Stuff to read as May turns to June

Mother Nature apparently thinks that May is turning to April, or maybe March. But that's OK, too.

• Internet Trends 2015

  Consumers’ Expectation That They Can Get What They Want With Ease & Speed Will Continue to Rise...

  This Changes Fundamental Underpinnings of Business & Can Create Rising Demand for Flexible Workers

• Using Computer Vision to Increase the Research Potential of Photo Archives

  Collaborating with the Frick Art Reference Library I utilized TinEye’s MatchEngine image similarity service and developed software to analyze images of anonymous Italian art in their photo archive. The result was extremely exciting: it was able to automatically find similar images which weren’t previously known and confirm existing relationships. Analysis of some of the limitations of image similarity technology was also conducted.

• A Toolkit to Measure Basic System Performance and OS Jitter

  To complement the great information I got on the “Systematic Way to Find Linux Jitter”, I have created a toolkit that I now used to evaluate current and future trading platforms.

  In case this can be useful, I have listed these tools, as well as the URLs to get the source code and a description of their usage. I am learning a lot by reading the source code, and the blog entry associated.

• Systematic Process to Reduce Linux OS Jitter

  Based on empirical evidence (across many tens of sites thus far) and note-comparing with others, I use a list of "usual suspects" that I blame whenever they are not set to my liking and system-level hiccups are detected. Getting these settings right from the start often saves a bunch of playing around (and no, there is no "priority" to this - you should set them all right before looking for more advice...).

• New C++ experimental feature: The tadpole operators

  Visual Studio 2015 RC contains a pair of experimental operators, nicknamed tadpole operators. They let you add and subtract one from an integer value without needing parentheses.

• The tadpole operators explained

  The __ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_TADPOLE_OPERATORS is just a red herring.

• ​The Counselor

  In March 2015, I&A commissioned authors to write a series of narratives that investigated near future concerns around intelligent systems in warfare, urban design, medicine, and labor. These stories served as the centerpiece of a two-day intensive forum bringing together participants to identify the core set of challenges that consistently arise in deploying intelligent systems regardless of arena. "The Counselor," by Robin Sloan (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore) focuses on the persuasive qualities of these systems in the medical context.

• Is there a way with Git to make future merges ignore version number difference in a pom file between branches?

  I am trying to find a way to make Git ignore pom version differences between branches. This works well in Perforce and I'm not having any luck reproducing the behavior with Git.

• Post Traumatic Crash Disorder & the 1962 Flash Crash

  The enormous impact of 1929 and the Great Depression had outsize and lasting effects that haunted investors decades later.

• Soccer Superpower

  The economic might of the United States in international soccer has indeed been realized: American sponsors, broadcasters, marketers, and apparel companies have funneled billions of dollars into the game; a pro league is thriving; millions of Americans watch European matches on television; and hundreds of thousands will attend European exhibition games on U.S. soil this summer. But the soccer cronies who have fed at the revenue trough didn’t anticipate the consequences of courting all that American money: It gave America the power to bring them down.

• Everything You Need to Know About FIFA’s Corruption Scandal

  The Justice Department’s announcement primarily cites deals between FIFA, sports marketing groups, and broadcast corporations for the television rights to air the World Cup and other international soccer tournaments. Dating back to 1991, the indictment alleges, those involved conspired to receive bribes from marketing firms in exchange for exclusive television contracts—to the cumulative tune of more than $150 million. As Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated, “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”