Category Archives: Human Behavior

Human Behavior

Work In Progress: Finding A Job In The Matrix – Worldcrunch

In early civilizations, landing a job amounted to interning until your employer died. Fast-forward a few thousand years and fortunately, internships have gotten shorter ... and life expectancy has gotten longer! Still, job hunting has become a journey marked by alternating pulls of hope and hysteria. The swift ascension of global connectedness, Artificial Intelligence, the shifting nature of social norms are uprooting the way we're evaluated by recruiters.

This edition of Work In Progress dives into how these transformations affect us today and what expectations we should have for recruitment in the future. In many countries, the classic curriculum vitae is becoming obsolete as recruiters use AI and virtual-reality simulations to evaluate candidates; in Russia, employers are shifting their focus from looks to merit; while in the U.S., "likability" might soon be more important than your masters' degree.

WHAT IF AI DOESN'T LIKE ME? In Amsterdam, ketchup manufacturer Kraft Heinz relies on Artificial Intelligence to recruit, assess, hire, and manage their staff. Defenders of AI-based recruitment claim it removes human bias and promotes diversity, but others say it might just as well enhance existing biases or actively create new ones since the algorithms must be designed by human (usually male) developers. It's still probably too early to decide whether machines should be welcomed as gatekeepers to our dream jobs. Frida Polli, CEO of the AI-driven recruitment platform used by Heinz, puts it this way: "AI is like teenage sex, everyone says they're doing it, and nobody really knows what it is."

STAT DU JOUR

Big Brother is watching, and we are starting to like it: In 2015, only 30% of companies were using monitoring techniques to collect data on how employees spend their time at work, reports Workplace Intelligence. That number is expected to grow to 80% in 2020. Today, 30% of people say they are comfortable with having their email monitored by employers, up from 10% in 2015.

BIG OR THICK, OR BOTH? Perhaps the way to a bias-free recruitment process is to merge artificial and human intelligence. Big data can provide real-time information on consumer and social trends, but a deeper social analysis would require adding "thick data" or information derived from human behavior. Diego Fuentes dives into these two data types in Santiago-based America Economia, and Worldcrunch has the full article here in English.

NO RESUMES NEEDED! In addition to the new challenge of outfoxing algorithms, your future career might ultimately depend on a much more basic standard: whether people like you. Psychologist Dawn Graham writes in Forbes on the topic of "likability," which many believe is an innate quality. Yet Graham gives some practical advice on how to raise your likability quotient during a job interview:

1: Be Human! A big part of the interview is evaluating if you're a good fit for the team. That isn't something you can fake ... Prepare the best you can, and then be yourself.

2: Know Your Audience. In order to sell the product (which is you), it's critical to know what's important to the buyer.

RUSSIAN BEAUTY A study found that the number of employers in Russia who saw appearance as an important recruitment factor has fallen from 82% to 66% over the last decade, reports Rossiyskaya Gazeta. While many in the looks-conscious country may still airbrush their LinkedIn photo, the study found that employees now perceive looks as less important in career advancement, down from 84% to 60% over the same period.

ODD JOB

GREEN-COLLAR JOBS IN ARGENTINA A more sustainable economy has created a new workforce in advanced fields like electricity generation, transportation and energy storage. However, not all green-collar jobs require a master's degree. In Argentina, more than 150,000 people work with recovering recyclable materials in urban centers or at garbage dumps, reports La Nacion. Under the banner of "inclusive recycling," many of the workers are organizing in cooperatives to promote social security. On average, every worker recovers about 100 kilos of waste per day the equivalent of what is generated by 100 people.

FUTURE OF WORK, FLASHBACK How far is it from New York to Buffalo? Why is cast iron called pig iron? What country produce the finest china?

You don't know?! Well, then we regret to inform you that Thomas Edison wouldn't have hired you. A century ago, Edison pioneered the employment form, with his 146-question quiz for prospective employees at his power plant. In 1921, the New York Times revealed the quiz, which became a national topic of controversy. Reporters even took the test to Albert Einstein who flunked for not knowing the exact speed of sound Duh. Trivia masochists can take the test, republished here on Gizmodo. And we'll leave it to the AI developers to feed Edison's data into their next algorithm!

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Work In Progress: Finding A Job In The Matrix - Worldcrunch

Human Behavior

Gamers will teach AI how to control military drone swarms – The Next Web

Gamers could soon be guiding military robots afterresearchers won a grant to investigate what they can teach an AI about controlling swarms of drones.

Scientists from the University of Buffalowillstudy the decisions, brainwaves and eye movements of people playing video games. They will then use this data to build an AI that can controlautonomous air and ground robots

The participants will play a real-time strategy game developed by the research team thats comparable to the likes of Starcraft and Company of Heroes,UBNow revealed.

[Read: How DeepMinds AI defeated top players at StarCraft II]

While they play, the researchers will record their decisions, track their eye movements with high-speed cameras, and monitor their brain wave patterns through electroencephalography (EEG)headsets.

The data they extract will be used to create algorithms that guideswarms of up to 250 military drones.

We dont want the AI system just to mimic human behavior; we want it to form a deeper understanding of what motivates human actions. Thats what will lead to more advanced AI, principal investigatorChowdhury told UBNow.

The study will be funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which recentlypublished a video showing how itsdrone swarms could conduct anurban raid.

StarCraft experts left unimpressed by DARPAs efforts now have a chance to demonstrate that their own tactics are superior.

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Published February 12, 2020 18:24 UTC

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Gamers will teach AI how to control military drone swarms - The Next Web

Human Behavior

AI and Predictive Analytics: Myth, Math, or Magic? – TDWI

AI and Predictive Analytics: Myth, Math, or Magic?

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that math-based analytics can predict human behavior with certainty.

We are a species invested in predicting the future -- as if our lives depended on it. Indeed, good predictions of where wolves might lurk were once a matter of survival. Even as civilization made us physically safer, prediction has remained a mainstay of culture, from the haruspices of ancient Rome inspecting animal entrails to business analysts dissecting a wealth of transactions to foretell future sales.

Such predictions generally disappoint. We humans are predisposed to assuming that the future is a largely linear extrapolation of the most recent (and familiar) past. This is one -- or a combination -- of the nearly 200 cognitive biases that allegedly afflict us.

A Prediction for the Coming Decade

With these caveats in mind, I predict that in 2020 (and the decade ahead) we will struggle if we unquestioningly adopt artificial intelligence (AI) in predictive analytics, founded on an unjustified overconfidence in the almost mythical power of AI's mathematical foundations. This is another form of the disease of technochauvinism I discussed in a previous article.

Science fiction author and journalist Cory Doctorow's article, "Our Neophobic, Conservative AI Overlords Want Everything to Stay the Same," in the Los Angeles Review of Books, offers a succinct and superb summary of technochauvinism as it operates in AI. "Machine learning," he asserts, "is about finding things that are similar to things the machine learning system can already model." These models are, of course, built from past data with all its errors, gaps, and biases.

The premise that AI makes better (e.g., less biased) predictions than humans is already demonstrably false. Employment screening apps, for example, are often riddled with a bias toward hiring white males because the historical hiring data used to train its algorithms consisted largely of information about hiring such workers.

The widespread belief that AI can predict novel aspects of the future is simply a case of magical thinking. Machine learning is fundamentally conservative, based as it is on correlations in existing data; its predictions are essentially extensions of the past. AI lacks the creative thinking ability of humans. Says Tabitha Goldstaub, a tech entrepreneur and commentator, about the use of AI by Hollywood studios to decide which movies to make: "Already we're seeing that we're getting more and more remakes and sequels because that's safe, rather than something that's out of the box."

A Predictive Puzzle

AI, together with the explosion of data available from the internet, have raised the profile of what used to be called operational BI, now known as predictive analytics and its more recent extension into prescriptive analytics. Attempting to predict the future behavior of prospects and customers and, further, to influence their behavior is central to digital transformation efforts. Predictions based on AI, especially in real-time decision making with minimal human involvement, require careful and ongoing examination lest they fall foul of the myth of an all-knowing AI.

As Doctorow notes, AI conservatism arises from detecting correlations within and across existing large data sets. Causation -- a much more interesting feature -- is more opaque, usually relying on human intuition to separate the causal wheat from the correlational chaff, as I discussed in a previous Upside article.

Nonetheless, causation can be separated algorithmically from correlation in specific cases, as described by Mollie Davies and coauthors. I cannot claim to follow the full mathematical formulae they present, but the logic makes sense. As the authors conclude, "Instead of being naively data driven, we should seek to be causal information driven. Causal inference provides a set of powerful tools for understanding the extent to which causal relationships can be learned from the data we have." They present math that data scientists should learn and apply more widely.

However, there is a myth here, too: that predictive (and prescriptive) analytics can divine human intention, which is the true basis for understanding and influencing behavior. As Doctorow notes, in trying to distinguish a wink from a twitch, "machine learning [is not] likely to produce a reliable method of inferring intention: it's a bedrock of anthropology that intention is unknowable without dialogue." Dialogue -- human-to-human interaction -- attracts little attention in digital business implementation.

