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Showing posts from June, 2017

Where do I learn about Blockchain?

Question - Quora If you are a complete beginner, I would suggest starting off with Bitcoin. Try to understand what Bitcoin is and how it works then you can dive in into more complex topics. This is one of my favourite videos on the subject: While reading about blockchain as a technology, you will probably encounter many technology related terms like blocks, mining, Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake(PoS), smart contracts, hashing, etc. You will need a  Glossary . As a next step, I would suggest creating a wallet and playing with the software sending transactions back and forth. This way you get to interact with the Bitcoin blockchain. Start off with $10 USD you don't need to buy a whole Bitcoin. You will learn about addresses, backups and private keys. A great wallet for beginners is  Copay . Here is a tutorial on how you could buy Bitcoin:  Cryptocurrency Tutorial A community generated FAQ on Reddit could help you with many questions you may have:  Bitcoin FAQ An...
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Feed - Quora

Feed - Quora : Cisco, which at the time owned Linksys, already had a product called the iPhone. Initially Cisco sued Apple for trademark infringement, but eventually realized it was in their mutual best interests to work out a deal. So, Cisco gave up the name in exchange for certain exclusivity favors by Apple. The most noticeable - supporting Cisco’s proprietary IPSec VPN implementation natively in Mac OS X and iOS.
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Russia's Cyberwar on Ukraine Is a Blueprint For What's to Come | WIRED

Russia's Cyberwar on Ukraine Is a Blueprint For What's to Come | WIRED : But the brevity of the outage was virtually the only thing that was less menacing about the 2016 blackout. Cybersecurity firms that have since analyzed the attack say that it was far more evolved than the one in 2015: It was executed by a highly sophisticated, adaptable piece of malware now known as "CrashOverride," a program expressly coded to be an automated, grid-killing weapon. Lee’s critical infrastructure security startup, Dragos, is one of two firms that have pored through the malware's code; Dragos obtained it from a Slovakian security outfit called ESET. The two teams found that, during the attack, CrashOverride was able to “speak” the language of the grid’s obscure control system protocols, and thus send commands directly to grid equipment. In contrast to the laborious phantom-mouse and cloned-PC techniques the hackers used in 2015, this new software could be programmed to scan a v...
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Basking in Reflected Glory: Three (Football) Field Studies

The tendency to "bask in reflected glory" (BIRG) by publicly announcing one's associations with successful others was investigated in three field experi- ments. All three studies showed this effect to occur even though the person striving to bask in the glory of a successful source was not involved in the cause of the source's success. Experiment 1 demonstrated the BIRG phenome- non by showing a greater tendency for university students to wear school- identifying apparel after their school's football team had been victorious than nonvictorious. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated this effect by showing that stu- dents used the pronoun tee more when describing a victory than a nonvktory of their school's football team. A model was developed asserting that the BIRG response represents an attempt to enhance one's public image. Experiments 2 and 3 indicated, in support of this assertion, that the tendency to proclaim a connection ...
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Experiments in Intergroup Discrimination - Scientific American

Experiments in Intergroup Discrimination - Scientific American : Experiments in Intergroup Discrimination Can discrimination be traced to some such origin as social conflict or a history of hostility? Not necessarily. Apparently the mere fact of division into groups is enough to trigger discriminatory behavior
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Intergroup Discrimination and the Henri Tajfel Experiments

Intergroup Discrimination and the Henri Tajfel Experiments : The Henri Tajfel Experiments Intergroup discrimination refers to the phenomenon where factions of a single group develop conflicts against each other as by-products of competition and prejudice. Different social and psychological factors become roots of conflicts between groups. However, within a group, conflicts mostly root from psychological prejudice then developing into a more serious form of intergroup discrimination. Though not all conflicts between different groups stem from competition, it still cannot be avoided that people automatically discriminate against those who are not part of their own group. It also follows that since we instantly discriminate against the outsiders, we can also discriminate against others for no apparent reason aside from developed prejudice. Different social and psychological factors become roots of conflicts between groups. However, within a group, conflicts mostly root from psycholo...
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In the AI Age, “Being Smart” Will Mean Something Completely Different

