@jsomers

read, write, code

jsomers.net
Joined May 2007
  • Tweets597
  • Following66
  • Followers4.5K
6Media
Read the eerie story — @caro_ohlivia‘s first for the Atlantic — of how a class of robots designed to carry stuff for soldiers mutated, one small modification at a time, into weapons: theatlantic.com/technology/a…

What Happens When Your Bomb-Defusing Robot Becomes a Weapon

Treating a technology as a “platform” has consequences. 

theatlantic.com
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I wrote about the future of the scientific paper for @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/science/arch…

The Scientific Paper Is Obsolete

Here's what's next.

theatlantic.com
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James Somers retweeted
Longform@longform5 Oct 2017
Saving the World From the Code Apocalypse long.fm/ZZY3zcE (@Jsomers, @TheAtlantic)
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Had fun talking with @longformwriting about my Village Voice story on archivists: mailchi.mp/fd09b2e0c819/the-…
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James Somers retweeted
NPR
@NPR30 Sep 2017
Jason Fagone's "The Woman Who Smashed Codes" offers the story of a fascinating woman in perilous times. n.pr/2xG5F7f
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Started working on this story about why software fails, and how to fix it, two years ago—and now it's finally here! theatlantic.com/technology/a…

The Coming Software Apocalypse

A small group of programmers wants to change how we code—before catastrophe strikes.

theatlantic.com
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This is a fucking crazy story, masterfully written & deeply researched. If u liked The Imitation Game u will ❤️THE WOMAN WHO SMASHED CODES. xitter.cf/jfagone/status/9123611…
Jason Fagone
@jfagone25 Sep 2017
I want to tell you a story. For 3 years I’ve been researching Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a puzzle-solving heroine of the world wars. 1/
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Another excellent and very fun analysis from @todd_schneider toddwschneider.com/posts/tax…
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James Somers retweeted
Longform@longform25 Sep 2017
Inside the New York Public Library's archives: long.fm/ZZY3zca (@jsomers, @villagevoice)
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A friend and I built a typewriter that sends its keystrokes in real time to a Google Doc: jsomers.net/blog/docwriter

DocWriter: the typewriter that sends its keystrokes in real time to a Google Doc

For years I’ve wanted a writing machine that would combine the best parts of a typewriter and a word processor. After months of tinkering, a friend and I just finished building one. We call it the...

jsomers.net
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what's more important: the American political scene, or the way book clubs are typically run? YOU DECIDE. my latest: jsomers.net/blog/book-clubs

Most book clubs are doing it wrong

The standard way to run a book club is to have everybody finish the book before meeting to talk about it. You have one meeting per book. The discussion goes on for one or two hours before it runs out...

jsomers.net
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"You've seen Memento" would be a pretty good tattoo
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James Somers retweeted
Longreads
@Longreads22 Apr 2017
"Somewhere at Google there is a database containing 25 million books and nobody is allowed to read them.” @jsomers theatlantic.com/technology/a…

Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria

“Somewhere at Google there is a database containing 25 million books and nobody is allowed to read them.”

theatlantic.com
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Excited to share this story I wrote for @TheAtlantic about Google's effort to build the greatest library in history theatlantic.com/technology/a…

Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria

“Somewhere at Google there is a database containing 25 million books and nobody is allowed to read them.”

theatlantic.com
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You gotta read this essay by George Saunders, "The Braindead Megaphone," about media: as1020.pbworks.com/f/saunder…. Wowzer. via @JonnyWaldman
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I wrote for the Atlantic about lessons learned building a Google Reader clone, e.g. the perils of media unbundling: theatlantic.com/technology/a…

The Like Button Ruined the Internet

How “engagement” made the web a less engaging place

theatlantic.com
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who the hell is Lance Journalist and why'd we lock him up?
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just watched Spotlight. so neat that "Ruffalo ruffalo Ruffalo ruffalo ruffalo ruffalo ruffalo" is a grammatical English sentence
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I just did @ehmorris's show - only one minute long. listen to the end.. he improvises everything. amazing briefs.fm/episodes/779
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“It’s all one book you write anyway. At night you dream six dreams. But ARE they six dreams?” —Philip Roth bit.ly/1wzlwsd

Philip Roth, The Art of Fiction No. 84

“The idea is to turn flesh and blood into literary characters and literary characters into flesh and blood.”

theparisreview.org
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