2022-07-26 liam_on_linux
because Microsoft was threatening to sue all the Linux vendors shipping Windows 95-like desktops
Author: David
How to Fold a Julia Fractal – A tale of numbers that like to turn
2022-07-23 Steven Wittens
See how complex numbers are used to make the Julia fractal with interactive animations of it rotating on top of itself step by step.
Facebook Claims Its Fact-Checks Are ‘Opinion’
2021-12-14 Charlie McCarthy
John Stossel, a TV reporter for more than 50 years, recently sued Facebook, now known as Meta, for defamation.
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Stossel said Facebook’s lawyers responded to him in court and claimed the company’s “fact-checks” are merely “opinion” and therefore immune from defamation.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/facebook-meta-fact-checkers-opinion/2021/12/14/id/1048577/
The Ironclad Argument Against Racism
2022-04-12 Bryan Caplan
Racism is wrong because collective guilt is wrong.
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In my childhood, I heard the ironclad argument against racism frequently. But I sense that it’s no longer popular. Why not? Because once you reject collective guilt, you have to abandon any notion of collectively punishing racism itself!
https://betonit.substack.com/p/the-ironclad-argument-against-racism?s=r
Vladimir Putin Has Fallen Into the Dictator Trap
2022-03-16 Brian Klaas
For those of us living in liberal democracies, criticizing the boss is risky, but we’re not going to be shipped off to a gulag or watch our family get tortured. In authoritarian regimes, those all-too-real risks have a way of focusing the mind. Is it ever worthwhile for authoritarian advisers to speak truth to power?
As a result, despots rarely get told that their stupid ideas are stupid, or that their ill-conceived wars are likely to be catastrophic. Offering honest criticism is a deadly game and most advisers avoid doing so. Those who dare to gamble eventually lose and are purged. So over time, the advisers who remain are usually yes-men who act like bobbleheads, nodding along when the despot outlines some crackpot scheme.
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When despots screw up, they need to watch their own back. Yet again, they can become victims of the dictator trap. To crush prospective enemies, they must demand loyalty and crack down on criticism. But the more they do so, the lower the quality of information they receive, and the less they can trust the people who purport to serve them. As a result, even when government officials learn about plots to overthrow an autocrat, they may not share that knowledge. This is known as the “vacuum effect”—and it means that authoritarian presidents might learn of coup attempts and putsches only when it’s too late. This raises a question that should keep Putin awake at night: If the oligarchs were to eventually make a move against him, would anyone warn him?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/putin-dictator-trap-russia-ukraine/627064/
The Painfully Shy Developer’s Guide to Networking for a Better Job (Without Being Creepy)
2017-07-07 Sam Julien
People are honestly not that complicated. When you go to an event or a meetup, do you find yourself awkwardly standing around, compulsively looking at your phone? Do you feel alone or uncomfortable? The truth is, nearly everyone else is feeling the same way. When it comes down to it, people want to feel welcomed and accepted. Why else do people gravitate towards the people they already know at these events? Few people really relish being awkward at these things.
Here’s the fun part: you can change that for someone else. Shift your thinking from how you are feeling to how others are feeling. How nice would it be if someone came up to you and just gave you a warm smile, said hello, and asked you a genuine question about yourself? You can be that person for someone!
Book Summary: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
2020-11-12 James Clear
Behavioral problems, not technical skills, are what separate the great from the near great. Incredible results can come from practicing basic behaviors like saying thank you, listening well, thinking before you speak, and apologizing for your mistakes. The first step to change is wanting to change.
https://jamesclear.com/book-summaries/what-got-you-here-wont-get-you-there
Online Multiplayer the Hard Way
How Jonah Wallerstein wrote the networking code for his multiplayer game KungFu Kickball, eventually using Server Authoritative Lockstep.
https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JonahWallerstein/20220210/393419/Online_Multiplayer_the_Hard_Way.php
Spiking Neural Networks
2021-12-13 Anil Ananthaswamy
Training Computer Vision Models on Random Noise Instead of Real Images
2021-12-09 Martin Anderson
Researchers from MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have experimented with using random noise images in computer vision datasets to train computer vision models , and have found that instead of producing garbage, the method is surprisingly effective
https://www.unite.ai/training-computer-vision-models-on-random-noise-instead-of-real-images/