The Dilemma of (Real) Prediction

Once accused of looking too intently in the rearview mirror, business intelligence has today embraced prediction and prescription as among its most important goals. Despite advances in data availability and math-based technology, truly envisaging future human intentions and actions remains a strictly human gift.

The myth that math-based analytics can predict human behavior with certainty is probably the most dangerous magical thinking we data professionals can indulge in.

About the Author

Dr. Barry Devlin defined the first data warehouse architecture in 1985 and is among the worlds foremost authorities on BI, big data, and beyond. His 2013 book, Business unIntelligence, offers a new architecture for modern information use and management.

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AI and Predictive Analytics: Myth, Math, or Magic? - TDWI

Human Behavior

Fire safety conference brings researchers from across the globe to UMD – The Diamondback

Almost two years ago, research administrators from the University of Melbourne visited the University of Maryland to discuss a possible collaboration.

But the two teams left the meeting with a more ambitious goal to create an international group of experts that would address fire safety issues on a global scale.

Since then, the International Fire Safety Consortium has added three other institutions: the University of Queensland in Australia, Lund University in Sweden and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. And on Monday, the researchers met for the very first time with federal, corporate and nonprofit partners.

Monday began a four-day workshop at the University of Maryland, where researchers talked with representatives from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the World Bank and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, among others.

Those are very helpful conversations [to] inform the consortium efforts and help us focus on problem areas where our researchers can be useful, said Ted Knight, a staff member from this universitys research division.

University of Maryland professor Dr. Arnaud Trouv speaks at the International Fire Safety Consortium at J.M. Patterson Building on Feb 11, 2020. (Joe Ryan/The Diamondback)

During the workshop, the researchers will also narrow down the projects theyre considering and discuss regions of interest for their research. The focus areas include structure fires, especially ones in marginalized communities, and wildfires.

The problems are becoming more intense and more difficult at a pace that is higher than the pace at which we are producing new knowledge and new technical expertise, said Arnaud Trouv, a professor in this universitys fire protection engineering department who is involved in the consortium.

Bryce Bathras, a sophomore fire protection engineering major at this university, is hopeful the consortium might help researchers tackle the larger problems, like wildfires, by working as a team.

Its a really good thing that were coming together to talk about fire safety, Bathras said. Since Maryland is the only ABET-accredited undergraduate for fire protection its just a lot of the same people working on most of the topics.

Read more: [Meet the UMD students who volunteer overnight to keep the community safe from fires]

Bathras, who had always wanted to become an engineer, settled on fire protection engineering when some of her family members in California were affected by large amounts of smoke from wildfires.

The state had its deadliest wildfire season on record two years ago, destroying wildlife and forcing thousands of people to leave their homes. The recent wildfires are more intense partly due to climate change, Trouv said. Scientists dont know if thats the only cause, he said, as their understanding of how fire spreads is still limited.

And last spring, when the roof of the historic Notre-Dame cathedral located a little over 20 miles from Trouvs alma mater, cole Centrale of Paris caught fire, the researcher thought to himself: It might have been prevented if a fire protection engineer was involved in the buildings maintenance.

In this way, Trouv said, fire safety reminds him of cars.

Theres a difference between the mechanic and somebody who designs the engine, he said.

Tackling fire safety issues requires knowledge of structural engineering, toxicity and even human behavior, said Margaret McNamee, a professor from Lund University.

Read more: [Out here by ourselves: Women aerospace majors are fighting to increase their numbers]

Fire science is a little bit different to [other] engineering sciences, McNamee said. Fire safety can only be created through a multidisciplinary approach.

Another focus area of the initiative is social inequality in fire safety. In a meeting room with several other researchers, Graham Spinardi, a professor from the University of Edinburgh, was the only social scientist.

Spinardi said changes to an areas environment are not possible unless they get residents on board, especially in the developing world.

If you dont understand that, you cant make any progress, Spinardi said.

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Fire safety conference brings researchers from across the globe to UMD - The Diamondback

Human Behavior

The T-Mobile Sprint Merger Just Got Rubber Stamped and We All Lose – VICE

A federal judge has ruled in favor of T-Mobiles $26 billion merger with Sprint, despite ample historical evidence showing the deal will likely erode competition, raise U.S. wireless data prices, and result in significant layoffs as redundant jobs are eliminated.

In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero shot down the complaints of numerous state attorneys general, insisting that eliminating one of just four major U.S. wireless carriers was not reasonably likely to substantially lessen competition in the wireless space.

At times Marrero was strangely esoteric as he tried to justify approval of the controversial deal.

