Mabble Rabble

17 January 2025

Aggregate News Sources

GNews
GDelt
CCNews
newsapi
newscatcher
oPoint
worldnewsapi
newsdata.io
rapidapi
eventregistry
mediacloud
webz.io
aylien

Free Sources For Financial Market Data

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
FRED
Quandl
AlphaVantage
Investing.com
IEX Cloud
Stooq
Finnhub
SEC Edgar
World Bank Open Data
Eurostat
TradingView
Intrinio
OpenFigi
Tiingo
Polygon

Companies Involved In Illegal Activities

Facebook: allegations of privacy violations, data misuse, and anti-competitive practices
Amazon: accused of anti-competitive practices, tax avoidance, and mistreatment of workers
Google: accused of anti-competitive practices, data misuse, and censorship
Apple: accused of tax avoidance, anti-competitive practices, and misleading consumers
Tesla: accused of safety violations, discrimination, and misleading investors
JPMorgan Chase: involvement in mortgage crisis scandal, accused of manipulating energy markets, and faced fines for money laundering
Wells Fargo: massive scandal involving creation of millions of fake accounts for customers
Boeing: scrutiny and legal action after two fatal crashes of its 737 MAX aircraft, raising concerns about safety and regulatory oversight
Pfizer: lawsuits and investigations related to marketing and pricing of its pharmaceutical drugs
Nestle: criticism for marketing of infant formula in developing countries and its sourcing of palm oil
Volkswagen: major emissions scandal, where they installed software in their diesel vehicles to cheat on emissions tests
Uber: scrutiny over its business practices, including allegations of sexual harassment, data privacy violations, and anti-competitive behavior
Monsanto: lawsuits and controversy over the safety of its roundup weedkiller which contains glyphosate
Philip Morris: lawsuits and scrutiny over health risks of smoking and its marketing practices
Walmart: allegations of bribery and corruption in Mexico and other countries as well as lawsuits related to wage and hour violations
ExxonMobil: criticism for its role in climate change and accused of downplaying risks of global warming
Johnson & Johnson: lawsuits and scrutiny over safety of talcum powder which has been linked to ovarian cancer
Goldman Sachs: criticism for its role in 2008 financial crisis and has been accused of engaging in predatory lending practices

corporate scandals

corporate crimes

FCA warning list

UN List of businesses linked to Israeli settlements

UN List of companies involved in illegal israeli settlements

SEC List of Companies indulged in unauthorized activities

OpenSanctions

List of entities with detected signs of illegal activities

List of Named Tax Avoidance Schemes, Promoters, Enablers, and Suppliers

13 Major Companies Involved in Deforestation

Pharma Penalties

Entity List

Companies Involved in Child Labor

Sanctions Programs and Country Info

Top Books on Eschatology

From Jewish Standpoint:

The Jewish Annotated New Testament
The Messianic Idea of Judaism
The World to Come: The Ideas of the Afterlife in Judaism
The Book of Zohar
The Writings of the Prophets
The Messianic Era in Jewish Thought
Jewish Apocalyptic Literature: A Comprehensive Introduction
The World to Come: Studies in Jewish Eschatology
From the Maccabees to the Mishnah
The Eschatology of the Dead Sea Scrolls

From Islamic Standpoint:

Signs of the Hour
The End of Time
The Book of Tribulations
The Gardens of the Righteous
The Path of the Righteous
The Messiah, The Quran, and the Akhir Al-Zaman
The Quran, The Great War, and the West
The Quran, Dajjal, and the Jasad
The Dajjal, The Quran, and Awwal AL-Zaman
Constantinople In The Quran
Jerusalem in The Quran
Explaining Israel's Mysterious Imperial Agenda
An Islamic View of Gog and Magog in the Modern World
The Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham
The Caliphate, The Hijaz, and The Saudi-Wahabi Nation-State

From Christian Standpoint:

The Shack
The City of God
Revelation and the End of All Things
A New Heaven and a New Earth
The Coming of the Kingdom
Paradise Now and Not Yet
The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology
The Millennium
The Eschatology of the New Testament
The Day of the Lord: Studies in Biblical Theology

From Non-Religious Standpoint:

Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century
Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
The Industries of the Future

13 January 2025

Why Plastic Surgeries are Bad?

