Denialism

Author: Chris

  • One More for the Ayn Rand Deprogrammer

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    The Bitch is Back, by Andrew Corsello: “2009’s most influential author is a mirthless Russian-American who loves money, hates God, and swings a gigantic dick. She died in 1982, but her spawn soldier on. And the Great Recession is all their fault…”

  • Who Peruses Playgirl?

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    All this excitement about Levi Johnston in Playgirl Magazine is pretty interesting. We have the forthcoming tell-all book about Sarah Palin and fam, and the author posing naked. And who reads Playgirl anyway? It occurred to me this morning that we could get some idea from looking at the magazine’s datacard, which at least would…

  • Don’t Even Give them Your Zip Code Anymore

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    Chris
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    Consumers who have asked me whether they should give their zip code at the register have been getting bad advice! I was under the misimpression that zip-level data was only being collected for demographic research purposes (to determine where stores should be located, and advertising directed, on a mass scale) and thus said that no…

  • Google’s Leadership on Privacy

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    For some time, I’ve been trying to better understand Google’s worldview on privacy issues. The culture of companies fosters different privacy values and sensitivities, and the signals sent by those at the top shape how the organization itself conceives of and addresses privacy issues. In wrestling with this, I read every article discussing Google and…

  • Gawker: The Best Blog on the Internets on the Worst Oped Page

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    Chris
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    Alex Pareene has given voice to what many longtime Post readers believe: Fred Hiatt needs to be axed. Under editor Fred Hiatt, the Post op-ed page has gone completely off the rails. They picked up Bill Kristol after the Times dumped him for being not just wrong but boring and lazy. They openly allow George…

  • New Blog Endorsement Guidlines Released by FTC

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    Chris
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    Bloggers, under new guidelines issued by the Federal Trade Commission, you must disclose gifts or payments for products that you review! Also your endorsements cannot be false or misleading! The FTC’s release advises: The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between…

  • Strange New Art Game

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    I’m a fan of Jason Nelson’s I made this. You play this. We are enemies. He’s just released his newest game, Evidence of Everything Exploding, described as: …Using documents, both historical and little-known from B. Gates, NASA, James Joyce, Dadaism, Neil Gaiman, Fidel Castro, the Pizza Box Patent and many others, the game explores those…

  • EU Panel Spanks Some Specious Claims

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    The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Dalton reports: European scientific authorities Thursday rejected dozens of health claims made by food companies, in a sign of how tricky it will be for them to get some of their most popular claims past a European Union drive to bring scientific rigor to the health foods. A panel of…

  • Americans on Tailored Advertising: DO NOT WANT

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    I’m delighted to announce the results of our first national telephonic survey of US internet-using adults on consumer privacy! The Times has coverage and the full report (Americans Reject Tailored Advertising and Three Activities that Enable It is available here. Here’s a summary: This nationally representative telephone (wireline and cell phone) survey explores Americans’ opinions…

  • “…A Fifth Column of Insanity…”

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    Here’s a fun article by the Chronicle’s Mark Morford on how to talk with complete idiots. You ignore them, in Denialism blog fashion. Morford points to this youtube video, which is divine: