LitHub – “So, as is our hallowed duty as a literary and culture website—though with full awareness of the potentially fruitless and endlessly contestable nature of the task—in the coming weeks, we’ll be taking a look at the best and most important (these being not always the same) books of the decade that was. We… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: December 2019
NYT – The Lives They Lived 2019
The New York Times Magazine – Remembering some of the artists, innovators and thinkers we lost in the past year. Continue Reading
Large-Capacity Magazine Bans Linked with Fewer Mass Shootings
Jennifer Abbasi, Large-Capacity Magazine Bans Linked with Fewer Mass Shootings, Deaths, JAMA Medical News & Perspectives (Dec. 18, 2019), https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2758008 (commenting on Louis Klarevas et al., The Effect of Large-Capacity Magazine Bans on High-Fatality Mass Shootings, 1990–2017, Am. J. Pub. Health (Dec. 2019), https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305311 [via Mary Whisner] Continue Reading
Will America ever get its local news back?
Washington Post – Ghost papers and news deserts – “First they started showing up thinner than before. Then they were printed on smaller paper, with local columns replaced by more out-of-town news. Then in some places, especially rural and down-on-their-luck parts, newspapers stopped showing up altogether. Since the Internet arrived in earnest 25 years ago,… Continue Reading
Emojis Have Unsettled Grammar Rules
…and Why Lawyers Should Care – Eric Goldman – “A new article by three Dutch researchers sheds some fascinating light on the grammar of emojis, or more precisely, the lack thereof. Their abstract concludes: “while emoji may follow tendencies in their interactions with grammatical structure in multimodal text-emoji productions, they lack grammatical structure on their… Continue Reading
The Politicos we lost in 2019
Remembering the lawmakers, policy wonks, intellectuals and back-stage Washington players who died this year—and why they mattered via Politico – This is a history lesson – well worth reading and sharing. Continue Reading
Paper book readers better at various abilities than e-book readers
The Japan News: “People who habitually read paper books tend to have a higher degree of willingness to work on anything and to think more multilaterally than those who prefer to read electronic books on a smartphone or a computer, according to a recent survey by the National Institution For Youth Education, which was released… Continue Reading
How The Dodo Became the Warmest Fuzziest Corner of the Web
Wired – “The media empire’s heartwarming (and highly shareable) animal videos rack up 2.3 billion views each month. It might be our favorite website of the decade. “The Dodo racks up around 2.3 billion views each month with heartwarming videos about extraordinary pets (like this super-affectionate python), unlikely interspecies friendships (like this mini horse whose… Continue Reading
Washington’s New Anti-Robocall Law Won’t Stop the Calls
WSJ.com [article is paywalled but the 5 minute accompanying video is not, and well worth listening for the specificity of the explanation] “In a rare bipartisan achievement, Congress has moved to combat the scourge of robocalls inundating Americans. Just don’t stop the calls to stop coming any time soon..” Continue Reading
88% of Americans use a second screen while watching TV
ars technica – “When it comes to tech, I like to think I’m a pretty hoopy frood. I added the System Tuner UI to my Android phone’s settings. I’ve crimped my own ethernet cables. I got Wing Commander III running, back when that required the dark arts of HIMEM.SYS tweaking. What I’m trying to say… Continue Reading
The Most-Read Book Reviews of 2019
Publishers Weekly: “Of the thousands (and thousands and thousands) of book reviews we published this year, these are the 10 most-read reviews of books that published in 2019.” Continue Reading
KKR investment firm to buy OverDrive, biggest library ebook company
TeleRead – David Rothman – “Toxic for libraries? The KKR investment firm is buying none other than OverDrive—the biggest library ebook company, providing ebooks and audiobooks to 43,000+ libraries and schools in 75 countries. The seller is Rakuten, also owner of the Kobo ereader, audiobook and ebook business. “The two sides did not provide a… Continue Reading
