“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
– Abraham Lincoln

"The writer who breeds more words than he needs, makes a chore for the reader who reads."
~ Dr Zeuss

What is the cost of fake news?

HBO will delve into the topic with the help of CNN media reporter Brian Stelter. He is executive producer on an Andrew Rossi documentary titled “After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News,” which is scheduled to debut in March.

HBO describes the doc as examining, “the rising phenomenon of ‘fake news’ in the U.S. and the impact that disinformation, conspiracy theories and false news stories have on the average citizen.”

The film will focus on several cases, including the 2016 presidential election, “Pizzagate,” and the Jade Helm conspiracy.

This is not the first time Rossi and Stelter have crossed paths in a film about the news business. Rossi directed the 2011 film, “Page One: Inside the New York Times.” At the time, Stelter was a Times media reporter and was featured in Rossi’s film.

Someone At The ATO Edited The Devon Wikipedia Page ...

Hot truth and mic alert

This juicy story broke Wednesday night. CNN found the backup audio feed of an awkward exchange between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on stage immediately after Tuesday’s debate. Warren walked over to Sanders and did not shake his hand. Then, referring to the controversy of whether or not Sanders ever told her a woman could not be elected president, Warren said to Sanders, “I think you called me a liar on national TV.”

Sanders said, “What?”

Warren: “I think you called me a liar on national TV.”

Sanders tried to diffuse the situation by saying then wasn’t the time to have that discussion.

Was it supposed to be a private conversation? Did CNN cross a line?

Well, for starters, we can’t even be sure Warren expected the conversation to be private. For all we know, Warren might have very well known and even hoped her comments would get out. And if she didn’t know her comments would become public, she should have. It’s a stage with microphones everywhere. Warren could not have had a reasonable expectation of privacy, particularly because she made her comments right in front of another candidate — Tom Steyer.

It’s hard to find fault with anything CNN did. But this has taught the candidates and everyone else a valuable lesson: If you’re near a microphone, assume anything you say will be heard and made public.

Taxing Gerards swimming 🏊‍♂️ in Yammer Rings: "The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

Never pure. Most truths, especially about ourselves or our actions or deeds, might also be distorted by our own conceit, our most secret shames or moral shortcomings. Only the brave... the human condition and all that.

My personal interpretation is that there is no one truth that is easy to understand and applicable to all situations. "The truth", much like literature, is a complex concept, difficult to explain/understand, open to interpretation and subjective.

One complexity with this statement is the interpretation of "pure". Whilst the most appropriate definition to apply is "straightforward" because it complements the adjective "simple". Pure is often used to signify "untainted", such as pure water that has not been muddied or polluted. Therefore, if the interpretation of pure were to signify "uncontaminated", this statement could also mean that the truth is rarely untainted and subject to corruption.

This is meant to be witty and ironic. It is a quote from a character in an Oscar Wilde play "the Importance of Being Earnest" a comedy written in Wilde's signature satirical and humorous style. It is a response to one of the character's confession of a lie he has perpetrated: the creation of a fictitious relative, "Earnest," to provide an excuse to avoid boring social obligations. After his confession, he says: "That, my dear Algy, is the whole truth pure and simple." to which his companion replies "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." It is a wry observation, and an ironic twist on a cliche, about the false norms of society and the twisted dishonest ways we, as imperfect humans, adapt. It is also a statement that dispels a simplistic analysis of art and culture. Oscar Wilde used humor and wit to cope with his own demons. He was a homosexual and lived a tormented life of deception in a time when homosexuality was a crime in Victorian England. He eventually spent time in jail.

From fleuron to frontispiece, the history of book design is odd and fascinating. Who knew that the dust jacket was invented in 1829, or that the epigraph has architectural origins? Epitaph

Quotes and News You can Use: How Negativity Can Kill a Relationship. We pride ourselves on the good things we do for partners and friends, but what really matters is what we don’t do. Avoiding bad is far more important than doing good, as Roy Baumeister and I point out in this Atlantic article discussing studies tracking married couples. It’s an excerpt from our new book, The Power of Bad, which notes that Anthony Trollope figured out this negativity effect in marriage long before social scientists, in his 1869 novel He Knew He Was Right.

Much about Rembrandt is known. But not this: How a miller’s son from a provincial Dutch city became one of the most famous painters in the world... Rembrandt

Most people think inequality is bad. But when asked to define what kind of equality is best, frustrations and complexity emerge Inequality

Davis, Laurel, “Dictionaries and the Law” (2019). Rare Book Room Exhibition Programs. 33. “Exhibition program from a Spring 2019 exhibit presented in the Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room at the Boston College Law Library. The exhibit focused on the history of legal dictionaries published over the last 500 years.”

The value of manners — John Schwenkler (Florida State) looks at Amy Olberding’s work on civility

Can An Artist-In-Residence Really Transform A Big-City DA’s Office? This One Means To Try

Muralist James “Yaya” Hough, 44, was released last year after 27 years in prison, and within a few months he was hired for the new artist-in-residence position in the office of reformist Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. “Hough told Hyperallergicthat he was looking to program workshops that will foster conversations between the DA’s 600 or so employees, survivors of crimes, and those currently serving time in the criminal justice system.” – Hyperallergic

“The law is a profession built on words, so it is no surprise that dictionaries repre-sent a key component of our professional literature. From John Rastell’s Termes de la Ley in the sixteenth century to Bryan A. Garner’s most recent edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, dictionaries have helped lawyers and judges grapple with words and phrases that are often challenging and obscure. For law students, dictionaries—general or law-specific, online or in print—can help with the daunting task of learning a new professional language with old roots, often in Latin and French..”