How the future manifests itself and brings to pass what it holds is a multifaceted phenomenon that is not necessarily guided by theoretical forces or mathematical models, Marreno wrote. Instead, causal agents that engender knowing and purposeful human behavior, individual, and collective, fundamentally shape that narrative.

A coalition of state attorneys general collaboratively sued to stop the deal last year, claiming the reduction of competitors in the U.S. market from four to three would reduce the industrys incentive to compete on price, driving up already expensive U.S. wireless consumer bills.

From Ireland to Canada, theres abundant evidence that similar four to three mergers routinely result in significantly higher rates courtesy of less overall competition. Regulators have blocked similar mergers in the U.S. for just this reason; from AT&Ts attempted acquisition of T-Mobile in 2011, to a seperate Sprint T-Mobile merger proposed in 2014.

The deal had already been a source of major controversy after the Ajit Pai FCC quickly approved the merger before staffers had even had a chance to review the proposal. The DOJ then rubber stamped the deal against the advice of many agency staffers.

To justify its approval, the DOJ signed off on a T-Mobile proposal that would involve shoveling some of T-Mobiles spectrum to Dish Network, which would then build an entirely new, replacement fourth carrier over a period of seven years. But Dish has a history of empty promises in wireless, and economists have warned the plan isnt likely to work.

Under the proposal Dish will spend several years as little more than a rebranded version of T-Mobiles existing service. Economists say its unlikely the Trump FCCwhich has been little more than a rubber stamp to the telecom industry over the last three yearswill be willing to hold either company accountable should the deal not deliver on its promises.

From the start, this merger has been about massive corporate profits over all else, and despite the companies false claims, this deal will endanger wireless subscribers where it hurts most: their wallets, New York Attorney General Letitia James said of todays ruling.

Then theres the layoffs.

Contrary to T-Mobiles claims that the deal will create jobs, analysts have predicted that the merger could eliminate anywhere between 10,000 and 20,000 jobs as redundant retail, support, and middle management positions are inevitably eliminated. Unions claim the merger could eliminate as many as 30,000 positions over the next five years.

T-Mobile and Sprint have claimed that Sprint would collapse unless the deal that was approved, though economists were quick to note there were numerous deals (like collaboration with Comcast) that didnt require the elimination of a major, direct competitor. Similarly, experts have shot down T-Mobiles claims that the deal was necessary to speed up 5G deployment.

In the end, consumers will be the losers, as they have over the past three decades of massive telecommunications and media mergers, former FCC lawyer Gigi Sohn told Motherboard.

U.S. consumers already pay some of the highest prices in the developed world for wireless service, thanks in large part to revolving door regulators and lax antitrust enforcers that repeatedly refuse to hold the industry accountable for market failure, Sohn said.

Over and over again, consumers are promised enormous benefits and so-called efficiencies by merging parties, she added. But what they are left with each time are corporate behemoths who can raise prices at will, use their gatekeeper power to destroy competition and new voices and hijack regulatory and legislative processes.

While Congress routinely hyperventilates over the many justified problems with big tech, big telecom continues to get a free pass from both Congress and the Trump administration, despite engaging in many of the same (or worse) behaviors.

Comcast and NBC Universal; AT&T and Time Warner; AT&T and BellSouth, AT&T and Cingular; Spectrum and Time Warner Cable; theres 40 years of clear historical data showing that mindless consolidation in the telecom space results in higher prices, fewer jobs, and steadily-worse customer support. Its a history lesson America refuses to learn.

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The T-Mobile Sprint Merger Just Got Rubber Stamped and We All Lose - VICE

Human Behavior

The Government Wants to Use Your Brainwaves to Train Swarms of Military Robots – Popular Mechanics

Douglas Levere/University at Buffalo

In what sounds like a Black Mirror-esque approach to military strategy, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding a study that will use gamers' brain waves to teach hives of defense robots how to swarm together to complete missions.

DARPA has given a $316,000 federal grant to the University at Buffalo Artificial Intelligence Institute to study gamers' brain waves and eye movements. The aim is to improve organization and strategy among autonomous air and ground robots.

Why would the U.S. want to invest in robot swarms? Because bevies of bots are already being pursued elsewhere in the world, like Russia. Flock-93, for example, is a vision of 100 kamikaze-like drones, each armed with an explosive charge, swarming targets like vehicle convoys. In theory, these hordes of robots are drastically more difficult to defend against, so the U.S. certainly doesn't want to lag behind.

"The idea is to eventually scale up to 250 aerial and ground robots, working in highly complex situations," said Souma Chowdhury, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Buffalo, in a press statement. "For example, there may be a sudden loss of visibility due to smoke during an emergency. The robots need to be able to effectively communicate and adapt to challenges like that."

