Amanda Palmer -- who appears on the audiobook for my novel Walkaway -- and Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pinks Dots have just released a new, patron-funded album: "I Can Spin a Rainbow". Read the rest
I have a column in today's International Business Times: Unchecked Surveillance Technology Is Leading Us Towards Totalitarianism, where I discuss this week's NYPL event with Edward Snowden and how mass surveillance connects to the themes in my novel Walkaway. Read the rest
Students of Avondale High School in the Detroit neighborhood of Auburn, MI are currently sitting in in the hallways of their school to protest the announcement that 6 of their teachers were to be laid off. Read the rest
The city of Flint, Michigan notoriously poisoned a generation of its children with lead in the water supply, having ignored and covered up reports from whistleblowers and denied complaints from residents. Read the rest
On Sunday, I'll be appearing at Chicago's Volumes Books with Max "Cards Against Humanity" Temkin, as part of the Walkaway tour (which includes stops tonight in Chapel Hill at Flyleaf Books with Mur Lafferty; tomorrow in Cincinnati at Joseph Beth; and more dates in Winnipeg, Denver, Austin, Houston, Scottsdale/Phoenix, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Bellingham, Vancouver and Burbank, before I head to the UK). Read the rest
Jeromie Whalen is a technology teacher at Northampton High School who recently took over as the school yearbook advisor (one of the many cool projects he's done at his school); when he stepped into the role, he discovered with mounting horror that the school's yearbook contractor, the field-dominating Jostens Yearbook, was "literally a scam." Read the rest
24+ of the Republican lawmakers who voted yesterday to take away healthcare from tens of millions of Americans, including survivors of rape and domestic abuse are in vulnerable districts, having won their seats with less than 50% of the vote. Read the rest
Hole Roll is (was? the post dates from 2014 and their website is down) a Ukrainian blind company that published some early designs for blackout curtains cut into intricate nighttime cityscapes that let you create the illusion of being in a skyscraper penthouse after dark in the middle of the day in a suburban tract home. (via Colossal) Read the rest
Last night, the whistleblower Edward Snowden and appeard on stage at the New York Public Library's LIVE from the NYPL series, to discuss my novel Walkaway. Read the rest
Under The American Health Care Act -- presently the subject of a full-court press by House Republicans -- insurance companies will be allowed to discriminate against customers who have "pre-existing conditions," refusing to pay for problems stemming from them. Read the rest
The SS7 vulnerability has long been understood and publicized: anyone who spends $1000 or so for a mobile data roaming license can use the SS7 protocol to tell your phone company that your phone just showed up on their network and hijack all the traffic destined for your phone, including those handy SMSes used to verify sketchy attempts to log into your bank account and steal all your money. Read the rest
My latest Locus Magazine column is Weaponized Narrative, about the pulp fiction convention of mashing up "man against nature" stories with "man against man" stories to tell "man against nature stories" (first the tornado smashes your house, then your neighbors come over to eat you). Read the rest
Lasermad's Nixie Chessboards take 8-10 weeks to hand build, during which time each of the chess pieces is painstakingly built around a vintage nixie tube scavenged from the world's dwindling supply, and the board is prepared with the wireless induction coils that power the pieces when they're set on the board, lighting them up. (via Red Ferret) Read the rest
I first encountered the idea of technological "legibility" in the work of Natalie Jeremijenko (previously) who insists on the importance of humans being able to know why a computer is doing what it does. Read the rest
Desiree Fairooz is a Code Pink activist who attended the confirmation hearing for former Senator Jefferson Sessions, in which he was approved as Attorney General for the USA; when Sessions' colleague Senator Richard Shelby claimed that Sessions' record of "treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well documented," she burst out laughing and was arrested for disorderly conduct. Read the rest
Oh Joy Sex Toy (previously), our favorite pervy webcomic, just announced their fourth annual kickstarter for a new collection of the best of their excellent, excellent, sex-positive comic. Read the rest
Evan from Fight for the Future writes, "The Internet strikes back! Hundreds of people chipped in small amounts to crowdfund these billboards targeting U.S. lawmakers who voted to gut the FCC's Internet privacy rules and allow ISPs like Comcast and Verizon to collect and sell their customers' personal information and web browsing history without our consent. Check out photos of the billboards here. Read the rest
