Why Coke Cost A Nickel For 70 Years
All prices change. So why did the price of a Coke stay the same for decades? The answer includes a 7.5-cent coin and a company president who wanted to get a couple of lawyers out of his office.
Hasnain says:
This reminds me of how cans were 1 riyal for like forever
Posted on 2015-06-29T11:31:27+0000
With 61 Seconds in a Minute, Markets Brace for Trouble
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-29T11:13:27+0000
Squib | A Ruby DSL for prototyping card games
Squib is a Ruby DSL for prototyping card and board games. Write a little bit of Ruby, define your deck's stats, then compile your game into a series of images ready for print-and-play or even print-on-demand. Squib is very data-driven and built on the principle of Don't Repeat Yourself. Think of it…
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-29T11:10:31+0000
mattbriggs.net
mattbriggs.net
Hasnain says:
This is a very good read on the role of a senior developer and how developers level up
Posted on 2015-06-28T18:47:40+0000
Guess Who Doesn’t Fit In at Work
Recruiters for top firms often define merit in their own image.
The Sikhs who saved Parmesan - BBC News
What do Punjab and the Po Valley have in common? More than you might imagine, which is why Sikhs have played a key role in Italian cheese-making.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-27T07:41:02+0000
In Pakistan, Heat Waves and the Holy Month Don’t Mix
Piety and high temperatures are killing the residents of Karachi, the world’s third-largest city.
Hasnain says:
"But it really wasn’t the lack of electricity or even the heat that killed these 1,000 people. What killed them was the forced piety enshrined in our law and Karachi’s contempt for the working poor. These people died because we long ago removed any shade that could shelter them from the June sun and then took away their drinking water. When they were about to die, we rushed them to hospitals in ambulances paid for by charities and gave them medicines paid for by charities. We gave them white sheets to recuperate in if they survived, and when they didn’t, those white sheets became their shrouds. Karachi’s hospitals are now awash with chilled bottles of Nestlé water donated by the kindhearted people of the city, but you still can’t get a drink of water on the streets."
Posted on 2015-06-26T23:59:45+0000
Hackers Stole Secrets of U.S. Government Workers’ Sex Lives
Infidelity. Sexual fetishes. Drug abuse. Crushing debt. They’re the most intimate secrets of U.S. government workers. And now they’re in the hands of hackers.
Basics of the Unix Philosophy
The ‘Unix philosophy’ originated with Ken Thompson's early meditations on how to design a small but capable operating system with a clean service interface. It grew as the Unix culture learned things about how to get maximum leverage out of Thompson's design. It absorbed lessons from many sources al…
Hasnain says:
http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch01s06.html
Posted on 2015-06-26T16:47:30+0000
Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head: A Mosquito’s Lament
This, in case you were wondering, is a mosquito. This is a raindrop. And here’s a puzzle. Raindrops aren’t mosquito friendly. If you’re a mosquito darting about on a rainy day, those ...
Click to view the original at phenomena.nationalgeographic.com
Class, capitalism and the tech industry
The tech industry has constructed a series of myths that obscure the realities of class power, exploitation and oppression.
Hasnain says:
I don't know why this hasn't been shared around more.
"But no matter who we are in the industry--cleaner, coder, designer or picker/packer--if we don't go to work, our bosses can't make a profit from our labor. In the end, to keep delivering things of value to people, we don't need them: They need us."
Posted on 2015-06-26T16:45:49+0000
What's Really Warming the World?
Climate deniers blame natural factors; NASA data proves otherwise
Hasnain says:
This is a great way to explain the climate change phenomenon (although it glosses over some things)
Posted on 2015-06-26T16:43:59+0000
We need to rethink employee compensation
I think that the way that employees are getting compensated at startups is starting to break. The old model of relatively low salary and "high" equity only works when there's a healthy public...
Supreme Court rules gay couples nationwide have a right to marry
In a landmark victory for gay rights, a divided Supreme Court ruled that state prohibitions on same-sex marriage violate the Constitution.
The $80 Million Fake Bomb-Detector Scam—and the People Behind It
When Baghdad bought tens of millions of dollars’ worth of British-made A.D.E. 651s, advertised as a foolproof bomb detector, the Iraqi government thought it would be saving countless lives. But the devices were laughable—based on a toy—and in the end have led to many deaths. Iraq is not the only cou…
Hasnain says:
This is an old story but a great new article on it. Also the first time I see a reference to Pakistanis also using it
Posted on 2015-06-25T12:54:29+0000
Start-Ups Finding the Best Employees Are Actually Employed
Some on-demand companies are rejecting the practice of using independent contractors, like Uber drivers, and are hiring people they can train and hold accountable.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-25T12:49:09+0000
Lush cosmetics in YouTube address dispute - BBC News
A popular video blogger hits out at cosmetics brand Lush after he loses control of a YouTube address he has been using since 2005.
