arnabocean

Science, engineering, politics, and the vagaries of the human condition.

[arnabocean]

Before a Green Day concert, they played Bohemian Rhapsody over the speakers. The packed crowd — obviously — sang along, creating this thing of beauty. (Some people are even singing the guitar solos.)

BTW, if you're wondering why you can't sing in perfect tune like apparently the tens of thousands of people attending, well, individually the people attending aren't perfect singers either. This is a great example of constructive interference: all of the in-tune sounds add up (since they match), and all the out-of-tune sounds are damped out (since they are wrong in all different ways), producing as a net result a perfect rendition from the crowd as a whole.

[arnabocean]

Accused of underpaying women, Google says it's too expensive to get wage data

Google argued that it was too financially burdensome and logistically challenging to compile and hand over salary records that the government has requested, sparking a strong rebuke from the US Department of Labor (DoL), which has accused the Silicon Valley firm of underpaying women.

Google officials testified in federal court on Friday that it would have to spend up to 500 hours of work and $100,000 to comply with investigators’ ongoing demands for wage data that the DoL believes will help explain why the technology corporation appears to be systematically discriminating against women.

If only there was a way to archive aggregate data that then could be accessed selectively based on relevant keywords... 🤔

On a more serious note, I get the feeling from this that Google's lawyers know that they won't like what they will find from the salary records.

Previously:

As part of an ongoing DoL investigation, the government has collected information that suggests the internet search giant is violating federal employment laws with its salaries for women, agency officials said.

“We found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce,” Janette Wipper, a DoL regional director, testified in court in San Francisco on Friday.

I think it's crucial too that the government took Google to court, and not, say, former employees.

[arnabocean]

'Kylo' is the fastest-risen baby name in USA.

As reported by the AP, the new Star Wars character Kylo Ren has had an effect on baby names:

The Social Security Administration has released its annual list and jumping 2,368 spots to 901 is Kylo, the character played by Adam Driver. It ended at 3,269 in 2015.

Kylo Ren is an intriguing Star Wars character with hopefully a great character arc, but as of now, he is: a whiny, temperamental, semi-trained ex-Jedi with delusions of grandeur and power, who kills his father to help his fledgling foray into the Dark Side even though his heart isn't in it.

Seriously, names after that character jumped the most, among all others? 🙄🤦

[arnabocean]

HP laptops covertly log user keystrokes, researchers warn

The keylogger is included in a device driver developed by Conexant, a manufacturer of audio chips that are included in the vulnerable HP devices. That's according to an advisory published by modzero, a Switzerland-based security consulting firm. One of the device driver components is MicTray64.exe, an executable file that allows the driver to respond when a user presses special keys. It turns out that the file sends all keystrokes to a debugging interface or writes them to a log file available on the computer's C drive.

"This type of debugging turns the audio driver effectively into keylogging spyware," modzero researchers wrote. "On the basis of meta-information of the files, this keylogger has already existed on HP computers since at least Christmas 2015."

Talk about well-written, reliable software.

[arnabocean]

The 1 Percent Rule: Why a Few People Get Most of the Rewards

The margin between good and great is narrower than it seems. What begins as a slight edge over the competition compounds with each additional contest. Winning one competition improves your odds of winning the next. Each additional cycle further cements the status of those at the top.

The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule: makes easy sense once you think about it.

[arnabocean]

Analysis of language in comedian Louis CK'S material.

Also, you should really watch the video referenced within this video: Talking Funny, featuring Louis CK, Ricky Gervais, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld.

[arnabocean]

Peter Mayhew, the actor who plays Chewbacca (for all of the Star Wars movies), was on Reddit yesterday. He’s a regular on the Reddit Star Wars community, and seems a great, warm person.

If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll enjoy this. :-)

[arnabocean]

The banana came with a sticker on it saying “GF” – for gluten free – and was served to him with a packet containing a knife, fork and salt.

They got every part of this wrong; no mean feat.

[arnabocean]

A joint effort between David Miami and Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

It was a compelling idea, even if the client wasn’t convinced at the time.

Fifty years ago, in the fictional world of Mad Men, Don Draper pitched a daring ad campaign to Heinz execs, for the brand’s ketchup, that proposed not showing the product at all. Instead, the ads would show close-ups of foods that go great with ketchup—french fries, a cheeseburger, a slice of steak—but without any ketchup in sight.

Don’s proposed tagline: “Pass the Heinz.”

If you've watched Mad Men, you'll love this.

[arnabocean]

I've never been much for Snooker, but I've recently discovered Ronnie O'Sullivan, and he's absolutely brilliant.

(There are a bunch of videos of him on Youtube; check him out.)

[arnabocean]

How to be perfectly unhappy - The Oatmeal

About the definition of 'happiness', from the Oatmeal.

[arnabocean]

In this video I examine some of the flaws and imperfections in Rogue One and The Force Awakens to extract the lessons we can learn about showing vs. telling, active protagonists, and meaningful consequences.

Excellent analysis of the two new Star Wars films. I loved both films, but that doesn't mean they don't have their flaws.

(Warning: Spoilers!)

[arnabocean]

I was fascinated by my colleague Julia Silge’s recent blog post on what verbs tend to occur after “he” or “she” in several novels, and what they might imply about gender roles within fictional work. This made me wonder what trends could be found across a larger dataset of stories.

[arnabocean]

How a Professional Climate Change Denier Discovered the Lies and Decided to Fight for Science

The hardest part of reversing the warming of the planet may be convincing climate change skeptics of the need to do so. Although scientists who study the issue overwhelming agree that the earth is undergoing rapid and profound climate changes due to the burning of fossil fuels, a minority of the public remains stubbornly resistant to that fact. With temperatures rising and ice caps melting [...] there seems no project more urgent than persuading climate deniers to reconsider their views. So we reached out to Jerry Taylor, whose job as president of the Niskanen Center involves turning climate skeptics into climate activists.

It might seem like an impossible transition, except that Taylor, who used to be staff director for the energy and environment task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and vice president of the Cato Institute, made it himself.

[arnabocean]

US Capitol Hill #capitol #washingtondc #sunnyday (at United States Capitol)

[arnabocean]

Day at the museum #museum #again (at National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

[arnabocean]

Plane trails #spring #niceweather #washingtondc #planespotting #sunnyday (at Washington Monument National Monument)