The Mysterious, Mutant, Civilizing Power of Milk
To repurpose a handy metaphor, let's call two of the first Homo sapiens Adam and Eve. By the time they welcomed their firstborn, that rascal Cain, into the world, 2 million centuries of evolution had established how his infancy would play out. For the first few years of his life,...
The Island Where People Forget to Die
Unraveling the mystery of why the inhabitants of Ikaria live so long and so well.
2012 Startup School
Are you ahackerwho has thought about one day starting a startup? Have you already started it? Then you're invited to a free, one-day startup school this October 20 at Stanford. We'll have a range ofexpertsspeaking about startups from their own experience.
Most functional
This program celebrates the close connection between obfuscation and conciseness, by implementing the most concise language known, Binary Lambda Calculus (BLC).
Hasnain says:
So, not only did this guy win the international obfuscated C code contest; he won it by writing an interpreter for "implementing the most concise language known, Binary Lambda Calculus (BLC)". Need I say he's also the inventor of BLC?
Mind = blown.
Posted on 2012-10-18T03:57:59+0000
Why I Hired A Girl On Craigslist to Slap Me In The Face — And Why It Quadrupled My Productivity
Last week, I talked about the power of precommitment — I spoke of how Odysseus prevented himself from the temptation of the Sirens by tying himself to his ship mast. Precommitment is the most effective way to change behavior. Essentially, you make a promise—an irrevocable promise—to complete an acti...
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2012-10-16T23:41:07+0000
Abstract/Bio
The Grok Project is an internal Google initiative to simplify the navigation and querying of very large program source repositories. We have designed and implemented a language-neutral, canonical representation for source code and compiler metadata. Our data production pipeline runs compiler cluster...
Hasnain says:
Really interesting talk. Too bad I heard about it fifteen minutes *after* it ended. FML.
Posted on 2012-10-11T01:10:33+0000
Oh God, Bravo's Silicon Valley Show Looks Even Worse Than We Thought Ugh Why Help
If you watch the latest promo for Bravo's Silicon Valley reality show and think, hey these entrepreneurs failed actors are just stringing together tech buzzwords, it's because that's exactly what they're doing.
Compilers
Compilers is a free online class taught by Alex Aiken, Professor of Stanford University
The Humble Airline Baggage Tag Is a Design Masterpiece
The poet Maya Angelou once said you can tell a lot about a person from the way they respond to three things: a rainy day, tangled Christmas lights, and lost luggage. Maya, Maya. Where were you at 2 a.m. the dark night I arrived in Paris without my bags? I...
Alice and Bob in Cipherspace » American Scientist
Alice hands bob a locked suitcase and asks him to count the money inside. “Sure,” Bob says. “Give me the key.” Alice shakes her head; she has known Bob for many years, but she’s just not a trusting person. Bob lifts the suitcase to judge its weight, rocks it back and forth and listens as the content...
Hasnain says:
This is a pretty good overview of fully homomorphic encryption; without any of the hairy math.
Posted on 2012-10-04T20:53:05+0000
The CIA Burglar Who Went Rogue
Douglas Groat thought he understood the risks of his job—until he took on his own employer
What College Rankings Really Tell Us
Online version of the weekly magazine, with current articles, cartoons, blogs, audio, video, slide shows, an archive of articles and abstracts back to 1925
Follow a Career Passion? Let It Follow You
When it comes to careers, young people are often advised to find their true calling. But for many, the sense of fulfillment grows only over time, as they become better at their jobs.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2012-10-02T05:42:23+0000