May 16, 2016
Mukbang is a live online audiovisual broadcast in which a host eats large amounts of foods while interacting with their audience. Usually done through an internet webcast, mukbang became popular in South Korea in the 2010s. Foods ranging from pizza to noodles are consumed in front of a camera for an internet audience (who pay or not, depending on which platform one is watching). The word is a portmanteau of the Korean words for ‘eating’ (‘meokneun’) and ‘broadcast’ (‘bangsong’).
Some mukbangs involve eating large amounts of food rapidly, while others features hosts savoring small meals at a more normal pace. In 2018, the South Korean government announced that it would create and regulate mukbang guidelines by launching the ‘National Obesity Management Comprehensive Measures,’ which was intended to discourage binge eating. Continue reading →
Posted in Food, Humor, World |
Leave a Comment »
May 9, 2016
Guerrilla marketing is an advertisement strategy concept designed for businesses to promote their products or services in an unconventional way with little budget to spend. This involves high energy and imagination focusing on grabbing the attention of the public in more personal and memorable level. Some large companies use unconventional advertising techniques, proclaiming to be guerrilla marketing but those companies will have larger budget and the brand is already visible. The main point of guerrilla marketing is that the activities are done exclusively on the streets or other public places, such as shopping centers, parks or beaches with maximum exposure.
The term and concept were first described by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book ‘Guerrilla Marketing.’ Traditional advertising media channels such as print, radio, television, and direct mail are falling out of fashion, forcing marketers and advertisers to look for new strategies to get their commercial messages to the consumer. Guerrilla marketing tries to create surprising and memorable experiences for potential consumer, to increases the likelihood that will tell their friends about it and via word of mouth. Continue reading →
Posted in Money |
Leave a Comment »
May 6, 2016
A bellwether is something that leads or indicates trends. The term is derived from the Middle English and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram (a wether) leading his flock of sheep. The movements of the flock could be noted by hearing the bell before the flock was in sight.
In politics, the term is more often applied in the passive sense to describe a geographic region where political tendencies match in microcosm those of a wider area, such that the result of an election in the former region might predict the eventual result in the latter. Continue reading →
Posted in Politics, World |
1 Comment »
May 4, 2016
‘The Demolished Man,’ by Alfred Bester, is an American science fiction novel and inverted detective story, that was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. The story is a police procedural set in a future where telepathy is common, although much of its effectiveness is derived from one individual having greater telepathic skill than another. In the 24th century, telepaths—’Espers’ (short for Extrasensory perception), colloquially known as ‘peepers’—are completely integrated into all levels of a class-based society.
Class 3 Espers, the most common, can detect only conscious thoughts at the time they are formed and are often employed as secretaries or administrators; Class 2 Espers can dig more deeply, to the pre-conscious level, detecting subliminal patterns, epiphanies and tenuous associations, and they are employed in the professional middle class—lawyers, managers, psychologists, etc. Class 1 Espers can detect all of the foregoing plus sub-conscious primitive urges, and they occupy only the highest levels of power in fields such as the police, government and medicine (such as psychiatry).
Posted in Art, Philosophy, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
May 3, 2016
An inverted detective story, also known as a ‘howcatchem,’ is a murder mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator.
The story then describes the detective’s attempt to solve the mystery. There may also be subsidiary puzzles, such as why the crime was committed, but those are cleared up along the way. This format is the opposite of the more typical ‘whodunit,’ where all of the details of the crime and the perpetrator are not revealed until the story’s climax. Continue reading →
Posted in Art |
1 Comment »
May 1, 2016
Hack-a-Shaq is a basketball strategy initially instituted in NBA by the Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson to hinder the scoring ability of the opposing team by continuously committing fouls against opposing players with weak free throw percentages.
Nelson initially devised the strategy for use against the Chicago Bulls, specifically power forward Dennis Rodman, who was a poor free throw shooter. However, it ultimately became better-known for its implementation against center Shaquille O’Neal. The name of the strategy is sometimes altered to reflect the player being fouled, for example ‘Hack-a-Howard’ for Dwight Howard. Continue reading →
Posted in Games |
1 Comment »
April 28, 2016
The Pepsi Challenge is an ongoing marketing promotion run by PepsiCo since 1975. It is also the name of a cross country ski race at Giant’s Ridge Ski Area in Biwabik, Minnesota, an event sponsored by Pepsi. The challenge originally took the form of a single blind taste test. At malls, shopping centers, and other public locations, a Pepsi representative set up a table with two white cups: one containing Pepsi and one with Coca-Cola. Shoppers were encouraged to taste both colas, and then select which drink they prefer. The results of the test leaned toward a consensus that Pepsi was preferred by more Americans.
