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Daily Archives: October 3, 2021

New UN tool maps floods since 1985 to street level

Developed by UN University with Google and other partners, free online World Flood Mapping Tool will help plan urban and agricultural development, effective flood defences, disaster readiness, identify supply chain vulnerabilities. UN University-led experts have debuted a new tool that generates instant, accurate street-level resolution maps of floods worldwide since 1985. The free online World Flood Mapping Tool will help all countries but especially those in the Global South, where flood risk maps are rare and often badly out of date. Created by the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Hamilton, Canada, with support from Google, MapBox and other partners listed below, the tool lets users adjust variables to help locate gaps in flood defences and responses, and to plan future development of all kinds — for example, where to build or upgrade infrastructure, or develop agriculture. Simple to use, the tool, at  https://floodmapping.inweh.unu.edu, requires only Internet access to obtain a flood map at 30-meter resolution — street by street level. An upcoming version for more commercial uses, for example by insurance firms, will offer even more precise building-level resolution. The tool allows users to adjust variables to help locate gaps in flood defences and responses, and to plan future development of all kinds — for example, where to build or upgrade infrastructure, or develop agriculture….”

Cisco 2021 Consumer Privacy Survey

Cisco Secure – Building Consumer Confidence Through Transparency and Control: “Protecting privacy continues to be a critical issue for individuals, organizations, and governments around the world. Eighteen months into the COVID-19 pandemic, our health information and vaccination status are needed more than ever to understand the virus, control the spread, and enable safer environments for… Continue Reading

There’s a Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data

The MarkUp – A huge but little-known industry has cropped up around monetizing people’s movements – “Companies that you likely have never heard of are hawking access to the location history on your mobile phone. An estimated $12 billion market, the location data industry has many players: collectors, aggregators, marketplaces, and location intelligence firms, all… Continue Reading

How to Get Google Search Results That Are Actually Useful

Wired: Here’s how to cut through the sponsored listings and ads—and get back to the good stuff….To get good results out of Google, you need to go beyond simply typing out a few keywords and hoping for the best. Using the tips we’ve outlined below, you should be able to find what you’re after faster… Continue Reading

Clearview AI Has New Tools to Identify You in Photos

Wired – “In an interview with WIRED, CEO Hoan Ton-That said the company has scraped 10 billion photos from the web—and developed new ways to aid police surveillance. Clearview AI has stoked controversy by scraping the web for photos and applying facial recognition to give police and others an unprecedented ability to peer into our… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 2, 2021

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 2, 2021 – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly… Continue Reading

Workers are putting on pants to return to the office only to be on Zoom all day

Washington Post: “Pandemic-era safety procedures have created a new dynamic at work, in which many employees say they’re operating at work the same way they were at home…As many office workers head back to the office — even as the delta variant spreads across the United States — employees are facing a bizarre new reality:… Continue Reading

Visualizing Daily Activities of Men and Women

Center for Data Innovation: “FlowingData, an online publication that creates data visualizations, has created a visualization depicting the daily activities of men and women – How Men and Women Spend Their Days. The visualization shows what activities men and women devote their time to throughout the day based on their employment status. For example, the… Continue Reading

OMB’s Made in America Website Showcases What Agencies Aren’t Buying Here

NextGov: “The Office of Management and Budget’s Made in American Office launched a website [October 1, 2021] that fulfills a key aspect of a January executive order from President Joe Biden ordering federal agencies to buy more American-made products. Launched through the General Services Administration, the website—MadeinAmerica.gov—will publish information on proposed waivers and waivers granted… Continue Reading

Leaders are thinking about hybrid work in a one-dimensional way. This is a better approach.

Fast Company – “The term “hybrid work” has come to mean more flexibility around working both remotely and in the office. But perhaps we could be applying the same term to the speed of work as well. Post-pandemic, are our work lives slowing down or speeding up? There seem to be conflicting answers. On the… Continue Reading

Report – USPS Mail Slowdown plan will not save money

Postal Regulatory Commission Report – ADVISORY OPINION ON SERVICE CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH FIRST-CLASS MAIL AND PERIODICALS – Submitted 7/20/2021 – “…As an initial matter, the Commission finds that the Postal Service’s proposal appears to target mail that consistently fails to meet service performance goals and has the most opportunity for improvement. Expanding the service standard window… Continue Reading

Massachusetts is Pouring Billions into a Gas System that Will Be Obsolete

New Report Uncovers Opportunity to Fund Energy Transition – Boston, MA — “Today the Gas Leaks Allies release the first in-depth analysis of a massive Massachusetts program—the Gas System Enhancement Program (GSEP)— to accelerate the replacement of leak-prone gas pipes. The report, GSEP at the Six-Year Mark: A Review of the Massachusetts Gas System Enhancement Program, finds… Continue Reading