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Interesting Articles - April 19th 2017


1. Too much work?

 This got my attention when I read this line:
"Employers may subject our bodies to drug tests; monitor our speech both on and off the job; require us to answer questionnaires about our exercise habits, off-hours alcohol consumption, and childbearing intentions; and rifle through our belongings. If the state held such sweeping powers ... we would probably not consider ourselves free men and women."


 https://newrepublic.com/article/141663/united-states-work?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email
On similar lines, I liked this article from Quartz - Why being grumpy at work is good for you!
https://qz.com/929348/why-being-grumpy-at-work-is-good-for-you/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

 2. Zombie Malls

 One out of every 10 American works in retail. 89000 workers have been laid off since October 2016. The total Coal Mining industry  that created a big foofaraw during the 2016 elections, has roughly 80000 employees and retail industry lost more than that in less than 7 months

 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/business/retail-industry.html?ref=todayspaper
3. Jon Ossoff and 2018 Mid-term election from FiveThirtyEight

 I was up till 11:30 pm following the Twitter feed and trying to determine if he can get 50% of the votes to be elected. Just few days back, John Oliver had a segment on GA and it's ridiculous election process. It was close, but couldn't get through the end line.
Bottom line - The run-offs are going to be closer than most people realize and also 2018 won't be a year where Dems can compete.

 https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/5-takeaways-from-the-georgia-6-special-election-results/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

 4. Alien Knowledge - When Machines Justify Knowledge

 Fair Warning - Long Read

 This is a long read and gives you a perspective on how hard AI is and the scary thing is, that the folks who are building it even really don't fully understand how it works. 

 https://backchannel.com/our-machines-now-have-knowledge-well-never-understand-857a479dcc0e

 5. A day in the life of a Food Vendor

 This article truly justifies why you pay for NYT :-)
This article goes behind the scene on daily struggle to do business against host of challenges:

  • City Codes and Regulation
  • Exorbitant Fines for Small Violations and
  • Occasional rage of Brick and Mortar Businesses or Residents
  • Weather, Whims of transit and foot traffic
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/dining/halal-cart-food-vendor-new-york-city.html?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email
6. Connecting Universe - The Facebook way
F8 news was disappointment for me. Maybe I have become an old fart to wear a 1 lbs of headgear on my head to chat with my other old friends, but the concept of spaces did not excite me at all.

"The problem with connecting everyone on the planet is that a lot of people are assholes. The issue with giving just anyone the ability to live broadcast to a billion people is that someone will use it to shoot up a school. You have to plan for these things. You have to build for the reality we live in, not the one we hope to create."

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mathonan/climbing-out-of-facebooks-reality-hole?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email&utm_term=.weKAq7gep9#.meDWpX8gGL
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