Douglas Levere/University at Buffalo

To put it simply, groups of more primitive robots can complete certain tasks better than one really intelligent robot could on its own. This theory in artificial intelligence is referred to as "swarm intelligence."

It's a trait found throughout nature. Consider the modest ant: By itself, an ant can lift 5,000 times its own body weight, but that still doesn't amount to much. A colony of ants working together, meanwhile, can pull off some pretty unbelievable feats, like creating superhighways of food, waging war, and enslaving other ants.

This biomimicry is a hot topic in computer science, Chowdhury told DigitalTrends.

"Its becoming known that there are a lot of different applications which could be done by not using a single $1 million robot, but rather a large swarm of simpler, cheaper robots," he said. "These could be ground-based, air-based, or a combination of those two approaches."

Douglas Levere/University at Buffalo

In Chowdhury's study, experts will play real-time strategy games similar to StarCraft, Stellaris, and Company of Heroes, which force players to use resources to build units and defeat opponents. The researchers are developing their own unique strategy-based game.

As gamers play, the decisions they make are recorded, and researchers will track their eye movements through high-speed cameras. In tandem, their brain activity will be monitored through electroencephalograms. (Those are the headsets with a bunch of electrodes on the cap that you might wear during a sleep study).

Then, based on the data they've gathered, the scientists will build new algorithms that will guide autonomous drones and ground robots used in military applications.

"We dont want the AI system just to mimic human behavior; we want it to form a deeper understanding of what motivates human actions," Chowdhury said. "Thats what will lead to more advanced AI."

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The Government Wants to Use Your Brainwaves to Train Swarms of Military Robots - Popular Mechanics

Human Behavior

What kind of a beast are Residential Proxies? – PC-Tablet

Like most proxies, residential proxies act as an intermediary between a users device and the internet. They transfer requests from the user to the web and responses back from the web to the user. The sites that the user is trying to access will only detect the proxies identity and not the users. Generally, users will require a proxy server to:

So what kind of a beast are residential proxies? Before we look at what makes them unique, what are they? Residential proxies are actual residential IPs distributed by internet service providers to individuals/homeowners.

Basically, your ISP will give you a new IP address each time you move and connect your internet to a new location. Each residential IP address is connected to a dedicated device (mobile or desktop). It also contains information about the network, location, and ISP of the device.

What makes residential IPs special is that the servers perceive them as IP addresses of real people. If you would like to learn more details about residential proxies, you should dig in deeper, but the basic information is provided in this article. Restrictive sites that generally ban certain IP addresses will not block residential IPs because they look genuine. Heres how they benefit individuals and businesses with their unique qualities:

Web scraping is necessary for businesses today. They need to maintain their competitive advantage by gathering important competitor information from the web. However, this information is so much that they cant do it manually. Residential proxies are the perfect tool for large scale web scraping.

Although users can access restricted websites with residential proxies, these sites are constantly checking the user behavior for any strange activity. Lets assume you are trying to scrape 50 pages from a site with high-level, anti-scraping measures.

After scraping the first few pages, the server will detect repetitive unhuman activity. At this point, it might present you with a CAPTCHA or block your IP.

Residential proxy networks prevent web servers from detecting any unhuman user activity by imitating real human behavior. These networks contain various residential IP addresses which rotate after each request. Businesses can then scrape all the information they require without restriction.

Fraudsters have mastered the art of faking ad traffic. Real people are not seeing these ads and businesses are losing a lot of money in the process.

Competitors can also use this to damage their reputation. Residential proxies are an effective way to verify these ads, improve ad performance, detect ad fraud and anonymously check out the landing pages of advertisers.

For travel fare aggregators, collecting travel data is tough. Data sources like travel agencies, train companies, bus companies, and airline companies have stringent security checks and they will block any bot-like activity. This is where the legitimacy of residential proxies comes in, enabling aggregators to collect and compare different travel fare prices, time tables, and other data.

Popular sneaker brands will sometimes release a new limited edition product. For sneakers in particular, who doesnt want to own a limited edition pair of Adidas or Nike footwear?

The problem is that they only make a few pairs. Imagine millions of people eyeing 10,000 pairs of sneakers. The chances of owning one pair are slim to none unless you use residential proxies.

Residential proxies will help you bypass any geographical location restrictions imposed by these brands, so you can access the sites no matter where you live. Also, you can use several residential proxies to stand in line for you without being detected. The more you use, the better your chance of owning these popular kicks.

Residential proxies support several SEO tools and allow you to improve your business performance by optimizing your site effectively. When you scrape competitor information, you can access the keywords they use and discover their sources of traffic. Residential proxies also help you to create useful links.

