Why the Creator of Ruby on Rails Prefers Dynamic Typing

“I write all novel client-side code as JavaScript instead of TypeScript, and it’s a delight,” says the creator of Ruby on Rails. Posting on Twitter, David Heinemeier Hansson opined that TypeScript “sucked out much of the joy I had writing JavaScript. I’m forever grateful that Yukihiro ‘Matz’ Matsumoto didn’t succumb to the pressure of adding similar type hints to Ruby.”

When it comes to static vs dynamic typing, “I’ve heard a million arguments from both sides throughout my entire career,” Hansson wrote on his blog today, “but seen very few of them ever convinced anyone of anything.”
But wait — he thinks we can all get along:
Personally, I’m unashamedly a dynamic typing kind of guy. That’s why I love Ruby so very much. It takes full advantage of dynamic typing to allow the poetic syntax that results in such beautiful code. To me, Ruby with explicit, static typing would be like a salad with a scoop of ice cream. They just don’t go together.

I’ll also confess to having embraced the evangelical position for dynamic typing in the past. To the point of suffering from a One True Proposition affliction. Seeing the lack of enthusiasm for dynamic typing as a reflection of missing education, experience, or perhaps even competence.

Oh what folly. Like trying to convince an introvert that they’d really like parties if they’d just loosen up a bit…

These days, I’ve come to appreciate the magnificence of multiplicity. Programming would be an awful endeavor if we were all confined to the same paradigm. Human nature is much too varied to accept such constraint on its creativity…But it took a while for me to come to these conclusions. I’m a recovering solutionist. So when I see folks cross their heart in disbelief that anyone, anywhere might fancy JavaScript over TypeScript, I smile, and I remember the days when I’d recognize their zeal in the mirror.

Hansson also sees the “magnificence of multiplicity” in positions about functional vs object-oriented programming. “Poles on both these axes have shown to deliver excellent software over the decades (and awful stuff too!).”

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Binance Temporarily Paused Bitcoin Transactions Over Network Congestion, Also Faces Government Scrutiny

CoinDesk reports that Binance “temporarily paused bitcoin withdrawals Sunday morning U.S. time as the Bitcoin blockchain became overwhelmed with pending transactions and sky-high fees.”
The company resumed withdrawals within two hours of its initial Twitter posting about the withdrawals.
On-chain data shows that there are nearly 400,000 unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions, which is higher than anything seen during the bull runs of 2018 and 2021. The average transaction fee has also doubled since March, pushing it to a two-year high. The current transaction fee is just over $8, a 309% change from a year ago.

In an earlier CoinDesk article, an executive at Luxor Technologies, a full-stack Bitcoin mining pool, blamed the rising fees on the adoption of the new BRC-20 token standard, a new way to “inscribe” additional data during transactions.

But meanwhile, an anonymous reader shared another report from Mashable about Binance:

Bloomberg reported that the crypto exchange (currently the world’s largest) is facing a U.S. Department of Justice probe over possibly allowing Russians to move money in a way that would violate U.S. sanctions… It’s worth noting that no formal accusation has been made against Binance, as this is just a probe. It may be some time before accusations manifest — if they manifest at all. In 2021, Binance was under a similar investigation related to possible money laundering.
But another Reuters article adds that Bloomberg’s sources “also said that Binance is discussing the possibility of settling with the Department of Justice regarding previous allegations that the exchange was also used to move money to circumvent U.S. sanctions against Iran.”
And elsewhere, Reuters reports:
Israel has seized around 190 crypto accounts at crypto exchange Binance since 2021 , including two it said were linked to Islamic State and dozens of others it said were owned by Palestinian firms connected to the Islamist Hamas group, documents released by the country’s counter-terror authorities show…
In a blog post after its publication, Binance said that Reuters was “deliberately leaving out critical facts.” The exchange has been “working closely with international counter-terrorism authorities” on the seizures, Binance said. “With regard to the specific organizations mentioned in the article, it’s important to clarify that bad actors don’t register accounts under the names of their criminal enterprises,” it said…
Under Israeli law, the country’s defense minister can order the seizure and confiscation of assets that the ministry deems related to terrorism… The seizures by Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing highlight how governments are targeting crypto companies in their efforts to prevent illegal activity. Binance, founded in 2017 by CEO Changpeng Zhao, says on its website it reviews information requests from governments and law enforcement agencies on a case-by-case basis, disclosing information as legally required.

Binance has also said it checks users for connections to terrorism and has “continued to invest tremendous resources to enhance its compliance program,” it told U.S. senators in March in response to their requests for information on Binance’s regulatory compliance and finances.

