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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

17 Hidden Facebook Features Only Power Users Know

PC Mag – The world’s largest social network is full of advanced features that you’re probably not using, so we dug deep into the settings menu to find the most useful ones for you. Despite its issues (and there are many), Meta’s Facebook remains today’s foremost digital public square. Politicians and journalists gravitate toward X/Twitter,… Continue Reading

Your employer might be spying on your tech. Here’s how to check.

Washington Post: “Your employer may be able to see everything you’re doing on your phone or computer. They might know you’re reading this article right now. (Hi!) But how can you be sure? Companies have a growing number of ways to keep tabs on workers. They can gather details from common workplace apps and use… Continue Reading

Durbin Reveals Omissions of Gifted Private Travel to Justice Clarence Thomas from Harlan Crow

“In exclusively obtained information from Harlan Crow as a result of Durbin and the Senate Judiciary Committee Majority’s Supreme Court ethics investigation and subpoena authorization, Durbin releases details of gifted private travel to Justice Thomas that Thomas has failed to disclose. WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary… Continue Reading

Build it and they will come? The effects of a new infrastructure on cycling practices and experiences

Patrick Rérat, Aurélie Schmassmann, Build it and they will come? The effects of a new infrastructure on cycling practices and experiences, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Volume 25, 2024, 101121, ISSN 2590-1982, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2024.101121. Abstract: What are the effects of cycling infrastructure? This question is crucial as cities begin to give more space to cycling. In this… Continue Reading

So What Is Going On With the Supreme Court in 2024?

Slate [read 5 articles free before paywalled] – “If you’re interested in understanding more about what the high court is, how it functions, and why it seems to have recently lurched to the right, start here…The 5 Circuit Court of Appeals covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Trump appointed six judges to this bench, some of… Continue Reading

There’s a Trump Presidential Library at the National Archives and It’s Hiring

No words for this via Washingtonian – “Now here’s a fun job listing: This position is part of the National Archives and Records Administration. Incumbent serves as the Deputy Director of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library within the National Archives and Records Administration. Serves as a principal advisor to the Library Director. At the… Continue Reading

Platform Response to Disinformation during the EU Election 2024

Fundacion Maladista.es: Analysis of the responses of very large online platforms to debunked disinformation during the EU Election 2024. 1. Executive summary – The goal of this report is to evaluate how five very large online platforms (VLOPs: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube) have responded to debunked electoral disinformation about the European Parliamentary elections… Continue Reading

Book bans in political context: Evidence from US schools

Book bans in political context: Evidence from US schools. PNAS Nexus, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2024, pgae197, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae197 “In the 2021–2022 school year, more books were banned in US school districts than in any previous year. Book banning and other forms of information censorship have serious implications for democratic processes, and censorship has become… Continue Reading

Data broker shuts down product related to driver behavior patterns

The Record: “The revelation earlier this year that General Motors had been selling driver behavior patterns to data brokers — who in turn packaged and resold it to insurers — has led at least one of two major data brokers to shut down its related product.  That data broker, Verisk, disclosed last month that it… Continue Reading

What Animal Studies Are Revealing About Their Minds and Ours

TIME – “…The last few months alone have been something of a boom time for research into the intelligence and behavior of animals. German researchers discovered a sort of pre-verbal stage in finches—similar to the babbling stage in humans—that leads to their becoming fluent in song. Studies in Sweden and Vienna explored the role of… Continue Reading

Google sued by top textbook publishers over ads for pirated e-books

XM: “June 5 (Reuters) – Google was hit with a lawsuit on Wednesday by educational publishers Cengage, Macmillan Learning, McGraw Hill and Elsevier accusing the tech giant of promoting pirate copies of their textbooks. The publishers told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that Google has ignored thousands of copyright-infringement… Continue Reading

XScreenSaver

“a collection of free screen savers for X11, macOS, iOS and Android.  by Jamie Zawinski and many others. XScreenSaver for Android is… a set of screen savers and live wallpapers. That’s it. It draws pretty pictures on your screen. And it’s free. That’s the whole deal. But in their wisdom, Google — the most rapacious… Continue Reading