Health Risks:

Surgical Complications:

Infections
Bleeding
Anesthesia reactions
Blood clots
Scarring
Potential death

Dissatisfaction with Results:

May not meet expectations
May lead to more procedures and more dissatisfaction

Psychological Harm

Body dysmorphia
Mental health over perceived flaws

Societal and Ethical Concerns:

Unrealistic Beauty Standards
Financial Burden

Unemployability:

Actors/Actresses:

Typecasting: significant changes can limit visible emotions and their ability to play diverse roles
Age-appropriate roles: facial alterations make it difficult to portray characters of certain ages

Models:

Brand Image: some brands prefer natural appearances
Specific looks: altering a feature may negatively impact their career

News Anchors/Broadcast Journalists:

On-Air Image: affect on natural and trustworthy appearance
Ageism: excessive alterations might make them look older or younger and affect credibility

Politicians:

Public Image: affect on authenticity and relatability could alienate voters

Teachers/Educators:

Role models: unnatural changes raise concerns on judgement and values

Lawyers:

Client trust: unnatural appearances hinder ability to build rapport and client confidence

Surgeons/Doctors:

Patient trust: unnatural appearances will make them seem more distant and less trustworthy

Pilot/Flight Attendants:

Maintaining approachable image is important for passenger safety
Unnatural appearances makes passengers uneasy

Social Workers/Therapists:

Potential loss of empathy and authenticity
Unnatural appearances makes clients feel uncomfortable and less open

Sales Professionals:

Building a rapport and trust is crucial for conversion
Unnatural appearances hinders connection with customers

Customer Service Professionals:

Unnatural appearances makes customer service difficult and may even intimidate customers

When does it make sense to get Plastic surgery?

For reconstructive surgery and not cosmetic surgery: The aim is to restore appearance after illness, injury, or birth defect. These types of plastic surgeries are often covered by insurance as a medical necessary. Cosmetic surgeries are not covered by insurance as they tend to be for aesthetic reasons. Examples of reconstructive surgeries include, but not limited to:

Burn reconstruction
Cleft lip and palate repair
Breast reconstruction after mastectomy

12 January 2025

Unique Experiences of Korea

Hanok Village: beautifully preserved traditional Korean villages to experience Korea's past
DMZ: a sobering experience in a heavily fortified border between south and north Korea
Jjimjilbang: chance to relax and rejuvenate in Korean spa
K-Pop and K-Dramas: experience the Korean pop and drama culture and their fandoms
K-Wave: extends from Korean pop, drama, cinema, food, fashion, beauty, and other cultural expressions
Korean BBQ: chance to grill your own meat in a social and interactive dining
Korean Temples: a peaceful escape into Buddhist temples
Jeju Island: volcanic landscapes, fabulous beaches, on a picturesque island
Korean Festivals: colorful festivals celebrated throughout the year with unique Korean traditions
Korean Calligraphy: meditative practice that has been passed down through generations
Convenience Store Culture: diverse stores that offer hot meals and even beauty products
Unique Museums:

Trick Eye Museum: optical illusions and interactive exhibits
Mr Toilet House Museum: history of toilets
Haewoojae Museum: shaped like a gigantic toilet
National Museum of Korea: collection of comprehensive Korean artifacts
Gyeongju National Museum: showcase of artifacts from the Silla Kingdom
Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art: contemporary works of art
National Palace Mueseum: exploration into Korean royal court
War Memorial of Korea: tells a story about the Korean War the impact it had on the country
Seoul Museum of History: time travel into the history of Seoul
National Folk Museum of Korea: explores the Korean traditional life
Seodaemun Prison History Hall: story of Korean independence and the struggles against the Japanese colonial rule

Korean Beauty Culture:

Sheet Masks: innovative skincare products
'Glass Skin' Trend: flawless and translucent skin

Technology Hub:

Fast Internet: fastest internet speeds
Mobile-First Culture: digitized society with heavy use of smartphones from payments to communication

Unique Traditions:

Doljapi: first birthday celebration where the child chooses their future profession from table of symbolic objects
Jeong: complex concept of loyalty, affection, and moral obligation in social relationships
Talchum: traditional masked dance drama with satirical and irreverent performance
Seol: major holiday with sharing rice cakes, and playing yut nori

