MP3s as a litmus test for good journalism

The MP3 format was invented by a German group in the early 90s.  They patented it, and licensed it out to companies.  This is the reason many open source programs force you to download MP3 libraries separately.

The last patents for mp3 expire this year (2017).  Now anyone can use it without having to worry about licenses.  The group that created it announced they would stop licensing it (since they can't) and suggested people move to AAC (since they still own patents on that).

The result is news organizations running stories with headlines like "MP3 is Dead".  This presents and interesting look into which sources are reliable sources for tech news, and which use hyperbolic headlines for the sake of clicks. 

I went to Google News and searched for recent articles that mentioned 'MP3'.  Some of these were pretty obvious, but some were surprising.  To be fair, some are technically correct, in saying the creator declared it dead, vs saying it actually is dead, but merely parroting a press release is still going under the 'Bad' category.  The BBC was close, but I put it in good because it didn't feel clickbaity to me, feel free to disagree.

Finally, I won't pretend like this single example is some end all test for who you should and shouldn't trust, it's just and interesting source of some empirical data.

Bad

NPR: The MP3 Is Officially Dead, According To Its Creators
The Atlantic: The End of the MP3
Gizmodo: Developers of the MP3 Have Officially Killed It
The Register: MP3 'died' and nobody noticed
Quartz: Say goodbye to the iconic MP3
CNBC: The MP3 is dead, say creators after terminating licensing
The Telegraph: Creators of the MP3 declare it dead
Tech Radar: RIP MP3 - the sound file that changed the world is declared dead

Good

Washington Post: Your MP3s are going to be just fine
Mashable: The MP3 isn't dead yet, but it's now on its last digital legs
Vice: The MP3 Is Not Dead
CNET: MP3 isn't dead, it's just sleeping
BBC: It might be time to say goodbye to the MP3 - so let's look back at its life

Are Pop Lyrics Getting More Repetitive?

https://pudding.cool/2017/05/song-repetition/

This is some good data, but the presentation is very interesting as well.

Github has all the best cat stories

https://gist.github.com/lossyrob/a663186ccf37ea613a6b9ccb78de2cd1

In broad daylight, we could see why this was street cat utopia. What used to be a deli or some other food store collapsed in what looks like the 80s. A tree had grown through the inside where the roof had collapsed, a branch somehow punching through brick wall and completely enveloping a piece of old metal shelving. There was no way into this place past the first few steps. The roof was collapsed with a capital C. You could see through the busted rafters towards the middle of the (what was now) one big room of the first floor, and to the street cats that were lazily napping in the sun, protected by their fortress.

MediTech

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13859961

I've been reading through these replies about "MediTech" trying to determine if it's some sort of elaborate inside joke I'm not picking up on.

There is a company called MediTech in Massachusetts that uses a derivative language of MUMPS called Magic. I know several programmers that have worked there. There are thousands of engineers writing in this language as we speak.
From what I can remember:

-Only global variables

-Variables must only be capital letters, maximum length 6. If you run out of variables, you must cleverly use them in a routine and set them back to what they are. This means you can't use a name like myVar - you use AAAFD, ZBVCXZ, etc.

-System functions are usually things like ., >, ', ], so code looks like .'AAAF]{\;:..

-Meditech writes all of their own languages, databases, operating systems, tools, etc. You can only write in a non-Meditech language if you get approval from a multi-tiered architectural design board, which barely ever happens

-The founder hated C with undying passion. No one is ever allowed to use C

-All programming hires go through a 6 to 12 month training process to learn the tools, languages, and systems. As they almost exclusively hire non-CS majors, such as math and physics majors, they don't typically have a programming background and don't realize how bizarre the MediTech stack is

A Good Overview of How Trump Operates

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/03/06/daily-202-wiretapping-allegations-accomplished-what-trump-wanted-but-may-backfire-bigly/58bca8bde9b69b1406c75d42/#a-eeee4b2a-39f6-425d-a928-6f366e93846f

I try not to post a lot of political or topical stuff here, but this is a very good overview of Trump and how he operates.  It goes into a lot more background and detail than just the current Russia story.

Whenever he is under fire for something in a sustained way, he makes a shocking claim or provocative declaration about something else to change the subject. He is a master practitioner at the politics of distraction. These five examples might jog your memory:

• After struggling during the first GOP primary debate to explain his disparaging comments about women, he attacked Megyn Kelly. “There was … blood coming out of her wherever,” he said, ensuring that the media focused on the new Trump-Kelly “feud.”

