring Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton & Seth Rogen

(date: 2026-04-07)

The first trailer has dropped for Olivia Wilde’s latest directorial effort, The Invite. Wilde directed the feature from a screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones. She also stars in the film alongside Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz. The film is a remake of the Spanish movie The People Upstairs. The story follows […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-invite-trailer-olivia-wilde-penelope-cruz-seth-rogen-1236783363/

Security updates for Tuesday

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-13)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (crun, kernel, and kernel-rt), Debian (dovecot), Fedora (calibre and nextcloud), Mageia (freerdp, polkit-122, python-nltk, python-pyasn1, vim, and xz), Red Hat (edk2 and openssl), SUSE (avahi, cockpit, python-pyOpenSSL, python311, and tar), and Ubuntu (lambdaisland-uri-clojure, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-4.15, linux-gcp-fips, linux-oem-6.17, and linux-realtime-6.17).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066665/

Juho Kuosmanen, Magnus Von Horn & Carine Tardieu Projects Set For Cannes Investors Circle

(date: 2026-04-07)

The Marché du Film has unveiled the eight directors who will present projects at the fourth edition of its Cannes Investors Circle aimed at connecting elevated international arthouse productions with potential financiers. The curated lineup features productions in development by directors with Cannes and Venice pedigree spanning a broad range of cinematic approaches, with budgets […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cannes-investors-circle-2026-selection-1236783345/

Donald Trump Warns “A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight” If Iran Doesn’t Agree To Deal By Deadline

(date: 2026-04-07)

Donald Trump once again issued a bellicose warning to Iran, threatening that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if its regime doesn’t agree to a deal to halt or end the war. Trump posted on Truth Social, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/trump-iran-threat-infrastructure-1236783334/

‘One Piece’: Season 3 Gets Title, Release Year & Plot Details; Lego Animated Special Set; New Anime Series First Look Released By Netflix

(date: 2026-04-07)

In the finale of Season 2, One Piece: Into the Grand Line, Luffy and his Straw Hat crew set sail for Alabasta to help their new friend, Princess Vivi, and her people confront the villainous Baroque Works. Season 3 of Netflix’s popular action-adventure series, which had been expected to cover the Alabasta saga from the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/one-piece-season-3-title-release-window-details-lego-special-1236783252/

Celine Dion Adds Six Dates To Paris Concert Season

(date: 2026-04-07)

Celine Dion announced additional six dates for her comeback concert season in Paris in September and October as pre-sales began on Tuesday due to strong demand. The new concerts will take place on September 18 and 25 as well as October 2, 9, 16 and 17, in addition to the 10 previously announced shows at […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/celine-dion-six-dates-paris-concert-season-1236783336/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-07:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

2 new and 51 updated places.

#Israel #Palestine #Lebanon

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

86dca4af - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

7ceeb7f0 - updated gis package

605f0e07 - updated data quality

b7d774d3 - updated bibliography

564cf9b7 - updated indexes

e65ddaae - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

1b64dee4 - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

8a3428d6 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116363412065609474

2026-03-30 Israel

(date: 2026-04-07)

2026-03-30 Israel

A law has been passed allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners.

How do they hope to ever dig themselves out of it? Israel and their best friends forever, USA and Europe, watching the genocide unfold.

This cannot go on forever but the longer it goes on, the more terrible it becomes.

Is there going to be a fair trial? A fair court? A fair representation?

Apparently it applies to Israelis, too. Does it apply to Israelis that kill Palestinians?

The death penalty is already abhorrent enough. Hang your heads in shame, citizens of countries that still have it in your books. Hang your heads twice as low if it is still carried out.

To fail to prosecute all the civilian deaths at the same time? Hang your heads in shame as far down as you can get it.

Airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire continued across the Gaza Strip, resulting in civilian casualties. According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), as reported by OHCHR, 673 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since the announcement of the ceasefire in October 2025. – UNRWA Situation Report #214 on the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip and the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

@CrimethInc posted on social media:

While many people compare the Israeli occupation to apartheid, the Israeli occupation is much, much bloodier.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission confirmed about 21,000 deaths altogether in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. The death toll since 2023 in Palestine alone—a much smaller population—is several times that.

While apartheid policies in South Africa imposed segregation, ethnic cleansing, and racially targeted violence, the Israeli government is intentionally pursuing genocide as state policy.

And all the bloodshed up to now is not enough—today, the Israeli voted to begin hanging prisoners.

Not to mention the ongoing bombardment and occupation of Lebanon.

They link to an interview with Elia Ayoub about Israel and Lebanon.

If this was simply about Hezbollah, Israel wouldn’t be ethnically cleansing entire villages by dynamiting them. Israel wouldn’t be spraying herbicides over large swaths of Lebanon and Syria to kill crops and wildlife in order to make the land unusable for agriculture. Israeli politicians wouldn’t be routinely threatening to bomb Lebanon back to the dark ages, or threatening to turn Dahieh into Gaza, or designating all Lebanese Shias—roughly a third of the population—as a hostile population. – Elia Ayoub, History Is Repeating Itself: A Lebanese Perspective on the War on Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran, with CrimethInc.

Where will it end?

This is hell and they are doing the devil’s work.

Remember the law they recently passed?

After the final 62-48 vote in favor, lawmakers erupted into cheers and stood up in jubilation. – Israel’s parliament approves the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, by Julia Frankel, for AP

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2026-03-30-israel

Joe Eszterhas Says Negotiations Are Underway With Emerald Fennell For ‘Basic Instinct’ Reboot

(date: 2026-04-07)

Wuthering Heights filmmaker Emerald Fennell has been tapped and is currently in negotiations to direct a Basic Instinct reboot, according to screenwriter Joe Eszterhas. “The producers are negotiating with a really interesting director – a Brit, Emerald Fennell – who did Promising Young Woman and Wuthering Heights,” Eszterhas told The Guardian in an interview. “Her […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/emerald-fennell-basic-instinct-joe-eszterhas-negotiations-1236783323/

Mighty projects for your 1GB Raspberry Pi 5

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-20)

Select the right amount of RAM for your applications with this round-up of project ideas for the 1GB Raspberry Pi 5.

The post Mighty projects for your 1GB Raspberry Pi 5 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/mighty-projects-for-your-1gb-raspberry-pi-5/

My Conversation With Stuart Stevens Of Lincoln Square

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-16)

Love these monthly get togethers with Stuart. I think you will too.

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/my-conversation-with-stuart-stevens

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-13)

The Hacker News tarpit.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-hacker-news-tarpit/

MAGA Is Winning Its War Against U.S. Science

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-20)

When a political movement believes that ignorance is strength

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/maga-is-winning-its-war-against-us

Lit Hub Daily: April 7, 2026

(date: 2026-04-07)

On physics, poetry, and how humans “are producing our reality through the stories we choose to tell and the metaphors that we use to narrate them.” | Lit Hub Criticism Caro Claire Burke, the author of Yesteryear, talks to Sara

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-7-2026/

Note to Democrats: Paying taxes is not a moral failing

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

It's past time to reject the GOP's toxic assumptions.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/democratic-tax-plans-2028

Who’s the Admin, Me or Claude?

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-21)

There’s a lot of conversation right now about “context engineering” for dev work; structuring what you feed an LLM so it can do useful things. It’s fantastic, we use this approach for DRI Your Career – to the point where we moved our course development out of Google Docs and into GitHub. But – Jean […]

https://cate.blog/2026/04/07/whos-the-admin-me-or-claude/

Hong Kong Police Can Force You to Reveal Your Encryption Keys

(date: 2026-04-07)

According to a new law, the Hong Kong police can demand that you reveal the encryption keys protecting your computer, phone, hard drives, etc.—even if you are just transiting the airport.

In a security alert dated March 26, the U.S. Consulate General said that, on March 23, 2026, Hong Kong authorities changed the rules governing enforcement of the National Security Law. Under the revised framework, police can require individuals to provide passwords or other assistance to access personal electronic devices, including cellphones and laptops.

...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/hong-kong-police-can-force-you-to-reveal-your-encryption-keys.html

Where Physics Meets Poetry: On Language and the Power of Metaphor

(date: 2026-04-07)

When I was 16 years old, my beloved college counselor told me that it was a good thing I wanted to be a physicist because I wasn’t much of a writer. We were close—I had her home phone number for

https://lithub.com/where-physics-meets-poetry-on-language-and-the-power-of-metaphor/

Caro Claire Burke on Tradwives, the Performance of Selfhood, and “The Good Old Days”

(date: 2026-04-07)

I (bravely!) consider myself a pioneer in tradwife studies. When I first started feeling inexplicably drawn to Ballerina Farm content, for example, Hannah Neeleman had roughly 150,000 followers. This was in 2021; Ballerina Farm now boasts 15 million followers across

https://lithub.com/caro-claire-burke-on-tradwives-the-performance-of-selfhood-and-the-good-old-days/

“Late Winter Walk,” a Poem by Julia Alvarez

(date: 2026-04-07)

High above this snowy field we spot a shadow hovering. When I turn to you and ask, What is it: a vulture or a hawk? your hand drops mine to shade your narrowed eyes from the brilliant winter light. Let

https://lithub.com/late-winter-walk-a-poem-by-julia-alvarez/

The Poetics of Repetition: In Praise of the Art of Replication

(date: 2026-04-07)

There are two kinds of writers—I learned implicitly in graduate school—the kind who repeats themselves over and over, in form, subject, or even beginnings or endings, and the kind who, miraculously to me, does not. I’ve heard the theory that

https://lithub.com/the-poetics-of-repetition-in-praise-of-the-art-of-replication/

The International Short Story is Booming

(date: 2026-04-07)

In 2002, a friend asked if I would join him for a San Francisco Symphony concert with David Robinson as guest conductor. They were to play Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphonie. I was a bit ambivalent. I knew Messiaen’s work, but

https://lithub.com/the-international-short-story-is-booming/

The Annotated Nightstand: What Aimee Nezhukumatathil is Reading Now, And Next

(date: 2026-04-07)

Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s new poetry collection, Night Owl, extends her project of meditating on the remarkable facets of nature. Over four sections (“crepuscule,” “sunset,” “midnight,” “the darkest hour is just before the dawn”), she employs a range of forms to attend

https://lithub.com/the-annotated-nightstand-what-aimee-nezhukumatathil-is-reading-now-and-next/

Hexes of the Deadwood Forest

(date: 2026-04-07)

Concerning the Flaming-Fucking-Fury, a Foreshadowing of Something Yet to Come In a market square with church towers rising high above the roofs of magnificent houses and a huge, ornately decorated town hall, people were strolling about, dressed in old-fashioned clothing-women

https://lithub.com/hexes-of-the-deadwood-forest/

Our sense of meritocracy

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-17)

Meritocracy is one of the founding principles of the free and open-source software movement. It is also one of the most controversial terms, and the gap between the different meanings people attribute to it is, in some projects, a source of real and damaging conflict. Let us analyse the meaning

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/07/our-sense-of-meritocracy/

Universal Music Receives $64 Billion Takeover Bid From Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square

(date: 2026-04-07)

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has submitted a bid to buy Universal Music Group (UMG) in a cash and stock deal worth $64.4 billion. The proposed bid would see shareholders receive $10.85 billion in cash and 0.77 shares of stock in the new company for each share of UMG held. In a statement this morning, Ackman […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/universal-music-takeover-bill-ackman-pershing-square-1236783291/

Ben Lerner, Patrick Radden Keefe, Emma Straub, and more: 25 new books out today!

(date: 2026-04-07)

We’ve turned a corner in our seasons, in warmth, in attitude, in literature. It’s a great time for fiction lovers, as we welcome in a new Ben Lerner, Emma Straub, and Rachel Khong all in one day. Lest we forget

https://lithub.com/ben-lerner-patrick-radden-keefe-emma-straub-and-more-25-new-books-out-today/

How to Live Beyond 80

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-16)

My Problem with Aging

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/my-problem-with-aging

Rogue Scholar launches a Featured Posts Newsletter

(date: 2026-04-07)

This week the Rogue Scholar science blog archive is launching a weekly newsletter of featured English-language posts, joining the weekly newsletters of all posts written in German, Spanish or French.

https://blog.front-matter.de/posts/rogue-scholar-launches-a-featured-posts-newsletter/

How Trump Plans to Gut the Environment to Pay for Iran (w/ Ayana Elizabeth Johnson)

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post How Trump Plans to Gut the Environment to Pay for Iran (w/ Ayana Elizabeth Johnson) appeared first on Crooked Media.

https://crooked.com/podcast/how-trump-plans-to-gut-the-environment-to-pay-for-iran-w-ayana-elizabeth-johnson/

April 6, 2026 (Monday)

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-13)

“It’s really difficult to cover him in a way that conveys how unhinged he is,” journalist Aaron Rupar of Public Notice told George Grylls of The Times about President Donald J.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-6-2026-monday

Pluralistic: Switzerland's Goldilocks fiber (07 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-17)

Today's links Switzerland's Goldilocks fiber: Public provision is a layered question. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: EU appoints henhouse fox (copyright); Emacs x Tron: Legacy; Spammer v dead man's AOL account; Scott Walker's pork fountain; "No toilets, try Amazon"; Iceland falls (x Panama Papers); Rooms in Milanese sewers; China bans Panama Papers; "Parent Hacks"; "The Nameless City"; Phishing the world's top breach expert. Upcoming appearances: Toronto, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Switzerland's Goldilocks fiber (permalink) If you live in Switzerland you can get a 25Gbit fiber link to your home. That's 25Gbit symmetrical – upload and download. On a dedicated connection that's yours and yours alone. From multiple providers. And you can switch providers with the click of a mouse. It's the ne plus ultra, magnifico, wunderschön: https://www.init7.net/de/internet/fiber7/ In a fascinating blog post, Stefan Schüller unpacks how this came to pass, in Switzerland, a country known for its impassable mountains and its impossible national telco (Swisscom): https://sschueller.github.io/posts/the-free-market-lie/ Schüller describes the Swiss system as a kind of Goldilocks approach that's midway between two failed systems: the American "free market" system and the German state provision system. Most people in the US can't get fiber at all, and if you can get it, it's probably 1Gbit, and available from a single provider (that's nearly my situation in Los Angeles, where I can buy 2Gbit symmetrical fiber from AT&T, who run a shared connection on old Worldcom fiber they've lit up). Some (very foolish) people say that Starlink represents a competitive alternative to fiber. This is nonsense – first, because Starlink is another natural monopoly (how many competing satellite constellations can we cram into stable orbits before they start smashing into each other?), and second, because satellite is millions of times slower than fiber: https://www.somebits.com/weblog/tech/bad/starlink-nov-2022-data-caps.html In Germany, most people also have a single fiber provider, and the connection they get is shared, and caps out at 1-2Gbit. Meanwhile, the Swiss can get connections that are far faster, and cheaper. How did they do it? For starters, the Swiss recognized what any Simcity player knows: fiber is a "natural monopoly." It doesn't make any sense to build multiple, competing fiber networks – any more than it would make sense to build multiple, competing sewer systems or electric grids. In the US, private fiber providers get city permits to dig up the roads and lay their network. If you have two competing networks, they dig up the road twice. You'd think that the (more regulated) Germans would lay a single network, but they, too, have multiple, competing networks. German regulators have a complex set of priorities and constraints: to encourage competition, they promote the idea of competing networks in competing trenches, often just meters apart (rather than on competing services running over the same fiber and/or fiber run through the same conduit – pipe – laid in a single trench). This makes setting up fiber extremely capital-intensive, so Germany backstops this system with "essential facilities sharing" – a rule that requires the incumbent (formerly state-owned, now partially state-owned) Deutsche Telekom to offer space in its conduit to smaller ISPs that want to thread their own fiber from their data-centers to their customers' homes. This is a good idea in theory – but in practice, DT has largely captured its regulators and so it is free to place all kinds of administrative hurdles in the paths of competitors seeking to use its lines. The result is that Germans can get fiber from multiple, heavily capitalized network providers who overbuilt redundant systems under the city streets, squandering capital digging trenches that they could have spent on providing faster and/or cheaper connections. Meanwhile, in the US, they leave this all up to "the market" (though, of course, there's no way "the market" could get fiber laid down without public participation, because the clearing price for privately negotiated licenses to dig up every street in town is "infinity"). The US is dominated by a cartel of massive incumbents: there's AT&T (formerly a regulated monopoly that was so entangled with the US government that it was effectively a for-profit state enterprise) and the cable giants, Comcast and Charter, who divide up the country into exclusive territories like the Pope dividing up the "New World." These companies generally enjoy regional monopolies, which means they're less interested in making profits (money you get by mobilizing capital) than they are from extracting rent (money you get from sweating assets). For example, when Frontier went bankrupt in 2020, we got to look at its internal bookkeeping system, and learned that the company treated 1m customers who had no alternative carriers as special assets because it could charge them more for worse service and poor maintenance: https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/15/useful-idiotsuseful-idiots/ This means that US fiber networks tend to be underbuilt (the opposite of Germany's overbuilt networks), meaning that even if you're buying "gigabit" fiber, you're probably sharing that one gig connection with your whole block or neighborhood, so you only get your nominal throughput at weird hours when all the other subscribers aren't streaming Netflix. (Note that there are cities in the US with a better situation; particularly cities served by Ting, which is owned by Hover, the amazing domain registry. Ting operates an excellent mobile carrier and a fiber networks in many cities. If you are lucky enough to have Ting as an option, then you should treasure that option.) So, that's Germany and America. What did they do in Switzerland? For starters, they ran a four-strand, dedicated line (an insulated wire with four separate strands of fiber in it) to every house. That wire terminates at your wall with a "neutral, open hub." Any carrier can provide service over those four strands: Swisscom (the incumbent, majority state-owned carrier); Init7 or Salt (national, commercial carriers); or a local ISP. Each of the strands in your neutral hub operate independently. That means that you can switch from one carrier to another with a click. You can also run two or more carriers' signal through your hub, meaning that you can try out a new carrier before canceling your old one. The carriers compete on price, speed and customer service – but they don't compete on who can actually connect your home to the internet. The origins of this excellent system are in 2008, when Switzerland's Federal Communications Commission convened a roundtable to determine the future of the country's broadband. Incredibly, it was Swisscom that pushed for the multi-strand, dedicated fiber system, on the grounds that anything less would lead to monopolization. I say "incredibly," because in all my travels over the past three decades, a single encounter with Swisscom stands out as the most absurd and backwards run-in I ever experienced with a telco. It was while I was working as EFF's delegate to the United Nations in Geneva, as part of an infinitesimal coalition of digital rights group convened by James Love and Manon Ress of Knowledge Ecology International. Geneva is not a forgiving city for someone working for a cash-strapped NGO: it's a city where everyone (except you) is on a lavish expense account courtesy of a national government, or (better still) an industry body that lobbies the UN. My usual daggy two-star hotel (which cost as much as a four-star in London) didn't have its own wifi: instead, you signed on through Swisscom, which did not offer its own payment processing. To get onto the Swisscom wifi, you had to buy a scratch-off prepaid card that was good for a certain number of hours or minutes. The hotel was always sold out of these cards. So my normal ritual upon my arrival in Geneva was to scour the tobacco shops around the train station for scratch-off cards. Normally, this would take four or five tries – the shops would either be completely sold out, or would only have the two-hour cards (needless to say, these were a lot more expensive on a per-hour basis than the one-day and multi-day cards). On one trip, though, all the shops were sold out of these cards, so I skipped breakfast the next morning to wait outside the doors of the Swisscom offices, which opened five minutes late (the only business in Switzerland that wasn't achingly prompt!). The clerk let me in eventually, but when I approached his counter, he made me trudge to the opposite end of the room to take a number (I was the only person in the shop). After an ostentatious delay, the clerk called out "Numero un!" and I went up to his counter and asked for a three-day card. No dice, he was sold out. Two-day cards? Nope. One-day? Uh-uh. He only had two-hour cards, too. Literally, the Swiss national telco had run out of integers. This incident stuck with me so durably that I wrote it into my third novel, Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town. You can hear me read that passage here: https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/17/aura-of-benevolence/#sctt-slt So it's frankly amazing to me to learn that Swisscom – who will forever be synonymous in my mind with the most catastrophically stupid internet delivery system imaginable – demanded this anti-monopoly fiber rollout. But – as Schüller points out – Swisscom's foray into uncharacteristic reasonableness was short-lived. By 2020, the company had regressed to its mean, and was demanding an end to the neutral, four-strand, point-to-point system, petitioning for regulatory permission to switch to a cheaper, slower, shared hub-and-spoke system. This system wouldn't just be slower – it would also require all of Swisscom's rivals to rent access to its fiber, with Swisscom having the final say over who could compete with it and how. This went all the way to the Swiss federal courts, who ruled that Swisscom had failed to demonstrate "sufficient technological or economic grounds" for the change and fined the company CHF18m for wasting everyone's time with this stupid idea (that is, "violating Swiss competition law"). And so it is that, in 2026, you can get 25Gbit symmetrical fiber throughout Switzerland. Wunderschön! Schüller closes out his piece with a set of recommendations for countries hoping to replicate Switzerland's broadband miracle: open access to physical infrastructure; point-to-point service; neutral fiber standards; municipal fiber; and strong antitrust enforcement to keep the incumbent carriers in line. These are great recommendations; they address the contradiction of regulated monopoly telcoms provision. On the one hand, these networks are natural monopolies, and they can only exist with extensive government intervention (at a minimum, to clear the way for poles, trenches and conduit for the physical fiber). On the other hand, telcoms (especially broadband) play an important role in the political realm, because broadband connections are essential to civic and political engagement. You can't turn people out for a protest, or run an election campaign, a referendum, a ballot initiative, a regulatory notice-and-comment campaign, or even a campaign to get people to a public meeting or listening session without broadband. This means that state-provided broadband is an incredibly tempting target for political corruption and regulatory capture. Think of all the terrible things that governments are doing with broadband regulation today, like Trump demanding that service providers turn over the identities and locations of his political enemies so that ICE can hunt them down and kidnap or murder them; or "age verification" systems that accumulate mountains of easily raided personal information on adults and children. Do you want Trump's FCC chairman Brendan Carr setting content moderation policies for your internet connection? The guy who wants to pull TV and radio stations' broadcast licenses if they criticize Trump and Israel's catastrophic Iran war? https://www.techdirt.com/2026/03/17/brendan-carr-pretends-to-be-tough-demands-broadcasters-support-disastrous-war/ Do you want your local ISP being run by your mayor? I mean, sure, there are some reasonable mayors out there, but imagine if your ISP was managed by Eric Adams, Boris Johnson…or Rob Ford: https://www.patreon.com/posts/rob-ford-part-1-111985831 Saying that broadband should be run "like a utility," raises more questions than it answers. I, too, want broadband run "like a utility," but that doesn't mean that I want the whole show to be provided solely by my federal or municipal government. A "utility" model for broadband should mean running conduit to every home in town, with point-to-point connections that deliver broadband via a municipally owned network – but not just that. The municipal network should also offer "essential facilities sharing" in two forms: first, they should allow anyone to set up an ISP by renting shelf-space in the municipal data-center and installing their own switches that can provide internet to anyone in town. This would let large and small companies set up ISPs, as well as co-ops and nonprofits, or even tinkerers wanting to provide access to a group of friends. Beyond that, the city should rent space in the conduit itself, to support point-to-point links beyond those offered by the city – for example, between a university campus and an offsite supercomputing center, or two buildings owned by the same company, or even as a parallel set of fiber connections run by someone who's fed up with getting their internet service from Eric Adams. This is a "pluralized" utility model: one that involves the city in providing infrastructure at several layers, as well as a "public option" – but which doesn't allow a city that's in thrall to Moms For Liberty to decide what you can say on the internet. This principle generalizes beyond internet provision, too. Many people have observed that social media, with its strong "network effects" (meaning its value increases as more people use it), could be a "natural monopoly" and want a social media "utility." I can see the reasoning there, but if there's one thing we've learned from zuckermuskian legacy social media, it's that centralized control over speech forums is a moral hazard and an attractive nuisance. It's a political prize beyond measure, and it attracts all sorts of skullduggerous bids to suborn it and harness it to some political faction. But there's a pluralized utility model for social media, too, thanks to modern, federated social media systems like Mastodon and Bluesky. These are open platforms that can support multiple, interconnected servers that all talk to one another. Unlike, say, Twitter, where you can only talk to other Twitter users, federated social media allows you to talk with anyone on any server, provided they want to talk with you. As with fiber, a "utility" model for federated social media would feature public intervention at multiple layers of the system. Governments could (should!) run their own servers, providing the canonical source of government information. They can also provide turnkey cloud services for people who want to start their own services – and they can spin out the code that goes into these services into free/open source projects that others can use (and contribute to). Governments could support people who are trying to migrate off of legacy social media (for example, through library workshops and helplines), and pay to label and tag media (for example, media that is compliant with the public education curriculum). Governments could also offer public servers where you could sign up to get online – and because federated social media makes it easy to move your account from one server to another, it would be easy to move from that server to one run by a nonprofit, a co-op or a business: https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/25/eurostack/#viktor-orbans-isp Think of this pluralized utility model as being something like your city's roads. It's great for your city to provide roads, and great for them to run buses on those roads, and to create bike lanes and bike parking spots and other infrastructure. For roads to be "public," it does not follow that everything on them be licensed and operated by the municipal government: we can still have private bikes, bikeshares, regulated taxis and licensed private motor vehicles. The roads are still "public" but Boris Johnson doesn't get to decide where you can go. A utility model needn't be all-or-nothing. As the Swiss have demonstrated, public provision of various layers of the system, combined with strong regulation, combined with a public option, can deliver a best-of-all-worlds solution. Hey look at this (permalink) Nick Chater on the Nudge Movement and Blaming The Individual for Corporate Wrongdoing https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/nick-chater-on-the-nudge-movement-and-blaming-the-individual-for-corporate-wrongdoing Why We’re Removing Our Programmatic Ads https://prospect.org/2026/04/06/why-were-removing-our-programmatic-ads/ Actually, people love to work hard https://www.anildash.com/2026/04/06/people-love-to-work-hard/ Object permanence (permalink) #15yrsago Recording industry lobbyist appointed head of copyright for European Commission https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/04/top-music-industry-lawyer-now-eu-copyright-chief/ #15yrsago How emacs got into Tron: Legacy https://web.archive.org/web/20110407224426/http://jtnimoy.net/workviewer.php?q=178 #15yrsago Dead man’s AOL account hijacked by spammer https://ip.topicbox.com/groups/ip/T274c51b2ba843fb0-Mb6bf8853b1ed34a26b07ce44/deceasesd-father-in-law-spamming-friends-and-family-two-years-on #15yrsago Scarring Party: megaphone songs, sea chanteys and dark vaudeville tunes https://web.archive.org/web/20110406044523/http://www.avclub.com/milwaukee/articles/the-scarring-party-losing-teeth%2C43871/ #15yrsago Snaggly table made out of computer junk https://web.archive.org/web/20110406044521/http://brcdesigns.com/furniture/binary-low-table #15yrsago Scott Walker gives cushy $85.5K/year government job to major donor’s young, underqualified son https://web.archive.org/web/20110406040138/https://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/04/scott-walker-hires-dropout/ #15yrsago Closing down Borders sign: “No toilets, try Amazon” https://web.archive.org/web/20110406044522/https://consumerist.com/2011/04/sign-at-borders-store-closing-in-chicago-tells-customers-where-to-find-a-restroom.html #15yrsago What is legitimate “newsgathering” and what is “piracy”? https://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/why-arianna-huffington-is-bill-kellers-somali-pirate/ #10yrsago Iceland’s Prime Minister asks to dissolve Parliament https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35966412 #10yrsago Artist installs rooms beneath Milan’s sewer entrances https://web.archive.org/web/20160406132425/https://www.biancoshock.com/borderlife.html #10yrsago Banned on China’s Internet: all discussion of the Panama Papers https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-35957235 #10yrsago Google reaches into customers’ homes and bricks their gadgets https://arlogilbert.com/the-time-that-tony-fadell-sold-me-a-container-of-hummus-cb0941c762c1#.srp9ym34a #10yrsago Middle class housing projects are the Bay Area’s future https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/welcome-to-the-future-middle-class-housing-projects #10yrsago Pollster explains how Chamber of Commerce can steamroller empathetic execs into opposing progressive policies https://web.archive.org/web/20160406190524/https://gawker.com/business-execs-support-progressive-policies-but-the-ch-1768898477 #10yrsago How to write about scientists who are women https://www.doublexscience.org/the-finkbeiner-test/ #10yrsago Garden: XKCD’s latest maddening, relaxing webtoy https://xkcd.com/1663/#3978da67-1ead-45e1-a293-9c8e4918a147 #10yrsago Parent Hacks: illustrated guide is the best kind of parenting book https://memex.craphound.com/2016/04/05/parent-hacks-illustrated-guide-is-the-best-kind-of-parenting-book/ #10yrsago The Nameless City: YA graphic novel about diplomacy, hard and soft power, colonialism, bravery, and parkour https://memex.craphound.com/2016/04/05/the-nameless-city-ya-graphic-novel-about-diplomacy-hard-and-soft-power-colonialism-bravery-and-parkour/ #5yrsago How Facebook will benefit from its massive breach https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/05/zucks-oily-rags/#into-the-breach #1yrago How the world's leading breach expert got phished https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/05/troy-hunt/#teach-a-man-to-phish Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: Humber Polytechnic President's Lecture Series, Apr 8 https://liberalarts.humber.ca/current-students/resources/conferences-and-lectures/presidents-lecture-series.html Montreal: Bronfman Lecture (McGill), Apr 10 https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artificial-intelligence-the-ultimate-disrupter-tickets-1982706623885 Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, Apr 10 https://mtl.drawnandquarterly.com/events/4863920260410 Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. First draft complete. Second draft underway. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/07/swisscom/

