19/10/2013: WLASze Part 2: Weekend Links on Arts, Sciences and zero economics

This is the second post of my WLASze: Weekend Links on Arts, Sciences, and zero economics for this week.

Enjoy and be warned, I do stray into 'some' economics (but only as 'science') in this one...


"By discovering a new set of solutions to the famous Maxwell equations governing electromagnetism, Hridesh Kedia of the University of Chicago and his colleagues have shown that light can be tied up in knots. Here the purple and gold cords represent the twisted magnetic field lines of knotted light." Ughh?.. No, really cool - read more here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tying-light-in-knots-slide-show

And… "The same University of Chicago lab, led by William Irvine, also recently discovered a way to tie water up in knots. This photograph shows a basic knotted shape called a trefoil knot made of water, imaged by light scattering off tiny gas bubbles in the liquid."

Question for scientists… can anyone untie the knots of Irish policymakers' ideas? Like the following conjecture: to deal with the effects of the property bubble collapse, Budgets 2010-2014 introduced series of property markets tax incentives… Bet that'll be harder than Maxwell's equations…


But this is WLASze, so let us not dwell too long on matters of Irish policies. Even if for the purpose of advancing the science of the bizarre…

So back to sciences: "Society's techno-social systems are becoming ever faster and more computer-orientated. However, far from simply generating faster versions of existing behaviour, we show that this speed-up can generate a new behavioural regime as humans lose the ability to intervene in real time."

Ok, this is potent stuff. And where better to look for such 'machine outpaces mankind to defeat the entire purpose of the human-made system' than in financial markets (I can't shake off this year's 'Nobel' in Economics)… So: "Analyzing millisecond-scale data for the world's largest and most powerful techno-social system, the global financial market, we uncover an abrupt transition to a new all-machine phase characterized by large numbers of subsecond extreme events. The proliferation of these subsecond events shows an intriguing correlation with the onset of the system-wide financial collapse in 2008. Our findings are consistent with an emerging ecology of competitive machines featuring ‘crowds’ of predatory algorithms, and highlight the need for a new scientific theory of subsecond financial phenomena."

Here's the full article: http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130911/srep02627/pdf/srep02627.pdf

Wanna see something really scary?

Or in different visualisation:

Ok, now that I am onto Financial Markets and their 'efficiency' - a compendium of links explaining this year's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. No commented from me:

• http://asociologist.com/2013/10/14/you-cant-beat-the-market-but-the-market-can-beat-you/
• http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/10/a-note-on-the-2013-nobel-like-prize-in-economics.html
• http://afinetheorem.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/a-brief-word-on-the-2013-nobel/
• http://www.fergco.co/2013/10/lars-peter-hansen-explained-kind-of.html
• http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/the-nobel/?_r=1
• http://www.fergco.co/2013/10/gene-famas-nobel.html
• http://blogs.ft.com/ft-long-short/2013/10/14/fama-shiller/
• http://simplystatistics.org/2013/10/14/why-did-lars-peter-hansen-win-the-nobel-prize-generalized-method-of-moments-explained/

Now I've done it… this was supposed to be WLASze and it is now more Finance & Economics than Arts or Sciences…

I recently wrote about the determinants of what makes content go viral on social networks (see link here). The study was based on Google+ - a network that Google seems to think is a major one, yet everyone else seems to think of as a 'may be one day' contender. Now, more real viral propagation visualisation via twitter:

Link: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/08/visualizing-how-online-word-of/


As Apple is pushing ahead with the meat (USD5 billion) plan for new HQs in Cupertino, CA, here's an overview of the project: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/10/16/fosters-apple-campus-unanimously-approved-by-cupertino-city-council/

Yes, buildings of this scale are a challenge. Yes, aesthetics of the corporate identity at this scale are a challenge. Yes, Apple is strongly 'impositional' organisation with emotional attachment to 'eco-sthetics' and reality of a massive Death Star orb floating in alien space… so then, yes, the plans are perfectly befitting the client…

As a life-long fan of Apple (I still have a working-order first marketed laptop by the company in my collection and our household has a pile of interconnected Apple devices) all I can say is, sadly, with the shift in Apple's fortunes, the company is now running out of ideas… But wait, I am not alone: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/13/apple-has-reached-creative-saturation-says-steve-jobs-colleague-hartmut-esslinger/


On a beautiful side (to round off this week's WLASze): Gagosian Gallery is hosting a Willem De Kooning Ten paintings show, comes November 8:
http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/willem-de-kooning--november-08-2013

De Kooning is a master of light and contrast, depth and balancing extremal abstract expressionism with minimalism. His work is stark, striking, bright with simplified, distilled essence of countering colour and movement and space. These are his later works, right before his death in 1997.

The middle image above is taken from the coverage of the MoMA retrospective of de Kooning's works back in 2011.

It was not always thus, as you can see from his earlier works, such as Gotham News, 1955:

You can see more of de Kooning's works here: http://www.benditz.de/ and here: http://theartstack.com/artists/willem-de-kooning

Enjoy. De Kooning is a great master with deep, often disturbed depth of psychological insight alternating with organic capacity to surprise, to open up that momentary window into viewer's own imagination...

Any source

A short course in logic

As a service to my delightful and discerning readership (one of whom recently commented that he read one of my posts with all due contempt, which I have to say is precisely the correct amount of contempt with which to read my outpourings) I have decided to offer a short course in logic.

