Pigeons do this because they like feedback just like humans do. But one thing you can do that makes them go absolutely crazy and peck like maniacs is you cannot tell them when they're going to get the food. Make it unpredictable. So the pigeon pecks twice, a ton of food comes out. The pigeon's like "This is amazing."
But then it pecks 27 times, nothing comes out. On the 28th time, a mountain of pellets comes out. This is what we do when we go gambling. It's exactly the same experience. So it's not just feedback that we like, but it's feedback when we don't know what the outcome is going to be, which is why the Reddit button worked so well, and why these pigeons went crazy for unpredictable feedback, and why people can't stop gambling. So if you can build feedback into any experience that you have, anything that's static on a website, make sure it gives you feedback. And it can be very minor, mild feedback, incidental feedback. Like a button you hover over something and the button lights up. This stuff, when I talked to Bennett Foddy about it, he told me that in gaming terms, this is called "Juice." You make sure that as people do things in the game, they get feedback, no matter how small. And the feedback should match whatever they're doing https://casinoslots.sg/online-slots. So if you're running in a game, the grass should bend a little bit to show that you're running through the grass, for example. So we do this because people seek out feedback, which I've told you. And it's got to be random. This juice that you inject into experiences, this feedback you get that says "You are doing something, you are acting on this environment, you are working on this website." And something's ticking along to show you're making progress. That stuff really, really matters to people. It drives their behavior.
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Humans love nothing more than feedback. You've seen kids in an elevator that just want to push every button because it lights up. That's enough for the kid. They just want some kind of feedback, they don't even care what that feedback is a lot of the time. But humans love getting something back from the environment. We really respond very sensitively to feedback.
And here's a great example of this. This is from Reddit. Some of you may know the website Reddit. It's basically a community of people who go to sub-pages and the sub-pages focus on different things. If you like cats, there'll be a page with funny cats, and they'll be sorted by, like, most funny to least funny cat, and so on. So this is Reddit. Now, one of the pages on April 1st, 2015 just popped up out of nowhere, was called The Button. The button worked like this: what you have is the button and you have a timer that counts down from a minute. It starts at sixty seconds and it counts down. And every time someone pushes the button somewhere in the world, one of the hundreds of thousands of users of Reddit, the counter starts at sixty again. And once you push the button, you get a little badge. You can only push it once, and your badge color is determined by how low the number is when you push. So in the beginning, when they first released it, it was going down to 59 seconds and then someone in the world would push it. And eventually a lot of people had pushed it, so it went down a little further, 58, 57, 56. It gave you nothing. You get nothing for pushing this button, but people pushed it, and they didn't just push it, they sat there and they watched this button for seven weeks. Which is staggering! Because what happened was, as the number counted down, they got different badge colors, so if you pushed it between 52 and 60 seconds, you got a purple badge, and people made fun of you, because they called you impatient. And you can see here the percentage of people who clicked and got the different badges, and also the first date on which you could earn each badge. So the first person to earn the purple badge was obviously the first of April. The next day you could get between 42 and 51 seconds, because the herd had thinned out. By April 4th, it was 32-41 seconds, and so on. Until on May 18th, we're talking about seven weeks later, there's a guy named Big Goran, that was his username on Reddit. He pushed the button last, and he was a massive celebrity. People celebrated Big Goran, they asked him questions like "How did you do it?" and "What was it that made you the holder of the chalice of the final presser, the key to this whole mystery?" And he said "I wanted to know more than anything what would happen if I waited until the end, so I waited till I thought I'd be the last presser. Because when he pressed it, it went to 60, and then it ticked down to zero. So he was the last one. And there were also people who never pressed it, and they were deeply frustrated because they thought they'd get some reward for holding out. But Big Goran said, "So I pressed it, and I wanted to be the last person because I thought Reddit would, like, throw money at me or something." There was nothing. This whole exercise was a big joke on the part of Reddit. Because they know that people just like feedback, they like pressing buttons. And so Reddit pressed their buttons, and it was very effective. Now, as a business move, this is a sort of weird example, but it's very effective generally to do this, and we know this from lots of examples. We know this from animal behavior studies. So if you put a pigeon in front of a little light, and you let the pigeon peck to get food, there are different ways you can do this. You can get the pigeon to peck, say, every ten pecks will give it a pellet of food. So it sits there and pecks ten times, the food comes out, it eats the food. It gets hungry, it pecks ten more times. Online gambling, cigarettes and wine hit by sin taxes increase UK news But budget provides good news for beer and spirits drinkers with unexpected duty freeze But budget provides good news for beer and spirits drinkers with unexpected duty freeze Vices including online gambling, smoking cigarettes and drinking wine or champagne will be hit by increased “sin” taxes, but lovers of beer and spirits escaped with an unexpected duty freeze in Philip Hammond’s budget. The shake-up means: A bottle of wine goes up by 7p, sparkling wine by 10p. Average pack of 20 cigarettes to rise above £10. Online gambling hit by £1bn taxes over five years.
