121. Web Usage Paradox (Alertbox Aug. 1998) useit.com Alertbox Aug. 1998 Web usage paradox. Jakob Nielsen s Alertbox for August 9, 1998 The Web Usage paradox Why Do People Use Something This Bad? http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980809.html

use it.com Alertbox Aug. 1998 Web usage paradox Jakob Nielsen 's Alertbox for August 9, 1998: The Web Usage Paradox: Why Do People Use Something This Bad? The Web is bad; really bad. My estimate is that at least 90% of all commercial websites are overly difficult to use due to problems like: Bloated page design that takes forever to download internally focused design that hypes products without giving any real info about them. Obscure site structures that either have no logic or are based on the company's org.chart. Lack of navigation support, making it very hard to find things when combined with an obscure structure. Narrative writing style optimized for print and linear reading; not for the way users read online (they don't; they scan As discussed in my previous column on user testing of websites, the average outcome of Web usability studies is that test users fail when they try to perform a test task on the Web. Thus, when you try something new on the Web, the expected outcome is failure Even when the site works, the total user experience often remains miserable . For example, I recently had to buy a new PC and tried to do so through Dell's website, following my own rule that you must live a "Web lifestyle" yourself if you want to be an Internet pundit. The Dell site had some weaknesses, but it was reasonably easy to use and allowed me to order the desired high-end machine. Three days later I received a confirmation email stating that the machine was expected to ship 6 weeks later. This was obviously not satisfactory: when you order on the Internet, Amazon.com has trained users to expect a confirmation email within a few minutes and the product within a few days, unless the website has warned them about shipping delays.

122. Paradox Group Web hosting and consulting for individuals, businesses and organizations. Based in the Vancouver area. http://www.paradox-group.com/

Weather in Vancouver VIRUS ALERT: get the latest in virus protection software Contact us at Visit our Webhosting Division Welcome to The Paradox Consulting Group's website! "Into Tomorrow Today!" Our mission is to provide distinctive and affordable consulting services that will promote the achievement of financial control for all individuals, businesses and organizations. At The Paradox Consulting Group, Inc., we strive to create a better understanding of self worth and individual assessment of net worth. With this understanding, our members have the ability to gain the knowledge to increase networking skills and build the necessary contacts to increase and expand our network. Our aim is to provide quality personal services that are in touch with our community as well as the Global Market. We assist our members with networking services, which focus on them taking action towards the realization of their visions, goals and achievements. Our members are also provided with continual support and feedback to assist with the achievement of their personal and professional goals.

123. Paradox Of The Active User (Alertbox Sidebar) The paradox of the Active User. (Sidebar to Jakob Nielsen s column on personalization) Carroll, JM and Rosson, MB (1987). The paradox of the active user. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/activeuserparadox.html

use it.com Alertbox Oct. 1998 Personalization Active user paradox Search The Paradox of the Active User (Sidebar to Jakob Nielsen 's column on personalization The " paradox of the active user " is a concept introduced by John M. Carroll and Mary Beth Rosson (then at IBM, now at Virginia Tech) to explain a common observation in several user studies done at the IBM User Interface Institute in the early 1980s (later confirmed by many other studies, including my own): Users never read manuals but start using the software immediately. They are motivated to get started and to get their immediate task done: they don't care about the system as such and don't want to spend time up front on getting established, set up, or going through learning packages. The "paradox of the active user" is a paradox because users would save time in the long term by taking some initial time to optimize the system and learn more about it. But that's not how people behave in the real world, so we cannot allow engineers to build products for an idealized rational user when real humans are irrational: we must design for the way users actually behave.

