Too Venal for Words category archive
MSNBC’s Al Veshi sums it up:It’s All about the Algorithm 0
Arash Javanbakht, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, explores how “social” media’s algorithms, designed to keep us eternally engaged in ephemera, lead us down the disinformation superhighway. A nugget:
As a result, the algorithms amplify the negative and then spread it by sharing it among groups.
Lowering the Barr 0
Better Call Saul wouldn’t have dared to come up with a plot line like this.
Sacrificial Lambs 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Jim Jones explains.
The Double-Dipper 0
Aside:
I’ve said many times in these electrons that I choose not to waste two hours watching something on television when I can read about it in ten minutes the next morning. After my ten minutes of reading this morning, it appears that our decision to forego the you-can-hardly-call-it-a debate in favor of Star Trek: TNG on Netflix last night was quite correct.
(I’ve long considered TNG to be the best-written of the Star Trek series, but, when it first aired, I had too much real life to watch it regularly.)
Facebook Frolics (Updated) 0
Lies about the wildfires in the West are spreading on Facebook like, you will pardon the expression, wildfire.
We are a society of stupid.
And gullible.
Addendum:
Will Bunch is distressed by the Americans’ gullibility quotient. Here’s a snippet from his column:
Aside:
I trained as an historian. I know that societies can go nuts.
But I’m most distressed to witness my own society doing so.
I am not sanguine.
Trump’s Health Couldn’t Care Less, Mailing It In Dept. 0
A veteran from Iowa reports on how Donald Trump and Postmaster General DeJoy’s sabotage of the United States Post Office is affecting him directly. Here’s a bit from his article; there’s much more at the link.
To treat it, I receive a 30-day supply of Plaquenil, which I receive through the mail from the Veterans Affairs Department. Like millions of other people, I rely on the mail for my medicines to be delivered on time.
But recently, new delays in postal delivery mean my 30-day supply of Plaquenil is taking two weeks to reach me. As a result, I’ve been forced to ration my medicine while I wait for my refills to arrive a full week later than they used to.
Tithes and Offerings 0
Warning: Farron gets a bit heated.