Last Minute Blake Lively Vs. Justin Baldoni Settlement Hopes Dashed; Trial Still Set For Next Month

(date: 2026-04-07)

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are still heading to trial on the It Ends With Us actress’ retaliation and defamation claims despite a federal judge’s best intentions and efforts. Lawyers for the former and bitterly battling co-stars were ordered to call in with Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave on Monday afternoon to find out what […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/blake-lively-latest-justin-baldoni-settlement-efforts-fail-1236783233/

Only 8% of "moderates" actually want moderation

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-22)

Two new studies reveal very few voters want a genuinely centrist political party — and moderation's electoral payoff is smaller, riskier, and less reliable than its advocates suggest

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-07-only-8-percent-moderates-actually-want-moderation

“Criminal”: Timothy Busfield’s Lawyer Slams Sex Abuse Alleging Parents Of ‘Cleaning Lady’ Actors As More Of Melissa Gilbert’s ABC Interview Airs Tonight

(date: 2026-04-07)

The top lawyer for Timothy Busfield has let loose with some sharp words for the parents of The Cleaning Lady child actors at the heart of the sex abuse accusations made against the Emmy winner. “We appreciate George for taking the time to clarify some important facts in this case,” Larry Stein told Deadline today […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/timothy-busfield-lawyer-slams-accusers-melissa-gilbert-abc-1236783107/

Trump has really, seriously, frighteningly lost his mind

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-15)

His latest threat is bonkers

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trump-has-really-seriously-frighteningly

Rapper Offset Shot & Hospitalized In Florida; Is “Stable And Being Closely Monitored”

(date: 2026-04-07)

Offset, best known for being a member of erstwhile hip-hop group Migos, was shot in Hollywood, Fla., according to multiple reports. The rapper is “fine” and is “currently at the hospital receiving medical care,” per TMZ. The three-time Grammy-nominated artist was struck near the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and details regarding the incident […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/offset-shot-hospitalized-florida-stable-closely-monitored-1236783200/

‘Becky Shaw’ Broadway Review: A Blind Date Goes Crazy Bad In Enthralling Dark Comedy With Alden Ehrenreich & Patrick Ball

(date: 2026-04-07)

Seventeen years after being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Gina Gionfriddo’s dark, sometimes giddy comedy Becky Shaw finally arrives on Broadway, and noting that it was worth the wait is an understatement none of its brutally honest anti-heroes would make. And if the nearly two-decades-in-the-making arrival meant we had to wait for this excellent cast […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/becky-shaw-broadway-review-1236780120/

Wed, April 8th, 6pm ET - This Week's Hopium Paid Subscriber Get Together

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-15)

Founding Members will gather this Friday at 1pm ET

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/wed-april-8th-6pm-et-this-weeks-hopium

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-17)

The Gazification of Lebanon, round 3:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116360519051851268

Against Linguistic Flattening: Translingual Multimodality in the Age of AI

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-10)

In the age of generative AI, writing classrooms and online platforms are facing a subtle but powerful phenomenon: linguistic flattening. I have been noticing it more and more. The way writers, consciously or unconsciously, start to lean on the same phrases, sentence structures, and tonal conventions is concerning. Undergraduate students, especially those for whom English [...]

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/06/against-linguistic-flattening-translingual-multimodality-in-the-age-of-ai/

Want a thriving startup ecosystem in New Zealand? Start by building affordable housing

(date: 2026-04-07, updated: 2026-04-13)

In this article, I tackle the single biggest factor, to my mind, that's hampering the development of a strong tech and startup industry in this country: the absolutely execrable state of our housing market.

https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/startups-affordable-housing-new-zealand

Iran Offers Strait in Exchange for Straitjacket

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

The offer drew enthusiastic praise from over a hundred world leaders.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/iran-offers-strait-in-exchange-for

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-12)

Rich Tabor compares WordPress and EmDash.

https://rich.blog/emdash/

Trump Unhinged

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

As the war goes from bad to worse

https://steady.substack.com/p/trump-unhinged

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-12)

Gas prices aren't the only factor fueling used EV sales.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/06/gas-prices-arent-the-only-factor-fueling-used-ev-sales/

Chokepoint Hostages

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

Welcome to the new world

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/chokepoint-hostages

Onday

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-14)

None of which you asked for, and few of which you can thrwart GadgetReview: 13 Evil Tech Scandals & Failures That Took Advantage of Millions of People. Now dig a PageXray of that story. The high points: Adserver Requests: 543 Tracking Requests: 447 Other Requests: 132 Including all those other places in the PageXray above. Among […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/06/onday/

Edward Graczyk Dies: ‘Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean’ Playwright Was 84

(date: 2026-04-06)

Edward Graczyk, best known for Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, the 1982 Broadway play and film adaptation both directed by Robert Altman, died in Sidney, Ohio, on February 11 following a lengthy illness. He was 84. His death was announced Monday by his agent. Born in Pennsylvania in 1941, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/edward-graczyk-dead-broadway-1236782951/

Deep dive episode: Voters say they want "somebody that's for us"

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

What a focus group with disengaged voters in Michigan reveals about economic desperation, anti-system politics, why Trump won, and the road to 2026/28

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/podcast-joy-wilke-focus-groups-voters-say-they-want-somebody-that-gets-them

Introducing the FreeBSD laptop integration testing project

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-12)

Recently, the FreeBSD Foundation has been making
progress on improving the operating system's support for modern laptop hardware. The foundation is now looking to expand testing to encompass a wider range of hardware; it has announced a laptop integration testing project to allow the community to easily test FreeBSD's compatibility with laptops and submit the results.

With limited access to testing systems, there's only so much we can do! We hope to work together with volunteers from the community who want FreeBSD to work well on their laptops.

While we expect device hardware and software enumeration to be a fully automated process, we feel that manually-submitted comments about personal experience with FreeBSD are equally valuable. We plan to highlight this commentary on our "matrix of compatibility" webpage for each tested laptop.

We are striving to make it as easy as possible to submit your results. You won't have to worry about environment setup, submission formatting, or any repo-specific details!

See the project
repository and testing
instructions for more.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066593/

Roy Cooper, Our Great Candidate For US Senate In North Carolina, Returns To Hopium To Update Us On This Must Win Race

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-15)

Senate Republicans just announced a $342 million ad buy in eight states, including $70m in North Carolina

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/roy-cooper-our-great-candidate-for

Phantom App Updates, Part 3

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

digidude23: Is Apple creating updates for 3rd party apps now? This update from Apple will improve the functionality of this app. No new features are included. iSan4eZ: Apple inserted this text into my app and issued an update with the same version. I’m sure about it as I update the app on my phone as […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/06/phantom-app-updates-part-3/

Notes From Setting Up New Apple Devices

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

This weekend, I helped my non-techie father migrate to a new iPhone 17e and MacBook Air: Device Transfer initially couldn’t find the old iPhone SE. It turns out that years ago he’d read some article that said Bluetooth was unsafe and so he’d turned it off. The setup assistant repeated the new age verification question […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/06/notes-from-setting-up-new-apple-devices/

Apple Creating All the Apps

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

John Gruber: Pogue interviewed Scott Forstall and got this story, about just how far Steve Jobs thought Apple could go to expand the iPhone’s software library while not opening it to third-party developers: “I want you to make a list of every app any customer would ever want to use,” he told Forstall. “And then […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/06/apple-creating-all-the-apps/

Marybeth Sprows Returns To Hallmark Media; Tatiana Erasme Promoted

(date: 2026-04-06)

Hallmark Media is adding to its executive ranks. The company has hired Marybeth Sprows as SVP Original Series and promoted Tatiana Erasme to VP Casting and Talent. The moves reunite Sprows with the company, having previously worked at the then-titled Crown Media before moving to Sony Pictures Television, where she ran its Affirm Television division that produced faith and family programming. Before […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/marybeth-sprows-hallmark-media-tatiana-erasme-1236782932/

Breathing Room: Designing Work & Living Spaces for Quality Thinking and Decision-Making

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-19)

Both Norway and Sweden’s air standards for homes and other buildings are some of the highest in the world. They sit at the high end globally—on par with Finland, Sweden, and Estonia—and are definitely stronger than North America, the UK, Southern Europe, and most of the world.

https://www.calmtech.institute/post/breathing-room-designing-work-living-spaces-for-quality-thinking-and-decision-making

There's 'Nothing In There', They Said...

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

Despite DOJ's ongoing cover-up, recent scrutiny of the Epstein files has uncovered troubling new revelations

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/epstein-files-nothing-there

Donald Trump Goes On Warpath Against Media In Iran Rescue Presser

(date: 2026-04-06)

UPDATED: Donald Trump on Monday threatened an unnamed media outlet that reported on a downed military airman in Iran, warning that the disclosure risked jeopardizing an ultimately successful rescue mission. A first airman was rescued within hours after the plane was shot down. The second, identified as a weapons system officer, was rescued early Sunday. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/trump-iran-media-threat-1236782853/

My Video Chat with the Mighty Kara Swisher

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

Kara Swisher keeps moving.

https://tinabrown.substack.com/p/watch-my-video-chat-with-the-mighty

Derek Blum Joins Arise Artists Agency As Unscripted TV Agent

(date: 2026-04-06)

Arise Artists Agency continues to expand its nonfiction and alternative programming division, bringing on Derek Blum as an Unscripted Agent. Blum most recently spent over two years at Innovative Artists Agency, following a more than six-year tenure at A3 Artists Agency, where he worked alongside Brian Cho. He began his career at UTA before moving to Paradigm […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/derek-blum-arise-artists-agency-unscripted-tv-agent-1236782847/

Kyle Brandt On ‘Good Morning Football’ Changes Amid ESPN’s NFL Network Takeover: “Not As Far As I Know”

(date: 2026-04-06)

Kyle Brandt returned to Good Morning Football after taking some time off during the NFL off-season and addressed being part of ESPN after their takeover of the NFL Network. “It’s great to be here. Thrilled to be here on ESPNFLNetwork. Right? That’s our deal. That’s our thing,” Brandt said at the beginning of the show […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/kyle-brandt-good-morning-football-changes-espn-nfl-network-1236782852/

Glen Powell Country Western Star Movie From Judd Apatow Gets Title

(date: 2026-04-06)

Ahead of CinemaCon next week, Universal has taken to social media to unveil that its comedy movie directed by Judd Apatow and starring Glen Powell will be titled The Comeback King. The movie follows Powell as a Country Western star on the demise. Pic is scheduled to open in theaters on February 5, 2027. Powell […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/glen-powell-judd-apatow-movie-title-1236782868/

New Mexico’s Meta Ruling and Encryption

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-02)

Mike Masnick points out that the recent New Mexico court ruling against Meta has some bad implications for end-to-end encryption, and security in general:

If the “design choices create liability” framework seems worrying in the abstract, the New Mexico case provides a concrete example of where it leads in practice.

One of the key pieces of evidence the New Mexico attorney general used against Meta was the company’s 2023 decision to add end-to-end encryption to Facebook Messenger. The argument went like this: predators used Messenger to groom minors and exchange child sexual abuse material. By encrypting those messages, Meta made it harder for law enforcement to access evidence of those crimes. Therefore, the encryption was a design choice that enabled harm...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/new-mexicos-meta-ruling-and-encryption.html

Prototyping with LLMs

(date: 2026-04-06)

Did you know that Jesus gave advice about prototyping with an LLM? Here’s Luke 14:28-30:

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

That pretty much sums me up when I try to vibe a prototype.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big advocate of prototyping.

And LLMs make prototyping really easy and interesting.

And because it’s so easy, there’s a huge temptation to jump straight to prototyping.

But what I’ve been finding in my own behavior is that I’ll be mid-prototyping with the LLM and asking myself, “What am I even trying to do here?”

And the thought I have is: “I’d be in a much more productive place right now if I’d put a tiny bit more thought upfront into what I am actually trying to build.” Instead, I just jumped right in, chasing a fuzzy feeling or idea only to end up in a place where I’m more confused about what I set out to do than when I started.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s fine. That’s part of prototyping. It’s inherent to the design process to get more confused before you find clarity.

But there’s an alternative to LLM prototyping that’s often faster and cheaper: sketching.

I’ve found many times that if I start an idea by sketching it out, do you know where I end up? At a place where I say, “Actually, I don’t want to build this.” And in that case, all I have to do is take my sketch and throw it away. It didn’t cost me any tokens or compute to figure that out. Talk about efficiency!

I suppose what I’m saying here is: it’s good to think further ahead than the tracks you’re laying out immediately in front of you. Sketching is a great way to do that.

(Thanks to Facundo for prompting these thoughts out of me.)

Reply via:

Email · Mastodon ·

#ancientGeography #ancientHistory #archaeology #classics #DH #gazetteers #HGIS

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2026/prototyping-with-llm/

‘Peacemaker’s Sol Rodriguez Signs With Strand Entertainment

(date: 2026-04-06)

EXCLUSIVE: Strand Entertainment has signed actress Sol Rodriguez (Peacemaker) for management. Best known for her turn as Sasha Bordeaux, a fan-favorite on HBO Max’s DC series Peacemaker, created by James Gunn, Rodriguez can also be seen as the female lead in the Netflix holiday rom-com Holiday in the Vineyards, opposite Josh Swickard. Previously, Rodriguez also […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sol-rodriguez-signs-strand-entertainment-1236782822/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-12)

Hyundai discounts IONIQ 5 EV by $8,750 as sales heat up.

https://electrek.co/2026/04/06/hyundai-discounts-ioniq-5-ev-by-8750-sales-heat-up/

Chris Messina, Michael Peña & Esai Morales Join Sam Rockwell And Maisy Stella In Psychological Thriller ‘Tumor’

(date: 2026-04-06)

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Messina (Air), Michael Peña (Ant-Man), Esai Morales (Mission: Impossible), and Gigi Zumbado (The Lincoln Lawyer) will star alongside Sam Rockwell and Maisy Stella in Tumor, a psychological thriller we announced last year ahead of AFM, which has now wrapped production in Los Angeles. Marking writer-director Will Bridges’ follow-up to the Apple sci-fi romance […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/tumor-movie-cast-adds-chris-messina-michael-pena-1236782777/

Some Contemporary Heresies

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

I define a heresy as: something you believe that the people you most admire and respect don’t believe and reject out of hand.

https://kevinkelly.substack.com/p/some-contemporary-heresies

Final ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ Trailer Features Original Lady Gaga & Doechii Song; Reveals Plot Points

(date: 2026-04-06)

The final trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 has arrived, featuring an original song, “Runway” by Lady Gaga and Doechii. Watch it above and below. The clip also teases some plot points of the sequel film to the original 2006 film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. At the beginning, Andy Sachs (Hathaway) walks […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/lady-gaga-song-devil-wears-prada-2-plot-final-trailer-1236772291/

‘Summer House’ And ‘In The City’ Star Kyle Cooke Inks With Independent Artist Group

(date: 2026-04-06)

EXCLUSIVE: Independent Artist Group has signed reality television star, entrepreneur and DJ Kyle Cooke for representation. Cooke will be represented across film and television, brand partnerships, and digital media, with a focus on expanding his footprint across entertainment and consumer products. “Kyle has built a highly authentic connection with audiences while simultaneously developing a best-in-class […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/kyle-cooke-signs-independent-artist-group-1236782745/

Paramount Secures Agreements For Gulf State Funds To Back WBD Acquisition

(date: 2026-04-06)

UPDATE: David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has secured funding commitments from three Gulf nation sovereign wealth funds to back its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Deadline has confirmed. A Wall Street Journal report on Sunday said the financing agreements were near to being finalized. It was not a surprise as the proposed mega-deal had always […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/paramount-wbd-merger-foreign-backing-gulf-funds-deal-1236780058/

‘Predator: Badlands’ Actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi Signs With Buchwald

(date: 2026-04-06)

EXCLUSIVE: Actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi has signed with Buchwald for representation. Schuster-Koloamatangi is a New Zealander who has recently been seen starring opposite Elle Fanning in 20th Century Studios’ Predator: Badlands, which broke the franchise’s opening weekend box office record, becoming the highest-grossing Predator film to date. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who also helmed recent franchise […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/dimitrius-schuster-koloamatangi-signs-buchwald-1236782734/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-21)

Last Week in the #PleiadesGazetteer (30 March - 6 April 2026): Over the past week the Pleiades editorial college published 30 new and 319 updated place resources, reflecting the work of Jeffrey Becker, Anika Campbell, Ilaria Cristofaro, Tom Elliott, Greta Hawes, Brady Kiesling, Divya Kumar-Dumas, Chris de Lisle, Gabriel Mckee, R. Scott Smith, Richard Talbert and Enes Yılandiloğlu.

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116358931668717726

Last Week in Pleiades (30 March - 6 April 2026)

(date: 2026-04-06)

Last week the Pleiades editorial college published 30 new and 319 updated place resources, reflecting the work of Jeffrey Becker, Anika Campbell, Ilaria Cristofaro, Tom Elliott, Greta Hawes, Brady Kiesling, Divya Kumar-Dumas, Chris de Lisle, Gabriel Mckee, R. Scott Smith, Richard Talbert and Enes Yılandiloğlu.

https://pleiades.stoa.org/news/blog/last-week-in-pleiades-30-march-6-april-2026

KJ Apa, Madeleine Arthur, Josh Brener, Ashley Park, Alexandra Shipp & Justice Smith Round Out Ensemble Cast Of Holiday Horror Film ‘White Elephant’

(date: 2026-04-06)

EXCLUSIVE: Clown in a Cornfield‘s Eli Craig has rounded out the cast of White Elephant, his holiday horror film we scooped last week, for MRC, Radio Silence and Project X. New additions include KJ Apa (Riverdale), Madeleine Arthur (Devil in Ohio), Josh Brener (Silicon Valley), Ashley Park (Emily in Paris), Alexandra Shipp (Anyone but You), […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/white-elephant-nick-jonas-movie-cast-1236782717/

We'll rant and we'll roar

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-20)

Kermorvan Lighthouse

This morning, we visited Kermorvan Lighthouse, just across the river from the delightful Le Conquet.

This is the most westerly point of mainland France, on a delightful headland, and definitely worth a visit, especially if you're lucky enough to get the kind of weather we had today.

By the way, from here to the Scilly Isles is a little over 100 miles. How do I know this without looking it up?

Well, slightly off to the right (not visible in this photo) we could just see another lighthouse on the horizon: on the island of Ushant, about 15 miles offshore.

And as all good sailors know, when you've had to say farewell and adieu to those fair Spanish ladies, adieu and farewell to those ladies of Spain, because you're under orders for to sail to old England, then you'll come past this point on the way.

You'll probably rant and you'll roar, like true British sailors, and you'll rant and you'll roar all on the salt seas, 'til at last you strike soundings in the channel of old England (and Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues).

http://statusq.org/archives/2026/04/06/13678/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-12)

NY Times once again caught sanewashing Trump’s unhinged rhetoric.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/4/6/2376583/-NY-Times-once-again-caught-sanewashing-Trump-s-unhinged-rhetoric?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-21)

Export Updates 2026-04-06:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

4 new and 128 updated places.

https://demos.co.uk/research/verification-deliberation-accountability-a-new-framework-for-tackling-epistemic-collapse-and-renewing-democracy/

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

3b0622ce - updated json

64b46020 - updated rdf/ttl

12250bdc - updated gis package

0af1b7a8 - updated data quality

f6e82a13 - updated bibliography

1b30feac - updated indexes

2e206df7 - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

99e201ce - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

fd6c12b2 - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116358634398520798

Sam Altman, unconstrained by the truth

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

New reporting from the New Yorker vindicates concerns that were first raised here

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/sam-altman-unconstrained-by-the-truth

NetNewsWire 7.0.4 for iOS — runs on iOS 17 and up

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2019-08-31)

NetNewsWire 7.0.4 is out — get your updates the normal way or download from the App Store.

There are two big changes in this release: it now runs on iOS 17 and up (it no longer requires iOS 26), and it includes the same new iCloud syncing enhancements that the Mac version has.

See the new How to Optimize iCloud Syncing page for details on the iCloud changes, and read the release notes for details on all the changes.