124. Zeno's Paradoxes Discusses the paradoxes of Zeno of Elea, for example, Achilles and the Tortoise. By Nick Huggett. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/paradox-zeno/

version history HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy A B C D ... Z This document uses XHTML-1/Unicode to format the display. Older browsers and/or operating systems may not display the formatting correctly. last substantive content change MAR Zeno's Paradoxes Almost everything that we know about Zeno of Elea is to be found in the opening pages of Plato's Parmenides 1. Background 2. The Paradoxes of Plurality 2.1 The Argument from Denseness 2.2 The Argument from Finite Size 2.3 The Argument from Complete Divisibility 3. The Paradoxes of Motion 3.1 The Dichotomy 3.2 Achilles and the Tortoise 3.3 The Arrow ... Related Entries 1. Background Before we look at the paradoxes themselves it will be useful to sketch some of their historical and logical significance. First, Zeno sought to defend Parmenides by attacking his critics. Parmenides rejected pluralism and the reality of any kind of change: for him all was one indivisible, unchanging reality, and any appearances to the contrary were illusions, to be dispelled by reason and revelation. Not surprisingly, this philosophy found many critics, who ridiculed the suggestion; after all it flies in the face of some of our most basic beliefs about the world. (Interestingly, general relativity particularly quantum general relativity arguably provides a novel if novelty is As we read the arguments it is crucial to keep this method in mind. They are always directed towards a more-or-less specific target: the views of some person or school. We must bear in mind that the arguments are

125. Olbers's Paradox us. This type of reasoning gave rise to Olbers s paradox. Another View bright. To see why this is a paradox consider the following http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~imamura/123/lecture-5/olbers.html

Olbers's Paradox for a similar picture for galaxies There is a simple, seemingly trivial question one can ask Why is the night sky dark? This question was originally posed many years ago by a series of people (Kepler, Halley ===> Jean de Cheseaux ===> Heinrich Olbers [1823]). The answer to this seemingly simple question is not trivial and tells us profound things about the Universe. Assumptions: the Universe is finite in size the stars fill the Universe uniformly each star has a luminosity L the inverse square law holds, i.e., the flux of energy from a star (energy flow per second per unit area) is given by f = L / (4 pi D ). Here L is the intrinsic luminosity of the star and D is its distance from us. Consider a shell of stars of thickness T and radius R. How much light do we receive from this shell of stars? Well, the flux of energy from one star is f = L / ( 4 pi R By insepction of the figure, if there are n stars per unit volume of the shell, then the total number of stars per shell is N = n x volume = n x 4 pi R x T The total amount of flux we receive from the shell is then F = f x N = L x n x T ===> a pretty simple and interesting result.

126. RUSSELL, INFINITY, AND THE TRISTRAM SHANDY PARADOX Philosophical examination of the Tristram Shandy paradox (which is that Tristram takes longer than a day to recount one day of his life). http://sguthrie.net/infinity.htm

RUSSELL, INFINITY, AND THE TRISTRAM SHANDY PARADOX by Shandon Guthrie INTRODUCTION Mathematicians have puzzled for centuries what precisely we mean when we refer to the concept of infinity . Some have suggested that infinity is merely something that exists in the mind. Yet others maintain that infinity possesses some ontological status in the real world. In an attempt to demonstrate the difference between the reality of an infinite and the idea of an infinite, Aristotle had suggested the terms actual infinite (the completed whole value of infinity) and potential infinite (susceptible to infinite addition). Analytic philosopher Bertrand Russell believed that an actual infinite could be achieved as long as the counter possessed an actually infinite number of years to do it. In the example given in Sterne's novel, we have the example of Tristram Shandy. Sterne writes about Tristram Shandy as an individual committed to writing an autobiography. However, he is so slow that it takes him one year in order to complete only one day. This means that the most recent event that could be recorded is the day that occurred one year ago. As Shandy writes an additional day, it takes him an additional year to complete the events of that day. Russell uses this example and believes that an actual infinite can be achieved through successive addition only if Shandy has an infinite number of days to complete it. RUSSELL'S ASSESSMENT OF THE TRISTRAM SHANDY PARADOX Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) suspects that the Tristram Shandy paradox can be solved. For Russell, it is the individual who possesses an infinite number of days. Of course mortal individuals possess merely a finite number of days. According to Russell, this is the key in solving the apparent problem. For a precise view of the problem, I will show the paradox numerically. The paradox posits an autobiographer who writes on every day passed. Since it takes Shandy one year (=365 days) to complete one day, then in terms of a one-to-one correspondence it would appear to be futile on a finite level:

