August 28, 2016
Lists of Things
I like lists. Not everything in these lists are things that I advocate. Some of them are just interesting for trivial or historical sake.
- Entertainment
- Government
- Language & Literature
- Sports
- Social
- Science and Academia
- Technology
- Travel & Culture
Entertainment
AFI's 1998 "100 Years...100 Movies"
- (1941) Citizen Kane
- (1942) Casablanca
- (1972) The Godfather
- (1939) Gone with the Wind
- (1962) Lawrence of Arabia
- (1939) The Wizard of Oz
- (1967) The Graduate
- (1954) On the Waterfront
- (1993) Schindler’s List
- (1952) Singin’ in the Rain
- (1946) It’s a Wonderful Life
- (1950) Sunset Boulevard
- (1957) The Bridge on the River Kwai
- (1959) Some Like It Hot
- (1977) Star Wars
- (1950) All About Eve
- (1951) The African Queen
- (1960) Psycho
- (1974) Chinatown
- (1975) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- (1940) The Grapes of Wrath
- (1968) 2001: A Space Odyssey
- (1941) The Maltese Falcon
- (1980) Raging Bull
- (1982) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
- (1964) Dr. Strangelove
- (1967) Bonnie and Clyde
- (1979) Apocalypse Now
- (1939) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- (1948) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- (1977) Annie Hall
- (1974) The Godfather Part II
- (1952) High Noon
- (1962) To Kill a Mockingbird
- (1934) It Happened One Night
- (1969) Midnight Cowboy
- (1946) The Best Years of Our Lives
- (1944) Double Indemnity
- (1965) Doctor Zhivago
- (1959) North by Northwest
- (1961) West Side Story
- (1954) Rear Window
- (1933) King Kong
- (1915) The Birth of a Nation
- (1951) A Streetcar Named Desire
- (1971) A Clockwork Orange
- (1976) Taxi Driver
- (1975) Jaws
- (1937) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- (1969) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- (1940) The Philadelphia Story
- (1953) From Here to Eternity
- (1984) Amadeus
- (1930) All Quiet on the Western Front
- (1965) The Sound of Music
- (1970) MASH
- (1949) The Third Man
- (1940) Fantasia
- (1955) Rebel Without a Cause
- (1981) Raiders of the Lost Ark
- (1958) Vertigo
- (1982) Tootsie
- (1939) Stagecoach
- (1977) Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- (1991) The Silence of the Lambs
- (1976) Network
- (1962) The Manchurian Candidate
- (1951) An American in Paris
- (1953) Shane
- (1971) The French Connection
- (1994) Forrest Gump
- (1959) Ben-Hur
- (1939) Wuthering Heights
- (1925) The Gold Rush
- (1990) Dances with Wolves
- (1931) City Lights
- (1973) American Graffiti
- (1976) Rocky
- (1978) The Deer Hunter
- (1969) The Wild Bunch
- (1936) Modern Times
- (1956) Giant
- (1986) Platoon
- (1996) Fargo
- (1933) Duck Soup
- (1935) Mutiny on the Bounty
- (1931) Frankenstein
- (1969) Easy Rider
- (1970) Patton
- (1927) The Jazz Singer
- (1964) My Fair Lady
- (1951) A Place in the Sun
- (1960) The Apartment
- (1990) Goodfellas
- (1994) Pulp Fiction
- (1956) The Searchers
- (1938) Bringing Up Baby
- (1992) Unforgiven
- (1967) Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
- (1942) Yankee Doodle Dandy
Source: wikipedia.org
Highest-grossing films, adjusted for inflation
- $3,440,000,000 (1939) Gone with the Wind
- $3,020,000,000 (2009) Avatar
- $2,825,000,000 (1977) Star Wars
- $2,516,000,000 (1997) Titanic
- $2,366,000,000 (1965) The Sound of Music
- $2,310,000,000 (1982) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
- $2,187,000,000 (1956) The Ten Commandments
- $2,073,000,000 (1965) Doctor Zhivago
- $2,027,000,000 (1975) Jaws
- $1,819,000,000 (1937) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Source: wikipedia.org
Academy Awards - Best Picture winners
- (1927) Wings
- (1929) The Broadway Melody
- (1930) All Quiet on the Western Front
- (1931) Cimarron
- (1932) Grand Hotel
