“What went right and wrong in our nation’s response to the pandemic? What can we do to avoid the next one? In Lessons from the Covid War: An Investigative Report, the nonpartisan Covid Crisis Group offers crucial recommendations to prepare for the inevitable next public health crisis. The Covid Crisis Group—led by UVA history professor Philip Zelikow, the… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: April 2023
DCLibrary.org website redesign launches during National Library Week
The new DCLibrary.org website went live last night. Find & Borrow Research & Learn Attend an Event Reserve a Room Plan a Visit Find eBooks, movies and more Find locations & hours Find new release books Continue Reading
Change in Monthly Abortions Since Roe v. Wade Overturned
Data is Beautiful – this statistic is for legal abortions. See also Washingtonian – The Abortion Battle on Virginia’s Border. When Roe fell, an abortion clinic moved from Tennessee to Virginia. Providing care has been complicated, but the staff won’t back down…Bristol is a twin city, half in Tennessee and half in Virginia, bisected by… Continue Reading
The Fight for the American Public Library
Bloomberg/City Lab: ” Library boards, school boards and legislatures are becoming battlegrounds in a push to censor books. Communities are fighting back. National Library Week in the US comes amid a period of turmoil for libraries, as efforts to censor books intensify. Visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger explores the threats libraries face, their historical context and… Continue Reading
Brooklyn Public Library Offers Free eCards to Teens Nationwide Facing Book Bans in Local Communities
“Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is launching a new campaign today, titled Books UnBanned, to help teens combat the negative impact of increased censorship and book bans in libraries across the country. For a limited time, young adults ages 13 to 21 nationwide, will be able to apply for a free eCard from BPL, unlocking access… Continue Reading
Independent Bookstore Day is All Week
Libro.fm: “Celebrate independent bookstores everywhere with our sale on bestselling audiobooks from Monday, April 24th through Sunday, April 30th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!…” Visit a bookstore! Explore our 2,000+ local bookstore partners and find one near you. See the map See also https://bookshop.org/ Continue Reading
Generative AI at Work
Generative AI at Work, Erik Brynjolfsson, Danielle Li, and Lindsey R. Raymond. NBER Working Paper No. 31161 April 2023: “We study the staggered introduction of a generative AI-based conversational assistant using data from 5,179 customer support agents. Access to the tool increases productivity, as measured by issues resolved per hour, by 14 percent on average,… Continue Reading
How to send password-protected emails in Gmail
ZDNET: “Gmail is used by millions of people around the globe. As of February, 27.21% of people use Gmail as their primary email client. I count myself in that number (though Gmail is far from being the only account I use) and depend on Gmail for work-related communication. I have to send sensitive information to… Continue Reading
The Municipal Drinking Water Database
Hughes S, Kirchhoff CJ, Conedera K, Friedman M (2023) The Municipal Drinking Water Database. PLOS Water 2(4): e0000081. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000081 “Drinking water services in the U.S. are critical for public health and economic development but face technical, political, and administrative challenges. Understanding the root cause of these challenges and how to overcome them is hindered by… Continue Reading
Chatbots Sound Like They’re Posting on LinkedIn
The Atlantic – “Large language models make things up, but the worse problem may be in how they present those falsehoods…If you spend any time on the internet, you’re likely now familiar with the gray-and-teal screenshots of AI-generated text. At first they were meant to illustrate ChatGPT’s surprising competence at generating human-sounding prose, and then… Continue Reading
DOE Launches New Consumer Energy Savings Hub
“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today launched the Energy Savings Hub — an online one-stop shop for American families and consumers to access the savings tools that President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has made available to drastically cut energy costs. The new website—Energy.gov/Save—puts President Biden’s clean energy tax credits and forthcoming rebates right at… Continue Reading
Here’s how to preserve some of your most precious digital memories
Washington Post: “Nostalgia. Longing. Comfort. There’s no end to the reasons we hang onto the formative moments of our lives. And for some, those moments are encapsulated in the tech we use. We’ve received more than a few emails lately asking how to preserve facets of the past: the best parts of old home movies;… Continue Reading
