Harry Frankfurt's "On Bullshit" One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern, or attracted much sustained inquiry. Another worthwhile source is the title essay in The Prevalence of Humbug by Max Black. Humbug: deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of somebody’s own thoughts, feelings, or attitudes. A very similar formulation might plausibly be offered as enunciating the essential characteristics of bullshit. Deceptive misrepresentation: This may sound pleonastic. Short of lying: It must be part of the point of saying that humbug is “short of lying,” that while it has some of the distinguishing characteristics of lies, there are others that it lacks.
The hard way: Our odd desire to do it ourselves - 06 January 2012 Read full article Continue reading page |1|2 From self-assembly furniture to cake mix, we value the things we make ourselves – however badly we do it WHEN instant cake mixes hit US shelves in the late 1940s, sales were disappointing. The story is an example of an odd phenomenon in modern consumer societies. The idea seems embedded in animal psyches. Things started to go awry for humans during the industrial revolution. He has dubbed this phenomenon the IKEA effect, in honour of an obscure start-up that harnessed it and went on to great things. In a series of experiments they asked people to assemble IKEA boxes - a boring, banal task - or to engage in the more pleasurable activities of folding origami or building Lego sets. But is it really the act of creating something that increases our sense of its worth? The IKEA effect suggests that when looking around for last-minute gift inspiration for Aunt Agatha, you could do worse than get her some flat-pack shelving. More From New Scientist
Null Byte » .//The aspiring hacker and security awareness playground Programming in Java | WiBit.net A long time ago, in a decade far far away called... the nineties, there was a birth. As word of this birth spread throughout the world many rejoiced as others worried. Were we witnessing the birth of a savior, or the birth of a Demon? As developers around the globe learned of this new prodigy, they all began to blindly follow their newly appointed leader. With promises as the "next big thing" and with the guidance of the testament of Time Magazines Best Products of 1995 as there creed, Sun Microsystems began spreading the word of Java throughout the land. IT managers as far as the eye could see were becoming enriched by the spoils of Java. Wow, what an intro huh? What is Java exactly? Depending on whom you ask, you will get a very different opinion about Java. In our Programming in Java course you will pick up where we left off with the "bold-on" Object Oriented Programming Languages and start your very first Pure OOP language.
untitled Can Anonymous Cripple Critical U.S. Infrastructure? - Security - Vulnerabilities and threats Homeland Security says Anonymous can cause DDoS attacks, but says chance of attack on scale of Stuxnet is slim. 10 Companies Driving Mobile Security (click image for larger view and for slideshow) Does the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous pose a threat to the nation's critical infrastructure security? According to a recent government report, the group may well be able to launch a distributed denial of service attack against critical infrastructure. But the likelihood of Anonymous developing bespoke critical infrastructure attacks--on par with Stuxnet--is slim. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) study, "Assessment of Anonymous Threat to Control Systems," evaluated the group's potential to disrupt the critical infrastructure. [ The Feds are moving aggressively to bust hackers. The report's creation was spurred in part by a July 19 post on Twitter by a known Anonymous member, which listed a directory tree for Siemens SIMATIC control system software. More Insights
REFRACTIONS | Experiment with Nature - StumbleUpon Definition: Refraction : re·frac·tion – [ri-frak-shuhn] The change of direction of a ray of light in passing obliquely from one medium into another in which its wave velocity is different Markus Reugels of Deutschland uses the properties of refraction to create beautiful miniature worlds inside drops of water. Check out more of his work at: flickr.com/photos/maianer All images courtesy of Markus Reugels Moon Earth Mars Jupiter Venus Psychedelic Chess Camera Setup photography, refractions, water drops
Gizmodo Brasil | Tech Lovers People That Come Into Your Life. Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there... to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson or help figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be but when you lock eyes with them, you know that every moment that you are with them, they will affect your life in some profound way. Sometimes things happen to you at the time that may seem horrible, painful and unfair, but in reflection you realize that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, will power or heart. Everything happens for a reason! Illness, injury, love, lost moments of greatness and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. The people you meet affect your life. Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Break free and set your sights high.
Murphy's Law Calculator Murphy's Law Calculator From a formula for * Sod's Law provided by British Gas: ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)) "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!" Find out in advance whether you will be able to successfully repair your VCR, get to a meeting on time, impress your date, or be a success at any activity whatsoever ! Score: 7.999 Risk Factor: 64815.0 You have a 79% chance of screwing this up at least once ! You can minimize your risk by reducing the urgency (planning ahead) You can minimize your risk by having a backup plan (redundant circuitry, alternate route etc.) British Gas commissioned Dr David Lewis, a chartered psychologist; Dr Keylan Leyser, an economist and business consultant; and Philip Obadya, a mathematician, to devise the formula. Murphy's Law Links: Note: Murphy's Law has long been known in the UK as "Sod's Law".
Brain Pickings Quem mais perde com as novidades musicais do Facebook? O Last.fm Há cerca de dez anos, o estudante de terceiro ano de ciências da computação escreveu o código que eventualmente lhe renderia US$ 38 milhões: o AudioScrobbler. A sua criação foi um simples plugin que registrava o que as pessoas estavam ouvindo em vários programas, como iTunes, Winamp e Windows Media Player, usando esta informação para construir um perfil online do seu gosto musical que poderia ser mostrado para os amigos ou usado para gerar recomendações musicais. O Last.fm comprou o AudioScrobbler em 2003, dando a Jones 15% de participação na empresa. Quatro anos depois, a CBS comprou o Last.fm por 280 milhões de dólares, tornando Jones um multimultimilionário. Enquanto isso, o Facebook estava ocupado com o seu “Open Graph” — um perfil não apenas para as coisas relacionadas a música que você Curte, mas também para os filmes, livros, amigos, locais, históricos de estudo e emprego e tudo mais que você puder imaginar. Richard Jones ganhou 38 milhões de dólares inventando o Scrobbling.