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Has GitHub been down more since its acquisition by Microsoft?
Was GitHub down more after Microsoft acquired them? We analyzed their status page and found a 41% increase in disruptions.
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 913 posts.
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Break Up Google
It’s easy to say “Break up Big Tech companies!” Depending how politics unfold, the thing might become possible, but figuring out the details will be hard. I spent the last sixteen years of my life working for Big Tech and have educated opinions on the subject. Today: Why and how we should break up Google.
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Zero-sum thinking on immigration will make America poorer
ZERO-SUM THINKING ON IMMIGRATION WILL MAKE AMERICA POORER Beatrice Magistro Nicolas Wittstock On June 23rd 2020, President Donald Trump imposed restrictions on several categories of visas for foreign workers until the end of the year. The proclamation his administration issued explaining this decision suspended…
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On “White Fragility”
A few thoughts on America’s smash-hit #1 guide to egghead racialism
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Why Does DARPA Work?
I'm doing some reconstruction. If you are not redirected automatically, follow this link .
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Software should be designed to last
And why I am trying to minimize my dependence on external libraries (whenever possible).
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The FDA's perpetual process machine
Economist. Policy Entrepreneur. Geek. Co-recipient of the 2018 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. University Professor at NYU. Focused on urbanization; cooperation at scale of millions and billions; science; technology; economic development; long-term growth; code as language.
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Microfinance Is Mostly a Scam (2015)
I might be well behind others on this subject, but I’m trying to catch up. I just finished a book entitled Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic: how microfinance lost its way and betrayed th…
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The value of Tor and anonymous contributions to Wikipedia
According to a recently published research paper co-authored by researchers from Drexel, NYU, and the University of Washington, Tor users make high-quality contributions to Wikipedia. And, when they are blocked, as doctoral candidate Chau Tran, the lead author describes, "the collateral damage in the form of…
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The War on Upstart Fiber Internet Providers
The personal site of Chris Hacken — entrepreneur and operator who founded and sold Loop Internet. Essays and a podcast on building internet infrastructure, companies, and other hard things.
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California agency blocks release of police use of force, surveillance training
Under a California law that went into effect on January 1, 2020, all law enforcement training materials must be “conspicuously” published on the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) website. However, if you visit POST’s Open Data hub and try to download the officer...
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An even worse anti-encryption bill than EARN IT
Stanford Center for Internet and Society2020903 points351 commentscited by 7Society, Policy & Culture details
On Tuesday, June 23, Senators Graham (R-SC), Cotton (R-AR), and Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a bill that is a full-frontal nuclear assault on encryption in the United States. You can find the bill text here. It's been formally introduced as Senate bill 4051, which you can
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I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since
The problems with social media platforms in 'human' and 'data' terms. Deleting Facebook (Meta), WhatsApp, and Instagram will have a net positive effect.
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Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit
The global team will investigate crimes and bring legal action against counterfeiters to protect our customers and brands.
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Don’t Fly During Ramadan (2013)
A couple of weeks ago, I tried to fly from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles on JetBlue. I was racially profiled, detained, and interrogated for hours.
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Facebook’s dominance is built on anti-competitive behavior
In a new paper, Yale SOM’s Fiona Scott Morton writes that the company took control of the social media industry by misleading consumers and buying up rivals.
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Not just “a few bad apples”: U.S. police kill civilians at much higher rates than other countries
Police violence is a systemic problem in the U.S., not simply incidental, and it happens on a scale far greater than other wealthy nations.
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Pseudonymity as a Trivial Concession to Genius
Update (6/24): For further thoughts and context about this unfolding saga, see this excellent piece by Tom Chivers (author of The AI Does Not Hate You, so far the only book about the rationalist co…
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Amazon Announces $2B Fund to Invest in Climate Tech Companies
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 23, 2020-- Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced The Climate Pledge Fund to support the development of sustainable technologies and services that will enable Amazon and other companies to meet The Climate Pledge—a commitment to be net zero carbon by 2040. This…
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I Am Deleting the Blog
[EDIT 2/13/21: This post is originally from June 2020, but there’s been renewed interest in it because the NYT article involved just came out. This post says the NYT was going to write a posi…
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The Importance of India
This post sparked a great conversation on Hacker News! See the comments here. “Quantity has a quality of its own”–Attribution contested A significant factor in the power of states throughout history has been sheer numbers. Spain was able to control an overseas empire to a significantly greater degree than Portugal…
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Apple, Hey, and the Path Forward
A delightfully fresh take on email + calendar, from 37signals
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‘BlueLeaks’ Exposes Files from Hundreds of Police Departments
Hundreds of thousands of potentially sensitive files from police departments across the United States were leaked online last week. The collection, dubbed “ BlueLeaks ” and made searchable online, stems from a security breach at a Texas web design and hosting company that maintains a number of state law enforcement…
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Ethics in Geo
Doing good and not bad
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Video Games Are the Future of Education
The best educational experiences I had as a teenager were all video games.
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H-1B visas and prevailing wage levels: A majority of H-1B employers—including major U.S. tech firms—use the program to pay migrant workers well below market wages
H-1B is a temporary nonimmigrant work visa that allows U.S. employers to hire college-educated migrant workers as well as fashion models from abroad; nearly 500,000 migrant workers are employed in the United States in H-1B status. The H-1B is an important—but deeply flawed—vehicle for attracting skilled workers to the…
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MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has been forced to resign
President Stanley asked me this afternoon for my resignation. I do not agree with his decision, as serious issues of academic freedom and fr...
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“This resentment runs deep and is stunningly widespread”
Link to: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/opinion/apple-app-store-hey.html
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The US can reach 90% clean electricity by 2035 without increasing consumer bills
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 9, 2020 Media Contact: Chelsea Eakin, ceakin@climatenexus.org, 347-371-1305 New national re…