#15yrsago Homeowners’ associations: hives of petty authoritarianism https://web.archive.org/web/20100606170504/http://theweek.com/article/index/104150/top-7-insane-homeowners-association-rules

#15yrsago Lynd Ward’s wordless, Depression-era woodcut novels https://memex.craphound.com/2010/08/29/lynd-wards-wordless-depression-era-woodcut-novels/#5yrsago Zuck calls Apple a monopolist https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/29/chickenized-home-to-roost/#chickenizers-come-home-to-roost

#10yrago Suit: Wells Fargo sent contractors to break into our house, loot family treasures rescued from Nazis https://theintercept.com/2015/08/28/wells-fargo-contractors-stole-family-heirlooms/

5/

#10yrsago Health’s unkillable urban legend: “You must drink 8 glasses of water/day” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/upshot/no-you-do-not-have-to-drink-8-glasses-of-water-a-day.html?_r=0

#10yrsago Austin Grossman’s CROOKED: the awful, cthulhoid truth about Richard Nixon https://memex.craphound.com/2015/08/26/austin-grossmans-crooked-the-awful-cthulhoid-truth-about-richard-nixon/

#10yrsago After Katrina, FBI prioritized cellphone surveillance https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/aug/27/stingray-katrina/

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#20yrsago Commercial music in podcasts: the end of free expression? https://memex.craphound.com/2005/08/26/commercial-music-in-podcasts-the-end-of-free-expression/

#10yrsago North Dakota cops can now use lobbyist-approved taser/pepper-spray drones https://www.thedailybeast.com/first-state-legalizes-taser-drones-for-cops-thanks-to-a-lobbyist/

#10yrsago Illinois mayor appoints failed censor to town library board https://ncac.org/news/blog/mayor-appoints-would-be-censor-to-library-board

#10yrsago IBM’s lost, glorious fabric design https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/users/mepelman/visits/qtxg/87597377/

5/

Hey look at this

* Thinking Ahead to the Full Military Takeover of Cities https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/thinking-ahead-to-the-full-military

* Framework is working on a giant haptic touchpad, Trackpoint nub, and eGPU for its laptops https://www.theverge.com/news/766161/framework-egpu-haptic-touchpad-trackpoint-nub

* National says "fuck you" on the right to repair https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2025/08/national-says-fuck-you-on-right-to.html?m=1

* Tax the Rich. They’ll Stay https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/zohran-mamdani-tax-rich-new-york-city-1235414327/ (h/t Kottke)

* Welcome to the Free Online Tax Preparation Feedback Survey https://irsresearch.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ewDJ6DeBj3ockGa (h/t Stefan Jones)

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#10yrsago New Zealand gov’t promises secret courts for accused terrorists https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/attorney-general-says-law-society-got-it-wrong-over-secret-courts/E5JHYBTMVSIBZ62UNGEWB4DPEA/?c_id=1&objectid=11503094

#10yrsago Platform Cooperativism: a worker-owned Uber for everything https://platformcoop.net/

#10yrsago GOP “kingmaker” proposes enslavement as an answer to undocumented migrants https://www.thedailybeast.com/iowa-gop-kingmaker-has-a-slavery-proposal-for-immigration/

#10yrsago Six years after unprovoked beating, Denver cop finally fired https://kdvr.com/news/video-evidence-determined-fate-of-denver-officer-in-excessive-force-dispute-fired-after-6-years/

5

Hey look at this

* Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes https://www.404media.co/citizen-is-using-ai-to-generate-crime-alerts-with-no-human-review-its-making-a-lot-of-mistakes/

* How To Argue With An AI Booster https://www.wheresyoured.at/how-to-argue-with-an-ai-booster/

* We must fight age verification with all we have https://www.usermag.co/p/we-must-fight-age-verification-with

* Sqinks: Transreal Cyberpunk Love Story https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rudyrucker/sqinks

* LibreOffice: a Strategic Asset for Governments and Enterprises Focused on Digital Sovereignty and Privacy https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2025/08/25/libreoffice-25-8-backgrounder/

4/

#20yrsago Why some “piracy” can increase overall revenues https://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/2005/08/just_enough_pir.html

#15yrsago Play a digital version of a lost “perception-altering” Freemasonry board-game https:/www.dpoetry.com/fires/

#10yrsago The FBI kept files on author Ray Bradbury: “Definitely slanted against the United States” https://memex.craphound.com/2015/08/24/the-fbi-kept-files-on-author-ray-bradbury-definitely-slanted-against-the-united-states/

5/

#20yrsago Court: DMCA can’t prohibit third-party repairs https://web.archive.org/web/20050912004536/https://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/2005/08/24/fed_circuit_smacks_down_bad_dmca_decision_re_independent_repair_techs.php

#20yrsago Chinese government mandating 3-hour caps on MMO playing https://www.gamespot.com/articles/china-govt-steps-up-limits-on-online-gaming/1100-6131845/

#20yrsago ItPlaysQuake: reviews of Quake-ports on odd hardware https://web.archive.org/web/20051122053035/http://www.itplaysquake.com/

#20yrsago DRM != SSL https://memex.craphound.com/2005/08/24/drm-ssl/

#20yrsago FBI stages fake wedding, invites mobsters, arrests gift-bearing guests https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-23-na-gang23-story.html

4/

#20yrsago Beastie Boys release vocals-only tracks to encourage remixers https://web.archive.org/web/20050930220256/http://www.beastieboys.com/remixers.php

#20yrsago What was in Buddy Holly’s plane-crash overnight bag? https://web.archive.org/web/20051023162927/http://www.rockin50s.com/bag.htm

#20yrsago Warner Music CEO calls for iPod taxes, levies — twirls moustache and cackles, clatters away on tiny, ebony hooves https://web.archive.org/web/20050910183217/http://news.com.com/Warner+Music+readies+CD-free+e-label/2100-1027_3-5841355.html

4/

#10yrsago Make your own TSA universal luggage keys https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/where-oh-where-did-my-luggage-go/2014/11/24/16d168c6-69da-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html

#10yrsago Regal promises security-theater bag-searches in America’s largest cinema chain https://www.techdirt.com/2015/08/21/tsa-movies-theater-chain-looks-to-bring-security-theater-to-movie-theater/

#10yrsago Judge: City of Inglewood can’t use copyright to censor videos of council meetings https://web.archive.org/web/20150821122121/http://popehat.com/2015/08/20/californias-city-of-inglewood-cant-copyright-city-council-meetings-case-against-youtube-critic-tossed/

4/

Hey look at this

* How Uber Became A Cash-Generating Machine https://len-sherman.medium.com/how-uber-became-a-cash-generating-machine-ef78e7a97230

* Agentic Browser Security: Indirect Prompt Injection https://brave.com/blog/comet-prompt-injection/

* Burner Phone 101 https://rebeccawilliams.info/burner-phone-101/

* Commonwealth Bank backtracks on AI job cuts, apologises for 'error' as call volumes rise https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-21/cba-backtracks-on-ai-job-cuts-as-chatbot-lifts-call-volumes/105679492

* It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes https://defector.com/it-took-many-years-and-billions-of-dollars-but-microsoft-finally-invented-a-calculator-that-is-wrong-sometimes?giftLink=50fb6d3bb4d7516dfa13deb4e27638de

3/

#10yrsago Science is really fucking hard https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/science-isnt-broken/

#10yrsago Ulysses pacts and spying hacks: warrant canaries and binary transparency https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/20/warrant-canaries-a-subtle-hint-that-your-email-provider-is-compromised

#10yrsago America does a better job of tracking bee deaths than deaths in police custody https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/aug/20/bees-not-bodies/

5/

#10yrsago Windows 10 EULA: Microsoft can killswitch your unauthorized hardware and pirate games https://www.alphr.com/microsoft/microsoft-windows-10/1001360/microsoft-can-disable-your-pirated-games-and-illegal-hardware/

#10yrsago Ashley Madison commits copyfraud in desperate bid to suppress news of its titanic leak https://web.archive.org/web/20150820170651/https://motherboard.vice.com/read/ashley-madison-sent-me-a-dmca-request-for-tweeting-two-cells-of-a-spreadsheet

#10yrsago Your Android unlock pattern sucks as much as your password did https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/new-data-uncovers-the-surprising-predictability-of-android-lock-patterns/

4/

Hey look at this

* Mamdani is the leader NYC needs for innovation and entrepreneurship https://www.anildash.com/2025/08/20/zohran_mamdani_is_the_nyc_innovation_leader/

* RFK Jr Cut Grants for Autism Research While Vowing to Find a Cause https://www.propublica.org/article/rfk-jr-autism-environment-research-funding

