Ashlee Vance

Alicia and Bruno are each given a different natural number in secret (1 is the smallest natural number, 2 is the second smallest, and so on). They are then tasked with guessing which of them has the larger number. The following conversation ensues:Alicia: I don’t know who has the bigger number.Bruno: I don’t know either.Alicia: Upon further reflection, I remain ignorant.Bruno: Alas, I’m still unsure too.Alicia: Now that you say that, I actually know which of us has the bigger number!Bruno: Cool! In that case, I know what…

The largest rocket to ever take flight requires a substantial number of upgrades ahead of its second test flight, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed this past weekend.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewMusk made the comments on June 24 during a live Twitter discussion with Bloomberg journalist Ashlee Vance, saying “well over a thousand” changes are needed ahead of Starship’s second test flight, the date for which has not yet been set.True to the company’s ethos to move fast and break…

There is a long tradition of posing puzzles at interviews for technical positions. Despite my respect for puzzles, I don’t believe one’s ability to solve one quickly in a high-pressure situation provides an accurate forecast for their future job performance. Google, once known for its notoriously difficult interview puzzles, retired the practice in 2013, with the senior VP of people operations at the time stating that they were “a complete waste of time. They don’t predict anything. They serve primarily to make the…

What comes to mind when you think of a drive-in? Maybe it’s a memory of sitting in your parents’ car, nodding off in the backseat during a mediocre film about talking hamsters? Perhaps trips to the drive-in became a pandemic habit? Or maybe, upon hearing the word drive-in, you immediately think of the Grease fantasy. You know, the worlds of Stand By Me, Back to the Future, and Happy Days.A made-up, middle-class white America where the lawns are green, the poodle skirts are long, capitalism works for everyone, changing…