Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: The fake news problem

Dennis Frank

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 06:56:21 +1300

Good question, but it applies to anything reported as news, doesn't it? Ultimately, we all form our own subjective opinions of each report we hear or see. In this instance, faith in the medium is a factor: folks are more likely to believe a BBC report than most other media…

John Farrell

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 07:34:52 +1300

How do we know this isn't fake news?

Dennis Frank

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 21:49:09 +1300

The BBC has an excellent report on one of the pioneers of fake news. The guy has become so successful that he’s actually earning a living from it! “Once his stories go viral, the Facebook comments burst forth. And that’s when Christopher Blair the fake news writer becomes Christopher Blair…

mark taslov

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 23:59:11 +1300

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lafT_b6dcKw
(2013)
Within 24 hours of its release, Grand Theft Auto V generated more than $800 million in worldwide revenue, equating to approximately 11.21 million copies sold for Take Two.[…]As of 7 February 2017, the game has shipped over 75 million copies across all platforms

Neil

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 01:13:09 +1300

What are you talking about? I barely ever mention Clinton

Kumara Republic

Fri, 30 Dec 2016 22:30:46 +1300

The smearing of Obama and Clinton along with the minimising of the brutality of Assad and Putin must be one of the most effect propaganda campaigns in recent years.

Nothing's changed much since the Soviet-era Active Measures programme. You can take Putin out of the KGB, but not the KGB…

andin

Fri, 30 Dec 2016 17:05:05 +1300

Robert Fisk

Neil

Thu, 29 Dec 2016 20:22:05 +1300

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=uGASeG-p9PY

I find this so disturbing. Putin funds media aimed at the US public that makes crazy allegations of Obama funding Al Qaida. And it’s working.

The smearing of Obama and Clinton along with the minimising of the brutality of Assad and Putin must be one of the most effect…

David Hood

Wed, 28 Dec 2016 11:39:24 +1300

I was putting together a playlist for New Years, and as I contemplated Tubthumping, I was struck by the social-media + media self-reinforcing hype around "did the cast of Hamilton address the Vice-President elect sufficiently respectfully" compared to the lead singer of Chumbawamba pouring a pitcher of water over the…

Bruce Ward

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 14:38:19 +1300

Now that the Public Address WoY is 'post-truth', it seems pertinent to post here a link to an article published nearly 37 years ago – 'A Cult of Ignorance' – Isaac Asimov (pdf).
Granted that it is somewhat caustic and maybe 'elitist', but it is possible that someone in 1980…

Farmer Green

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 10:43:35 +1300

you can call the non-government parties terrorists if thats what you want to do.
Wether you believe that or not is up to you,

I'm reminded of a discussion with Tom Bestor of the Massey Philosophy dept [in the latter half of last century :-) ] as to whether the…

David Hood

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 10:27:42 +1300

When you wrote "Moderates” fighting to overthrow Syrian president Assad. Those moderates just signed a non-aggression pact with ISIS. ” did you get that from some rather questionable sites from 2014?

There are between 5 and 50 (maybe more) factions in Syria depending on how you want to count them.…

Farmer Green

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:54:23 +1300

the ones the US has been backing are not ISIS.
Got it .
So the suggestion that the “moderates ” (U.S.-backed) have a non-aggression pact with ISIS is misleading, at best.

” The US has come to the defense or has given aid to three rather unlikely groups in the…

David Hood

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:51:13 +1300

There is a civil war going on, you can call the non-government parties terrorists if thats what you want to do. All I am commenting on is that in you earlier statement calling the ones that the US has been backing ISIS, the ones the US has been backing are…

Farmer Green

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:47:00 +1300

The U.S. government is at war with terrorists.
Ergo , U.S.- backed “rebels ” , trying to overthrow the Syrian government, are not terrorists?
Perhaps they are "good terrorists" – shades of Doris Lessing :-)

David Hood

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:44:23 +1300

If it helps the fighting in Aleppo is between the Government and non-ISIS groups, the fighting in Palmyra is between the Government and ISIS groups

David Hood

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:36:57 +1300

I would say it is absolutely true, as the US backed rebels have been fighting the Government and ISIS it is true to say they have been fighting the Government. To say they are ISIS is the questionable claim. ISIS are also fighting the US backed rebels and the government.…

Farmer Green

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:33:20 +1300

To say that U.S. – backed “rebels” have been fighting to overthrow the Syrian governemnt is true or false , in your view?

David Hood

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:26:28 +1300

It sounds likes you are thinking there are two sides in Syria- ISIS and the Syrian government. There are a lot more than that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186

There are groups that are both anti-Syrian government and anti-ISIS (and groups that are anti-Syrian government and anti-ISIS and anti-other-anti-Government-and-ISIS groups).

Farmer Green

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:06:56 +1300

A small slip -up at RNZ this morning : The ISIS/ISIL/Daesh " terrorists " trying to overthrow the Syrian governemnt were referred to as U.S. – backed "rebels".
Fake news , surely.?
Was somebody asleep at GCSB overnight?
Heads must roll for this.
And apparently NZ has a new "leader"…

David Hood

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 08:36:23 +1300

Speaking of aliens http://motherboard.vice.com/read/fake-news-in-1947-was-the-reason-for-a-real-life-x-file

Farmer Green

Sun, 11 Dec 2016 06:09:50 +1300

Oh FFS
Something like that . . . amongst other things . . . . apparently :-)

mark taslov

Sun, 11 Dec 2016 00:39:02 +1300

I guess that would depend on who owns the copyright of the photos. You could probably ask Gabriela Gagnier directly. Not speaking Vietnamese the second model (2:50) appears more difficult to track so I gave up. My impression of this kind of thing is that it’s rife online and that…

Kumara Republic

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 22:33:39 +1300

This leads to that ending up here

Do the owners of the models' photos have a case for copyright violation against the producers of the fake Twitter accounts?

