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We explore some of Wikipedias oddities in our 5,973,574-week series, Wiki Wormhole.

This weeks entry: 2010s in music

What its about: Baby Shark, and all of the other, lesser songs that also came out in the past ten years. This decade appeared to be when people stopped paying for music, all FM radio stations seemed to be owned by one company and programmed by the same computer, and most of us discovered new artists by letting YouTube autoplay to the next video rather than exerting ourselves enough to click a button. Yet, some people still managed to write some terrific songs. Lets take a listen.

Biggest controversy: This column is more than 300 entries into our 5,973,574-week series, and this might be the worst-written Wikipedia article weve yet come across. Granted, much of the text is merely lists of artists, broken up by the occasional list of songs. But attempts at prose include such gems as, Traditional instruments have been used more often, especially in indie rock musicians, In recent years, the music industry has progress in Ghana, and one run-on sentence after another. The moral of the story: For readable, informative music writing, stick to your local pop culture website!

Strangest fact: Japanese girl group AKB48 set a record for being the largest pop group in history. The J-pop band at one point had 134 members. The sprawling group opened its own theater so that it could play in one location every day instead of touring, and will rotate members in and out so different factions of the group can play multiple gigs or fan events simultaneously. (Part of the groups concept is that the members are idols you can meetwith so many, its much easier for fans to have face-to-face contact with one.) The group is the highest selling musical act in Japan in terms of singles sold. The concept proved sturdy enough that AKB48 now has spinoff groups in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, with an Indian AKB48 in the works.

Thing we were happiest to learn: Hip-hop has gotten its due. Lil Nas X became a star this year by combining hip-hop and country, spurring the latest chapter in the neverending debate over what constitutes real country music. The genre also increased its influence around the world, with rappers like Shigga Shay in Singapore, AKA and Emtee in South Africa becoming big stars, and Korean K-Pop spawning a K-hip-hop subgenre.

Thing we were unhappiest to learn: The meaningless label alternative rock has only become more meaningless with time. Originally coined to separate the post-punk underground acts that broke through to the mainstream in the 1990s with the hard rock and pop acts who dominated the mainstream in the 80s, the term now appears to encompass mainstream acts like Imagine Dragons, Linkin Park, and Coldplay, somnambulant singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, and funk party band-turned-yacht rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Alternative used to mean something, maaaaan! Okay, it never meant anything, but it meant slightly more than this, maaaaan!

Also noteworthy: Punks decline ended up being a good thing for punk. After a surge in popularity in the 2000s by punk-esque bands like Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance, and Sum 41, the genre has been largely absent from the pop charts. But thats led to a resurgence of scrappy garage-influenced punk bands (and one of the bands on the list is called Joanna Gruesome, a definite contender for Year In Band Names.)

Best link to elsewhere on Wikipedia: If you want to read about music in the 2010s without any of the actual music, check out 2010s In the Music Industry. That page covers music business trends, nearly all of which involve how digital media has upended the industry. One of the page headings, Exclusive Releases As Promotion, hilariously has two subheadings: The Beginning Of Exclusive Releases and The End Of Exclusive Releases. The trend was apparently short-lived.

Further down the Wormhole: Included in a very long list of rappers is Chief Keef, a Chicago-born MC who broke out in the 2010s and had an unlikely champion in Lou Reed. Shortly before Reeds death in 2013, he commented to The Talkhouse about Keefs featured track on Kanye Wests album Yeezus: Hold My Liquor is just heartbreaking listen to that incredibly poignant hook from a tough guy like Chief Keef, wow. Reed, the sardonic songwriter who fronted the influential Velvet Underground before releasing 22 solo studio albums, also made an odd contribution to the video game world. The singer had a cameo in Penn & Tellers Smoke And Mirrors, a 1995 Sega CD game that was never released, but found a cult following in recent years after the game was posted online. Were taking a week off to enjoy Thanksgiving, but well be back in two weeks to examine one of the most intentionally maddening video games ever created.

