Who is a pseudoexpert?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a useful article by Joffrey Fuhrer et al. in Frontiers in Psychology on November 11, 2021 titled Pseudoexpertise: A Conceptual and Theoretical Analysis. Their abstract says:

 

“Some people publicly pretend to be experts while not being ones. They are pseudoexperts, and their presence seems to be ubiquitous in the current cultural landscape. This manuscript explores the nature and mechanisms of pseudoexpertise.

 

We first provide a conceptual analysis of pseudoexperts based on prototypical cases of pseudoexpertise and recent philosophical work on the concept of expertise. This allows us to propose a definition that captures real-world cases of pseudoexpertise, distinguishes it from related but different concepts such as pseudoscience, and highlights what is wrong with pseudoexpertise.

 

Next, based on this conceptual analysis, we propose a framework for further research on pseudoexpertise, built on relevant empirical and theoretical approaches to cultural cognition. We provide exploratory answers to three questions: why is there pseudoexpertise at all; how can pseudoexperts be successful despite not being experts; and what becomes of pseudoexperts in the long run. Together, these conceptual and theoretical approaches to pseudoexpertise draw a preliminary framework from which to approach the very troubling problem posed by persons usurping the capacities and reputations of genuine experts.”

 

I have discussed one well-known pseudoexpert in a post on October 7, 2025 titled Surrounded by bad books from Thomas Erikson. In that post I mentioned that:

 

“An article edited by Lotten Kalenius from the Swedish Skeptics Association (VoF) on April 15, 2024 is titled One of Sweden’s biggest scientific bluffs which discusses the book and Thomas Erikson. It has a section titled Is Erikson an authority in behavioural science? When he was looked up: 

 

‘So, we used Ladok, the register of everyone who has studied at Swedish colleges and university, to see if we could find the courses taken by Erikson. There was no-one with his name and birthdate registered. In fact, Erikson’s professional background is in sales, first for the bank Nordea and then running his own business training salespeople. It is most likely that his only educational background is, at best, the Swedish equivalent of a high school diploma.’ 

 

Lotten noted that Erikson was named Fraudster of the Year in 2018 by VoF and also added:

 

“He has as much right as my poodle to call himself a behavioural scientist.”

 

Guests on the Coast to Coast AM late-night radio show often are pseudoexperts who discuss their poorly researched books or videos.

 

The cartoon was adapted from the March 17, 1897 issue of Puck magazine at the Library of Congress.

 

 

Strikingly Similar is a recent book by Roger Kreuz about plagiarism and intellectual appropriation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a detailed 2026 book by Roger Kreuz titled Strikingly Similar: Plagiarism and Appropriation from Chaucer to Chatbots. An article by Anthony Lane in The New Yorker on March 22, 2026 that reviews it is titled How Bad Is Plagiarism, Really?

 

Chapter 2 of the book is titled The Plagiarism Hunters and it begins with a section on page 29 titled Copyright Traps. I blogged about traps on November 30, 2025 in a post titled What the heck is a mountweazel?

  

On June 9, 2025 I blogged about Plagiarism and speechwriting. A section in Chapter 6 of the book starting on page 159 titled Dear Graduates discusses commencement speeches. One example on Page 160 starting at the second paragraph says:

 

“In 2005, for example, the principal of Springstead High School in Florida gave an inspiring address to her graduating class. However, her remarks consisted of a word-for-word recitation of the well-known ‘wear sunscreen’ essay written by Mary Schmich. Her advice was originally published in the Chicago Tribune in 1997 and has become widely available online. However, the principal chose to preface her remarks by stating that what followed were her personal thoughts. And at other points during her speech she used the phrase ‘my advice’ to reinforce the perception that the ideas were her own.

 

To make things worse, the principal wasn’t a first-time offender. In a commencement speech delivered the previous year, she appropriated from a collection of inspirational thoughts titled ‘All I need to Know I Learned from Noah’s Ark.’ Although the provenance of these sayings is murky, she left her audience under the impression that the ideas were her own.

 

In an apology for both episodes, the principal admitted to ‘unintentional errors.’ The school district put a letter of reprimand in her personnel file and gave her a one-day suspension, although it was with pay. A state inquiry in 2007 resulted in a $1,500 fine, although she was allowed to retain her state certifications as an educator.”

 

My image was modified from this Airwheel suitcase at Wikimedia Commons.

