The Era of Very Low Inflation and Interest Rates May Be Near an End
Moves in global bond markets over the last few months suggest changing expectations about prices.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-29T17:44:07+0000
User IDs probably shouldn't be passed around as ints
Let's say you have a web site which has logins of some sort. That's not too much of a stretch, right? I imagine many of the people reading this have crossed paths with such a thing in their careers. Have you ever really thought about how those logins are stored internally in terms of data structures...
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-29T17:40:53+0000
A few thoughts on Ray Ozzie’s “Clear” Proposal
Yesterday I happened upon a Wired piece by Steven Levy that covers Ray Ozzie’s proposal for “CLEAR”. I’m quoted at the end of the piece (saying nothing much), so I knew the piece was coming. …
Click to view the original at blog.cryptographyengineering.com
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-28T19:21:12+0000
Relative's DNA from genealogy websites cracked East Area Rapist case, DA's office says
Sacramento investigators tracked down East Area Rapist suspect Joseph James DeAngelo using genealogical websites that contained DNA information from a relative, the District Attorney's Office said Thursday, April 26, 2018.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-28T17:45:47+0000
Magnasanti: The Largest and Most Terrifying SimCity
This picture may appear to be a collection of color fields without meaning or purpose, but there is a ton of math and evil genius behind this image. This is a view of Magnasanti, the metropolis tha…
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-28T17:43:55+0000
Authorities have been looking for the Golden State Killer for 40 years. They've arrested an ex-cop
Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer, has been identified as the so-called Golden State Killer believed to have committed 12 killings and at least 50 rapes across California from 1976 to 1986, authorities said.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-26T17:56:08+0000
Why I've lost faith in p values
There has been a lot written over the past decade (and even longer) about problems associated with null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST) and p values. Personally, I have found most of these arguments unconvincing. However, one of the problems with p values has been gnawing at
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-25T11:10:30+0000
The Top Jobs Where Women Are Outnumbered by Men Named John
Our Glass Ceiling Index finds skewed gender representation and ethnic sameness in many institutions of American politics, culture and education.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-24T17:37:17+0000
Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Win – and Neither Did His Campaign
One year ago: the plan to lose, and the administration’s shocked first days.
Hasnain says:
I might need to get the book after this.
"He reprimanded the housekeeping staff for picking up his shirt from the floor: “If my shirt is on the floor, it’s because I want it on the floor.” Then he imposed a set of new rules: Nobody touch anything, especially not his toothbrush. (He had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald’s — nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade.) Also, he would let housekeeping know when he wanted his sheets done, and he would strip his own bed."
Posted on 2018-04-24T17:12:06+0000
Thirty Years Ago, the Challenger Crew Plunged Alive and Aware to Their Deaths
On January 28, 1986, America watched on television as the space shuttle Challenger—carrying six astronauts and one schoolteacher—disappeared in a twisting cloud of smoke, nine miles above the launch pad it had just left. To a stunned nation, it appeared that seven lives had instantly been lost.
Hasnain says:
"But the myth of instantaneous and inevitable death won out. That was the story NASA wanted told, the story it was safe to tell the schoolchildren who’d watched it happen. The Tropic investigation is nowhere to be found in the Miami Herald’s anniversary coverage, nor does the paper appear to have put a version online at all."
Posted on 2018-04-24T14:13:14+0000
Rethinking GPS: Engineering Next-Gen Location at Uber
Uber’s Sensing, Inference, and Research team released a software upgrade for GPS on Android phones that significantly improves location accuracy in urban environments.
The Case for the Subway
It built the city. Now, no matter the cost — at least $100 billion — the city must rebuild it to survive.
Hasnain says:
This was a great read. I learnt about history, politics, sociology, economics, and about the Subway in one go.
Long but worth it
Posted on 2018-04-24T04:03:53+0000
He Stole $100 Million From His Clients. Now He’s Living in Luxury
Victims have grown skeptical they will ever see justice.
Hasnain says:
"For Reissfelder, who has spent more than $1 million funding his private investigation, going after Gaglio is no longer just about the money. “At some point, you have to sit down and think: What is the cost-benefit analysis here?” he says. The smile on his face gives way to a look of determination. “If there are no consequences, then the world is seriously broken.”"
Posted on 2018-04-24T03:51:34+0000
Everyone Wants To Go Home During Extra Innings — Maybe Even The Umps
The team that’s closer to winning tends to get more favorable ball and strike calls when the game goes into extras.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-23T05:53:24+0000
How Airports Became the Marble-Floored Temples of Our National, Fear-Fueled Psychosis
America’s ultimate civic space has been riven by its many internal borders.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-23T05:42:44+0000
From the Green Book to Facebook, how black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
A historical travel guide once listed safe pit stops for black motorists. When a family sought similar advice last year, they were deluged with replies
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-23T05:35:31+0000
Opinion | The Democrats’ Gentrification Problem
Allies on Election Day, the two wings of the Democratic Party are growing further estranged in other aspects of their lives.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-23T04:32:06+0000
How the Elderly Lose Their Rights
Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent—and reap a profit from it.
