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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Chris Greenway discusses the origins and evolution of BBC Monitoring, a service that gathers news from various sources. BBC Monitoring began in the 1930s as a response to the BBC's external broadcasts, with the initial focus on Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese languages. The British government showed interest in monitoring, leading to a partnership with the BBC. By the height of World War II, the service had expanded to a thousand people and developed a relationship with American partners. Chris also discusses the significant role of open-source intelligence (OSINT) as well as products and services offered by BBC Monitoring. Recording Date: 17 Feb 2025 Research Question: Chris Greenway suggests an interested student or researcher take part in a narrative assessment: have a look at Sputnik, or RT. What narrative are they trying to project to you? And can you “reverse engineer” those narratives to reveal the objective of the Russian government? Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #148 Kalev Leetaru on GDELT BBC Monitoring Sefton Delmer Black boomerang by Sefton Delmer Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio: Chris Greenway has worked for BBC Monitoring (BBCM) since 1981, helping the organisation's users to understand the world and threats to international stability through coverage of global media. Joining the service in the shortwave era, he first worked at its signals-receiving station, providing colleagues with feeds from radio stations and news agencies around the world. Two years later he joined the editorial teams who compiled the regional editions of Monitoring's daily newspaper, the Summary of World Broadcasts, working on the Soviet, East European, Middle East and Africa desks. That led to a total of eight years of postings to BBCM's outstation in Nairobi, monitoring Africa, interspersed with duties back at BBCM's UK HQ where he held various editorial and management posts. Since 2006, he has been part of a team coordinating the organisation's daily global operations and output. Chris combines his work with a personal interest in the history of, and current developments in, broadcasting, media monitoring and international information warfare. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
Are things really as bad as they seem? Has Gen Z given up hope for the world? And why was the father of positive psychology a lifelong pessimist? SOURCES:Albert Bandura, professor of psychology at Stanford University.David Brooks, author and opinion columnist. Andrew Grove, former C.E.O. and chairman of Intel Corporation.Kalev Leetaru, founder of the GDELT Project.Steven Maier, professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder.Michelle Obama, attorney, author, and former first lady of the United States.Steven Pinker, professor of psychology at Harvard University.Amanda Ripley, journalist and author.Martin Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University.Edward Zigler, professor emeritus of psychology at Yale University. RESOURCES:"Chicken Littles Are Ruining America," by David Brooks (The Atlantic, 2024).Generations, by Jean Twenge (2023).Enlightenment Now, by Steven Pinker (2018)."The Short History of Global Living Conditions and Why It Matters That We Know It," by Max Roser (Our World in Data, 2016)."Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience," by Steven F. Maier and Martin E. P. Seligman (Psychological Review, 2016)."Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Stressor Controllability in Adolescent Rats," by Kenneth H. Kubala, John P. Christianson, Steven F. Maier, et al. (Behavioural Brain Research, 2012).The Better Angels of Our Nature, by Steven Pinker (2011)."Forecasting Large-Scale Human Behavior Using Global News Media Tone in Time and Space," by Kalev Leetaru (First Monday, 2011)."Motivational Aspects of Changes in IQ Test Performance of Culturally Deprived Nursery School Children," by Edward Zigler and Earl C. Butterfield (Child Development, 1968)."Failure to Escape Traumatic Shock," by Martin E. P. Seligman and Steven F. Maier (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1967).Upworthy. EXTRAS:"Why Is U.S. Media So Negative?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Doug Abdiel "reverse-interviews" John Bicknell, the CEO|Founder of More Cowbell Unlimited and traditional Cognitive Crucible podcast host. John discusses More Cowbell Unlimited's cognitive indicators and related technology that the US Army is prototyping in order to create effects, maintain Information Advantage, and compete globally. Recording Date: 26 Sept 2024 Research Question: John Bicknell suggests an interested student or researcher examine: How can information professionals use complex system communication channel noise levels to improve goal pursuit? Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #47 Yaneer Bar-Yam on Complex Systems and the War on Ideals #85 Josh Kerbel on Complexity and Anticipatory Intelligence #148 Kalev Leetaru on GDELT More Cowbell Unlimited YouTube: More Cowbell SNL Skit The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information by George A. Miller Maxwell's Demon and the Golden Apple: Global Discord in the New Millennium by Randall L. Schweller Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio: John Bicknell founded More Cowbell Unlimited to help America remain a beacon of hope and strength on the world stage. America must adopt Process Dominance as a core capability in order to innovate and survive in the Information Age. His vision is for process technologies to be as ubiquitous as processes are. John is a national security thought leader and passionate analytics visionary. He has written extensively on national security matters related to information warfare, critical infrastructure defense, and space situational awareness. John leads software and business development efforts for More Cowbell Unlimited. John is a retired Marine Corps officer who served worldwide. He led enterprise-level process-intensive human resources supply chain projects designed to discover inefficiencies, architect solutions, and re-purpose manpower savings. In his corporate career, he operationalized an Analytics Center of Excellence for a large EdTech firm, among other accomplishments. John is also Vice President for the Information Professionals Association and host of The Cognitive Crucible podcast. His Master's degree from the Naval Postgraduate School emphasizes econometrics and operations research. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
0:00 - GREAT DISINTEGRATION: Burke sentenced 11:05 - Catherine Herridge Reports: Army enlistee Karoline Stancik, vax-injured 28:04 - POTUS '24: debate 50:26 - Ryne Sandberg on youth baseball incident in Chicago 01:07:19 - In-depth History with Frank from Arlington Heights 01:09:40 - RealClearPolitics contributor, Kalev Leetaru, on the political impact and bias of OpenAI. Follow Kalev on X @kalevleetaru 01:28:56 - President at Wirepoints, Ted Dabrowski, comments on the Burke sentencing: "No real punishment. You can do crimes in Chicago and still get away with it" Get Ted's latest at wirepoints.com 01:42:47 - John Tamny, editor of RealClearMarkets & Director of the Center for Economic Freedom at FreedomWorks: The Trump Tax Cuts Were Keynesian, Not Supply Side. Let Them Lapse. Check out John's most recent book The Money Confusion: How Illiteracy about Currencies and Inflation Sets the Stage for the Crypto Revolution 01:54:27 - Comedian Akassh Singh: dads are not to blame for dad jokes 01:56:57 - Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, previews Thursday night's debate with Dan & AmySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Ben Kessler discusses Meltwater's methodology and models for Owned, Earned, Organic (OEO) measurement of activities within the information environment. Research Question: Ben Kessler suggests an interested student ask the question: Where is the diaspora of opinion and content going as we mature as a digital society from centralized “town squares” to “closed door” networks? Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #148 Kalev Leetaru on GDELT #115 Russ Burgos on Information Supply, Demand, and Effect #174 Kara Masick on Assessment Insights from Program Evaluation Meltwater Carpe Datum Cambridge Disinformation Summit UK RESIST 2 Framework World Economic Forum Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio: Ben Kessler is the Head of Enterprise Strategy & Public Sector at Meltwater. He brings 11+ years of experience in the application and adoption of data and insights from the Information Environment. Ben has supported Civilian, DoD, IC, and Joint Forces / Coalitions in leveraging Meltwater's world-leading media intelligence suite to enable contextualized mission decisions - from risk assessments to strategic communications, public affairs, mis/dis/malinformation, narrative analysis, and real-time critical workflows. Over the past decade, Ben has seen first-hand the evolution of the Media Intelligence space to a critical decision making capability with direct impact to senior leadership. Meltwater's goal is to harness PAI to deliver a unique capability measuring the impact of narratives, missions, audience cohorts, campaigns, and/or outbound efforts. We provide access to the world's largest corpus of PAI data across the global information environment, tracking over 300,000+ news sources (including online, print, broadcast, and podcasts), and over 300 million social media data points including Reddit, Meta (Facebook + Instagram), Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Forums, Deep Web, Message Boards, Comments, Review Sites, and blogs. Meltwater's datalake spans Western and non-Western platforms, in over 100+ languages including character-based languages, and local in-market content. We process approx. 1.5B documents / day, each enriched with over 170+ AI and LLM powered metadata points for sophisticated analysis, detection algorithms, alerting workflows, network visualizations, and more. Meltwater has a commercial in-market presence in over 120+ countries that drives local requirements to support a global customer base. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Marine Corps Maj Max Nauta discusses his Master's thesis from the US Army Command and General Staff College entitled: Multinational Operations in Strategic Competition: Leveraging the Inherent Informational Aspects through Culture and Narrative. Strategic competitors have significantly increased their influence in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in ways that jeopardize US influence and threaten democratic governance. The People's Republic of China (PRC) and Russia do this by exploiting the ambiguity of gray zone activities, such as predatory, opaque lending practices and the spreading of disinformation. US Forces, Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) builds resiliency against these gray zone activities through transparency, which it promotes through cooperation activities to strengthen partnerships and build trust in LAC. SOUTHCOM accomplished