Note: the following is part of Glasstire’s series of short videos, Five-Minute Tours, for which commercial galleries, museums, nonprofits and artist-run spaces across the state of Texas send us video walk-throughs of their current exhibitions. Let’s get your show in front of an audience.

See other Five-Minute Tours here.

Knopp Ferro: Levitating Composition at Gallery Sonja Roesch, Houston. Dates: August 26 – October 28, 2023.

The post Five-Minute Tours: Knopp Ferro at Gallery Sonja Roesch, Houston appeared first on Glasstire.

Juan Luna, 30, has been charged with aggregate theft related to the theft of Jackson's Dodge Charger Hellcat as well as a Dodge Ram pickup truck on Aug. 29, along with evading arrest and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly crashing into multiple vehicles while evading police.

The upgrade of the driver license system at the Texas Department of Public Safety began over the Labor Day weekend and has canceled all in-person and online services Wednesday and Thursday.

A local conservationist talks about the many species of bats that live in greater Houston and what they do for our natural environment.

One-sentence summary

Hurricane Lee has rapidly intensified into a powerful category 5 storm, and while it will not threaten land for at least a week or so, it will stir up rough surf and rip currents from the Caribbean to the East Coast of the U.S. in coming days.

One-image summary

Hurricane Lee: 165 mph, moving WNW 14 mph

What’s changed since yesterday?

Lee went from an 80 mph storm yesterday to a 165 one today, an extraordinary rate of intensification that places it on the leaderboard in recent years. Lee is on the cusp of being one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Lee continues west-northwest, and while models continue to agree on an eventual northward turn, the timing, speed, and location of that turn will be important in determining the next steps next week.

Lee’s impacts through the weekend

Lee will not directly impact any land mass over the next few days. But it will make itself known. Large swells generated from Lee are expected in the northern Caribbean, including Puerto Rico and eventually Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas. Rough surf and very strong rip currents are expected, so if you live in these areas or are planning to swim in these areas this weekend or next week, please be very, very cautious.

Swells will build and begin to impact the U.S. East Coast, Bermuda, and eventually the Canadian Maritimes, probably building from south to north beginning around Sunday. Much of next week will feature rough surf and strong rip currents on the Eastern Seaboard.

Lee’s intensity forecast

We should be seeing peak Lee today. Normally, category 5 storms do not stay there. They become vulnerable to internal and some external forces that can cause them to fluctuate in intensity, sometimes considerably. Lee could Sisyphus its way along the intensity scale tonight through Sunday.

Beyond that, Lee is likely to drop back a notch, probably fluctuating between category 2 and 4 intensity next week as it turns the corner off the East Coast. Certainly still a powerful storm but not quite peak intensity. As Lee further gains latitude later next week, it should weaken further, but in compensation, it could expand in size or increase its forward speed some. Its impacts would still not be that of a category 5 in terms of wind, but it will be capable of causing problems should it make it to land or close to land.

Lee’s track forecast

We have little clarity on Lee’s track next week, except to say that it still is likely to miss to the east of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. As Lee advances forward, it will slow down. When Lee gets to a point somewhere just northeast of the Turks & Caicos Islands or southeast Bahamas, we will see it possibly slow to a crawl. This should occur Monday and Tuesday.

Lee will then turn hard to the north. Beyond that point, Lee will be fighting a battle with a trough (dip in the jet stream) over the Eastern U.S., high pressure to Lee’s east, likely-Hurricane Margot, and a fairly substantial area of high pressure that establishes over Newfoundland. You can see those features on the map below. Again, the placement and intensity of these features will determine if Lee goes toward New England, toward Nova Scotia, out to sea, or out to sea and toward Bermuda. But it is clear that any direct land impacts would probably not occur until the end of next week or even next weekend.

I’m curious about two things today. First, the ridge north of Bermuda extending up to Newfoundland may be a key to all this. It’s going to essentially narrow the escape route. If that were not there, we’d likely see Lee get picked up and ushered out to sea, no problem. With that exit door now cracked instead of wide open, I just get the sense that this is not going to exit easily.

Second, how will Margot and Lee interact? Last night’s operational European operational model showed an interesting scenario where the two systems come close to interacting with the Fujiwhara effect. In that scenario, Lee could theoretically be forced to go a bit to the east and Margot a bit to the west. There is a trivial but not impossible scenario where Lee gets directed away from land or a specific land point because of this.

More importantly, all of this underscores just how difficult predicting Lee’s end game will be for another few days at least. It’s a good time to review your hurricane plans if you live along the Mid-Atlantic or New England Coasts or in Canada to be safe, but we have a long, long way to go here.

We will keep you posted each day this weekend on forecast developments.

Margot makes a splash

Tropical Storm Margot formed yesterday in the far eastern Atlantic. It will not be a threat to land over the next week.

Margot is expected to become a hurricane, another feather in the cap of those who predicted an active season this year. As noted above, we’ll watch to see if it can’t have influence on Lee’s eventual track outcome late next week.

Anything else?

