Royal Botanic Gardens Kew – “This is the first document to collate current knowledge on the state of the world’s plants. A large team of researchers has reviewed published literature, scrutinised global databases and synthesised new datasets. The output presented here represents a status report on our knowledge of global vegetation as it stands in… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: May 2016
2016 Audubon Photography Awards Winners
Via Audubon Magazine, magnificent avian photos taken around the world. Continue Reading
DOJ Files Complaint Against the State of North Carolina to Stop Discrimination Against Transgender Individuals
“Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced [May 9, 2016] that the Justice Department has filed a complaint against the state of North Carolina, the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) alleging that they are discriminating against transgender individuals in violation of federal law as a result of… Continue Reading
Sovereign Credit Rating Determinants: The Impact of the European Debt Crisis
Reusens, Peter and Croux, Christophe, Sovereign Credit Rating Determinants: The Impact of the European Debt Crisis (April 2016). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2777491 “This paper compares the importance of different sovereign credit rating determinants over time, using a sample of 90 countries for the years 2002-2015. Applying the composite marginal likelihood approach, we estimate… Continue Reading
Report – Opportunities to Reduce Vulnerability to Drought are Within Reach
“As extreme drought continues to hit much of Sub-Saharan Africa, leaving millions of people in need of emergency assistance, a new report led by the World Bank focuses on interventions that could increase long term resilience to drought. Launched at the First Great Green Wall Conference held in Dakar, the report Confronting Drought in Africa’s… Continue Reading
Computers Gone Wild: Impact and Implications of Developments in Artificial Intelligence on Society
Computers Gone Wild: Impact and Implications of Developments in Artificial Intelligence on Society May 9, 2016 The following summary was written by Samantha Bates: “The second “Computers Gone Wild: Impact and Implications of Developments in Artificial Intelligence on Society” workshop took place on February 19, 2016 at Harvard Law School. Marin Soljačić, Max Tegmark, Bruce… Continue Reading
H.R. 4894, a bill to repeal title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
CBO: “H.R. 4894 would repeal title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010. That title provides the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) with the authority and funding through the Orderly Liquidation Fund (OLF) to liquidate large, systemically important financial firms (including banks and nonbank firms) that become or are in danger of… Continue Reading
Trends in the Joblessness and Incarceration of Young Men
CBO: “In 2014, there were 38 million men in the United States between the ages of 18 and 34; about 5 million of those young men were jobless, and 1 million were incarcerated. Those numbers and some related longer-term trends have significant economic and budgetary implications. Young men who are jobless or incarcerated can be… Continue Reading
GAO Report – Smartphone Data: Information and Issues Regarding Surreptitious Tracking Apps That Can Facilitate Stalking
Smartphone Data: Information and Issues Regarding Surreptitious Tracking Apps That Can Facilitate Stalking, GAO-16-317: Published: Apr 21, 2016. Publicly Released: May 9, 2016. “GAO found that the majority of the reviewed websites for smartphone tracking applications (apps) marketed their products to parents or employers to track the location of their children or employees, respectively, or… Continue Reading
Twitter blocks government access to third party data mining service
Via Kevin McCoy, USA Today – “Twitter has moved to block U.S. intelligence agencies from access to a widely used data-mining service it partly owns. The social media company told Dataminr, the business partner that sifts through and provides access to the full output of Twitter’s social media postings known as tweets, that it didn’t want the service provided to… Continue Reading
Panama Papers Database Goes Live
Follow up to previous posting – ICIJ to Release Panama Papers Offshore Companies Data – today’s news – Offshore Leaks Database – Find out who’s behind almost 320,000 offshore companies and trusts from the Panama Papers and the Offshore Leaks investigations – accompanied by the following warning: “There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and… Continue Reading
BLS – Fertility of women in the baby boom generation
Fertility of women in the NLSY79: “This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79)—a survey of people born between 1957 and 1964—to examine the fertility patterns of women up to age 46. Women in the NLSY79 cohort have two children, on average, and more than 80 percent of them give… Continue Reading