this, in part, through Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Southern Command (SPMAGTF-SC), whose mission was to conduct mutually beneficial engagements with partner nations (PN) to address shared challenges in the region. SPMAGTF-SC 15, 16, and 17 were US-only task forces. SPMAGTF-SC 18, however, became the first multinational task force. SPMAGTF-SC 19 grew on this by integrating ten PN officers from Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Belize, and the Dominican Republic. The author found that integrating PN officers into SPMAGTF-SC 18 and 19 exponentially strengthened partnerships in LAC at a relatively insignificant cost. This paper examines the degree to which integrating PN officers into SPMAGTF-SC 18 and 19 strengthened partnerships, and then compares those findings with theories on narrative and culture. In conclusion, the author presents the concept of a shared regional narrative and illuminates asymmetric characteristics of strategic competition in LAC. Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #37 Bill Vivian on MCDP 1-4 Competing #89 Ajit Mann and Paul Cobaugh on Narrative #137 Vic Garcia and Mike Berger on Information Operations and Intelligence #151 Daniel Runde on Chinese Soft Power #148 Kalev Leetaru on GDELT Video Presentation: Multinational Operations in Strategic Competition: Leveraging the IIA through Culture and Narrative The Village by Bing West The Role of Information in U.S. Concepts for Strategic Competition. A RAND study by Chris Paul, Michael Schwille, Michael Vasseur, Elizabeth Bartels, and Ryan Bauer Artificial Intelligence Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction by Tom Taulli Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio: Major Maxwell Nauta grew up in Chester Country, Pennsylvania, graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, and commissioned in the United States Marine Corps on March 18, 2011. After Officer Candidate School, he attended The Basic School, Infantry Officer Course, and Light Armored Reconnaissance Leaders Course. In January 2012 he reported to 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalion, MCAGCC, 29 Palms, CA, where he served as an LAR Platoon Commander from February 2012 to June 2013. In April 2012 Maj Nauta deployed as the senior Infantry Marine to New Zealand for the six-week joint, multinational exercise, Exercise Alam Halfa. From December 2012 to June 2013 he and his platoon independently deployed to Okinawa, Japan reporting to 3rd Combat Assault Battalion under the Unit Deployment Program. In June, he and his LAR platoon deployed to the Republic of Korea to participate in Exercise Ssang Yong 13, forming a multination LAR platoon with Australian Cavalry Soldiers. Upon returning from Okinawa, Japan, Maj Nauta served as the Assistant Operations Officer for 3rd LAR Battalion until March 2014 when he augmented into the Selected Marine Corps Reserve (SMCR). In the SMCR, Maj Nauta first reported to Company C, 4th LAR Battalion, Salt Lake City, Utah serving as a Platoon Commander from March 2014 to March 2015. He then transferred to Headquarters Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 453 (CLB-453) in Aurora, Colorado, serving as the Headquarters Company Executive Officer until attending Supply Officers Course at Camp Johnson, North Carolina in August 2015. In January 2016, Maj Nauta activated to serve as the Supply Officer for Special Purpose Marine-Air Ground Task Force – Southern Command (SPMAGTF-SC) 16, deploying to Honduras. Upon re-deployment in January 2017 he served as the Current Operations Officer, CLB-453. In January 2018, Maj Nauta activated to serve as the Liaison Officer to the U.S. Embassy in Honduras for SPMAGTF-SC 18. In March 2019, he reactivated as the Key Leadership Engagement Coordinator for SPMAGTF-SC 19, deploying throughout the Southern Command area of responsibility. In preparation for this final SPMAGTF-SC deployment he attended the Civil Affairs Officers Course in March 2019. Upon completion of SPMAGTF-SC 19 in February, 2019, he transferred to U. S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa (MARFOREUR/AF) and activated as an Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) serving as a Logistics Planner, G-4 and the Prepositioning Officer, MARFOREUR/AF. In October, 2021, he deactivated and was hired by Valiant Integrated Services as a Program Analysit in support of Africa Future Operations, G-35, MARFOREUR/AF. Maj Nauta is participating in U.S. Army Command and General Staff College's Information Advantage Scholars Program and is expected to transfer to Marine Corps Information Operations Center upon graduation. Maj Nauta's awards and decorations include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with three Gold Stars in lieu of fourth award. His formal education includes Infantry Officer Course, Light Armored Reconnaissance Leaders Course, Supply Officer Course, and Civil Affairs Officer Course and Expeditionary Warfare School. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Kalev Leetaru discusses the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (or GDELT) project, global risk management, and open source intelligence. Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #130 Teasel Muir-Harmony on Spaceflight, Foreign Policy, and Soft Power #129 Eliot Jardines on Open Source Intelligence The GDELT Project https://www.gdeltproject.org/ Kalev Leetaru's webpage https://www.kalevleetaru.com/ Open Source Intelligence in a Networked World by Anthony Olcott Link to full show notes and resources https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-148 Guest Bio: Dr. Kalev Leetaru is a global advisor to governments, NGOs and the world's largest corporations to help them solve tomorrow's greatest challenges in an ever more uncertain world. His GDELT Project fundamentally transformed modern global risk forecasting, becoming one of the most iconic and largest realtime open graphs over Planet Earth. For more than a quarter-century his landmark studies have been at the forefront of reimagining how we understand our world through some of the largest datasets and computing platforms on the planet. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
