Here’s how Bob Jones’s publishers handled incorrect information asserted as fact … … which is a bit different to how Gareth Morgan handled ‘a mistake in the book that must be corrected’ in the first edition of his After The Panic. I occasionally ask readers to clarify any matters of fact that may be inadvertently [...]

Is a claim of ‘tall poppy syndrome’ the last refuge of the scoundrel? (Yes, I know that’s supposed to be patriotism. But how about it? Or perhaps it could be claims of religious virtue?) Here’s a typical definition of the ‘syndrome’ … Tall poppy syndrome: a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are [...]

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s speech about the city NOT outlawing a mosque near ‘ground zero’ World Trade Center is being hailed as one of his finest hours. New YorkDaily News: He’s usually a technocrat, and often comes across that way, but today’s speech was a stirring declaration of principle. Key passage, quoted around the world: [...]

Here’s what that got me thinking … some new posters for some classic movies including this: During the first and second World Wars, both (all) sides told themselves they had God on their side. The Armed Forces had padrés and priests in place, performing their pastoral duties and administering their religious services and last rites [...]

Rachel Madow telling the truth to Bill O’Reilly … gee she’s good at this stuff! Spot the pattern: Rather than contribute to a debate about ‘the facts’ Madow asserted about him and Fox News, (e.g. ‘This is why what she’s saying is wrong…’) Bill O’Reilly merely whacked Madow’s sincerity (‘you have to be kidding’) and [...]

A WHOLE lot of wisdom in one bite-sized blog post from Dave Pell, internet superhero: That’s an apt description of the new national pastime: Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and making determinations and judgments without a full set of facts. When confronted with the realtime web’s constant flow of incoming information, who has time for [...]

… People watching may not be able to tell the difference.” So, I made a brief comment, mainly about a bloke (perhaps) being misquoted and (perhaps) inadvertently being caught up as window-dressing for someone else’s selling machine. He came out slugging and justifying his position. Defending his ‘reputation’ with legend-in-my-own-lunchbox slogans, bristling. It reminded me [...]

Steve Jobs defeats Bill Gates/Darth Vader and becomes the new Dark Lord harnessing mystical powers of the Force while laughing maniacly … oh boy, it’s good. Here’s an ‘artists impression’(?) of how Apple dealt with Gizmodo editor/receiver of stolen iPhone prototype Jason Chen: Watch the video at YouTube. Thanks to John (“My linking to these [...]

A while ago I posted a few thoughts: Potshots from behind a mask of anonymity are, by definition, cheap, saying in part… Internet anonymity has also clearly been abused by what I call cardboard cut-outs and glove puppets who pop up in online communities to anonymously denigrate their “enemies” without declaring their allegiances (or building [...]

Helen Thomas is the 89 year old White House correspondent who ‘retired’ over her comments that ‘Jews should get the hell out of Palestine’, leave the ‘occupied’ land, and ‘go home’ to Poland, Germany and America. (Yikes! Jon Stewart had a take you can see here via Huffington Post.) But this interview in Vice magazine [...]