331
Maybe the problem is that Harvard exists
An unhinged polemic
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 952 posts.
332
Paul Graham on Conversations with Tyler
Plus, his bizarre strategy for getting over a fear of flying.
333
If you travel to China, be aware of an exit ban
China Exit Bans: Understanding the Risks. Learn about the use of exit bans in China and what you can do to mitigate the risks. Get expert insights.
334
The time SUSE, the German Linux company, banned mentioning Jewish holidays
And then punished the Jew who objected to that action.
335
Happy Birthday OpenStreetMap
18 years ago, OSM Founder Steve Coast posted this invitation to OpenStreetmap’s 1st birthday party.
336
Homo sapiens declared extinct (1999)
First published in Nature magazine, November 1999.
337
Your computer should say what you tell it to say
WEI? I’m a frayed knotTwo pieces of string walk into a bar.The first piece of string asks for a drink.The bartender says, “Get lost. We don’t serve pieces of string.”The second string ties a knot in his middle and messes up his ends. Then he orders a drink. The bartender says, “Hey, you aren’t a...
338
Bye, Gemini
The Gemini protocol was a big part of my COVID-19 lockdown experience. Discovering this underground, small protocol, having long discussions on the mailing list, and most importantly for me, developing software. My terminal Gemini browser, Amfora, was my first public FOSS project, something actually intended for a…
339
Mexico seeks to solidify rank as top U.S. trade partner, push further past China
Mexico's emergence followed fractious U.S. relations with China, which had moved past Canada to claim the top trading spot in 2014. The dynamic changed in 2018 when the U.S. imposed tariffs on China’s goods and with subsequent pandemic-era supply-chain disruptions that altered international trade and investment flows…
340
I would rather see my books get pirated than this
Amazon and Goodreads must take steps to combat the flood of AI-generated content that will mislead readers and damage author reputations.
341
Car Bloat: “Huge Cars Are Terrible for Society”
David Zipper, who researches and writes about mobility and transportation, recently did a big thread on Mastodon (and Bluesky) about car bloat: the way in which
342
Not Using Zoom
Dear client, Setting aside the challenges of using Zoom under ChromeOS and Linux, I have mostly been declining invitations to Zoom calls...
343
344
Meta blocking news links in Canada
For months, supporters of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, assured the government that Meta and Google were bluffing when they warned that a bill based on mandated payments for links was unworkable and they would comply with it by removing links to news from their platforms. However, what has been readily apparent for…
345
The antitrust trial against Google is starting in September
Google's monopoly is going on trial starting September 12. This is the big one. Or rather, it's the start of a series of big ones.
346
Replace peer review with “peer replication” (2021)
As I’ve posted before and many others have noted , there is a serious problem with lack of adequate replication in many fields of science. The current peer review process is a dreadful combination of being both very fallible and also a huge hurdle to communicating important science.
347
Driving is more expensive than you think (2020)
Harvard study says Massachusetts car economy costs $64 billion, and more than half of that comes from public.
348
Memex is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed (2020)
How to keep an external brain using ideas from 1945 and technology from 2023.
349
People who've received a black bar on Hacker News
I'm not sure when Hacker News started adorning a black bar on top of the website after a significant person passed, but I compiled a list of people who've received it.
350
Firefox Money: Investigating the Finances of Mozilla
Connect with Lunduke and other members of Lunduke community
351
Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone
Laniakea Books is a publishing house in London, England, which publishes public domain books only.
352
Archive.today: on the trail of mysterious guerrilla archivists of the Internet
Do you like reading articles in publications like Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal or the Economist, but can’t afford to pay what can be hundreds of dollars a year in subscriptions? If so, …
353
IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view
Several people have opined on the recent announcement of Red Hat to change their terms of sales for their software. Here are some thoughts from Jon "maddog" Hall on it.
354
The Coming Enshittification of Public Libraries
Global investment vampires have positioned themselves to suck our libraries dry
355
356
Netscape Meteors
I went on a small journey the last couple days to find the original Netscape Navigator “meteors” animation. This one has a special place in my head and heart because it is so clearly connected to my memories of discovering the web as a kid. Here it is in its original 60×60 px glory:
357
The infamous coin toss
In 2011 I gave a 15-minute talk to a lay audience in London. The topic I had chosen was ergodicity breaking, and the challenge was clear: how do you get this across? I invented a coin-toss gamble, which has since become a go-to illustration of ergodicity break
358
Cops still take more stuff from people than burglars do (2021)
Let’s get one thing out of the way: it’s not normal to stuff $100,000 in cash into a suitcase and then check said suitcase on to a domestic flight.
359
Kickstarting a book to end enshittification, because Amazon will not carry it
My next book is The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation : it's a Big Tech disassembly manual that explains how to disenshittify the web and bring back the old good internet. The hardcover comes from Verso on Sept 5, but the audiobook comes from me – because Amazon refuses to sell my audio:
360
If you have first-hand knowledge of the FDA’s torpor, get in touch
The title says it: if you’re involved in drug or medical development and have experienced the FDA’s torpor, or vengeance, consider getting in touch; anonymously is fine. I want to make …