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Daily Archives: June 10, 2021

You’re Probably Not Using the Web’s Best Browser

Wired: “Remember when web browsers were useful tools? Remember when you could follow sites you liked, check your email, and see your calendar, all without leaving the browser? Or, I should say, remember when you could do all that without Big Tech feeding your personal data into the yawning maw of surveillance capitalism?  I remember those days because I am still living in them, thanks to a web browser you might not have heard of: Vivaldi.  This week, the team behind the Vivaldi web browser released version 4.0, which seems like an appropriate time for me to tell you that you need to try it out. To riff off Neil Stephenson, Vivaldi outshines all other web browsers “in approximately the same way that the noonday sun does the stars … it is not just bigger and brighter; it simply makes everything else vanish.”..

Employees Are Lonelier Than Ever. Here’s How Employers Can Help.

Harvard Business Review: “Rising rates of loneliness among employees during the pandemic have put the well-being of employees top of mind for most companies as they map out the future of work. They know that loneliness brings health problems, reduced productivity, turnover, and burnout. Some, including JPMorgan and Google, have already declared a return to… Continue Reading

What makes a news story trustworthy?

“Americans see a variety of factors as important when it comes to deciding whether a news story is trustworthy or not, but their attitudes vary by party affiliation, demographic characteristics and news consumption habits, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Overall, broad majorities of U.S. adults say it is at least somewhat important… Continue Reading

Private Sector Implications of Biden’s Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk

Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: “The Biden Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk (the Executive Order) is the latest significant step by the Administration to analyze and mitigate the risks that climate change poses to the U.S. economy, businesses, workers and the financial system. [1] It aims to advance the Biden Administration’s policy… Continue Reading

How to Protect Species and Save the Planet—at Once

IPBES-IPCC Co-Sponsored Workshop – Biodiversity and Climate Change Workshop Report, June 10, 2021 “In December 2020, 50 of the world’s leading biodiversity and climate experts, selected by a 12-person Scientific Steering Committee assembled by IPBES and IPCC, participated in a four-day virtual workshop to examine the synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity protection and climate change… Continue Reading

Google Seeks to Break Vicious Cycle of Online Slander

The New York Times: “For many years, the vicious cycle has spun: Websites solicit lurid, unverified complaints about supposed cheaters, sexual predators, deadbeats and scammers. People slander their enemies. The anonymous posts appear high in Google results for the names of victims. Then the websites charge the victims thousands of dollars to take the posts… Continue Reading

White House: Agencies shouldn’t require vaccinations or ask for employees’ vaccination status

Safer Federal Workforce/GSA: “Q: Should agencies require employees to be vaccinated or inquire regarding their vaccination status? A: The Administration strongly encourages all Americans, including Federal employees and contractors, to be vaccinated. Employees should receive paid time off to be vaccinated and to deal with any side effects. At present, COVID-19 vaccination should generally not… Continue Reading

Federal agencies can lift caps on number of employees working on-site

Washington Post – “The Biden administration Thursday told federal agencies that they no longer have to limit the number of employees allowed in the workplace, but kept in place an expansive telework policy that was instituted during the coronavirus pandemic, an approach that could slow the return to federal buildings. The long-awaited guidance, the first… Continue Reading