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George Neff

Your Brain While Watching Orange Is the New Black - Shape Magazine - 0 views

  • Like a perfectly addictive drug, almost every aspect of the television viewing experience grabs and holds your brain’s attention, which explains why it’s so tough to stop watching after just one (or three) episodes of Orange is the New Black.
  • Characters run or shout or shoot accompanied by sound effects and music. No two moments are quite alike. To your brain, this kind of continuously morphing sensory stimulation is pretty much impossible to ignore, explains Robert F. Potter, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Communication Research at Indiana University.
  • “Our brains are hardwired to automatically pay attention to anything that’s new in our environment, at least for a brief period of time,” he explains. And it’s not just humans; all animals evolved this way in order to spot potential threats, food sources, or reproductive opportunities, Potter says.
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  • “This also explains how you can sit in front of the TV and binge for hours and hours at a time and not feel a loss of entertainment,” he says. “You brain doesn’t have much time to grow bored.”
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Studies show that, by this point, most of your brain activity has shifted from the left hemisphere to the right, or from the areas involved with logical thought to those involved with emotion. There has also been a release of natural, relaxing opiates called endorphins, research indicates.
  • You’re noodle isn’t really analyzing or picking apart the data it’s receiving. It’s basically just absorbing. Potter calls this “automatic attention.” He says, “The television is just washing over you and your brain is marinating in the changes of sensory stimuli.”
  • At the same time, the content of your television show is lighting up your brain’s approach and avoid systems, Potter says. Put simply, your brain is pre-programmed for both attraction and disgust, and both grab and hold your attention in similar ways. Characters you hate keep you engaged just as much (and sometimes more) than characters you love.
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Like any addictive drug, cutting off your supply triggers a sudden drop in the release of those feel-good brain chemicals, which can leave you with a sense of sadness and a lack of energy, research shows. Experiments from the 1970s found that asking people to give up TV for a month actually triggered depression and the sense that the participants had “lost a friend.”
anonymous

Storytelling Theory and Practice - YouTube - 0 views

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    Sturm argues that storytelling provides something larger: a way of organizing information. He says we can look at these characteristics as dots of data on a screen, where the story is the way we connect the dots. And how we connect the dots, changes the kinds of stories we create. Storytelling ethics and the need for trust and truth are discussed. Comments include his Story Listening Experience Model http://ils.unc.edu/~sturm/storytelling/storyexperience.pdf I wonder if this model could be used to create better programming routines for socially interactive storytelling robots? I have no idea how it would be possible to create a script for conveying ethics and the need for trust and truth using artificial intelligence. I think such activities require mediation by authoritative human participants to connect the dots and to establish a teaching presence that can address issues of ethics, trust, and truth for the listening audience upon reflection. I can easily see teachers, parents, caregivers "remix" what a storytelling robot presents to facilitate deeper reflection by young children in early childhood classrooms.
normonique

The Future of Communication? Let's Ask the Experts - 1 views

  • Technology has been helping us to communicate easier, faster and more often. We’re now at a point where we’re “always on” and panic sets in when we temporarily lose the ability to communicate – for example when we lose the data connection our mobile phone.
  • However, in spite of technological developments, we still don’t seem to understand each other.
    • normonique
       
      The african drum simple tool but very powerful 
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  • Long before today’s technology existed, the African drum was perhaps the most powerful messaging technology,
  • When the telephone was invented, the fabulous reality was that we could hold distant conversations and spend as long as we liked adding context.
  • Remember the last text you sent that someone didn’t understand? Remember the email that got misunderstood? Or maybe a tweet that you realize could be interpreted in a different way (but you only had 140 characters to use)?
    • normonique
       