A World Without Work
For centuries, experts have predicted that machines would make workers obsolete. That moment may finally be arriving. Could that be a good thing?
Hasnain says:
"Decades from now, perhaps the 20th century will strike future historians as an aberration, with its religious devotion to overwork in a time of prosperity, its attenuations of family in service to job opportunity, its conflation of income with self-worth."
Posted on 2015-06-24T05:20:39+0000
Why the Saudis Are Going Solar
The fate of one of the biggest fossil-fuel producers may now depend on its investment in renewable energy.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-24T05:15:11+0000
The Cartel That Makes Sure Airplane Tickets Never Get Cheaper
It’s been a windfall year for the industry, but you won’t be getting any better accommodations or more affordable fares. What gives?
Hasnain says:
"The problem is that the people running airlines in the U.S. have one part of their brain missing, the part that provides the service ethic. As well as fare-gouging they’re space gouging in the cabins. Even with the newest jets like the Dreamliner they are packing more seats into coach than the airplane designers (or nature) intended."
Posted on 2015-06-23T07:29:45+0000
The Curse of the Excluded Middle - ACM Queue
There is a trend in the software industry to sell "mostly functional" programming as the silver bullet for solving problems developers face with concurrency, parallelism (manycore), and, of course, Big Data. Contemporary imperative languages could continue the ongoing trend, embrace closures, and tr…
Slack CEO explodes over editorial about the South Carolina shooting, says 'f--- you' to Wall...
Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield criticized The Wall Street Journal for an editorial published following the Charleston shootings.
Update from the Team: CRYENGINE 3.8.1 is here, adding OpenGL, Linux and Oculus Rift Support
CRYENGINE 3.8.1 is now availableNew API: OpenGL Support Starting with 3.8.1, we are shipping a fully-featured OpenGL rendering implementation with CRYENGINE, which goes hand in hand with Linux support for your games (see below).New platform: Oculus Rift Support You asked about it, and we listened:…
To Apple, Love Taylor
I write this to explain why I’ll be holding back my album, 1989, from the new streaming service, Apple Music. I feel this deserves an explanation because Apple has been and will continue to be one of...
Hasnain says:
"We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation."
Posted on 2015-06-21T11:28:26+0000
A farmer's straight talk on the drought: Listen up, city dwellers
It was heating up in the San Joaquin Valley this week. Joe Del Bosque, a farmer who had to make some hard decisions this year, was driving toward an asparagus field he's about to plow under. The windshield of his white Yukon was splattered with dead bugs. He didn't seem to notice.
Biotech firm creates fake rhino horn to help save real rhinos
A San Francisco biotech startup has managed to 3 D print fake rhino horns that carry the same genetic fingerprint as the actual horn. It plans to flood Chinese market with these cheap horns to curb poaching.
Hasnain says:
The first case I've heard of folks in the West creating something fake to be sold in China?
Posted on 2015-06-20T22:08:59+0000
The Best Way to Reduce Research Bias Is Hiding in Plain View - Facts So Romantic - Nautilus
In the late 1970s, groups of soda marketers descended on the nation’s malls. They gave shoppers two unmarked cups, one filled with…
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-20T07:06:00+0000
The Most Efficient Way to Save a Life
Inspired to make a meaningful donation, I wondered: What is the best charitable cause in the world, and was it crazy to think that math and logic could help me find it?
Quiz: Find the missing World Cup ball (Group stages)
The New York Times removed the ball from World Cup photos. See if you can find where it belongs in today's quiz.
Hasnain says:
This is a really cool interactive thing from the NYT
Posted on 2015-06-19T22:24:39+0000
IMAX’s absurd attempt to censor Ars
The letter we got is kind of like using SteamVR—out of this world.
Inceptionism: Going Deeper into Neural Networks
googleresearch.blogspot.com
Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging
Benefits demonstrated in mice and yeast; three cycles of a similar diet given to humans.
Shooters of color are called ‘terrorists’ and ‘thugs.’ Why are white shooters called ‘mentally ill’?
This racist media narrative around mass violence falls apart with the Charleston church shooting.
