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Showing posts from December, 2018

Mamihlapinatapai - Wikipedia

Mamihlapinatapai - Wikipedia : The word Mamihlapinatapai is derived from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate. It allegedly refers to "a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other would initiate something that they both desire but which neither wants to begin."[1] A slightly different interpretation of the meaning also exists: "It is that look across the table when two people are sharing an unspoken but private moment. When each knows the other understands and is in agreement with what is being expressed. An expressive and meaningful silence."[2] It is also cited in books and articles on game theory associated with the volunteer's dilemma.[3][4]
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The Government Has an Instagram Problem – Member Feature Stories – Medium

The Government Has an Instagram Problem – Member Feature Stories – Medium : Memory holes in the digital landscape Every time a social media platform becomes popular, savvy politicians and campaign consultants figure out how to reach people there. And every time that happens, these platforms, which were not designed for political or government activity in the first place, fail to build in disclosure and archiving features. Such features would enable the transparency and accountability that modern democracies need.
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‘What an absolute disgrace’: E.U. citizens react angrily to British government’s Brexit settlement video - The Washington Post

‘What an absolute disgrace’: E.U. citizens react angrily to British government’s Brexit settlement video - The Washington Post : “24 years served in the military and I have to apply and pay for my Slovakian wife and son to have the right to stay here,” tweeted another. “Disgusted and angry don’t come close to how I feel. People need to wake up and realise what the UK has become!!”
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Amir congratulates army officers on new Guinness record

PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News : Amir congratulates army officers on new Guinness record Arab Times30 Dec 2018 KUNA photo Kuwait flag which entered the Guinness Book of World Records during a free fall in the world skydiving event held in Qatar. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent cables of congratulations on Saturday to officers in the Kuwaiti army, Lieutenant Colonel Fahad Al-Yaqoub, Lieutenant Col Salem Al-Mell and Major Nasser Fawaz Al-Sabah. In his cables, His Highness congratulated the officers on their achievement to register a new record in the Guinness Book after jumping with the flag of Kuwait as the largest flag during the free fall in the sport of skydiving in the world. His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah also sent similar cables to the officers. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Nas...
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Vaping Giant Juul Explains Everything Wrong With Our World

Vaping Giant Juul Explains Everything Wrong With Our World : This is not how markets are supposed to work. Regulators had — and still have — multiple opportunities to prevent both concentration in the e-cigarette market and profiteering off children. But competition authorities have taken such a hands-off attitude toward the economy, that we’re on the verge of witnessing Big Tobacco co-opt the very sector that was supposed to kill it off. When launched in 2015, Juul was another of Silicon Valley’s attempts to “disrupt” an established market — in this case, cigarettes. The company, based in San Francisco, positioned itself as a savior for public health, because unlike cancer-causing tobacco sticks, vaporizer devices distribute nicotine without tar or other carcinogens. In fact, the original intention of e-cigarettes when patented by a Chinese pharmacist in 2003 was to convert tobacco users. Juul claims it “has helped more than one million Americans switch from cigarettes.” By the ti...
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Invisible asymptotes — Remains of the Day

Invisible asymptotes — Remains of the Day : Invisible asymptotes "It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle." - Sun Tzu � My first job at Amazon was as the first analyst in strategic planning, the forward-looking counterpart to accounting, which records what already happened. We maintained several time horizons for our forward forecasts, from granular monthly forecasts to quarterly and annual forecasts to even five and ten year forecasts for the purposes of fund-raising and, well, strategic planning
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The 100 Best Albums of 2018 - Noisey

The 100 Best Albums of 2018 - Noisey : K-pop is not a passing phenomenon. The genre’s current mainstream success has been a long, steady build, and now, thanks to a generation of listeners who grew up on the internet no longer biased toward the sounds of their home regions, it’s fully entered public consciousness in North America. BTS, South Korea’s most successful boy band in a pure numbers sense, capitalized on these overarching narratives this year with the release of their crowning achievement, Love Yourself: Tear.
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One in four suicide attempts are associated with perceptual difficulties: Understanding and treating the factors associated with these perceptual abnormalities could prevent at least a quarter of suicide attempts and deaths -- ScienceDaily

One in four suicide attempts are associated with perceptual difficulties: Understanding and treating the factors associated with these perceptual abnormalities could prevent at least a quarter of suicide attempts and deaths -- ScienceDaily
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The Biggest, Most Inspiring Brand Moves of 2018 | Inc.com

The Biggest, Most Inspiring Brand Moves of 2018 | Inc.com : Crock-Pot--the consumer-products brand owned by�Newell Brands--found itself in an unexpected role early in 2018: villain. After a slow cooker sparked a fire that killed Jack Pearson, a character�in NBC's This Is Us, legions of fans�of the show announced their intentions to throw out their Crock-Pots. The company responded quickly, empathetically, and factually across social media--sharing people's devastation over the Pearson's death while emphasizing both the character's predilection for slow-cooked food and the company's real-life quality control measures. It even got #CrockPotIsInnocent trending on Twitter, ultimately earning the brand more attention than if the TV show had never aired in the first place.
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The Biggest, Most Inspiring Brand Moves of 2018 | Inc.com

