In Outliers, Gladwell talks about how Korean Airlines reduced its crashes from the most in the world to one of the safest airlines in the world. He argues that pilots from countries where it is difficult to question superiors suffer more frequent crashes than pilots from countries where questioning superiors is the norm.
UW Grad New CEO of Yahoo
Carol Bartz was named the new CEO of Yahoo! today, replacing Jerry Yang. I know nothing about her, other than she’s a UW grad, which is good enough in my book!
Isreali/Palestinian Conflicts on Second Life
The biggest news over the last week has been Israel’s bombing and subsequent invasion of Gaza to try to stop Hamas from firing rockets into Israel.
“Lots of people yelling,” Beth Odets, the creator of Second Life Israel, tells me. “They were going on and on with slurring obscenities about murderous Israeli forces, etc.” She gives me a screenshot taken during the incursion, festooned with anti-war or pro-Palestinian signs, some depicting dead Arab children.
How Much Pollution do your Google Searches Generate?
Alex Wissner-Gross, a physicist and owner of CO2stats.com, claims that every two Google searches uses as much energy as boiling a kettle of water. I have no idea if this is correct, but it seems very high to me.