Campaign Signs Influence

With election season in full swing, seemingly every neighborhood and busy intersection is sprouting dozens of multicolored signs touting candidates for offices ranging from register of wills to U.S. Senate.

Often, these signs proclaim a candidate's name, but not much else. You might have wondered, how effective can they be as a campaign tool, especially in an age of radio, television and social media? 

Are they even a smart place to put campaign resources, particularly in local races, where funds are tight?  READ MORE...

Improving Yourself Takes Minutes Daily

Micro-habits are the antidote to a chaotic world, offering a pathway to sustainable change.

We live in a time of hyperconnectivity, complexity and fragmented attention.

For entertainment, humans used to watch stage performances that lasted several hours. Then came modern audiovisual films that run for 90 minutes. 

A decade ago, we welcomed YouTube, where the average video lasts 11.7 minutes. Even this proved too long for distracted minds, and social media found a sweet spot in 15-second TikTok clips, curated — on autoplay — by an algorithm that knows us better than we know ourselves.

We see this tendency in education. Degrees used to take three or more years. Then came diplomas and certificates. Now people engage in microlearning and proudly share their nano-badge or micro-credential, earned in a few weeks, days or hours.

Books became blinks, letters turned into tweets and hostility downsized into microaggressions. How can future leaders navigate a world of habituated busyness and micronized attention? 

Sustained focus is difficult. Left untethered, our minds seek out novelty and relief. Quick video clips, for example, require minimal commitment with the promise of a dopamine hit.

Is order crumbling into chaos? Can we ever again enjoy slow travel, deep work or a lengthy novel?  READ MORE...

Trying to Buy Twitter

Tesla boss Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter, saying he is the right person to "unlock" the social media platform's "extraordinary potential".

In a surprise announcement, Mr Musk said he would pay $54.20 a share for Twitter, valuing it at about $40bn.  It recently emerged that Mr Musk was Twitter's biggest shareholder after he built up a large stake in the firm.  He said that if his offer was not accepted: "I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder".

Twitter's share price rose by 5.3% to $48.32 in early trading.

A filing with the US financial regulator appeared to show text and/or voice messages from Mr Musk to Twitter's board, showing that he had raised the idea at the weekend that the business should go private.

Mr Musk had been invited to join the board, but Twitter announced on Sunday he had decided against it.

In the messages published in the filing, Mr Musk said he was not "playing the back-and-forth game" and said of his offer: "It's a high price and your shareholders will love it."  He said he would have to sell his shares if the deal did not go through.  "This is not a threat, it's simply not a good investment without the changes that need to be made," he added.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: "This is a deeply hostile move from Elon Musk who has threatened to 'reconsider' his 9.2% stake in the company if his 100% acquisition offer is rejected."  In his filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Musk said he had invested in Twitter because "I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.

"However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."  He added: "Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it."

Twitter said its board "will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders".

Mr Musk is the world's richest man, according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth of $219bn mostly due to his shareholding in electric vehicle maker Tesla. He also leads the aerospace firm SpaceX.   READ MORE...

Facial Recognition

GETTY IMAGES


An Australian firm which claims to have a database of more than 10 billion facial images is facing a potential £17m fine over its handling of personal data in the UK.

The Information Commissioner's Office said it had significant concerns about Clearview AI, whose facial recognition software is used by police forces.  It has told the firm to stop processing UK personal data and delete any it has.  Clearview said the regulator's claims were "factually and legally incorrect".

The company - which has been inviooted to make representations - said it was considering an appeal and "further action".  It has already been found to have broken Australian privacy law but is seeking a review of that ruling.

'Google search for faces'
Clearview AI's system allows a user - for example, a police officer seeking to identify a suspect - to upload a photo of a face and find matches in a database of billions of images it has collected from the internet and social media.

The system then provides links to where matching images appeared online.The firm has promoted its service to police as resembling a "Google search for faces".

But in a statement, the UK's Information Commissioner said that Clearview's database was likely to include "a substantial number of people from the UK" whose data may have been gathered without people's knowledge.

