XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT! Twitter is in China’s pocket. If Jack Dorsey won’t flag disputed tweets from CCP agents, he is effectively endorsing their falsehoods
Challenging the wolves: how to reply to Beijing’s tweet
An unexpected tweet from a senior Chinese diplomat on Monday 29 November provided a perfect excuse for the Prime Minister to divert attention from his domestic problems, to praise our gallant defence forces, to refer to our national values, and to stand up to the People’s Republic of China, who, as everyone knows from numerous press reports and commentaries in recent months, has been threatening our trade and undermining our public institutions. Continue reading
OH: California’s Highest-Paid Govt Employee Worked for Org Tied to Chinese Espionage. “Taxpayers paid $1.7 million to ex-pension fund manager Meng.”
How Prestige NonChinese Journals Remain Elite, Exclusive And Exclusionary - Forbes: “Last week, Nature journals unveiled their “landmark” open-access option. Nature journals will charge authors, starting in January 2021, up to $11,400 to make research papers free to read, as an alternative to subscription-only publishing. Scientists from around the world received this news with outrage and disappointment on social media. Nature’s announcement comes on the heels of their recent “diversity commitment” which pledged “greater representation of currently under-represented groups” in their published content and events, and “faster movement in the direction of equity.” How does Nature’s diversity commitment square with their own fee options? Do elite, prestige journals actually care about equity and diversity? Is Nature, one of the largest and most profitable publishers, leading in addressing inequities and setting an example to other publishers? And what do scientists in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), people who are rarely consulted, think about Nature’s new policy? To address these questions, I consulted 20+ scientists from around the world.
Their voices matter, as scientists are the most important stakeholder in the publishing industry. I also sought input from Springer Nature, the publisher, to better understand their fee structure which is thought to be the highest of any journal. The Lancet, another high-impact journal (by Elsevier, the publisher), in comparison, charges $5000 for the open-access option. “The fees are outrageous, an impediment to open access, and a huge hurdle for LMIC researchers,” said Mwele Malecela, Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization…”
Gross contracts written under coercion. But contracts nonetheless, and informed by agency theory
Google discovers a new problem with machine learning? (Is it new?) Source paper here.
Family portrait (photo)
52 things Tom Whitwell learned this year. Some are disputable, but always a good series
My colleague Walter E. Williams has passed away
Should South Korea allow its K-pop royalty to postpone conscription duties until age 30? (NYT)