Some Bits: Nelson's Linkblog about • archive • mastodon • feed
Benin Bronzes
Huge trove of remarkable West African art stolen by the British in 1897, now scattered around the world
2019-03-31 benin • art • culture • history • nigeria • tootme
Saudis v Bezos
Bezos' security advisor talks in detail about how the Saudis are going after Bezos, at least in part because they ware mad about the Washington Post
2019-03-31 bezos • amazon • saudis • saudiarabia • trump • politics • harassment • journalism • washpo • washingtonpost
Zuckerberg on Internet regulation
Thoughtful op/ed on how Facebook, etc should be regulated to protect the world
2019-03-30 facebook • regulation • politics • privacy • dataportability • terrorism • hatespeech
About Sci-Hub
Alexandra Elbakyan writes about the formation of the world's most important index of scientific papers
2019-03-30 library • catalog • publishing • scihub • piracy • tootme
WiGLE
Public map of wifi networks found
2019-03-30 wifi • maps • networks • wireless • tootme
Sexism in Finland tech
Caterina Fake on appalling behavior
2019-03-30 sexism • finland • tech
Roy's tiger mauling
New testimony about the tragedy at a Siegfried & Roy show
2019-03-29 tiger • lgbt • gay • siegfriedandroy • tootme
Crowdfunding against homeless
San Francisco homeless shelter being opposed by a crowdfunded lawyer
2019-03-29 sanfrancisco • homeless • politics • crowdfunding
Nancarrow: Studies for Player Piano
Experimental music for machines unfettered by limitations of human performance
2019-03-29 music • history • nancarrow • cage • playerpiano • tootme
Office Depot fraud
Computer service department faked finding malware on PCs
2019-03-28 fraud • officedepot • geeksquad • computers • tootme
Capsicum cultivars
The varieties of different chiles grown around the world
2019-03-28 chile • chili • capsicum • pepper • farming • food • cooking • tootme
Mapping Broadband Speeds
The FCC can't be trusted to report broadband speeds accurately, so this independent organization will instead
2019-03-28 broadband • internet • speedtest • tootme • fcc • politics
M-Lab
New tools for measuring Internet performance with a public policy / activist bent
2019-03-28 measurement • internet • speedtest • google • mlab • tootme
Redesigning bad charts
Economist graphics team revisits some visualizations
2019-03-28 visualization • data • graphics • economist • tootme • charts
ASMR for white liberals…
Hilariously on point
2019-03-28 funny • race • asmr • comedy • tootme
What Three Words is bad
Another essay on why the proprietary addressing system is bad for the world
2019-03-28 geography • what3words • badtech • maps
The Chinese Burner
Thoughtful essay from an outsider perspective
2019-03-28 china • burningman • via:metafilter • culture • tootme
Microsoft vs. April Fools
Hooray, leadership in ending Internet Stupid Day
2019-03-28 aprilfools • microsoft • aprilfoolsday • tootme
WebGL terrain shading
Nice tutorial from start to finish
2019-03-27 maps • webgl • terrain • rendering • tootme
The bong course
Food industry inside-joke at the French Laundry
2019-03-27 funny • frenchlaundry • dining • bong • tootme
Grindr sale undone?
Claim that the US is retroactively blocking the sale of the gay hookup app to a Chinese owner
2019-03-27 china • grindr • gay • lgbt • sex • regulation • tootme
Vision Fund details
How's the monster $100B VC fund doing?