      This relate to the article that social networking makes communication fast but sometimes ineffective because of misinterpretation due to not having the face to face interaction
  • It’s possible we will look to create more communication tools that will advise us how to reason, and advise us how to feel. If you think about it, this may well remove what is left of being a human from our race.
  • It’s amazing. In only a few years touchscreens in our smartphones and tablets drastically changed the way we interact with humans and machines. In the next few years we’ll see an explosion of touchscreens invading every part of our lives; from the bathroom mirror, to the touchscreen table and even the possibility to interact with your living-room touch window.
  • Intelligent personal assistants such as Apple’s Siri and Samsung’s S-voice allow us to input text or speak commands with our voice instead of typing.
  • An important element will probably also be mood-communication: that our mood (reflected in brain wave patterns) will affect our surroundings in order for them to give feedback and for example lift our mood and shape it in various ways.
  • Dream modification will be another interesting area – the dream we wake up from in the morning largely determines in what mood we start the day. So if that last dream period can be modified in a positive direction through fx soundscapes played softly by your iPhone (by your bed) it would potentially mean a lot for your life, work and productivity.
    • normonique
       
      This article relates to my question of technology communicating with the nervous system. 
  • Whether we will have direct communication brain-to-brain via some sort of implanted or just attached devices I’m not sure.
  • Combining sophisticated and surprisingly detailed user profiles with online technologies and “old” tech as direct mailing, robocalls and TV ads, strategists can now truly microtarget voters.
  • Securing communications presents us with a challenge of enormous importance and complexity.
  • The future of communication is already here, it’s just – to paraphrase William Gibson – not evenly distributed. Instead of radical departures from what we have, we will most likely see incremental improvements.
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    This article answer my question of the speed of communication through technology in the future
George Neff

The Netflix effect: how binge watching is changing television | News | TechRadar - 0 views

  • The bold new era of content distribution and technological efficiency has served up entire, original award-winning series series like Netflix' House of Cards and Orange is the New Black for consumption in one sitting, if the viewer desires.
  • Quite frankly, we've never had it so good.
  • empowered the consumer.
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  • We spoke to television scholars and media psychologists on whether marathon viewing is really enhancing our experience, beyond the buffet. If we can have everything, does everything mean anything?
  • "Even a single episode has so many highs and lows that by the end of it you're so beaten up, you're less receptive to the emotional and intellectual ideas being put forth. Yet still we click and watch another one."
  • Netflix says it's more organic that way – it also means that if you don't do anything the episodes will just keep on coming.
  • With more traditional distribution models there is arguably more of an opportunity to let the experience sink in, find an appreciation and look forward to the next part of the journey.
  • "Breaking Bad has become the greatest example of the perfect show for binge viewing, he tells us. "Not only is it okay to binge view a series like that, but it is a better way to watch it.
  • you can understand the inner workings of these stories if you view them in more concentrated chunks
  • binge watching is the antithesis to how TV traditionally works.
  • Now, thanks to the advent of high-speed internet and the connected services they've enabled, technology has surpassed the content.
  • Ironically enough, the week-to-week format we enjoyed/endured during our last hours with Jesse and Walt proved to be an anomaly for millions who latched on to the growing buzz and raced through the previous five-and-half-seasons during the 12-month pre-climax hiatus – the binge before the episodic storm.
  • "I think Breaking Bad is probably as close as we're going to come to such a universal, cultural televisual event again," said film and television historian and associate professor at UCLA Jonathan Kuntz.
  • Breaking Bad, as it turned out, bridged the two eras perfectly, offering a stunning paradox of each distribution model's merits.
  • "The generation coming up now, all they're going to know is on demand. What pleasure they derive from anything will come from that,"
  • Another factor to consider in the great binge debate is that feeling of withdrawal when we run out of new episodes.
  • "The [binge viewing] experience is so good that you feel physically sad that it's over. That sense you had is more attached to it being a great artistic experience,"
  • The strength of our desire for gratification plays into a debate the psychologists call Connoisseur vs Addict. The former loves to be present in the moment, can savour the engagement and sees how everything ties into a beautiful package. The latter just needs a fix.
  • "An addict is working on a two-pronged schema, which is aspiration and completion. Aspiration is thedopamine-fuelled desire to recapture a feeling," he told TechRadar."When you get the completion, it's not about the rush, but ultimately about achieving the aspiration of the completion. When things are that accessible, what happens to the value of the product?"
andhearsonars

MD Consult - Pin It to Win It: Using Pinterest to Promote Your Niche Services - Journal... - 0 views

