The @AltNatParkSer twitter rebellion and other forms of #Resistance – #resist #altGovt

You might, or perhaps might not yet, have appreciated that there is a rising tide of rebellion on Twitter. Gosh, I wonder what inspired that to happen? Well, yes, having already observed the formal gagging of all National Park twitter accounts by the new administration because they tweeted out facts about the crowd size within the National … Read more

Building walls instead of bridges

In these “interesting” times, I do wonder if I need to send a thank you note to Mr Trump because if he was not around I might have nothing to write about. OK, so let’s ponder over Mr Trumps latest folly, a wall that will cost billions. Why is it being built? It is basically a con … Read more

Has the US National Park Service gone rogue?

The short TL;DR; answer is probably not, and officially they continue to maintain a politically neutral position. So what inspired the question? The National Mall, the bit of land between the US Capital and the Lincoln Memorial, is officially managed by the US National Park Service. As you are no doubt aware, when Mr T … Read more

Is a Fake News Vaccine really possible?

The BBC reports on a recently published study as follows … A University of Cambridge study devised psychological tools to target fact distortion. Researchers suggest “pre-emptively exposing” readers to a small “dose” of the misinformation can help organisations cancel out bogus claims. Stories on the US election and Syria are among those to have caused … Read more

What does “Alternative fact” actually mean?

As you are most probably aware by now, the new buzzword of the moment is “Alternative Fact”. It arose when Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser, was challenged on “Meet the Press” last Sunday about an official White House statement issued the previous day. #SpicerFacts Monday saw the first official White House press briefing, but last Saturday the new White House press secretary, … Read more

Why is the reemergence Andrew Wakefield dangerous? – #vaccines

For some, just the name “Andrew Wakefield” is guaranteed to provoke a reaction, and so his attendance at one of the Trump inaugural balls did just that. He is often billed as a vaccine skeptic, but I would seriously argue that this is an abuse of the term skeptic because there is clear decisive irrefutable proof … Read more