PCMag: “An incomplete and unscientific explanation of why Mastodon is safe from Elon-style shenanigans. Several Twitter crises ago, my editor pitched me the idea for this story. The suggestion was to explain not just why I thought Mastodon—a decentralized social network for Twitter-style posts—was better than Twitter, but also how it could resist whatever Musk-inflicted… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: April 2023
Gallup: Half the Country Now Identifies as Independent
IVN: “Gallup’s latest polling found that 49% of Americans self-identify as independent of the two major parties. The record-setting number shows voters’ growing dissatisfaction with the US political process and their options. Notably, Gallup analyst Jeff Jones observed that Gen X and Millennials are bucking a historical trend. In the past it was not uncommon… Continue Reading
35 Ways Real People Are Using A.I. Right Now
The New York Times: “The public release of ChatGPT last fall kicked off a wave of interest in artificial intelligence. A.I. models have since snaked their way into many people’s everyday lives. Despite their flaws, ChatGPT and other A.I. tools are helping people to save time at work, to code without knowing how to code,… Continue Reading
ICANN and Verisign Proposal Would Allow Any Government In The World To Seize Domain Names
FreeSpeech.com: “ICANN, the organization that regulates global domain name policy, and Verisign, the abusive monopolist that operates the .COM and .NET top-level domains, have quietly proposed enormous changes to global domain name policy in their recently published “Proposed Renewal of the Registry Agreement for .NET”, which is now open for public comment. Either by design,… Continue Reading
Proton launches an end-to-end encrypted password manager
The Verge: “Proton, the company behind Proton Mail, has announced the launch of a new password manager: Proton Pass [beta]. While the service will eventually become free for everyone to use, it’s currently only available as a beta to Proton’s Lifetime and Visionary users for now. As is the case with Proton’s other products, Proton… Continue Reading
Rare-earth mining
Rare-earth mining. “Shuang-Liang Liu et al. have compiled a dataset of 146 mining projects targeting rare-earth elements, which serve as “critical raw materials in many low-carbon technologies.” The dataset lists each project’s name, company, location, status, deposit type, estimated tonnage of deposits, element composition, and other details sourced from “company annual reports and public presentations,… Continue Reading
New Research Sparks Concerns That Ocean Circulation Will Collapse
Yale Environment 360: “Scientists have long feared that warming could cause a breakdown of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic. But new research finds the real risk lies in Antarctica’s waters, where melting could disrupt currents in the next few decades, with profound impacts on global climate. It is being hailed as a sea change… Continue Reading
HHS Making Ownership Data for All Medicare-Certified Hospice and Home Health Agencies Publicly Available
CMS – “The Biden-Harris Administration has made promoting competition and protecting consumers a top priority. Today, in support of the President’s Executive Order on promoting competition and the Administration’s commitment to transparency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing ownership data for all Medicare-certified hospice and home health agencies. For the… Continue Reading
Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart
Washington Post: “AI chatbots have exploded in popularity over the past four months, stunning the public with their awesome abilities, from writing sophisticated term papers to holding unnervingly lucid conversations. Chatbots cannot think like humans: They do not actually understand what they say. They can mimic human speech because the artificial intelligence that powers them… Continue Reading
Why universities should return to oral exams in the AI and ChatGPT era
The Conversation: “Imagine the following scenario. You are a student and enter a room or Zoom meeting. A panel of examiners who have read your essay or viewed your performance, are waiting inside. You answer a series of questions as they probe your knowledge and skills. You leave. The examiners then consider the preliminary pre-oral… Continue Reading
Plastic Recylcing is a Scam
Plastic Recycling is an Actual Scam | Climate Town / YouTube Plastic Legislation to get involved with: Depending on where you live, there’s a lot you can do. NCSL Overview: https://www.ncsl.org/research/environ… Earth Day Plastic Action: https://www.earthday.org/act-on-plast… Cleveland Preemptive Ban: https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/0… Nat Geo breakdown: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/en… CIF: https://www.clf.org/blog/the-truth-ab… WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/plastic-… NRDC: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/single-u… Follow Climate Town on Instagram:… Continue Reading
Modern monetary theory: an explanation
Modern monetary theory:an explanation. Professor Richard Murphy. April 2023. Funding the Future. Formerly Tx Research UK. “Modern monetary theory (hereafter, MMT) is an explanation of the way in which money works in an economy. It also explains the consequent impact that the best use of money, using this understanding, might have on behaviour in that… Continue Reading
