IBM to Buy Red Hat, the Top Linux Distributor, for $34 Billion
The deal is a big move to bring more software developers under IBM’s corporate wing and hints at a bigger push into cloud computing.
Hasnain says:
Uhh what
“IBM is making a big move to bring more software developers under its corporate wing by acquiring Red Hat, the largest distributor of the popular open source operating system Linux, for $34 billion.”
Posted on 2018-10-28T19:37:15+0000
The Waiting Time Paradox, or, Why Is My Bus Always Late? | Pythonic Perambulations
The Waiting Time Paradox, or, Why Is My Bus Always Late? Thu 13 September 2018 Image Source: Wikipedia License CC-BY-SA 3.0 If you, like me, frequently commute via public transit, you may be familiar with the following situation: You arrive at the bus stop, ready to catch your bus: a line that adver...
Hasnain says:
This was a really cool analysis with ... math! and numbers! Highly recommend reading in detail
"The larger lesson here is that you should be careful about the assumptions you bring to any data analysis task. A Poisson process is a good description for arrival time data — sometimes. But just because one type of data sounds like another type of data, it does not mean that assumptions valid for one are necessarily valid for the other. Often assumptions that seem correct on their face can lead to conclusions that don't match reality."
Posted on 2018-10-28T19:02:27+0000
Why Private Equity Is Furious Over a Paper in a Dermatology Journal
The sudden, unexplained removal of a research paper on private equity firms buying dermatology practices has raised questions about corporate influence.
Hasnain says:
“Early this month, a respected medical journal published a research paper on its website that analyzed the effects of a business trend roiling the field of dermatology: the rapid entrance of private equity firms into the specialty by buying and running practices around the country.
Eight days later, after an outcry from private equity executives and dermatologists associated with private equity firms, the editor of the publication removed the paper from the site. No reason was given.”
Posted on 2018-10-27T15:22:32+0000
Heavy multitaskers have reduced memory
People who frequently engage with multiple types of media at once performed worse on simple memory tasks, according to the last decade of research. However, it’s still too soon to determine cause and effect, says psychology Professor Anthony Wagner.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-10-27T02:24:48+0000
Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?
Invented centuries ago in France, the bidet has never taken off in the States. That might be changing.
Hasnain says:
Fascinating read on bidets
“Throughout this bidet boom, the United States resisted its appeal, and the reason might have been the power of first impressions. Americans were introduced to bidets on a broad scale during World War II, when troops were stationed in Europe. GIs visiting bordellos would often see bidets in the bathrooms, so they began to associate these basins with sex work. Given America’s puritanical past, it makes sense that, once back home, servicemen would feel squeamish presenting these fixtures to their homeland.”
Posted on 2018-10-22T03:45:36+0000
How to Optimize Your Apology (Ep. 353) - Freakonomics
You said, “I’m sorry,” but somehow you haven’t been forgiven. Why? Because you’re doing it wrong! A report from the front lines of apology science.
Hasnain says:
This was a very interesting read on both data, economics research, and human feelings
Posted on 2018-10-20T18:50:06+0000
Saudis’ Image Makers: A Troll Army and a Twitter Insider
The kingdom silences dissent online by sending operatives to swarm critics. It also recruited a Twitter employee suspected of spying on users, interviews show.
Hasnain says:
"Twitter executives first became aware of a possible plot to infiltrate user accounts at the end of 2015, when Western intelligence officials told them that the Saudis were grooming an employee, Ali Alzabarah, to spy on the accounts of dissidents and others, according to five people briefed on the matter. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly."
Posted on 2018-10-20T17:13:35+0000
Harvard’s Admissions Process, Once Secret, Is Unveiled in Affirmative Action Trial
A lawsuit accusing one of the country’s most selective universities of discriminating against Asian-Americans is providing a glimpse into how admissions officers decide “yea” or “nay.”
Hasnain says:
Having to air out their secret sauce in public seems ... painful, but likely for the greater good here?
Posted on 2018-10-20T07:12:56+0000
I woke up unable to speak English
Hannah Jenkins survived a cycling accident - but woke up no longer being able to understand English.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-10-20T07:12:09+0000
Japan's Hometown Tax | Kalzumeus Software
Japan's Hometown Tax October 19, 2018 in japan This is outside of my normal software-focused beat, but I met some folks who were very interested in public policy recently. I found, to my surprise, that I probably understand one innovative Japanese tax policy better than very well-informed people who...
