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Daily Archives: May 14, 2024

How the Pandemic Reshaped American Gun Violence

The New York Times: “Taking a stroll around the neighborhood is a routine activity for many Americans. Yet for 47 million people — about one in seven — such a walk would pass near the location of a recent gun homicide. The number of people living this close to fatal violence grew drastically during the pandemic years, a New York Times analysis has found, as a surge in killings not only worsened gun violence in neighborhoods that were already suffering but also spread into new places. To assess the impact of the pandemic years, The New York Times created a map of every gun homicide in the United States since 2020, using data collected from the police and news media accounts by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. For every block where Americans resided, The Times then drew a quarter-mile circle to determine how many people lived in close proximity to the killings. Often, it was not just one killing, but two or three. In extreme cases, a dozen fatal shootings or more fell within those circles. Enter your address to see how many fatal shootings took place near you…”

How to prepare for another season of wildfire smoke

Vox: “Several US states are again experiencing an influx of wildfire smoke as Canada’s summer fire season gets underway. Due to the scale of the wildfires and natural weather patterns, enormous amounts of smoke are drifting southward — much like last year. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota are among the earliest states to… Continue Reading

PolitiFact launches Spanish-language website to serve more than 40 million U.S. Spanish-speakers

“Poynter’s PolitiFact, the Pulitzer-Prize winning fact-checking newsroom, is pleased to announce the launch of a new Spanish-language experience, PolitiFact en Español, to help more than 40 million Spanish-speakers in the U.S. sort out the truth in politics. A new Spanish-language website and a related social media presence are the culmination of an effort that began… Continue Reading

Daily court transcripts – People v Trump Stormy Daniels payoff

pdfs.nycourts.gov – /PeopleVs.DTrump-71543/transcripts/ [To Parent Directory] 5/13/2024 4:31 PM 2239131 4-22-2024.pdf 5/13/2024 4:34 PM 2488456 4-23-2024.pdf 5/13/2024 4:34 PM 3407978 4-25-2024.pdf 5/13/2024 4:34 PM 3453757 4-26-2024.pdf 5/13/2024 4:34 PM 3355432 4-30-2024.pdf 5/13/2024 4:34 PM 3540025 5-02-2024.pdf 5/13/2024 4:34 PM 3363923 5-03-2024.pdf 5/7/2024 10:30 PM <dir> 5-06-2024 5/9/2024 1:53 PM <dir> 5-07-2024 5/10/2024 8:22 PM <dir>… Continue Reading

7 Steps to Disprove a Conspiracy Theory

The Conversation: “Conspiracy theories are everywhere, and they can involve just about anything. People believe false conspiracy theories for a wide range of reasons – including the fact that there are real conspiracies, like efforts by the Sackler family to profit by concealing the addictiveness of oxycontin at the cost of countless American lives. The… Continue Reading

What I wish I’d known before my smartphone was snatched

FT.com – unpaywalled: “Phone theft is rising at a rapid pace. And far more lucrative than the value of the handset, organised criminal gangs know that our smartphones have become the gateway to a vast amount of our personal financial information. They will go to incredible lengths to steal phones unlocked, deploying tactics including “shoulder… Continue Reading

Google now offers ‘web’ search and an AI opt-out button

The Verge: “This is not a joke: Google will now let you perform a “web” search. It’s rolling out “web” searches now, and in my early tests on desktop, it’s looking like it could be an incredibly popular change to Google’s search engine. The optional setting filters out almost all the other blocks of content… Continue Reading

Decode ingredient lists like a pro

“INCIDecoder is a tool to help you to understand ingredient lists at a press of a button. Not just giving you some numbers or colorings (though we do that too, if you are in a hurry, but having science-based and easy-to-understand explanations about more and more ingredients, so that you can truly understand ingredient lists,… Continue Reading