If you have questions or run into any issues, remember that you can always get help on the NetNewsWire forum and report bugs on the issues tracker.

https://netnewswire.blog/2026/04/06/netnewswire-for-ios-runs-on.html

Time Change - My Event With Stuart Stevens Is Now 1pm ET

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-14)

Due to a scheduling conflict my live event with Stuart Stevens has been moved to 1pm EDT today

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/time-change-my-event-with-stuart

@Andy Sylvester's River of News

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-18)

Dave Winer says he can bootstrap a development community around WordPress, with WordLand as the first app. However, he has been talking about this since September 2025. Stop talking and show us the beef!

https://andysylvester.com/2026/04/06/4199/

Cattle Queen And Modern Mandarin

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-21)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/cattle-queen-and-modern-mandarin/

Wed, April 8th, 6pm ET - This Week's Hopium Paid Subscriber Get Together

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-14)

Note new time for this week only

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/wed-april-8th-6pm-est-this-weeks

"He Has Gone Insane"

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-13)

I am going live with Stuart Stevens at Noon ET today. On Thrusday Hopium Vote Yes phonebanksy, and a live event in Bethesda too

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/he-has-gone-insane

Hopium's Latest Polling Charts

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-13)

Trump Job Approval, National Trends

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/hopiums-latest-polling-charts

Hopium's Economic Charts

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-13)

Here's a current set of charts we refer to in day to day work.....

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/hopiums-economic-charts

[$] Protecting against TPM interposer attacks

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-12)

The Trusted
Platform Module (TPM) is a widely misunderstood piece of hardware (or firmware) that lives in most x86-based computers. At SCALE 23x in Pasadena, California, James Bottomley gave a presentation on the TPM and the work that he and others have done to enable the Linux kernel to work with it. In particular, he described the problems with interposer attacks, which target the communication between the TPM and the kernel, and what has been added to the kernel to thwart them.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1064685/

Melissa Gilbert Tells ‘Good Morning America’ Husband Timothy Busfield Will Be Exonerated, But “Our Life As We Knew It Is Done”

(date: 2026-04-06)

Melissa Gilbert told Good Morning America that she is “100% confident” that her husband Timothy Busfield will be exonerated, as he faces four counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor. Sitting down with George Stephanopoulos for her first sit-down interview since Busfield was charged, Gilbert said, “This has been the most traumatizing experience of […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/melissa-gilbert-timothy-busfield-child-sex-abuse-charges-1236780154/

6.6.133 stable kernel released

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-10)

Greg Kroah-Hartman has released the 6.6.133 stable kernel. This reverts
a backporting mistake that removed file descriptor checks which led to kernel panics if the fgetxattr, flistxattr,fremovexattr, or fsetxattr functions were called from user space with a file descriptor that did not reference an open file.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066507/

One great poem to read today: Dean Young’s “Unstable Particles”

(date: 2026-04-06)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-dean-youngs-unstable-particles/

Off Broadway’s ‘The Unknown’ Starring Sean Hayes To Stream Worldwide

(date: 2026-04-06)

The Unknown, David Cale’s Off Broadway thriller starring Sean Hayes that was recently nominated for a prestigious Lucille Lortel Award, will be streamed during its final weekend on stage this month. The captured live broadcasts are available only at the following curtain times: Friday, April 10 at 8 PM; Saturday, April 11 at 2 PM; […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-unknown-starring-sean-hayes-stream-off-broadway-1236780152/

Security updates for Monday

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-09)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (freerdp, grafana, grafana-pcp, gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free, gstreamer1-plugins-base, gstreamer1-plugins-good, and gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free, kernel, libpng12, libpng15, perl-YAML-Syck, python3, and rsync), Debian (dovecot, libxml-parser-perl, pyasn1, python-tornado, roundcube, tor, trafficserver, and valkey), Fedora (bind9-next, chromium, cmake, domoticz, freerdp, giflib, gst-devtools, gst-editing-services, gstreamer1, gstreamer1-doc, gstreamer1-plugin-libav, gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free, gstreamer1-plugins-base, gstreamer1-plugins-good, gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free, gstreamer1-rtsp-server, gstreamer1-vaapi, libgsasl, libinput, libopenmpt, mapserver, mingw-binutils, mingw-gstreamer1, mingw-gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free, mingw-gstreamer1-plugins-base, mingw-gstreamer1-plugins-good, mingw-libpng, mingw-python3, nginx-mod-modsecurity, openbao, python-gstreamer1, python3.12, python3.13, python3.14, python3.9, rust, rust-sccache, tcpflow, and vim), Red Hat (ncurses), Slackware (infozip and krita), SUSE (chromium, corosync, keybase-client, libinput-devel, osslsigncode, python-pillow, python311-Flask-Cors, python313, and python314), and Ubuntu (libarchive and spip).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066505/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-17)

It introduces this document, but I found the thread makes a compelling case to read this:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116357890575557913

MS NOW To Host White House Correspondents’ Weekend Event To Connect Reporters With Journalism Students

(date: 2026-04-06)

MS NOW has scheduled its first White House Correspondents’ Dinner event under new parent Versant: A brunch focused on the next generation of journalists. The Future Correspondents’ Brunch will be held on April 24, a day ahead of the annual dinner, and will connect journalism students from Washington, D.C. universities to MS NOW’s reporters and […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/ms-now-white-house-correspondents-dinner-event-1236780139/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-17)

This is an amazing thread, holy shit.

https://bsky.app/profile/eliothiggins.bsky.social/post/3mitbqzpvhk2x

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116357868262095489

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Salter Cane gig on Saturday night—that was fun!

(date: 2026-04-06)

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Salter Cane gig on Saturday night—that was fun!

https://adactio.com/notes/22514

Vibe coding is still an unknown

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

I recommend this post on vibe coding.

There's a lot more to development than coding.

I've tried vibe coding myself, and while it's sometimes relaxing and fun, it's pretty hard to get the output to match what you had in mind.

I think people find it amazing that they can create code, not just that the machine can create it. I know what that's like because I get a rush from creating images, something I never had a skill for, so all of a sudden being able to express myself with drawings was a breakthrough for me. ;-)

I've spent a few decades making commercial quality software in a variety of contexts, and so far I wouldn't rush to get rid of my dev teams based on the idea that the bots can do their work.

I think more realistically we have powerful new tools that we as yet have not learned how to use, but it's pretty exciting to see what may be possible.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/06/121738.html?title=vibeCodingIsStillAnUnknown

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-10)

Robot Mowers Are Actually Good Now.

https://www.wired.com/story/robot-mowers-are-good-now-rave/

Savannah Guthrie Returns To Co-Host ‘Today’ For First Time Since Mother’s Disappearance: “It Is Good To Be Home”

(date: 2026-04-06)

UPDATED, with video: Savannah Guthrie returned to co-hosting duties on Today on Monday for the first time since the disappearance of her mother, Nancy. After running through headlines of the day, Guthrie, with a smile, told viewers, “We are so glad you started your week with us, and it is good to be home.” “Yes, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/savannah-guthrie-returns-today-1236780118/

Trump’s Bizarre Easter Post? He Didn’t Write it.

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

An investigation.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trumps-bizarre-easter-post-he-didnt

Guilt by Solidarity

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

The conviction of Anti-ICE protestors on terrorism charges represents a dangerous new front in the Trump administration's war against the left. Yet it also highlights a longer history: over the past several decades, legislatures and courts have enacted a form of guilt by association that is antithetical to collective political action.

https://lpeproject.org/blog/guilty-by-solidarity/

Google Wants to Transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography by 2029

(date: 2026-04-06)

Google says that it will fully transition to post-quantum cryptography by 2029. I think this is a good move, not because I think we will have a useful quantum computer anywhere near that year, but because crypto-agility is always a good thing.

Slashdot thread.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/google-wants-to-transition-to-post-quantum-cryptography-by-2029.html

The Terrorist in Chief

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-19)

It’s time for us to face up to the ugly reality

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-terrorist-in-chief

Lit Hub Daily: April 6, 2026

(date: 2026-04-06)

You’ve heard of Bad Art Friend, but are you ready for…Good Art Friend? | Lit Hub In Conversation “A writer must look inward to determine how their own perceptions might project onto their theorizing.” On art, honesty, and introspection. |

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-6-2026/

Trump's Total War Budget

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

“More bombs, less of everything else” is a tough campaign platform.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-2027-budget-military-spending

Dragoncatcher: The bat of fate

(date: 2026-04-06)

A new edition of my pop-up newsletter. Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/ai-bat/

Pluralistic: Your boss wants to use surveillance data to cut your wages (06 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-16)

Today's links Your boss wants to use surveillance data to cut your wages: Tech rights are labor rights (again). Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Arthur C Clarke v Buddhist monks (x DST); Bomb squad v life-size Mario power-ups; Panama Papers; Chinese antitrust; Consumerism v New Jim Crow; Absurd English spelling; Save Netflix! David Cameron's dad v Panama Papers; Trick photos with a giant coin; End-stage capitalism. Upcoming appearances: Toronto, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Your boss wants to use surveillance data to cut your wages (permalink) What industry calls "personalized pricing" is really surveillance pricing: using digital tools' flexibility to change the price for each user, and using surveillance data to guess the worst price you'll accept: https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/24/price-discrimination/ At root, surveillance pricing allows companies to revalue both your savings and your labor. If you get charged $2 for something I only pay $1 for, the seller is essentially reaching into your bank account and revaluing the dollars in it at 50 cents apiece. If you get paid $1 for a job that I make $2 for, then the boss is valuing your labor at 50% of my labor: https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/24/price-discrimination/# Surveillance pricing is a key part of enshittification, relying on three of the key enshittificatory factors that have transformed this era into the enshittocene: I. Monopoly: Surveillance pricing is undesirable to both workers and buyers, so in a competitive market, surveillance pricing would drive labor and consumption to non-surveilling rivals: https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/ II. Regulatory capture: Surveillance pricing only exists because of weak regulation and weak enforcement of existing regulations. To engage in surveillance pricing, a company must first put you under surveillance, something that is only possible in the absence of effective privacy law. In the USA, privacy law hasn't been updated since Congress passed a law in 1988 that banned video-store clerks from disclosing your VHS rentals: https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/31/losing-the-crypto-wars/#surveillance-monopolism In the EU, the strong privacy provisions in the GDPR have been neutralized by US tech giants who fly an Irish flag of convenience. Ireland attracts these companies by allowing them to evade their taxes, but it can only keep these companies by allowing them to break any law that gets in their way, because if Meta can pretend to be Irish this week, it could pretend to be Maltese (or Cypriot, Luxembourgeois, or Dutch) next week: https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town What's more, competition laws in the EU and the USA ban surveillance pricing, but a half-century of lax competition law enforcement has allowed companies to routinely engage in the "unfair and deceptive methods of competition" banned in both territories. III. Twiddling: "Twiddling" is my word for the way that digitized businesses can use computers' flexibility to alter their prices, offers, and other fundamentals on a per-user, per-session basis. It's not enough to spy on users: to engage in surveillance pricing, you have to be able to mobilize that surveillance data from instant to instant, changing the prices for every user. This can only be done once a business has been digitized: https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/ Combine monopoly, weak privacy law, weak competition law, and digitization, and you don't just make surveillance pricing possible – at that point, it's practically inevitable. This is what it means to create an enshittogenic policy environment: by arranging policy so that the most awful schemes of the worst people are the most profitable, you guarantee that those people will end up organizing commercial and labor markets. When surveillance pricing is applied to labor, we call it "algorithmic wage discrimination," a term coined by Veena Dubal based on her research with Uber drivers: https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men Uber uses historic data on drivers to make inferences about how economically precarious they are, and then extracts a "desperation premium" from their wages. Drivers who are pickier about which rides they accept ("pickers") are offered higher wages than drivers who take any ride ("ants"): https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4331080 On the back-end, Uber is inferring that the reason an ant will accept a worse job is that they have fewer choices – they are more strapped for cash and/or have fewer options for earning a higher wage. This is a straightforward form of algorithmic wage discrimination, using the blunt signal of how discriminating a driver is when signing onto a job to titer the subsequent wage offered to that driver. More sophisticated forms of algorithmic wage discrimination draw on external sources of data to set the price of your labor. That's the situation for contract nurses, whose traditional brick-and-mortar staffing agencies have been replaced by nationwide apps that market themselves as "Uber for nursing." These apps use commercial surveillance data from the unregulated data-broker sector to check on how much credit card debt a nurse is carrying and whether that debt is delinquent to set a wage: the more debt you have and the more dire your indebtedness is, the lower the wage you are offered (and therefore the more debt you accumulate – lather, rinse, repeat): https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/18/loose-flapping-ends/#luigi-has-a-point Surveillance wages are now proliferating to other parts of the economy, as "consultancies" offer software to employers that let them set all parts of your compensation – base wage, annual raises, and bonuses – based on your perceived desperation, as derived from commercial surveillance data that has been collected about you: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/employers-are-using-your-personal-data-to-figure-out-the-lowest-salary-youll-accept-c2b968fb Genna Contino's Marketwatch article on the phenomenon offers a concise definition of "surveillance wages": a system in which wages are based not on an employee’s performance or seniority, but on formulas that use their personal data, often collected without employees’ knowledge. This means that carrying a credit-card balance, taking out a payday loan, or even discussing your indebtedness on social media can all lead to lower wages in the future. Contino references a recent report released by Dubal and tech strategist Wilneida Negrón, surveying 500 large firms, which concluded that surveillance wages are now being offered in sectors as diverse as "healthcare, customer service, logistics and retail." Customers for surveillance wage tools include "Intuit, Salesforce, Colgate-Palmolive, Amwell and Healthcare Services Group": https://equitablegrowth.org/how-artificial-intelligence-uncouples-hard-work-from-fair-wages-through-surveillance-pay-practices-and-how-to-fix-it/ After a brief crackdown under Biden, the Trump regime has been extraordinarily welcoming to surveillance pricing companies, dropping investigations and cases against firms that engaged in the practice. A few states are stepping in to fill the gap, with New York state passing a rule requiring disclosure of surveillance pricing – a modest step that was nevertheless fought tooth-and-nail by the state's businesses. In Colorado, a new House bill called the "Prohibit Surveillance Data to Set Prices and Wages Act" would prohibit the use of personal information in wage-setting: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1264 This bill hasn't passed yet, but it's already doing useful work. Companies universally deny using surveillance data to set wages, insisting that they merely pay for consulting services that give them advice on how they could do surveillance wages – but don't actually take that advice. However, these same companies – including Uber and Lyft – are ferociously lobbying against the bill, raising an obvious question, articulated by the bill's co-sponsor Rep Javier Mabrey (D-1): if these companies don't pay surveillance wages, then "what is the problem of codifying in law that you’re not allowed to?" Surveillance wages are a rare profitable use-case for AI, in part because surveillance wages don't need to be "correct" in order to be effective. An employee who is offered a wage that's slightly higher than the lowest sum they'd accept still represents a savings to the company's wage-bill. As ever, AI is great for fully automating tasks if you don't care whether they're done well: https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/22/nobodys-home/#squeeze-that-hog The fact that surveillance wages are calculated by external contractors enables employers to engage in otherwise illegal price-fixing. If all the garages in town set mechanics' wages using the same surveillance pricing tool, then a mechanic looking for a job will get the same lowball offer from all nearby employers. If those bosses were to gather around a table and fix the wage for any (or all) mechanics, that would be wildly illegal, but the fact that this is done via a software package lets the bosses claim they're not actually colluding. This is a common practice in other forms of price-fixing. We see it in meat, potato products, and, of course, rental accommodations (hey there, Realpage!). It's a genuinely stupid ruse based on the absurd idea that "it's not a crime if we do it with an app": https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/25/potatotrac/#carbo-loading Speaking of crimes that are implausibly deniable when undertaken with an app: surveillance wages also allow employers to offer lower wages to women and brown and Black people while maintaining the pretense that they're in compliance with laws banning gender and racial discrimination. In the wider economy, women and racialized people are already offered lower wages and – thanks to the legacy of racial discrimination in employment and housing – are more likely to be indebted: https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high/ By tapping into data brokers' dossiers that reveal the economic precarity of jobseekers, surveillance pricing allows employers to systematically lower the wages of women and Black and brown people, who have the highest incidence of indebtedness, while still claiming to offer race- and gender-blind wages. This is a phenomenon that Patrick Ball calls "empiricism washing": first, move the illegal racist discrimination into an algorithm, then insist that "numbers can't be racist." But this isn't just about lowering wages at the bottom of the employment market. In recent history, the employers most eager to illegally lower their workers' wages are tech bosses, who had to pay massive fines for illegally colluding on "no poach" agreements to suppress the earning power of high-paid computer programmers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation (This is why the tech industry is so horny for AI – tech bosses can't wait to fire a ton of programmers and use the resulting terror to force down the wages of the remaining tech workers:) https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/05/fisher-price-steering-wheel/#billionaire-solipsism Which means that the very programmers who write and maintain the surveillance wage software used on the rest of us are especially likely to have the tools they created turned on them. Hey look at this (permalink) Toronto’s Transit Crisis Is a Class Crisis https://jacobin.com/2026/04/toronto-transit-uber-lyft-class/ Share Festival Call for Artists 2026: “Popular Singularity” https://bruces.medium.com/share-festival-call-for-artists-2026-popular-singularity-3b8daf92370f The machines are fine. I'm worried about us. https://ergosphere.blog/posts/the-machines-are-fine/ More Than One Way to Tax a Billionaire https://4taxfairness.substack.com/p/more-than-one-way-to-tax-a-billionaire Bernie vs. Claude https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3AtWdeu_G0 Object permanence (permalink) #20yrsago Arthur C Clarke fights Buddhist monks over Daylight Savings Time http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4865972.stm #20yrsago What parts of the .COM space are registered? https://web.archive.org/web/20060411133458/https://www.yafla.com/dforbes/2006/03/29.html #20yrsago Bomb squad called out to “defuse” life-size Super Mario power-ups https://web.archive.org/web/20060405034455/http://www.recordpub.com/article.php?pathToFile=archive/04012006/news/&file=_news1.txt&article=1&tD=04012006 #20yrsago Poems showing the absurdities of English spelling https://web.archive.org/web/20060405223008/https://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/poems.php #20yrsago Isaac Newton’s alchemical “chymistry” notebook scans https://web.archive.org/web/20060612203137/http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/index.jsp #20yrsago Poems showing the absurdities of English spelling https://web.archive.org/web/20060405223008/https://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/poems.php #20yrsago Isaac Newton’s alchemical “chymistry” notebook scans https://web.archive.org/web/20060612203137/http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/index.jsp #15yrsago Misleading government stats and the innumerate media who repeat them https://www.badscience.net/2011/04/anarchy-for-the-uk-ish/ #15yrsago US Customs’ domain-seizure program blocks free speech, leaves alleged pirates largely unscathed https://torrentfreak.com/us-governments-pirate-domain-seizures-failed-miserably-110403/ #15yrsago Misleading government stats and the innumerate media who repeat them https://www.badscience.net/2011/04/anarchy-for-the-uk-ish/ #15yrsago US Customs’ domain-seizure program blocks free speech, leaves alleged pirates largely unscathed https://torrentfreak.com/us-governments-pirate-domain-seizures-failed-miserably-110403/ #10yrsago Panama Papers: Largest leak in history reveals political and business elite hiding trillions in offshore havens https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/the-panama-papers-how-the-worlds-rich-and-famous-hide-their-money-offshore #10yrsago America’s teachers are being trained in a harsh interrogation technique that produces false confessions https://web.archive.org/web/20160404143447/https://www.alternet.org/education/why-are-k-12-school-leaders-being-trained-coercive-interrogation-techniques #10yrsago LA’s new rule: homeless people are only allowed to own one trashcan’s worth of things https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-apartments-demolished-20160402-story.html #10yrsago Save Netflix! https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/save-netflix #10yrsago The TSA spent $1.4M on an app to tell it who gets a random search https://kevin.burke.dev/kevin/tsa-randomizer-app-cost-336000/ #10yrsago Iceland’s Prime Minister says he won’t resign, mass demonstrations gain momentum https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/politics_and_society/2016/03/31/anti_government_demo_planned_for_monday/ #10yrsago Panama Papers reveal the tax-avoidance strategies of David Cameron’s father https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/04/panama-papers-david-cameron-father-tax-bahamas #10yrsago Studio sculpts giant coin, photographs it alongside normal objects to make them look tiny https://skrekkogle.com/projects/50c/ #5yrsago China's antitrust surge https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/03/ambulatory-wallets/#sectoral-balances #5yrsago Consumerism won't defeat Georgia's Jim Crow https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/03/ambulatory-wallets/#christmas-voting-turkeys #1yrago End-stage capitalism https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/04/anything-that-cant-go-on/#forever-eventually-stops Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: Humber Polytechnic President's Lecture Series, Apr 8 https://liberalarts.humber.ca/current-students/resources/conferences-and-lectures/presidents-lecture-series.html Montreal: Bronfman Lecture (McGill), Apr 10 https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artificial-intelligence-the-ultimate-disrupter-tickets-1982706623885 Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, Apr 10 https://mtl.drawnandquarterly.com/events/4863920260410 Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) The internet is getting worse (CBC The National) https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. First draft complete. Second draft underway. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/06/empiricism-washing/

What If There Could Be… Good Art Friends?

(date: 2026-04-06)

What does it mean to be writer friends? Are you coworkers, colleagues, drinking buddies, frenemies, pen pals, or somehow all of the above? Grant Ginder and Lillian Li met in 2018 at a joint reading in Providence, Rhode Island. Ginder

https://lithub.com/what-if-there-could-be-good-art-friends/

Breakfast For Optimists: How to Make a Perfect Poached Egg

(date: 2026-04-06)

The following sentence will tell you everything you need to know about how many friends I had as a child. When I was in elementary school, I spent two years fixated on poaching eggs in complete silence by using an

https://lithub.com/breakfast-for-optimists-how-to-make-a-perfect-poached-egg/

The Responsibility of the Critic: On Art, Honesty, and Introspection

(date: 2026-04-06)

On my birthday, I read an essay wherein the writer expresses disappointment in another writer’s failure to explicitly address the ongoing genocide in Gaza in her book. The book is set in a very specific neighborhood in New England in

https://lithub.com/the-responsibility-of-the-critic-on-art-honesty-and-introspection/

“This Simple Machine,” a Poem By Daniel Moysaenko

(date: 2026-04-06)

this messy machine a body peeking out and oozing at land’s hem blinded by sun glare on grass mistaken for powder snow the whole town ashy with heat like what is branded of winter blanketed barely noticed what matter of what

https://lithub.com/this-simple-machine-a-poem-by-daniel-moysaenko/

Searching For the Lost: On Arrivals, Departures and What We Leave Behind

(date: 2026-04-06)

If you placed all the lost gloves in Iceland end to end, I believe they would at least cover the distance between the north and south ends of the country, though probably not the circumference of the globe. On previous

https://lithub.com/searching-for-the-lost-on-arrivals-departures-and-what-we-leave-behind/

This Week in Literary History: Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is Published

(date: 2026-04-06)

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Literary History newsletter—sign up here. When Maurice Sendak published Where the Wild Things Are, on April 9, 1963, he had been working as an illustrator for some 15 years—at 20, he was designing windows at FAO

https://lithub.com/this-week-in-literary-history-maurice-sendaks-where-the-wild-things-are-is-published/

Correspondence Versus Connection: Raymond de Borja Reflects on Language, Poetry, and Friendship

(date: 2026-04-06)

“Things do not connect; they correspond,” writes Jack Spicer in his letter to the dead Federico Garcia Lorca. Things do not connect; they correspond—two independent clauses that echo recurring aspects in my work: 1.) A preference for correspondences of things

https://lithub.com/correspondence-versus-connection-raymond-de-borja-reflects-on-language-poetry-and-friendship/

“That’s What I Did”

(date: 2026-04-06)

That was it. I was very young, and I was living in Somerset with an old man, my father, The Major, and an old woman, my mother. There was a church and perhaps four or five very old houses in

https://lithub.com/thats-what-i-did/

Office Hours: Who Will Trump Fire Next?

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-15)

He wants to distract public attention from his lousy economy and rotten war and he loves to show he's powerful, so he'll continue to wield the hatchet — but on whom?

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-who-will-trump-fire

April 5, 2026

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-12)

At 8:03 this morning, Easter Sunday, President Donald J.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-5-2026

Holy Disobedience: Sex, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-22)

With Melissa Duge Spiers

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/holy-disobedience-sex-sin-and-secrets

Sam Always Wins

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-09)

“Sam Altman has it. You could parachute him into an island full of cannibals and come back in 5 years and he’d be the king.” — @paulg Anytime anyone underestimates or tries to do an end run around @sama, I remind myself of this golden nugget from PG, the man who knew him best before …

https://om.co/2026/04/05/951836/

Bryan Cranston Says “Comedy Is Essential Right Now” Amid “Bombardment” Of Constant News Cycle

(date: 2026-04-06)

It’s previously been reported that Bryan Cranston helped usher into existence Hulu/Disney+’s Malcolm in the Middle revival, but aside from wanting to get the dysfunctional family back together on screen, the multi-Emmy-winning actor hoped to convey the necessity of comedy in today’s bleak media environment. In a recent interview with The Guardian, the Breaking Bad […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/bryan-cranston-comedy-is-essential-news-cycle-1236780066/

Kernel prepatch 7.0-rc7

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-09)

Linus has released 7.0-rc7 for testing. "Things look set for a final release next weekend, but please keep testing. The Easter bunny is watching".

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066406/

Final Thought: He's Seriously Out of His Mind

(date: 2026-04-06, updated: 2026-04-14)

And the Iranians Know it

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/final-thought-hes-seriously-out-of

Winter Garden: Where is it like to be a language model?

