“Astro-Turfing” – How Media Manipulates Us with Fake Information
Medford, Oregon and TED Talk, October 28, 2017 — Surprising information —
- 90% of news media are controlled by six corporations. As a result,much of what you read and see can be an orchestrated story created by special interest groups
- “Astro-Turf” means to falsify fake news, fake “information” so it appears to be a grass-roots movement. (IE: “fake grass”)
- Alas, Wikipedia is often hijacked, because pages can be controlled by anonymous editors on behalf of special interests who reverse edits that go against their hidden agenda
Those of you who know me may remember that I’m not big on conspiracy theories because I think (a) humans do poorly at keeping a secret, and because (b) humans are poor at concerted action. Few events, however dreadful, require explanation of a wide conspiracy, when simple greed will suffice as explanation.
And I think that simple greed may be operating here, because …
Special interests have permeated our government, and with the weakening of newspaper revenues their journalistic integrity has slipped. Yesterday in conversation with a friend who once ran a department at the New York Times I heard confirmation that media’s ability to generate accurate original reporting is far less than what it once was.
An Eye-Opening Article about How We Are Tricked
Here is an eye-opening article which seems sound, spelling out how [Read more…]
Upgraded to Windows 10! Computer Still Working!
Medford, Oregon, July 14, 2016 — News Flash! I have upgraded to Windows 10 … and I am still alive … and so is my computer.
I was scared to do this. But finally I figured … what could be worse than that little popup nagging me worse than my mother ever did?
So finally I took the plunge, clicked the button that promised that all my files would be right where I left them. (Franky, that idea of leaving all my files was pretty scary, too.)
And then I watched it for about two hours, while it chugged away. Well actually I watched Limitless, almost three episodes.
And then it was done, and it looks a lot … like windows.
Go eat a fig.
Charlie’s Big Adventure
Medford, Oregon, April 25, 2016: I guess he’s been getting restless. I’ve been lousy about taking them for walks, and running around the back yard has probably grown passe.
Of course, Daisy is getting old. She’s creaky, slow, and her back legs erratic. But Charlie, though almost as old, still has a lot of Get Up And Go. And the fact that Daisy is now mostly Got Up and Went gives him no pause. He’s a busy guy.
Today started out normal, like any day, and since I wanted to get soup for lunch at Great Harvest, I herded the dogs into the garage/backyard, and sure enough, the soup was swell.
When I arrived back home and parked in the driveway, behind me cars began stopping in the street, a line of them in each direction. And that was because Daisy was wandering around on Siskiyou Boulevard. [Read more…]
So Long – Prince
Minneapolis, April 21, 2016: Prince is gone.
I remember the first time, around 1980, in a record store just off Geary on Arguello, in a bin I saw this strange, skinny, prissy-looking latin guy on the cover of the self-named album, “Prince.”
Who would have thought that, all these years later, yesterday for no reason the songs “Purple Rain” and “Rasberry Beret” were spinning around and around in my head all day long, and I kept visualizing a scene from his film, as he pulls away on an oversized motorcycle, looking such a tiny tough guy.
And today, Google had a google-doodle. It was purple, and pressing the play button I saw streaks of rain.
And now, I miss him.
The Scent of a Memory
Medford, Oregon, November 14, 2015 — Some folks complain about airline food, but personally I think it’s wonderful. Not that it’s truly exceptional, because frankly I can cook lots better. But the fact that you can be served food, while sky-rocketing through the atmosphere at 16,000 feet and beyond … well, that’s amazing.
Kind of like a talking dog. He doesn’t need to say profound stuff; just the fact that he can talk at all is the wonderful thing. Because sometimes, good enough is good enough, right?
And the reason I’m thinking about airline food is that, I’m thinking about the carved box, and the reason I’m thinking about the carved box is because I cleaned my hairbrush this morning.
It happened like this — [Read more…]
Susan’s Miracle
May 15, 2015, Medford, Oregon — Standing outside her closed door, I could hear her sobbing, heart-rending, as beyond grief as the stars are hidden beyond a sky of lashing rain.
Today Susan, my sweetheart, has received a phone call, almost a death sentence. It was the doctor’s tests, come back, confirmation of her deepest fear: she is blind.
A few weeks ago in a different life, she caught the airplane to visit her sister Pammi in Arkansas. They had a wonderful time, catching up on laughter, held a “Soul Collage” class for a dozen women, visited a wonderful art museum. They’d hiked to see a beautiful waterfall; she was bitten by a couple of deer ticks, just another adventure. On the way back, she went through Vegas to visit a daughter, then returned to me and the dogs, in Medford.
The day following her return, she turned to me and said, “My vision is weird today. I’m seeing geometric shapes and flashes.”
The next day it was worse, and over the next four days, her vision just … [Read more…]
Answering Service Shreveport Louisiana?
August 10, 2014, Medford Oregon — I’ve been working with Answering Service, and have begun a big experiment. In this experiment, I have created some videos, and here is one about the dangers of hapless selection, for anyone seeking a telephone answering service in scenic Shreveport Louisiana —
Best Answering Service Shreveport LA
CLICK HERE TO SEE IT ON YOUTUBE
CLICK HERE TO SEE PRE-SELECTED SEARCH RESULTS
Do you like it?
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