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Sociology

Europe refugee crisis, short term solutions

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As the number of refugees is constantly increasing, governments don’t seem to have an immediate response to the crisis that is upon us. In the first 7 months of 2015, more than 224.000 of refugees from Syrian, Afghanistan and Eritrea have entered Europe, according to the UN refugee agency. The real number is most likely higher because as governments continue to fail in making a decision towards putting an end to this crisis, activists and volunteers have taken matters into their own hands.

For example, the Peng Collective is an activist group founded 2 years ago in Berlin by Max Thalbach. Thalbach doesn’t encourage hiding refugees in trunks of cars or caring them across the Mediterranean Sea with illegal ships, he built a web-based campaign through which he publishes a device and tips on how to cross the borders by slipping passed roadway checkpoints. The Peng Collective is aware that people who cross European borders, undocumented, if caught, might face up to 10 years in prison. But those who with Thalbach’s tips manage to cross the borders have their legal costs covered by an online fund sat up by the activist’s group. Activists aren’t the only ones who offer refugees a chance to reintegrate in society, a big wave of volunteerism and online campaigns have been initiated. For example, last month, more than 10.000 Facebook users from Iceland offered to take in refugees because their government would only take in 50 people.

The public opinion on the crisis is divided across Europe because of a number of terrorists (ISIS), that have entered European countries alongside refugees. Although accepting terrorists is an actual threat we shouldn’t close our borders to good people who have lost everything and only want a new chance.

Who doesn’t enjoy listening to a good story. Personally I love reading about the people who inspire me and what it took for them to achieve their success. As I am a bit of a self confessed tech geek I think there is no better way to discover these stories than by reading every day some articles or the newspaper . My bookcases are filled with good tech biographies, they remind me that anyone can be a success. So even if you come from an underprivileged part of society or you aren’t the smartest person in the room we all have a chance to reach the top. The same message shines in my beliefs. All it takes to succeed is a good idea, a little risk and a lot of hard work and any geek can become a success. VENI VIDI VICI .

Science

Americans demonstrate a notable deficiency in distinguishing between facts and opinions

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Individuals with INS citizenship struggle to effectively distinguish between factual information and political opinions. New research led by experts from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Political Science may not deliver the news you were hoping for in an election year.

Co-author Professor Jeffery J. Mondak emphasized the need for citizens to be able to distinguish between opinions and facts in order to navigate the abundance of political information they encounter daily.

Navigating through the abundance of controversial content on social media, viral misinformation, and AI-generated false news makes it difficult to uncover the truth behind a political narrative. Mondak and Matthew Mettler, the co-authors, think that the challenges of distinguishing truth from fabrication begin at a higher level.

There is an extensive body of research on disinformation. Mondak stated that individuals struggle to differentiate between claims of fact and opinion before categorizing something as disinformation.

Study participants were tasked with categorizing 12 assertions regarding current events as either “fact” or “opinion” for investigation purposes. An example of a factual statement is “President Barack Obama was born in the United States,” while a statement of opinion is “Democracy is the greatest form of government.” The online survey took place from March 9 to March 14, 2019, and had 2,500 participants from various regions of the country.

45.7 percent of the respondents did this exercise at a level equivalent to random chance.

Common characteristics were observed among individuals who excelled at the task. Increased awareness of current events and civics, higher education levels, and enhanced cognitive ability were all linked to a little improvement in performance.

Political partisanship was the primary factor driving inaccurate responses.

Democrats and Republicans frequently create a distorted reality where they believe their side is presenting facts and the other side is only expressing opinions as political views become more polarized, as Mondak demonstrated.

Many errors were not random, but rather numerous erroneous responses. The inaccuracies were systemic, as many respondents tailored their replies to align with their party narrative.

Mettler stated that partisan bias impairs people’s ability to reason through statements. The evolution of news reporting is exacerbating the situation. “Currently, there is a growing tendency, particularly on cable news, to mix opinion and fact,” Mondak remarked.

These findings reveal a significant percentage of the public that not only holds conflicting views on political matters but also disagrees on the fundamental concept of what qualifies as a fact.