See the original post:
Wikipedia tries to cover the last 10 years of music in one overstuffed page - The A.V. Club

Weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that his country develop an alternative to the massively popular Wikipedia free online encyclopedia one prominent editor has revealed he was working to do just that.

Speaking Thursday to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency, Great Russian Encyclopedia executive editor Sergei Kravets said that he was developing a digital version of the famed 21st-century Great Soviet Encyclopedia commissioned by Putin. "The project, which began in July, is anticipated to take 33 months," he said. "It will be completed by the spring or summer of 2022."

The name has not been selected, but Kravets said he sought a title that both evoked the prestige of the Great Russian Encyclopedia and could bring such a work to a contemporary, young audience.

"As many as 35 percent of students are aware of its existence, they consider it to be reliable but a bit outdated. As for professors, nearly 100 percent are acquainted with the encyclopedia and believe it to be fundamental and reliable," he said. "If we create something new, we need to maintain continuity, credibility, depth and reliability, but at the same time, we should eliminate its antiquatedness and reach out to new areas."

Establishing a Russian Wikipedia-style database has been a source of debate in Russia for years. The idea was brought up by lawmaker Yelena Yampolskaya, a member of Putin's ruling United Russia Party and an outspoken supporter of the Soviet Union, at a December 2016 a joint meeting of the Council for Culture and Art and the Council on the Russian Language during which she appealed to Putin for more indigenous forms of sports, culture and entertainment.

"We need a national reference system so that people have resources other than Wikipedia at their disposal," Yampolskaya, who last year went on to become head of the Russian lower house of parliament's culture committee, said, berating mobile game Pokmon GO as "the devil's work and the product of a global conspiracy."

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A year later, in 2017, Kravets met with Putin alongside Russian Academy of Sciences member Yury Osipov to present the Russian leader the final, 35th volume of the Great Russian Encylopedia. The two men thanked Putin for his guidance but called for more support in bringing the vast work online, an endeavor he immediately praised.

"You are right, when they read Wikipedia online, people get a lot of varied and important information. However, when it is not entirely accurate, it does more harm than good," Putin said at the time. "This is why this information touchstone is so valuable."

Two years later, the Kremlin announced in a draft law that it would spend up to $27 million in establishing a Russian-language Wikipedia alternative during 2020-2022, but at a meeting earlier this month Putin elicited some controversy at home and abroad with comments that some took to mean he may move to block access to the original site, which has more than one and half a million articles in Russian.

Putin held a meeting of the Presidential Council on the Russian Language on November 2. During the session, before the president weighed in, two other participants brought up the subject of Wikipedia, both questioning its accuracy and warning of its effect on society and the proliferation of Russian-language knowledge.

"Regarding Wikipedia, this has already been mentioned here: It is better to replace it with the new Great Russian Encyclopedia in electronic form, we are now talking about this with our colleagues," Putin said. "This will be, in any case, reliable information in a good, modern, by the way, form."

Days later, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov issued a clarification on the Russian leader's comments, saying "Wikipedia is a popular and respected self-updated resource," according to Tass.

"What the president and some of the speakers [at the Council's meeting] meant was that with all due respect, no one guarantees the credibility of information available on Wikipedia," Peskov said. "The president highlighted the need to create an encyclopedia-style source of knowledge and make it accessible."

"That's what the Great Soviet Encyclopedia is," he added, emphasizing that "there cannot be, nor have there been any bans or restrictions on access to Wikipedia."

Read the rest here:
Russia Is Building Its Own Wikipedia After Putin Says The Country Needs One - Newsweek

He was born in Poland in 1881 and died there in 1948. In his lifetime, Poland no longer had a king. But he was the closest person to being a king. The most prominent man in all of Poland. And he hated Jews.

Wanting to rid Poland of its 3,500,000 millions of Jews, he proclaimed to the Polish nation in the late 20s and early 1930s zydzie do Palestyna. We dont want Jews in Poland. Let them go to Palestine.

