“The Internet Archive has extended our reader privacy protections by making the site encrypted by default. Visitors to archive.org and openlibrary.org will https unless they try to use http. For several years, the Internet Archive has tried to avoid keeping Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of our readers. Web servers and other software that interacts with… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: October 2013
Commentary – Power in the Age of the Feudal Internet
Bruce Schneier, Cryptographer and Computer Security Specialist and Author of Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Thrive “We’re in the middle of an epic battle for power in cyberspace. On one side are the nimble, unorganized, distributed powers such as dissident groups, criminals, and hackers. On the other side are the traditional,… Continue Reading
Map Shows The Most Famous Book Set In Every State
Via Business Insider – This Map Shows The Most Famous Book Set In Every State – MELISSA STANGER AND MIKE NUDELMAN “Local literature can be a surprising source of home state pride, no matter where you’re from. We found the most famous book set in each state. How many have you read? Check out the annotated map below.” Click for… Continue Reading
What Lies Beneath Deep below the streets of New York City
William Langewiesche in Vanity Fair – “Deep below the streets of New York City lie its vital organs—a water system, subways, railroads, tunnels, sewers, drains, and power and cable lines—in a vast, three-dimensional tangle. Penetrating this centuries-old underworld of caverns, squatters, and unmarked doors, William Langewiesche follows three men who constantly navigate its dangers: the subway-operations… Continue Reading
Rollout of Healthcare.gov not preceeded by adequate testing, debugging
What went wrong with HealthCare.gov? by Adam Mazmanian “A four-hour hearing on Capitol Hill confirmed that pre-launch testing of HealthCare.gov was inadequate given the size and scope of the project. Two IT contractors deeply enmeshed in the launch, CGI Federal and Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI), confirmed reports that end-to-end testing was conducted only in the… Continue Reading
140 Characters or Less: An Experiment in Legal Research
140 Characters or Less: An Experiment in Legal Research, Patrick M. Ellis – Michigan State University College of Law – October 1, 2013 “In 1995, Robert Ambrogi, former columnist for Legal Technology News, wrote about the Internet’s potential to revolutionize the accessibility and delivery of legal information. Almost 20 years later, Ambrogi now describes his initial optimism as a… Continue Reading
CDC Survey – Total and High-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Adults
Total and High-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011–2012 “Key findings – Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011–2012 In 2011–2012, an estimated 12.9% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over (11.1% of men and 14.4% of women) had high total cholesterol, which is unchanged since 2009–2010. Approximately… Continue Reading
Commentary – The Decline of Wikipedia
Tom Simonite – MIT Technology Review: “The sixth most widely used website in the world is not run anything like the others in the top 10. It is not operated by a sophisticated corporation but by a leaderless collection of volunteers who generally work under pseudonyms and habitually bicker with each other. It rarely tries… Continue Reading
The Fight Over Financial Literacy
Bloomberg.com reports on an issue vital to all Americans in an ongoing series of articles, videos, slideshows: “Many Americans, burdened by a lack of retirement savings and more than one trillion dollars in student loans, are desperate to know how to make smarter financial decisions. Educators, financial institutions and even some savvy parents have come… Continue Reading
CFPB – Making regulations easier to use
“We write rules to protect consumers, but what actually protects consumers is people: advocates knowing what rights people have, government agencies’ supervision and enforcement staff having a clear view of what potential violations to look out for; and responsible industry employees following the rules…we’re releasing a new open source tool we built, eRegulations, to help… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Electronic Health Records, Federal Real Property, Joint Military Education, FHFA
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS – Number and Characteristics of Providers Awarded Medicare Incentive Payments for 2011-2012, GAO-14-21R, Oct 24, 2013 FEDERAL REAL PROPERTY – Greater Transparency and Strategic Focus Needed for High-Value GSA Leases, GAO-13-744, Sep 19, 2013 JOINT MILITARY EDUCATION – Actions Needed to Implement DOD Recommendations for Enhancing Leadership Development, GAO-14-29, Oct 23, 2013 FEDERAL HOUSING ADMINISTRATION – Analysis of Options… Continue Reading
Mapping the Expansion of Google’s Serving Infrastructure
Mapping the Expansion of Google’s Serving Infrastructure – Matt Calder, University of Southern California; Xun Fan, USC/ISI; Zi Hu, USC/ISI; Ethan Katz-Bassett, University of Southern California; John Heidemann, USC/ISI; Ramesh Govindan; University of Southern California “Modern content-distribution networks both provide bulk content and act as “serving infrastructure” for web services in order to reduce user-perceived latency. Serving infrastructures such as Google’s are now critical to the online economy,… Continue Reading