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Racehorse Owned by 391 Users of a Sports-Investment App Wins Kentucky Derby

This year’s Kentucky Derby was won by a 15-to-1 longshot named Mage, reports sports magazine the Athletic. It was only the horse’s third race — but the story gets even stranger:
Mage is owned by a collective of horse racing fans that doesn’t follow your standard ownership structure. Fans can purchase shares of a horse for as little as $50. It’s a publicly owned racehorse. Mage has 391 owners on the Commonwealth app. Many were at the 2023 Kentucky Derby wearing Mage hats and they were shown on NBC’s lead up to the Kentucky Derby.
The Commonwealth app even tried to arrange watch parties for the horse race across the country. Shareholders own 25% of the racehorse, reports Sporting News:

Although horses are the most common commodity, there are golfers on the app as well, specifically Joey Vrzich and Cooper Dossey, whom it says are “coming Spring 2023.” Commonwealth has a partnership with WinStar Farm, a premiere breeder of thoroughbreds… “Together we are going to revolutionize the ownership experience and give the world access to horses that were once unavailable to the public,” Brian Doxtator, CEO of Commonwealth said, per the collective’s website.

According to Action Network’s Darren Rovell, Commonwealth owners will be paid out $94.52 per share (prior to taxes) for the win.

Before the race the Athletic sports magazine asked seven experts for their picks — and only one of them had even mentioned Mage. (The Athletic’s senior sports betting editor correctly picked Mage and “Angel of Empire” to finish somewhere in the top three positions.) But just for fun, the Athletic also asked three AI chatbots — and none of them picked the winner:

Bing AI: That’s a tough question. I don’t have a personal preference, but based on the odds and the past performances, I think Forte has a good chance of winning. He has been very consistent and impressive in his races, and he has a top trainer and jockey. He also has a favorable post position at No. 14, which gives him some room to maneuver and avoid traffic. But as I said, anything can happen in the Kentucky Derby, and there are many other talented horses in the field. It will be an exciting race to watch.

Google Bard: I like the chances of Tapit Trice to win the 2023 Kentucky Derby. He is the second-lowest odds horse at 5-1, and has won twice and finished second twice in six career races. He has one of the best pedigrees a horse could ask for, being sired by Justify, the 2018 Triple Crown winner. He is also coming off an impressive showing in the 2023 Blue Grass Stakes, where he finished second just barely behind Verifying.
Here are some other horses that I like to finish in the money… The Kentucky Derby is always a tough race to predict, but I think these horses have a good chance of winning or finishing in the money. [Bard then listed five more of the 18 horses — one of which ultimately finished third.]

Chat GPT: As an artificial intelligence language model, I don’t have personal opinions or preferences. However, based on the current information I have, I cannot accurately predict the winner of the Kentucky Derby. Horse racing involves many variables, including the skill of the jockey, the health and performance of the horse, and even the weather conditions on race day. The outcome of any given race is always uncertain and subject to chance. It’s important to note that gambling can be risky, and I don’t encourage it.

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Will Remote Working Lead Millennials to Buy Homes in Affordable Remote Suburbs?

An anonymous reader shared this report from Fortune:
For eight years now, as millennials have entered their thirties and forties, also known as “homebuying age,” Bank of America has surveyed over 1,000 members of the generation once a year for its Home Work series. And for 2023’s edition… older millennials (age 31-41) are almost three times as likely to move into a house than an apartment, the survey found…

Migration patterns during the pandemic have clearly established that most homebuyers have wanted to flee big cities, with some “zoomtowns” such as Boise benefiting in particular. But the survey reveals something even more drastic. In a section called “suburban nation,” BofA reveals that 43% to 45% of millennials — of every age — expect to buy a house in the suburbs. “We expect the ability to work from home to remain an incentive for young families to seek out more remote suburban and rural markets where housing may be more affordable,” wrote the BofA team led by research analyst Elizabeth Suzuki. And remote work is still robust, they added.

Millennials are also looking toward the suburbs for wealth-building. A majority (two-thirds) of them believe that they’ll buy a home in the next two years, citing a return on investment as the number one reason for purchasing. The interest is pervasive across the generation, and maybe means that the suburb is in for a new and better revival. And a 2021 study from Pew Research Center found that one in five adults preferred city life, compared to one quarter of adults in 2018…

Millennials reported to BoA that the pandemic increased their likelihood of buying a home…

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Bill Gates Visits Planned Site of ‘Most Advanced Nuclear Facility in the World’

Friday Bill Gates visited Kemmerer, Wyoming (population: 2,656) — where a coal plant was shutting down after 50 years. But Gates was there “to celebrate the latest step in a project that’s been more than 15 years in the making: designing and building a next-generation nuclear power plant…”

The new plant will employ “between 200 and 250 people,” Gates writes in a blog post, “and those with experience in the coal plant will be able to do many of the jobs — such as operating a turbine and maintaining connections to the power grid — without much retraining.”