According to the historical facts revealed in Wikipedia, in 1936 he published a 5,600 word document called Problem Zydowski (the Jewish Problem) in which he wrote:

So long as Jews remain Jews, a Jewish problem exists and will continue to exist. It is a fact that Jews are waging war against the Catholic church, that they are steeped in free-thinking, and constitute the vanguard of atheism, the Bolshevik movement, and revolutionary activity. It is a fact that Jews have a corruptive influence on morals and that their publishing houses are spreading pornography. It is true that Jews are perpetrating fraud, practicing usury, and dealing in prostitution. It is true, from a religious and ethical point of view, Jewish youth are having a negative influence on the Catholic youth in our schools.

He then goes on to find some redeeming features about Jews. Very strange and unusual, as he continues to write in the very same document: There are very many Jews who are believers, honest, just, kind and philanthropic. There is a healthy, edifying sense of family in very many Jewish homes. We know Jews who are ethically outstanding, noble and upright. One may love ones own nation more, but one may not hate anyone. Not even Jews it is forbidden to demolish a Jewish store, damage their merchandise, break windows, or throw things at their homes it is forbidden to assault, beat up, maim, or slander Jews. One should honor and love Jews as human beings and neighbors.

However, these kind words about some Jews referred only to those Jews who were converted to Christianity.

He continues his anti-Jewish stance with an explicit condemnation of Jewish culture and also for Judaisms rejection of Jesus. Contrary to his kinder words, he wrote: It is good to prefer your own kind when shopping, to avoid buying in Jewish stores and Jewish stalls in the marketplace one should stay away from the harmful moral influence of Jews, keep away from their anti-Christian culture, and especially boycott the Jewish press and demoralizing Jewish publications. We do not honor the indescribable tragedy of that nation, which was the guardian of the idea of the Messiah and from which was born the Savior.When divine mercy enlightens a Jew to sincerely accept his and our Messiah, Jesus Christ, let us greet him into our Christian ranks with joy.

He suggested that Christian Poles should avoid using the services of Jewish doctors and Jewish lawyers. He urged boycotts of all Jewish businesses.

One must remember that these words were written in 1936, three years before the outbreak of war.

Although he had always condemned the Nazi persecution of the Jews, he created a great controversy after the war in 1946 when surviving Jews returned to their former homes and property in the large city of Kielce.

His remarks to the Kielce pogrom of 4 July 1946 in which dozens of Jews returned to their homes in Poland after their survival from Auschwitz and other death-camps in Poland and were brutally beaten and murdered by Polish neighbors who did not want to return the Jewish property, was his denial of an anti-Semitic act. He described it only as a reaction against Jews who were serving the communist regime.

His 1936 negative statement urging all Jews to get out of Poland and go to Palestine tragically saw three million Polish Jews only going to their deaths. Many survivors went to Israel in 1948. And the remnants of the Jews who remained in Poland were driven out in 1967-68.

Miraculously, there has been a rebirth of Jewish life in Poland today. Jewish culture is thriving. But knowing past history in Poland, for how long?

Polish readers will be upset with these words. But Wikipedia does not lie. And these very words are still preserved in documents now in Polish possession.

The writer was not a king of Poland. He was, however, the Catholic Cardinal and Primate of all Catholic churches, monasteries and convents throughout Poland.

His name was Augustus Cardinal Hlond.

Esor Ben-Sorek is a retired professor of Hebrew, Biblical literature & history of Israel. Conversant in 8 languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, English, French, German, Spanish, Polish & Dutch. Very proud of being an Israeli citizen.A follower of Trumpeldor & Jabotinsky & Begin.

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If Wikipedia Says So-- It's True | Esor Ben-Sorek - The Times of Israel

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

As MLB continues its investigation into allegations of sign-stealing by the Houston Astros during the 2017 season, the Wikipedia page for the 2017 World Series received a wild edit that reflects the controversy quite well.

While the Houston Astros are still listed as World Series champions, the World Series MVP is now listed as the Centerfield cameraman (Houston).

Astros outfielder George Springer was awarded MVP honors after the Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games. However, reports of Houston using cameras to steal signs and using signals to alert hitters are bringing the teams success into question.

