[Plura-list] Interactive UK covid omnishambles explorer; Win 6 free sf/f hardcovers

[Cory Doctorow]

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I'm on a Texas Book Festival panel tomorrow:

Cyberterrorists, Post-Apocalyptic Landscapes, and Were-Pomeranians

https://www.texasbookfestival.org/events/cyberterrorists-post-apocalyptic-landscapes-and-were-pomeranians-new-in-speculative-fiction/

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Today's links

* Interactive UK covid omnishambles explorer: Tories gonna tory.

* Win 6 free sf/f hardcovers: Tor's Chaos and Cosmos totebag sweepstakes.

* This day in history: 2010, 2015

* Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing
projects, current reading

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🪐 Interactive UK covid omnishambles explorer

The US and the UK have been locked in a fierce competition since March,
to see who can bungle their coronavirus response worse. The US is the
clear leader here, both in per-capita deaths and infections and in
elevating lethal junk-science to a conservative loyalty test.

But the UK has put in a remarkable showing.

Remember "cumgate" (Prime Ministerial advisor Dominic Cummings'
breathtaking violation of his own lockdown rules)?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/24/can-you-imagine-having-to-work-with-these-truth-twisters

Then there's Boris Johnson, who beat Trump in the
who-gets-infected-first race by months.

For all that the UK has lost most of the events in Infection Olympics to
its American cousins, it continues to lead in that most quintessentially
*English* of events: the omnishambles.

Maybe it's the lower population or the high degree of inbreeding in the
British upper classes, but whatever the secret is, you just can't beat
HMG when it comes to awarding lucrative and vital contracts to bumbling
politically connected insiders.

The Tories are *so* good at this that it's nearly impossible to keep up.
That's where Sophie E Hill's "My Little Crony" comes in, being an
interactive visualisation tool for tracking and tracing the UK's
world-beating incompetence and corruption.

https://sophieehill.shinyapps.io/my-little-crony/

Drawing on public data sources from Opendemocracy, the Byline Times and
elsewhere, Hills's visualiser lets you explore the connections between
government contracts, political donations and the
familial/corporate/social connections that link them.

From shadowy offshore entities to dirty trickster PR agencies to those
fun-loving lads and lasses at Serco, Hills gives us the
red-yard-and-pushpin version of the mass-murdering, economy-destroying,
NHS-worker-applauding Tory response to the virus.

Have a rummage, you'll be furious you did!

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🪐 Win 6 free sf/f hardcovers

Chaos and Cosmos is Tor Books's campaign promoting six new sf/f novels:

* The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons
* Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston
* To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
* Burning Roses by S. L. Huang
* The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab.

As well as my own ATTACK SURFACE, the third Little Brother book.

https://www.torforgeblog.com/2020/03/24/introducing-chaos-and-cosmos/

In addition to online samplers of excerpts from the books and videos in
which the authors talk about their process and ideas, Tor's also
offering a sweepstakes to win all six titles.

The books come in a handsome tote-bag, and the competition is open to
readers in the US and Canada (Tor is not the publisher for these books
in other parts of the world, sorry).

The deadline to enter is Nov 20:

https://read.macmillan.com/promo/torchaoscosmossweepsnov20

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🪐 This day in history

#10yrsago Gutterpunk bluegrass buskers in the French Quarter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ogGk23yo0

#5yrsago The DoJ won’t let anyone in the Executive Branch read the CIA
Torture Report
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151110/01353532771/doj-has-blocked-everyone-executive-branch-reading-senates-torture-report.shtml

#5yrsago House GOP defends the right of racist car-dealers to overcharge
people of color
https://mathbabe.org/2015/11/11/republicans-would-let-car-dealers-continue-racist-practices-undeterred/

#5yrsago UK Snooper’s Charter “would put an invisible landmine under
every security researcher”
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/the-snoopers-charter-would-devastate-computer-security-research-in-the-uk/

#1yrago Bill Gates just accidentally proved that even “unsuccessful”
antitrust enforcement works
https://memex.craphound.com/2019/11/11/bill-gates-just-accidentally-proved-that-even-unsuccessful-antitrust-enforcement-works/

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🪐 Colophon

Today's top sources: Lessig (https://twitter.com/lessig)

Currently writing: My next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel
about truth and reconciliation. Yesterday's progress: 575 words (82575
total).

Currently reading: The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson

Latest podcast: Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (part 22)
https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/11/08/someone-comes-to-town-someone-leaves-town-part-22/

Upcoming appearances:

* Cyberterrorists, Post-Apocalyptic Landscapes, and
Were-Pomeranians/Texas Book Festival, Nov 12,
https://www.texasbookfestival.org/events/cyberterrorists-post-apocalyptic-landscapes-and-were-pomeranians-new-in-speculative-fiction/

* Let's Talk About Influence/Designthinkers, Nov 16,
https://www.designthinkers.com/week-2/strategy-lets-talk-about-influence

* Shaping the Digital Future Summit/Kaspersky, Nov 17,
https://transparency.kaspersky.com/home

* Misinformation and Disinformation in Science Fiction and Fantasy/LITA,
Nov 17, details TBD

* Keynote, Data Natives, Nov 18, https://datanatives.io/tickets/

* Keynote, Cologne Futures, Nov 20, details TBD

* Keynote, Cybersummit 2020, Nov 26 https://www.cybera.ca/cyber-summit-2020/

* Beaverbrook Lecture: How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, Nov 30,
https://www.mcgill.ca/maxbellschool/channels/event/2020-beaverbrook-annual-lecture-part-ii-cory-doctorow-325538

* Keynote, NISO Plus, Feb 22-25,
https://niso.plus/cory-doctorow-to-keynote-at-niso-plus-2021/

Recent appearances:

* Allen School Distinguished Lecture "Early Onset Oppenheimers"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep78A-jtcrE

* Author Stories Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxSPZn8EGTE

* The Gould Standard:
https://www.glenngould.ca/thegouldstandard/#cory-doctorow

Latest book:

* "Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone
technothriller for adults. The *Washington Post* called it "a political
cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution
and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies
* "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism": an anti-monopoly pamphlet
analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a
solution.
https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59

* "Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new
introduction by Edward Snowden:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies
here:
https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html

* "Poesy the Monster Slayer" a picture book about monsters, bedtime,
gender, and kicking ass. Order here:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed
copy here:
https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1562/_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer.html.

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When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla -Joey "Accordion Guy"
DeVilla

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