categorization

Taxonomy and Sexual Identity

Not to beat a dead horse, but this article in the New Yorker about the South African running champion Caster Semenya makes some very interesting connections between the androgynous runner's sexual identity and the historical politics of racial classification in her homeland.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/30/091130fa_fact_levy

Taxing Tobacco

Tobacco companies are avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxes by altering categories. Please refer to following link for further information:

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/17/tobacco-companies-using-l_n_360...

 

Doesn't it look similar to "potato chips" case? (reading for L2)

 

- Dhawal

Do pigs go under "food" or under "pets"?

I was reading this article in The New Yorker about a book called "Eating animals" today and something came to my mind. Somehow categories define how we feel. I like eating "pork", but maybe I wouldn't like to eat "pig". We also do not want to have "cow sausages", let's better call them "beef sausages". Why don't we eat "dog" or "cat"? Well... because they are pets, aren't they?

"Deliberately obfuscating the definition of cigarette"

Who knew that package size was a distinguishing property of cigars? From the WSJ, working around a recent ban on clove cigarettes, a company has rebranded their product as cigars.

Google and the "Got The Wrong Bob" Problem

(No, there's no need to verify Bob's ID at the next class.)

Having received a misaddressed email from a classmate recently, I was delighted to see this new Gmail feature from Google Labs.  It might be just the ticket for solving what they refer to as the "Got The Wrong Bob" problem: even a unique identifier like an email address doesn't help when misapplied.

It’s Brand New, but Make It Sound Familiar

In the NY Times this morning, there's an article about the importance of comparing new technology to existing and familiar technology, so that people can understand what the new stuff is and how it should be used.

The article states "Humans instinctively sort and classify things. It’s how we make sense of a complex world."

Another quote that I like, this time about the Segway: "...Professor Markman said. “Nobody was quite sure what it was,” he said. “There was no clear analogy, so people had no idea how to use it.”

U.S. Moves to Lessen Its Oversight of Internet

The U.S. government agreed to create a new international panel made up of other goverments and businesses that will review decisions made by ICANN, the organization that controls the itnernational domain name structure.

This has a number of implications for info organization and retrieval.

Netflix's next contest for movie predictions

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/netflix-awards-1-million-prize-and-starts-a-new-contest/?hp

Looks like Netflix's next contest has contestants designing an algorithm that can can accurately model a more accurate 'taste profile' of movie preferences when factoring in demographic & behavioral data (as well as the traditional genre and previously viewed ratings).

Who's a Journalist These Days?

As an ex-reporter, I'm curious to see what comes of the effort to pass a new federal shield law, which would protect journalists from being subpoenaed for records of their interactions with confidential sources. Maybe not surprisingly (well, not surprisingly in 202-land, anyway), one of the biggest issues is defining who should be eligible for protection. This story addresses the differences in the Senate bill (which is to be voted on today) and the one the House already passed.

Where’s the Rulebook for Sex Verification?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/sports/22runner.html

This essay from NYTimes.com poses an interesting question regarding how in the wake of Caster Semenya's gold medal victory at the world track and field chapionships, the International Assoc. of Athletics Federations is struggling to set clear rules for sex typing.

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