#99pi — Public Fediverse posts

All you have to know about the "mark of the beast": 😉

#99pi #emdash

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/658-the-em-dash/

Heard about the am-dash (https://www.theamdash.com/) on the latest episode of 99 Percent Invisible.

As I understand it, there's no unicode for the am-dash yet. While I have downloaded Times New Human and Areal, I wouldn't now how to actually get the am-dash in a LaTeX-generated document, since the command to get it is more than a single character.

I hacked something together, but obviously that's not the same.

Does anybody know how to do it properly? Or maybe someone has already contacted Cocogun to ask if they'd be willing to collaborate on a project to make a tiny LaTeX package or something, just so we can use the am-dash in our LaTeX-typeset documents?

#TexLaTeX #Typography #Typesetting #Fonts #AmDash #99pi #Podcast

Pluralistic: A tale of three customer service chatbots (12 Nov 2025)

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/11/11/sorry-to-bother-you/

@johnefrancis @mayintoronto i had my history wrong, i remembered they were introducing squirrels intentionally in north american cities but turns out it was intentionally bringing them from the country side to the cities. And then they started bringing them to Europe!

Great article:
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/uptown-squirrel/

#99pi

The first episode of the new 99% Invisible Breakdown of the Constitution with Nikole Hannah-Jones caught me by surprise. From framing current "events" in the historical and legal context to side discussions on patriotism and flying the flag, the bit that resonated most was when NHJ said (more or less) 'we shouldn't have been surprised' knowing what we do about America. Worth a listen: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/constitution-breakdown-01-nikole-hannah-jones/ #99pi

During the US-Iraq war in 2005, a US entomologist named three newly discovered species of slime-mould beetle ’George Bush’, ’Dick Cheney’ and ’Donald Rumsfeld’.

”People thought: "They’re slime-mould beetles. He must be making a joke about how awful these people are.”

But it turned out the scientist was a Republican fan of the trio and had named the beetles to honour them.

That was an unexpected thing to learn. And that was another interesting episode of 99% Invisible.

#99pi
#Podcast

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/631-return-of-con-law/ For those like me who are concerned about the status of #ConLaw and what #USPolitics is doing in this troubling new authoritarian era, this is wonderful news. Though ironically I found a lot of this more disturbing than I expected. #podcast #WhatTrumpCanTeachUsAboutConLaw #99pi #RomanMars

#Astiankuivauskaappi #99pi #FinnishDesign
https://bird.makeup/users/99piorg/statuses/1924193601400999966

This is awesome!
Can an emoji sign a contract?

#emoji #99pi

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/626-emoji-law/

Awesome episode by 99percentinvisible once again.

#99pi #tuberculosis

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/623-everything-is-tuberculosis-john-green/

Morning listenings, on the way to the office:

The developers wanted to tear down nearly all of the old mill buildings and replace them with more retail. Townsend would end up spending the next two years fighting alongside other residents to save the mill district, but unfortunately, the building was replaced by a parking lot for a supermarket. Townsend and the other artists saw it as another sign over excess new development in Providence, but they weren’t done with the developers (or with the mall). They decided the best way to understand what they were up against was to live in the mall for one week without leaving.

Heard this story on that podcast before, ages ago, but somehow this idea of a secret appartment hidden inside the guts of a shopping mall doesn't cease to amaze, same as the general idea of looking for unused accidential space in this kind of semi-public buildings. There's a lot of interesting aspects to this one for sure.

99percentinvisible.org/episode…

#podcast #99pi #concrete cities #architecture

In case folks are not subscribed to #99PercentInvisible for some reason, there is a great new episode about the history of #WestOakland and @alexismadrigal's new book on the subject!

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/620-beautiful-west-oakland-california/

#99pi #Oakland #Urbanism

99pi's own @KurtKohlstedt braves the cold to share how this Minneapolis transit signage remains clearly visible despite the snow. #99pi #Minneapolis

I finally finished listing to the #99pi book club podcasts for The Power Broker, and I can’t help but see how much of the invisible machine of self-perpetuating unelected power is the same today. I wish I had a Robert Caro book on Elon Musk so I could understand how we ended up here again.

Just came across an octothorpe in the wild.

#octothorpe #99pi

https://www.tapr.org/pdf/DCC1995-Recommendation4HAP-WO5H-WD5IVDAA4RE-W0RLI.pdf

A little surprised if not mad how blandly #99pi roots for nuclear power as a reasonable clean energy source… 😳

I finally finished reading The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro and while the book is extremely long, it paints an extremely detailed picture of Robert Moses' work in the City of New York. I read this as a part of the podcast 99% Invisible's book club, which went through all of 2024.

There are some chapters that feel like: 'here's a bunch of data'. There are other chapters that demonstrate how Moses would not help public transit, not on his watch, cars come first! One such example of that would be to run both sides of a highway far enough apart that you could run trains down the middle. Moses just wasn't interested.

And of course, there are examples of Moses pushing people out of their homes to make room for infrastructure. There are other examples where Moses is going to run a highway through some people's homes, even though there was a park one block south of there that would still work. Moses was having none of that. After all, he had the power – built up over decades.

And now that I'm done with The Power Broker, I need to read some more of the books on my shelf. I have such a backlog.

#thepowerbroker #99pi #Caro #reading #biographies #publicservice #RobertMoses

Ok, but seriously, if his name is "Roman Mars" then basically we should be able to call him "Ares," right?

