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π Zooko's Triangle
Zooko's triangle is a trilemma of three properties that are generally considered desirable for names of participants in a network protocol:
- Human-meaningful: Meaningful and memorable (low-entropy) names are provided to the users.
- Secure: The amount of damage a malicious entity can inflict on the system should be as low as possible.
- Decentralized: Names correctly resolve to their respective entities without the use of a central authority or service.
Discussed on
- "Zooko's Triangle" | 2022-08-17 | 79 Upvotes 40 Comments
- "Zooko's Triangle" | 2021-02-17 | 153 Upvotes 54 Comments
- "Zooko's Triangle" | 2010-08-22 | 23 Upvotes 7 Comments
π Mpemba Effect
The Mpemba effect is a process in which hot water can freeze faster than cold water. The phenomenon is temperature-dependent. There is disagreement about the parameters required to produce the effect and about its theoretical basis.
The Mpemba effect is named after Tanzanian scientist Erasto Bartholomeo Mpemba (b.1950) who discovered it in 1963. There were preceding ancient accounts of similar phenomena, but these lacked sufficient detail to attempt verification.
Discussed on
- "Mpemba effect β Hot water freezes faster" | 2019-11-11 | 17 Upvotes 3 Comments
- "Mpemba effect: warmer water can freeze faster than colder water" | 2016-05-08 | 91 Upvotes 38 Comments
- "Mpemba effect: warmer water can freeze faster than colder water" | 2013-04-27 | 32 Upvotes 25 Comments
- "The Mpemba Effect" | 2009-12-13 | 36 Upvotes 15 Comments
π Oblique Strategies
Oblique Strategies (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas) is a card-based method for promoting creativity jointly created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt, first published in 1975. Physically, it takes the form of a deck of 7-by-9-centimetre (2.8Β in ΓΒ 3.5Β in) printed cards in a black box. Each card offers a challenging constraint intended to help artists (particularly musicians) break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking.
Discussed on
- "Oblique Strategies" | 2022-05-22 | 48 Upvotes 20 Comments
- "Oblique Strategies" | 2020-09-14 | 203 Upvotes 54 Comments
- "Oblique Strategies" | 2015-09-03 | 10 Upvotes 2 Comments
π Poka-yoke
Poka-yoke (γγ«γ¨γ±, [poka yoke]) is a Japanese term that means "mistake-proofing" or "inadvertent error prevention". A poka-yoke is any mechanism in any process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur. The concept was formalised, and the term adopted, by Shigeo Shingo as part of the Toyota Production System. It was originally described as baka-yoke, but as this means "fool-proofing" (or "idiot-proofing") the name was changed to the milder poka-yoke.
Discussed on
- "Poka-Yoke" | 2025-01-09 | 69 Upvotes 46 Comments
- "Poka Yoke" | 2021-09-08 | 99 Upvotes 62 Comments
- "Poka-yoke" | 2018-09-23 | 160 Upvotes 60 Comments
π Georgism β Single Tax System
Georgism, also called geoism and single tax (archaic), is an economic ideology holding that while people should own the value they produce themselves, economic value derived from land (often including natural resources and natural opportunities) should belong equally to all members of society. Developed from the writings of American economist and social reformer Henry George, the Georgist paradigm seeks solutions to social and ecological problems, based on principles of land rights and public finance which attempt to integrate economic efficiency with social justice.
Georgism is concerned with the distribution of economic rent caused by natural monopolies, pollution and the control of commons, including title of ownership for natural resources and other contrived privileges (e.g. intellectual property). Any natural resource which is inherently limited in supply can generate economic rent, but the classical and most significant example of land monopoly involves the extraction of common ground rent from valuable urban locations. Georgists argue that taxing economic rent is efficient, fair and equitable. The main Georgist policy recommendation is a tax assessed on land value. Georgists argue that revenues from a land value tax (LVT) can be used to reduce or eliminate existing taxes (for example, on income, trade, or purchases) that are unfair and inefficient. Some Georgists also advocate for the return of surplus public revenue to the people by means of a basic income or citizen's dividend.
