Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy
If you’re working on a startup or non-profit that addresses any of the challenges discussed below, we’d love to see you apply.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-31T19:34:57+0000
REAL ID and You: Rumor Control | Homeland Security
Rumors spread fast: please tell a friend, share this page and help us provide accurate information about REAL ID enforcement.
Hasnain says:
TIL about REAL ID and that I won't be able to fly with just my drivers license next year
Posted on 2017-01-31T05:35:35+0000
Why Hollywood as We Know It Is Already Over
From A.I. Aaron Sorkin to C.G.I. actors to algorithmic editing, Nick Bilton investigates what lies ahead.
'People who were praying lost their lives': Multiple killed in Quebec City mosque shooting
Quebec City Police say several people are dead after shots were fired inside a Quebec City mosque on Sunday night during evening prayers.
INA: ACT 264 - FORMS AND PROCEDURE | USCIS
(a) The Attorney General and the Secretary of State jointly are authorized and directed to prepare forms for the registration of aliens under section 261 of this title, and the Attorney General is authorized and directed to prepare forms for the registration and fingerprinting of aliens under sectio...
Hasnain says:
Today I learnt that you have to keep your green card on you at all times. I used to keep it at home just to be safe in case of losing it, but this is scary. Especially since there's a worry about actively being checked for it now ...
"(e) Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both. "
Posted on 2017-01-30T00:26:44+0000
Uber CEO defends Trump relationship to employees
'We'll partner with anyone in the world as long they're about making transportation in cities better,' Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told employees.
Column: Broke baby boomers, it's time to face reality
Elizabeth White had a comfortable upper-middle-class lifestyle. She lost it all. She talks about how to create a "new normal."
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-27T23:17:53+0000
Libor scandal: the bankers who fixed the world’s most important number | Liam Vaughan and Gavin Finch
The Long Read: With arrogant disregard for the rules, traders colluded for years to rig Libor, the banks’ lending rate. But after the crash, the regulators were on their trail
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-27T10:18:26+0000
The Monad Fear - LINE Haskell Boot Camp
e.xtendo.org
Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis utilizing the theory of Alternative Facts
Conway's powerful theory of Alternative Facts can render many difficult problems tractable. Here we demonstrate the power of AF to prove the Riemann Hypothesis, one of the most important unsolved problems in mathematics. We further suggest applications of AF to other challenging unsolved problems su...
Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » First they came for the Iranians
I’m sure there were weeks, in February or March 1933, when the educated, liberal Germans commiserated with each other over the latest outrages of their new Chancellor, but consoled themselves that at least none of it was going to affect them
Hasnain says:
Scott Aaronson is always on point.
"But when it comes to student visas, I can’t see that my feelings about the mullahs have anything to do with the matter. We’re talking about people who happen to have been born in Iran, who came to the US to do math and science. Would we rather have these young scientists here, filled with gratitude for the opportunities we’ve given them, or back in Iran filled with justified anger over our having expelled them?
To the Trump regime, I make one request: if you ever decide that it’s the policy of the US government to deport my PhD students, then deport me first. I’m practically begging you: come to my house, arrest me, revoke my citizenship, and tear up the awards I’ve accepted at the White House and the State Department. I’d consider that to be the greatest honor of my career.
And to those who cheered Trump’s campaign in the comments of this blog: go ahead, let me hear you defend this."
Posted on 2017-01-26T11:33:34+0000
How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425 million or more – DisruptiveHQ
Atlassian bought Trello for $425 million. Because Trello was on trajectory to kill Atlassian.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-25T22:56:09+0000
George Orwell’s 1984 Is Now the #1 Bestselling Book on Amazon
George Orwell's classic dystopian novel, 1984, has suddenly surged to the very top of the Amazon's bestseller list. Though first published in 1949, it's back with a vengeance. And George only has the new administration to thank. We'll have more on Orwell's 1984 tomorrow.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-25T09:44:13+0000
China announces mass shutdown of VPNs that bypass Great Firewall
China says all VPN providers must get permission from government to operate.