In the AI Age, “Being Smart” Will Mean Something Completely Different : Many experts believe that human beings will still be needed to do the jobs that require higher-order critical, creative, and innovative thinking and the jobs that require high emotional engagement to meet the needs of other human beings. The challenge for many of us is that we do not excel at those skills because of our natural cognitive and emotional proclivities:�We are confirmation-seeking thinkers and ego-affirmation-seeking defensive reasoners. We will need to overcome those proclivities in order to take our thinking, listening, relating, and collaborating skills to a much higher level. I believe that this process of upgrading begins with changing our definition of what it means to “be smart.” To date, many of us have achieved success by being “smarter” than other people as measured by grades and test scores, beginning in�our early days in school. The smart people were those that received the highest scores ...
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F1 owners say UK paywall TV deal they have inherited is detrimental to sport | Sport | The Guardian

F1 owners say UK paywall TV deal they have inherited is detrimental to sport | Sport | The Guardian : Sean Bratches, the managing director of commercial operations for the Formula One Group, sees free-to-air television as key to the future of the sport but F1 will be shown exclusively on Sky for five years from 2019. On Tuesday the chief executive, Chase Carey, criticised Ecclestone as having a “short-term, deal of the day focus”. “Free to air is critically important to us,” Bratches said at the FIA conference. “My vision as it relates to media rights is a hybrid of free to air and pay. Our plan is to balance the two but have a prominent, over the year, free-to-air voice. That is important from a fans, sponsors and relevance standpoint. There is the cauldron full of cash on the pay side and on the other side of the scale you have brand and reach.
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New book about the creation of the iPhone ‘The One Device’ on sale now, launches to mixed�reviews

New book about the creation of the iPhone ‘The One Device’ on sale now, launches to mixed�reviews : The iPhone is designed for maximum efficiency and compactness. “The One Device” isn’t. The three chapters on the development of the iPhone are the heart of the book, but there’s some filler too. It’s curiously unilluminating to read a metallurgical analysis of a pulverized iPhone, or to watch Merchant trudge around the globe on a kind of iCalvary in search of the raw materials Apple uses — through a Stygian Bolivian tin mine and a lithium mine in the Chilean desert and an e-waste dump in Nairobi where many iPhones end up.
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Something shocking will happen during the upcoming solar eclipse

Something shocking will happen during the upcoming solar eclipse : On Monday, August 21, 2017, all of North America will be treated to an eclipse of the sun. Anyone within the path of totality can see one of nature’s most awe inspiring sights – a total solar eclipse,” NASA states on their website. “This path, where the moon will completely cover the sun and the sun’s tenuous atmosphere – the corona – can be seen, will stretch from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. Observers outside this path will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun’s disk. NASA created this website to provide a guide to this amazing event. Here you will find activities, events, broadcasts, and resources from NASA and our partners across the nation.
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With Over 2 Billion Users, Facebook Is 'Starting Something New' - TheStreet

With Over 2 Billion Users, Facebook Is 'Starting Something New' - TheStreet : Social media giant Facebook ( FB) on Thursday said that it was "starting something new," via a blog post on its website.� Facebook wants to broaden the conversation on how it can take more seriously its�responsibility and accountability regarding their impact and influence. As its platform grows to reach over 2 billion users worldwide, Facebook said that it faces challenging new questions including how "to safeguard personal privacy online, to the meaning of the free expression, to the future of journalism worldwide." Facebook posted the following questions it said it is currently wrestling with to enhance its platform: How should platforms approach keeping terrorists from spreading propaganda online? After a person dies, what should happen to their online identity? How aggressively should social media companies monitor and remove controversial posts and images from their ...
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WSJ ends Google users’ free ride, then falls 44% in search results | The Columbian