0:00 - Dan & Amy react to the Toledo family's ABC 7 interview with Leah Hope: "What questions do you have for the Toledo family" 14:38 - Dan & Amy go over the names on Brandon Johnson's transition team and respond to City Hall's reaction to the south side Walmart closings 33:12 - Musk vs. BBC “journalist” James Clayton 48:45 - Dan & Amy look into the media and censorship of “things that turn out to be true” 01:09:00 - Markets Specialist for Market Day Report!, Scott "the cow guy" Shellady, offers a grim look at the fiscal future of Chicago - It's gonna take a whole more than just raising taxes. You can catch Scott on Market Day Report! 10:30am CT to 1pm CT- and The Cow Guy Close – 1pm CT to 1:30pm CT – both at RFD-TV 01:27:45 - Senior Media Fellow at RealClearPolitics, Kalev Leetaru, discusses issues with AI and the letter calling for a pause on the technology. He also explains The Problem With TikTok 01:43:50 - THE PURGE/THE REVOLT: Bud Light VP's “fratty” days 02:06:09 - Former United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense & contributor to the Washington Times and The American Spectator, Jed Babbin: Trump's Indictment Is Not Our Only Big Problem. For more from Jeb @jedbabbinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown – Tuesday, April 11, 20234:20 pm: Kalev Leetaru, a Media Fellow with RealClear News and a Senior Fellow at George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, joins the show to discuss the reasons Tik Tok could be dangerous to Americans4:38 pm: Thomas Jipping, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation joins Rod to discuss the recent reports about the travel habits of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas6:05 pm: Thomas Hogan, an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute joins the program for a conversation about his blueprint for prosecutors and police to help reduce homicides in the United States6:20 pm: Breanne Deppisch, Energy and Environment Reporter at the Washington Examiner joins the program for a conversation about her recent story outlining the reasons American consumers are wary of purchasing electric vehicles6:38 pm: Jeff Davidson, a work-life balance expert, joins the program to discuss his piece in Townhall on what he calls the “big lie” about diversity, equity and inclusion
The Whispering Episode: A Potential New Toy, Learning of Whisper on a Drive, Throwing the Book and a Nightclub at Whisper, The Aspects of Whisper, The Idea of Unadvocated Material, A Job Nobody Wants, A Massive Success, Kalev Leetaru, Extensive Versus Immediately, Experiment Results, Scary Both Ways, Forging Ahead, Mission Critical, The Road Ahead. Some thoughts on the transcription program Whisper, which works too well or not at all depending on the weather but which is going to, in some ways, revolutionize both the work I'm doing and the work others do. I mention Kalev Letaru and his website is at https://www.kalevleetaru.com/
0:00 - Dan & Amy react to former IL Governor Pat Quinn's “BIG” announcement 11:45 - The Michelle Obama Hair controversy that wasn't 28:20 - (House Oversight Comm) Rep. Jim Comer (R-KY) announces investigation into Biden, Inc., and his son, the Promethean blow artist Hunter (50 countries in which Biden, Inc., sought businesses) 47:49 - President, American Islamic Forum for Democracy (www.AIFDemocracy.org), Co-Founder, Muslim Reform Movement (www.muslimreformmovement.org), Former US NAVY Lieutenant-Commander & Author of “A Battle for the Soul of Islam”, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, offers something to think about “next time you are waiting a while for your doctor as the system pays them less to see more patients” For more from Dr. Jasser @DrZuhdiJasser 59:46 - Host of FOX News' Special Report, Bret Baier, takes a look at the republican lead house, minority senate and the 2024 presidential election. Bret is also the #1 Best Selling author of To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876 01:13:13 - Kalev Leetaru, contributor to RealClearPolitics, on the future of an Elon Musk run Twitter and how many tweets till time runs out 01:28:35 - Jim Nelles, supply chain consultant based in Chicago and a regular contributor to the National Pulse, with the latest on SBF/FTX and a realistic look at Illinois' economy 01:45:57 - OPEN MIC FRIDAY!!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Kalev Leetaru. Kalev is the founder of the GDELT Project, GDELT stands for Global Database of Events, Language & Tone and the GDELT Project monitors the world's broadcast, print, and web news from nearly every corner of every country in over 100 languages and identifies the people, locations, organizations, themes, sources, emotions, counts, quotes, images and events driving our global society every second of every day, creating a free open platform for computing on the entire world. In our conversation, Kalev helps us reimagine the way we understand and interact with our global world through data and how to make sense of it all.
Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown – Tuesday, April 19, 20224:20 pm: Kalev Leetaru of RealClear News and the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security joins the program to discuss his piece about the size of Twitter4:38 pm: Former Utah lawmaker Howard Stephenson joins the show for a conversation on his op-ed piece for the Deseret News in which he says this weekend's state convention is a test of civility for the Utah GOP6:05 pm: Bob McEntee, a Utah GOP delegate from Weber County is leading a proposal to change the party's stance on abortion, taking a harder stand on the issue, and he joins Rod to discuss the proposal6:20 pm: Charles Lipson, Professor of International Politics at the University of Chicago, joins Rod for a conversation about the blame games being played by Joe Biden6:38 pm: Jordan Boyd, Staff Writer for the Federalist, joins the program to discuss her recent piece on a federal judge's decision to end the federal travel mask mandate
0:00 -Kinzinger/Walsh and the odious Illinois Republicans 14:29 - Dan & Amy react to the firing of “NYC Mamma Bear” after she confronts Eric Adams over the masking of 2-4 year olds 32:50 -Not often you see the Secretary of Defense pantsed by a member of congress… 50:23 - Senior Media Fellow at RealClearPolitics, Kalev Leetaru, weighs in on Elon Musk's takeover of our “public square”. For more on Kalev's work kalevleetaru.com 01:03:27 - Founder & Principal Broker for HealthInsuranceMentors.com, C. Steven Tucker, explains the glitches still yet to be removed from Obamacare. You can follow CS Tucker on twitter @HealthInsMentor 01:22:15 - Noted Economist and author of Trumponomicsalso most recentlyGovzilla: How the Relentless Growth of Government Is Devouring Our Economy—And Our Freedom, Stephen Moore, is asked if “Stagflation days are here again and to stay?” Be sure to follow Steve on twitter @StephenMoore 01:36:58 - Matt Purple, online editor for The Spectator's world edition: Just whistle while you woke. Check out Matt's latest here 01:55:16 - Founder and President of the Brownstone Institute and the author of Liberty or Lockdown, Jeffrey Tucker, notices Fauci's United Front Is Collapsing. You may follow Mr. Tucker on twitter @jeffreyatucker See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mao's Cultural Revolution Here and Now. Also, Legally Compel Big Tech Transparency Mao's Cultural Revolution: The First Thing They Did Was Indoctrinate the Teachers Kalev Leetaru: Update Section 230 to Legally Compel Big Tech Transparency Mao's Cultural Revolution: The First Thing They Did Was Indoctrinate the Teachers | CLIP https://youtu.be/NOVRhU3XlkQ American Thought Leaders - The Epoch Times 352K subscribers
Mao's Cultural Revolution Here and Now. Also, Legally Compel Big Tech Transparency Mao's Cultural Revolution: The First Thing They Did Was Indoctrinate the Teachers Kalev Leetaru: Update Section 230 to Legally Compel Big Tech Transparency Mao's Cultural Revolution: The First Thing They Did Was Indoctrinate the Teachers | CLIP https://youtu.be/NOVRhU3XlkQ American Thought Leaders - The Epoch Times 352K subscribers
Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown – Monday, October 18, 20214:20 pm: Maureen Ferguson, a Senior Fellow at the Catholic Association, joins Rod to discuss her piece for National Review about how teenagers don't need to own smart phones4:38 pm: Kalev Leetaru, Senior Fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber & Homeland Security joins Rod to discuss why he believes Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act needs to be changed to help solve the issue of social media transparency6:05 pm: Amie Parnes, Senior White House Correspondent for The Hill joins the show to discuss the lack of interviews being granted by Joe Biden6:20 pm: Patrice Onwuka, Senior Policy Analyst for the Independent Women's Forum joins the program for a conversation about how runaway inflation is beginning to show up in dollar stores across the country6:35 pm: Roland Warren, President and CEO of Care Net, joins the show to discuss his op-ed piece for the Deseret News asking if the pro-life movement is prepared for the circumstances that follow a Supreme Court victory
“How can you have a digital society where you don't even know what the rules are?” In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Kalev Leetaru, a media fellow at the RealClearFoundation and senior fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. Instead of repealing Section 230, he argues for an amendment to Section 230 that would compel social media companies to make available extensive dataset collections on what they're censoring, why each individual post or account was censored, and how the social media companies' algorithms decide what content is boosted or demoted. While some argue for repealing Section 230 immunity for social media companies altogether, Leetaru says it would have the opposite of the intended effect. Instead of decreasing censorship, it would only cause social media companies to become more avid censors as they try to avoid costly lawsuits.
