Conning the Flock: Useless News

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Years back in my Major Market News Director’ing days, I saw lots of market research about what people wanted to know about when the news came on.

Some of the thought-leaders at the time included the Associated Press and (Frank N.) Magid and Associates -both of which are still around today.

Back-when, we learned that people used to be mainly interested in three things:  Health, Heart, Weather, and Pocketbook.  Sure, sure, the web has arisen  – and with it the “shrill-seekers” of Twitter and what-not.  But, when comes down to those seven basic functional systems of your life (food, shelter, communications, energy, environment, transportation, and finance) the older research is still guiding a lot of our thinking here.

On the health front, for example, knowing that more Americans are drinking themselves to death is useful, personally-actionable, information.

On the “Heart” side, we STILL haven’t seen an end to the Thai soccer team in the cave story.  Take Business Insider which just today is reported as  “The Thai soccer team cave rescue is also be a big political win for the country’s military junta.”

In electronics there is something called the “passband ringing effect” and it’s what happens when a filter’s passband gets too narrow.  A single data bit through a filter will begin to echo as the filter narrows to the point near-self-oscillation.  The technical term for it is “ringing.”

Easily demonstrated with even an old-fashioned Q-multiplier, if you’re interested.

It’s a concept worth knowing because there are lots of stories in the news, especially in the “Heart” category – that display this ringing effect.  The ‘bolstering the Junta” you see, is just a ringing-effect off the underlying story which has been  effectively over for days and days.

Ringing-Effects are also apparent in other stories when the MSM can gin-up false emotions and then selling “ringing stories” after these.

Take the Helsinki Summit.  72-year old man, traveling for a week, missteps-  getting off-script – and  now we are in the “Ringing Festival” off that story.  Some examples of this ringing?  Russian envoy: Moscow open to Putin visit to Washington which comes after Trump mentions that Putin will get an invite.

Then, we see the pivot off the ringing effect of Helsinki in the partisan bullshit stories (all trying to glom on to an echo of some emotionally hot topic) in Trump impeachment push emerges as next Dem litmus test  and Trump impeachment chances rise after Putin summit: bookie.

What makes the analysis of such “signal ringing” even more complicated is that we don’t just get a “single ring.”  We get complex harmonic ringing, as well.  Out on the Left Coast, we see the San Jose Merc tying-in the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination to all this in a “Letter: Could Kavanaugh stop any efforts to impeach Trump? ”

And one THIS third-order ringing begins, we see the lefterly media drop into (unimaginable) fourth order ringing products as we see three other ostensibly “news” sites echoing the story when we run a key-phrase through Google.

Slick, huh?

NiemanLab has a brilliant summary of the problem – still growing in case you hadn’t figured it yet – in “The universe of people trying to deceive journalists keeps expanding, and newsrooms aren’t ready.”

Well, I do declare!

Thanks to Grady’s fine work on our Nostracodeus software project, we can see some of this ringing effect and how second, third, and as shown, even fourth order distortion products interfere with those of us pursuing the art of linear thinking in a world gone non-linear because Social Media is the biggest distortion product thought-amplifier ever invented.

Now we come to the point:  The News Media should be judged on the same basis as a good stereo amplifier.  You know, like a good Crowne power amp has essentially no discernable distortion.

Instead, plug-in social and assignment-editor created  distortion products and there is your recipe for disaster (with a side of idiotic behavior).

Like those Maxine Waters sheep who went out flag-burning.

This is typical  “manipulating the distortion.”  The coverage comes from a British publication – and we all know socialists love the faux creds of foreign press accounts.  And a “few dozen?”  Bet me a few got paid to be there…

That’s the point.  We know filters “ring” and we know “defective amplifiers” cause distortion products.

We just have no mental acuity when it comes to asking “Where is this story coming from – and who’s effing the flock (or stealing their clear thinking) by selling THIS load of crap as “news>”

So back to the old AP and Magid research from the 70’s:

Weather.  And that’s always a story because there is weather everywhere.  Tornados in Iowa last night.  High heat – frontal boundaries…it’s going to happen.