The firm's services are understood to have been trialled by a number of UK law enforcement agencies, but that was discontinued and Clearview AI does not have any UK customers.  The ICO said its "preliminary view" was that the firm appeared to have failed to comply with UK data protection laws by:

• Failing to process the information of UK citizens fairly
• Failing to have a process in place to stop the data being retained indefinitely
• Failing to have a lawful reason for collecting the information
• And failing to inform people in the UK about what is happening to their data.

The UK Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said: "I have significant concerns that personal data was processed in a way that nobody in the UK will have expected.

"UK data protection legislation does not stop the effective use of technology to fight crime. But to enjoy public trust and confidence in their products, technology providers must ensure people's legal protections are respected and complied with."

The decision is provisional and the ICO said any representations by Clearview AI will be carefully considered before a final ruling is made in the middle of next year.  READ MORE...

Social Media

I find it curiously interesting that if you read LINKEDIN rules, regulations, and Professional and Community Standards that it is stated several times not to create a FAKE or FALSE profile and yet, I have talked with numeral people who say that that is exactly what they have done because they don't want their bosses to find them posting derogatory comments about their employers.  LINKEDIN also wants you not to put anything into your profile that is not true, which is also done all the time as people embellish who they are to seem more impressive.  Think about this...   how many people are 100% honest on their RESUMES???

There is not supposed to be any solicitation on LINKEDIN and yet for the last 6 weeks, I have been solicited daily to invest in cyber currency or Foreign Exchanges...

In point-of-fact, LinkedIn cannot possibly monitored EVERYONE and every once in a while catches someone and kicks them off or restricts their account because you violated the rules.  LINKEDIN is exactly like HIGHWAY PATROLMEN who pass out speeding tickets to those they catch letting 80% of the speeders drive like they want to...

Can You Believe This Shit???

I created a fake profile on Facebook because my original Facebook Profile got hacked and the hacker changed my email address so I was locked as soon as I logged out...  I contact Facebook about it but they did not do squat.

I just looked on my Facebook Profile and I have over 2100 FRIGGIN FRIENDS....  and, I do not know the first one, especially since my profile has been faked...

Where did I get all the friends?

If you have a Facebook account and would like to have some friends, you can borrow some of mine without any kind of financial compensation because I am just that kinda guy.

Write When Wandering

, tumblrI have pretty much been wandering all my life and I guess I will keep wandering until I no longer live...   This blog is not the only blog I maintain...

On this blog, I have links to other blogs I maintain:

Reflections:  White Scorpion
this is where I post all the poems that I have been writing since 1972 and when I stopped concentrating on writing poetry in 2012/2015, I had written over 42,000 of those suckers...

My Cancer Journey
I have been treated for cancer since 2007/2008 and it is only recently that I decided to write about my experiences with cancer over the last decade or so in the hopes that others might benefit from reading about what I endured and continue to endure...

My Bipolar Life
well...  this is mine as well...  sometimes, I think weird thoughts, depressing thoughts, or angry thoughts and so I use this forum to share those with people...  these thoughts happen daily, so I have been posting lately.  I don't if reading my thoughts will help anyone but me but I still need to get them out of my head...

LINKEDIN
I have had an account on LinkedIn since 2001 and created a profile there because it was one of the best and still is one the best business networking forums around.  I used to post my thoughts there daily and still do sometimes but mostly it is every other day or so...  You have to have a profile to see mine.

FACEBOOK
I used to have a profile in my name there for over 5 years but it was recently hacked and my password was changed and I was locked out.  I sent Facebook emails about what had happened but they never responded, so I just created a new profile used a False Name and a very strong password.  In less than a month, I have over 2100 friends...  my name is Alan Catale if you are interested...  You have to have a profile to see mine.

TUMBLR
This blog is not maintained daily and is XXX rated for the most part...  This is where I release my inner devil...   it is listed under Catale2000  Reflections and...  You have to join for free to see this blog...

Anyway, I try to maintain all of these on a daily basis which is not that hard considering that I am retired and don't have anything else to do with my time...