Alan Eustace Jumps From Stratosphere, Breaking Felix Baumgartner’s World Record
A helium-filled balloon lifted Alan Eustace, a Google executive, to more than 25 miles above the earth. Fifteen minutes after he cut himself loose, he was on the ground.
Hasnain says:
"Mr. Eustace cut himself loose from the balloon with the aid of a small explosive device and plummeted toward the earth at speeds that peaked at 822 miles per hour, setting off a small sonic boom heard by observers on the ground."
That is one way to do it...
Posted on 2014-10-24T22:29:05+0000
Finding a Video Poker Bug Made These Guys Rich—Then Vegas Made Them Pay | WIRED
Michael Friberg John Kane was on a hell of a winning streak. On July 3, 2009, he walked alone into the high-limit room at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas and sat down at a video poker machine called the Game King. Six minutes later the purple light on the top of the machine flashed,…
Hasnain says:
"The defense attorneys pushed for dismissal of the computer hacking charge, on the grounds that anything the Game King allowed players to do through its interface was “authorized access” by definition: The whole point of playing slots is to beat the machine, and it's up to the computer to set and enforce limits. “All these guys did is simply push a sequence of buttons that they were legally entitled to push,” says Leavitt, Kane's attorney."
Posted on 2014-10-24T18:10:23+0000
The joy of text – the fall and rise of interactive fiction
The annual Interactive Fiction awards are taking place right now, showcasing the very best new works. By Leigh Alexander
Hasnain says:
"This degree of accessibility means that in many ways, text-based games lead among other kinds of computer games in terms of creative democracy, sophisticated subject matter, and even political themes – while plenty of the competition games are traditional or humorous, modern text games bring new perspectives to bear from creators who might have been restricted from access to the traditional, privileged computer-education background, whose tone still dominates mainstream gaming."
Posted on 2014-10-24T18:01:14+0000
The Laborers Who Keep Dick Pics and Beheadings Out of Your Facebook Feed | WIRED
Inside the soul-crushing world of content moderation, where low-wage laborers soak up the worst of humanity, and keep it off your Facebook feed.
Hasnain says:
"Constant exposure to videos like this has turned some of Maria’s coworkers intensely paranoid. Every day they see proof of the infinite variety of human depravity. They begin to suspect the worst of people they meet in real life, wondering what secrets their hard drives might hold. Two of Maria’s female coworkers have become so suspicious that they no longer leave their children with babysitters. They sometimes miss work because they can’t find someone they trust to take care of their kids."
Posted on 2014-10-23T23:06:25+0000
Diary of a Corporate Sellout
The rise and fall and rise of Upcoming.org
Hasnain says:
"I kept my day job at the financial company until the day it was acquired. My resignation meeting with my boss was surreal:
“So… Yahoo bought my website.”
“I don’t think I can counteroffer that.”"
Inside San Francisco's housing crisis
'We are not just numbers. We're persons.'
Hasnain says:
A well written piece that describes the problematic housing situation in the area.
Posted on 2014-10-22T21:22:34+0000
Why #Gamergaters Piss Me The F*** Off
Chris Kluwe played in the NFL for eight years, but he’s been a gamer for 26 — and he’s tired of the misogyny in today’s …
U.N.C. Investigation Reveals ‘Shadow Curriculum’ to Help Athletes
A report finds that classes requiring no attendance and little work were common knowledge among academic counselors and football coaches.
Hasnain says:
Yay for academic fraud.
"In the meeting, two members of the football counseling staff explained to the assembled coaches that the classes “had played a large role in keeping underprepared and/or unmotivated players eligible to play.” To emphasize this point, they presented a PowerPoint demonstration in which one of the slides asked and then answered the question, “What was part of the solution in the past?”
“We put them in classes that met degree requirements in which … they didn’t go to class … they didn’t have to take notes, have to stay awake … they didn’t have to meet with professors … they didn’t have to pay attention or necessarily engage with the material,” the slide said. “THESE NO LONGER EXIST!”
Indeed, the report said, “the fall 2009 semester — the first in over a decade without Ms. Crowder and her paper classes — resulted in the lowest football team G.P.A. in 10 years, 2.121.” Forty-eight players, it went on, earned semester G.P.A.'s of less than 2.0."
Posted on 2014-10-22T20:45:36+0000
The man with the golden blood | Mosaic
Meet the donors, patients, doctors and scientists involved in the complex global network of rare – and very rare – blood. By Penny Bailey.
Hasnain says:
"And Thomas’ different blood has given him the odd unexpected perk. When he was due for conscription, the doctor who first told him about his blood – Dr Marie-José Stelling – wrote to the army saying it was too dangerous for him to do military service, so he was exempted."
Posted on 2014-10-22T18:37:26+0000
44 engineering management lessons
I am a cofounder of RethinkDB — an open-source distributed database designed to help developers and operations teams work with unstructured data to build real-time applications. We're hiring.
Hasnain says:
"Don’t judge too quickly; you’re right less often than you think. Even if you’re sure you’re right in any given case, wait until everyone’s opinion is heard."
"If you find yourself blaming someone, you’re probably wrong. Nobody wakes up and tries to do a bad job. 95% of the time you can resolve your feelings by just talking to people."
"Most conflict happens because people don’t feel heard. Sit down with each person and ask them how they feel. Listen carefully. Then ask again. And again. Then summarize what they said back to them. Most of the time that will solve the problem."
Posted on 2014-10-21T23:44:00+0000