Group items tagged

"Working memory capacity is highly correlated with general intelligence, however the exact relationship is the subject of some debate."

[Laws affecting funding, requiring registration and prohibiting protest are among controls that are making it difficult for NGOs and other campaign groups ...]

[Laws affecting funding, requiring registration and prohibiting protest are among controls that are making it difficult for NGOs and other campaign groups ...]

[ By Patrick J. Michaels This article appeared on The Daily Caller on February 10, 2011. In a recent and wonderful New York Times essay, John Tierney documented the pervasive left-leaning bias of the social sciences in particular and academia in general, which he persuasively painted as the home of tired ideological groupthink. No doubt his essay was an eye-opener for anyone without much experience in the ivy morass, even as it came up short in its search for causation. ....]

"Organizations of all kinds have long struggled to accurately measure the performance of individual members. The typical approach is to assess an individual's performance against a metric usually tied to whether or not they performed a task and the amount of output they generated by doing so. There's a lot riding on these assessments:"

"The impact of technological change on culture, learning, and morality has long been the subject of intense debate, and every technological revolution brings out a fresh crop of both pessimists and pollyannas. Indeed, a familiar cycle has repeat itself throughout history whenever new modes of production (from mechanized agriculture to assembly-line production), means of transportation (water, rail, road, or air), energy production processes (steam, electric, nuclear), medical breakthroughs (vaccination, surgery, cloning), or communications techniques (telegraph, telephone, radio, television) have appeared on the scene. The cycle goes something like this. A new technology appears. Those who fear the sweeping changes brought about by this technology see a sky that is about to fall. These "techno-pessimists" predict the death of the old order (which, ironically, is often a previous generation's hotly-debated technology that others wanted slowed or stopped). Embracing this new technology, they fear, will result in the overthrow of traditions, beliefs, values, institutions, business models, and much else they hold sacred. The pollyannas, by contrast, look out at the unfolding landscape and see mostly rainbows in the air. Theirs is a rose-colored world in which the technological revolution du jour is seen as improving the general lot of mankind and bringing about a better order. If something has to give, then the old ways be damned! For such "techno-optimists," progress means some norms and institutions must adapt-perhaps even disappear-for society to continue its march forward. Our current Information Revolution is no different. It too has its share of techno-pessimists and techno-optimists. Indeed, before most of us had even heard of the Internet, people were already fighting about it-or at least debating what the rise of the Information Age meant for our culture, society, and economy."

does Kurtopia need someone to mow the lawn?

no, but we do need someone to take our throm-dib-u-lator apart though

"Social butterflies who shine at parties may get their edge from special genes that make them experts at recognizing faces. Scientists have found the strongest evidence to date that genes govern how well we keep track of who's who. The findings suggest that face-recognition and other cognitive skills may be separate from each other, and independent of general intelligence. This could help explain what makes one person good at math but bad at music, or good at spatial navigation but bad at language "People have wondered for a long time what makes one person cognitively different from another person," said cognitive psychologist Nancy Kanwisher of MIT, coauthor of the study published Jan. 7 in Current Biology. "Our study is one tiny piece of the answer to this question." The ability to recognize faces is not just handy for cocktail parties, it's crucial for distinguishing friend from foe and facilitating social interactions. If face recognition increases our ability to fend off predators and find mates, there is an evolutionary drive to encode this ability in our genes. To test this, Kanwisher's team looked at whether the ability to recognize faces runs in the family. They found that identical twins, who share 100 percent of their genes, were more similar in their face-recognition ability than fraternal twins, who share only 50 percent of their genes. This suggests the ability to recognize faces is heritable."

needed: * The trend-spotter, who finds a promising innovation early. * The evangelist, who passionately makes the case for idea X or person Y. * The superspreader, who broadcasts innovations to a larger group. * The skeptic, who keeps the conversation honest. * General participants, who show up, comment honestly, and learn.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2011) - Despite the fears of some, a new study suggests that use of the internet in general does not make people more likely to believe political rumors.

"Taking their cue from social media, educators at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a social networking application called Classroom Salon that engages students in online learning communities that effectively tap the collective intelligence of groups. Thousands of high school and university students used Classroom Salon (CLS), http://www.classroomsalon.org/, this past academic year to share their ideas about texts, news articles and other reading materials or their critiques of each others' writings. With the support of the Next Generation Learning Challenges initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, CLS will be used in an innovative experiment at the University of Baltimore to see if it can help students who are in danger of failing introductory courses or otherwise dropping out of college. "Sites such as Facebook and Twitter have captured the attention of young people in a way that blogs and online discussion forums have not," said Ananda Gunawardena, associate teaching professor in the Computer Science Department, who developed CLS with David S. Kaufer, professor of English. "With Classroom Salon, we've tried to capture the sense of connectedness that makes social media sites so appealing, but within a framework that that allows groups to explore texts deeply. So it's not just social networking for the sake of socializing but enhancing the student experience as readers and writers.""

"Open is about sharing and collaboration. It's the idea that "we" is more powerful, more rewarding and fulfilling than "I". I can't promise jobs, but I do know that open is becoming very big. Governments and funders are pushing the open agenda, even though academics are generally uninterested or seriously self-interested."

