How it all started.. From the CIA World Factbook to XMAS 2018
[While the CIA World Factbook was the watershed moment after thoughts the roots of this website go further … it started with my arrival in Country 1 in 1989 and libraries… then moved to the ‘Quid 1989’ followed by intense pressure on my dad to get a new computer instead of our Macintosh Classic so that I could go on the internet in late 1995. I will write on this when I have time for this priority]
I would say the roots of this website would go all the way to around 2005 at the workplace. There were a few of us, new graduates working for a Canadian Crown Corporation (Canadian Government) where we enjoyed taking coffee breaks (and working 😉 ) together. While we liked to stick together since we knew each other from our studies, we were as well from different backgrounds and looking at different horizons. Our differences lead us to numerous friendly heated debates. We started to call on each other and to ask where the ‘facts’ were, did you ‘check your facts’ ? Our quest for facts lead us among other things to the CIA World Factbook. Needless to say that because of our very own different backgrounds and horizons the CIA World Factbook was either a very serious reference or nothing to be taken seriously. After all for some of us the CIA was a beacon for a free world while for the other rest it was synonymous among other things with meddling in foreign elections and governments throughout the world to serve the interests of the US and allies. Consequently the CIA World Factbook became a running joke between us but it was fore teller of what was to come in a post truth world where ‘alternative facts’ are generated live on TV shamelessly and no consequences.
Over time I have been focusing on facts. Obviously the purpose of focusing on facts is not to memorize random facts and blurt them out. Instead it is to have a factual based critical thinking attitude. It is easier said than done (maybe at some point in the future I will take the time to write on this subject) and it is not a rewarding process. For every one sentence of lie it takes a tremendous effort to nail the said lie. There are no doubts as to why nowadays ‘alternative facts‘ have it so easy but they can be fought back. In December 2018 I received an email from an event organizer to share an end of the year drink between engineers working in the nuclear field. In the email there was this cartoon:
I enjoy smart cartoons but the issue with this one was that it was all wrong. I looked again at the cartoon and thought to myself “well if someone actually ends up with a smile it’s because he/she doesn’t know it is factually wrong or he/she has a really easy sense of humor”. I wanted to react and reply but then I thought what would be the point to preach to the choir. Everyone worked in the nuclear field and they knew how non factual the cartoon was.
I was still curious as to what kind of discussions this cartoon had generated on the web so I went and looked for it. I found it on a cartoonist’s blog going by the name of ‘Duredecifer’. There were a few comments but none pointing at the factual errors. I decided to post a comment but it never made it to daylight… so I went and checked further for this cartoon and the discussion it had generated. There was nothing about it, it was spread around the web but no one had pointed out the issues with it. So I thought I had to do something about it and this is how I decided to set up DisMisInfo.org.
DisMisInfo.org is a hobby website set up to Dismiss Disinformation and Misinformation (hence the DisMis pun ! 😉 hehehe) spread through cartoons on the topic of nuclear science and engineering (for a start !). I will browse around and find cartoons disinforming (?) and misinforming about nuclear and explain why they should be dismissed, sounds simple but it is a lot of work.
Since this is a hobby website and with a limited amount of time I am not expecting to have frequent updates. Website was put up together quickly but it’s not quite what I have in mind due to lack of time to do some coding. Content wise it takes time as well. If you are interested in giving a hand or sending me content for review please get in touch. If you wold like to assist with some coding (JS, PHP, HTML) let me know as well
The latest cartoons will be posted on the front page below, if you would like to access the older ones feel free to check them out on the Archives page.
And hey… if some of the facts are not correct… let me know ! 😉
About me
Long story short: I can claim to be a nobody. I don’t live in a box and tend to look beyond borders, landscapes, the earth and the universe. I enjoy contemplating the unknown.