All posts by Pol Pinoy

Social Media

Twitter To Totally Ban ‘Retweets’

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FEEF4804-0CE2-4499-AA2F-93E42437F3E0SAN FRANCISCO, California (The Adobo Chronicles, San Francisco Bureau) – Twitter account holders will soon have to say goodbye to their ‘retweets’ following a new bold move by the San Francisco-based social networking giant.

First, Twitter suspended a network of suspected Twitter bots on Thursday that pushed pro-Saudi Arabia talking points about the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the past week. It said the bots violated Twitter’s community standards regarding spam.

Twitter became aware of some of the bots on Thursday when NBC News presented the company with a spreadsheet of hundreds of accounts that tweeted and retweeted the same pro-Saudi government tweets at the same time.

Today, however, Twitter announced it was totally banning retweets on its platform.

’Retweets help spread misinformation and contribute immensely to spamming,’ a spokesperson said.

”Rather than spending a lot of time policing our network and investigating reports of community standard violations, we decided to ban retweets altogether. It makes our job easier. It’s also the fairest thing to do,” he added.

Remember those famous song lyrics, ‘Kiss today goodbye?’ Well, you can now kiss retweets goodbye.

 

 

Government, Politics, Social Media

Former PNoy Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda A Nate Silver Wanna-be?

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Nate Silver, left, and Lacierda, right

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Former NoyNoy Aquino Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda is vying for the title of the “Nate Silver of the Philippines.”

Silver is an American statistician and writer. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight, and many Americans look to his predictions and calculations when it comes to baseball and politics, especially elections.

Now, Lacierda wants to follow in Silver’s footsteps.

In a Tweet, proudly retweeted by blogger Raïssa Robles, Lacierda came up with some seemingly genius calculation of what it would take for a 2019 Senatorial candidate to make it to the 12th spot in the Magic 12.

This is what Lacierda posted on his Twitter account:

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Sounds genius, doesn’t it?

Well, we gathered The Adobo Chronicles’ panel of mathematical experts to analyze Lacierda’s analysis.  The verdict: Lacierda’s math is glaringly flawed, just like Leni Robredo’s.

Our experts said that a Senatorial candidate does not have to get 14 Million or 31.44% of the votes to reach 12th spot.

Voters can choose up to 12 candidates in their Senatorial ballots.  Winners are determined by plurality.

In order for a candidate to reach 12th spot, he or she just needs to get the highest number of votes next to the person in the 11th spot.

So, if the candidate in the 11th spot garnered, say, exactly 10 Million votes, and the next two highest vote getters received 10.2 Million and 10.1 Million, respectively, then the 12th spot goes to the candidate with 10.2 Million.  Simple.

So, Mr. Lacierda, we’re sorry to say, you’re no Nate Silver!

 

Politics, Technology

At 94, Enrile Has A Long Way To Go

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6E56D974-53E8-4A84-BD0F-7072B98B06FDMANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – At 94 years old, Juan Ponce Enrile will be in record books should he win and finish another 6-year term as Philippine Senator. He has filed his Certificate of Candidacy for the 2019 elections.

This means that at the end of the term, he would be 101 years old, longer than the record set by U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond who served until he was 100.

Enrile, known for his brilliant mind and sharp memory, is sure to give his younger counterparts a run for their money.

But in the computer game of ‘Bejeweled,’ his favorite passtime in between sessions in the        previous Senate he was in, Enrile has a long way to go. He may be at level 271 with a high score of seven million, but that’s no match to the highest score achieved so far — of two billion.

Well, he has all of six years to improve his score while giving his critics and fellow Senators hell.

Go, Senator Enrile!