#death of the Internet where the sidewalk ends etc etc

[harriertail]

Zlibrary/b-ok.cc seized by the us gov :/ anyway stop giving states/banks/corporations the power to control the Internet thanks!

[i-wanna-go-fight-the-aliens]

Enigmatic Gifts

Pairing: Jason Todd

AU? Soulmate/Red String of Fate AU.

Context: This story is based Extremely loosely on the animated movie Batman: Under the Red Hood, at least for the beginning. After that, I took some ”artistic liberties” with it. Also, I was trying to figure out how old Jason was when he died/came back, and my favorite answer was he died around 13, then came back around 16, just for reference.

Word Count: 4,658

Warnings: Moderate language, death, guns, violence, etc. 

Not all strings were perfect. Some people had their soulmates fall deeply in love with someone else, and the string would disappear. Some people would swear to celibacy, and their strings would disappear. Some people’s soulmates would die before they met, and their strings would disappear. Some people didn’t have a romantic soulmate. There were various tales of people whose soulmates were simply very good friends, or even the man whose soulmate was a dog. 

You hoped to God you weren’t those people. On the morning of your tenth birthday, your red string appeared, and you were absolutely ecstatic. Especially because the news was rampant with stories about Batman-- and his new Robin. Or, at least, everyone was sure it was a new Robin. 

Though the media still tackled the mystery of where the last Robin went, witnesses were sure this was a new Robin. He acted differently-- he was a little more rambunctious, a little more flippant, and he relied more on strength than dexterity. And others said he was shorter than the last Robin, some said his face was more round, but whatever tipped them off, everyone who had seen him was sure that this Robin, this new Robin, was younger than the last one. 

You had seen this Robin once. Walking home from a sleepover with your mother. She had opted to walk there, as it was only a few blocks away. But it was getting late, close to 10 pm. A car flew down the street, swerving around nothing but empty road, and your mother pulled you closer to the buildings on the sidewalk as the car began to ride on the curb. The car veered a violent left and out of sight, but your mother did not move for another few moments, and neither did you, both still trying to comprehend the situation. A figure settled a few feet away from you, and you immediately recognized the famous costume. 

“Did you see a car-” he didn’t have time to finish the sentence before you pointed to the left, and he thanked you before leaving you and your mother. After that night, you had a quiet fantasy that maybe, in some strange way, Robin was your soulmate, and you would get to learn his secret identity, and help him maintain Gotham’s safety. It stuck with you as you grew older, and though you would never admit it, it almost persists to this day. 

But, you faced reality. And reality states that there is no chance your soulmate was Robin. You knew whoever your soulmate was, you would be happy with them-- fate says so, anyway. You began to think of your soulmate as your own personal superhero. Not Robin, but close enough for you. Any time you felt scared or sad, you would tug on the string, sighing in relief when you got a tug in response. It was a mode of comfort, a way of knowing that someone was out there for you and they hadn’t even met you yet. And it was one of the best feelings in the world.

Around three years after your tenth birthday, you woke up one morning, bright and early, ready for school. Dreaming of meeting your soulmate. You tugged on the string, and… Wait a moment. Looking down to where your string was-- where your string should have been-- your mind was filled with horror. Various thoughts rushed through your mind, until you settled on one: your soulmate was dead. 

You stumbled to the kitchen, hoping the noise would alert your mother. It did, and your eyes filled with tears as you explained what happened. Or, what you think happened. She didn’t make you go to school that day. 

One, two, three, three and a half years passed by in peaceful misery. You never quite got over it. How could you, at least. You went to high school, you made friends, you got a job, but there was always something… tugging at the back of your mind. 

You made a lot of friends. Your mother sometimes questioned your choice of friends, but all of that stopped when she saw you at the library, studying with... Dick Grayson. When you got back, she hurled question after question at you, asking how you met a Wayne of all people. 

You responded with the story of how you met, telling her that you were studying in the library one day and it was obvious that you needed help. Dick just happened to be there, and, though he was a couple years older than you, he still offered to help tutor you in your classes. Or just get some of your frustrations out. It was weird. He was like a friend, but he also acted as a kind of mentor.

It was a Friday, which meant that you would meet up with Dick after school. You were trying to compile a list of all the things you didn’t understand from this week’s lessons, and boy the list was sure long. It basically boiled down to ‘I don’t understand chemistry’ though. It was lunch, and that means one thing: you finally had complete, free access to the internet. The school tried to block most websites on anything connected to the WiFi, and they attempted to ban phones during school hours. 

No one cared about lunch though. So the entire lunchroom was absorbed in one conversation. The latest news, the newest story. Surprise surprise, vigilantes were engaged in another fight. 

People were saying that both Batman and Nightwing were on the scene, but the enemy that they were fighting was unknown. Weird for Gotham, right? Usually villains like to have dramatic entrances. 

You were so entranced in the discussion that you barely even noticed the flash of color from the corner of your eye. 

You saw it in the block after lunch. Sitting in your history class, fiddling with a pencil before you dropped it. You looked down at your hands only to notice it, and you almost screamed. A friend later that week told you that you had turned so pale that they thought you changed colors, and the teacher asked some of your friends to escort you to the nurse. 

But you weren’t sick. In fact, nothing was wrong. But you stayed silent for the rest of the day, almost in.... fearful awe at what had happened. 

Thank God school ended soon. You rushed off to the library, past the scene of the fight earlier today, past the street where you had first seen Robin, basically bursting into the doors of the empty library. The librarian looked up at you, and when she recognized you, smiled. She pointed to a nearby table, where Dick was sitting, forehead on the table, looking at something on his lap. You sat in the seat across from him, and he looked up at you-- at first in warm happiness, but it quickly switched to worried confusion. 

“Hey, you alright? You look a little…” He didn’t say anything else, he just cleared his throat. You started to notice small bruises and cuts on his face. You were about to ask him about it, but he shook his head. “I fell down a flight of stairs. Pretty impressive, huh?” 

It sounded fake, plus the way that the wounds littered his face, it looked more like a fight. But you didn’t say anything else. Just looked down at your hands again. 

“But seriously, kid. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. What’s up?” Dick asked, sliding his phone onto the table and leaning back. Your brain tried to make a sentence that even came close to the thoughts running through your mind… just something to show the emotions that you felt… but it came up blank, so you went with the basics.

“Around three years ago, my soulmate string disappeared. I don’t really know what happened. Overnight it just… vanished,” you started. You looked at Dick, and he nodded for you to continue. “Well, I don’t really know when it happened, but right after lunch, it… I- how do I say this?” You sputtered, trying to find a convenient way of saying “I think my soulmate came back from the dead.” Meanwhile, Dick sat up and leaned forward in his chair, eyebrows knit tightly together. You didn’t like the serious look on his face. It reminded you of all the times he was trying to figure out what your chemistry textbook was actually saying. “I noticed after lunch that my string was back. How.... how is that possible? Can someone get another soulmate? Or is my soulmate a zombie?” You said in a hushed whisper. Not that it was necessary, as the only other person in the library was the librarian, and she was trained in the art of eavesdropping, as you and Dick discovered one unfortunate Friday. 

You heard her stifle a gasp, but Dick stayed completely silent. He studied your face while you waited for him to say something… anything… but he stayed silent for the next minute or so. 

“As far as we know, it’s not possible to get another soulmate unless you and the other person have a deep, mutual love for each other. And I don’t believe that that’s the case here, unless you think it is,” Dick said, his voice also dropped into a murmur. You were startled out of your thoughts, and you reaffirmed that it wasn’t possible. “So here’s the fun part. Can someone come back from the dead? It sounds like a thing that would happen to… well, a superhero.”

A superhero, you thought, could it be possible? Then you remembered. The night that your soulmate string disappeared, there were rumors that the most recent Robin had died. That Robin who you had met. The Robin that you idolized, the one that you dreamed about. Could it really be…? But he was dead, so it wasn’t possible. Unless, like Dick says, superheroes sometimes come back from the dead. Then, it would be totally possible!

“So how do we figure out who it is?” You asked. A part of the back of your mind made you tug on the string, and you waited a moment. Two moments. Three moments. In the past, they never made you wait… But there it was. Like electricity crawling up your arm, they tugged back, and for the first time in a long time, you felt truly happy. Knowing that they were out there again. But the look on Dick’s face made the smile fall from your face.

“What crazy scheme do you have planned?” 

“Have you ever wanted to become a detective?” Dick asked, a wide smile growing across his face. You groaned.

“Please don’t tell me that instead of studying we’re going to try to figure out who my soulmate is.”

“What would you know! Seems like you’re pretty good at this whole “detective” thing already!”

Two hours passed, but you and Dick were no closer to solving this “mystery” than when you started. When you told him this before you left, he simply shrugged you off. 

“Nonsense!” He said. “In fact, I think I have a lead!”

Now, that being said, he didn’t tell you anything when you asked. He only said “sorry, don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

Whether or not he is a good detective (which he proved today that he is not), Dick Grayson is good for one thing: lightening the mood. Thanks to his efforts, your mother didn’t say anything about you looking freaked out, so you were able to simply crash on the couch and turn on the news. Anywhere else in America, the news may not be vital, but in Gotham, it can save you from death. No major battles so far, it seems, but both Batman and Nightwing have been spotted around the area. 

Nightwing in Gotham? Crazier things have happened, sure, but for a quiet night like this, it was a little odd. Nightwing usually only swings into town when it gets real bad, and Batman and Robin get overwhelmed. 

“Seems like the city’s quiet for one night and one night only,” you said. Your mother chuckled, but pointed back to the TV. 

“But Nightwing? Maybe something’s about to happen and they know about it,” she said.

“Or maybe it’s nothing. Probably just a family reunion or something like that.” 

Of course, Gotham never has a quiet night. Luckily, no innocents lost their lives, but there was property damage off the wazoo. Like most times when Batman gets involved. 

“Guess you were right, mom. Maybe they did know something was coming,” you said the next morning. “They know who did it yet? Normal Gotham villains usually paint the area with their names. I mean, there was one time I literally heard Harley Quinn shout that she was, and I quote, ‘Harley fucking Quinn’ at Batman. She had a megaphone and everything!” 

“They don’t know yet. Some criminals have been talking about a new big bad-- someone they say can rival Black Mask. Forgot what the name was though,” your mother said. 