Economists since Adam Smith and David Ricardo have observed that a public levy on land value does not cause economic inefficiency, unlike other taxes. A land value tax also has progressive tax effects. Advocates of land value taxes argue that they would reduce economic inequality, increase economic efficiency, remove incentives to underutilize urban land and reduce property speculation. The philosophical basis of Georgism dates back to several early thinkers such as John Locke, Baruch Spinoza and Thomas Paine, but the concept of gaining public revenues mainly from land and natural resource privileges was widely popularized by Henry George and his first book Progress and Poverty (1879).
Georgist ideas were popular and influential during the late 19th and early 20th century. Political parties, institutions and communities were founded based on Georgist principles during that time. Early devotees of Henry George's economic philosophy were often termed Single Taxers for their political goal of raising public revenue mainly from a land value tax, although Georgists endorsed multiple forms of rent capture (e.g. seigniorage) as legitimate. The term Georgism was invented later and some prefer the term geoism to distinguish their beliefs from those of Henry George.
Discussed on
- "Georgism" | 2023-09-19 | 99 Upvotes 103 Comments
- "Georgism β Single Tax System" | 2020-05-17 | 210 Upvotes 332 Comments
π The Peter Principle
The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their "level of incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another. The concept was elucidated in the book The Peter Principle (William Morrow and Company, 1969) by Dr Peter and Raymond Hull.
Peter and Hull intended the book to be satire, but it became popular as it was seen to make a serious point about the shortcomings of how people are promoted within hierarchical organizations. Hull wrote the text, based on Peter's research. The Peter principle has been the subject of much subsequent commentary and research.
Discussed on
- "Every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence" | 2024-03-27 | 280 Upvotes 180 Comments
- "Peter Principle" | 2022-12-04 | 17 Upvotes 5 Comments
- "The Peter Principle" | 2020-09-10 | 11 Upvotes 1 Comments
π Zero Rupee Note
A zero-rupee note is a banknote imitation issued in India as a means of helping to fight systemic political corruption. The notes are "paid" in protest by angry citizens to government functionaries who solicit bribes in return for services which are supposed to be free. Zero rupee notes, which are made to resemble the regular 50 rupee banknote of India, are the creation of a non-governmental organization known as 5th Pillar which has, since their inception in 2007, distributed over 2.5 million notes as of August 2014. The notes remain in current use and thousands of notes are distributed every month.
Discussed on
- "Zero Rupee Note" | 2019-06-03 | 771 Upvotes 235 Comments
π Lindy Effect
The Lindy effect is a theory that the future life expectancy of some non-perishable things like a technology or an idea is proportional to their current age, so that every additional period of survival implies a longer remaining life expectancy. Where the Lindy effect applies, mortality rate decreases with time.
Discussed on
- "Lindy Effect" | 2023-05-02 | 22 Upvotes 1 Comments
- "Lindy effect" | 2017-07-30 | 225 Upvotes 64 Comments
π Shamir's Secret Sharing
Shamir's Secret Sharing is an algorithm in cryptography created by Adi Shamir. It is a form of secret sharing, where a secret is divided into parts, giving each participant its own unique part.
To reconstruct the original secret, a minimum number of parts is required. In the threshold scheme this number is less than the total number of parts. Otherwise all participants are needed to reconstruct the original secret.
Discussed on
- "Shamir's Secret Sharing" | 2023-10-27 | 12 Upvotes 3 Comments
- "Shamir's Secret Sharing" | 2018-08-18 | 177 Upvotes 45 Comments
- "Shamir's Secret Sharing" | 2016-05-16 | 66 Upvotes 16 Comments
π Billion laughs attack
In computer security, a billion laughs attack is a type of denial-of-service (DoS) attack which is aimed at parsers of XML documents.
It is also referred to as an XML bomb or as an exponential entity expansion attack.
Discussed on
- "Billion laughs attack" | 2019-01-06 | 110 Upvotes 24 Comments
- "Billion laughs" | 2012-10-20 | 276 Upvotes 63 Comments