#99pi

Insightful, fun rundown on the history of #TimeSquare in #NYC and the #BusinessImprovementDistrict generally. I taught this topic in my #zoning class last year and described it as not zoning but possibly complementary and not a replacement for #housing or government services. I probably will skip it next time. Students were not engaged with the topic and there is too much to cover anyway. #99pi https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/608-new-year-new-neighborhood/

Looks like 99% Invisible podcast finally enabled their Threads account to be federated

Now waiting for Roman Mars to do it, i've asked 3 times in comments within the last few months.. we shall see

@99percentinvisible
#99pi #podcast #romanmars #99invisible #threads

@stephaniewalter an evergreen if there ever was one: “Pockets” by #averytrufelman and #99pi

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/pockets-articles-of-interest-3/

Cape Coral which is documented in this episode of #99PI is pretty close to where the hurricane will make landfall.
It was my favourite episode in a very good series, got me thinking about the systemic issue of federally insuring uninsurable property.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/nbft-03-the-price-is-wrong/

I remember this recent episode from one of my favorite podcast #99pi

There was some debate whether we should add a Category 6 for hurricanes.

But another interesting part is how the issue with those categories is that they mostly focus on wind speed (which our buildings are getting better at resisting) when often what is super dangerous is the water surge. And people think of wind and neglect the flood aspect, which is the big killer.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/category-6/

#helen

@rahmstorf Habe gehört, die großen Hypothenenbanken und Versicherungen, gerade in den USA, verstehen es schon einige Zeit. Unversicherbares, auf Kredit finanziertes, privates Wohneigentum verdirbt ja ihr Geschäft. Nur teilweise reagieren sie aber so, dass sie Klimaschutzmaßnahmen fordern. Teilweise etablieren sie staatliche Subventionen in den Gegenden, wo ihr Geschäft dadurch noch im Rahmen des Profitablen bleibt. #99pi
https://99percentinvisible.org/?p=42660

‘The Power Broker’ Is Finally Getting a Digital Edition. What Took So Long?

Finally! That might actually help me back into this book, I can read so much more on ebooks, reading in bed with a partner is not convenient with a large book

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/books/ebook-robert-caro-the-power-broker.html

#powerbroker #robertcaro #99pi

A Couple Recent Interesting Podcast Episodes

First off, I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy listening to the science fiction short story podcast Escape Pod. Today I listened to episode 949, A Foundational Model for Talking to Girls. Large Language Models (LLMs), what we have colloquially called AI for the past few years, have been a giant source of wonder and consternation in the world. AI in general has long been a topic for science fiction, but this short story tackles the current LLM version of AIs. I found it to be a very fun episode that is a master class in providing a huge amount of backstory without an exposition dump. I don’t want to spoil anything about this story, but they naturally drop all these background details about the world that make me want more stories in this universe. It also has a fun, light tone to it. I highly recommend you either listen or read (the full text is available at the episode link above)

The other podcast episode I wanted to mention is actually a series of episodes. There have been a few times where I have come to the realization that I prefer the wikipedia summary of the story compared to the real thing. One example is Bioshock. I haven’t played it, but I know for a fact that I would not enjoy the story nearly as well as I enjoyed reading the summary of the story and all the backstory that led to the events of the game. The same is true of Robert Caro’s The Power Broker. I know myself and I know I would not nearly enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoy listening to Roman Mars, Elliott Kalan, and each episode’s guest discuss the contents of each chapter and provide color commentary. You can get to the archive of all the episodes here. It’s a fascinating story of one man’s transformation from working in the NYC parks department to becoming one of the most powerful men in NYC (able to challenge US presidents and win!).

#99PI #AI #LLM #NYC #podcast #RobertMoses #scienceFiction #shortStories #ThePowerBroker

https://wp.me/p5cs3g-4LW

Nice! New #whatromanmarscanlearnaboutconlaw ep about all the recent #scotus shocks #podcast #99pi https://learnconlaw.com/ #conlaw #uspolitics

Kid just called this “the crop top of book covers”. #99pi #notwrong #bookstodon

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/99-invisible/id394775318?i=1000642195418 Yes, finally an official #99pi episode! Great book, excited about this #nyc #urbanism #histodons #sophocles #robertmoses #thepowerbroker

@scottjenson You may also enjoy https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/blood-in-the-machine/

I grew up in the West Ridding and was taught all this a junior school...

#99percent #99pi

Absolutely fascinating. Why is there massive #rightWingRadio and why has it gone so much damage? Drum roll, please…. Ron #Reagan ended the #fairnessDoctrine when he #deregulated media. #99pi #podcast https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-divided-dial/

Delightful and very unexpected #99pi #podcast #fierroViejo https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-siren-of-scrap-metal/

@seb One of my favorite podcasts, 99 Percent Invisible, has done a few episodes about flags, all the way back to their 6th episode in 2010.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-06-99-symbolic/

And the host, Roman Mars, did a TED Talk on the subject.

https://99percentinvisible.org/article/99-invisible-at-ted/

#vexillology #FlagDesign #flags #99PercentInvisible #99PI

@thepoliticalcat
Uhhh… #informatics #clinicaldecisionsupport #gooddesign #99pi #podcasts #starwars #codmobile #cats #infectiousdisease #usability #tedlasso #roalddahl #mysteries #japan #sumo #meded #stitchfix #curling
Whew! Did it!