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Monthly Archives: August 2021

Wide partisan divide on whether voting is a fundamental right or a privilege with responsibilities

Pew: “As political battles continue around the nation over voting access and restrictions, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that a majority of Americans (57%) say voting is “a fundamental right for every adult U.S. citizen and should not be restricted in any way.” Fewer (42%) express the view that “voting is a privilege… Continue Reading

It is time for a mask upgrade

Axios: “Experts warn it’s time to invest in higher-quality masks with a tight fit in the wake of the Delta variant, especially among the unvaccinated like children and other vulnerable populations. Why it matters: Much of the public health message has been to persuade people to wear any mask let alone which kind to buy.… Continue Reading

US mission in Afghanistan a failure: Government watchdog

Follow up to previous posting – The Afghanistan Papers A secret history of the war – see also two new reports from Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR): SIGAR released its 11th lessons learned report examining the past 20 years of the U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. After spending $145 billion trying to rebuild… Continue Reading

How to Use Your Browser’s ‘Reader Mode’ to Actually Read What You Click

Lifehacker: “Most of the time, you’re probably skimming the web instead of actually reading it. And that’s okay for quick news updates and browsing social media. But when you’ve opened up a long article that you actually want to read, things start to get difficult. You find your mind wandering, and paying attention to the… Continue Reading

Review-it

“Review-it provides anonymous resource reviews (electronic, print, software, other) to the law library committee. This is a crowd sourced review tool that shares feedback on legal resource tools to the community at large as a benefit in saving time and individual analysis. Have a tool you would like to review? Or are you seeking feedback… Continue Reading

3 video tools to help remote workers feel connected to the hybrid office

Fast Company – “Remote work has oodles of benefits for employers and employees alike: a larger talent pool, less overhead, flexible scheduling, and more. There are some drawbacks, though, especially for hybrid companies with a mix of remote and in-office workers: potential communication issues, isolation for remote people on in-person teams, and culture challenges. To… Continue Reading

The Birds on My Balcony Have Taught Me a Lot About the Pandemic

The New York Times: “…Nature has been an escape for many of us during the Covid-19 pandemic. The freedom of wild animals has seemed especially wonderful when our own movements and associations have been clipped. If you watch wildlife closely, however, you will eventually witness the uncontrolled spread of illness — the worst-case scenario we… Continue Reading

The Afghanistan Papers A secret history of the war

“A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals [Dec. 9, 2019] that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable. The documents were generated by… Continue Reading

Social media really is making us more morally outraged

Popular Science: “To no one’s surprise, scientists from Yale University found that social media platforms like Twitter amplify our collective moral outrage. Additionally, they found that it was mostly politically moderate users who learned to be more outraged over time. Their findings are detailed in a new study in Science Advances.  “We were interested in… Continue Reading