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Daily Archives: October 7, 2019

Visualizing the Effects of Bad Weather and the Trade War on Farmers

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Center for Data Visualization – “The Wall Street Journal has created a series of data visualizations showing how bad weather and the United States-China trade war have created significant challenges for U.S. farmers. The visualizations show that the months between July 2018 and June 2019 were the wettest in the United States since record-keeping began in 1895, resulting in soggy fields that farmers could not plant in. In addition, U.S. exports for crops such as soybeans have declined due to the trade war with China. This combined strain has accelerated the decline of the number of farms in the United States, which will fall below two million for the first time in over a century.”

Take a look. [paywall]

Martha Minow On Forgiveness In The Criminal Justice System

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Berkman Klein Center – Harvard University – ““When Brandt Jean hugged the white police officer who had just been convicted of murdering his unarmed brother while he was in his own home, the act sparked a wider conversation about forgiveness, the law, and race in America. And while some saw officer Amber Guyger’s 10-year prison… Continue Reading

The Next Word – Where will predictive text take us?

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The New Yorker – [“At the end of every section in this article, you can read the text that an artificial intelligence predicted would come next.”] “…But Smart Compose goes well beyond spell-checking. It isn’t correcting words I’ve already formed in my head; it’s coming up with them for me, by harnessing the predictive power… Continue Reading

Researchers “Translate” Bat Talk. Turns Out, They Argue—A Lot

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Smithsonian.com – A machine learning algorithm helped decode the squeaks Egyptian fruit bats make in their roost, revealing that they “speak” to one another as individuals: “Plenty of animals communicate with one another, at least in a general way—wolves howl to each other, birds sing and dance to attract mates and big cats mark their… Continue Reading

College Students Just Want Normal Libraries

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The Atlantic – Schools have been on a mission to reinvent campus libraries—even though students just want the basics – “So far, the internet has not killed libraries either. But the percentage of higher-education budgets dedicated to libraries has been dwindling since the 1980s, and at many institutions there’s been a corresponding drop in reported… Continue Reading

The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes Than You

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The New York Times – “Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy. His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system. In the… Continue Reading

The Authoritarian’s Worst Fear? A Book

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The New York Times – “Governments are spending a remarkable amount of resources attacking books — because their supposed limitations are beginning to look like ageless strengths. Around the world, many authoritarian regimes — having largely corralled the internet — now have declared war on the written word, their oldest enemy. The received wisdom after… Continue Reading

World’s First Deepfake Audit Counts Videos and Tools on the Open Web

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IEEE Spectrum – A new report finds that deepfake software is still prohibitively hard to use, but that may not be true for much longer – “If you wanted to make a deepfake video right now, where would you start? Today, an Amsterdam-based startup has published an audit of all the online resources that exist… Continue Reading

Why America Needs Whistle-Blowers

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The New York Times – Opinion – They are not partisans but stewards of our constitutional democracy. By Allison Stanger. Dr. Stanger is the author of “Whistleblowers: Honesty in America From Washington to Trump.” “In accusing the intelligence community whistle-blower of partisanship and treason, President Trump has redefined whistle-blowing to serve his private interests rather… Continue Reading