- (1933) Cavalcade
- (1934) It Happened One Night
- (1935) Mutiny on the Bounty
- (1936) The Great Ziegfeld
- (1937) The Life of Emile Zola
- (1938) You Can't Take It with You
- (1939) Gone with the Wind
- (1940) Rebecca
- (1941) How Green Was My Valley
- (1942) Mrs. Miniver
- (1943) Casablanca
- (1944) Going My Way
- (1945) The Lost Weekend
- (1946) The Best Years of Our Lives
- (1947) Gentleman's Agreement
- (1948) Hamlet
- (1949) All the King's Men
- (1950) All About Eve
- (1951) An American in Paris
- (1952) The Greatest Show on Earth
- (1953) From Here to Eternity
- (1954) On the Waterfront
- (1955) Marty
- (1956) Around the World in Eighty Days
- (1957) The Bridge on the River Kwai
- (1958) Gigi
- (1959) Ben-Hur
- (1960) The Apartment
- (1961) West Side Story
- (1962) Lawrence of Arabia
- (1963) Tom Jones
- (1964) My Fair Lady
- (1965) The Sound of Music
- (1966) A Man for All Seasons
- (1967) In the Heat of the Night
- (1968) Oliver!
- (1969) Midnight Cowboy
- (1970) Patton
- (1971) The French Connection
- (1972) The Godfather
- (1973) The Sting
- (1974) The Godfather Part II
- (1975) One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
- (1976) Rocky
- (1977) Annie Hall
- (1978) The Deer Hunter
- (1979) Kramer vs. Kramer
- (1980) Ordinary People
- (1981) Chariots of Fire
- (1982) Gandhi
- (1983) Terms of Endearment
- (1984) Amadeus
- (1985) Out of Africa
- (1986) Platoon
- (1987) The Last Emperor
- (1988) Rain Man
- (1989) Driving Miss Daisy
- (1990) Dances with Wolves
- (1991) The Silence of the Lambs
- (1992) Unforgiven
- (1993) Schindler's List
- (1994) Forrest Gump
- (1995) Braveheart
- (1996) The English Patient
- (1997) Titanic
- (1998) Shakespeare in Love
- (1999) American Beauty
- (2000) Gladiator
- (2001) A Beautiful Mind
- (2002) Chicago
- (2003) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- (2004) Million Dollar Baby
- (2005) Crash
- (2006) The Departed
- (2007) No Country for Old Men
- (2008) Slumdog Millionaire
- (2009) The Hurt Locker
- (2010) The King's Speech
- (2011) The Artist
- (2012) Argo
- (2013) 12 Years a Slave
- (2014) Birdman
- (2015) Spotlight
Source:
wikipedia.org
Billboard Hot 100 - Most weeks at number one (song)
- 16 weeks - Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men — “One Sweet Day” (1995–96)
- 14 weeks - Whitney Houston — “I Will Always Love You” (1992–93)
- 14 weeks - Boyz II Men — “I’ll Make Love to You” (1994)
- 14 weeks - Los del Río — “Macarena” (Bayside Boys mix) (1996)
- 14 weeks - Elton John — “Candle in the Wind 1997” / “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” (1997–98)
- 14 weeks - Mariah Carey — “We Belong Together” (2005)
- 14 weeks - The Black Eyed Peas — “I Gotta Feeling” (2009)
- 14 weeks - Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars — “Uptown Funk” (2015)
- 13 weeks - Boyz II Men — “End of the Road” (1992)
- 13 weeks - Brandy and Monica — “The Boy Is Mine” (1998)
Source: wikipedia.org
Billboard Hot 100 - Most number-one singles (artist)
- 20 - The Beatles
- 18 - Elvis Presley (Pre-Hot 100 charts and Hot 100)
- 18 - Mariah Carey
- 14 - Rihanna
- 13 - Michael Jackson
- 12 - The Supremes
- 12 - Madonna
- 11 - Whitney Houston
- 10 - Stevie Wonder
- 10 - Janet Jackson
Source: wikipedia.org
Billboard Hot 100 - Most cumulative weeks at number one (artist)
- 79 - Elvis Presley
- 79 - Mariah Carey
- 60 - Rihanna
- 59 - The Beatles
- 50 - Boyz II Men
- 47 - Usher
- 37 - Michael Jackson
- 36 - Beyoncé
- 34 - Elton John
- 33 - Janet Jackson
- 33 - Katy Perry
Source: wikipedia.org
Billboard Hot 100 - Most top 5 singles (artist)
- 29 - The Beatles
- 28 - Madonna
- 26 - Mariah Carey
- 24 - Janet Jackson
- 21 - Elvis Presley
- 21 - Rihanna
- 20 - Michael Jackson
- 20 - Stevie Wonder
Source: wikipedia.org