The Biggest, Most Inspiring Brand Moves of 2018 | Inc.com : Crock-Pot--the consumer-products brand owned by�Newell Brands--found itself in an unexpected role early in 2018: villain. After a slow cooker sparked a fire that killed Jack Pearson, a character�in NBC's This Is Us, legions of fans�of the show announced their intentions to throw out their Crock-Pots. The company responded quickly, empathetically, and factually across social media--sharing people's devastation over the Pearson's death while emphasizing both the character's predilection for slow-cooked food and the company's real-life quality control measures. It even got #CrockPotIsInnocent trending on Twitter, ultimately earning the brand more attention than if the TV show had never aired in the first place.
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PUTTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER Remastering the World of Music The music industry is in

PUTTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER Remastering the World of Music The music industry is in the midst of two profound changes. First, consumers are increasingly opting to rent — rather than buy — music. Second, the demise of physical music has prompted artists to tour more often, driving significant growth in concerts and festivals. In the U.S., the music industry generated $43 billion in revenue, matching the prior peak in 2006. While business-to-business (B2B) revenues (Music Publishing and Licensing) and music ads (AM/FM, YouTube) are flattish, consumer outlays (Concerts, Subscriptions) are at all-time highs. While consumer spending habits are undergoing profound changes, the current industry structure has remained relatively static. That is, record labels are still record labels. Music distributors — Apple, Pandora, Sirius, and Spotify — are just music distributors. And, concert promoters — like Live Nation and AEG — are still concert promoters.
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President Trump traveled 250 yards to greet George W. Bush. He used a stretch limo and an eight-vehicle motorcade to make the trip. - The Washington Post

President Trump traveled 250 yards to greet George W. Bush. He used a stretch limo and an eight-vehicle motorcade to make the trip. - The Washington Post : “It’s good coffee. The President bought it,” Price recalled McDonough telling him when they returned to the White House.
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The Marriott Hack: How to Protect Yourself | WIRED

The Marriott Hack: How to Protect Yourself | WIRED : EARLY FRIDAY MORNING, the hotel behemoth Marriott announced a massive hack that impacts as many as 500 million customers who made a reservation at a Starwood hotel. Marriott acquired the Starwood hospitality group in September 2016, which operates numerous hotel brands including Sheraton, Westin, Aloft, and W Hotels. But the intrusion that caused the enormous data breach predates Marriott's acquisition, beginning in 2014. Marriott says it is cooperating with law enforcement and regulators in investigating the hack, and the company hasn't finalized the number of people impacted. It currently seems that about 170 million Marriott customers only had their names and basic information like address or email address stolen. But the bulk of the victims—currently thought to be 327 million people—had different combinations of name, address, phone number, email address, date of birth, gender, trip and reservation information, passport...
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The Genius Neuroscientist Who Might Hold the Key to True AI | WIRED

The Genius Neuroscientist Who Might Hold the Key to True AI | WIRED : Free energy is the difference between the states you expect to be in and the states your sensors tell you that you are in. Or, to put it another way, when you are minimizing free energy, you are minimizing surprise. According to Friston, any biological system9 that resists a tendency to disorder and dissolution will adhere to the free energy principle—whether it’s a protozoan or a pro basketball team. 9 In 2013, Friston ran a model that simulated a primordial soup full of floating molecules. He programmed it to obey both basic physics and the free energy principle. The model generated results that looked like organized life. A single-celled organism has the same imperative to reduce surprise that a brain does. The only difference is that, as self-organizing biological systems go, the human brain is inordinately complex: It soaks in information from billions of sense receptors, and it needs to organize that inf...
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Mmm The Genius Neuroscientist Who Might Hold the Key to True AI | WIRED

The Genius Neuroscientist Who Might Hold the Key to True AI | WIRED : For the past decade or so, Friston has devoted much of his time and effort to developing an idea he calls the free energy principle. (Friston refers to his neuroimaging research as a day job, the way a jazz musician might refer to his shift at the local public library.) With this idea, Friston believes he has identified nothing less than the organizing principle of all life, and all intelligence as well. “If you are alive,” he sets out to answer, “what sorts of behaviors must you show?” First the bad news: The free energy principle is maddeningly difficult to understand. So difficult, in fact, that entire rooms of very, very smart people have tried and failed to grasp it. A Twitter account2 with 3,000 followers exists simply to mock its opacity, and nearly every person I spoke with about it, including researchers whose work depends on it, told me they didn’t fully comprehend it. 2 The account is called @FarlKrist...
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