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Of course US birth rates are falling – this is a harsh place to have a family

The US is one of only four countries in the world with no government-subsidized maternity leave while 36% of the workforce are contract laborers with no access to benefits

Click to view the original at theguardian.com

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Why we should bulldoze the business school

The long read: There are 13,000 business schools on Earth. That’s 13,000 too many. And I should know – I’ve taught in them for 20 years

Click to view the original at theguardian.com

Hasnain says:

"As someone who has taught in business schools for decades, this sort of finding doesn’t surprise me, though others suggest rather more incendiary findings. One US survey compared MBA students to people who were imprisoned in low-security prisons and found that the latter were more ethical. Another suggested that the likelihood of committing some form of corporate crime increased if the individual concerned had experience of graduate business education, or military service. (Both careers presumably involve absolving responsibility to an organisation.) Other surveys suggest that students come in believing in employee wellbeing and customer satisfaction and leave thinking that shareholder value is the most important issue, and that business-school students are more likely to cheat than students in other subjects."

Posted on 2018-05-29T04:02:49+0000

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‘Spider-Man,’ a Migrant in Paris, Scales Building to Save a Child

Mamoudou Gassama, from Mali, crawled up several balconies to pull the child to safety. The French president said Mr. Gassama would be granted legal status.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

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Zero-Overhead Tree Processing with the Visitor Pattern

The Visitor Pattern is one of the most mis-understood of the classic design patterns. While it has a reputation as a slightly roundabout technique for doing simple processing on simple trees, it is actually an advanced tool for a specific use case: flexible, streaming, zero-overhead processing of co...

Click to view the original at www.lihaoyi.com

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Hasnain says:

"He was unfazed by the critics. "Money is not the issue," Masuoka said. "I just want to continue with research and development. Japanese engineers must be rewarded.""

Posted on 2018-05-27T18:19:59+0000

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The Importance of Deep Work & The 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

The tech industry, especially the security industry, seems outrageously overwhelming to newcomers and even as an intermediate “InfoSec Pro” there seems to be an overwhelming number of paths and topics one can focus on. The problem most of us, especially newcomers, encounter is that we don’t kn...

Click to view the original at azeria-labs.com

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Curb Cuts - 99% Invisible

If you live in an American city and you don’t personally use a wheelchair, it’s easy to overlook the small ramp at most intersections, between the sidewalk and the street. Today, these curb cuts are everywhere, but fifty years ago — when an activist named Ed Roberts was young — most urban c...

Click to view the original at 99percentinvisible.org

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Hasnain says:

“During the six weeks I spend building a mini-website, I learn some valuable lessons. The most important is that computers are insanely literal and pedantic. An absent colon or extraneous bracket is easy to miss and is likely to cause the machine to stare at you uncomprehendingly, metaphorical fingers drumming on the table. One high-end programmer tells me how she spent six months hunting a bug within a big system, knowing others had tried and failed, finally tracking the problem to an underscore that should have been a dash. A shift-devil, she calls it. No wonder coders can appear nervy and terse to outsiders.”

Posted on 2018-05-26T22:59:32+0000

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Amazon set to drop $1billion on TV adaptation of sci-fi novel Obama once called 'immense'

Amazon seems determined to have a Game of Thrones-sized success of its own, recently teaming up with J.R.R. Tolkien’s for a Lord of the Rings TV series that could reportedly cost up to $500 million.

Click to view the original at independent.co.uk

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NASA is bringing cryosleep chambers out of fiction and into science

You probably thought it was infinitely cool when Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo first emerged from their cryosleep chambers in Alien, but now that slice of sci-fi could become a reality in our lifetime.

Click to view the original at syfy.com

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Opinion | Antibiotics in Meat Could Be Damaging Our Guts

The F.D.A. banned the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in animals last year. One organic cattle farmer is sure the ban is being flouted.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

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Why did I spend 1.5 months creating a Gameboy emulator? · tomek's blog

For me, the most favorite type of a computer program is an emulator. Being able to run code from a completely different hardware architecture always seemed like a magic. The old computers are great on their own, so this kind of connection between historic machines and the modern computing environmen...

