Snippets: 16 May 2013
The question of inequality and economic growth has taken a long and twisted path. Will Singapore drop the Reagan-Thatcher revolution? Twitter is a great platform but it is also a space where people speak in public mostly without thinking. A map of hate has been generated for the United States and hateful tweets by topic are shown in an easy to use map. One of Iron Man 3’s iconic scenes was that of a mid air rescue. That took a lot of video effects work (VFX) together with some good old fashioned filming. DNA and big data are making it easier for people to find out about their history and themselves. More firms are jumping onboard to provide such services. Lastly, UNICEF is fed up with people donating Facebook Likes instead of actual funds or effort. Pseudo donations don’t help.
#1: Are Singaporeans ideological prisoners?
As Singapore undergoes its mighty metamorphosis and develops a new soul and character over this coming decade, one of the biggest challenges it will have to deal with is its position on the vexing and age-old question of “equality”. Is the trickle down effect still valid or do we have to keep a cap on inequality? [via StraitsTimes]
#2: The Geography of Hate
The Geography of Hate is part of a larger project by Dr. Monica Stephens of Humboldt State University (HSU) identifying the geographic origins of online hate speech. Undergraduate students Amelia Egle, Matthew Eiben and Miles Ross, worked to produce the data and this map as part of Dr. Stephens’ Advanced Cartography course at Humboldt State University. The data behind this map is based on every geocoded tweet in the United States from June 2012 – April 2013 containing one of the ‘hate words’. Have a look! [via Humbolt State University]
#3: How Iron Man 3’s Air Rescue Scene was Created
So it turns out that rescuing a bunch of people sucked out of a hole in Air Force One at 30,000 feet is actually harder than Robert Downey Jr. makes it look in “Iron Man 3.” Who knew? The audacious action sequence that occurs midway through director Shane Black’s superhero sequel, known by those on the film crew as the “barrel of monkeys” scene, required a mix of real-world guts and digital ingenuity to pull off. [via LA Times]
#4: Who am I? Answers from Data & DNA
Genealogy’s next phase, which is quickly approaching, is actually its end game. The massive accumulation, digitization, and accessibility of data combined with recent advances in DNA testing mean the questions we have about our families — who they were, how they got here, and how they’re related to us — will soon be instantly solvable. Realistically, the pursuit of family history as it exists now probably won’t be around in 20 years: most of the mysteries are disappearing, and fast. And now, a firm in Provo, Utah is making that happen. [via The Verge]
#5: Give Money, Not Facebook Likes – UNICEF
In the beginning, organizations wanted you to like their Facebook pages. Why? You know, community-building, awareness-raising, general “engagement”-upping. After all, social sharing can do amazing things. But all that effort seems to have backfired in some way. People are giving likes and not cash or effort. [via The Atlantic]
