Source: Coverup: Risk of Nuclear Melt-Down in U.S. Higher than it was at Fukushima
Graphic: US Nuclear Plants in Flood Zones
Corruption, Geospatial, Threats, True CostPierre Levy: The Limits of Big Data – The More You Have, The More Human Judgment Matters
Advanced Cyber/IO
Michael Schrage
CNN, 10 October 2012
Two new books argue that algorithms can't fully replace human judgment. A review of Samuel Arbesman's The Half-Life of Facts and Nate Silver's The Signal and The Noise.
EXTRACT:
The ironic takeaway from both these fine books, however, is that the more data and facts one has, and the more predictions matter, the more important human judgment becomes. The co-evolution of human beings, datasets, and algorithms will ultimately determine whether Big Data creates new wealth or destroys old value.
Samuel Arbesman, The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date (Current Hardcover, 2012)
FROM DESCRIPTION:
But it turns out there’s an order to the state of knowledge, an explanation for how we know what we know. Samuel Arbesman is an expert in the field of scientometrics—literally the science of science. Knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives.
Doctors with a rough idea of when their knowledge is likely to expire can be better equipped to keep up with the latest research. Companies and governments that understand how long new discoveries take to develop can improve decisions about allocating resources. And by tracing how and when language changes, each of us can better bridge generational gaps in slang and dialect.
Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't (Penguin Press, 2012)
FROM DESCRIPTION:
Drawing on his own groundbreaking work, Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe of noisy data. Most predictions fail, often at great cost to society, because most of us have a poor understanding of probability and uncertainty. Both experts and laypeople mistake more confident predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence is often the reason for failure. If our appreciation of uncertainty improves, our predictions can get better too. This is the “prediction paradox”: The more humility we have about our ability to make predictions, the more successful we can be in planning for the future.
David Isenberg: Heavy Metal in Iraq = 50% or More Babies with Congenital Birth Defects – Mercury, Lead, and Depleted Uranium
04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, DoD, IO Deeds of War, Military
By David Isenberg, Oct. 22, 2012
Every war is hell, particularly for civilians. And while every war produces deadly familiar impacts on the civilian population whether it is death and injuries due to combat or subsequent illness and death due to destruction of infrastructure sometimes the impact can be unique.
Sadly, such seems to be the case in Iraq which links the past war there with a “staggering” increase in birth defects in areas of the country where bombing and heavy fighting occurred.
A recent study, titled “Metal Contamination and the Epidemic of Congenital Birth Defects in Iraqi Cities” was underwritten by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan and which was published in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, focused on the cities of Basra and Fallujah, where serious fighting occurred during the war. According to the study:
Koko: Fukushima Sinking and Unstable – Imminent Threat
07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards
Koko sad.
Fukushima Update: Unit 4 Is Sinking … Unevenly
Oct 22, 2012
The spent fuel pool at Fukushima Unit 4 is the top short-term threat to humanity, and is a national security issue for America. As such, it is disturbing news that the ground beneath unit 4 is sinking. Specifically, Unit 4 sunk 36 inches right after the earthquake, and has sunk another 30 inches since then. Moreover, Unit 4 is sinking unevenly, and the building may begin tilting. An international coalition of nuclear scientists and non-profit groups are calling on the U.N. to coordinate a multi-national effort to stabilize the fuel pools. And see this. Given the precarious situation at Unit 4, it is urgent that the world community pool its scientific resources to come up with a fix.
Continue reading “Koko: Fukushima Sinking and Unstable – Imminent Threat”
Mini-Me: CIA chiefs face arrest over horrific evidence of bloody ‘video-game’ sorties by drone pilots
07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Drones & UAVs, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War
CIA chiefs face arrest over horrific evidence of bloody ‘video-game' sorties by drone pilots
The Mail on Sunday today reveals shocking new evidence of the full horrific impact of US drone attacks in Pakistan.
A damning dossier assembled from exhaustive research into the strikes’ targets sets out in heartbreaking detail the deaths of teachers, students and Pakistani policemen. It also describes how bereaved relatives are forced to gather their loved ones’ dismembered body parts in the aftermath of strikes.
The dossier has been assembled by human rights lawyer Shahzad Akbar, who works for Pakistan’s Foundation for Fundamental Rights and the British human rights charity Reprieve.
Filed in two separate court cases, it is set to trigger a formal murder investigation by police into the roles of two US officials said to have ordered the strikes. They are Jonathan Banks, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Islamabad station, and John A. Rizzo, the CIA’s former chief lawyer. Mr Akbar and his staff have already gathered further testimony which has yet to be filed.
Yoda: Pirate Leader Understanding of Why US Invaded Iraq – Over the End of the Dollar as Global Reserve Currency
Politics
Good, reality is.
Rick is the founder of the first Pirate Party and is a political evangelist, traveling around Europe and the world to talk and write about ideas of a sensible information policy. He has a tech entrepreneur background and loves whisky.
While the US invasion of Iraq about a decade ago was based on public-facing lies about nonexistent weapons arsenals, the underlying reasons for the invasion were much more dire. Iraq had found the US’ Achilles Heel, and would bankrupt the US if not stopped.
Yoda: The Mind of a Pirate Political Leader (In Her Own Words)
PoliticsRighteous, she is.
Anna is the Party Leader of the Swedish Pirate Party and a writer. She has previously worked as manager of a book publishing house, and lives in Järfälla with her girlfriend and several cats and dogs. When not planning how to fix the world, she can be seen writing something.
I never intended to become a politician. I most certainly never intended to become a party leader. I did, however, have the desire to change the world for the better. I was never one for small ambitions. But being a self confessed literary snob, I expected to change the world with nothing less than literary finesse. The mere thought of picking up an unrefined and blunt tool like politics… The horror. The horror.
However, life rarely turns out the way you expect it to. Some years ago I became the head of the Swedish branch of a Nordic publishing house. We mainly published fiction. But the world of publishing is not all it is cracked up to be. I attended publishing meetings where publishing decisions were made based on the cup size of the author. Big cups meant a signed contract. Small cups meant no contract at all.
Continue reading “Yoda: The Mind of a Pirate Political Leader (In Her Own Words)”