2019-03-26 investment • venturecapital • masa • softbank • visionfund • tootme
Medium's evolution
Publishing tech company continues to look for a model that works
2019-03-26 publishing • medium • blogs • writing • internet • tootme
Baba is You is Turing Complete
CA Rule 110 emulated in the game
2019-03-26 games • computation • turing • tootme • babaisyou
Zuckerberg in Hawaii result
Auctions of small parcels of land in the middle of Zuckerberg's holdings in Kauai
2019-03-26 hawaii • zuckerberg • facebook • realestate
Sandy Hook harassment
America is a country where when your child is massacred at school you are subject to a lifetime of harassment by gun nuts who claim you are part of an elaborate hoax
2019-03-25 guns • gunnuts • nra • politics • sandyhook • awful
Women in bathtubs
Fun snarky responses to silly staged ad photos
2019-03-25 advertising • women • bathtub • funny • tootme
O(n log n) multiplication
New lower bound on the time complexity of multiplying integers. The algorithm's secret sauce doesn't kick in until the numbers have billions of digits though
2019-03-25 math • complexity • algorithm • bigo • tootme
Precise ASUS malware
ASUS-signed software updates contained malware targeting just a few hundred machines with specific MAC addresses
2019-03-25 asus • malware • targeting • precision • badtech • tootme
hot Trump supporters
Botnet declares itself not a Russian bot, in triplicate
2019-03-25 twitter • bots • russia • trump • propaganda • funny • politics
What to Make of Bill Barr’s Letter
Detailed analysis of what we can learn from the summary of the Mueller report, and how important it is the full report is released
2019-03-25 politics • trump • mueller • barr • treason • corruption
Hexagonal Cross Stitch
Math meets crafts
2019-03-25 crosstich • crafts • math • symmetry • tootme • via:hackernews
ArchiveBox
Tool for easily archiving URLs, like the ones you visit, etc
2019-03-25 archive • wayback • history • web • tootme • software
UUCP maps
Some history from the pre-Internet days
2019-03-24 uucp • maps • history • networks • tootme
Human Contact Is Now a Luxury Good
A fresh perspective on the increasing role of display screens in our lives
2019-03-24 society • humanity • healthcare • screentime • contact • tootme
$100M invoice fraud
Lithuanian man stole a whole lot of money from Facebook and Google by sending phony invoices
2019-03-24 crime • theft • google • facebook • fraud • tootme
Killed by Google
Another database of dead Google products, fairly comprehensive
2019-03-23 google • products • history • tootme
VC Starter Kit
Everything you need to begin your career investing in the tech industry
2019-03-23 vc • parody • funny • venturecapital • tootme
95% of Bitcoin transactions are fake
Markets are making up transactions
2019-03-22 bitcoin • fraud • scam • hoax • tootme
Twitter amplifies extremism
Their bullshit engagement feature which shows you random tweets seems geared to promote the worst most unpleasant forms of rhetoric
2019-03-22 twitter • socialmedia • politics • propaganda
SF General pricing
In theory the city has been regulating the price of procedures at San Francisco's hospital. In practice the politicians have no clue
2019-03-22 medicine • healthcare • medical • insurance • sanfrancisco • politics
Adopted Unicode characters
Fundraising scheme where companies and people can adopt individual Unicode characters
2019-03-22 unicode • fundraising • silly • tootme
OSM and EU Copyright
New EU rules make OSM's acceptance of data from users much more complicated
2019-03-22 politics • eu • copyright • osm • maps • tootme
I am prepared
Remarkably good interview with someone who is a rare case of contracting HIV despite being on PrEP
2019-03-22 prep • hiv • gay • lgbt • sex • health • tootme
Procedurally generated garbage games
Art project / absurd demonstration of making total trash games makes $50,000
2019-03-22 games • procedural • mobile • ads • tootme
Coconet: Bach AI
The machine learning model behind the Google doodle
2019-03-21 bach • music • ai • google • coconet • tootme
Facebook plaintext passwords
200-600 million users potentially compromised by violating the most very basic tenet of password security
2019-03-21 facebook • passwords • plaintext • badtech • tootme • security • bug
