King Haaken Bay, South Georgia Island, November 27

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

We reached our mooring place at King Haaken Bay on the south side of the island this morning. This is the place where Ernest Shackleton landed during his attempt to rescue the crew of his ship, the Endurance in 1916 after the ship was crushed by pack ice in Antarctica.

Shackleton is the stuff of much lore in the history of Antarctic exploration during the so called “Heroic Age ” of Antarctic exploration from the late 19th Century to just before WW 1. After he and his crew were forced to abandon the Endurance on October 27, 1915 after nine months of being trapped in the sea ice, Shackleton and five of his crew embarked on a desperate and heroic effort to save the other 22 crew members of the Endurance.

The weather and water conditions here in the bay were a dramatic improvement over the turbulent waters of the Southern Sea yesterday and last night. After watching the second of a two part Discovery Channel documentary on the Expedition of 1914-16, it was a stagger back down two decks of stairs to Room 533. We were rocking and rolling. If our chairs hadn’t been chained to the floor in the Dining Room, we’d have been slip sliding away.

The seas calmed down, but our first Zodiac trip to the solid ground of South Georgia was cold and wet. It was good to get this first trip under our belts as it taught me that:

1. My camera can get wet and still function
2. I need to wear my waterproof gloves and not my non-waterproof mittens.
3. My light weight rain pants didn’t keep the water away from my Fleece pants
4. Keep your distance from angry fur seals (elephant seals too).
5. I will take my entire camera bag with rain covering on our next trip to the island

I did get in a few shots today, nothing of note, but I look to improve on that as the trip goes on! Sharing photos will come when I get home and have the available bandwidth.

Bruce