They say that you learn something every day. Let us help you with your quota.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

31 March 2013

A very light-hearted post for your Easter Superficial Sunday - where we pursue the trivial!

However, every joke seemingly holds a bit of truth. Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, best known for his role as Borat and Ali G, has exploited this fact to make a big name for himself - and with good reason.

After taking the absolute piss out of almost everyone Eastern European in Borat, he introduced his fourth major alter-ego with The Dictator.
While making an acerbic critique on Middle-Eastern dictatorships, he also manages to take another well-earned shot at US culture and politics.

Today's Daily Quota is the final speech from The Dictator.
Here, his glorious monologue tries to convince the American public of the benefits of being a dictatorship.
Funnily enough, each of these benefits seem to be well underway. Sweet, sweet irony.

In his words, "I know you Americans find this hard to imagine".
Ah Mr Cohen, you slay me.

WATCH IT HERE


Saturday, March 30, 2013

30 March 2013

Sardonic Easter Saturday on The Daily Quota - where every silver lining has a cloud!

Those of you who use Facebook (or Instagram or Twitter or or Tumblr or Flickr or anything really) would see a lot of people uploading 'inspirational' content.
Especially something to do with training or dieting.

This is the kind of stuff that I can only bring myself to type in capitals, because I can't help sounding patronizing when I do it; IT'S NOT A MIRACLE THAT I FINISHED, IT'S A MIRACLE THAT I HAD THE COURAGE TO START.

Another example is the image to the right.
It just doesn't make sense. It doesn't.

Today's Daily Quota, as part of our Sardonic Saturday theme, is a Cracked compilation of 'Inspirational Image Memes (Revised for Honesty)'.
Have a quick flick, Daily Quoters, and help wipe the smugness off our beautiful social networks.

VIEW THEM HERE


Friday, March 29, 2013

29 March 2013

Welcome to another edition of Filosophy Fridays on The Daily Quota. Coming off a great week of consciousness, scientific dogma and inspiration, we mark the beginning of the end with another reminder to seek purpose in life.

No, that's not right.
Today's Daily Quota actually encourages us to seek purposelessness
In 1969, Eastern philosopher Alan Watts presented to a group of IBM engineers on the topic of work, rest and play.
He encouraged the audience to abandon their pursuit of purpose in everything they do.

However, Watts does not intend to preach purposelessness per se. Rather, he simply wants to say that not everything in life has to have a purpose. Many things just are, and they should be appreciated as such.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." he tells them, "but if the only reason for which Jack plays is so that he can work better afterwards, he's not really playing. He's playing because it's good for him. He's not playing at all...You have to cultivate an attitude to life where you're not trying to get anything out of it!"

Watts has always had a knack for preaching Eastern philosophy to a Western audience. This is a great example.
The full speech can be found via the link below.

LISTEN TO IT HERE


Thursday, March 28, 2013

28 March 2013

Last week, we took a look at a report by the US Department of Defence on how they would react to a major cyber attack (with great force, apparently).

Today's Daily Quota is along similar lines, but instead puts forward a broader concept - the future of warfare will be based on silicon, iron and shadow.
This article in Foreign Policy journal provides a brief overview of what these wars entail - and the US readiness for them.

Wars of Silicon basically cover cyber-warfare, cyber-espionage and military technology. They encompass 'a deadly trifecta of cutting-edge technology, advanced military capabilities, and substantial financial resources'.
Adversaries range from top-tier opponents like China and Russia, to smaller NGOs such as terrorist and activist groups, even down to individual hackers who can reap havoc from their bedroom.

Wars of Iron refer to conventional warfare - big guns, big planes, big bombs. The US has invested very heavily in this aspect of warfare - its annual spending on military is triple that of the next three nations combined.
While the US is well-prepared for such an engagement, it remains an expensive option - vulnerable to obsoleteness and non-conventional tactics. However, their extensive experience with insurgency and guerrilla tactics can provide some comfort.
Unfortunately, in light of a fiscal crisis and inevitable budget cuts, this path may not be future-proof.

