Popular Articles (Page 8)

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๐Ÿ”— Yahoo Pipes

๐Ÿ”— Internet ๐Ÿ”— Software ๐Ÿ”— Software/Computing ๐Ÿ”— Maps

Yahoo! Pipes was a web application from Yahoo! that provided a graphical user interface for building data mashups that aggregate web feeds, web pages, and other services, creating Web-based apps from various sources, and publishing those apps. The application worked by enabling users to "pipe" information from different sources and then set up rules for how that content should be modified (for example, filtering). Other than the pipe editing page, the website had a documentation page and a discussion page. The documentation page contained information about pipes including guides for the pipe editor and troubleshooting. The discussion page enabled users to discuss the pipes with other users.

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๐Ÿ”— FE-Schrift

๐Ÿ”— Germany ๐Ÿ”— Law Enforcement ๐Ÿ”— Typography

The FE-Schrift or Fรคlschungserschwerende Schrift (forgery-impeding typeface) is a sans serif typeface introduced for use on licence plates. Its monospaced letters and numbers are slightly disproportionate to prevent easy modification and to improve machine readability. It has been developed in Germany where it has been mandatory since November 2000.

The abbreviation "FE" is derived from the compound German adjective "fรคlschungserschwerend" combining the noun "Fรคlschung" (falsification) and the verb "erschweren" (to hinder). "Schrift" means font in German. Other countries have later introduced the same or a derived typeface for license plates taking advantage of the proven design for the FE-Schrift.

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๐Ÿ”— Long S

๐Ÿ”— Writing systems ๐Ÿ”— Typography

The long s (ลฟ) is an archaic form of the lower case letter s. It replaced the single s, or the first s in a double s (e.g. "ลฟinfulneลฟs" for "sinfulness" and "ลฟucceลฟs" for "success"). The long s is the basis of the first half of the grapheme or the German alphabet ligature letter รŸ, which is known as the Eszett. The modern letterform is known as the short, terminal, or round s.

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๐Ÿ”— Dagen H โ€“ the day Sweden switched to driving on the right

๐Ÿ”— Transport ๐Ÿ”— Sweden

Dagen H (H day), today usually called "Hรถgertrafikomlรคggningen" ("The right-hand traffic diversion"), was the day on 3 September 1967, in which the traffic in Sweden switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. The "H" stands for "Hรถgertrafik", the Swedish word for "right traffic". It was by far the largest logistical event in Sweden's history.

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๐Ÿ”— Curta: a mechanical calculator

๐Ÿ”— Computing

The Curta is a small mechanical calculator developed by Curt Herzstark. The Curta's design is a descendant of Gottfried Leibniz's Stepped Reckoner and Charles Thomas's Arithmometer, accumulating values on cogs, which are added or complemented by a stepped drum mechanism. It has an extremely compact design: a small cylinder that fits in the palm of the hand.

Curtas were considered the best portable calculators available until they were displaced by electronic calculators in the 1970s.

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๐Ÿ”— Secretary Problem

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics ๐Ÿ”— Statistics

The secretary problem is a problem that demonstrates a scenario involving optimal stopping theory. The problem has been studied extensively in the fields of applied probability, statistics, and decision theory. It is also known as the marriage problem, the sultan's dowry problem, the fussy suitor problem, the googol game, and the best choice problem.

The basic form of the problem is the following: imagine an administrator who wants to hire the best secretary out of n {\displaystyle n} rankable applicants for a position. The applicants are interviewed one by one in random order. A decision about each particular applicant is to be made immediately after the interview. Once rejected, an applicant cannot be recalled. During the interview, the administrator gains information sufficient to rank the applicant among all applicants interviewed so far, but is unaware of the quality of yet unseen applicants. The question is about the optimal strategy (stopping rule) to maximize the probability of selecting the best applicant. If the decision can be deferred to the end, this can be solved by the simple maximum selection algorithm of tracking the running maximum (and who achieved it), and selecting the overall maximum at the end. The difficulty is that the decision must be made immediately.

The shortest rigorous proof known so far is provided by the odds algorithm (Bruss 2000). It implies that the optimal win probability is always at least 1 / e {\displaystyle 1/e} (where e is the base of the natural logarithm), and that the latter holds even in a much greater generality (2003). The optimal stopping rule prescribes always rejecting the first โˆผ n / e {\displaystyle \sim n/e} applicants that are interviewed and then stopping at the first applicant who is better than every applicant interviewed so far (or continuing to the last applicant if this never occurs). Sometimes this strategy is called the 1 / e {\displaystyle 1/e} stopping rule, because the probability of stopping at the best applicant with this strategy is about 1 / e {\displaystyle 1/e} already for moderate values of n {\displaystyle n} . One reason why the secretary problem has received so much attention is that the optimal policy for the problem (the stopping rule) is simple and selects the single best candidate about 37% of the time, irrespective of whether there are 100 or 100 million applicants.

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๐Ÿ”— TV detector van

๐Ÿ”— Television

TV detector vans are vans, which, according to the BBC, contain equipment that can detect the presence of television sets in use. The vans are operated by contractors working for the BBC, to enforce the television licensing system in the UK, the Channel Islands and on the Isle of Man. The veracity of their operation has been called into question in the media.

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๐Ÿ”— Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

๐Ÿ”— United States ๐Ÿ”— United States/Washington - Seattle ๐Ÿ”— United States/Washington

Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine was a Coke vending machine in Capitol Hill, Seattle, that was in operation since at least the early 1990s until its disappearance in 2018. It is unknown who stocked the machine.

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๐Ÿ”— Goodhart's Law

๐Ÿ”— Economics ๐Ÿ”— Statistics ๐Ÿ”— Business ๐Ÿ”— Politics

Goodhart's law is an adage named after economist Charles Goodhart, which has been phrased by Marilyn Strathern as "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." One way in which this can occur is individuals trying to anticipate the effect of a policy and then taking actions that alter its outcome.

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๐Ÿ”— Toast sandwich

๐Ÿ”— Food and drink ๐Ÿ”— United Kingdom

A toast sandwich is a sandwich made with two slices of bread in which the filling is a thin slice of toasted bread, which can be heavily buttered. An 1861 recipe says to add salt and pepper to taste.

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