Hasnain says:
This article was very depressing and made me lose some faith in humanity.
I didn't know whether to share the quote about how one of the folks managed to get a courtroom shutdown, but this took precedence:
"Parks and other private guardians appeared to gravitate toward patients who had considerable assets. O’Malley described a 2010 case in which Parks, after receiving a tip from a social worker, began “cold-calling” rehabilitation centers, searching for a seventy-nine-year-old woman, Patricia Smoak, who had nearly seven hundred thousand dollars and no children. Parks finally found her, but Smoak’s physician wouldn’t sign a certificate of incapacity. “The doctor is not playing ball,” Parks wrote to her lawyer. She quickly found a different doctor to sign the certificate, and Norheim approved the guardianship. (Both Parks and Norheim declined to speak with me.)"
Posted on 2018-04-23T00:34:09+0000
U.S. Stood By as Indonesia Killed a Half-Million People, Papers Show
The killings in 1965-66 played to anti-Communist attitudes, and U.S. diplomats mostly stayed silent while tallying the deaths, documents show.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-23T00:07:43+0000
Raqqa’s dirty secret
The BBC has uncovered details of a secret deal that let hundreds of IS fighters – including foreign militants - and their families escape from Raqqa in Syria. In exchange for freeing hostages, a convoy which stretched for miles, was able to leave the city freely - under the gaze of the US and UK-l...
Hasnain says:
"Has the pact, which stood as Raqqa’s dirty secret, unleashed a threat to the outside world - one that has enabled militants to spread far and wide across Syria and beyond?
Great pains were taken to hide it from the world. But the BBC has spoken to dozens of people who were either on the convoy, or observed it, and to the men who negotiated the deal."
Posted on 2018-04-22T23:36:02+0000
Blind since birth, writing code at Amazon since 2013
Michael Forzano said he has a good “mental map of the structure of the code,” which allows him to help colleagues and provide unique feedback to his team.
In 1973, I invented a ‘girly drink’ called Baileys
We got £3,000 all-in for the creation of the world’s most successful cream liqueur
Hasnain says:
"People nowadays often ask me how much money we get per bottle sold. My answer is that we were paid about £3,000 all-in for the development – though the company did keep employing me for another 30 years."
Posted on 2018-04-22T03:14:41+0000
Algorithmic Arrangements
Tom Quisel, former CTO of OkCupid, discusses matching algorithms, designing for an inclusive user experiences, and the ethics of user experiments.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-22T00:51:12+0000
The Agency
From a nondescript office building in St. Petersburg, Russia, an army of well-paid “trolls” has tried to wreak havoc all around the Internet — and in real-life American communities.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-21T17:18:16+0000
The Great Pot Monopoly Mystery
Some very powerful people are trying to corner the market on legal weed. Who are they? And can they be stopped?
Hasnain says:
"Pot is an industry worth over $40 billion, which makes it the second-most-valuable crop in the U.S. after corn. And even though weed is still federally forbidden, it sounded like whoever was behind BioTech Institute had spent the past several years surreptitiously maneuvering to grab every marijuana farmer, vendor, and scientist in the country by the balls, so that once the drug became legal, all they’d have to do to collect payment is squeeze."
Posted on 2018-04-21T17:06:49+0000
How to Get Away with Spying for the Enemy
How does someone get away with helping a foreign adversary? Writer Sarah Laskow digs into the gonzo story of an American acquitted of spying for the Soviets—even after he confessed to it.
Hasnain says:
"Only Rewald and Smith claimed they had been on America’s side the whole time and had a lawyer with the bluster to try to sell that story. However flimsy that defense might have sounded to counterintelligence pros, to someone outside that world, Smith’s story might not seem entirely preposterous. The choice comes down to whose statements you trust more—people who work for the government, who make a living from keeping secrets or guy who, if he’s telling the truth, was betrayed by his own government. That betrayal seemed all too possible."
Posted on 2018-04-21T17:00:40+0000
The Giant, Under Attack
One of America’s biggest rehab companies built an empire. But after a patient named Gary Benefield died, its enemies — investors and business rivals alike — struck hard.
Hasnain says:
This was a sad story.
"From his first phone call to his death, Mr. Benefield’s relationship with A Better Tomorrow lasted a mere two days. Compressed into those 48 hours is a case study in how financial pressures and business motivations can collide with the needs and expectations of the fragile patients who represent the industry’s bread and butter."
Posted on 2018-04-21T05:30:04+0000
Why Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore | Backchannel
Teens now have so many ways to connect and communicate that there’s no need to gather in person. The party is constant, and it’s on Snapchat.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-21T05:17:57+0000
As Flow of Foreign Students Wanes, U.S. Universities Feel the Sting
Colleges have cut programs amid a drop in international enrollment tied to several factors, including more restrictive immigration policies.
Hasnain says:
"For years, American colleges had been staking their futures on continued growth in foreign students, and after the recession a decade ago, those students were a lifeline for colleges that had poured money into new buildings and amenities. In just the past six months, the University of Akron opened an international center in an existing building and hired 10 employees to work in international programming. The president, Matthew Wilson, said that students from India were reporting increased scrutiny of their visa applications, one of the reasons for a drop of about 200 international students.'