  • and now that Pinterest has taken off, it's clear that people are drawn to an image—an image is what gets them in to learn more about an idea, product, or service,”
  • “Every registered dietitian (RD) has a different specialty, a different job, a different nutrition philosophy, and Pinterest is a good way to curate your values and expertise—and by doing that you can create a niche.”
  • The primary thing to keep in mind is that a key function of Pinterest is to drive users to your website or blog where they can learn more about your expertise as a food and nutrition practitioner. In fact, Pinterest reportedly drives more web traffic to other sites than Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube combined.
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  • you can take your interests and use them to explain more about you and what you have to offer
  • In other words, she might pin an appetizing image of a gluten-free dish on a Pinterest board, and a user will click on the picture taking them to her website, which features information about her services such as food and nutrition writing, corporate consulting, foodservice consultation, and nutrition counseling and lifestyle coaching—particularly for people with celiac disease and food allergies.
Mirna Shaban

New study quantifies use of social media in Arab Spring | UW Today - 0 views

    • Mirna Shaban
       
      Yellow highlighting= Information about role of social media in the Arab Spring. Pink highlighting= Statistical information Blue highlighting= Possibility of link to more information. 
  • After analyzing more than 3 million tweets, gigabytes of YouTube content and thousands of blog posts, a new study finds that social media played a central role in shaping political debates in the Arab Spring.
  • “Our evidence suggests that social media carried a cascade of messages about freedom and democracy across North Africa and the Middle East, and helped raise expectations for the success of political uprising,” said Philip Howard, the project lead and an associate professor in communication at the University of Washington.  “People who shared interest in democracy built extensive social networks and organized political action. Social media became a critical part of the toolkit for greater freedom.”
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  • During the week before Egyptian president Hosni Mubaraks resignation, for example, the total rate of tweets from Egypt — and around the world — about political change in that country ballooned from 2,300 a day to 230,000 a day. 
  • Data for the UW project came directly from immense digital archives the team built over the course of several months.
  • the team located data about technology use and political opinion from before the revolutions. 
  • The Project on Information Technology and Political Islam assembled data about blogging in Tunisia one month prior to the crisis in that country, and had special data on the link structure of Egyptian political parties one month prior to the crisis there.
  • Political discussion in blogs presaged the turn of popular opinion in both Tunisia and Egypt.  In Tunisia, conversations about liberty, democracy and revolution on blogs and on Twitter often immediately preceded mass protests. 
  • Twenty percent of blogs were evaluating Ben Alis leadership the day he resigned from office (Jan. 14), up from just 5 percent the month before.  Subsequently, the primary topic for Tunisian blogs was “revolution” until a public rally of at least 100,000 people eventually forced the old regimes remaining leaders to relinquish power.
  • In the two weeks after Mubaraks resignation, there was an average of 2,400 tweets a day from people in neighboring countries about the political situation in Egypt. In Tunisia after Ben Alis resignation, there were about 2,200 tweets a day.
  • Ironically, government efforts to crack down on social media may have incited more public activism, especially in Egypt. People who were isolated by efforts to shut down the Internet, mostly middle-class Egyptians, may have gone to the streets when they could no longer follow the unrest through social media, Howard said.
braxtondn

How the Media Affects the Self Esteem and Body Image of Young Girls | Divine Caroline - 0 views

  • The medias harmful affect on the self body image and self esteem of young girls has brought about some of these three damaging effects: eating disorders, mental depression, and physical depression.
    • braxtondn
       
      It is interesting and sad knowing that new media has this affect on young teens. Something should be done in order to help prevent such negative affect. The media needs to recognize that everybody will come in different shapes and sizes, instead of just focusing on one specific image.
  • “Women may directly model unhealthy eating habits presented in the media, such as fasting or purging, because the media-portrayed thin ideal body type is related to eating pathology”(Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw & Stein, 1994)
  • In Allie Kovar’s article, Effects of the Media on Body Image, she mentions that “the national eating disorder Association (2006) reports that in the past 70 years national rates of incidences of all eating disorders have dramatically increased across the board . . . Bulimia in women between the ages of 10 to 39 has more than tripled.” (Kovar, 1).
    • braxtondn
       