It seems to me that not all are as well-acquainted with the formal processes of logical thinking as one might wish.

We will start with the syllogism, which is a valuable tool in analysing the formal validity or otherwise of an argument.

The syllogism is a three part structure.  Consider this proposition: a tomato is a fruit: therefore it is appropriate to put it in a fruit salad.

The fallacy here can be easily analysed by employing the structure of the syllogism to tease out the implicit missing middle step.

A: the first premise: A tomato is a fruit

B: the second premise: A fruit salad is made of fruit

C: the conclusion: Therefore it is appropriate to put tomatoes in a fruit salad.

Whilst both A and B are true, it is clear that C does not follow from A and B, and therefore the conclusion is (logically) false.  A closer analysis reveals that the faulty thinking lies in a misunderstanding at step B. To reach C, B would have to be: ‘It is appropriate to put any fruit in a fruit salad.’ 

So pay attention to the formal structure of the argument as implied by the way it is presented: that is, are the premises true? And does the conclusion follow from those premises?

To analyse that, you may need to extrapolate the implicit premises, and will certainly need to be quite clear about the meaning of all terms (words and phrases) employed.

Using that analytical approach, I invite you to find the flaws in the following (entirely hypothetical, you understand) illogical thought processes.

Lest anyone think that this post is aimed solely at him, I can assure such a delusional person that it is not. The examples have been drawn from a number of experiences over several years, and include thoughts I have caught myself developing and having to interrogate.  

However, if your collar is feeling unexpectedly hot, you may want to consider if you have, in fact, committed any of these howlers. Even if you have, it would of course be a logical fallacy to conclude either that you are the only person reading this to have done so, or that this post is all about you. 

(That example is drawn from something similar to something I have said. Therefore Ben is lying and this whole post is about me. And what’s more, I never even said many of these things, which proves Ben is lying, again! - Discuss.)

If anyone persists in thinking that this post is particularly about him, I refer him here.

(Ben has a rubbish taste in music. Therefore Ben is an idiot. Discuss...)

By the same token, I have used the name Ben throughout, though most of these howlers have been committed vis-a-vis others, and some of them by me.  So why have I done that? Because it amuses me to do so. (Ben has a rubbish sense of humour. Therefore Ben is an idiot. Discuss...)

Easy

There are sock puppets on Twitter who appear on your timeline and disagree with you. Ben has appeared in my timeline and disagreed with me. Therefore Ben is a sock puppet.

That alleged sock puppet was proved not to be a sock puppet.  Therefore all this talk of sock puppets is deluded.

Someone Ben follows has said something outrageous on Twitter.  Ben has remained silent. Therefore Ben approves.

Ben blogs and tweets pseudonymously. Therefore Ben is a coward.

Ben treats the accusations against him lightly. Therefore Ben treats the bullying of others lightly.

Online bullying is very damaging. Therefore everyone should agree with my approach to dealing with it.

Ben has done X in the past. Therefore Ben is clearly guilty of all Xs in the future.

Ben spends time on twitter and blogging. Therefore Ben is neglecting his wife and children

St Thomas More said: 'The Devil, that proud spirit, cannot endure to be mocked.’ Therefore when Ben gets upset at being teased, it proves he is under demonic influence.

Ben supports the Church’s teaching on {X}. Therefore Ben is a bigot.

Intermediate

Ben likes and promotes the EF Mass. He must be a nutter like those Rorate types.

Ben has criticised Catholic Voices. He must be an evil extremist.

Praying online is vain grandstanding. Twitterangelus is just showing off.

Ben has reason to believe that {X} is true. Therefore {X} is true.

Ben has blogged or tweeted something horrid about something I have said. Therefore Ben hates me.

Ben claims to be a Catholic, but is not perfect.  Ben is a hypocrite.

Ben has been the victim of bullying. Therefore to refer to anything he may have ever done wrong is victim-blaming.

Ben is on my side. Therefore he has done no wrong.

Ben’s {friend/enemy} is my {enemy/friend}

Ben’s failure to condemn bad behaviour in his friends, publicly, is to collude with it.

Ben has the right to ask AnyBen Else to justify anything. AnyBen who fails to comply is guilty or has something to hide (except for me and my monkey)*.

Ben has argued {X}. So has someone else. Therefore it’s a conspiracy.

Ben was talking to some pro-choice friends who were picketing a pro-life vigil.  Therefore Ben was betraying the pro-life cause.

Advanced

Calling on your gang to join in your fight is a bullying tactic. Except when Ben does it.

Picking fights online is bullying. Except when Ben does it.

When you get something wrong, it is good to apologise and retract. Except for Ben.

Ben has expressed himself in intemperate terms. That proves it.

All who ask for RTs are indulging in vanity.

Ben has not seen X happen. Therefore Ben is to be castigated for not knowing about it.

Ben has behaved outrageously and wickedly on Twitter. Therefore it is {OK/my moral duty} to behave extremely badly towards him.

--

It should also be noted that (almost) any of these conclusions may be correct; my point is that, logically, they should not be arrived at by the arguments illustrated. 

Part of the problem is, of course, that Twitter limits one to 140 characters. But that is only part of the problem...  

--

*Lest anyone go apoplectic about this, it’s a reference to a popular band of my youth**. #WhoaretheBeatles?...


**UPDATE

It has been kindly pointed out by my friend, the Part Time Pilgrim (@PartTimePilgrim), that where I wrote 'youth', I should have written 'infancy'. I apologise for the error and am happy to correct it. Any source

Not taking it seriously enough...

