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GeorgeMonbiot @GeorgeMonbiot
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So ... Rod Liddle claimed in the Spectator today that my background is "something he likes to keep very quiet". When I pointed out this was untrue, his editor, @FraserNelson, reversing the burden of proof, asked me to prove it. So I did. And guess what? He's gone "very quiet".
.@FraserNelson, when one of your journalists makes a claim that is untrue, the honourable course is to issue a correction. Will you do so?
Here are occasions when I've mentioned my private education in my column. Cat got your tongue, @FraserNelson?
monbiot.com/2013/01/28/ano…
monbiot.com/2008/01/22/uns…
monbiot.com/2004/09/14/cla…
monbiot.com/2009/02/24/the…
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
monbiot.com/1998/03/26/acc…
monbiot.com/2016/01/07/all…
.@FraserNelson has now apologised. But, rather than the Spectator issuing a correction, Rod Liddle will "respond" with another article. Which means, if history is any guide, that he will use it as an opportunity to smear me a second time. Great leadership there, Fraser.
I must be psychic. As I predicted, the Spectator’s “correction” to its first smear is another Rod Liddle hit piece. Honour and honesty, @FraserNelson, appear to be in short supply under your editorship. blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/12/george…
I feel @carolecadwalla‘s pain here. When you do what journalists are supposed to do - ie investigate and reveal the machinations of power - you are smeared across the pages of the billionaire press. Unpleasant as it is, we must wear it as a badge of honour.
It's also worth noting a striking asymmetry in the diligence on different wings of the press. My exposure of Spiked's funding took me 10 x 12-hour days, as I wanted to ensure I got everything right. Rod Liddle's response? Probably 30 minutes. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Anyway, to hell with them. You would make my day if you used this occasion to retweet the hell out of the article that prompted the @spectator's splenetic responses. Please spread it far and wide. Thank you. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
They no longer bother to hide it, do they? The billionaire press closing ranks to defend the subversion of democracy by billionaires.
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A few days ago, I got my annual invitation to appear on a BBC TV current affairs programme. The researcher opened with a gotcha question. Here it is, verbatim: "You say climate change is getting worse. But the ozone hole is smaller than it was before!" Thread/
This level of ignorance is, in my experience, quite normal among the BBC's NCA researchers. I had to explain to one what CO2 was and, to another, how to calculate percentages. And it goes all the way to the top: John Humphrys, for example, revels in his scientific illiteracy.
Just imagine if they knew as little about politics as they know about the issues that might determine human survival. They would be out of the door within minutes. But a total absence of scientific knowledge seems entirely acceptable, across the media.
Read 6 tweets
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Surely everything the Institute of Economic Affairs (@iealondon) does “oversteps the line of what is permissible charitable activity”? It is funded by #DarkMoney and engaged in highly political activities. Why is it still allowed charitable status? theguardian.com/politics/2018/…
At what point will our pathetic, spineless @ChtyCommission stop allowing these opaquely-funded lobby groups to pose as charities?
When @iealondon was created, one of its founders wrote that it is “imperative that we should give no indication in our literature that we are working to educate the Public along certain lines which might be interpreted as having a political bias.”
Read 3 tweets
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This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a shopping spree.
The photo of our times, by @ClaudiaManzoPh
With thanks to @adriawildlife for pointing me to it.
We should start a gallery of these images: Fiddling While Rome Burns.
Here's another (via @merylbatchelder)
Read 3 tweets

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hey there! for this shader i treat the light like a mask. in the areas of shadow i masked on the screenspace hatching while in areas of brightest light i masked on the screenspace halftone.
not sure how familiar you are with lighting but you start creating the mask with "saturate(N dot L)" where N is the surface normal and L is the light direction. this is a standard shading where surface values facing light are 1 and range to perpendicular surfaces which are 0
you can isolate areas of these values that you want to use as masks using pow, multiply, etc. i prefer to use a value remap such as smoothstep which is kind of similar to "levels" and feels more art direct-able to me since i can adjust the mask position and softness
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This is the worst stock market week since 2008.
This is the worst stock market month since 1931.
Most Americans have lost 10% of their savings or more.

Markets hate chaos, corruption, and heading in the wrong direction. In other words, Trump.
Several have very critically & accurately pointed out that not everyone owns stock.

For those that don’t, Trump’s tax plan was even worse.

Recall Trump would tweet every time the market rose so this says something. More importantly, my boss #44 knew this wasn’t what mattered.
And anyone who wants to criticize me for coming from the private sector, you are welcome to. I was a public figure & that comes with the territory.

I left the private sector to help turnaround the ACA after it launched & then served 2 amazing years in Obama’s Administration.
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I feel like this Egypt visa process deserves a thread. So let’s see. I got to the consulate a little after 9. Doors were supposed to be open but they were not. A few people squeezed in after telling the police guard they were there to see Blessing. I was 9th in the queue. 1/
At 10:30am they opened the doors. Immediately 5-6 guys from the back started rushing the line. I jostled for my place and got through the doors, then through a security screen. Switched off my phones & handed them to an Egyptian guy (I think? He was laiskin & speaking Arabic) 2/
Got a plastic chip for my phone & went inside. Y’all, there is no line in this room! They tell you to all be seated. How are you supposed to know what order to walk up to the counter? We formed a line anyway, were told (by Blessing, I assume) to sit again, and sat in order. 3/
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Thread: Triggered by Obama Claiming All the Credit

1. Obama continues to demonstrate a lack of character. Little Barry has been going around the country claiming credit for the Trump economy and bashing @POTUS at every turn in front of audiences in the hundreds (LoL!).
2. Here he is campaigning in Deep Blue California (a “safe place” for him):
nbcnews.com/politics/polit…
3. And also in ‘Vegas. This opinion piece does a nice job skewering his claims. Here is an excerpt as a reminder:

“He presided over the slowest economic recovery in modern American history.”
Read 40 tweets
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Let's try something new: *7 days, 7 statistical misconceptions*.
Over the next 7 days I'll post about 1 statistical misconception a day. Curious to hear your favorite #statsmisconceptions, so feel free to add you own to this thread
Day 1: "Sample size has nothing to do with bias"
👆 is something I still hear regularly. This misconception seems to be based on the oversimplified idea that sample size only affects precision - something I was told repeatedly in the first years of my studies
Read 93 tweets
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Computer display types and how they work, in very brief:
LCD: A backlight (florescent or LED) goes through two polarizing filters, with a liquid crystal matrix in between them which can "twist" the polarity of the light to allow it through, selectively.
OLED: A light-emitting organic layer is sandwiched between two sheets of electrodes, one transparent. when current is passed through each cell, it lights up. no backlight is needed, each cell produces their own light.
CRT: A vacuum tube containing an electron gun is fired at the screen which is coated in phosphors which glow when struck by it. A deflection yoke bends the beam rapidly from left-to-right, top-to-bottom, as the intensity is varied.
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