Billboard Hot 100 - Most top 10 singles (artist)
- 38 - Madonna
- 36 - Elvis Presley (Pre-Hot 100 charts and Hot 100)
- 34 - The Beatles
- 29 - Michael Jackson
- 29 - Rihanna
- 28 - Stevie Wonder
- 27 - Elton John
- 27 - Janet Jackson
- 27 - Mariah Carey
- 23 - The Rolling Stones
- 23 - Whitney Houston
- 23 - Paul McCartney
Source: wikipedia.org
Billboard Hot 100 - Most number-one singles (producer)
- 23 - George Martin (The Beatles)
- 20 - Max Martin (Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Taylor Swift)
- 16 - Steve Sholes (Elvis Presley)
- 16 - Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson)
- 16 - Dr. Luke (Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Kesha, Miley Cyrus)
- 14 - Barry Gibb (Bee Gees, Andy Gibb)
- 14 - Mariah Carey (Herself)
Source: wikipedia.org
Billboard Hot 100 - Most number-one singles (songwriter)
- 32 - Paul McCartney (The Beatles)
- 26 - John Lennon (The Beatles)
- 22 - Max Martin (Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Taylor Swift)
- 17 - Mariah Carey (herself)
- 16 - Barry Gibb (Bee Gees, Andy Gibb)
- 16 - Dr. Luke (Katy Perry, Kesha, Miley Cyrus)
Source: wikipedia.org
Sports
FIFA World Cup Finals winners
- 2014 - Germany
- 2010 - Spain
- 2006 - Italy
- 2002 - Brazil
- 1998 - France
- 1994 - Brazil
- 1990 - West Germany
- 1986 - Argentina
- 1982 - Italy
- 1978 - Argentina
- 1974 - West Germany
- 1970 - Brazil
- 1966 - England
- 1962 - Brazil
- 1958 - Brazil
- 1954 - West Germany
- 1950 - Uruguay
- 1938 - Italy
- 1934 - Italy
- 1930 - Uruguay
Source: wikipedia.org
Travel & Culture
Japan World Heritage List
- Cultural
- Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area (1993)
- Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration (2013)
- Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu (2000)
- Himeji-jo (1993)
- Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land (2011)
- Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) (1996)
- Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) (1994)
- Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara (1998)
- Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama (1995)
- Itsukushima Shinto Shrine (1996)
- Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Landscape (2007)
- Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range (2004)
- Shrines and Temples of Nikko (1999)
- Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining (2015)
- The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (2016)
- Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Sites (2014)
- Natural
- Ogasawara Islands (2011)
- Shirakami-Sanchi (1993)
- Shiretoko (2005)
- Yakushima (1993)
Source: unesco.org
National Treasure Castles of Japan
- Hikone Castle
- Himeji Castle
- Inuyama Castle
- Matsue Castle
- Matsumoto Castle
Source: wikipedia.org
Imperial Regalia of Japan
Three Sacred Treasures of Japan
- the sword Kusanagi
- the mirror Yata no Kagami
- the jewel Yasakani no Magatama
Source: wikipedia.org
Science and Academia
Millenium Prize Problems
- P versus NP
- Hodge conjecture
- Riemann hypothesis
- Yang–Mills existence and mass gap
- Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness
- Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
- Poincaré conjecture (solved)
Source: wikipedia.org
2008 Global Catastrophic Risks survey
- Molecular nanotechnology weapons (5%)
- Superintelligent AI (5%)
- Non-nuclear wars (4%)
- Engineered pandemic (2%)
- Nuclear wars (1%)
- Nanotechnology accident (0.5%)
- Natural pandemic (0.05%)
- Nuclear terrorism (0.03%)
Sources: 1, 2
Social
How to Win Friends and Influence People
EDITOR’S NOTE: I don’t agree with all of the content here. There’s a lot of good advice for self-improvement and some interesting perspectives on psychology though.
