Washington Post [unpaywalled]: “Struggling to keep track of fast moving wildfires and the latest evacuation zones, residents of Los Angeles are rushing to download a free app called Watch Duty. The company said it had gained more than 1.6 million new users since Tuesday, the vast majority in LA County. It’s Apple’s most downloaded free… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: January 2025
The State of Democracy, January 2025
Marist Poll: “While more than seven in ten Americans say the issues that divide the country pose a serious threat to the nation’s democracy, there has been a steep decline in the proportion of Americans who have this view. In fact, many Americans think most of the key components to the U.S. democracy are working… Continue Reading
How Groups of Birds Got Their Names, with Wondrous Vintage Illustrations by Brian Wildsmith
Marginalia: “A Parliament of Owls and a Murder of Crows…Language is an instrument of great precision and poignancy — our best tool for telling each other what the world is and what we are, for conveying the blueness of blue and the wonder of being alive. But it is also a thing of great pliancy… Continue Reading
Container ships
Nearly everything you own, including the clothes you’re wearing and the device your’re reading this on, was delivered by a container ship. Continue Reading
Power of Community Posts: Conversation is the New Influencer
Research by Reddit, about Reddit – At CES 2025, Reddit released research outlining how conversation is becoming an influencer throughout the purchase journey. “In the last year, our research has shown that 47% of social media users say “irrelevant search terms” are the most frustrating aspects of their product research). That is in part why… Continue Reading
Announcing the Public Domain Image Archive
“After the hundreds (thousands?) of hours trawling through online image collections since the PDR’s inception, we’ve decided it was time to create one of our own! We are really excited to share with you the launch of our new sister-project, the Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA), a curated collection of more than 10,000 out-of-copyright historical… Continue Reading
Microplastics Are Widespread in Seafood We Eat, Study Finds
Newsweek – “Microplastics and other human-made particles are widespread in the seafood that we eat and could be damaging our health. A recent study by scientists at Portland State University (PSU)’s Applied Coastal Ecology Lab investigated particle pollution in nine species of seafood in Oregon. “If we are disposing of an utilizing products that release… Continue Reading
analytics.usa.gov
U.S. Federal Government Website and App Analytics: “This website provides a window into how people are interacting with the government online. The data come from a unified Google Analytics account for U.S. federal government agencies known as the Digital Analytics Program . This program helps government agencies understand how people find, access, and use government… Continue Reading
Is prompt engineering a ‘fad’ hindering AI progress?
ZDNet: “A principal scientist at Google DeepMind thinks prompting is the wrong user interface for generative AI, not to mention bad for AI researchers. Here’s why…Motivated by the belief that “a well-crafted prompt is essential for obtaining accurate and relevant outputs from LLMs,” aggressive AI users — such as ride-sharing service Uber — have created… Continue Reading
Territorial Courts, Constitutions, and Organic Acts, Explained
State Court Report – “Over 3.5 million people reside in the five inhabited U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each territory has its own court system and constitution or similar governing document. This explainer provides a brief overview of territorial courts and constitutions, including… Continue Reading
NIST Database Can Help Increase Recycling of Textiles and Clothing
“You have a bag of heavily used clothes that can no longer be donated taking up space in your closet, so you drop it off at your local recycling center. But what happens to that bag of clothes? You might assume that the clothes would get broken down and reused to make new products. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2025/01/nist-database-can-help-increase-recycling-textiles-and-clothing… Continue Reading
Experian Conducted ‘Sham Investigations’ Into Errors in Its Credit Reports
Gizmodo: “Experian has routinely provided inaccurate information in credit reports that help determine whether consumers are approved for loans, jobs, or housing and failed to properly investigate or correct errors when consumers disputed the mistakes, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB data shows that last year the agency… Continue Reading