Despite my best intentions, I seem to have got enmeshed in another Twitter spat.

This time it was because I linked to a post on the satirical Eccles blog which I found amusing and a propos.

However, apparently to link to that post means that I endorse everything Eccles has ever written, and also everything the loons who inhabit the combox there have ever written.

That is curious, as that is not the normal understanding on Twitter, but there we go.

Moreover, apparently this very post contains insults so subtle and devious that only those who are the target of them can see them, so it was very wrong of me to link to it.

Others joined in the condemnation; and it is fair to point out that I was not the only person being 'called out' for this crime. Some kind people also joined in to support me.

Reflecting on this, and other bits and bobs, I realise that I am not doing this blogging and tweeting stuff properly:

I am not part of a tribe, applauding my own and always seeking to point out the defects of 'them.' 

When I've disagreed with someone, I don't feel the need to insult them and everyone who associates with them.

I do not trawl the posts and tweets of those I dislike, looking for something I can interpret to mean that they are mad or bad, and broadcast it to all and sundry. 

I do not take and keep screenshots of offensive, potentially offensive, or indeed any other Twitter conversations to post later as 'evidence' of something or other. 

I do not even read the posts of bloggers I admire with any great regularity. 

My attitude to many of those I read is that they are sometimes interesting and sometimes not - and in some case sometimes completely nutty (Fr Z would be a case in point: I used to find his Latin translation posts very interesting; but his views on guns are quite beyond me, and his intemperate remarks on homosexuals I have commented on previously as profoundly misguided.) 

I rarely read combox comments, particularly of unmoderated comboxes, as they are normally nuttier than nougat and frequently distinctly unpleasant. 

I don't join in the yells of outrage when someone says something particularly nutty.

In short, I am not taking it seriously enough.  I crave your indulgence.
Any source

Richard Stallman intervistato su Snowden, Assange, Prism e la privacy

Nuova intervista al nostro caro Richard Stallman pubblicata sul canale Youtube di Russia Today. Stallman, intervistato dalla giornalista Sophie Shevardnadze, parla di Snowden, Assange e in generale del caso Prism.
Nel video Stallman approfondisce parla della privacy, del perché non ha un telefonino.
Secondo Stallman le prove che Snowden ha fornito circa la raccolta dei dati operata dai Governi non fanno che confermare quello di cui lui ci ha da sempre messo in guardia nel corso degli anni.

Il video è in inglese ma non è difficile da capire per i non anglofoni.

Ringrazio +Nicola Liguori  per aver condiviso il video su Google+.

Any source

#Hashtag - You're It!

Guest post from Kelly Joffe of Cliff Ross Design

Hashtags: we know that you have seen them all over the place, and maybe you use them yourself. They have played a significant role on Twitter and now they are starting to pop up all over Facebook. But what does it really mean to use a hashtag – what purpose does it serve? Far beyond #BeiberFever, hashtags are now playing an important role in online branding  for companies.

Hashtags originated as a conversation creator for specific topics on Twitter. Lets say someone was at the beach, enjoying the day with their family and posted a Tweet about it. If they used the hashtag #family or #BeachDay, it would start or join a conversation that has already been created about those topics. So when the hashtag is clicked on, you can view all the other “tweets” about that subject. Maybe other people in your area are enjoying a day at the beach with their families. Hashtags are just another way to connect people who are doing or talking about similar things. Now Facebook is utilizing hashtags as an additional way for people to connect and share information.

Recently we’ve been seeing how hashtags can play a key role in promoting a brand online. Similar to the way people use hashtags to connect with one another, hashtags can be used as a way to connect people to a brand. Lets use Red Lobster as an example. If someone is out to eat at Red Lobster and they post a status or Tweet about being there, they could use #RedLobster in their post. Now anytime #RedLobster is searched, everyone who has made a post about it will show up. This starts to create a buzz around a brand, and becomes a way for people to connect to the brand and help share the brand’s message.

Brands can also develop their own hashtags that are specific to their business. For example, McDonalds uses the hashtag #ImLovinIt – this is their brand slogan, which they have also developed into a hashtag. Now anytime that hasgtag is used, it’s associated with the McDonalds brand.

Social Media is a landscape that is constantly changing and evolving. If you are going to take part in this social environment – it’s important to stay current with the trends. Social Media will play a crucial role in business marketing in the future, just as it’s starting to do now. Hashtags aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but how we use them will certainly evolve over time.

Here at Cliff Ross, our job is to keep up with the changing landscape that is Social Media. We are happy to answer any questions and help guide your business through the world of social media marketing. Give us a call at 610-829-1333.

Guest post from Kelly Joffe of Cliff Ross Design

Article any source

You actually might have a point there

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Graham Salisbury previously asked when did you last read a book; he now returns to question a widely held view on social media and throws a bit of Darwinism in for good measure! (Ed Scrivener)

You actually might have a point there

(Health Warning! This blog does have something to do with HR. Honestly. But bear with me for a moment or two while I take you down a side street of contemporary philosophy!)

All is not well in the New Atheism camp.

Thomas Nagel is a renowned Atheist professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University and many of his books have met with great critical acclaim. If you're looking for a first-rate introduction to philosophy, you need look no further than his excellent "What Does It All Mean", and if that whets your appetite, you may wish to have a look at his 1974 classic journal article, "What Is It Like To Be A Bat". No, I am not joking. The article is a masterwork in trying to look at something from an unfamiliar angle. (Hmm... Looking at an issue from someone else's point of view .... perhaps that has something to do with HR after all ...)

