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1. Embed this notice
   Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:18:51 JST Cory Doctorow

   Today's threads (a thread)

   Inside: Billionaire-proofing the internet; Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 4); and more!

   Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/14/contesting-popularity/

   #Pluralistic

   1/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:19:36 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     *Picks and Shovels* is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton:

     http://martinhench.com

     2/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:20:14 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Billionaire-proofing the internet: Scolding people for choosing popular services is no way to build a popular movement.

     https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/113828346614186146

     3/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:20:22 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 5): Now we're just haggling over the price.

     https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/113828435157729361

     4/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:20:47 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Hey look at this

     * A Private Equity Hospital Bankruptcy Gets a True-Crime Twist https://prospect.org/health/2025-01-14-private-equity-hospital-bankruptcy-true-crime-twist/

     * Taking On the Biggest Problems and the Biggest Companies https://prospect.org/economy/2025-01-13-qa-taking-on-biggest-problems-companies-jonathan-kanter-interview/

     * DNA Lounge: Wherein I want to know how you advertise your events https://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/log/2025/01/13.html

     5/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:21:15 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     #15yrsago Candy-ass vice-principal calls the bomb squad over an 11-year-old’s science project, recommends counselling for the student https://web.archive.org/web/20100117141404/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/15/students-evacuated-school-chollas-view/

     #15yrsago Electrosensitives tortured by a radio tower that had been switched off for six weeks https://mybroadband.co.za/news/wireless/11099-massive-revelation-in-iburst-tower-battle.html

     #15yrsago US to Costa Rica: you want sugar markets? We want maximal copyright https://web.archive.org/web/20100118132004/http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4697/125/

     6/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:22:07 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     #15yrsago Charities that AT&T donated to support AT&T’s anti-Net-Neutrality position at the FCC https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2010/01/why-the-kankakee-county-farm-bureau-hates-net-neutrality/

     #10yrsago Vox received no threats for supporting Charlie Hedbo, many threats for covering Islamophobia <a

     #10yrsago 3D printed blooming Fibonacci zoetropes https://vimeo.com/116582567

     #10yrsago Pacific Edge, the most uplifting novel in my library https://memex.craphound.com/2015/01/15/pacific-edge-the-most-uplifting-novel-in-my-library/

     7/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:22:19 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     #5yrsago McMansion Hell awards its annual prize for the best gingerbread McMansion! https://mcmansionhell.com/post/190275299846/announcing-the-winners-of-the-2019-mcgingerbread

     #5yrsago Rating the 30 most evil tech companies https://slate.com/technology/2020/01/against-the-cult-of-apple.html

     #5yrsago Security expert offers hacking advice to students whose campuses have implemented pervasive wireless surveillance https://gizmodo.com/how-to-hypothetically-hack-your-schools-surveillance-1840680142

     #5yrsago Kentucky’s Whitefield Academy expels student for wearing a rainbow shirt in a Facebook photo https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/01/15/rainbowcakewhitefieldacademy/

     8/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:22:30 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     #1yrago Sympathy for the spammer https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-/#four-hour-work-week

     9/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:22:40 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Yesterday's threads: They were warned; Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 4); and more!

     https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/113822397380679709

     10/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:22:53 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     My last nationally bestselling novel was "The Bezzle," an ice-cold revenge story of high-tech finance crime starring the forensic accountant Martin Hench.

     https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

     Signed copies from Chevalier's Books:

     https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/product-page/the-bezzle

     --

     My latest nonfiction book is "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation" from Verso Books:

     http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

     Signed copies available from Book Soup:

     https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245

     Both are national bestsellers!

     11/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:23:07 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

     https://craphound.com/shop/

     12/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:23:27 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Upcoming appearances:

     * Picks and Shovels with Ken Liu (Boston), Feb 14
     https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2025-02-14/cory-doctorow-ken-liu-picks-and-shovels

     * Picks and Shovels with Charlie Jane Anders (Menlo Park), Feb 17
     https://www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/cory-doctorow

     * Picks and Shovels with Wil Wheaton (Los Angeles), Feb 18
     https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Cory-Doctorow-Wil-Wheaton-Author-signing

     * Picks and Shovels with Dan Savage (Seattle), Feb 19
     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-with-dan-savage-picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-tickets-1106741957989

     13/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:23:39 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

     * Picks and Shovels with John Hodgman (NYC), Feb 26
     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-john-hodgman-picks-and-shovels-tickets-1131132841779

     * Picks and Shovels at the Doylestown Bookshop (Doylestown, PA), Mar 1
     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-tickets-1146230880419

     * Cloudfest (Europa Park), Mar 17-20
     https://cloudfest.link/

     * Picks and Shovels at Imagine! Belfast (Remote), Mar 24
     https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-alan-meban-tickets-1106421399189

     * DeepSouthCon63 (New Orleans), Oct 10-12, 2025
     http://www.contraflowscifi.org/

     14/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:23:56 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Recent appearances:

     * Just Say It's Capitalism (This Week in Tech)
     https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1014?autostart=false

     * Lost Dollar Business Club
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuLGgMQfFCk

     * Fighting Billionaire Control with Yanis Varoufakis
     https://www.youtube.com/live/I0kvjNh7czM

     15/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:24:06 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     You can follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

     Here's today's edition: https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/14/contesting-popularity/

     --

     If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is ad-/tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "⚗️". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

     --

     You can also get a fulltext RSS feed, licensed CC BY 4.0:

     https://pluralistic.net/feed/

     16/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 05:24:24 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     *Picks and Shovels* is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton:

     http://martinhench.com

     eof/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 22:32:25 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     • Merc

     @merc That's a brilliant idea!

   • Embed this notice
     Merc (merc@techhub.social)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Jan-2025 22:32:26 JST Merc

     in reply to

     @pluralistic If you ever make a proper website for martinhench.com, not just a redirect to kickstarter, I have a suggestion: a user-choosable stylesheet that shows the page either as a modern page (Red Team Blues), a MySpace, construction-gif version from the 2000s (The Bezzle) or a BBS-themed one (Picks and Shovels).

   • Embed this notice
     earthman (earthman@my-place.social)'s status on Monday, 20-Jan-2025 00:42:52 JST earthman

     in reply to
     @pluralistic I know it's not perfect, but I'm using a Friendica instance that pulls BlueSky to it, so I can view all my Mastodon, BlueSky, RSS and more together in one feed, so I don't have to put all my eggs in one basket. I did a demo of my setup. I think you might find it interesting. youtu.be/QFGLRgnaeLc