being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage
on starting, doing, being, and becoming.
Hasnain says:
This hit home a lot today. Oof.
“Watch a four-year-old finger-paint. They don't create for Instagram likes or gallery walls or market validation. They create for the pure joy of watching colors bleed into each other, for the satisfying squish of paint between fingers, for the magic of making something exist that didn't exist before. They possess the freedom to create without the burden of expectation.
Learning anything as an adult means reclaiming this beginner's privilege. It means giving yourself permission to be bad at something, to create things that serve no purpose other than your own discovery and delight. The beginner's mind understands that mastery emerges from play, that excellence grows from experimentation, that the path to creating something great runs directly through creating many things that aren't great at all.”
Chasing Lost Languages
Author Laura Spinney on the 3 greatest revelations she had while writing Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global
Hasnain says:
"At the turn of the 14th century, when Latin was already dead except as a language of scholars and priests, a Tuscan writer called Dante Alighieri observed that many words were almost identical across the Romance languages. He went on to make the frankly heretical suggestion that this was because the various flavours of Romance were all descended from Latin. At the time, in Europe, there was no concept of language evolution. The Bible held that linguistic diversity and its corollary, mutual bewilderment, was the punishment visited on humanity by God for the impertinent construction of the Tower of Babel—and medieval Europeans took the Bible literally."
Posted on 2025-07-04T23:35:31+0000
BBC staff: we're forced to do pro-Israel PR
A devastating letter signed by over 100 BBC journalists underlines one of the great scandals of our age
Hasnain says:
“For more than a year now we’ve been aware that the BBC’s news output is out of step with reality. Audiences are being asked not to believe their own eyes and ears.
Anyone with a phone has seen the footage coming out of Gaza and the West Bank yet BBC News has tied itself in knots with notions of ‘complexity’.
Why have we taken a clear position on Ukraine and Russia when we fail to confidently assert facts when it comes to the Palestinian people? Robbie Gibb is at least part of the answer.
We raised these concerns so many times and we have not been listened to. We are speaking out because we must serve audiences better.”
Posted on 2025-07-04T02:55:18+0000
Mexican drug cartel used hacker to track FBI official, then killed potential FBI informants, government audit says | CNN Politics
The stunning new details offer a rare look at how technology can be exploited in the high-stakes battle between US law enforcement and the violent Mexican cartels that control illicit drug trade.
Hasnain says:
This is why opsec matters
“The hacker tracked people coming in and out of the US Embassy in Mexico City before zeroing in on the FBI’s assistant legal attache, a role that works closely with Mexican law enforcement, the report said, citing an FBI case agent at the time. The report did not identify the hacker.
“According to the case agent, the cartel used (information provided by the hacker) to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses,” says the inspector general report, which was a broader review of the FBI’s approach to protecting sensitive information and avoiding surveillance.”
Posted on 2025-06-29T01:43:20+0000
IDF soldiers ordered to shoot deliberately at unarmed Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid
***
Hasnain says:
We are now at the stage of the genocide where more soldiers are confessing out of guilt and the government is accusing its own soldiers and newspapers of blood libel
“"I was at a similar event. From what we heard, more than ten people were killed there," said another senior reserve officer commanding forces in the area. "When we asked why they opened fire, we were told it was an order from above and that the civilians had posed a threat to the troops. I can say with certainty that the people were not close to the forces and did not endanger them. It was pointless – they were just killed, for nothing. This thing called killing innocent people – it's been normalized. We were constantly told there are no noncombatants in Gaza, and apparently that message sank in among the troops."”
Posted on 2025-06-28T01:37:16+0000
The Most Detailed Map of New York City Mayoral Primary Results
See neighborhood-level election results from the first round of the mayoral race.
Hasnain says:
I am really worried about Mamdani's win. This is going to be very problematic.
How am I supposed to respond now when someone says "but baita, he is also 33, and he is mayor of NYC, what have you done in your life?"
Jokes aside though, I haven't been this excited/pumped about an election in a while, even though it's across the country. Also really surprised by the data that showed:
* Incomes under 50k: Cuomo +19
* 50-100k: Mamdani +6
* >100k: Mamdani +13
Congress, Now More Than Ever, Our Nation Needs Your Cowardice
Share This Editorial
Hasnain says:
"Take solace knowing you are not alone in this endeavor. Over the grand expanse of American history, there have been countless lawmakers who managed to summon up their complete lack of backbone and do the easy thing. Think of the members of Congress who turned a blind eye to Japanese American internment, McCarthyism, or the horrors of the Holocaust, all because doing something seemed a little too hard, a little too inconvenient. These men should be your inspiration. Never forget: You stand on the shoulders of spineless giants."
Posted on 2025-06-22T23:23:13+0000
Israel kills innocent Palestinians. Activists spray-paint a plane. Guess which the UK government calls terrorism | Sally Rooney
If Palestine Action becomes a proscribed group, writing these words of support could become a serious offence. It’s vital we fight this alarming attack on free speech, says writer Sally Rooney
Hasnain says:
“Palestine Action is not an armed group. It has never been responsible for any fatalities and does not pose any risk to the public. Its methods do involve property sabotage, which is, obviously, illegal. But if killing 23 civilians at an aid distribution site is not terrorism, how can we possibly be expected to accept that spray-painting a plane is? Law-abiding protest has so far failed to stop the genocide. More than 50,000 innocent children have been killed or injured. In what circumstances could civil disobedience ever be justified if not now?”
Posted on 2025-06-22T20:58:18+0000
U.S. Enters War With Iran, Striking Fordo Nuclear Site: Live Updates
President Trump announced the United States had struck Fordo, Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear facilities, as well as two other sites.
Hasnain says:
Pakistan nominated trump for a Nobel peace prize this morning and now this. What even is the world these days. It was good while it lasted
Posted on 2025-06-22T00:17:31+0000
We Can Just Measure Things
Using programming agents to measure measuring developer productivity.
Hasnain says:
“When an agent struggles, so does a human. There is a lot of code and tooling out there which is objectively not good, but because of one reason or another became dominant. If you want to start paying attention to technology choices or you want to start writing your own libraries, now you can use agents to evaluate the developer experience.
Because so can your users. I can confidently say it's not just me that does not like Xcode, my agent also expresses frustration — measurably so.”
Posted on 2025-06-20T04:47:57+0000