The government’s decision earlier this year to cut the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2 triggered an overhaul of gambling tax, due to take effect in October. Lost revenue from the machine gaming duty levied on FOBTs is expected to cost the exchequer £1.15bn over five years, according to Treasury projections. It will make up for the shortfall by increasing the tax on online casino games from 15% to 21%, raising an estimated £1.25bn over the same period. While the tweaks to gambling tax will cancel each other out fiscally, both FOBT campaigners and online gambling companies are likely to be unhappy. Campaigners against FOBTs, who say they are highly addictive, criticised the decision to postpone FOBT curbs until October last year, as revealed by the Guardian last week. Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, said: “By rolling back on their promises the government are allowing greed to triumph over good as the bookies trouser an additional £900m in revenue. “The new secretary of state has let down not only his predecessors who campaigned for urgent change, but all the gambling charities, reformers and addicts who were relying on him not to bow to the will of the Treasury.” The chancellor surprised the beer and pubs industry by cancelling duty hikes on beer and spirits, which were expected to see a 3.4% rise in line with inflation, but wine duty will continue to rise. Jackie Parker, the national chairman of real ale enthusiasts’ group Camra, said the freeze would “no doubt go some way to keeping the British pub-going tradition affordable”. The Wine and Spirit Trade Association said distillers would welcome the cancellation of a rise in spirits duty but said winemakers would be hit with an extra £90m bill. “It actively undermines a sector that has been hardest hit since the Brexit referendum and will be thoroughly unwelcome for the 33 million consumers of the nation’s most popular alcoholic drink,” said the association’s chief executive, Miles Beale. The tobacco escalator, under which tax on cigarettes goes up by inflation plus 2% each year, will continue, meaning the average cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes will rise above £10 for the first time. Research Paper Know-How A common assignment in many colleges and universities is the research paper. This is usually a project assigned early in the term with a lot of time to complete. This means that it is expected that the product will be exact and in-depth. The student will choose from a wide-range of topics related to the course of study. After some initial research, the student will narrow the field until finally isolating a definite research question. Having pinpointed the precise question, the student then gathers primary and subordinate references to answer the question. The case is then presented in a well-defined, original paper with supporting quotes. Sure, it sounds easy when you put it that way, but how do you actually do it? Below are listed some guidelines to assist in the creation of a proper research paper. Find 100 brightest topics ideas for 2017 for your college research paper on essay writers platform! Life-Long Learning Once you have written a research paper or two you will have learned the skills that will take you through the rest of your life. The process of learning continues well past college. The formula for writing a research paper is the same formula you will need to answer deep questions about every aspect of your life. Taking a broad topic and narrowing it down to a single focus until you find the real question you want answered. Then finding out, through study, where to get those answers. The presentation of your paper will prepare you for the work world as you have to convince people, through evidence, that your theory is correct. You will provide arguments for the naysayers. And you will learn the skill of standing up for what you found to be true. Research Papers: The Five Things You Need to Know If you are interested in writingan excellent research paper there are a few things you need to know. Do not expect to do a half-assed job and get a good mark. If you want top marks you have to put in a little extra effort and do a few straightforward things. You would be surprised how many people don’t do half of these steps and expect good results. 1. Do some related research on your topic. Refer to the instructor for clarification and to narrow down a focus. A great way to find a general topic is to search your life. What are the things that are important to you? Do you have a condition that makes you different from other people that not too many know about? Are you from a place that not everyone has heard of, even in this day and age? Finding a topic that is close to your heart is a great way to start your research. Now you are interested and you will be more invested in your work. See what other people have written about your topic. You are starting to get a focus. Now is a good time to speak to the instructor about your topic idea. She may be able to send you in a specific direction. Don’t assume that just because