Why even photographic evidence can be mistaken [Article]

Are the pictures that you see on the news real or fake? What happens when the pictures that the news agecy has published prove to be wrong? David Turner writing in the Nieman Reports reminds journalists to verify news – major or minor – that they discover on social media. Also a reminder for readers to be aware of media bias.

A spectacular fall from grace – Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros [Article]

From being the head of McKinsey’s global operations to ignominy, Rajat Gupta’s motivations

“You have to watch out for it, because the more you have it, you get used to comforts, and you get used to, you know, big houses and vacation homes and going and doing whatever you want, and so it is very seductive. However much you say that you will not fall into the trap of it, you do fall into the trap of it.”

What if the Internet doesn’t exist anymore? [Video]

Francois Ferracci’s short movie deals with an apocalyptic scenario:

It’s Oct. 10, 2020. A couple is on a date. They’ve only recently met, he’s crazy about her, and he’s snapping (or digitally producing) thousands of pictures — of her, of them, of Paris; he’s the kind of lover who wants to record everything all the time. She’s a little put off by his techie ardor, but he’s obsessed — until, all of a sudden, his gadget freezes. He can’t take pictures any more. The images he got start — they start to fade. 

Lost, not yet found – the first web page [Article]

NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel is surprised that while you can find a lot of things online, there’s one important piece of the Web’s own history that can’t be found through a search engine: the very first Web page is lost.

An old optical disk drive was lost at a conference in California. On it is one of the very first iterations of Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s Web page from 1990. “It was such a beautiful object, that optical disk, that someone maybe has it on their coffee table or their bookshelf, and if we could find that, that’d be great,” he says.

Kalpavriksha: The story of the coconut tree [Video]

From the Perennial Plate, learn about food’s origins, and also about how people eat and endeavor in cultures around the world. Chef Daniel Klein & cameraperson Mirra Fine travel around the world to tell these stories. This video’s about the coconut in Sri Lanka (as also most of the south western coast of South India)
Link to The Perennial Plate

The loneliest human being – Al Worden [Interview]

Seven men in the history of humanity stand apart from the rest of us. These are the Apollo command module pilots who spent time alone in orbit around the Moon, while their colleagues walked on the lunar surface. When they were on the far side of the Moon, these astronauts were completely out of contact, and further from Earth, than anyone had ever been before. Or has ever been since. Discover the difference between being alone & loneliness in this fascinating interview with Apollo 15 command module pilot Al Worden