Click to view the original at blog.rekawek.eu

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GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

Blocking 500 million users is a serious thing. Still, I have found sites that have decided to implement the most secure way to comply with the new GDPR: Block all EU users! Yes, it's hard to believe that somebody takes such a drastic decision, but it's happening. Trying to walk in the shoes of these...

Click to view the original at apility.io

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Hasnain says:

“And while anyone convicted of two or more murders is banned from Facebook, a single homicide won’t get someone exiled from the land of the “Like” button—unless the individual posts an update about it. (The reason: While people may commit a single homicide accidentally or in self-defense, it is easier to establish intent with a multiple murderer; meanwhile, no users are allowed to promote or publicize crime of any kind.)”

Whoa, today I learnt...

Posted on 2018-05-25T03:11:21+0000

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We Sat Down With the ‘Arrested Development’ Cast. It Got Raw.

In a wide-ranging conversation about the new season, cast members got emotional as they discussed accusations of sexual misconduct against Jeffrey Tambor.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

Hasnain says:

"WALTER: But it’s hard because honestly — Jason says this happens all the time. In like almost 60 years of working, I’ve never had anybody yell at me like that on a set. And it’s hard to deal with, but I’m over it now. I just let it go right here, for The New York Times."

Posted on 2018-05-24T05:06:17+0000

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I.R.S. Warns States Not to Circumvent State and Local Tax Cap

The I.R.S. warned states like New York that efforts to circumvent the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction would not pass muster with the federal government.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

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China's social credit system has blocked people from taking 11 million flights and 4 million train trips

The social credit system is made up of blacklists punishing citizens for bad behavior by preventing people from traveling, getting loans or jobs, or staying in hotels, and also by limiting internet access. A national system that scores citizens has been compared to "Black Mirror."

Click to view the original at businessinsider.com

Hasnain says:

This is scary.

"Some provinces play a recorded message when someone tries to call a blacklisted debtor, informing the caller that the person they want to speak with has outstanding debts. And in May, a short cartoon with the photographs of debtors' faces began playing at movie theatres, on buses, and on public noticeboards with a voiceover that said: "Come, come, look at these [debtors]. It's a person who borrows money and doesn't pay it back.""

Posted on 2018-05-23T23:43:15+0000

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FBI repeatedly overstated encryption threat figures to Congress, public

The bureau blames a software error for the testimony and speeches given by Director Christopher Wray that inflated the number of locked phones inhibiting investigations.

Click to view the original at washingtonpost.com

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Scientist reveals likely cause of childhood leukemia: Landmark paper sets out 'unified theory' for cause of childhood leukemia -- and finds it is likely to be preventable

A major new analysis reveals for the first time the likely cause of most cases of childhood leukemia, following more than a century of controversy about its origins.

Click to view the original at sciencedaily.com

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Saints and Charlatans

Saints and Charlatans’ by Sarim Baig is a collection of interlinked stories set in contemporary Pakistani Punjab. It explores how the increasing intolerance of society compels individuals to become either saints or charlatans, and how it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference. In t...

Click to view the original at amazon.com

Hasnain says:

I finally finished this book yesterday. It was really refreshing to read something set in Pakistan - and not only that, but a collection of short stories that are intriguing, deep, and thought provoking at the same time.

Not only that - the stories are in the same setting and are connected, which is a technical feat I’m impressed by.

Thanks for writing such a great set of stories, Sarim :)

Oh and it’s free if you’re on kindle unlimited. What are you waiting for?

Posted on 2018-05-22T04:28:05+0000

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Coming to Netflix: The Obamas Sign Deal to Produce Show

Mr. Obama has told associates that he does not intend to use the new platform to wage a public campaign against his successor in the Oval Office.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

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Netflix is basically remaking all of TV now

Teen dramas, yes. Prestige comedies, yes. Reality TV, yes. You'll be able to find almost any type of show on Netflix soon.

Click to view the original at qz.com

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LocationSmart API Vulnerability

On May 16th, I found a vulnerability in the LocationSmart website which allowed anyone, with no prior authentication or consent, to obtain the realtime location of any cellphone in the US to within…

Click to view the original at robertxiao.ca

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Hasnain says:

So much truth here. Worth a full read.

"It’s going to take something from each of us, too, and perhaps especially from those who happen to be the momentary winners of this cycle in the game. We need to peel our eyes away from the mirror of our own success and think about what we can do in our everyday lives for the people who aren’t our neighbors. We should be fighting for opportunities for other people’s children as if the future of our own children depended on it. It probably does."