Unexpected Consequences of Self Driving Cars – Rodney Brooks
January 12, 2017 Unexpected Consequences of Self Driving Cars Many new technologies have unexpected impacts on the physical or social world in which we live. When the first IMPs for the fledgling ARPANET were being built starting in 1969 at BBN in Cambridge, MA, I think it safe to say that no one fo...
Hasnain says:
Lots of interesting stuff.
However the flame section at the end is gold. It's too long to quote in its entirety but everyone should read it.
"My guess is that we will never see close to such high numbers of deaths involving driverless cars. We just will not find them acceptable, and instead we will delay adopting levels 4 and 5 autonomy, at the cost of more overall lives lost, rather than have autonomous driving systems cause many deaths at all. Rather than 35,000 annual deaths in the US it will not be acceptable unless it is a relatively tiny number. Ten deaths per year may be deemed too much, even though it could be viewed as minus 34,990 deaths. A very significant improvement over the current state of affairs.
It won’t be rational. But that is how it is going to unfold."
Posted on 2017-01-24T09:26:10+0000
Western Union Admits Anti-Money Laundering Violations and Settles Consumer Fraud Charges, Forfeits $586 Million in Settlement with FTC and Justice Department | Federal Trade Commission
Company also agrees to implement anti-fraud program and enhanced compliance obligations in agreements with federal authorities For Release January 19, 2017 Tags: deceptive/misleading conduct Finance Bureau of Consumer Protection Midwest Region Consumer Protection Credit and Finance Payments and Bill...
DESTIGOGO.com
Discover places you wouldn't think of!
Hasnain says:
A great site for discovering travel destinations on a budget
Posted on 2017-01-23T13:04:29+0000
San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone?
San Francisco has the lowest share of children of the country’s largest cities, a longstanding trend reinforced by a tech industry that skews young and single.
Hasnain says:
"There is one statistic that the city’s natives have heard too many times. San Francisco, population 865,000, has roughly the same number of dogs as children: 120,000. In many areas of the city, pet grooming shops seem more common than schools."
Posted on 2017-01-22T20:31:54+0000
Why we should all have a basic income
It's like we live in a game of Monopoly but we're no longer collecting money for passing Go. A universal basic income would correct this, writes Scott Santens.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-22T20:31:33+0000
We Will Miss Antibiotics When They’re Gone
To keep infections at bay, we need to fix the broken antibiotic business model.
Hasnain says:
This plus people not finishing their anti-biotics courses (and getting them for everything) and farmers stuffing animals with anti-biotics, is scaring me for the future
Posted on 2017-01-22T20:31:04+0000
NHTSA’s full final investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot shows 40% crash rate reduction
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released its full findings following the investigation into last year's fatal crash involving a..
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-20T05:57:02+0000
Pakistani mom promised her daughter a wedding reception. Instead, she burned her alive.
Perveen Bibi was sentenced to death for killing her daughter, who had eloped without her family's permission. Her son received a life sentence. Roughly 1,000 women die in such “honor killings” every year in Pakistan.
U.S. sues Oracle, alleges salary and hiring discrimination
The U.S. Labor Department has sued Oracle America Inc, alleging that the technology company systematically paid its white, male employees more than other workers and unlawfully favored Asian applicants in its recruiting and hiring efforts.
My Name Is Noor, And I'm Not Omar Mateen's Wife
Newsy's Noor Tagouri talks about misrepresentation of Muslim women in media.
How much does employee turnover really cost? – Resources for Humans
People are companies’ most important assets. We’ve all known this for a long time, but 1) we pay it lip service more often than we try to…
Hasnain says:
"Maia Josebachvili, VP of of People at Greenhouse, produced a case study where she argued that retaining a sales person for three years instead of two, along with better onboarding and management practices, yields a difference of $1.3 million in net value to the company over a three year period."
Posted on 2017-01-18T06:49:06+0000
A Silicon Valley down payment could buy you an entire house in much of the U.S.
Give or take a few bucks, the median 20 percent down payment on a house in metro San Jose equals the median value of a house nationwide.
Hasnain says:
"Zillow also reports that 25 percent of first-time homebuyers in the U.S. rely on gifts from family and friends to gather enough funds to buy a house. And the report finds that saving for a down payment is the biggest worry of a fifth of all buyers."