(date: 2026-04-06)

And is it good to be one? Read here.

https://www.robinsloan.com/winter-garden/where-is-it-like/

Monday 6 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-21)

Tulip Mania These amazing multi-coloured tulips which suddenly appeared in our garden a couple of years ago, give one a hint of why the Dutch went mad about the bulbs in the mid-1600s. Quote of the Day ”The modern conservative … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/monday-6-april-2026/41850/

UCLA Triumphs Over South Carolina For First-Ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Title

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-06)

The UCLA Bruins have made history by clinching their first-ever NCAA Women’s Basketball championship after dominating the South Carolina Gamecocks 79-51 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Ariz. earlier today. While the Big Ten Conference team had never won the title since the student athletics organization adopted women’s basketball as an official sport in […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/ucla-wins-ncaa-womens-basketball-title-south-carolina-1236780047/

Dan Levy Reveals He “Was Thinking About” A Potential ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Sequel Prior To Catherine O’Hara’s Death

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-06)

Dan Levy revealed he once ruminated on a potential follow-up to hit CBC series Schitt’s Creek. After star Catherine O’Hara’s death, however, the showrunner-actor said he wouldn’t pursue a sequel. “No, not now,” he told CBS Sunday Mornings’ Anthony Mason. “You can’t.” In the interview tied to Levy’s forthcoming Netflix comedy show Big Mistakes, the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/dan-levy-schitts-creek-sequel-catherine-ohara-death-1236780040/

Sunday caption contest: "We Don't Need Their Oil"

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-13)

And last week's winner

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-caption-contest-winning

‘SNL UK’ Ratings Dive 36% To New Low For Riz Ahmed-Hosted Episode

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-06)

Saturday Night Live UK has lost the best part of 100,000 viewers since its premiere. The third episode in the series, hosted by Riz Ahmed, was watched by 130,100 viewers at 10PM on Sky, according to official overnight BARB figures supplied by overnights.tv. The audience, which delivered a 1.8% viewing share, was down 36% on […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/snl-uk-ratings-dive-new-low-riz-ahmed-1236780029/

Happy Easter

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-22)

We got our pilot back!

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/happy-easter

‘A Great Awakening’ Hits With Faith-Based Audiences & History Buffs – Specialty Box Office

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-06)

Roadside Attractions’ A Great Awakening nabbed the no. 6 spot at the domestic box office with a solid $2.1 million on 1,289 screens. The Sight & Sound production in honor of America’s 250th anniversary ths year explores the friendship between firebrand preacher George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin, and how Franklin’s resulting recognition of the role […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/indie-film-box-office-a-great-awakening-history-faith-based-1236772903/

I Tried Vibing an RSS Reader and My Dreams Did Not Come True

(date: 2026-04-05)

Simon Willison wrote about how he vibe coded his dream presentation app for macOS.

I also took a stab at vibe coding my dream app: an RSS reader.

To clarify: Reeder is my dream RSS app and it already exists, so I guess you could say my dreams have already come true?

But I’ve kind of always wanted to try an app where my RSS feed is just a list of unread articles and clicking any one opens it in the format in which it was published (e.g. the original website).

So I took a stab at it.

(Note: the backend portion of this was already solved, as I simply connected to my Feedbin account via the API.)

First I tried a macOS app because I never would’ve tried a macOS app before. Xcode, Swift, a Developer Account? All completely outside my wheelhouse. But AI helped be get past that hurdle of going from nothing to something.

It was fun to browse articles and see them in situ. A lot of folks have really great personal websites so it’s fun to see their published articles in that format.

This was pretty much pure vibes. I didn’t really look at the code at all because I knew I wouldn’t understand any of it.

I got it working the first night I sat down and tried it. It was pretty crappy but it worked.

From there I iterated. I’d use it for a day, fix things that were off, keep using it, etc.

Eventually I got to the point where I thought:

Ok, I could use this on my personal computer.
I don’t know that I’ll be able to iterate on this much more because its getting more complicated and failing more and more with each ask ( I was just trying to move some stupid buttons around in the UI and the AI was like, “Nah bro, I can’t.”)
I have no idea how I’d share this with someone.
I don’t think I’d be comfortable sharing this with someone (even though I think I did things like security right by putting credentials in the built-in keychain, etc.)
I guess this is where the road stops.

I’m picky about software, so the bar for my dreams is high. But I’m also lazy, so my patience is quite low.

The intersection of: the LLM failing over and over + my inability to troubleshoot any of it + not wanting to learn = a bad combination for persevering through debugging.

Which made me say: “Screw it, I’ll build it as a website!”

But websites don’t really work for this kind of app because of CORS. I can’t just stick an article’s URL in an <iframe> and preview it because certain sites have cross site headers that don’t allow it to display under another domain.

But that didn’t stop me. I tried building the idea anyway as just a list view. I could install this as a web app on my Mac and I'd get a simple list view:

Anytime I clicked on a link, it would open in my default browser. Actually not a bad experience.

It worked pretty decent on my phone too. Once I visited my preview deploy, I could "isntall" it to my home screen and then when I opened it, I'd have my latest unread articles. Clicking on any of them would open a webview that I could easily dismiss and get back to my list.

Not too bad.

But not what I wanted, especially on desktop.

It seemed like the only option to 1) get exactly what I wanted, and 2) distribute it — all in a way that I could understand in case something went wrong or I had to overcome an obstacle — was to make a native app.

At this point, I was thinking: “I’m too tired to learn Apple development right now, and I’ve worked for a long time on the web, so I may as well leverage the skills that I got.”

So I vibed an Electron app because Electron will let me get around the cross site request issues of a website.

This was my very first Electron app and, again, the LLM helped me go from nothing to something quite quickly (but this time I could understand my something way better).

The idea was the same: unread articles on the left, a preview of any selected articles on the right. Here’s a screenshot:

It’s fine. Not really what I want. But it’s a starting point.

Is it better than Reeder? Hell no.

Is it my wildest dreams realized? Also no.

But it’s a prototype of an idea I’ve wanted to explore.

I”m not sure I’ll go any further on it. It’s hacky enough that I can grasp a vision for what it could be. The question is: do I actually want this? Is this experience something I want in the long run?

I think it could be. But I have to figure out exactly how I want to build it as a complementary experience to my preferred way of going through my RSS feed.

Which won't be your preference.

Which is why I'm not sharing it.

So what’s my takeaway from all this? I don’t know. That’s why I’m typing this all out in a blog post.

Vibe coding is kinda cool. It lets you go from “blank slate” to “something” way faster and easier than before.

But you have to be mindful of what you make easy. You know what else is easy? Fast food. But I don’t want that all the time.

In fact, vibe coding kinda left me with that feeling I get after indulging in social media, like “What just happened? Two hours have passed and what did I even spend my time doing? Just mindlessly chasing novelty?” It’s fun and easy to mindlessly chasing your whims. But part of me thinks the next best step for this is to sit and think about what I actually want, rather than just yeeting the next prompt out.

I’ve quipped before that our new timelines are something like:

Nothing -> Something? 1hr.
Something -> Something Good? 1 year.

The making from nothing isn't as hard anymore. But everything after that still is. Understanding it. Making it good. Distributing it. Supporting it. Maintaining it. All that stuff. When you know absolutely nothing about those — like I did with macOS development — things are still hard.

After all this time vibing, instead of feeling closer to my dream, I actually kinda feel further from it. Like the LLM helped close the gap in understanding what it would actually take for me to realize my dreams. Which made me really appreciate the folks who have poured a lot of time and thought and effort into building RSS readers I use on a day-to-day basis.

Thank you makers of Feedbin & Reeder & others through the years. I’ll gladly pay you $$$ for your thought and care.

In the meantime, I may or may not be over here slowly iterating on my own supplemental RSS experience. In fact, I might’ve just found the name: RxSSuplement.

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https://petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr/initiatives/i-5158

Related posts linking here:(2026) Prototyping with LLMs

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2026/vibe-dreams-didnt-come-true/

Lisa Kudrow Says Today’s Multi-Cams Lack That “I Can’t Believe You Just Said That” Quality

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-06)

The days of “I can’t believe you just said that” in a multi-cam comedy seem to be over, suggests Lisa Kudrow. While promoting the return of The Comeback, the former Friends actress admitted in an interview that she doesn’t have much interest in comedies these days — particularly the multi-camera ones that don’t take risks […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/lisa-kudrow-says-todays-multi-cams-dont-take-risks-jokes-1236780015/

"Cognitive surrender" leads AI users to abandon logical thinking, research finds

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-21)

"Experiments show large majorities uncritically accepting “faulty” AI answers." Increasingly, incentive structures are asking them to.

https://werd.io/cognitive-surrender-leads-ai-users-to-abandon-logical-thinking-research-finds/

Our Wins Of The Week

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-22)

There was plenty of news to cheer about this week.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/week-progressive-wins-april-5

‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ – All The Box Office Records Broken

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-06)

Illumination and Universal’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie at $372.5M worldwide is the second highest grossing movie in the Nintendo videogame plumbers big screen franchise behind 2023’s Super Mario Bros‘ $387.8M, but, damn, did this sequel make a ton of cash this weekend. Overseas in 80 territories, and more than 23,500 locations and 54,000 screens, part […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/super-mario-galaxy-movie-box-office-records-1236780005/

The back story behind the first “$1.8 Billion” dollar “AI Company”

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-22)

AI isn’t the only thing behind Medvi

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/the-back-story-behind-the-first-18

Conversion Therapy Now Has Constitutional Cover

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-22)

The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that conversion therapy is free speech. I take a closer look at the groups who want to defend malpractice and why the Supreme Court got it wrong.

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/who-filed-briefs-to-defend-conversion

What To Read This Weekend

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-06)

Every few years a startup comes along that dominates the headlines and grabs all the attention. For all the right and wrong reasons. I have been following the industry long enough to see that pattern repeat itself. Netscape, Amazon, Facebook, and more recently, OpenAI. The headlines are driven by the curiosity of the masses. And …

https://om.co/2026/04/05/what-to-read-this-weekend-20/

Winning In An Evolving Political Battlefield

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-12)

Happy Easter Everyone!

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/winning-in-an-evolving-political

Guest Newsletter: Five Books - Biographies, And Historical Fiction Set In South Africa

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-21)

Five Books features in-depth author interviews recommending five books on a theme

https://thebrowser.com/free/guest-newsletter-five-books-91/

The Wild Magical World of AI (LLMs) [en]

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-17)

[en] End 2024 is when I really started to get going with “AI” (or LLMs – I know saying “AI” is kinda wrong, but there seems to be no good way to escape it right now). I’d been dabbling a bit before that: as a search engine, to help me with my excel formulas at work, … Continue reading "The Wild Magical World of AI (LLMs) [en]"

https://climbtothestars.org/archives/2026/04/05/the-wild-magical-world-of-ai-llms/

Living in Hell

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-18)

War crimes coming: A horrifying update

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/living-in-hell

Hackers breached the European Commission (The Next Web)

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-08)

LWN recently reported on the Trivy compromise that led, in turn, to the compromise of the LiteLLM system; that article made the point that the extent of the problem was likely rather larger than was known. The Next Web now reports that the Trivy attack was used to compromise a wide range of European Commission systems.

The European Union's computer emergency response team said on Thursday that a supply chain attack on an open-source security scanner gave hackers the keys to the European Commission's cloud infrastructure, resulting in the theft and public leak of approximately 92 gigabytes of compressed data including the personal information and email contents of staff across dozens of EU institutions.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066371/

@Barack Obama @Bsky

(date: 2026-04-05)

To everyone celebrating Easter, Michelle and I wish you a joyful holiday filled with reminders of the enduring power of faith and hope.

https://bsky.app/profile/barackobama.bsky.social/post/3miqsy2gdck2u

The discourse about WordPress

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-22)

I love all the new discourse about WordPress.

It was so quiet until this week, now I'm getting a much better view of the landscape.

I started developing seriously around WordPress almost three years ago. I've been developing this kind of software since the late 80s if you can believe that.

What's missing on the web -- software for writers.

I believe more all the time that WordPress is the natural way to store and present writing on the web and hook up to all the social webs, to actually redefine what a social web is. There should just be one social web, btw -- not 18. If there are 18 and they don't interop, then none of them deserve to call themselves the web. There is only one web, by definition.

The WordPress community has been very introspective, but it's time to make a difference for the whole web, and imho it is prepared to do that.

I want something inbetween the tiny little text boxes of the twitter-like apps, and the block editor (aka Gutenberg) of WordPress. I think there should be a dozen great editors that work with WordPress and then hopefully every CMS that comes along. Collectively, WordPress has taken too much territory -- writing is very different from site development and administration. I want to start the development of that ecosystem, and help new products get to market with interop and driven by what users/writers want.

I wrote this at bullmancuso yesterday, it was worth repeating here. And if you used to follow me on Twitter, please sign up again from that link. It's my new home there.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/05/130334.html?title=theDiscourseAboutWordpress

“Singin’ in the Rain”

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-22)

A Reason To Smile

https://steady.substack.com/p/singin-in-the-rain

Why Democrats are suddenly winning back the left — and the "double-haters"

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-22)

Plus, the share of Americans calling themselves Republicans just hit a decade low. Your weekly political data roundup for April 5, 2026.

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-05-sunday-roundup

The Art of War by Donald J. Trump

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-22)

TBR Sunday Read

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/donald-trumps-the-art-of-war

Private Credit and the New World of Financial Risk

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-18)

There’s a whiff of 2008 in the air

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/private-credit-and-the-new-world

I used AI. It worked. I hated it.: Taggart Tech

(date: 2026-04-05)

There’s a fundamental problem with these tools beyond the capacity of any deployment strategy to solve: the tool requires expertise to validate, but its use diminishes expertise and stunts its growth. How does one become an expert? There are no shortcuts; there is only continuous hard work and dedication. I was once told of writing, great writers learn how to break the rules in new and ingenious ways by first learning the rules.

But how is a new developer meant to learn the rules if their day-to-day work is nothing but the babysitting of models? How will they gain the hard-won experience that allows a human in the loop to be a useful safeguard?

These models alter cognition in ways deleterious to human prosperity. In other words, for as much output as they provide, they take something important from us.

adactio.com/links/22513

https://taggart-tech.com/reckoning/

Let’s put an end to the speculation

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-16)

Ideally, we would have preferred to avoid this post. However, the articles and comments published in response to Collabora’s and Michael Meeks’ biased posts compel us to provide this background information on the events that led to the current situation. Unfortunately, we have to start from the very beginning, but

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/05/lets-put-an-end-to-the-speculation/

Sunday thought: Humor?

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-13)

Levity in these dark times

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-thought-humor

05 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-05)

It really is the stupid phone ruining everything isn’t it? The stupid screens of doom and the stupidity of the world isn’t it?

Yes.

However, it's not the device itself, and not the base functionalities of the device. I remember a series from my youth - …

https://petermolnar.net/note/re-ohhelloanablognew-forest/

April 4, 2026

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-12)

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the U.S.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-4-2026

Someday

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-14)

Bad Karma In August of 2024, Audacy killed off WCBS/880 in New York, handing its ratings over to sister station WINS/1010, which now identifies by its new FM signal on 92.3 (even though the AM signal is much bigger). In the process, Audacy also handed off the 880 channel to Good Karma Brands, which already […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/04/someday/

Michael Che Says “It’s Cool” Trump Attends The Theater After POTUS Was At ‘Chicago’ Opening Night: “What’s The Worst That Could Happen?”

(date: 2026-04-05)

Saturday Night Live Weekend Update’s Michael Che thinks “it’s cool that the president is going to the theater” after Donald Trump was seen attending the opening night of the musical Chicago at the Kennedy Center. “What’s the worst that could happen?” the co-anchor quipped to loud studio cheers tonight. Che and Colin Jost touched on […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/weekend-update-snl-pam-bondi-kristi-noem-trump-iran-1236779895/

An Immodest Proposal for the Music Industry

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-13)

How music listeners can fill the industry’s “value gap.” This piece was my column for the November 2018 issue of Linux Journal. I’m running it again here for three reasons: 1) It’s still timely and worth resurfacing, 2) Linux Journal’s archives are now absent of images (and I’m an image guy), and 3) I think […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/04/an-immodest-proposal-for-the-music-industry/

Final Four + Pam Bondi Firing Heats Up ‘SNL’ Cold Open With Rare Wit & Twists

(date: 2026-04-05)

It took a while to get there, but like its newly(ish) launched SNL UK cousin, SNL went for a political cold open tonight. The skit started out drilling down on the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament’s Final Four before deftly segueing to the April 2 firing of Pam Bondi. “I made history as the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/snl-ncaa-pam-bondi-firing-cold-open-1236779863/

Jack Black Inducted Into Five-Timers Club By Cavalcade Of ‘SNL’ Elites Amid Rock-Filled Monologue Featuring Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy & More

(date: 2026-04-05)

If there’s anyone who can revive a Saturday Night Live joke that’s overstayed its welcome, it’s newly minted Five-Timer Jack Black. As expected, the comic and actor was inducted into the elite SNL club by a cavalcade of elites, with cameos from Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, Candice Bergen and Melissa McCarthy. First, his opening monologue […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/jack-black-snl-monologue-five-timers-club-cameos-jack-white-1236779872/

WGA & Studios Officially Confirm Tentative Deal; Guild Says “This Deal Protects Writers’ Health Plan”

(date: 2026-04-05)

It’s officially official: The Writers Guild of America has agreed to a tentative new four-year contract with the studios and streamers, said the Greg Hessinger-led Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the guild tonight. The shocker deal, which was on very few people’s Holy Week and/or Passover bingo card, could prove transformative for […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/wga-deal-amptp-studios-health-plan-1236779810/

Steve Kroft Admits He “Hated” Working At ’60 Minutes’ Because Of Its Competitive Nature & Nonstop News Cycle

(date: 2026-04-05)

Steve Kroft may have won numerous Emmys, Peabody Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award for his 30-year tenure as a 60 Minutes correspondent, but when asked by Bill O’Reilly if he would do it all over again, the since-retired journalist said he “probably wouldn’t.” In a recent interview with the conservative commentator, Kroft — whose […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/steve-kroft-hated-60-minutes-cbs-news-competitve-1236779859/

Michael Patrick King Suggests ‘And Just Like That’ Will “Potentially Age Well”

(date: 2026-04-05)

And Just Like That… may not have been everyone’s style, but co-creator Michael Patrick King believes the HBO Max requel series will get its due — in due time. In a recent interview with The Guardian, the writer/executive producer noted that the three-season Sex and the City follow-up will potentially enjoy cult status over time. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/michael-patrick-king-and-just-like-that-age-well-1236779851/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-08)

Shield of the Americas sounds ominous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_of_the_Americas

Sharon Stone Says She Often Fast-Forwards During “Blatant, Harsh” Sex Scenes On TV As They Take Away From Her “Imagination”

(date: 2026-04-05)

In recent years, there has been much ado about the sex scene as depicted on film and in television, with regard to its narrative merit and/or potential for appearing gratuitous. For Sharon Stone, “blatant, harsh” depictions of sexuality rob the viewer of intrigue. During a recent conversation with longtime CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King, the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/sharon-stone-film-sex-scenes-fast-forward-1236779844/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-05, updated: 2026-04-08)

I want a new social network that doesn’t strip essential writing features from the web.

https://x.com/bullmancuso/status/2040479180643582129

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-22)

Sometimes I put test posts on my blog. This is one of those times. Still diggin, amazingly -- in 2026. What makes this post different is that 1. It's a singular item, ie there is no title, and just one paragraph. It's a collection of sentences not paragraphs. 2. It has a right margin image. I have to test this specific case. It has to go on a certain length so that the image that appears in the right margin doesn't leak over to the next item, and the image should be small so it doesn't require so much text to keep it out of the next post. And now I believe I have entered enough text.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/04.html#a232607

March For Our Lives Calls Out ‘The Drama’s “Deeply Misaligned” Marketing Campaign: “We Expect Better From A24 And The Artists Behind It”

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-05)

Editor’s note: The following article contains some spoilers for The Drama. Ahead of last night’s premiere of Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama, gun violence prevention organization March for Our Lives released a statement calling out the A24 dark romantic comedy’s “deeply misaligned” marketing campaign. On Thursday, the student-led advocacy group posted a disclaimer to Instagram, noting […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/march-for-our-lives-the-drama-marketing-school-shooting-1236779818/

‘SNL UK’ Takes On ‘The Traitors,’ Mocking Claims Contestants Display Unconscious Racial Bias

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-05)

Saturday Night Live UK is faithful to The Traitors. Hosted by Riz Ahmed, SNL UK sent up the biggest series on British television with a sketch confronting claims that The Traitors contestants display unconscious racial bias by voting out people of color. Side-stepping copyright concerns, SNL‘s sketch showed contestants trying to root out a “great […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/snl-uk-takes-on-the-traitors-riz-ahmed-1236779821/

Episode 179 - Programming Block by Block

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-19)

In which we discuss GPSS: the General Purpose Simulation Language. As for as languages go, this is a unique one. It's designed for certain types of simulations. It's code is just a handy way to feed a flowchart into a computer. It's design is closer to an analog computer than it is to a programming language. Yet GPSS is Turing Complete. Step inside and prepare to be... confused!

The big source of the show:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/960118.808382 - The Development of GPSS

Like Advent of Computing? Then check out the after show! Adjunct of Computing is now LIVE: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts

https://adventofcomputing.libsyn.com/episode-179-programming-block-by-block

@Tomosino's Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-10)

Ate too much

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/116348705476035872

‘SNL UK’ Cold Open: George Fouracres’ Keir Starmer Calls On Olivia Colman & Peppa Pig To Inspire Nation

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-05)

Saturday Night Live UK cold opened with the British prime minister calling on some friends to deliver a stirring address to the nation. George Fouracres’s Keir Starmer took to the lectern, flanked by the Union Jack flag, but admitted he’s “not inspiring” as a leader. Reflecting on war in the Middle East entering its second […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/snl-uk-cold-open-keir-starmer-olivia-colman-1236779805/

Inside WGA Deal: How The Writers Made Nice With The AMPTP

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-05)

EXCLUSIVE: In a major bargaining plot twist, the Writers Guild of America became the first of the three above-the-line entertainment unions to finalize a tentative deal with the major studios and streamers on Saturday. Given the writers guild’s historically contentious relationship with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, it is quite intriguing that […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/inside-wga-deal-how-the-writers-amptp-agreed-1236779795/

Ben Platt & Rachel Zegler Announce ‘The Last Five Years’ Live Album For 25th Anniversary

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-05)

As The Last Five Years celebrates the last 25 years, Ben Platt and Rachel Zegler are immortalizing their anniversary performance. During Friday’s production at the Hollywood Bowl, the co-stars announced a live album cast recording from their recent London Palladium run, which debuts April 20 and is now available for pre-order, via Atlantic Records. “This […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/ben-platt-rachel-zegler-the-last-five-years-live-album-1236779797/

Ozempic dreams

(date: 2026-04-04)

It’s a secret to everyone! This post is for RSS subscribers only. Read more about RSS Club.

I’ve heard the term “Ozempic face” for awhile. People have opinions about that one, but I tend to feel like we should be comfortable with bodies changing. There’s also “Ozempic butt” and there’s even “Ozempic penis”. I’ll let you search those up on your own but they’re also related to physical changes from losing weight.

I started Wegovy, a GLP-1 like Ozempic, in December and the weight line is trending down down. That’s a good place to be and while I’m not experiencing any of the above symptoms, there has been one noticeable change. One thing I wasn’t prepared for was a change to my dreaming and sure enough “Ozempic dreams” are a thing (at least on Reddit).

Since starting GLP-1 my dreams have been much more vivid. Colors are more colorful. Weirdness more weird. People more real. Dialogue more rich. Storylines are more complex and multi-layered, not linear. If I wake up in the middle of the night I can seamlessly resume at the previous checkpoint.

They nearly fall under the category of “lucid dreams” where you know you’re dreaming and can control them. It’s not every night, but when it happens I sleep harder and wake up more rested. Like most dreams I don’t remember the details after waking up, but I do remember the sensation of “Wow, this is a wild and complex dream.”

I’m curious what’s causing it: change in diet, calorie deficiency, blood sugar, or (as some claim) a hormone in the GLP-1? I don’t know and realize my experience is entirely anecdotal hearsay, but what a weird yet welcome side effect. Is this what dreams are like for people with better peptides?

https://daverupert.com/2026/04/ozempic-dreams/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-07)

Artemis II Flight Day 4: Deep-Space Flying, Lunar Flyby Prep.

https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/04/04/artemis-ii-flight-day-4-deep-space-flying-lunar-flyby-prep/

Sound checking Salter Cane

(date: 2026-04-04)

Sound checking Salter Cane

https://adactio.com/notes/22512

Donald Trump Isn't Sounding Like Himself

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-17)

And that's terrifying

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/donald-trump-isnt-sounding-like-himself

Before I go: People like it when other people make things

(date: 2026-04-04)

I’ve watched a billion hours of YouTube and I’ve noticed a common trend: Whether that’s a drawing, a video game, a song, a cake, or a whole-ass off-grid house; I’ve learned that it’s fun to watch people make something. Since the beginning of humanity, the act of slapping two rocks together to make an arrowhead or a fire will draw a crowd. I feel like mankind has an innate curiosity to pause and say “Oooh, whatcha making?” We like it when others make. This might not even be unique to humans, have you ever seen a bowerbird nest? Incredible.

