Random Articles
Have a deep view into what people are curious about.
π Curse of knowledge
The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, communicating with other individuals, unknowingly assumes that the others have the background to understand. This bias is also called by some authors the curse of expertise, although that term is also used to refer to various other phenomena.
For example, in a classroom setting, teachers have difficulty teaching novices because they cannot put themselves in the position of the student. A brilliant professor might no longer remember the difficulties that a young student encounters when learning a new subject. This curse of knowledge also explains the danger behind thinking about student learning based on what appears best to faculty members, as opposed to what has been verified with students.
Discussed on
- "Curse of knowledge" | 2017-04-23 | 92 Upvotes 30 Comments
- "Curse of knowledge" | 2012-03-26 | 74 Upvotes 8 Comments
π New CEO took International Harvester from 4th largest US firm to bankruptcy
Archie R. McCardell (August 29, 1926 β July 10, 2008) was an American business leader. He was best known for his tenure as chief executive officer, president, and chairman of the board at the International Harvester farm and heavy equipment manufacturing concern from 1977 to 1982. Although Harvester was the nation's fourth-largest company at the time he assumed control, McCardell triggered a strike by unionized employees which ended disastrously for the company and led to its eventual demise.
Discussed on
- "New CEO took International Harvester from 4th largest US firm to bankruptcy" | 2023-09-25 | 32 Upvotes 14 Comments
π Company town
A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and recreation facilities. They are usually bigger than a model village ("model" in the sense of an ideal to be emulated).
Some company towns have had high ideals, but many have been regarded as controlling and/or exploitative. Others developed more or less in unplanned fashion, such as Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, United States, one of the oldest, which began as an LC&N Co. mining camp and mine site nine miles (14.5 km) from the nearest outside road.
Discussed on
- "Company town" | 2016-07-27 | 69 Upvotes 70 Comments
π Wikipedia Signpost: Crypto and bitcoins and blockchains, oh no!
Discussed on
- "Wikipedia Signpost: Crypto and bitcoins and blockchains, oh no!" | 2020-01-27 | 38 Upvotes 17 Comments
π Blind faith (computer programming)
Discussed on
- "Blind faith (computer programming)" | 2013-07-21 | 24 Upvotes 16 Comments
π 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident
On 26 September 1983, the nuclear early-warning radar of the Soviet Union reported the launch of one intercontinental ballistic missile with four more missiles behind it, from bases in the United States. These missile attack warnings were suspected to be false alarms by Stanislav Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces on duty at the command center of the early-warning system. He decided to wait for corroborating evidenceβof which none arrivedβrather than immediately relaying the warning up the chain-of-command. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack against the United States and its NATO allies, which would likely have resulted in an escalation to a full-scale nuclear war. Investigation of the satellite warning system later determined that the system had indeed malfunctioned.
Discussed on
- "1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident" | 2021-09-26 | 16 Upvotes 6 Comments
π Obesity in US 1985-2006
Discussed on
- "Obesity in US 1985-2006" | 2010-12-26 | 14 Upvotes 1 Comments
π British Airways Flight 5390
British Airways Flight 5390 was a flight from Birmingham Airport in England for MΓ‘laga Airport in Spain that suffered explosive decompression, with no loss of life, shortly after takeoff on 10 June 1990. An improperly installed windscreen panel separated from its frame, causing the plane's captain to be blown partially out of the aircraft. With the captain pinned against the window frame for twenty minutes, the first officer landed at Southampton Airport.
Discussed on
- "British Airways Flight 5390" | 2020-11-14 | 169 Upvotes 101 Comments
π List of journalists killed in Russia under Putin
The dangers to journalists in Russia have been well known since the early 1990s but concern over the number of unsolved killings soared after Anna Politkovskaya's murder in Moscow on 7 October 2006. While international monitors mentioned a dozen deaths, some sources within Russia talked of over two hundred fatalities. The evidence has since been examined and documented in two reports, published in Russian and English, by international organizations. These revealed a basic confusion in terminology that explained the seemingly enormous numerical discrepancy: statistics of premature death among journalists (from work accidents, crossfire incidents, and purely criminal or domestic cases of manslaughter) were repeatedly equated with the much smaller number of targeted (contract) killings or work-related murders. The Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty in Russia is observed on 15 December every year.
π Digital physics
In physics and cosmology, digital physics is a collection of theoretical perspectives based on the premise that the universe is describable by information. It is a form of digital ontology about the physical reality. According to this theory, the universe can be conceived of as either the output of a deterministic or probabilistic computer program, a vast, digital computation device, or mathematically isomorphic to such a device.
Discussed on
- "Digital physics" | 2013-08-06 | 62 Upvotes 54 Comments