TLDR 2020-08-21

Space station leaks 🛰️, hangover cure 🍹, Netflix's drive thru theme park 🎢

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Big Tech & Startups

Netflix is recreating iconic Stranger Things sets in LA, and you can drive your car through them (2 minute read)

Netflix will transform a series of buildings in downtown Los Angeles into a unique Stranger Things immersive theatre production. Guests will be able to drive through the entire experience. It will feature iconic locations from the show. The audience will stop to watch actors perform scenes, similar to a standard haunted house or walk through theme park experience. Tickets will go on sale starting Wednesday, August 26th, with prices starting at $59 per car.

Uber can now deliver prescriptions in Seattle and Dallas (1 minute read)

Uber has partnered with NimbleRx and expanded its Uber Health Business to include medicine delivery in Seattle and Dallas. Uber Health was launched in 2018 to help provide access to healthcare for patients and their caregivers. Uber drivers will connect to pharmacies via Uber Direct. The service will be particularly useful now as many people may be unable to travel to their local pharmacy safely.
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Science & Futuristic Technology

Hangover 'Cure' Reduces Headaches, Anxiety for Drunk Finnish Subjects (2 minute read)

In a study funded by Catapult Cat Oy, a seller of L-cysteine supplements, researchers found that a 1,200-milligram dose of L-cysteine reduced symptoms associated with hangovers. A 600-milligram dose was shown to relieve stress and anxiety. The randomized, double-blind study included 19 healthy male volunteers of varying alcohol tolerances, with some participants leaving the study as they couldn't consume all the alcohol needed for the trial.

NASA investigating small air leak on International Space Station (5 minute read)

There is a minor air leak on the International Space Station. People on the station are not in immediate danger. The ISS is never completely airtight, requiring routine repressurization with gasses from tanks sent up during cargo missions. This leak was first identified in September 2019. The ISS has been busy for the last few months, but now that activity has dropped, the crew members can start focusing on it.
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Programming, Design & Data Science

horcrux (GitHub Repo)

horcrux splits up files into encrypted fragments that can later be put back together without a password. Users can files up into as many horcruxes as they want and they will be able to decrypt the file as long as they have three pieces. The horcruxes can be dispersed and stored on various USBs or online locations.

minGPT (GitHub Repo)

minGPT is a minimal PyTorch re-implementation of the OpenAI GPT training. It is around 300 lines of code and aims to be interpretable and educational. The implementation may be able to reproduce GPT-1/GPT-2 results, but it hasn't been tested. A list of references and notes are available in the repository.
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Miscellaneous

Monumental failure (20 minute read)

When Tesla was looking for a site for its new Cybertruck factory, Tulsa, Oklahoma started a campaign to get the company's attention. The effort involved memes and altering an iconic statue in the area to have Elon Musk's face and the Tesla logo on it. Musk is known for his love of memes and the effort resulted in talks between Tesla and Oklahoma about what a factory in the state would look like. However, Tesla ended up locking in a location in Texas. Incentives played a large role in the company's decision. While Oklahoma missed out on the project, Musk said he will strongly consider the state for future projects.

Magic Leap’s lost work The Last Light gets a surprise release after its developers were laid off (1 minute read)

The Last Light is a mixed reality experience that is essentially a 40-minute short film. It had a surprise release this week and is now available as a free download. Produced by Magic Leap, the project was set to premiere at SXSW in March before the festival was canceled. Magic Leap laid off around 1,000 developers in April, including many of the game's developers, and made an announcement that seemed to indicate the company was moving away from content like The Last Light. A download link is available at the end of the article.
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