WSJ ends Google users’ free ride, then falls 44% in search results | The Columbian : After blocking Google users from reading free articles in February, the Wall Street Journal’s subscription business soared, with a fourfold increase in the rate of visitors converting into paying customers. But there was a trade-off: Traffic from Google plummeted 44 percent. The reason: Google search results are based on an algorithm that scans the internet for free content. After the Journal’s free articles went behind a paywall, Google’s bot only saw the first few paragraphs and started ranking them lower, limiting the Journal’s viewership. Executives at the Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., argue that Google’s policy is unfairly punishing them for trying to attract more digital subscribers. They want Google to treat their articles equally in search rankings, despite being behind a paywall. “Any site like ours automatically doesn’t get the visibility in search that a free site woul...
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Chess.com's iOS app inadvertently broke the mathematical limits of older Apple devices — Quartz

Chess.com's iOS app inadvertently broke the mathematical limits of older Apple devices — Quartz : Two billion, one hundred forty-seven million, four hundred eighty-three thousand, six hundred forty-seven, or 2^31-1. That number meant good news and bad news last weekend for the popular iOS app made by Chess.com. The good news was that it was the number of games users had played on its platform, more than 2.14 billion. The bad news was that the app stopped working for anyone playing on an Apple iPhone or iPad made before mid-2013, because those devices aren’t capable of interpreting such a large integer. When they tried to access a game with an ID higher than that number, the app crashed. “All of this started happening late on Saturday,” Chess.com CEO Erik Allebest later wrote in a blog post on the site. “Early reports from members were difficult to understand.”
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McDonald’s pulls out of Olympics contract to end 41-year sponsorship | Sport | The Guardian

McDonald’s pulls out of Olympics contract to end 41-year sponsorship | Sport | The Guardian : Silvia Lagnado, the McDonald’s global chief marketing officer, said: “As part of our global growth plan, we are reconsidering all aspects of our business and have made this decision in cooperation with the IOC to focus on different priorities.” McDonald’s has been bringing down costs as it invests in improving its food quality, restaurant service and online ordering to try to attract customers in the US, where intense competition has affected sales. The firm, first involved with the Games in 1968, was the event’s foods retail sponsor. Despite pulling out with immediate effect, McDonald’s will continue at next year’s Pyeongchang winter Olympics as sponsors with domestic marketing rights.
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Cross-cultural study strengthens link between media violence, aggressive behavior -- ScienceDaily

Cross-cultural study strengthens link between media violence, aggressive behavior -- ScienceDaily : New research offers compelling evidence that media violence affects aggressive behavior. This first-of-its-kind study, led by Craig Anderson, a Distinguished Professor of psychology at Iowa State University, confirms six decades of research showing the effect is the same, regardless of culture.
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We asked 8 Senate Republicans to explain what their health bill is trying to do - Vox

We asked 8 Senate Republicans to explain what their health bill is trying to do - Vox : No, it ... well, yeah — it gives them certainty that you'll have a lot higher rates than if you pass the bill. Jeff Stein So you're saying [the bill] will lower the rates? Chuck Grassley Um, if you're talking about lowering the rates from now down, no. The rates could be way up here. [Points to sky] And if they — if we get a bill passed, it maybe wouldn't go up or would go up a heck of a lot less than they would without a bill.
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Teenager Who Urged Friend to Kill Himself Is Guilty of Manslaughter - The New York Times

Teenager Who Urged Friend to Kill Himself Is Guilty of Manslaughter - The New York Times TAUNTON, Mass. — A young woman who sent a barrage of text messages to another teenager  urging him to kill himself  was found guilty Friday of involuntary manslaughter in a case that many legal experts had expected to result in an acquittal. The verdict, handed down by a judge in a nonjury trial, was  a rare legal finding  that, essentially, a person’s words alone can directly cause someone else’s suicide. The judge, Lawrence Moniz, of Bristol County Juvenile Court in southeastern Massachusetts, said the conduct of the woman, Michelle Carter, toward Conrad Roy III was not only immoral but illegal. She faces up to 20 years in prison. Ms. Carter was 17 in July 2014 when she encouraged Mr. Roy, 18, whom she called her boyfriend, to kill himself. On July 12, while she was miles away, he drove alone to a Kmart parking lot and hooked up a water pump that emitted carbon monoxide into ...
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The Voluntary Life: 294 The Five Laws Of Stupidity

