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Daily Archives: November 2, 2020

Formulate Your Election Night Plans Now – 21 ways to distract yourself on Election Day

Lifehacker: “We don’t know what exactly election night will bring, but it’s unlikely that it will be the same straightforward process that has brought us accurate (if unofficial) results before midnight (almost) every other election cycle. And even if things go smoothly, the night is likely to be contentious and stressful for many of us. So let’s plan now. Get through the day first – Before we even get to election night, we need to get through the day. Perhaps you will be at work, or finding time to vote, or volunteering with get-out-the-vote efforts. If so: let those distract you. Focus on the task to be done. If you have a long empty day stretching out in front of you, make some plans now to give that time some structure. Exercise, meditation, volunteering, and productive activities like errands or even crafts can all help you expend your nervous energy while you’re waiting. If you need to vote, make sure to plan for that too. Double check your registration status and your state’s laws. Decide when you’re doing it and how you will get to the polls. Prepare yourself with information on what to do if you’re turned away; in many cases you can fill out a provisional ballot.

Consciously consider your mindset – While you’re doing all this, you may be tempted to brace for the worst. But it can be helpful to engage in cautious optimism, experts have told us. This way you get the mental benefits of allowing yourself to hope for the best. Explain it to your pessimist side this way: if the worst is going to happen anyway, why not enjoy those positive emotions while you still can…”

What Is the Election Needle? And Why Will We Have 4 of Them Tonight?

The New York Times – A closer look at our election forecaster before the Iowa caucuses. “Shortly before 9 p.m. Eastern on Monday, we expect the first returns from the Iowa Democratic caucuses. If you choose to follow the results live tonight, we hope you’ll do it with us: We’ll have results, analysis from our… Continue Reading

Why You Can’t Rely on Election Forecasts

The New York Times Opinion – Voting models are not as scientific or certain as they may seem.”…There are two broad ways to model an event: using “fundamentals” — mechanisms that can affect the event — and probabilities — measurements like polls. For elections, fundamentals would be historically informed lessons like, “a better economy favors… Continue Reading

What it’s like to get locked out of Google indefinitely

Business Insider – “Entrusting your data to big tech platforms can be highly risky. Users who have been banned by Google for supposedly violating its terms of service have been left without access to key parts of their lives. Many have appealed the suspensions but have received automated responses. They don’t know why they’ve been… Continue Reading

Librarian, Read Thyself

The Rambling: “Why would you enter a dying field?” “You need a master’s degree to shelve books?” “Must be nice to sit and read all day.” Such commentary is a rite of passage for librarians, inflicted by everyone from family members to university administrators. Equally often, however, the remarks are effusive: “I LOVE librarians!” “Librarians… Continue Reading

Cyberlaw Clinic and EFF publish Guide to Legal Risks of Security Research

Cyberlaw Clinic: “We are excited to announce the release of A Researcher’s Guide to Some Legal Risks of Security Research (pdf), a report authored by Sunoo Park and Kendra Albert, and co-published by the Cyberlaw Clinic and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Just last month, over 75 prominent security researchers signed a letter urging the… Continue Reading

When To Expect Election Results In Every State

FiveThirtyEight – A complete guide to poll closing times, vote counting and races to watch on election night 2020: “There’s a good chance we won’t know who won the presidential election on election night. More people than ever are voting by mail this year due to the pandemic, and mail ballots take longer to count… Continue Reading

What Is The Internet Doing To Boomers’ Brains?

HuffingtonPost – Social media platforms are sucking a generation into a misinformation rabbit hole: “…It has become a familiar story: The older relative, the intensifying Fox News habit, the alarming Facebook posts, the inevitable detachment from reality. Losing a parent to the conservative cyber-swamp is such a common experience among millennials that it has produced… Continue Reading

Twitter and the Federal Reserve: How the U.S. central bank is (and is not) surviving social media

Brookings Economic Studies – Twitter and the Federal Reserve: How the U.S. central bank is (and is not) surviving social media. Peter Conti-Brown and Brian Feinstein Thursday, October 29, 2020. This paper seeks to connect these two discussions—about the Fed’s efforts to increase its communications and the president’s use of Twitter to attack the Fed’s… Continue Reading