Joe Rogan Experience #1368 – Edward Snowden

All episodes of Joe Rogan Experience podcast are nearly three hours long, so I usually just watch the highlights. But this chat with Edward Snowden was well worth the full length watch.

Edward Snowden is one of the brightest and bravest people of our generation, and his story is fascinating. I think that this lengthy podcast episode provided a good channel for him to tell it. It’s not a tweet or a blog post, and it’s not strictly framed corporate media.

I also think that Joe Rogan is one of the finest interviewers today. In this episode, he shows that very well, but remaining silent for almost all duration of the show, with an occasional steer of the conversation.

I wish there were more content like this online.

Oh, and just for the record, “Permanent Record” is the book that Edward Snowden has written and is heavily referencing in this talk. I’ll definitely be buying a copy.

GDPR cookie scanner

I came across the GDPR Expert service via this HackerNews thread. It is a service that helps website owners with the GDPR compliance. Behind the scenes, there is this open source tool, which scans for cookies and provides the details about the vendor and purpose of each identified cookie. The database includes more than 10,000 known cookies.

Very handy.

996.ICU

There has been some noise in the mass media about the 996.ICU (official website) recently. That’s good, but I think we can do better. So, spread the word!

Here are a few bits to get you started:

The name 996.ICU refers to “Work by ‘996’, sick in ICU”, an ironic saying among Chinese developers, which means that by following the “996” work schedule, you are risking yourself getting into the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).

What is 996?
A “996” work schedule refers to an unofficial work schedule (9 a.m.–9 p.m., 6 days per week) that has been gaining popularity. Serving a company that encourages the “996” work schedule usually means working for at least 60 hours per week. Visit 996 working hour system on Wikipedia for more details.

GitHub and Microsoft works support the 996.ICU initiative, as well as many other companies and teams.

Paul Le Roux – Criminal Mastermind

Here’s the name I haven’t heard before – Paul Le Roux. He started off as an Open Source software developer, but quickly turned into one of, if not the largest cyber criminals.

Reply All podcast did an episode about him recently, and the story is mind-blowing.

The mention of Paul Le Roux trying to buy a submarine from the North Korea for his drug trafficking affairs reminded me of another crime documentary – Operation Odessa. Here’s the trailer to get you started.

Blockchain : The Freeland Passport

Blockchain technology has been in the news a lot lately. Most of the attention however was on the cryptocurrencies and ICOs. But that’s a very tiny part of what the blockchain is all about.

There are many different applications of the blockchain technology – some we already know and some are yet to be discovered. But there’s this one particular milestone, which I consider of ultimate importance.

Freeland, which is a set of social, technological, and business experiments has recently announced the Freeland passport. Watch the above YouTube video (in English, or this one in Russian), which showcases the passport.

Now, with the quick “yes” answer to your question of “Is this real?”, let me ask you a question in return: is your mind blown yet? Mine is.

I think this is a very important milestone in major social, cultural, legal, technological, and financial transformations that are already changing the world. This passport is a beautiful bridge between the two very complex, yet very different worlds we now live in – the physical and the digital.

This is not the beginning, and this is not the end. But this is one of those moments in history, which a lot of people today won’t recognize as such, yet the generations to come will definitely point out and understand.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in the very exciting times!