2024-11-05
metrics suck, net non-assimilation, bugs beat AI nukes, satellite pollution, soda surge, NYT strike, election anticipations, prepping for CivilWar2, "Russia security fears", Iran owns the Red Sea
Worthy
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I've had a change of heart regarding employee metrics (HN comments)
When this company reached out, I did some introspection and decided that what I had done previously was the wrong thing to do, and I should not recommend it any more. Why? It's surprisingly simple. It's the job of a manager to know what their reports are up to, and whether they're doing a good job of it, and are generally effective. If they can't do that, then they themselves are ineffective, and that is the sort of thing that is the responsibility of THEIR manager, and so on up the line. They shouldn't need me (or anyone else) to tell them about what's going on with their damn direct reports! In theory, at least, that's how it's supposed to work. That's their job: actually managing people!
So, my new position on that sort of thing is: fuck them. Don't help them. Don't write tools like that, don't run tests to see if your teammates will take care of basic "service hygiene" issues, and definitely don't say anything substantive in a performance review. None of it will "move the needle" in the way you think it will, and it will only make life worse for you overall. "Peer reviews actually improve things" is about the biggest crock of shit that people in tech still believe in.
etc
Horseshit
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Chaos as thousands turn up for AI 'hoax' Halloween parade that didn't exist
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When did the English start turning their forks upside down, and why?
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Headlights are too bright! But US experts say they're not bright enough
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The US government is reportedly considering a merger between Intel and AMD.
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Does the internet limit immigrant assimilation?
I find that home-country Internet slows down immigrants’ social and economic integration. The effect is driven by lower-skilled and younger immigrants. On the other hand, home-country Internet decreases spatial and job segregation with co-nationals, and increases immigrants’ subjective well-being.
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New York's Cannabis Fund Became a Disaster. Its Managers Earned $1.7M
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The Law Must Respond When Science Changes
- All depends on who gets to define "science".
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Texas teen dies by miscarriage days after baby shower due to abortion ban
celebrity gossip
Obit
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Quincy Jones, producer and entertainment powerhouse, dies aged 91
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Once Linux's Biggest Enemy: Darl McBride Dies and Nobody Notices - FOSS Force
McBride, who back in the early aughts was CEO of Utah-based SCO, is famous for trying to bring an end to Linux as we know it by taking on IBM, Daimler Chrysler, Novell, and many other corporations, in legal battles with the claim that Linux was filled with code that had been purloined from SCO’s proprietary versions of Unix. Today I found out, from a short blurb that Techrights published on October 31, that McBride’s been dead since September 16.
Musk
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
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404 Media Is Partnering With Wired
WIRED is going to co-publish two of our articles a month on its website.
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Facebook Building Subsea Cable That Will Encompass the World
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Manjaro Linux prepares to enable telemetry by default (HN comments)
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Netflix Bullish on Gen AI for Games After Laying Off Human Game Developers
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Telecoms Bankroll More Misleading Attacks on Community Broadband Networks
TechSuck / Geek Bait
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
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Meta's plan for nuclear-powered AI data centre thwarted by rare bees (Archive)
Zuckerberg had planned to strike a deal with an existing nuclear power plant operator to provide emissions-free electricity for a new data centre supporting his artificial intelligence ambitions. However, the potential deal faced multiple complications including environmental and regulatory challenges, these people said. The discovery of the rare bee species on a location next to the plant where the data centre was to be built would have complicated the project, Zuckerberg told a Meta all-hands meeting last week, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
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Amazon's nuclear datacenter dreams stall as regulators reject power deal
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Larry Ellison talks curing cancer, genetically altering food as AI possibilities
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Meta Permits Its A.I. Models to Be Used for U.S. Military Purposes
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
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Astronomers urge FCC to halt satellite megaconstellation launches | Space
Harvard UFO hunter Avi Loeb is among the scientists warning against dangerous satellite incineration.
The researchers urge the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which approves satellite deployments in the U.S., to halt megaconstellation launches and conduct a thorough assessment of their possible environmental impacts before awarding further licenses. U.S. government agencies are bound by the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), which requires them to consider the environmental impacts of their decisions. A 1986 categorical exclusion, however, means that satellites are exempt from this requirement.
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Rocket Lab confirms plan to bid for Pentagon contracts with new medium rocket
Crypto con games
Economicon / Business / Finance
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Consumers are turning away from pricier Starbucks coffee, McDonald’s Big Mac meals, Doritos chips, Monster energy drinks and Heineken beer. But they can’t stop guzzling Coke and Dr Pepper. Both Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper said last week on quarterly earnings calls that they sold more soda cases last quarter. During the third quarter of this year, total soft drink volumes grew 1.3% from a year ago, according to data from Evercore ISI. It’s a comeback for soda, which was in decline for two decades over the health effects of sugary drinks. Frequently drinking sugar-sweetened beverages like soda is associated with a range of chronic health problems, including weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
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Oct. JOBS Report Worst in Years: 12k added vs. 120k expected by Dow Jones
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Berkshire Hathaway's cash fortress tops $300B as Buffett sells more stock
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Facebook, Nvidia ask US Supreme Court to spare them from securities fraud suits
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Bell Canada buys Northwest telecom company Ziply Fiber for $5B
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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Immigrants already tip scales of US elections without even voting.
