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IT Failures

The Guardian: Deaths of despair: why America’s medical industry explains working-class suicides

March 20, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

by Chris McGreal, Thu 19 Mar 2020 A system based on corporate pursuit of profit sets the US apart from other countries, fleecing the poor to give to the rich. The couple concluded that the medical industry is at the heart of two key drivers in making those deaths an American phenomenon. “One fact is … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Finanace, Future of Work, IT Failures, Politics, Science, Thinking about Tagged: Deaths of despair, greed, healthcare, healthcare system, insulin, opioids, rich corporations

Fake News Is Free

March 1, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

As my students often remind me, news tends to be behind paywalls, while fake news is free. Global health expert Jonathan D Quick, of Duke University in North Carolina

Posted in: Ethical and green living, IT Failures, Politics, Science, Thinking about Tagged: Fake News, news, paywall

Parts of Hanford nuclear waste site have not been inspected in 50 years

February 22, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Yet again, Parts of Hanford nuclear waste site have not been inspected in 50 years The former defense site in Washington state has a troubled past. The latest lapse involves the Energy Department’s failure to analyze the cause of a tunnel collapse. washingtonpost.com Aaron Gregg

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, IT Failures, Nuclear Industry, Politics, Science, Thinking about Tagged: Dan Brouillette, Energy Department, environmental, Hanford nuclear waste site, Jacobs Engineering, nuclear warheads, plutonium, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Washington State

Disinformation For Hire: How A New Breed Of PR Firms Is Selling Lies Online

January 11, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

I get a digest of the latest news on news and reporting from the Pew Research Center. One recently caught my interest was from Buzzfeed on the new “Black PR firms” who will, for a fee, generate, structure and support any lie you wish. Scary isn’t a strong enough word, terrifying is more apt. It … [Read more…]

Posted in: Content, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, Finanace, Future of Work, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Thinking about Tagged: Art-Media, Artifical Intelligence, Black PR, BuzzFeed, Cat@Net, cybersecurity, deception, deception and influence operations, Disinformation, Facebook, fake fact-checking, influence, intelligence, Lies, marketing, online manipulation, operation, PR, Pragmatico, Public Relations, spam, The Archimedes Group, the Reporter, Twitter

PFAS – Trump administration threatens to give forever chemicals another reprieve

January 11, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Over at the website for the Union of Concerned Scientists, Kathleen Rest posted this “Profiles in Cowardice: Chemicals, Climate, and a Toxic Disregard by the Trump Administration” which is worth the time to read.

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Science, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: climate change, climate science, EPA, forever chemicals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, Trump, UCS, Union of Concerned Scientists

Amsterdam Y2K

January 1, 2020 by sergneri 1 Comment

It was 20 years ago today … we were new to Europe. I had gone ahead in October of 1999 to find an apartment and get some basics set up. A stayed behind in Northern California to wind things down and take care of the odds and ends before coming in November to our new … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, IT Failures, Politics, Thinking about, This Day in History, Uncategorized Tagged: 1999, Amsterdam, Basel, Biel/Bienne, Boxing day, Champagne, cyclone Lothar, Dam Square, December 26, December 26 1999, January 1 2000, millennium, Neuchatel, New Year, New Year's Party, Olten, Swiss rail, Switzerland, vuurwerks, Y2K

United States of Plastic

December 24, 2019 by sergneri 3 Comments

In the Guardian June 2019, very nicely done graphic on plastic and what we’re not doing about it:This is the illustrated story of where it’s gone by Susie Cagle in San Francisco and the series UNITED STATES OF PLASTIC can be found here. Thu 2 Jan 2020 07.46 EST, in the Guardian, another article The … [Read more…]

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, IT Failures, Politics, Science, Thinking about Tagged: anthropocene era, Inequality, landfill, plastic, polluters, pollution, Recycling, rich and poor, waste

A Few Notes About the Future of Work

November 25, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Seems that themes come in batches, the newest theme for me is the old Jetson’s promise of leisure time replacing work, somewhere in the future we’d all work at what we’re good at and there would be enough (food and other goods and money) to go around. I’m firmly convinced that since the dawn of … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, Finanace, Future of Work, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Science, Thinking about Tagged: AI, Artifical Intelligence, Economics, Future of Work, Government, innovation, MIT, money, Politics, productivity, Skidelsky, so-so technology, startups, Stockton, technology

Read Sacha Baron Cohen’s scathing attack on Facebook in full: ‘greatest propaganda machine in history’

November 23, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

The Guardian published the contents of a speech by Cohen: In a speech last night at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen attacked Facebook and other social media platforms for enabling the proliferation of hate speech and misinformation. The speech was striking in its sincerity – Baron Cohen appeared as … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, Finanace, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Science, Sea Stories, Slavery, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: Anti-Defamation League, Aphabet, bigotry, Facebook, Fake News, GOOGLE, hate, hate speech, misinformation, Propaganda, racism, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stephen Miller’s Labradoodles

The White House didn’t like my agency’s research. So it sent us to Missouri.

October 22, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

By Andrew Crane-Droesch – Washington Post – 10/21/19 … Out of the blue, in August 2018, agriculture secretary George “Sonny” Perdue announced that my agency and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture would relocate from Washington, D.C., to some yet-to-be-determined location. He claimed that this would lower costs and bring us closer to “stakeholders.” … [Read more…]

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Science, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: Economic Research Service, George “Sonny” Perdue, Politicals, USDA
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