127. Newcomb's Paradox Newcomb s paradox. Newcomb s paradox, named after its creator, physicist William Newcomb, is one of the most widely debated paradoxes of recent times. http://members.aol.com/kiekeben/newcomb.html

Newcomb's Paradox Newcomb's paradox, named after its creator, physicist William Newcomb, is one of the most widely debated paradoxes of recent times. It was first made popular by Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick. The following is based on Martin Gardner's and Robert Nozick's Scientific American papers on the subject, both of which can be found in Gardner's book Knotted Doughnuts . The paradox goes like this: A highly superior being from another part of the galaxy presents you with two boxes, one open and one closed. In the open box there is a thousand-dollar bill. In the closed box there is either one million dollars or there is nothing. You are to choose between taking both boxes or taking the closed box only. But there's a catch. The being claims that he is able to predict what any human being will decide to do. If he predicted you would take only the closed box, then he placed a million dollars in it. But if he predicted you would take both boxes, he left the closed box empty. Furthermore, he has run this experiment with 999 people before, and has been right every time. What do you do?

128. Fermi Paradox/Drake Equation Drake's equation attempts to estimate the number N of currently extant civilizations in our galaxy that would be able to contact each other. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy99/phy99024.htm

Ask A Scientist Physics Archive Fermi Paradox/Drake Equation Back to Physics Ask A Scientist Index NEWTON Homepage Ask A Question ... NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators. Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Educational Programs, Harold Myron, Ph.D., Division Director.

129. Twin Paradox Twin paradox. The Twin paradox of Einstein is an interesting thought experiment involving two twins (who are nearly exactly the same http://mentock.home.mindspring.com/twins.htm

Twin Paradox The Twin Paradox of Einstein is an interesting thought experiment involving two twins (who are nearly exactly the same age), one of whom sets out on a journey into space and back. Because of the time dilation effect of relativity, the twin who left experiences a slowing down of time and will actually be much younger than the twin that stayed behind. The reason that this is considered a paradox is that Special Relativity seems to imply that either one can be considered at rest, with the other moving. It does, and it doesn't. The confusion arises not because there are two equally valid inertial rest frames, but (here's the tricky part) because there are three . A lot of explanations of the twin paradox have claimed that it is necessary to include a treatment of accelerations, or involve General Relativity . Not so. The three inertial frames are 1) at-home twin 2) the going-away twin and 3) the coming-back twin. It doesn't make any difference that the last two are physically the same twinthey still define different inertial frames. OK, let's see: Ann stays at home and Bob rockets away at 3/5 light speed. Time dilation is 80%. Bob lets 4 years pass. Bob returns at 3/5 light speed, again taking 4 years. Ann thinks 10 years have passed, and Ann and Bob agree that Bob is two years younger.

130. The World Of Paradox Site containing some wellknown paradoxes, together with a discussion of each. http://sps.nus.edu.sg/~ngbeesan/main.html

The World of Paradox This page is under heavy construction. This is a collection of some of the well known paradoxes and interesting logic puzzles. NEWCOMB’S PARADOX There are two boxes on the table: one opaque and one transparent. The transparent box has a dollar bill in it. The opaque box is empty at the moment. You have two choices: take the opaque box only or take both boxes. One hour later, both boxes are removed. A computer called the decision prediction machine predicts the choice you have made. From experiments, the machine has 99% chance of predicting you decision correctly. If the prediction machine predicts that you will take the opaque box only, a thousand dollars will be put into the opaque box. On the other hand, if it predicts that you will take both boxes, the opaque box will be left empty. The boxes are returned to the table and you pick the box(es). Note that you have 99% chance of getting $1000 by picking the opaque box only. On the other hand, you always get $1 more by taking both boxes, regardless of the contents in the opaque box. What choice would you make? Discussion THE UNEXPECTED HANGING This is a puzzle about a man condemned to be hanged. The man was sentenced on Saturday. "The hanging will take place at noon," said the judge to the prisoner, "on one of the seven days of next week. But you will not know which day it is until you are informed on the morning of the day of the hanging."