The apportionment of House seats and votes in the Electoral College among the states is based on total population — not citizenship or legal status. The Census Bureau is clear that naturalized citizens, as well as non-citizens such as green card holders, foreign students, guestworkers and illegal immigrants are captured in the census every 10 years.
An investigation by the Center for Immigration Studies estimates that immigrants — legal and illegal — counted in the 2020 census shifted 17 seats in the House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College. Migrants are surging into US ahead of the election in case Trump wins: ‘Free lunch is most likely coming to an end’ The big winner is California, which has 8 more seats than it would have without immigrants. The states that lose tend to be low-immigration states in the South and Midwest such as Ohio and Tennessee. The inclusion of non-citizens alone shifts six House seats, with half the increase going to California. Illegal immigration caused two seats to change hands.
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Nearly half of Americans think members of the opposing political party are evil
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Washington governor activates National Guard ahead of Election Day | king5.com
Inslee said some members of the state’s National Guard will support local law enforcement and the Washington State Patrol, though the number of members who will be activated is to be determined. The Department of Homeland Security has also warned of possible political violence and other potential threats to election infrastructure just days ahead of the 2024 General Election. National Guard members will be on standby from Monday through Thursday night.
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Ahead of potential civil unrest due to Tuesday’s presidential election, the National Guard is on standby as a precaution in several states, including Washington state and Oregon, where hundreds of ballots were damaged or destroyed after at least three ballot drop boxes were recently set on fire, officials say.
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Authorities Put Up Security Fences Around D.C. Locations Ahead Of Election Day
Fences were erected around the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory, Fox News reported. Washington, D.C., Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser said the enhanced security measures would continue through Inauguration Day in January. A statement from the Secret Service explained that the security fences “are not in response to any specific issue but are part of wide-ranging public safety preparations for Tuesday’s election.” Last week, stores and restaurants in the nation’s capital boarded up windows in preparation for potential threats following the election results. NewsNation reported that D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said the city is deploying 3,300 officers across the district. The officers will work 12-hour shifts and closely watch business districts and polling places.
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Chinese student faces criminal charges for voting in Michigan. Ballot will count
Harris / Democrats
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Kamala's Dad, the Marxist Economics professor: Profile of Donald Harris and his economic thought
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Harris slams Speaker Mike Johnson for saying the GOP may repeal CHIPS Act
Trump / Right / Jan6
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NBC Airs Donald Trump Ad During NASCAR After FCC Equal Time Complaints
Following FCC concerns over Kamala Harris‘ last-minute Saturday Night Live appearance, NBC has given Donald Trump 90 seconds of free ad time.
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Trump to raise tariffs to 60% on all Chinese goods if elected
During his first presidency Trump instituted a limited number of extra tariffs, chiefly against China. Upon taking office, President Joe Biden kept them in place and even extended them. But what's different about these new proposals is that they are rising across the board by up to 20 percent, or so it has been said on the campaign trail.
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The Americans Prepping for a Second Civil War | The New Yorker
According to an analysis of FEMA data, some twenty million Americans are actively preparing for cataclysm—roughly twice as many as in 2017. Political violence, including the spectre of civil war, is one of the reasons. A recent study conducted by researchers at U.C. Davis concluded that one in three adults in the U.S., including up to half of Republicans, feel that violence is “usually or always justified” to advance certain political objectives (say, returning Trump to the White House).
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
World
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Robot retrieves radioactive fuel sample from Fukushima nuclear reactor site
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City council faces £216.5M loss over Oracle system debacle
"None of the anticipated direct savings were delivered, and, furthermore, due to the inability to monitor budgets, a significant amount of wider savings had to be written off. In total, £69m of savings in 2023/24 were written-off, along with unspecified further savings in future years," the report said. "Many of the internal processes and tacit knowledges that had previously been used to produce financial outputs broke down, providing no simple workarounds that would enable problems of this kind to be resolved."
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Divorce applications wrongly approved after computer error, high court hears
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Sweden and Norway rethink cashless society plans over Russia security fears
Israel
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Lebanon sources say man was abducted on northern coast in suspected Israeli raid
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How Four Posts on Instagram Destroyed Her Life - The New York Times
The more time passed, the worse the posts looked for Murad. When the officer pulled them up in late October, on the computer screen at the police station, they didn’t seem innocent or stupid; they seemed like evidence of a crime. It is illegal in Israel to commit “incitement to terrorism” — to say something publicly, or share an image, that might lead someone else to engage in a terrorist act. “How can you support what’s in these images?” Murad recalls the officer asking. “Do you support Hamas?”