The enterprise of philanthropy does well out of doing good.

Because of their own business backgrounds, billionaires and their foundations insist on cost-benefit calculations, metrics-based accountability and a return on investment for those initiatives they support. Yet there is little transparency or system of governance through which they themselves can be held accountable.

The Leprechauns of Software Engineering.

The software profession has a problem, widely recognized but which nobody seems willing to do much about. You can think of this problem as a variant of the well known “telephone game”, where some trivial rumor is repeated from one person to the next until it has become distorted beyond recognition and blown up out of all proportion.

Unfortunately, the objects of this telephone game are generally considered cornerstone truths of the discipline, to the point that their acceptance now hinders further progress.

The night that saved the king.

When Juan Carlos abdicated the Spanish throne in June 2014, we looked back on the night which defined his reign – and the conspiracy theories which continue to circulate about it 33 years later.

The Urban Legend of the 10X Developer.

You’ll often hear folks claim that it’s well-researched that some developers are ten times (or twenty-seven times! Or more!) as productive as the median developer. They often refer these gifted folks as “10x developers.”

The “well-researched” part is garbage. Completely wrong. There are some studies and they’re terrible.

Our cosmic horizon is both unreachable and closer than ever.

The cosmic horizon defining our observable universe is a hard limit. We can’t see beyond it, and unless our understanding of the structure of reality changes drastically, we can be confident we never will. The expansion of the cosmos is speeding up; anything beyond our horizon now will be carried away from us faster and faster, and its light will never be able to catch up. While we might never be able to say with certainty what lies beyond that border, what all the theories have in common is that our observable universe is part of a much, much larger space.

Relevant: The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack.

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Villacher Torte von Koloini in Villach, Kärnten.

Relevant: Villa Verdin, Millstatt am See.

How the Pandemic Defeated America.

America would be wise to help reverse the ruination of the natural world, a process that continues to shunt animal diseases into human bodies. It should strive to prevent sickness instead of profiting from it. It should build a health-care system that prizes resilience over brittle efficiency, and an information system that favors light over heat. It should rebuild its international alliances, its social safety net, and its trust in empiricism. It should address the health inequities that flow from its history. Not least, it should elect leaders with sound judgment, high character, and respect for science, logic, and reason.

Remote work is a platform.

In-office and remote work are different platforms of work. And right now, what we’re seeing a lot of companies attempt to port local work methods to working remotely. Normally have four meetings a day in person? Then let’s have those same four meetings, with those same participants, over Zoom instead. It’s a way, but it’s the wrong way.

“The Turning Point” explores the destruction of the environment, climate change and species extinction from different perspective.

How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained.

The “c” sounds, which are really “k” sounds, become voiced, so they turn into “g.” Do the same with the “p,” since that’s a voiceless consonant, and we want voiced ones, so change that to a “b.” The second-to-last vowel, an “o” sound, gets raised, so change that to an “ooh.” And toss out the last syllable. It’s just a vowel, who needs it? Now try again.