— Washington Irving, born around this date in 1783
I am the youngest Vrobovian of six (6) Children ...
The poet and painter David Jones never got over his experience on the Western Front during World War I. ... "My mind can't be rid of it," he said late in a life spent mostly indoors
“Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it; so that a man rich in such lore, like Sancho Panza, can always find a venerable maxim to fortify the view he happens to be taking.”
~George Santayana, The Life of Reason
"Weekends are family time, so we might go to the park or kids' birthday parties. It's pretty mundane"
A Day of The typical NSWelsher person revealedA day in the life of Fintel Alliance
Massive protest in Hungary against bill that could oust Soros university Reuters
Great Barrier Reef at ‘terminal stage’: scientists despair at latest coral bleaching data Guardian. Important and depressing...
New Harvard student group dedicated to inviting controversial speakers
Journalists put their bloopers out in solidarity with Natasha Exelb
How much is that digital media company really worth? A guide
MEdia Dragon gets is first obscure Pulitzer citation after many drinks and under George Orwell's Alternative News;-)
Speeches, day-drinking and other ways journalists celebrated the 2017 Pulitzer Prizes
Here are the winners of the 2017 Pulitzer Prizes
Vale John Clarke the man of flowers
Where Evangelicals Came From NYRB Interesting long read by Garry Wills, reviewing Frances FitzGerald’s latest book
The slow professor can dish out a more nutritious education Aeon
Google is now highlighting fact checks in search
That is the new and fascinating book by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, with the subtitle Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are. Here is one of many interesting bits:
Urban areas tend to be well supplied with models of success. To see the value of being near successful practitioners a craft when young, compare New York City, Boston, and Los Angeles. Among the three, new York City produces notable journalists at the highest rate; Boston produces notable scientists at the highest rate; and Los Angeles produces notable actors at the highest rate. Remember, we are not talking about people who moved there. And this holds true even after subtracting people with notable parents in that field.
Many of the results in the book are taken from Google data and Google searches. I was a little chuffed to read this part:
A child born in New York City is 80 percent more likely to make it into Wikipedia than a kid born in Bergen County.
[Actually I was born in Hudson County, but grew up in Bergen.] And this:
Of the trillions of Google searches during that time [2004-2011], what do you think turned out to be most tightly connected to unemployment? You might imagine “unemployment office” — or something similar…The highest during the period I searched — and these terms do shift — was “Slutload.” That’s right, the most frequent search was for a pornographic site.
Facebook is giving publishers new ways to reach audiences on Instant Articles
Facebook's growing power concerns social activists
6 non-traditional ways to tell stories
5 Steps To Sniffing Out A Fraud On LinkedIn - Top Dog Social Media
Why Vox redesigned its homepage with newspapers in mind
Does Everyone Always Act in Their Self-Interest? Ian Welsh. The many subtexts of “voting against their
It's not just journalists leaping to Exelby's defence. Opposition leader Bill Shorten has said it's "ridiculous" for the ABC to punish the newsreader over the on-air stuff-up.
It's not just journalists leaping to Exelby's defence. Opposition leader Bill Shorten has said it's "ridiculous" for the ABC to punish the newsreader over the on-air stuff-up.
Fellow Labor politician Sam Dastyari has also defended the experienced journalist, telling Fairfax Media she has already "suffered enough".
"I can only imagine how much she is copping from her friends," he said. "Give her a break. The idea that someone would be punished for what is a very innocent mishap is extraordinary."
The Senator said the national broadcaster should be promoting their new "online star" rather instead of removing her from on-air roles.
"If she is going to be punished for such a minor, humorous and innocent error - I think bigger questions need to be asked about the culture of the ABC."Journalists put their bloopers out in solidarity with Natasha Exelby - The Sydney Morning Herald
asks, Is travel writing dead? Silly question, says Geoff Dyer. Dickens, Dickinson, and Dillard can all be placed in the genre. What writing isn’t travel writing?... Marco Polo: Crossing Iron and Other Curtains and Walls
Philip E. Auerswald has just published the very useful The Code Economy: A Forty-Thousand Year History.
- Daniel Engber, “The Irony Effect,” Slate
You can’t understand the success of digital platforms like MEdia Dragon, Amazon, Facebook, Farmville, Nike Plus, and Groupon if you don’t understand behavioral economic principles…. Behavioral economics will increasingly be providing the behavioral insight that drives digital strategy.
The story of behavioral science making the world a better place one nudge at a time is ubiquitous. But the same techniques can be used for deception and manipulation. We are living in an age in which the behavioral sciences have become inescapable. The findings of social psychology and behavioral economics are being employed to determine the news we read, the products we buy, the cultural and intellectual spheres we inhabit, and the human networks, online and in real life, of which we are a part. Aspects of human societies that were formerly guided by habit and tradition, or spontaneity and whim, are now increasingly the intended or unintended consequences of decisions made on the basis of scientific theories of the human mind and human well-being The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
Polish Babetski writes: “A target’s biases put the ‘plausible’ in plausible deniability during covert actions deceptions also fundamentally rely on a target’s unchallenged biases and so make it easy for the target to believe what they already are predisposed to believe. Effective fabricators, especially those with tantalizing access, rely on our biased desire to believe them.” Frank S. Babetski, “Intelligence in Public Literature: Thinking, Fast and Slow,”Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 56, No. 2 (June 2012)
Polish Babetski writes: “A target’s biases put the ‘plausible’ in plausible deniability during covert actions deceptions also fundamentally rely on a target’s unchallenged biases and so make it easy for the target to believe what they already are predisposed to believe. Effective fabricators, especially those with tantalizing access, rely on our biased desire to believe them.” Frank S. Babetski, “Intelligence in Public Literature: Thinking, Fast and Slow,”Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 56, No. 2 (June 2012)
Cambridge Analytica arrives in Australia to STEAL our democracy! Cambridge
Jonathan Schwabish, Better Presentations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks, is specific in all the right ways, most of all when it comes to Powerpoint slidesAnalytica of M7 fame Firm that claims credit for Trump and Brexit arrives to pitch marketers and pollies
The Silicon Valley quest to live forever
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Why You Feel the Urge to Jump — The science and philosophy of looking down from a high place.
“The French explain it as L’Appel du Vide, or call of the void. Are they just French, or can the void really beckon you to kill yourself?”
(Via Terry Teachout.)
In today’s crazy world, stress levels can go through the roof. 24x7 internet and mobiles, no time for ourselves, ever shortening deadlines, mob rule via Twitter, Facebook mania, bingeing on media, TV, food, not enough time for sleeping, thinking, learning, improving – and it just keeps coming. Unless you take control of your own happiness and do something about it.
I believe in Making Happy Choices and in dealing to stress (and pressure) through positive actions (and mental toughness). There’s lots of work out there on dealing to stress but every programme depends on one thing – You. And your focus, commitment and discipline. GQ ran an article featuring two approaches from a GP and an author that will work – as long as you commit to them and act on them.
From Dr Nick Knight, a GP and PhD in performance physiology and nutrition:
- Visualisation
- Breathing meditation
- Talk to yourself
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Keep a diary
- Reset achievable goals
- Take a time out
- Take action
- Avoid toxic people
- Focus on what you want
- Be grateful
- Be true to yourself
Why workers don’t always take family or medical leave when they need to Pew Research. You’ll never guess!
Journalists reveal their biggest bloopers in solidarity with Natasha Exelby
Reporter’s firing exposes political pressure on state-funded public radio stations