Thursday, December 31, 2020
Ducks In Public Viewing: What You See Is What You Get
It is remarkable that out of all the possible selections for a public bronze sculpture in front of Mesa City Hall by the cascading water that harks back to the pre-history origins of irrigation canals hand-dug by the indigenous people Hohokam and later exploited and advanced by the Mormon Pioneers who "founded" this city in 1878, what we get permanently installed in waymaking is this piece-of-work by an artist from Loveland, Colorado dedicated in 2004 . . . not a local artist and with no roots here where irrigation created rich agricultural lands fertile for early economic developments and expansion of suburban sprawl. A small child feeding crackers to two ducks. What are your interpretations of the piece?
Front-handed and back-handed dealings in City Hall antics? Or just what it is?
This sculpture depicts a small boy holding a cracker toward a duck.
At the same time, the boy is holding a cracker behind his back that is being bitten by a different duck.
The sculpture was inspired by Nathan, the son of sculptor Mike Dwyer, who likes to interact with small animals.
The sculpture can be visited 24 hours a day on the Northeast corner of Main St. and Center St. in downtown Mesa, AZ.
With this added:
Visit Instructions:
Please upload at least one photo of the sculpture and tell us a little about your impressions of the piece. Additional photos are always appreciated.
Content Moderation Case Study: Understanding Cultural Context To Detect Satire (2020)
from the she's-a-witch,-burn-her dept
Summary: During the somewhat controversial Senate confirmation hearings for the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, there were a few moments that gained extra attention, including a confrontation between Senator Mazie Hirono and the nominee concerning statements regarding LGBTQ rights that Barrett had made in the past. Hirono, who had separately called the hearings themselves illegitimate, was then criticized by traditionally right-leaning media for what they felt was overly aggressive questioning.
The satirical site The Babylon Bee, which frequently targets Democrats for satirization, published a piece roughly parodying a famous Monty Python sketch in which villagers in a medieval town try to determine if someone is a witch, including by weighing them to see if they weigh the same as a duck. The Babylon Bee took that sketch’s premise and ran a satirical article claiming that Hirono demanded that Barrett be weighed against a duck.
Facebook had the article removed, saying that it was “inciting violence.” The Babylon Bee appealed the decision, only to be told that upon a further “manual” review, Facebook had decided that its original analysis stood, and that the article “incites violence.”
"This was a mistake and we apologize that it happened. Satire can be difficult for our systems to identify, but we've restored the article and their ability to monetize," a Facebook spokesperson told Fox News.
As often happens in these situations, the CEO of the Babylon Bee insisted that this response was implausible, apparently believing that everyone would recognize the cultural references his site’s article was making use of for satire.
"Why did it have to take getting the media involved to fix this? And why did it happen in the first place?" Dillon asked in response to Facebook. "This was not just an algorithm flagging an article in error. Yes, that happened. But then a manual review took place and the ruling to penalize us was upheld. I notice they left that part out."
Originally posted to the Trust & Safety Foundation website.
Filed Under: amy coney barrett, content moderation, mazie hirono, monty python, satire
Companies: babylon bee, facebook
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
2020 Year-end Spectacular! Segment 3: The year ahead from The AZ Chamber
As far-right protesters stormed the Oregon legislature yesterday, an Infowars host cheered them on and vilified police responding, saying that “a certain number of these officers, they've signed on to the Democrats, folks. They've signed over and they've become the new Nazis.”
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that the protesters, who were interrupting a special session to consider a COVID-19 relief bill, were calling on legislatures “to reopen the state economy and end the restrictions aimed at curbing the coronavirus,” and some had firearms and bear spray; it also reported that the contingent was organized by the violent far-right group Patriot Prayer, which has ties to white nationalism. Some of the protesters demanded the arrest of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, and there are clips of protesters apparently assaulting journalists:
While guest-hosting the December 21 broadcast of The Alex Jones Show’
OWEN SHROYER (HOST): You know, we are really on the verge of the American Revolution 2.0, 1776 meets 2021 in so many different ways. And the system is rigged against us in all walks of life, many of which you don't even realize until you battle them. Right now, though, in Oregon, and — do we have a live feed of this, guys? Yes. Is this live right now or is this a replay? OK, so we are live right now, the Oregon State Capitol building, where dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of patriots are trying to take the capitol right now.
Yes, you heard me right. They have the capitol shut down and it looks like either the National Guard or somebody there protecting it. And patriots in Oregon have decided they're taking the capitol building. . . This is incredible. I mean, folks, you're looking at the beginning of an American Revolution right now.
Do you understand that? We the people will go through you if we have to. We don't want to. We would much rather you just get out of the way or join our ranks. But the Democrats are using these law enforcement officers as a human meat shield.
And so. Oh, my gosh. This is incredible. And you know what, I don't want any harm to come to these officers, but at the same time, I'm cheering on these patriots to do whatever they have to do. Because this is a battle for America and it's on.
