The New York Times: “The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, the most drastic move yet in a governmentwide effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law. A series of decisions by the Obama administration loosened the… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: October 2018
Appeals Court Says Georgia’s Laws (Including Annotations) Are Not Protected By Copyright And Free To Share
techdirt: “The 11th Circuit appeals court has just overturned a lower court ruling and said that Georgia’s laws, including annotations, are not covered by copyright, and it is not infringing to post them online. This is big, and a huge win for online information activist Carl Malamud whose Public.Resource.org was the unfortunate defendant in a… Continue Reading
Election 2018 Digital Misinformation Roundup
“The midterm elections are 17 days away. Here is a collection of coverage from The New York Times and elsewhere on efforts to mislead voters on social media and the wider internet.” As Election Day draws near, a growing amount of disinformation is getting published online to confuse, inflame or distract potential voters. To help… Continue Reading
Department of Interior’s proposal to destroy records may be of interest
“As I mentioned a while back, I’ve started a new project to bring much-needed transparency to the process whereby agencies get permission to destroy their records at fixed intervals (chosen by the agencies and okayed by the National Archives). I’m obtaining and posting every such request, which have never appeared online before. This project is… Continue Reading
Everything You Need To Know About The First Smithsonian African American Film Festival
“More than 80 movies by and about African Americans will be screened in D.C. next week as part of the inaugural Smithsonian’s African American Film Festival. The four-day festival, which runs from Oct. 24 – 27, includes films ranging from Hollywood hits to experimental shorts. The event is organized by the National Museum of African… Continue Reading
Todd Bol, creator of the Little Free Library movement, dies at 62
Todd Bol hammered together the first Little Free Library. Then he built a movement around it. “Todd Bol believed the now-ubiquitous little boxes of books — and the neighbors who cared for them — could change a block, a city, the world. So he brought them to front yards all over, often installing them himself.… Continue Reading
Fortune annual list of companies best positioned for growth in the future
“Fortune just released its annual list of companies best positioned for growth in the future. The stock prices of 2017’s Future 50 companies gained 35% over the past year, nearly triple the return of the S&P 500 over the same period. At the top of the 2018 list? HR and business cloud software provider Workday, which… Continue Reading
The FBI of the National Park Service
Ouside: “The 33 special agents assigned to the Investigative Services Branch handle the most complex crimes committed on NPS land. When a day hike in Rocky Mountain National Park ended in a grisly death, ISB veteran Beth Shott hit the trail, where she began unraveling a harrowing case…The elite special agents assigned to the ISB—the… Continue Reading
DataKind – Harnessing the power of data science in the service of humanity
DataKind…use data to not only make better decisions about what kind of movie we want to see, but what kind of world we want to see: “This is, without hyperbole, a historic time for humanity. Mobile phones, sensors, and new software have created an abundance of data that can be mined, understood, and harnessed to… Continue Reading
Global Trends in Democracy: Background, U.S. Policy, and Issues for Congress
CRS Report via LC repository: Global Trends in Democracy: Background, U.S. Policy, and Issues for Congress. Michael A. Weber, Analyst in Foreign Affairs. Updated October 17, 2018. “Widespread concerns exist among analysts and policymakers over the current trajectory of democracy around the world. Congress has often played an important role in supporting and institutionalizing U.S. democracy… Continue Reading
Patterns in Nature: 2018 RSB Photographer of the Year shortlist – in pictures
The Royal Society of Biology’s 12 shortlisted entries range from symmetries seen under a microscope to camouflaged insects. Continue Reading
Halloween Candy, Ranked
Live and learn – all the better to plan: Halloween Candy, Ranked – Candy corn is only #21 🙁 Continue Reading