But his recent book (snappily titled "Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False) has really infuriated some of his former bedfellows in the New Atheism camp (that's the likes of Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion) for the uninitiated)

No, he's not Got Religion or anything like that. But what he has done is something far, far worse:

He has asked some questions. 

In particular he has dared to challenge the prevalent neo-Darwinian view that Evolution provides a complete  explanation of how we got here.  (That is code for "can a complex life form like man really have developed from primordial soup")

He hasn't actually come up with any serious alternative views, but has said that "I find neo-Darwinianism antecendently unbelievable - a heroic triumph of ideological theory over common sense. I would be willing to bet that the present right-thinking consensus will come to seem laughable in a generation or two." (That is code for "In a couple of generations, people with think that Richard Dawkins was barking.)

In doing so, he has been vilified, virtually excommunicated, and even had his sanity called into question by others in the New Atheist fraternity, not for any alternative hypothesis that he has proposed, but merely for saying that those who question the consensus might actually have a point, and that their countervailing views deserve to be treated seriously and not rejected out of hand. He puts it like this:

"Even if one is not drawn to their alternative explanations, the problems caused by the iconoclasts should be taken seriously. They do not deserve the scorn with which they are commonly met. It is manifestly unfair"

What the heck has this got to do with HR, I hear you cry?

Quite a lot I believe.

How many of our beliefs about the HR profession are so set in stone that even to question them is inviting scorn and ridicule?

Let's take the issue of the importance of social media to the HR profession. 

Ever risked life and limb by questioning if social media is the salvation of the HR community? There are plenty of our fellow HR colleagues who would doubt your sanity were you to say that social media was anything less than the holy grail of the HR profession. 

But let's look at a few facts (and in doing so I can sense some of my contacts on twitter clicking the Unfollow button). 

Social Media (and I guess that I am talking chiefly about twitter here) is sold as the Great White Hope that will pull us all closer together and get us collaborating. 

But it doesn't. 

There are many people for whom twitter is an optional extra that they have chosen to ignore. For others it is simply an irrelevance.  These are not Bad People, nor are they Luddites. They have just made a choice that is contrary to that of the majority. To put this in context: CIPD CEO Peter Cheese follows a mere 41 people, and (at the time of writing) tweeted just 108 times. Dave Ulrich may be slightly more active, but a quick glance reveals that his account is managed by his publisher rather than by the man himself. They are no better or worse for not being prolific tweeters.

There are also those who have found that far from being a mechanism for bringing people together, twitter has in fact become a barrier rather than a bridge. It has led to them feeling excluded and an outsider rather than part of the inner circle of the faithful.

But just utter the words "Is social media all it's hyped up to be?" and you can almost hear the Angry Mob marching round to your door.

To ridicule or ignore the views of such people just isn't on.  As HR Professionals (perhaps I should say "Above all as HR Professionals" we are in the business both of uniting people but also asking challenging questions which may unsettle the status quo.

Let's not make the debate over the nature and future of social media one in which it is regarded as heresy to simply ask if we are heading down the right path.

Wouldn't it be good if we all occasionally gave credit to those with views that are different to our own by simply saying, "You actually might have a point there"?

Read about Graham and our other authors here

*****

Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

*****

If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 26^th August.

Any source

How to do it...

Nic blogged the other day about the patterns of unpleasantness sometimes witnessed on the Catholic Blogosphere.

I saw an interesting counter-example recently.  Someone who really should have known better tweeted an extremely offensive and defamatory comment about someone else, including their twitter handle in the tweet to make sure it was seen.

It struck me as particularly odd, as a similar (incorrect) conclusion could have been reached, from an analogous situation, about the originator of the defamatory tweet.

But what impressed me was how the subject of the tweet responded: and that was simply by ignoring it. 

No rebuttal, no counter-accusation, no ad hom... nothing.

It would have been easy to refute, easy to threaten an action for defamation come to that, and certainly easy to accuse the accuser of double standards and worse.

But silence.

How dignified!

And as a result, there has been no brouhaha, no fuss, no gathering of gangs and mutual recriminations.

I don't know what the originator of the defamatory tweet makes of it all; whether it is perceived as having been unanswerable or (with hindsight) stupid (or worse); but the wonderful thing is that the recipient doesn't seem to care.

Any source

Twitter Bots are Getting Stranger

I like to see what people are saying about Unglue.it, so I follow the "unglue" tweetstream. For many months, the false positives were really quite entertaining. In the words of normal human twitterers, the word "unglue" unearths all sorts of things people are stuck to and want to be unstuck. Lips, asses, couches, various electronic devices, and of course, Twitter itself. And combinations of two or more of these sticky things. Fun times!

The first bot butting in on my "unglue" stream belonged to some sort of travel agency social marketing bot named Leadify. Various destinations were being touted by this bot under by different users:

@SkyRunTelluride Can’t unglue the kids from the tv on vacations? Go camping in Telluride and leave technology behind.
@VisitGatlinburg Can’t unglue the kids from the tv on vacations? Go camping in Gatlinburg and leave technology behind.
@CrestedButteMt Can’t unglue the kids from the tv on vacations? Go camping in Crested Butte and leave technology behind.
@TimberlineVaca Can’t unglue the kids from the tv on vacations? Go camping in Breckenridge and leave technology behind.
@lodgingdeals Can’t unglue the kids from the tv on vacations? Go camping in Snowmass and leave technology behind.
@vailmountain Can’t unglue the kids from the tv on vacations? Go camping in Vail and leave technology behind.