Beyond BBQ:

Kimchi: fermented cabbage in many varieties
Bibimbap: rice dish with mixed vegetables, meat, and fried egg
Fried Chicken: crispy chicken served with sauces
Beyond Kimchi: fermentation is deeply ingrained in Korean cuisine from soybean paste, red pepper paste, and unfiltered rice wine
Banchan: feast with side dishes served alongside rice
Gochujang: the magical spice of life used in countless dishes that also has regional variations
Hansik: traditional cooking methods with emphasis on seasonal ingredients
Tteokbokki: chewy rice cakes stir-fried in spicy gochujang sauce with fish cakes and vegetables
Bulgogi: Thinly sliced marinated and grilled beef with lettuce leaves, rice, and other side dishes
Kimbap: similar to sushi maki
Jjigae: favorful stews, come in varieties

Nature and Scenery:

Seoraksan National Park: mountain scenery with hiking trails, waterfalls, and Buddhist temples
Gamcheon Culture Village: hillside village in Busan with murals and artistic atmosphere
Yeouido Hangang Park: famous for Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival
Seokchon Lake Park: picturesque reflection on the lake with pedestrian path lined with cherry blossoms
Jinhae: renowned for Jinhae Gunhangji Festival
Hadong: breathtaking sight of cherry trees
Chimsangjeong Pavilion in Daegu: stunning backdrop of cherry blossom clouds and scenic stone staircase
Jirisan National Park: Korea's largest national park with dense forests, cascading waterfalls, hiking trails, and diverse wildlife

Modern Marvels:

Seoul Forest: urban oasis with themed gardens, wildlife center, and marsh
Starfield COEX Mall: underground shopping mall with shops, restaurants, aquarium, and library

Bad Cultural Practices:

Conformity and social pressure that leads to anxiety and stress
A very fast paced life that has an emphasis on efficiency, speed, and promptness as a result of competition for education and workplace as well as from rapid economic development
Hierarchical social structure based on age and social status that leads to inequality
Huge emphasis on materialism and beauty standards which creates a very artificial and unhealthy lifestyle especially with plastic surgery and mental body image issues
Nightlife scene can be an issue for women as there is growing problem with rape culture at night and the way women are viewed in general in Korean society
Superstitions are very common in Korean society
The day a baby is born is essentially regarded as 1 yr old as they include the time spent in the womb and everyone turns a year older on the 1st of January and not on their date of birth (in 2023 a new law was passed to scrap this method of counting age)
Pushing and shoving is part of the culture and quite unapologetically
You don't hug you bow, to some this may be awkward and a contradiction with their religious sensibilities
Air pollution has become an issue in the outdoors
The language barrier can be a real issue to people that don't speak Korean. However, in places like Seoul and Busan you can get by with English.
Korean weather can be extreme across the four seasons. Winter can be harsh with freezing cold temperatures and snowfall. Summers can be unbearably hot and humid. However, most places have air conditioning and underfloor heating.
Korea is a conservative society which is also reflected in how you show affection to your partner in public and the way you dress.
Koreans are obsessed with hygiene habits. Brushing teeth after every meal. They even carry around toothbrushes with them to work, business meetings, and even friendly lunches.
Korea has a high suicide rate as a result of a high-stress society with extreme competition in education and professional work culture that leads to depression and anxiety.
Apartment blocks and skyscrapers seem to be everywhere. But, they tend to be built with small spaces.
Koreans enjoy spitting, slurping, and burping
There are animal cafes everywhere from hello kitty, figurine, poo themes and many others.
Social life seems to start at noon on weekends otherwise it may feel like a ghost town where people stay up till very late
Koreans are crazy about plastic surgery especially with eyelid, nose, anti-aging, and face shapes
Koreans are crazy about skin care, lighter, youthful, and smoother skin tones are treated better than other races, the skin privilege really does apply
Korea has a mandatory military service for men
No distinction between 'my' space or 'your' space.
Korean clothes sizes can be smaller than western standards
Traffic lights can be very slow moving and you cannot jaywalk
Expect lots of stares if you are not Korean or don't speak the language
Leave your shoes outside. Although, this is a nice practice it can sometimes mean your shoes might get stolen in public. So, carry a shoe bag.
Discrimination against women and how they are treated both in public, in private, and workplace can be a bit unconcerting.
There is generally lack of diversity in workplace and some apparent discrimination against minorities.
Some public places give priority to Koreans over non-Koreans, as race mixing is actively discouraged
Korea has a rising prostitution problem that is connected to abuse and violence against women
Koreans consume a lot of pig meat in comparison to lamb and beef which is considered a luxury. Most products will likely contain pig-based gelatin which may be an issue for some people.
Koreans can be quite loud and noisy but this is generally part of the spoken language and the way they work. Soft spoken people may find it rather intimidating.

