Dermott Hayes's Blog: Postcard from a Pigeon, page 26
February 26, 2017
Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media
WARNING: This Is Scary
With links to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and Nigel Farage, the rightwing US computer scientist is at the heart of a multimillion-dollar propaganda network.
Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer profiles Robert Mercer, the man who re – wrote Josef Goebbels’ propaganda playbook for the 21st Century
February 24, 2017
AI learns to write its own code by stealing from other programs
By Matt Reynolds
OUT of the way, human, I’ve got this covered. A machine learning system has gained the ability to write its own code.
Created by researchers at Microsoft and the University of Cambridge, the system, called DeepCoder, solved basic challenges of the kind set by programming competitions. This kind of approach could make it much easier for people to build simple programs without knowing how to write code.
February 20, 2017
Why Do So Many Americans Fear Muslims? Decades of Denial About America’s Role in the World.
There’s been lots of attention-grabbing opposition to Trump’s “Muslim ban” executive order, from demonstrations to court orders. But polls make it clear public opinion is much more mixed. Standard phone polls show small majorities opposed, while web and automated polls find small majorities continue to support it.
The Downfall Of YouTube’s Biggest Star Is A Symptom Of A Bigger Illness
The schadenfreude over YouTube star Felix Kjellberg’s sudden fall from grace overlooks a much bigger, more insidious pattern of young men testing boundaries in the angriest corners of the internet.
This essay is a guest post from the Deputy Editor at Screener, a site for critical writing on television and streaming and the new home of Television Without Pity.
VINYL
Hello Darlings, so here I am, it’s 2.30 in Dublin, Ireland and what the hell are you gonna do except listen to great vinyl. If You Can.
I’ve often thought the worst thing about a divorce was the separation from your children but many years down the road and a recent 30th birthday outing with my eldest daughter and I realised what I really missed was my old vinyl records.
Not all of them exist, anymore. I threw a heap of them away because I couldn’t be bothered dragging them around thrift shops and record fairs because I know those guys drag their hands and their eagle eyes over ever inch of vinyl seeking those dents and scratches that, ironically, make them all that more appealing.
So, here we go, a random selection of what I played for myself tonight…all originals, Revolver (The Beatles) , Okie (J.J. Cale), Let It Bleed (The Rolling Stones), Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves (Gavin Friday and the Man Seezer), Troubadour (J.J.Cale), Goat’s Head Soup (The Rolling Stones), Stupidity (Dr Feelgood).
Random, yes, but perfectly blending to my mind set at the time, half drunk, melancholic and revelling in that retro but resonant sound of vinyl, blissful. It’s only when I listen to this music I realise someone sold us new formats, like compact disc and digital music, just for profit, not for quality.
GLITTER, creepy
Hello, little boy, my name is Gary, what’s yours? I’m famous, don’t you know, people all over the world sing my songs, you know, Come on, Come on, Do you wanna be in my gang and all that, very popular, ooh, or Do you Wanna Touch Me? Full of glitter.
‘I’m a Dead Man Walking’
Mark Sanford has nothing left to lose. And he’s here to haunt Donald Trump.
By Tim Alberta
February 17, 2017
None of this feels normal. The congressman greets me inside his Washington office wearing a wrinkly collared shirt with its top two buttons undone, faded denim jeans and grungy, navy blue Crocs that expose his leather-textured feet.
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February 15, 2017
February 1, 2017
January 30, 2017
Click Here to Kill Everyone
With the Internet of Things, we’re building a world-size robot. How are we going to control it?
Postcard from a Pigeon
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