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Rusty Foster

Writer of Today in Tabs, a daily media-and-internet newsletter he started in 2013; earlier founded Kuro5hin.

4 things

DefectorOther

loved

Discussion Questions: ☞ How good is Defector right now, huh? ☞ Absolutely killing it.

A "Tabs Syllabus" issue: the day's links set out as a reading list, each with his own verdict.

2026-08-14·todayintabs.com ↗

Humanists Have Done Nothing WrongOther David Hollingshead

loved

The first is just solid blogging, the second is one of the finest defenses of the value of critical thinking I’ve ever read.

A "Tabs Syllabus" issue: the day's links set out as a reading list, each with his own verdict.

2026-08-14·todayintabs.com ↗

Witchcraft for CyborgsOther

liked

It’s rare that a dispute this messy gets a resolution so clear.

A "Tabs Syllabus" issue: the day's links set out as a reading list, each with his own verdict.

2026-08-14·todayintabs.com ↗

Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.

The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.

A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.

The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.

The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.

What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:

Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.