Wearing my ‘serial founder exploring starting a company’ hat, I advanced my passion project KIP3.
KIP is a seven-year long passion project to tackle the disinformation problem on social media that makes us poor information citizens and polarized neighbors who cannot take collective action in the face of threats like the climate crisis.
It’s a Wikipedia + Wordle for Current Affairs to make better citizens and voters…A comprehensive project that aims to promote trust and transparency in democracy while combating disinformation and corruption.The deliverables can be used individually or collectively to empower citizens with the knowledge and tools needed to critically evaluate information and build a network of trustworthy sources.Our bookshelf of tomes about this dark chapter in American political history keeps growing…
“Age Of Lies. Rigged. Cold War. Hot Peace. Dirty Money. Unfreedom. Shadow State. Red Notice. Stable Genius. Untold Story. Putin’s People. Crime In Progress. Secret Meetings. Dark Towers. Trail Of Destruction. Age of Trump.”
We’ll keep adding to it until this chapter of history is fully written & in the dustbin.
Here’s to the heroes among us who are going to bring us through.
“I saw the coronavirus coming in January”
I saw the coronavirus coming in January and have been tracking the pandemic ever since. It’s been uniquely disturbing to see a mysterious wave of illness and death surging toward us, with far too many people refusing to face it.
~ Andrew M. Slavitt (former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
“A wave of illness and death is surging toward us with far too many people refusing to face it”
I’d been looking to see which flus were coming out of China as my family members and business associates were heading to CES in Las Vegas in mid January. I wanted to know which bugs they might be dealing with at the massive consumer electronics trade show.
I’ve been highlighting points made on Twitter by various sources about the COVID-19 pandemic — and the antivax movement, which as it happens will be even more destructive a force in society with this true-blue no-vaccine killer virus on the loose.
So I found the pandemic in January. In February I found the general response we’d need to preserve our medical system and suppress the spread of the virus.
I'd discovered the below graph of Philadelphia vs. St. Louis deaths from the Spanish Flu, showing how social isolation helped depress the infections and deaths in one town while the other’s lax policy resulted in a spike of unnecessary deaths.
A response blueprint in February
I saw a German computer scientist share this Spanish Flu example of what we need to do as a society to flatten the curve of COVID
Correct public health policy saves lives
A French multinational biotech company shared this study of how public health decisions saved citizens and flattened the curve of the Spanish Flu
It was great to see a Bloomberg deep dive on the same example when it came out a few weeks later, and the term “flatten the curve” make its way into public health communications on COVID.
Collecting resources for all in March
Click through to reach my list.
I also follow these COVID lists, click on their names to see: Kim Mai-Cutler and Brian Koppelman.
I started a Twitter list of COVID-19 expert sources in early March.
It seemed especially important to gather my own science and public safety sources (and follow other lists compiled by early pandemic watchers) at a time when the president and far too many government leaders were ignoring or downplaying the disastrous and monumental impact of this virus on the planet’s human population. The disinformation campaign against early effective action will go down in history as a genocide.
“People said “I don’t need that leaflet - I don’t live here.”
That’s ok, viruses love to travel! ”
In early March I was activated by the Fire Department as an emergency response worker for disaster preparedness. SF had declared a health emergency the prior week. The activation meant passing out coronavirus health department leaflets downtown (wash your hands, don’t touch your face [impossible for humans I believe], elbow cough, make plans).
Handing out public health COVID preparation leaflets on that busy Financial District street corner was brutal. People didn’t want to hear it.
Some people laughed, some people said no!, some people said “I don’t need that - I don’t live here.” I thought, That’s ok, viruses love to travel! A handful were grateful and said “hey thanks for doing this.” They knew we’re all in it together and with 2 community transmission cases in SF that very day, the virus was already here, and also waiting in a cruise ship off the Golden Gate.
To be continued…
“If you can’t follow what’s happening, you can’t adequately think or act in this crucial moment.”
Trump impeachment rally - San Francisco Federal Building 12/2019. Image by me.
Today’s info war sure is info hell, isn’t it? The United Nations is calling it an “infodemic”.