Wars of Shadow are low-level intelligence and special forces capabilities aimed primarily at espionage, reconnaissance and intelligence. 
The US is, again, largely prepared for these conflicts given their history of irregular wars, extensive global intelligence network, and their heavy investment in CYBERCOM, the NSA and international intelligence partners.
However, their ace in the hole is the proliferation of their drone fleet. Drones are increasingly being used to exploit loopholes in international rules of engagement, as well as for domestic and international reconnaissance and tactical assassination. 

The position of the US is best summarised in the following extract:
The United States must design a new readiness and investment strategy in order to effectively deal with all three. Yet today it continues to pour scarce resources chiefly into its sphere of long-held dominance -- Wars of Iron. This is a potentially disastrous mistake, but one that can be corrected if we act now.
Very interesting indeed.
I think FP might be on the ball with this article.

READ IT HERE

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

27 March 2013

What a week so far, Daily Quoters.
With Parts 1 and 2 of our series on banned TED talks, we've set the bar for the week ahead, and for future editions of The Daily Quota.

Today we move away from the contrarian, the cynical and sardonic. Today we move towards the inspirational and the uplifting.
The Daily Quota for today is a speech made by former US President Theodore Roosevelt in 1910 titled 'Citizenship in a Republic'.
This speech was made in Paris, a year after he has completed his 8-year term in office.

There is one paragraph in particular which has gained immortality for its focus in the 'little guy'. It has become famously known as The Man in the Arena - alluding to a gladiator or matador.

Here is the paragraph:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
The link below is the entirety of his speech, with emphasis on this paragraph.
Some much-needed motivation to see you through to the weekend, dear Daily Quoters.

READ IT HERE


Tuesday, March 26, 2013

26 March 2013


Welcome back to Part 2 of our two-part series on banned TED talks. 
Part 1 yesterday discussed 'The War on Consciousness'.
The second TED talk is by Rupert Sheldrake titled 'The Science Delusion'.
The battle against dogmatism rages on!

What a Daily Quota we have for you today.
In this 18 minute video, Sheldrake gives a very brief insight into how modern science has become dogmatic, closed-minded and materialistic.
The scientific method is based on rationale, hypothesis, experiment and tentative conclusion. Tentative conclusionHowever, Sheldrake fears science is turning away from the pursuit of such things, and instead into a world view - similar to the likes of religion.

As part of his critique, he lists his 10 Dogmas of the Science World View, which form the basis of his most recent book The Science Delusion:
  • Every organism in the universe works like a machineIt has input and output features, it is mechanical and it is reliant on one or two primary parts.
  • Everything is made up of unconscious matterHere we allude to yesterday's post on consciousness, and how the existence of a soul cannot be proven, therefore cannot be existent.
  • The laws of nature are fixedExcept for, apparently, the Big Bang. In reference to that, he jokes that science has adopted a method of explaining such phenomena: "give us one free miracle, we'll explain the rest."
  • Total amount of matter and energy is the same, never changes in quantityThe speed of light, and in fact, gravitational units, have changed multiple times over the past few centuries. Fun fact, indeed.
    Were the methods changing, were the researchers fudging the numbers, or are these forces, in fact, dynamic?
  • Nature is purposelessGood ol' existentialism. You are born, you live, you die. 
  • Biological heredity is material, everything you inherit is in your genes onlyHow do giraffes know to act like giraffes, from the moment they are born? Is our behaviour and mind stored also in our genes? How are cats born with an instinct to chase rats?
    Here he discusses the fascinating concept of morphic resonance and collective memory.
  • Memories are storied inside your brain as material tracesNo one knows how the brain works, but we just assume thoughts and processes are stored there - vivid images and imagination formed and stored by some gooey tissue and nerve activity.
    Solid-state HDD?
  • Your mind is inside your headWhere else would it be, in your soul? Your consciousness? Chakras?
    Nonsense.
  • Psychic phenomena is impossibleIntuition, telepathy, that sense of being stared at - all must be illusory as they cannot be proven with today's scientific method. Therefore, everyone else is a quack.
  • Mechanistic medicine is the only type that worksThe body is a machine, therefore we must repair it like a machine. Forget complex chemical reactions, let us extract one or two primary nutrients and put them in pill form. Western medicine is king (just don't ask us how to cure cancer, back problems, obesity, or any of the other diseases plaguing mankind).
    Eastern medicine worked? Bah...placebo.

