Progress & Productivity
This project management principle states that adding more people to a late software project often makes it even later.
What is Brooks' Law?
This Polynesian navigation method relies on stars, ocean swells, and other natural cues instead of instruments
What is the star compass?
Neil Armstrong argued that people predict too much for this time frame and too little for the following decade
What is the next year?
This philosopher argued that beauty appears purposeful even when it serves no practical purpose
Who is Immanuel Kant?
This 1844 religious movement famously predicted the end of the world
Who were the Millerites?
These interface elements give users a sense of control despite often having no real effect
What are placebo buttons?
This biological ability allows animals such as sea turtles and migratory birds to detect Earth's magnetic field
What is magnetoreception?
This British mountaineer became famous for answering a question about Everest with three simple words: "Because it's there."
Who is George Mallory?
Brian Eno composed this influential ambient album to reduce stress in transitional spaces
What is Ambient 1: Music for Airports?
Unlike most parliamentary democracies, these two countries are specifically mentioned in the curriculum as not using caretaker governments
What are the United States and Venezuela?
This project management constraint is commonly represented by the three competing factors of scope, time, and cost
What is the Iron Triangle?
These unofficial footpaths reveal the routes people actually prefer over planned walkways
What are desire paths?
This hypothetical milestone describes AI matching human ability across virtually all domains
What is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)?
This famous house by Frank Lloyd Wright blurred the boundary between indoors and nature
What is the Robie House?
This 1910 celestial event triggered panic that poisonous gases would destroy life on Earth
What is Halley's Comet?
This economic indicator measures how evenly income is distributed within a country rather than how wealthy it is overall
What is the Gini Coefficient?
This optimization problem seeks the shortest route that visits every location exactly once before returning to the start
What is the Traveling Salesman Problem?
This anticipated event refers to quantum computers potentially breaking today's encryption systems
What is Q-Day?
This play by Samuel Beckett centers on two characters waiting endlessly for someone who never arrives
What is Waiting for Godot?
This French composer wrote Quartet for the End of Time while imprisoned during World War II
Who was Olivier Messiaen?
According to this scientific principle, closed systems naturally become more disordered over time
What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics (entropy)?
This paradox describes how adding another road can actually worsen traffic
What is Braess's Paradox?
This failed project by Nikola Tesla attempted worldwide wireless transmission of electricity and communication
What is Wardenclyffe Tower?
This Japanese Coming-of-Age celebration recognizes young people reaching adulthood
What is Seijin no Hi?
Researchers studying collapsing ecosystems often monitor rapid fluctuations in this green pigment as an early warning sign
What is chlorophyll?