by david allan van nostrand | Apr 30, 2018 | Conformity, Leadership, Organizational Behavior
Begin by ignoring the principles of good decision-making and problem-solving. This is easiest if you don’t bother to learn what they are. Announce at the beginning of every meeting the course of action you’ve already decided upon. This way, your group needn’t bother...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 23, 2018 | Big Data, Items in the News
Stephen Chen writes in The South China Post that the world’s largest cockroach farm is using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to breed 6 billion adult cockroaches a year. They are the raw materials of the production process for a cockroach-based “healing potion”...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 16, 2018 | Items in the News, Psychology, Voodoo Statistics
In her excellent article in the New York Times: Lies, Damned Lies, and One Very Misleading Statistic, Amanda Taub takes a closer look at a sexual misconduct scandal reported in The Sun, a British tabloid. Their headline shrieked that “a bombshell report” had found “UN...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 9, 2018 | Technology
During the late 1880s, the Swiss Army decided to purchase a new folding pocket knife for their soldiers. It was to be suitable for use by the army for two things other knives couldn’t do: opening canned field rations and disassembling the Swiss Army rifle, an...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 2, 2018 | Human Behavior, Research, Using Information
In my early days as a researcher, I had proudly produced what I believed to be an excellent piece of research only to be told – after the fact, of course – that it wasn’t what sponsors were looking for. It was easy to blame them; their real dissatisfaction...