Syria’s Refugee Children Have Lost All Hope
Young Syrians living in Lebanon are attempting suicide in ever greater numbers.
Hasnain says:
“She was between life and death,” Sanaa says, stroking her daughter’s hair. “I asked her, ‘My daughter, why did you drink the poison?’ She said, ‘Mama, there are seven of us and you work and work to feed us, but you can’t keep up. Without me, there will be one less person to feed.’ When she said that, I couldn’t stop crying.”
Posted on 2016-07-02T07:25:56+0000
Mexican woman dies at age 117 just hours after receiving birth certificate
Trinidad Alvarez Lira had been waiting for years to obtain proof that she had been born in 1898 so she could claim government old age benefits
Hasnain says:
She died without getting a single check from the government because she couldn't prove she was old enough.
Now why anyone didn't just look at her and agree that she's over 60 is beyond me...
Posted on 2016-07-01T11:27:10+0000
The dying breed of craftsmen behind the tools that make scientific research possible
Hunkered down in the sub-basement of the Norman W. Church Laboratory for Chemical Biology, underneath a campus humming with quantum teleportation devices, gravity wave detectors and neural prosthetics, Rick Gerhart chipped away at a broken flask.
Hasnain says:
I wonder why they didn't prioritize having him train someone else.
Posted on 2016-06-30T02:33:44+0000
Remarks at the SASE Panel On The Moral Economy of Tech
This is the text version of remarks I gave on June 26, 2016, at a panel on the Moral Economy of Tech at the SASE conference in Berkeley. The other panel participants were Kieran Healy, Stuart Russell and AnnaLee Saxenian.
Hasnain says:
"We should not listen to people who promise to make Mars safe for human habitation, until we have seen them make Oakland safe for human habitation. We should be skeptical of promises to revolutionize transportation from people who can't fix BART, or have never taken BART. And if Google offers to make us immortal, we should check first to make sure we'll have someplace to live."
Posted on 2016-06-30T02:25:24+0000
Prime Real Estate: Amazon Has Swallowed Downtown Seattle
Having colonized the South Lake Union neighborhood, Seattle's largest private employer is building three giant spheres filled with trees—the better to connect employees with nature.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2016-06-30T02:19:00+0000
Today’s Renters Really Are Worse Off Than Their Parents
Sharp increases in rents along with stagnant incomes over the past five years have helped create a dire situation for many of the country's renters. A new report shows how those trends have actually been playing out for more than five decades.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2016-06-30T02:15:17+0000
Exercise Releases Brain-Healthy Protein
We all know that exercise is important for a strong and healthy body. Less appreciated is that exercise seems also to be important for a strong and healthy mind, boosting memory and learning, while…
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2016-06-29T06:50:42+0000
Why Google Stores Billions of Lines of Code in a Single Repository
Google's monolithic repository provides a common source of truth for tens of thousands of developers around the world.
When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers
Since the 2008 financial crisis, private equity firms have increasingly taken over public services like emergency care and firefighting, often with dire effects.
Hasnain says:
"In each of these cases, someone dialed 911 and Wall Street answered."
Posted on 2016-06-26T11:36:37+0000
If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, There’s Statistically No Chance She’ll Be Hired
But if there are two, her odds go way up.
Hasnain says:
" But the data does support one idea: When it is apparent that an individual is female or nonwhite, they are rated worse than when their sex or race is obscured."
Posted on 2016-06-26T11:21:30+0000