The Digger

EH here. This morning I came across an article, " George Orwell and the Struggle against Inevitable Bias ," in my usual round of reading through various sites. The article reviews Orwell's 1945 essay "Notes on Nationalism, which I'm posting here. I hadn't read it in decades and when I did today found it pertinent to our increasingly strident and divisive political situation.   By "nationalism" Orwell doesn't mean nationalism in the normal sense of the word, but rather " the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests," although his introduction gives a much more extended definition.     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Somewhere or other Byron makes use of the French word  longeur , and remarks in passing that though in England we happen not to have the  word , we have the  thing  in considerable profusion. In the same way, ...

  Thanks to Maxwell for recommending this article... Newly Released White House Documents Reveal Efforts To Surveil Americans Using Contact Tracing Apps Derrick Broze Recently released documents from the Department of Homeland Security reveal that a coalition of tech companies are interested in the surveillance capabilities of contact tracing apps. As political leaders across the United States begin to make use of contact tracing apps the public is promised that privacy is being considered. However, newly released documents reveal that a private task force made up of Big Tech companies has expressed interest in surveillance capabilities of such apps. Additionally, controversial Fusion Centers appear to be preparing to make use of the data gathered by contact tracing apps as well. Contact tracing is a process of identifying individuals who may have come into contact with an infected person, collecting information about their contacts, and then tracing the contacts of infected indivi...

Thanks to Maxwell for suggesting this article for re-posting.  Source: CBS News (See link for video.) Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Wednesday that people could need multiple doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine to immunize themselves from the coronavirus. If necessary, the multiple doses could require more than 7 billion vaccinations to be administered worldwide. "None of the vaccines at this point appear like they'll work with a single dose," Gates said. "That was the hope at the very beginning." The billionaire philanthropist, who has donated $300 million towards the global effort to combat COVID-19 through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told " CBS Evening News " anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell that deploying a coronavirus vaccine will require a global effort. "If what you're trying to do is block all the transmission, then you need to get 70-80% coverage on a global basis. So it's unbelievably big num...