When I talk to people — intelligent people, educated people, media and news professionals, tuned in people, random people — pretty much when I talk to everyone, they don’t know at all what I know.
Or they know a lot less, or they admit they get their news from “CNN…and FoxNews, for balance”, or they simply aren’t trying to follow the firehose of info flying at us these days.
The enemy is noise, the goal is clarity.
~ Jon Stewart told the New York Times this week
Most people I talk to are clinging to an outdated and irrelevant opinion or worldview like it’s a life raft.
This is a problem.
An information diet that doesn’t serve you is COSTLY
during a pandemic that requires us to reenvision how we live;
in an Election Year;
when Western Liberal Democracy is under attack both domestic and foreign, with a main weapon being military-grade psy op disinformation and propaganda directed at a civilian population.
If people can’t follow what’s happening or learn the historical basis of what’s happening or perceive the machinations of global alliances and systems including the largest law enforcement action against organized crime that the world has ever seen, they can’t adequately think and act in this moment.
It’s a costly problem that can be solved, as Jon Stewart points out, by clarity.
“For more than a decade I’ve been following sources & stories that are coming together now. I want you to see what I see.”
I’m an info hound as you know. I’ve been curating speciality lists of expert sources on Twitter for more than a decade, and relying on them almost exclusively for my news gathering needs through the Arab Spring and the Gezi Park Protests in Turkey. The list of 1,000 sources I mention in this post was meant to be my lens on American politics and current affairs for the 2016 Presidential Election.
I’ve been following stories that are all coming together now. And I’m working to share that with you. So you can see what I see.
See a few news stories a day…
Subscribe to a daily Trust Is A License Nuzzle newsletter with just a few of the top news stories shared from 1,000 curated sources
At its core the project is a Twitter account run by a small group of diverse centrists who see all sides of global and societal threats and want to ensure our fact-based perspective gets voice and distribution in this age of extreme disinformation campaigns.
We’re also exploring a variety of other ways to connect, present, and share this vital and contextual information that only become more relevant with each passing day. We all need to know this. It’s our history. More on that soon.
One of our readers has described us as civil service journalism. “What you’re doing is generative journalism. It’s a community service to inform citizens at a time when the Fourth Estate is dying and under attack, and news media has devolved into propaganda machines.”
“We vet content & sources, metabolize info & amplify points to help you understand this moment in time. ”
As the mainstream media failure became clear, citizen researchers and curators like me picked up the slack. At Knowledge Is Power, our focus has been on vetting the content and sources, metabolizing the information, and finding ways to underline and amplify clear points we believe are valuable to cutting through the noise and understanding this moment in time.
We hope to connect the dots for ourselves and others. We started doing this for OURSELVES. Yet, it’s for others. Without any marketing the account’s organic reach has grown 160x in its first year.
By vetting and amplifying the work of citizen researchers, whistleblowers, journalists, social justice workers, national security experts and more, we aim to strengthen democracy and stop the playing-the-extremes-so-nothing-gets-done horseshoe that divides us.
“Our mission is to help with what comes next: when we dig out from the damage, there will be a massive need to educate people about what just happened.
”
As people begin to dig out from the damage of the cyber war/information war/total kinetic war against Western Liberal Democracy (including Trump & transnational organized crime) that we are currently experiencing in America and throughout the world, there’s going be a need for a massive education of the American people about what just happened. Hollywood is already telling these stories. We want to help with that.
…or get everything we share
Follow the Trust Is A License Twitter feed to see who & what we’re highlighting & what discussions we’re a part of.
Scan some recent tweets.
Scan some top tweets.
Or subscribe to our Substack newsletter (which we may start publishing on soon!):
If you're not doing the work to be anti-racist, you're not doing the work that matters to our fellow humans of color.
***This is a message to all the white people I know and don't know: WE HAVE TO GET THIS. This is on us.***
Please, and thank you: Apply yourself to see and understand structural racism, an insidious force in our institutions and society that keeps POC from partaking in the kind of life and opportunities you as a white person expect and often enjoy without question.
Then understand it some more and share what you learn with all the white people you know. This is on us.
