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Book review of If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future Topics Google | Facebook | big tech In late December 1960, Harper’s Magazine hit the newsstands with a story by a freelancer named Thomas Morgan: John F Kennedy’s razor-thin victory over Richard Nixon the previous month had been orchestrated by a top-secret computer called the “People Machine.” This mysterious device, which had been invented by an equally mysterious company called the Simulmatics Corporation, had, according to Harper’s, concluded that taking a firm stand on civil rights and confronting anti-Catholic bigotry directly, both of which Kennedy did, would help the young senator from Massachusetts win the presidency. In a period of rising anxiety about both communist brainwashing and automation, this was big news. The story of a “robot campaign strategist” analysing voter rolls and public opinion polls was picked up by media across the country. For a brief period, the scandal threatened to delegitimise Kennedy’s presidency before it had even begun. But the story, it turned out, was little more than a hacky publicity stunt by a company propagandist: Within a few months, Morgan, who’d edited the very Simulmatics reports he’d described in his magazine story, had been given an ownership stake in the company to go along with his title of “information manager.” Therein lies the paradox at the heart of If Then,Jill Lepore’s fascinating but flawed new book about the company she says “invented the future”: Her attempt to use Simulmatics as a parable for and precursor to “the data-mad and near-totalitarian 21st century” is hamstrung by the fact that it failed at almost everything it tried to do — oftentimes spectacularly so. Simulmatics, which opened up shop in 1959 and ceased operations in 1970, was the brainchild of a backslapping, glad-handing, résumé-faking huckster named Ed Greenfield. And what a shop...

Shreveport, LA (71104) Today Sun and clouds mixed. High 88F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Clear this evening. Increasing clouds with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Updated: September 27, 2020 @ 3:03 pm Read More

Are you a recent college graduate who can’t find a job because you majored in gender studies? If so, you should consider an exciting and rewarding career as a Facebook fact-checker!Fact-checking doesn’t require a great deal of knowledge or education, much less critical thinking skills. That’s why it’s perfect for many of today’s college graduates.In fact, there’s only one real job requirement: You must have spent the last five years in a “Progressive” bubble, where literally everyone you know believes things like a man can have a uterus, climate change will destroy the earth in 12 years, and Hillary Clinton was, like, the smartest person ever.Like I said, it’s ideal for recent grads.As a Facebook fact-checker, you will utilize time-tested and totally valid propaganda skills in the pursuit of relative truth, social justice, and the un-American way.Like strawman building, which is helpful when someone says something on Facebook that makes you feel icky but you can’t actually disprove. As a fact-checker, you can simply accuse them of saying something obviously false that they never said.For example, what if an unwoke Facebook user — and, sadly, there are many — posts a link to a CDC report that shows only 6 percent of reported COVID deaths were people who died of COVID alone, while the other 94 percent had an average of 2.6 co-morbidities. Local Newsletter Get daily Gwinnett County and state news headlines delivered to your inbox every day. Please enter a valid email address. All you have to do to thwart this blatant attempt to spread disinformation by citing scientific data is to tag the post as “Partly False,” with a note explaining that the CDC did not say only 6 percent of reported COVID deaths actually died due to COVID.Of course they didn’t say that! And neither did...

The accused used hotspot or WiFi services of others to evade detection, police said (Representational)New Delhi: A 23-year-old student was arrested for allegedly harassing a woman by sending her obscene messages on social media, police said on Sunday.The accused has been identified as BA first-year student Kafil, a resident of Mehrauli, they said.A woman lodged a complaint that a Facebook user was harassing her by sending obscene and abusive messages on her account, a senior police officer said."During investigation, police obtained the details of the user and with the help of technical surveillance, he was arrested on Saturday," Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said.During interrogation, the accused said he would create fake Facebook IDs in order to make friends with women and send them obscene messages, police said.He used hotspot or WiFi services of others to evade detection, they said.The accused was stalking the complainant online and presenting himself a gym trainer, police said.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) Read More