      The media's "thin ideal' is causing young teens to feel so poorly about themselves that it is causing more women to become diagnosed with eating disorders. There is no reason that the media should be having that much of an affect on teens that it is tripling the amount of eating disorders. The media ( actresses, models, and celebrities) should be looked upon by their success not by their body image.
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  • “If children grow up seeing thin women in advertisements, on television, and in film they accept this as reality and try to imitate their appearance and their actions”(Nature vs. Nurture, Shea, 1).
    • braxtondn
       
      THis is very true. Parents can stop this by controlling what their children can and can't watch. THere are so many things that parents can do to help boost their child's self-esteem also, they just need to try harder so that the media doesn't win.
  • “The ideal female has become thinner while the average American woman has become heavier…”(Domil, 2).
    • braxtondn
       
      Whats acceptable to the world is not acceptable to the media. Whats more important though? All that should matter is what each person thinks about themselves. Media is just negatively effecting society's image
  • The media is only going to get worse and put more pressure on the self body image of how it should “ideally” look
    • braxtondn
       
      The media is like an annoying bug that will never go away. We have to be stronger than what the media wants us to be and be above the media's influence.
anonymous

Creating Time: students, technologies and temporal practices in higher education - E-Le... - 1 views

  • The data suggest that for these students the dimension of time is in complex, dynamic and contingent interplay with a range of networked devices and shifting material domains and practices, which are mobilised for textual engagement and production. It will argue that student entanglements with devices and digitally mediated texts serve to pause, distribute, elongate and render simultaneous the temporal nature of their practices in emergent 'temporal practices' in complex relationships of co-agency with devices and technologies. It will conclude that a typological analysis is inadequate to understanding these complex, emergent engagements.
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    "Creating Time: students, technologies and temporal practices in higher education LESLEY GOURLAY, Department of Culture, Communication and Media, Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom pages 141-153 http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/elea.2014.11.2.141"
anonymous

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES GAMES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Robert... - 0 views

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    Robert Godwin-Jones, Virginia Commonwealth University There has been a substantial increase in recent years in the interest in using digital games for language learning. This coincides with the explosive growth in multiplayer online gaming and with the proliferation of mobile games for smart phones. It also reflects the growing recognition among educators of the importance of extramural, informal learning and the interest in finding ways to connect learning to students' real lives....number of practical and pedagogical obstacles in the way of incorporating gaming into instructed language learning... what kind of games to choose or to create; how to find the opportunities for language learning within gameplay; and how to integrate gameplay and its associated activities into the curriculum. APA Citation: Godwin-Jones, R. (2014). Games in language learning: Opportunities and challenges. Language Learning & Technology 18(2), 9-19 Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2014/emerging.pdf
braxtondn

Why Selfies Matter | TIME.com - 0 views

  • self-portraits are an extension of their self-absorption, while others view it as nothing more than an outlet for self-expression,
    • braxtondn
       
      Some may view the idea of a "selfie" as a form of expressing themselves, while others view it as just another trend. Either way, its an idea that has adapted to society.
  • As tweens and teens try to form their identity, selfies serve as a way to test how they look, and therefore feel, in certain outfits, make-up, poses and places. And because they live in a digital world, self-portraits provide a way of participating and affiliating with that world.
    • braxtondn
       
      By participating in posting "selfies" , it is giving people permission for others to comment and voice their opinions about the picture
  • they are simply reflections of their self-exploration and nothing more. “Self captured images allow young adults and teens to express their mood states and share important experiences,”
    • braxtondn
       
      The saying " a picture is worth a thousand words" applies to the idea of a selfie. 
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  • With Facebook becoming a prominent resource in young people’s’ therapy sessions, they could provide a useful jumping off point for addressing a teen’s or young adult’s self-perceptions.
    • braxtondn
       
      The comments and interactions online can be either positive or negative. It just depends on what is being posted
  • “Psychologically speaking, there may be some benefit to participating in sharing selfies because this practice is interwoven in our social culture and is a way to interact socially with others.”
    • braxtondn
       
      This helps support my idea that posting selfies can help boost a person's self-image.
  • selfies could be a way for therapists to break the ice and start a dialogue about what the teen was feeling when the self-portrait was taken, or why he snapped the picture in the first place
  • the material that children and adolescents view online — selfies included — can be influential in molding their sense of self.
  • y the most
braxtondn

