perfunctory

Forcing kids to go to school is already limiting their freedom

because they deal with different aspects of the human condition which haven't changed significantly. they also give a different and valid intepretation / perspective

so do the other literary traditions I guess. What's so special about Russian. It seems as if the interest in Russian literature comes at the expense of the others.

I am genuinely curious why Russian literature is so popular in non-Russian speaking world. How do you wake up one day and decide to read Crime and Punishment? How do you find out about Russian literature in the first place? Recommendation from a friend, marketing in your favorite book store, school? Could somebody shed some light

yep. "Formal specification layers " aka code.

obviously AI-generated article

how can you tell?

I somehow feel that it's actually the opposite. It should be "Dear kubernetes user, you have just built a shell".

How can you tell?

At the very least we'd need to see some data that shows that most people replace batteries when it is possible to do so.

I don’t understand. If we want to see the data we do need to make batteries replaceable.

One unambiguously positive development that's followed is that software professionals are writing specs again. LLMs - like many of us - do not perform well with ambiguity, and specifying problems is proving to be an effective tool for generating correct code.

Replace "LLM" with "compiler", "specs" with "code" and "correct code" with "correct machine code" and we are back to square one.

So this period last year the visits went up 300K, and this year they are down 200K. So compared to the two year ago it's still up 100K? Am I missing anything? It would be interesting to see the data over a multi-year period.

edit: they actually even say that the data "go back for 3 years", but only show 1 year of data.

Could you give an example? Like a specific year when the map is not accurate?

Alan Kay was right classifying most software engineering as pop culture. It's 2024 and we are still fiddling with spaces around radio buttons, a problem that should have been solved decades ago.

I personally first tried 4-day workweek about 10 years ago and still love it. That was one of the best decisions I made in my life.

Especially in software industry, it's not that hard to arrange I believe. Even easier if we do it collectively. And when more and more people do it and it becomes a norm, the income will just readjust and return to the current levels.

But even today, when it's still not a norm, and I have a reduced income compared to my fulltime working peers, I still consider it a bargain. Extra free day is totally worth it. I am basically paying for some extra happiness.

Funny how environmental activists were powerful enough to kill the nuclear energy but not the fossil one.

Always reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

rules that would have forced US automakers to turn EVs into their main business by 2032

8 years is plenty of time.

Poor impulse control periods

the seasonality of human behavior

Is it really a thing? Does impulse control come in waves?

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, gas prices shot up and the EU introduced emergency measures to cut demand. With winter also unexpectedly mild, demand for electricity fell 5% in the first half of 2023 compared with 2022.

This is not structural.

Talking about borrowing from academia, another idea I like is sabbatical. For example a year-long time off every seven years [0]. I did it once and it was great. Planning to keep doing that.

[0] https://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_the_power_of_tim...

"Radicals" in the title: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(Chinese_characters)

A gentle reminder to everyone - we don't have to be passive observers of the unfolding global climate catastrophe. We can pretend that we are intelligent, responsible grownups and go do something about it.

Every time I see this kind of title I suggest to imagine a 200 year old article titled "Horseless Carriage for Everyone? The Impossible Dream"

In-memory SQLite is not too exciting

Do they ever call `commit`?

Too bad the author is not offering any alternative. It's not good enough to just say "stop doing X". It would be nice if it's followed by "Do Y instead".

Maybe I missed it, but the only thing I found in the whole article that resembles a counterproposal is a single sentence in the end - "... policy flows from conversation and debate instead of force."

So we are supposed to have more conversation and debate? Sounds like exactly what we've been doing for the last 30,40,50 years.

Astonished that only one comment so far even mentioned it: climate activism.

If you really want to watch this, do it after the war, after Russia withdraws from Ukraine. Not now.

I don’t see why we should be discouraging commercial air travel while allowing individual automobiles to emit so much.

How fortunate that nobody is actually suggesting that.

For me personally, the only climate metric worth paying attention to is this one: https://www.climate.gov/media/13611

All other "Good news" and "reason(s) for optimism" I consider to be accounting tricks.

A large and growing group of mostly rich countries has severed the link between economic growth and rising emissions of greenhouse gases

so they outsourced production to the poor countries.

France’s rivers might not be such key freight arteries, but they do serve to cool the nuclear plants that produce 70% of the country’s electricity. As prices hit all-time highs, power giant EDF has been forced to reduce output because of the drought.

Strict rules regulate how far nuclear plants can raise river temperatures when they discharge cooling water – and if record low water levels and high air temperatures mean the river is already overheated, they have no option but to cut output. With Europe’s looming energy crisis mounting and the Garonne, Rhône and Loire rivers already too warm to allow cooling water to be discharged, the French nuclear regulator last week allowed five plants to temporarily break the rules.