Facebook knows whose profiles you've visited and when getty One easy-to-access file could hand hackers or abusive partners vast amounts of sensitive detail about your Facebook activity. The file, which can take less than ten minutes to create and download, contains all of your Facebook history, including photos, private messages and other highly intrusive information, such as: The names of the Facebook profiles you’ve visited and when Your entire Facebook search history Details of the Facebook polls you’ve taken part in and how you voted The data is readily accessible to anyone who knows or steals your Facebook password, or who jumps onto a computer where your Facebook account is already logged in. The information can also be downloaded in plain, unencrypted HTML files, making them easy to distribute or share publicly. Here I reveal exactly what’s in your Facebook data file, how that information could be abused, and how to download the file for yourself, so you can see what’s lurking in your own Facebook history. 1. Whose profiles you’ve been viewing – and when Been checking out the profile of an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend to check who they’re dating now? Looked at the profile of a colleague from work? Facebook knows whose profiles you’ve been snooping on and all that information is trapped in your downloadable Facebook file in the about_you folder’s visited.html page. Here, you’ll find a listing of all the people whose profiles you’ve visited in the past year, with the exact time and date of the last visit. It could have potentially disastrous consequences if that information fell into the wrong hands. Would your current spouse be happy that you visited the profile of an ex last week? Would a jealous, abusive partner thrash out if they found you’d been looking at the profiles of…

Union city officials are being reminded that using social media is complicated when trying to avoid Sunshine Law violations.City Administrator Jonathan Zimmermann said he started thinking about the topic after getting a Facebook friend request from an elected official. That made him think of what city officials need to be more aware of when using social media in general.“Would we have the potential to have multiple elected officials commenting on a topic, we’re creating a public meeting that’s unposted,” he said at a Sept. 8 meeting of the city’s personnel, finance and public works committee. “We just need to be aware of that and try to not participate in those types of events.” After the meeting, Zimmermann clarified that he hadn’t seen or heard of actual online discussions involving Union officials that violated open meetings laws but that he wanted to bring the topic before the committee, which consists of members of the board of aldermen, before it became a problem.Members of the city’s park advisory board, who are not board of aldermen members, also were warned to be careful about discussions they have online. The topic was raised at an Aug. 27 meeting when Parks Director Chad Pohlmann went over a smartphone app called GroupMe, which he said is a simple way for him to communicate with the park board. “The complication is we cannot get into discussion with questions and response, because that violates Sunshine laws of open meetings,” he told board members. “So, if we, as a collective, have a conversation in private as a quorum, that could get into issues with having a meeting that’s not open to the public.”Pohlmann said staff came up with the idea to use the app after having “technical difficulties” in communicating with board members through email.“It’s like a group text,…

featured Saturday, September 26th, 2020 @ 7:00 pm NIST, along with NASA and the U.S. Geologic Survey, are collaborating to make high-accuracy measurements of light, or lunar spectral irradiance, from Earth's moon. Ground-based and airborne experiments measure how much light of different wavelengths reflect from the Moon. NIST Physicist John Woodward talks about the Lunar Spectral Irradiance Projects, the science involved, and the practical benefits. Occurs Saturday, September 26th, 2020 @ 7:00 pm There was a problem reporting this. Welcome to the discussion. Keep it clean. No vulgar, racist, sexist or sexually-oriented language. Engage ideas. This forum is for the exchange of ideas, not personal attacks or ad hominem criticisms. TURN OFF CAPS LOCK. Be civil. Don't threaten. Don't lie. Don't bait. Don't degrade others. No trolling. Stay on topic. No spamming. This is not the place to sell miracle cures. No deceptive names. Apparently misleading usernames are not allowed. Say it once. No repetitive posts, please. Help us. Use the 'Report' link for abusive posts. Read More