It’s called the Natrium plant, and it was designed by TerraPower, a company I started in 2008. When it opens (potentially in 2030), it will be the most advanced nuclear facility in the world, and it will be much safer and produce far less waste than conventional reactors.
All of this matters because the world needs to make a big bet on nuclear. As I wrote in my book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster , we need nuclear power if we’re going to meet the world’s growing need for energy while also eliminating carbon emissions. None of the other clean sources are as reliable, and none of the other reliable sources are as clean…

Another thing that sets TerraPower apart is its digital design process. Using supercomputers, they’ve digitally tested the Natrium design countless times, simulating every imaginable disaster, and it keeps holding up. TerraPower’s sophisticated work has drawn interest from around the globe, including an agreement to collaborate on nuclear power technology in Japan and investments from the South Korean conglomerate SK and the multinational steel company ArcelorMittal…

I’m excited about this project because of what it means for the future. It’s the kind of effort that will help America maintain its energy independence. And it will help our country remain a leader in energy innovation worldwide. The people of Kemmerer are at the forefront of the equitable transition to a clean, safe energy future, and it’s great to be partnering with them.

Gates writes that for safety the plant uses liquid sodium (instead of water) to absorb excess heat, and it even has an energy storage system “to control how much electricity it produces at any given time…”

“I’m convinced that the facility will be a win for the local economy, America’s energy independence, and the fight against climate change.

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White House Proposes 30% Tax On Electricity Used For Crypto Mining

Longtime Slashdot reader SonicSpike shares a report from Engadget: The Biden administration wants to impose a 30 percent tax on the electricity used by cryptocurrency mining operations, and it has included the proposal in its budget for the fiscal year of 2024. In a blog post on the White House website, the administration has formally introduced the Digital Asset Mining Energy or DAME excise tax. It explained that it wants to tax cryptomining firms, because they aren’t paying for the “full cost they impose on others,” which include environmental pollution and high energy prices.

Crypto mining has “negative spillovers on the environment,” the White House continued, and the pollution it generates “falls disproportionately on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.” It added that the operations’ “often volatile power consumption ” can raise electricity prices for the people around them and cause service interruptions. Further, local power companies are taking a risk if they decide to upgrade their equipment to make their service more stable, since miners can easily move away to another location, even abroad. As Yahoo News noted, there are other industries, such as steel manufacturing, that also use large amounts of electricity but aren’t taxed for their energy consumption. In its post, the administration said that cryptomining “does not generate the local and national economic benefits typically associated with businesses using similar amounts of electricity.”

Critics believe that the government made this proposal to go after and harm an industry it doesn’t support. A Forbes report also suggested that DAME may not be the best solution for the issue, and that taxing the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions might be a better alternative. That could encourage mining firms not just to minimize energy use, but also to find cleaner sources of power. It might be difficult to convince the administration to go down that route, though: In its blog post, it said that the “environmental impacts of cryptomining exist even when miners use existing clean power.” Apparently, mining operations in communities with hydropower have been observed to reduce the amount of clean power available for use by others. That leads to higher prices and to even higher consumption of electricity from non-clean sources. “If the proposal ever becomes a law, the government would impose the excise tax in phases,” adds Engadget. “It would start by adding a 10 percent tax on miners’ electricity use in the first year, 20 percent in the second and then 30 percent from the third year onwards.”

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Mercedes Locks Better EV Engine Performance Behind Annoying Subscription Paywalls

Last year, BMW announced plans to charge a $18 per month subscription for heated seats. Now, Mercedes is considering making better EV engine performance an added subscription surcharge. “Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle owners in North America who want a little more power and speed can now buy 60 horsepower for just $60 a month or, on other models, 80 horsepower for $90 a month,” reports CNN. “They won’t have to visit a Mercedes dealer to get the upgrade either, or even leave their own driveway. The added power, which will provide a nearly one second decrease in zero-to-60 acceleration, will be available through an over-the-air software patch.” Techdirt reports: If you don’t want to pay monthly, Mercedes will also let you pay a one time flat fee (usually several thousand dollars) to remove the artificial restrictions they’ve imposed on your engine. That’s, of course, creating additional upward pricing funnel efforts on top of the industry’s existing efforts to upsell you on a rotating crop of trims, tiers, and options you probably didn’t want.

