Oct 23 2021 - How to find Fake Authors

 

What do you think of faking your identity as an author? And then winning $1 million Euro? In a recent contest, three men revealed themselves to be the writers of Carmen Mola's novel "The Beast".  They received Spain's 2021 Premio Planeta $1 million Euro award for their novel.  It "came as a surprise" when they stood up to take their award.  For an award worth more than the Nobel Prize, it seems odd more than curious that no one seemed to have done any due diligence on the author(s) before the ceremony.   Really?  That can't be the case, can it? It can't have been a "surprise".  You don't just let anyone in the door of a $1 million Euro award ceremony.  And the story is carried by countless news organizations as the surprise reveal. “Quite apart from using a female pseudonym, these guys have spent years doing interviews,” Beatriz Gimeno, a former head of the Women’s Institute, wrote on Twitter after the award’s announcement. “It’s not just the name — it’s the fake profile that they’ve used to take in readers and journalists. They are scammers.” How were interviews with the author conducted?  In writing, with "representatives", or by an impersonator?  Finding an interview has proved difficult.  Everything to be retrieved is about this "3 for 1" sleight of authorship at the ceremony.    Margaret Atwood's response:  "A great publicity stunt".   I search enough and find an article HERE that reveals the facts that Atwood is alluding to.   "Supposedly “The Beast” was first submitted for consideration for the prize under a different pseudonym; the authors then attributed the work to Mola. The prize is awarded to an unpublished manuscript, which, as part of the terms, must be produced by Planeta Group’s publishing house."  More on publishing house award scams tomorrow. The publisher says that they were aware the author's name was a pseudonym and the "real writer" wanted to be anonymous. "The publisher said she could not comment on when she knew that Mola was really Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez and Antonio Mercero. The secret was always part of the process, even after The Purple Network came out in 2019 and The Girl in 2020." And the real revelation - a quote from one of the authors: “We’ve been lying like dogs for four years and several months,” laughed Díaz. “It’s been a long time since [I published my own] last novel, and more than one person had chided me for not writing anything else, for being lazy. And I would think, ‘If only you knew...’ Would you agree that they are Scammers? Con artists?  Here's a definition of con artist:  a person who cheats or tricks others by persuading them to believe something that is not true. "the debonair con artist lives by scamming rich women" Look at the synonyms to see the dark side:  hustler, sharpie, shark, flimflammer, confidence-man, bunco, clip artist, cheater, fleecer, fraud and hoser.  I think we're on to something.  All the pictures show these three writers so pleased with themselves.  Maybe I am being too generous in applying con artist. Here's a Plaid City image that seems to go with the story.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

July 16 2021 - Electricity on the Road

 

There are many recipients of the " Darwin Award".  The recipients themselves give rise to the generosity of the disbursement.  I wondered about two things after yesterday's power lines post.  The Darwin awards for electricity and when the first Darwin award will involve an electric vehicle.   That's right, I am looking today for the future Darwin winners when it comes to electric vehicles.  How will things go with electric cars?  Where will the occurrence happen?  Will it be charging the EV, trying to reduce costs with strange replacements? Testing the range in strange ways?  No - I think that we should look to water.   Definitely water. Q: "Will I get shocked if I drive an electric car through a big puddle?" A: "There's one danger you might not expect from mixing water and electric cars together. If water comes in contact with the nickel-metal hydride in the battery cells, the resulting chemical reaction forms hydrogen. If enough hydrogen builds up, it could cause disorientation and dizziness, and it could also lead to an explosion. This is really only an issue for rescue crews who have to deal with ruptured batteries, and they can easily handle it by properly ventilating the wreck."  This extract from auto.howstuffworks.com    Q: Is it safe to drive an electric car in a flood? A: "Regardless of whether it's an electric car or one with an internal-combustion engine, it is never safe to drive on a flooded road. Electric cars have significant protections built in to reduce the chances of electrocution, and there are measures to make sure components do not become contaminated by moisture, but full submersion is a different story. Even if you drive into a flood by accident you likely won’t die from electrocution in an EV. But, just be smart and don't drive into any sort of deep water in any vehicle. This last article says it all:: "A stunning video released from a Jaguar representative has shown how effective electric machines can be wading through deep water. In the clip, a Jaguar representative cleared several metres of floodwater in his Jaguar I-Pace car with relative ease. The Jaguar representative even claimed the company’s electric I-Pace vehicle had the same wading depth as a Land Rover Defender and could easily tackle brutal winter elements. Usually, electricity and water do not mix but electric cars are the exception and are claimed to be completely safe in even the most extreme weather conditions."  That article is HERE at the UK Express.  I suggest we stay tuned, it won't be long. I bought this Iris Pseudata Yarai at Cole's this week.  Pseudata Iris are a cross between Iris pseudocorus and Iris ensata ("pseudata" is combination of both names).  I recognized right away that it was related to Japanese Iris - that's ensata.  Pseudocorus is the yellow flat bog iris.