131. PrestoNet paradox for Windows files. http://www.prestwood.com/forums/paradox/files/

132. Bertrand's Paradox Bertrand s paradox. The Bertrand s paradox is one such discovery that made mathematicians wary of the whole notion of probability. http://www.cut-the-knot.org/bertrand.shtml

CTK Exchange Front Page Movie shortcuts Personal info ... Recommend this site Bertrand's Paradox Theory of Probability (much as the rest of Mathematics) is actually a recent invention. And the development has not been smooth at all. The first attempts to formalize the calculus of probability were due to marquis de Laplace (1749-1827) who proposed to define the probability p(A) of an outcome A as the ratio of the number of events that result in the outcome A to the total number of possible events. This is of course only meaningful if the number of all possible events is finite and, in addition, all the events are equiprobable. The notion which Laplace has also defined. All elementary Probability courses depend on that definition. However note that the definition is, in a sense, circular - a notion of equi probable is defined prior to the introduction of probable. Thus, at the time, the field did not seem to have a sound foundation. Attempts to extend the definition to the case of infinite number of events led to even greater difficulties. The Bertrand's Paradox is one such discovery that made mathematicians wary of the whole notion of probability. Consider the following problem: Given a circle. Find the probability that a chord chosen at random be longer than the side of an inscribed equilateral triangle.

133. Basic Introduction To Time Travel Pythagoras, Einstein, Lorentz factor, paradox and cosmic censor. http://erntheburn.tripod.com/timetravel/timetravel.htm

document.write(""); Basic Introduction to Time Travel Time and space have fascinated man since the dawn of civilization. People have spent aeons thinking about these concepts and the ideas behind them. The Greeks, the Romans, the English, all have stared at the heavens and wondered. And not without reason! As the boundaries of physics are pushed back and back it is becoming clear that whoever understands the laws of physics best will be able to travel through time and space, easily gaining a dominant position in the known Universe. Indeed that race which can move from universe to universe will get to control all universes! We must therefore double our efforts to ensure that it is we and not some other race who gains understanding first! Or we will end up playing second fiddle for rest of time! Pythagoras into Einstein in two easy steps So where do we start? Well let us start with one of the greatest triumphs of the human mind, the great theorem of Pythagoras, a true pillar of all mathematics and physics. The theorem, which is applicable to right angled triangles in flat Cartesian (Newtonian) space takes the form of: c^2 = a^2 + b^2 where a, b and c are the lengths of the sides of the triangle.

134. Parrondo Paradox Attempt to spread a novel Cut The Knot! meme via the Web site of the Mathematical Association of America, Parrondo paradox. Parrondo paradox. June 2001. http://www.cut-the-knot.org/ctk/Parrondo.shtml

CTK Exchange Front Page Movie shortcuts Personal info ... Recommend this site Cut The Knot! An interactive column using Java applets by Alex Bogomolny Parrondo Paradox June 2001 ... two ugly parents can have beautiful children ... Doron Zeilberger on receiving the 1998 Leroy P. Steele Prize Parrondo's Paradox is a double shocker. Counter to common intuition, it is possible to mix two losing games into a winning combination. This is a good news. But do not rub your hands just yet. The theory does not apply to casino games. Learning about it all must be its own reward. On the positive side but shaky ground, Sandra Blakeslee reported last year in NY Times that Dr. Sergei Maslov from Brookhaven National Laboratory had shown that if an investor simultaneously shared capital between two losing stock portfolios, capital would increase rather than decrease. (On the downside, as of the time of writing, it was too early to apply his model to the real stock market because of its complexity.) Since the Paradox has been reported a couple of years ago, many real world and abstract examples has been thought up that make it more palatable. Indeed, monetary rewards apart, a combination of negative trends may lead to a positive outcome. Brooke Buckley, an undergraduate student from Eastern Kentucky University

