Category Archives: Uncategorized

To Google or Not to Google, is that the question?

Misc:, Uncategorized,

To Google or Not to Google, is that the question!

Firefox; google search web; Microsoft edge; Goggle Chrome; Xfinity – enhanced by Google

Is Google compromised by its own globalism and corporate corruption, including a desire to work socio-political manipulations into the basic search function in order to push the obvious “all-important” Orwellian agenda, and the all-pervasive presence of bought-and-paid-for garbage that gets shoehorned into the so-called results.

Does Google reflect most national media views in results as well as prioritizing matches with past searches from the same device? Was YouTube (under full control of Google) recently outed for skewing its search results toward the left in all areas?

Is there a bias in search results towards anything pro-liberal policies (in the US) and pro-liberal (US) news reports?  If you did a search on any controversial political topic do you notice any information manipulation? When searching U-Tube, does it appear that Left-leaning mainstream media videos show up at the top of results, while conservative results are pushed way down? Google, which bought YouTube in 2006, denies manipulating the results. In a statement by Google the company claimed, “Google has never manipulated or modified the search results or content in any of its products to promote a particular political ideology.”

But Google News head, Richard Gingras, recently said “What we will always do is bias the efforts as best we can toward authoritative content — particularly in the context of breaking news events, because major crises do tend to attract the bad actors.”  So, Google does boost news sites that it feels are reputable and it’s these sites – like CNN – that typically dominate in the results. Do reputable news sources tend to lean left?

Google said that in fact, searches on Google are biased, but that bias is entirely intentional. The bias in this case is yours Google says.

Search results have been personalized so that they’re more relevant to each searcher. Things like your location, your past search history, the way you structure your query and several other signals will be used by Google to filter the results you’re shown.

In a recent study that looked at Google’s impact on political beliefs. This study found that voter preferences can shift by as much as 20% due to biased search rankings and that effect can be even higher in some demographic groups.

So!

Is Bias relative? If you truly understand how to manipulate Google, the basis behind black hat SEQ’s (search engine optimizers) systems have rules. Since few know how to exploit them, you get what the system is designed to show you, not necessarily what you want.

If Google is the “Great Satan of the internet”, is the solution as simple as that expressed by Herman Cain and his infamous line “blame yourself”. I believe he was quoted as saying, as long as “Google” is a generic phrase for Internet search, their dominant position is assured. That said, you can do something about it. Use something else or develop an alternative.

With that said, the trouble with the “alternate” engines is that they’re either trying to use gimmicky interfaces and “specialty” results, and/or they’re basically underpowered offshoots of Google as it is in its present semi-dysfunctional state (in some cases, they’re even powered by Google).

What we need is a fully functional search engine that does what Google USED to do before it became compromised by its own globalism and corporate corruption where one works socio-political manipulations into the basic search function in order to push perhaps, to some at any rate, the obvious “all-important” Orwellian agenda, and the all-pervasive presence of bought-and-paid-for garbage that gets shoehorned into the so-called results.

Can someone with a basic bit of knowledge and resources simply reinvent another “wheel” that rolls the way a wheel is supposed to roll?

So, in its stead, do we develop our own search engine or use multiple existing ones to arrive at unbiased input and dictionaries that have not been radically edited?

What is this mysterious Google algorithm that squashes searches and information?

The Google core algorithm is the Holy Grail for digital marketers and SEOs. This shrouded, maniacally complicated, and ever-changing set of algorithms almost immediately made all other search engines obsolete, made billions of dollars, and has kept SEOs and webmasters scratching their heads since the late nineties. Google has kept their “special formula” and adjustments to the algorithm close to the chest, releasing little information to the public.

So, are there alternatives?

Most people don’t want three dozen search engines, especially people who are not trained internet users. Most people want a single search engine that delivers three key features:

  • Relevant results (results you are interested in)
  • Uncluttered, easy-to-read interface
  • Helpful options to broaden or tighten a search

So, what is a person supposed to do?  There are plenty of Google alternatives and many of these players may offer a better search experience, depending on your needs. What are some of your alternatives?

Google isn’t the only game in town and isn’t even the best alternative for many specific tasks and needs. Maybe our daily lives shouldn’t need to balance on the fickle algorithm changes of the world’s most valuable company.

Your choices include:

Addict-o-matic; Ask.com, AOL Search, archive.org (internet archive); Bing Search; Blekko; Boardreader; BuzzSumo; Creative Commons Search (CC Search); CrunchBase; Dogpile; DuckDuckGo; Firefox; Giphy; info.com; Infospace; Ixquick; IMyWebSearch; Quantcast; Quora; SocialMention; SlideShare; StartPage (originally Ixquick); Technorati; Topsy:Torbrowser; Vimeo; WebCrawler; Wolfram|Alpha; Yahoo; Yandex; Yippy (Yippy.com); Webopedia Search; WolframAlpha; Wow.

And I am sure you can add a few.

Another Rant: Partisan identification

Uncategorized

Another Rant:  – Partisan identification

Partisan identification is now a bigger wedge between Americans than race, gender, religion or level of education.

People form social groups to protect themselves from common enemies. They stick with a group despite significant internal conflict because predators quickly annihilate isolated individuals. We have inherited a brain that seeks comfort in social bonds. Common enemies help us sustain those bonds despite inevitable frictions. Your human brain feels good about people who share your dislike of certain candidates and causes. Political anger is a reliable way to enjoy the good feeling of safety in numbers.

But it is not a reliable way to solve problems, because it locks people in to responses that fit their old thought pathways. It would be better if a person would inhibit their anger long enough to at least consider the benefits of new solutions instead of just the threats.

