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Updated on Sunday, November 6, 2022
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I Thought He Came With You (ITHCWY) is Robert Ellison's blog.
The Trust Project, Fake News and a Partial Facebook Uninstall
Updated on Saturday, August 14, 2021
The Trust Project is a well meaning but doomed attempt to deal with fake news.
Facebook, Google, Bing and Twitter are all on board because it's important to be seen to be doing something about the problem. Sarah Perez at TechCrunch writes:
"Here’s how this will work in practice: starting today on Facebook, an icon will appear next to articles in the News Feed. When you click on this icon, you can read information the publisher has shared related to their organization’s “ethics and other standards, the journalists’ backgrounds, and how they do their work,” according to an announcement from The Trust Project."
Please take a minute to scroll through the Trust Protocol Phase I MVP. Yes, this is a minimal viable product where your most recent Diversity Staffing Report is required. I don't think they understand what an MVP is. Which would be fine if they understood how to fix the problem. They don't.
Back in January I wrote this about fake news on Facebook:
"The horrible danger is that if you don't fact check every stupid quote on image meme the power of repetition lodges them somewhere in your subconscious where they become that thing that you read somewhere. Which is OK if you only read quality news but deadly if you want to catch up on old friends quickly."
And back in 2010 on cable news and the Fairness Doctrine:
"24-hour news stations are especially bad because most days there just isn’t that much news. This leaves a choice between repeating the news that exists which is boring, or making stuff up which is a lot more fun. Unfortunately It’s also corrosive."
Yes, it would be nice to have a set of standards around more easily vetting the provenance of "news" that you find on the internet. But the problem is with people taking bullshit at face value (myself sometimes included). When you scroll by something that meets the loose standards of your confirmation bias the damage is done. You're not clicking any Trust Project icon and you're sure as fuck not upgrading Acrobat just to read the Breitbart Diversity Staffing Report.
The Trust Project isn't the answer. Facebook just pulled their disputed flag. The Fairness Doctrine isn't coming back. Is there a technology based fix that might work?
"That’s not going to happen, argues Data & Society founder and Microsoft researcher danah boyd. Google, Facebook, Twitter—none of these companies is sitting on a silver-bullet solution. As boyd wrote for us earlier this year, we have more than a technology problem: “[W]e have a cultural problem, one that is shaped by disconnects in values, relationships, and social fabric."
From The Fake News Culprit No One Wants to Identify: You on Backchannel recently. I see. It's up to me. I have to fix it.
I uninstalled Facebook and Twitter from my phone just over a week ago. I'm not abandoning social media entirely (although I toy with this regularly). Just pulling back a bit.
For the first few days I'd regularly find my finger headed to launch Facebook. Every time I had a minute to kill. Facebook has no end (usually) so it works even when my RSS feed is empty. I stocked Feedly up with more wholesome content (Trust Project approved no doubt). By the end of the first week I was sometimes even leaving my phone in my pocket.
Now I catch up on Facebook on my laptop every day or two. It's a much better experience - when you check 200 times a day the feed algorithm gets increasingly desperate to please you. It panics and serves up lame memes from someone who you think must have been a coworker at some point but don't really remember. I get through a few updates from friends that I'm actually interested in and bail before hitting the questionable stuff.
It's up to you too.
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- Doing news right with Feedly and Google News
- Pulling the plug on Facebook and Twitter, Tweet Archive
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- Maybe Elon really is playing three-dimensional chess
(Published to the Fediverse as: The Trust Project, Fake News and a Partial Facebook Uninstall #politics #fakenews #trustproject #facebook #twitter #google #microsoft The only way to avoid fake news is to avoid news on social media. Uninstall Facebook, Twitter etc from your phone and catch up on friends once every day or two. Use Feedly or another RSS reader to get a healthy media diet from outlets you trust. There is no technology based fix for fake news, it's something that each of us has to fix for ourselves. )
Winter Solstice 2017
It's the start of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Rendered in Catfood Earth (Windows, Android).