Even here in Texas (where it was this hot in 1925 before heat islands and climate marketing to set the stage for a global “weather tax”) we see the distortion products  in the report that “record heat will mean record electricity consumption” which is rationally no big deal since we have record oil output in Texas now…

Instead, we see the Washington Post trolling eyeballs with “A mega-heat wave is gaining strength over Texas and the south-central United States.”

Mega?  “1.very large; huge.”  OK, journalistic license.  But mega is not a term ever used in NOAA forecasts…just to keep our thinking screwed-on right.  Like those runaway adjectives in winter, we’re seeing ’em in summer now.  Oh boy.

And last, but not least,  we move to Pocketbook.

The “Golem” project put $320 bucks in my account Thursday and with a lower open of the market to come this morning, we expect more today.  Even with a pop toward the close, looks to us like a chance of markets  moving lower next week.

Dow futures down 90 an hour before the open.

Meantime, Bitcoin is out of the doldrums and we will have fresh analysis of that on the Peoplenomics subscriber side tomorrow.

For now, all the media histrionics aside, relax.  We’re only doing basic charts tomorrow and spending our time on programming analytical tools to make (a bit more) money.

You can worry yourself sick over the headlines, if you must.

Or, you can judge the news like you’d judge an audiophile-level sound system:  Look for distortion…hear the distortion products. Tune yourself.

And just like a crappy sound system?

Don’t buy it.

America is still an exceptional country.

Except, we are exceptionally prone to be superficial followers and most of these are exceptionally stupid.

If there’s a tail in front of you…(or on your FB)…leave the herd right now.  The slaughter house is just ahead.  Says so on the sign announcing the globalist agenda to end the Electoral College. It’s the faux Webolution to enslave the planet. A two- caste world.  Sci-Fi gets real.

You don’t think the EU global revenue fine threatened against Google (5%) and QUALCOMM (10%) isn’t a test run?  Better keep your eye on the tail ahead, then.  The real agenda is for global taxation of corporations first…the word “fine” is a lie.  It’s really a tax for market access to Europe.  Home of the socialist empire builders and why so many British publications seem to “get the break” on American stories…again, distortion products.  Ask why.

But we do want to make sure you herd to do that.

Moron Monday!

33 thoughts on “Conning the Flock: Useless News”

  1. In your analogy, if this is a 500w solid-state amp, what happens to make the juice run the wrong way? Does 5w in the wrong direction let the smoke out of the transistors? I sure hope so (or maybe not, there is already noise from the grounding problem we have).

  2. Glenn Beck, radio talk show host, appears to be the new Poster Boy for Bitcoin. They must be paying him a fortune to convert his show into a Bitcoin Hype Show. He owns bitcoin at a loss. A call in guest, mortgaged his house, invested $80,000 into BItCoin, it went up to $200,000, now worth $36,000. No problem, Beck’s Guru TEEKA predicts bitcoin $40,000 by 12/31/18. He really thinks $65,000 but hammered it down to be conservative.

    Will the suckers please prepare to bend over.

  3. “[T]he MSM can gin-up false emotions and then selling “ringing stories” after these.”

    Ah, Fox News’ lifeblood: Anger porn. But how else are you going to get working families to vote against their best interests? Me: I know wherefrom primary Demand in the economy springs, and we 1%-ers are killing the Golden Goose.

    BTW, how is going to direct voting for President a globalist agenda? The only globalist agenda uncovered so far (after thousands of hours of actual investigative work by actual pros) was Russia’s efforts to elect their lapdog. Plus, it would remove the ‘Tyranny of the Minority,’ no?

    You see, this is the rub. The Republican party is a minority party. It needs voter suppression, gerrymandering and ‘outside assistance’ to stay in power. So folks pushing the conservative agenda, want to cloud the issue of seemingly simple democracy with emotion laden words like ‘Globalist Agenda.’

    But it was the Conservatives that are directly responsible for our worst problems today. The South adopted a slavery economic model, and so today we are still saddled with their ‘cultural’ purity agenda. And the conservatives broke the Middle East, saddling Europe with its migration nightmare.

    Best, Mike

    • Mike,

      The Founders didn’t create a democracy because they knew it would fail. There was a great deal of agreement on this point by all the major figures.

      For example, “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that ‘did not commit suicide.” – Adams. There are numerous other examples. When asked what form of government upon leaving the Convention, Franklin said ” A republic. If you can keep it”.