The automatic political responses of others are easy to see, but the automaticity of one’s own response are easy to overlook.

Is their more anger over politics now that in tears past?

My best guess is that there probably is not. Now days anger is more visible to people now, so it seems like there’s more.

We can easily capture video examples of anger and aggression at campaign rallies and post those videos on the Internet for all to see. Likewise, Facebook, twitter, blogs, chain emails, and other sorts of discussion forums offer yet another venue for people to express their frustration.

Consequently, exposure to this might make people feel as though there is more anger over politics than in the past.

As for why politics elicits so much anger from people, it happens for the same reason that people get angry about anything.

People may feel their personal or professional goals are being blocked, that their positions or opinions are being ignored or devalued, or that they can’t cope with the outcome. There are a couple of factors, though, that make anger over politics especially prevalent.

It’s well known that politicians tend to make exaggerated claims about their accomplishments or their opponent’s positions. Those claims are often designed with the explicit purpose of making people angry. Meanwhile, it’s likely that those who don’t believe them respond with anger over what they perceive as dishonesty.

Related to these exaggerated claims, voters have a habit of only paying attention to the information that supports their perspective. They then look only for evidence that confirms their positions and ignore the data that refutes them. When one is on the losing side of an election, it’s easy to feel isolated. That feeling of isolation can spawn feelings of resentment and frustration.

It’s perfectly reasonable to get angry when elected officials and candidates act irresponsibly, endorse positions that may harm us, etc. The decisions that are made by elected officials affect many people in very real ways. Consequently, some are affected quite negatively by those decisions and an angry response might be both reasonable and healthy.

The key is how one chooses to express that anger that matters most. The volume and sheer ubiquity of information about politics, combined with Americans’ ability to instantaneously render public judgment on one another’s views, has made the political conversation much noisier.

Being reasonable requires self-discipline. Anger in its truest form is a vice; it demeans us because it drags us into negative thoughts and perhaps even more negative actions that harm others, including ourselves.

There is, of course, a place for righteous anger. In those instances, it is not only right but incumbent that the individual to speak up and out about issues of incompetency, intolerance, and injustice. Yet raising your voice is hardly enough.

You need to offer remedy as well as solutions. As an individual, say what you believe but leave the vitriol to others. That’s the best way to lead people.

 

Winter Walk About – St. Joseph River

Misc:, Uncategorized, Water-Related

Saturdays are always a good day to detox from the work week activities even if your retired. It’s not unusual for me to head out to Benton Harbor on a Saturday to visit my local dive shop at Wolf’s Marine.

Part of going to the shop is to see what’s happening on the diving scene but my wife believes it due to my getting a free coffee, popcorn and a brownie (or cookie) as the case may be. Ok I agree it’s both!

I also like to carry my camera around with me just in case I see something that peaks my interest.

It was a nice day to be outside, partly sunny, not real cold and no wind to add that extra chill to the bones.  So after having had my fill of hot coffee and my sugar level enhanced by the brownie, I drove around the river front to see what was happening. Most of the scenes I have photographed before, but these were a little different with the background of light snow and ice forming in the river.  Hope you find them interesting.

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The demise of the United States as the global superpower!

Misc:, Uncategorized

On a semi-serious note here is todays rant!

The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines. If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and global trends suggests it could all be over except for the shouting.

Despite the aura of omnipotence most empires project, a look at their history should remind us that they are fragile organisms. So delicate is their ecology of power that, when things start to go truly bad, empires regularly unravel with unholy speed: just a year for Portugal, two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, 11 years for the Ottomans, 17 years for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood, 22 years for the United States.

The U.S. National Intelligence Council cited “the transfer of global wealth and economic power now under way, roughly from West to East” and “without precedent in modern history,” as the primary factor in the decline of the “United States’ relative strength — even in the military realm.”

Some projections suggest the United States will find itself in second place behind China (already the world’s second largest economy) in economic output around 2030, and behind India by 2050.

Similarly, Chinese innovation is on a trajectory toward world leadership in applied science and military technology sometime between 2020 and 2030, just as America’s current supply of brilliant scientists and engineers retires, without adequate replacement by an ill-educated younger generation.

Are we are destined to fulfill historian Paul Kennedy’s prophecy that we are going to be a great nation that has failed because we lost control of our economy and overextended.”

Viewed historically, the question is not whether the United States will lose its unchallenged global power, but just how precipitous and wrenching the decline will be.

Four realistic scenarios for how, whether with a bang or a whimper, U.S. global power could reach its end. The future scenarios include: economic decline, oil shock, military misadventure, and World War III.

Today, three main threats exist to America’s dominant position in the global economy: loss of economic clout thanks to a shrinking share of world trade, the decline of American technological innovation, and the end of the dollar’s privileged status as the global reserve currency.

Add to this clear evidence that the U.S. education system, that source of future scientists and innovators, has been falling behind.

Faced with a fading superpower incapable of paying the bills, China, India, Iran, Russia, and other powers, great and regional, provocatively challenge U.S. dominion over the oceans, space, and cyberspace.

Meanwhile, amid soaring prices and a continuing decline in real wages, domestic divisions widen into violent clashes and divisive debates, often over remarkably irrelevant issues.

Congress and the president are now in gridlock; the American system is flooded with corporate money meant to jam up the works; and there is little suggestion that any issues of significance, including our wars, our bloated national security state, our starved education system, and our antiquated energy supplies, will be addressed with sufficient seriousness to assure the sort of soft landing that might maximize our country’s role and prosperity in a changing world.