You get the idea. At least it's clear what "service" this bot is providing.

But recently, a new bot has started getting in on the "unglue" action. What bugs me is I can't figure out why it does what it does:

@IsabellaMariah3 Unglue latent clubhouse derby: .cpP
@MervinSacco1 Unglue official pass250 607-109 audition check over guides: .BCO http://bit.ly/ZMz6fj
@MacDonaldBoswor Dancery unglue rounders online: .Fhi
@ClarenceWither1 Charley 95010 online until unglue straight a rich conjunction unripe forethink: .daw http://bit.ly/WckiGL
@GoldmanLarry1 Unglue fund online casinos: .pyT 525471
@IsaacShade1 Unglue swop 185-113 prelim niagara mopes: .AQb http://bit.ly/10OwHmW
@AllenHoffmann1 Unglue pos software - baksheesh in preference to forthright pos software, guides with acquit pos software: .hFg http://bit.ly/Xv9k0W
@BootmanRussel1 Betting parlor online unglue green stuff extant professional athlete bribe: .YnL 050623
@PassBobby Unglue liquid assets repudiation cash upon be unfaithful online poolroom: .mNG 263810
@GladysSavannah Current unglue contribute nonobservance stationing show biz: .Obd
@EricksonCarter Tavern unglue do tool motion hiatus: .wrm 894279
@JohnsonAllison2 Amusement park unglue participate: .Sby 584823
@BarnesIsabelle Flat reputable volume dvd unglue: .QfH 362486
@JustinCharlie1 261 sporting house unglue tropez aggrandize: .cln
@FrederickWilli4 The hard-and-fast fender in relation with unglue online auction: .RqZ http://bit.ly/Xr2Tw3
@AlanLindley2 How head an neutral advisor grant-in-aid myself pick the uppermost glamour issue unglue racket: .mcY http://bit.ly/W8lrz9
@PaigeCarol1 Thereupon the album's unglue, the belt stirred drummer chouse health resort but salaried nicholas dingley, go ... 121898
@PaigeSandra1 Theater bootlegging unglue surface structure: .nxz 968560
@MiloVelasquez1 332 gambling hall unglue online volutation: .otR
@PeregrinBoles Unglue downloadlot-054exam chamber music guides: .qxf http://bit.ly/10KfJGp
@LeapmanRebecca Entertainment industry unglue contract bridge toad: .iyG 836459
@MakaylaCooper15 Cafe chantant coupon unglue gamut: .eqG 184945

What could possibly be the purpose of these tweets?

My first thought was this is some SEO scam. About 1/3 of the tweets have a bit.ly link to the http://promotion-web.tk/ or related websites; these pages contain more nonsense text under the title "First-class portal". (The "dot .tk" top level domain is a free domain registry based in Amsterdam) But that doesn't make much sense. Why would nonsense tweets point at nonsense websites? And why would most of the tweets come without links?

And if it's an SEO scam, why add things like ".nxz 968560"? Who's going to click on a tweet like that? Even search engines aren't that dumb.

My next thought was that these accounts are those "followers" that social marketing bozos buy for their twitter feeds. But no, many of these these accounts aren't following more than two or three other accounts, though they may have 250 or so of their fellow robots following them, along with a surprising number of apparently human social media consultants.

It's puzzling, and I don't take kindly to unsolved puzzles. This army of zombie twitter accounts must be assembling for some sort of mischief.

So here's my best guess. I think these twitter bots are hiding information in plain view. Suppose you were a terrorist organization or a criminal network, and you needed to publish communications to large numbers of people world wide. What better way to do this than to publish encrypted information on twitter. Or even better, put the encrypted information on a network of websites, and use a distributed network of twitter accounts to distribute the decryption keys? Or maybe this is where Wikileaks is storing its secret files.

The data publishing rate appears to be about 100 tweets per minute, or about 230 bytes/sec. That's 20 MBytes per day. Maybe the three letter codes are the intended recipients, and the 6 digit numbers are constantly changing keys (like RSA's SecurID) for files posted on 2-factor secured websites.

Or maybe its just garbage ungluing latent clubhouse derby.

Notes:
1. Just to be clear, it's not just the word "unglue" that zombie bot is attacking.
2. I can't wait to get head-desked by a simple explanation in the comments.
3. So you don't have to try one of those bitly links yourself, heres a sample of text from one of the garbage websites:

Oneabe is a free online bidding site offering best auctions and known as beat penny auction site , here we conduct Free Online Auction and oneabe is one of the best Online Auction Sites. We also offer free international auction. Presently we are bidding on thunder-Quadband Dual SIM Wifi Touchscreen World and on superb LCD Home theatre media projector and so on. We do our auctions category wise. As here you would see a plethora of options and catalogs within which you can choose whatever is of your choice and need and participate in bidding as well as can buy them. We offer categories like Antiques and art, automobile & bikes, survival kits, businesses for sale, clothing and accessories, coins and collectibles and much more. We are known as a penny auction site worldwide.Under the category of antique and art we offer 20th century antiques ranging from 1920’s till modern , architectural antiques like garden antiques and others, under the wing of Art we offer contemporary art, drawings, paintings, general, photographic images, prints as well as sculptures. We also sell books and manuscripts those are rare and precious. We offer a plethora of ceramic goods and also clocks, decorative items to decorate your home and your office. Our folk art is very unique and our foreign arts are all master pieces. We also do bidding on furniture, map or atlas as well as on metal ware such as brass, copper, bronze, gold, silver, and silver plated goods also we sell music instruments. We also offer here to our customers a very good quality of textiles and linens that includes fabric, embroidery, linens and quilts and much more. Under the gaming option we offer...

