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Charles Stross YAPCA keynote: The world in 2034
This should be titled Keynote talk for YAPC::NA 2014 . What's up with the title?
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A Tipless Restaurant is a Well-Run Restaurant?
There are many reasons to oppose tipping. Most recently, a natural experiment in two San Diego restaurants suggests that tipping actually detracts from restaurant quality.
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Earth to Mozilla: Come back home
In her blog post explaining the Brendan Eich resignation, Mitchell Baker, Chair of the Mozilla Foundation, writes, “We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we …
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Hey Paypal, why do you need access to my microphone, camera and photos?
Who actually checks the permissions of applications they’re installing? A little while ago a Paypal update stalled because it required extra permissions. This is what happens if an app you have already installed wants more power. I was more than a little surprised with what I found.
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Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
Being in a group makes some people lose touch with their personal moral beliefs, researchers find.
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Coursera
I’m excited to be teaching Stanford Law’s first Coursera offering this fall, on government surveillance . In preparation, I’ve been extensively poking around the platform; while I found some snazzy features, I also stumbled across a few security and privacy issues.
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Using GameStop as a bank
An anonymous user of 4chan has come up with a brilliantly harebrained scheme for their personal banking. They use video game retailer GameStop as a bank. Here’s
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Cryptocontracts Will Turn Contract Law Into a Programming Language
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post with 10 things that amazed me about bitcoin (here). I just can’t stop thinking about the idea that I brought up in the final point of that post, specific…
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AAAS Blocking Access to the Scientific Literature When They Say It Is “Free”
A blog about microbiology, genomics and metagenomics, sequencing, evolution, ecology, and open science.
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We want your old T-shirts
The Internet Archive is headquartered in a building that used to be a Christian Science church. The great room includes a gorgeous stained glass dome, a pipe organ, and graceful wooden pews. We seat 400+ people in this space to show movies and to host conferences on a regular basis. The room is beautiful, but those
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Rat Park drug experiment cartoon
Comic about a classic experiment into drug addiction science: Rat Park. Would rats take drugs if given a stimulating environment and company?
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Why the Facebook Experiment Is Lousy Social Science
Facebook is grappling with its impact on our social and emotional lives — and that’s a good thing. But it has to get the research right. Why Facebook did the experiment, and how to make it better.
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Entitlement issues (2009)
I am home. My dog is happy to see me. The world is a good place and I am behind on work because American Airlines doesn't have proper power ...
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The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube
At $8 a piece (or $325 for 50), luxury ice cubes probably cost more than whatever you're drinking.
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From Reddit to Pornhub, Websites Slow Down for Net Neutrality on September 10
You know the net neutrality conversation is breaking new ground when even the porn sites are weighing in. And that's just what we're seeing: Major adult platforms Pornhub and Redtube are joining an online protest on September 10, calling for stronger protections for net neutrality. They’re teaming...
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M/S Estonia accident radio transcript
Transcript of VHF channel 16 on the night of the Estonia disaster.
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Fatal Dose – Radiation Deaths linked to AECL Computer Errors (1994)
How a series of simple computer errors sabotaged a state-of-the-art medical wonder.
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The resource leak bug of our civilization
A couple of months ago, Trixter of Hornet released a demo called "8088 Domination", which shows off real-time video and audio playback on t...
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The Lava Lamp Just Won't Quit
In the 1960s, a British nudist invented a lamp that inadvertently became the poster child for psychedelia. Thirty years later, it came back with a vengeance.
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It’s Not Too Late for Uber to Avoid Stupid Patent of the Month
“Good Spirit,” he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: “Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol As our devoted readers are aware, each month we highlight a...
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Venezuela's Internet Crackdown Escalates into Regional Blackout
For the last month, Venezuela has been caught up in widespread protests against its government. The Maduro administration has responded by cracking down on what it claims as being foreign interference online. As that social unrest has escalated, the state's censorship has widened: from the removal...
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Academia as an ‘anxiety machine’
We learned recently of the suicide of Stefan Grimm, a successful professor at the prestigious Imperial College in London. Professors Grimm regularly published highly cited articles in the best journals. He was highly productive. Unfortunately, some of his colleagues felt that he did not secure sufficiently large…
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Unsealed Filing Shows DOJ Misled Appeals Court About NSL Gag Orders
A court filing unsealed late Wednesday shows that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) made a highly misleading argument to an appeals court in October during a hearing on the constitutionality of National Security Letters (NSLs). On October 8, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued before the...
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Content, Forever
Got some time to kill and want to read a meandering essay by an algorithm with a short attention span? Tell us how many minutes you want to spend reading and a starting topic, and we'll whip something up.
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Germany is pressuring Neocities to censor a disclosure of their censorship
The German government is pressuring Neocities to censor a disclosure of their censorship list.
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Surveillance Evangelist Arrested in California
FBI agents arrested a Mexican tycoon named Jose Susumo Azano Matsura at his Coronado, Calif. home on Wednesday as part of a political bribery investigation based on captured emails, seized banking records, and covertly recorded conversations. The unfolding scandal is soaked in irony: Azano is a...