The Flyer weighs only 220 pounds and counts as an “ultralight aircraft,” which means you won’t need a license from the FAA to fly it.
Powered by eight propellers, Flyer can reach speeds of 25 miles per hour.
Month: May 2017
The 1 Percent Rule: Why a Few People Get Most of the Rewards | James Clear
This idea that a small number of things account for the majority of the results became known as the Pareto Principle or, more commonly, the 80/20 Rule.
Why does this happen? Why do a few people, teams, and organizations enjoy the bulk of the rewards in life?
What begins as a small advantage gets bigger over time.
Scientists refer to this effect as “accumulative advantage.”
Situations in which small differences in performance lead to outsized rewards are known as Winner-Take-All Effects. They typically occur in situations that involve relative comparison, where your performance relative to those around you is the determining factor in your success. …
The advantage of being a little bit better is not a little bit more reward, but the entire reward. The winner gets one and the rest get zero.
Winner-Take-All Effects in individual competitions can lead to Winner-Take-Most Effects in the larger game of life.
What begins as a slight edge over the competition compounds with each additional contest.
The 1 Percent Rule states that over time the majority of the rewards in a given field will accumulate to the people, teams, and organizations that maintain a 1 percent advantage over the alternatives. … The 1 Percent Rule is not merely a reference to the fact that small differences accumulate into significant advantages, but also to the idea that those who are one percent better rule their respective fields and industries. Thus, the process of accumulative advantage is the hidden engine that drives the 80/20 Rule.
Source: The 1 Percent Rule: Why a Few People Get Most of the Rewards | James Clear
You Cannot Encrypt Your Face – The Atlantic
Source: You Cannot Encrypt Your Face – The Atlantic by Alvaro M. Bedoya
We have grown accustomed to the monitoring of our technology and communications. There is something different, something intractable and ominous, about the tracking of our bodies.
From the Boston Tea Party to the printing of Common Sense, the ability to dissent—and to do it anonymously—was central to the founding of the United States. … Our history is replete with moments when it was a “crime” to do the right thing, and legal to inflict injustice.
The latest crime-fighting tools, however, may eliminate people’s ability to be anonymous. … Face recognition is not just about finding terrorists. It’s about finding citizens. … As law enforcement develops increasingly powerful surveillance tools, we need to ask ourselves: Are we building a world where no dissent is anonymous?
Democracy may be impossible in a world where no dissent is anonymous.
Orleans Parish prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk to them | The Lens
Source: Orleans Parish prosecutors are using fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses to talk to them | The Lens by Charles Maldonado
The DA’s office is sending notices labeled “subpoena” to witnesses, threatening jail time if the person ignores them. But they’re not real subpoenas. An assistant district attorney says they’re meant to persuade people who may ignore a simple letter.
after The Lens told Bowman that our story would report that legal experts say the practice could be illegal, The New Orleans Advocate reported that the DA’s office had announced it would end the practice
Why Was There a Civil War? – The Atlantic
Source: Why Was There a Civil War? – The Atlantic by Yoni Appelbaum
Some issues aren’t amenable to deal-making; some principles don’t lend themselves to compromise.
the Civil War was fought over slavery. “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world,” Mississippi declared as it seceded. “The people of the slave holding States are bound together by the same necessity and determination to preserve African slavery,” said Louisiana. “The servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations,” insisted Texas.
There are some conflicts that a leader cannot suppress, no matter how strong he may be; some deals that should not be struck, no matter how alluring they may seem. This was the great moral truth on which the Republican Party was founded.