What a Daily Quota for today.
The 18 minute video is below, and it is well, well worth the time.

Watch it.
Watch it now.



Monday, March 25, 2013

25 March 2013


Another week on The Daily Quota, and another great bounty for your minds.

In fact, The Daily Quota will discuss two superb TED talks over two days - not only double your dosage of knowledge, but double your dosage of recently banned knowledge.
Yes, Daily Quoters, we have for you two brilliant talks that were so controversial that they were taken down, later to be re-uploaded in a more discreet area of the webpage.

Today's Daily Quota is the first of these two banned TED talks - this one is by Graham Hancock titled 'The War on Consciousness'.
Graham starts off by noting the most significant evolutionary step taken by humans - the gaining of consciousness. 
Consciousness, in this sense, does not refer to literal consciousness, but rather, altered states of consciousness.

He discusses the ancient forms of shamanism, and the mind-altering effects of certain mushrooms and vines found in the Amazon and used by locals. The active ingredient is DMT, which causes psychosomatic thoughts and hallucinations. 
It is also produced naturally in our brain.

However, a certain enzyme in our stomach disallows this product to be digested. The Amazonian shamans mixed these mushrooms with certain vines (of all the 150,000 species of vine there) and they were able to inhibit this enzyme.

This psychedelic causes the user to envision certain entities, which "take a direct personal interest in us as individuals". Hancock recounts his own freedom from a 24-year cannabis addiction, and notes others who have managed to wane off cocaine and heroin addictions by following the messages of these 'entities'.
This is called 'ayahuasca therapy' - named after the plant-based mixture itself.

After recounting his own experiences, he goes on to criticize the West's disassociation with their spiritual side - noting some of the biggest and most infuriatingly trivial problems of our world today. 
He expresses his discontent for materialist, reductionist scientists who stress the purposelessness of every organism in the universe. He also shows concern at the fact that every Western authority seems to be adamant about restricting the use of any drug that can alter our consciousness - except for stimulants like sugar and caffeine and depressants like alcohol.

The second half of this talk is where it really gets interesting. This video is one for the open minded, and poses some fantastic questions about where our modern values and knowledge lies, and where it ought to lie.

Stay tuned for the second video in tomorrow's Daily Quota.

WATCH IT HERE


Sunday, March 24, 2013

24 March 2013

What a beautiful day, and what a chilled Superficial Sunday we have for you today on The Daily Quota.
A heavy week this week - national security, Mexican gang wars and nutritional minefields. As such, here is something easy on the eye, and easy on the mind.
Superficial Sundays - your weekly cheat meal.

Today's Daily Quota is a collection of 30 of the Most Powerful Images from Flickr as found on Buzzfeed's FWD section.
This collection was put together by the Flickr Commons to celebrate Flickr's fifth birthday.

Some of these photographs are old, some are new, but each of them are great.
No surprise why they are so popular.

Enjoy the rest of your Sundays, and look forward to another week on The Daily Quota.

VIEW THEM HERE


Saturday, March 23, 2013

23 March 2013

Another Sardonic Saturday on The Daily Quota - where every silver lining has a cloud!

The mainstream media seems to have finally jumped onto the fact that the West seems to be, evidently, engaging in a 'hot' cyber war with China, Russia, and any other NGO's that attempt to penetrate our cyber-space.
This should not be any new information to anyone.

However, how prepared are we, and our biggest ally the United States?
How are we to retaliate to such a cyber-attack, especially when its almost impossible to trace the origin of the attack? Even if we do, how do we know if that individual was a nationalist hacker, or state sponsored, or otherwise?

A big problem for the future, indeed.
In today's Daily Quota we take a look at a new report from the US Department of Defence titled Resilient Military Systems and the Advanced Cyber Threat. All doom and gloom here, I'm afraid.

It's quite a lengthy report (138 pages), so possibly best to read only the executive summary
Here are the main points one can deduce from the findings:

  • The US is unprepared for a full-scale cyber-war with a top-tier adversary (like Russia or China)
  • It is recommended that offensive measures be put into place, rather than only defensive measures (In fact, the NSA has announced the formation of several divisions of offensive cyber warriors, responding to China's similar action a few years ago.
  • A task force be assembled to advise on matters including deterrence, intelligence priorities and stronger offense and defence.
  • A nuclear strike should remain as a possible, albeit extreme, deterrent to a cyber attack. Yep.