Nope. The basin, at this point looks as though it should quiet down a bit outside of Lee and Margot. No new systems are expected for most of next week, although some recent GFS and Euro ensemble runs are trying to spin up another Cape Verde system late in the week. Nothing else we need to fret over right now, however.

LOS ANGELES—Sealing the padded envelopes after stuffing in a few pairs of lightly soiled boxers, Matt Damon reportedly scrambled to make rent Friday by selling his used underwear online. “Fuck, if I don’t get these thongs out the door, I’m going to be out on the street!” said Damon, hurriedly flossing his ass with a G-…

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Good morning. Today is likely to be the final, exceptionally hot day of 2023. I expect temperatures to reach 100 to 107 degrees across the metro area today underneath sunny skies. We also have a pretty good chance of peaking at 100 degrees on Saturday before temperatures dip just a bit by Sunday. That’s interesting from a historical perspective in terms of 100-degree days. To date, we have recorded 44 such days this calendar year.

Back in 2011, which anyone who lived here probably hasn’t forgotten, the city recorded 46 days with highs of at least 100 degrees. That broke a record previously set during 1980, 32 days. So with today a certainty to hit 100, and Saturday quite possibly, that would allow us to tie the record set in 2011. Will we break it? Certainly we will have some days in the mid- to upper 90s in the week ahead. But I’m not sure we get another 100-degree day. And to be honest, I’m OK with not breaking the record. Aren’t you?

Friday

Today is going to be excessively hot, no way to get around that. We’re going to see much of the area push into the 105-degree range and it’s going to be miserable. The only good thing I can tell you is that this really is our last fling with ridiculously hot weather in 2023. We really are going to see a pattern change to cool things off (a bit) next week, and then we’re into late September and this madness will be over. But no getting around that today is going to be brutally hot and you definitely need to take heat precautions.

One thing we’re watching for is the possibility of late-afternoon and evening storms dropping down into the Houston region from the northeast today. It’s possible as the capping inversion probably will be weak later today. In runs produced last night, some of the high-resolution models got really aggressive in developing these storms, but they have since backed off. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has the northeastern part of the metro area under a “slight” chance for seeing severe weather, likely in the form of thunderstorms and damaging winds, later today. My sense is that any strong storms fizzle before reaching Houston, but there is a chance.

Saturday

Highs on Saturday will range from the upper 90s to 100 degrees, with perhaps a 40 to 50 percent chance of rain. Temperatures will depend on rainfall amounts and timing. For the most part these showers will bring only light accumulations of rain, but a few areas may get higher totals under stronger storms. For the most part, when it’s not raining, skies will be mostly sunny.

Sunday

Look for mostly sunny skies with highs in the mid-90s as the high pressure ridge recedes westward. Rain chances will be on the order of 30 percent, with mostly sunny skies.

Next week

Temperatures will continue to trend downward next week, as a weak front drifts into the region and slightly lowers our humidity levels. Basically, we’ll probably see highs in the low- to mid-90s for much of the week, with perhaps a 30 percent chance of rain each day. Who knows, a few areas may even see a high in the upper 80s on a day or two. Nighttime temperatures will drop into the 70s. It’s not going to feel fall-like like, but it certainly will feel a lot more like late summer, which is how it is supposed to feel in mid-September.

Unfortunately, while most of us will see rainfall, I don’t see the kind of drenching rains we need to break the region’s worsening drought. Still, 0.5 to 1 inch over the next week is much better than nothing, and far more than many of us received in July and August.

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
How come nobody ever considers the increased CO2 emissions of causing the trolley to switch tracks?

Today's News:

Another prestigious publication compelled to say Weinersmith.

TULSA, OK—Observing that he had taken time to reflect and grieve, friends of local man John Tellez were encouraging the widower to get back out there and accidentally kill another family with carbon monoxide poisoning, sources confirmed Wednesday. “It’s time to take a chance on meeting someone new you can…

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Thousands of Burning Man attendees finally made their mass exodus after intense rain over the weekend flooded campsites, stranding more than 70,000 people as they waited for the Nevada desert city to dry out. What do you think?

Read more...

JACKSON, MS—Concluding that the lightless, indestructible structure did not breach the state’s constitution, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued a 7-2 decision Thursday upholding a congressional map that sealed Black voters into an impenetrable cube. “This court’s judgement finds that there is no state or federal…

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EL PASO—Telling the same story over and over again about the “good old days” at the top of the polls, an old guy at the skatepark Thursday reportedly wouldn’t shut up about the time he was considered the future of the Democratic party, according to witnesses. “There’s always one old guy hanging around, yammering on…

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The annual desert campout Burning Man made headlines over the weekend after heavy rains temporarily stranded more than 70,000 attendees. The Onion takes a deep dive into the history of Burning Man and this weekend’s fiasco.

Read more...

