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Bank transfers as a payment method (2021)
Bank transfers have exploded as a payment method in India and may become more common in much of the world.
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The dark forest and the cozy web (2020)
An illustrated diagram exposing the inner layers of the dark and cozy web
544
How unions won a 30% raise for every fast food worker in California
Anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop. 40 years of declining worker power shattered the American Dream (TM), producing multiple generations whose children fared worse than their parents, cratering faith in institutions and hope for a better future.
545
Mars will have a lot of wicker furniture
So we've landed on Mars, now we need somewhere to sit. It's pretty expensive to ship furniture from earth, so time to start building some chairs.
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Strava raises prices but can’t tell you how much it costs anymore
Some days, I just can’t decide if Strava tries hard to hurt their reputation, or, if it just comes naturally. Today, however, I’m left flabbergasted.
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LLM discourse needs more nuance
With this write-up, I want to outline my current thinking around large language models like OpenAI's chatGPT.
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RFC 9518 – What can internet standards do about centralisation?
RFC 9518: Centralization, Decentralization, and Internet Standards has been published after more than two years of review, discussion, and revision.
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ChatGPT is really good at roleplaying
ChatGPT is really good at roleplaying as strange and unusual characters with minimal prompting.
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Setting time on fire and the temptation of The Button
We used to consider writing an indication of time and effort spent on a task. That isn't true anymore.
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The loophole that made cars in America so big
Here's why American cars and trucks are so big
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Trust-based moderation systems
master's thesis research into subjective, trust-based moderation systems
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Ambient Co-Presence
Creating a subtle, peripheral, and synchronous sense of shared space and context on the web
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The King doesn't own all the swans in Britain
So who does?
561
One Year into the War in Ukraine
Bret Devereaux (A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry)2023105 points177 commentsHistory & Retro Computing details
Today marks the end of the first year of Putin’s War in Ukraine. I will not call it an anniversary, because I don’t think anyone is celebrating. Nevertheless I think this makes a useful…
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Meta preps new social app
Meta's hosting secret meetings with select creators to share details
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The Cuts at WVU
Updated April 2024 : I posted this text in August to help publicize what was happening at WVU. It was linked from many public letters and discussion forums. I later removed the text because I was on the job market and didn't want this to be the first thing that comes up when you google my name. I have now secured a…
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The world needs computational social science
The world needs computational social science, and it is not only, or even primarily, about the AI revolution. The reasons follow below and I also cover what a computational social scientist should …
565
The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song
Nowadays vocalists control popular music—but that wasn't always true
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Passing for Human: Philip K. Dick in Vancouver (2018)
Philip K. Dick arrived in Canada on February 16th, 1972, as guest of honour for the 2nd Vancouver Science Fiction Convention ( VCON-2 ), an all-expenses-paid invitation, jointly sponsored by the science fiction societies of Simon Frazer University and the University of British Columbia. He was 43 years old, the author…
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The time I yoga-balled an Apple store employee
My personal website and blog
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Is it legal to mix cash in a jar? How is Bitcoin mixing any different?
Chris Blec asks the following question: Source: Twitter Chris's premise is that it is "not illegal" for him to get together with a bunch of ...
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SVB was particularly poorly run
Banks manage their liquidity through their asset composition and choice of liabilities. Badly run banks have volatile liabilities and assets.