The Maker Movement harnessed that creative attention energy and built an entire subculture around it. I’ve been watching the same guy make a musical marble machine for ten years. Practical effects artists Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman built their entire TV show Mythbusters around this premise. We are problem solvers, all of us. The process can often be as enjoyable as the final object. I’d go so far to say they built the empires of YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram on the same principle: it’s fun to watch (hot) people make something even if that “something” is a video about fingernails.

I harp on my kids from time-to-time about making. We’re pretty permissive about device time but I frequently try to impart that we give them these devices as tools for creativity, not just brainrot. Kids are innately creative, so they understand my intent. But black rectangles are powerful energy vampires. From time to time though I’m blessed with an artwork, animation, a short film, an overdubbed movie trailer, or a half-built Roblox game. And those go on the proverbial refrigerator in my heart.

I suppose there’s limits to this thesis. Watching someone make a murder machine wouldn’t be fun. Watching someone make war, not fun.

Watching someone make numbers by typing into the random number generator isn’t that fun. But if there’s some novel, reason, or idea behind it… you could convince me it isn’t slop. I don’t particularly find the medium of decoupage enjoyable but with the right artistic mindset, curiosity, or obsession… sure? And if a bird assembles a house from trash, well I love that.

Some like to draw thin blurry lines and some prefer to draw thick crisp lines, I love to see and read both. And I’m glad the term “slop” exists because we as a creative species created a label for the abstract idea of thoughtless outputs from a thoughtless content extruder.

So, make something. Or not. I don’t care. Actually, I do care. Please make something. With your hands, or your brain, or your feet… wait, no that has other connotations.

https://daverupert.com/2026/04/make-something/

Weeknotes: Mar. 28 – Apr. 3, 2026

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-22)

Highlight of the week: been emailing with my niece and getting to know her better as an adult which is cool ❤️ Looking forward to: our upcoming train trip to California — I ordered a self-pub guidebook with rave reviews! Stuff I did: 5.25 hours consulting reviewed my tax documents (I hire someone, I did self-employment […]

https://tracydurnell.com/2026/04/04/weeknotes-mar-28-apr-3-2026/

When Trump appeared on Twitter

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-22)

Excellent podcast discussion with John Stewart and Heather Cox Richardson. I desperately wanted to get in the conversation. I think they missed something important and came soooo close. Trump isn't only a TV star, he's a blogger. Comes naturally to him. Why wasn't Obama transformative in the same way? First black president. You get to be the first black president by being utterly brilliant and infinitely careful. There wasn't a single spontaneous moment in his presidency, though there were scripted moments when playing that role. And some amazingly brilliant speech-making. He's perfect, but that's because there were severe limits on what he could get away with.

On the web the ethos is "Come as you are, we're just folks." That's not Obama.

Who also had to be hugely careful? Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. Not Joe Biden who's famous for his gaffes.

Trump doesn't give a shit what you think, that's why he's so good on Twitter. Trump was a TV star but right now it's more important to be a natural born blogger.

I was beating this drum ever since Trump appeared on Twitter. We need to be much better at this. We're still in the hole. At least Newsom knows there's a problem but imho he isn't the answer. We need someone who's bitter and funny, like Joan Rivers or Don Rickles. You don't need to understand government or politics, just show up and be a kind of lovable asshole 24 hours a day.

People could relate to Trump. Trump, even though he's not a great dancer, doesn't mind doing it if you think it's funny. He's a total entertainment package. Very random.

Wouldn't hurt for the next Dems to to find someone like that. Hopefully not to run for president.

HCR said Trump was Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs -- I LOL'd totally.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/04/154327.html?title=whenTrumpAppearedOnTwitter

Starting The Painful Process Of Picking Up The Pieces From A Failed Trump Presidency

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-12)

Join me live and in person this Thursday night at 7pm in Bethesda, Maryland - Join us, bring friends and colleagues! Will be great to see folks in person......

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/starting-the-painful-process-of-picking

The Astronaut And The Upper Class

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-19)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/the-astronaut-and-the-upper-class/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-17)

Mes amis français, envisagez de signer ces pétitions contre la loi Yadan ici:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116346968268964912

‘I Fly With the Eagles.’

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-22)

How a mock-combat drill in an F-15 looked, from the back seat.

https://fallows.substack.com/p/i-fly-with-the-eagles

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-17)

In Mexico we say “La verdad no peca, pero incomoda” - and I just realized this teaches us form an early age about cognitive dissonance, in an approachable and funny way.

It is beautiful as usual.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116346875685035785

On Weakness

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-22)

There is a recurring pattern in political movements that define themselves less by what they build within existing frameworks and more by what can be done to them.

https://dbarkhuff.substack.com/p/on-weakness

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-07)

Anthropic blocks OpenClaw from Claude subscriptions.

https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/anthropic-blocks-openclaw-from-claude-subscriptions

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-06)

WordPress needs to refactor, not redecorate.

https://joost.blog/wordpress-refactor-not-redecorate/

@Tomosino's Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-10)

Spinning day!

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/116346376675308478

Talking With Lina Khan

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-16)

From Amazon to antitrust to Mamdani

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-with-lina-khan

Lit Hub Weekly: March 30 – April 3, 2026

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-03)

Kelsey Rexroat investigates the super-readers who log hundreds of books a year. | Lit Hub Craft The very important history of the very important pickle: “Whether it’s through jokes, viral trends, or tongue-in-cheek pickle merchandise, pickles have become a lighthearted

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-weekly-march-30-april-3-2026/

Trump's war crime campaign, explained by an expert

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-22)

"People have long memories when it comes to atrocity crimes."

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/brian-finucane-interview-war-crimes

What Planet Is Trump Now On? The Saturday Coffee Klatch for April 4, 2026

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-12)

With Heather Lofthouse and yours truly, Robert Reich

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-planet-is-trump-now-on-the-saturday

Pluralistic: EU ready to cave to Trump on tech (04 Apr 2026)

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-15)

Today's links EU ready to cave to Trump on tech: Surrendermonkeys ahoy. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: "Among a Thousand Fireflies"; "fiscal" not "physical"; Ontario's pusher premiere can't distribute vaccines; You need your head examined (if you trust an AI therapist); Women tell Pence about their periods; Zombie economy and digital arm-breakers; The trouble with tariffs. Upcoming appearances: Toronto, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Berlin, NYC, Hay-on-Wye, London. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. EU ready to cave to Trump on tech (permalink) Crises precipitate change. That's no reason to induce a crisis, but you'd be a fool to let a crisis go to waste. Donald Trump is the greatest crisis of our young century, and the EU looks set to squander the opportunity, to its own terrible detriment. For more than a decade, it's been clear that the American internet was not fit for purpose. The whistleblowers Mark Klein and Edward Snowden revealed that the US had weaponized its status as the world's transoceanic fiber-optic hub to spy on the entire planet: https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-11-26-difficult-multipolarism-eurostack-5a527c32f149 US tech giants flouted privacy laws, gleefully plundering the world's cash and data with products that they remorselessly enshittified: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/30/zucksauce/#gandersauce American companies repurposed their over-the-air software update capabilities to remotely brick expensive machinery in service to geopolitical priorities: https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/08/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors/ Then Trump and his tech companies started attacking key public institutions around the world, shutting down access for senior judges who attempted to hold Trump's international authoritarian allies to account for their crimes: https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/20/post-american-internet/#huawei-with-american-characteristics If Trump wants to steal Greenland, he doesn't need tanks or missiles. He can just tell Microsoft and Oracle to brick the entire Danish state and all of its key firms, blocking their access to their email archives, files, databases, and other key administrative tools. If Denmark still holds out, Trump can brick all their tractors, smart speakers, and phones. If Denmark still won't give up Greenland, Trump could blackhole all Danish IP addresses for the world's majority of transoceanic fiber. At the click of a mouse, Trump could shut down the world's supply of Lego, Ozempic, and delicious, lethally strong black licorice. Now, these latent offensive capabilities were obvious long before Trump, but the presidents who weaponized them in the pre-Trump era did so in subtle and deniable ways, or under a state of exception (e.g. in response to spectacular terrorist attacks or in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine) that let bystanders assure themselves that this wouldn't become a routine policy. After all, America profited so much from the status quo in which America and its trading partners all pretended that US tech wouldn't be weaponized for geopolitical aims, so a US president would be a fool to shatter the illusion. And even if the president was so emotionally incontinent that he demanded the naked weaponization of America's defective, boobytrapped tech exports, the power blocs that the president relies on would stop him, because they are so marinated in the rich broth that America drained from the world using Big Tech. This is "status quo bias" in action. No one wants to let go of the vine they're swinging from until they have a new vine firmly in their grasp – but you can't reach the next vine unless you release your death-grip on your current one. So it was that, year after year, the world allowed itself to become more dependent on America's easily weaponizable tech, making the tech both more dangerous and harder to escape. Enter Trump (a crisis) (and crises precipitate change). Under Trump, the illusion of a safe interdependence crumbled. Every day, in new and increasingly alarming ways, Trump makes it clear that America doesn't have allies or trading partners, only adversaries and rivals. Every day, Trump proves to the world that American tech isn't merely untrustworthy – it's a live, dire, urgent danger to your state, your companies, and your people. The best time to get shut of the American internet was 15 years ago. The second best time is right fucking now. NOW! The result is the burgeoning movement to build a "post-American internet." In Canada, PM Mark Carney's announcement of a "rupture" has the country rethinking its deep connections to the American internet and asking what it could do to escape it: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/27/i-want-to-do-it/#now-make-me-do-it Europe, meanwhile, has multiple, advanced, well-funded initiatives to leave the American internet behind and migrate to a post-American internet, like "Eurostack" and the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/edic But status quo bias exerts a powerful gravity. A reactionary counterrevolution is being waged in the European Commission – the permanent bureaucracy that executes Europe's laws and regulations. Within the EC, an ascendant faction has announced plans for a "dialogue" with representatives from the Trump regime to let them direct the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), Europe's landmark 2024 anti-Big Tech regulations: https://www.politico.eu/article/fatal-decision-eu-slammed-for-caving-to-us-pressure-on-digital-rules/ The DMA and DSA require America's tech giants to open up their platforms in ways that would halt the plunder of Europeans' private data and cash. US tech giants have flatly refused to comply with these rules, relying on Trump to get them out of any obligations under EU law: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/26/empty-threats/#500-million-affluent-consumers That's a sound bet. After all, the last thing Trump did before his inauguration was publicly announce his intention to destroy any country that attempted to enforce these laws: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/us/politics/trump-davos-europe-tariffs.html He's making good on his threats. He's already sanctioned a group of officials who helped draft the DSA: https://www.npr.org/2025/12/24/nx-s1-5655855/trump-administration-bars-5-europeans-from-entry-to-the-u-s-over-alleged-censorship And he's ordered his tech companies to turn over the private emails and messages of other European officials, so he can identify the ones most dangerous to US tech plunder and sanction them, too: https://www.politico.eu/article/us-congress-judiciary-committee-big-tech-private-communication-eu-officials/ The quislings and appeasers in the Commission who've been spooked by Trump's belligerence (or tempted by offers of cushy jobs in Big Tech after they leave public service) are selling out the EU's future. Caving to Trump won't make him more favorably disposed to Europe or Europeans. Trump treats every capitulation as a sign of weakness that signals that he can safely ignore his end of the bargain and demand twice as much. For Trump, the "art of the deal" can be summed up in one word: reneging. Within the EU, there's fury at the Commission's announcement of "dialogue." As Politico's Milena Wälde reports, lawmakers like Alexandra Geese (Greens) say that this is a move that eliminates the "sovereign path for Europe" by letting tech giants "grade their own homework." She calls it a "fatal decision for our companies and our democracy." Moving to the post-American internet is hard – but it will only get harder. Sure, Europe could wait for the next crisis to let go of the Big Tech vine and grab the Eurostack one, but that next crisis will be far, far worse. The EU can't afford to wait for Trump to brick one or more of its member states to (finally, at long last) take this threat seriously: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/01/39c3/#the-new-coalition Hey look at this (permalink) The Far-Right Cash Machine https://prospect.org/2026/04/02/apr-2026-magazine-far-right-cash-machine-racist-crowdfunding/ Homocore Anthology https://www.flukemags.com/product/homocore Lessons from History: The DOJ vs Microsoft https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/our-submission-to-the-cma-on-apples-ios-interoperability-commitments/#3-lessons-from-history-the-doj-vs-microsoft Data Sharing and Syndication Remedies in US v Google https://insights.sumitsharma.consulting/p/google-search-remedies-implementation?hide_intro_popup=true Who Goes AI? https://www.todayintabs.com/p/who-goes-ai Object permanence (permalink) #10yrsago Among a Thousand Fireflies: children’s book shows the sweet, alien love stories unfolding in our own backyards https://memex.craphound.com/2016/04/01/among-a-thousand-fireflies-childrens-book-shows-the-sweet-alien-love-stories-unfolding-in-our-own-backyards/ #10yrsago After biggest bribery scandal in history, police raids and investigations https://www.smh.com.au/business/police-raids-and-more-revelations-the-fallout-of-the-unaoil-scandal-20160401-gnw9mx.html #10yrsago Bernie Sanders’ South Bronx rally, featuring Rosario Dawson, Spike Lee, and Residente https://www.c-span.org/program/campaign-2016/senator-bernie-sanders-campaign-rally-in-south-bronx/437114 #10yrsago Freshman Missouri Rep almost made it 3 months before introducing bill urging members to say “fiscal,” not “physical” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/31/hero-lawmaker-urges-colleagues-to-stop-saying-physical-when-they-mean-fiscal/ #10yrsago Indiana women phone the governor’s office to tell him about their periods https://web.archive.org/web/20160401170206/https://fusion.net/story/286941/periods-for-pence-indiana-women-calling-governor/ #10yrsago United pilot orders Arab-American family off his flight for “safety” https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/united-airlines-arab-american-plane/58370/ #10yrsago 33 state Democratic parties launder $26M from millionaires for Hillary https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/01/how-hillary-clinton-bought-the-loyalty-of-33-state-democratic-parties/ #10yrsago White SC cops pull black passenger out of car, take turns publicly cavity-searching him https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/04/01/video-shows-white-cops-performing-roadside-cavity-search-of-black-man/ #5yrsago The zombie economy and digital arm-breakers https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/02/innovation-unlocks-markets/#digital-arm-breakers #5yrsago Ontario's drug-dealer premier is shockingly bad at distributing vaccines https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/01/incompetent-drug-dealer/#what-a-dope #5yrsago The zombie economy and digital arm-breakers https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/02/innovation-unlocks-markets/#digital-arm-breakers #1yrago What's wrong with tariffs https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/02/me-or-your-lying-eyes/#spherical-cows-on-frictionless-surfaces #1yrago What's wrong with tariffs https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/02/me-or-your-lying-eyes/#spherical-cows-on-frictionless-surfaces #1yrago Anyone who trusts an AI therapist needs their head examined https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/01/doctor-robo-blabbermouth/#fool-me-once-etc-etc Upcoming appearances (permalink) Toronto: Humber Polytechnic President's Lecture Series, Apr 8 https://liberalarts.humber.ca/current-students/resources/conferences-and-lectures/presidents-lecture-series.html Montreal: Bronfman Lecture (McGill), Apr 10 https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artificial-intelligence-the-ultimate-disrupter-tickets-1982706623885 Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, Apr 10 https://mtl.drawnandquarterly.com/events/4863920260410 Toronto: DemocracyXchange, Apr 16 https://www.democracyxchange.org/news/cory-doctorow-to-open-dxc26-on-april-16 San Francisco: 2026 Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom, Apr 23 https://www.theberkeleyforum.com/#agenda London: Resisting Big Tech Empires (LSBU), Apr 25 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/globaljusticenow/2042691 NYC: Enshittification at Commonweal Ventures, Apr 29 https://luma.com/ssgfvqz8 NYC: Techidemic with Sarah Jeong, Tochi Onyibuchi and Alia Dastagir (PEN World Voices), Apr 30 https://worldvoices.pen.org/event/techidemic/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 SXSW London, Jun 2 https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901 Recent appearances (permalink) Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech Launch for Cindy's Cohn's "Privacy's Defender" (City Lights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVCm2PUalU Chicken Mating Harnesses (This Week in Tech) https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1074 The Virtual Jewel Box (U Utah) https://tanner.utah.edu/podcast/enshittification-cory-doctorow-matthew-potolsky/ Tanner Humanities Lecture (U Utah) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Yf1nSyekI Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. First draft complete. Second draft underway. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/04/digital-subjugation/

We Don’t Know: A Case for Mars

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-07)

Thoughts on science, knowledge, and colonization of Mars.

https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2026/04/06/case-for-mars

April 3, 2026

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-11)

On April 4, 1949, representatives from twelve countries in Europe and North America—Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States—signed the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-3-2026

‘Love on the Spectrum’ Renewed For Season 5 At Netflix

(date: 2026-04-04)

Netflix has renewed Love on the Spectrum for a fifth season. As Season 4 of the 7x Emmy-winning reality series enjoyed a successful debut this week on the streaming platform, following two seasons of Love on the Spectrum: Australia, the streaming platform gave the US version a renewal. Created by Karina Holden and Cian O’Clery […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/love-on-the-spectrum-renewed-season-5-netflix-1236773436/

Dee Freeman Dies: ‘The Young and the Restless’ & ‘Sistas’ Actress Was 66

(date: 2026-04-04)

Dolores ‘Dee’ Freeman, the actress who appeared in The Young and the Restless and Tyler Perry’s Sistas, has died. She was 66. The actress’ family announced that she died on Thursday following “a brave and fearless fight” with stage 4 lung cancer, sharing a statement on her Instagram profile. “On behalf of her family, it […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/dee-freeman-dies-66-1236773430/

Administration is Feeling Pressure

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-10)

Listen now |

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/administration-is-feeling-pressure

Blake Lively Vows To Fight On After Baldoni Sexual Harassment Claim Dismissed: “Don’t Be Distracted By The Digital Soap Opera”

(date: 2026-04-04)

Blake Lively made very clear today: the lady is not for turning. That’ seems especially true when it comes to taking Justin Baldoni to trial for what may have gone down on It Ends With Us and in the aftermath. “Don’t be distracted by the digital soap opera,” the actress proclaimed Friday. A day after […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/blake-lively-vow-fight-justin-baldoni-after-lawsuit-trimmed-1236773371/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-16)

Update: it was hot and spicy - as advertised

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116343859697815857

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-04, updated: 2026-04-13)

Tonight’s low carb dinner:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116343812104491070

Mel B Explains Why Spice Girls Doc Hasn’t Happened Yet: “It Has To Be Honest”

(date: 2026-04-04)

With their 30th anniversary approaching, Spice Girls fans are awaiting the British girl group’s triumphant return in some form or another. After teasing plans for the milestone last year, Mel B recently explained that despite all five of the women “thinking about” coming together for a documentary, it doesn’t seem to be in the cards […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/mel-b-why-spice-girls-doc-hasnt-happened-yet-1236773353/

‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Dashing To $188M+ 5-Day; Zendaya & Robert Pattinson’s ‘The Drama’ Eyes $13M – Box Office Update

(date: 2026-04-04)

FRIDAY PM: The biggest opening weekend year-to-date is shaping up as follows: Super Mario Galaxy Movie is jumping +96% today from yesterday with $48.2M, which will send its 3-day to $129.3M and 5-day to $188.4M at 4,252 theaters. There’s of course, a chance that this movie gets north of $190M over 5 days; Super Mario […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/box-office-super-mario-galaxy-movie-1236771415/

Chris Pratt Says Hawaii Storms “Destroyed” A ‘Jurassic World’ Set

(date: 2026-04-04)

A piece of Jurassic World history was lost in the last month’s devastating storms that hit Hawaii. Chris Pratt recently revealed that the bungalow belonging to his character Owen Grady in the 2015 Colin Trevorrow-helmed sequel “was destroyed” by a downed tree during the back-to-back storms that brought 2 trillion gallons of rainfall to Hawaii. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/chris-pratt-hawaii-storms-destroyed-jurassic-world-set-1236773331/

NBC’s ‘Happy’s Place’ & ‘St. Denis Medical’ Follow ‘The Hunting Party’ On Netflix As Sophomore Drama Remains On Bubble For Renewal

(date: 2026-04-04)

Universal Television continues to license broadcast series to Netflix. Following the successful Netflix U.S. launch of The Hunting Party in February, the studio’s two other NBC sophomore series, comedies Happy’s Place and St. Denis Medical, debuted their first seasons on the global streamer in the U.S. April 1. Of the two, the multi-cam sitcom starring […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/happys-place-the-hunting-party-nbc-renewal-decision-bubble-1236773297/

‘Spaceballs’: New Mel Brooks, Rick Moranis & Josh Gad Movie To Blast Off Next Spring

(date: 2026-04-04)

EXCLUSIVE: Big news here before Amazon MGM Studios takes the stage a second time at Caesars Palace Colosseum and that’s that the new Spaceballs movie will be rolling into theaters on April 23, 2027. Don’t underestimate that final weekend of April at the box office, it’s always been rich whether it’s Avengers: Infinity War and […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/spaceballs-release-date-1236773242/

Inboxes were overwhelming before we'd even named them

(date: 2026-04-04)

Gather round while an old man yells at cloud (email)

https://buttondown.com/blog/inbox-history-to-today

Your Scorecard for US Military Aircraft Over Iran.

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

The losses so far.

https://fallows.substack.com/p/your-scorecard-for-us-military-aircraft

When the Teacher Stops Talking: A Human-Centered Experiment with Classroom Silence

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-10)

I had grown tired of the sound of my own voice. By the third day of the semester, I recoiled at the thought of another term of my own voice echoing across five composition classrooms. As I prepared my next lesson, I was struck by an unexpected idea: What if I didn’t talk? What if I stayed intentionally silent? What [...]

https://saltercane.com/tickets

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/03/when-the-teacher-stops-talking-a-human-centered-experiment-with-classroom-silence/

Amanda Peet Enjoys Playing Both Sex Scenes & Perimenopause Scenes At 54 In ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-04)

With Season 2 of Your Friends & Neighbors, Amanda Peet is enjoying what comes with playing her well-rounded character Mel Cooper. The actress admitted “it is really nice” having series creator and showrunner Jonathan Tropper write her sex scenes at age 54, as well as scenes about the experience of perimenopause, with which she’s familiar. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/amanda-peet-sex-scenes-perimenopause-your-friends-neighbors-1236773295/

Jonathan Majors Fell Through A Window On Daily Wire Action Flick, Leading Crew To Walk Off Set; Producers Say They “Don’t Negotiate With Communists”

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-04)

EXCLUSIVE: Just over a week after several crew members walked off the South Carolina set of Jonathan Majors’ upcoming untitled action film from The Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier’s Bonfire Legend, more details about the safety concerns that led to the strike have emerged. As we previously reported, IATSE called a strike against the production on March 26 over […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/jonathan-majors-falls-through-window-crew-strike-daily-wire-1236773038/

‘The Runarounds’ Canceled By Prime Video After One Season; Eponymous Band Will Continue

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-04)

EXCLUSIVE (Updated with band’s statement): There will be no second season of The Runarounds as Prime Video has opted not to renew the YA series. The development is not surprising as it’s been seven months since the eight-episode first season of the music drama was released on Sept. 1. According to sources, the show was quietly […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-runarounds-canceled-prime-video-amazon-1236772915/

Ashlee Simpson “Would Definitely” Return To ‘SNL’ After 2004 Lip-Syncing Scandal: “Something I Can Laugh About”

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-04)

More than 20 years later, Ashlee Simpson is able to laugh off her Saturday Night Live lip-syncing snafu. The artist, who recently won Season 14 of The Masked Singer as Galaxy Girl, confirmed that when she hinted that she was “publicly humiliated, called a fraud, a fake” in her career, she was talking about her […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/ashlee-simpson-would-definitely-return-snl-2004-lip-syncing-1236773245/

Pam Bondi May be Out, But She's Not in the Clear

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump may be done with her as Attorney General, but there's still the question of her deposition before the House Oversight Committee.

https://plus.briantylercohen.com/p/pam-bondi-may-be-out-but-shes-not

Friday Squid Blogging: Jurassic Fish Chokes on Squid

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-01)

Here’s a fossil of a 150-million year old fish that choked to death on a belemnite rostrum: the hard, internal shell of an extinct, squid-like animal.

Original paper.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Blog moderation policy.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/friday-squid-blogging-jurassic-fish-chokes-on-squid.html

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-13)

After I added the family to the shared iCloud storage:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116342698691652785

No Kings Protests Surge Nationwide! What Happens Next?

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Watch now | A recording from Dr. Steven Hassan's live video

https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/no-kings-protests-surge-nationwide

Trump’s back-to-back-to-back setbacks

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

From SCOTUS to Bondi to Iran to the TSA, it's been nothing but grim news for Trump.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trumps-back-to-back-to-back-setbacks

Bondi fired. Trump's Iran speech bombs. SCOTUS skeptical of Trump's birthright citizenship order.