And soon to be ex-President Obama should have invoked the Sherman Anti-Trust Act on Big Oil when he had the chance.

andin

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 20:37:00 +1300

The Catholic Church

Oh FFS

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 17:36:55 +1300

The process looks to be “par for the course”.
My strategy was to refuse to engage at any level, and when the council started the media campaign against me , I again ignored it, figuring that "pig wrestling ” was ill advised .
It took ten years for the council…

mark taslov

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 16:59:04 +1300

This leads to that ending up here

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 16:44:06 +1300

I wondered about the legal status of the land which the pipeline crossed, having recently resisted attempts by the local council to site a lake , and then more recently a cycleway on our farm.
The top search item was this, which could be "fake news" so I'm wondering what…

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 16:36:47 +1300

The Catholic Church didn't have a global view?
Pull the other one :-)

andin

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 16:35:18 +1300

expressed similar views.

Their world view was very different. If they even had one in a global sense.

Kumara Republic

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 16:05:55 +1300

Intermittently we awaken from our slumber. This fits the spirit.
http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2428-how-standing-rock-gave-us-tactics-new-millennium.html

Forcible uprooting of any kind can be a major catalyst for taking action.

mark taslov

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 13:54:54 +1300

True, I have never been caned. Sandled, strapped, Commandoed, Barter Bulleted, Nomaded, wooden spooned,
but never caned.
Intermittently we awaken from our slumber. This fits the spirit.
http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2428-how-standing-rock-gave-us-tactics-new-millennium.html

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 13:24:27 +1300

True, but the cane is no longer in use , and the school in question no longer has priests as "masters".
Still teaching the same bullshit in "Christian Doctrine", probably.

mark taslov

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 12:17:27 +1300

That did not stop us from turning the whole thing on its head

But you didn’t, not really, not in New Zealand.
Keith Holyoake ————-–> Bill English.
“Follow England and Vote Holyoake”

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 06:57:49 +1300

not a society many thought the young would inherit.
I’m sure that the “guardians” of the society that we kiddies of the sixties inherited , expressed similar views.
That did not stop us from turning the whole thing on its head ; the young of today have the same opportunity…

nzlemming

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 11:48:12 +1300

80s Taoist vampires. My favourite kind.

And now, my YouTube feed is full of oriental vampire movies. Thanks, Joe.

andin

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 07:16:56 +1300

retired

Would if i could. This is not a society many thought the young would inherit. navel gazing is pointless at this stage. It went horribly wrong in the 80's And the loud voices took control, and resurrected a hollowed out morality to browbeat their more introspect peers and force…

Dennis Frank

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 21:11:48 +1300

The new age thing really did turn to custard big-time in the nineties. There was always a large quotient of delusional thinking around the various fields it encompassed since theosophy invented the concept late nineteenth century. Esoteric shit goes back millennia but you can always discover elements of reality under…

andin

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 18:06:56 +1300

aliens
I had my tongue firmly in my cheek then.
Selfishness seems to have become amplified by capitalist marketing
And, that now totally debased thing called, new age.
FFS corporations and politicians do "self-improvement" workshops now and foist the drivel, they found sooooo involving on their company weekend away, onto…

Dennis Frank

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 10:37:17 +1300

Yes, Stephen, I did mean community in that more general sense. It's probably happening to some extent via social media, but nowhere near enough. A sense of community will co-generate whenever/wherever folks are in frequent interaction with each other on the basis of common interests, shared values, beliefs, etc.

Once…

Stephen R

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 09:07:10 +1300

Now that the pendulum has swung to the other extreme, younger generations will have to reinvent community as a survival strategy.

One of the side effects of our technology is that my community is not the people I live next to any more. I know more about and have more…

Joe Wylie

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 08:29:28 +1300

Taoism.
80s Taoist vampires. My favourite kind.
https://youtu.be/Q7bGCS8TOk8

Farmer Green

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 07:47:52 +1300

consumers with many different tastes.

"Reduced"; "Special"; "etc".

Farmer Green

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 07:42:51 +1300

community as a survival strategy.
That meme has been around for a little while.

Farmer Green

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 07:41:09 +1300

Ecospirituality was an accepted part of the green movement long ago – probably can trace it back

Taoism.

Dennis Frank

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 06:57:31 +1300

I've spent a long time trying to figure that out. There's more of a basis for taking the alien thing seriously than you'd think, but that ought not to motivate us to be distracted by it too much. Occam's Razor suggests that mass psychology has deep enough dimensions to explain…

andin

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 06:30:53 +1300

In a more global sense, progress still requires a sustainable economy

Not people acting less like self centred arseholes?
Oh thats right its all a vast conspiracy... by something....aliens?

Alfie

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 21:07:44 +1300

For anyone who wondered why the term Alt-Right has become an acceptable euphemism for Nazi, I recommend Pete Reynolds' essay, Why I Am Changing the Name of Our Puppy-Burning Movement to “Alt-Warmth”.

Dennis Frank

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 20:51:34 +1300

Yeah, you get the impression some of these people just get off on trying to con others with bullshit. Such people have always been around – unfortunately online media gets them a lot more prominence nowadays. Social media is getting so toxic users are disconnecting & I expect that trend to…

Dennis Frank

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 20:40:03 +1300

Progress, for us here in Aotearoa, would involve Labour, the Greens & NZ First agreeing to form a center-left government so voters have a positive alternative to the status quo. Too bad they think competing is better than collaborating, eh? Clever people would do both concurrently. They said Gerald Ford was…

Dennis Frank

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 20:21:30 +1300

No, much more than just a will to survive (athough I needed that to survive my father's method of parenting). In literature, it has always been described as mystic, or as a sense of oneness with nature. I had it as a child, by virtue of solitary rambles through the…

andin

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 17:51:36 +1300

transcending an inadequate status quo is always essential for progress.

