Why you might be counting in the wrong language – BBC FutureFor example, in French, 92 is quatre-vingt douze or “four twenties and twelve”. And in Danish, the word for 92 is tooghalvfems, where halvfems, meaning 90,is an abbreviation of the Old Norse word halvfemsindstyve, or “four and a half times twenty”. — thinking the USA isn’t likely to change based on the whole decimal system thing . . .

The land grab for farm data | TechCrunch Specifically, ownership and control of agronomic and equipment data is understood to have dramatic escalating value. Which seed varieties were the most successful and where? Which plant populations performed best? Whose recommendations (e.g. nitrogen programs) outperformed their peers? Which input datasets are used for these recommendations, how were they acquired and are they standardized and accessible? How are the big companies actually using the data? Who has access, how long have they been acquiring it and how long do they keep it? Which documents did I sign to give them access? Data is one of the most valuable things farmers harvest. Make no mistake, the ambiguity around the value of this data is intentional. Nobody wants to initiate paying for something that has always been free. Returning Meaning To The Heart Of Communications – Brand Quarterly The P&I (Persuasion and Influence) industries, like so may others such as education, policing and (in the UK) the NHS (National Health Service), are increasingly falling under the sway of an “arithmocracy”. It is a reductionist system where managers are risk averse, increasingly reliant on ‘safety in numbers’ and prone to what Gerd Gigerenzer calls “defensive decision-making”. This system is based on a sort of physics envy: the belief (or hope) that human beings are more […]

Niche Sports Are No Longer an Ivy League Admissions Plan – The Atlanticn May, Brown announced the permanent elimination of fencing and squash. In July, the Ivy League conference officially canceled fall sports and warned that the spring season could be next. In a press release, Harvard said its department of athletics, a sprawling fiefdom that includes 42 varsity sports, would temporarily pivot to “wellness programming.” Soon after, Stanford dropped 11 varsity programs, including fencing, squash, and men’s crew, citing factors such as gender equity, potential savings, and fan interest. Verification Handbook: homepage