SAN JOSE, CA—As part of an effort to nurture and raise its young, a self-driving Tesla regurgitated a pedestrian carcass to feed its offspring, sources confirmed Wednesday. “Wow, there’s something so beautiful about watching a mother Tesla feed its children by vomiting up the half-digested remains of a pedestrian,”…

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WASHINGTON—Amid startled screams and gasps as the 46th commander in chief addressed the country, President Joe Biden attempted to ease worries about his age Thursday with a dramatic facelift. “My fellow Americans, people will try and argue that I’m unfit for office, but as you can see, I’m feeling younger than ever,”…

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A Delta flight going from Atlanta to Barcelona was forced to turn around for a “biohazard issue” after one passenger on board had severe diarrhea that trailed down the aisle. What do you think?

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TALLAHASSEE, FL—In an effort to enforce recent changes to Florida’s K-12 standards for social studies classes, a new bill signed into law this week by Gov. Ron DeSantis requires all educators to teach the state’s approved curriculum from inside electrified cages. “Effective immediately, teachers in the Sunshine State…

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WASHINGTON—Devoting a new exhibit to the ballistic device famously associated with the iconic abolitionist, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History announced Friday that it had just acquired the giant catapult that Harriet Tubman used to launch slaves to freedom. “We at the Smithsonian are honored to…

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WASHINGTON—Cracking down on the common but unethical practice seemingly rampant in department stores, the Federal Trade Commission began issuing fines this week for any sassy retail employee who held up a customer’s declined credit card and cut it in half. “A lot of these snobbish retail employees seem to derive a…

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Today's links

• NLRB rules that any union busting means automatic union recognition: Biden's photocopier-kickers will give American workers the unions they desperately desire.
• Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
• This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022
• Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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NLRB rules that any union busting means automatic union recognition (permalink)

American support for unions is at its highest level in generations, from 70% (general population) to 88% (Millenials) – and yet, American unionization rates are pathetic.

That's about to change.

The National Labor Relations Board just handed down a landmark ruling – the Cemex case – that "brought worker rights back from the dead."

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-08-28-bidens-nlrb-brings-workers-rights-back/

At issue in Cemex was what the NLRB should do about employers that violate labor law during union drives. For decades, even the most flagrantly illegal union-busting was met with a wrist-slap. For example, if a boss threatened or fired an employee for participating in a union drive, the NLRB would typically issue a small fine and order the employer to re-hire the worker and provide back-pay.

Everyone knows that "a fine is a price." The NLRB's toothless response to cheating presented an easily solved equation for corrupt, union-hating bosses: if the fine amounts to less than the total, lifetime costs of paying a fair wage and offering fair labor conditions, you should cheat – hell, it's practically a fiduciary duty:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/468061

Enter the Cemex ruling: once a majority of workers have signed a union card, any Unfair Labor Practice by their employer triggers immediate, automatic recognition of the union. In other words, the NLRB has fitted a tilt sensor in the American labor pinball machine, and if the boss tries to cheat, they automatically lose.

Cemex is a complete 180, a radical transformation of the American labor regulator from a figleaf that legitimized union busting to an actual enforcer, upholding the law that Congress passed, rather than the law that America's oligarchs wish Congress had passed. It represents a turning point in the system of lawless impunity for American plutocracy.

In the words of Frank Wilhoit, it is is a repudiation of the conservative dogma: "There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect":

https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288

It's also a stunning example of what regulatory competence looks like. The Biden administration is a decidedly mixed bag. On the one hand there are empty suits masquerading as technocrats, champions of the party's centrist wing (slogan: "Everything is fine and change is impossible"):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

But the progressive, Sanders/Warren wing of the party installed some fantastically competent, hard-charging, principled fighters, who are chapter-and-verse on their regulatory authority and have the courage to use that authority:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

They embody the old joke about the photocopier technician who charges "$1 to kick the photocopier and $79 to know where to kick it." The best Biden appointees have their boots firmly laced, and they're kicking that mother:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

One such expert kicker is NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. Abruzzo has taken a series of muscular, bold moves to protect American workers, turning the tide in the class war that the 1% has waged on workers since the Reagan administration. For example, Abruzzo is working to turn worker misclassification – the fiction that an employee is a small business contracting with their boss, a staple of the "gig economy" – into an Unfair Labor Practice:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/10/see-you-in-the-funny-papers/bidens-legacy

She's also waging war on robo-scab companies: app-based employment "platforms" like Instawork that are used to recruit workers to cross picket lines, under threat of being blocked from the app and blackballed by hundreds of local employers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

With Cemex, Abruzzo is restoring a century-old labor principle that has been gathering dust for generations: the idea that workers have the right to organize workplace democracies without fear of retaliation, harassment, or reprisals.

But as Harold Meyerson writes for The American Prospect, the Cemex ruling has its limits. Even if the NLRB forces an employer to recognize a union, they can't force the employer to bargain in good faith for a union contract. The National Labor Relations Act prohibits the Board from imposing a contract.

That's created a loophole that corrupt bosses have driven entire fleets of trucks through. Workers who attain union recognition face years-long struggles to win a contract, as their bosses walk away from negotiations or offer farcical "bargaining positions" in the expectation that they'll be rejected, prolonging the delay.