All the IPOs are basically going to the landlord's pockets
Posted on 2017-01-18T05:51:27+0000
Rust hash iteration+reinsertion
It was recently discovered that some surprising operations on Rust’s standard hash table types could go quadratic. Perhaps the simplest illustration is this snippet from a comment, here simplified...
Click to view the original at accidentallyquadratic.tumblr.com
Hasnain says:
This is one of the best accidentally quadric posts I've read in quite a while. Great detailed investigation and background on hashing.
Posted on 2017-01-18T02:22:35+0000
Testing LLVM – Embedded in Academia
Testing LLVM [This piece is loosely a followup to this one.] Background Once a piece of software reaches a certain size, it is guaranteed to be loosely specified and not completely understood by any individual. It gets committed to many times per day by people who are only loosely aware of each othe...
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-14T17:52:02+0000
In the Shopping Cart of a Food Stamp Household: Lots of Soda
Food stamps are supposed to help improve nutrition for the poor, but a study shows that, just like everyone else, food stamp users buy soda and junk food.
Hasnain says:
While 9.7% is a crazy high amount, they do a disservice by only pointing out that the average is 7.1% otherwise, making it sound much worse than it actually is. I'm against them curbing access to soda on food stamps just for this reason alone.
Also, 7.1% seems crazy high to me?! That is a metric crapton of soda.
Posted on 2017-01-14T17:46:01+0000
What’s really causing the prescription drug crisis?
There are two quite different stories about why there is a prescription drug crisis in the United States, and why opioid-related deaths have quadrupled since 1999. At some level, you are probably aware of both. Earlier this year, I interviewed people in the New Hampshire towns worst affected by this...
Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life
Downward mobility: Their student debt is drastically higher and "I think the opportunities have just been fading away."
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-14T17:12:00+0000
That Time I Turned a Routine Traffic Ticket into the Constitutional Trial of the Century
Laws that give municipal officials and their private contractors power to issue tickets via traffic cameras confer powers of both criminal and civil law while excusing them from the due process duties of both criminal and civil law.
Hasnain says:
"On cross-examination, I established that:
- He was not present at the time of the alleged violation.
- He has no photographic evidence of the driver.
- There were no witnesses.
- He does not know where Adam MacLeod was at the time of the alleged violation.
And so on. I then asked the question one is taught never to ask on cross—the last one. “So, you signed an affidavit under the pains and penalties of perjury alleging probable cause to believe that Adam MacLeod committed a violation of traffic laws without any evidence that was so?”
Without hesitating he answered, “Yes.” This surprised both of us. It also surprised the judge, who looked up from his desk for the first time. A police officer had just testified under oath that he perjured himself in service to a city government and a mysterious, far-away corporation whose officers probably earn many times his salary."
Posted on 2017-01-14T17:00:26+0000
Unnecessariat
I remember AIDS. I’m older than you probably think I am, and I remember what AIDS in America meant in the eighties, when William F. Buckley suggested all “carriers” be tattooed, a…
Can Emirates Airline Dominate the Skies?
It flies the fanciest product on the biggest planes on the longest routes. There might not be much more room to soar
Hasnain says:
Really interesting read. I for one would be sad if the US airlines' lobbying efforts went through as they really don't fly to Africa/India/Pakistan and have nowhere near that level of service. And I doubt that would ever change.
Posted on 2017-01-08T09:16:04+0000
The Death Of Expertise
To reject the notion of expertise, and to replace it with a sanctimonious insistence that every person has a right to his or her own opinion, is silly.
Hasnain says:
"In politics, too, the problem has reached ridiculous proportions. People in political debates no longer distinguish the phrase “you’re wrong” from the phrase “you’re stupid.” To disagree is to insult. To correct another is to be a hater. And to refuse to acknowledge alternative views, no matter how fantastic or inane, is to be closed-minded."