      Of course, those who want to destroy the US must go through the fortress they tried to create, which was the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

      Direct voting may not be “globalist”, but it is foolish … unless you seek to destroy. If you do, examine exactly what aspects of the founding documents you disagree with and why. But more importantly, examine yourself ….as a bystander who has witnessed and written the true book of your life.

      • Mob rule? Yikes.

        We also had no direct vote for Senate, no vote unless landed and no women’vote. And that little thing called the Tea Party.

        Conservatives have never been accused of deep thinking, nor any particular competence, true, so let me help you.

        Better to say that you are speaking to the Tyranny of the Majority, as discussed by Madison in Federalist 51. A currently convenient justification, especially now with democratic institutions catching up to your objectively incompetent (and seemingly criminal) president.

        But you best be careful what you argue. It’s not so long ago when you all were crying like little babies about Imperial Obama taking away by fiat your constitutional right to dump toxins and overgraze cattle. And let’s see how you feel about the Mob taking away more of your privacy rights, such as your mistress’ right to choose.

        Best, Mike

    • “… and we 1%-ers…”

      And you’ve got nothing better to do than troll George’s blog? *yawn* Sure, Jon.

  6. Thinking about media manipulation and slaughterhouses. When someone asks did you read/see so and so in the mainstream media, my answer will be that I’m trying to avoid cattle chutes. My previous attempts at finding diamonds in the dung have proved increasingly futile, so I am spending more time here. Guess I need to subscribe.

    Here’s an acronym …news in 3D …daily dung dump.

    • “diamonds in the dung ”

      Sadly .. Over the weekend I was visiting with an old friend that works with border patrols..
      He brought up that they caught some smugglers that are now putting their wares up cattle rectum’s and sewing them shut until they cross the border.
      Anyone doing something like that should be sh%% in my opinion..
      I know where my food comes from but that is just a horrific miss treatment of a living creature.

  7. You mentioned something else that got me thinking. You said…”72-year old man, traveling for a week, missteps- getting off-script –”

    First, why does he have to be on script in the first place? Wait, I will answer that…Because he is clueless. He has to have everything spoon fed to him…and like a baby that pouts when he gets fed mashed beets, he whines and goes uncontrollably off script. He missteped because he has a remedial knowledge of worldly issues. He lives in a family owned business mindset. That doesn’t scale to the real world well.

    And traveling for a week should have no affect normally. Comparing him to other Titans his age that travel extensively…Does it affect Warren Buffet or Michael Bloomberg, Phil Kinight, Charles Schwab, Sanford Weill and others? No. And if it did…shareholders would force them into retirement…quickly!

    • Mark, by constantly bashing DJT you reveal too much about yourself ‘-). Leave the guy alone — your are smarter than most. Prove it!

      • Bruno,
        But, by defending him you reveal all too much about yourself as well. I am just calling an orange an orange. Nothing wrong with that is there? I have always been an Occam Razor guy. The simplest explanation for this crazy Trump phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations. The simplest answer of who Donald Trump is…is right in front of your face and Twitter feed.

        You all try to complicate it with crazy conspiracies and theories…The simplest answer is that Trump definitely had help.

        There is no way a man with Trumps criminal like behavior, shady business deals, low IQ and poor command of the English language and zero proof that he is in fact a billionaire (No tax returns) could have won unless there was widespread outside influence. It is unprecedented actually given less damning past transgressions that ruined the careers of people like Gary Hart and others.

        How did this happen? Well, running against Hillary helped a lot in the POTUS race…That was easy…Hillary would have lost to any GOP candidate that was in the race, I am convinced…She was that horrible. But, how did Trump get to that point? That is what Mueller and company hopefully will find out, because we are baffled.

        George is actually on to something with his Webolution theory. Social media did have an impact in this election and other issues that get trolled on a daily basis. It is Trumps main communication tool and he himself is an expert troller that creates alternative realities to sway people to his point of view. And…Russia has been caught red handed with trying to manipulate that medium to sway the content as well. That really is the simplest solution with subpoenas to back it up.

        And Fox…where are they in all of this? I and billions worldwide see through the lies, they conjure up, why can’t Trumps base? I am being facetious with this comment, but it almost seems like FOX is using subliminal messages and tones to get people to buy into their BS.

