Think about it…¶
How to Responsibly Consume (and Feed) the Media¶
Overcoming Bias: The Affect Heuristic, November 27, 2007
- Breaking News Consumer’s Handbook, OnTheMedia
Active Shooter Edition, August 1, 2014
Data Breach Edition, June 12, 2015
Terrorism Edition, November 20, 2015
Election Polls Edition, December 18, 2015
Bearing Witness Edition, July 11, 2016
Alliance for Securing Democracy - Hamilton 68 “Tracking Russian Influence Operations on Twitter”, the German Marshall Fund
FactCheck.org - A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center
The Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets.org (Data on Campaign Finance, Super PACs, Industries, and Lobbying)
Hoax-Slayer: Latest Email Hoaxes - Current Internet Scams (@hoaxslayer)
Disinformation/Misinformation/Malinformation/Computational Propaganda¶
TAINTED LEAKS: Disinformation and Phishing With a Russian Nexus, by Adam Hulcoop, John Scott-Railton, Peter Tanchak, Matt Brooks, and Ron Deibert, May 25, 2017
A New Wave of Censorship: Distributed Attacks on Expression and Press Freedom, by Daniel Arnaudo, CIMA Digital Report, May 24, 2018
Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News, by Clint Watts, Harper Collins, 2018
GGG#311: Clint Watts, Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Interview with Clint Watts, June 2, 2018
Cyber War in Perspective: Analysis from the Crisis in Ukraine, Kenneth Geers, BlackHat 2016 presentation.
INFORMATION DISORDER: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making, C. Wardle and H. Derakhshan, Council of Europe report DGI(2017)09, September 2017
Computational Propaganda in Brazil: Social Bots during Elections, by Dan Arnaudo, Working Paper No. 2017.8, Computational Propaganda Research Project
Computational Propaganda in the United States of America: Manufacturing Consensus Online, by Sam Woolley and Doug Guilbeault, Working Paper No. 2017.5, Computational Propaganda Research Project
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Networked Propaganda and Counter-Propaganda, by Jonathan Stray, Medium, February 27, 2017
- Manipulation of social media algorithms (“coordinated inauthentic behavior”)
Why Your Newsfeed SUCKS - Smarter Every Day 212, YouTube video, March 17, 2019
Manipulating the YouTube Algorithm - (Part 1/3) Smarter Every Day 213, YouTube video, March 31, 2019
Twitter Platform Manipulation - (Part 2/3) Smarter Every Day 214, YouTube video, April 8, 2019
Who is Manipulating Facebook? - (Part 3/3) Smarter Every Day 215, YouTube video, April 24, 2019
Combatting Online Hate and Violence¶
Communities @ Risk: Targeted Digital Threats Against Civil Society, the Munk School/Citizen Lab, University of Toronto
Defending Politically Vulnerable Organizations Online, the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), University of California Berkeley
The Media Collective Exposing Hate Groups’ Private Chats, One Leak At A Time, by Allegra Kirkland, Talking Points Memo, March 15, 2019
Beware the Jabberwock: Stories from the upside-down world where conspiracy theorists dwell, This American Life Episode #670, March 15, 2019
How The Alt Right Controls Youtube (Mirror), YouTube video [How the Alt Right… (Original)]
The Marketplace of Ideas, YouTube video, Three Arrows, February 15, 2019
“ok, I wrote up a guide to what to do if you’re targeted by the right-wing smear machine.”, by Tanya Lavin (@chick_in_kiev), Twitter thread
Integrity¶
“When I refer to integrity, I have something very simple and very specific in mind. Integrity, as I will use the term, requires three steps: (1) discerning what is right and what is wrong; (2) acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; and (3) saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right from wrong.”
Stephen L. Carter
Integrity (book), by Stephen L. Carter
‘We Cannot Know What Is Right Unless We Think About It First’ : NONFICTION : INTEGRITY, By Stephen L. Carter, review in LA Times by Chris Goodrich, March 17, 1996
Carter’s Three Steps, Grand View University
Integrity: Why we need a transfusion, a conversation with Stephen Carter, by David L. Miller
See also the Academics and Research section.