Then theres the question, which way is progress?,
Cause it looks like a lot of dead end streets at present

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhnhQOo8shQ

Craig Ranapia

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 16:11:43 +1300

A Hillary voter who admits to creating propaganda designed to discredit Hillary, but in order to infiltrate the fake news subculture. This guy evokes the old double-agent scenario that prevailed during the Cold War and was recycled from the 19th century.

Or Jestin Coler could simply be lying about who…

Farmer Green

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 11:47:23 +1300

Seeing as we more "intelligent" animals have few innate behaviours, and as "innate green" can be reasonably taken to be " sustainability instinct", then we have eating, fleeing, and sleeping as possibilities for the innate behaviour.

John Farrell

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 11:47:05 +1300

Boy, have they signed up for the big one!

Rich Lock

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 11:18:56 +1300

A Hillary voter who admits to creating propaganda designed to discredit Hillary, but in order to infiltrate the fake news subculture.

A few people recently have mentioned NPR's Planet Money podcast, episode #739 titled "Finding the Fake-News King".

Apparently (I haven't listened to it yet) the fake-news-story creator they interview…

Farmer Green

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 11:03:11 +1300

"innate green idealism"
Interesting choice of words. Something like the "will to live"?

Dennis Frank

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 10:48:18 +1300

Mm, I always empathised similarly. However the natural design of our world includes deception. Best source: Dark Nature (Lyall Watson). Caused me considerable angst, in the nineties – almost cured me of my innate green idealism.. : )

Dennis Frank

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 10:45:18 +1300

Interesting – hadn't heard of the author. Wikipedia: "At the time of publication it was one of the 10 longest novels written in the English language." We're still in the year of publication, so that very likely still applies. I like big deep fiction.

The Guardian reviewer quoted a couple…

David Hood

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 09:43:58 +1300

The archetype was known as Hermes

You could just as easily describe him as a seducer archetype as he was giving people what they wanted even if it was built on lies, and making rather a lot of money in the process (in interviews, Jestin Coler plays up the confusing…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 09:15:08 +1300

the path to illumination...... but transcending an inadequate status quo is always essential for progress.
I'm just a mere 21 pages into Alan Moore's epic 1266pp, 2016 opus, Jerusalem – anything could happen!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/15/jerusalem-by-alan-moore-review

Dennis Frank

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 08:46:40 +1300

Yeah, quite illuminating. A Hillary voter who admits to creating propaganda designed to discredit Hillary, but in order to infiltrate the fake news subculture. This guy evokes the old double-agent scenario that prevailed during the Cold War and was recycled from the 19th century. Stalin was on the payroll of…

andin

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 06:09:21 +1300

sorry i should have done this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXQyaUkg6eA

andin

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 21:56:42 +1300

fuckn hell fake news kills

David Hood

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 17:38:36 +1300

Bruce, correct. It is essentially meaningless (expect for how individual states assign their electoral college votes and those numbers have been stripped of that context).

If one was talking counties, you could say Clinton lost the counties by a little over 100000 votes. As the right votes in the right…

Bruce Ward

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 17:02:57 +1300

Based on what Snopes offers , the true ratio of counties wins looks to be Trump : Clinton= 80:20
So what do counties wins indicate?
I suppose it could be (intentionally?) misleading as it takes no account of the fact that counties have widely differing population counts. Perhaps it could…

Farmer Green

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:38:55 +1300

Based on what Snopes offers , the true ratio of counties wins looks to be Trump : Clinton= 80:20

David Hood

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 13:23:50 +1300

It is false, http://www.snopes.com/trump-won-3084-of-3141-counties-clinton-won-57/

It is true that Trump won the countryside and Clinton won the cities, but anywhere promulgating stories like that as fact is spreading known falsehoods and should not be trusted as a source.

Farmer Green

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 06:51:26 +1300

Here is a cool piece of “fake news” . Or is it " gospel truth”? I get confused :-)

“There are 3,141 counties in the United States.

Trump won 3,084 of them.

Clinton won 57.

There are 62 counties in New York State.

Trump won 46 of them.

Clinton won…

Farmer Green

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 06:38:41 +1300

Who will be next to "head for the hills"?
Turnbull methinks.

Farmer Green

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 06:24:10 +1300

accrued holiday pay

That was paid in advance wasn’t it?
$50 million “bonus” from Merrill-Lynch. Heh!

andin

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:54:43 +1300

He gives one weeks notice and is gone from the top? job in govt, jeez how does that work? Hope he doesnt get any accrued holiday pay

mark taslov

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 13:24:31 +1300

Well thank fucking Christ ;) For a moment I thought you were pulling my ponytail.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 13:20:41 +1300

John Key to resign as New Zealand Prime Minister and National party leader
False news... . . . .

I thought he sounded groggy after his mauling at the hands of Kim Hill this morning, she was in fine form, gonna miss her in the mornings.

mark taslov

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 13:04:04 +1300

The question is about which human behaviours are innate.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151012-feral-the-children-raised-by-wolves

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/gender-toys-children-toy-preferences-hormones_n_1827727.html

Which human behviours are innate to individuals? society? species? genus? family? order? phylum? kingdom? domain?

How much has society evolved?

Farmer Green

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 11:11:57 +1300

Well I would be happy to be wrong about that :-)
The question is about which human behaviours are innate.

Farmer Green

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 11:08:40 +1300

Sorry that I am "all over the shop". I find an i-pad to be quite cumbersome sometimes.

linger

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 11:04:44 +1300

To some extent they are, but the mistake is to see either as a long-term transferrable trait.

