Featured Links - July 8, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Summer clouds

• Here’s why SpaceX’s competitors are crying foul over Starship launch plans. "Competitors have tried and failed to keep SpaceX from establishing launch sites before." It's not all jealousy and sour grapes; the Cape is getting crowded and Starhip/Superheavy will have a significant environmental and logistical impact.
• How to Stop Fascism. "Five Lessons of the Nazi Takeover." Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
• Vatican excommunicates Archbishop Viganò for refusing to recognize Pope Francis. "In a rare trial, the Vatican acted against Carlo Maria Viganò, a former ambassador to the U.S. and one of Pope Francis’s most vociferous internal critics."
• Magnifier App on Google Pixel Makes Fine Print, Faraway Objects Easier to See. "Here's how to get and use the app." This is one of the most useful apps I have on my phone. 
• Amazon Kindle e-readers cannot access Overdrive Books anymore. Amazon seems to be having a lot of problems with it's Kindle ecosystem. I now do most of my reading on Google Play Books, mainly because it gives me better control over font sizes than the Kindle app. 
• John Mayer and Mickey Hart of Dead & Company Talk About Their Big, Strange Sphere Trip—and the Future of the Band. 'Mayer goes long on the creative process behind the Sphere show, the influence of Star Tours and Titanic, Egyptian bats, “utilitarian nausea,” the 2001/"Monster Mash" spectrum, and what it's like to play in the world's most science-fictional venue: “I mean, it's a duet, right? There's the band and then there's the Sphere, and we are duetting every night.”'
• How Influencers and Algorithms Are Creating Bespoke Realities for Everyone. "Disinformation researcher Renée DiResta's new book lays out how people’s realities are shaped not by facts and evidence, but by black boxes, niche celebrities, and online communities."
• Microsoft’s climbdown over its creepy Recall feature shows its AI strategy is far from intelligent. "The tech company’s new Windows machines can take constant screenshots of users’ every action – quelle surprise, it’s a privacy minefield."
• Missing Bats: How an obsession with strikeouts upended the balance of baseball. Because it's baseball season.