Democrats have been trying to fix this loophole since the LBJ years, but they've been repeatedly blocked in the senate. But Abruzzo is a consummate photocopier kicker, and she's taking aim. In Thrive Pet Healthcare, Abruzzo has argued that failing to bargain in good faith for a contract is itself an Unfair Labor Practice. That means the NLRB has the authority to act to correct it – they can't order a contract, but they can order the employer to give workers "wages, benefits, hours, and such that are comparable to those provided by comparable unionized companies in their field."

Mitch McConnell is a piece of shit, but he's no slouch at kicking photocopiers himself. For a whole year, McConnell has blocked senate confirmation hearings to fill a vacant seat on the NLRB. In the short term, this meant that the three Dems on the board were able to hand down these bold rulings without worrying about their GOP colleagues.

But McConnell was playing a long game. Board member Gwynne Wilcox's term is about to expire. If her seat remains vacant, the three remaining board members won't be able to form a quorum, and the NLRB won't be able to do anything.

As Meyerson writes, centrist Dems have refused to push McConnell on this, hoping for comity and not wanting to violate decorum. But Chuck Schumer has finally bestirred himself to fight this issue, and Alaska GOP senator Lisa Murkowski has already broken with her party to move Wilcox's confirmation to a floor vote.

The work of enforcers like DoJ Antitrust Division boss Jonathan Kanter, FTC chair Lina Khan, and SEC chair Gary Gensler is at the heart of Bidenomics: the muscular, fearless deployment of existing regulatory authority to make life better for everyday Americans.

But of course, "existing regulatory authority" isn't the last word. The judges filling stolen seats on the illegitimate Supreme Court invented the "major questions doctrine" and have used it as a club to attack Biden's photocopier-kickers. There's real danger that Cemex – and other key actions – will get fast-tracked to SCOTUS so the dotards in robes can shatter our dreams for a better America.

Meyerson is cautiously optimistic here. At 40% (!), the Court's approval rating is at a low not seen since the New Deal showdowns. The Supremes don't have an army, they don't have cops, they just have legitimacy. If Americans refuse to acknowledge their decisions, all they can do it sit and stew:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/26/mint-the-coin-etc-etc/#blitz-em

The Court knows this. That's why they fume so publicly about attacks on their legitimacy. Without legitimacy, they're nothing. With the Supremes' support at 40% and union support at 70%, any judicial attack on Cemex could trigger term-limits, court-packing, and other doomsday scenarios that will haunt the relatively young judges for decades, as the seats they stole dwindle into irrelevance. Meyerson predicts that this will weigh on them, and may stay their hands.

Meyerson might be wrong, of course. No one ever lost money betting on the self-destructive hubris of Federalist Society judges. But even if he's wrong, his point is important. If the Supremes frustrate the democratic will of the American people, we have to smash the Supremes. Term limits, court-packing, whatever it takes:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/20/judicial-equilibria/#pack-the-court

And the more we talk about this – the more we make this consequence explicit – the more it will weigh on them, and the better the chance that they'll surprise us. That's already happening! The Supremes just crushed the Sackler opioid crime-family's dream of keeping their billions in blood-money:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed

But if it doesn't stop them? If they crush this dream, too? Pack the court. Impose term limits. Make it the issue. Don't apologize, don't shrug it off, don't succumb to learned helplessness. Make it our demand. Make it a litmus test: "If elected, will you vote to pack the court and clear the way for democratic legitimacy?"

Meanwhile, Cemex is already bearing fruit. After an NYC Trader Joe's violated the law to keep Trader Joe's United from organizing a store, the workers there have petitioned to have their union automatically recognized under the Cemex rule:

https://truthout.org/articles/trader-joes-union-files-to-force-company-to-recognize-union-under-new-nlrb-rule/

With the NLRB clearing the regulatory obstacles to union recognition, America's largest unions are awakening from their own long slumbers. For decades, unions have spent a desultory 3% of their budgets on organizing workers into new locals. But a leadership upset in the AFL-CIO has unions ready to catch a wave with the young workers and their 88% approval rating, with a massive planned organizing drive:

https://prospect.org/labor/labors-john-l-lewis-moment/

Meyerson calls on other large unions to follow suit, and the unions seem ready to do so, with new leaders and new militancy at the Teamsters and UAW, and with SEIU members at unionized Starbucks waiting for their first contracts.

Turning union-supporting workers into unionized workers is key to fighting Supreme Court sabotage. Organized labor will give fighters like Abruzzo the political cover she needs to Get Shit Done. A better America is possible. It's within our grasp. Though there is a long way to go, we are winning crucial victories all the time.

The centrist message that everything is fine and change is impossible is designed to demoralize you, to win the fight in your mind so they don't have to win it in the streets and in the jobsite. We don't have to give them that victory. It's ours for the taking.