How to get politically engaged and resist right-wing over-reach¶
SwingLeft.org (It starts with the House.)
Indivisible (A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.)
Call the Halls: Contacting Your Representative the Smart Way, by Emily Ellsworth
The Sister District Project (We Match Blue with Red for a Bluer Tomorrow.)
5 Calls (Make your voice heard.)
The FourFiftyOne (A Podcast for the Resistance, with Summer Brennan, Jesse Hirsch, and Jonathan Mann)
Pod Save America (A podcast by Crooked Media, with Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vietor)
Rise When We Fall (A nation of engaged citizens holding their government and leaders accountable.)
Rogan’s List: Today’s “To-do” List, by Susan Rogan
Your Right to Protest, ACLU
Every Day Project (45 Actions to Prepare for our 45th President)
wall-of-us, by @1beautifulwall (he promised a wall. he will be stopped by a wall of us. Four Concrete Acts of Resistance Delivered to Your Inbox Each Week)
Resistance Recess, sponsored by MoveOn.org and DAILY KOS
Town Hall Project (“Show up. Speak out.”)
Resistance Manual wiki (“Stay Woke”)
OPSEC + The Twitter Activist Security: Guidelines for safer resistance, by the Grugq, Medium.com, January 29, 2017 + You will be surprised by what your Tweets may reveal about you and your habits: Analyzing twitter accounts activity, by x0rz, January 30, 2017
Terrified about Trump? Quit your job, start an A-Team. We might just fund it. Read this., FightForTheFuture.org
Keep it in perspective¶
The Beloit College “Mindset List” provided to faculty to help them understand the minds of incoming freshmen
Heart disease kills way more people than war, murder, and traffic accidents combined, by Sarah Kliff, Vox, February 15, 2015,
You’re More Likely to Die from Brain-Eating Parasites, Alcoholism, Obesity, Medical Errors, Risky Sexual Behavior or Just About Anything OTHER THAN Terrorism, by WashingtonsBlog, April 28, 2013
One Million Ways to Die, by Wired Magazine, 9/11/2006 (Think Terrorism is your biggest threat? Turn off the fear and think again!
Perspective: Learning the lessons of 9/11 for real – CNET News.com’s Charles Cooper writes that the government’s diffident approach to cybersecurity is a ticking time bomb. – by Charles Cooper, September 1, 2006
Interesting TED content¶
Paul Kelly: How to Make Gravy, TEDxSydney 2011
Shane Koyczan: Blueprint for a Breakthrough
Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action [“Why?”]
Regina Dugan (DARPA): The only way to learn to fly is to fly
Damon Horowitz calls for a “moral operating system”
Edith Widder: Glowing life in an underwater world
Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling
Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles”
Mike Matas: A next-generation digital book
The 3 core skills that every person needs for healthy romantic relationships, by Joanne Davila, November 18, 2019
Logic and Logical Fallacies¶
Top 20 Logical Fallacies, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe
Fallacies, the Nizkor Project
Logical Fallacies, the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Taxonomy of Logical Fallacies, The Fallacy Files
While not a logical fallacy, per se, I’m sure someone will point out to me that Hitler used to like constructing lists like this.