 

The 2025 commencement speaker at Smith College admitted plagiarizing her speech and then relinquished her honorary degree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smith College held its 147th commencement on May 18, 2025. An article by Darin Zullo at Boston.com on May 20, 2025 about it is titled Smith College commencement speaker returns honorary degree after plagiarizing her speech. It linked to a letter by Sarah Willie-LeBreton at Presidential Letters: Follow-Up to Commencement 2025 on May 20, 2025 which stated that:

 

“I must share with you, however, that it has come to our attention that one of our honorary degree recipients—musician Evelyn M. Harris—borrowed much of her speech to graduates and their families from the commencement speeches of others without the attribution typical of and central to the ideals of academic integrity. 

In conversations about this after the event, Ms. Harris was forthcoming about her choices while also acknowledging that she sought to infuse the words of others with her own emotional valence. With appreciation for the requirement of academic integrity so central to the values of Smith, Ms. Harris has chosen to relinquish her honorary degree.” 

This event also was discussed by Jonathan Bailey at Plagiarism Today on May 21, 2025 in another article titled Graduation Speaker Plagiarizes Speech, Returns Honorary Degree. He has a section about other incidents titled The Long, Sad History of Commencement Plagiarism.

 

 My cartoon used a scroll adapted from OpenClipArt.  

 

 

Donald Trump recently defended his mathematically impossible calculations of reducing drug prices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on December 18, 2025 I blogged about how In his 18-minute speech last night President Trump talked about reducing prescription drug prices by 400% to 600%. What would that even mean? He revisited that silly claim, as discussed by Will Weissert at AP News on April 23, 2026 in an article titled Two ways of calculating’: Trump defends his mathematically impossible calculations on drug prices:

 

“Trump acknowledged having boasted that his efforts to lower drug prices had reduced what consumers pay by ‘500%, 600%.’ But he added, ‘We also sometimes say 50%, 60%’ and called it a ‘different kind of calculation’ that could go up to ‘70, 80 and 90%.’

‘People understand that better,’ Trump said. ‘But they’re two ways of calculating’ and ‘either way, it doesn’t make any difference.’ ” 

And Louis Jacobson at Politifact that same day, April 23, 2026, had another article titled RFK Jr. said there’s more than one way to calculate a percentage decrease. That doesn’t add up.

 

 

Bixonimania is a fake disease, but artificial intelligence told people it was real

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wikipedia page says that:

 

“Bixonimania is a fake disease invented by researchers to examine artificial intelligence and its ability to utilize information in medical and healthcare applications. The disorder, with symptoms of sore eyes and darkening around them (‘periorbital hyperpigmentation’), is supposedly caused by blue light from screens.”   

 

One article about it by Chris Stokel-Walker at Nature on April 7, 2026 is titled Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real. A second article by Lucia Auerbach at Inc. on April 10, 2026 is titled Scientists Invented a Fake Disease Caused by Blue Light – Now It’s in Medical Papers. And it added:

 

“There were also dozens of easter eggs designed to clue readers in to the fact that the condition was made up. The lead researcher, Lazljiv Izgubljenovic, is a fake name and they work at a fake university, Asteria Horizon University, in a fake town, Nova City, California. One paper’s acknowledgements thanked ‘Professor Maria Bohm at The Starfleet Academy for her kindness and generosity in contributing with her knowledge and her lab onboard the USS Enterprise’. Both papers say they were funded by ‘the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation for its work in advanced trickery. This work is a part of a larger funding initiative from the University of Fellowship of the Ring and the Galactic Triad.’ “

 

Sideshow Bob (also known as Dr. Robert Terwilliger) is a cartoon character - Bart Simpson’s nemesis in The Simpsons. A third article by Rebecca Watson at skepchick on April 15, 2026 is titled ChatBots are Diagnosing Diseases that Don’t Exist Based on Blog Posts.

 

The doctor cartoon was adapted from OpenClipArt.

 

 

A fraudulent email asking for a Bitcoin payment of $600, and a fraudulent text message

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I go through the junk mail folder of the email account for this blog about once a week. One time I did in Mid-March there was an email from March 12 claiming to have all of my personal information. And, as shown above in a colorized version, he gave me just a day to respond. But more than a day already had passed, and NOTHING bad had happened. Furthermore, the same email had been sent to me on March 5. I concluded that the ONLY personal information he really had was my email address, since he didn’t even include my first or last name. That same email had been discussed by Brian Roche at WGAL8 on March 2, 2026 in an article titled Protect yourself | Email scam threatens to sell personal information online.

