Media Bias Chart version 11, Aug 2023 — Journalism sorted by bias (Left / Center / Right), reliability (Fact vs Fabrication) and medium (Web/Text, Video/TV, and Audio/Podcast/Radio) (Ad Fontes Media)

Whether a source is biased towards the left or right is not as important as to whether the story depends on facts and fact-dense analysis (best), fact-supported and fair opinions (okay), or taunts, propaganda, and fabrications (fringe stuff that’s harmful to our civic well-being). This version of the Ad Fontes chart shifts the AP a…

The Sword of Kahless #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 9) Kor invites Worf and Dax on a quest for an artifact that tests their fellowship

Rewatching ST:DS9 Kor (the charismatic and brilliantly campy John Colicos) recounts the battle from s2e19 “Blood Oath.” He’s stretching the truth quite a bit.  “Yeah, but who cares?” asks O’Brien. “He tells it well.” A starstruck Worf is sensitive about his outsider status, but Kor not only accepts him, but recruits him on a quest…

How to Keep Students Writing in the Age of AI Tools

In a writing-intensive class, students need to write extensively to the point that the teacher cannot possibly grade all of it. — Edutopia via NCTE Good advice from an article by Kara Douma, reprinted by NCTE. I need to hear that.   The referees don’t score every practice. The coaches don’t give you feedback after…

Police stage ‘chilling’ raid on Marion County newspaper, seizing computers, records and cellphones

The Marion County Record reported that restaurant owner Kari Newell kicked their staff out of a public forum last week. When a third party told the paper that same restaurant owner had a DUI conviction that could have affected her eligibility to get a liquor license, the paper chose not to run the story. “We…

Little Green Men #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 8) On Earth in 1947, Quark, Rom and Nog are mistaken for Martians

Rewatching ST:DS9 A plot contrivance particle field sends Quark, Rom and Nog to 1947 Earth, where they’re mistaken for “Martians.” In the teaser, Nog auctions off his childhood belongings as he prepares to leave for Starfleet Academy. Quark makes an apparently magnanimous offer to bring Nog to Earth “in style” on a shuttle his cousin…

‘One of the great American stories’: the incredible life of playwright August Wilson

The host was Bill Moyers, former White House press secretary under Lyndon Johnson. The guest was August Wilson, one of the great playwrights of the 20th century and unofficial laureate of African American history and culture. It did not go well. “Don’t you grow weary of thinking Black, writing Black, being asked questions about Blacks?”…

ChatGPT answers more than half of software engineering questions incorrectly

The results showed that out of the 512 questions, 259 (52%) of ChatGPT’s answers were incorrect and only 248 (48%) were correct. Moreover, a whopping 77% of the answers were verbose. […] According to the study, the well-articulated responses ChatGPT outputs caused the users to overlook incorrect information in the answers. “Users overlook incorrect information…

Starship Down #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 7) During a battle with the Jem’Hadar, O’Brien offers Worf leadership advice

Rewatching ST:DS9 An enjoyable “crisis creates unusual/dramatic parings” ensemble story. Quark is on the Defiant to mediate a trade agreement between the Karema and the Federation, but Sisko is annoyed to learn Quark has been adding surcharges and blaming them on the Federation. Kira tells Dax she suspects Sisko scheduled these trade negotiations so that…

‘It’s destroyed me completely’: Kenyan moderators decry toll of training of AI models

OpenAI has already taken a toll on human workers. It’s chilling to contemplate that students and creatives are comfortable with relying on this product in any meaningful way. The business model depends on devaluing human labor, and benefitting the powerful. The 51 moderators in Nairobi working on Sama’s OpenAI account were tasked with reviewing texts,…