4. (update) More theories being discussed on Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5373161 

Article any source

OpenGeoData - Riassunto Settimanale #61

13 Gennaio 2013 - 27 Gennaio 2013

Un riassunto di tutto ciò che sta accadendo nel mondo di OpenStreetMap (OSM).

- Rimane solo una settimana per inviare una proposta per la call of venues della State of the Map 2013.
- E' stato aggiornato TagInfo. Leggi maggiori informazioni sull'aggiornamento e l'integrazione nel nuovo editor OSM iD in un post.
- L'HOT (Humanitarian OSM Team) ha alcuni nuovi task in Mali. Il loro board ha anche due nuovi membri. E Mikel ha scritto un post sul primo meeting del 2013 del board.
- Adesso puoi linkare le mappe OSM direttamente nei tuoi Tweet.
- Il progetto OSMBuilding sta cercando dati 3D degli edifici.
- Sono disponibili nuove immagini aeree per il Sud Africa su aerial.openstreetmap.org.za.
- L'utente Zartbitter ha creato un nuovo strumento per il controllo di qualità per le turn restriction in OSM.
- Go Map!! è un nuovo editor OSM per i device iOS.
- Richard Weait ha scritto un nuovo articolo su come aggiungere font nel software di rendering Mapnik.
- E' stato rilasciato Leaflet 0.5.

Traduzione da OpenGeoData
Any source

How To Use Social Media To Promote Your Small Business

You have a small business and you haven’t bought into the social media craze? Guess what? Silence is no longer an option. People are online talking about your company as you read this, whether you like or not. If you don’t engage in the conversation, you risk losing your customers. But maybe you don’t have a choice as many small airports do in the State of California and across the United States. Many are owned by cities who don’t give them a dime and yet take money whenever they please. Those city managers force their airport managers to jump through hoops and political red tape to be able to promote their facilities. These airport managers have their hands tied in dealing with counties which just recently decided to launch a website, let alone a social media marketing strategy. So, I was asked by Michael McCarron, Public Information Office for San Francisco International Airport, to speak to the managers of small airports through California about the benefits of having a social media presence, so that they can convince their ‘bosses’ to allow them to open Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts, as well as to create blogs. 

Here’s part of my presentation. I hope it helps you with your online social media strategy. If You have more ideas, please share them in the comments section at the bottom of the post. The more ideas, the better.
*
1. ASSESS YOUR ASSETS: The first action you should take before engaging in online marketing or social media marketing and engagement is to look at what are you’re trying to promote. What are your assets? Who are your target customers? It may seem obvious. But, A Bay Area airport had small planes for rent. But business was slow because they were simply targeting pilots trying to rack-up hours. Turns out there was a larger audience they could target through social media, tourists looking for aerial Bay Area tours. Business took-off.
*
SIGN-UP FOR SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn. Facebook allows you to create a business page. Make sure you read the rules for businesses first. You can even ‘create a page’ through your personal account, if your business allows you to do so. That makes it easy for small business owners to manage it. On LinkedIn, every employee becomes your best advocate.
*
FIND A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER: Managing multiple social networks is daunting. So, before you start posting content, requesting friends and adding followers, sign-up for a social media manager such as Ping.fm and HootSuite. It allows you to manage all of your accounts on one site and schedule your messages to deploy so you don’t have to sit over it all day. It also allows you to review the success of the tweets real-time with click-through statistics. And you can gather all the mentions of your brand, industry or search terms on Twitter through it as well. That’s for the free version. I suggest trying that first. As you get more involved in social media, I prefer SproutSocial.com. You have a choice on plans for nine-dollars to $49. There’s a 30-day free trial to make sure it works for you. What I like is that it allows you to take all of those you follow and the followers and create contacts out of them which you can manage in the system and track engagement. It also has one inbox for all of your messages from all the networks. Plus, it allows you to track check-ins at FourSquare and Gowalla.
*
POST UPDATES: It’s important to have content on your social media pages before you start adding friends and followers. When you try to find friends, they’re going to look at the page to see if they want to follow you. So you need to give them a reason to follow you first. Provide valuable information about the industry. Post pictures of your business or people enjoying your business. On YouTube, post videos of your business, customer experiences, and encourage customers to make their own. You can also ‘favorite’ other YouTube users’ videos and they will end up on your page. If you’re a small airport, posting cool aerobatic videos of the Patriots’ Jet Team is a possibility that would add value to those who ‘subscribe’ to your page. Also, share those videos on your other accounts such as Twitter, Facebook and even LinkedIn.
*
FIND FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS: Twitter and Google+ are easiest. Search keywords to find followers. On Twitter, If you’re a small airport, for example, search ‘pilot. You can also search ‘flying.’ Searching your town and surrounding areas as well to find key influencers, news outlets, bloggers and city officials. Also, search for large players in your market. For airports, try Boeing, Virgin America, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines. If they share your posts, you have the potential to reach thousands. I suggest adding just a few people at a time. On Google+, comment on one of their posts immediately. On Twitter, mention them in a post immediately. You can also comment on one of their posts or simply say that you look forward to following their great content. If it’s a reporter or blogger, give them story ideas and leads that have nothing to do with your business. Get them to trust you. To find fans on Facebook, it’s best to start with real friends and family. You can also pay as little as $100 to have an ad for your Facebook page syndicate across the network for a designated period of time.
*
7. ENGAGE FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS:
Cory Colligan who used to be head of marketing for California Bouquet friended me on Facebook. When she asked to be my friend, she typed a personal message, saying how impressed she was with my work and how she’s enjoyed watching my work evolve. I couldn’t remember where I knew her from. Was it a television station, radio station, or was it from school? I wasn’t sure. I was too embarrassed to ask. And she seemed harmless. So, I confirmed her friend request and wrote her a note back thanking her for her feedback and saying that I look forward to connecting. She proceeded over the next few months to follow my videos and stories. She engaged in great debates and conversation with me as well as my friends. I knew just days after I added her that I didn’t know her personally. But I was so impressed with her and the relationship we’d developed over the months, that when I was traveling to her town, Fresno, I suggested we have lunch. When I arrived she had a full basket of goodies from her shop, including the best dark chocolate covered strawberries I’ve ever tasted, waiting for me. Since then, I have been a regular customer and am quick to share her products on my page. 

