CRS – Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2020:Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President, Updated February 23, 2021: “The process of appointing Supreme Court Justices has undergone changes over two centuries, but its most basic feature, the sharing of power between the President and Senate, has remained unchanged. To receive a lifetime… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: February 2021
Side effects, transmission, efficacy: What do we know about the COVID-19 vaccine now?
WHYY – PBS: “Several listeners also had questions about vaccine effectiveness and clinical trial reports. What do companies mean when they say their vaccines are 95% effective? First of all: Effectiveness and efficacy aren’t exactly the same thing. A vaccine’s efficacy tells us how well it worked to prevent disease in people in clinical trials,… Continue Reading
Mars rover’s giant parachute carried secret message
AP: “The huge parachute used by NASA’s Perseverance rover to land on Mars contained a secret message, thanks to a puzzle lover on the spacecraft team. Systems engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to spell out “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white strips of the 70-foot (21-meter) parachute. He also included the… Continue Reading
The 5 Trump Amendments to the Constitution
The Atlantic: “…Presidents have been the authors of many informal amendments. George Washington set enduring precedents such as the two-term limit on presidential service (a norm so embedded that after Franklin D. Roosevelt broke it, it was written into the formal Constitution). Andrew Jackson reimagined the president as the direct representative of the people. Abraham… Continue Reading
The Claim Review Project
“ClaimReview is a tagging system that fact-checkers can use to identify their articles for search engines and social media platforms such as Google Search, Google News, Bing, Facebook and YouTube. The platforms then use the tags to promote and highlight fact-check articles. Creating ClaimReview usually takes less than 30 seconds. Fact-checkers enter a few basic… Continue Reading
How to stop your emails from being tracked
The Verge: “All of those obnoxious marketing emails that crowd your inbox aren’t just pushing a product. They’re also tracking whether you’ve opened the email, when you opened it, and where you were at the time by using software like MailChimp to embed tracking software into the message. How does it work? A single tracking… Continue Reading
The Three Permissions: Presidential Removal and the Statutory Limits of Agency Independence
The Three Permissions: Presidential Removal and the Statutory Limits of Agency Independence, 121 Columbia Law Review No.1, January 2021. “Seven words stand between the President and the heads of over a dozen “independent agencies”: inefficiency, neglect of duty, and malfeasance in office (INM). The President can remove the heads of these agencies for INM and… Continue Reading
How to Design and Format an Ebook Using Google Docs
MakeUseOf – “You don’t need expensive software to create an ebook. Google Docs will do the job just fine once you know how. The process of writing an ebook can be daunting. Many people don’t know the first thing about formatting, designing a book cover, or publishing. Hiring professionals for every step of the process… Continue Reading
A Complete Guide for Lawyers Texting Clients
Sharon Miki – “Undoubtedly, communicating via text is part of daily life. So if you’re a lawyer who isn’t texting your clients yet, you could be missing out on a powerful way to reach clients and streamline your client communication process. Lawyer texting could make all the difference in a client-lawyer relationship, as it helps… Continue Reading
How to Get a Covid-19 Vaccine: a State-by-State Guide
WSJ – “The U.S. rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, managed individually by states instead of by the federal government, has been largely uneven and confusing to many seeking the vaccines. [Select your state to find information about getting vaccinated.] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued recommendations for who should get the vaccines… Continue Reading
Nasa has released stunning videos of its Perseverance rover landing on Mars
BBC – “The movies cover the final minutes of last week’s hair-raising descent, up to the point where the robot’s wheels make contact with the ground. The sequences show a whirl of dust and grit being kicked up as the vehicle is lowered by its rocket backpack to the floor of Jezero Crater. Perseverance was… Continue Reading
AI Can Stop Mass Shootings, and More
Cornell University – arXivLabs – AI Can Stop Mass Shootings, and More, Selmer Bringsjord, Naveen Sundar Govindarajulu, Michael Giancola, [v1] Fri, 5 Feb 2021 06:55:59 UTC (513 KB). “We propose to build directly upon our longstanding, prior r&d in AI/machine ethics in order to attempt to make real the blue-sky idea of AI that can… Continue Reading
