March 5, 2013
Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation. This effect is prominent in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior, and is driven by the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation.
The effects of social influence can be seen in the tendency of large groups to conform to choices which may be either correct or mistaken, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as herd behavior. Although social proof reflects a rational motive to take into account the information possessed by others, formal analysis shows that it can cause people to converge too quickly upon a single choice, so that decisions of even large groups of individuals may be grounded in very little information (i.e. information cascades). Continue reading →
Posted in Health, Science |
Leave a Comment »
March 4, 2013
Robert Cialdini is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University. He is best known for his book on persuasion and marketing, ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.’ The book has been translated into 26 languages has also been published as a textbook under the title ‘Influence: Science and Practice.’
In writing the book, he spent three years going ‘undercover’ applying for jobs and training at used car dealerships, fund-raising organizations, and telemarketing firms to observe real-life situations of persuasion. The book also reviews many of the most important theories and experiments in social psychology. Cialdini distills his theory down to six key principles: Reciprocity, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Authority, Liking, and Scarcity.
Continue reading →
Posted in Health, Money |
1 Comment »
March 4, 2013
Charlie Munger (b. 1924) is an American business magnate, lawyer, investor, and philanthropist. He is Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, the diversified investment corporation chaired by Warren Buffett; in that capacity, Buffett describes Munger as ‘my partner.’
Munger served as chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation from 1984 through 2011 (Wesco was approximately 80%-owned by Berkshire-Hathaway during that time). He is also the chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation, based in Los Angeles, and a director of Costco Wholesale Corporation.
Continue reading →
Posted in Language, Money |
1 Comment »
March 4, 2013
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska that oversees and manages a number of partially and wholly owned subsidiary companies. The company owns Geico, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds, NetJets, and Heinz and has significant minority holdings in American Express, M&T Bank, Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Proctor & Gamble, and IBM. Berkshire Hathaway averaged an annual growth in book value of 20.3% to its shareholders for the last 44 years, while employing large amounts of capital, and minimal debt.
Berkshire Hathaway stock produced a total return of 76% from 2000–2010 versus a negative 11.3% return for the S&P 500. Warren Buffett owns 32.4% aggregate voting power of Berkshire’s shares outstanding, and vice-chairman Charlie Munger holds a stake big enough to make him a billionaire (early investments in Berkshire by David Gottesman and Franklin Otis Booth, Jr. resulted in their becoming billionaires as well). Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments LLC is the second largest shareholder of Berkshire and owns more than 5% of class B shares. Continue reading →
Posted in Money |
Leave a Comment »
March 2, 2013
Eddie Huang (b. 1982) is an Asian American restaurateur, food personality and former lawyer. He is the owner of Baohaus. Huang was born in Washington, D.C., to immigrant parents from Taiwan. He was raised in Orlando, where his father managed a successful group of steak and seafood restaurants. Huang identified with African-American culture, especially hip-hop, at a young age. He received a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, Rollins College and a J.D. from Cardozo School of Law.
Not long after graduating from law school, Huang decided for a career change. After being laid off from a New York law firm, he worked as a stand-up comic and as a marijuana dealer. He was interested in food as he had grown up watching his mother cook at home and had learned many skills in the kitchen. He learned management from his father. Continue reading →
Posted in Food, Money |
1 Comment »
March 2, 2013
‘Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir‘ is a 2013 autobiography by American food personality Eddie Huang. The book relates Huang’s early life and rise in the food celebrity scene in New York, and his relationship with his Asian background.
Huang, educated as a lawyer, became prominent in New York’s restaurant scene after the success of his BaoHaus, a purveyor of Chinese Cha siu bao, or pork buns. He developed a reputation as a food personality after hosting food-themed programs on the Food Network and Vice TV. Continue reading →
Posted in Food, Humor, Language |
1 Comment »
February 28, 2013
The paleolithic diet (also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet, and hunter-gatherer diet) is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years which ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture and grain-based diets.
In common usage, such terms as the ‘Paleolithic diet’ also refer to the actual ancestral human diet. Centered on commonly available modern foods, the ‘contemporary’ Paleolithic diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils. Continue reading →
Posted in Food, Health |
Leave a Comment »
February 27, 2013
The Gathering of the Juggalos is an annual festival put on by Psychopathic Records, featuring performances by the entire label roster as well as numerous well-known musical groups and underground artists. It was founded by Robert Bruce, Insane Clown Posse (Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler), and their label in 2000.
Described by Joseph Bruce as a ‘Juggalo Woodstock’ (‘Juggalo’ being a nickname for fans of the Insane Clown Posse, a Detroit rap group), the Gathering of the Juggalos spans five days and includes concerts, wrestling, games, contests, autograph sessions, karaoke, and seminars with artists. Over its first eleven events, the festival has drawn an attendance of about 107,500 fans. Continue reading →
Posted in Art, Games, Humor |
1 Comment »
February 27, 2013
Photogrammetry [foh-tuh-gram-i-tree] is the practice of determining the geometric properties of objects from photographic images. Photogrammetry is as old as modern photography and can be dated to the mid-nineteenth century.
Photogrammetry is used in different fields, such as topographic mapping, architecture, engineering, manufacturing, quality control, police investigation, and geology, as well as by archaeologists to quickly produce plans of large or complex sites and by meteorologists as a way to determine the actual wind speed of a tornado where objective weather data cannot be obtained. It is also used to combine live action with computer-generated imagery in movie post-production; ‘The Matrix’ is a good example of the use of photogrammetry in film.
Posted in Technology |
Leave a Comment »
February 27, 2013
Many Japanese women are embarrassed at the thought of being heard by others during urination. To cover the sound of bodily functions, many women used to flush public toilets continuously while using them, wasting a large amount of water in the process.
As education campaigns did not stop this practice, a device was introduced in the 1980s that, after activation, produces the sound of flushing water without the need for actual flushing. A Toto brand name commonly found is the ‘Otohime’ (literally ‘Sound Princess‘ also homophone with a legendary goddess Otohime). This device is now routinely placed in most new public women’s rooms, and many older public women’s rooms have been upgraded.
Posted in Money, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
February 26, 2013
SixthSense is a wearable gestural interface device by Pranav Mistry, a PhD candidate in the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab. The SixthSense technology comprises of a pocket projector, a mirror, and a camera contained in a pendant-like, wearable device. Both the projector the camera and sensors are connected to a mobile computing device in the user’s pocket. The projector projects visual information enabling surfaces, walls and physical objects around us to be used as interfaces; while the camera recognizes and tracks users’ hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision based techniques.
The software program processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the colored markers (visual tracking fiducials) at the tips of the user’s fingers. The movements and arrangements of these fiducials are interpreted into gestures that act as interaction instructions for the projected application interfaces. SixthSense supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction.
Posted in Technology |
Leave a Comment »
February 26, 2013
Gesture recognition is a topic in computer science and language technology with the goal of interpreting human gestures via mathematical algorithms. Gestures can originate from any bodily motion or state but commonly originate from the face or hand. Current focuses in the field include emotion recognition from the face and hand gesture recognition. Many approaches have been made using cameras and computer vision algorithms to interpret sign language.
However, the identification and recognition of posture, gait, proxemics (culture-specific, personal boundaries), and human behaviors is also the subject of gesture recognition techniques. Gesture recognition can be seen as a way for computers to begin to understand human body language, offering richer interaction between machines and humans than that afforded by a mouse and keyboard.
Continue reading →
Posted in Language, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
The Daily Omnivore 