So, your first priority should be building that relationship with people, not pitching your service or product.
Give them story ideas and leads that have nothing to do with your business. 

On Facebook:
Share their links on your wall and/or comment on them. Wish them a Happy Birthday. Birthdays are big on Facebook. Always acknowledge them. Maybe even offer them a discount coupon for a birthday treat via Facebook. 

On Twitter:
Retweet their stories and comment on them! Reply to each and every message. Keep the conversation going. Get them to trust you. For example, one of my favorite Twitter followers is @heykim. She is an amazing example of how to do it right. She has thousands of followers. But she has even more friends. She friended thousands of people little by little and engaged with them, retweeting their tweets, commenting on their tweets, checking in on topics those folks had tweeted on days before. Now, she’s constantly in conversation with folks like Morgan Fairchild, Alyssa Milano and Kathy Ireland. Alyssa Milano even just shared a linked @heykim posted tonight about how Twitter has transformed over the last five years. Who would’ve thought? She’s not famous. The key is she knows how to engage. And she never misses a #FF (Follow Friday). On Friday’s many people share with their friends, their favorite people to follow, encouraging others to follow them as well. 

Google+: It’s a cross between Facebook and Twitter. It’s great because you can create circles of certain people you want to target for different reasons. It makes it easier to post certain promotions to one group vs. another. 

LinkedIn: The best way to engage with potential customers is by joining industry groups and starting group discussions.
*
Very important: Do not ask for help/favors from people until you’re friends or at least warm acquaintances with them. And the #1 way to become friends is to offer tons of help/favors without expecting anything in return. In the words of Michael Ellsberg, Forbes Contributor and Author of “Self-Educated Millionaires: The Seven Skills You’ll Never Learn in College, “Networking is a *long term* activity – it CANNOT be done for short-term results. Follow these basic concepts, and you’ll be ahead of 99.99% of the knuckleheads out there who are botching their networking attempts online!” Also, a great book to read is by Brian Solis, Principal at Altimeter Group, “Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web.”
*
8. STAY CURRENT: Get alerts sent to your phone when folks engage with you via your social networking sites – at least in the beginning – that way you respond quickly.

Article any source

Thinking out loud

Funny how Paul Giamatti's career arc has spanned Pig Vomit, Miles, Harvey Pekar & Ben Bernanke. All slightly mad.Thu Jun 09 19:45:08 via webDavid Shvartsman
FinanceTrends

Any source

◉ Twitter ブログによると、少し前にアナウンスされていた Twitter 純正の URL 短縮サービスが開始されたらしい。

使い方は、公式のツイートボックスに URL を張り付けるだけなので、公式を利用している場合は、わざわざサードパーティーのサービスを利用する手間が省けて、便利になる。

URL は自動的に19文字に短縮される。

『元の URL が推測できるような短いバージョンの URL を表示するようになるため、そのツイートを見たユーザーはその URL がどこにリンクしているのかが推測できます。』とのこと。

実際に試してみないと分からないが、まだすべてのユーザーが使えるわけではないらしい。

このサービスは、今日から一部のユーザーに対して公開が開始され、今後、対象ユーザーを拡大していくとしている。

また、リンク先が悪意のあるサイトだと報告されている場合、そのリンクをユーザーがクリックすると警告ページが表示されるということなので、セキュリティ的にも利用価値がある。

URL のクリック数を計測する機能はついていないようなので、それを知りたければ、引き続きサードパーティーの URL 短縮サービスを利用する必要がある。私は不要なので問題ない。

Twitterブログ（日本語）：http://blog.jp.twitter.com/

追記：試しにこのポストタイトルを URL 付きでツイートしてみたが、140文字を越えていなかった（汗）　短縮の対象にならなかったので、自分が新サービスの対象ユーザーに入っているかどうかは不明。次回に持ち越し。