Posted on 2017-01-07T14:15:18+0000
TV anchor says live on-air 'Alexa, order me a dollhouse' – guess what happens next
Story on accidental order begets story on accidental order begets accidental order
California braces for 'once-in-10-year' storm amid fears of flooding, avalanches, blizzards
Sierra travelers trapped by back-to-back storms that dropped more than 2 feet of snow have a brief window to pass, before the arrival of a weather system Saturday so wet forecasters are calling it an "atmospheric river."
Hasnain says:
Yay for rain, nay for the inevitable chaos it causes
Posted on 2017-01-06T13:45:33+0000
Grumpy: Go running Python!
Google runs millions of lines of Python code. The front-end server that drives youtube.com and YouTube’s APIs is primarily written in Pytho...
Hasnain says:
Interesting, but I wonder why they're announcing this so early and somewhat unfinished
Posted on 2017-01-04T19:12:28+0000
Notes for the New Year
I made some notes before my brother Jack interviewed me for How to Build the Future, where I mostly talked about how ambitious young people should think about their careers. I thought I'd clean those up to share for the New Year. Here they are.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T19:10:00+0000
How Video Games Satisfy Basic Human Needs - Facts So Romantic - Nautilus
Grand Theft Auto, that most lavish and notorious of all modern videogames, offers countless ways for players to behave. Much of this…
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T18:51:46+0000
India’s Call-Center Talents Put to a Criminal Use: Swindling Americans
The availability of computer-savvy, young, English-speaking job seekers and efficient technology have contributed to the growth in cyberfraud against Americans.
Hasnain says:
"“I just wanted to become a great scammer,” Mr. Dubey said. “Everyone was scamming around me. I thought, ‘I will also become a great scammer.’”"
Posted on 2017-01-04T16:36:58+0000
Nonreligious Americans Remain Far Underrepresented In Congress
Only one member of Congress is religiously unaffiliated, but more than one-in-five Americans are.
Hasnain says:
This is kind of surprising in that I thought Muslims were hated more than atheists; and I'm surprised that socialists polled that high.
"Not only that, but atheist is still far more of a minus than a plus for voters. According to one 2014 Pew poll, just over half of Americans said that knowing a presidential candidate was atheist would make them less likely to vote for that candidate; only 5 percent said "more likely" (the remaining 41 percent said it "wouldn't matter")."
Posted on 2017-01-04T15:41:14+0000
Why Recursive Data Structures?
In this essay, we are going to look at recursive algorithms, and how sometimes, we can organize an algorithm so that it resembles the data structure it manipulates, and organize a data structure so that it resembles the algorithms that manipulate it.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T14:42:56+0000
SELECT * FROM MOVIES
www.selectstarfrommovies.com
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T14:36:37+0000
The UBI already exists for the 1%
The universal basic income — a cash payment made to every individual in the country — has been critiqued recently by some commentators…
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T14:31:38+0000
Getting Past C
One of the medium-term possibilities we’re seriously considering forNTPsec is moving the entire codebase out of C into a language with nobuffer overrun...
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T14:30:04+0000
Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture? | Hacker News
* With few exceptions, engineers aren't hired for a specific team; they go through bootcamp where they get exposure to all parts of the stack and tasks from different teams.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T14:29:51+0000
research!rsc: Lock-Free Bugs
[I wrote this post in mid-2014 for debuggers.co, which seems to have gone at least partly defunct, so I am reproducing it here. That site collected answers from programmers to the prompt “What’s the most interesting bug you’ve encountered?”]
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T14:24:12+0000
The Boston Diaries
The ongoing sage of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.” Go figure.
Long-term stress erodes memory
Sustained stress erodes memory, and the immune system plays a key role in the cognitive impairment, according to a new study from researchers at The Ohio State University. The work in mice could one day lead to treatment for repeated, long-term mental assault such as that sustained by bullyin
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2017-01-04T14:21:39+0000
California to drivers: Starting Sunday, don’t hold that cellphone
A new California law bans any handheld use of a cellphone while driving. Drivers must mount their cellphones on the dash or windshield, and must limit themselves to one touch or swipe of the phone. It’s meant to stop people from using apps and shooting videos while driving.
Hasnain says:
I see the pluses here, but it'll suck to not be able to reroute while at a light or something.
Posted on 2017-01-01T10:30:14+0000