Farmer Green

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 10:58:14 +1300

I made the assumption that rationality and superstition are polar opposites.
http://innovation.cc/book-reviews/morrison.htm

linger

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 10:50:46 +1300

Not sure how you get to that conclusion from anything said above.
The propensity for humans to find overly simple solutions to complex problems is hard-wired (driven by economy of effort for likely benefit, which is a recognised environmental selective pressure). Superstition is one possible outcome. And instability and trauma…

Farmer Green

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 10:46:58 +1300

So the propensity to superstition does not exist?
Or if it does it is not hard- wired into H. sapiens?

linger

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 10:39:00 +1300

Yep, “rationality” is definitely far less an inherited trait than culturally transmitted, and both at individual and societal level it’s subject to widespread and marked fluctuations in response to events, hence not genetically transmitted. On the contrary, there is some evidence that long-term traumatic stress, reducing rationality, can be [heritably]…

David Hood

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 09:41:18 +1300

Certainly, I would get no pleasure from saying "I told you so" in a sixth mass extinction event.

Also given rationality is learned, and unlearned, I'm not sure it works in a survival of the fittest inherited traits kind of way.

andin

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 07:41:31 +1300

Superstition has never been or will it ever be a "brake". And the time scales in the sort of differences you speak of are so short, evolution just wouldnt have kicked in.
The "environment" means just that, not some kind of social organisation.

Farmer Green

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 06:16:01 +1300

My thesis was that superstition will prove to be a brake on the proliferation of H. sapiens ; the Achilles heel, so to speak.
If H. sapiens spp rationalis is more "fit" in a new changed environment , then it will dominate.
Intent doesn't come in to it.

andin

Sun, 04 Dec 2016 20:43:14 +1300

Homo sapiens ssp. rationalis
you misunderstand evolution.
it doesnt follow any living beings intent
theres another word for that, and it may come to pass.
But not in my lifetime.

Farmer Green

Sun, 04 Dec 2016 13:44:57 +1300

Evolution always operates. If Homo sapiens bites the dust , then Homo sapiens ssp. rationalis will have a day (or two) in the sun :-)

Tom Semmens

Sun, 04 Dec 2016 09:13:43 +1300

Is some middle class tosser using"sponsored content” to making sweeping generalisations in a sponsored fake news advertorial about the common mans drinking habits fake news?

http://thespinoff.co.nz/featured/03-12-2016/drink-yourself-for-bliss-the-rise-and-fall-of-beer-in-new-zealand/

This sort of article is EXACTLY the sort of mercenary, constant thrumming drumfire of middle class cultural appropriation and casual disempowerment that fuels the…

andin

Sat, 03 Dec 2016 14:09:59 +1300

Some say that the propensity , if not compulsion, for superstitious behaviour will prevent Homo sapiens from becoming too dominant over other species.

Bit late for that dont you think unless you mean cockroaches, rats, crocodiles and snakes.

Apropo of nothing
[[http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/87162375/donald-trump-has-ushered-in-a-world-without-facts-and-thats-scarier-than-you-think | That didnt take long. If enough people…

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 20:09:15 +1300

It seemed to be less advocacy; more acceptance that superstition is alive and well in the third millennium.
Some say that the propensity , if not compulsion, for superstitious behaviour will prevent Homo sapiens from becoming too dominant over other species.
Surely not a bad thing for all.

mark taslov

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 18:22:25 +1300

Science ;)

All compounded things are impermanent
All phenomena are without inherent existence
Nirvana is beyond description

andin

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 18:03:19 +1300

scientific rationality, has reached a dead end because while it is powerful it doesn’t really comport with human behavior.

Who on this green earth ever said that it is or had to? And if people just do whatever the fuck comes into their head, if this person is advocating that,…

John Farrell

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 10:50:45 +1300

Ammonium nitrate, Ian.

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 10:11:12 +1300

The medium is the message :-)
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/the-fake-news-witchhunt-is-merely-the-latest-dimension-of-illiberal-left-censorship/#comment-684188

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 10:10:14 +1300

That is a conspiracy theory.

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 10:08:17 +1300

a Nauru escape!
It is diesel that will cause the real productivity crunch to occur, long before phosphorus is the major problem.
Hmmmm... combining those two can have explosive results, can't it...?

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 08:14:02 +1300

Chinese organic food for Godzone , or NZ organic food to China?
Sustainability – WTF ?

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/news-and-resources/media-releases/new-zealands-organic-food-industry-to-benefit-from-new-arrangement-with-china/

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 07:57:11 +1300

(economic) returns are higher than with cows fully fed
And these farms did not need a tractor . . . just a hand- trolley to get the cream cans down to the cream-stand at the gate.
It is diesel that will cause the real productivity crunch to occur, long before…

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 07:41:31 +1300

This is pure personal opinion, presented as such ; so not “fake” ?

http://pickeringpost.com/story/is-obama-being-trumped-by-a-smarter-chess-player-/6701

His by-line is at the top of the page :-

"Four-time Walkley Award winning political commentator and Churchill Fellow, has returned to the fray over concern that the integrity of news dissemination is continually being threatened…

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 07:36:16 +1300

This was the seminal paper :- http://www.nzsap.org/system/files/proceedings/1958/ab58004.pdf

“The ‘C’ treatment is representative of a large number of farms where a heavy stocking rate results in underfeeding during periods of slow pasture growth.
While believed to lead to low per cow production, it is argued that, because of the greater number…

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 07:29:53 +1300

phosphate
In earlier times , bovine bones were dissolved in sulfuric acid to recover the phosphorus.
It will be interesting to see what levels of production are sustainable with much reduced phosphate use.
It has not been necessary on this farm to apply phosphorus more often than once every ten…

Farmer Green

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 07:03:40 +1300

The NZ Dairy Exporter was read by most of the family ; it was the nearest thing to a true dairy science publication. This was in the great era (1950-1975) where NZ grazing management was refined to become a “precise” science of Dry Matter , Residual Dry Matter ; cows/acre…

