Hasnain says:

Well sourced, engaging article on the absolute misery the world (especially, France) put Haiti through. I learnt a lot from this one.

Minor qualms aside (a few exaggerated claims of being the 'first' to report on this; concerns around local experts not being cited) this is well written and worth a read.

"No country could be expected to come to Haiti’s defense. The world powers had frozen it out, refusing to officially acknowledge its independence. American lawmakers in particular did not want enslaved people in their own country to be inspired by Haiti’s self-liberation and rise up.

So, Haiti’s president, eager for the trade and security of international recognition, bowed to France’s demands. With that, Haiti set another precedent: It became the world’s first and only country where the descendants of enslaved people paid reparations to the descendants of their masters — for generations.

It is often called the “independence debt.” But that is a misnomer. It was a ransom."

Hasnain says:

Great human interest story that goes into some of the science behind multilingualism and how kids with disabilities are (and are not!) affected by it.

““In the U.S., what is so interesting is that we are probably the most plurilingual country in the world. We have a lot of languages that are being spoken,” she said. “But it's also one of the most aggressively ideologically monolingual countries in the world in that we really don't casually accept that multilingualism is normal and should be preserved.””

Hasnain says:

“On one hand, she explained that authorities are investigating the killings as a racially motivated hate crime carried out by an 18-year-old who reportedly wrote of his belief in a conspiracy theory that white Americans are being “replaced” by people of color through immigration, interracial marriage and integration.

“But I’m also supposed to tell you that that’s just one perspective,” Close recalled telling her students. “Another perspective is that this young man was out defending the world — or his kind — from being taken over.”

Close waited for her comment to fully register with her students, then added: “If you guys want to know why I’m thinking about quitting at the end of the year, it’s because of these types of policies — the fact that I have to have this conversation with you.””

Hasnain says:

“The search continues for a resolution to the apparent paradox, and with it, a better understanding of quantum theory. Such puzzles have been fruitful for physicists in the past. As John Wheeler once said, “No progress without a paradox!”

“If you ignore such questions,” Popescu said, “you’re never really going to … understand what quantum mechanics is.””

Hasnain says:

“Aveni also went in a floral direction—he said my party could start when nearby sunflowers faced a certain way—but my favorite idea of his was more interactive. “I’d give everybody a stick 12 inches long,” he said, “and I’d tell them, ‘Go out into your backyard, find a flat place, put the stick in the ground, and when [its shadow] reaches a certain point—maybe when it’s three feet from the base—that’s when I want you to come.”

So if you ever get a stick in the mail from me, you know you're in for a good time.”

Hasnain says:

“The stunning wins come as the party debates who is to blame for Biden’s sinking approval rating and increasingly dire forecasts of upcoming midterm losses. Party establishment figures have pointed the finger at the left for making unreasonable demands couched in slogans like “defund the police” that turn off voters. The progressive wing has countered that Biden’s popularity has sunk as centrist Democrats have slowly murdered his agenda, while the left has fought to enact it. “

Hasnain says:

Food for thought as I ponder the events of the last week.

“Just as in the Republican Party in the U.S., many in the right wing of Israel’s government have lost their way, and are damaging their country more than their enemies could. And just as in the U.S., the cure is to set aside euphemisms and both-sidesism and excuses and to acknowledge that both our countries are suffering the institutionalization of forms of racism that runs contrary to our espoused values, even if it is hardly contrary to the actual truth of the history in either nation.”

Hasnain says:

“So sure this isn't trivial. But it's also not impossible, and making this stuff work would improve the security of, well, everything. We literally have the technology to prevent attacks like Github suffered. What do we have to do to get people to actually start working on implementing that?”

Hasnain says:

My 2cents as a brown man: if I always have to “answer for my race” or “please tell me why Muslims hate us all”; why do republicans never have to answer for their ilk?

“Journalists and reporters must repeatedly hound Republican officials with follow up questions about this national security threat. Recall that Democrats and President Joe Biden still are asked about “defunding the police,” even though it is not a mainstream DNC position, or about critical race theory (CRT) panic even after it was revealed to be a bad-faith trojan horse created by right-wing activists to incite racial panic and anxiety.”

Hasnain says:

“When generics arrived in Java, I hated them. I thought the ratio of pain removed to complexity added was way too low. I don’t hate Go’s generics, which is actually pretty strong testimony given that I spent the best part of a couple of days fighting all the stuff described above.

But, my guess is the Go generics story is isn’t finished yet.”