AT&T just got hit with a $100 million fine after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
It's one of the biggest fines ever levied by the FCC against a telecom provider.
A look inside Google’s Data Center Networks
googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com
Click to view the original at googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com
Brendan Eich » Blog Archive » From ASM.JS to WebAssembly
tl;dr I’m burying the lede with context and catch-up material first, so impatient or already-clued-in readers should skip to below the videos for today’s big news. Or just read Luke Wagner‘s blog post right now.
Uber Drivers Deemed Employees By California Labor Commission
It would appear that the California Labor Commission has ruled that Uber drivers are employees. As it stands now, Uber employs its drivers as third-party..
The 100-year-old scientist who pushed the FDA to ban artificial trans fat
100-year-old professor has pushed the government to ban trans fats.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-17T08:07:09+0000
How to receive a million packets per second
Last week during a casual conversation I overheard a colleague saying: "The Linux network stack is slow! You can't expect it to do more than 50 thousand packets per second per core!" That got me thinking. While I agree that...
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-17T04:52:25+0000
Why Mathematicians Are Hoarding This Special Type of Japanese Chalk
This spring, an 80-year-old Japanese chalk company went out of business. Nobody, perhaps, was as sad to see the company go as mathematicians who had become obsessed with Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk, the so-called “Rolls Royce of chalk.”
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-16T07:18:45+0000
mikeash.com: I Do Not Agree To Your Terms
Apple introduced their News app at WWDC, and the other day they sent me an e-mail saying they want to include this blog in News.
Hasnain says:
https://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/i-do-not-agree-to-your-terms.html
Posted on 2015-06-16T06:24:18+0000
jlevy/the-art-of-command-line
the-art-of-command-line - Master the command line, in one page
A Curious Midlife Crisis for a Tech Entrepreneur
Fabrice Grinda, who is worth an estimated $100 million, ditched his 20-acre estate and $300,000 sports car in search of an elusive happiness.
California Announces Restrictions on Water Use by Farmers
Farmers with long-time rights to California water will face cutbacks, the first reduction in their usage since 1977, state officials announced Friday.
Hasnain says:
Finally! Though they still need to go after huge agribusiness and not just smaller farmers
Posted on 2015-06-13T02:47:17+0000
A YouTube built for gamers
googleblog.blogspot.com
How a history of eating human brains protected this tribe from brain disease
The findings from Papua New Guinea offer possible insights into Alzheimer's and dementia.
Reassessing Airport Security - Schneier on Security
Reassessing Airport Security News that the Transportation Security Administration missed a whopping 95% of guns and bombs in recent airport security "red team" tests was justifiably shocking. It's clear that we're not getting value for the $7 billion we're paying the TSA annually. But there's anothe…
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-12T08:37:40+0000
Interactive: Here’s why men on earth outnumber women by 60 million
A story of drinkers, genocide, and unborn girls
Longstanding problem put to rest
Proof that a 40-year-old algorithm is the best possible will come as a relief to computer scientists.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-12T07:50:25+0000
What is code? If you don't know, you need to read this:
The world belongs to people who code. Those who don’t understand will be left behind.
Hasnain says:
Insanely long, insanely detailed, reads like a story. It's awesome
Posted on 2015-06-12T07:48:01+0000
Max Howell on Twitter
“Google: 90% of our engineers use the software you wrote (Homebrew), but you can’t invert a binary tree on a whiteboard so fuck off.”
Hasnain says:
"Google: 90% of our engineers use the software you wrote (Homebrew), but you can’t invert a binary tree on a whiteboard so f*** off."
Tech interviews are broken
Posted on 2015-06-12T07:37:36+0000
I quit the tech industry / fuzzy notepad
Tue 09 June 2015 I quit the tech industry This Friday, June 12, will be my last day at Yelp. I don’t intend to look for another tech job. Or another job at all. Ever. I’m just thoroughly exhausted. I have so much I want to do, yet I’m selling half of my waking hours every weekday to someone else, fo…
Taking a Tire Iron to Techie Triumphalism
A new book by Kentaro Toyama, a computer scientist, criticizes the efforts by technology entrepreneurs to effect social change.
Hasnain says:
"There are various explanations for the technology world’s contempt for existing human structures. It’s a world full of trained engineers — and many college dropouts — who cannot be expected to grasp human dynamics any more than political scientists understand Java code. Many brilliant technology leaders have stories of bullying and isolation in their youths that would leave anyone with abiding skepticism of human groups, institutions, cultures. If family dinners and school lunches were painful for you, “disrupting” eating with a venture-capital-backed protein drink like Soylent can seem like liberation."