Many users still use free proxies to access the web anonymously and access geographically restricted content but dont realize that its not as secure as they think.

You might be able to mask your IP address from the website youre accessing, but not from the proxy server. Basically, its like youre handing over your IP address to the proxy server for an opportunity to use theirs.

Dedicated residential proxies are generally more secure and provide you with a high-speed reliable connection. With residential rotating proxies, also known as residential backconnect proxies, your IP address can change every 5 to 10 minutes.

Residential proxies might be similar to other proxies in such a way that they provide anonymity, can bypass blocking mechanisms and access geo-restricted content. However, to answer the question What kind of a beast are residential proxies? you should look at their unique applications. Residential proxies are the only go-to proxies for web scraping and buying limited edition sneakers online.

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What kind of a beast are Residential Proxies? - PC-Tablet

Human Behavior

Opportunities for the At-Home-Parent – The Good Men Project

Thanks for coming. I know that this isnt your favorite thing, my wifes Big Boss said at her work office party. He couldnt have been more wrong.

As an at-home-parent, I dont get invited to many fancy parties. Most of the parties I attend involve an uncomfortable amount of snot and hotdogs. On occasion, there is beer, which is nice but I have to drink it through a juice straw.

Not here, though. Not at an awesome work party with other adults where no one wears a diaper. Well, if they do I dont want to know about it.

There are a lot of man buns though, just saying.

I can see why he thinks I dont like coming to these things. In the past, Ive written about them. Those awkward moments that accompany any plus one at a spouses party. I dont speak the lingo, I have no idea who Debra is in accounting, and if there is an office romance Im probably going to squeal on that person strictly because I didnt know it was on the down-low.

I also accidentally called my wifes Big Boss a terrible person at once. Regrettable, but I did get a very well-read piece out of it. In fact, it remains one of the funniest things Ive ever written.

But I love coming to the work parties because of the opportunities. So many opportunities.

As a humor writer, this place cannot be matched. This is what we call in my business a target-rich environment of human behavior. There are so many man buns that I giggle as I make my way across the room. Jokes write themselves.

Theres an open bar too and at some point, those 90s beats are going to drop, and with it the inhibitions of the younger staff as they forget they are in a work environment. At this point, Im really here just to document what I experience.

Its an opportunity for me to meet a lot of the people who helped get my writing off the ground. I have fans that I am forever grateful for. They shake my hand and bring up pieces that I had no idea someone read. Its humbling and awesome all at the same time.

At times, Im hugged. You have no idea how much that means to a writer, and I get the opportunity to soak it all in. Inside my head, I wonder what vision they have of me from my words and if it matches the pudgy bald guy they see in person. I almost want to apologize.

I get the opportunity to eat amazing food. There are no hotdogs or Mac N Cheese. The tacos are fancier than most of my clothes. There are meatballs on little cute sticks. There is something called a chicken lollipop and its delicious.

Most importantly though, its all cooked by someone else. You want to make sure an at-home-parent has a good time? Feed them and let them know someone else is going to do the dishes. Somedays, even a supermax prison sounds good to us.

I get the opportunity to hear music that has nothing to do with a childrens YouTube star. Its almost soothing. I recognize the beats blasting from the speakers near the DJ booth. His set up reminds me of Lite Brite. I wonder if he could punch the buttons to make a sunflower. For a moment, I consider going over there and showing him how. Im kinda a big deal in the Lite Brite game.

I get the opportunity to have adult conversations. I listen and around me, people talk about grown-up things. Books and movies, pop culture and politics, contracts and future plans. No one is discussing the most recent parent outrage or injustice, or at the very least, the problems that Paw Patrol is currently facing. God bless those dogs.

For an evening, Im in the adult world at a place that I have no right to be. Its nice. I look good in my sweater. I consider dancing with the interns as Ice Ice Baby blares over the loudspeakers.

I get the opportunity to experience the unexpected. The Big Boss gets on the P.A. and makes an announcement. He gives credit to those that have given them a great year. He highlights their growth. He compliments their hard work and dedication.

And then he does something unexpected. He thanks the significant others that support his staffs occasional late nights so they can do what they do. I get to experience the inclusion of the plus one. I eat a chicken lollipop to celebrate.

He didnt have to do that, but he did. He owes me nothing, in my mind. But to him, he does and its a sign of good leadership. Hes the opposite of terrible. That is my professional humorist opinion.

I get the opportunity for the greatest set up ever.

Outside, we get to watch two firetrucks roll-up. There is a fire at an electrical junction near the parking lot. Flames shoot high in the dark night so that we get to experience a replay of sunset. My wife glows next to me with her smile. The rest of the staff watch the firemen drag the hose out of the truck and hook it to the water main. I can smell ozone.