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Bondi fired. Trump's Iran speech bombs. SCOTUS takes up birthright citizenship.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/april-3-weekly-news-roundup

CLF Leverages Funds to Improve Public Health in New Bedford

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-13)

With support from the EPA, CLF teamed up with a local marine business in New Bedford to swap their diesel engines for clean ones – making the air around the port cleaner for everyone.

The post CLF Leverages Funds to Improve Public Health in New Bedford appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.

https://www.clf.org/blog/dera-new-bedford/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dera-new-bedford

NetNewsWire 7.0.4 for Mac — new iCloud features

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2019-08-31)

We’ve just released NetNewsWire 7.0.4 for Mac. Do a Check for Updates or download it directly to get the update.

The big new changes are to iCloud syncing: there’s a new setting to not sync the content of unread articles, since that’s the biggest part of your iCloud database and what takes the longest to sync.

Another change is a new iCloud Storage Stats window that tells you exactly what’s in your iCloud storage — and it includes a Clean Up button that will trim down your storage (and lead to faster syncs in the future, though not necessarily right at first).

All of this and more is documented on the new How to Optimize iCloud Syncing page.

(Yes, these features are coming to iPhone and iPad too, as soon as the app gets through App Store review.)

Also note, in case you missed it earlier, that NetNewsWire for Mac runs on macOS 15 and up. It no longer requires macOS 26. (Similarly: the upcoming iOS release will run on iOS 17 and up. We want as many people as possible to get these iCloud changes.)

The iCloud changes aren’t the only changes — see the release notes for the full scoop.

As always, you can get help on the NetNewsWire forum and report bugs on the issues tracker.

https://netnewswire.blog/2026/04/03/netnewswire-for-mac-new-icloud.html

macOS 26.4 Paste Protection

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Adam Codega: Apple does not inspect or analyze the contents of what you paste. Even harmless text like "hello world" will trigger the warning under the right conditions. Instead, Terminal checks where the clipboard content came from. It does this by calling a private API _sourceSigningIdentifier on the NSPasteboard, which reveals the code-signing identity of […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/03/macos-26-4-paste-protection/

A Letter to John Ternus

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Marco Arment (Mastodon): I urge you, on behalf of everyone who loves computers as much as we do, to protect and cultivate this spirit of Apple’s founders as the company’s top priority: We love computers. We don’t hide that — we celebrate it! We use computers to enhance our minds, lives, and abilities — not […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/03/a-letter-to-john-ternus/

Small Ways the App Store Could Be Improved for Developers

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Jeff Johnson (Mastodon): There are countless small, practical, mostly uncontroversial ways in which Apple could improve the App Store for developers, yet the App Store has changed relatively little in the 18 years since it was hastily cloned from the iTunes Music Store. […] These changes to the App Store would not require a huge […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/03/small-ways-the-app-store-could-be-improved-for-developers/

Salter Cane is ready to rock and/or roll! https://saltercane.com/tickets

(date: 2026-04-03)

Salter Cane is ready to rock and/or roll! https://saltercane.com/tickets

Salter Cane is ready to rock and/or roll!

https://adactio.com/notes/22511

This week’s news in Venn diagrams.

(date: 2026-04-03)

It’s April on the east coast, and we’re starting to get glimpses of beauty amid the chilled damp. Everyone knows Eliot’s description of April as the cruelest month: “Memory and desire, stirring/Dull roots with spring rain.” I feel you, brother.

https://lithub.com/this-weeks-news-in-venn-diagrams-apr-3/

‘Game Of Thrones’ Stage Prequel ‘The Mad King’ Sets UK Summer Premiere Date

(date: 2026-04-03)

The Mad King, the previously announced Game of Thrones stage prequel heading to Stratford-Upon-Avon’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre, will begin performances there on July 20, with an official opening on August 8. The engagement runs through September 5. Royal Shakespeare Company announced the dates on its website. Deadline previously reported that the production was set to […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/mad-king-game-of-thrones-stage-premiere-date-1236772926/

Iran Could Become Like Egypt, Myanmar or Pakistan

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post Iran Could Become Like Egypt, Myanmar or Pakistan appeared first on NOEMA.

https://www.noemamag.com/iran-could-become-like-egypt-myanmar-or-pakistan

Titres, écriture, initiation de tâches, et IA [en]

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-17)

[en] Devoir mettre un titre à un article, c’est clairement un frein à l’initiation de la tâche “écrire un article”. Vous avez déjà remarqué ça? De mon point de vue, c’est aussi une des raisons pour lesquelles ce qui se racontait sur les blogs à gentiment migré vers les réseaux. Sur Facebook ou LinkedIn, nul … Continue reading "Titres, écriture, initiation de tâches, et IA [en]"

https://climbtothestars.org/archives/2026/04/03/titres-ecriture-initiation-de-taches-et-ia/

Memories of Vietnam

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-12)

Lies, Arrogance, and Stupidity

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/memories-of-vietnam

Is JD Vance stealing his book titles from bell hooks?

(date: 2026-04-03)

As the internet noted earlier this week—and Claire Guinan at Jezebel observed yesterday—Vice President JD Vance may have a plagiarism problem. (Among his many others.) On Tuesday, the man with the most hillbilly blood on his hands announced a new

https://lithub.com/is-jd-vance-stealing-his-book-titles-from-bell-hooks/

Dennis Quaid To Receive Patriot Ally Honor At 2nd Annual MV Awards Gala

(date: 2026-04-03)

Dennis Quaid will be recognized with the Patriot Ally Award at the 2nd Annual MV Awards in May, organizers said today. The MV Awards, presented by the National Entertainment Awards Academy for Military & Veterans, will be held May 23 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Quaid’s award will be presented by the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/dennis-quaid-patriot-ally-mv-awards-1236772910/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

WordPress could have an active developer community creating writing tools for WordPress users. I also want WordPress to form the foundation of a new social network, one that supports all the writing features of the web. With really nice user interfaces for people to choose from. That's a new ecosystem. It may form around ChatGPT and Claude etc. Or it could start with WordPress. I think I can get this bootstrapped, but I need people to work with. That's the summary of what I'm about at this point in 2026.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/03.html#a154534

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-20)

Since Monday, the #PleiadesGazetteer editorial college published 26 new and 207 updated place resources, reflecting the work of 12 people. The usual Monday blog post will summarize a full week's worth of such work, but meantime here's a #SneakPeek at one of the new ones. Authored by Tom Elliott (@paregorios@hcommons.org) and Divya Kumar-Dumas, we now have a place resource for Mamallapuram, an ancient settlement and modern town located on the east coast of peninsular India. It is the site of a large complex of Hindu temples dating to the 7th/8th centuries CE that is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site: https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/119192778.

The city is mentioned in Tamil literature beginning in the 8th century CE. The exact location of the city's harbor and its possible identification with non-Tamil sources (especially Roman ones) remain inconclusive.

#ancientGeography #ancientHistory #archaeology #classics #DH #gazetteers #HGIS

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116341473926918587

Megan Thee Stallion Returns To Full House At Broadway’s ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’

(date: 2026-04-03)

Megan Thee Stallion was greeted by a full house when she returned to Broadway’s Moulin Rouge! The Musical last night, two days after she took ill mid-performance and was diagnosed with, among other things, extreme exhaustion. Deadline hears the Thursday evening performance was already headed to sell-out status even before the Broadway newcomer missed half […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/megan-thee-stallion-broadway-moulin-rouge-musical-1236772875/

@Tomosino's Mastodon feed

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-10)

Today's #film #puzzle is a 4-flame difficulty. I didn't know Sarah Gadon, nor have I seen Annabelle (2014). With some time and IMDb sleuthing I managed this one in 30 steps (open book). Phew!

They'll keep getting more difficult until Sunday, then reset to easy again on Monday (just like crossword puzzles). Give it a try with friends. It's more fun in a group.

https://www.hellshexagon.com

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/116341439922421297

Eugene Mirman “Doing Relatively Alright” Following Fiery New Hampshire Car Crash

(date: 2026-04-03)

Comedian Eugene Mirman is on the mend. After a scary car crash in New Hampshire on Tuesday that saw his 2026 Lucid Gravity catch fire, Mirman took to his socials to assure fans that he’s “doing relatively alright, all things considered.” Posting a photo of himself with a bandaged right arm and possible black eye […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/eugene-mirman-health-update-car-accident-1236772887/

[$] Ubuntu's GRUBby plans

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-08)

GNU GRUB 2, mostly just referred to as GRUB these days, is the most widely used boot loader for x86_64 Linux systems. It supports reading from a vast selection of filesystems, handles booting modern systems with UEFI or legacy systems with a BIOS, and even allows users to customize the "splash" image displayed when a system boots. Alas, all of those features come with a price; GRUB has had a parade
of security vulnerabilities over the years. To mitigate some of those problems, Ubuntu
core developer and Canonical employee Julian Andres Klode has proposed removing
a number of features from GRUB in Ubuntu 26.10 to improve GRUB's security profile. His proposal has not been met with universal acclaim; many of the features Klode would like to remove have vocal proponents.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1065420/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-19)

Export Updates 2026-04-03:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

1 new and 28 updated places.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/los-cuatro-fantasticos-primeros-pasos-terror-cosmico-pop/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=los-cuatro-fantasticos-primeros-pasos-terror-cosmico-pop

2. pleiades.datasets: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades.datasets:

"main" branch:

8328674d - updated json

no change: rdf/ttl

7a9ab43d - updated gis package

a89e3c2e - updated data quality

4e4cd761 - updated bibliography

47e146de - updated indexes

c1dc36ed - updated sidebar

3. pleiades-geojson: https://github.com/ryanfb/pleiades-geojson:

2144a98f - updated geojson and names index

4. pleiades_wikidata: https://github.com/isawnyu/pleiades_wikidata/:

81e2d75e - updated pleiades wikidata

https://hcommons.social/@pleiades_gazetteer/116341399621740319

‘The Chosen’ Sets Season 6 Release Date At Prime Video

(date: 2026-04-03)

Season 6 of The Chosen will premiere on November 15 on Prime Video in the U.S. and internationally. The streamer and 5&2 Studios announced the date Friday, along with a teaser image for the upcoming season. You can see it full below. Season 6 will launch with three episodes on November 15, followed by the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-chosen-season-6-release-date-prime-video-1236772814/

MINDWAR

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

The cognitive and information assault on the West. A symposium with Bianka Banova and Renée di Resta.

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/mindwar

A Decent Jobs Report In A Swirl Of Bad Economic News, Escalating Chaos In DC, New Hopium Vote Yes VA Phonebanks

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-12)

Join me live and in person this Thursday night at 7pm in Bethesda, Maryland - Join us, bring friends and colleagues! Will be great to see folks in person......

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/a-decent-jobs-report-in-a-swirl-of

James Marsden Will Host ‘Jury Duty: Company Retreat’ Reunion Episode

(date: 2026-04-03)

James Marsden is set to host a special bonus reunion episode of Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, Prime Video announced today. The reunion is one of two bonus episodes announced today that will debut on April 10 and will be available in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. The second bonus episode, titled “The […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/james-marsden-jury-duty-company-retreat-reunion-1236772861/

The Corrections is finally coming to Netflix.

(date: 2026-04-03)

Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, the seismic family saga you couldn’t avoid in the early aughts, is finally getting a screen adaptation. In 2012, Noah Baumbach and Scott Rudin attempted to lasso that late modernist moon for a much-hyped HBO mini-series

https://lithub.com/the-corrections-is-finally-coming-to-netflix/

Misua Dies: ‘Drag Race Philippines’ Star Was 27; Production Paused

(date: 2026-04-03)

Production has been paused on Season 4 of Drag Race Philippines following the sudden death of Misua, who passed away Thursday. A cause of death was not announced. She was 27. The show and producer World of Wonder announced Misua’s death on Instagram. “We are heartbroken to share that Misua, a talented Queen set to […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/misua-dead-drag-race-philippines-production-paused-1236772858/

No kidding: Gentoo GNU/Hurd

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-08)

On April 1, the Gentoo Linux project published a blog post announcing that it was switching to GNU Hurd as its primary kernel as an April Fool's joke. While that is not true, the project has followed up with an announcement of a new Gentoo port to the Hurd:

Our crack team has been working hard to port Gentoo to the Hurd and can now share that they've succeeded, though it remains still in a heavily experimental stage. You can try Gentoo GNU/Hurd using a pre-prepared disk image. The easiest way to do this is with QEMU [...]

We have developed scripts to build this image locally and conveniently work on further development of the Hurd port. Release media like stages and automated image builds are future goals, as is feature parity on x86-64. Further contributions are welcome, encouraged, and needed. Be patient, expect to get your hands dirty, anticipate breakage, and have fun!

Oh, and Gentoo GNU/Hurd also works on real hardware!

Text for the April Fool's post is available at the bottom of the real announcement.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066241/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Feature request for WordPress. If an item doesn't have a title, you can do better than (no title) in the Posts list. Grab the first N chars of the body, or add a tool tip with the same text. I write a lot of "singular" posts, ie posts without titles. This is what I see on the Posts page.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/03.html#a140913

One great poem to read today: Tracy K. Smith’s “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?”

(date: 2026-04-03)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-tracy-k-smiths-dont-you-wonder-sometimes/

Life in a Barrel

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-17)

This week, in an episode we first aired in 2022, we flip the Disney story of life on its head thanks to a barrel of seawater, a 1970s era computer, and underwater geysers. It’s the chaos of life.

Latif, Lulu, and our Senior Producer Matt Kielty were all sitting on their own little stories until they got thrown into the studio, and had their cherished beliefs about the shape of life put on a collision course. From an accidental study of sea creatures, to the ambitions of Stephen J Gould, to an undercooked theory that captured the world’s imagination, we undo the seeming order of the living world and try to make some music out of the wreckage. (Bonus: Learn how Francis Crick really thought life got started on this planet).

EPISODE CREDITS:

Reported by - Latif Nasser, Matt Kielty, Heather Radke, Lulu Miller and Candice Wang

Produced by - Matt Kielty and Simon Adler

with help from - Arianne Wack

Original music and sound design contributed by - Matt Kilety, Simon Adler, Alan Goffinski, and Jeremy Bloom

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Articles -

Chaos in a long-term experiment with a plankton community( https://zpr.io/j6sYXKfDzPCG), by Benincà, E., Huisman, J., Heerkloss, R. et al. Nature
Chaos theory discloses triggers and drivers of plankton dynamics in stable environment ( https://zpr.io/qHKENA3SJ8ML), by Telesh IV, Schubert H, Joehnk KD, Heerkloss R, Schumann R, Feike M, Schoor A, Skarlato SO. Sci Rep.

Books -

Full House ( https://zpr.io/pMQZfyPcRzD4), by Stephen Jay Gould
Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? ( https://zpr.io/pPVNugUKWpi4), by David M. Raup
Rereading the Fossil Record: The Growth of Paleobiology as an Evolutionary Discipline ( https://zpr.io/YBjJxuXjydPN), by David Sepkoski
The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life ( https://zpr.io/LzfueEqUWNHb), by Nick Lane

Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature ( https://zpr.io/KPZf57eEVMBX), by Francis Crick

Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org .

https://radiolab.org/podcast/life-in-a-barrel

Build your own Dial-up ISP with a Raspberry Pi

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-15)

Last year my aunt let me add her original Tangerine iBook G3 clamshell to my collection of old Macs1.

iBook G3 accessing dial-up Internet over WiFi browsing the vintage web

It came with an AirPort card—a $99 add-on Apple made that ushered in the Wi-Fi era. The iBook G3 was the first consumer laptop with built-in Wi-Fi antennas, and by far the cheapest way to get a computer onto an 802.11 wireless network.

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2026/build-your-own-dial-up-isp-with-a-raspberry-pi/

Good morning campers

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Things are changing a lot. Huge flow of ideas, and some catching up to do. Mind bombs in every direction.

Last night while watching sports I learned via ChatGPT about MCP.

Here's what it can do and people *are* using it for this

You could turn ChatGPT into an easy editor for WordPress posts.

Just as I have developed the habit of getting it to create a handoff.md file when I'm done with a session, I could write something with ChatGPT helping, I don't ever do that myself but i might, if it were easy. and when I'm ready to publish, I'd say "Please publish this on my daveverse site now." I might specify a category or two, or set defaults, it's good at that stuff. I've taught Claude to write code in my style, so I can maintain it (to answer Aral Balkan's question on Mastodon).

http://scripting.com/2026/04/03/135148.html?title=goodMorningCampers

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Does EmDash have a feed reader built in??

http://scripting.com/2026/04/03.html#a134411

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Suggestion for feed reader devs. Put a Check Now button on the page for a single feed. It shouldn't overburden your system because it's just doing an HTTP read and a little parsing. Not much more work than reloading a page in the browser. The benefit is you can see a current view of the news according to a specific feed without waiting. Makes the web roughly instantaneous for every feed, even ones that don't support rssCloud. FeedLand has such a button.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/03.html#a134057

Little hierarchies everywhere

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

We create little hierarchies everywhere we go.

So many places. I have no room for new ones, yet I have to make room because there are people there I want to work with. Now I have to manage it.

If an alien came to Earth and asked why we don't just create a way for a little hierarchy in one place to appear where ever you want it.

It's not out of reach, it would take two or three developers with enough imaginative users to get the ball rolling.

Write down the features you'd have to support, concisely and simply, and provide conventions for making those hierarchies accessible through a very simple format, in JSON or XML or anything isomorphic, and then we start building.

And start releasing apps that work together. That's what I want to do.

WordLand is supposed to be the first such app. But maybe I need to go even simpler for example code. Thinking about it.

The aliens were confused by the inefficent way we were organizing our ideas.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/03/133120.html?title=littleHierarchiesEverywhere

Join my Live Video Chat with the brilliantly fearless journalist Kara Swisher at 2pET on Monday

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-06)

Kara and I will opine on Meta’s Big Tobacco moment, how Pam Bondi blew it, all things media, and her upcoming CNN series Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever. Hope you can join us!

https://tinabrown.substack.com/p/join-my-live-video-chat-with-the

Security updates for Friday

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-08)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (freerdp, grafana, kernel, rsync, and thunderbird), Debian (chromium, inetutils, and libpng1.6), Fedora (bind9-next, nginx-mod-modsecurity, and openbao), Mageia (firefox, nss and thunderbird), Red Hat (container-tools:rhel8), SUSE (conftest, dnsdist, ignition, libsoup, libsoup2, LibVNCServer, libXvnc-devel, opensc, ovmf-202602, perl-Crypt-URandom, python-tornado, python311-ecdsa, python311-Pygments, python315, tar, and wireshark), and Ubuntu (cairo, jpeg-xl, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-6.17, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-6.17, linux-hwe-6.17, linux-realtime, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-hwe, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-ibm, linux-lowlatency, linux-nvidia, linux-raspi, linux-fips, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, linux-gcp-fips, and linux-realtime, linux-realtime-6.8, linux-raspi-realtime).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066236/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-13)

Not to brag, but I haven’t used chrome since I bought my MacPro in 2019 or so?

I switched to safari to see if I could survive on it. Once every couple of months I need to use chrome for something (like a broken web site), but generally haven’t missed it.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116340957103481730

Can AI bots write maintainable code?

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

This is something we can and should research.

Let's give one of the ai apps a fairly good idea for an app we want to use, and help it -- not by coding, just by answering questions about how it will work, and Iterating over the product until it works like we want it. Sometihng simple, like perhaps a text editor for Mastodon. Something that isn't squished in a tiny little text box, and has icons for bold, underline, links, etc. It could be useful.

Then let's look at the code with an open mind. I think i've given it enough examples of good maintainable code that I could get it to produce maintainable code.

This was in reply to a Mastodon post by Aral Balkan.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/03/131458.html?title=canAiBotsWriteMaintainableCode

Tryday

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-13)

MVP thoughts I nominate Tyrese Haliburton for MVP. He hasn't played at all this year, because he's out with a hamstring injury he suffered when the Pacers (our Indiana home team) were neck-and-neck with the OKC Thunder in the final championship game. This season, without Haliburton, the Pacers are among the league's worst. Why? No […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/03/tryday/

Los cuatro fantásticos – primeros pasos: terror cósmico pop

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-20)

Este artículo contiene spoilers. El terror cósmico explora la idea de que la humanidad no ocupa un lugar especial en el universo y que, en realidad, es completamente prescindible. Frente a un cosmos inmenso, silencioso y carente de intención, la vida se revela como un accidente sin propósito predefinido. Si el universo no responde, no […]

La entrada Los cuatro fantásticos – primeros pasos: terror cósmico pop se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

Porting Go's strings package to C

(date: 2026-04-03)

With allocators, benchmarks, and some optimizations.

https://antonz.org/porting-go-strings/

U.S. Added 178,000 Jobs In March; Movie And Music Employment Declines

(date: 2026-04-03)

The job market rebounded in March, as employment increased by 178,000 and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.3%. The gains exceeded expectations, following job loss in February. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised data, adding an additional 34,000 jobs to January, showing a growth of 160,000, but subtracting 41,000 from February, showing a […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/jobs-march-unemployment-rate-1236772847/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-10)

The herpes of the internet is back at it: https://browsergate.eu/

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116340812453832901

2026 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Streaming & Cable

(date: 2026-04-03)

Here is Deadline’s annual list of premiere dates for new and returning TV series. Updated daily, the roster covers hundreds of broadcast, cable and streaming programs debuting throughout 2026, many still listed as TBA (to be announced). It includes series premieres, season debuts, shows returning from hiatus and some one-offs such as live sports and […]

https://deadline.com/feature/2026-tv-premiere-dates-1236391902/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-06)

The Horrors That Could Lie Ahead if Vaccines Vanish.

https://projects.propublica.org/childhood-vaccines-deaths-modeling/?utm_campaign=propublica-sprout&utm_content=1775186100&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky

Notable links: April 3, 2026

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-21)

A dystopian week, with a glimmer of hope: alternatives are available.

https://werd.io/notable-links-april-3-2026/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-10)

“I was lost away from home in a bizarre territory where people made plans that didn’t make sense with the aplomb of a drunk LLM.”

https://isolveproblems.substack.com/p/how-microsoft-vaporized-a-trillion

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116340608403469029

The six big events that have dragged down Donald Trump's approval rating

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

At -21.4, the president's net rating has sunk to Watergate and Katrina levels — and one issue is driving most of the decline

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-03-cotw-trump-approval-changepoints-analysis

Company that Secretly Records and Publishes Zoom Meetings

(date: 2026-04-03)

WebinarTV searches the internet for public Zoom invites, joins the meetings, secretly records them, and publishes (alternate link) the recordings. It doesn’t use the Zoom record feature, so Zoom can’t do anything about it.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/company-that-secretly-records-and-publishes-zoom-meetings.html

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-06)

Matt Mullenweg on EmDash, the supposed ‘spiritual successor’ of WordPress.

https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/

Weekly Roundup: April 3

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Ruthy Gourevitch and Jacob Udell on financial distress in the rental market, Alaa Hajyahia and Helen Zhao on the scourge known as the Jones Act, and Kathleen Frydl on how corporations hijacked identity politics. Plus, Lina Khan and Lev Menand's new center for law and the economy, Niko Bowie and Daphna Renan's new book on judicial supremacy, a hot new issue of Law & Contemporary Problems on law and capitalism, a cool new Fordham Law Symposium on antitrust law and oligarchy, Kate Jackson's review of Lenore Palladino's Good Company, and a report by Rakeen Mabud and Melanie Brusseler on the authoritarian coalition's power grab.

https://lpeproject.org/blog/weekly-roundup-april-3/

In Batteries We Trust

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-15)

A break for some good news

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/in-batteries-we-trust

Lit Hub Daily: April 3, 2026

(date: 2026-04-03)

“Lately, I’ve found myself pining for the old WASP elite.” In which Robert Leleux reads too many biographies of rich, white Americans. | Lit Hub Biography Simon Morrison explores the ex-pat life in Moscow after the collapse of Soviet communism.

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-3-2026/

Federal judge demolishes legal "basis" for Trump's ballroom

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Judge Leon offered a masterclass in exposing MAGA nonsense.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ballroom-injunction-judge-richard-leon

In Praise of the Old WASP Elite (Because Dignified Hypocrisy is Better Than Garish Cruelty)

(date: 2026-04-03)

Lately, I’ve found myself pining for the old WASP elite. Do admit, we used to have a better class of rich people. I mean, you’d never have seen Paul Mellon prancing around a stage in Wisconsin with a block of

https://lithub.com/in-praise-of-the-old-wasp-elite-because-dignified-hypocrisy-is-better-than-garish-cruelty/

Living the Ex-Pat Life in Moscow at the End of the Soviet Empire

(date: 2026-04-03)

Russia (Rossiya) has never been called Russia, not officially. It’s been the Tsardom of Russia, Imperial Russia, Soviet Russia, and the Russian Federation but never just Russia. That place doesn’t exist, except in the imagination, in a dreamscape of crime

https://lithub.com/living-the-ex-pat-life-in-moscow-at-the-end-of-the-soviet-empire/

How PayPal and Other Platforms Help Silence Alternative Media

(date: 2026-04-03)

“We were punished.” That’s how Joe Lauria, the editor in chief of Consortium News, described PayPal’s decision to cut off their account. Lauria has spent decades writing about international affairs, with the bulk of his career working as United Nations

https://lithub.com/how-paypal-and-other-platforms-help-silence-alternative-media/

Dylan Landis on How Writing Her Rainey Royal Series Saved Her Life

(date: 2026-04-03)

Rainey Royal saved my life. It was 2011, the year I cried every day. My husband and I had just moved to New York City from Washington, DC, and for a long time we lived out of wardrobe boxes in

https://lithub.com/dylan-landis-on-how-writing-her-rainey-royal-series-saved-her-life/

“Horror Movie Where We Survive,” a Poem by Maya Salameh

(date: 2026-04-03)

you waltz through the bouquet of zombies outside the Albertson’s, skip pristine sneakers over frankenstein feet. the dead woman’s gown is hissing, but it doesn’t matter. whatever happens next the annals will conjugate. wear your most expensive shoes, the dress

https://lithub.com/horror-movie-where-we-survive-a-poem-by-maya-salameh/

The Magic of a Slow-Burn Romance

(date: 2026-04-03)

Let me share a love story with you, the one between me and the slow burn. I’m obsessed with longing and will be until I die. Sex doesn’t keep us flipping pages—anticipation does. Tension, longing, that one sizzling moment when

https://lithub.com/the-magic-of-a-slow-burn-romance/

Who's the Biggest Money Behind the Throne?

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-12)

Naming names

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-money-behind-the-throne

April 2, 2026

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-10)

This afternoon, President Donald J.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-2-2026

Em Dashes: Back In Style?

(date: 2026-04-03)

Cloudflare’s new attempt to win over the hearts of developers could help keep a few ancient WordPress sites from falling off the internet. That‘s a good thing.

https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/17312777/emdash-cloudflare-wordpress-competitor

Hannah Einbinder Slams AI Creators As “Losers”: “They’re Not Artists”

(date: 2026-04-03)

With the fifth and final season of Hacks taking on Hollywood once again, Hannah Einbinder has some thoughts about the role artificial intelligence plays in the industry. The 4x Golden Globe nominee recently slammed generative AI creators as “losers” who are “trying to rob real creatives” as she tore into the tech trend that continues […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/hannah-einbinder-slams-ai-creators-losers-not-artists-1236772807/

The two wildest stories today in tech

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Shifting goal posts and new efforts at redefining the narrative

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/the-two-wildest-stories-today-in

The open web isn't dying. We're killing it

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-21)

Julien Genestoux thinks the open web needs netizens. I agree – and in 2026, that's indistinguishable from citizenry.

https://werd.io/the-open-web-isnt-dying-were-killing-it/

Meryl Streep Recalls ‘Devil Wears Prada’ Being Dubbed A “Chick Flick” Meant They “Had To Scrabble For Our Budget”

(date: 2026-04-03)

Although Miranda Priestley earned 20th Century Fox more than $326 million worldwide, The Devil Wears Prada had to fight for its budget. Meryl Streep recently recalled how the 2006 movie’s classification as a “chick flick” made it difficult to pull together a budget for the David Frankel-helmed adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s novel. “Twenty years ago, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/meryl-streep-devil-wears-prada-chick-flick-scrabble-budget-1236772802/

An AI company set out to fix news deserts. Instead, it copied local journalists’ work

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-21)

"Nota shut down its news sites after Axios and Poynter found dozens of plagiarized quotes, phrases and photos."

https://werd.io/an-ai-company-set-out-to-fix-news-deserts-instead-it-copied-local-journalists-work/

LinkedIn Is Illegally Searching Your Computer

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-21)

LinkedIn is using invasive techniques to fingerprint your browser. Together with its understanding of your identity and professional history, it has the ingredients for an incredibly detailed profile.

https://werd.io/linkedin-is-illegally-searching-your-computer/

Milly Alcock Explains Why She Didn’t Seek Advice From Past Supergirl Stars: “They’re Just People”

(date: 2026-04-03)

As Milly Alcock gets her solo DCU debut, the Supergirl star is flying solo with her portrayal of Kara Zor-El. The actress recently explained why she didn’t seek advice from peers who previously portrayed the Girl of Steel, including Supergirl (2015-’21) star Melissa Benoist and The Flash (2023) actress Sasha Calle. “They’re just people living […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/milly-alcock-didnt-seek-advice-past-supergirl-stars-1236772778/

Toward a Human Future for AI

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-11)

I was invited by Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie, of the Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University, to contribute my thoughts to their latest study, titled Building a Human Resilience Infrastructure for the Age of AI: Experts Call for Radical Change Across Institutions, Social Structures, which just came out. Here is the full […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/02/toward-a-human-future-for-ai/

‘XO, Kitty’ Season 3 Stars Anna Cathcart And Sang Heon Lee Break Down Kitty And Min Ho’s Relationship Arc From First Kiss To Their Big Argument

(date: 2026-04-03)

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Season 3 of Netflix’s ‘XO, Kitty.’ The wait is finally over as Kitty Song Covey (Anna Cathcart) and Min Ho Moon (Sang Heon Lee) explore a romantic relationship in Season 3 of Netflix’s XO, Kitty. Following quite the hopeful cliffhanger ending of Season 2 of the To All […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/xo-kitty-season-3-anna-cathcart-sang-heon-lee-interview-1236772766/

Updating my 5 acre wifi network

(date: 2026-04-03, updated: 2026-04-22)

Back in 2019, I wrote a post about how I set up a point-to-multi-point (PtMP) network to give every outbuilding around my house an internet connection. Each building also has wifi for when you are near them and everything is on the same local network so I can control lights,

https://a.wholelottanothing.org/updating-my-5-acre-wifi-network/

The US government tried really hard to screw up email

(date: 2026-04-03)

While other projects floundered in red tape, email thrived in it.

https://buttondown.com/blog/email-survived-government

The facts of the European (EU27) income convergence

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

How is Europe becoming more equal

https://branko2f7.substack.com/p/the-facts-of-the-european-eu27-income

Friday 3 April, 2026

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-21)

An orchid by any other name… … is still an Orchid. Seen on a windowsill in College. Quote of the Day ”Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.” Bertrand Russell Musical alternative to the morning’s … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/friday-3-april-2026/41842/

Ryan Gosling Exits Daniels Event Pic At Universal

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

EXCLUSIVE: After hoping to get a deal done for Ryan Gosling to star in Universal’s secret untitled project directed by Daniels, aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, sources now say Gosling will no longer be appearing in the film. When Deadline first broke the news Gosling was in negotiations to star, we also learned that the film was set […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/ryan-gosling-daniels-event-pic-universal-1236772706/

Former Turnstile Guitarist Arrested For Attempted Second-Degree Murder Of Singer’s Father

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

Former Turnstile guitarist Brady Ebert has been arrested on charges of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault of the group’s lead singer Brendan Yates’ father. Montgomery County Police in Maryland said William Yates suffered serious trauma to his legs, including one broken leg, when Ebert allegedly drove into him outside Yates’ Silver Spring home on […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/turnstile-guitarist-arrested-attempted-murder-singers-father-1236772676/

Jeff Shell’s Future At Paramount In Hands Of Law Firm Probe Of Loose Lips Claim

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

An investigation into accusations of corporate indiscretion by Jeff Shell will make or break the future of the Paramount executive. As a probe by the law firm Gibson Dunn winds down, discussion are underway on the Melrose lot and elsewhere as to what role, if any, Shell will continue to play at the David Ellison-run […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/jeff-shell-exit-talks-paramount-president-1236772662/

Don Lemon Considers Presidential Run, Thinks He Could “Run This Country Better Than Donald Trump”

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

With the 2028 presidential election inching closer every day, Don Lemon is the latest public figure to flirt with running for office. The CNN alum recently teased “it could happen” as he feels confident he “could definitely run this country better” than Donald Trump, although Lemon is unsure about running as a Democrat. “I’ve never […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/don-lemon-considers-presidential-run-1236772656/

‘Paradise’ Season 2 Finale Unearths 4.3M Views In 3 Days

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

The second season of Paradise went out with a literal and figurative bang, it seems. The finale, which debuted on March 30, scored 4.3M views globally in three days across Disney+ and Hulu, the company said Thursday. That’s up 35% over the premiere to a season-best audience for the sci-fi series. It’s unclear exactly how […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/paradise-season-2-finale-ratings-hulu-1236772648/

Democrats Who Refuse To 'Moderate' On Trans Rights Are Showing The Way

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

Many say Democrats need to shift to the right on trans issues. But the evidence shows otherwise.

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/democrats-trans-rights-support

Colin Jost To EP & Star As Dentist/Drug Kingpin Larry Lavin In Drama Series In Works At Peacock From Alex Barnow

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

EXCLUSIVE: Colin Jost is branching out to scripted series. The Saturday Night Live veteran has teamed up with writer-producer Alex Barnow (The Goldbergs, Power: Origins) for a drama, which has landed at Peacock for development. Jost is executive producing and attached to star in the untitled series, from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/colin-jost-larry-lavin-drama-series-peacock-snl-future-1236772602/

iOS 18.7.7 and iPadOS 18.7.7

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

Jason Snell: Last December I complained that Apple was withholding iOS 18 security updates from iPhones capable of running iOS 26, leaving users who didn’t want to upgrade to Apple’s latest OS version yet in some security peril. […] The good news: As of Wednesday April 1, Apple is pushing out iOS 18.7.7 to all […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/02/ios-18-7-7-and-ipados-18-7-7/

Russia Gets Apple to Turn Off App Store Payments

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

MacRumors (9to5Mac): In a new support document, Apple said new purchases, in-app purchases, and subscription renewals are no longer available in Russia unless a user already has funds in their Apple Account balance, which can continue to be used. […] Apple reportedly took this action in response to an order from the Russian government, which […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/02/russia-gets-apple-to-turn-off-app-store-payments/

Mobile Web Browsing Benchmarks 2026

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

Eric Seckler (MacRumors): Today, we are proud to celebrate a major milestone: Android is now the fastest mobile platform for web browsing. Through deep vertical integration across hardware, the Android OS, and the Chrome engine, the latest flagship Android devices are setting new performance records, outperforming all other mobile competitors in the key web performance […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/04/02/mobile-web-browsing-benchmarks-2026/

Lender FilmHedge Launches Film & TV Fund With New York Asset Management Firm

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

EXCLUSIVE: MediaHedge, the parent company of Atlanta-based finance platform FilmHedge, is launching a film and TV joint venture fund with a New York asset management firm. FilmHedge, which lends money against pre-sales and tax credits, has worked on movies including André Holland and Kate Mara starrer The Dutchman, Michael Jai White starrer Special Op: Rent-a-Cop, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/filmhedge-launches-film-tv-fund-asset-management-firm-1236771966/

Jonathan Majors’ Daily Wire Action Flick Picketed By IATSE Crew In South Carolina

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

A picket line has popped up on the South Carolina set of Jonathan Majors’ upcoming untitled action film from The Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier’s Bonfire Legend after crew walked off the job late last week. IATSE called a strike against the Gaffney, SC, production over a series of labor issues, we hear. It is unclear where […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/iatse-strike-jonathan-majors-daily-wire-film-1236772506/

@Maurice Parker

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2019-12-19)

Zavala 4.2 is out. The big feature in this release is Outline Locking (like in Apple's Notes). You can read more about it in the Zavala Help. zavala.vincode.io/help/Lock...

https://vincode.io/2026/04/02/zavala-is-out-the-big.html

Flursday

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-11)

Might do the same for you In The Relentless Missionary Creating AGI: Demis Hassabis, the latest episode of the Founders podcast, David Senra compresses by Sebastian Mallaby's book, The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence, into 55 minutes of pure inspiration. Not just because Demis is a hugely inspired and driven dude, but […]

https://doc.searls.com/2026/04/02/flursday/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-06)

Cloudflare Launches EmDash: CMS Built Using AI Agents, Dubbed As The Spiritual Successor To WordPress.

https://wp-content.co/cloudflare-launches-emdash-cms-successor-to-wordpress/

Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni Case Still Headed To Trial As Judge Tosses Actress’ Sexual Harassment Claims

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

UPDATED with statement from reps for both sides: A federal judge today took an ax to Blake Lively’s multi-pronged legal action against her It Starts with Us co-star Justin Baldoni, tossing out her allegations of sexual harassment in a 162-page ruling (read it here). Although her multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios and his […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/blake-lively-justin-baldoni-sexual-harassment-claims-dismissed-1236772610/

Thursday session

(date: 2026-04-02)

Thursday session

https://adactio.com/notes/22510

Bye Bye Bondi

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

The distractions are adding up

https://steady.substack.com/p/bye-bye-bondi

Bye-Bye Bondi

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-11)

Don't cheer.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/bye-bye-bondi

11 Music Biopics About Iconic Singers From Whitney Houston to Elvis Presley

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-03)

From Whitney Houston to Elvis, there is no shortage of iconic singers who inspire sweeping films that dramatize their life stories. No matter the genre, cinematic features have captured the careers of the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley to country singer Jonny Cash. Most recently, Back to Black (2024) launched in theaters to […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/music-biopics-to-watch-1235926155/

SFC: What the FCC router ban means for FOSS

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-08)

Denver Gingerich of the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) has published an article on the impact of the ban on
the sale of all new home routers not made in the United States issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The SFC, of course, is the organization
behind the OpenWrt One router.

Since software updates to already-FCC-approved devices do not require a new FCC approval, it appears the FCC is trying to move beyond its usual authorization procedures to restrict what manufacturers are allowed to push to existing routers. However, the FCC notably does not restrict software changes made by owners of routers in the U.S. In particular, there is no indication that updates people make to their own routers, using software they have sourced themselves, would run afoul of any past or present FCC rule.

As a result, we do not believe that this new FCC decision affects whether and how people can run OpenWrt or other user-selected firmware updates on routers they have already purchased. Not only is this an important right in relation to our ownership and control of our own devices, it also ensures that people can keep their routers secure for far longer than the manufacturer may choose to provide security updates, by allowing them to install up-to-date community software that supports routers for 10, 15, or even more years after their initial release date, as OpenWrt does for many devices.

He also notes that, as the OpenWrt One is already FCC-approved, there should be no impact on its availability in the US. The SFC has asked the FCC for clarification and plans to provide updates when they receive a reply.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066162/

Trump hits record polling lows over Iran, economic anxiety

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

Plus, Pam Bondi is out as Attorney General, and Trump's numbers on tariffs at the anniversary of "Liberation Day"

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-hits-record-polling-lows-over

Surf demonstrates the power of the open social web

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-21)

Flipboard's browser for the open social web is out for web users today.

https://werd.io/surf-demonstrates-the-power-of-the-open-social-web/

@Dave Winer's linkblog

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-06)

EmDash: First thoughts and takeaways for WordPress - Brian Coords.

https://www.briancoords.com/emdash-first-thoughts-and-takeaways-for-wordpress/

Iran Says It Has Started to Achieve Regime Change in US

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

“First Kristi Noem, and now Pam Bondi,” the official Iranian statement read. “The dominoes are falling one by one.”

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/iran-says-it-has-started-to-achieve

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-10)

This is a cute mind-map/corkboard take on vibe coding.

They are using SwiftTerm for it:

https://www.themaestri.app/en

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116336668711481346

The Blandness of Systematic Rules vs. The Delight of Localized Sensitivity

(date: 2026-04-02)

Marcin Wichary brings attention to this lovely dialog in ClarisWorks from 1997:

Screenshot of an old macOS dialog that says “This copy of This copy of Clarisworks has not been registered yet. Would you like to register..” with buttons that says “Never”, “Later”, and “Now”

He quips:

this breaks the rule of button copy being fully comprehensible without having to read the surrounding strings first, perhaps most well-known as the “avoid «click here»” rule. Never Register/Register Later/Register Now would solve that problem, but wouldn’t look so neat.

This got me thinking about how you judge when an interface should bend to fit systematic rules vs. exert itself and its peculiarities and context?

The trade-off Marcin points out is real: "Never Register / Register Later / Register Now" is fully self-describing and avoids the «click here» rule.

However, it kills the elegant terseness that makes that dialog so delightful. “Now / Later / Never” is three words with no filler and a perfect parallel structure.

It feels like one of those cases where the rule is sound as a guideline but a thoughtful design supersedes the baseline value provided by the rule.

Rules, in a way, are useful structures when you don’t want to think more. But more thinking can result in delightful exceptions that prove better than the outcome any rule can provide.

I suppose it really is trade-offs everywhere:

When you choose to make decisions on a case-by-case basis, the result can be highly-tailored to the specific context of the problem at hand. However, within a larger system, you can start to lose consistency and coherence across similar UX decision points.
When you choose to make system rules override the sensitivities of individual cases, you can lose the magic and delight of finding waypoints tailored exclusively to their peculiarities.

As software moves towards “scale”, I can’t help but think that systematic rules swallow all decision making because localized exceptions become points of friction — “We can’t require an experienced human give thought and care to the design of every single dialog box.”

What scale wants is automated decision making that doesn’t require skill or expertise because those things, by definition, don’t scale.

Then again, when you manufacture upon inhuman lines how can you expect humane outcomes?

Reply via:

Email · Mastodon ·

https://saltercane.com/tickets

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2026/systemic-vs-localized/

The Power and the Imaginary Glory

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

Trump's speech NATO,, the Iran war, and Lebanon

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/th-power-and-the-imaginary-glory

US Bans All Foreign-Made Consumer Routers

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-03-31)

This is for new routers; you don’t have to throw away your existing ones:

The Executive Branch determination noted that foreign-produced routers (1) introduce “a supply chain vulnerability that could disrupt the U.S. economy, critical infrastructure, and national defense” and (2) pose “a severe cybersecurity risk that could be leveraged to immediately and severely disrupt U.S. critical infrastructure and directly harm U.S. persons.”

More information:

Any new router made outside the US will now need to be approved by the FCC before it can be imported, marketed, or sold in the country...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/us-bans-all-foreign-made-consumer-routers.html

@Robert's feed at BlueSky

(date: 2026-04-02)

Enjoyed reading this while waiting on some data processing to finish, https://benhoyt.com/writings/the-small-web-is-beautiful/

https://bsky.app/profile/rsdoiel.bsky.social/post/3mijp3aqcr22i

Part 3 – Babylon.js 9.0: OpenPBR and additional engine updates

(date: 2026-04-02)

Babylon.js 9.0 introduces several enhancements to help developers build beautiful, high-performance 3D experiences.

OpenPBR Support - Alpha

Babylon.js 9.0 begins implementation of [Part 3 – Babylon.js 9.0: OpenPBR and additional engine updates](https://github.com/AcademySoftwareF

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2026/04/02/part-3-babylon-js-9-0-openpbr-and-additional-engine-updates/

One great poem to read today: CD Wright’s “Floating Trees”

(date: 2026-04-02)

https://lithub.com/one-great-poem-to-read-today-cd-wrights-floating-trees/

Crunchyroll Anime Awards Nominations: Box Office Smashes ‘Demon Slayer’ & ‘Chainsaw Man’ Up For Film Of The Year

(date: 2026-04-02)

Crunchyroll is out with the nominations for its 10th annual Anime Awards. See the full list below. The Film of the Year category features 2025 anime smashes Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle going up against 100 Meters, Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II — The Ashes […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/anime-awards-nominations-2026-crunchyroll-1236770375/

This Saturday night in The Hope And Ruin in Brighton… https://saltercane.com/tickets

(date: 2026-04-02)

This Saturday night in The Hope And Ruin in Brighton… https://saltercane.com/tickets

This Saturday night in The Hope And Ruin in Brighton…

https://adactio.com/notes/22509

@Robert's feed at BlueSky

(date: 2026-04-02)

Good points about document formats and lock-in. https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/02/document-formats-a-mystery-to-many/

https://bsky.app/profile/rsdoiel.bsky.social/post/3mijmym6fkc2g

What It Takes to Create Epic Disruption

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

Scott Anthony doesn’t talk about disruption as a buzzword—he treats it as a human challenge shaped by fear, optimism, and timing.

https://guykawasaki.substack.com/p/what-it-takes-to-create-epic-disruption

Netflix Nabs ‘The Corrections’ Starring Meryl Streep With Series Order As Part Of Prestige Ramp-Up; Cord Jefferson Helms Par TV Studios Limited Drama

(date: 2026-04-02)

EXCLUSIVE: Another high-profile TV package has been won by Netflix in a competitive situation. The streamer has landed The Corrections, based on Jonathan Franzen’s bestselling 2001 novel, with three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep attached to star. Franzen is adapting his book, and Oscar winner Cord Jefferson (American Fiction, Watchmen) is directing all episodes of the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-corrections-meryl-streep-netflix-series-cord-jefferson-1236767009/

Multimodality as Praxis: Coconstructing the Asynchronous Learning Space

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-10)

Prefer to listen? Here’s a 2-minute audio overview of this post. Asynchronous multimodal tutoring transforms the writing center experience into a kairotic space where neurodivergent tutors and students coconstruct rhetorical exchange on their own terms. “I really like meeting with you, but when we’re done, I feel like I need a nap.” So said my [...]

Caltech Team Finds Useful Quantum Computers Could Be Built with as Few as 10,000 Qubits

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2026/04/02/multimodality-as-praxis-coconstructing-the-asynchronous-learning-space/

Alyssa Farah Griffin Sets ‘The View’ Return Date

(date: 2026-04-02)

Alyssa Farah Griffin will return to ABC’s The View Monday, April 13, after nearly two months of maternity leave. Whoopi Goldberg, the talk show’s moderator, announced the return of her cohost at the end of today’s episode, saying Griffin would return after the holiday. The talk show is in reruns the week of April 6. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/alyssa-farah-griffin-the-view-return-date-1236771836/

‘Michael’ Startin’ Somethin’: Michael Jackson Musical Biopic To Thrill With Record $55M+ Opening – Early Look

(date: 2026-04-02)

Lionsgate’s Michael is bound to be a chart-topping hit when it opens on April 24. Three-week tracking today indicates an opening between $55M-$60M, besting the previous box office record set by a musical biopic, that being the 2018 Freddie Mercury movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, which bowed to $51M. Advance tickets sales at this point in time, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/michael-box-office-projection-1236771788/

Noticing culture over in Seoul

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

I wrote this issue last week but figured I’d publish it after I returned from my travels, since I was on a tourist visa.

https://shannonliao.substack.com/p/noticing-culture-over-in-seoul

@Robert's feed at BlueSky

(date: 2026-04-02)

For those of us who enjoy alternative open operating systems, this was interesting and welcome news. https://github.com/rochus-keller/OberonSystem3Native/releases/tag/2026-04-02

https://bsky.app/profile/rsdoiel.bsky.social/post/3mijlsv4ias2y

Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble Sees 2025 Pay Package Rise 10% To $10.8 Million As Proxy Season Gets Underway

(date: 2026-04-02)

Sean Gamble, chief executive of the nation’s third largest theater chain, saw his total compensation rise about 10% in 2025 from the year before to $10.8 million. The pay package includes $1 million in base pay; $6.5 million in stock awards; $3.2 million in non-equity incentive compensation (like a cash bonus); and $115k in “other […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cinemark-ceo-sean-gamble-2025-pay-package-1236771810/

The Plague: la pedagogía de la crueldad en la infancia

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-20)

Dirección: Charlie Polinger. Guion: Charlie Polinger. Elenco: Everett Blunck, Kayo Martin, Kenny Rasmussen, Joel Edgerton. Países: Estados Unidos, Rumania. Más información de la película: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32792934/ Presentada en la sección Un Certain Regard del Festival de Cannes 2025, The Plague, debut del estadounidense Charlie Polinger, se posiciona como una de las revelaciones más incisivas del certamen: un […]

La entrada The Plague: la pedagogía de la crueldad en la infancia se publicó primero en Palomita de maíz.

https://www.palomitademaiz.net/resenas-the-plague/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resenas-the-plague

Catapult Film Fund Names 2026 Research Fellows; Oscar Winner Diane Becker To Serve As Lead Advisor

(date: 2026-04-02)

EXCLUSIVE: Catapult Film Fund has named its 2026 Research Fellows, a distinguished group of five filmmakers who will receive $10,000 each to develop their documentary projects. The cohort includes Isabel Castro (Mija, Selena Y Los Dinos), Oscar-nominated producer Lauren Domino (Time), Oscar-shortlisted director Amber Fares (Coexistence, My Ass!), Emmy-winner Ivan MacDonald (Bring Them Home), and […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/catapult-film-fund-2026-research-fellows-1236771365/

‘Six The Musical Live!’ Lands U.S. Theatrical Release Via Universal Pictures Content Group

(date: 2026-04-02)

Universal Pictures Content Group has acquired domestic theatrical rights to Six The Musical Live!, the recorded edition of the popular stage show, and will release the film through Focus in cinemas on August 14. Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the production reimagines the wives of Henry VIII as pop icons. The official synopsis […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/six-the-musical-live-u-s-universal-1236771741/

Rogue Scholar Newsletter March 2026

(date: 2026-04-02)

This is the March 2026 issue of the monthly newsletter from the Rogue Scholar science blog archive. The newsletter reports on new blogs that have joined the platform, important technical updates in Rogue Scholar infrastructure, community updates, and other news relevant to Rogue Scholar users.

https://blog.front-matter.de/posts/rogue-scholar-newsletter-march-2026/

Forking frenzy ensues after Euro-Office launch sparks OnlyOffice backlash

(date: 2026-04-02)

Meanwhile, Collabora splits from LibreOffice Online amid claims TDF ejected 'all Collabora staff and partners'

European outfits Ionos and Nextcloud have launched Euro-Office, a fork of the OnlyOffice cloud-based productivity suite aimed at orgs with qualms around sovereignty, provoking an angry response from the original developer.

https://go.theregister.com/i/cfa/https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/

‘The Wilds’ Alum Jenna Clause Signs With Established Artists

(date: 2026-04-02)

EXCLUSIVE: Jenna Clause has signed with Established Artists for management. Clause is a First Nations (Gayogohó:no) actress best known for the series regular role of Martha Blackburn in the Amazon series The Wilds. Created by Sarah Streicher and executive produced by Amy B. Harris, The Wilds blends dystopian and survival-drama elements, following a group of […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/established-artists-signs-jenna-clause-1236771815/

‘Euphoria’ Sets First-Ever Coachella Screening

(date: 2026-04-02)

A special “fan screening” of Euphoria‘s Season 3 debut episode at Coachella will be the first TV series premiere in the music and arts festival’s history. HBO Max calls the event “a historic late-night campground screening.” Social media posts announcing the Coachella screening shows a clip of a vehicle racing across a desert with a […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/euphoria-coachella-screening-1236771790/

‘The Breadwinner’ Trailer: Nate Bargatze Is In Over His Head As A Stay-At-Home Dad In TriStar Comedy Marking His First Leading Film Role

(date: 2026-04-02)

TriStar Pictures has unveiled a new trailer for The Breadwinner, their family comedy marking the first leading film role of comedian Nate Bargatze. In the film directed by Weird: The Al Yankovic Story‘s Eric Appel, Mandy Moore co-stars as Nate’s supermom wife, Katie (Moore), who lands a deal on Shark Tank, leading the lifelong breadwinner […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/the-breadwinner-trailer-nate-bargatze-mandy-moore-tristar-1236771775/

Dua Lipa’s literary empire is expanding. (Again.)