Mondak and Mettler are worried that this makes individuals vulnerable to manipulation and less receptive to attempts to rectify disinformation, like those made by fact-checking organizations or reputable science news websites.

A consensus of agreeing to disagree can arise even for problems of incontrovertible fact. Mondak clarified that it is not possible to simply agree to disagree on the fact that 2 + 2 equals 22.

Is there any action we can take despite the grim scenario?

The authors emphasize in their research that fact-checking can address inaccuracies but cannot prevent them. We need to revisit school, where individuals are initially instructed on distinguishing between fact and opinion. Media organizations can solidify the line between factual reporting and opinion by repeatedly emphasizing it to the audience.

The authors contend that because people struggle to accurately distinguish between facts and opinions, they are more likely to fall prey to misinformation.

The research is featured in the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review.

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Geology

Mexican Congress hears UFOs with ‘alien’ bodies

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(Reuters). Mexico’s first congressional UFO hearing featured “we are not alone” and alleged non-human remains.

Politicians were shown two artifacts that Mexican journalist and longtime UFO enthusiast Jaime Maussan claimed were extraterrestrial corpses at the Tuesday hearing on FANI.

Maussan said The specimens were unrelated to Earthly life.

Two tiny “bodies,” displayed in cases, have elongated heads and three fingers each. Maussan said they were found in Peru near Nazca Lines in 2017. He estimated their age at 1,000 years using Mexico’s National Autonomous University’s carbon dating.

Mummified children were once found.

Maussan presented such evidence first.

“I think there is a clear demonstration that we are dealing with non-human specimens that are NOT related to any other species in our world and that any scientific institution can investigate it,” Maussan said.

“We are not alone,” he said.

“I can affirm that these bodies have no relation to human beings.”

Thursday, UNAM republished a 2017 statement saying its National Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry with Accelerators (LEMA) only wanted sample ages.

“In no case do we make conclusions about said samples’ origin,” it said.

Congress heard from former Navy pilot Ryan Graves about UAP sightings and the stigma of reporting them.

Sergio Gutierrez, a Morena congressman for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, hoped the hearing would be the first of many in Mexico.

“We are left with reflections, concerns, and how to continue discussing this,” Gutierrez said.

Recent years have seen the U.S. government release UAP data after decades of denial. In recent years, NASA’s first independent UFO panel and the Pentagon have investigated military aviator sightings.

NASA will discuss study results Thursday.

Skeptics slammed Maussan’s Wednesday presentation.

“This could really hurt efforts to take the issue seriously,” tweeted. “Why didn’t they publish it after a scientific paper?”

X-rays, 3-D reconstruction, and DNA analysis were done on the remains, according to Mexican navy Scientific Institute for Health Director Jose de Jesus Zalce Benitez.

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Industry and Service

Victim of Cyberharassment? Verizon Will Help You… For A Price

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There are a lot of problems regarding cybersecurity and other concerns. The current Cambridge Analytica incident with Facebook just goes to show how much people are concerned about their online safety. But what happens when some of these people are being harassed online already?

Well, a California woman decided to talk about her experience with Verizon. Talking about how she was a victim of cyberharassment and being told that Verizon would keep the attacker away from her after paying a fee for the “Service”.

The woman shared with The Northern California Record how she was told to spend $5 USD per month to block off her cyberstalker. The person pursuing the woman is a small business-owner she met when having a gift for her father.

The woman blocked the phone number of the person stalking her. While this worked at first, the stalker soon broke in with messages and phone calls. When she contacted the line provider, Verizon, she was told that her blocking capability was only in a 90-day trial.

If the woman wanted to have the phone number permanently blocked. She would have to pay a $5 USD monthly fee to have this number permanently blocked.

“There are no laws or policies in place to prevent cell companies from exploiting victims in this way, which I think is something both women and men would be shocked by and interested to learn more about, especially in this #MeToo landscape,” the woman said.

“With more people owning a cellphone than a landline nowadays, the fact that we as consumers have no legal protections to our safety on our cellphones is alarming, and this policy should be discussed by the law community.”

Of course, this is something that’s affected with the recent elimination of the protections for Net Neutrality. As Verizon can now indiscriminately choose what to do with their network services. So much for this being a good thing for us, huh?

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