• When the 2005 Access Hollywood video came out, he brought Bill Clinton’s former accusers to St. Louis as his guests to the second debate.

• In November, the morning after agreeing to settle a fraud lawsuit against Trump University for $25 million, he demanded that the cast of “Hamilton” apologize to Mike Pence.

• Days after firing Michael Flynn, he held a rambling 77-minute press conference because he knew that it would get the Flynn story out of the news.

• Perturbed when critics pointed out that he lost the popular vote, he claimed that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally.

Top mentioned books on stackoverflow.com

http://www.dev-books.com/

We analysed more than 40 000 000 questions and answers on stackoverflow.com to bring you the top of most mentioned books (5720 in total)

How we did it:

• We got database dump of all user-contributed content on the Stack Exchange network (can be downloaded here)
• Extracted questions and answers made on stackoverflow
• Found all amazon.com links and counted it
• Created tag-based search for your convenience
• Brought it to you

Overjustification effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overjustification_effect

The overjustification effect occurs when an expected external incentive such as money or prizes decreases a person's intrinsic motivation to perform a task. The overall effect of offering a reward for a previously unrewarded activity is a shift to extrinsic motivation and the undermining of pre-existing intrinsic motivation. Once rewards are no longer offered, interest in the activity is lost; prior intrinsic motivation does not return, and extrinsic rewards must be continuously offered as motivation to sustain the activity.

The Line of Death

https://textslashplain.com/2017/01/14/the-line-of-death/

The Metro/Immersive/Modern mode of Internet Explorer in Windows 8 suffered from the same problem; because it was designed with a philosophy of “content over chrome”, there were no reliable trustworthy pixels. I begged for a persistent trustbadge to adorn the bottom-right of the screen (showing a security origin and a lock) but was overruled. One enterprising security tester in Windows made a visually-perfect spoofing site of Paypal, where even the user gestures that displayed the ephemeral browser UI were intercepted and fake indicators were shown. It was terrifying stuff, mitigated only by the hope that no one would use the new mode.

There are stars up there even when you can't see them

https://gfycat.com/PowerfulPrestigiousFish

I'll tell you something that really bothers me.
how are we supposed to get anything done?
With those starts casting shadows that look just like spiders?

Popcorn

I really like popcorn.  I often find myself watching TV just as an excuse to eat popcorn.  I've gone months where I had it every night.  A while ago I decided to buy an air popper.  I've built up quite a recipe around the air popper, and I'd like to outline it here.

Why an air popper?
Air poppers are like $20 and the popcorn is much cheaper than the microwave bags.  They are a bit faster than a microwave, and you can never burn it.  There is nothing to clean because you only put dry popcorn in them, the oil is added afterwards.

Air Popper
I did a fair bit of research into air poppers, as I tend to do before buying anything.  Long story short, they're all the same, and you should get a cheap one.  This one is about $20.  It has a built in measuring cup, you dump the dry kernels in the top, and plug it in.  Set a large bowl next to it, and wait a few minutes.  The last 10 or so kernels never pop, so give up on them.  Unplug and that's it.

Kernels
A few people recommended Orville Redenbacher for air poppers.  I started out buying at the grocery store, but you can get a giant jug on Amazon for cheap. 

Bowl
It sounds silly, but you do need a large bowl.  I always ate popcorn straight from the bag, so I didn't have one.  I just got a 7 L one from Walmart.  Make sure it's at least 6 liters.

Salt
You can just use regular salt, but finer salt will stick better.  Generally you'll waste tons of salt no matter what.  After much research I found this movie theater style salt which is great, and will last like 30 or so bowls.

Salt Shaker
You can just use any regular shaker.  But I'm generally looking for one that has a few, well-separated, smaller holes.  The popcorn salt is much finer, so it comes out very fast of normal sized holes.  This is the best I've found so far, it works, but the holes could be a bit smaller.

Oil
You need oil, basically to make the salt stick.  I've just been buying this generic popcorn oil.  Don't expect much flavor from the oil, it's basically just soybean oil.  I've heard coconut oil is the best flavor, but it's difficult to spray on.

Sprayer
It's basically impossible to drizzle oil evenly.  I bought this spray bottle, which is crazy expensive, but is designed for oil.  There are cheaper oil sprayers but the reviews say they clogged, whereas I've been using this one for months and it's fine.  A word of warning, they spray in a flat fan pattern, which means you have to move the sprayer as you spray.