7 Telltale Signs Social Media Is Killing Your Self-Esteem | Alternet - 1 views

  • Yet what often begins as a harmless virtual habit for some can fast-track into a damaging, narcissism-fueled habit which negatively impacts our self-worth and the way we perceive others
    • braxtondn
       
      Can this be fixed? Does it have to have such a negative impact? Is it really the media or the people on the social networks that are causing the media to have this kind of effect on people
  • Of 298 users, 50 percent said social media made their lives and their self-esteem worse.
  • According to psychotherapist Sherrie Campbell, social media can give us a false sense of belonging and connecting that is not built on real-life exchanges. This makes it increasingly easy to lose oneself to cyberspace connections and give them more weight than they deserve
    • braxtondn
       
      People go on the social medias knowing what to expect. Its up to the person to control whether or not to let the things they see, effect their lifestyle or what they thick of themselves. There are things on many social networks that allow people to edit their photos so they can loo a certain way, in order for it to be acceptable to society and the media. This is another reason how the media is becoming harmful to self-image.
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  • “When we look to social media, we end up comparing ourselves to what we see which can lower our self-esteem. On social media, everyone’s life looks perfect but you’re only seeing a snapshot of reality. We can be whoever we want to be in social media and if we take what we see literally then it’s possible that we can feel we are falling short in life,” Campbell told AlterNe
  • Women who spent longer periods of time on Facebook had a higher incidence of "appearance-focused behavior" (such as anorexia) and were more anxious and body conscience overall. What's more, 20 minutes on social media was enough to contribute to a user’s weight and shape concerns
    • braxtondn
       
      It is amazing how only 20 mins on a social network can have that effect on one's life.  People are more focused on trying to be accepted into society that they will let a social networks and media tell them how to eat, look, and live.
  • It is important to remember that what you are viewing is only a small sliver of someone’s life, which for the most part, is heavily embellished and mostly rooted in fantasy. When such images are starting to poison the way you look at your own life it may be time to step away from the screen.
    • braxtondn
       
      This is one way to fix the effects that media has over people's self image. Just because you see models looking all glamorous on the tv screens, instagram posts, Facebook, or magazine covers, doesn't mean that their life is technically better than your own.
wstrahan

China and Nigeria: Neo-Colonialism, South-South Solidarity, or Both? | Daniel Wagner - 0 views

  • Bilateral relations between China and Nigeria will likely take one of two paths in the long term: either China will remain the overwhelmingly dominant actor or Nigeria will become a regional superpower, evening out the playing field. If China remains the stronger player it will shape Nigeria in its own interests (commonly referred to as "Chinese Imperialism").
  • During the first eleven years of its independence, Nigeria and China had no diplomatic relations. The Nigerian government's view of China grew especially sour after Mao officially supported the secessionist state in Biafra by supplying the Biafran administration with weapons.
  • During the period of General Abacha's military rule (1993-1998), Beijing's no-strings-attached development projects were increasingly well received. Nigeria's leaders grew resentful of Western conditions for aid and investment, and many Nigerians began to question what a generation of economic dependence on the West achieved for Nigeria.
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  • Abuja subsequently adopted a new approach to international trade, balancing traditional Western partners and China.
  • The evolution of Nigerian-Chinese relations mirrors that of China's relationship with other African states (such as Angola, Sudan, and Zimbabwe) that sought alternative forms of aid and development packages following the imposition of sanctions by Western nations based on alleged human rights violations.
  • Today, more than 200 Chinese firms operate in Nigeria.
  • China agreed to provide Nigeria with a soft loan of $1.1 billion loan in exchange for Nigeria agreeing to increase its daily supply of oil to China ten-fold (from 20,000 barrels per day to 200,000) by 2015.
  • China recently embraced a new foreign policy in West Africa that contrasts with its traditionally passive approach to the spread of Islamic terrorism and extremism in Africa. Last year a Chinese diplomat in Mali pledged support for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)'s military campaign to dislodge Al Qaeda-affiliate groups in northern Mali.
  • China's number one concern in West Africa is access to natural resources and new consumer markets
  • While many Nigerians consider China's growing presence to be nothing short of a God send, others have raised concerns about Nigerian sovereignty, bearing in mind the impact Chinese trade and investment has had on other African countries.
  • The Chinese model of importing its own workers to build infrastructure projects, for example, does not sit well with many Nigerians.
  • A number of Nigerians have also voiced objections to the "slave-like" labor conditions in Chinese-operated factories across Nigeria. Attention was first brought to these conditions when 37 Nigerian workers died after being trapped inside a locked Chinese-owned factory that caught fire in 2002
  • Western powers that claim a desire to help Nigeria develop are often perceived as insincere, with their own aid being viewed as an infringement on Nigeria's sovereignty, since it often comes with strings attached.
Maryam Kaymanesh