The next week or so went off fine, but with more word about Gotham’s newest villain. None of the news about it was interesting, so most everyone ignored it. Just another villain, vying for attention. That was, everything was fine until Friday. Dick had cancelled your last tutoring session on Tuesday, saying that he had to deal with “family business,” and knowing his family, you didn’t want to get in the way of that. However, he had promised that he would make it on Friday.

Which is why when you sat in the library, alone, for almost an hour, you were confident that Dick Grayson was either dead or ghosting you. Wait, both are technically ghosting… you laughed at your own joke, only to be brought into the real world by another voice. 

“You finally gone insane? Or are you working on your next stand-up routine?” Dick asked, approaching your table. A smile appeared on your lips, but vanished once you noticed his limp. “Don’t pay attention to it. Just bent it wrong.”

Sure. Like a professional acrobat would do something so clumsy. His face was littered with bruises again, and probably so was the rest of his body. Some flight of stairs…

“Dude, you gotta come up with better excuses,” you said. You smiled at the flustered look on his face, but it quickly vanished. 

“Fine. You wanna know the truth?” He asked. You nodded, and he looked around at the empty library before leaning in, motioning for you to do the same. He dropped his voice down into a deep, gravelly tone and said…

“I’m Batman.” 

And you burst out laughing in his face. A grin spread pretty wide on his face while you continued to laugh. 

“What? Don’t believe that I could be Batman? I have the same… seriousness as him,” he said. At this, you laughed even harder. And laughed until you couldn’t breathe anymore.

“No offense, but I don’t think you could ever be Batman. I mean, seriously!” You said, still trying to catch your breath. He leaned back, feigning anger. “Now, Nightwing? I think you could be Nightwing. But never Batman.” 

Of course, at this moment, the librarian dropped a stack of books, causing you to look at the noise. Meanwhile, Dick stayed still, scrambling for some way to push the thought of him being Nightwing out of your mind. When you turned back to him, he held his usual grin on his face, which only meant one thing…

“Met your soulmate yet?” He said. You groaned and rolled your eyes.

“You think I would be here if I met my soulmate? They’re probably smarter than you are,” you teased, and he very maturely retaliated by sticking his tongue out at you. “After all, I thought you had a ‘lead.’ So, Detective Grayson, how’s that lead coming along?” 

“Well, I don’t really have anything yet. I have an identity but I am… cautious to believe that I’m right. Now, what chemistry help do you need now?” 

And with that, the topic of your soulmate was dropped. Dick couldn’t possibly have a lead, could he? I mean, who could Dick know who died and then came back to life. On the other hand, Dick has enough crazy stories to where it could be entirely possible. 

“Any news about that new villain?” You asked your mother, setting your backpack down on the floor and promptly collapsing on the couch. 

“Actually, yeah. We finally got a concrete name. The Red Hood. Sounds a little generic to me, but it works,” your mother said, picking up her purse. “I just got a call about a work emergency, and it seemed pretty serious. I don’t know how late I’ll be out, so be careful and make sure to eat something. Kay?” You muttered “okay” as she went out the door, while flipping through the channels on your television. Not finding anything interesting, you decided that now would be as good of a time as ever to find something to eat. 

“Nope, no, absolutely not, I’m pretty sure that’s like… three months old.” Looking through the contents of your fridge and pantry for anything edible was obviously a lost cause. “Okay, so I guess I’ll go and get something to eat. Uh,” you looked through your wallet. “And something cheap too.” Grabbing your keys and your shoes, you walk through the door, locking it behind you before heading wherever your feet took you. 

Of course, Gotham at night wasn’t safe, but luckily for you, it was barely 7. All you had to do was swing by the closest fast food place, and make it home in one piece. No problem. Of course, with that new villain on the loose, perhaps it could be some problem. Most likely it would be none at all. The Red Hood, if that’s really what he calls himself, hasn’t even been seen around these parts. If you ran into any criminals at all, they would most likely be petty thieves or something like that. 

A small yelp drew you out of your thoughts and into the world. You peeked your eyes into a nearby alleyway. Mistake number one. Mistake number two? Letting yourself be seen. Even just a little. You should’ve never even seen what happened. And you definitely should not have been caught looking. 

A dead person. An actual, real corpse. Of someone who used to be alive. God, the body was probably still warm… 

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re looking at, eh?” Looking up from the corpse makes mistake number three. Mistake number four was not running the moment you recognized that this man was holding a gun to your head. What was your gut reaction every time you were in a crisis? Just a small tug on your soulmate string. Well, this one wasn’t exactly little. It was more like a large pull, but those are details. What really matters is that you have now been labeled a witness to a crime you didn’t know was committed, and now you were going to be shot because of it. 

“Nothing. I don’t see anything,” you said. You were surprised that you managed to say anything. The man laughed, but the gun was still pointed at your head. 

“Nice try, but I can’t let you walk away from this,” he said, grabbing you by the shirt and pulling you into the alleyway. “Now, since you didn’t really mean for this to happen, I guess I’ll give you some luxury. Any last words?” You could hear the click of the gun, and you knew it was about to fire.

“I-”

“If you were smart, you would’ve stopped talking and just shot her,” a voice echoed through the alleyway, and the ringing sound of a gunshot hurt your ears. But your ears were still alive enough to hurt, so you must not have been the one shot. You looked to the source of the voice, hoping to see Batman or Nightwing or a superhero. Only to be met with the shiny exterior of a red hood. The Red Hood. But how did he know to come here?

You took your eyes off of his hood to look at the rest of his outfit. Unlike most of the villains that plagued Gotham, he looked like a relatively normal person. If he wasn’t holding a gun and all over the news, you would’ve thought he was simply a very enthusiastic biker. He dressed in very dark colors, so what’s with the red… the red… string? Around… his finger? That… connected to yours. Holy shit was the Red Hood your soulmate?

“What…” you started, before muttering a whole ton of syllables that were meant to be words, but simply sounded like you were an alien. 

“Never had this happen before,” he said. A minute passed, before you heard someone land behind you. 

“Jason,” a gravelly voice said, before someone else cleared their throat. You turned around, only to be faced with Batman and Nightwing. As if this week wasn’t weird enough for you. Nightwing’s face contorted when he saw you, but you couldn’t tell how. Did you know him or something?

“Should I… leave?” You said. It felt a little weird to leave to quickly after meeting your goddamn soulmate, but if Batman wanted you to leave, you would do what Batman said. 

“No.” The definitive voice of the Red Hood was the only thing you could hear for a moment. 

“Yes,” Batman said, standing from his landing position and… God, he was tall. There was silence for a moment, while you weighed your options. 

“Wait,” Nightwing said. “Why should you stay? Why would you want to stay here with an actual criminal?” You gulped before looking back at the Red Hood, who stood motionless. Gee, thanks for the advice…

“Unless…” you looked back to Nightwing, who seemed to be doing some sort of victory… dance? It almost reminded you of… “Unless my theory was right! This whole week I’ve wondered if I was right, and now here you both are! So? Was I? Was I right?” 

Wait. Huh? There’s no way… is there? I mean, Dick did have the Batman voice down, and if anyone you knew was to be Nightwing, it would be him. Oh, and didn’t Dick have a brother around your age? A… dead… brother…

“Dick?” You practically shouted, only to regret as Batman grew scarier and scarier by the second. Nightwing stopped his victory dance, only to realize that he said that entire thing out loud. He cleared his throat. 

“Uh, hey. How’s it going?” He said, walking closer to you. You weren’t sure it was a sign of friendship or to get away from the ever-angering Bat. “Jaybird,” he said, nodding to the Red Hood. The Red Hood only grunted in response.

“That’s it. What’s going on here?” The Bat said, in a tone so threatening you could swear you heard all the petty thieves in the area scatter in fear of their lives. The Red Hood cleared his throat to speak, but Dick stepped in front of you, facing the Bat. You could feel the Red Hood’s hand on your shoulder, pulling you away from the situation and closer to him. 

“Are you okay? Did that guy hurt you?” He whispered. It was kind of hard to make out the words because of his voice modulator, and… oh, that’s right. Less than five minutes ago, some dude was holding a gun to your head. Maybe you forgot a little, due to meeting your dead soulmate and getting involved in Batman’s family drama. 

“Listen, B, I know you’re pissed for basically giving away our secret identities, but we can trust them. Really, we can! It’s not like we really have a choice, anyway,” Dick said.

“What do you mean by that?” Batman’s tone was cold and demanding, and it almost made you flinch. 

“Let me explain it, and I’ll tell you. Look, I’ve known them for a while now. I tutor them on Tuesdays and Fridays, and I’ve been doing it for, I don’t know, five months?” Nightwing said.

“You’ve had relationships that lasted longer than that where they didn’t know a damn thing. Why should that matter?” Batman said. Every time he spoke, his voice got deeper and more demanding. You had no idea how he did it.

“B, let me finish before interrupting. Now, as their mentor, when they had a problem with their soulmate, they shared it with me.” As Batman said nothing in response, Dick continued on. “As it turns out, around three years ago, their soulmate string disappeared.” He turned to face you. “What day did your string vanish?”

“April 28th, I think,” you said. This date obviously had some significance to both Batman and the Red Hood, as Batman stepped back uneasily and the Red Hood’s grip tightened on your shoulder. 

“See? Now, the odd part was, around a week ago, just when he,” Dick pointed to the Red Hood, “appeared, they said that their soulmate string just… showed up again. Out of nowhere. Without gaining significant feelings for anyone,” he finished. He took a deep inhale. “That story was a lot shorter than I thought it was.” There was silence for a beat.

“So you’re suggesting the theory that Jason and your… friend are soulmates?” Batman said. There was something alarming about his tone-- oh wait, it’s that it wasn’t overly threatening. It actually sounded like a human voice instead of Batman. And finally, someone said his name! 

“We are,” Jason said, followed by a strange noise you couldn’t quite identify. When you turned around, you were met by the bluest eyes you had ever seen. Rivalled only by Dick. In the light, you couldn’t see his face well, but you could tell he was handsome-- scratch that, he was downright pretty. The moment lasted only a moment, before Batman spoke again, his voice reverted back to the original. Cold, calculating.

“Then why are there two dead men,” was all he needed to say for you to get pushed, no, shoved into the world around you. You had just been a witness to a crime. 

