Pew – “A plurality of experts think sweeping societal change will make life worse for most people as greater inequality, rising authoritarianism and rampant misinformation take hold in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Still, a portion believe life will be better in a ‘tele-everything’ world where workplaces, health care and social activity improve…Asked to consider what life will be like in 2025 in the wake of the outbreak of the global pandemic and other crises in 2020, some 915 innovators, developers, business and policy leaders, researchers and activists responded. Their broad and nearly universal view is that people’s relationship with technology will deepen as larger segments of the population come to rely more on digital connections for work, education, health care, daily commercial transactions and essential social interactions. A number describe this as a “tele-everything” world…”
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Daily Archives: February 18, 2021
Should armed guards be in schools? This JAMA study on shootings may surprise you
Research Letter, Public Health. February 16, 2021. Presence of Armed School Officials and Fatal and Nonfatal Gunshot Injuries During Mass School Shootings, United States, 1980-2019. Jillian Peterson, PhD; James Densley, DPhil; Gina Erickson, PhD. JAMA Network Open. 2021;4(2):e2037394. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.37394 – “..This study examined a total of 133 cases of school shootings and attempted school shootings… Continue Reading
To Avoid a Repeat of Blackouts, Researcher Suggests Diversifying
Medium – Big Idea: Thousands of Californians suffered blackouts this fall, but research offers steps for utilities to prevent similar outages in the future. “In October and November, more than 800,000 Californians lost power, when Pacific Gas & Electric turned off transmission lines to prevent wildfires. In 2011, 54 Japanese nuclear plants were closed, after a… Continue Reading
Giving “Last Chance Books” New Life Through Digitization
Internet Archive Blogs – “Sometimes they arrive tied up in string because their binding is broken. Others are in envelopes to protect the brittle pages from further damage. Aging books are sent from libraries to the Internet Archive for preservation. Thanks to the careful work of the nearly 70 people who scan at digitization centers… Continue Reading
The Coup We Are Not Talking About
The New York Times – We can have democracy, or we can have a surveillance society, but we cannot have both. Dr. Shoshana Zuboff, a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, is the author of “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.” “I have spent exactly 42 years studying the rise of the digital as an economic… Continue Reading
Power Outages in Texas
CRS Insight – Power Outages in Texas, February 17, 2021: “Texas’s power outages, many experts argue, are largely a result of policies for electricity independence that the state has pursued for decades. Texas operates its own independent electrical grid, run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) that serves most of the state. Texas… Continue Reading
Now Available on Congress.gov – US Statutes at Large from 1973-1994
In Custodia Legis – “As announced at the Congress.gov Virtual Public Forum, we are excited to bring you more full-text access to legislation in the form of the United States Statutes at Large. Twenty years of law texts, dating from 1973-1994, are now easy to access from Congress.gov. Law texts can be accessed from lists… Continue Reading
Watch NASA’s Perseverance Rover Land on Mars
NASA – “Watch [and listen to the NASA team discuss many facets of this program] an epic journey unfold on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 as our Perseverance rover lands on Mars. To reach the surface of the Red Planet, the rover has to survive the harrowing final phase known as Entry, Descent, and Landing. Only… Continue Reading
Abortion: Judicial History and Legislative Response
CRS Report – Abortion: Judicial History and Legislative Response, Updated February 8, 2021: “In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in Roe v. Wade that the U.S. Constitution protects a woman’s decision to terminate her pregnancy. In a companion decision, Doe v. Bolton, the Court found that a state may not unduly burden the exercise… Continue Reading
How are bitcoin created?
The Hustle – “An illustrated guide to bitcoin mining, blockchains, and the “minting” process of cryptocurrency’s most popular coin. Bitcoin has had a banner start to the year. Less than 2 months after breaking the $20k barrier for the first time, the digital currency more than doubled in price, hitting a high of $49,344 this… Continue Reading
Can Computer Algorithms Learn to Fight Wars Ethically?
Washington Post Magazine: “Maybe the autonomous weapons being developed by the Pentagon will be better than humans at making moral decisions. Or maybe they’ll be a nightmare come to life…The scale of the exercises at West Point, in which roughly 100 students have participated so far, is small, but the dilemmas they present are emblematic… Continue Reading
The coronavirus is here to stay – here’s what that means
Nature – “For much of the past year, life in Western Australia has been coronavirus-free. Friends gathered in pubs; people kissed and hugged their relatives; children went to school without temperature checks or wearing masks. The state maintained this enviable position only by placing heavy restrictions on travel and imposing lockdowns — some regions entered… Continue Reading
