NYSee Radar

Author: mechaneyes

  • The pessimist who became a prophet

    The pessimist who became a prophet

    Martin Sandbu · FT Magazine

    Michael Sandel was ignored by a generation of political optimists. Now he is searching for a way out of the mess he saw coming

    “One way of seeing how a toleration of avoidance leads to conflict is that when we give up on engaging with moral disagreements . . . we create a moral void at the heart of public discourse.” That, in his view, has been the cost of the politics we have seen since the 1990s. “Democratic citizens can’t abide for long a public discourse empty of larger moral meaning.” Sooner or later that void would have to be filled by “narrow, intolerant, dangerous moralisms of two kinds: religious fundamentalism or hypernationalism. And that’s exactly what we’ve seen.”

    FT Gift Link

  • NTS Guide to: The Recordings of Joe Frank

    NTS Guide to: The Recordings of Joe Frank

    Joe Frank · NTS

    nts.live/…the-nts-guide-to…joe-frank-3rd-february-2026

    I found Joe Frank in the mid 90s
    via some low frequency station
    KDVS?

    screenshot of nts.live. the header includes a bar with "live now" in a rectangle. to it's right #1, a play button, the text "melodies international" the the text "london". to it's right #2, play button, "pagel milyakov" and "berlin". body of the page has joe frank with fist raised in the air speaking into a mic. details of the show in the bottom left.


    people who’d come through our apartment
    very much hated my playing KDVS
    “they talk soooo much. wah wah boo hoo”
    so they were forced
    Joe Frank was esp good at cleansing the floor
    those that’d stay were first caught off guard
    then quickly drawn in
    it was an acid test of sorts

  • Navy Cloud Yard

    Navy Cloud Yard

    From the perspective of the Brooklyn Navy Yard

  • Obscura —> Mullvad —> Internet

    Obscura —> Mullvad —> Internet

    screenshot from obscura.net. Headline, "Private by Design: Our Two-Party VPN Protocol". Body copy left, "Obscura never sees your traffic Obscura's servers relay your connection to exit servers but can never decrypt your traffic. Your traffic is always end-to-end encrypted via WireGuard® to the exit server." Body copy right, "Exit hops never see who you are Exit servers (run by Mullvad) connect you to the internet but never see your personal info. Obscura masks your real IP address when relaying to the exit server." Pixelated design at top of window holding content. Image of a line drawn to the obscura icon, then to a server icon, then to a globe icon. Obscura's website header up top with links including "Download for macOS"

    I’m experimenting with Obscura VPN.

    I’m largely curious about how they’re chaining Obscura —> Mullvad —> Internet.

    “Traffic first passes through Obscura’s servers before exiting to the Internet via Mullvad’s WireGuard servers. This two-party architecture ensures that neither Obscura nor Mullvad can see both your identity and your Internet traffic.”
    Via: Mullvad has partnered with Obscura VPN

    According to Obscura’s FAQ:

    Obscura is provably private by design.

    Even “no-logs” VPNs see both your identity and your internet activity, meaning you have to blindly trust their pinky-promise for privacy. This is exactly why some privacy-conscious folks will tell you not to use a VPN at all.

    Obscura is different – we never see your decrypted internet packets. It’s simply impossible for us to log your internet activity, even if we were compelled to, or if our servers were compromised. You can even verify this yourself.

    Obscura’s stealth protocol is much harder to block.

    Our unique stealth protocol is designed to blend in with regular internet traffic. It does so by leveraging QUIC – the same technology that powers HTTP/3 – making it far harder for censors or network filters to detect or block.

    Not too shabby:

    Screenshot of full speed.cloudflare.com website test results. Shows download and upload measurements as well as latency and jitter. Everything looks pretty snappy.
  • Meredith Whittaker + Signal + You Caring about Privacy

    Meredith Whittaker + Signal + You Caring about Privacy

    The State of Personal Online Security and Confidentiality · SXSW 2025

    Meredith Whittaker making the case for why you should be using Signal.

    No excuses.
    Tolerance has been reduced to zero.

    Hero Image: Jan Zappner/re:publica
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Re-publica_23_-Tag_1(52952663983).jpg

  • Launch of e-flux Index #8 — Piper Marshall’s Tribute to Dara Birnbaum

    Launch of e-flux Index #8 — Piper Marshall’s Tribute to Dara Birnbaum

    Join us at e-flux on Tuesday, February 10 at 7pm for the launch of e-flux Index #8, featuring Piper Marshall and a tribute to Dara Birnbaum. Marshall will read from her remembrance of Dara Birnbaum, published in e-flux Notes on the occasion of Birnbaum’s passing and re-published in e-flux Index #8. The reading will be followed by a screening of selected works from Birnbaum’s seminal oeuvre. Copies of e-flux Index #8 will be available for purchase at a discounted price at the event.

    e-flux Index #8 v Piper Marshall v Dara Birnbaum

    I’m pretty sure I first caught the piece at a party on to rooftop of Dia’s 548 West 22nd Street, Chelsea location. This must’ve been a summer evening around 2002 or 2003.

    Rooftop Urban Park Project (1981–91), Dan Graham, installed on the roof of the Dia Center for the Arts at 548 West 22nd Street in Chelsea, New York. Photo: Bill Jacobson Studio, New York; courtesy Dia Art Foundation, New York; © Dan Graham

    One thing making the experience unique was the party’s being held in and around Dan Graham’s, Rooftop Urban Park Project (1981–91). Again, while the memory is a bit hazy, and because there seems to be no documentation of the event online, through the haze I remember the tranquil feel of the event. While Wonder Woman transformed and transformed again, we were casually sitting inside Dan Graham’s piece with a six pack.

  • 404 Media’s ICE Surveillance Zine

    404 Media’s ICE Surveillance Zine

    Jason Koebler · 404 Media

  • Kurt Vonnegut on Us Dancing Animals

    Kurt Vonnegut on Us Dancing Animals

    Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope:

    “Oh, she says, well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope.

    I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babes*. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I’ll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don’t know.

    The moral of the story is -we’re here on Earth to fart around.

    And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don’t realize, or they don’t care, is we’re dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it’s like we’re not supposed to dance at all anymore.

    Let’s all get up and move around a bit right now… or at least dance.

    *In one retelling I see Vonnegut quoted as saying, “and see some great looking babes.” In another, “some great looking babies.” Both are great. But if I’m forced to choose, well …

    As shared by friend, Fiche.

  • Cypurr Cinema Super Secret Matinee Presents: Seeking Mavis Beacon

    Cypurr @ Wonderville

    Flyer for Cypurr Cinema event. Movie poster for "Seeking Mavis Beacon". Poster depicts a woman's hand breaking through a computer monitor with glass shattering outward. At the bottom of the flyer is the copy, "The most recognizable woman in technology lives in our collective imagination..and on the Wonderville big screen!". Below that is the venue info for Wonderville including its address.

    Sunday, February 1, 2026
    2:30 PM 5:30 PM

    Wonderville
    1186 Broadway
    Brooklyn, NY, 11221

  • I Made It (A Justin Strauss Production)

    Justin Strauss, Annie & the Caldwells · Bandcamp