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Daily Archives: August 19, 2021

How plants have influenced human societies

The Harvard Gazette: “In March, Batsaki, executive director of Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks research institute, library, museum, and garden in Washington, D.C., and a group of colleagues launched the Plant Humanities Lab — a digital repository of information and narrative storytelling on the historical and scientific lives of plants like the peony, turmeric root, and the banana. The project is part of a broader movement in humanities research that engages with critical questions of climate change and knowledge production. Researchers come from the social sciences, biology, botany, and other disciplines that rarely converge in academia. Through collaborative storytelling and information-gathering, they hope to shed light on the historical relationships between humans and their environments — and improve our current and future relationships with nature…” [h/t Jacqueline Royce]

Tweeters Behind Feeds Like DC REALTIME NEWS Make Every Shooting Known

Washington City Paper: “…While some social media spot news reporters such as Alan Henney have been around for more than a decade, several new ones, including DC REALTIME NEWS, MoCo PG News, CordellTraffic, and Killmoenews, have risen to prominence in recent years. Together they have more than 47,000 followers on Twitter. Some show their support… Continue Reading

Google says geofence warrants make up one-quarter of all US demands

TechCrunch: “For the first time, Google has published the number of geofence warrants it’s historically received from U.S. authorities, providing a rare glimpse into how frequently these controversial warrants are issued. The figures, published Thursday [August 19, 2021], reveal that Google has received thousands of geofence warrants each quarter since 2018, and at times accounted… Continue Reading

Those Anti-Covid Plastic Barriers Probably Don’t Help and May Make Things Worse

The New York Times: “Covid precautions have turned many parts of our world into a giant salad bar, with plastic barriers separating sales clerks from shoppers, dividing customers at nail salons and shielding students from their classmates. Intuition tells us a plastic shield would be protective against germs. But scientists who study aerosols, air flow… Continue Reading

What Every Legal Professional Should Know for Effective & Efficient Drafting in Microsoft Word

“Effectiveness Project Team Document Competency: What Every Legal Professional Should Know for Effective & Efficient Drafting in Microsoft Word – A Discussion of Document-Creation Workflows and Best Practices Guide – For legal professionals, the documents we create are the lasting evidence of the advice and counsel we give. Our documents represent our substantive skill and… Continue Reading

What to know about coronavirus booster shots in the US

Washington Post: “The United States on Wednesday became the latest country to embrace the widespread use of coronavirus vaccine booster shots, citing new data that shows the vaccines’ effectiveness waning over time. The Biden administration said it plans to make booster shots available to Americans starting the week of Sept. 20, pending reviews by federal… Continue Reading

Protect Yourself From Abuse: How to Find and Remove Stalkerware on Your Phone and PC

PCMag: “What if your phone calls, texts, FaceTime sessions, and GPS locations were being logged without your consent? What if they were all being sent to a tech-savvy stalker—often a former romantic partner or an abusively controlling current partner—who had gotten malware onto your phones, tablets, and pcs, effectively bugging them? That’s the unsettling job… Continue Reading

Employers are setting rules on home offices. Yes, the one in your home.

Tech Republic: “Earlier this month, Gartner published a report outlining a number of “gaps” in perception among company leaders and employees regarding the “future employee experience.” The findings detail a number of areas where employee sentiment about work operations and communication are not aligned with executive perceptions. Overall, 66% of employees felt they had the… Continue Reading

The hand gestures that last longer than spoken languages

BBC Future: “The hand gestures that last longer than spoken languages…Gestures that communicate a specific meaning, like “I don’t know” or “everything is OK”, are called emblematic gestures. “If you look across cultures, these emblematic gestures are used for interpersonal control,” says Cooperrider. “They’re not used to describe objects. You might imagine that people will… Continue Reading

More Americans now say government should take steps to restrict false information online

Pew: “Amid rising concerns over misinformation online – including surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, especially vaccines – Americans are now a bit more open to the idea of the U.S. government taking steps to restrict false information online. And a majority of the public continues to favor technology companies taking such action, according to a new… Continue Reading