you know about something that everyone else knows about it too. Stay away from the rehashed topics of students past. Find your own path. 2. Define your research question. The main thing you want your question to contain is the word “How” or “Why.” In a social sciences course you will have plenty to choose from. If you are relating this to something in your own life, you can look at it from a macro point of view. If the thing you are writing about is alcoholism, you may ask “Why is alcohol so prevalent in First Nation Communities?” or “How did alcohol come to North America?” You could ask a question about prohibition, or smuggling of alcohol. The topics are endless. If you are interested in politics and you are particularly upset about a recent election you could ask “How did the democratic government lose the last election?” or “Why is America providing relief to other countries when it is in a deficit.” The topics are endless. It is a matter of identifying something that matters to you. Think about what you are talking about with your friends. Think about what you are reading in the newspapers. Think of a problem you had as a child and the children who still have that problem. Put a “Who” or a “How” in front of those thoughts and you have a research question. People working in the social sciences ask these questions every day. They demand an argument. You won’t find an argument in a “What” question, but you may find a “When” or a “What” in the introduction of a “How” or “Why” research paper. 3. Doing primary research. Remember that reading a reference book is a secondary or subordinate resource. If you want to get to a primary resource you are going to have to talk to people, read newspapers and make some phone calls. Maybe it won’t be as exciting as in the movies, but it is pretty good. It is a different kind of writing than paraphrasing an encyclopedia. In our alcohol in the First Nation communities’ example, above, you could easily go to a band office and talk to a counselor there who deals with the effects of alcoholism in their community every day. Find out which states were the first to introduce prohibition and find the archives of their newspapers. If government is your topic call your representative and set up an interview. The definition of primary source is the actual source of the information. You want to get as close as you can. Ask people, read periodicals, get names, send e-mails and make phone calls. You want to make your argument using actual data from actual sources. 4. Make an argument. As discussed earlier, regurgitating stuff from the encyclopedia is not acceptable. You have to use the information you get from all your sources to make your argument. The facts have to answer the question. You want to make your argument as close as you can to Author: Leslye Walton
Publisher: Candlewick Press Publication Date: March 25, 2014 Pages: 320 Source: Purchased Rating: 3 stars I’m a sucker for a good title. Who amongst us isn’t? In the wumbunculus sea of books that are out there and available to read, I don’t really have the time to hone the art of browsing through my local bookstore/library in the hopes of whatever I lay my hands on will be worth my time. It’s unfortunate, I know. But I think that’s one of those things that falls under the “things you sacrifice when you’re a busy adult” category. Sigh. When I came across this title, this magically intriguing string of words, I was hooked. Not only that, but the delicate feather that graces the cover adds a lot as well. Judging by the cover alone (which is sometimes necessary, I don’t care what the naysayers say), this book speaks of magic, heartache, and brilliantly concocted words. Just say the title to yourself: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender. My, my. Surely, a good story must follow. The title demands no less. There are a few things that hit me as I started this story. The way the words weaved together was one. The story itself came sneaking by in a close second. To many, I was myth incarnate, the embodiment of a most superb legend, a fairy tale. Some considered me a monster, a mutation. To my great misfortune, I was once mistaken for an angel. To my mother, I was everything. To my father, nothing at all. To my grandmother, I was a daily reminder of love's long lost. But I knew the truth deep down, I always did. I was just a girl. A mysterious tale unfolds in which we learn about the mysterious Ava Lavender, her equally mysterious family, her heritage, and how she came to be. To her, she is just a girl. But to those around her, she is a girl born with wings. Wings that cannot be severed, that are irrevocably attached to her muscular, skeletal, and circulatory systems. Puzzled as to why she is born with such a strange gift, Ava decides to research her family tree in the hopes of discovering who she is and where she came from. This is a book about heartache. Heartache that extends through generations of women, namely Ava's mother ,Viviane, and her grandmother, Emilienne, who watch as their families disintegrate, get spurned by those they considered true