Teacher calls online classes a nightmare amid pandemic A Marion County teacher's desperate plea prompted the school board to start a task force to ensure students get the best education they can during distance learning. MARION COUNTY, Fla. - A local teacher says online classes have been a nightmare. “What’s the point, right? What is the point? We are all ready to just quit.” It started with a post on Terry Kinder’s Facebook post. It was a video she shot one morning in her car outside the school where she teaches 7th-grade civics in Marion County.“It’s just never-ending,” she said in the cellphone video. I t was a tearful, weary plea for help in the age of virtual learning. The video and her letter to the school board gained traction and went viral.“I started getting messages from teachers around the world, like literally around the globe, saying this is exactly my story. This is exactly how I feel too,” Kinder told FOX 35 on Friday. That shared story includes technology issues with virtual calls and students not being fully focused at home.“I’ve had kids log in from the food court at the mall and then they’re walking around the mall with their family,” Kinder said.All of this led to her speaking at a school board meeting this week, where based on her story, the board proposed a task force.“Putting together and publicly, I’d like to ask Ms. Kinder if she would sit on that task force,” said one of the school board members at the meeting.Kinder told FOX 35 she’s glad something good is coming from her Facebook post and letter.“I’m at my breaking point where I’m ready to quit anyway. What’s the point of not saying something and at least trying?” Kinder said.She says the task force overwhelms her a bit with...

By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter Publishedduration1 hour agoimage copyrightJosh Steenimage captionJosh Steen (right) says Facebook had chances to halt the live-streaming of his friend Ronnie's deathThree weeks ago, Josh Steen watched his close friend Ronnie McNutt kill himself live on Facebook.Now, he is fighting for answers from the firm and other social media platforms where clips of the suicide are widely available."For the last two and a half weeks Ronnie's image has been one of the most recognisable on the internet and yet these companies claim to have detection software to stop it, so something isn't right," he said.He reported it to Facebook during the livestream, at 22:00 Mississippi time - two hours after the video had started, and half an hour before Ronnie killed himself. He said that he didn't get a response until 23:51, when Facebook told him that the video did not violate its community guidelines.By then, Mr McNutt was dead.Josh Steen said the social network had an opportunity to stop the stream when Ronnie misfired his gun before 22:00 - which he says is a clear violation of the guidelines."If Facebook had intervened then, my friend may still have committed suicide but at least there wouldn't be this video."'False' back storyimage copyrightRonnie McNuttimage captionRonnie McNutt regularly went on streaming services to talk about his lifeMr McNutt was a 33-year-old army veteran who had seen active service in Iraq, and subsequently dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health issues.He had recently broken up with his girlfriend and had been drinking on the night of his death. He was talking about suicide and arguing with people who were trying to comfort him. At some point the police turned up outside his apartment.More than 200 people were watching the stream when he died, including Mr Steen and several…

Facebook has launched a new service designed to make it easier for college students to connect with others at their school. The service comes as colleges across the United States seek to find new ways to operate during the coronavirus health crisis. The move takes Facebook back to its very beginning. The social network launched in 2004 as a college-only network called TheFacebook. At the time, founder Mark Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard University. He built the website as a way for Harvard students to personally connect with each other. In a statement, the company says the new service has a similar purpose: “to help students connect with fellow classmates over shared interests.” The service, called Facebook Campus, is designed to “make it easy to find and start conversations” within college communities. Many social media users reacted to the new service by noting Facebook’s early history. “So basically @Facebook launched the original Facebook?” Jolie Lindley wrote on Twitter. “They didn't have to put too much worker power into that concept.” Another Twitter user wrote, “I thought the same thing. Facebook launched...Facebook?” The launch comes as colleges and students across the U.S. are facing new educational realities created by the coronavirus crisis. With many schools deciding to hold most or all classes online, “it’s more important than ever to find a way to stay connected to college life,” Facebook said. The company said the service can help students form new relationships “even if they’re away from their college.” Where to find it Facebook Campus is a separate area of the main Facebook app that is designed for students only. Users can create a profile in Campus that is different from their main Facebook profile. To sign up, students are required to provide their college email and the year they will…