David Hood

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 17:52:46 +1300

Since the discussion veered to phosphate a page or so back, this seems a topical globalisation related article http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/11/the-desert-rock-that-feeds-the-world/508853/

Dennis Frank

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:42:11 +1300

Didn't seem frothy to me, but good on you for sharing it. "As is so often the case, journalists — who constantly demand transparency from everyone else — refuse to provide even the most basic levels for themselves. When subjected to scrutiny, they reflexively adopt the language of the most…

nzlemming

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 14:53:26 +1300

Interesting story on the Intercept regarding the provenance of the WashPo's "exposé" on Russian fake news:
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/26/washington-post-disgracefully-promotes-a-mccarthyite-blacklist-from-a-new-hidden-and-very-shady-group/

(a little frothy at the mouth but some good points made)

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 14:28:00 +1300

Prepare to meta your maker…
…and in breaking ‘Fake News’ – The Chch Art Gallery’s outreach programme has had an unexpected side-effect, as the art goes out into the community, so does the community start to intrude on the art!!

__Apologies to Petrus van der Velden, Evelyn Page and Sir…

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 14:24:34 +1300

Farmers receive three or four free ” newspapers”
Is this a recent one?
;- )

Farmer Green

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 07:10:14 +1300

an interesting discussion on these matters
A similar discussion has been occurring over the last several years in the free farming press . Farmers receive three or four free " newspapers" each week, paid for by the advertisers.
It has been interesting to see the ways in which "fake news"…

Geoff Lealand

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 19:47:21 +1300

There will be an interesting discussion on these matters in a panel at the NZ Political Studies Assn conference at the Univ of Waikato tomorrow: "Dire Strait: New Zealand Media and the Narrowing of Political Debate", with Geoff Kemp, Julienne Molineaux, Gavin Ellis and Maria Amoudian. I will also be…

andin

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 18:27:21 +1300

So the presidential protection bill will skyrocket then...Oh good

Alex Coleman

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 17:48:35 +1300

The chances of his properties becoming targets is pretty high, I think anyone would say.

What happens next though. Aside from his response, the wrapping up of the Trump brand with the Presidency will grow. Trump Towers and resorts will become symbols of the presidency. Freedom Towers, if you like.…

andin

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 11:21:22 +1300

“the single most important voice in the alternative conservative media”

Is that a recommendation?
I could go with other adjectives, obnoxious, arseaholic, unreasoned.

Yes all derogatory cause these arsewipes seem to to see trumps victory as permission to rubbish anyone who disagrees with them, as confirmation that any thought they…

Dennis Frank

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 10:48:08 +1300

"On the night of the US election, the man described as "America's leading conspiracy theorist" was wrapping up a "historic" 52-hour live internet broadcast.
"Donald J Trump. The golden toad," declared a dazed and euphoric Alex Jones, the veteran radio broadcaster, filmmaker and founder of the influential InfoWars.com.
The broadcaster…

andin

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 07:52:29 +1300

Fidel Castro has died

And the procession of opinions start. Sad on both counts
As for that other "death" globalisation
Bernand Hickey has the best analysis I've read in a long time

andin

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 19:34:56 +1300

What would the Roman Catholic Church do
Get the inquistors in, and torture the wrongly accused till they signed a piece of paper saying it was all their for not believing?

Or sell scraps of paper saying the purchaser is absolved of all fault and they will be at gods…

David Hood

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 17:32:02 +1300

Something has changed- the U.S. election was seen as having unprecedented amounts of fake news, in many cases created by people deliberately to earn a living from successful Facebook shares of the "news" material- if you follow the money the economic incentive is new. So discussion of fake news has…

Farmer Green

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 16:47:10 +1300

Poor phrasing on my part. It was puzzling that fake news is receiving so much attention at this time . Has something changed , or was the reportage itself more of the same?

David Hood

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 14:34:20 +1300

I don't think anyone considers or has claimed propaganda to be novel,

p.s. if you did due diligence on the zero hedge article, there were several misrepresentations in it. Possibly most ironically that they had been called a fake news site. They hadn't. They had appeared on a list of…

Farmer Green

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 12:14:28 +1300

It’s puzzling that this “fake news ” meme is considered novel.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-25/meet-real-fake-news

Yeah I know . . . ZH

Farmer Green

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 12:10:20 +1300

the mass construction of artificial social realities that become reality in the minds of those in the co-creating group,
Hallelujah! He is risen!
I've been supplying to retail for 35 years. When we have a marketing issue , we tend to say :- 'What would the Roman Catholic Church do…

Dennis Frank

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 11:13:30 +1300

A fascinating analysis, eh? Seems sophisticated, even if reliant on diagnosis by computer (we know computers get things wrong often). Those visual displays of clusters of users connecting with each other on a particular meme are an excellent illustration of the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand…

Farmer Green

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 10:10:59 +1300

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. -Max Planck.
Another relevant aphorism is – ” the truth will out”.
Or this- It…

David Hood

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 09:57:03 +1300

a data based investigation into the propagation mechanisms of the US political "news"-like stories

https://points.datasociety.net/fake-news-is-not-the-problem-f00ec8cdfcb#.1anmzfrqk

Farmer Green

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 09:53:24 +1300

If you are identifying the Fonterra guff as pure spin, then you could be right. On the positive side, it is a move to get rid of PKE.
Maybe replace it with more nitrogen fertiliser?

andin

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 09:26:10 +1300

What does the panel think?

