Day archives: April 27th, 2014

Children’s Rights: International and National Laws and Practices

Via the Law Library of Congress, the following reports: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Nicaragua, Russia, and the United Kingdom (England and Wales). For each nation, the study focuses on the domestic laws and policies that affect child health and social welfare, education and special needs, child labor and exploitation, sale and trafficking of children, and juvenile justice. Children’s Rights also lists which pertinent international …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Playing the Shadowy World of Emerging Market Shadow Banking

Michael, Bryane, Playing the Shadowy World of Emerging Market Shadow Banking (April 25, 2014). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2429583 “For emerging market regulators, shadow banking represents an activity which they must control. For businessmen in economies like Russia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Mexico, shadow banking represents an important business opportunity. By extending credit to risky (but promising) …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System

WaPo – Surveillance court rejected Verizon challenge to NSA calls program

Ellen Nakashima’s article [snipped] – Verizon in January filed a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s program that collects billions of Americans’ call-detail records, but a surveillance court rejected it, according to newly declassified documents and individuals with knowledge of the matter. In denying the phone company’s petition in March, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Mail, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

B612 Foundation Video Shows Evidence of 26 Multi-Kiloton Asteroid Impacts Since 2001

“At a press conference on Tuesday April 22, 2014 at the Seattle Museum of Flight, three prominent astronauts supporting the B612 Foundation presented a visualization of new data showing the surprising frequency at which the Earth is hit by asteroids. The astronauts were guests of the Seattle Museum for a special series of public events …

Subjects: Government Documents

New on LLRX – Personal Task Management for Legal Professionals

Via LLRX.com – Personal Task Management for Legal Professionals – Brad Edmondson searched for the right task management app throughout much of his time attending law school. He finally found and recommends in this article one that he chose for individual use: Todoist. The app – it’s really more of a service – operates on the “freemium” model, and …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The limits of ‘Hack the library’: Don’t aim for too much more with too much less–and try harder for more

Via LLRX.com – The limits of ‘Hack the library’: Don’t aim for too much more with too much less–and try harder for more – David Rothman notes that less than 12 percent of U.S. public library spending goes for books and other items. So he is very much in favor of the “hack the library” movement reinventing libraries. At …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries, Marketing

Stanford scholar says greatest dangers to nuclear facilities are sabotage, theft from insiders

News release: “Insider threats are the most serious challenge confronting nuclear facilities in today’s world, a Stanford political scientist says. In every case of theft of nuclear materials where the circumstances of the theft are known, the perpetrators were either insiders or had help from insiders, according to Scott Sagan and his co-author, Matthew Bunn of Harvard University, in …

Subjects: Censorship, Defense, Government Documents

Executive Orders: Issuance, Modification, and Revocation

CRS – Executive Orders: Issuance, Modification, and Revocation – Vivian S. Chu, Legislative Attorney; Todd Garvey, Legislative Attorney. April 16, 2014. “Executive orders, presidential memoranda, and proclamations are used extensively by Presidents to achieve policy goals, set uniform standards for managing the executive branch, or outline a policy view intended to influence the behavior of private citizens. The U.S. Constitution …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

New Research Shines Light on Gender Bias in Major U.S. Broadcast, Print, Online, & Wire Outlets

News release: “The Women’s Media Center – founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem – has the goal of making women visible and powerful in media. We examined 20 of the most widely circulated, read, viewed and listened to U.S. based TV networks, newspapers, news wires and online news sites. The research findings tell …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management

Ten Times More Solar Power Coming to New York With Expansion of State Program

VIa NRDC: The Cuomo administration today took the final step in approving a major expansion of the state’s NY-Sun Initiative—a program that is successfully boosting solar power across the state—extending it through 2023 and supporting a tenfold increase in the clean energy source. A statement from NRDC Clean Energy Counsel Kit Kennedy follows: “In just two years, …

Subjects: Energy, Government Documents, Transportation

Thank you!