Spin da News

Taking a news item/story/whatever and taking a persepective that argues its goodness.

BBC Drastically Improves Science Coverage and Debate

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

The BBC is finally doing something that all media organizations should do – don’t let crazy people derail important debates. For this entire millennium mass media organizations have invited reality-denying people to debates on issues like climate change. This causes the issue to not actually be talked about.

No more will climate change deniers and other wackos be welcome on the BBC. Hopefully other media organizations will follow suit.

To illustrate the ridiculousness of having one fringe “expert” come in to undermine a scientific consensus, the report points to the network’s coverage of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which in September released a report concluding, with 95 percent certainty, that man-made climate change is happening. As was their due diligence, BBC reporters called a dozen prominent U.K. scientists, trying to drum up an opposing viewpoint. When that didn’t happen — probably because 97 percent of scientists agree that man-made climate change is happening — they turned instead to retired Australian geologist Bob Carter, who has ties to the industry-affiliated Heartland Institute.

To be clear, having one guy dismiss the consensus of hundreds of the world’s top climate scientists as “hocus-pocus science” wasn’t the “balanced” thing to do, and the only reason why people like Carter continue to be taken seriously is because news networks continue to suggest they should be.

Read more.

A Better Take On The Current Generational Divide

- Adam Clare

It’s not rare to read in old media that young people these days are worthless, listless, clods. That viewpoint is beyond ridiculous, in recent months there has been a backlash to this attitude from millennials. Instead of being lazy and not doing anything about it – they are now quick to point out the young one aren’t the people who have essentially caused climate change, economic devastation, and a focus on profits over people.

In fact, in a recent article in The Nation it’s argued that due to the rot left from previous generations millennials are motivated to change the world.

The conventional wisdom about your generation and mine, the story that’s retold every day in every way as jobs disappear, debt redoubles, superstorms gather and islands—literally entire countries—sink into the ocean, is not just a lie, but a very useful lie for the lying liars of the world—for those who control the means of production and persuasion; who have helped to usher in this harrowing present; and who are most likely to survive and thrive, at least in the short term, a catastrophic future, should it come to pass. Conventional wisdom absolves them of their very real sins against the earth, against the poor and against their children. It’s a distraction, and an easy way to pass the buck. Finally, it’s an efficient method of controlling us, its targets. It’s a way to keep us in line.

Because in this narrative, we are apathetic and ineffective. We don’t think for ourselves, nor do we band together. We were raised to stare like zombies at television screens, and now our heads are permanently stuck in the Cloud. The global looters and profiteers—they are not well meaning. They operate with full knowledge of what harm they do, and do it anyway, because they don’t particularly care about you, about us or about the future. It’s not their problem. They will be dead, and their children, I don’t know, will be living in a bunker somewhere, alone, with the last of all that glistering loot.

In the meantime, while there is still some oil left to extract, one last blood diamond to mine, they are counting on us to close our eyes and build our apps in blithe resignation. Because this only goes their way if we agree to pretend not to notice what is right here in front of our eyes: that they are fiddling, gleefully, as the rest of Rome goes up in flames.

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A Turkish Hotel Wins Hospitality Innovation Award for Accommodating Protestors

- Adam Clare

During the Taksim Square protests in Turkey earlier this year, Divan Hotels’ flagship property in Istanbul opened their doors to the protestors. Not a bad place to get support after suffering police brutality and tear gassing.

The hotel is adjacent to Gezi Park’s Taksim Square, the site of protests last May and June. During some of the most tense moments, the Divan Hotel’s management took in people protesting against the government of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to the chagrin of officials.
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Adding insult to injury, the hotel staff rebuffed police forces by asking whether they had a reservation at the hotel, according to Han Le, an American who observed the protests. Unsurprisingly, the police did not, and the staff—at least temporarily—prevented them from entering and arresting protesters camping out inside. The Financial Times reports (paywall) that the decision to take in protesters was initially made by the hotel’s management, but supported by the hotel’s parent company.

Read more at Quartz.

The Age of Exploration Isn’t Over

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Humans haven’t been on the Moon for over 30 years and as a result it’s easy to think that the “space age” is over and our exploration of the universe is over. I frequent space forums and this attitude is always present, and as a result of all this negative thinking one person decided to react. And the reaction is great.

Annalee Newitz’s response to the idea the space age is dead is a great read and will fill you with optimism about all things space and science related!

Not only are we actually visiting every damn nook and cranny in our solar system — and sending back some of the most awe-inspiring images and data you’ve ever seen — but we are not doing it like idiots. We are exploringbefore we shoot our fragile little bodies out there into the radiation-saturated unknown. That is what a smart species does. Back pats for all the Homo sapiens who decided to send a robot to Mars before sending astronauts.

Read more at IO9.

Save the Environment, Live in a City

- Adam Clare

The IEEE Spectrum recently interview William Meyer who is the author of the book The Environmental Advantages of Cities: Countering Commonsense Antiurbanism. The book’s central thesis is that we need to change the discourse around cities from a negative one to a more positive conversation about the efficiencies of cities compared to lower density areas.

Steven Cherry: Good. Let’s go back to the list then. Cities are ravenous consumers of natural resources, true or false?

William Meyer: Okay, well, they are in an absolute sense, yes, and that’s the distinction between absolute and proportional impact. Cities do consume a lot of resources because there are lots of people there consuming, but the question is: If you had the same population, would it consume more resources if it lived in a less-urban settlement pattern? And the answer is no, because per capita, people in cities consume less. Cities are much more efficient in the consumption of resources, notably energy, but also materials, also water, and also, of course, land, because of their higher densities. So it’s true that they are large consumers, but the people who live in them are not, and, again, if we had a less-urban settlement pattern, we’d have more resource consumption.

Read more at IEEE Spectrum.

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