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Daily Archives: July 17, 2017

LC – Features of Parliamentary Websites

LC Global Legal Research Center – “In recent years, parliaments around the world have enhanced their websites in order to improve access to legislative information and other parliamentary resources. Innovative features allow constituents and researchers to locate and utilize detailed information on laws and lawmaking in various ways. These include tracking tools and alerts, apps, the use of open data technology, and different search functions. In some cases, information on more than one website is provided where separate sites have been established for different chambers of the national parliament.”

Features of Parliamentary Websites in Selected Jurisdictions, July 2017

Features of Parliamentary Websites in Selected Jurisdictions with maps

When Rising Seas Hit Home: Hard Choices Ahead for Hundreds of US Coastal Communities

Union of Concerned Scientists: When Rising Seas Hit Home: Hard Choices Ahead for Hundreds of US Coastal Communities (July 2017) “If saltwater regularly soaked your basement or first floor, kept you from getting to work, or damaged your car, how often would it have to happen before you began looking for a new place to… Continue Reading

DoD Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure

U.S Department of Defense Standards of Conduct Office Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure, Revised September 2016 [DISCLAIMER: The purpose of the document is to disseminate relevant information and general guidance on Government Ethics issues at the Department of Defense. This document should not be cited as DoD authoritative guidance, policy or law.] “The Standards of Conduct… Continue Reading

Yale – Can the Monarch Highway Help Save a Butterfly Under Siege?

The population of North American monarch butterflies has plummeted from 1 billion to 33 million in just two decades. Now, a project is underway to revive the monarch by making an interstate highway the backbone of efforts to restore its dwindling habitat. By Janet Marinelli, July 11, 2017. “During the winter of 2013-2014, only about 33 million monarchs made it to their… Continue Reading

Paper – Troops, Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation

Samantha Bradshaw & Philip N. Howard, Troops, Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation. Samuel Woolley and Philip N. Howard, Eds. Working Paper 2017.12. Oxford, UK: Project on Computational Propaganda. comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk http://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/. 37 pp. “Cyber troops are government, military or political party teams committed to manipulating public opinion over social media.… Continue Reading

One of world’s largest atlases now digitized and available online via British Library

Watch the British Library Digitize One of the World’s Largest Books Watch how curators and imaging technicians photographed the Klencke Atlas, one of the world’s largest maps and a treasure of the British Library – YouTube King’s Topographical Collection Cataloguing and Digitisation – This project is cataloguing and digitising George III’s collection of around 30–40,000… Continue Reading

Internet-Connected Toys Could Present Privacy and Contact Concerns for Children

Public Service Announcement from the FBI [snipped – long read]: “The FBI encourages consumers to consider cyber security prior to introducing smart, interactive, internet-connected toys into their homes or trusted environments. Smart toys and entertainment devices for children are increasingly incorporating technologies that learn and tailor their behaviors based on user interactions. These toys typically… Continue Reading

Judge Orders Sep. 8 Deadline for Mar-a-Lago Visitor Records Release

National Security Archive: “The Department of Homeland Security will release the visitor logs for President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort by September 8, according to a court order filed on July 14, 2017, by federal judge Katherine Polk Failla. The order is in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by the National Security… Continue Reading

Research – States with right-to-carry concealed handgun laws experience increases in violent crime

Stanford News:  “States that have enacted right-to-carry (RTC) concealed handgun laws have experienced higher rates of violent crime than states that did not adopt those laws, according to a Stanford scholar. Right-to-carry laws are linked with higher violent crime rates according to research by Stanford Law School Professor John Donohue. Examining decades of crime data,… Continue Reading