So let me tell you, whatever happens in Oregon today is going to happen in every single state in the next 30 days. This is huge. We're going to continue to monitor this situation. I stand and I salute these patriots in Oregon. Take your capitol back! Be the voice! Be the leaders!
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Bloomberg Roll-Out
More Than 5.1 Million Shots Given: Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker
The biggest vaccination campaign in history has begun. More than 5.1 million doses in 22 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. Delivering billions more will be one of the greatest logistical challenges ever undertaken.
Vaccinations in the U.S. began Dec. 14 with health-care workers, and so far 2.32 million doses have been administered, according to a state-by-state tally by Bloomberg.
Vaccines Across America
The U.S. is managing state allocations of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine , as well as Moderna’s shot, with the goal of getting 20 million doses distributed by early January. Both vaccines require two doses taken several weeks apart. The second doses are being held in reserve until they’re ready to be administered.
U.S. Vaccine Campaign
Global Effort to Stop Covid
Countries in the EU are beginning vaccinations this week. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has now been approved across North America, Europe and the Middle East. That shot and the vaccine from Moderna were both found to reduce coronavirus infections by 95% in trials of tens of thousands of volunteers.
Follow the Vaccines
- U.S. overtakes China in count of total doses administered
- Three states reach milestone of vaccinating 1% of population
- Click here to find out when you can expect the next vaccines to be approved
- Read Bloomberg’s analysis of how countries are snapping up vaccine supply through more than 90 international vaccine deals
Other countries got a head start on vaccinations. China and Russia authorized their own shots in July and August, before they’d been fully tested. Since then, they’ve vaccinated more than a million people.
The Global Vaccination Campaign
The R&D Timeline
Bloomberg is tracking the development of nine of the globe’s most promising vaccines. A total of seven vaccines are now available for public use, in limited quantities, in dozens of countries.
Nations have poured billions of dollars into developing new vaccine technologies, testing them in thousands of volunteers, scaling up manufacturing, and then bringing them to market in record time.
None of these shots, on its own, is enough to inoculate a global population of some 7.8 billion people. But together they represent humanity’s best chance of ending a scourge that has claimed more than 1.7 million lives and triggered global economic calamity.
When to Expect the Next Vaccine
- Trial
- Results expected
- Awaiting approval
- Available to public
- Trial size
- Doses required
- Storage temperature
- Efficacy
Vaccine Contracts
Desperate for relief from the worst pandemic in a century, countries have struck deals to secure vaccine access. By our count, 8.15 billion doses have already been set aside.
That would be enough to cover more than half the world’s population (most vaccines use two doses), if the shots were distributed evenly. That, however, hasn’t happened. Rich countries have accumulated extensive supply deals, and ultra-cold storage requirements make some vaccines difficult to deliver to far-flung places. Some countries may have to wait until 2022 or later before supplies are widely available.
AstraZeneca Plc’s two-dose shot is the early leader, with pre-purchase agreements that would cover 1.46 billion people—more than twice as many as any other candidate. In total, Bloomberg has identified more than 90 agreements.
Not every vaccine is certain to work. Bloomberg has removed from the tally 51 million doses reserved by Australia for a homegrown vaccine that failed in clinical trials on Dec. 10. A day later, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline Plc announced a delay in their clinical trials after suffering their own setback.
Strategies to secure vaccines varied widely. The U.S. struck unilateral deals for all of its supply. Dozens of countries will get vaccines through Covax, a consortium backed by the World Health Organization to ensure equitable vaccine distribution. An arrangement brokered by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim will deliver cheap vaccines throughout most of Latin America.
Deals were included in Bloomberg’s analysis only if they had information on which company will make the vaccine, how many doses are covered, and which countries are likely to receive it. Billions of vaccines will likely be manufactured outside of such agreements. India, which has deals to manufacture 2.2 billion doses, plans to send vaccines to other countries in its region.
Shots Across the Globe
Coronavirus vaccines are coming to market at a record pace, shaving years off the typical development time. That speed has been financed in part by rich countries like the U.S., whose Operation Warp Speed program helped subsidize development and manufacturing of half a dozen novel vaccines.
Wealth has moved those countries to the front of the line. It’s also allowed some to hedge their bets by securing doses from a variety of manufacturers. Canada, with its population of 38 million, has contracts with at least seven companies to supply enough vaccines for 112 million people—and that doesn’t include vaccines it agreed to buy through the Covax consortium.
Russia and China aren’t striking the same sorts of deals. Instead, they’ll rely on domestically produced vaccines, such as the Sputnik V shots made by Moscow-based Gamaleya Center or those made by China’s state-owned pharmaceutical giant, Sinopharm. While China doesn’t disclose how many doses the government orders from local manufacturers, it’s assumed that those companies will provide as much as the population needs.
World Map of Vaccine Contracts
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