A man overrides his camera's firmware to bring rare pictures of North Korea back
A collection of photos from my trip to North Korea, with historical context.
The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
<p>Would you believe that there is a conspiracy theory about the way we tune musical instruments? And that this theory even involves the Nazis, chakras, and whatnot? No? Then sit down and enjoy
Income inequality is not the problem, it's a symptom
Paul Graham today published two essays in which he challenges the idea that economic inequality is a problem. Since the 1970s, economic ...
“But he does good work.”
Right now, my inbox holds media requests from Buzzfeed, Daily Dot, Guardian, Associated Press, and newly, La Repubblica, Italy’s largest…
A Facebook Sixth Sense
I use Facebook every day — probably too much for my own good — and I’ve always been tempted to dive into their internals. That is, the…
A Response to Paul Graham’s Article on Income Inequality
While perusing HackerNews today, I encountered this article and this comment thread by Paul Graham (PG for short), founder of Ycombinator. I think that a lengthy response is in order. I originally …
Housing in the Bay Area
Jerry Brown has proposed legislation that would allow a lot more housing to be built in the Bay Area, and hopefully significantly reduce the cost of housing here. More supply should lead to lower...
I wrote a small piece on planned death
Kind people already sent donations that will make my childrens' lives easier, when I'm not there any more. Thank you enormously! :-)
Almost 80% of Private Day Traders Lose Money
A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about how penny auction sites make you money. As a reaction, some readers sent me links to day trading brokers that promise easy returns. These brokers allow private investors to hold stocks or currencies positions for a short time which makes it possible to speculate on small…
Why do old statues have such small penises?
Reader question: “Why do all old statues have such small penises?” The reader who sent me this felt that it was a question that was maybe too silly for my blog, but – firstly – there ar…
Sculpture of Housing Prices Ripping San Francisco Apart
This data sculpture depicts a map of housing prices in San Francisco. It's a map of the city, torn at the seams. The height of each area represents the average price per square foot for recent home sales. Where neighboring areas are close in value they are connected, but if neighboring areas are too far
Corporate Media Gatekeepers Protect Western 1% from Panama Leak
Whoever leaked the Mossack Fonseca papers appears motivated by a genuine desire to expose the system that enables the ultra wealthy to hide their massive stashes, often corruptly obtained and all involved in tax avoidance. These Panamanian lawyers hide the wealth of a significant proportion of the 1%, and the massive…
Unnecessariat
I remember AIDS. I’m older than you probably think I am, and I remember what AIDS in America meant in the eighties, when William F. Buckley suggested all “carriers” be tattooed, a…
Neal Stephenson: Why I Am a Sociomediapath (2015)
The personal website of author Neal Stephenson, unless it's been hacked.
Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech
You can now find it at /posts/2016/why-i-wont-talk-about-being-a-woman-in-tech-and-neither-should-you/ . If you don't do anything, you'll be redirected automatically (if your browser supports that).
Twitter's Fucked
The Twitter product is defective, broken beyond all hope of repair
Living, in Limbo
Kind people already sent donations that will make my childrens' lives easier, when I'm not there any more. Thank you enormously! :-)
Re: Obama on Fetishizing Our Phones
US President Obama had...
The Illegal Map of Swedish Art
Maps Mania is a blog dedicated to tracking the very best digital interactive maps on the internet and the tools used to create them.
Be careful about what you dislike
Observations about the problem of having strong opinions and sharing them with others.