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Hey look at this (permalink)

• Burning Man Is Always a Challenge, but Burners Like Me Know This Time Is Different https://pluralistic.net/nyt-burning-man

• Right to repair’s unlikely new adversary: Scientologists https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/right-to-repairs-new-unlikely-adversary-scientologists/ (h/t Qaddi)

• Interoperability Can Save the Open Web How to free users from Big Tech's walled gardens https://spectrum.ieee.org/doctorow-interoperability

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This day in history (permalink)

#20yrsago Doonesbury references masturbation, America’s editors surrender https://web.archive.org/web/20030907031050/http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/09/05/trudeau/index_np.html

#15yrsago Britain spends more on cops and locks up more people than any other developed nation https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/07/justice.police

#10yrsago 90 percent of Tor keys can be broken by NSA: what does it mean? https://memex.craphound.com/2013/09/07/90-percent-of-tor-keys-can-be-broken-by-nsa-what-does-it-mean/

#10yrsago Lego robot that strips DRM off Kindle books https://allthingsd.com/20130906/how-a-man-in-austria-used-legos-to-hack-amazons-kindle-e-book-security/

#5yrsago How to: beat Chinese social media image-filtering https://citizenlab.ca/2018/08/cant-picture-this-an-analysis-of-image-filtering-on-wechat-moments/

#5yrsago The amendments for the EU’s catastrophic copyright proposals don’t fix a goddamned thing https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/09/fake-compromises-real-threats-next-weeks-eu-copyright-vote

#5yrsago Tim “Net Neutrality” Wu on the case for breaking up Facebook https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/4/17816572/tim-wu-facebook-regulation-interview-curse-of-bigness-antitrust

#1yrago How Audible steals from creators (an Audible exclusive) https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/audible-exclusive/#audiblegate

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Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources:

Currently writing:

• A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING

• Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS JAN 2025

• The Bezzle, a Martin Hench noir thriller novel about the prison-tech industry. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS FEB 2024

• Vigilant, Little Brother short story about remote invigilation. FORTHCOMING ON TOR.COM

• Moral Hazard, a short story for MIT Tech Review's 12 Tomorrows. FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE, ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION

• Spill, a Little Brother short story about pipeline protests. FORTHCOMING ON TOR.COM

Latest podcast: The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation (audiobook outtake) https://craphound.com/news/2023/08/01/the-internet-con-how-to-seize-the-means-of-computation-audiobook-outtake/
Upcoming appearances:

• Launching "Doppelganger" with Naomi Klein (Los Angeles), Sept 6
  https://lfla.org/calendar/category/aloud/

• How To Dismantle the Internet (Intelligence Squared/livestream), Sept 8
  https://intelligencesquared.com/events/how-to-dismantle-the-internet-with-cory-doctorow-and-timandra-harkness/

• "The Internet Con" launch, Another Story Bookshop (Toronto), Sept 12
  https://anotherstory.ca/events/29283

• EFF Awards (San Francisco), Sept 14
  https://www.eff.org/awards/effawards/2023

• DIG Festival (Modena, Italy), Sept 22
  https://dig-awards.org/en/dig-festival-2023-first-speakers-announced/

• Launch for "The Internet Con" and Brian Merchant's "Blood in the Machine," Chevalier's Books (LA), Sept 27
  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-internet-con-by-cory-doctorow-blood-in-the-machine-by-brian-merchant-tickets-696349940417

• An Evening with VE Schwab (Boise), Oct 2
  https://www.thecabinidaho.org/all-events/ve-schwab

• 26th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing keynote (Minneapolis), Oct 16
  https://cscw.acm.org/2023/index.php/keynotes/

Recent appearances:

• An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification and Throw It Into Reverse (Defcon 31)
  https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2031/DEF%20CON%2031%20video%20and%20slides/DEF%20CON%2031%20-%20An%20Audacious%20Plan%20to%20Halt%20the%20Internet%27s%20Enshittification%20-%20Cory%20Doctorow.mp4

• Life Doesn’t Have to Zuck (Bungacast)
  https://bungacast.podbean.com/e/362-life-doesn-t-have-to-zuck-ft-cory-doctorow/

• Gaslit Nation (pt 2)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orj5KGiLmcU

Latest books:

• The Internet Con: A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245).

• "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US): and Forbidden Planet (UK): https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/.

• "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com

• "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 https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html

• "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 (print edition: https://bookshop.org/books/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism/9781736205907) (signed copies: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html)

• "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/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/.

Upcoming books:

• The Lost Cause: a post-Green New Deal eco-topian novel about truth and reconciliation with white nationalist militias, Tor Books, November 2023

• The Bezzle: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books, February 2024

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

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This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go…

1. My boss laid me off, then emailed my mom

My mother was a regular customer at the business I work at for some years before I was hired there. OldBoss likes to mentor employees and takes pride at those who move onto prestigious companies in the field. After my hiring, OldBoss gave me opportunities to develop my skills and encouraged me to get a degree in our field.

After seven years of working there, I got my degree. Soon after, OldBoss encouraged me to look for positions elsewhere. It wasn’t long before he subjected me to severe bullying in the hopes I’d quit. At one point, he even asked why I was still there. After seven months of treating me as The Thing That Would Not Leave, he laid me off.

A month later, my mom mentioned an email OldBoss sent her. Did I get it? I did not, so she forwarded it. Paraphrased, it said: “I’m sorry for taking so long to write this. I struggled to find the right words. Jane is stagnating at Business. I could promote her, but I don’t generate enough demand to hire a second role. I’ve begged her to apply to prestigious companies, but months later, she remained. I’ve laid her off so she can have more time to focus on job applications.”

How bizarre is this message? That email was much nicer than anything he said to me in a while, but directed at a paying customer.

Extremely bizarre. The whole thing is extremely bizarre — after seven years of being a great manager to you, he started bullying you to leave simply because you got your degree? And then emailed your mom about it? I assume he felt like he had to say something to her since she’s a long-time customer … but (a) he didn’t actually have to, (b) but if he was going to, this is a really weird way to explain his actions (claiming it was so you could have more time to focus on job applications??), and (c) if he was that worried about what your mom would think, maybe he should have rethought the bullying? It’s not like he could assume you wouldn’t tell her about it.

I hope your mom lets him know this is weird on every level and takes her business somewhere else.

2. Is it OK for my boss to request that I leverage my friendships (which are also part business)?

I have worked in the same smallish, regional field for the last decade, bouncing to a new organization in the same bubble every few years as new opportunities arise. Like a lot of smallish fields, I’d guess, these organizations are sometimes collaborators and sometimes competitors for the same grants, clients, deals, etc. As a result, my former colleagues are my friends, but also a part of my professional network. During the same week, it’s not unusual that I would go to a friend’s home for dinner and then also encounter that same friend (who works for a different organization) in a business meeting to discuss a potential collaboration. There are plenty of issues that can arise from this soup, but I wanted to get your take on one in particular that keeps coming up with my current boss.

He will on occasion (maybe once a week on average) ask me to leverage a social connection for our business goals. Sometimes it seems fairly innocuous; for example, when I mentioned that I planned to see a friend at a gathering over the weekend, he requested I remind the friend that we need his decision on a particular business deal sooner rather than later. Other times, the request feels a little too far (but not in the realm of “I’m bowled over by the audacity”). Yesterday my boss asked if I would inquire what a friend charged his client for a recent work product because we sell a similar product, and knowing this pricing information from a competitor would give us an edge in the market. I care very much about maintaining this relationship with the friend, and I think that puts both of us in an awkward position.

This makes me uncomfortable and I think my boss might be overstepping a boundary, but where my thinking might be wrong is that since these friendships were forged during the course of doing businesses, maybe it is reasonable to expect that this is par for the course? On the other hand, since my field is so small, aside from putting a friend in an awkward position, I am very hesitant to behave in a way that might affect my candidacy for future positions if someone interprets this friend-leveraging as inappropriate.

Yeah, this is tricky! When it’s such a small community with so much overlap, some of this is going to happen naturally — but a good boundary is that if something is inappropriate to ask a business contact (like asking a competitor for pricing info that could put them at a disadvantage), it doesn’t become more appropriate just because they’re a friend. (Of course,  you and your friend might choose to discuss your rates if you were both freelancers or similar, but it’s not something your boss should ask you for.)

On the other hand, something like, “When you see Jim this weekend, could you mention we never received the RFP he was going to send?” is more grey. You shouldn’t have to use your friendships to carry business messages for your boss … but it’s okay to use your own judgment about whether it feels like a burden or will annoy your friend.

In fact, “will annoy you or your friend” is another good bar to use. If your instinct is that your friend will be irked to have you delivering business messages during a social get-together (or that you will resent having your time intruded on in that way), it’s okay to say, “Jim and I have a strict firewall between business and friendship and he’d hate if I asked that this weekend, but I can email him to check on it separately if you want.” So you’re still offering to use a part-business relationship in a business-appropriate way, but you’re maintaining boundaries on how and when you do it.

3. Is it wrong to accept a promotion while waiting for a job offer from another company?

I recently applied for a promotion at my current job and I’m waiting for the decision. It seemed the obvious thing to do since the person doing that job left and 80% of their responsibilities were handed over to me. I have been frustrated for a while with my current position and stressed by the workload and not having a real definition of my scope of work. This role would include a higher title, a raise, and a more specific job description vs. the jack-of-all-trades role I have now.

At the same time, I was also contacted by a recruiter from another company for a role I’m very interested in. I interviewed and made it to the final rounds (thanks for all the interviewing tips!) and I’m waiting to see if they extend an offer.

During all this, I realized I’m very burnt out and just plain tired of my current company’s culture, management, and many issues. So even if I don’t get an offer now, I will still be looking to leave the company in the near future.

If I’m offered the promotion before I hear back from the new company, would it be unethical to accept it knowing I will definitely leave sooner rather than later? I fear saying no to the promotion or withdrawing my application at this stage might be seen as a faux pass. But would saying yes and leaving (hopefully) three weeks later be even worse?