So yeah, happy days ahead!




READ IT HERE


Friday, March 22, 2013

22 March 2013

Welcome back to another edition of Filosophy Fridays on The Daily Quota.
What a week it's been for the knowledge-hungry!

Today's Daily Quota takes a look at a latin phrase that has not lost its meaning in the 21st Century - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - Who guards the guards themselves?.
It is attributed to Juvenal in his Satires but has been likened to Plato and the works of later writers like George Orwell.

In a technology driven world, privacy, surveillance and authority is quickly defining the social landscape of many societies - particularly as Western ideals like liberty are challenged by ever-intrusive authorities.

As such, this latin phrase encompasses the ironic nature of surveillance - who is to watch the ones who watch? Who guards the guards? How are they to be kept in check?

Who do the authorities answer to, if they are the ultimate authority? 
Or as Lisa Simpson might put it, who polices the police? (apparently the Coast Guard, according to Homer's response).
This was one of the key motifs in Alan Moore's Watchmen (wow, two mentions in a few days!).

Some food for thought for your Friday afternoon. 

READ IT HERE

Thursday, March 21, 2013

21 March 2013

We've all heard of the term 'jack of all trades'.
We've also most likely heard of the proceeding lines, '...and master of none'.

Today's Daily Quota stands before you as a short and sweet - 21 Incredibly Important Diagrams to Help you get through Life.
They're all there - from tying a bow tie to picking out the perfect avocado.

Aldous Huxley once said, "one should know everything about something, and something about everything".
Very wise words indeed. These 21 items should be a good start.

VIEW THEM HERE


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

20 March 2013

Positive thinking. My new boss tells me all the time - "Alex, stop and smell the roses."
I tell her, "But Despina, sometimes it's hard to smell the roses for all the fertilizer."

And so sums up my attempts at positive thinking. Fortunately, American graphic artist Harvey Ross Ball was not as dark-humoured when he came up with his iconic design.

Yes, this was the origin of the smiley face you see before you.
Today's Daily Quota is a light-hearted (hah!) piece from The Smithsonian's Design Decoded section - it's called 'Who Really Invented the Smiley Face?', and it delivers as promised.

Ball's initial design in 1963 grew momentum rapidly. In the early 1970's, the Spain Brothers (owners of Hallmark) were able to copyright the image with a few modifications and the addition of a "Have a Happy Day".
It was also expanded upon in Europe, and grew into the Happy Company. Don't laugh - as of today, they bring in almost $130 million a year in revenue.

Its presence in popular culture, and life in general, cannot be overstated. It appeared as a recurring motif in my personal favourite work, the Watchmen graphic novel.

Read up on the history of this iconic design, and make that water cooler talk that little bit more enlightening.

READ IT HERE

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

19 March 2013

Buzzfeed is an American pop-culture page with a zest for list-making and huge amounts of internet traffic. If you scroll through the page, you'll notice that most of it is trivial crap.
However, every once in a while, they produce something of substance.

Today's Daily Quota is a Buzzfeed article titled 'Surviving Juárez: Growing Up in the World's Deadliest City'.
It contains Jeremy Relph's recount of his time in the Mexican town of Juárez, formerly murder capital of the world. It is now 19th, replaced by San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Juárez, until recently, was embroiled in the midst of a Mexican drug war involving the Sinaloa Cartel.
Since 2007, the drug war has claimed over 10,000 lives, including women and children - in this relatively small city of 1.5 million. A city where 97% of murders go unsolved.

At the height of the drug war in 2008-09, one of the cartels, in a frustrated boast, painted a city wall saying, "There's No One Left to Kill".

This article is both chilling and optimistic. It paints a picture of a Juárez that is rebuilding from a horrible loss, not only of lives but of identity. Within this painting are portraits of some astounding individuals that are trying to their home town - Elsa trying to operate a public school, young Tania trying to find her feet after growing up in a street gang, and Alma trying to find her missing son.