VEA - Social Media in Your Classroom? - 2 views

  • students and teachers can use social networks to enhance instruction.
  • schools pay thousands of dollars for digital storage, communication systems,
  • free! This
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  • collaboration sites, but Facebook already does all of this, and they do it fo
  • Facebook can also serve as a gateway to other sites and further learning.
  • Social media can also be a valuable teaching tool in another area:
  • Students need to know not only how to use these new resources, but how to use them appropriately.
  • Teachers can model appropriate digital usage by incorporating social media in the classroom in an open and honest way.
  • Teachers can model appropriate digital usage by incorporating social media in the classroom in an open and honest way.
  • Communicating in or reading a foreign language allows students to see how translations, idioms and appropriate vocabulary make a difference, causing them to become more careful in their own usage and translations.
  • Communicating in or reading a foreign language allows students to see how translations, idioms and appropriate vocabulary make a difference, causing them to become more careful in their own usage and translations.
  • Another viable and practical draw to using social media is that a teacher can develop assignments allowing students to see connections to real world employment
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    If social media and technology is good for the classroom
Maryam Kaymanesh

Social Media Has Good and Bad Effects on Kids: Experts - 1 views

  • and nearly one-quarter of teens say they log on to their favorite social media sites 10 or more times each day.
  • "Facebook is geared toward teen age and up. There are ads and cont
  • ent on the site for an older group.
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  • he report found that social media encourage kids to connect with each other and to express their creativity.
  • They also provide an opportunity for learning,
  • Bullying was around before the Internet, but cyberbullying makes it easier,"
  • "Kids have always wanted to look at nude pictures, and today, taking and sending a picture can be done in a second,"
  • "We need more technology infrastructure, and pediatricians need to be ready to intervene and help educate young people and their parents on how to be more media literate, and how they can evaluate the types of things they're exposed to,"
  • "Facebook depression."
perezmv

Pandora - Investor Relations - News Release - 0 views

  • Both have established impressive track records leading Pandora’s strong team of technologists.
  • “I’m excited to promote two top technology leaders to these important positions.
  • Mr. Conrad has led Pandora’s engineering and product organization from the product’s inception and has guided the team as they delivered increasingly sophisticated playlist techniques, mobile, consumer electronics and in-car listening technology, as well as sophisticated advertising solutions
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  • “Our team of engineers has developed some of the most innovative music technology in the world and changed the way we all consume music,” said Chris Martin, Pandora’s new Chief Technology Officer. “Tom and I have built an incredibly strong team, and I am energized by the opportunity to help Pandora drive forward the future of radio.”
  • “Pandora created the most effective way for music and technology to enhance the lives of music fans and artists alike,” said Mr. Conrad. “As a company, Pandora has always been driven by that intersection between creativity and technology. I am proud to have been a part of this effort, working with an incredibly talented and creative group of technologists. Everything I wanted to know about following one’s passion and running a business I learned at Pandora.”
  • “As Pandora continues to grow, we need to ensure our technology resources are optimized to deliver the best experience possible for listeners, partners and advertisers.”
jurasovaib

