CBS News – only 5% of plastics recycled in U.S. last year as production rises: “Plastic recycling rates are declining even as production shoots up, according to a Greenpeace USA report out Monday that blasted industry claims of creating an efficient, circular economy as “fiction.” Titled “Circular Claims Fall Flat Again,” the study found that… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: October 2022
There are three types of meetings
Cam Daigle: “I have a system – a survival mechanism, really – for classifying, planning, and executing meetings in a way that helps keep me sane at work. I’ve shared it with enough folks for whom it was also a survival mechanism that it’s now a system, at a URL, for you. You can’t solve… Continue Reading
The Trump Tapes: 20 interviews that show why he is an unparalleled danger
Washington Post – Bob Woodward: “…In the “The Trump Tapes,” I share my personal reporting journey through the eight hours of interviews. I provide commentary at more than 200 points in the audiobook, explicitly offering my own reactions, hesitations, conclusions, and explanations of my method of gathering and confirming information. When Trump came on the… Continue Reading
Stress in America 2022 – Concerned for the future, beset by inflation
“The U.S. population has experienced an intense range of stressors over the past few years, as the Covid-19 pandemic, racial injustice, and political divisiveness have dominated news cycles and social media. A new survey, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of APA, tells a story of uncertainty and dissolution. Stress in America 2022: Concerned… Continue Reading
Don’t expect your car’s safety technology to save you
The Verge: “…The companies are referring to technologies, typically known as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), that can manage aspects of the driving experience and intervene if the human behind the wheel makes a mistake. Such features include automatic emergency braking, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, and pedestrian detection. With billions of dollars invested, automakers,… Continue Reading
Tracking Misleading Tweets
Center for Data Innovation: “The Verge, a U.S.-based technology news publication, has created a dataset of tweets flagged for misinformation in Twitter’s Birdwatch program. Twitter’s Birdwatch program serves as a content moderation ecosystem in which users can identify misleading tweets, annotate them with additional context, rate each others’ notes, and view all submitted notes. The… Continue Reading
How Amazon Accelerated the Commodification of Literature
LitHub: “Amazon founder Jeff Bezos came up with the slogan “Get Big Fast” because he knew size was crucial to exacting ever lower prices from suppliers. Publishers have tried to respond to Amazon’s power by doing the exact same thing, accelerating their decades-long campaign of mergers and acquisitions to consolidate into an ever smaller number… Continue Reading
Google offers more control over the ads you see
ZDNet: “Google on [October 20, 2022] began rolling out a new tool that gives users more control over the ads they see when using Google products – without hampering the way products like Google Search, Discover, and YouTube actually work. My Ad Center, among other things, lets users block whole categories of ads they’re not… Continue Reading
Texas AG Sues Google for its Unauthorized Capture and Use of Biometric Data and Violation of Texans’ Privacy
“Attorney General Paxton has sued Google, alleging that the tech giant has unlawfully captured and used the biometric data of millions of Texans without properly obtaining their informed consent to do so. The lawsuit alleges that Google, in yet another violation of Texans’ privacy, has collected millions of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of… Continue Reading
Freedom on the Net 2022: Countering an Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet
“Global internet freedom declined for a 12th consecutive year as more governments erected digital barriers designed to censor dissent and monitor users, according to a report released today by Freedom House. The study finds that more than three-quarters of the world’s internet users now live in countries where authorities punish people for exercising their right… Continue Reading
State of the Birds 2022
NACBI: “The United States and Canada have lost 3 billion breeding birds since 1970—a loss of 1 in 4 birds, according to research published in Science in 2019. This steep decline in abundance can be reversed with new scales of conservation actions that benefit not only birds but also wildlife and people. When birds thrive,… Continue Reading
‘Independent State Legislature Theory’
Brennan Center – Who Protects Your Vote?: “The “independent state legislature theory” is a misreading of the Constitution, advanced in recent years by a small group of right-wing advocates, that would give state legislatures wide authority to gerrymander electoral maps and pass voter suppression laws. It has even been used as political cover to try… Continue Reading