Twelve Things This Book Will Do For You
- Get you out of a mental rut, give you new thoughts, new visions, new ambitions.
- Enable you to make friends quickly and easily.
- Increase your popularity.
- Help you to win people to your way of thinking.
- Increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things done.
- Enable you to win new clients, new customers.
- Increase your earning power.
- Make you a better salesman, a better executive.
- Help you to handle complaints, avoid arguments, keep your human contacts smooth and pleasant.
- Make you a better speaker, a more entertaining conversationalist.
- Make the principles of psychology easy for you to apply in your daily contacts.
- Help you to arouse enthusiasm among your associates.
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
- Don't criticize, condemn, or complain. Human nature does not like to admit fault. When people are criticized or humiliated, they rarely respond well and will often become defensive and resent their critic. To handle people well, we must never criticize, condemn or complain because it will never result in the behavior we desire.
- Give honest and sincere appreciation. Appreciation is one of the most powerful tools in the world. People will rarely work at their maximum potential under criticism, but honest appreciation brings out their best. Appreciation, though, is not simple flattery, it must be sincere, meaningful and with love.
- Arouse in the other person an eager want. To get what we want from another person, we must forget our own perspective and begin to see things from the point of view of others. When we can combine our desires with their wants, they become eager to work with us and we can mutually achieve our objectives.
Six Ways to Make People Like You
- Become genuinely interested in other people. “You can make more friends in two months by being interested in them, than in two years by making them interested in you.” The only way to make quality, lasting friendships is to learn to be genuinely interested in them and their interests.
- Smile. Happiness does not depend on outside circumstances, but rather on inward attitudes. Smiles are free to give and have an amazing ability to make others feel wonderful. Smile in everything that you do.
- Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language. “The average person is more interested in their own name than in all the other names in the world put together.” People love their names so much that they will often donate large amounts of money just to have a building named after themselves. We can make people feel extremely valued and important by remembering their name.
- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. The easiest way to become a good conversationalist is to become a good listener. To be a good listener, we must actually care about what people have to say. Many times people don’t want an entertaining conversation partner; they just want someone who will listen to them.
- Talk in terms of the other person’s interest. The royal road to a person’s heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most. If we talk to people about what they are interested in, they will feel valued and value us in return.
- Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely. The golden rule is to treat other people how we would like to be treated. We love to feel important and so does everyone else. People will talk to us for hours if we allow them to talk about themselves. If we can make people feel important in a sincere and appreciative way, then we will win all the friends we could ever dream of.
Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
- The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. Whenever we argue with someone, no matter if we win or lose the argument, we still lose. The other person will either feel humiliated or strengthened and will only seek to bolster their own position. We must try to avoid arguments whenever we can.
- Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say “You’re wrong.” We must never tell people flat out that they are wrong. It will only serve to offend them and insult their pride. No one likes to be humiliated, we must not be so blunt.
- If you’re wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. Whenever we are wrong we should admit it immediately. When we fight we never get enough, but by yielding we often get more than we expected. When we admit that we are wrong people trust us and begin to sympathize with our way of thinking.
- Begin in a friendly way. “A drop of honey can catch more flies than a gallon of gall.” If we begin our interactions with others in a friendly way, people will be more receptive. Even if we are greatly upset, we must be friendly to influence people to our way of thinking.
- Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes. Do not begin by emphasizing the aspects in which we and the other person differ. Begin by emphasizing and continue emphasizing the things on which we agree. People must be started in the affirmative direction and they will often follow readily. Never tell someone they are wrong, but rather lead them where we would like them to go with questions that they will answer “yes” to.