 

A few days ago I got a fraudulent text message claiming that I needed to pay the State of Idaho a fine for a vehicle infraction. Fortunately my iPhone displayed the country code for the message was a +66 (Thailand) rather than +1 (United States). 

  

A fraudulent letter asking me to renew a Home Warranty - that I don’t have

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

In today’s mail I received an undated letter titled Final Notice to create urgency. Its heading only says Home Warranty Division, Private & Confidential and does not identify either the organization or their mailing address. (And there was no return address on the envelope, which was mailed from St. Louis, Missouri).

 

The message is:

 

“RESPONSE TO THIS NOTICE REQUESTED

 

Attention: Richard Garber

 

It is important you contact our office at 1-888-413-5452 upon receiving this notice to avoid any unnecessary delays in your coverage before 4/10/2026. This notice is to inform you that the Home Warranty for your property in Boise, ID may be expiring or has already expired. Our records indicate that you have not contacted us yet to get your Home Warranty up to date. Please call immediately as this will be our final attempt to notify you about activating your Home Warranty. 

 

Failure to call and prevent a potential lapse in coverage could result in you being liable for all costs associated with any home repairs. However, you may still have time to activate a warranty on your home before it’s too late. No inspection will be required and final acceptance is subject to your ability to meet eligibility requirements. We reserve the right to revoke your eligibility for service coverage after the Expiration Date of 4/10/2026. Please respond immediately by calling 1-888-413-5452.

 

Sincerely, Vicky Mercer – Program Director”

 

Of course, I did NOT call her and give out any payment information. This message had previously been reported to the BBB [Better Business Bureau] Scam Tracker today, on March 19, 2026, and January 21, 2026, and at least five times in 2025.

 

My red letter cartoon was modifed from one at OpenClipArt.

 

 

Top 25 Lies of 2025 by Donald J. Trump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s no secret that Donald Trump tells a lot of awful lies. He is mostly a fraud. There is an article by Daniel Dale at CNN on December 26, 2025 which is titled Analysis: Donald Trump’s top 25 lies of 2025. They are:

 

 1] Trump secured $17 trillion or $18 trillion in investments in 2025

 

 2] ‘Every price is down’

 

 3] Trump was reducing prescription drug prices by ‘2000%, 3000%’

 

 4] Foreign countries pay the US governments tariffs

 

 5] Portland was ’burning down’

 

 6] Washington, DC had no murders for six months

 

 7] ‘I invaded Los Angeles and we opened up the water’

 

 8] The Democratic governor of Maryland called Trump ‘the greatest president of  my lifetime’

 

 9] Ukraine ‘started’ Russia’s war on Ukraine

 

10] Trump was speaking ‘in jest’ when he promised to immediately end the Ukraine war

 

11] The US government had planned to spend $50 million on ‘condoms for Hamas’

 

12] Every drug boat in the Caribbean ‘kills 25,000 Americans’

 

13] Trump ‘didn’t say’ he had no problem releasing full footage of a September boat strike

 

14] Numerous foreign leaders emptied prisons and mental institutions to send their most undesirable people into the US

 

15] Trump ended seven or eight wars

 

16] ‘The people of Canada like’ the idea of becoming the 51 st US state

 

17] Capitol rioters ‘didn’t assault’

 

18] Critical media coverage of Trump is ‘illegal’

 

19] Trump didn’t pressure the Justice Department to go after his opponents

 

20] Obama, Biden and Comey made up the Epstein files

 

21] The 2020 election was ‘rigged and stolen’

 

22] The US is ‘the only country in the world’ with mail-in voting

 

23] Babies get 80-plus vaccines at once

 

24] Trump’s big domestic policy bill didn’t change Medicaid

 

25] The domestic policy bill was ‘the single most popular bill ever signed’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On December 18, 2025 I blogged about how In his 18-minute speech last night President Trump talked about reducing prescription drug prices by 400% to 600%. What would that even mean? But the third item in the list had an even more ludicrous 3000% (29 times), explained by the graph shown above. And a post by Steve Benen at the MaddowBlog on December 18, 2025 is titled The top 10 most brazen lies from Trump’s year-end prime-time address.