Pythagoras - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Pythagoras of Samos (/pɪˈθæɡərəs/; Ancient Greek: Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος Pythagóras ho Sámios “Pythagoras the Samian”, or simply Πυθαγόρας; Πυθαγόρης in Ionian Greek; c. 570 BC – c. 495 BC)[1][2] was an Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism.
  • Since the fourth century AD, Pythagoras has commonly been given credit for discovering the Pythagorean theorem, a theorem in geometry that states that in a right-angled triangle the area of the square on the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares of the other two sides—that is,
  • While the theorem that now bears his name was known and previously utilized by the Babylonians and Indians, he, or his students, are often said to have constructed the first proof. It must, however, be stressed that the way in which the Babylonians handled Pythagorean numbers implies that they knew that the principle was generally applicable, and knew some kind of proof, which has not yet been found in the (still largely unpublished) cuneiform sources.[47]
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  • According to legend, the way Pythagoras discovered that musical notes could be translated into mathematical equations was when he passed blacksmiths at work one day and thought that the sounds emanating from their anvils were beautiful and harmonious and decided that whatever scientific law caused this to happen must be mathematical and could be applied to music. He went to the blacksmiths to learn how the sounds were produced by looking at their tools. He discovered that it was because the hammers were "simple ratios of each other, one was half the size of the first, another was 2/3 the size, and so on."
  • Another belief attributed to Pythagoras was that of the "harmony of the spheres". Thus the planets and stars moved according to mathematical equations, which corresponded to musical notes and thus produced a symphony.[51]
yusraahmed

Ovarian cancer Tests and diagnosis - Diseases and Conditions - Mayo Clinic - 0 views

  • Imaging tests, such as ultrasound or CT scans, of your abdomen and pelvis. These tests can help determine the size, shape and structure of your ovaries. Blood test, which can detect a protein (CA 125) found on the surface of ovarian cancer cells. Surgery to remove a tissue sample and abdominal fluid to confirm a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Minimally invasive or robotic surgery may be an option. If cancer is discovered, the surgeon may immediately begin surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible.
  • Stages of ovarian cancer include: Stage I. Cancer is found in one or both ovaries. Stage II. Cancer has spread to other parts of the pelvis. Stage III. Cancer has spread to the abdomen. Stage IV. Cancer is found outside the abdomen.
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    "Imaging tests, such as ultrasound or CT scans, of your abdomen and pelvis. These tests can help determine the size, shape and structure of your ovaries. Blood test, which can detect a protein (CA 125) found on the surface of ovarian cancer cells. Surgery to remove a tissue sample and abdominal fluid to confirm a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Minimally invasive or robotic surgery may be an option. If cancer is discovered, the surgeon may immediately begin surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible."
  •  
    "Imaging tests, such as ultrasound or CT scans, of your abdomen and pelvis. These tests can help determine the size, shape and structure of your ovaries. Blood test, which can detect a protein (CA 125) found on the surface of ovarian cancer cells. Surgery to remove a tissue sample and abdominal fluid to confirm a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Minimally invasive or robotic surgery may be an option. If cancer is discovered, the surgeon may immediately begin surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible."
wstrahan

Africa and China: More than minerals | The Economist - 0 views

  • An estimated 1m are now resident in Africa, up from a few thousand a decade ago, and more keep arriving.
  • Between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts lie many of the raw materials desired by its industries. China recently overtook America as the world’s largest net importer of oil.
  • Almost 80% of Chinese imports from Africa are mineral products.
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  • China is Africa’s top business partner, with trade exceeding $166 billion. But it is not all minerals.
  • Machinery makes up 29%.
  • Last summer China’s commerce minister, Chen Deming, said the number “exceeded $14.7 billion, up 60% from 2009”.
  • Until recently China concentrated on a few big resource-rich countries, including Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan and Zambia
  • Ethiopia and Congo, where minerals are scarce or hard to extract, are now getting more attention,
  • The first person to be expelled from Africa’s youngest country, South Sudan, was a Chinese: Liu Yingcai, the local head of Petrodar, a Chinese-Malaysian oil company and the government’s biggest customer, in connection with an alleged $815m oil “theft”.
  • Congo kicked out two rogue commodities traders in the Kivu region. Algerian courts have banned two Chinese firms from participating in a public tender, alleging corruption. Gabonese officials ditched an unfavourable resource deal. Kenyan and South African conservationists are asking China to stop the trade in ivory and rhino horn.
  • Yet a growing number of Africans say the Chinese create jobs, transfer skills and spend money in local economies.
  • Other popular fears triggered by China’s growing presence have also proved hollow. It has not stoked armed conflict. On the contrary, China has occasionally played peacemaker, although motivated by self-interest. Sudan and South Sudan are both big Chinese trade partners. When they hovered on the brink of war last year, China intervened diplomatically along with other powers.
  • Only in Africa’s largest economies has China become less popular. There it is increasingly seen as a competitor. Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, who long cultivated Chinese contacts, was last year forced by domestic critics to change posture
Kathleen Hancock