Posted on 2018-05-17T03:31:16+0000

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The Entire Economy Is MoviePass Now. Enjoy It While You Can.

Inspired by Silicon Valley’s hyper-growth, companies elsewhere are burning cash in hopes of being the next big thing.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

Hasnain says:

"For consumers who are willing to do their research, though, this can be a golden age of deals. We can get our “Avengers: Infinity War” tickets and pecan-crusted salmon meal kits, reaping the benefits of artificially cheap goods and services while investors soak up the losses. The current crop of money-losing companies may not survive forever, but as long as someone is willing to keep funding these types of gambles, there’s no reason to stop enjoying the fruits of their optimism."

Posted on 2018-05-16T21:58:52+0000

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US cell carriers are selling access to your real-time phone location data

The company embroiled in a privacy row has "direct connections" to all major US wireless carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint -- and Canadian cell networks, too.

Click to view the original at zdnet.com

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Why Traditional TV Is in Trouble

Dropping ratings, especially among young people, and more viewing options mean broadcast TV is in a precarious position as it pitches itself to advertisers.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

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GDPR will pop the adtech bubble

In The Big Short, investor Michael Burry says “One hallmark of mania is the rapid rise in the incidence and complexity of fraud.” (Burry shorted the mania- and fraud-filled subprime mor…

Click to view the original at blogs.harvard.edu

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Man Allegedly Used Change Of Address Form To Move UPS Headquarters To His Apartment

Prosecutors say he received thousands of pieces of mail intended for the company, including checks and corporate credit cards. He is now facing federal charges.

Click to view the original at npr.org

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Able, Allowed, Should; Navigating Modern Tech Ethics

I want to share a talk I gave on the design track at SXSW in early March of this year. This talk was inspired by a deeply held belief that…

Click to view the original at medium.com

Hasnain says:

“After reading his story, we invited him to Facebook to talk about his experience. His talk deeply influenced the design team and one thing he said was turned into a memorable poster by our Analog Research Lab: “When you say “Edge Case” you’re really just defining the limits of what you care about”.”

Posted on 2018-05-09T17:15:41+0000

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Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

Posted by Yaniv Leviathan, Principal Engineer and Yossi Matias, Vice President, Engineering, Google A long-standing goal of human-comput...

Click to view the original at ai.googleblog.com

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96-Year-Old Secretary Quietly Amasses Fortune, Then Donates $8.2 Million

A frugal woman from Brooklyn, who rode the subway to work at one law firm for 67 years, left millions for students at Henry Street Settlement and Hunter College.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

Hasnain says:

“She was a secretary in an era when they ran their boss’s lives, including their personal investments,” recalled her niece Jane Lockshin. “So when the boss would buy a stock, she would make the purchase for him, and then buy the same stock for herself, but in a smaller amount because she was on a secretary’s salary.”

Posted on 2018-05-07T04:37:20+0000

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Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as young tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

A new study one-in-four recent STEM graduates from three of the country’s top universities were working outside Canada

Click to view the original at theglobeandmail.com

Hasnain says:

"Pearl Sullivan, the dean of Waterloo’s engineering school, disputed the assertion that a high number of Waterloo students head south after graduation, maintaining that 85 per cent of alumni list a Canadian address as their preferred point of contact. According to the university, migration rates have dropped sharply since 2000 and are now around 10 per cent."

Posted on 2018-05-05T17:42:33+0000

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The Man Who Cracked the Lottery

When the Iowa attorney general’s office began investigating an unclaimed lottery ticket worth millions, an incredible string of unlikely winners came to light - and a trail that pointed to an inside job.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

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Google vs. Google: How Nonstop Political Arguments Rule Its Workplace

The tech giant, trying to navigate an age of heightened political disagreement, struggles to tame a workplace culture of nonstop debate. Often organized by small groups of employees, the discussions have turned the tech giant’s headquarters into something resembling a college campus.

Click to view the original at wsj.com

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Building games that can be understood at a glance

I've been making games on the iphone for a long time, almost since the beginning... and one thing that struck me early on was how differently I discovered iPhone games versus games on other platforms.

Click to view the original at stfj.net