135. Curry's Paradox Discussion of a semantic paradox due to Haskell B. Curry; by J. C. Beall. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/curry-paradox/

version history HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy A B C D ... Z This document uses XHTML-1/Unicode to format the display. Older browsers and/or operating systems may not display the formatting correctly. last substantive content change JAN Curry's Paradox Russell's paradox , Curry's paradox challenges familiar naive theories, including naive truth theory (unrestricted T-schema) and naive set theory (unrestricted axiom of abstraction), respectively. If one accepts naive truth theory (or naive set theory), then Curry's paradox becomes a direct challenge to one's theory of logical implication or entailment. Unlike the liar and Russell paradoxes Curry's paradox is negation-free; it may be generated irrespective of one's theory of negation. An intuitive version of the paradox runs as follows. Tasmanian devils have strong jaws. The second sentence on The List is circular. If the third sentence on The List is true, then every sentence is true. The List comprises exactly four sentences. Although The List itself is not paradoxical, the third sentence (a conditional) is. Is it true? Well, suppose, for conditional proof, that its antecedent is true. Then the third sentence of The List is true is true. By substitution, it follows that

136. Abilene Paradox Abilene paradox. I think this is another type of paradox, but I m not sure about a name for it. EdGrimm Is PreferentialVoting the same as AlternativeVoting http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AbileneParadox

137. Pantera Lyrics Contains lyrics for all of the songs and links to lyrics for other heavy metal bands. http://members.tripod.com/metalparadox/pantera_lyrics.htm

var cm_role = "live" var cm_host = "tripod.lycos.com" var cm_taxid = "/memberembedded" Check out the NEW Hotbot Tell me when this page is updated Cowboys From Hell Vulgar Display Of Power ... Reinventing the Steel

138. Camp Paradox Reunion site for former participants at this boys' camp in the Adirondacks, where composer Richard Rodgers was once a counselor. http://www.campparadox.com/

The Camp Paradox page has moved. If you aren't taken to the new page automatically, please click here

139. David G. Myers The American Paradox David G. Myers. The American paradox. The American paradox Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty book cover for the American paradox (Yale U. Press, 2000) http://www.davidmyers.org/paradox/

David G. Myers The American Paradox Home Page Note to the Media Biographical Information Staff Colleagues ... The American Paradox Hearing Loss Resources A Quiet World hearingloop.org Holland, MI Initiative Hearing catalogs ... Social Psych Articles Other Articles ESP Sexual Orientation Terrorist Fears Miscellaneous ... myers@hope.edu The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty (Yale U. Press, 2000) Since 1960 we have experienced the great American paradox: While material affluence and human rights have surged, national civic health was, until recently, falling. In The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty , David Myers explores this paradox. He also reviews current renewal efforts and documents links between faith and social well-being. Myers’ overarching aim is to contribute to a new environmental movementa social environmental movementone seeking a social ecology that respects human rights while nurturing healthier individuals, families, and communities. With this end in mind he notes the social consequences of American materialism and individualism and points the way toward more positive values, economic policies, media influences, educational priorities, and faith communities. ~"A new millennium calls for a new vision of America. . . .

140. .:Paintball Team Paradox:. Contains news, schedule, and roster of novice tournament team from Winona. http://teamparadox.tripod.com/pdx/

.:Paintball Team Paradox:. NEWS!!! Message Board Captain's Corner Roster ... Contact Us If you have any questions or comments feel free to post on our message board or if you need to contact us immediately, call us up, just check out the Contact Us page for our number. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you on the field! Team Paradox Please get in touch if you have any comments or suggestions. var sc_project=226711;

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