Take Action: DANGER: Dolphin Meat is Poisoned by Mercury | SaveJapanDolphins.org - 0 views

  • We know, from Japanese scientists, that dolphins and small whales are heavily contaminated by mercury.  No one should be eating meat from dolphins and small whales.
  • Yet the Japanese government, fully aware of the dangers of mercury contamination, ignores this problem and allows mercury-poisoned dolphin and whale meat to be sold in markets.  Japanese consumers are exposed to danger but not warned.
  • Mercury is the second most toxic poison in the world, second only to plutonium.  Mercury attacks the brain and the nervous system, causing horrible damage to eyesight, hearing, and motor-skills, as well as interfering with memory and thought processes leading to dementia.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Dolphins and small whales are at the top of the food chain in the ocean.  As such, they concentrate pollutants in their meat.  Mercury enters the ocean from a variety of sources, especially from the atmosphere, as coal-fired power plants emit tons of mercury into the air.   As organisms absorb mercury in the ocean, it gets more and more concentrated the higher up the food chain one examines.
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    Toxic dolphin and whale meat- info about Mercury
abdulrahmanabdo

How the NSA's Domestic Spying Program Works | Electronic Frontier Foundation - 0 views

  • When the NSA’s spying program was first exposed by the New York Times in 2005, President Bush admitted to a small aspect of the program—what the administration labeled the “Terrorist Surveillance Program”—in which the NSA monitored, without warrants, the communications of between 500-1000 people inside the US with suspected connections to Al Qaeda.
    • abdulrahmanabdo
       
      The first time the NSA's spying programs where first exposed and what was chosen to be revealed by the Bush administration.
  • But other aspects of the Program were aimed not just at targeted individuals, but perhaps millions of innocent Americans never suspected of a crime.
  • A person familiar with the matter told USA Today that the agency's goal was "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders. All of this was done without a warrant or any judicial oversight.
    • abdulrahmanabdo
       
      The main reason why some Americans are upset by the NSA's recent actions. It was a breach in the balance of power that much of American government is run by, for now hundreds of years.
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  • This equipment gave the NSA unfettered access to large streams of domestic and international communications in real time—what amounted to at least 1.7 billion emails a day, according to the Washington Post.
    • abdulrahmanabdo
       
      The intelligence gathering power of the NSA.
  • First, the government convinced the major telecommunications companies in the US, including AT&T, MCI, and Sprint, to hand over the “call-detail records” of their customers. According to an investigation by USA Today, this included “customers' names, street addresses, and other personal information.” In addition, the government received “detailed records of calls they made—across town or across the country—to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.”
    • abdulrahmanabdo
       
      How the intensive intelligence gathering began for the NSA.
  • It works like this: when you send an email or otherwise use the internet, the data travels from your computer, through telecommunication companies' wires and fiber optics networks, to your intended recipient. To intercept these communications, the government installed devices known as “fiber-optic splitters” in many of the main telecommunication junction points in the United States (like the AT&T facility in San Francisco). These splitters make exact copies of the data passing through them: then, one stream is directed to the government, while the other stream is directed to the intended recipients.
    • abdulrahmanabdo
       
      How intelligence gathering works for the NSA.
  • In April 2012, long-time national security author James Bamford reported NSA is spending $2 billion to construct a data center in a remote part of Utah to house the information it has been collecting for the past decade. “Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases,” Bamford wrote, “will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital ‘pocket litter.’
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    The NSA's Domestic Spying Program and how it works.
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