HomeAny source

◉Twitterの新しいフォローボタンが公開されたので、早速このブログに貼ってみた。同時に動きも試してみた。

新しいフォローボタンを貼ったところは、このブログの右カラムトップ。

新しいフォローボタンは来訪者がTwitterにログインしている場合は、1回のクリックだけでフォローが済むのでとても簡単になった。
フォローした後、フォローボタンは緑色のチェックがついた「フォロー中」（英語だとFollowingに）に変わる。webページをめぐる際にこの表示でフォローしているかどうかが一目で分かる。

来訪者がTwitterにログインしていない状態でクリックした場合、サブウィンドウが開いて、アカウントのプロフィール、フォロワーとフォローしている数が表示される。また、来訪者のTwitterのユーザー名、パスワード欄も表示されるので、入力して[ログインして、@◯◯◯をフォローする]ボタンをクリックするとフォローが完了する。来訪者がTwitterのアカウントを持っていない場合もここから登録できる。

ここまでは、WindowsのIE9で試した場合で問題は無かったが、MacのSafari（v4.1.3）では、フォローボタンをクリックしてもフォローできなかった（Twitterにログインしている状態で）。
ログインしていない状態では、WindowsのIE9と同じ動きになる。

また、ボタン横のユーザー名をクリックすると、サブウィンドウが開いて、そのアカウントのプロフィール、フォロワーとフォローしている数、最新ツイートの幾つかを確認できる。ここからフォローすることも可能。

なお、サブウインドウが開く際、WindowsのIE9ではポップアップブロックにひっかかるが、許可すれば問題なく表示される。

また、MacのSafari（v4.1.3）では、ボタン横のユーザー名をクリックで、来訪者がTwitterにログインしていない状態だと、フォローボタンをクリックしたときと同様のサブウィンドウの黒地のヘッダ部分に「ログイン>」が追加されヘッダ部分が下に伸びるが、本文が下がらないため、プロフィールや[ログインする]ボタンに少しかぶってしまう（下画像）。Windowsの Firefox （v4.0.1）、Google Chrome（v11.0.696.71）、MacのSafari（v5.0.5）でも同様になった。

簡単に試してみた結果：

1回のクリックだけでフォローが済むのでとても簡単だが、現時点では各ブラウザの動作の検証ができていない感じ。今後の改善に期待。

ボタンの作成、設置：

下の作成ページでユーザー名を入力すれば、右側にコードが生成される。ブラウザですでにTwitterにログインしている状態ならば、ユーザー名は自動で入力され、コードも生成されている。このコードをコピーして、表示したいページの好きな位置（html内）に貼り付けるだけ。背景色の明と暗、フォロワー数の表示と非表示、使用言語の変更も可能。その他にツイートボタン、ウィジェット、誰でも利用可能な Twitter 公認ロゴとアイコンなどもこのページの「素材」から利用できる。

新しいフォローボタンの作成ページ：

https://twitter.com/about/resources/followbutton

Twitterブログ　新しいフォローボタンを公開しました：

http://blog.jp.twitter.com/2011/06/blog-post.html

HomeAny source

◉Twitterの「今どんなことが話題になっているか」を知るためのトレンド機能が日本に対応した。

Twitterブログが4月12日、日本のトレンドを提供開始したことを発表した。

トレンドとは（Twitterブログから）

「Twitter では「今どんなことが話題になっているか」を知るための手段として、トレンドという機能を提供しています。トレンドとは「今現在」「多くの人が」ツイートしている単語をリアルタイムで自動的に抽出する機能です。トレンドを見れば、今 Twitter 上で話題になっているニュースや出来事を即座に知ることができます。」

今までトレンドのデフォルトは「世界中」だったので、内容もよく分からず、関係のなさそうな英文単語が並んでいるだけだったが、今回日本に対応したことで，この機能がずっと身近になった。現在の対象地域は日本全体と東京だけ、その他の日本の都市についても順次対応していくとのこと。

使い方は、Twitter公式ホームの右側サイドバーにある「トレンド」の[変更]をクリック、サブウィンドウ「ご興味のあるトレンド地域を選んでください」が表示される。現在31カ国。東京のトレンドを見たい場合はまず日本を選び、さらに都市を選ぶサブウィンドウが開く（現在は東京だけ）ので東京を選ぶ。

また、日本以外でも、70にも及ぶ新しい国、都市でのトレンドが追加され、合計100カ国/都市でのトレンドとなったらしい。

Twitterブログ：http://blog.twitter.jp/2011/04/blog-post_12.html

HomeAny source

◉「今年の一文字 2010」2011年の運気を占うTwitter連動サービス。

今年の一文字　2010

Twitter上で、今年一年間につぶやいた中でもっとも多く使われた漢字一文字を選び出し、毛筆書体で表示してくれるTwitter連動サービス。2011年の運気を占うコンテンツとなっている。

前出の「はがきデザインキット2011」と同じ日本郵政が提供してくれている。今年何かと話題になった日本郵政だが、いろいろ頑張っている。

洗練されたデザイン、好感を持てるキャラクターに構成、出来上がる筆文字もなかなか味がある。つぶやき全体を検索して抽出するので、一文字を選びだすのにやや時間がかかるが、ゆったり待つ間も飽きさせない。

今年の一文字　2010のサイト→http://yubin-nenga.jp/hitomoji/index.html

ちなみに私の一文字は「明」。来年はそんな年になりますように。

なお、Twitterアカウントのない人は、生年月日を入力して、来年の一文字占いということで利用できる。

HomeAny source