It’s fine to accept the promotion even if you end up leaving shortly after. Unless you have a firm offer that you’ve accepted, you don’t know if you’ll be leaving for another job in the near future so it makes sense to proceed as if you aren’t (and therefore not turn down raises, promotions, or other things that benefit you). If you do end up needing to resign soon after you’re promoted, you’d just acknowledge the timing and say, “This fell in my lap and was too good to pass up.” That happens … and if they have any sense, they’ll realize that if you were seeking a promotion, of course you might have been applying other places too.

4. Company closes the week before New Year’s — but you have to take PTO for it

My sister is a physical therapist who does infant and toddler home health. Her company is private, but they get a lot of government funding. She started in February, and just found out the company is closed between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Seems great – except they have to take mandatory PTO!

As a tech worker, this blows my mind. They also can’t take too much unpaid time, because this will boot them off their health insurance. I imagine this is may be legal, but even if it is, how do you suggest they talk with management about amending this policy? They do not have a union. They accrue fairly standard PTO for U.S. healthcare workers, but nothing so generous that would make a forced week over the holidays seem normal.

This is actually really common. It sucks since people don’t always want that week off, but it’s not an uncommon practice. Of course, the more preferable practice for companies that shut down that week is to give it as a freebie rather than subtracting it from people’s PTO — which is exactly what better companies do.

If your sister and her coworkers want to push back, they should point out that people might need to save their PTO for other things — especially things that take a good chunk of time (for example, traveling internationally) — and they also, you know, might not celebrate Christmas and need to use their PTO for their own holidays… but if they’re in a field where it’s common, they might not get much traction.

Steel thyselves, my friends, for one more go with extreme heat. As high pressure gets stacked up over the region, we’re going to have one more fling with temperatures substantially above 100 degrees over the next two days before we (slowly) start to moderate into somewhat more civilized weather. Next week should start to look more like a typical late summer pattern, with highs in the low- to mid-90s and much improved rain chances. Nighttime lows should also start to feel a bit cooler as well.

Thursday

Highs today will range from about 100 to 105 degrees across much of the region, with only a very slight southerly wind. Skies will be sunny, and a heat advisory is in place for this afternoon and evening. There is perhaps a 10 to 20 percent chance of rain for inland areas later today, but I would have very low expectations for that to occur.

Friday

Our heat will peak on Friday, and this will be a scorcher. Much of the area will likely reach high temperatures of around 105 degrees, with ample sunshine. There are two things to watch for. Along with the heat we’re going to see healthy wildfire chances. And secondly, there is an upper-level disturbance that will be most prominent in North Texas, but could affect our weather as well.

By late Friday evening it is possible that this disturbance drives some sort of line of storms down into the Houston metro area, likely reaching the city just before or after midnight. Not all of our modeling is showing this to happen, but given the potential for instability in the atmosphere I think it’s possible. In any case, it’s something we should have a better handle on in tomorrow morning’s forecast update.

Saturday and Sunday

The weekend forecast is still going to be hot, don’t get me wrong. Highs on Saturday will likely be in the upper 90s to 100 degrees with mostly sunny skies. But we’re going to see a pretty decent chance of showers, whether it comes early in the morning with the aforementioned disturbance, or later in the day. Then I would expect highs on Sunday to peak in the mid-90s, with mostly sunny skies and another healthy chance (maybe 40 or 50 percent) chance of rainfall.

Next week

The forecast is still uncertain for next week, but I think it’s likely that the combination of a weak front and high pressure moving out west that we’re going to see highs mostly in the low 90s by the middle to end of next week. Nighttime lows should also finally start dropping into the 70s, with some slightly less humid air. Add in some pretty decent daily rain chances, and you’ve got yourself the region’s most moderate week of weather since summer began in Houston, I don’t know, what seems like 15 years ago.

With that said, these next two days are going to be brutally hot, so be sure and take care of yourselves, your family, and your neighbors.

Space is cool, and so are you if you let me talk about, space with you.

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Good morning. High pressure is starting to build back over the Houston region today, and that will lead to four days when temperatures will likely reach 100 degrees, or higher, for most of the region. Friday looks especially hot, with highs near 105 degrees possible for inland areas. But by this weekend high pressure starts to weaken. Accordingly, next week, our temperatures are going down into the mid-90s, at least, and we’ll start to see some better rain chances.

Wednesday

Today will be sunny and hot. Before the high pressure system fully asserts control, we’re going to have a puncher’s chance of rainfall today. I’d say there will be about a 20 percent chance of a brief shower. Otherwise, high temperatures will reach about 100 degrees with mostly sunny skies. Winds will be light, coming from the southeast later today.

Thursday and Friday

Both of these days are likely to bring highs in the low 100s for much of the metro area, with sunny skies. Winds will be light, out of the west to southwest. If I squint, I can see some scenarios in which there are a few isolated showers on Thursday, but it’s not something I’m holding my breath for.