(Previously, Previously, Previously, Previously)
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Winter Solstice 2017 #code #winter #solstice #earth #summer #southern #hibernal Winter Solstice 2017 rendered in Catfood Earth for Windows and Android. It's the start of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. )
Die PDF Die
If I need to reboot to view a PDF then you must be doing something very badly wrong Adobe.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Die PDF Die #etc #adobe #pdf Why do I need to reboot Acrobat Reader DC after an update? Don't reply, that's a rhetorical question. )
Nonfiction
The Kindle nonfiction list has become a bit alarming recently.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Nonfiction #etc #amazon #kindle According to the New York Times Nonfiction Bestsellers list on Kindle Stephen King and Margaret Atwood are no longer fiction... )
Book reviews for November 2017
The Midnight Line (Jack Reacher, #22) by Lee Child
4/5
The Startup Way: How Entrepreneurial Management Transforms Culture and Drives Growth by Eric Ries
4/5
Normally I like to wait a few years before reading business books as the companies held up as shining examples of the one true way will have invariably foundered. No need to wait long in this case as Immelt is already out at GE and while it might be unfair to pin that on the lean startup movement it certainly gives you reason to pause while reading this book. Do I really want to fly on a plane with a Minimum Viable Jet Engine? Having said all that I actually liked the book. It's a recap of lean startup and broadens that thesis to cover strategy and innovation accounting for larger enterprises and (of course) humanity as a whole. Grandiose, but not totally crazy as the core of the movement is to use the scientific method in more places. You don't know, so test and learn.
Authority (Southern Reach, #2) by Jeff VanderMeer
3/5
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Fungus
Updated on Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Photo of some fungus on a tree in Glen Canyon Park, San Francisco.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Fungus #photo #fungus Fungus on a tree at Glen Canyon Park in San Francisco, California. )
Sutro Baths Timelapse
Updated on Saturday, February 19, 2022
Timelapse of the Sutro Baths ruins at Lands End in San Francisco, CA.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Sutro Baths Timelapse #timelapse #video #4k #sutrobaths #sanfrancisco A 4k timelapse of the ruins of Sutro Baths at Lands End in San Francisco, CA )
Backyard Visits
Updated on Saturday, February 19, 2022
I have a Nest camera in my backyard. So far it has caught zero criminals. It's not completely useless though as it has captured many raccoons, several skunks, eerie spiders glowing in the infrared lights, a couple of rats and one cat. Parkside police say I can stop calling now.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Backyard Visits #etc #video #nest A Nest camera catches many raccoons, several skunks, eerie spiders, a couple of rats and one cat. )
The top four Petitions that will help to Impeach Trump
Updated on Sunday, August 1, 2021
Democrats are being rather lame about pushing to impeach Donald Trump. Sure, they don't have the votes. But maybe next year they'd stand a better chance of getting them if they did a little less cozying up on deals that won't happen and a little more talking up impeachment. It would be nice if Mueller wrapped things up and dropped an incontrovertible bombshell but that doesn't and shouldn't matter. It would be nice if the various Congressional enquiries did their job but again that should be viewed as icing on the cake.
Trump assaulted equal protection and religious freedom by banning Muslims from travelling to the US. It doesn't matter what else Mueller turns up. Trump violates the Emoluments Clause on a constant basis. We don't need anything more from Congress. It's hard to see the Comey firing as anything other than obstruction of justice. Democrats need to start beating the drum and get Trump out of office. They're not going to do it without a big push.
You should sign all of these petitions today:
Need to Impeach. Over a million signatures already.
Impeach Trump Now. Over 1.25M.
Impeach Donald J. Trump: The Million American Petition on change.org.
Impeach Trump on Care2.
After all that signing don't forget to call your Senators and Representative and make sure they know how you feel as well.
(Photo by Jacob Morch on Unsplash)
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(Published to the Fediverse as: The top four Petitions that will help to Impeach Trump #politics #trump #impeach #petition Looking to Impeach Donald Trump? Here's a roundup of the most impactful petitions you can sign today to force the Democrats to take a stand. )