Partisan Bias
Visualization of one measure of gerrymandering
2019-03-20 politics • gerrymandering • visualization • tootme • northcarolina
The Paris Pneumatic Clock Network
Crazy 19th century system for distributing time
2019-03-20 time • paris • france • clocks • via:hackernews • tootme
Map of sexual orientation laws
2019 report on which countries criminalize LGBT people, which protect them
2019-03-20 lgbt • civilrights • gayrights • politics • tootme • map
The Epochalypse
The perfect name for the Unix Year 2038 bug
2019-03-20 bugs • 2038 • linux • unix • epoch • epochalypse • tootme
LIGO Orrery
A visualization of black hole merging events LIGO has detected
2019-03-19 space • science • astronomy • ligo • gravity • blackhole • tootme
Journalist detentions
CBP is questioning and detaining journalists at the US border if they are known for reporting on abuses at the border
2019-03-18 journalism • firstamendment • politics • immigration • cbp • aclu
Mochi pounding
Fun short video on hand-making a Japanese pastry
2019-03-17 japan • food • cooking • mochi • tootme
A viral massacre
On the carefully sculpted social media campaign of the Christchurch mass murderer
2019-03-15 media • viral • culture • facebook • news • murder • newzealand • christchurch
Beto, Cult of the Dead Cow
As a teenager the politician was "Psychedelic Warlord" in one of the bigger national hacker groups
2019-03-15 cdc • cultofthedeadcow • beto • politics • texas
Erica Joy Baker's home screen
What the engineering manager uses on her phone
2019-03-15 edc • phone • ui • ericajoy • tootme
Tether no longer claims dollar backing
Slowly unfolding cryptocurrency scam no longer claims to have full US dollar backing
2019-03-15 tether • bitcoin • cryptocurrency • fraud • scam • via:metafilter
AOC questioning Wilbur Ross
Like with Cohen, her questions are remarkably sharp and well prepared
2019-03-15 politics • aoc • census • wilburross • votingrights
Calculating Pi in GCP
Sort of a meaningless math stunt, but nice demo of Google cloud; particularly the CPU migration feature
2019-03-15 google • cloud • pi • math • gcp • tootme
DNC CTO stepping down
Raffi moving on after two years helping the DNC build a tech team
2019-03-14 tech • dns • democrats • politics • raffi • raffikrikorian • tootme
DNSSEC in practice
Statistics on usage, cogent arguments for and against it
2019-03-14 security • dns • dnssec • googledns • tootme • internet
CIA vs North Korean embassy
Spain says the CIA attacked North Korea's embassy in Madrid
2019-03-14 cia • northkorea • politics • spain
Video call API
A friend's videoconferencing startup has added a really simple API for embedding video calls in your website
2019-03-14 video • videocall • support • dailyco • pluot • startups • api • web • tootme
Genderless voice
Speech synthesis designed to sound neither male nor female
2019-03-13 speech • gender • synthesis • voice • tootme
Spotify v Apple
Nice timeline of anti-competitive behavior on Apple's part
2019-03-13 apple • spotify • antitrust • monpoly • iphone • tootme
The rise of Discord
Nice story about the Slack-for-consumers product, the new social media
2019-03-13 socialmedia • discord • slack • chat • internet • tootme
35mm film pirates
1960s hustle of buying grey market prints of movies and trading them
2019-03-13 piracy • movies • film • via:metafilter • tootme
Observable Teams
Javascript notebook computing environment now has a paid option for groups to work together.
2019-03-12 javascript • observable • notebooks • jupyter • tootme • programming
Lil Pump
"He pours more cough syrup into his fluorescent Fanta and then onto his steak while someone records him."
2019-03-12 music • lilpump • rap • tootme • culture
Defending vote by mail
Local registrar for voters counters some crazy Tea Party rhetoric about Vote by Mail being dangerous
2019-03-11 voting • votingrights • elections • politics • nevadacounty
Rapa Nui for real
An alternate story for the collapse of Easter Island; post-colonial diseases and enslavement
2019-03-11 rapanui • easterisland • polynesia • history • culture • tootme
Operation Gladio
Crazy post-WW2 plan to station secret police and troops in NATO countries to fight back if the Soviets invaded. Led to some abuses.