The front pages of the main papers would contain a photo of bodies in a mass-grave, that would take up two-thirds of the page.
A blonde in her bra and panties would fill the remainder.

Lidia points out a house where a friend was killed, a gully where another was killed, a corner where she and her daughter were robbed. The neighbourhood is full of ghosts. Up on the mountain they used to dump bodies behind a water tank, she says. There are lights there now. These things are more real than the promise of school or the possibility of a future outside of the neighbourhood. "It's all illogical," she says, "the violence, the peace."


READ IT HERE

The photography provided for this piece comes from a Prime Collective contribution titled 'Life and Death in the Northern Pass'.
The photos are from Juárez, and are just as enjoyable as the recount itself, if not more so. A truly fantastic Daily Quota for you all today.

VIEW IT HERE

Sunday, March 17, 2013

18 March 2013

Health, diet and fitness is a very elusive area of scholarship. Elusive, ambivalent, dynamic, and sometimes, dogmatic - but only till the new round of studies are released.

Amongst the hype of the contemporary 'health revolution', it seems that something that is good for you one day, is not the next.
One must stay vigilant when approaching new diet trends, especially buzz terms like 'super-foods'.

Today's Daily Quota is a long list of so-called 'super-foods', complete with nutritional benefits and latin terminology.
I doubt that this list is comprehensive (it's missing stuff like kale, seaweed and a variety of nuts), but it is quite informative. Upon my own limited cross-referencing, the nutritional information seems to be accurate, and it even provides some examples of respective products (ofcourse it does).

A lot of this stuff can't be found anywhere, which does kinda suck. However, it's a great bit of information next time you're strolling around Woolworths Newtown.
Some food for thought for your Monday afternoon.
Pun most definitely intended.

READ IT HERE

17 March 2013

This is quite an interesting one for you tonight, dear Daily Quoters.
So strap yourselves in, keep tongues firmly in cheeks, as we delve into this week's Superficial Sunday - where we pursue the trivial.


Today's Daily Quota is an article from Wired: Raw File titled 'Porn Without the Porn'
It introduces readers to a year-long project by CCA photography student Elizabeth Moran called The Armory.

The San Francisco Armory building was first used by the National Guard in 1912. As the decades went on, it was also used to host big-time boxing matches, and even as a venue for some of the more difficult scenes of Star Wars.

However, demand and supply have seen it taken over by smut-empire Kink.com and it now churns out a lot of pornography. To celebrate the rich history of this building, Moran has put together a collection depicting the sets of many skin-flicks, left eerily empty.

This one is for the fans. Superficial Sundays on The Daily Quota.
Or perhaps, Salacious Sundays?

READ IT HERE

Saturday, March 16, 2013

16 March 2013

Philosophers, artists and writers often touch on the topic of choice - choice between moral and immoral acts, choice between a life of celibacy or debauchery, or between pleasure and virtue.
Yin and Yang, but with Free Will at play.

Ofcourse, life rarely works in such a dualistic fashion, but as humans we love acknowledging that black has a white, that yin has a yang.

Today's Daily Quota is a painting by Italian baroque artist Annibale Carracci.
It is titled The Choice of Hercules and depicts just that - the choice that the young Hercules had to make when presented between two life paths.

According to Xenophon's Memorabilia, a young Herakles (later known as the Roman Hercules) was sent to attend to cattle on the mountainside.
There, he came across two nymphs - Pleasure and Virtue - who presented him with an irreversible choice; 
A life of pleasure and excess, to be long forgetten, or a life of hardship and sacrifice, immortalized in memory.
He chose the latter.

Ah yes, a conundrum indeed. One that we all face - whether on a long or short term basis.
Perhaps a good painting to hang above your desk for those all-nighters?

A brilliant painting, a timeless concept, and a reminder that even demi-gods are not immune to sacrifice
Ah yes, a sardonic Saturday indeed.
Unless, ofcourse, you would rather choose the path of oblivion...

VIEW IT HERE


Friday, March 15, 2013

15 March 2013

Welcome back to another edition of Filosophy Fridays for your Saturday mornings.
Only on The Daily Quota. I hope.

