In Pakistan, Heat Waves and the Holy Month Don’t Mix
Piety and high temperatures are killing the residents of Karachi, the world’s third-largest city.
Hasnain says:
"But it really wasn’t the lack of electricity or even the heat that killed these 1,000 people. What killed them was the forced piety enshrined in our law and Karachi’s contempt for the working poor. These people died because we long ago removed any shade that could shelter them from the June sun and then took away their drinking water. When they were about to die, we rushed them to hospitals in ambulances paid for by charities and gave them medicines paid for by charities. We gave them white sheets to recuperate in if they survived, and when they didn’t, those white sheets became their shrouds. Karachi’s hospitals are now awash with chilled bottles of Nestlé water donated by the kindhearted people of the city, but you still can’t get a drink of water on the streets."
Posted on 2015-06-26T23:59:45+0000
Hackers Stole Secrets of U.S. Government Workers’ Sex Lives
Infidelity. Sexual fetishes. Drug abuse. Crushing debt. They’re the most intimate secrets of U.S. government workers. And now they’re in the hands of hackers.
Basics of the Unix Philosophy
The ‘Unix philosophy’ originated with Ken Thompson's early meditations on how to design a small but capable operating system with a clean service interface. It grew as the Unix culture learned things about how to get maximum leverage out of Thompson's design. It absorbed lessons from many sources al…
Hasnain says:
http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch01s06.html
Posted on 2015-06-26T16:47:30+0000
Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head: A Mosquito’s Lament
This, in case you were wondering, is a mosquito. This is a raindrop. And here’s a puzzle. Raindrops aren’t mosquito friendly. If you’re a mosquito darting about on a rainy day, those ...
Click to view the original at phenomena.nationalgeographic.com
Class, capitalism and the tech industry
The tech industry has constructed a series of myths that obscure the realities of class power, exploitation and oppression.
Hasnain says:
I don't know why this hasn't been shared around more.
"But no matter who we are in the industry--cleaner, coder, designer or picker/packer--if we don't go to work, our bosses can't make a profit from our labor. In the end, to keep delivering things of value to people, we don't need them: They need us."
Posted on 2015-06-26T16:45:49+0000
What's Really Warming the World?
Climate deniers blame natural factors; NASA data proves otherwise
Hasnain says:
This is a great way to explain the climate change phenomenon (although it glosses over some things)
Posted on 2015-06-26T16:43:59+0000
We need to rethink employee compensation
I think that the way that employees are getting compensated at startups is starting to break. The old model of relatively low salary and "high" equity only works when there's a healthy public...
Supreme Court rules gay couples nationwide have a right to marry
In a landmark victory for gay rights, a divided Supreme Court ruled that state prohibitions on same-sex marriage violate the Constitution.
The $80 Million Fake Bomb-Detector Scam—and the People Behind It
When Baghdad bought tens of millions of dollars’ worth of British-made A.D.E. 651s, advertised as a foolproof bomb detector, the Iraqi government thought it would be saving countless lives. But the devices were laughable—based on a toy—and in the end have led to many deaths. Iraq is not the only cou…
Hasnain says:
This is an old story but a great new article on it. Also the first time I see a reference to Pakistanis also using it
Posted on 2015-06-25T12:54:29+0000
Start-Ups Finding the Best Employees Are Actually Employed
Some on-demand companies are rejecting the practice of using independent contractors, like Uber drivers, and are hiring people they can train and hold accountable.
Hasnain has not yet written a summary for this.
Posted on 2015-06-25T12:49:09+0000