I think it's more than just estimating the count of objects.
We also "approximate" for example a spatial distribution - think about how when running through rough terrain, you instantly know which path to choose to encounter fewer rocks. You are certainly not focusing and counting each individual rock.
Notice something in these list? It's all famous cities. The fact that they have wildly different housing regulations doesn't affect the rent prices, any supply is immediately absorbed back.
Then "professional renters" will appear, one person renting and living in a 20 room apartment, and the actual rent money will come in a convoluted way from the billionaire.
They want removal of regulation regarding parking spots (free market), but building of rent-controlled social housing on the freed space (non-free market).
So many mistakes, not doing a clean checkout before a build, setting up a new build server by literally copying everything from the old one, including checked out directories!!!
In three days it expanded until it forced the global media to report on it. It didn't before, because fires like this happen every year, so it was considered just ordinary fact.
I saw some Instagram posts which suggest that some big influencers were DMed with the story from local activists, and then influencers started copying eachother and spreading it further.
I think it's the first time a thing started on Instagram became G7 agenda.
> Chinese nationals inside Google have at times clashed with its techno-libertarian culture. One infamous example, detailed in a book by the former head of Google’s “people operations,” comes from 2008, when the company cafeteria offered employees a “Free Tibet Goji-Chocolate Creme Pie.” This offended a Chinese national at the company, who sent an email to Chief Executive Larry Page. The chef was immediately suspended — then, after a companywide email thread that at the time was the longest in Google history, reinstated. An engineer who was at Google at the time told me the whole controversy was “ridiculous.”
The purpose of this article is different - someone will say "the safety situation in Seattle is terrible because of ultra-liberal drug policies". Then you are supposed to reply with this article as a counter. And New York Times beats The Seattle Times, so you've won the argument.
It's all about providing a counter-narrative to prevent cognitive dissonance.
We also "approximate" for example a spatial distribution - think about how when running through rough terrain, you instantly know which path to choose to encounter fewer rocks. You are certainly not focusing and counting each individual rock.