Where's the good news?
Oh that's right there is none, unless you believe Fonterra is the answer
Which means suspending disbelief
So I'll just resume a holding pattern waiting for the shit to hit the industrial sized fan
As there doesnt seem to be a…

Farmer Green

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 06:47:07 +1300

Just an observation that the interest rate on a five year loan term has not been lower in the last 40 years. It may not last much longer ; less than one year in my view.

https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2016/11/25/crash2-you-know-its-imminent-when/

Farmer Green

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 06:28:31 +1300

And acknowledging that NZ needs to be exporting if we are going to service and repay our debts .
So it is about trade, which will never be totally free, and is unlikely to be all in our favour. Most likely we will think it unfair to varying degrees.
The…

Rich Lock

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 00:56:18 +1300

I had a (very) brief skim of the blogpost in question, and to be fair to The Archdruid, and Farmer Green, that isn't exactly the suggestion being made.

More like a food miles kind of thing, I think, and pragmatic enough to import what can't be produced locally.

andin

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 16:33:54 +1300

“free trade” this idea is radical if not heretical, and is patently anti-globalisation.

How about this for a radical idea, stop all this dicking around trade agreements which are usually a crock of shite anyway and for the benefit of a few not the many.
Make sure everyone has good…

Dennis Frank

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 16:07:28 +1300

Re "greater domestic self-sufficiency" see also http://pundit.co.nz/content/the-future-of-international-trading#comment-44125

mark taslov

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 15:45:42 +1300

Here’s what they did, they set up Special Economic Zones, wages undercut the global competition, leading global tech companies relocated their manufacturing to the zones. They reverse engineered the tech they were tasked with manufacturing and copied it. Obviously problematic, but nothing on this page strikes me as compelling justification…

John Farrell

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 15:33:10 +1300

I was involved in the electronics industry (when we had one). The only locally sourced components we used were printed circuit boards....and they were made from an imported substrate.

mark taslov

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 15:04:51 +1300

I put the phosphate and drugs in a bowl, I stirred them up, wacked them in the microwave, added a little salt, still no mutton, what be happening? Is it that we're arguing against FG's larger point from an absolutist position?

John Farrell

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 15:00:44 +1300

Imported phosphate and veterinary drugs.

mark taslov

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 14:54:50 +1300

Cars and electronics – from imported components.

and mutton from….

At some point we might just have to admit that we're a bit thick, our number #8 wire mentality won't cut it in the digital age, we can't recycle, we can't build anything from scratch, heck our chief reason for…

John Farrell

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 11:32:34 +1300

Cars and electronics – from imported components.

Dennis Frank

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 11:06:15 +1300

Sometimes it isn't easy, distinguishing between fake news & real. If someone told you that a squirrel died in a kamikaze attack on a politician, you'd suspect it was fake eh? What if they told you they read it in the NZ Herald? Some cynics would still go for fake, no…

Farmer Green

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 08:47:43 +1300

mutton for every meal, and bathe in milk powder.
On Fridays you can have fish , and bathe in the ocean.

Farmer Green

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 08:46:12 +1300

NZ can make cars, electronics, and grow bananas, but I get your point.

John Farrell

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 08:09:59 +1300

You will, however, be able to have mutton for every meal, and bathe in milk powder.

BenWilson

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 07:42:24 +1300

It's certainly a radical idea that I shouldn't be able to consume cars or electronics, or bananas.

Farmer Green

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 07:33:14 +1300

uh huh?
Apparently in the age of "free trade" this idea is radical if not heretical, and is patently anti-globalisation.

andin

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 21:21:25 +1300

The other question

Who’s perception is more at fault?… or
Will these people never tire of being self-centred?

Milton Freidman was a twatcock
The Chicago school is a blot on humanity
a country should produce the things that are consumed by the residents
uh huh?

Farmer Green

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 20:09:54 +1300

The other question will be – will the ones who voted for Trump be the ones who gain the most, because if they perceive that they have done so , then they will vote for more of the same.

Farmer Green

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 20:04:28 +1300

An argument that a country should produce the things that are consumed by the residents is given an outing by the archdruid.
Godzone needs to be clever here: we live or die by the trade rules in vogue at any particular time. And of course we are canny traders: we…

Emma Hart

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 19:53:16 +1300

I do rather feel America deserves what they voted for. Sometimes the hard way is the only way to learn.

Except that, y'know, most of them didn't, and the people who will suffer the most are the ones who were least likely to vote for him.

Otherwise I'd be really…

John Farrell

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 19:36:22 +1300

I read the comments – it surprises me how many are sucked in by his schtick.

Dennis Frank

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 19:20:06 +1300

If. Did you also read the comments below the interview? I liked this: "if a journalist said to me it is raining outside I would check for myself. So even if everything he said is right no one believes him, a la Cassandra."

But yes, I myself made an online…

John Farrell

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 18:42:52 +1300

If what I read here is true

http://www.interest.co.nz/news/84734/investigative-journalist-david-cay-johnston-donald-trump-he-talks-13-year-old-boy

Trump's "skill as a deal maker" enriches him, and bankrupts his partners.

Dennis Frank

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 18:03:25 +1300

Yeah, well put. I was responding to an assertion that was presented as if it were an historical fact. Also thanks to Joe Wylie for his correction: my impression from around 60 years of reading history probably derives from the lack of extensive use of the device in his empire.…

Stephen R

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 16:09:02 +1300

Hmm, #16 on the all-time greatest hits list, all of which are mere estimates not historical fact

You do realise that most history is about estimates, right? They don't know precisely how many people were killed by Hitler, or Stalin, or the US in Iraq, but they can make estimates.…

simon g

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 15:37:59 +1300

Yeah, I really don't think that "accurately reporting what Trump says and does – or tweets" is any kind of definition for "demonising".

Or for that matter, redefining "leftist" as "diplomats, scientists, journalists, a bunch of Republicans, most American voters, etc, etc ...".

