I was too far away for a good photo to be taken with my camera phone but I still like the magic of this photo taken in the little park at the Ainslie Shops in the ACT.
The little kid, dressed as a fireman is lecturing to his grandparents...and has obviously sparked the interest of the oversized bronze of a snail.
Ah, for a few more pixels and a slightly better angle.
"A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step" --Chinese philosopher Laozi. Likewise epics can be built out of tiny scribblings. In early 2012, I wandered Europe writing posts on what I found interesting for friends. By the end I had written the equivalent of a 1000-page book. My readers had journeyed with me and so did not ask: "how was it?" Instead we discussed what it meant. I continue scribbling. Mastodon
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Friday, September 21, 2018
Towards better journalism
One of the people on The Drum yesterday mentioned in passing a journalism model being pioneered in the Netherlands for building trusted news sources. "De Correspondent" is in Dutch but they are intent on creating an English version.
The Correspondent wants to redefine what news is about. "we don’t cover the weather, we cover the climate", informing you about how the world really works.
Rather idealistically, here is what the site claims it is about:
To get a taste of what they are about, it is best to read some of their articles. Fortunately, the ones available from the site, flipped from Dutch to English by Google Translate, are remarkably readable. I can see why some people are getting excited. Here is an excellent example of what the final product is like. It delves into why Nigerians are risking death to migrate to Europe.
More detail about the De Correspondent platform can be seen on Wikipedia
The Correspondent wants to redefine what news is about. "we don’t cover the weather, we cover the climate", informing you about how the world really works.
Rather idealistically, here is what the site claims it is about:
- We are an ad-free platform funded by paying members. We also accept funding from organizations whose investments contribute directly to our journalistic goals. Any such agreement will include one non-negotiable condition: full editorial independence.
- We fight stereotypes, prejudice, and fear mongering
- We don’t just cover the problem, but also what can be done about it
- We collaborate with you, our knowledgeable members.
- We don’t take the view from nowhere. We tell you where we’re coming from, At The Correspondent, we don’t think journalists should pretend to be ‘neutral’ or ‘unbiased’.
- We protect your privacy, by minimizing the personal data we collect
- We want to be as inclusive as possible. Journalism is at its best when it includes many different perspectives and worldviews. That’s why we seek to include people from a broad variety of backgrounds, both in our newsroom and on our platform.
- We always put journalism before financial gain. We do not maximize shareholder return, limiting dividends to 5 percent of revenue.
- We believe in transparency and continued self-improvement
- We know we’re not ‘the fix’ for what’s wrong in journalism, and we know that there’s no one way to do it. When we make mistakes, we admit and correct them.
To get a taste of what they are about, it is best to read some of their articles. Fortunately, the ones available from the site, flipped from Dutch to English by Google Translate, are remarkably readable. I can see why some people are getting excited. Here is an excellent example of what the final product is like. It delves into why Nigerians are risking death to migrate to Europe.
More detail about the De Correspondent platform can be seen on Wikipedia
Monday, September 17, 2018
Pushing a future
Tesla's primemover sells not on sexiness but on economy |
The writer, Michael Liebreich, is a heavyweight Yankee consultant at Bloomberg who has been advising business for 20 years about how to navigate the changes now closing in.
He is optimistic that we can innovate our way out of the transport dilemma. He concludes we are already working on it.
“Since replacing expensive fossil fuels with cheap electricity should save money as well as reducing emissions, it does not require much more than short-term pump priming and regulatory alignment, rather than long-term subsidies or a carbon price. A huge market opportunity, that moves us closer to hitting the Paris goals, and that should not require long-term subsidies or a carbon price. What’s not to like?This paper published this week, is a light wander (10 minute read) through some of those innovations that should shape our world for the good. If you want to look further, links are noted.
...and for fun, if you have the time, here is a 15 min YouTube vid exploring what we found to be true about the use of electric bikes when we visited China last year...it is a revolution.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
We don't trust social media
What do social media news consumers dislike *most* about getting news on social media? Concerns about inaccuracy top the list https://t.co/xdLHyM2tYY pic.twitter.com/x9aJfLYTDu
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) September 10, 2018
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Like death and taxes, the gullible are always with us
Protestors in the Capital. Now the horned man, Jacob Chansley says he’s coming to terms with events leading to the riot and asked people to ...
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