Favorites November 4th 2021

M.G. Siegler @mgsiegler

Feels like we all glaze over self-driving car stuff these days because of how long it has taken, but this is legitimately fun and cool to see. 🚗🚙

Kyle Vogt @kvogt

1) Monday night was a night I’ll never forget. I’m still speechless. I got to take the first ride, by anyone, ever, in a *driverless* robotaxi on the streets of San Francisco. This was officially ride #1 for @Cruise. Full story and vids below. https://t.co/GDjVcvMrvK

Kinda wild that they beat Waymo to SF deployment

Dr. Wil Van Cleve @drwilvancleve

As someone who frequently uses census data for research, and whose goals for global health research depend on rational international privacy laws, the ongoing decisions by many governments (not just US) to irrationally obscure important public datasets is maddening.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I think about this the same thing I think about the Census — it's absurd to live in a world of ubiquitous surveillance that is used *only* for the purpose of selling targeted advertising while handcuffing core public sector functions. https://t.co/2Ol0AhN64T

This whole episode around the census is absolutely infuriating.

Charlie Stross @cstross

Crypto advertising on buses means the bubble is approaching the "shoeshine boy giving stock tips to Joe Kennedy on the eve of the 1929 Wall Street Crash" stage. If you're in it, now's the time to get out—there aren't enough marks left to fleece, they're having to advertise.

Michael Brown @MrMBrown

Crypto adverts on the side of buses; what could possibly go wrong… https://t.co/czpnt8nJ3c

Here's the shoeshine boy story, if you're interested.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

I really do think it's possible that international attention and pressure pushed China to make its oppression in Xinjiang less blatant and overt. That's not "problem solved", but it's not nothing either. And I think it justifies the attention given to this issue.

9DASHLINE @9DashLine

Xinjiang’s oppression has shifted gears https://t.co/wyUJxQpIaH Militarization is being scaled down as internal surveillance and propaganda increase.

Somehow it's always surprising to me that countries care about outside pressure mostly in the form of negative publicity.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

There is no reason for us to have any tariffs on any Japanese product. Or any EU product for that matter. These are rich countries; their labor costs are similar to ours. Plus, they are our allies.

Yuka Hayashi @TokyoWoods

Japan asks U.S. to abolish extra steel and aluminum tariffs, days after EU signs a deal with Washington https://t.co/U6olbKh0sW

They're our ally you maniac!

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff

There are a lot of people in my mentions today insisting that California does not have a housing shortage, so here is a friendly reminder that California's rental vacancy rate is well below the national average. We actually do really need to build more.

I had not seen this particular chart before, although I suppose I could have guessed what it would look like.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

If a researcher at the Wuhan lab got Covid from an animal while doing field work, would that count as lab leak or zoonotic origin?

I think it counts as lab leak, because it involves bad safety during disease research. But I admit that it's on the edge.

Matt Novak @paleofuture

NFT guys trying to explain it's not just a hyperlink to a jpeg

Reminds me of Patriot, although I suspect the reference may go in the other direction.

August 2020, Palo Alto