Pages

▼

Friday, March 17, 2017

When ‘Disinformation’ Is Truth: Things to Think Irish Slavic Logic

 They had set themselves an impossible task. They were doomed from the start. 
There was no way out

 SOONER OR LATER, IT REQUIRES A BUTCHER: Socialism Requires a Dictator

 Bribes, gifts and scandal: 7 stories of corruption that shocked Britain


 THE LITERARY HOAX

Why Writers Lie (and Plagiarize and Fabricate and Stretch the Truth and...)


While “fake news” may be a current term of art, the literary hoax is a tale as old as the printed word





No word yet on whether the presumed SJW responsible has been fired, but this must be a difficult day for elitists who sneer at McDonalds.
China's approach to its housing boom makes Australia look soft


Straight from a presentation to journalism students, here's on the relationship between fact-checking and verification.



What if data privacy wasn’t an issue?
Smart cities run on data to provide and refine services, which enhance the quality of citizens’ lives, but personal privacy may be infringed. Read more 

'Hardware 'dislodged' from HPE SAN during cable replacement

Australian Taxation Office reveals more about outages plus plans for Easter upgrade

You’ll never want to buy synthetic clothing after watching ‘The Story of Microfibers’ 

When ‘Disinformation’ Is Truth Consortiumnews

Judge issues search warrant for anyone who Googled a victim's name in an entire US town


Court order casts wide net over 50,000 people
'Secret medicals' on public servants ruled unlawful

NSW Parliament’s CIO jumps to electoral commission


Tony Nitti, President Trump’s Tax Returns: What Can They Really Tell Us?. “To listen to Maddow’s introduction, one would think that Trump’s return would neatly lay out his Russian connections, abusive tax shelters, and the fate of Atlantis. But that’s not how tax returns work. Even a basic return only reveals limited useful information, and as a general rule, the more complex the return grows, the less transparency it offers.”



News from the Profession. Judge Didn’t Buy PwC’s Story, Rejects Call for Mistrial (Caleb Newquist, Going Concern).
 
How Australia's best houses are being sold on Chinese social media dragon platform WeChat

First there is this from Robert Bly:

 Think in ways you’ve never thought before.
If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a message
Larger than anything you’ve ever heard,
Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats.

 Think that someone may bring a bear to your door,
Maybe wounded and deranged; or think that a moose
Has risen out of the lake, and he’s carrying on his
       antlers
A child of your own whom you’ve never seen.

 When someone knocks on the door, think that he’s
       about
To give you something large: tell you you’re forgiven,
Or that it’s not necessary to work all the time, or that
       it’s
Been decided that if you lie down no one will die.

 "Things to Think" by Robert Bly from Eating the Honey of Words. © Harper Collins, 1999.
* * * * *

 And there is this personal postscript: 

 Sometimes I think I think too much. Some thoughts puzzle me, and some thoughts disturb me. 

 But this poem, with its lovely lyricism, especially the last line, reminds me of a haunting prayer and an unpleasant memory: "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake. I pray the Lord my soul to take." 

 Honestly, I prefer Robert Bly's poem to my childhood prayer. That nighttime ritual of prayer taught me that death was my constant companion. And I think that is a terrible companion for a small child. Shame on my parents for encumbering me with that terror. Perhaps I am being too harsh on them. They thought they were doing the right thing. In any case, death, thanks to many factors, is still a difficult companion for me as an adult. 

 Now, though, as I think more about Bly's poem, trying to step away from my childhood prayer, I wonder what you think. Yes, let's talk about thinking.

Yanisky-Ravid, Shlomit and Lahav, Ben Zion, Public Interest vs. Private Lives – Affording Public Figures Privacy, in the Digital Era: The Three Principles Filtering Model (March 12, 2006). University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, Vol. 19, No. 5, 2017. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2931864
“On the basis of reasoning that there exists a broad “right to know” information of public concern, freedom of speech generally overrides public figures’ right to privacy in the United States. The legal result reflects a situation in which public figures have almost no right to privacy even when published information is false. The new realm of the digital era brings new threats to public figure privacy that invokes the need to rethink this norm. We agree with the notion that public figures, by virtue of their position in society, waive their right to privacy when there is an important and legitimate purpose to informing the public of certain information. However, we depart from the U.S. legal norm, maintaining that, in general, public figures, under certain conditions, should be able to enjoy a right to privacy similar to that afforded to private citizens. In support of this proposition, we have developed a Three Principle Filtering Model, to be used in determining whether or not the rationale for publication of information about public figures is legitimate and hence should be allowed or prohibited….”

ATO prepares to roll out new SAN
Compendium of WHS and workers’ compensation statistics 8th edition

Comcare reveals publicservants' bizarre compensation requests

 Workers' compensation: Kooky claims from public servants

'You ruined my career. Pay me $10m.' Traumatised agent suing 

Tax officer worker tries to claim $20000 breast reduction as a WORK EXPENSE - before costing taxpayers more than ...

Crowd-checking for dummies

Donald Trump is neither the first nor the last politician to mislead the public about his crowd's size. Silvio Berlusconi was claiming more than 10 years ago that 2 million people attended one of his Roman rallies. (The square in question can't even fit half that number). This month, it was French presidential candidate François Fillon's turn. We spoke to the creator of MapChecking.com and to a crowd size expert about how best to measure large crowds in public spaces

 

Are you ready for Fake News, The Musical? The writers at Reason have already imagined it; see the video here. 

Fake news absurdity On RT, check out this bizarre debate featuring fake news impresario Paul Horner. Speaking of RT, they launched "Fake Check" this week. “The fact-checking is only going one way,” a channel spokesperson told BuzzFeed, providing no evidence. 

Is “Rat Film” real or not? Or does it matter? Says a co-founder of the Truth/False Film Fest: “The uncomfortable question of modern documentaries is this dark flip side of what we call the 'muddy truth.'” Read more in the L.A. Times.

(1) A library looks at the history of fake news. (2) Zuckerberg: Facebook hates fake news too. (3) The misinformation battle goes to high school.  (4) Fact-checkers win the Walter Cronkite award.  (5) A North Carolina official alters headlines on his Facebook page.  (6) "Where fake news goes to die"  tells the story of Snopes.  (7) Jake Tapper's son knows how to get on his last nerve. (8) Enroll in Craig Silverman's latest seminar on verification. (9) International Fact-Checking Day is coming up. Check out factcheckingday.com on Monday, March 20, for more information. (10) A five-minute cure for diabetes? Nope. (11) A look at PolitiFact's state affiliates. (12) Misuse of the term "fake news" expands to Ireland (13) Correction, with apologies: Here is the link to the journal Nature's article on what fake news does to your memory. The link was incorrect in last week's newsletter

 

....Buda Pest: The business model for the Olympic Games is running out of puff

"What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?"

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment

 


at