 

 

In his 18-minute speech last night President Trump talked about reducing prescription drug prices by 400% to 600%. What would that even mean?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An article by Ted Johnson at Deadline on December 17, 2025 is titled Donald Trump used primetime address to insist “inflation is stopped” and “prices are down” – and to blame much on Joe Biden. It says:

 

“He also talked of reducing prescription drug prices by 400% to 600%, defying mathematics.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As is shown above, if we extrapolate beyond the 100% decrease which makes sense, a 200% reduction means the seller would instead nonsensically pay the buyer the full price. A 400% reduction fraudulently means the seller would pay the buyer 3 times the price - and a 600% reduction means the seller would pay the buyer 5 times the price. But that’s not the first time Trump made these very silly statements. Another article by Bruce Y. Lee at Forbes on August 2, 2025 is titled Trump Says He Will Get Drug Prices Down By 500% to 1500%.

 

 

Can you spot a fake photograph?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a twelve and a half minute TED Talk by Hany Farid that was given in Vancouver on April 10, 2025 and posted at YouTube on July 18, 2025. It is titled How to Spot Fake AI Photos | Hany Farid | TED. He discusses using vanishing points and shadows:

 

“If you image parallel lines in the physical world they will converge to a single point, what’s called the vanishing point.”

 

“Surprisingly shadows have a lot in common with vanishing points. Here what I’ve done is I’ve annotated a point on the shadow with the corresponding part on the bottom of the rail that is casting that shadow, and I’ve extended those lines outward. And they intersect, not at a vanishing point, but at the light that is casting that shadow.”    

 

There also is a ten-page article by Hany Farid at PNAS Nexus on July 29, 2025 titled Mitigating the harms of manipulated media: Confronting deepfakes and digital deception. Reference #35 from that article is a 13-page pdf preprint titled Perspective (In)Consistency of Paint by Text which discusses vanishing points, shadows, and reflections.

 

A multiple-exposure spirit photograph from 1901 by S. W. Fallis with a portrait of John K. Hallowell and super-imposed faces of fifteen deceased people including George Washington and Queen Victoria came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Kendrick Frazier’s outstanding book - Shadows of Science: How to uphold science, detect pseudoscience, and expose antiscience in the age of disinformation

 

 

 

 

 

Kendrick Crosby Frazier (March 19, 1942 – November 7, 2022) was a science journalist who edited Skeptical Inquirer magazine from 1978 until his death. In 2024 his outstanding book titled Shadows of Science: How to uphold science, detect pseudoscience, and expose antiscience in the age of disinformation was published.

 

The Introduction begins as follows:

 

“Misinformation swirls around us like a hurricane that never ends. It is constant, ever-renewing, resilient, overwhelming. It seems that we might never escape the maelstrom. Falsehoods have always flown like the wind, while truth does a slow walk, as Jonathan Swift and others have long noted. But something seems different these days Way back in 1987, my organization held a conference titled ‘The Age of Misinformation.’ That theme was both topical and prescient because today, in this third decade of the twenty-first century, studies show that misinformation spreads faster, farther, broader, and deeper than accurate information. The algorithms of social media sites, the bots of bad-actor nations, and the current political-cultural climates of divisiveness all actively encourage the spread of misinformation. These and other toxic social forces amplify the abuse exponentially and poison our own sense of reality and the trust in others necessary for societies to cohere and for democracies to function.

 

When that misinformation and disinformation seek to nullify facts and evidence about the science of nature, life, and ourselves and present false and unsupported views as true, the result is something we can likely call pseudoscience. Pseudoscience is everywhere, following real science like a shadow, never quite revealing itself for what it is. Pseudoscience is pervasive, potent, unrelenting. It confuses people and impedes the public acceptance of good science. It advances powerful countercurrents contrary to common sense and good science, making truth constantly swim upstream against cascading headwaters of misguided information designed to appeal to our deepest fears, wants, and wishes. What can be done? The first thing is to recognize it….”

 

 Titles of chapters in this book are as follows:

 

Science and the Frontiers of Discovery

Pseudoscience and Unfounded Ideas

What the Heck is Pseudoscience?

What’s the Harm? Why Does It Matter?

