She exposed how Facebook enabled global political manipulation. Now she’s telling her story. | MIT Technology Review

|

She exposed how Facebook enabled global political manipulation. Now she’s telling her story. | MIT Technology Review

The world first learned of Sophie Zhang in September 2020, when BuzzFeed News obtained and published highlights from an abridged version of her nearly 8,000-word exit memo from Facebook.

Before she was fired, Zhang was officially employed as a low-level data scientist at the company. But she had become consumed by a task she deemed more important: finding and taking down fake accounts and likes that were being used to sway elections globally.

Her memo revealed that she’d identified dozens of countries, including India, Mexico, Afghanistan, and South Korea, where this type of abuse was enabling politicians to mislead the public and gain power. It also revealed how little the company had done to mitigate the problem, despite Zhang’s repeated efforts to bring it to the attention of leadership.

Garbage Recycling and Solar Gardens ♻

|

Garbage Recycling and Solar Gardens ♻

The cidiot sticks a small recycling bin next three large garbage bags every week and is so proud of all they are doing for recycle their garbage. They ignore the dumpster full of debris buried in the landfill after their last attic purge, the discarded appliances, the roofing material and their junked car. But they recycled their cans and bottles, so virtuous.

Because the cidiot believes in global warming, they are so proud to have subscribed to a solar garden, hundreds of acres of farm field or forests paved over with solar panels and electrical equipment. They call it a garden, because they seeded some pollinator friendly plants around the solar panels and access roads. Ignoring the fact that electrons are completely fungible and it’s impossible to know if the trickle of electrons from the solar facilities is actually the ones you are burning or essentially just a marketing job by the big utilities.

Then I could go on and on about the endless marketing of other green products that fill my advertising feeds. The reusable makeup brushes, the bamboo tooth brushes. Buy more stuff, the green stuff, the landfill is waiting for it.

I just hate green marketing as it sells a delusion and a falsehood to the urban consumer. It legitimizes consumption, it makes it feel okay to buy, use and throw away at a fevered pitch. While I get why marketers want to make a profit, they way they play on the emotions of the urban consumer is terrible.

How to Survive for Three Days in the Wilderness

|

How to Survive for Three Days in the Wilderness

The fundamentals of survival boil down to the Rule of Three: You can live three minutes without breathing, three hours when exposed to freezing temperatures, and three days without water. Concerning hunters and fishermen, it’s practical to think of survival in relation to the time it takes search and rescue (SAR) to do its job: With rare exceptions, sportsmen will be found within 72 hours of being reported missing.

The military stresses this same mindset in its survival schools, where the focus has shifted from long-term survival to waiting for rescue. This is due in part to the increased efficiency of SAR, as well as the understanding that skills such as trapping and hunting food waste precious energy. Even navigational skills are deemphasized, because it’s easier for search teams to locate a stationary target. A 72-hour plan elevates the importance of fundamentals like fire building and signaling

As the person who’s lost, injured, or stranded, it’s your job to stay put and stay alive. So calm those panicky voices in your head, stick to the plan detailed here, and you’ll likely be found within 72 hours.

Bootleg Fire Ravages Sycan Forest Estates in Oregon

|

PHOTOS: Bootleg Fire Ravages Sycan Forest Estates in Oregon

KLAMATH FALLS, Oregon — Sayyid Bey has his right arm over the slumped shoulders of his son Nicolas, 11, as they use the tips of their shoes to kick through the burned and blackened debris that was once their three-room home in Sycan Forest Estates in the mountains north of Bly, Oregon.

In the ash are pieces of broken kitchen pottery, the vacant remains of picture frames, and a slightly ajar freezer filled with spoiled deer meat. Nicolas bends down and picks up his sister’s singed baby doll and shows his father before placing it gently back on the ground.

Entering Hitchens Pond

|

Just past here, is a hairpin turn, as the flooded River, winds a bit, and becomes a much larger lake, in the form of a series of bays and marshes.

Taken on Friday August 13, 2010 at Hitchens Pond.