Big Little Guide To Message Queues

11 January 2025

7 January 2025

6 January 2025

Pose Estimation

MoveNet
Mediapipe
MMPose
PoseNet
AlphaPose
HRNet
OpenPose
YOLOv8

Tech Sanctions on Iran

Online Services Inaccessible in Iran due to Tech Sanctions

4 January 2025

What makes a person ugly or beautiful?

Cultural Standards:

Societal Ideals - this varies across cultures and shifts through time
Media Influence - promotes unrealistic and narrow-minded ideals

Biological Factors:

Symmetry - defined facial symmetry, often influenced by the golden ratio
Averageness - closer to the average are perceived as more attractive
Health Cues - features that signal good health

Psychological Factors:

Personality - positive traits that aggregate into attraction
Confidence - inclined to be more assertive
Individual Preferences - subjectivity based on different perceptions
Inner Beauty - positive traits that are considered more important for the long-run

Top Books on Philosophy

Classics:

Meditations
The Republic
Nicomachean
Meditations on First Philosophy

Modern/Contemporary:

Being and Time
The Myth of Sisyphus
Existentialism is a Humanism
The Ethics of Ambiguity
The Order of Things
The Interpretation of Dreams
No Logo

Intros:

Sophie's World
The Story of Philosophy

Deep Dives:

Critique of Pure Reason
Being and Nothingness
Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Ethical/Political:

The Prince
Utilitarianism
On Liberty

Consciousness:

What Is It Like to Be a Bat?
The Conscious Mind
Consciousness Explained
I am a Strange Loop
The Enigma of Consciousness
The Astonishing Hypthesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

Nihilism:

The Conspiracy Against the Human Race
Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction
The Trouble With Being Born
The Will to Power
The Gay Science
The Stranger
Notes from Underground
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
The Myth of Sisyphus

Stoicism:

Letters from Stoic
Discourses and Selected Writings
How to Be Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Meditations

Existentialism:

Fear and Trembling
Existentialism is a Humanism
The Myth of Sisyphus
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Being and Nothingness
The Plague
Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre
Notes from Underground
The Stranger

Metaphysics:

Metaphysics
Critique of Pure Reason
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Being and Time
Naming and Necessity
On the Plurality of Worlds
Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction
The Metaphysics Within Us: The Hidden Dimensions of Our Everyday Lives

Epistemology:

The Problem of Philosophy
Knowledge and Its Limits
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Gettier Problems and the Analysis of Knowledge

Philosophy of Mind:

The Mind-Body Problem
Consciousness Explained
I am a Strange Loop
Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension

Ethics and Morality:

The Republic
Nicomachean
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
The Moral Limits of Markets: The High Price of Putting a Price on Everything
Utilitarianism
On Liberty
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals
The Ethics of Ambiguity
Beyond Good and Evil
On The Genealogy of Morals

3 January 2025

AI Tools for Development

Aider: rapid prototyping
Cline: rapid prototyping
Cursor: refinement
Devin: build projects and scrapers
Copilot: quick edits
Tabnine: integrate with IDE for code completion
Kite: high-quality suggestions
Codeium: autocompletions
Polycoder: code assist in teams
Ghostwriter: custom code enhancer
Bolt: project starter and initialization
AutoGPT
Pandora

What do gods of generative AI have in store for 2025?

Why does the west hate Islam?