Well put
Posted on 2015-06-10T04:00:30+0000
June Oven
The June Intelligent Oven™ is a powerful and easy-to-use computer-based oven that makes everyone a better cook.
Mortgages Are About Math: Open-Source Loan-Level Analysis of Fannie and Freddie
[M]ortgages were acknowledged to be the most mathematically complex securities in the marketplace. The complexity arose entirely out of the option the homeowner has to prepay his loan; it was poetic …
ryanries/UniversalPauseButton
UniversalPauseButton - A pause button that pauses the unpausable. Handy for video game cut scenes especially.
It’s The Future | The Circle Blog
[Editor Note: At the risk of spoiling the joke a bit, we want to make sure that everyone knows that the following is satire, and we’re actually quite fond of the companies we mention. Docker, CoreOS, Google, Vagrant/Hashicorp, Heroku, Aphyr, Amazon, Mongo, Redis—we love you really and mean you no ha…
'I've Never Thanked My Parents for Anything'
In America, saying thank you is routine, sometimes meaningless. In India, it can be insulting.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-09T16:00:20+0000
A Constructive Look At TempleOS
TempleOS is somewhat of a legend in the operating system community. It's sole author, Terry A. Davis, has spent the past 12 years attempting to create a new operating from scratch. Terry explains t...
Hasnain says:
Always pretty impressive given it's mostly just one guy. I feel bad for him at times
Posted on 2015-06-09T06:33:15+0000
Lost Posture: Why Some Indigenous Cultures May Not Have Back Pain
There are a few populations in the world where back pain hardly exists. One woman thinks she has figured out why, and she's sharing their secrets. Have Americans forgotten how to stand properly?
Is Social Rejection the Key to Creativity?
On the psychology of why rejection and loneliness may be necessary evils for the creative genius “In the deepest and most important things, we are unutterably alone, and for one person to be able t...
The Batteriser Explained | EEVblog - The Electronics Engineering Video Blog
I have a 40 minute video on the recent media claims about the Batteriser, a device that claims up to 800% improvement in battery life with primary Alkaline batteries. Many people have asked for a much shorter explanation of the claims, so here we go, for those who can’t afford the 40 minutes:
How safe is air quality on commercial planes? - BBC News
Seventeen flight staff are planning legal action over the alleged contamination of air on board British flights. But what is the evidence to suggest it is unsafe?
How Math’s Most Famous Proof Nearly Broke - Issue 24: Error - Nautilus
Andrew Wiles gave a series of lectures cryptically titled “Modular Forms, Elliptic Curves, and Galois Representations” at a mathematics…
How US students get a university degree for free in Germany - BBC News
While the cost of college education in the US has reached record highs, Germany has abandoned tuition fees altogether for both German and international students. An increasing number of US students are taking advantage.
Hasnain says:
"His mother Amy is okay with that as long as her son finds a good job and doesn't struggle. She does wonder why her own country was not able to give him a similar education at a price tag that this single mother could afford.
"I feel like my child is getting an absolute wonderful education over there for free. Betrayal is too strong of a word, but why can't we do that here?""
Posted on 2015-06-09T04:29:00+0000
Here's Why The Death Penalty Is Doomed in America
5 reasons the end of a failed experiment is in sight
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-09T04:28:23+0000
How my father gave me a terrifying lesson at 10 - BBC News
At the age of 10, Bernard Hare's father took him down the mine where he worked.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-08T15:57:17+0000
NSA whistleblower warns of surveillance state
William Binney spent more than 30 years at the National Security Agency designing programs that enabled mass surveillance of foreign terrorists.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-08T15:55:15+0000
Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans
I refused to waste my life to pay back a pointless and overbearing debt.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-08T07:19:38+0000
PepsiCo’s CEO was right. Now what?
Years ago Indra Nooyi made an audacious strategy shift beyond unhealthy snacks and drinks. She was prescient—as well as disciplined and tough—but the challenges are still daunting.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-08T07:05:51+0000
What Poverty Does to the Young Brain - The New Yorker
For a growing child, deprivation and stress can become a kind of neurotoxin.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-08T07:02:19+0000
How I killed app sales by going freemium
Why going freemium may not be the best idea for your app
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-07T17:35:09+0000
Haunting chalkboard drawings, frozen in time for 100 years, discovered in Oklahoma school
The Oklahoma City School District will work to preserve the chalkboards which carry lessons on pilgrims.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-07T17:33:57+0000
Why did men stop wearing high heels, anyway?