I tell my wife to stand close to me, and I take a picture with her. Shes smiling brighter than the fire behind us. She gorgeous, and I know Im lucky. Mainly, because as I text my daughter, I know that Im going to lay down a great dad joke.

Hey, honey! I text my daughter. Guess what?

What, she texts back in that unnatural speed of a teenager.

I send the selfie I took with my wife with the fire in the background.

This party is lit!

It may be the greatest dad joke I have ever laid down. The OMG I get back from my daughter confirms it.

So no, Mr. Big Boss, I dont hate coming to my wifes work parties. I love seeing my wife unwind with her coworkers. I love how much you care about them. I love to see the march of the man-buns to the dance floor when that 90s beat drops.

I love firetrucks in the background of a perfect picture, giving me the perfect dad joke, next to my perfect wife.

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Opportunities for the At-Home-Parent - The Good Men Project

Human Behavior

Taking the Ted stage to Cathy: Pitt alum finds success in resilience – University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

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John Daniel, a West End native and 1979 Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences alumni, spoke Sunday in the Cathedral about how students can rewrite their definition of success.

Grace Giglio | For the Pitt News

John Daniel, a West End native and 1979 Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences alumni, spoke Sunday in the Cathedral about how students can rewrite their definition of success.

Grace Giglio | For the Pitt News

Grace Giglio | For the Pitt News

John Daniel, a West End native and 1979 Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences alumni, spoke Sunday in the Cathedral about how students can rewrite their definition of success.

Pitt alum John Daniel laid down in 2015 to receive a heart transplant which would extend his life for a minimum of 10 years. He stood four years later to give a TED Talk on the power and experience of intentional thought.

I had this picture in my head, Daniel said in the TED Talk. I saw myself on a bicycle all dressed with my helmet, doing a long bike ride in some exotic location. That got me through all the pain. The discomfort. Just having that vision in my head And so, the thing is, when you face something that seems daunting and overwhelming, youve got to have a picture of you on the other end.

Daniels TED Talk, Everything Will Be Alright, offered viewers a glimpse into his rise from poverty, the loss of his wife and the experience of undergoing a heart transplant. The Pittsburgh native and 1979 Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences graduate came to the 35th floor of Pitts Cathedral of Learning Sunday morning to talk to students about his perspective on success and cultivating a positive mindset.

Raymond Davis, the charitable relationship manager of the Division of Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement, suggested that he appear as a speaker at the Honors College after watching Daniels TED Talk and getting to know him.

I thought he was just a fantastic example of someone who took their education and ran with it. He looked for opportunities and worked hard, Davis said.

At the event, Daniel focused on the four basic factors to which he credits personal and professional success self-awareness, perspective, adaptability and resilience. Careful attention to these processes, he said, is what has led him to success and ultimately maintains his positive outlook.

Growing up, Daniel learned from his mother how to balance the chaotic and dynamic lifestyle that they shared. He moved 10 separate times as a child, he said, coupled with frequent trips to and from hospitals to combat health issues.

I came out of that with some sense of the ability to be in control of my circumstances, Daniel said.

Working as the executive vice president and chief human resources officer for First Horizon National Corporation, Daniel said he finds pride in teaching employees the ways in which they can gain control over their own circumstances.

According to Daniel, heightened self-awareness is an effective tool in developing rational thought and emotional intelligence. In the workplace, he said he frequently uses feedback as a strategy to raise employees self-awareness.

This idea of intrapersonal awareness, which I call self-awareness, is really important, Daniel said. [It] is your ability to understand your moods and behaviors and their impact on others. Reflection is key in developing the skill of self-awareness.

In Daniels experience, the largest obstacle in gaining self-awareness and perspective is a negative mindset.

The brain has a negative bias. So when something happens, the first question is why, Daniel said. Growing up, I wasnt automatically fighting the system, I was trying to understand the system.

Maintaining productive habits and seeking perspective now comes as second nature to Daniel, but only in retrospect. Productivity and positivity are attributes he believes are built with consistent and applied practice and must be practiced through the best and worst of times.

Fluctuations in social environments produce variations in human behavior that are reflective of the human ability to adapt to the unknown. The ability to adapt, he said, corresponds with resilience which he defines as the capacity to rebound from trauma.

Resilience, in some ways, is a product of our personality, Daniel said. It is not a trait like agreeableness and consciousness. It is a mental process that you can teach. The most important thing is to face an obstacle and to reflect on the inner voice in your head. You can rewire your brain through intentional thought.

