Technology
The New Scientist tells us about research into Social Networks which knows when censors delete online posts:
The system was able to spot, with 85 per cent accuracy, when censorship was taking place on a wide scale. Upon detecting the resulting change in network shape, the system could be programmed to send an alert to activists or protesters, say, to warn them that the authorities were tampering with their posts.
More of this sort of thing.
People
Christine Buckley, one of the first willing to speak out about institutional abuse in Ireland recently died.
As a teenager, she tried to smuggle a letter to newspapers exposing cruelty at the orphanage but she was found out.
Her punishment was a beating by a "sadistic" nun that left her needing 100 stitches in her leg.
Vale Christine Buckley, a great woman of Ireland.
The Media
In light of more recent stories, easily broken using data alone about Australia’s shameful concentration camp on Manus Island in PNG, Andrew Elder’s piece from January on the lack of journalistic initiative on Nauru is particularly damning:
Australia detained thousands of asylum-seekers on Nauru from 2001 to 2008, and again since 2012. It had been an Australian dependency for decades: politically that ended in 1968 but economically it has never not been the case. The country has a matrilineal social system. The most popular sport on the island is Australian Rules football. Why there wasn’t at least one, just one Australian reporter, stationed there during that time, is an indictment of the initiative of Australia’s media.
Football
I loved this intriguing dissection of Steven Gerrard by Ken Earlys :
Some of those Manchester United players were better than Gerrard in some aspects…None could match Gerrard’s all-around ability, his combination of skill, athleticism, and big-game impact. Scoring goals is the most difficult thing in football. Gerrard has scored 183 for club and country, more than Giggs (181), Scholes (169) or Beckham (146).
He’s the only player to score in the final of the FA Cup, League Cup, Uefa Cup, and Champions League. He’s collected more individual Player of the Year awards than all of the Class of ’92 put together.
I’m unapologetically a Liverpool and Steven Gerrard fan, but I’d trade all those successes of his in just to see a League winners medal around his neck.
It’s time.
Entertainment
Recently the Ad hoc podcast geeked out on Blade Runner.
Yes, my first time was pan and scan on VHS too.
Highly recommended for some excellent insights, not just on the movie, but on Ridley Scott’s creative process and the technology of the time.
Making Hay 