Jozef Imrich, name worthy of Kafka, has his finger on the pulse of any irony of interest and shares his findings to keep you in-the-know with the savviest trend setters and infomaniacs.
''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut
Laurie Frick imagines a future in which your smart watch will know how your body is responding to someone. Then it will combine with Facebook data about their personality. And that will let you know whether that person makes you lethargic, raises your blood pressure or depresses you. "If you start training people that, 'Look at what's happening to your inflammation levels or whatever. This is the best thing for you and you can let go of the guilt.' " … Read More
Lloyd
makes calls on free speech and union-bargaining policies.
Penny Wong vs the APS commissioner, round two. If an MP "casts
aspersions" on a public servant personally, it's only fair they can
discuss the matter with friends over office email. And if it comes out in
public, that's OK too.
As contemporary art is increasingly viewed as an asset class—alongside equities, bonds, and real estate—Georgina Adam sees artworks often used as a vehicle to hide or launder money, and artists encouraged to churn out works in market-approved styles, bringing about a decline in quality. … Read More
Digital Transformation Agency chief Gavin Slater has described the stark
differences between the public service and his previous employment at
NAB Public service a large and complex beast
WHEN bankruptcy trustees were appointed over a hectic weekend late in 2008,
there seemed no end to the losses caused by the collapse of Bernie Madoff’s
Ponzi scheme. Cash in the bank was no more than $150m. But the losses have been
less, and the assets available for compensation greater, than had been feared. On February 22nd Irving Picard, the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the
liquidation of Mr Madoff’s firm, announced that a fund set up to reimburse
customers would make its ninth distribution, of $621m, bringing the total
handed out so far to $11.4bn. Another $1.8bn in held in reserve for contested
claims. This is on top of a separate distribution of $723m last November from a
separate fund run by the Department of Justice. Another $3bn remains to be
distributed in that fund and the bankruptcy trustees hold out hope that
substantially more will be recovered and returned.
Last
week’s shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 dead and several injured
spawned the usual hoaxes that follow American tragedies: fake
images of the shooter, posts claiming he was a member of Antifa, false
identifications and phony screenshots of his Instagram account. Then there were
those that aren’t so typical.
Imposter
tweets targeted
journalists attempting to cover the shooting, leading to a cascade of
online harassment. Twitter at first denied that was against their policies,
then said the rules should
be revised. Conspiracy theories about students organizing gun control
demonstrations took
off, trending
on YouTube and populating search
results (at least for
a while). There was an incorrect
story that led to careless sharing by professionals and many corrections. Another
story led to a congressional aide being fired.
Some
students took the conspiracies in
stride, but as Snopes’ Bethania Palma put
it, “we’re living in a dystopian hellhole of false information.” So what’s
the solution?
·POLITICO Magazine asks:
“Are we putting too much pressure on the Parkland survivors? We shouldn’t
expect quick wins on gun control — we should be preparing these kids for a
long, bitter fight.”
The
Pope was
fact-checked, and it did not turn out well for him. //The
Secret Service is fact-checking now? // Will the Bad
News video game help kids spot fake news? // Buyers of political ads on
Facebook will be verified with postcards
this year. //
The Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism has
launched two fact-checking websites, Udeme and Dubawa.
//
The American Bar Association fact-checks politicians’ blathering about treason. // Social media platforms need to
admit they
are trafficking in “automatic weapons,” says John Battelle.
//Italy
is tryingto combat Russian influence on its upcoming
election. //
By far, Facebook
and Instagram were the go-to sites for Russian interference
in the 2016 election, says the Justice Department. // Broadcast personality Afia
Schwarzenegger will host the “Political
Police” comedy fact-checking show on TV Africa. //A
good thread on what conspiracy theories offer to believers.
//
This game teaches how
people spread online misinformation. // Here’s a
fact check of what a Facebook executive said about Russian
disinformation. // What we still
don’t know about fake news and its growth. // Twitter fact-checks a “Hulk
Hogan” interview.
The concerted attack on public sector union workers is a coordinated effort financed by wealthy donors Economic Policy Institute
(AP 