This all reportedly began when an executive for the Astros allegedly asked scouts for help stealing signs. MLB teams, including the Dodgers, were aware of the Astros actions and tried to alert MLB.

While we dont know what the potential punishment for the Astros will be if MLBs investigation determines they cheated, this Wikipedia edit is at least a nice troll for the time being.

Related slideshow: Best of the World Series (Provided by imagn)

See original here:
2017 World Series Wikipedia page edited to troll Astros over sign-stealing allegations - msnNOW

The landscape of jobs will likely be dramatically transformed by AI in the coming years, and while some jobs will go by the wayside, other jobs will be created. It isnt clear yet how the nature of job automation will impact the economy, whether or not more jobs will be created than displaced, but it is obvious that those who work in the positions created by AI will need training to be effective at them.

Displaced workers are going to need the training to work in the new AI-related job fields, but how can these workers be trained quickly enough to remain competitive in the workplace? The answer could be more AI, which could help personalize education and training.

Bryan Talebi is the founder and CEO of the startup Ahura AI, which aims to use AI to make online education programs more efficient, targeting them at the specific individuals using them. Talebi explained to SingularityHub that Ahura is in the process of creating a product that will take biometric data from people taking online education programs and use this data to adapt the course material to the individuals needs.

While there are security and privacy concerns associated with the recording and analysis of an individuals behavioral data, the trade-off would be that, in theory, people would acquire valuable skills much more quickly. By giving personalized material and instruction to learners, a learners individual needs and means can be accounted for. Talebi explained that Ahura AIs prototype personalized education system is already showing some impressive results. According to Talebi, Ahura AIs system helps people learn between three to five times faster than current education models allow.

The AI-enhanced learning system developed by Ahura works through a series of cameras and microphones. Most modern mobile devices, tablets, and laptops have cameras and microphones, so there is little additional cost of investment for users of the platform. The camera is used to track facial movements of the user, and it captures things like eye movements, fidgeting, and micro-expressions. Meanwhile, the microphone tracks voice sentiment, analyzing the learners word usage and tone. The idea is that these metrics can be used to detect when a learner is getting bored/disinterested or frustrated, and adjust the content to keep the learner engaged.

Talebi explained that Ahura uses the collected information to determine an optimal way to deliver the material to each student of the course. While some people might learn most easily through videos, other people will learn more easily through text, while others will learn best through experience. The primary goal of Ahura is to shift the format of the content in real-time in order to improve the information retention of the learner, which it does by delivering content that improves attention.

Because Ahura can interpret user facial expressions and body language, it can predict when a user is getting bored and about to switch away to social media. According to Talebi, Ahura is capable of predicting when someone will switch to Instagram or Facebook with a 60% confidence interval, ten-seconds out from when they switch over. Talebi acknowledges there is still a lot of work to be done, as Ahura has a goal of getting the metric up to 95% accuracy, However, he believes that the performance of Ahura shows promise.

Talebi also acknowledges a desire to utilize the same algorithms and design principles used by Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, which may concern some people as these platforms are designed to be addictive. While creating a more compelling education platform is arguably a more noble goal, theres also the issue that the platform itself could be addictive. Moreover, theres a concern about the potential to misuse such sensitive information in general. Talebi said that Ahura is sensitive to these concerns at that they find it incredibly important that the data they collect is never misused, noting that some investors immediately began inquiring about the marketing potential of the platform.

Its important that we dont use this technology in those ways. Were aware that things can go sideways, so were hoping to put up guardrails to ensure our system is helping and not harming society, Talebi said.

Talebi explained that the company wants to create an ethics board that can review the ways the data the company collects is used. Talebi said the board should be diverse in thought, gender, and background, and that it should have teeth, to help ensure that their software is being designed ethically.

Ahura is currently in the process of developing its alpha prototypes, and the company hopes that during beta testing it will available to over 200,000 users in a large scale trial against a control group. The company also hopes to increase the kinds of biometric data they use for their system, planning to log data from things like sleep patterns, heart rate, facial flushing, and pupil dilation.

Read the rest here:
Researchers Carry Out Census Of Wikipedia Bots - Unite.ai