The Subjects of Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience in Medicine or SCAM

The Values of Science

The Demarcation Problem: Philosophers and Pseudoscience

Climate Antiscience and Denial

The Rise of Organized Skepticism

Skepticism Goes Global

Final Thoughts, Future Hopes

 

Pages 61 and 62 list the following representative topics that attract pseudoscience, which could also be what you expect to hear on the late-night Coast-to-Coast-AM radio show:

 

Archeology and Earth Sciences

Ancient astronauts, ancient inscriptions, the Bermuda Triangle, dinosaur and human footprints together, dinosaurs contemporary with humans, dragon hoaxes, fire-breathing dinosaurs, global flooding in human history, a hollow Earth, lost ancient technologies, lost continents (Atlantis), psychic archaeology, psychic earthquake predictions, undersea “pavements”, unverified early visitations to the New World

 

Astronomy and Space Sciences

Alien abductions, alien artifacts, alien visitations, astrology, big bang rejection, cities on the Moon, crashed saucers, an electric universe, end-of-the-world apocalypses, a face on Mars, full-Moon effects, Moon-landing denial, neoastrology (‘Mars effect’), recovered saucers, rogue planets, UFOs, Velikovskyian ‘Worlds in Collision.’

 

Biology and Anthropology

Antievolutionism, birth-date-based biorhythms, bogus fossils (the Piltdown man), cattle mutilations, chupacabras, creationism, cryptozoology, or undiscovered large animals (bigfoot, yeti, Loch Ness monster, or lake monsters, etc.), intelligent design.

 

Cognitive Science and Neuroscience

Mind-body dualism, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, pop psychologies about the brain, seeing Heaven, split-brain exaggerations, visiting Heaven.

 

Medical Sciences (Pseudomedicine)

Acupuncture, alternative medicine, anthroposophic medicine, antiaging creams, applied kinesiology, aromatherapy, ayurvedic medicine, chelation therapy, chiropractic (other than for treating back pain), coffee enemas, colonics, complementary medicine, cleanses, crystal healing, cupping, detoxification, ear candling, electrodermal screening, energy healing, energy medicine, essential oils, fad diets, faith healing, feng shui, flower remedies, food supplements, herbal remedies, homeopathy, integrative medicine, iridology, jade eggs, magnet therapy, meridians, natural remedies, naturopathy, oil pulling, oxygen therapy, performance-enhancing bracelets, psychic surgery, quackery, quantum medicine, quantum quackery, reflexology, spontaneous human combustion, therapeutic touch, unproven medical remedies, weight loss schemes.

 

Physics and Chemistry

Accelerators creating mini black holes, anthropic principle misinterpretations, antimatter pseudoscience, Bible codes, blood of Januarius, bomb-detector devices, cold fusion, dowsing, energy catalysis (e-cat), energy healing, faster-than-light travel, free energy, human-presence-detector rods, Kirlian photography, magnetic healing, misapplications of quantum mechanics to the macroworld, New Age physics, perpetual motion, psychic photography, quantum mysticism, relativity denial, the shroud of Turin, water with memory, weeping statues, young-Earth creationism.

 

Psychology

Aura reading, bogus self-help schemes, Dianetics, divination, eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), facilitated communication, fringe psychotherapies, fortune telling, ghosts, graphology, hauntings, hypnotic age regression, mass hysterias, mediums, multiple personalities, parapsychology, past lives, pop and fad psychologies, premonitions, psychic claims, psychic detectives, psychic powers (ESP, precognition, psychokinesis) psychics, rebirthing, recovered memories, reincarnation, repressed memories, remote viewing, Rorschach inkblot tests, Satanic-ritual-abuse rumors, spirits, thought-field therapy, transcendental meditation.

 

The looney looney looney title was adapted from here at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Remembering skeptical investigator Joe Nickell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have long enjoyed reading articles and books by Joe Nickell, particularly his Investigative Files columns in Skeptical Inquirer magazine. There is an article by Blake Smith at The Skeptic on March 10, 2025 titled Joe Nickell, legendary skeptical investigator, dies at the age of 80. A second article by Jonathan Jarry at the McGill Office for Science and Society on March 14, 2025 is titled Remembering Joe Nickell, Skeptical Icon. A longer third article by Benjamin Radford at the Center for Inquiry on March 12, 2025 is titled The Joe I Know. There is a good magazine article about him by Burkhard Bilger in The New Yorker for December 23 and 30, 2002 titled Waiting for Ghosts. Joe wrote about thirty books and hundreds of magazine articles.