Media perpetuates anti-Islam hate through a pre-defined mainstream narrative
Cyclical perception influenced through negative portrayals
Media and Entertainment industry is divisive in labels, black vs white, and demonization
Lack of tolerance, understanding, and inter-faith dialog
Perceptions of backward stereotypes and biases that contradict western values and beliefs (although one can question, what are western values and beliefs?)
Fear of the unknown
Lots of collective judgement and generalizations that breeds prejudices, biases, and discrimination
Looking for someone else to blame or scapegoat for the issues in their lives
Trigger of tribalism of us vs them
Fear of sharia law (even though, this is not really a required practice)
Extremism and terrorism which is propagated, financed, and perpetuated by the West. This is indicative of the fact that conflicts and wars are profitable to the West.
Historical context in the crusades
Direct financial motives connected to natural resources and religion. Many pre-dominantly Islamic countries are rich in natural resources, centers of trade routes, and rich in traditional values.
Cultural complications with dietary restrictions, freedom of speech, treatment of women, religious attire, and many other cultural practices are seen as odd and incomprehensible
Perceived as a threat to western cultural norms (what exactly are western cultural norms is anyone's guess where people are confused about what gender they are?)
Bad perceptions and intolerance feeds further negative views and hate like a vicious cycle
The fact that many muslims are fixed in their beliefs and unwilling to change makes it incompatible with modern values of social progress, democratic participation, and resistance to scientific thought
The perceptions that Islamic societies have an intolerance for other religions

How do you counter this?

The West likely needs to stop interfering in foreign politics, economics, and conflicts
The West should focus on their own taxpayers
The West should stop trying to colonize other countries that don't conform to their ideals to steal land and natural resources
Respect other people, their cultures, and values
Provide more objective mainstream narrative and mindful use of language with journalistic ethics and responsibility so people can decide for themselves
The West should let countries flourish and grow
Stop bombing their countries so they don't turn into refugees and cause a western immigration crisis
Increase tolerance through understanding and inter-faith dialog
The understanding that every one has the right to liberty and security wherever they are in the world
The understanding that basic human rights are accorded to people in every civilized society
Stop being so greedy with the colonial mentality
The West should stop selling weapons and equipment, if there are no real conflicts, who'd need the budgets for defence?

Work Better and Smarter

Prioritize Ruthlessly

Find your Key Objectives
Use the Pareto Principle
Use the Eisenhower Matrix

Optimize Your Workflow

Block time slots
Batch Tasks
Minimize Distractions
Learn to Delegate

Continuous Learning and Improvement

Develop Skills
Get Feedback
Experiment and Iterate

Cultivate a Growth Mindset

Take on New Challenges and Deal with them Head On
Focus on Solutions
Accept Mistakes and Learn From Them

Take Care of Yourself

Prioritize Sleep
Develop a Healthy Diet, Exercise, and Routine
Take Breaks

Things LLMs Cannot Do

Lack of True Understanding:

They operate on probabilities and patterns based on the training data
They have no understanding on the meaning of language
They have no grasp of concepts on the basis of which they generate grammatically correct sentences

Hallucination and Bias:

They have the propensity to generate incorrect and nonsensical information
They mimic the biases in their training data that leads to unfair or discriminatory output

Sensitivity to Input:

Minor changes in input can drastically alter output that makes it difficult to control response

Lack of Common Sense and Real-World Knowledge:

They lack true common sense and worldly experience, the most they can access and process is the information based on their training data
They fundamentally lack the understanding of everyday situations and interactions

Ethical Concerns:

They can be used to generate misleading and even harmful content
They can be misused that have ethical implications

Limited Creativity and Originality:

They lack basic sense of creativity that is outside the fold of the patterns in training data to generate truly original concepts and ideas

Emotions and Consciousness:

They lack feelings, self-awareness and have no way of experiencing emotions

Reliance on Data:

They are only as good as the data they have been trained on and are a reflection of it

Physical Actions:

They are software programs in the digital realm and cannot interact with physical world

Why ex-Googlers make the worst hires?