It’s not really clear that regulators have any interest in cracking down on charging dumb people extra for something they already owned and paid for. After all, ripping off gullible consumers is effectively now considered little more than creative marketing by a notable segment of government “leaders” (see: regulatory apathy over misleading hidden fees in everything from hotels to cable TV).

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Vice Media Group Preps $400 Million Sale To George Soros and Fortress

Vice Media Group is planning to sell to investors for about $400 million — a fraction of its once high-flying $5.7 billion valuation back in 2017. The investors include Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management, according to the Wall Street Journal. Variety reports: Cash-strapped Vice Media has been searching for a buyer over the past year, to no avail. In February, Nancy Dubuc announced her exit as CEO after almost five years. The company subsequently appointed longtime execs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala as co-CEOs. Under the proposed sale to “senior lenders,” Fortress “plans to find a role for Vice co-founder Shane Smith,” who is executive chairman and previously served as CEO prior to Dubuc’s hire.

The bankruptcy and sale would “wipe out” most of Vice’s other shareholders, including TPG Group and James Murdoch (who invested in the company via his Lupa Systems investment firm), per the Journal report. Vice has been unable to pay many of its vendors and recently secured a $30 million “lifeline” from Fortress, the Journal previously reported. Last week, the New York Times reported that Vice Media was preparing for bankruptcy after being unable to find a buyer. It announced a series of layoffs and said it was pulling the plug on “Vice News Tonight.”

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The 2023 Video Game Hall of Fame Inductees

Slashdot reader Dave Knott shares the four class of 2023 inductees into the Video Game Hall Of Fame. They were announced today at The Strong National Museum of Play. From the press release: Barbie Fashion Designer : “The 1996 hit Barbie Fashion Designer emerged at a time when many games were marketed to male players. Published by Digital Domain/Mattel Media, it proved that a computer game targeted to girls could succeed, selling more than 500,000 copies in two months. The game helped greatly expanded the market for video games and in the process opened important — and ongoing — discussions about gender and stereotypes in gaming. Barbie Fashion Designer was also innovative in bridging the gap between the digital and the physical, allowing players to design clothes for their Barbie dolls and print them on special fabric.”

Computer Space : “Nutting Associate’s Computer Space appeared in 1971 and was the first commercial video game. Inspired by the early minicomputer and previous World Video Game Hall of Fame inductee — Spacewar! (1962) — the coin-operated Computer Space proved that video games could reach an audience outside of computer labs. While not a best-seller, it was a trailblazer in the video game world and inspired its creators to go on to establish Atari Inc., a video game giant in the 1970s and 1980s.”

The Last of Us : “Released by Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2013, The Last of Us jumped into an oversaturated field of post-apocalyptic zombie games and quickly stood out among the rest with its in-depth storytelling, intimate exploration of humanity, thrilling game jumps and cutscenes, and its memorable characters. More than 200 publications named it the game of the year in 2013. Its story has since made the jump to Hollywood, inspiring an HBO adaptation in 2023 watched weekly by millions.”

Wii Sports : “Wii Sports launched with the Nintendo Wii home video game system in 2006 and introduced motion-based technology to living rooms across the world. With a simple swipe of the controller, players could serve a tennis ball, hurl a bowling bowl, throw a left hook, or drive a golf ball. The simple mechanics made the game accessible to almost anyone — allowing it to be played by young children and seniors alike — and helped to redefine the idea of who is a “gamer.” Ultimately, the game helped Nintendo to sell more than 100 million Wii consoles worldwide.” These titles managed to beat out several other incredibly popular titles, including Angry Birds, Age of Empires, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, GoldenEye 007, NBA 2K, FIFA International Soccer, Quake, and Wizardry.

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El Salvador President Signs Law Eliminating Taxes On Tech Innovations

Following the announcement of the bill in March, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele signed a law today eliminating income, property, capital gains, and other tariffs on technology innovations. Watcher Guru reports: The announcement reinforces El Salvador’s perspective as a haven for technology development. Additionally, Bukele stated that the new act protects “technology innovations, software and app programming, AI, computer, and communications hardware manufacturing.”

The Innovations and Technology Manufacturing Incentives Act will likely attract tech developments to the country. Moreover, the elimination of taxes presents an economic benefit to a host of companies. Conversely, El Salvador continues to maintain its commitment to a variety of tech innovations that are being developed.

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