 

Among other things, he is known for his work on the holy Shroud of Turin, and having produced a no-so-holy Shroud of Bing Crosby. If you are looking for a skeptical take on several topics for a speech, then look up his 2011 book titled Tracking the Man-Beasts: sasquatch, vampires, zombies and more.   

 

A 2018 portrait  came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

During his speech to Congress last night President Trump lied about fraud in Social Security payments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I listened to much of President Trump’s 99-minute speech to a joint session of Congress last night. One section was particularly interesting to me, since it claimed there was widespread payment fraud.

 

“Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old. It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119. I don’t know any of them. I know some people that are rather elderly, but not quite that elderly. 3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129. 2.9 million people from ages 130 to 139. 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149, and money is being paid to many of them, and we’re searching right now.

 

In fact, Pam, good luck, good luck. You’re going to find it. But a lot of money is paid out to people, because it just keeps getting paid and paid, and nobody does, and it really hurts Social Security and our country. 1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159, and over 130,000 people, according to the social security databases, are age over 160 years old. We have a healthier country than I thought, Bobby.

 

Including, to finish, 1,039 people between the ages of 220 and 229, and one person between the age of 240 to 249 and one person is listed at 360 years of age – more than 100 years, more than 100 years more than our country. But we’re going to find out where the money is going, and it’s not going to be pretty, by slashing all of the fraud, waste and theft. And theft we can find. We will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors and put more money in the pockets of American families.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I checked to see if his numbers made any sense. They do not - they're a fairy tale. Those numbers came from a post by Elon Musk, shown above with ages over 120 highlighted in yellow. (There are a total of 12,428,110). Two weeks ago there was a brief YouTube video at Fox News misleadingly titled Over 11 million Americans are collecting Social Security between the ages of 120 and 160. It’s misleading since at the very end it revealed that no payments really were made to those over 115 years old, as is indicated on a web page from the Social Security Program Operations Management System (POMS) that says this automatic stoppage has been going on since back in September of 2015. An article by Kinsey Crowley at USA Today on February 19, 2025 titled ‘Vampires’ in Social Security data? Here’s what to know after Elon Musk claims SSA fraud makes the same observation.

 

Any competent speechwriter would have edited out that lie.

 

Still another bogus blackmail email – whose effects were blocked by a half-inch of black electrical tape

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 24, 2024 I received a blackmailing email that had been described by Thomas Orsolya at Malwaretips on January 23, 2024 in an article titled Exposing the “I Want to Inform You About a Very Bad Situation” Email Scam. It claimed that malware had been installed on my computer to record my webcam. I should pay him $1350 in bitcoin to avoid having every number in my contact book receive shocking video recordings of me jerking off to porn videos.

 

I didn’t pay, their three-day deadline passed, and absolutely nothing happened. Why not? As I described in a previous post on January 23, 2019 titled A bogus blackmail phishing email the lens for the webcam on my 27” iMac was always covered by a piece of black electrical tape. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use a Lenovo laptop on Windows for my online zoom activities. And, as shown above, I always slide the shutter to the left to physically block its webcam. The lens opening instead just displays a red circle. That’s all it takes to defeat the scam.

 

Can you even read a chart in a report? Another level of lies about attention spans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Thais Roberto at the KEYSTONE EDUCATION GROUP on February 8, 2023 titled The first 8 seconds – capturing the attention of Gen Z students. Her third paragraph begins:

 

“Research conducted by Microsoft in 2015 found that the average attention span of Gen Z individuals was only about eight seconds, four seconds less than that of millennials.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But that is complete nonsense. Page 6 of that Microsoft report is shown above, with the numbers of seconds highlighted in red. It mentions neither millennials, nor Gen Z.

 

Also, the source was Statistic Brain, and not Microsoft. I blogged about that on December 30, 2022 in a post titled Shallow research and less curious than hoped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where else has this new level of nonsense - with Gen Z and millennials been mentioned? One place is by Vineet Arya at Entrepreneur India in an article on June 5, 2019 titled How to not lose attention of Gen Z in the 8 seconds that you have? A second is another article at tradable bits on December 18, 2019 titled How to capture Gen Z’s 8-second attention span through ads. And a third is yet another article by Yehuda Roberts at BrighterDayMh blog on January 9, 2024 titled Average Human Attention Span Statistics.

 

The image of a woman and laptop was modified from one at Wikimedia Commons.