Lots of arrogance but very little to justify it in performance
Mostly come with sexist, racist, and misogynistic attitude
Lots of biases for minority hires so your diversity initiatives will suffer
Lots of biases for pay, work, and benefits
They significantly effect the team culture through negative attitudes
Questionable skills and experience
They will question everything with unconstructive ways of working and the solutions they come up with are usually bookish, unproductive, inefficient, and uncreative
They lack pragmatism and common sense
They want to interview people in convoluted ways which have no context nor relevancy to the role just like how they did at Google
They want to make your organization function like Google like a mirror to their past
They drive a toxic culture, whatever was bad at Google they bring to every other organization or team
They like to harass other employees
They look at others in a team as lesser individuals and make the collective team feel miserable
Why did they leave Google to come to work at your organization if Google was so great?
They demand higher compensation packages just for working at Google, while their pay at Google was at best mediocre
If they are part of the team that has to screen candidate applications they seem to be stuck on where the candidate got their degree and their racial backgrounds then end up interviewing them with racist stereotypes and biases
They lack job relevant experience and skills because they didn't exactly do much at Google
They don't want to be interviewed the same way as other candidates, treated like special candidates for some reason (maybe special candidates with disabilities?!)
You have to flex your entire organizational handbook to meet their ridiculous expectations
They lack basic work ethics, integrity, and fundamental sense of professionalism in the workplace
Pretty much every ex-Googler talks and acts like they are still in school or university with emotional immaturity
They act like spoiled and pampered brats in the workplace
They lack basic skills of being able to think outside the box
They tend to be unwilling to learn new things or new ways of doing things
They tend to frustrate easily on tasks and require a lot of micromanagement
They tend to be resistant and unwilling to listen to constructive feedback, at times repeat the same mistakes without learning from them by overcompensating with a false sense of overconfidence and lack of experience
They tend to waste people's time by pontificating and procrastinating
Habitually putting people down to artificially inflate their egos and prop themselves up
They tend to be the biggest cynics of other employees in workplace especially if they are not ex-Googlers
Sometimes they can act as saboteurs or moles out of pure jealousy and resentment

2 January 2025

Possibly, one the ugliest cars on the market. It is now also the deadliest after exploding outside of Trump Tower. The design especially is impractical, lacks usability, comfort, and a safe driving experience. This car falls short on a number of areas.

Unconventional Design: angular stainless steel exterior that is easy on dings and dents
Limited Visibility: narrow windows are problematic on visibility and safety
Ride Quality: stiff suspension, mostly for off-road use, with uncomfortable driving experience on roads
Interior Aesthetics: ugly interior to compliment the ugly exterior
Unproven Technology: questionable, hit and miss technology

Worst Companies to Work For

ServiceNow
Salesforce
NextEra
S&P Global
McDonald's
Starbucks
Burger King
Whole Foods
Walmart
Union Pacific
Signet
Caffe Nero
JD Sports
WH Smith
Betfred
Zara
Taco Bell
Comfort Call
Eden Futures
Tim Hortons
Max Spielmann
Bodycare
Poundstretcher
Choice Care
Victoria's Secret
Valorum Care
McColls
Hertz
Family Dollar Stores
Steak n Shake
Speedway
The Children's Place
Regal Cinemas
The Fresh Market
Rent-A-Car
Forever 21
Belk
Alorica
CompuCom
Frontier Communications
Dillard's
CVS Health
Kraft Heinz
Dish Network
Sears
Kroger
Tyson Foods
Kmart
TJMaxx
Genesis Healthcare
US Security Associates
LA Fitness
Charter Communications
Amazon
Tata
Wipro
Infosys
HCL
Tech Mahindra
NTT
Dell
Cargill
Reliance Industries
Comcast
Wells Fargo
Bank of America
Subway
Shein
Dollar General
ExxonMobil
Balenciaga
BP
Spirit Airlines
Meta
Twitter
Fox Corporation
Trump Organization
Pfizer
Coca Cola
Tesco
Google
Microsoft
Disney
OpenAI

31 December 2024

Data Repositories

Public APIs

Product Hunt

AIBase

Exa

30 December 2024

GenAI Project Ideas

Transformational GenAI Projects

Awesome GenAI

LLM Mesh

HuggingChat

GenAI Trends 2025

More Advancements and Use of AI Agents
Democratization of AI
Importance of AI Safety and Ethics
Integration of AI into Everyday Life
Evolution of AI Models
Multimodal Advancements
Divergence for Parallelization and Ensemble of SLM
Importance of Data Quality and Privacy
Growing Scientific Discovery Through AI
AI Literacy
Evolution of AI Landscape
More use of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
Divergence and exploration into Cognitive Science
Advancements in Inference and Orchestration
Divergence of AI and Quantum Computing
Intelligent Personalization
AI-Native Businesses
More Advancements in Explainable AI
Evolution of AI in Cybersecurity and Crytocurrency
Improved Q/A Methods Beyond Prompt Engineering
More Advancements in Integration between Knowledge Graphs and LLM/SLMs
More Efficient Methods in Vector Search
More Advancements in Graph Deep Learning
More Advancements in Computer Vision for Media

29 December 2024

AI Companies 2024

mad

a16z

AI Landscape

Why Indians make the worst hires?

