Top Heavy, Always
One of the issues that many people who concern themselves with the happenings of the world are aware of the fact that, especially in America, the top 1% owns an overwhelming portion of the overall wealth. There seems to be a cycle whereby the wealthy portion of America, through better access to health, better education […]
Activist Shareholders and Calculated Celebrity
Some of the most derided figures in modern America are so-called “activist shareholders”, usually hedge fund managers who take (stock) positions in various companies and attempt to make a profit through characteristically impatient and public methods, which include badgering corporate executives, giving colorful interviews to news media, and writing open letters (one activist, when writing to a CEO he […]
Extreme Opinions and Bayes’ Theorem
As a society, we are taught to be open-minded so that we may better understand others’ ideas and points of view. This way, we may be more tolerant of each other’s beliefs and act more empathetically toward each other. However, extreme opinions abound, especially in politics. If you look at a presidential candidate’s Facebook page […]
Howl, Cry, Shout, Yelp
This article from Yelp explains roughly how the company sorts the heaps of reviews they get from users every day. They describe their recommendation software by comparing it to recommendations traveling by word of mouth. A person that asks their friends about a new restaurant will consider several factors in the responses, including the number […]