1. Their paranoid fear of a possible dystopic future prevents us from addressing our actual dystopic present. Brilliant.

2. I'm not particularly interested in Dick Wolf's new thriller novel, but I'm excited to see Megan Abbott in the New York Times.

3. Gail Simone on breaking into comics. Much of what she writes applies to other creative fields, too (especially the parts about income expectations).

4. Gaming Pixie's What's in a Name is a short mildly interactive game about coming out as a bisexual within the lesbian community (via Border House, which really belongs on everyone's RSS reader of choice).

5. As long as I'm talking gaming, here's a great piece on Dark Souls and what makes it so tantalizing for some folks and so frustrating for others. I'm not sure if it makes more likely to ever play, but it does make me understand the obsession some folks have with the game (note that the piece contains some language that I find offensive, at least).

6. And back to more socially compelling issues in gaming, the always-readable Kate Cox notes the value of representation of different races and gender in gaming by using Monopoly as an example.

7. How to turn off Java in your browser, and why you need to do it. It's an old article, but since Oracle has yet another hole in their code, it's still relevant.

8. As someone who has, on more than one occasion, grumped over folks not saying thanks, more moving out of the way when walking, or other similar things, I really appreciate this piece. It's also worth adding that sometimes the people making the horrible comments can also be in the same boat; no matter how much we think about rudeness as something people are or aren't, it's a state we all fall into at times.

9. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Tony Bourdain. Together! (Yeah, I posted it to FB, but it's worth posting in multiple places).

10. Finally, the truth is out: Parks and Rec is actually Fraggle Rock.