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The Melancholy of Subculture Society (2019)
Internet links small groups, helping dissolve big groups; good, bad? But a bit sad.
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 629 posts.
242
A salt monopoly could spike car accidents in the Midwest
Michael Milken, private equity, and a salt roll-up are showing we're in for shortages and price spikes.
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No one knows how much the government can borrow
Perhaps macroeconomists should think about studying this interesting question.
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Is the big tech era ending?
I put on my wizard hat 🧙♂️
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“Dune” (The Movie), Annotated
Dreams are newsletters from the deep
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You can no longer bypass microsoft-edge:// links using apps like EdgeDeflector
Microsoft doubles-down on its user-choice hostile web browser behavior; blocks competitors from opening links from many Windows apps and web experiences.
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The main thing about Phenylacetone meth is that there's so much of it
Since around 2009, methamphetamines have been made with phenylacetone (P2P). Is there a chemical different causing schizophrenia?
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My trust in software, an all time low
I don't think I've ever had more distrust and as a consequence distate for software than in recent years. I don't think its just me as a tech-nerd with artisanal tech-carpentry aspirations. I want people to build well, treat their users right and generally exercise some actual restraint. I see it very clearly and I…
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Freenode IRC operators now engaging in routine abuses of power
There have been several allegations of this since the handover of the Freenode infrastructure to its new custodians, but I can now provide a first-hand account of one incident — because I am the victim of it.
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My love-hate affair with technology
Ten years ago I would have considered myself someone who was excited about new technology. I always had the latest smartphone, I would read the reviews of new…
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How to spot a good fake ID
One of my favorite things in the world is the very specific, strange competencies that people develop over the course of a job. Carpenters might be able to estimate the length of anything just by looking at it, architects might be able to quickly sketch a remarkably accurate picture from memory, etc.
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It's time to build: a New World's Fair
We must look to the past — to the World's Fairs — to build the future.
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Gemini's "uselessness" is its killer feature
So it’s borderline useless for all but the simplest use cases, and even there it does a very subpar job. I’d like to have an inline image every now and then, or organize things in some multi-column layouts or the like, or a table. 19th century newspapers could do this, and if your technology can’t emulate typography…
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When 70M people visit your joke site
What happens when 70 million people visit your joke site?
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Meta
Facebook’s reorganization into Meta is the ultimate bet on the power of founder control.
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Free Software, not as in ‘free speech’, nor as in ‘free beer’
Ahmad Haghighi’s personal page.
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Should you contribute open data to OpenStreetMap?
Google Maps is incredibly detailed and useful. But Google uses it for tracking and deliver ads. Should you contribute for free to build its monopoly?
259
Wikivoyage has disappeared from DuckDuckGo
Update (2021-10-31): DuckDuckGo now includes results for Wikivoyage again, as do Bing and Yahoo. I have been planning a long due vacation and I was doing some research into the places I wanted to visit. My goto travel guide is Wikivoyage: it’s well organised, text-heavy (instead of slideshow-heavy alternatives) and…
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The Left-NIMBY Canon
Standing athwart urban history, yelling Stop
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RSS as a Facebook alternative
Making the case for RSS feeds and feed readers as the best alternative to big tech news consumption services like Facebook newsfeeds.
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Where has all the productivity gone?
Why hasn't new technology made us more productive than it has?
265
A Critique of the Open Letter Calling for the Removal of RMS
On March 21, Richard M. Stallman (RMS) announced that he is on the Free Software Foundation (FSF) board of directors again after having resigned in September 2019. Two days later, an open letter condemning RMS as misogynist, ableist, transphobic, intolerant, bigoted, hateful, and dangerous was published. The letter…
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The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class
Alex Danco's Newsletter, Season 3, Episode 2
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Urbit: The good, the bad, and the insane
A whirlwind tour through the bucket-load of fail that is Urbit.