“Look, Bruce, the first guy was already dead when I got here, and the second guy was about to shoot an innocent person. My bad for reacting quickly and saving a life. Seriously, I don’t need to explain myself to you,” Jason’s tone was harsh before he returned his attention to you, where he whispered a slight, “hold on” before hooking his arm around your waist and hoisting you through the night sky with his grappling hook. You quickly gripped onto his shoulders, trying not to look down onto the street below you. Jason deposited you on a nearby rooftop before harshly sighing and sitting next to you.

“Sorry about that, he can be a dick sometimes.” You just nodded your head. He stuck his hand out to you. “Name’s Jason. Jason Todd.” You shook his hand and introduced yourself, before falling back into silence. 

“So… soulmates,” you said, trying to say anything to break the harsh silence.

“Soulmates,” was all he said in response, just as lost as you were in this situation. Guess that’s one thing the Bat doesn’t teach: social interaction. Just then, your stomach growled, and you realized why you even came out here to begin with. 

“Hungry?” He said. You sheepishly nodded. “Me too.” Jason stood up, offering his hand to you. “Lemme get you some dinner I know this great little place a few blocks from here. Call it… our first date.” He said, beginning to smile. You definitely wanted to see that smile again. “Shall we?” He asked, offering his arm. 

“We shall,” you said, looping your arm around his. 

[citrineghost]

Adult Spaces VS Minor Spaces

It’s that time of week again where I write a post 5k words long to explain a concept that could probably be said in ten words.

On today’s episode of Ghost Talks Too Much, we’re going to learn about the difference between adult spaces and minor spaces, because this is a topic I’ve been seeing talked about from both sides but haven’t seen anyone actually combine yet.

On one side of the coin, we have people saying,

“If you’re an adult, it is your responsibility to make sure any location minors can gain access to is squeaky clean of adult content or you’re a problematic creep.”

On the other side of the coin we have people saying,

“If you don’t want to see adult content, you have to do all of the work to curate your internet experience or you aren’t old enough to be here.”

Actually you’re both about 50% wrong.

There’s actually a difference between adult spaces and minor spaces and each area has its own guidelines for appropriate behavior.

What’s the Difference?

The first thing is looking at the environment. First, there are the simple examples:

Is it at a school? It should be minor friendly

Is it in an outdoor, public space (like a park or a sidewalk)? It should be minor friendly

Is it at a private place where children live (and are present)? It should be minor friendly

Is it a private place that primarily caters to children (like a toy store)? It should be minor friendly

Then, there are some more complicated examples. These are places that are generally divided or segregated by age:

A private place that is open to the public (like a clothing store)

An indoor, public space (like a library or a post office)

The internet

These last examples are typically divided into separate spaces for adults and for minors. For example, clothing stores will have clothing sections for kids, libraries will have a kids’ area and an adult fiction area, and the internet is comprised of different websites with different target demographics.

The short explanation is, any area that is child-targeted, neutral ground, or includes a child-targeted area with no separation between it and the adult area should be minor friendly. But, there’s more to it than that.

How are we supposed to keep these areas separate and ensure there are adequate restrictions put in place?

Parenting Responsibilities

The first line of defense for a child or minor’s intake of content is their parents. Obviously not every parent or set of parents does this. And, some do it too much. That is the parents’ personal failure. Parental failure to protect their children from damaging content is not a responsibility that should fall to the shoulders of everyone else in the world. Otherwise, we would all be forced to constantly take inattentive parents’ jobs onto our own shoulders. In a perfect world, no minor would be harmed by their parents’ shitty parenting, but we just do not have enough people who are willing or able to completely alleviate that.

Obviously, there is a kind of middle ground here. Certain places have ID requirements, like sex shops and bars. Certain adult-targeted shops without legal restrictions have watchful employees who will tell young kids that they shouldn’t be there and need to leave. But, innocuous places like libraries or clothing stores are not black and white enough to make moral judgement an employee’s responsibility.

Because of this, minors going into places that they most certainly don’t belong is, first and foremost, the parents’ responsibility. If your teenager is looking at hardcore porn online, it is your job to take responsibility for that.

It’s not that minors don’t have autonomy over their own choices - especially teenagers - but they cannot be entirely responsible for curating their online consumption. Their impulse control is not fully developed and they can end up looking at things they don’t necessarily want to be looking at, simply because there was nothing to stop them. Trust me, I’ve been there.

This is what parental controls are for. There is, of course, a line that a parent shouldn’t cross. I’m not condoning taking away privacy, using spy software to see what your kid is doing, or reading their private messages. That’s abusive as hell. However, there is something to be said for blocking porn websites, being open with your kids and teens about what you expect of them, warning them about the way certain content can be bad for their mental health, fostering open dialogue so that they can come to you if they have questions, and making sure that they aren’t just wandering around aimlessly and picking up whatever is put in front of them.

Creator, and Owner, and Website Responsibility

The next line of defense is being clear about the target demographic you are aiming your product, website, or media toward. If a parent isn’t going to make their own executive decision about whether their child should be exposed to certain content, the minor should be able to see for themselves if it is something they think is safe or comfortable to look at or explore.

Movies and TV shows have ratings that indicate this fairly well

Websites for kids are generally clearly marked as being for kids. That, or the design gives it away

Adult only websites will usually be marked or have some kind of entry warning

Neutral websites like news sites are a grey area that is up to the individual parent or minor to determine safety for

Mixed-age media sites like Ao3 have warning features as well as an elaborate tagging system

Shops will put up signs on the walls indicating where children’s, teens’, and adults’ sections are

Bookstores and libraries have children’s, teens’, and adults’ sections clearly marked

By posting demographics in/on signs, titles, subtitles, account creation pages that restrict sign-up, age warnings, warnings for graphic content, and so on, website creators, media creators, shop owners, and managers of public buildings are doing their part to make it clear who should and shouldn’t be there. This is the most we should be asking them to do short of parenting other people’s children.

Community Responsibility

After that, we have community responsibility. This is where people get things messed up. There is so much discourse on who is responsible for doing what, and it’s primarily rooted in extremism, even if people don’t intend to be extremist. There is the idea that one group shouldn’t have any responsibility or that one group should have full responsibility. Neither of these is healthy for anyone involved. You have to find the middle ground where everyone is doing their part and not taking on the responsibility of others. 

As a member of a community, whether that’s the internet community or the public one, it is your job to use the two higher tiers of restriction as intended. That goes for both adults and for minors.

As an Adult

You should be keeping adult content off of any platform that is targeted primarily toward minors. It doesn’t matter if the platform grows a large adult userbase - it is made for minors and they should be safe from adult content there.

This goes for:

Kids’ education or game websites

Games that are targeted toward kids (such as Among Us)

Stores that are targeted toward kids (such as toy stores, kids’ clothing stores, etc.)

Places that are mixed-age and that don’t have built-in tagging or warning features take some critical thinking. 

Are you on a news website, planning to comment something with a traumatic or inappropriate story involved? Ask yourself if it’s necessary. Is the article you read something that’s already child inappropriate? It’s probably fine then. Is the article something innocuous that a minor is likely to click on, believing it’s safe? Don’t post unsafe content.

Are you on a public sharing site like Imgur where images and text are displayed based on popularity or recent posting rather than on who’s following who or on tags? Do not post traumatic content that minors should not be reading.

In places that are mixed-age and that do have built-in tagging or warning features, you should be taking full advantage of those tagging or warning features. Those features are what separates the adult and minor-safe areas of the website. 

If you’re posting explicit work on deviantART, that’s fine. They have specifically implemented a warning system for explicit content so that you have to be logged in on an account with your age indicated as an adult if you want to gain access to that content. Check the box that turns on that warning when you’re uploading something.

If you’re posting explicit work on Ao3, that’s fine. They have implemented an elaborate tagging and warning system to keep users safe, including the ability to put warnings on for dubcon/noncon, major character death, and so on. Learn how to use the tagging system (I have reblogged posts explaining how to do so under the tag ao3 if you want to find the guide on my blog) and then use it effectively. This doesn’t mean tagging every form and misspelled variation of each warning tag, but it does mean using archive warnings if necessary and tagging obvious triggers as they’re added to the work. (If you don’t look at the guide (though I HIGHLY recommend it), please note that Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings and No Archive Warnings Apply are exactly the opposite of each other.)

If you’re on Facebook, where you’re friends with 10 teenage cousins, 15 minor siblings of friends, and your nephew, don’t fucking post for all to see about how you got laid last night or pierced your nipples. They do not need to see that. If you want to share something like that, you need to click the share settings on the posting box and restrict it so that certain friends are excluded from seeing it or only certain friends are able to see it. Use the tools given to you and don’t post content thoughtlessly.

In places that are targeted toward adult-only demographics, it is not your responsibility to make your engagement minor-friendly. 

Of course, I can’t neglect to mention, if you’re on/in any space that should be adult-only and you see a minor interacting there, you should do two things:

Report them for breaking the site rules. They might make a new account, but they also might decide to follow the rules on the new one to avoid getting reported again

Interact with them in a minor-friendly way. Minors going into adult spaces may not be following the rules, but it doesn’t give you a free pass to be a jackass, a creep, or harm them in any way

As a Minor

You are responsible for curating your experience within adult and mixed-age spaces. While spaces targeted toward primarily minors should be safe for you, when you enter a mixed-age or adult only space, it is up to you to follow the guidelines that keep you from seeing adult content.

You should be staying out of adult-only spaces (especially anything interpersonal like a Discord server) or refraining from interacting within those spaces. When you go into adult only spaces that involve consuming content, and don’t interact, no one but you really knows you’re there. However, when you begin interacting with people within those spaces, you are actually endangering them. 

Adults might seem like some vague and distant concept to you, but adults have feelings and lives too. Or, you might feel like you and adults are no different. But, under the law, if something goes wrong while you’re in an adult-only space, the adults are the ones who become legally responsible, not you. 

This brings us to:

Let’s talk about lying about your age.

Lying about your age can be convenient for getting into spaces you’re not meant to be. For some places, doing so will only affect you in the long run. If you want to watch porn and the website says you must be over 18 to enter and you click the button saying you’re over 18, no one is going to know except you. However, when you begin commenting under porn videos, it opens the door to adults interacting with someone who they assume is also an adult. If someone says something sexual to you, it could potentially lead to them having a record as a child predator for the rest of their lives, even if they were never intending to interact with a minor in that way.

This isn’t as much of an issue on porn websites, since people don’t often comment there anyway. This does however, become a HUGE issue on mixed-age sites and discussion platforms, like forums and Discord servers.