Today's Daily Quota is one that I would like to print out and occupy an entire bedroom wall with.
Fallen behind in your philosophy readings?
Wish to find an easy, overreaching summary of Western philosophy?
Get stuck into Bertrand's Russell must-read summary, or alternatively, the following.

Behold, an interactive mind map of Western Philosophy - from Ancient Greece to the Enlightenment period. 
All your favourites are there - Aristotle and his two mentors, Nietzsche, Kant and the rest of the crew.
It's like a Sesame Street reunion for the enlightenment-hungry!

As such, a real feast for the mind - more than enough to fulfill your daily quota of knowledge for this Friday.
Have a quick skim, or enjoy a more extensive read. Save to your favourites, ready to be loaded in case of losing an argument or the opportunity to impress a member of the opposite sex.

Enjoy!

VIEW IT HERE



Thursday, March 14, 2013

14 March 2013

We've all seen the majority of US television, and US news, and US politics. Most of us, like myself, are dumbfounded (perfect term) by the ignorance of, what appears to be, the entire population.
All we see, as foreign observers, is reality television, trivial daytime TV and the such. We hear stories of poor people opposing free healthcare, stories of evident propaganda and stories of excessive cults of celebrity personalities. 

Once in a while a US TV show comes along that changes our mindsets. The Newsroom is that show.
It is not only witty, well-rounded and objective, it serves as an omen against such things. The protagonist is a talented curmudgeon, disheartened and disgruntled by what the media has become. He feels the only one left with a passion for journalism, a thirst for objectivity.

Today's Daily Quota is the opening scene of the first season of The Newsroom.
Before it even went to air, it had already become one of the most popular opening scenes of all time, not to mention one of the most honest rants about contemporary American culture.

If you haven't already seen it, do so. Now.

WATCH IT HERE


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

13 March 2013

Women - you can't live with them, you can't live without them
This is a pretty famous proverb, quoted in everything from The Shining to the bloke at the bus stop. However, not many people know that this timeless piece of wisdom comes from an Ancient Greek satire.

Today's Daily Quota is my favourite Ancient Greek play - Aristophanes' Lysistrata.
This is why it's my favourite - it's the story of a woman who was able to bring the leaders of armies to their knees, simply by withholding sex.

The ancient Greeks had a very tongue-in-cheek way of romanticizing their women - they would be in awe of their beauty, their capacity for love, maternity and emotion. They would reinforce paternal dominance over the inferior femme fatales.
However, they would also marvel at their capacity for passionate outrage, for fiery revenge, for malicious cunning and melancholy. They would constantly remind young men - although men are strong, women are stronger.

Such a bittersweet attitude to the fairer sex is present in almost every work of theirs - from the huge range of crazy and loveable female characters in Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, to the fiery Medea, all the way down to Aristotle Onassis' pearls of wisdom.

In fact, it had inspired me to write an extensive satirical piece on the topic. It can be found here at my other blog.

Here's a basic rundown of the plot:

The men of Athens were preparing for the Peloponnesian War with Sparta, and as such, had caused a severe shortage of labour for other tasks.
This annoyed Lysistrata, a woman of strong character, and so she convinced the women of Athens to barricade themselves in the Acropolis and withhold sex from the men. This involved paying prostitutes' lost earnings so that they too could participate.
Long story short, the men recited a few variations of 'bitches be crazy', and they eventually caved to the sex strike, and war was averted.

In a way, Lysistrata stands as one of the most overlooked pioneers of feminism - fighting male fires, not with moisture, but with drought.
Trust me, read the 'plot' section of Lysistrata - you'll be thankful for it.

READ IT HERE


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

12 March 2013

Most of us are on Facebook, and most of us have 'liked' pages on Facebook - either for trivial or pragmatic purposes.
Sometimes it's to tailor our online presence, sometimes it's to keep updated on our favourite items, while other times it's a fleeting meme.

Some of you may have read about the recent study from the University of Cambridge where they analysed people's 'like' habits. They collected data on 58,000 Americans (a huge sample space) and attempted to find a relationship between their Facebook 'likes' and their personal characteristics.