BenWilson

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 15:32:11 +1300

I'm less concerned about how cray democracy is than how cray Trump personally is. But except where it affects us outside of the USA, I do rather feel America deserves what they voted for. Sometimes the hard way is the only way to learn. I don't think deliberately disenfranchising the…

andin

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 15:24:03 +1300

Demonization of the President Elect is pretty much normal in the USA, if you voted against them.
Its an insane way of doing things. But its distant, still I read worrying things about him gutting NASA climate science, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Personally I find…

Joe Wylie

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 14:54:11 +1300

...he seems to have abandoned the guillotine as standard treatment for political opponents institutionalised by the prior (leftist) revolutionary government.
The guillotine was introduced as a claimed humane method of execution. It remained in use until France abolished the death penalty in the early 1980s. The National Assembly of the…

Dennis Frank

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 14:32:03 +1300

Hmm, #16 on the all-time greatest hits list, all of which are mere estimates not historical fact (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll). But I had in mind the lack of the usual overt cruelty (genocide, torture, concentration camps, etc) and he seems to have abandoned the guillotine as standard treatment for political opponents institutionalised…

BenWilson

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 13:30:11 +1300

Napoleon turned out to be quite benign, as dictators go

Yes, only 3.5 – 7 million people died in the wars that resulted from his actions.

Dennis Frank

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 12:16:34 +1300

Napoleon turned out to be quite benign, as dictators go, but I guess it was a refreshing change from the previous century (in which puritan ideology made depicting the pope as antichrist the prevalent norm).

"Steve Bannon runs the new vast right-wing conspiracy—and he wants to take down both Hillary…

Russell Brown

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 11:53:46 +1300

“When Clinton became secretary of state, the foundation signed an agreement with the White House to disclose all of its contributors. It didn’t follow through.” So top democrats can’t even honour the agreements they sign with each other. No wonder voters think they can’t be trusted to run the country.…

BenWilson

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 11:02:57 +1300

The left, having recently tired of demonising Trump

I’m not seeing that abating much. Nor do I expect to. Demonization of the President Elect is pretty much normal in the USA, if you voted against them.

ETA: Which clearly, is not a good thing if any actual demons do get…

Dennis Frank

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 10:44:47 +1300

I agree that the USA is operating as an oligarchy nowadays (as much as a democracy). I suspect Trump will join the club of oligarchs, after draining the swamp sufficiently to make it a hostile ecosystem for his competitors.

The left, having recently tired of demonising Trump, are now busy…

Rich Lock

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 07:57:04 +1300

This is essentially about the de-selection process . . . . getting rid of the entrenched oligarchy without having to invoke the guillotine solution.
If Trump succeeds in only one policy outcome during his tenure , a limit on politicians' terms- in- office would satisfy many people.

There's plenty of…

Russell Brown

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 07:29:09 +1300

My point is that while it might be superficially and in theory an extremely attractive proposition to set some sort of eligibility test for voting, and exclude those deemed incompetent by way of stupidity and/or ignorance, in practice it’s hugely dubious.

It certainly is.

Farmer Green

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 06:37:00 +1300

we have an Oligarchy.
So your "Trump " steps up to the plate and offers to "drain the swamp". This is essentially about the de-selection process . . . . getting rid of the entrenched oligarchy without having to invoke the guillotine solution.
If Trump succeeds in only one policy…

Rich Lock

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 22:33:14 +1300

....although it's quite funny that the first half-dozen or so posts after I put the test up are people trying to answer the questions.

Rich Lock

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 22:31:31 +1300

I’m pretty sure Rich posted it as a joke

I suspect it was to illustrate what happens once you start setting voter eligibility tests. These tests were from the 1960s.

Correct. It's a 1960's voter registration test from the South (Louisiana), set by white people in power in the state…

andin

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 20:39:16 +1300

Moses

Talk about fake news!

Farmer Green

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 18:42:42 +1300

I blame Moses for this .

Farmer Green

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 18:37:26 +1300

With a meritocracy, competence determines the outcome.
Back here , it seemed to be the make-up of the governing body , or the group of those elected to represent or govern the people, that was to be determined on merit ; fitness for purpose, in modern parlance.
The Chinese Civil…

Joe Wylie

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 18:19:24 +1300

"Everyone must be able to read, so that the government can say: Ignorance of the law is no excuse."

mark taslov

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 18:14:14 +1300

A foreign (second) language test is not a literacy test, or an intelligence test, or an education test. Who knows where voters get their information?

I don’t disgree with this simon or your point, but following the instructions on a ballot does test one’s literacy in the relevant language.

simon g

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 17:48:53 +1300

I’m not seeing any compelling reasons to let illiterate people vote in elections that are basically literacy tests.

A foreign (second) language test is not a literacy test, or an intelligence test, or an education test. Who knows where voters get their information?

I would happily exclude all voters whose…

mark taslov

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 17:36:39 +1300

I absolutely agree Linger, in all honesty I feel an aim of being more rather than less inclusive is a more productive starting point. That I have a tendency to waste time painting myself into corners over issues that I have little or no passion for is at least as…

linger

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 17:03:19 +1300

The bigger point here is that, if any "meritocratic" limits are to be set on who can qualify to vote in a democracy, then it is essential that those limits be designed so as not to unfairly disadvantage or exclude any group whose lives will be affected by the outcome.…

mark taslov

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:35:54 +1300

What’s flawed about it?

“one wrong answer denotes failure of the test.”

I’m sure people here could design a better test- where better is defined as excluding a different group of people that you want to exclude, but it will only be better in the sense of affecting a different…

David Hood

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:32:08 +1300

What's flawed about it? The aim of the test was to stop people deemed inappropriate by the local officials from voting. It succeeded in it's aim

By the way, those were only the first 13 questions

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/06/28/voting_rights_and_the_supreme_court_the_impossible_literacy_test_louisiana.html

I'm sure people here could design a better test- where better is defined…

mark taslov

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:20:35 +1300

I suspect it was to illustrate what happens once you start setting voter eligibility tests

So a flawed example to illustrate what exactly? As of the 2013 census 87,534 do not speak English, 86.1% of whom are adults now. One such person I met last year (here on a parent…

David Hood

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 14:48:25 +1300

I’m pretty sure Rich posted it as a joke

I suspect it was to illustrate what happens once you start setting voter eligibility tests. These tests were from the 1960s. Note that everyone didn't have to take them, at the top it says "cannot prove a 6th grade education" so…

mark taslov

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 14:18:54 +1300

Pre-inauguration, that looks like an “early call” :-)

It looked like The Atlantic were running a 2 for the price of 1 electoral college deal.