"PROGRAMA PROVISIONAL ¿Cultura o barbarie? Diez propuestas al borde del abismo Jueves, 5 de noviembre de 2015 Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Mañana 10:30-12:00 h. Mesa institucional Intervienen: José Luis Acosta, presidente de la Sociedad de General de Autores y Editores (SGAE). Basilio Baltasar, director de la Fundación Santillana (área cultural). Fernando Carro, presidente de Bertelsmann España y miembro del Comité ejecutivo. Laura Halpern, directora de la Fundación Jesús Serra Ignacio Polanco, presidente de la Fundación Santillana. Pere Portabella, presidente de la Fundación Alternativas. 12:00-12:30 h. Pausa 12:30-14:00 h. El papel de las políticas y el Estado Modera: Luz Sanchez-Mellado, periodista de El País. Intervienen: Carmen Alborch, ex ministra de cultura y senadora. Juan Cruz, adjunto a la dirección de El País para Cultura y Babelia. Santiago Eraso, director de contenidos de Madrid Destino. Rosina Gómez-Baeza, presidenta de Factoría Cultural, Vivero de Industrias Creativas. Enric Juliana, periodista de La Vanguardia. César Antonio Molina, escritor y director de la Casa del Lector. 14:00-16:00 h. Almuerzo Tarde 16:00-17:30 h. Decálogo: exigencias y urgencias Modera: Joana Bonet, articulista de La Vanguardia. Intervienen: Antonio María Ávila, director ejecutivo de la Federación del Gremio de Editores. Jesús Cimarro, presidente de la Federación Estatal de Asociaciones de Empresas Productoras de Teatro y Danza de España. Ramon Colom, presidente FAPAE (Confederación de Productores Audiovisuales Españoles). Patricia Gabeiras, directora de Legal Music Producciones Vocal en la Junta Directiva de la Asociación de Promotores Musicales. Isidro López-Aparicio, artista plástico y miembro de la UAAV, Unión de Asociaciones de Artistas Visuales. Profesor de Bellas Artes de la Universidad de Granada y del Instituto Superior de Investigación para La

"Temeridad legislativa El informe del abogado general indica que el sistema confirmado con la aprobación de la Ley de Propiedad Intelectual, en noviembre de 2014, sólo con los votos del PP, es ilegal. El sistema que se implantó y que defendió el Secretario de Estado de Cultura, José María Lassalle, no es acorde con la directiva europea, porque no es un sistema equitativo de compensación y porque no estudió el impacto económico sobre los titulares antes de actuar contra la anterior norma."

"From the perspective of the USTR, the TPP is not a threat to global health initiatives that rely on generics, but rather a blueprint for international norms that promote innovation in global health and elsewhere. However, amfAR's Senior Research Advisor, Brian Honermann, labels the USTR's outlook on HIV and the TPP as "inaccurate." He notes that the TPP contains "unprecedented intellectual property protections" around data exclusivity and the scope of patentability, both of which could make it harder to integrate new treatment options into large public sector programs that rely overwhelmingly on off-label drugs. "

"The Linux community, and the technology world in general, were shocked by the news of Ian's Murdock tragic death a couple of weeks ago - and rightfully so. Ian's legacy and vision as the founder of the Debian project not only influenced many others who went on to start their own distributions, but also were the means to create a rock-solid operating system that many individuals and businesses of all sizes have used for more than 20 years."

"by Georgia Young - Published on Feb 12, 2016 01:47 PM You did it: thanks to your generous support, the Free Software Foundation raised $452,000 in its winter fundraiser. Thank you."

"by Joshua Gay - Published on Jan 27, 2012 05:02 PM Contributors: brett The following page outlines the general criteria for hardware products that bear the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification mark. However, each certified product carries with it contractual obligations that may differ from those listed on this page. "

"Fri, 09/12/2014 - 02:51 -- Umar Farooq There two different types of values Define Cultural Values Cultural values are hereditary and form core of the culture. List of cultural values include customs, rituals conventions, styles and fashions which are remain in the core culture. The values hold supreme position among them. These values give a shape to the culture and the society. These are very difficult to change because they remain in embedded of social institutions and the social norms. These are the ideals of society. These are remain in the memory of our elders, in old books, in religious and ethical literature. These are sometimes, referred as the values of the old people or the values of the past. They can -be said as the traditions of our life. The deviation from cultural values creates serious social problems. If these are ignored in social life there will be a gap between 'two generations and the son will be separated from his father. But it happens seldom in rapidly changing societies. The neurotic conditions develop due to dissatisfaction in social conditions which lead to frustration."

" Ernesto on December 19, 2015 C: 70 News Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde served his prison sentence last year but still owes the entertainment industries millions in damages. Some might think that he's learned his lesson, but with a newly built copying machine he's generating millions of extra 'damages,' which might be worth a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. "

"Each year, I reflect on Opensource.com's top government stories of the year. I look for trends among our most popular stories. Stories about new tools and applications generally top the list, as well as, case studies detailing how governments are implementing those tools."

"Phil Shapiro There are many ways to contribute to an open source project. There are also many reasons for doing so. But before jumping in, you might want to know how things generally work within these projects."