Posted on 2018-04-21T04:52:59+0000
Why Is It Hard to Make Friends Over 30?
The period for making B.F.F.’s, the way you did in your teens or early 20s, is pretty much over. It’s time to resign yourself to situational adult friends.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-21T04:43:01+0000
Food Stall Serves Up A Social Experiment: White Customers Asked To Pay More
To highlight racial income disparity, a chef in New Orleans opened a food stall at which he asked whites to pay $30 and people of color to pay $12 for the same meal. How did it play out?
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-21T04:40:00+0000
Toxic management cost an award-winning game studio its best developers
A shocking window into the $36 billion video game industry and how it can burn out its most valuable employees.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-21T04:38:29+0000
Quantitative Trading Summary – Headlands Technologies LLC Blog
Posted on August 3, 2017August 4, 2017 by Max Dama, Quantitative ResearcherQuantitative Trading Summary This summary is an attempt to shed some light on modern quantitative trading since there is limited information available for people who are not already in the industry. Hopefully this is useful f...
Hasnain says:
"This summary is an attempt to shed some light on modern quantitative trading since there is limited information available for people who are not already in the industry"
Posted on 2018-04-19T04:53:28+0000
You thought quantum mechanics was weird: check out entangled time – Elise Crull | Aeon Ideas
In the summer of 1935, the physicists Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger engaged in a rich, multifaceted and sometimes fretful correspondence about the implications of the new theory of quantum mechanics. The focus of their worry was what Schrö...
Hasnain says:
" ‘One has the feeling that it is precisely the most important statements of the new theory that can really be squeezed into these Spanish boots – but only with difficulty.’"
Posted on 2018-04-19T04:45:45+0000
How poverty changes your mind-set
Understanding psychology may be key to addressing the problem
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-19T04:34:25+0000
The Tipping Equation
At restaurants across America, servers calculate how far is too far, weighing harassing behavior against the tips they need to make a living wage.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-19T04:29:12+0000
Why do we work so hard?
Ryan Avent reckons that our jobs have become prisons from which we don’t want to escape
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-19T04:27:00+0000
‘I was a teacher for 17 years - but I couldn’t read’
John Corcoran graduated from university and became a teacher for 17 years - but he had an extraordinary secret.
Experience: I've played a game of tag for 23 years
Joe Tombari: 'Now we are grown men, we don't run like Usain Bolt, so subterfuge and collusion have become our weapons'
Hasnain says:
I saw the trailer but I thought this part was exaggerated until I read it
“Perhaps one of the most unexpected tags was during Mike's father's funeral. During the service, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find Joe mouthing, "You're it." Afterwards, he said his father would have approved, because he found our game hilarious.”
Posted on 2018-04-16T00:02:19+0000
Why South Asia’s majorities act like persecuted minorities
No conspiracy theory about minorities is too implausible to cause outrage
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-14T01:29:32+0000
The NFL’s plan to protect America from witches | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The NFL’s cheerleader problem shows exactly what’s wrong with the league’s management: They insist on being the self-appointed guardians of America’s mythological vision of itself
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2018-04-08T23:06:08+0000
My Father, in Four Visits over Thirty Years
I know that Baba will never live in the West with us. It would end him, his big personality, his glorious sense of himself.
Hasnain says:
This was a sad but interesting human interest story
Posted on 2018-04-01T21:05:45+0000
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine postmortem
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is out! I served as the game’s editor and staff writer. It was an incredibly complicated project: twenty-four writers worked on it. The game is so large and s…
Hasnain says:
"There is really nothing like actually seeing what the player will see! Please make your video game editors useful text tools!"
Posted on 2018-04-01T17:28:15+0000
Crash Bandicoot: An oral history
A deep look back at PlayStation’s blockbuster 1996 platformer, as told by those who were there.
Hasnain says:
This was an amazing read.
"The game we designed for ourselves we called "Sonic's Ass," because it was turning Sonic into the screen, in which case you'd be looking a lot at his ass. "
Posted on 2018-04-01T03:43:45+0000
This Secretive Billionaire Makes The Cheese For Pizza Hut, Domino's And Papa John's
From Pizza Hut and Domino's to Little Caesars and Papa John's, the vast majority of pizzas in America feature mozzarella from one company. For the first time, secretive billionaire James Leprino explains how he built a cheese juggernaut.
Hasnain says:
"Quality is listed first intentionally. It's easy to mock his product (Frankencheese, anyone?), but Leprino Foods is one of the few dairy giants that have never had a recall. Every Monday at 11:30 a.m., Leprino walks down to the test kitchen along with two dozen of his most trusted executives for the weekly Monday Melts meeting like the one I attended. The executives test samples of the cheese produced for some 300 clients in 40 countries and check every complaint received the week before. "Your employees have got to know you're not a phony," he says. "They've got to believe in you."
Posted on 2018-04-01T01:55:07+0000