ChefboyOG

For your requirements, would 10/10 recommend an older Thinkpad. Checkout r/Thinkpad for more resources than you could ever need to find a steal.

Agreed, but projects like Cortex are narrowing the gap around deployment imo https://github.com/cortexlabs/cortex

This kind of experiment is called a gene drive, and there's a huge debate in scientific communities right now around whether it's responsible or not to use them, particularly around the mosquito problem. A professor of mine who works in the field was discussing this with us last week.

The idea with mosquitoes specifically is that we can wipe out specifically the mosquito populations that carry most diseases. The debate is around whether or not this will upset balance in ecosystems (many feel it will not).

This is just my interpretation, but it seems like there is a sensible portion of detractors who simply want to derisk the experiment as much as possible by collecting more and more data. Then there are others who are in general opposed to this sort of interference in an animal population on ethical grounds.

Related article: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lab-tests-gene-drive-wip...

As someone who did their first "serious" web development with Node, but has worked for the last year at a Rails shop, I still love Node for my personal projects, but much prefer Rails for anything that requires collaboration.

Ryan Dahl has a speech about his regrets with Node, and most of them center around the way code is managed.

IME, the sloppiness to how code is managed in Node, combined with the lack of conventions/dominant Rails-esque framework in the Javascript ecosystem, leads to codebases where no one is sure how or why something is set up the way it is.

As annoyed as I sometimes get with Rails' forced conventions or auto-magic abstractions, the beauty is that they are consistent. With a team full of experienced Rails engineers, you can pretty much guarantee that multiple people on your team can explain the "why" behind something quickly. This is a massive productivity save, especially when you're ramping up.

Genetic Algorithms: Extreme Edition.

There are plenty of firms that don't do paid ads or any sort of data-based retargeting of users (think content firms), but the problem likely is that without some sort of analytics, it will be really hard for them to gauge the impact of their work.

For example, a content firm wouldn't need user data to write a blogpost for your company, but they would need some sort of event tracking to measure how many signups came from users who discovered your company via the blogpost.

Figuring out a way to setup attribution and basic event tracking without being invasive or sharing user data with third parties would probably make it easier to find a firm.

If you're committed to investing in startups (as opposed to index funds/real estate), I'd recommend checking out AngeList's spinoff https://republic.co/

Their startups raise crowdfunded equity rounds that you can invest in for smaller amounts without meeting the requirements for being an accredited investor.

This is all true from a straight up numbers perspective, but in my experience, a fixed expense like a 3 year office lease is less stressful than managing fluid expenses like fees imposed by a dozen state governments.

I'm still very pro remote work, but people tend to underestimate how logistically expensive it can be—especially when a team gets bigger—compared to simply leasing an office and saying "Everyone works here."

I've worked in full-time remote, full-time onsite, and hybrid roles. While there are tradeoffs to each and circumstances generally dictate how successful the setup is, there is one big tradeoff that I don't see discussed as much: Mentoring juniors.

In my experience, it's really, really difficult to train up a junior (doesn't have to be engineering even) in a remote team. Because the feedback loops are more rigid—the passive communication styles of Slack/other remote tools ensure this—it can make teaching a junior, who is going to naturally have 1,000 questions and need high frequency feedback, extremely inefficient and uncomfortable.

Second this. I'm particularly interested in whether or not the rise of remote work will affect the demographics of smaller cities that have some appeal from a tourism perspective. I can think of so many cities with low costs of living and vibrant cultures that are fun to visit, but where I could never live because of the lack of work. I wonder how that all changes when the majority of jobs are remote-friendly.

AngelList to get a sense of their current employees/team make-up. If the place is earlier stage, I might look at their investors too.

I, and many people it seems, agree with several of the criticisms—LinkedIn ads are terrible, LI's core product is not enjoyable as a user, and the gaggle of branded apps are an absolute clusterfuck.

However, the piece gets sloppy when the author starts speculating that Office 365's growth will lead to antitrust suits.

This is completely rational and works well for some people, but speaking from experience, there is another side to this coin.

If you are the sort of person who enjoys the making side of things, and aren't naturally gifted at selling, this can be a trap. I've seen so many solo founders try to validate a product by selling before building, only to get talked into different features and use cases until they're stuck building some bloated mess of a service. Not super enjoyable.

That said, if selling is your strong suit and you have the discipline to sell a product idea without deviating from your product idea to chase sales, then selling as a validation tool is fantastic.

I ran various distros as a kid growing up, then went years as a professional running Mac. Elementary is the only distro I've not felt stupid friction running on my Chromebook. I know there are other considerations, but as a daily driver, this is easily one of the best distros I've seen

I'd suspect the choice of NYC has more to do with the available talent pool there. At this moment, with the scarcity of available engineering talent and the scale at which Amazon needs it, there might not be a city outside of SF that better fits their needs.

Because the button is so SHINY!

If you want to remain in a major US city with a lower cost of living, great quality of life, and thriving intellectual community, I'd strongly recommend checking out Chicago.

While it's not as cheap as many cities you'll find abroad, it is extremely affordable compared to US cities. The food is fantastic and affordable. There is a wonderful intellectual community. The nightlife is amazing, if you're into that. It's also possible to find lots of space, as the city is geographically massive with many different neighborhoods with diverse vibes.

The big downside is the winter. However, if you know how to dress for the weather and don't live somewhere incredibly remote, you can mitigate a lot of that inconvenience.

Again, you'll be paying more than you would in Thailand, but for the US it's really fantastic.

"We are all familiar with the standard paradigm in systems neuroscience"

I don't know why but that opening cracked me up. I'm sure everyone who frequents the site is actually familiar, but reading that opener felt like being back in high school and being asked about the book you didn't read.

I was literally just about to share this as well. Such an underrated movie.

Although, Elmyr has a little more of a superhero-esque aura around his forgeries than this guy.

The bit about side projects generating more press than anything you do commercially...

There's no need to personally attack me like that.

I always think about the particular difficulty of translating authors who use language in ways that are very subtly strange to native speakers. How do you recreate that strangeness in a second language without completely reimagining the writing?

Your second point is especially salient to me. I think you see it in all creative fields, from development to painting. People who are religious about a style—viewing the style's doctrine as an ends in and of itself, as opposed to a tool to help achieve their vision—tend to be the creatives no one remembers.