This analysis of the MSM's role in Trump's victory was quite comprehensive.

BenWilson

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 14:03:14 +1300

I'm pretty sure Rich posted it as a joke. The whole point was that this test was written by someone carelessly, or with poor English, or taking the piss. Many of the questions are ironic self referential jokes. Question 10 is particularly bad – it does not tell you what…

Brent Jackson

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 13:47:37 +1300

You also had to understand “when making the number below one million” as “when making the number, which is located below, one million”

I may well have failed because of this. The logical solution is to cross out the one, because it asks to cross out a number (I don't…

BenWilson

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 13:45:30 +1300

No zero is not a number, or was not a number. No 5 is asking for the first “a” . . . so a comprehension test.

These are clearly the important questions when deciding if a person should have access to democratic participation.

Dennis Frank

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 12:07:22 +1300

Ah, back when common sense prevailed in popular culture. A dim memory now.

"By 1740 BC, the Egyptians had a symbol for zero in accounting texts" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(number)) goes to show that after a millennium and a half of being civilised, they'd become sufficiently unnatural to conceive it.

"Posting fake news…

David Hood

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 11:49:45 +1300

Absolutely, zero is not a natural number. However, tests to be eligible to vote are fundamentally there to block people the test designer doesn't want voting, so in that respect the questions are there to limit people passing. It doesn't matter (from the test maker's perspective) if the questions are…

Farmer Green

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:51:31 +1300

Pedantry no doubt , but zero was not a natural number , because it was not natural to count nothing. This was implicit in the concept of number as taught back then. You could not count nothing, . . . one would make a mark only for what was being…

Farmer Green

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:39:50 +1300

Looking back at the NZ education system as it once was, I see meritocracy and measurement of merit deeply embedded in the design. The system had no view on the circumstance leading to the exhibition of the quality of “merit”, so if it was luck in “upbringing and natural intelligence”…

Dennis Frank

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:30:15 +1300

Yeah that traditional view is long established. My father's father ran the meals-on-wheels service for the St Johns Ambulance org back in the fifties in New Plymouth. A practical application of his christian faith. Since he was station master at the railway during the day, the voluntary sideline would have…

David Hood

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:28:57 +1300

No zero is not a number

For the purposes of the test, zero was a number. Because, as I understand it, to pass the test you had to understand the instruction "cross out the number necessary," to translate to striking out the last 4 zeros. You also had to understand…

Farmer Green

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:13:55 +1300

I had another take on "voluntarism as a primary social ethic".
I took it to be volunteering one's life in service to something; a person or an ideal , even a piece of land. But the common idea was voluntary service, as in a life of service.
Examples that came…

Farmer Green

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:04:28 +1300

No zero is not a number, or was not a number. No 5 is asking for the first "a" . . . so a comprehension test.
The first question established that a line need not be straight . . . lines delineate.

Dennis Frank

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:01:15 +1300

"To solve 12 you need to obviously either accept that a line can be not straight, or tear the paper accordingly."

Flawed assumption? Note that the test does not specify a straight line. Same applies to #1 perhaps (a line around something tends to become a circle).

BenWilson

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 09:13:10 +1300

LOL. I fail on question 1. Question 10 is curly. For 11, crossing out the 1 makes the number below one million (zero is below one million). 2 is some kind of figure of speech, to underline the word line in this line. 5 is cunning, looks like a typo.…

Rich Lock

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 07:27:49 +1300

Maybe we should have a liberalised version in the west – e.g to get full citizenship you have to take exams and write essays to show your ability at critical thought.

There's a couple of pre-existing ones we can use as a starting point. Here's one:

Farmer Green

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 07:15:08 +1300

"irresponsible demagogue "
Pre-inauguration, that looks like an "early call" :-)

mark taslov

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 00:09:37 +1300

the basis for access to power

In fairness to Rich’s point and example there, I achieved the required score on that sample test to be granted British citizenship. It wasn’t so much testing intelligence as it was testing knowledge. A test of the nature presented need not be dissimilar to…

BenWilson

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 23:18:34 +1300

to get full citizenship you have to take exams and write essays to show your ability at critical thought.

I'd be very much against that. Obviously teaching those things is important, but I don't think something as arbitrary as the luck you have in upbringing and natural intelligence should be…

Dennis Frank

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 19:35:29 +1300

Last night Howard Kurtz was discussing fake news on Fox, tonight Seven Sharp did a feature on it (normally I don't watch either – nor any tv) and showed a graph of clicks on fake news sites cllimbing past clicks on real news sites in recent months, so it's a…

Joe Wylie

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 19:11:14 +1300

There are many reasons for seeing him as the most Trump-like president.

Including, perhaps, that his backwoods supporters trashed the White House at his inauguration pissup.

David Hood

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 18:42:07 +1300

Wasn’t Jackson famous for defeating the central bank option?

Absolutely. Among white people he is remember as sticking up for the little guy against the elite and his short temper.

Vulnerable minorities tend to focus more on the genocidal ethnic cleansing of the Trail of Tears.

There are many reasons…

andin

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 18:36:18 +1300

overstating the case against democracy
Democracy isnt a bad system even though its faults are glaringly obvious at present.
It seems to fall down when the populace dont engage, for whatever reason and there are a few. And arent able to/capable of making informed decisions.

Or when the elected turn…