The Pepsi Challenge taste test ad campaign is frequently credited for Coca-Cola’s decision to introduce New Coke in 1985. In his book ‘Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking’ (2005), author Malcolm Gladwell presents evidence that suggests Pepsi’s success over Coca-Cola is a result of the flawed nature of the ‘sip test’ method. His research shows that tasters will generally prefer the sweeter of two beverages based on a single sip, even if they prefer a less sweet beverage over the course of an entire can. Additionally, many participants recalled a difference in temperature between the two drinks. According to these claims, Pepsi was served chilled, while Coca-Cola was served at room temperature, thus making the Pepsi more appealing.
Posted in Food, Money |
1 Comment »
April 27, 2016
‘Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy’ (2008) is a bestselling book by Danish marketing expert Martin Lindstrom, in which he analyzes buying decisions. The author attempts to identify the factors that influence buyers’ decisions in a world cluttered with messages such as advertisements, slogans, jingles, and celebrity endorsements. Lindstrom, through a study of the human psyche, examines the subconscious mind and its role in deciding what the buyer will buy. He debunks some myths about advertising and promotion.
‘Buyology’ is claimed to be a result of the author’s three year neuromarketing study on 2,081 people to identify the effect of brands, logos, commercials, advertisements and products on them. Neuromarketing investigates the sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective response to marketing stimuli. The study was funded by seven corporations, including GlaxoSmithKline, Hakuhodo, Fremantle – and Lindstrom himself. The study evaluates the effectiveness of logos, product placement and subliminal advertising, the influence of our senses and the correlation between religion and branding.
Posted in Language, Money |
Leave a Comment »
April 26, 2016
A go-fast boat is a small, fast boat designed with a long narrow platform and a planing hull to enable it to reach high speeds. During the era of Prohibition, these boats joined the ranks of ‘rum-runners’ transferring illegal liquor from larger vessels waiting outside territorial waters to the mainland. The high speed of such craft enabled them to avoid interception by the Coast Guard. More recently the term ‘cigarette boat’ has become common.
The present era of cigarette boats, dating from the 1960s, owes much of their design to boats designed for offshore powerboat racing, particularly by designer and builder Donald Aronow. During this period, these boats were used by drug smugglers to transfer drugs across the Caribbean to the United States. Continue reading →
Posted in Drugs, Politics, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
April 25, 2016
Prince Rogers Nelson (1958 – 2016), known as Prince, was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. He was a musical innovator and known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant dress and makeup, and wide vocal range. His music integrates a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, soul, psychedelia, and pop.
Prince was born in Minneapolis and developed an interest in music as a young child. He secured a recording contract with Warner Bros at the age of 18, and released his album ‘For You’ in 1978. His 1979 album ‘Prince’ went platinum, and his next three records—’Dirty Mind’ (1980), ‘Controversy’ (1981), and ‘1999’ (1982)—continued his success, showcasing Prince’s trademark of prominently sexual lyrics and blending of funk, dance, and rock music. In 1984, he began referring to his backup band as ‘The Revolution’ and released ‘Purple Rain,’ which served as the soundtrack to his film debut of the same name and was met with widespread acclaim. Continue reading →
Posted in Art |
Leave a Comment »
April 20, 2016
The cheerleader effect, also known as the group attractiveness effect, is the cognitive bias which causes people to think individuals are more attractive when they are in a group. The concept has been backed up by clinical research by psychologists Drew Walker and Edward Vul. The effect occurs because of the brain’s tendency to calculate the average properties of an object when viewing a group.
Walker and Vul proposed that this effect arises due to the interplay of three cognitive phenomena: the human visual system takes ‘ensemble representations’ of faces in a group; perception of individuals is biased towards this average; average faces are more attractive, perhaps due to ‘averaging out of unattractive idiosyncrasies.’ Continue reading →
Posted in Science, Sex |
Leave a Comment »
April 19, 2016
The alt-right is a segment of far-right ideologies in the US presented as an alternative to mainstream conservatism in its national politics. The alt-right has been described as a movement unified by support for Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, opposition to multiculturalism and immigration, opposition to feminism, and anti-democratic thought. Although there is no official ideology associated with the alt-right, various sources say it includes beliefs such as Dark Enlightenment (reactionary movement that broadly rejects egalitarianism), monarchism, nativism, right-wing populism, business nationalism, identitarianism, white nationalism, antisemitism, racialism, white supremacy, and American secessionism.
Ian Tuttle writing in ‘National Review’ states that ‘The Alt-Right has evangelized over the last several months primarily via a racist and anti-Semitic online presence. But for Bokhari and Yiannopoulos, the Alt-Right consists of fun-loving provocateurs, valiant defenders of Western civilization, daring intellectuals—and a handful of neo-Nazis keen on a Final Solution 2.0, but there are only a few of them, and nobody likes them anyways.’
Posted in Politics |
Leave a Comment »
The Daily Omnivore 