Once you hire an Indian, they will try to get you to hire more Indians, work with more Indians, and try to push for Indian outsourcing
An Indian manager will have a preference for Indians, lots of biases
Over time your diversity efforts will get a massive setback
They generally tend to follow a caste system mindset so brewing ground for racism, prejudice, and discrimination and this will become an issue within teams but also in recruitment/human resources practice. Also, that BJP mentality seems to be spreading across organizations. Likely will be looked over for promotions, increments, recruitment in place of an Indian.
Indians don't mingle, assimilate, or interact much with other groups of people
Interviews become very bookish, like sitting in a classroom
They can't think outside the box
They have a tendency of replicating what others have done
Poor sense of creativity
Lower salaries in most cases here equates to poor quality of work
They will be quick to dismiss "no, that cannot be done" if they have not seen someone else do it before
They need a lot of hand-holding, mentoring, training, and micromanagement
Ordinarily, implementations will be buggy and not meet requirements
Indian managers drive a lot of politics, nepotism, low salaries, tend to be rude, and provide for a bad work life balance
Lots of unnecessary "yes, sir", "no, sir"
Their judgement of correctness is measured in terms of how other people and organizations are doing things
That weird smell in the office
Lots of bad practices
Nothing ever gets done properly
They say they can do everything, but nothing is done correctly
They will want everything for free
They are not pragmatic, they will follow trends and come with a crowd follower mentality
They are generally unwilling to challenge the status quo so bad things stay the same
They are unwilling to take the initiative, be proactive
They also tend to take credit for other people's work
Lots of cultural favortism in workplace
Indian managers and employees drive a toxic work culture
Many tend to be incompetent, do not deliver on what is on their resume, nor a reflection of their experience
They have degrees but practically struggle with inexperience
Communication skills tend to be poor and at times difficult
Lots of lies and deception to cover things up
Questionable sense of work ethics
Overtime your customer service and product quality will degrade

This is not to say you should stop hiring Indians. Some obviously are good but those tend to be few and far between. However, recruitment should always be fair and give everyone an equal opportunity.

Russian Economy

Despite of sanctions, Russia is expected to show continued economic growth in 2025. But, this growth may be slower with GDP forecast of between 0.5% and even 2.5%. The Russian economy is resilient and adaptable. This is as a result of many factors.

Sanctions: Imposed by western countries will continue to impact economy especially in energy and financial sectors.
Geopolitical Risks: Ukraine conflict and tensions with NATO will create uncertainty and risks
Commodity Prices: Dependence on global commodity prices as a major exporter of oil and gas. Fluctuations in prices to effect the economic growth.
Domestic Policies: Economic strategy on monetary and fiscal policy will also have an impact.

Black in Metaphorical Language

The use of term 'Black' needs to stop in metaphorical linguistics because it associates the color with bad and 'White' normally is assumed as good. This forms into a harmful and racist trope. However, the roots of such metaphors is historical in context.

Historical: The roots are in association with slavery and colonialism. White Europeans associated black with darkness, evil, savagery. They associated white with purity, goodness, and civilization. This was a way to justify further enslavement and oppression of Black people.

Cultural Reinforcement: The association is reinforced in popular culture, literature, and language.

Impact: Such harmful stereotypes create a lasting impact on society which contributes to mindset of people and the dehumanization and discrimination of Black people. Furthermore, it perpetuates negative stereotypes and prejudice.

Challenge Stereotype: Important to recognize such language use as harmful and call it out, being mindful, and promote positive representations of people in society.

Examples of Metaphors:

Black lists and White lists
Pot calling the kettle black
Black sheep
Black humor
Black Friday
Black mood
Black market
Black magic
Black death
Black box

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