Friday Links!
Starting off this week, a wonderful read: From Infocom to 80 Days: An oral history of text games and interactive fiction.
This is fascinating: Rare photographs by Dora Maar cast Picasso’s tormented muse in a new light.
From David Gloier and the WTF department: Driven to Kill: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit.
From Ken Paper, and it's definitely a thing now: The AI upgrade cycle is here. This is discouraging: Dark money news outlets outpacing local daily newspapers. Utterly fantastic: AI Decodes Sperm Whale Language, Revealing a Complex System of Communication. This is quite provocative: Caffeine Has an Intriguing Effect on The Brains of Parkinson's Patients. It seems unlikely, but testing seems reasonable: Can we artificially cool the planet? A major environmental group is spending millions to find out.
From C. Lee, and it's fantastically stupid: Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic. This is incredible: US patients charged for ‘hospital facility fees’ – even if they don’t set foot in one. This is both surprising and alarming: Napa Valley has lush vineyards and wineries – and a pollution problem. Adobe is an awful company: Adobe Has Responded to Criticism of Its New Terms of Service. Oops! Google Execs Say They Fixed Search AI—But Google Still Wants You to Glue Your Pizza. Another oops: Office 2007 infosec researcher recalls panic after major bug announcement turned out to be a false positive. An excellent read: The Terror of Toxic Shock Once Ruled Headlines—So Why Did It Fizzle Out? A fascinating read: Balloon offensive: Seoul-based activists develop tech to send messages deep into North Korea. This is quite amusing: The Mythical Promise of Tin Foil Hats. Countries and aging: Age ain't nothing but a number. A fantastic interview: Mark Cerny: When making consoles, we're not trying to build low-cost PCs.
From Wally, it's the top grossing (domestic, U.S.) 100 films of all-time (adjusted for inflation): Top 100 films. Oh, my: This Tucson homeowner didn't know his house was built on a cemetery — until he found bones. This is lengthy: Stay the Course: How to Keep Writing (Especially When You Don’t Want To). This is far beyond the point of ridiculous: Book about book bans banned by Florida school board.
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