Hasnain says:
This was a fascinating tale of economic incentives, game theory, and tax system loopholes
Posted on 2018-10-20T06:48:27+0000
Gmail Creator and YC Partner Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer and Happiness
Paul Buchheit is an engineer and partner at Y Combinator. He was the 23rd employee at Google, where he built Gmail and the first prototype for Adsense. After leaving Google he co-founded Friendfeed, which was acquired by Facebook. Triplebyte co-founder and CEO, Harj Taggar, sat down with Paul to tal...
Graduate Student Solves Quantum Verification Problem | Quanta Magazine
Urmila Mahadev spent eight years in graduate school solving one of the most basic questions in quantum computation: How do you know whether a quantum computer
Hasnain says:
“Mahadev could have graduated on the strength of these results, but she was determined to keep working until she had solved the verification problem. “I was never thinking of graduation, because my goal was never graduation,” she said.”
Posted on 2018-10-15T05:17:13+0000
This Is The Real Reason We Haven’t Directly Detected Dark Matter
Finding the particle we assume is responsible for dark matter has always been a guessing game. We guessed wrong.
Google Exposed User Data, Feared Repercussions of Disclosing to Public
Google exposed the private data of hundreds of thousands of users of the Google+ social network, though it didn’t find evidence of misuse. The company opted not to disclose the issue this past spring, in part because of fears doing so would draw regulatory scrutiny.
Hasnain says:
What a few week(s). Google+ is apparently shutting down as a result
Posted on 2018-10-08T17:28:27+0000
Key climate report urges deep rapid change
A new study urges rapid and fundamental changes "in all aspects of society" to limit climate warming.
Hasnain says:
“Scientists might want to write in capital letters, 'ACT NOW IDIOTS', but they need to say that with facts and numbers," said Kaisa Kosonen, from Greenpeace, who was an observer at the negotiations. "And they have."
The researchers have used these facts and numbers to paint a picture of the world with a dangerous fever, caused by humans. We used to think if we could keep warming below 2 degrees this century then the changes we would experience would be manageable.”
Writing system software: code comments. - <antirez>
antirez 22 hours ago. 32798 views. For quite some time I’ve wanted to record a new video talking about code comments for my "writing system software" series on YouTube. However, after giving it some thought, I realized that the topic was better suited for a blog post, so here we are. In this post ...
The Startup Industry explained by someone who doesn’t understand it
When I was asked to write about startups as an outsider, I thought about how well the premise fit me. Unfortunately, it fit me too well, I realized as I scratched my head and wondered what a startup was and how I would go about writing an article titled “Startup Industry Explained”. With the iro...
Hasnain says:
This was the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time - and still very informative at the same time
Posted on 2018-10-06T20:15:35+0000
stuffwithstuff
This is the personal domain of me, Bob Nystrom. Here’s a bit about me, or at least the subset of me that exists on the web:
Hasnain says:
Watching a talk on game design and architecture from someone who has:
* written a pretty definitive book on game programming patterns
* is writing a book on writing languages
* has a bunch of code up as open source
* works on programming languages for their day job
Cue impostor syndrome in... too late, already happened
Posted on 2018-10-06T19:21:19+0000
The Coders Programming Themselves Out of a Job
When workers automate their own duties, who should reap the benefits?
Hasnain says:
“In 1932, Bertrand Russell wrote that “a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by the belief in the virtuousness of work, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organized diminution of work.” In 2018, that might mean self-automators reclaiming parts of their work day; tomorrow, it could mean working to secure automated gains for the masses. “I worry quite a bit that there really isn’t enough work to go around for everyone to work full-time,” Todd Hilehoffer said. “Why is earning money for stockholders more important than employee quality of life?” Gary, the early-’90s self-automator, asked me. “The system shouldn't be more important than the individuals who helped make that system relevant.””
Posted on 2018-10-03T04:31:51+0000
Infinitroid - Did I just waste 3 years? - Dev Blog
My mind was circling around some staggering recent game industry stats, and some foreboding writings from prominent indie developers. And around the fact that, for the 3 years I've invested on this project, only 4 copies have sold so far.
Hasnain says:
“Like most gamers, I have a backlog of dozens of purchased-but-never-played Steam games picked up at ridiculously low prices from Humble Bundles, Steam sales, etc. Does the world need any more games at this point?”
Posted on 2018-10-01T05:02:59+0000