Louis XIV loved a red heel. Napoleon, not so much.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-07T05:35:32+0000
FBI official: Companies should help us ‘prevent encryption above all else’
The latest from the current Crypto War.
Coding Explained in 25 Profound Comics
We asked our open source community to share the comics they found most profoundly described coding, via our news site. H…
autopsy.io
autopsy.io
This Startup Gives Poor People A Year's Income, No Strings Attached
They've given away $15 million and counting, and the results have been extraordinary.
The Online Privacy Lie Is Unraveling
A new report into U.S. consumers' attitude to the collection of personal data has highlighted the disconnect between commercial claims that web users are..
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-07T00:38:55+0000
Aziz Ansari: Everything You Think You Know About Love Is Wrong
Read the comedian's essay for TIME on changing the world of online dating
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-07T00:33:27+0000
Map: The remarkable distances you can travel on a European train in less than a day
Warning: Americans might get jealous reading this.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-07T00:28:20+0000
The real scars of Korean gaming - BBC News
In South Korea, e-sports stars are adored celebrities. Dave Lee gets up close to learn about the real impact of pro-gaming.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-06T18:15:04+0000
The Underhanded C Contest
The goal of the contest is to write code that is as readable, clear, innocent and straightforward as possible, and yet it must fail to perform at its apparent function. To be more specific, it should do something subtly evil. Every year, we will propose a challenge to coders to solve a simple data p…
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-06T18:08:06+0000
In Search Of The Red Cross' $500 Million In Haiti Relief
An investigation by NPR and ProPublica finds a string of poorly managed projects, questionable spending and dubious claims of success, according to a review of the charity's internal documents.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-05T15:40:54+0000
Computer Scientists Are Astir After Baidu Team Is Barred From A.I. Competition
The team from China’s leading search engine was disqualified when it was discovered it had broken rules in a way that could give it an advantage in the competition.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-04T15:52:08+0000
Change trays | The Japan Times
Dear Alice, I am very curious about those small trays that are used in Japan when settling daily cash transactions. Instead of handing your payment to the
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-04T03:39:12+0000
Steam Is Now Offering Refunds
Steam is finally getting a proper refund system. Starting today, users of Valve’s PC platform will be able to get a full refund on any game for any reason, provided it’s been less than 14 days since purchase and they’ve spent less than two hours playing.
Nmap Development: Sourceforge Hijacks the Nmap Sourceforge Account
seclists.org
SSDs: A gift and a curse
Artur Bergman, founder of a CDN exclusively powered by super fast SSDs, has made many compelling cases over the years to use them. He was definitely ahead of the curve here, but he's right. Nowaday...
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-03T05:10:42+0000
FBI operating fleet of surveillance aircraft flying over US cities
The planes, which are equipped with video and cellphone technology at times, are being managed behind fake companies to mask government involvement
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-03T05:06:28+0000
Researchers Find Missing Link Between the Brain and Immune System
Researchers discover the brain and immune system are directly linked through vessels previously thought not to exist.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-03T05:05:31+0000
Looking Forward: Microsoft: Support for Secure Shell (SSH) - Looking Forward: Microsoft: Support...
As Microsoft has shifted towards a more customer-oriented culture. Microsoft engineers are using social networks, tech communities and direct customer feedback as an integral part on how we make decisions about future investments. A popular request the PowerShell team has received is to use Secure…
Blatter to quit as Fifa president
Sepp Blatter is to resign as president of football's governing body Fifa amid a corruption scandal after 17 years in charge.
How Is Critical 'Life or Death' Software Tested?
Ideally, it's so good that it barely needs to be in the first place.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-02T06:42:38+0000
Head of T.S.A. Out After Tests Reveal Flaws
Transportation Security Administration screeners failed to detect weapons and other prohibited items 95 percent of the time in a covert test.
Holding Your Breath in India
Did I put my family’s health in jeopardy by moving to New Delhi?
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-01T15:38:13+0000
HTTP/2 is here, let's optimize! - Velocity SC 2015
WebRTC HTTP/2 is here, let’s optimize! or, why (some) yesterday's best-practices are today's HTTP/2 anti-patterns. +Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik RFC 7540
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-01T06:09:49+0000
Why It Pays to Be a Jerk
New research confirms what they say about nice guys.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-01T06:02:13+0000