Climate disruption, energy efficiency, environmental preservation¶
The Fourth US National Climate Assessment was released on Friday. Since then, a number of politicians + pundits have made statements about it that are not accurate. As an author, I'm here to set the record straight. Here we go!(thread) https://t.co/4qV9ss3Tr3
— Katharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) November 27, 2018
Carl Sagan on Climate as an Emerging Issue (1990), YouTube video of keynote, February 9, 2990
Shell’s 1991 warning: climate changing ‘at faster rate than at any time since end of ice age’, by Damian Carrington and Jelmer Mommers, February 28, 2017
- IPCC’s Ben Santer admits GW hoax, YouTube video by crinstop5, August 17, 2011 (Pay attention, now… ;)
Special insert–An open letter to Ben Santer, by 40 scientists, July 25, 1996
Google Project Sunroof
Physics¶
Why the Many-Worlds Formulation of Quantum Mechanics Is Probably Correct, by Sean Carroll, June 30, 2014
Spooky Quantum Action Might Hold the Universe Together, by Jennifer Oulette, Quanta Magazine Science, May 10, 2015
A Jewel at the Heart of Quantum Physics, by Natalie Wolchover, Quanta magazine, September 17, 2013
Surprises of the Faraday Cage, by Lloyd N. Trefethen, July 21, 2016
Health and wellness¶
A Navy Seal breathing technique you can use to keep calm when coding, by Quincy Larson
f.lux (automatically adjust color temperature based on time of day, to help sleep more soundly)
Why you shouldn’t exercise to lose weight, explained with 60+ studies, by Julia Belluz and Javier Zarracina, October 31, 2017
How to Quit a Toxic Interrupting Habit: To stop cutting people off, learn to be a better listener, by Kristin Wong, Forge (Medium), July 30, 2019
Intelligence (as in spying), Military, Law Enforcement¶
Dr. Strangelove: Major Kong Rides The Bomb, The Making of Dr. Strangelove, YouTube video
The Ancient Viking Game Every Intelligence Professional Should Play
Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy’s Secrecy and Security News articles
Cyberterrorism hype, Johan J Ingles-le Nobel, Jane’s Intelligence Review
Why Hackers Escape: Organized, well financed criminals stay a step ahead of the law, by Greg Sandoval, CNET News.com, May 14, 2002
FIPR-Bulletin: G8 Interior Ministers call for rollback of data protection laws & blanket traffic data retention, Foundation for Information Policy Research bulletin, May 16, 2002
GAO Reports Testimonies Related to Disaster Preparedness, Response and Reconstruction (Post-Katrina, what the government knew and how long it knew it. You’ll have to ask executives why they didn’t do anything about it.)
Some Elements of Intelligence Work, by Allen Dulles
Machine Intelligence, Machine Learning, Automation¶
So you think the Google car is a safe? Here is an image showing Google maps drawing a line directing me to turn into the wrong lane, into on-coming traffic! (You can even see a car in the picture pointing straight at the direction arrow.)
You lose! – Cars and toasters are expected to work. But bad software is a norm, and the industry wants to keep it that way (Boston Globe 06/20/99)
Public Speaking¶
The Three Things I’ve Learned From Eighteen Years of Public Speaking, by Jer Thorp, October 23, 2015
Misc¶
Living Vancariously (“a solo mission exploring the bizarre and beautiful locations across the U.S. via camper van, sharing my experiences through photography and stories”)
Seven Mind Games Played by the Narcissist, YouTube video by Surviving Narcissism, December 12, 2018
50 Striking Microscopic Images of Viruses and Bacteria, weather.com, January 30, 2019
Scientists agree: Coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone, by Joseph Stromberg, April 23, 2015 (YouTube Coffee Nap video)
How to retire in your 30s: save most of your money and rethink your core values, by Danielle Kurtzleben, May 1, 2015
I AM HERE - short film, by Eoin Duffy, Vimeo video, November 3, 2017
Why Users – Not Corporate Platforms – Should Control The Internet, Innovation Hub Podcast interview with Nathan Schneider, co-editor of “Ours to Hack and to Own,” WGBH, February 13, 2017
Which Presidents are really responsible for the national debt? Not the one’s you might think. Compare that with upper income tax rates.
One of my favorite quotes ever, from Frank Zappa about deviation from the norm and progress
- Shane Koyczan (with and without the Short Story Long)
Shoulders (“Active Defense” for the planet)
Blueprint for a Breakthrough, TEDxYouth@SanDiego 2013 + The final part was Instructions for a Bad Day (with text on screen this time)
- Investigating Normal: Technology and Ability, Vimeo video of talk by Sara Hendron, eyeo festival 2015
Slope Intercept (“Begins with an Obsession About the Inclined Plane, One of Galileo’s ‘Simple Machines.’”)