The results were very, very impressive.
By looking at only a person's liked pages, they were able to ascertain:

  • Gender with 93% accuracy
  • Differentiation between Caucasian and African-American with 95% accuracy
  • Sexuality with 75%-88% accuracy
  • Relationship status with 67% accuracy
  • Differentiation between Christians and Muslims with 82% accuracy
These statistics are staggering - not only for stalkers, but for marketing firms.
They were also able to compile a list of 'likes' that were frequent in high and low IQ respondents.

For instance, intelligent people were highly likely to like 'The Godfather', 'Morgan Freeman's Voice' and 'Curly Fries'.
Lower intelligence respondents had a higher propensity of likes for things like 'Harley Davidson', 'Bebe', and my personal favourite, 'I Love Being a Mum'.

The page also contains a list of most-liked items for some other categories above, like gays, lesbians, republicans etc.

Today's Daily Quota is a link to the survey itself, which has proved very difficult to find in the mainstream media. It includes a full list of the high and low IQ 'likes', as well as the raw data.
Hopefully The Daily Quota was up there somewhere.


READ IT HERE


Monday, March 11, 2013

11 March 2013

Einstein once said that "you do not really understand something until you can explain it to a five year old".
Well, it was actually 'until you can explain it to your grandmother', but the former is the more common paraphrasing - I think it has a better ring to it.

Whatever the case, that famous line conveys the notion that you are never the master of something until you can break it down to the easiest of explanations. 
This is true for many things, and very difficult for others. One of the hardest areas of human endeavors to simplify is quantum physics. Luckily, Dr. Quantum is on the case!

Today's Daily Quota is a brief lesson on quantum physics from the conveniently named 'Dr. Quantum'.
In particular, he discusses the Double Slit Experiment in a very simple fashion. This is an interesting one, as it is a very simple experiment that has alluded physicists for quite some time.

It basically involves particles being manipulated to travel in waves rather than beams - and suddenly changing course then they are put under closer observation. He explains it a lot better than I do - I mean, he is the physicist in a cape.
The Wikipedia page also provides some helpful gifs on the topic.

Have a watch, hit your daily quota, and see if Dr. Quantum knows this concept well enough to teach it to your pre-pubescent selves.

WATCH IT HERE

Sunday, March 10, 2013

10 March 2013

Following a very well-received Sardonic Saturday post, we conclude our week on a relaxing note, an intellectual cheat day where we are allowed to fall dramatically short of our quota.
Superficial Saturdays on The Daily Quota - where we pursue only the trivial.

I don't know about you, but nothing prepares me for another week of the salt mines quite like viewing, in all vanity, at what I will never obtain!
Today's Daily Quota is a collection of awe-inspiring rooms. Some of these make me want to weep - and form a pyramid scheme of some kind.
I don't think this one needs to be explained; these are really, really cool.

Remember kids - the carrot on the end of that stick is good for your short sightedness. 
I think we all know what tomorrow's Daily Quota will be after this - credit default swaps and how they can make you, but no one else, millions!

Enjoy!

VIEW THEM HERE

Friday, March 8, 2013

9 March 2013

And on that dark note, we kick off another Sardonic Saturday on The Daily Quota - where every silver lining has a cloud!

Today's Daily Quota is a short piece by Charles Warnke titled You Should Date an Illiterate Girl.
He provides advice for young men looking for love - avoid a girl who is well-read, as she will make you feel inferior, she will force you to grow as a person, and she will force you out of your comfort zone.
Instead, you should opt for the scripted life - a shallow mutual interest, a brief chase, a cliched proposal and a blissful life of work, mortgage, divorce and death.


This work stands as a satirical omen against pursuit of the easy, the ignorant. 
Pursuing the girl who challenges you will pull you, reluctantly, out of your comfort zone.

Are you man enough to pursue the girl who reads, or do you settle for the easy path into the scripted eulogy?
A very Robert Frost-like dilemma. Will the road less travelled by make all the difference?
Here is a great extract from this piece:
A girl who reads lays claim to a vocabulary that distinguishes between the specious and soulless rhetoric of someone who cannot love her, and the inarticulate desperation of someone who loves her too much.A vocabulary, god damnit, that makes my vacuous sophistry a cheap trick.
Well, shit. Ain't that the story of my life.
Back to the drawing board.

READ IT HERE

8 March 2013

Filosophy Fridays for your Saturday mornings - only here on The Daily Quota.

