Monday, April 27, 2020

How to read the news without doom scrolling through social media

How to read the news without doom scrolling through social media - Popular Science: “Social media has plenty of uses—it allows us to stay in touch with our loved ones in spite of social distancing and keeps us informed of what’s going on out there in the world. But even in the best of times, these platforms can be a hell-pit, where relatives rant about the latest political activity and anonymous trolls and bots turn every headline into a hill to die on. It can seem hard to take time away from Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit if you want to stay on top of the latest news, but it doesn’t have to be. There are other ways to stay up to date on current events without relying on the hive mind. And you won’t be less-informed by using them…”

Former top public servant: I won't download the coronavirus app

Former digital transformation public servant Professor Lesley Seebeck won't download the coronavirus tracing app because of the government's track record on data.

Was This The Social Media Of The 1700s?


In 1769, amateur historian James Granger published theBiographical History of England, from Egbert the Great to the Revolution. It was an interactive book, aimed at collectors of printed images—a popular new hobby at the time. The Biographical Historyfeatured portraits of historical figures and blank leaves to let readers take notes referring to their own collections. Soon, collectors went beyond the book’s intended use, instead adding their own portrait collections directly inside. – JSTOR

On the surprising intimacy of virtual communication. "The unfamiliar intimacy of online classes makes the attention to each student feel more live and personalized, not less."

ALEX MITCHELL: Changing of the guard in NSW

Posted on 24 April 2020 by John Menadue

Damien Tudehope, ultra-conservative Minister for Finance and Small Business, is the new Leader of the Government in the NSW Upper House. He replaces former Arts Minister Don Harwin who quit in disgrace. The Liberal Party’s right-wing faction is now calling the shots.  Continue reading →

With and without masks:
Even so, the oft-repeated test sentence — “Stay healthy!” — misstates the rationale for the general population using masks: They do not so much protect you from others, as others from you. The ethic is quite literally #NotMeUs (hence, politicized, as the very notion of public heatlh is politicized).

Digital Trends: “Millions of Americans have received stimulus checks from the IRS as part of the government’s relief program for the economic fallout caused by COVID-19, also known as coronavirus. If you got your stimulus money but don’t feel like you need it, there’s never been a better time to donate your stimulus check to charity. If you didn’t get it, you can track the payment on the IRS website, though millions have gotten a frustrating “Payment Status Not Available” error. There are several nonprofits that are directly tackling the coronavirus pandemic and helping the people most vulnerable to it…”


Working from home


Network president Jeff Zucker sent a memo to staff that said most of those who are working remotely will continue doing so until at least September. Right now, about 10% of CNN’s staff around the world is working in studios and offices. Another 5% could return early this summer.

In the memo, obtained by the Daily Beast’s Maxwell Tani, Zucker told employees, “Of course, none of these dates are set in stone, with many questions left to be answered before we can move forward. But, to be clear, production of our programs will continue from home, as it is now, until the end of summer. Same for digital.”

What’s stunning is just how good CNN’s coverage has been with guests and even some anchors working from home. And not just CNN. All networks have adjusted well to a new way of broadcasting. It just goes to show that when it comes to interviews and panels, it’s not how the guests look, but what they say. In the end, the info is still the thing.
Powerful piece turned last week by Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst, who reported from inside Israel’s second-largest COVID-19 intensive care unit. Yingst said doctors and nurses there told him they weren’t afraid because “they are too busy saving lives.”

One scene showed a nurse holding up a phone to a patient so he could FaceTime with his family. In another moment, Yingst reported on a 22-year-old patient whom doctors fear might not survive. That patient’s mother delivered cookies to the staff because she desperately wanted to do anything.

Yingst said it was “humanizing and haunting at the same time.”




  • “The same openness that enables health authorities to innovate with Bluetooth data will also permit everyone from advertisers to police to immigration officers to do the same unless new privacy laws are enacted to stop them” — concerns about the plans of Google and Apple to help with COVID-19 contact tracing, from Evan Selinger (RIT) and Albert Fox Cahn
  • The Journal of Controversial Ideas now has a website — edited by Jeff McMahan (Oxford), Francesca Minerva, and Peter Singer (Princeton), it is now accepting submissions (previous discussions of the Journal)
  • 9 questions about the pandemic, political philosophy, policy, and more, addressed by 9 different philosophers — at the Justice Everywhere blog
  • Would you choose to live forever? — a recording of a webinar with John Martin Fischer (UCR)
  • In situations of despair and tragedy perhaps the best we could hope for is “accompaniment” — Nicholaos Jones (Alabama, Huntsville) reflects on the importance of “enriching, and making manifest the value of, the other’s efforts”
  • The philosophy on Pete Buttigieg’s bookshelf — Dworkin, Korsgaard, Rawls, Raz, and more (via Bruno Leipold)





  • Refraining from the “weaponization of contemporary analytic philosophy” — Eric Schliesser (Amsterdam) draws some lessons from Seneca

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