Washington Post: “Bookshelves are having a moment. Not long ago, their epitaph was being written. Ikea’s redesign of its Billy unit to accommodate objects other than books was cited as evidence that we had turned the page on possessing print. Now, that story has a sequel. Self-isolation has people rediscovering the value of having hardcovers… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: May 2020
How Patent Abuse Could Hurt the Fight Against the Pandemic
Slate – Scientific research that is funded by the public should be available to the public. “Scientific research that is funded by the public should be available to the public. That commonsense principle is no more apparent than in the middle of a public health crisis. And for the most part, researchers and journal publishers… Continue Reading
FHFA Announces Tools to Help Renters Find Out if They are Protected from Eviction
“To help renters find out if they are protected from evictions during the COVID-19 national health emergency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced today that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) have created online multifamily property lookup tools. The property lookup tools allow renters to find out if the multifamily property where they reside… Continue Reading
Here’s how lockdowns have improved air quality around the world
World Economic Forum: “…Two weeks after the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 23 in the UK, NO₂ pollution in some cities fell by as much as 60% compared to the same period in 2019. NASA revealed that NO₂ pollution over New York and other major metropolitan areas in north-eastern USA was 30% lower in… Continue Reading
Google Lens can now copy and paste handwritten notes to your computer
The Verge: “Google has added a very useful feature to Google Lens, its multipurpose object recognition tool. You can now copy and paste handwritten notes from your phone to your computer with Lens, though it only works if your handwriting is neat enough. In order to use the new feature, you need to have the… Continue Reading
The First 100 Days of the U.S. Government’s COVID-19 Response
“The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has compiled a day-by-day timeline of the first 100 days of the U.S. federal government’s response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, which began in China in late 2019 and became a global pandemic. The timeline begins with the glimmers of initial international awareness of this virus that causes COVID-19.… Continue Reading
How quarantine makes the case for house arrest as an alternative to prison
ABA For Law Students: “…I hope in light of this quarantine—and everyone experiencing a mild form of house arrest—more people will see the validity of house arrest as a real alternative to incarceration. As in my case, this solution can alleviate not just the financial burden of mass incarceration, it can also benefit the inmate,… Continue Reading
New website to report COVID-19 treatment adverse events
PHARMAField: “A new online reporting site, dedicated to reporting any COVID-19 treatment adverse events, including suspected side effects from medicines, future vaccines and incidents involving medical equipment relating to COVID-19 treatment, has been launched. The new and tailored Yellow Card COVID-19 reporting site makes it quicker and simpler for healthcare professionals, patients and carers to report side-effects or incidents. The site has been developed as part of the Medicines and… Continue Reading
Facebook uses 1.5bn Reddit posts to create chatbot
BBC News: “Facebook has launched a new chatbot that it claims is able to demonstrate empathy, knowledge and personality. “Blender” was trained using available public domain conversations which included 1.5 billion examples of human exchanges. The social media giant said 49% of people preferred interactions with the chatbot, compared with another human. But experts say… Continue Reading
NOAA exploring impact of COVID-19 response on the environment
NOAA: “The coronavirus pandemic response has reduced pollution from a large number of sources across many geographic regions. NOAA has launched a wide-ranging research effort to investigate the impact of reduced vehicle traffic, air travel, shipping, manufacturing and other activities on Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. NOAA scientists are using the most advanced atmosphere-ocean models to… Continue Reading
What U.S. States Are Ready To Test & Trace Today?
#TestandTrace: “Test and Trace is a classic public health approach for containing diseases. It means identifying people who have come into contact with an infected person (contact tracing) , testing them, and then isolating them if they’re sick. This is proven to quickly limit the spread of a deadly disease like COVID-19. Here’s a basic… Continue Reading
How My Boss Monitors Me While I Work From Home
The New York Times – As we shelter in place in the pandemic, more employers are using software to track our work — and us: “…With millions of us working from home in the coronavirus pandemic, companies are hunting for ways to ensure that we are doing what we are supposed to. Demand has surged… Continue Reading