Nanex research pages (Note: Count the number of high-frequency trading related flash crashes, then tell me automated “line speed” defenses with strikeback are a good idea.)
The Health Benefits of Beer (AARP!!! … respect your elders!)
Why I Left United Airlines, by Tim Wu
Savvyroo (Less rhetoric. More facts)
The Ideal Gas Equation (related to “Deflategate”)
If you’ve ever been on Pacific Beach in San Diego, you might have seen Slomo skate by. It’s worth learning who he is and why he’s there. :)
Does practicing progress over perfection require lower standards?, by Michael Santarcangelo, Security Catalyst, May 14, 2013
128. BILL WATTERSON: A cartoonist’s advice, Zen Pencils, August 27, 2013
One of my favorite quotes, depicted in the court document here, apparently comes from a Carl Sandberg quote.
Amicus Brief for Andrew Auernheimer, AKA Weev, Friday, July 05 2013
10 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About America, by Mark Manson, Der Bananenplanet, July 17, 2012
Copblock.org, Badges don’t give you extra rights.
Politely refusing to talk to DHS checkpoints, Cory Doctorow, Boingboing.net, March 6, 2013
Gun Crime Statistics by State in the United States, The Guardian
7 Great Principles for Dealing with Haters, by Tim Ferriss, Mashable.com, April 29, 2010
Stop changing your oil every 3,000 miles!, Edmunds.com
For those who venture into the backcountry to ski/board, you might want to read this impressive multi-media story about the avalanche at Stevens Pass in 2012 that killed three people: Snow Fall The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek, by John Branch, New York Times
Charity Navigator [Find a charity you can trust.]
WATCH Series - So what if I take over a botnet to do my research?
What will computer criminals look like in the future? (from the perspective of the 1980s - what a hoot!)
Why does this video remind me of trying to solve computer security problems?
#442 They are legion, etc (Anonymous), Best of the Left Podcast, January 6, 2010
If you do this in email, I hate you!, the Oatmeal
De-emphasize Age, Then Refocus on Play, by Ryan Waliany, August 29, 2010
The Secret Powers of Time, Philip Zimbardo, RSAnimate
The Empathic Society, Jeremy Rifkin, RSAnimate [Reminds me of the Gnostic quote of Jesus from the Gospel of Thomas, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”]
Oh no, you can’t name your baby THAT!, by David K. Israel, Mental Floss
Lobbying firms, SourceWatch.com
Still no sign of land…, by Spaff, August 29, 2009
PolitiFact.com Statements on Health (How many healthcare claims are pure B.S.?)
Synaptic Cleft (who said science can’t be PHUN!!)
Dirty Little Secrets of the Security Industry, Bruce Potter, DC15
Uncommon Sense and Innovation, lecture by Dr. William Brody at the Albert A. Moss Lectureship in Imaging Sciences series, University of Washington Radiology Department, 7/9/2008
The Untold Story of the World’s Biggets Diamond Heist, by Joshua Davis, Wired Magazine: 17.04, March 12, 2009
Personal Safety Nets, by Judy Piggot and Dr. John Gibson [How to prepare for life’s financial challenges.]
How to shake down the banks, by Matt Miller, The Daily Beast blog, March 6, 2009
Post-Soviet Lessons for a Post-American Century, by Dmitry Orlov, June 2005
Didgeridoo playing [25 minutes per day, 5 times a week] could improve sleep apnoea (There is even a You Tube video about it.)
Interview with an Adware Author, by sherri, January 12th, 2009
- Red states, blue states… Its not so black and white
Maps and cartograms of the 2004 US presidential election results, by Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman, University of Michigan
The Real Electoral Map, Tech President
2004 Election County-By-County, by James Joyner
2008 Election Results, The New York Times
Source List and Detailed Death Tolls for the Twentieth Century Hemoclysm (How many people died in hostilities in the 20th Century?)