Saturday and Sunday

As mentioned above, Saturday is likely to be the final day, of four, that could see highs of 100 degrees. Conditions will be mostly sunny and hot. However, by then the high pressure system will be easing westward, opening the door to some chances for scattered showers. Sunday should be a bit cooler, with highs in the mid- to upper 90s, and more scattered showers. Call it a 30 percent chance for each day, subject to modification.

Next week

High temperatures next week should be in the range of the low- to mid-90s. We may also see cooler nights, in the 70s. There’s even the chance of a weak front and some slightly drier air. We should also see daily rain chances in the vicinity of 20 to 40 percent. So all in all, quite a bit of moderation from the summer of hell conditions we experienced for most of June, July, and August.

Tropics

As we discussed at length on Tuesday, the Gulf of Mexico remains largely closed off to tropical activity for now, and likely the next two weeks. However there is a potentially very strong hurricane developing the central Atlantic Ocean, Lee, which is likely to eventually threaten Bermuda and possibly interests along the U.S. East Coast. Matt has all of the details on The Eyewall if you want to read more.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I work in a competitive, technical field where I need to be able to research, think critically, propose solutions, and write persuasively. I’ve always gotten good feedback on these skills, except in my current role from my boss, Jane. Jane’s style of feedback entails questioning every single detail, where it came from, what evidence I have to support it, and how it plays into a bigger picture. These are all things I should know, and I know she’s trying to coach me. The problem is that her questions are delivered as accusations and even when I say the “right” thing, I still feel like I’m fighting with her. She also doesn’t really give positive feedback — I think her philosophy is that good work is expected and doesn’t need to be commented on. She once said that 95% of my work is good … but I’d say that 95% of her feedback to me is critical, frustrated, or accusatory. I feel like a constant disappointment and burden to her.

Colleagues have said things to me like “there’s not enough money in the world for me to work with Jane” and “talking to her makes me want to pull my hair out.” I’ve seen her make multiple coworkers cry after she interrogates them (including me).

She’s VERY good at the business side of what we do — a very niche speciality that I have over a decade of experience in. I think under a more supportive manager, I would be able to excel at the difficult work that we’re doing. I’m used to being a high performer, and I desperately want to succeed at this job. It feels like a point of pride to get her approval. But it’s been several years, my motivation and self-esteem are non-existent, and my anxiety spikes every time she messages me. I’ve lost the ability to be creative or think out of the box; all I can focus on is the inevitable barrage of questions and Jane not being happy with whatever work I do. It’s at the point where I’m not sure I could speak to her about this without getting emotional.

How do I get my mojo back? How do I learn to use her coaching and feedback as a way to grow? I don’t want to crumble under pressure, but that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m in therapy and looking for a new job, but I’m in a bit of a golden handcuffs situation and am the primary earner in my family so a new role would need to check a lot of boxes.

Take a minute to imagine a friend coming to you and saying, “I have an abusive person in my life who tears me apart, makes me cry, and is destroying my mental health. How can I use their criticism as a way to grow?” I’m guessing you’d be horrified and would strongly push them away from buying into that person’s assessment of them in any way.

It’s really not that different here. Yes, Jane is your boss and thus the person charged with assessing your work, and probably has some basis of expertise from which to do so. But you know from watching her for years now that she’s accusatory, hostile, incapable of responding to the totality of someone’s work, and, frankly, a jerk. You’ve fallen into the trap of “she’s so exacting that if I can get her approval, it must mean I really succeeded” … but that’s keeping you from seeing that her judgment is off in really fundamental ways. Think about the prize you’re going after here: the approval of someone who’s doing a crucial and highly relevant piece of her own job terribly (management).

Trying to see Jane’s feedback as a way to grow carries a strong risk of deepening your unhappiness — and harming you psychologically — because you would have to buy into the idea that what she’s doing is okay. Bluntly, you’re proposing trying to make yourself buy into the worldview of a person’s whose entire M.O. is to tear you down, assume the worst of you, and make you prove anew each day that you’re good enough for the work you’ve been doing successfully for over a decade. That’s not a worldview you should be trying to buy into — it’s a worldview that’s rooted in some really psychologically damaging (and psychologically damaged) stuff.

I want to be clear: It’s not that a jerk can never be correct about their criticism. Sometimes they are! But the value of feedback plummets when the person offering it isn’t able to recognize what you’re getting right (particularly when that person’s job is to evaluate your work as a whole, as Jane’s is) or when their judgment leads them to treat minor issues as major failings. And more importantly in this case, when things are at the point where you’re describing your motivation and self-esteem as non-existent and you’ve lost your creativity because you’re living in fear, it doesn’t matter if Jane sometimes has useful things to offer. You’ll be much better off focusing on maintaining strong boundaries with her and clearly seeing how truly messed up she is, for as long as you have to stay there.

PEARSALL, TX—Explaining that it was hard not to feel inferior given their job responsibilities, ICE agent Marcus Snell admitted to reporters Thursday that he was jealous of his police officer friend who gets to kill actual Americans. “Contributing to the deaths of Central American refugees is fun and all, but Jerry…

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