very long overdue links, #1:

Your omg-you-have-to-read-this of the [indeterminate unit of time] is from Mother Jones, about solitary confinement in Iran and in California. At this point it's been so long since I tabdumped that everything that still survives is at must-read status in some respect, but this is the real deal, all-time-importantest list. Especially if you live in America and/or care about the people that your government has repeatedly told you not to ever care about.

Two others related to the above, here's a Slog post about why pot needs to be legal, and here is chickadoggy talking about corresponding with death row & life imprisonment inmates. In capslock, because she was typing on a tiny phone interface at the time. This is the most srs capslocking you are going to see all day I promise.

Mail Order Conservatism from The Baffler does what it says on the tin; the connexion between right-wing conspiracy theories and multi-level marketing and other marketing scams. Long but fascinating and a definite 'a-HA' for me because I've seen so much of this behaviour and heard of more (notably how Mike Warnke invented the Satanic Panic to make money; sadly I can't find the full text online right now).

Clay Shirky on what the internet is going to do to higher education. One for anyone who has any interest in either a) formal education and the debt bubble therein or b) watching the internet break things economically. I tried some free online learning last year and was hampered by my brainfail when it comes to focusing on video, but the potential of it is just so amazing.

One for anyone else who has pure TWS for all things Munchausen's: Cienna Madrid's story about Munchausen's via Internet on Tumblr is wonderful, and like most of the best stories that have ever been told about the internet, it's all true. Except for the parts that are dramatically found to be not true. (I am figuring anyone who cares has already seen the Deadspin expose of Manti Te'o's Munchausen's-by-sockpuppeted-proxy-with-the-aid-of-the-entirety-of-American-sports-media; I am treasuring it because I don't recall a celeb Munchausen wank ever happening before.)

While we're on the topic; I feel like it's been obvious for some time now that Munchausen's-via-Social Justice is a thing that exists, and here is the ONTD_P post that pithily confirmed as much: "Thus she was removed from her responsibilities as a moderator for not being real." It's the comments that I found fascinating, but there's pages and pages of it, so, only for people who have both time and a serious eboner for Munchausenry.

From Daisy, Color Fear - a lengthy interview quote about the relationship between racism, the unemployment rate and the crime rate.

On social media: Twitter has all the heads of state and no teenagers? The original article linked there is also pretty great.

links #2:

So I was going over my tabs and found I had several of Kris Ligman's articles ready to share:

Visions Of Sugar Plums, about J-RPGs and insomnia;

Beyond Complete Freedom Of Movement, about videogames as installation art, and the auteurism/authoritarianism inherent in game design. (It was Ligman who first introduced me to auteur theory, in conversation in 2009, so I always love seeing her delve into the topic);

Hosted on CTRL-ALT-DEFEAT, Hoard Instinct (starts on page 8-9) - for videogamers who have hoarding in the family.

You may remember me linking other wonderful things of hers in the past, too, and some of you may have known her from her years in fandom. I'm highlighting these now because she's trying to raise funds to go to the San Francisco Game Developers' Conference as a critic, reporter and academic. She's already met her funding goal but is seeking additional pennies in order to buy a little time off work to give to her critical projects. I figured you guys might have enjoyed her writing over the years and may have a little something to spare. Also, cute cats.