Discord servers are amazing things. They open the door to so much fun and social connection. However, there are a lot of servers that are 18+. For teens especially, it’s easy to think, “Well, I’m almost an adult anyway. They won’t care if I’m here, as long as I act mature.”

That is not the case.

We do care. Sure, having a conversation about video games is harmless, but when it comes to talking about our personal lives or sexual content, it is incredibly creepy for a minor to be hiding within the server under the guise of being an adult. As a teenager, I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that a teenager could hurt, harm, or be predatory toward an adult. I saw adults as invulnerable and I said things that I regret now because I didn’t realize they were harmful. Please learn from me now: Teenagers can be predatory toward adults. 

I am not saying that teens have some kind of power dynamic over adults. I’m aware that adults have the upperhand in most situations. However, when you lie about your age and pretend to be an adult in an adult space like Discord, you are being predatory. This doesn’t have to mean you even mean harm to anyone. The fact is, you are being deceptive in order to access content and interactions that you would otherwise be denied and that would otherwise make people incredible uncomfortable. That, by definition, is predatory. 

While it is certainly not the same caliber, due to the inherent power imbalance, imagine a 24 year old pretending to be 17 to hang out in a minor-only Discord server, even if their intent is only to talk about SFW topics. If the hair on the back of your neck just stood up, you can now understand how the 24-year-olds in an adult-only server would feel about a 17-year-old lying to enter their spaces.

Pointing Fingers

Last, but not least, we have to address the pointing fingers issue - AKA, the responsibility policing issue.

If you are acting appropriately within a space, there is no reason you should feel responsible for someone else misusing that space. 

If you are misusing a space, there is no reason you should blame someone who is using it correctly for the misfortune that befell you while you were misusing that space.

If you are a minor and you go on Ao3 and click past the dubcon/noncon warning only to get traumatized from a rape fic, that is not the fault of the person who posted it. That is your responsibility for ignoring the boundary between a minor space and an adult space. It is unfortunate that you had a bad experience but, even if it has lasting consequences, it is not the fault of the person who was following the rules.

If you are an adult and you got berated by someone or your content removed because you failed to follow tagging or warning guidelines, it is not the fault of the person berating you or reporting you. It is the consequence of ignoring the rules and putting minors at risk of seeing something inappropriate.

Adults should not be expected to censor themselves in adult spaces. When we support censorship of content - even content that we find morally abhorrent - when it is tagged and warned for appropriately in order to allow people the chance to turn away from it, we are supporting the same philosophy that led to book-burning. 

Book burning and the destruction of research and information due to a large group finding it morally reprehensible has, historically, knocked us back decades in scientific study, contributed to the marginalization of POC, queers, and the neurodivergent, and has been used as a tool of oppression.

We cannot let ourselves fall into the trap of believing that our own beliefs and morals should dictate the freedom of others, or we end up just like those who have hurt us.

I could go on about people using certain unfortunate topics as a means to recover from and understand their own trauma, but it really doesn’t matter, does it? It doesn’t matter why someone is writing something you dislike. Words of fiction rarely ever lead to action. If they did, we would be seeing a large percentage of the population becoming murderers. After all, we read books and watch movies with murder in them all the damn time.

So, the moral of the story is, we all have a part to play in keeping minor and adult spaces separated, and it’s not fair nor helpful to anyone for one group to shirk off responsibility onto the other.

[kae-karo]

pls post your mine hcs!!! i would love to hear them b

hi b! for context (x) okay i should clarify, i shouldn’t have called them hcs as i think people take that with a lot of connotation to mean ‘i actually think this happened/would happen’ when really it’s more like...

okay. if i were to write a fic with dnp as characters who exist exactly as we see them (as in, we know everything abt their personalities, which irl we absolutely do not) then this is how i imagine the character of dan would see most of the songs on ‘a brief inquiry into online relationships’ and why he would say that he feels ‘personally attacked by literally every song on this album’ - to be clear, i don’t think this is actually what dan thinks! please treat this as fiction!

bear with me bc i wanna talk abt some of the others first (i also wanted to include the links to the genius interviews where matt talks abt some of the meanings behind the songs, but it doesn’t have all of them so check out the lyrics as well)

give yourself a try (x) - i mean obviously this is the one dan felt he related to most/felt most safe posting about how he related to it/was personally attacked by it, but the whole thing is like. being yourself, and like? embracing yourself? as a person? as whoever you truly are? and they keep coming back to the idea of authenticity with this whole album, and i think that’s part of why dan would be so ‘attacked’ by this album bc he’s in the throes of his own search for authenticity

love it if we made it (x) - this one’s fun bc it’s basically all about how fucked up society is and like. all the things that’ve gone wrong, how society is just so beyond messed up, and it’s like. yes. all of this is so wrong, messed up, but there’s hope? like we can be self-aware, we can make differences, and i would imagine dan listening to this and feeling like. maybe torn? because there are some things where he’s trying to make a difference but some where he would want to but not know how? so y’know personal attack on him in the sense that it’s a personal attack on everyone - we’re all complicit, in a way, and part of it is just because we know all this is happening but how much do any of us try to enact change? i imagine that’s something that keeps dan up at night, tbh. i mean the man spent an hour picking up snails off a sidewalk so they wouldn’t get squished

be my mistake (x) - this one is interesting bc the artist explains it’s really just about guilt, on a deeper level, and about not knowing what you want? ultimately even tho it’s about like a hookup with someone you don’t know that you really want, i think dan would take this more at the deep level of like. having no idea what he wants in life (something he’s said before, multiple times) and? perhaps in a sense, going back to things that he knows don’t actually represent what he wants (ie, that don’t feel authentic) but knowing the outcome and maybe just feeling safe or at least feeling something significant from them, maybe like he’s fulfilling what other people want of him by doing these things even if they don’t quite feel like him

sincerity is scary (x,x) - i think this is one of the ones dan would feel calls him out the most - it’s all about a person’s relationship with social media, authenticity, and self-perception over external perception? so like. the entire first verse is all about hiding behind a mask of irony and like. i think for dan that’s a hard-hitting callout? and i don’t just mean his whole brand of how everything was done/said ‘ironically’, more that even now he hides his fears behind jokes and such, bc that’s a culturally relevant way to do things (’you try and mask your pain in the most post-modern way’). the whole idea is like. if you’re being ironic, if you’re masking everything behind jokes and insincerity, you can’t actually be judged the way you can if you’re authentic and sincere? so like. there’s dan’s fear of judgment plastered all over this song, his fear of people looking at him for who he is and disliking it or perceiving it in a way he doesn’t like (’and why would you believe you could control how you’re perceived when at your best you’re intermediately versed in your own feelings’) it’s like. and he’s said this a couple times now, but he doesn’t always know why he does/thinks certain things, there’s not always a reasoning behind it, and i think that for him, that contributes to his struggles with authenticity. i think this is really doubly intriguing when ttlmt is taken into account as well? bc he specifically says that for ‘some people’ (aka him i mean this is known at this point) unless they’re being honest with themselves, they won’t feel free. and i think that’s like. dan’s internal struggle right now/this past year: how to balance his evident need for authentic and honest self-expression with his deep-rooted fear of judgment of his authentic self. i mean read the damn title of the song, sincerity is scary

i like america & america likes me (x) - i’m sure there’s a deeper meaning to how dan would interpret it (aside from the obvious and intentional callout about guns in america) but all i can think about is talking about being on fire, being a liar, ‘is that designer?’ etc, and the death of dinof. but also y’know about calling out things that are Wrong 

the man who married a robot / love theme (x) - i think this one is maybe one that dan felt absolutely viscerally attacked by, this is a direct callout on his relationship with the internet and his audience. it’s presented as a relationship, a friendship, a love, but like if you step back and go ‘this is about a person and an audience’ it’s so so much more heartbreaking. i mean the internet saying ‘i love you very very much...i never ever want us to be apart ever again ever’ like that’s us that’s literally us we want constant content from them? and i think for a time, dan did feel like he would want that. because that’s fame, right? ‘and he would always always agree with him. this was the man’s favorite’ i know this is a commentary on like generally the culture of the internet but i have a feeling this is something dan would feel p hard. but i would imagine ‘i feel like i can tell you anything’ is the part that would be the most gutting, bc he put so so much of himself out here for us. and i would also wonder how hard the abruptness of the ending would hit - the sudden ‘and then he died’ after ‘man does not live by bread alone’, the acknowledgement that dan couldn’t just survive on his audience (and, more extensively, the internet), and how 1. he could still die lonely, had that been how he felt (i don’t think he does, but diversifying oneself and one’s relationships is emphasized here) and 2. the almost insignificance of an online presence, in objective terms, like. all that’s left of this lonely person is his facebook. i think that ties in really strongly with dan’s desire to leave something physical behind, like tabinof and dapgo and the ii dvd, something as physical evidence they existed and made an impact

inside your mind (x) - so concept is just...seeing inside your partner’s head? and like i feel like that’s something dan would want, or care a lot about, in some sense. a bit violent, lyrically, but i wouldn’t doubt that he cares (or, perhaps at a time in his past, cared) about it quite a lot some days. i think he just really cares about what other people think about him, probably especially phil, but also like the deep desire to understand someone? esp someone you love

it’s not living (if it’s not with you) (x) - okay this one’s very straight up about heroin addiction but i would definitely wonder if dan felt it like. in connection to phil in some ways? and i know the easy connection would be that dan wouldn’t be able to stop thinking abt phil and uwu it’s not living if it’s not with phil but the lyrics are actually quite dark? i would actually guess it had more to do with like. he couldn’t stop thinking about phil and wanting to like. be openly with phil (heyyy that authenticity yo) but also like. the repercussions of openly being in a mlm relationship on his life and his career at the time, and even now, ‘if i choose, then i lose’ like if he picks being open, there may be consequences in his career (although, more and more lately i wonder if he doesn’t care so much anymore), but ofc if he picks his career, he’s suffering from this lack of authenticity that’s haunted him for a while

i couldn’t be more in love (x) - so the whole song is more about a relationship with an audience/fanbase, and like what would happen if people just stopped caring and how like. putting so much time and effort into their relationship w. an audience and like, what about the creator’s feelings? i think dan would take that really seriously, like, we’re all really nice most of the time but what if we stopped caring? and like how would that affect him, after having given us nine+ years of himself? the other thing it touches on is the idea of just relying on ‘all the things that i did right’ ie depending on the things that made him popular, and i could see dan looking at that and wondering if he’s relied on that in the past, maybe this past year has been his attempt to move forward, or maybe his year of less activity (in the form of dinof vids) has been him relying on the things that got him where he is in order to keep his fanbase - so then, does that let him expand more, do more of the things he wants instead of, oh, idk, giving the people what they want? or does he feel obligated to do more of what the people want, since that’s what got him where he is?