(date: 2026-04-02)

You may know her as a Grammy winning pop star, best at baiting hooks that keep Barbie in a trance. But these days you’re just as likely to know Dua Lipa for her second job: bookfluencer. The British impresario founded

https://lithub.com/dua-lipas-literary-empire-is-expanding-again/

CBC Renews ‘The Assembly’ In Canada For Season 2

(date: 2026-04-02)

EXCLUSIVE: Canadian pubcaster CBC has renewed its version of the groundbreaking unscripted format The Assembly. The announcement of a second season comes on World Autism Day, and will feature an expanded cast of more than 30 neurodivergent and autistic adults who interview celebrities – often asking unusual or uncomfortable questions that other interviewers may not […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cbc-renews-the-assembly-season-2-canada-1236771582/

Bong Joon Ho Unveils First Look & Title For Debut Animated Feature ‘Ally’ As Pathé Boards Sales

(date: 2026-04-02)

Oscar-winning Korean writer-director Bong Joon Ho has revealed that his hotly-awaited debut animated feature film will be titled Ally at the same time as unveiling a first image for its titular protagonist. Created from a screenplay co-written by Bong with Jason Yu (Sleep), the film revolves around Ally, a curious piglet squid living in the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/bong-joon-ho-first-look-ally-pathe-boards-sales-1236771700/

Things Are Bad For Trump and The Republicans. They Are About To Get Much Worse

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-11)

Trump is a failed President. Congress must step up now and start cleaning up the many messes he has created......

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/things-are-bad-for-trump-and-the

[$] IPC medley: message-queue peeking, io_uring, and bus1

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-08)

The kernel provides a number of ways for processes to communicate with each other, but they never quite seem to fit the bill for many users. There are currently a few proposals for interprocess communication (IPC) enhancements circulating on the mailing lists. The most straightforward one adds a new system call for POSIX message queues that enables the addition of new features. For those wanting an entirely new way to do interprocess communication, there is a proposal to add a new subsystem for that purpose to io_uring. Finally, the bus1 proposal has made a return after ten years.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1065490/

Web Day Out - 12 March 2026 — Polytechnic

(date: 2026-04-02)

This was another fantastic conference from the Clearleft team, and one that I hope is repeated next year. It is absolutely incredible what you can do in the browser these days, and even though I thought I was keeping up with the latest developments, it astounded me how far things have come.

adactio.com/links/22508

https://polytechnic.co.uk/blog/2026/04/web-day-out-12-march-2026/

Versant Acquires StockStory Platform To Enhance CNBC’s Digital Growth

(date: 2026-04-02)

Versant Media Group, which has been making a tuck-in acquisitions since separating from Comcast and going public early this year, announced a deal for AI-powered StockStory to support CNBC’s digital grown. Financial details weren’t disclosed. The platform delivers financial analysis, market insights and stock recommendations, enhancing CNBC’s data-driven capabilities. The acquisition, Versant said, reflects the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/versant-acquires-stockstory-financial-insights-cnbc-digital-1236771727/

Crisis And Tennis

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-17)

Writing of lasting value

https://thebrowser.com/free/crisis-and-tennis/

CSS subgrid is super good

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-21)

I’m all aboard the CSS subgrid train. Now I’m seeing subgrid everywhere. Seriously, what was I doing before subgrid? I feel like I was bashing rocks together. Consider the follower HTML: The content could be simple headings and paragraphs. […]

https://dbushell.com/2026/04/02/css-subgrid-is-super-good/

A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #437

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-16)

For March 25-31, 2026

Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, a roundup of the week's finest short humor pieces and funny articles, and a celebration of the fantastic writers who wrote them. Yesterday was April Fools’ Day, and boy did we get fooled real good. Some practical joker handed us a can of peanuts and told us there were a bunch of short humor pieces inside. You should have seen the look on our faces when we opened up the can and discovered that not only were there no short humor pieces in there, the peanuts weren’t even that good.

What We Enjoyed This Week

If I Made Novelty T-Shirts by Jesse Eisenberg (The New Yorker) This is a premise that, at first blush, seems like it would work perfectly as an illustrated piece. But we really like the choice to leave to the reader’s imagination everything about the shirts except the text on them. It’s very funny to think about what kind of font the shirts would use, how the text would be arranged, etc. And, in that vein, the “ (continues on back of shirt)” runner is also quite funny and pays off in a very satisfying way.

No, Son, Rash’kar’lagratar Isn’t the Magic Word by Lillie Franks (Points in Case) The juxtaposition of parenting tone and delightfully in-depth sorcery specifics is terrific. The way the magic situation gets out of hand is some very nice heightening, and even though we have a sense of what the final joke of the piece is going to be, Lillie still finds a surprising way to deliver it.

Slipping by Shea Socrates (HAD) Not a traditional short humor piece, but we love the funny and arresting image of the main character who “started slipping on ice and never stopped. One leg after the other, arms flapping, torso pitched at forty-five degrees. Their feet slapped the ground like Scooby-Doo and Shaggy running away.” There’s also some nice, short-humor-esque exploration of this compelling initial setup.

-- ADS --

Hey there, humorists!

Our comedy short, " D.E. Eye Exam," created for The New Yorker’s Shouts & Murmurs, has been nominated for a 2026 Webby Award for Best Comedy Video! We’re up against Jimmy Kimmel and Hacks, so it's a strong field.

We'd really appreciate your vote. Oh yeah, because you can vote for the Webbys!! It takes a minute and would help more people find our work.

Thanks for watching and for your potential support!

-Jed & Nehemiah @neversad

Find Your Voice at the Stella Adler Devised Comedy Intensive

With teachers like SNL's Chloe Troast and a masterclass from Bowen Yang, join us! June 1 to July 2, 2026, a five-week summer intensive in New York City, led by Matt Gehring. This 30-hour-per-week program blends sketch writing, improvisation, and physical comedy to help you create original work with a final performance on the UCB stage.

Center your writing through expert mentorship in stand-up, solo work, and ensemble acting. Risk big, refine your process, and showcase your evolution in a final performance. Applications are extending through April 15. Apply today!

(Do you have an ad you'd like to place in the Newsletter? Fill out this form! )

An Old Favorite

This week's Old Favorite is a Brian Agler Selection (TM)--a piece whose accompanying note was written by Brian--from Newsletter #94 .

If Google is Serious About Regaining Our Trust, It Must Start by Offering Alternative Ways to Torture the Small Yellow Man in Google Maps by Sean McGowan ( Points in Case) Brian here. Did everyone else do that thing in The Sims where you find increasingly creative ways to psychologically torture, and perhaps even kill, your Sims? Was that just me? Oooooh boy, I know what Dr. Greenbaum and I are talking about at our next session.

Do you have an Old Favorite of your own? Let us know by filling out this form and we may run your pick in a future edition of the newsletter.

Updates From Your Editors and Friends of the Newsletter

At Lit Hub, James wrote about that recent spate of AI stuff slipping past human gatekeepers. And it's not all serious--there are links to two funny videos in the piece too.

Other Humorous Writing News

We were saddened to hear that Glen Baxter, the great cartoonist, passed away this week. We’re big fans of his inimitable, surreal single-panel cartoons, and hope you’ll check out his work.

https://buttondown.com/humorouswriting/archive/a-newsletter-of-humorous-writing-437/

‘Beef’ Season 2 Trailer: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton & Cailee Spaeny Are Two Feuding Couples In Netflix Drama

(date: 2026-04-02)

Netflix has released a new trailer for Season 2 of Beef, the latest installment of Lee Sung Jin’s anthology series, starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny and Seoyeon Jang. Created by Lee, Season 2 begins with a Gen-Z couple witnessing an alarming fight between their Millennial boss and his wife. Newly-engaged Ashley […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/beef-season-2-trailer-photos-oscar-isaac-carey-mulligan-1236771380/

DOXA Documentary Film Festival Unveils 2026 Lineup With More Than 75 Films, Multiple World Premieres

(date: 2026-04-02)

EXCLUSIVE: The DOXA Documentary Film Festival – Western Canada’s largest nonfiction film showcase – today announced the lineup for its 25th anniversary edition. The festival, running April 30-May 10 in Vancouver, will open with live cinematic performance piece Bella Sutra, directed and narrated by OK Pedersen and accompanied by musicians Eden Glasman and Jakob Tokarczyk. […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/2026-doxa-documentary-film-festival-lineup-1236771463/

Tubi Adds 600+ Titles From Disney, NBCU, Sony, Lionsgate & Warner Bros. Discovery In Canada

(date: 2026-04-02)

EXCLUSIVE: Fox’s ad-supported streamer Tubi is getting a large shot in the arm in Canada. The service has acquired more than 600 movies and TV showd for its on-demand library, tapping Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Discovery for the content. “The future of streaming is about serving fandoms at scale,” said […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/tubi-canada-acquisitions-disney-nbcu-sony-wbd-lionsgate-1236771557/

Mistrust

(date: 2026-04-02)

Four years ago I wrote about something that has long puzzled me in the world of front-end development. Trust:

The mindset I’ve noticed is that many developers are suspicious of browser features but trusting of third-party libraries.

Developers are more likely to trust, say, Bootstrap than they are to trust CSS grid or custom properties. Developers are more likely to trust React than they are to trust web components.

That post got some thoughtful responses but I never really understood the imbalance of trust and suspicion:

I’m kind of confused by this prevalent mindset of trusting third-party code more than built-in browser features.

But something happened recently that helped me understand that mindset better.

I wrote a while back about how the datalist element on iOS has been completely fucked up. It’s worse than if Safari simply didn’t support it.

Breaking the web like that should be a five-alarm fire, but nobody is in any rush to fix it. I recall a similar lackadaisical attitude when Safari completely broke their implentation of IndexedDB.

I had it in my head that browser features followed a forward path generally. They’d be iterated on and improved on to iron out any glitches, but it was reasonable to expect things to get better with each new version of a browser.

Now I see that’s not necessarily the case.

Had I used an over-engineered JavaScript library instead of the datalist element, I wouldn’t be facing the current situation of having to use browser-sniffing to avoid sending a standard HTML element to any browser on iOS.

Sure, that third-party JavaScript would mean that users are downloading more code, and it probably wouldn’t work well with assistive technology, but as long as I didn’t touch it, it would continue to work. That should be true of web standards—I should be able to use them secure in the knowledge that they won’t suddenly shit the bed.

Perhaps I should be grateful to Apple for dispelling my naïveté. I now have much more empathy and understanding for web developers who are suspicious of web standards and prefer to use third-party libraries instead.

Good job, Apple. Happy anniversary.

https://adactio.com/journal/22507

★ David Pogue’s ‘Apple: The First 50 Years’

(date: 2026-04-02)

A veritable encyclopedia of Apple history. Just a remarkable, essential, and unique work.

https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/pogue_apple_first_50_years

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

My first real post in the New Dave On Twitter, or N-DOT.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/02.html#a145725

‘Harry Potter’ Sets Behind-The-Scenes Special ‘Finding Harry: The Craft Behind The Magic’ At HBO

(date: 2026-04-02)

HBO is taking viewers behind-the-scenes of the making of the upcoming Harry Potter series. Finding Harry: The Craft Behind The Magic special will debut Sunday, April 5 at 8 pm in the UK/3 pm ET/12 pm PT in the U.S. on HBO Max. It will also air on HBO in the U.S. at 8 pm ET/PT that evening, […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/harry-potter-series-behind-the-scenes-special-hbo-1236771655/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

Please follow me at my new Twitter address: bullmancuso. Whatever anyone thinks of the company the product is still unique, there are people and communities there that I need to communicate with, and I just don't have that kind of network anywhere else.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/02.html#a144636

Caltech Weekly - April 2: Quantum Computing Advance; Ingenuity Helicopter on Mars

(date: 2026-04-02)

Caltech Weekly - April 2: Quantum Computing Advance; Ingenuity Helicopter on MarsView this email in your browser

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Theoretical discovery opens the door to building quantum computers with significantly reduced resources.

John Dabiri and Joseph Lazio Named 2025 AAAS Fellows

Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are honored for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.

Learning to Fly (with Ingenuity)

Before Ingenuity achieved the first powered flight on another planet, it learned to fly at JPL. At a recent Science Journeys presentation, researcher Alejandro Stefan Zavala traced his journey from helping prepare Ingenuity for Mars to his current work at Caltech's Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies designing drones for Earth's urban skies.

"'Where do the building blocks of life come from' is a very simple question that you can answer through astronomical discoveries. That just makes me a very happy person."

Mansi Kasliwal (PhD '11), the new director of Palomar Observatory, is the tenth in its storied 78-year history and the first woman to hold the post. She discusses her scientific journey in a profile in Techer.

In Case You Missed It

View recent lectures and events on Caltech's YouTube channel.

Presidential Distinguished Speaker Series: Julio Frenk

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk, former federal secretary of health of Mexico visited Caltech as a featured guest in this series, which brings eminent speakers to campus to discuss timely topics in science and engineering, culture, public policy, and American higher education.

Did You Know?

The Athenaeum basement's newly renovated Rathskeller bar and game room features a mini gallery that showcases the Caltech faculty club's early history. Twenty-five years ago this week, the Mars Odyssey spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral. It has spent more time in orbit around the Red Planet collecting data on Mars's climate and geology than any other spacecraft in history. JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, leads the mission.Bluesky Caltech.edu Facebook Instagram LinkedIn X YouTube Connect with CaltechThe Caltech Weekly is published by the Office of Communications and External Relations. Copyright ©2026 All rights reserved. Send feedback and story ideas for the newsletter to theweekly@caltech.edu.

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https://mailchi.mp/caltech/caltech-weekly-april-2-quantum-computing-advance-ingenuity-helicopter-on-mars

WGAE’s CBS News 24/7 Union Reaches Tentative Agreement On New Contract

(date: 2026-04-02)

The Writers Guild of America East’s union at CBS News 24/7 has reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with the network. The CBS News 24/7 union and the WGAE Council’s Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News sector representatives will hold a vote on ratification in the coming days, with full details released then, the guild announced. Last […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/cbs-news-24-7-union-contract-1236771659/

Trump Tried to End Birthright Citizenship. Even His Handpicked Court Isn’t Having it

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

He showed up in person, only to walk out when the argument turned against him. The case calls into question long settled Constitutional norms.

https://plus.briantylercohen.com/p/trump-tried-to-end-birthright-citizenship

WME Selling 160over90 Sports Marketing Agency To Publicis

(date: 2026-04-02)

In a big global deal, giant Publicis Groupe has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire sports marketing and creative agency 160over90 from WME Group. Financial details weren’t disclosed but Deadline confirmed a WSJ report that the price tag is over $500 million. The combined, expanded Publicis Sports group will report to Suzy Deering, CEO […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/wme-group-selling-160over90-sports-marketer-to-publicis-1236771622/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-10)

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116335580317479339

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-10)

RE: https://fosstodon.org/@compnerd/116330885804257488

When you are a Swift developer, every day is Xmas!

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/116335572488931136

ByeDoom — Give a Link → Get a Feed

(date: 2026-04-02)

This looks very handy!

Add any public account from Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, TikTok or YouTube to quickly get a feed for your favorite reader.

Bonus: Add any website to quickly grab its existing feed as well.

adactio.com/links/22506

https://byedoom.com/

Bruce Lawson’s personal site : Apple at 50: my top five Apple moments

(date: 2026-04-02)

Never forget:

The time Apple lied to the UK regulator

The time when Apple told the EU that Safari is 3 different browsers

When Apple tried to shut the UK investigation down

When Apple’s VP of Finance got caught lying under oath

When Apple tried to wreck all EU Web Apps

adactio.com/links/22505

https://brucelawson.co.uk/2026/apple-at-50-my-top-five-apple-moments/

‘Swapped’ Trailer: Michael B. Jordan Enlists His Niece & Nephew To Debut First Look At Netflix Animated Feature

(date: 2026-04-02)

This morning, Netflix dropped the first official trailer for the animated movie Swapped, which features voice performances by Michael B. Jordan and Juno Temple. In the short clip shared across Netflix’s social accounts, Jordan appears before the trailer begins, and he introduces the trailer alongside his young niece and nephew. Swapped is directed by Nathan […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/swapped-trailer-michael-b-jordan-netflix-1236771621/

Brian Cox Cast In ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Season 2: The New York Ripper Unmasked

(date: 2026-04-02)

EXCLUSIVE: The mystery from the hit Showtime series Dexter: Resurrection‘s first season has been solved, and the key is Brian Cox (Succession, Nuremberg). The Emmy winner has joined the Season 2 cast in the series regular role of The New York Ripper, a serial killer who terrorized the City years ago. Though no longer active as a […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/brian-cox-cast-dexter-resurrection-season-2-new-york-ripper-1236771486/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-20)

When I think of "Slack" my brain immediately translates it to "AOL." I'm not kidding.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/02.html#a133811

Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival Unveils New Artistic Director

(date: 2026-04-02)

Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) has appointed Andrew Mohsen as its new Artistic Director, replacing Marianne Khoury who stepped down from the role earlier this year. Mohsen, who has been part of the festival’s programming team since 2023, officially takes up the role today, and will lead the creation of the selection for the […]

https://deadline.com/2026/04/egypt-el-gouna-film-festival-new-artistic-director-1236771615/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-20)

Continuing, isn't it a shame that CloudFlare didn't take a different approach? What if they had created a fantastic WordPress runtime, which seems to be where most of their effort went, and that's where their expertise lies, not in crafting new user experiences. A service you could buy from CloudFlare, along with all the other services, that does a fantastic job of running WordPress sites. The customer wouldn't need to know how it worked behind the scenes. Yes, that would still be competiting with existing WordPress vendors, they make money off runtimes, but for the users it would mean they could keep using WordPress the way they always have, and the result would run better. That they didn't do it this way, that's it's all-or-nothing, might turn out to be the reason the product doesn't take off. It's a serious consideration. On the other hand there probably are a few WordPress users that would like to try something new out, esp if the cost of conversion is near zero (which they kind of claim it is).

http://scripting.com/2026/04/02.html#a133153

Exelbierd: What's actually in a Sashiko review?

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-08)

Brian "bex" Exelbierd has publisheda blog
post exploring follow-up questions raised bythe recent debate about the use of the LLM-based review tool Sashiko in the memory-management subsystem. His main finding is that Sashiko reviews are bi-modal with regards to whether they contain reports about code not directly changed by the patch set — most do not, but the ones that do often have several such comments.

Hypothesis 1: Reviewers are getting told about bugs they didn't create. Sashiko's review protocol explicitly instructs the LLM to read surrounding code, not just the diff. That's good review practice — but it means the tool might flag pre-existing bugs in code the patch author merely touched, putting those problems in their inbox.

Hypothesis 2: The same pre-existing bugs surface repeatedly. If a known issue in a subsystem doesn't get fixed between review runs, every patch touching nearby code could trigger the same finding. That would create a steady drip of duplicate noise across the mailing list.

I pulled data from Sashiko's public API and tested both.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1065971/

OpenSSH 10.3 released

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-07)

OpenSSH 10.3 has been released. Among the many changes in this release are a security fix to address late validation of metacharacters in user names, removal of bug compatibility for SSH implementations that do not support rekeying, and a fix to ensure that scp clears setuid/setgid bits from downloaded files when operating as root in legacy ( -O) mode. See the release announcement for a full list of new features, bug fixes, and potentially incompatible changes.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1065991/

Security updates for Thursday

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-07)

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (python3.11, python3.12, squid, and thunderbird), Debian (gst-plugins-bad1.0 and gst-plugins-ugly1.0), Fedora (bpfman, crun, gnome-remote-desktop, polkit, python3.14, rust-rustls-webpki, rust-sccache, rust-scx_layered, rust-scx_rustland, rust-scx_rusty, and scap-security-guide), Oracle (freerdp, gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free, gstreamer1-plugins-base, gstreamer1-plugins-good, and gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free, kernel, libxslt, python3.11, python3.12, squid, and thunderbird), SUSE (389-ds, busybox, chromium, cosign, curl, docker-compose, exiv2, expat, firefox, freerdp, freerdp2, gstreamer-plugins-ugly, harfbuzz, heroic-games-launcher, ImageMagick, kea, keylime, libjxl, librsvg, libsodium, libsoup, net-snmp, net-tools, netty, nghttp2, poppler, postgresql13, postgresql16, postgresql17, postgresql18, protobuf, python-black, python-orjson, python-pyasn1, python-pyOpenSSL, python-tornado, python-tornado6, python311-nltk, thunderbird, tomcat10, tomcat11, vim, and xen), and Ubuntu (kernel, linux, linux-aws, linux-kvm, linux-lts-xenial, linux-raspi, linux-raspi, linux-raspi-realtime, rust-cargo-c, rust-tar, and undertow).

https://lwn.net/Articles/1066084/

@Dave Winer's Scripting News

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

Yesterday I wrote about AI introducing doubt with something as fundamental as how software is created now with the advent of AI software that can be used effectively to write software. Behind that I wondered if the open source developers of WordPress had changed their methodology? Is their codebase managed by ChatGPT now or Claude.ai? Not only did I get the answer to that question overnight (yes, they have made the change), but there was an announcement of a new WordPress competitor, something that hasn't come along in decades, actually. It's called EmDash from CloudFlare. I read their announcement, and then asked ChatGPT to walk through an analysis of it with me. Here's a link to the conversation, hope you can read it. It understood my concerns. Is this something that can work with my product WordLand. Short answer: No, not as-is. It apparently doesn't support the wpcom api what we use to connect to WordPress. By design, you can import WordPress sites into EmDash, but they don't interop with each other. It's for moments like this that I have my WordPress news FeedLand flow. Already there has been some analysis. No doubt anything written today is going to see sketchy in the days to come, first impressions don't usually end up meaning much, even so I'm anxious to read what other people think. Meanwhile I'm thinking that maybe I should shift gears back to working on FeedLand, thinking that the WordPress world is too shaky now to try to introduce something new there. Likelihood of success is decreasing every day it seems.

http://scripting.com/2026/04/02.html#a131636

Limiting Not Just Screen Time, But Screen Space

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-22)

The post Limiting Not Just Screen Time, But Screen Space appeared first on NOEMA.

https://www.noemamag.com/limiting-not-just-screen-time-but-screen-space

Document formats: a mystery to many

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-15)

Euro-Office’s announcement – which sees IONOS, Nextcloud and other companies coming together to create a European alternative to office productivity software – has predictably sparked a wave of comments. Most of these focus on the issue of licensing: is the code open source? Who controls the repository? What are the

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/02/document-formats-a-mystery-to-many/

New stable kernels for Thursday

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-06)

Greg Kroah-Hartman has released the 6.19.11, 6.18.21,6.12.80, and 6.6.131 stable kernels, followed by a quick release of 6.6.132 with two patches reverted to address a problem building the rust core in 6.6.131. Each kernel contains important fixes; users are advised to upgrade.

https://lwn.net/Articles/1065984/

@Pleiades STOA at hcommons.socal

(date: 2026-04-02, updated: 2026-04-19)

Export Updates 2026-04-02:

Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places

1 new and 6 updated places.