“How can you have a digital society where you don't even know what the rules are?”In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Kalev Leetaru, a media fellow at the RealClearFoundation and senior fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.Instead of repealing Section 230, he argues for an amendment to Section 230 that would compel social media companies to make available extensive dataset collections on what they're censoring, why each individual post or account was censored, and how the social media companies' algorithms decide what content is boosted or demoted.While some argue for repealing Section 230 immunity for social media companies altogether, Leetaru says it would have the opposite of the intended effect. Instead of decreasing censorship, it would only cause social media companies to become more avid censors as they try to avoid costly lawsuits.
Join us as we interview Kalev Leetaru of The GDELT Project, the largest, most comprehensive, and highest resolution open database of human society ever created. Kalev gives us a rundown of the history of GDELT, what it is, and how extensive this amazing endeavor has become. Find out more about GDELT at https://www.gdeltproject.org Project Geospatial is a organization committed to spreading awareness of geospatial technology, best practices, and education resources. For more information, check out www.projectgeospatial.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/projectgeo/support
Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown – Monday, September 21, 20204:20 pm: Inez Stepman, Senior Policy Analyst for the Independent Women’s Forum, joins Rod to discuss President Trump’s “Patriotic Education” plan4:35 pm: Derek Miller, President of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, joins the show for a conversation about a new economic tool for Utah’s business community – the Road to Recovery Dashboard – to track the state’s path to a full and complete economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession5:05 pm: Political strategist Derek Hunter joins Rod for a conversation about his Townhall piece in which he says the Democrats, and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself, have only themselves to blame for the power position conservatives now find themselves in when it comes to naming Ginsburg’s replacement6:05 pm: Ilya Shapiro, Senior Fellow of Constitution Studies at the CATO Institute joins the show for a conversation about how the left will now pay for turning the makeup of the Supreme Court into a political battle6:20 pm: Heidi Matthews, President of the Utah Education Association, joins the show to discuss why the teacher’s union believes school districts are disregarding health recommendations during this recent spike in Covid 19 cases in the state6:35 pm: Kalev Leetaru, Senior Fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber & Homeland Security joins Rod for a conversation about Facebook’s election study and whether it could shape the 2020 election
WCCO's Susie Jones is in Minneapolis. She covered last night's protests following the death of George Floyd after he was restrained by police. Kalev Leetaru is a senior fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. He wrote a piece in Real Clear Politics headlined "The COVID Guidance Muddle: No Wonder We Stand Divided." Is mail in balloting safe? Paul DeGregorio is a U.S. and International election expert and former chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown - Wednesday, April 29, 20204:20 pm: Natalie Gochnour, Director of the Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, joins the show to discuss her op-ed piece in the Deseret News about how to end the Covid 19 economic misery and avoid a double-dip recession4:35 pm: Ed Haislmaier, a Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Institute for Family, Community and Opportunity, joins the show to discuss why it takes so long to develop a vaccine for Covid 19, and why it’s important to make sure manufacturing will meet demand once a vaccine is available5:05 pm: Brian Riedl, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, joins the show for a conversation about how the stimulus payments that have been approved by Congress will add another $8 trillion to the national debt6:05 pm: Utah Congressman Ben McAdams is calling for more transparency and accountability with regards to which businesses are receiving money in the next round of funding meant to help keep small businesses afloat during the Covid 19 pandemic and he joins Rod to discuss his concerns after businesses like Ruth’s Chris Steak House and the Los Angeles Lakers received money the first time around6:20 pm:Kalev Leetaru, a Senior Fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, joins the show to compare the response of the media and others to the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh and Joe Biden6:35 pm: Jessica Anderson, Executive Director of Heritage Action for America joins the show for a conversation about a new petition drive calling for the nation’s governors to reopen America
Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown - Tuesday, August 27, 20194:20 pm: Kalev Leetaru, a Senior Fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, joins the show to discuss his piece in Forbes Magazines about how, because of breaches, we have no privacy anymore6:05 pm: Author Kim Brooks, a contributor to the New York Times, joins the program for a conversation about her latest book “Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear” and why she says we are ruining our children6:35 pm: John Merline of Issues and Insights on the results of several Trump polls that the media doesn’t want anyone to know about
In 1855 a band of London thieves set their sights on a new target: the South Eastern Railway, which carried gold bullion to the English coast. The payoff could be enormous, but the heist would require meticulous planning. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the first great train robbery, one of the most audacious crimes of the 19th century. We'll also jump into the record books and puzzle over a changing citizen. Intro: British birdwatcher Chris Watson discovered Scottish starlings memorializing forgotten farm machinery. Can a psychotic patient's "sane" self consent to a procedure on his "insane" self? Sources for our feature on the great gold robbery of 1855: David C. Hanrahan, The First Great Train Robbery, 2011. Donald Thomas, The Victorian Underworld, 1998. Adrian Gray, Crime & Criminals of Victorian England, 2011. Jonathan Oates, Great Train Crimes: Murder & Robbery on the Railways, 2010. G.A. Sekon, The History of the South-Eastern Railway, 1895. David Morier Evans, Facts, Failures, and Frauds: Revelations, Financial, Mercantile, Criminal, 1859. Michael Robbins, "The Great South-Eastern Bullion Robbery," The Railway Magazine 101:649 (May 1955), 315–317. "The Story of a Great Bullion Robbery," Chambers's Journal 2:59 (Jan. 14, 1899), 109-112. "Law Intelligence," Railway Times 19:46 (Nov. 15, 1856), 1355. "Chronicle: January, 1857," Annual Register, 1857. "The Gold Dust Robbery," New York Times, Nov. 12, 1876. "Edward Agar: Deception: Forgery, 22nd October 1855," Proceedings of the Old Bailey (accessed July 19, 2019). Listener mail: Wikipedia, "Kiwi Campus" (accessed July 14, 2019). Carolyn Said, "Kiwibots Win Fans at UC Berkeley as They Deliver Fast Food at Slow Speeds," San Francisco Chronicle, May 26, 2019. Kalev Leetaru, "Today's Deep Learning Is Like Magic -- In All the Wrong Ways," Forbes, July 8, 2019. James Vincent, "The State of AI in 2019," The Verge, Jan. 28, 2019. Wikipedia, "Carl Lewis" (July 9, 2019). Wikipedia, "Wind Assistance" (accessed July 14, 2019). This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Wayne Yuen. Here are two corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!
What, if anything, should be banned from online media? And who should review violent and explicit content, in order to decide if it’s okay for the public? Thousands of people around the world are working long, difficult hours as content moderators in support of sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. They are guided by complex and shifting guidelines, and their work can sometimes lead to psychological trauma. But the practice of content moderation also raises questions about censorship and free expression online. In this IRL episode, host Manoush Zomorodi talks with a forensic investigator who compares the work she does solving disturbing crimes with the work done by content moderators. We hear the stories of content moderators working in the Philippines, as told by the directors of a new documentary called The Cleaners. Ellen Silver from Facebook joins us to outline Facebook's content moderation policies. Kalev Leetaru flags the risks that come from relying on artificial intelligence to clean the web. And Kat Lo explains why this work is impossible to get exactly right. Some of the content in this episode is sensitive and may be difficult to hear for some listeners. IRL is an original podcast from Mozilla, maker of Firefox and always fighting for you. For more on the series go to irlpodcast.org. Read the New York Times article on Facebook's content moderation policies and also Facebook’s response. Want more? Mozilla has teamed up with 826 Valencia to bring you perspectives written by students on IRL topics this season. Nicole M. from De Marillac Academy wrote this piece on inappropriate content online. And, check out this article from Common Sense Media, on disturbing YouTube videos that are supposed to be for kids. And finally, this IRL episode’s content underscores the importance of supporting companies committed to ethical tech and humane practices. Thank you for supporting Mozilla by choosing Firefox. Leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts so we know what you think.
Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown - Thursday, January 3, 20194:20 pm: Alex Isenstadt, Political Reporter for Politico, joins the program to discuss why the op-ed penned by Mitt Romney that is critical of President Trump is stoking suspicions that Romney may run for the White House again in 20204:35 pm: Kalev Leetaru, Senior Fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security joins the show to discuss the media’s coverage of the government shutdown5:05 pm: Jennie Taylor, wife of the late North Ogden Mayor, Major Brent Taylor, joins Rod to discuss an effort she is joining to build homes for two severely injured Utah veterans, both Purple Heart recipients6:05 pm: Bryce Bird, Air Quality Director for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, joins the program to discuss the latest plan to clean up the state’s polluted air6:20 pm: Steve Moore, Chief Economist at the Heritage Foundation, joins Rod for their weekly conversation about politics and the nation’s economy6:35 pm: Jason Jensen, Co-Founder of the Utah Cold Case Coalition, joins the program to discuss the group’s plan to begin a search of abandoned mines in Utah’s West Desert for the remains of Susan Cox Powell, who disappeared in 2009
Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown - Thursday, November 1, 20184:20 pm: Joe Concha, Opinion Contributor to The Hill, joins the show to discuss the recent comments by CNN’s Don Lemon that white men in America are the biggest terrorist threat in the country4:35 pm: Jeff Hunt, V.P. of Public Policy at Colorado Christian University, on his piece in USA Today asking that American not legalize marijuana like they did in Colorado5:05 pm: LDS Church spokesperson Marty Stephens joins the show to clear up confusion about the church’s stance on medical marijuana, Prop 2 and the coming bill agreed upon by lawmakers and proponents of medical cannabis6:05 pm: Heritage Foundation Chief Economist Steve Moore joins Rod for their weekly conversation about politics and the nation’s economy6:20 pm: Kalev Leetaru, a fellow with Real Clear Media and Sr. Fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University, joins the show to discuss his recent piece in which he says President Trump is correct in saying the media coverage of mail bomber Cesar Sayoc is biased when compared to that of James Hodgkinson’s shooting at Republicans playing baseball last year6:35 pm: Liz Vowles of Zero Waste Ogden joins Rod to discuss why the group is asking the public to stop using non-recyclable cups, such as “Red Solo Cups”, to make signs on fences on freeway overpasses
Reimagining Our World at Planetary Scale: The Big Data Future of Our Libraries What happens when massive computing power brings together an ever-growing cross-section of the world’s information in realtime, from news media to social media, books to academic literature, the world’s libraries to the web itself, machine translates all of that material as it arrives, and applies a vast array of algorithms to identify the events and emotions, actors and narratives and their myriad connections that define the planet to create a living silicon replica of global society? The GDELT Project (gdeltproject.org/), supported by Google Zigsaw, is the largest open data initiative in the world focusing on cataloging and modeling global human society, offering a first glimpse at what this emerging “big data” understanding of society looks like. Operating the world’s largest open deployments of streaming machine translation, sentiment analysis, geocoding, image analysis and event identification, coupled with perhaps the world’s largest program to catalog local media, the GDELT Project monitors worldwide news media, emphasizing small local outlets, live machine translating all coverage it monitors in 65 languages, flagging mentions of people and organizations, cataloging relevant imagery, video, and social posts, converting textual mentions of location to mappable geographic coordinates, identifying millions of themes and thousands of emotions, extracting over 300 categories of physical events, collaborating with the Internet Archive to preserve online news and making all of this available in a free open data firehose of human society. This is coupled with a massive socio-cultural contextualization dataset codified from more than 21 billion words of academic literature spanning most unclassified US Government publications, the open web, and more than 2,200 journals representing the majority of humanities and social sciences research on Africa and the Middle East over the last half century. The world’s largest open deep learning image cataloging initiative, totaling more than 150 million images, inventories the world’s news imagery in realtime, identifying the objects, activities, locations, words and emotions defining the world’s myriad visual narratives and allowing them for the first time to be explored alongside traditional textual narratives. Used by governments, NGOs, scholars, journalists, and ordinary citizens across the world to identify breaking situations, map evolving conflicts, model the undercurrents of unrest, explore the flow of ideas and narratives across borders, and even forecast future unrest, the GDELT Project constructs a realtime global catalog of behavior and beliefs across every country, connecting the world’s information into a single massive ever-evolving realtime network capturing what's happening around the world, what its context is and who's involved, and how the world is feeling about it, every single day. Here’s what it looks like to conduct data analytics at a truly planetary scale and the incredible new insights we gain about the daily heartbeat of our global world and what we can learn about the role of libraries in our big data future. www.against-the-grain.com www.charlestonlibraryconference.com Kalev Leetaru Georgetown University Senior Fellow, Center for Cyber & Homeland Security One of Foreign Policy Magazine's Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013, Kalev is a Senior Fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber & Homeland Security and a member of its Counterterrorism and Intelligence Task Force, as well as being a 2015-2016 Google Developer Expert for Google Cloud Platform. From 2013-2014 he was the Yahoo! Fellow in Residence of International Values, Communications Technology & the Global Internet at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he was also an Adjunct Assistant Professor, as well as a Council Member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government. His work has been profiled in Nature, the New York Times, The Economist, BBC, Discovery Channel and the presses of more than 100 nations, while he has been an invited speaker throughout the globe, from the United Nations to the Library of Congress, Harvard to Stanford, Sydney to Singapore. In 2011 The Economist selected his Culturomics 2.0 study as one of just five science discoveries deemed the most significant developments of 2011. Kalev’s work focuses on how innovative applications of the world's largest datasets, computing platforms, algorithms and mind-sets can reimagine the way we understand and interact with our global world. More on his latest projects can be found on his website at http://www.kalevleetaru.com/ or http://blog.gdeltproject.org