i always wanna die (sometimes) (x) - it’s a meme but generally like. existence is exhausting? and that’s the whole idea? like god sometimes just doing stuff day to day is so so tiring, and i think that’s something that resonates with dan? and there’s a lot of other meaning about like death n stuff, and like. some days suck but you have to keep going? bc your life doesn’t just affect you it affects everyone and maybe that’s motivation for you maybe it isn’t but you have to realize that giving up is also something that affects everyone. maybe that’s something dan would see in relation to his depression and phil, and how resigning himself can really harm those around him as well

kay now the fun one

mine (x) - this whole fucking thing is a testament to dnp i can’t even fucking type correctly rn bc i’m so passionate abt this okay. literally the opening and closing lines are ‘there comes a time in a young man's life / he should settle down and find himself a wife / but i'm just fine cause i know that you are mine’ like if you try to tell me for a single fucking second that’s not dnp i will come to your house and make you listen to it on repeat until u understand okay. but like. that’s their whole thing right? they’re each other’s and that’s what matters? god i’m gonna literally do this (almost) line by line: ‘i fight crime online sometimes’ = dan’s desire to be this positive force on the internet. ‘and write rhymes i hide behind’ = oh dan’s diss track hmmm (but more generally, he makes jokes that he hides his fear and other things behind). ‘i’m fine if you are fine’ = oh u cannot tell me that’s not how dan feels? about phil? that he finds happiness in knowing phil’s happy? and then of fucking course ‘looking back on 2009 / when people said that it was raining all the time / i see sunshine cause i know you are mine’ oof that hits hard right in the feels okay dan definitely heard this and smiled his fucking face off cause u know in spite of whatever bullshit he had going on in 2009 he definitely still saw it as a bright spot in his life bc he met phil that’s just the truth. what i’m really interested in is the third verse ‘for some reason i just can’t say ‘i do’’ like. would dan possibly feel that way? i have no idea. but at the very least, it’s definitely something that dan would feel in some way, bc they’re not open abt their relationship and a marriage would obviously make it Very open. ugh sorry this one just hits hard and like. just knowing dnp have each other in whatever sense that actually means it’s like. physically painful in a good way. bless them

[cgsolano]

This insane 2020 is coming to an end...

Well, as the title says, this insane year is coming to an end. I am sitting at my compadres’ kitchen in Tequisquiapan, Querétaro. This is always such an amazing place.

What else is there to say about 2020? It has taught me that there’s no such thing as normal, or stability, or assurance. No amount of planning would have given any of us the tools or means to face what we did this year: COVID-19.

What did I learn? I learned that you can’t give anything for granted. I also learned that being healthy is your biggest asset. This whole situation has taught me that without health, you have nothing --once again. I also learned that one of the most valuable skills you can have or develop is adaptability. Being flexible during these crazy and uncertain times is absolutely key to your sanity. If you can’t go with the flow, life will be hard. Super hard. Because this is still not over...

I now work at a private healthcare system in Mexico (more on that later!) and my first day at work was March 17th... the day COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in Mexico --just 6 days after it was declared a global pandemic on 3/11/20 by the WHO. Not only I moved to a different country for work, but I also started working at a healthcare system, at a hospital, the day COVID-19 was declared a sanitary emergency in the country. It was nothing short of crazy. Nobody really knew what was going on, and we had to make the best with what we had.

I have the utmost respect for medical and clinical personnel: nurses and doctors. Without them, this would have been a lot worse. Putting themselves in the frontline, facing sickness and death in the eye for days and days, weeks, months, now almost a year. They are nothing short of heroes.

I also confirmed the deep inequality we all live in... With schools moving to online classes, it is crazy to think that not everyone has access to the means (internet access, computers, a warm home and meal, adults who can help) to get online education during the pandemic. It has been such a botched execution, leaving a lot of people behind, both in the virtual classroom and outside of it.

Online education has brought so much more work for working parents. And I see it at home myself. Mom has the fortune of spending time at home with the kids, assisting on technical issues when they happen, preparing meals and snacks, entertaining during breaks, helping out with homeworks and assignments. I come back from work and I have dinner, and then it’s homeworks and tutoring, going through the things that didn’t make sense during the day, etc. Unfortunately, not every kid out there has these advantages that we’re lucky to have... 

*These kids are on the sidewalk outside TacoBell taking online classes because they don’t have Internet access at home.

In the richest country in the world, we’ve normalized the shortcomings in healthcare and education and feel warm hearts with stories of charity and giving from goodhearted people. Hopefully that will change with the Orange Buffoon out of the WH next month.

2020 is such a lost year, and I am not sure if all students will recover from it fully. The academic and emotional tolls seem steep, and the path to recovery hard. Online classes don’t work for everyone, and even though teachers have done the best they can, it has not been enough. And it is not because of a lack of effort or work, but the lack of vision on how to deliver effective education over the Internet long term. Something needs to change, because if students are not learning online the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn --in addition to the infrastructure challenges, of course.

Help your local school. Donate your old computer or tablet to an organization that could put it to use for underserved kids. Donate your time as a tutor, prepare meals for underserved kids who rely on the lunches that schools serve --and are not available now. There’s so much left to do. And with the little help and support from the Government, things are not easy at all.

Now... After 23 years, I left the USA. In a COVID year, when nobody knew what was going to happen, I decided to accept a job at my alma mater. I became the CIO for the academic healthcare division of Tec de Monterrey, TecSalud. I took this job for a number of reasons... 

Coming back to Mexico after such a long time is something I always had in mind. I just didn’t know when it was going to happen... but one thing I knew: it would be for a great opportunity.

I have the opportunity to make a dent (or move the needle!) on the healthcare system in Mexico, both public and private. This is so encouraging.

Part of the benefits included scholarships for all my kids, high school through college, under the best private education system in Mexico (and possibly Latin America)! This sealed the deal for me. It is INSANE how expensive quality education is anywhere. In the US, it is a luxury destined for just some... and it’s a fallacy to think “Well, if you work hard enough...” because it is not always true. I’ve met plenty of people who work their butts off, but the systemic poverty that runs the show prevents them from moving up and prospering. This is a reality. What better gift to my kids than extraordinary education with ZERO debt. Right out of the gate they will not have that burden that chokes most of the people who graduate for years and years. This also helps me save for my “golden years”... HA! But it’s true !!!

I’m giving my kids the chance to experience living in a different country. They will be able to see, with a different lens, what life outside the US. Even though they were not foreign to Mexico or some of its customs, living here will give them a better understanding of how the world works. And then, they will have choices! And having choices is the most wonderful thing.

Adjusting has been hard, for everyone. It started from the moment we told the kids we were moving to Mexico. My older kids took it really hard and suffered a lot prior to coming to Mexico, while the youngest one came here like nothing was going on. Little kids are so adaptable, and it’s when we grow up that we get attached to things, places, people. Detachment is such a valuable skill as well.

My kids never had Spanish as a subject. Sure, we speak Spanish at home and they loosely speak it and understand it. But coming to Mexico, even though they are in a bilingual school, has posed problems with all the grammar and spelling rules. I’ve had to dust off some of my Spanish grammar and spelling rules to help them with homeworks and assignments. They get frustrated, but we’ll pull through.

Monterrey is not a bad city at all. It is very Americanized, most private schools are bilingual, a lot of people speak English, there’s a level of diversity since a lot of international companies have offices here, theres AWESOME food, people are friendly and VERY hardworking and entrepreneurial. Unfortunately, with this COVID nonsense, it’s been hard to explore and get to know it more. But we’ll be patient. And play the best game we can with the cards we’ve been dealt.

We have made great progress, but COVID has made everything harder and longer...

For the first time in all my Tumblr writing, I’ll end this chronicle tomorrow, 1/1/21. Why? because I’m just having a good time with close family and I don’t want to miss it... Come tomorrow and check out the rest of the chronicle... what went well, what didn’t.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! HAPPY 2021 !!! I hope it sucks a lot less than 2020 !!!

(Click below to check out more...)

Happy 2021 !!! Ok... It’s 1/10 and I now can sit here and finish this up...

Travel? In 2020? HA! Nothing. Traveling stood to a standstill this past year. It is crazy to read and hear what is going on with the world and COVID --and again, it has not ended yet.

Travel bans, travel restrictions, curfews and shutdowns. It has been so hard. I have international friends, and Europe was one of the hardest-hit places, specially Italy. Weeks and weeks would go by and people hunkered down and hoped for the best. There’s a video I love, and it came out of Italy. The singer encouraged Italians to sing along and send their clips, and the result is beautiful. You get to see normal people doing normal (and not so normal!) things at home during lockdown. You can see how there’s hope, family, friends, creativity, laughter, tears. It’s all there. And this vehicle allowed for a lot of people to just explode. 

You would think that I would have read a lot during a lockdown and a pandemic, right? Well, that did not happen... I read some, but not as I feel I should:

The One. This book is really good! It tells a story in the future, where people are matched genetically to their “one and only”. There’s no more wasting time in other relationships because you will eventually end up with your one.

Malorie. This is the second part to “Bird Box”, that book that I liked a lot. This second book, maybe the conclusion, is not as good as the first one, but it’s really good nonetheless. Malorie is older, and so are the kids. And they are out there again to find a way to live with “the things” that are out there. In a way, it rung similar to what was happening with COVID. It was a matter of understanding, and accepting.

The Ride of a Lifetime. This was an outstanding book, really. It’s the story of Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney. By now you know that I adore these types of books and am a sucker for characters such as him and the companies they founded or work for. This book is an excellent management guide and I’m sure it will serve me well on my new role here. If you’re into this type of reading, I highly recommend it.

And that’s that... unfortunately. I realized that I got so distracted with news and blogs about what was happening with COVID around the world. Additionally, the Elections in the US took a lot of my attention... I’ve pledged to read 12 books this year, so let’s see how that will work out. I’m currently reading The Long Walk. So far so good.

I kept myself healthy and within weight! Considering the pandemic, where boredom eating was rampant, I consider myself lucky of not gaining pretty much any weight. I also had my yearly physical in October, and let me tell you that I was pleasantly surprised about the outcome!

