avoid large group discussions in your social events

What’s the point of an interest-specific social club? To socialize, of course! With people who share a specific interest. I would argue this isn’t as obvious to people-organizers as it might sound. Last Friday, I attended a meetup with my university’s philosophy club. I went in expecting many opportunities to meet other thoughtful people, but I left the main event without seeing them. Instead, the meetup was a guided large group discussion about quotes from Emerson....

2023 Feb 17 · 6 min

the 2/3 rule for multi-factor authentication

multi-factor authentication When you sign into an online service, you’re required to provide a username to identify who you are and a password to prove that you are who you say you are. Anyone can claim that they’re romanhn on GitHub, but only I know my GitHub password. But if a hacker breaches GitHub’s servers and publishes a list of everyone’s password,1 knowing my password is no longer proof of anything....

2023 Feb 3 · 6 min

tools for finding information on the internet

Isn’t the internet such a magically useful tool? Thirty years ago, if you wanted to know how many plays Shakespeare wrote, you would have to physically walk to your local library and find a relevant book. Now, you can find the answer in less than ten seconds, at any time, wherever you are. However, the internet is not a truthful, superintelligent oracle. Rather, it’s a dangerous jungle of knowledge you must learn to navigate if you wish to find the truth....

2023 Jan 29 · 3 min