Cassidy Dinsmore, a first-year student intending to major in human resources, attended the event to hear from a seasoned professional in the fields of HR and business. She found what John had to say to be a good complement to her intended course of study at Pitt.

It was an interesting validation of what I am learning here will be useful towards what I am doing in the future, Dinsmore said. Within business, HR is sometimes seen as lesser. So, its very interesting to hear from someone who has been so successful in HR and in the business field.

Daniel defines his success in measures of emotion. He said he is happy with family and friends, proud to be an active member of his community and excited to go to work everyday and share his expertise with others.

I still have setbacks! Daniel said. You have to accept the fact that it may take an hour, a day, a week or longer to build a growth mindset. It is important to think you can constantly grow and learn.

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Taking the Ted stage to Cathy: Pitt alum finds success in resilience - University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

Human Behavior

Vectra Empowers Organizations to Detect and Stop Office 365 Breaches – Yahoo Finance

As Account Takeovers Continue for Office 365, controlling Risk Remains the Top Concern for Organizations Adopting Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) Models

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Cyber risk is becoming an escalating concern for organizations around the world, and Office 365 data breaches are at the forefront. Even with the rising adoption of incremental security approaches like multi-factor authentication, access controls continue to be circumvented. In fact, 40% of organizations suffer from Office 365 account takeovers. As these data breaches make headlines with growing consistency, the resulting financial and reputational costs mount.

It is far too easy for an attacker to manipulate human behavior and gain high privilege access to business-critical SaaS resources. According to Microsoft's Q3 FY19 earnings call, there are more than 180 millionmonthly users on Office 365.With so many users, 100% cyber hygiene becomes impossible. To make matters worse, teams continue to struggle to keep up with weekly vendor-driven configuration changes and new best practices. And once an initial foothold is gained in a SaaS application, it is just a matter of time before they laterally move and cross into other parts of the infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, amassive number of alerts are flooding Security Operations Centers (SOCs), forcing analysts to spend time manually analyzing and prioritizing which ones deserve attention. This is overwhelming security analysts' time and organizations' security budgets. As threat actors become more efficient at dodging and targeting the enterprise, most analysts simply can't keep up.

"Attackers will follow a path of least resistance and the convergence of these elements makes exploiting the cloud easy for them.In no other construct is it fair to expect a person, or security team, to be correct 100% of the time. This is an unacceptable expectation and entirely unfair to security teams," said Vectra CEO Hitesh Sheth. "The last thing we want is to create more work for security teams. What is needed is technology that removes the dependency on human behavior and human error and brings control back to the security team. This is what Vectra can provide."

Credential abuse is the leading attack vector in SaaS, especially for Office 365. In an effort to help organizations securely and successfully protect their applications, Vectra AI, the leader in network threat detection and response (NDR), is announcing the launch of Cognito Detect for Office 365. Backed by new detection models focused on credentials and privilege in SaaS applications, Vectra expands cloud coverage from Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and extends the ability totrack attacker activity pivoting between on-premise, data center, IaaS and SaaS. Given that attackers don't operate in silos, a security solution shouldn't either. Vectra delivers the complete visibility across your deployment footprint that leaves attackers without a place to hide.

"Prevention technology has long been available and continues to evolve, however, it doesn't guarantee that data is safe. The real growth has been in detection and response capabilities, which have been long missing from most organizations' resources," continued Sheth. "We are the first and only NDR to apply privilege-based detections in SaaS applications. Our AI-driven solution seamlessly ties into your existing Office 365 deployment, and detects privilege-based attacker behaviors, giving you full visibility into your SaaS deployments. We continue to be at the forefront of security by detecting privilege abuse behaviors across the entire lifecycle of an attack in the cloud."

For more information, visitvectra.ai.

About VectraVectrais the leader in network detection and response from cloud and data center workloads to user and IoT devices. Its Cognitoplatform accelerates threat detection and investigation using AI to enrich network metadata it collects and stores with the right context to detect, hunt and investigate known and unknown threats in real time. Vectra offers three applications on the Cognito platform to address high-priority use cases. Cognito Streamsends security-enriched metadata to data lakes and SIEMs. Cognito Recallis a cloud-based application to store and investigate threats in enriched metadata. And Cognito Detectuses AI to reveal and prioritize hidden and unknown attackers at speed. For more information, visitvectra.ai.

Media contactJohn KreuzerLumina Communications for Vectravectra@luminapr.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vectra-empowers-organizations-to-detect-and-stop-office-365-breaches-301002604.html

SOURCE Vectra

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Vectra Empowers Organizations to Detect and Stop Office 365 Breaches - Yahoo Finance