Pretty much all my metrics came out really good! The only thing, as usual, was to drop some weight and continue to eat well. I have to say that my blood glucose was keeping me up at night and since I was at a pre-diabetic stage, it was urgent to me to do something about it.

I cut most carbs to a bare minimum. My sweets, sugars, rice, bread, pasta intakes were reduced to basically none (I’d still eat but every once in a while). I started eating more protein, but could not fully move away from tortillas (corn). I now eat blue corn tortillas, which have a lower glycemic index.

I also started taking Berberine and Cinnamon. I have to say that my blood glucose went down to normal levels (my AC1 was 6.1 a year ago, it is 5.3 now!). I personally think it was a combination of factors: cutting starches and carbs and the supplements mentioned above. Again, I am not claiming they were THE reason why my blood sugar went down, but the Dr said I should continue to do what I’ve been doing to keep it down. So, I’ll continue taking it! I’ve also thought that food in Mexico is a lot less processed than it is back in the US. Did that play a part? Probably...

For 2021, the goal is to continue to eat well, take care of myself and really jumpstart some exercise routine.

I don’t want to make this any longer... May 2021 suck a lot less than 2020 did. We’ll catch up later, from Mexico !!!

Cheers to health, happiness and joy.

[peakwealth]

The Year 2020

'Cos when the madman flips the switch The nuclear will go for me The lunatics have taken over the asylum

(Lyrics from The Fun Boy Three, British pop group, 1981)

*  *  *

The world has been in one crisis or another for so long now, it gets harder to remember when things still seemed to be in balance, or when they started to spin out of control. When did this slow agony start, the malaise that won't go away, the chaos and distopia year after year?

Or was it always like this?

I'm not thinking so much about the coronavirus epidemic, but about the other man-made disaster that kept us on edge throughout the year, the US elections.

Looking for answers, my first, intuitive stop remains the morning of September 11, 2001 when the world order was convulsed in that split second needed for an airliner to fly into the World Trade Center. It may be that our understanding of that day is still skewed by the deep symbolism of the visuals: the fire ball, the people jumping to their deaths, the towers collapsing on themselves, the mountain of smoking rubble. Images that came to define our age. But what seems certain is that the big wheel of history ground to a standstill on that day and when it started up again, it had gone into reverse. That regression has not stopped, indeed it is still gathering pace and is very much in evidence as 2020 comes to a chaotic end.

Of course, 9/11 was the outcome of forces set in motion much earlier including the Iranian revolution in 1979 when an unsmiling, bearded imam left Paris and arrived in Tehran. The world would never be the same, but we in the West did not realize it.

Donald Trump's seemingly farcical plea to Make America Great Again can be traced back to either of those events and to the American failure to make sense of them -- the end of the pax Americana, the myth of American exceptionalism, the twilight of the colonial world order that had been in the making for five hundred years. Americans closed ranks and reacted with defiant nationalism after 9 /11. Then they took their revenge to the world and declared War on Terror - just as the terrorists had intended.

Those events are still within living memory. Looking back further, historians like to point to the invention of moveable type which ushered in the information age and, with it, modernity. The first books 'rolling off' Johannes Gutenberg's press were bibles. But not for long. Since the printing press couldn't be controlled, books conveyed a profusion of radically new ideas. They brought democratization and they spread dissent. Think Martin Luther, or Copernicus, great disrupters of the sixteenth century.

But Donald Trump?

Was Trump the accidental result of reality TV, celebrity culture and internet-driven narcissism? Or did his flirtation with autocratic rule herald the necrosis of western democracies? Was Trump merely the symbol of America's irreconcilable differences, of the slow dissolution of white patriarchy or was he the inevitable outcome of late-stage capitalism, as some have suggested?

Where should we look? The Trump years have produced a cottage industry of scholarly attemtps to explain how something like this could happen, how the United States could start to degenerate like that. Where do we find the logic that would lead to this turning point in history?

Without pretending that I could add to this (lack of) understanding, I must admit that the question is compelling. It kept me busy all year, or at least until the American presidential election was finally over.

I have tried to approach the matter from a few angles.

*  *  *

The problem with books. (Bejar, Spain, November 2020)

*  *  *

Attempt A

Multiplication of the box

I remember the deep dark varnish of our first television set, an imposing piece of furniture sitting on rather slender round legs. The cardboard box it had arrived in was large enough to serve as my play house, with a door and windows, until it got rained on one day. The TV set itself started to hum when you turned it on and needed time to warm up before the picture appeared, monochrome of course. From the back you could see the glowing tubes inside and smell the dusty heat they emitted. When one of the tubes failed, the repairman had to come.

There was one channel, run by the Belgian state and broadcasting for a few hours in the evening. It seemed adequate at the time. More would have been too much. Programming was low-tech. The national weatherman stood in front of a flip chart and drew the weather map by hand: rainclouds here, sunshine there (though not so much) and low or high pressure fronts further afield, most likely over the Azores.

In fact there was another state channel but it was for the French speaking part of Belgium and thus foreign to us in Flanders. Furthermore there was a knob to switch the unit from standard definition (625  lines) to the broadcast standard in France which had 819 lines and allowed us, in theory, to capture programming from RTF, la Radio-télévision française across the border. Although we never did, I remember le général Charles de Gaulle addressing the French nation with a grandiloquent 'Françaises, Français!' followed by a theatrical pause. I used to imitate him as a child. 'Françaises, Français!'. I had never been to France.

This went on for some years until we upgraded to colour. The new set also allowed us to watch two channels from Holland. Although the programming rotated between party-political and religious organizations, everything that was Dutch looked more sophisticated. It probably was. Eventually cable TV came along and, like everyone else, we moved to twelve channels, then twenty-four, then hundreds after which the numbers became meaningless. Today the distinction between television and the internet has faded as billions of people have become broadcasters, sending and receiving videos on their phones every day.

In a matter of only two or three generations technology has increased our awareness and our exposure to reality from the very local to the infinitely global. From smudgy local newspapers to single-channel black-and-white TV to the torrent of youTube and Whatsapp. Each increment, each multiplication of channels and choices has fragmented our common understanding of what the world is like. This means not only that every problem in every corner of the world has become our problem, it also signals that reality itself has split into a billion pieces and has become complex, uncertain and unstable. We all live in our own bubble of perception, increasingly removed from the broader context that used to bring coherence to society. While some of us embrace the complexity of the 21st century, to others it translates as confusion and anxiety. It is a reality they have retreated from.

Personally, I put my last TV on the sidewalk fifteen years ago, the very set I had used to watch the unfolding history on the morning of 9/11. It was still working, someone picked it up.

*  *  *

Gone in 2020 but not forgotten.

*  *  *

Attempt B

Entertainment Forever

Long ago, when General Electric was one of America's preeminent industrial giants, it owned the Radio Corporation of America (known by the once ubiquitous acronym RCA) which in turn owned the National Broadcasting Company or NBC. America's first radio network was founded in New York City in 1926 "in the interest of the listening public" and in order to transmit, among other things, baseball scores. NBC television started in 1939 and (fuzzy) colour came in 1954. Announcing the birth of broadcast television in the USA, David Sarnoff, NBC's pioneering founder, described it as 'so important in its implications that it is bound to affect all society'.

Indeed it has.

Like Donald Trump, Roone Arledge (1931-2002) was born in Queens, New York. After a stint at NBC television he joined the rival ABC network as a sports producer in 1960. He soon started to rewrite the book on television production, putting his stamp on the world we live in. Starting at the Munich Olympic games in 1972, ABC ran a series of intimate portraits of Olympic athletes, called 'Up Close and Personal'. The words became shorthand for what sports would look like on American TV. The visual grammar shifted from being 'coverage' of events to a one-on-one experience with the viewer, a personal touch.

The formula jumped species in 1977 when Arledge became president of ABC News, one of the three commercial US networks with large news operations. The avuncular news readers of old (Walter Cronkite on CBS) gave way to a personality driven approach. Anyone remember Barbara Walters or Mike Wallace? As production values became a lot flashier, all of television became more like entertainment, including the news - just another 'show' looking for an audience and revenue.

The next milestone on the road to trash TV was 'Entertainment Tonight' (launched in 1981 and still going today, making it the longest running syndicated show on American cable TV). Shockingly and confusingly, it used a news format without being actual news. As the boundaries between news and entertainment started to blur, so did the distinction between gossip and verifiable fact. Credibility and substance faded from televison news, replaced by looks, celebrity, lifestyle, etc. Network comedy shows became major purveyors of political commentary. This cross-pollination of genres is still spreading today as journalists are being replaced by content originators, human today, most likely virtual tomorrow. In other words: commerce is still gaining ground while reality is losing traction.

When 'Big Brother' came along in 1997, so-called reality shows moved to the centre of the entertainment landscape. By that time the medium had evolved well beyond UC&P. Four-and-a-half years ago, I reflected on how reality TV had become "manipulative, sadistic and liberating - from caution, from human empathy and from rational thought. What wasn’t perhaps so crystal clear at the beginning was how trash TV would inflect politics, how it tapped into the disillusionment of a burgeoning global underclass. Barely perceptible then, the phenomenon eventually turned into rage against the political establishment and anything associated with it. The anger came from both sides of the political divide, from the rebelliousness of the Occupy movement on the left and from the fear-driven populism on the right."

Out of this fantasy world of uninhibited entertainment, celebrity and alienation stepped Donald Trump and declared he was running for the presidency of the United States. Four years of monosyllabic misrule later, he left America as damaged goods, a nation at war with itself.

Attempt C

Fact check till you drop

Watching the news on commercial TV at the local coffee shop few weeks ago, I was struck by the rough, frenzied pace of the editing. The stories were cut with an axe, as we used to say in the business. No shot lasted more than a second and the interview clips did not exceed three seconds. Far from being careful storytelling, it was pure media mash, exhausting to watch and obviously designed to keep the viewers hooked and the ratings up.

I wondered how anyone subjected to such visual bombardment could make sense of the news, complicated as it is, and not become neurotic or disoriented in one way or another? OK, I may be a little naive for it can be argued it's been like this since the invention of the cinema in 1895. Our brains have had more than a century to adapt to the stimulus of the ever moving, ever accelerating image. We've had manic TV commercials and split-second music videos for forty years, ever since MTV was launched in New York in 1981. People scroll trough their devices as fast as their thumbs will let them, consuming hundreds of images per minute.

But information programming should be different, or it used to be. News was supposed to be 'readable' as fact-based information viewers could easily de-code to figure out what was happening around them. Except that, for many, it isn't anymore.

Post-truthism didn't start with Donald Trump, but the perversion of reality took an ugly turn with him. The very words, 'truth', 'lies', have come to seem quaint, suspect, disfigured. In the early days of his presidency, armies of diligent fact checkers went to work to expose each and every presidential lie. They toiled in vain. Trump, the real estate salesman and former casino owner, lied without fear or favour, he had nothing but contempt for evidence-based reality and for those whose job it was to convey it. He scolded journalists, telling them they should be ashamed of themselves. His followers loved it. They were grateful for the steady stream of twisted thinking, incoherence and outright lies because they were in sync with their own prejudices - no, make that their own beliefs.

*  *  *

Disinformation and antisemitism. (Spanish pamphlet, claiming George Soros is the driving force behind Catalan separatism, displayed in the window of a local bookshop. Málaga, July 2020)

*  *  *

Attempt D

 Put God back into the USA

"To a great many Americans, digital communication has already rendered empirical, observable reality beside the point." 

Farhad Manjoo, writing in the New York Times, Oct 21, 2020.

Those Americans, it seems, believed that Donald Trump was divinely appointed to be president of the USA and to make America great again. God's will had been done and should not be thwarted by voters. Clearly, if they believed that, they believed anything. That the coronavirus was an evil plot or that COVID 19 could be stopped by injecting yourself with Lysol disinfectant or eating pods of laundry detergent. If Bill Gates was funding vaccines that would turn god-fearing dairy farmers into atheists, then George Soros was the mastermind behind it all. Or was it Warren Buffett?  Communists were plotting a coup. Why not?

The mood got more unhinged and delusional as the year unfolded. Pro life, pro God, pro gun. Stop socialism. Put God back into the USA. When election day finally came, Democrats and Republicans rushed to the polls to save the country from the other side. Country hicks to one side, big-city satanists to the other. Although sanity eventually prevailed, it was touch and go. Far from repudiating Trump and holding him to account, more than seventy-four million Americans voted to let him stay in office.

In other words, although Trump and his royal court have been sidelined for now, the threat of an erratic America remains, driven by suspicion, ready to go off the rails again. The unbending fervour of fundamentalist Christians, focused on the abomination of abortion and the deviancy of LGBTQ+ rights has reached an intensity that is ever more reminiscent of Islamist extremism.

Mis and disinformation aren't new. Nor are they specific to any country. Most advertising qualifies as such. But the impaired thinking, the decline of reason and the contempt for manifest reality reached bizarre heights in 2020 and not only because Donald Trump used disinformation with such abandon. It looked more like a crisis of mental health propagated by social media. An American study found that young people were more likely to believe online conspiracy theories while only those over 65 had a secure grip on reality.

Social media drove the loss of empathy and civility, they normalized hate speech, they empowered virus deniers and antivaxxers. Finally they legitimized many Americans in their belief that the election had been ‘stolen’.

It was obvious, four years ago, that a Trump presidency would have incalculable consequences. But it was worse than almost anyone could have predicted. It wasn't about his vulgarity or his philistinism. The power vacuum created by having an idiot king in the White House made the world a more dangerous place where malevolent autocrats could do as they pleased because the West had lost whatever credibility and leverage it used to have.

The new era of impunity pushed hundreds of millions of citizens further into the arms of dictators and autocrats, plunderers and torturers around the world, from North Korea to Belarus, from Egypt to Myanmar because they knew they had a like-minded colleague in the White House. Political rivals could be poisoned and journalists jailed or disappared, it no longer mattered. Rather than restore America to greatness, Trump's monosyllabic rule brought decadence to the United States and ruin to global stability.

It still hasn't been widely grasped just how much power has shifted towards Russia and even more to China. The People's Republic is forging ahead in AI and machine learning, in aerospace, in digital currency, in quantum computing and in G6 data mobility. It is likely to give China an unassailable lead in technology and leave the West standing in the dust, complaining about totalitarianism.

The American election and the pandemic pushed almost everything else off the table in 2020, the explosion of Beirut's harbour, the Chinese clampdown in Hong Kong, quick-and-dirty wars in Ethiopia and Azerbaijan, global warming (open water near the north pole, smouldering Siberia, biblical wildfires in Australia), the popular uprisings in Minsk, Lagos, Kampala, Bangkok, etc.

Until the very end of this most difficult, gruesome year, the president of the Unted States did nothing but talk nonsense. He cared about nothing or anyone except himself.

As the cracks in American society widened and the disenchanted masses turned on each other, Donald Trump played golf and watched America burn. Already the race is on to stop him from being reelected four years from now.

*  *  *

Better luck next year.

[envir480]

Transportation, Sustainability, & Equity

By: Molly Thompson, Annie Chan, and Sammy Chu

What is transportation equity?

Transportation equity is providing safe, environmentally sustainable, accessible, and affordable transit options to support:

Communities of color

Low-income communities

Immigrant and refugee communities

People with disabilities

People experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity

LGBTQ people

Women and girls

Youth

Seniors

Issues that Arise from Transportation Inequality

Public Health

Residents more likely to be near busy traffic areas such as highways increasing rates of asthma

Safety

Poor infrastructure leads to more collisions and injuries for bikers and pedestrians

Less Access

With easy transportation not readily available it is harder for people to access healthy food and health care providers

Solutions to Increase Transportation Equity 

Barriers such as lack of signage in languages other than English, cost, and safety issues discourage people from using sustainable transportation such as biking, bussing and walking. Transportation equity should allow a safe space for all people to have the freedom to travel in a sustainable way. The goal should be to help alleviate racial disparities and the effects of displacement on less privileged communities. Improved infrastructure and safety measures could include:

Better street lighting

Wheelchair accessibility

Discounted fares for certain income levels

Better sidewalks/signage

Measures like these would increase the number of people who have access to sustainable transportation and overall improve the safety of our transportation systems.

(https://sdotblog.seattle.gov/2018/01/16/connecting-communities-through-transportation-equity/)

Present Sustainability and Equity Issues in Seattle

Sustainability

The transportation system is still has room to become more sustainable

Specifically, the Alliance is encouraging the City of Seattle to utilize their budget to speed up the reduction of our carbon footprint from transportation consumption and to create more protected bus and bike lanes.

The Alliance includes the Cascade Bicycle Club, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, and other groups

News Article covering this issue: https://www.king5.com/article/traffic/alliance-asks-for-more-sustainable-transportation-in-seattles-next-budget/281-607354908

Equity

There are mobility issues in some areas of Seattle where there are missing sidewalks, and the routes to and from bus stops are both long in distance and difficult to navigate

In low-income neighborhoods, there aren’t enough transportation options and transit services are extremely infrequent

The Seattle transit model mainly prioritizes areas where most people are going to/through downtown

There are digital barriers for low-income individuals to access information pertaining to new projects, construction delays, transit options, low-income programs, etc.

Steps to More Equal Transportation in Seattle

Seattle has changed gears to focus on the safety of its transportation system by redesigning roads. Streets which have the most crashes and fatalities are prioritized in this redesign in efforts to create behavior change. There is a link between streets that are less safe and with areas of diversity. By redesigning dangerous roads in Seattle, the areas with higher diversity will receive equitable transportation. This plan is called Seattle Vision Zero and was launched in 2017. 

(http://murray.seattle.gov/seattle-launches-vision-zero-plan-to-end-traffic-deaths-and-injuries-by-2030/)

Additional Transportation Improvements After One Year

So far over the past year changes in transportation in the city of Seattle have included:

Programming to enroll income-eligible Seattle residents for pre-paid transit cards.

A program in which high school students at Seattle Public Schools receive transit passes. 

Engage community-based organizations and service providers that work with vulnerable individuals and families.

More funding for staff buildings and training. 

Education about all the low-cost ways people can enroll in reduced-fare programs.

Organizations embed information about low-cost mobility resources into their day-to-day life. 

Methods of Sustainable Transportation: Bike Share

Bike share is one great method of active transportation that is both good for the environment as well as having health benefits. However many barriers exist that prevent people from utilizing bike share programs, such as Lime Bikes. 

Bike Share Equity (McNeil et. al., 2018)

Current Barriers

Expense / Lack of payment methods

Lack of stations in low-income neighborhoods

Lack of information/resources pertaining to the program

Unsure of where to find bikes and park the bikes after usage

Unsure of how to adjust the bikes

Unsure of whether they need to wear a helmet or not

Personal concerns (have children with them, don’t want to use their credit cards, etc.)

Not having a smartphone

Worried that there aren’t enough bikes

Concerns about paying for any loss or damages

Safety concerns (bike lanes, riding alongside traffic, etc.)

There are many misconceptions and concerns surrounding the bike share program. People of color and low-income individuals, in particular, are less likely to be familiar with bike share due to lack of information and connections to people who have ridden the bikes or at least have information about them. These individuals also face other barriers, such as expenses, reliable internet access, and owning a smartphone. 

Aside from underserved neighborhoods, there is also concern for safety and payment/liability. Safety concerns usually pertain to females and children who are more vulnerable while using public modes of transportation, but bike routes are also a major concern. Bike lanes and routes to destinations can be improved for bike riders in terms of space, clearly marked lanes, and visibility for the bike riders and vehicle drivers. There is also lack of information in terms of payment and liability when using bike share bikes - some individuals prefer to pay with other types of payment methods and some are worried about having to pay more loss and damages.

Overcoming Barriers

To successfully engage diverse usage of bike share in our communities, Bike Share should:

Increase exposure of information for lower-income residents and people of color

Implement discounted memberships and address cost and liability (be clear on credit card charges, bike liability, etc.)

Assure safe routes to nearby destinations

Innovate program by utilizing customer feedback

(https://seattle.curbed.com/2017/7/20/16000882/limebike-bike-share-seattle-launch)

References

Equity. (2013, December 17). Retrieved from https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/equity

Cohen, J. (2018, January 12). Seattle's DOT Is Rethinking Transportation Equity. Retrieved March 4, 2019, from https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/seattles-dot-is-rethinking-transportation-equity

McNeil, N., Broach, J., & Dill, J. (2018, February). Breaking Barriers to Bike Share:Lessons on Bike Share Equity. Retrieved March 4, 2019.

