Can Fact-checking Prevent Politicians from Lying? Chloe Lim, May 17, 2018. “Abstract – Journalists now regularly trumpet fact-checking as an important tool to hold politicians accountable for their public statements, but fact checking’s effect has only been assessed anecdotally and in experiments on politicians holding lower-level offices. Using a rigorous research design to estimate the… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: June 2018
Facebook delivers 500 pages of answers to Congress about Cambridge Analytica
Washington Post: “…Facebook pledged to continue refining its privacy practices and investigating its entanglement with Cambridge Analytica in nearly 500 pages of new information supplied to Congress and published Monday (See also TechCrunch as a non pay-walled source) – though the social giant sidestepped some of lawmakers’ most critical queries. Much as it did during… Continue Reading
FBI Director Nominations, 1973-2017
Via EveryCRSReport – FBI Director Nominations, 1973-2017, May 29, 2018: “The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The statutory basis for the present nomination and confirmation process was developed in 1968 and 1976, and has been used since… Continue Reading
CRS – Resources for Key Economic Indicators
Via EveryCRSReport – Resources for Key Economic Indicators – May 30, 2018: An understanding of economic indicators and their significance is seen as essential to the formulation of economic policies. These indicators, or statistics, provide snapshots of an economy’s health as well as starting points for economic analysis. This report contains a list of selected… Continue Reading
Giant African baobab trees die suddenly after thousands of years
The Guardian: Demise of nine out of 13 of the ancient landmarks linked to climate change by researchers – “Some of Africa’s oldest and biggest baobab trees have abruptly died, wholly or in part, in the past decade, according to researchers. The trees, aged between 1,100 and 2,500 years and in some cases as wide… Continue Reading
These dogs sniff out cybercrime
This story appears in the summer 2018 edition of CNET Magazine: “Harley darts into a decrepit room in Connecticut. She’s searching for evidence. There are plenty of potential distractions in the room: Wires hang from the ceiling. Warped wood paneling buckles away from the walls. Faded yellow cabinets look like someone kicked a hole in… Continue Reading
Visualizing Dante’s Hell: See Maps & Drawings of Dante’s Inferno from the Renaissance Through Today
Open Culture: “Reading Dante’s Inferno, and Divine Comedy generally, can seem a daunting task, what with the book’s wealth of allusion to 14th century Florentine politics and medieval Catholic theology. Much depends upon a good translation. Maybe it’s fitting that the proverb about translators as traitors comes from Italian. The first Dante that came my way—the… Continue Reading
AT&T can buy Time Warner everyone else can buy everything else
Recode: “Verizon? Go right ahead. Charter? You too. Amazon and other tech companies with billions to burn? Go for it. That’s the message from a federal judge, who has ruled today that AT&T can buy Time Warner — and, crucially, didn’t apply any restrictions to his decision. That clears the way for other “vertical” mergers,… Continue Reading
The Face of Legal Technology in 2018
The Face of Legal Technology in 2018 (and What it Means for the Future of Access to Justice) By Kristen Sonday, Paladin Updated: May 8, 2018. “Introduction – In recent years, a curious paradox has emerged: There is far more legal technology being built than ever before, yet somehow, the access to justice (ATJ) gap… Continue Reading
Nature investigates how many papers really end up without a single citation
The science that’s never been cited – [but may be viewed and downloaded] “…To get a better handle on this dark and forgotten corner of published research, Nature dug into the figures to find out how many papers actually do go uncited (the methods are available in the Supplementary information). It is impossible to know… Continue Reading
Mapping the World’s Coal Capacity
Center for Data Innovation: “Climate news publication Carbon Brief has created several data visualizations mapping the location and capacity of the world’s coal power plants. An interactive timeline map allows users to scroll from 2000-2017 to see where plants are operating, opening, and have closed. The maps illustrate that the world’s coal capacity has nearly… Continue Reading
Copenhagenize your city: the case for urban cycling in 12 graphs
The Guardian: “Danish-Canadian urban designer Mikael Colville-Andersen busts some common myths and shows how the bicycle has the potential to transform cities around the world.” Continue Reading