We've all heard those proverbs advising us to live life while we can - carpe diem, 'it's not how many breaths you take but moments that tae your breath away', and more recently, YOLO.
Ah proverbs - the memes of the pre-information age.


However, before all of these pro-life quotes, humanity had one reminder that has echoed throughout Western culture; 
momento mori - 'remember that you will die'
Today's Daily Quota is a brief history of that term, and a recognition of its employment in culture.
From its ancient Roman use as an anti-hubris instrument, to its romanticism in the Renaissance, this term has evolved with each generation - and why not; it'll never get old! 

READ IT HERE


Thursday, March 7, 2013

7 March 2013

A month ago, we posted about how the exponential curve will eventually cause humanity to implode.

In the past 50 years, the global population has doubled in size, yet per capita output has tripled, life expectancy has gone up by 30%, per capita food production has gone up by a third and child mortality has plummeted.
Basically, we've "become more prosperous as we've become more populous".

How is it that humans have managed to get so far, despite having many, many more mouths to feed?

Today's Daily Quota is an incredibly thought-provoking TED talk by author and Oxford scholar Matt Ridley.
It's called When Ideas Have Sex, and it discusses how humanity has progressed so far because of exchange - exchange of ideas, knowledge and methods.

He refers to several economic and literary concepts in making his argument.
One of these is Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' theory. This discusses how our modern society is built by a number of 'invisible hands', from the labourers who extract minerals to the marketers and retailers who sell the final goods. Everything we own has passed through hundreds of hands, and each person has millions of others working for them.
This concept was immortalized in I, Pencil - a short story in the 1958 edition of The Freeman that discusses the lifespan of a pencil.
He uses the motif of a stone-age axe-head and a modern computer mouse. Both were built by man, and both were designed ergonomically - to fit perfectly in a human hand.
However, no one person knows how to manufacture a mouse from scratch
No one person knows how to extract the oils and commodities used, and also operate the machinery, and also design the product, and also calibrate the software, and you get the point.
It is a product of many, many 'invisible' hands.

This brings us to David Ricardo's theory of Competitive Advantage:
Adam takes 4 hours to make a spear and 3 hours to make an axe.
Oz takes 1 hour to make a spear and 2 hours to make an axe.
Oz is clearly more efficient in both, however, if Oz makes 2 spears and Adam makes 2 axes, and they trade, they will have both saved one hour of work than if they made both themselves.
Now, apply to everything else.

Yep, ideas having sex.
This talk is full of interesting facts about human achievement and progress. Ridley is an exceptional orator, and the content is very enlightening - not to mention, optimistic!
These are 16 minutes that you will not regret investing.

WATCH IT HERE


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

6 March 2013

A very short and sweet post for today.
That, ofcourse, doesn't mean that it should contain any less substance.
Think of it, perhaps, as your Daily Quota of knowledge in pill form?

Ernest Hemingway is a literary immortal. He has cemented his position in the annals of history as one of the most talented, stoic tough-men of the pen.
Despite, or because of this, he often drank cocktails through a straw - default proof of his disregard for others' opinion.

Legend has it that Hemingway once made a bar bet that he could write a short story that could make readers cry.
However, there was one catch - it would only be six words long.

Whether this was a true story or not, it's still very interesting.
In fact, it's led to a whole new sub-genre of literature called 'flash fiction' - stories of 1,000 words or less. Some websites are even dedicated to similar six-word stories.

Today's Daily Quota is Hemingway's six-word story.
Enjoy!



Tuesday, March 5, 2013

5 March 2013

Today is an interesting post I saw retweeted by QUT Law professor Peter Black.
I'm not too sure of its legitimacy, but it's interesting nonetheless. Also, none of this information seems to be surprising - I even find myself recalling having heard it all before.

This article from freelance think-tank Medium.com is called What Coke Contains - Food for Thought.
Pretty straight forward.

It briefly outlines each step of the manufacturing process, from extracting the raw materials and making the can, to mixing the composition of the drink itself, to putting it all together.
Coca Cola is often cited by Intellectual Property writers as a good example of each of the types of IP instruments - particularly 'trade secrets'.

It's a tiny piece, but pretty interesting indeed.


READ IT HERE