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Bill Watterson Commencement Speech (1990)
A speech Bill Watterson gave at Kenyon College, Gambier Ohio, to the 1990 graduating class.
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 13,065 posts.
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Global Encryption Day: Encryption's Critical Role in Safeguarding Human Rights
Today is the third annual Global Encryption Day, a day to highlight why encryption is critical for a safe, private internet.
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What We Learned About the Hemisphere Program After Suing the DEA
As the year draws to a close, so has EFF’s long-running Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Agency about the mass phone surveillance program infamously known as “Hemisphere.” We won our case and freed up tons of records. (So did the Electronic Privacy Information Center...
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The Trouble with the TPP, Day 5: Rights Holders “Shall” vs. Users “May”
The Trouble with the TPP series concludes the first week with a look at how the TPP treats the interests of rights holders and users completely differently (prior posts include Day 1: US Blocks Balancing Provisions, Day 2: Locking in Digital Locks, Day 3: Copyright Term Extension, Day 4: Copyright Notice and Takedown…
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Suicides in Rural America Increased More Than 40% in 16 Years
America's GDP is shifting from small-town America to the cities, and at the same time the opioid overdose epidemic has hit rural states, like Kentucky and West Virginia, especially hard. As a result, from 1999 to 2015 suicides in rural America have increased over 40%, according to the CDC.
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Study finds ride-sharing intensifies urban road congestion
A study to assess how ride-sharing impacts urban mobility in the United States found ride-sharing increased both intensity and duration of road congestion while there was no significant change in private vehicle ownership.
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The Suicide of Venezuela
I never expected to witness the slow suicide of a country, a civilization. I suppose nobody does. Let me tell you, there’s nothing epic about it. We who have the privilege of travel often look down…
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The best-kept secret of Dutch biking: the Dutch hardly bike at all
Here is perhaps the most shocking chart in all of Dutch transportation:
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The European Union versus the Internet
The EU is back to regulating tech companies, and getting the Internet wrong in the process. That, though, helps illuminate an approach that could work.
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4 in 5 Americans who need insulin have taken on credit card debt to cover cost
The average amount of debt is $9,000.
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AI Can Make You Suck Faster Too
If AI is so great, why are the only new tech giants GenAI companies?
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Dark Horse Discord
How a gaming chat platform is secretly connecting the internet, and defining the future of work
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America has two economies, and they’re diverging fast
Red and blue America dramatically represent different segments of the economy. Here is what you need to know.
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Slow social media
How can we design better platforms?
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Middle School Misfortunes Then and Now, One Teacher’s Take
One teacher compares the life of a middle schooler in 2008 versus 2018. There is a startling difference. Learn what life looks like for middle schoolers today, and gain valuable tips on how to reclaim childhood for your kids in this digital age.
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Facial Recognition’s Threat to Privacy Is Worse Than Anyone Thought
Before all of this ever went down In another place, another town You were just a face in the crowd You were just a face in the crowd Out in the street walking around A face in the crowd -Tom Petty If we don’t speak up now, the days when we can walk around with our heads held high without fear of...
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Clubhouse is the big stinker that nobody wants to talk about
DO NOT SUBSCRIBE HERE subscribe at wheresyoured.at. Click to read DO NOT SUBSCRIBE HERE subscribe at wheresyoured.at, by Ed Zitron, a Substack publication.
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A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist
A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist—2013 Here is an exchange between the Global Editor of the Atlantic Magazine and myself this afternoon attempting to solicit my professional service…
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An Ode to Linux Desktop Users Everywhere
Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels. The package makers, the man page writers. The rounded windows in Qt mixed with the less rounded windows of GTK. The ones who literally see things differently because of missing proprietary fonts. They’re not fond of rules, installation wizards, …
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EFF to FinCEN: Stop Pushing for More Financial Surveillance
Today, EFF submitted comments to the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) opposing the agency’s proposal for new regulations of cryptocurrency transactions. As we explain in our comments, financial records can be deeply personal and revealing, containing a...
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Noyb aims to end “cookie banner terror” and issues more than 500 GDPR complaints
Today, noyb.eu sent over 500 draft complaints to companies who use unlawful cookie banners - making it the largest wave of complaints since the GDPR came into force.
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Nextcloud introduces social features, joins the fediverse
Today, Nextcloud 15 has been made available. As there is so much new and improved in this release, we have dedicated separate blogs to each main area of improvement. This blog covers a preview of the the brand new Nextcloud Social app, introducing social networking to Nextcloud. Download now! The Mastodon project is…
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A Post Mortem on the Gino Case
Zoe Ziani, a psychology researcher who had the misfortune several years ago as a Ph.D. student be tasked with following up on some unrelicable published psychology research, tells the story of how her department pulled the chair out from under her: