Social media gives you a sense of importance. But it cannot be a substitute for hard work on the ground. A lesson for those who had outsourced the hard work to JNU #Verdict2019
1. On Sep 11, I was watching horrific visuals of World Trade Center burning (the towers were still standing). I immediately spoke to a close friend who was also a news buff and we felt it was the work of Osama Bin Laden. This when nearly all TV channels were blaming Hamas for it.
2. I could guess it was Osama because I had read about him in India. If I remember it correct, it was India Today that had carried a cover story on his promise to carry holy jihad in Kashmir, all this much before 911 happened. In short, I could guess what West could not.
3. Which is why I always insist news reporting is more valuable from local and regional people. They understand regional politics much better. A common complaint against western media is that they become an authority on South Asian politics when they should not.
Young climate activists outside USA, please don't jump with joy every time you learn about new California wildfire.The state has been prone to extremes,fire and drought for centuries. Instead focus on facts, nature caused fire and any recent increase. Hyperbole kills a good cause
"Before 1800,several million acres burned every year in California due to both Indigenous burning and lightning-caused fires,far more than even the worst wildfire years today.Tribes[native Americans] used low-grade fires to shape the landscape, encouraging certain plants to grow"
"The arrival of Western settlers dramatically changed the fire regime" It is the Western settlers that outlawed the indigenous practice of controlled fire. Fire is not new to California landscape npr.org/2020/08/24/899…
A fact checker is a fact layer. Its output should only be to point misinformation. Not add its own narrative layer full of adjectives. One of the key metrics of success of AI tools powered by NLP would be to replace @boomlive_in and @govindethiraj , handing certificates to ppl.
A fact checker is not an opinion site. Its only role should be to automate fact checking, point out misinformation. @govindethiraj @boomlive_in The role of technology should be to make these "political fact checkers" redundant.
For fact checking to succeed, fact layer should be decoupled from narrative layer. I should have a way to check facts from a fact repository without reading a narrative. Today both facts and misinformation are embedded in a narrative.
Can a health professional in India do a peer review of this article ? Small "Chloroquine Study Halted Over Risk of Fatal Heart Complications" Note that the study was done with a much higher dose than the recommended one. Misleading headline. @amitsurg nytimes.com/2020/04/12/hea…
Many drugs have potential hazards. Hence the need for recommended dose. Also HCQ is a less toxic derivative of chloroquine and doctors prescribe this in India assessing the risks based upon patient conditions. Hey @AnooBhu , more gossip material for you nytimes.com/2020/04/12/hea…
Since @nytimes and @FoxNews had led misinformation campaign on #covid19, scrutinize everything.Trump downplayed #covid19 and Fox brazened out. NYT has to take on Trump. So HCQ must be bad.There's a comment "I understand you want to take President Trump to task, but do it right."
In photography, we are moving from "captured" to "generated" . Traditional photography has been a product of optics that captured the ground truth. Smartphone cameras are incapable of generating high quality images. Their software makes use of AI to "generate" pleasing results
Key question - Are generated images photographs ? Every portrait from smartphone could be pleasing. Your tired face could always come out as fresh and pretty in images with all the flaws removed. Would you prefer that over real lenses that showed the ground truth ?
Are generated images photographs or animations ? Smart phone cameras and lenses are incapable of capturing the details.. perform even worse in low light. So the images that you see are "generated" .. where as your full frame camera is supposed to get the ground truth. It captures
Extraordinary light show one evening in Yosemite ! It was cloudy and most photographers left thinking sunset was over. Bit it wasn't : ) Those who stayed back got to see nature's laser show !
Magical light got really intense within a few minutes. And then the show was over !
Nature's light show started like this before it got intense. I blew up the highlights in the sky which is when I put my graduated neutral density filters on the lens. Helped with all the later shots.