2019-03-11 ww2 • soviet • coldwar • europe • politics • tootme
Discord Data Package
Popular chat app lets you download all the data they have about you; here's what's inside
2019-03-10 discord • privacy • chat • tootme • datatransparency
Centurians of Rome (NSFW)
Detailed story of an armored car robber getting away and making a gay porn movie in the 1980s
2019-03-09 porn • gay • lgbt • via:metafilter • tootme
Selling access to Trump
Brothel owner in Florida has a side business selling Chinese businessmen access to Trump via Mar-a-Lago
2019-03-09 trump • politics • corruption • china • maralago • prostitution
FCC broadband report a lie
FCC took an ISP's incorrect data at face value, inflated broadband numbers significantly
2019-03-08 fcc • broadband • corruption • ajitpai • lie • politics
US partisan prejudice
Map of where people have more strongly held political beliefs. The treatment is symmetric but the factual data is not; Republicans tend to be more biased
2019-03-08 politics • demographics • america • civilwar • visualization • tootme
Actual European Discoveries
Map of all the places that were actually discovered for the first time by the European age of exploration
2019-03-08 europe • maps • discovery • tootme • islands
Trump with madame
Woman who runs various prostitution spas in Florida partying with Trump family
2019-03-08 trump • politics • prostitution • florida • corruption
The Onion on HIV cure
Wickedly sharp satire
2019-03-08 theonion • funny • hiv • aids • lgbt • tootme
Hatari - Spillingardans (NSFW)
Icelandic techno / metal band with gay BDSM heavy music videos
2019-03-08 gay • lgbt • bdsm • music • iceland • hatari • tootme
François Clemmons
Black actor on Mr. Rogers is also gay, stayed closeted for the show
2019-03-08 misterogers • tv • gay • africanamerican • lgbt • culture • tootme
Census defended
Court finds Trump appointee added a citizenship question illegally
2019-03-07 census • politics • trump • wilburross • statistics
QUIC considered
An interesting analysis of how QUIC solves problems in the modern Internet, particularly NATs and TCP limitations
2019-03-07 protocols • internet • quic • udp • tcp • nat • tootme
Nazis for Steve King
Overtly white supremacist group working to help white supremacist congressman
2019-03-07 congress • politics • steveking • via:metafilter • discord • identityevropa
Discord still used by Nazis
Despite some efforts the chat software hasn't really succeeded in banning hate groups
2019-03-07 discord • hate • politics • nazis
Misattributed paternity
Details on how often someone's father is not who they think it might be. (1-3% for America and similar countries)
2019-03-07 paternity • genetics • culture • family • tootme
Mexican chiles
Handy chart showing dried versions of fresh ones
2019-03-07 chile • chili • pepper • cooking • mexico • food • tootme
The Metric Society
Book review discusses the dangers of our increasingly quantified social lives
2019-03-07 metrics • quantifiedself • economics • measurement • tootme • bookreview
"Exponential"
Much needed explanation on how exponentially many people are misusing the word "exponential"
2019-03-07 language • math • writing • exponential • tootme
Boeing buys ForeFlight
Excellent aviation data / iOS app startup gets bought by Boeing.
2019-03-06 flying • aviation • boeing • foreflight • tootme • startups
Mister Rogers was bisexual?!
He apparently said he had attractions to men too
2019-03-06 lgbt • queer • misterrogers • bisexual • tv • tootme
Teotihuacán's tunnel
Near the temple of Quetzelcoatl a tunnel was found 16 years ago, now being painstakingly excavated
2019-03-06 archaeology • teotihuacan • mexico • tootme
A New Kind of Science bibliography
Wolfram's silly "theory of everything" book does have a bibliography, or at least half of one. No paper citations.
2019-03-05 books • newkindofscience • cellularautomata • complexity • wolfram • tootme
American medical system
A common story of a disaster trying to get prescription medicine
2019-03-05 medicine • america • politics • healthcare • health
The Heart of the Grand Canyon
Appreciation of a classic of handmade mapping
2019-03-03 maps • grandcanyon • tootme • cartography
Gerald Cotten details
Owner of crypto company at the center of what looks to be a massive fraud did seem to at least genuinely die in India
2019-03-03 crypto • fraud • bitcoin • quadriga • cotten
Trump's insane CPAC speech
The President is not well
2019-03-03 president • trump • politics • crazy • cpac