- Let the other person do a great deal of the talking. People do not like listening to us boast, they enjoy doing the talking themselves. Let them rationalize and talk about the idea, because it will taste much sweeter to them in their own mouth.
- Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers. People inherently like ideas they come to on their own better than those that are handed to them on a platter. Ideas can best be carried out by allowing others to think they arrived at it themselves.
- Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view. Other people may often be wrong, but we cannot condemn them. We must seek to understand them. Success in dealing with people requires a sympathetic grasp of the other person’s viewpoint.
- Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires. People are hungering for sympathy. They want us to recognize all that they desire and feel. If we can sympathize with others, they will appreciate our side as well and will often come around to our way of thinking.
- Appeal to the nobler motives. Everyone likes to be glorious in their own eyes. People believe that they do things for noble and morally upright reasons. If we can appeal to others’ noble motives we can successfully convince them to follow our ideas.
- Dramatize your ideas. In this fast paced world, simply stating a truth isn’t enough. The truth must be made vivid, interesting, and dramatic. Television has been doing it for years. Sometimes ideas are not enough and we must dramatize them.
- Throw down a challenge. The thing that most motivates people is the game. Everyone desires to excel and prove their worth. If we want someone to do something, we must give them a challenge and they will often rise to meet it.
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
- Begin with praise and honest appreciation. People will do things begrudgingly for criticism and an iron-fisted leader, but they will work wonders when they are praised and appreciated.
- Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly. No one likes to make mistakes, especially in front of others. Scolding and blaming only serves to humiliate. If we subtly and indirectly show people mistakes, they will appreciate us and be more likely to improve.
- Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person. When something goes wrong, taking responsibility can help win others to your side. People do not like to shoulder all the blame and taking credit for mistakes helps to remove the sting from our critiques of others.
- Ask questions instead of giving direct orders. No one likes to take orders. If we offer suggestions, rather than orders, it will boost others confidence and allow them to learn quickly from their mistakes.
- Let the other person save face. Nothing diminishes the dignity of a man quite like an insult to his pride. If we don’t condemn our employees in front of others and allow them to save face, they will be motivated to do better in the future and confident that they can.
- Praise every improvement. People love to receive praise and admiration. If we truly want someone to improve at something, we must praise their every advance. “Abilities wither under criticism, they blossom under encouragement.”
- Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to. If we give people a great reputation to live up to, they will desire to embody the characteristics with which we have described them. People will work with vigor and confidence if they believe they can be better.
- Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct. If a desired outcome seems like a momentous task, people will give up and lose heart. But if a fault seems easy to correct, they will readily jump at the opportunity to improve. If we frame objectives as small and easy improvements, we will see dramatic increases in desire and success in our employees.
- Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest. People will most often respond well when they desire to do the behavior put forth. If we want to influence people and become effective leaders, we must learn to frame our desires in terms of others’ desires.
Language & Literature
George Orwell's Remedy of Six Rules
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
Source: wikipedia.org
Official languages of the United Nations
- Arabic
- Chinese
- English
- French
- Russian
- Spanish
Source: wikipedia.org
Government
The Nuclear Club
- United States (NPT)
- Russia (NPT)
- United Kingdom (NPT)
- France (NPT)
- China (NPT)
- India
- Pakistan
- North Korea
Source: wikipedia.org
United Nations Security Council permanent members
- China
- France
- Russia
- United Kingdom
- United States
Source: wikipedia.org
Technology
The Twelve-Factor App
- Codebase - One codebase tracked in revision control, many deploys
- Dependencies - Explicitly declare and isolate dependencies
- Config - Store config in the environment
- Backing services - Treat backing services as attached resources
- Build, release, run - Strictly separate build and run stages
- Processes - Execute the app as one or more stateless processes
- Port binding - Export services via port binding
- Concurrency - Scale out via the process model
- Disposability - Maximize robustness with fast startup and graceful shutdown
- Dev/prod parity - Keep development, staging, and production as similar as possible
- Logs - Treat logs as event streams
- Admin processes - Run admin/management tasks as one-off processes
Source: 12factor.net
Cheers,
Ben