      • Well who’s bashing Trump or is dis-agreement no longer falls under the freedom of speech,that’s the major problem with this country where they play one against the other and the reason for that is most people aren’t intelligent enough to look at what’s lurking behind the door,but then again LMAO it must have been Russia,after we would’nt interfer in any form in the election in other countries,now would we?..

      • Bruno.. once upon a time I was a member of a group that could see logical patterns in abstracts.. that being said.. I quit because they couldn’t see the patterns in their own abstract outlook and they basically thought everyone was beneath them as drooling idiots without ever being able to see the solutions to the very puzzles that they missed as most obvious. ( I gather Mark is in that situation of having an intelligence rating above room temp. he is proud of that and more than likely sees everyone around him as a drooling idiot and the most important thing. He has been able to obtain the opportunities to exceed and took advantage of them.. ) Needless to say I to have that problem from time to time and end up making a fool of myself by lecturing or treating those around me as if they are children trying to show them the puzzle as I see it luckily I have my wife that keeps me grounded.
        What most people in that position fail to realize is that being able to see a pattern in an abstract isn’t really that great and it sure doesn’t make anyone better than another. What makes the difference is being able to connect the dots.. and obtain the opportunities that many fail to get. Each person in the world has their own place and expertise.. and each is brilliant in their own way.. no matter what their station.
        By bashing DJT like he does shows me that he fails to see the obvious.. and that makes me sad.. to know someone with that ability to miss the most important aspect of all..
        That DJT is doing his best with a political system that is fighting his every endeavor to right what has gone wrong.

      • There is a group that identities with the Left that tends to hate anything exhibiting strengh and success. They hate the US. When asked why, they give reasons that are actually applicable to every country. It is a psychological unawareness thing.

        If mental health progress was made, the left would lose votes.

    • There was a saying when I was a kid {he went to California to pick fruit and stayed so long he turned into one) may apply to other things also. California syndrone maybe

  8. “The “Golem” project put $320 bucks in my account Thursday” Using which average? SDOW, perhaps?

  9. I believe there Was a Me2 setup violation today against me. When I checked in for my Dr appt, the receptionist was wearing a low cut blouse with a clear view for anyone to see. I should have reported the incident, but just stared.

  10. Bush-bots, Obama-bots, Trump-bots, all the same. Life began with Reagan-bots. Ketchup became a vegetable and the “illegals” disappeared (until Clinton was elected… ;()

    Luckily, Trump identifies as X-ian so payoff money can’t be held against him.

  11. “On the health front, for example, knowing that more Americans are drinking themselves to death is useful, personally-actionable, information.”

    Not to mention doing hard drugs trying to escape reality of the situation today..

    I finally had a bright spot this dramatic week.. after budget cuts.. ( I have to cut almost forty percent of gross income from out spendable take home income.. phew a challenge I will get through it but wow..) the three year old grandson broke was out playing and broke his favorite toy.. he was heart broken.. the kids were just going to throw it away because they thought it was hopelessly gone.. and he begged them to let his papa fix it.. so they brought it over.. I got out the plastic repair bucket.. ( I have a plumbing bucket an electrical bucket etc.. ) and out came the plastic welder.. needless to say my bright moment of the week was the look on his face when I fixed his favorite toy.. Of course I had to repaint it a different color to fit the welding rod color once it was sanded and smoothed out..
    https://www.amazon.com/Go2Home-Plastic-Complete-Flooring-Butterfly/dp/B07DL4VSJY/ref=sr_1_36?ie=UTF8&qid=1532179053&sr=8-36&keywords=plastic+welder+kit

  12. ” “The universe of people trying to deceive journalists keeps expanding, and newsrooms aren’t ready.””

    An old friend of mine called yesterday well actually thursday since I am posting this on Saturday.. to just chit chat.. I hadn’t talked to him in a long time then this subject came up.
    He is a news reporter for a major network and newspaper columnist.. I told him that I had to scan fifty papers to get a real story it all scripted shizt we are seeing in my opinion.

  13. “High heat – frontal boundaries…it’s going to happen.”

    The older Blackfoot and Lakota Indiana’s would say when referring to the summer weather..

    Ohs-tay’-gur-lah Kah’-t h h h

    Or translated…DAMN HOT… Lol

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