Down in the (link)dumps

A link sundae for a fall Saturday.

On September 27, I’ll be at Chevalier’s Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine. On October 2, I’ll be in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab.

Back when I was writing on Boing Boing, I’d slam out 10–15 blog posts every day, short hits that served as signpost and public notebook, but I rarely got into longer analysis of the sort I do daily now on Pluralistic. Both modes are very useful for organizing one’s thoughts, and indeed, they complement each other:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/09/the-memex-method/

The problem is that when you write long, synthetic essays, they crowd out the quick hits. Back in May 2022, I started including three short links with each edition of Pluralistic, in a section called “Hey look at this” (thanks to Mitch Wagner for suggesting it!):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/01/reit-modernization-act/#linkdump

But even with that daily linkdump, I still manage to accumulate link-debt, as interesting things pile up, not rising to the level of a long blog-post, but not so disposable as to be easy to flush. When the pile gets big enough, I put out a Saturday Linkdump:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

All of which is to say, it’s Saturday, and I’ve got a linkdump!

First up, a musical interlude. I’ve been listening to DJ Earworm’s amazing mashups since 2005 and while I’ve got dozens of tracks that shuffle in and out of my daily playlist, the one that makes me wanna get up and dance every time is “No One Takes Your Freedom,” a wildly improbable banger composed of equal parts Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, George Michael and Scissor Sisters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaboIeW1A_4

I defy you to play that one without bopping a little. I think it’s the French horn from “For No One” that really kills it, the world’s least expected intro to a heavy dance beat.

Moving swiftly on: let’s talk about fonts. I remember when Wired magazine first showed up at the bookstores I was working at in Toronto, and my bosses — younger men than I am now! —…