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Money is the megaphone of identity (2020)
If you don’t give money its purpose, it will end up defining yours.
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 13,065 posts.
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Why we still love board games
In a sprawling convention centre in Essen, western Germany, the busiest day in the German board games calendar – Saturday at “Spiel” – is about to begin. Hall after hall of stands are piled high wi…
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Study shows N95 masks near-perfect at blocking escape of airborne Covid-19
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – In a head-to-head comparison of masks worn by people with active COVID-19, the inexpensive “duckbill” N95 came out on top, stopping 98% of COVID-19 particles in the breath of infected people from escaping into the air. Led by researchers from the University of Maryland School of Public Health…
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How proprietary formats have become Microsoft’s main tool for lock-in
In the previous article, we explored the importance of standards: how the unspoken agreements governing electrical sockets, paper sizes and file formats form the foundations of a world in which choices remain open and power is not concentrated in the hands of a single player. We concluded with a question: if open…
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Relationships are coevolutionary loops (2023)
Looking for Alice, part 3
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I take illegal drugs for inspiration
I take illegal drugs for inspiration Daily Telegraph, Saturday May 21st 2005, pp 17-18 (Note: This version is very slightly different from the published, edited, version) © Sue Blackmore 2005 Every year, like a social drinker who wants to prove to herself that she’s not an alcoholic, I give up cannabis for a month. It…
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Two Kinds of Techno-Optimism
A few things Marc Andreessen forgot to mention
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All web "content" is freeware
By Ruben Schade in Eora/Sydney, Australia.
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GPT-2: 6-Month Follow-Up
We’re releasing the 774 million parameter GPT-2 language model after the release of our small 124M model in February, staged release of our medium 355M model in May, and subsequent research with partners and the AI community into the model’s potential for misuse and societal benefit. We’re also releasing an…
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Yemen's bifurcated monetary system
Over the last five years Yemen has stumbled into a unique monetary situation. I initially wrote about Yemen's odd currency status two years ...
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The scourge of web analytics
I’ve been making web apps since 2003, which means that I’ve been doing this for fourteen years now, or it means that I can’t count. So, there are few people more qualified than me to tell you this:
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Dear Apple: Please set iMessage free
Normally I avoid complaining about Apple because (a) there are plenty of other people carrying that flag, and (b) I honestly like Apple and own numerous lovely iProducts. I’m even using one t…
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Meeting People Is Easy, but Hard
I have been doing app development since 2009. Initially as a hobby, then as part time work, and now as my full time job. It wasn’t until last year, however, that I found out there was an entire developer community out there supporting one another. That’s when I discovered conferences.
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Egypt Blocks Access to Telegram
Technology and Law Community "Masaar” documented the blocking of the Telegram website and application by the Egyptian authorities on 22 October 2020. The authorities blocked Telegram on three of the Internet service networks operating in Egypt. These networks included “We”, “Vodafone” and “Orange”. Masaar learned…
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How to start a school with your friends
We've taught over 100 classes to over 1000 students 🤓
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TSA's X-Ray Nude Body Scanners Output 50% More Radiation Than Admitted to by TSA
A few weeks ago, scientific researchers from top universities released a report confirming my 2012 demonstration that anything can be easily smuggled through the TSA’s nude body scanners. Whi…
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Who controls the Internet? And should they? (2021)
This is a lightly edited transcript of my keynote over at NANOG 83, so please accept my apologies if some of the wording is not (yet) as clear as it should be! The original video, including Q&A can be found on NANOG’s Youtube channel Hello, and welcome to this presentation on who controls the internet, and if they…
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Emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal now endangered
Gland, Switzerland, 9 April 2026 (IUCN) – The emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal are now both Endangered, according to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. Climate change in Antarctica is leading to changes in sea-ice that are projected to cause the emperor penguin population to halve by the 2080s, while…
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Tracking systems of TV streaming devices
Watching you watch: the tracking ecosystem of over-the-top TV streaming devices, Moghaddam et al., CCS’19 The results from this paper are all too predictable: channels on Over-The-Top (OTT) s…
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