* Endoscopist deskilling risk after exposure to AI in colonoscopy https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langas/article/PIIS2468-1253(25)00133-5/abstract

* stupid games, stupid prizes, slight returns https://backofmind.substack.com/p/stupid-games-stupid-prizes-slight

* On Not Surrendering in Advance, or During, or At Any Point Thereafter https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/on-not-surrendering-in-advance-or-during-or-at-any-point-thereafter/

3/

#10yrsago LA artists who earn their livings through the Internet https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/18/magazine/23mag-culturesidebar.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

#10yrsago MPAA loves fair use so much they don’t want to share it with the rest of the world https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/08/will-hollywoods-whining-thwart-better-tpp-copyright-rules

#10yrsago Chastity belts were a joke, then a metaphor, then a hoax https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/everything-youve-heard-about-chastity-belts-is-a-lie

4/

Hey look at this

* DOJ Insider Blows the Whistle on Pay-to-Play Antitrust Corruption https://prospect.org/power/2025-08-19-doj-insider-blows-whistle-pay-to-play-antitrust-corruption/

* CEO pay at top US companies accelerates at fastest pace in four years https://archive.is/es4bc

* Tea’s Founder Convinced Women to Spill Their Secrets, Then Exposed Them to the World https://www.404media.co/how-teas-founder-convinced-millions-of-women-to-spill-their-secrets-then-exposed-them-to-the-world/

* Robinhood Tries to Rebrand Sports Betting as Investing https://gizmodo.com/robinhood-tries-to-rebrand-sports-betting-as-investing-2000645176

* The State of Independent Technology Research 2025 https://independenttechresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/The-State-of-Independent-Technology-Research-Power-in-Numbers.pdf

3/

#10yrsago Stephen Hawking’s speech synthesizer now free/open software https://www.wired.com/2015/08/stephen-hawking-software-open-source/

#10yrsago Defector from Kremlin’s outsourced troll army wins 1 rouble in damages https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33972122

#10yrsago Chuck Wendig’s Zeroes: a hacker technothriller in the War Games lineage https://memex.craphound.com/2015/08/18/chuck-wendigs-zeroes-a-hacker-technothriller-in-the-war-games-lineage/

#10yrsago Dismaland: Banksy’s (?) swipe at Disneyland https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/aug/18/banksy-weston-super-mare-dismaland

6/

#10yrsago Gallery of deserted Chinese amusement parks https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/aug/14/china-deserted-amusement-parks-stefano-cerio

#10yrsago New pornoscanners are also useless, cost $160 million https://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/airport-security-price-for-tsa-failed-body-scanners-160-million-121385.html

#10yrsago Gender and sf awards: who wins and for what http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2015/08/data-books-and-bias.html

#10yrsago The End of the Internet Dream: the speech that won Black Hat (and Defcon) https://web.archive.org/web/20150818104913/https://medium.com/backchannel/the-end-of-the-internet-dream-ba060b17da61

5/

#20yrsago Lem’s tensor algebra poem, annotated https://web.archive.org/web/20051107014429/http://cheesedip.com/2005/08/18/lem_love__tensor_algebra.php

#20yrsago Hunter S Thompson’s ashes to be sent high on fireworks https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/22/us/ashestofireworks-sendoff-for-an-outlaw-writer.html

#20yrsago Southern Baptist guide to non-gay Disney movies https://web.archive.org/web/20050917042544/http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=21416

#20yrsago ItPlaysDoom: catalog of devices capable of running Doom https://web.archive.org/web/20070226184902/http://www.itplaysdoom.com/

4/

#20yrago Nobel economist on harm lurking in copyright monopolies https://web.archive.org/web/20060217023906/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-8-2005_pg5_12

#15yrsago Heinlein biography: LEARNING CURVE – the secret history of science fiction https://memex.craphound.com/2010/08/16/heinlein-memoir-learning-curve-the-secret-history-of-science-fiction/

#10yrago LAPD & Chicago bought “Stingrays on steroids” with asset-forfeiture & DHS money https://revealnews.org/article/chicago-and-los-angeles-have-used-dirt-box-surveillance-for-a-decade/

#10yrsago NSA kremlinology: spooks outsourced lawbreaking to AT&;T https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/08/was-nsa-trying-outsource-responsibilty-its-fourth-amendment-violations

4