The Voluntary Life: 294 The Five Laws Of Stupidity : "Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake." Carlo Cipolla In the 1970s, an economic historian called Carlo Cipolla wrote a provocative article titled "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity". This week's episode is about his theory of the destructiveness of stupid behaviour and why it is so underestimated and misunderstood.
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Obstruction of Justice: Here’s the Legal Definition

Obstruction of Justice: Here’s the Legal Definition : “Do you know of any case where a person has been charged for obstruction of justice or, for that matter, any other criminal offense where they said or thought they hoped for an outcome?” Risch asked. Comey said he wasn’t sure, but, “I took it as a direction. I mean, this is the president of the United States, with me alone, saying, I hope this. I took it as: This is what he wants me to do.” Risch seemed satisfied he’d scored his point. “He said, ‘I hope.’ You don’t know of anyone who’s ever been charged for hoping something. Is that a fair statement?” Comey shrugged, “I don’t as I sit here.” The exchange raises the question, then, of whether an explicit order is necessary for the definition of obstruction of justice. Here’s the relevant section of the federal legal code�(our emphasis): (a) Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, endeavors to influence, intimidate, or imped...
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How NerdWallet Used Content to Build a $520 Million Company

How NerdWallet Used Content to Build a $520 Million Company Maggie Leung and Gerry Spratt from NerdWallet, Presented by The Hustle Maggie Leung - VP of Content Gerry Spratt - Director of Content Which KPIs do you use for writers? G: We don’t really think of KPIs for writers. The real measure of success for a writer here is what they’re able to deliver for their individual vertical and how well they’re aligned with the business. The core competencies of writing and researching are important, but what we look for his how a writer is integrating with the team, learning what the objectives for that team are, and performing well on those objectives. These objectives vary, so we don’t try to create uniform measures of success for our entire writing team. M: You don’t want to apply some kind of template, because each of our businesses are at a different level of maturity, and each of their needs will change over time. Universal KPIs wouldn’t be a good measure of accomplishment. ...
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How a Professional Climate Change Denier Discovered the Lies and Decided to Fight for Science

How a Professional Climate Change Denier Discovered the Lies and Decided to Fight for Science : JT: It started in the early 2000s. I was one of the climate skeptics who do battle on TV and I was doing a show with Joe Romm. On air, I said that, back in 1988, when climate scientist James Hansen testified in front of the Senate, he predicted we’d see a tremendous amount of warming. I argued it’d been more than a decade and we could now see by looking at the temperature record that he wasn’t accurate. After we got done with the program and were back in green room, getting the makeup taken off, Joe said to me, “Did you even read that testimony you’ve just talked about?” And when I told him it had been a while, he said “I’m daring you to go back and double check this.” He told me that some of Hansen’s projections were spot on. So I went back to my office and I re-read Hanson’s testimony. And Joe was correct. So I then I talked to the climate skeptics who had made this argument to me, and it ...
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Mechanism behind the electric charges generated by photosynthesis | EurekAlert! Science News

Mechanism behind the electric charges generated by photosynthesis | EurekAlert! Science News : During the water-splitting reaction in photosynthesis, plants produce oxygen by converting solar energy into chemical energy, providing the energy source necessary for their survival. This reaction is carried out by a protein complex in chloroplasts (located in leaves) called the photosystem II complex (see figure 1).
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Knowing your personality type is the first step to creating good habits - Business Insider

Knowing your personality type is the first step to creating good habits - Business Insider : The 4 tendencies has to do with how you respond to an expectation. And we all face two kinds of expectations: outer expectations which are things like a work deadline or a request from a sweetheart, and then their inner expectations: your own desire to keep a New Year's resolution. Your own desire to get back into playing guitar. So upholders readily meet outer and inner expectations. They’re going to meet the work deadline and keep the New Year's resolution without much fuss. They’re people who usually tend to like routine and to-do lists. That kind of thing. Next are questioners. Questioners question all expectations. They only do something if they think it makes sense. So they only meet inner expectations so they hate anything arbitrary or inefficient or irrational. Their first question is like “Well why am I gonna listen to you?” They want justifications, and they’re often accus...
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