loves, and how they cling to the past with a fierceness that disables them from living properly. All this is transferred to Ava. The family is strange, to be sure. But there is no strangeness to their sorrows. Rather, a common theme, a connection, can be felt throughout each character of the book. Walton employs a neat writing technique in that she re-uses certain sentences, tying them to different characters to bind them together in a shared experience. Overall, the book was a wonderful read. The writing is fairytale-esque and beautiful, the story is appropriately sad, but word to the wise: it is best to make sure you have a buddy close by after you finish because you will not want to be alone after reading this book. So why the 3 star rating? While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, there were a couple hiccups that I do not want to ignore. The first one is minor. In the prologue, Walton sets up the story of Ava Lavender by declaring that Ava spent a weekend in her local library researching her family tree. I am assuming she also talked to various family members to piece everything together. She adds in the caveat, I will be the first to admit that certain facts may have been omitted, long forgotten over time by myself or by other involved parties. Fair enough. Were supposed to gather that through this research and through talking to family, she pieces together her family's history. A history which makes up the book. However, by the time I finished the book, the mention of her doing research at the library really tore me away from the story. I did not feel that the idea for the story needed a reason so specific. It robbed the rest of the story from its fairytale feel and I think the story would have flowed just fine without it. It is a nit picky thing, I know, but I can't stop thinking about it. My only other issue, and some might call this a big one, is Walton's use of first person POV. The story is told by Ava, but towards the end of the book, she somehow knows what other characters are doing when she is not around. She knows their thoughts and intentions and feelings. Maybe she got the information later, which could be the case. But for a certain character, who I will not say because that would spoil some things, that is just not possible. Luckily, the story kept me going so it did not bother me too much, and maybe someone can shed light on why she did that, but I could see readers getting turned off by it. That said, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is definitely worth your time. There is enough distance between the world Walton has created and the one we live in to feel a growing sense of magic, but it is also grounded in the everyday so that we do not feel too far removed from our surroundings. I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and what is more important I hope you learned something from it. If you did, please share your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below. I love reading you you have to say, because reading your comments helps me to improve my blog! Thank you! This is a book I’ve been waiting to read for a long time, and imagine my delight when I found it in my This is a book I’ve been waiting to read for a long time, and imagine my delight when I found it in my library’s audiobook archive. I downloaded immediately and I was completely engrossed in the rich futuristic world of New Beijing and the human, cyborg, android, and Lunar characters that populate it. WRITING 5/5 wings 5 wings Very descriptive. Each sentence painted a picture in my mind, and it was a great book to experience via narration, as I felt I was more involved in the world than if I had simply read it with my own eyes. PLOT: 4.5 wings 4.5wings Everything happens for a purpose, and you can feel the constructed-ness of the plot as you’re listening/reading. Not one event is meaningless. Every sentence, every word has its place. You really fall into the world, because there’s so much detail. And really, when you’re creating a futuristic world and you want it to be believable, it’s all about the details. Even though you can predict a lot of the plot twists, it doesn’t matter it’s all about the journey with this story. And that’s saying something, when you can not be bothered with nitpicking any other part, when nothing else bothered you. Listening to this book was like soaking in a warm tub. CHARACTERS: 4.5 wings 4.5wings Every character was unique. The narrator of the book also did a good job distinguishing between one character and another. I felt like they were real people. They were real people with real problems. Having great characters like the ones in Cinder is just one piece of the puzzle. It’s the characters, the world-building, and the story and the way that it’s told that brings it all together. Like I said above, some of the plot twists and character paths were somewhat predictable, but I very much enjoyed the ride. OVERALL 5/5 wings 5wings Totally amazing. Loved it SO MUCH and I can’t wait to read the sequel. Completely absorbing. |
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