Monday, September 9, 2019

Another link dump.

People still think that Disney bought tickets for CM.

Captain Marvel
Release date: Friday, March 8, 2019

Search-string “captain marvel empty theatres”
About 2,020,000 results

Cinema data tracked by PostTrak

And Cinema Score

These services poll film goers AFTER they see a movie.  Their numbers reportedly track. (Let’s call this Group A).

Where possible I checked images with Google Reverse Image Search and Tineye.
Information on pictures was extracted with http://metapicz.com/#landing

Top results

Image forwarded from Twitter, no context. No external or independent corroboration.


Same story, same picture.

Seating: Posted two days before the UK premiere on a Tuesday.
Twitter account from Jamacia. 

Theatre: Posted one day before the UK premirere. 
Twitter account from England. 

Forum. Not credible.

Forum. Not credible.


8. This video breaks down why this is a hoax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPqUjaaiQcE

9. Another link, same picture as #1. Checked with reverse image search. 

10. Several Twitter shots, none with independent corroboration.
More of the same Twitter pictures, same dozen are being reshared.  Same site also criticizes Brie Larson’s appearance. Checked with reverse image search and 
https://digitalempire. REMOVE wordpress.com/2019/03/11/disney-possibly-bought-out-box-office-tickets-to-boost-captain-marvel-perception/
NOTE: Facebook considers Digital Empire to be a fraudulent site. 

11. Even if every single picture is legitimate, 12 to 15 theatres not sold out are not a trend among 1,000s of openings.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154664/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt

12. Pinterest page.  Deleted as a bot.

13. Forum, relinks links from above.

By page 3 of results, we get individual showtimes for the movie.

No theater manager (let’s call them Group B) is ever mentioned by name.  No theatre and times were ever given.
AMC (let’s call them part of Group B, but they could be financially Group C)  has a database of ticket sales and concession sales that can be checked.  
Compare the number of ticket sales vs. concession sales and see if CM is an outlier; that is more ticket sales vs. average ticket sales. Compare the weeks of release across all theatres.  Compare to other Marvel movies and perform a t-test to see if there is a significant difference in sales. Adjust for summer releases when more concessions are sold. 

Buy Disney stock (Stockholders, Group D). When the next quarter happens, request a full stockholder report and look for anomalies in accounting.  Of course, you will need a degree in forensic accounting. 

We now have 3-4 groups, A, B, C, and D that all have a vested financial interest in the success of any movie and this movie in particular.  Each and every member of these groups need to be on board with this plan and NONE of them can talk about it. In six months no one has come forward with this.  No manager has talked about, no theatre company has demanded new contract terms because of this from Disney/Buena Vista. No shareholder has raised a complaint over lost money (buying tickets costs money that is not recapped in box office gross). Plus polling sites like PostTrak and CinemaScore’s own data disputes the “empty theatre” hoax.

There is no data to support this claim.  Nothing that even passes the “sniff” test.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Need a safe place for these

Wow. Has it really been this long since I have been here?  That's inexcusable.

But I need a safe place for some links to debunk the site Neon Nettle. So here we go.

Topic: Laura Loomer

Laura Loomer paid some people to break into Pelosi's home.  There is no evidence they were asylum seekers or even undocumented.
So they were not asylum seekers but part of a publicity stunt.
https://www.newsweek.com/right-wing-activist-laura-loomer-nancy-pelosi-house-1291083

She was banned from Uber and Lyft.
https://www.newsweek.com/uber-new-york-lyft-laura-loomer-699261

Banned from Twitter for TOS violations.  Posting hate about Rep. Ilhan Omar.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/laura-loomer-banned-twitter-after-criticizing-ilhan-omar-n939256

Topic: Neon Nettle

We know that it is a Conspiracy theory site full of psuedoscience. It is registered in the UK via TUcows, so the registrar information is blocked in the US (imagine that)
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/neon-nettle/

They list their business office in London.
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/neonnettle.com 

but their IP servers are in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/74.208.156.58
http://neonnettle.com.websiteoutlook.com/

Their rating on Snopes is "Mostly False" news with the 20 or so articles I sampled over the the 6 months falling in the "false" or "mostly false" category.
https://www.snopes.com/tag/neon-nettle/  

Politifact ranks them as "Pants on Fire" in terms of truth in reporting
https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/apr/04/blog-posting/doctors-deaths-were-not-connected-fake-news-websit/

and describes them as Fake News
https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2017/apr/20/politifacts-guide-fake-news-websites-and-what-they/

Described as a fake news sites with demonstrably false articles by Mic
https://mic.com/articles/188404/partisan-pundits-and-conspiracy-theorists-still-rule-facebook-analysis-shows#.gM4WXw6I7

Ranked #38 for number of stories pushed onto Facebook. All described as fake.
https://www.newswhip.com/2018/03/top-reporters-on-facebook/

News Stories are written by anyone, not actual Journalists. 
https://neonnettle.com/jobs 

Their ad for hire asks for content covering "Politics, GMO's, UFOS, Government corruption, Financial corruption, Mysteries, Entertainment".
They pay roughly $35 per article or about 2 cents per word (point of reference I can get 4 to 5 cents per word on contract writing. I never take a job for less than 3 cents per word).
https://www.upwork.com/job/Article-writer-for-alternative-news-site-neonnette-com_~01acf780ae5df01e5e/

They were featured as a fake news site in Dale Michelson's 2018 book "Fake News vs Real News: Learning the Essentials".
https://smile.amazon.com/Fake-News-Vs-Real-Essentials/dp/1720911002/

Featured in an article on fake news on Medium
https://medium.com/@Shesreallyfat/fake-news-means-nothing-is-sacred-2241e6aff337

And on Vice
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjx8ed/no-brad-pitt-did-not-confirm-hollywood-is-a-child-sex-ring

Cameron University in OK (a former Baptist, now publis, university offering degrees in Library Sciences, HLC accreditated) lists it as fake news
https://cameron.libguides.com/FakeNews/List

FactCheck.org lists them in their Misinformation Directory
https://www.factcheck.org/2017/07/websites-post-fake-satirical-stories/

Meida Matters
https://www.mediamatters.org/stories-and-interests/fake-news

Fake News Codex
http://www.fakenewscodex.com/fake-site/neon-nettle/