The Chef's Summit

Is there something new in food? It is hard to find out.  It doesn't seem to be a premier 'topic' on google - one retrieves food near me and other take-out sorts of topics.  With a little digging, though, I find out there is a Canadian Pizza Summit each year with a competition for pizza chef of the year. In 2018  two winners shared the title of Chef of the Year. Chef of the Year (Traditional) is Giuseppe Cortinovis of Ignite Pizzeria in Vancouver. Chef of the Year (Open) is Dean Litster of Armando's Pizza in Windsor, Ont. Cortinovis' pizza is called The Queen, a twist on the Margherita, while Litster's winning entry was a creative pizza he dubbed The Dean Martin. The award chef of the year (around the world) is covered on finedininglovers.com.  The Le Chef compilation of the 100 best chefs in the world for 2019 has been released with chef Arnaud Donckele from the La Vague d'Or restaurant in Saint-Tropez named the best chef in the world. You can see pictures of his 18 dishes HERE. And you can see the menu at the end with prices - 295 Euro is over $400 Canadian. The Red Rose dessert is 44 Euro. The world restaurant awards announced their shortlist of nominees on January 17th.  You can read about it HERE. There is the list of Big Plates:  These are the short-listed restaurants in categories like Original Thinking, Off-Map Destination, No Reservations Required, House Special, Event of the Year, Ethical Thinking and so on. Then there are the small plates - the short list categories (tongue in cheek) are:  tweezer-free kitchen of the year, trolley of the year, tattoo-free chef of the year, and so on.  Wouldn't that be wonderful to see a chef without tattoos! For the rest of us, the top 2019 trends don't have this razzle-dazzle.  They seem straight forward:   Sri Lankan cuisine Burmese cuisine Meat-free Kefir Ugly fruit and veg Hidden vegetables Food halls Eating where you shop... and so on. Our pictures today come from Powell Garden in Kansas City.

People's Choice

When did the idea of "The People's Choice" start?  This is not a topic  - it has no origin date and no serious definition.  At the urban dictionary, we'll find a satirical definition:   "Any group of tossers that self proclaim their greatness by assuming the collective title of "Peoples Choice". Usually participate in QuietThunder, if not it is because they are also known to suffer from permaflop.  Oh man, i would rather sit on the grenade than deal with the "Peoples Choice" It seems to me that there are a few possibilities:  that people's choice awards and ideas come out of the microeconomic theory area of Consumer Choice.  The idea of a People's Choice Award is to give consumers the voting power to decide the # 1, #2, and so on.  The second possibility is having political origins of making decisions/choices through voting. Today we have opportunities to vote for our favourite retail and service organization, usually through media outlets - newspapers and websites.  Up pops the number 1 city and restaurant in the world.  A humorous article says that Wawa's bathrooms were voted number 1 in Pennsylvania and number 2 in the country? I did vote for Longwood Garden's washrooms as the most interesting washrooms in the U.S.  They won (!) Who would guess washrooms would be a subject of people's choice. People's choice awards should also be considered a reaction to awards that are juried and judged by experts and authorities. This is the case of the People's Choice awards where the intent is to "thumb their nose at the Academy" and "The people have spoken and their choice has been heard, and high time too. What we have here is democracy in action, and a poll in which every voter is equal and every ballot counts."  These two quotes are from The Guardian newspaper article by Xan Brooks in 2009. And so we conclude the topic of People's Choice -  very prevalent, but without much analysis.  That would leave an opening for a book or two. We have two abstracts today -the first picture is grunge 'as is' with slight enhancements in Photoshop.  The second picture starts with a grunge image and then is finished with painting in photoshop using French Kiss grunge brushes to create a more interesting composition.