Finally, a VC Firm With The Balls To Tell It Like It Is, by Peter Kafka, Silicon Alley Insider, October 15, 2008
GenesisCovenant.org - Save the planet, whatever your faith
Awareness test (Share the road with bicyclists.)
Free! Why $0.00 is the Future of Business, by Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine 16.03, February 25, 2008
Airport Security ftw?, uploaded to Flickr by sirbrett84 on July 8, 2007
Brian Eno’s “77 Million Paintings (cool “visual music”)
- George Lakoff of the Rockridge Institute (and author of Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate.)
George Lakoff: Don’t Think of an Elephant, YouTube interview, July 18, 2012
Military Matters: Brave new war, by William S. Lind, UPI, May 11, 2007 (Review of John Robb’s new book, “Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization.)
Serious flaw in Google Desktop Prompts Patch, by Brian Krebs, Washington Post, February 21, 2007 (Watch the video! …and people always thought I was paranoid when I didn’t use added features – including JavaScript – in browsers, and why I never even wanted to installed Google Desktop. A colleague at the UW distributes this document explaining how to safely use the Internet Explorer browser.)
Spies, Lies & KPMG: An inside look at how the accounting giant was infiltrated by private intelligence firm Diligence, Business Week Online, February 26, 2007
SEC Files Emergency Action Against Foreign Traders to Stop an Online Account Intrusion Scheme: Defendants Hijacked Innocent Online Brokerage Accounts to Conduct High-Tech “Pump and Dump” Scheme, Securities and Exchange Commission, December 19, 2006
- So you think you can trust that others (including government) will keep your information private? Think again…
Florida county posts residents’ sensitive data on public Web site, by Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld, April 10, 2006
A sample of stolen personal identifying information, showing over 2.4 million records stolen from universities in just over a year
Some colleges falling short in computer security, by Tom Zeller Jr., The New York Times, April 4, 2005 (3 schools, 180,000 records)
FBI investigating high-tech attack by hacker on UNLV server, KRNV TV, Reno, NV, March 22, 2005 ( 5,000 records)
Boston College reveals alumni data breach, By Matt Hines, CNET News.com, March 17, 2005 ( 100,000 records)
BC warns its alumni of possible ID theft after computer is hacked, by Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe, March 17, 2005 ( 100,000 records)
Hackers steal ID info from Virginia university, by Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com, January 10, 2005 (over 35,000 records)
Data thieves strike Georgia Tech, by Robert Lemos, CNET News.com, March 31, 2003 ( 57,000 records)
Online attack puts 1.4 million records at risk, by Robert Lemos, CNET News.com, October 20, 2004 ( 1.4 million records)
UCLA laptop theft exposes ID info, by David Becker, CNET News.com, June 10, 2004 ( 145,000 records)
UC San Diego Notifies Campus Community and Others of Computer Systems Security Breach, by Dolores Davies, USCD, May 6, 2004 ( 380,000 records)
Hackers breach university server: Personal student information may have been compromised, CNN.com, January 30, 2004 ( 31,000 records)
Data thieves nab 55,000 student records, by Robert Lemos, CNET News.com, March 6, 2003 ( 55,200 records)
The Debacle of Corporate Bankrupcy, by Barry Adler and Lawrence Weiss
Intel VT vs. AMD Pacifica: The two chipmakers are building virtualization support right into the CPU. Will it virtualize Microsoft’s monopoly?, by Andy Dornan, November 01, 2005
Should you commit a technologically impared relative to an Assisted Computing Facility?
An illegal prime number? (VERY clever!)
Tiny keyboard snooping device tracks passwords, by Will Knight, ZDNet/UK, March 27, 2000
Vipers In the Sandbox – Used to Be, the Internet Was a Safe Place to Play
Remembering the Net crash of ‘88 - Cornell student KO’d fledgling Internet with replicating ‘worm’ (MSNBC)
Designing the Future, by Richard Thieme, Forbes Digital article
- Phone number lookups
- How stupid is this?
Source: Naval Safety Center Picture of the Week section
Source: Naval Safety Center Picture of the Week section
Source: Naval Safety Center Picture of the Week section
