----- Original Message ----- From: "Warren Ockrassa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 12:52 PM Subject: Re: Brin: Re: more neocons
But I do know that Other Posters on this list have asserted > claims and then, asked for cites, said they couldn't reveal their > sources. This behavior seems to havve been accepted from them. Is it > possible we've got a mirror of that here? The pattern's wrong. Look at the word choices in the various cases. db regularly write sensational material...the Bush family has betrayed the United States for money for example, with very little to back it. Other's have stated much more modest claims...and indicated their general source without specifics. I've been able to weigh the sources on the information given. Let me give an example of this. Gautam quoted an off the record source on Bush's AIDs effort in Africa. He said he couldn't name the person, but he gave the context in which the information was given. My Zambian daughter was in the committee hearing when the budget came out, and she had direct information. She could have clinched it if she found on-line references to Bush's speech in Africa...but she didn't have the time in her rush to leave for Europe for school. So, Gautam and I agree that my daughter was the superior information source...he now tends to believe her version. She could have sealed it if she could have found internet cites, but since Gautam has chatted with Neli, he has some feel for how much he can trust her. I give various weights to various types of information. I try to develop an objective criterion....types of sources and what not...patterns of being accurate in the past...etc. Another approach is to look digitally, one either has absolute proof or one does not. From that perspective, there is no difference between pure conjecture, and my daughter memory of being at the relevant committee hearing. FWIW, my job has often involved the weighing of partial, sometime contradictory information. While certainty never comes from this type of information, one can use technique to do far better than random chance would allow. Dan M. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