P.S. Your white privilege cannot be renounced, you've got it for life, and it's granted to you because other people perceive you as white. It doesn't matter what you think of yourself. "Oh I may be whitish but I'm not a racist". So bear the burden of finding out what white privilege is and how to use it for good as a white ally. The #1 thing you can do is educate other white people. I'm doing that in a variety of ways. Ask me something you've been wondering, and I'll try to answer. Send me a private message if you want. I am here for questions.
SXSW 2019 named us a top-10 cutting edge company this spring. Now come see our direct-to-consumer mobile streaming platform like no other at the early adopter emporium Product Hunt today, watch our movies for free, and tell us what you think.
Will you be at Digital Hollywood's Creativity Festival next week in Los Angeles? As 10 Block’s cofounder I will be speaking on a panel at the Women's Summit about content -- from film/TV, internet video and influencer campaigns to games -- Wednesday at 12:30.
10 Block (formerly known as Second Screen) is on the 2019 SXSW homepage today.
We're top 10 finalists to release a new product on stage opening day at the premier interactive conference in Austin, Texas.
Congrats to our fellow finalists & good luck in March! See a full list below.
Ampl
Santa Monica, CA
Ampl is an article discovery & article sharing platform that enables users to easily create conversations within shared articles on mobile. You can highlight text & add comments within articles, so a focused conversation is waiting for whoever you share the article with. It makes article sharing fun & easy.
Dorsum
Portland, OR
Dorsum is a company solving the problem of back pain caused by spinal misalignment during repetitive motion activities. Our supportive spinal device inserts into apparel as part of an interchangeable back support system. Dorsum is committed to creating purposeful and dependable products that adapt to motion and the user’s needs.
Leaf Tyme
Chicago, IL
The Leaf Tyme mobile app is a directory for the cannabis industry that connects consumers and patients to licensed dispensaries, brands, and clinics in their area. The platform allows users to find cannabis laws and regulations by state and learn how cannabis can help with common health conditions.
Lumous Helmet
Los Angeles, CA
Lumos is a next generation bicycle helmet that features integrated lights, brake, and turn signals. Lumos started as a Kickstarter campaign, and has gone on to be featured as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things and TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2018. Lumos is also the first and only bike helmet to be sold in over 300 Apple Stores worldwide.
Nori Health
Nieuwegein, Utrecht
AI-driven chatbot coach for chronic disease patients. Nori helps them through regular conversations to discover and change lifestyle factors that make symptoms worse. To find an optimal quality of life with positive relationships.
Reviver Auto-mWebb
Foster City, CA
Reviver Auto created the Rplate, the world’s first and only digital license plate, transforming the 125 year-old metal license plate into a multi-functional, bi-stable high definition digital display, and customizable, connected vehicle platform. It enables virtually any legacy vehicle to transform itself into a connected smart vehicle taking advantage of today’s and tomorrow’s technology including smart cities, AI, autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, various vehicle ownership business models and much more.
Riteband
Stockholm, CA
Riteband is a stock exchange for music that empowers artists by bringing them cash when they need it; from fans and other investors who buy their future music copyright revenues. Backers can make a profit through secondary trading, just like on the stock exchange. Find the hit. Make money.
10 Block transforms high quality feature films & TV series into an experience the mobile generation loves by making great stories into bite-size blocks you can discover, binge and share on your phone. Their platform helps content owners reach today’s mobile viewers in an addictive social community.
The Labz
Atlanta, GA
The Labz’ is a music collaboration platform that frees music creators from the complex burden of song ownership data collection, ownership splits and song registration. We do this by integrating into the music creator’s current music sharing and songwriting digital workflow, collect data while creators collaborate, take that data to instantly register their ownership on a Blockchain database platform, and auto-generate simple forms such as a copyright and a split-sheets.
Thisten
Winnipeg, Canada
Thisten is an audio to text platform that transcribes the world’s information – in real time. Backed by Google Creative Lab, Thisten was founded by Liz Jackson and members of SkipTheDishes’ startup team – Rui Melo, Ben Grynol and Sudeep Sidhu.
