Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service: “This map is an American snapshot; it provides an accessible visualization of geographic distribution, population density, and racial diversity of the American people in every neighborhood in the entire country. The map displays 308,745,538 dots, one for each person residing in the United States at the location they were counted… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: August 2013
Three Reasons Why Big Data Doesn’t Make You Smarter
Three Reasons Why Big Data Doesn’t Make You Smarter — Lessons From the World of Intelligence. Milo Jones and Philippe Silberzahn, Forbes, July 2, 2013. “Increasing interest in big data – the ability to gather massive amounts of information about both environment and operations – rests on an equally big assumption: that having more data… Continue Reading
TRAC – Decline in Drug-Related Seizure of Property
“In the last five years, there has been a gradual but steady decline in the number of civil lawsuits filed each month in federal courts for the drug-related seizure of property, according to case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). Such suits are filed as part of the Department of Justice Asset… Continue Reading
Amazon’s lawsuit released against GAO in cloud computing contract case
Frank Konkel, FCW.com: “In its lawsuit against the federal government filed in July, Amazon Web Services claims IBM’s protest of its $600 million cloud computing contract with the CIA was “untimely” and “meritless,” and that’s just a snapshot of a 79-page document sitting before U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thomas Wheeler. The lawsuit, unsealed… Continue Reading
Measuring bank competition in China
Measuring bank competition in China: a comparison of new versus conventional approaches applied to loan markets, by Bing Xu, Adrian Van Rixtel and Michiel van Leuvensteijn. Working Papers No 422. August 2013. Bank for International Settlement. “Since the 1980s, important and progressive reforms have profoundly reshaped the structure of the Chinese banking system. Many empirical… Continue Reading
FISA court ruling on illegal NSA e-mail collection program
Washington Post – Ellen Nakashima, “The National Security Agency unlawfully gathered as many as tens of thousands of e-mails and other electronic communications between Americans as part of a now-discontinued collection program, according to a 2011 secret court opinion [redacted]. The 86-page opinion, which was declassified by U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, explains why the chief… Continue Reading
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, July 30-31, 2013
“The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday released the attached minutes of the Committee meeting held on July 30-31, 2013. The minutes for each regularly scheduled meeting of the Committee ordinarily are made available three weeks after the day of the policy decision and subsequently are published in the Board’s… Continue Reading
Search simultaneously in the DPLA and Europeana
“The Search DPLA and Europeana app lets users do side-by-side searches of Europeana and the DPLA, providing quick and easy access to both libraries’ vast resources. By default, users are shown each object’s title, author, format, date, and link, along with a thumbnail; additional metadata about each object is available by clicking a drop-down arrow.”… Continue Reading
New Infographic: Good News in Fair Use for Libraries
“A new infographic released today tells the story of library fair use and the Code of Best Practices in a clear and compelling way. There’s an embeddable PNG for your own blogs, and there’s also a print-ready 8.5” x 11” version in case you need hardcopies to hand out at events.” Continue Reading
CFPB Examiners Find Mortgage Servicing Problems At Banks And Nonbanks
“Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report detailing mortgage servicing problems at banks and nonbanks. The report also found that many nonbanks lack robust systems for ensuring they are following federal laws. “Our examinations of banks and nonbanks allow us to correct problems before more consumers are affected,” said CFPB Director Richard… Continue Reading
Additional Declassified Documents Relating to Section 702 of FISA
“Created at the direction of the President of the United States, IC ON THE RECORD provides immediate, ongoing and direct access to factual information related to the lawful foreign surveillance activities carried out by the U.S. Intelligence Community.” Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Next Generation Jammer, Wildland Fire Management
Next Generation Jammer – DOD Should Continue to Assess Potential Duplication and Overlap As Program Moves Forward, GAO-13-642, Aug 20, 2013 Wildland Fire Management – Improvements Needed in Information, Collaboration, and Planning to Enhance Federal Fire Aviation Program Success, GAO-13-684, Aug 20, 2013 Continue Reading
