I am travelling next week so posting may be lighter than usual. Enjoy the week.
Boston lab space boomed. But higher interest rates hurt demand. - The Washington Post : A lot of “genius” business people seem to be just folks that took advantage of zero interest rates to do what everyone else was doing.
A giant meteorite has been lost in the desert since 1916—here’s how we might find it | Ars Technica: It amuses me to think of this story as the greatest “scam the tourist” tale in history.
It’s no accident: These automotive safety features flopped | Ars Technica: Necessity is the mother of invention. And insanity, apparently.
Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users’ Data to Train AI Tools (404media.co): Don’t want your data and work to be sold to imitative AI companies to impoverish creators? Tumblr and Wordpress don’t care.
The Most Iconic Science Fiction Work Ever (everythingishorrible.net): Noah Berlatsky with a thought-provoking piece on the definition of genre. You should go subscribe to his newsletter.
Modiphius to publish the first Discworld RPG in nearly three decades - Polygon: Not an RPG fan myself, but Discworld seems perfect for this kind of game.
Notebook: Readers and Writers Finding Each Other (substack.com): Interesting look at the current state of the book markets.
Executives Will Have To Make Their Own Games Soon (thegamer.com): Some righteous fury directed at video game executives.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Sony layoffs, and the trouble with AAA games - Polygon: This feels right. Games are trying to be too much to too many people and as a result seem to be too expensive and time consuming to be sustainable. But executives keep chasing the unicorns rather than trying to raise horses.
Artists Are Slipping Anti-AI ‘Poison’ into Their Art. Here’s How It Works | Scientific American: Interesting look at how artists and their allies are trying to protect themselves from imitative AI stealing their work.
Lots of People Make Money on Fanfic. Just Not the Authors | WIRED: Fascinating look at how fan fiction makes money without rewarding the writers.
The Case Against the Trauma Plot | The New Yorker: Compelling argument against perhaps the most ubiquitous plot in today’s art.
"In Bloom" - Nirvana (substack.com): Excellent look at Nirvana’s best (yes, I said it) and most important song.
When private equity destroys your hospital | by Cory Doctorow | Feb, 2024 | Medium: People involved in these schemes should be going to jail.
The 'Tension of Becoming' in Coming-of-Age Cinema (substack.com): Cole Hadon, who you should also subscribe to, with a great look at three kinds of coming-of-age stories.
Have the best possible week, everyone.