From Pine View Farm

A Tune for the Times 0

Share

It’s All about the Algorithm on the Disinformation Superhighway 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, psychology professor Azadeh Aalai takes a deep look at how and why conspiracy theories and frauds–what she refers to as “scam cutlture”–thrives on the internet. A snippet (emphasis added):

Extremist groups like cults, conspiracy thinking, which has become rampant in a digital age, and the types of political radicalization that are proliferating in online spaces are all related to the same underlying process, which is that of scam culture. Scam culture is defined as predatory processes that exploit individual vulnerabilities for profit. For instance, conspiracy thinking is often promoted by prominent influencers in online spaces as a way to not only advance their content but specifically monetize and profit off of users’ fears.

Share

Republican Thought Police 0

Honest to Betsy, you couldn’t make this stuff up.

Share

This New Gilded Age 0

Monoply Man says to workers,

Click for the original image.

Share

Trumplednomics 0

University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers runs the numbers. Ring of Fire’s Jerrod Zisser reports.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Stealing intellectual property? A German court says, “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

Share

A Notion of Immigrants . . . 0

. . . Meet the privatization scam.

Share

Virtual Public Nutcases 0

The EFF reports that there’s a move in the Wisconsin state legislature to ban VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), using the excuse that this will somehow protect children.

This is the sort of thing that happens when persons with axes to grind start messing with something that they have no clue about. (Think Trump tariffs, for example.) Here’s a tiny bit from the article:

People have (predictably) turned to VPNs to protect their privacy as they watched age verification mandates proliferate around the world. Instead of taking this as a sign that maybe mass surveillance isn’t popular, lawmakers have decided the real problem is that these privacy tools exist at all and are trying to ban the tools that let people maintain their privacy.

Follow the link detailed information about why this a bad, very bad, extremely stupid idea.

Share

QOTD 0

Lionel Shriver:

Reality doesn’t have to be plausible. Reality can be as preposterous as it pleases.

Share

Break Time 0

Off to drink liberally.

Share

Republican Family Values, Reprise 0

Keith Raffel comments on the mean for the sake of mean. A snippet:

“SNAP… is being used as a weapon, as a tool in this moment to try and leverage the hunger of millions to put pressure on us as a Senate to reopen,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said. “It’s shocking that President Trump would say out loud his intention to defy court orders and to use whether or not to feed hungry children as leverage.”

I’m not certain why the senator would be shocked. When it comes to Trump’s political tactics, heartlessness is not a bug — it’s a feature.

Follow the link for context.

Share

Republican Family Values 0

Frame One:  Man rowing a boat while singing

Click to view the original image.

Share

Fly the Fiendly Skies 0

David debunks de bunk and decodes de code.

Share

Republican Thought Police 0

Academic freedom.

Share

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Once more, politeness goes to the dogs the dogs go to politeness.

Share

“But It’s the Only Possible Explanation . . . .” 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Rafa Euba takes a look at who is likely to believe in conspiracy theories, even when the conspiracy theories are more far-fetched than reality.

I think he may be onto something. Follow the link and see what you think.

Share

QOTD 0

Raymond Chandler:

It is pretty obvious that the debasement of the human mind caused by a constant flow of fraudulent advertising is no trivial thing. There is more than one way to conquer a country.

Share

A Tune for the Times 0

Share

Republican Thought Police 0

If you don’t like history, well, just apply a little white out.

Share

Outing the Quackery 0

Farron discusses a study that–er–casts doubt on RFK Jr.’s claim that Tylenol is somehow magically linked to autism.

Share
From Pine View Farm
Privacy Policy

This website does not track you.

It contains no private information. It does not drop persistent cookies, does not collect data other than incoming ip addresses and page views (the internet is a public place), and certainly does not collect and sell your information to others.

Some sites that I link to may try to track you, but that's between you and them, not you and me.

I do collect statistics, but I use a simple stand-alone Wordpress plugin, not third-party services such as Google Analitics over which I have no control.

Finally, this is website is a hobby. It's a hobby in which I am deeply invested, about which I care deeply, and which has enabled me to learn a lot about computers and computing, but it is still ultimately an avocation, not a vocation; it is certainly not a money-making enterprise (unless you click the "Donate" button--go ahead, you can be the first!).

I appreciate your visiting this site, and I desire not to violate your trust.