Singer, J. (2018, November 13). Inside the Nation's First Transportation Equity Program. Retrieved from https://medium.com/vision-zero-cities-journal/inside-the-nations-first-transportation-equity-program-6af080c7d71d 

Retrieved from http://www.policylink.org/blog/equitable-transportation-investments

[warninggraphiccontent]

1 May 2020

Bits and bobs (and Bites)

Deep breath...

We've got a fantastic set of Data Bites speakers next week (yes, I say that every month, but it's true every month). We have Microsoft (who are kindly supporting, on keeping data safe and the benefits of scale), Citizens Advice (on coronavirus concerns), the Foreign Office (on data as diplomacy) and NHSX (on why making things open makes things better). Join us this Wednesday, 6 May at 6pm. Virtual drinks afterwards. Previous events and our report on the first eight events here.

In the greatest crossover event in history, my spreadsheet of key data-related developments in the UK government's coronavirus response is now also Peter's spreadsheet on transparency 'things' and Sam's spreadsheet on mortality counts. Please help us out by adding anything we've missed.

For they have created the tornado chart, and they shall reap the whirlwind. While it's always good to see people experiment with different chart types, I can't say I was blown away by this one. Perhaps the forthcoming book will make understanding them a breeze.

OpenTech 2020 are looking for virtual speakers - I'm pondering what to present, so I hope some of you are, too.

Seeing this year's nominations reminded me that it's been 11(!) years since I was nominated for a Webby Award - for the original Orwell Diaries project (George Orwell's 1938-42 wartime diaries). This year's Orwell Youth Prize is open for entries until 11 June, and also has loads of resources for teachers and others.

Periodic reminder that some of my excellent colleagues, led by Graham, compile the Week in Public Services newsletter.

This.

Sense About Science and my colleague Tom are looking for volunteers to assess the transparency of evidence for Covid-19 policies.

The BioRISC initiative at Cambridge University have listed 297 possible solutions to coronavirus spread (thanks to Alex for the link). Many of them will raise big questions about the use of data and digital technology (plenty more links on that below...)

And finally... huge congratulations to Giuseppe on the eighth anniversary of his newsletter, which you should already have subscribed to.

Have a good weekend

Gavin

Today's links:

Tips, tech, etc

What does your home office look like? (Policy Lab)

Why Zoom Is Terrible* (New York Times)

Flexible working – what works? (Civil Service)

Parental load theory (Becky Allen)

How digital service teams are responding to Covid-19* (Apolitical)

Why the Coronavirus Is So Confusing (The Atlantic)

Graphic content

Viral content: cases and counting

Global coronavirus death toll could be 60% higher than reported (FT)

This chart is mostly shown on a logarithmic vertical axis... (Max Roser)

5 year average weekly deaths by place of death (Henry Lau -and more here)

An expanding epidemic (Reuters)

New confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past week vs. the total confirmed cases to date (Covid Trends, via Nathan)

Three charts that show where the coronavirus death rate is heading (The Conversation)

Revealed: the inside story of the UK's Covid-19 crisis (The Guardian)

Low Covid-19 death toll raises hopes Africa may be spared worst (FT)

62,315 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.* (Washington Post)

It's the end of April - and the deadline for Hancock's promise of 100,000 coronavirus tests per day (Sarah for IfG)

COVID and ‘excess deaths’ in the week ending April 10th (David Spiegelhalter)

How Coronavirus Mutates and Spreads* (New York Times)

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Is Far Higher Than Reported, C.D.C. Data Suggests* (New York Times)

NHS Pathways coronavirus triage (NHS Digital)

U.S. deaths soared in early weeks of pandemic, far exceeding number attributed to covid-19* (Washington Post)

Viral content: consequences

Look for the helpers: What can we learn about grass-roots COVID-19 volunteer groups from open data? (Lewis Westbury, via David)

The quiet crisis of Britain’s missing patients* (New Statesman)

America’s pandemic safety net (Reuters)

Europe’s biggest economies hone details on easing out of lockdown* (FT)

The places most exposed to COVID-19 in England and Wales (Centre for Towns)

Lockdown lifestyle: changing internet habits during the pandemic* (FT)

Corona Shock: Week II* (Tortoise)

The traffic data that shows the road into - and out of - Covid-19 lockdown (The Guardian)

The Accepting, the Suffering and the Resisting: the different reactions to life under lockdown (King's Policy Institute)

The criminal justice system: How government reforms and coronavirus will affect policing, courts and prisons (IfG)

Bailout for business after coronavirus (IfG)

Viral content: everything else

How humans have reacted to pandemics through history – a visual guide (The Guardian)

Academics probe links between coronavirus and toxic air pollution* (FT)

The most important data stories about covid-19* (The Economist)

Tracing COVID-19 (Reuters)

Dissecting Laura Ingraham’s attempt to gin up a mystery around coronavirus in New York* (Washington Post)

Sidewalk Widths Toronto (Shared Streets)

Anti-viral content

Britain breaks record for coal-free power generation (The Guardian)

Analysis: Great Britain hits coal-free electricity record amid coronavirus lockdown (Carbon Brief)

Civil service staff numbers (IfG)

Trump's courts takeover is male and white (The Guardian)

States Made It Harder to Get Jobless Benefits. Now That’s Hard to Undo.* (The Upshot)

Explore Explain, a video and podcast series about data visualisation design (Visualising Data)

Meta data

Viral content: Contact details

Digital contact tracing: protecting the NHS and saving lives (NHSX)

Twenty questions about the NHSX contact tracing app (Nuffield Council on Bioethics)

We Need An “Army” Of Contact Tracers To Safely Reopen The Country. We Might Get Apps Instead. (BuzzFeed)

Contact-tracing apps are not a solution to the COVID-19 crisis (Brookings)

Covid, contact tracing and public health tech (Labour Digital)

How will the UK’s new contact tracing programme work?* (FT, via Alex)

Coronavirus contact tracing apps were meant to save us. They won’t* (Wired)

The escalating debate on #Covid19 contact tracing apps (Chris Yiu)

Germany switches to decentralised contact tracing app in privacy U-turn (New Statesman)

NHS app may suffer basic usability issues (Open Rights Group)

NHS rejects Apple-Google coronavirus app plan (BBC News)

The boring side of tech, transparency and contact tracing (Richard Pope)

The Australian contact tracing app is out (Rowland Manthorpe)

Information Technology–Based Tracing Strategy in Response to COVID-19 in South Korea—Privacy Controversies (JAMA)

Joint Statement (scientists and researchers working in the UK in the fields of information security and privacy)

Viral content: more personal data

Coronavirus: New tool will forecast how GP surgeries would cope with a second peak in cases (Sky News)

The Consent to Activities Related to the Security of NHS and Public Health Services Digital Systems (Coronavirus) Directions 2020 (NHS England, Public Health England)

Hancock grants GCHQ powers over NHS IT systems (HSJ)

GCHQ and NHSX’s contact tracing app (medConfidential)

Revealed: Palantir commits 45 engineers to NHS coronavirus data project, earns £1 (New Statesman)

Viral content: everything else

How the NHS was digitally rewired* (The Times)

Privacy International puts Palantir in the dock for NHS data analysis work (Computer Weekly)

Emergency procurement for COVID-19: Buying fast, smart, and open (Open Contracting Partnership)

Another busy week at ONS (Liz McKeown)

Revealed: Cummings is on secret scientific advisory group for Covid-19 (The Guardian)

Make SAGE transparent* (Jill for Prospect)

NUFFIELD COUNCIL AND INVOLVE CALL FOR GREATER TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN UK RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC (Nuffield Council on Bioethics/Involve)

The coronavirus has changed general practice – but it is not yet a virtual service (Graham for IfG)

How is the CDEI supporting the response to COVID-19? (CDEI)

The Commons Science and Technology committee hearing on technology and disease outbreaks (Rachel Coldicutt)

Coronavirus shows how badly we need consensus on collective data rights and needs (Open Data Charter)

New insights into life under lockdown (ONS)

Viral content: tech

Home Screens: Quarantine is the future big tech wanted us to want. How long before we want out? (Real Life)

Privacy in a pandemic* (The Economist)

Covid-19 has blown apart the myth of Silicon Valley innovation (MIT Technology Review)

Tech giants are profiting — and getting more powerful — even as the global economy tanks* (Washington Post)

Viral misinformation

Fighting the causes and consequences of bad information: the Full Fact Report 2020 (Full Fact)

Facts on Coronavirus (Full Fact)

MPs express frustration at question-dodging tech giants in Covid-19 misinformation inquiry (New Statesman)

Covid-19 has caused a major spike in anti-Chinese and anti-Semitic hate speech* (New Statesman)

So #COVID19 crisis has laid bare failures by both Big Tech & govts to combat disinformation (Govt-backed) & misinformation (nongovt-backed)... (Mark Scott - some reasons to be cheerful)

Anti-viral content

New RSS Chief Executive appointed (RSS)

Warwick University was hacked and kept breach secret from students and staff (Sky News)

Nine million logs of Brits' road journeys spill onto the internet from password-less number-plate camera dashboard (The Register)

Examining the Black Box: Tools for Assessing Algorithmic Systems (Ada Lovelace Institute/DataKind UK)

New survey finds just 27% of British businesses are sharing data (ODI)

Microsoft embraces big data* (The Economist, via David)

The fight with Huawei means America can’t shape tech rules* (The Economist)

How to talk about data without talking about data (Understanding Patient Data)

Designing sustainable data institutions (ODI)

How the alt-right is pivoting to TikTok* (New Statesman)

(Important) work in progress (Paul Downey)

Opportunities

EVENT: Data Bites #10 (IfG)

EVENT: OpenTech 2020

EVENT: Contact tracing: to centralise or not to centralise, that is the question (Ada Lovelace Institute)

EVENT: How to respond to COVID-19 through open government (Apolitical)

GRANTS: ADR UK and ESRC welcome proposals for methodological development grants (ADR UK)

ACCESS: Free access to digital records (The National Archives)

JOBS: Open Data Institute

JOB: Advocacy Officer, Fixed term Contract - 1 Year Parental Leave Cover (Privacy International)

And finally...

Names for Ed Balls in different languages (Beth Desmond, via Ketaki)

A map showing all land over 2,000ft in Scotland (Alasdair Rae)

Factorization diagrams (Fermat's Library)

Cities from scratch (The Guardian)

Are men singing higher in pop music? (The Pudding)