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Monthly Archives: November 2013

Food Safety and Security: What Consumers Need to Know

From the USDA Guide’s introduction: “For nearly a century, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been protecting the Nation’s food supply. This long history has allowed USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to develop the expertise and systems to protect our Nation’s supply of meat, poultry, and egg products against intentional and unintentional… Continue Reading

New U.S. Metro Economies Report: Many U.S. Metros Still Struggling Yet Continue to Drive Nation’s Economy

News release: “The nation’s cities are struggling more economically in 2013 than they did in 2012, according to a report done by IHS Global  Insight for The U.S. Conference of Mayors. The report findings show that one-third (119) of the nation’s 363 U.S. metropolitan areas — cities and their surrounding suburbs — will see stagnant or… Continue Reading

Warren Commission Report Available on GPO’s Federal Digital System

Follow up to 50 years after JFK’s assassination: a brief guide to reliable sources see also: “As Americans observe the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has made the official, digital version of the Warren Commission Report available on the agency’s Federal Digital System (FDsys). The commission was created… Continue Reading

New on LLRX – A Good Day at the Googleplex

Via LLRX.com – A Good Day at the Googleplex – Prof. Annemarie Bridy reviews the facts related to fair use and copyright in the long awaited decision delivered in the Google Book Search case on November 14, 2013 by Judge Chin. She focuses on the court’s deliberation of statutory requirements for the fair use defense to a claim of… Continue Reading

National Programmes for Mass Surveillance of Personal Data in EU Member States and their Compatibility with EU Law Study

Follow up to Committee Inquiry on Electronic Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens – Sixth Hearing, see DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT C: CITIZENS’ RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS – National Programmes for Mass Surveillance of Personal Data by EU Member States and its Compatibility with EU Law. See also another version of this document… Continue Reading

Fighting Fires With Weather Models

Via New Technology Enables Wildfire Forecasting Firefighters better predict wildfire behavior see Use of spatially refined satellite remote sensing fire detection data to initialize and evaluate coupled weather-wildfire growth model simulation. Janice L. Coen and Wilfrid Schroeder. Article first published online: 22 OCT 2013.  DOI: 10.1002/2013GL057868 [full-text – no fee] “Large wildfires may grow for weeks or months from ignition until extinction. Simulating… Continue Reading

Invasive Species: Major Laws and the Role of Selected Federal Agencies

CRS – Invasive Species: Major Laws and the Role of  Selected Federal Agencies – M. Lynne Corn, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy; Renée Johnson , Specialist in Agricultural Policy . October 24, 2013 “An “invasive” species (alternatively known as an alien, exotic, injurious, introduced or naturalized, non-native, nonindigenous, nuisance, or noxious species) refers to an animal or plant that is introduced into… Continue Reading

Report – Drug-resistant “superbugs” that kill people are on the rise, but no new antibiotics are in the pipeline

Frances Weaver is a senior editor at The Week magazine – her report includes the following:  “Thousands of Americans are now dying every year from infections that used to be curable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently warned that drug-resistant bacteria kill at least 23,000 people annually in America and cost the U.S. health-care system… Continue Reading

Governments can do more to regain trust, says OECD report

Government at a Glance 2013: “The global economic crisis has undermined trust in government. Today only four out of ten citizens in OECD countries say they have confidence in their national authorities. Not surprisingly, trust declined in the countries hit hardest by the crisis, such as Ireland, Greece, Slovenia and Portugal. But measures can be taken to… Continue Reading

Outlook on the Global Agenda 2014

World Economic Forum: “The Outlook on the Global Agenda 2014 provides a top-of-mind perspective from the Global Agenda Councils on the challenges and opportunities of the coming 12–18 months. It offers a comprehensive overview of the world, drawing upon the foremost global intelligence network and its collective brainpower to explore the most important issues we… Continue Reading

Home Value and Homeownership Rates During and After Recession Explored in the American Community Survey

News release: “A new housing brief from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that median home values in many small counties across the nation held steady after the most recent recession, while values in large counties declined. These findings come from the Census Bureau’s brief, Home Value and Homeownership Rates: Recession and Post-Recession Comparisons From 2007-2009 to 2010-2012,… Continue Reading

Government to Release More NSA Documents and FISA Court Opinions in Response to EFF Lawsuit

“On Monday, the US Department of Justice will release to the public hundreds of additional pages of government documents concerning its use of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the provision of law the NSA relies on to collect the call records of millions of Americans. The disclosures will follow closely on the heels of yesterday’s reports in… Continue Reading