Monthly archives: November, 2014

New GAO Reports – Airport and Airway Trust Fund, Food Safety, Information Sharing

FISCAL YEAR 2014 AGREED-UPON PROCEDURES: Excise Tax Distributions to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and the Highway Trust Fund, GAO-15-152R: Published: Nov 6, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 6, 2014. FOOD SAFETY: FDA and USDA Should Strengthen Pesticide Residue Monitoring Programs and Further Disclose Monitoring Limitations, GAO-15-38: Published: Oct 7, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 6, 2014. INFORMATION SHARING: DHS Is Assessing Fusion …

Subjects: Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Transportation

Mapping the Response to Internal Displacement: The Evolution of Normative Developments

The Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement: “According to best estimates, by early 2014, there were over 30 million people who had been internally displaced by conflict and human rights violations. This was the highest number ever recorded and over 25 times the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) counted in 1982. Some of this increase …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Government Documents

Municipal Response to Fiscal Distress in Detroit

Wilson, Meghan, City Auction: Municipal Response to Fiscal Distress in Detroit (November 4, 2014). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2519149 “Over the last decade, several metropolitan cities have been forced to think critically about their long-term financial solvency. This paper considers the tangible impacts of long-term financial planning in Detroit, Michigan. In July of 2013, …

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

Basel III implementation: Progress, pitfalls, and prospects

Keynote speech by Mr Stefan Ingves, Chairman, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and Governor, Sveriges Riksbank at the High-Level Meeting for the Americas, Lima, Peru, 3-5 November 2014. “In the four decades of the Committee’s existence, Latin America’s banks and banking regulators have witnessed their fair share of financial and macroeconomic stress. In meeting those …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

Lack of Transparency Raises Serious Concerns about Planned Uranium Processing Facility

“Federal officials have refused to publicly release information about the cost and scope of a planned Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) in Tennessee, even as the project moves toward the design and construction phase. The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has raised alarms about the scant details that have been revealed about the multi-billion dollar UPF project …

Subjects: Congress, Defense, Environmental Law, Government Documents

Internet Archive launches online library of video games from the “old days”

“The Internet Arcade is a web-based library of arcade (coin-operated) video games from the 1970s through to the 1990s, emulated in JSMAME, part of the JSMESS software package. Containing hundreds of games ranging through many different genres and styles, the Arcade provides research, comparison, and entertainment in the realm of the Video Game Arcade. The game …

Subjects: Internet

NOAA removes 57 tons of marine debris from Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

News release: “A team of 17 NOAA divers sailing aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette has returned from a 33-day mission to remove marine debris from Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, a World Heritage Site and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. In total, they removed approximately 57 tons of derelict fishing nets …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents

The Amazing Pattern Library

The Amazing Pattern Library “A PROJECT BY TIM HOLMAN & CLAUDIO GUGLIERI THIS ON GOING PROJECT COMPILES PATTERNS SHARED BY THE MOST TALENTED DESIGNERS OUT THERE FOR YOU TO USE FREELY IN YOUR DESIGNS.”

Subjects: Internet

Berlin Weighs Possible Hit to U.S. Tech Firms

WSJ – “German politicians are debating a new Internet-security law that could exclude U.S. technology companies from Germany’s digital economy, a sign Berlin is beginning to press its commercial advantage after revelations of spying by the NSA. The draft law, which is still being hammered out, envisions new requirements like revealing source code or other proprietary …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, EU Data Protection, Government Documents, Legislation, Privacy

McKinsey – A road map to the future for the auto industry

The China factor – “Fifty years of innovations in horsepower, safety, and rider amenities have helped automobile sales grow by an average annual rate of 3 percent since 1964. This is roughly double the rate of global population growth over the same period and makes for a planet with over one billion vehicles on its roads. For …

Subjects: Economy, Transportation

Why Libraries [Still] Matter

Why Libraries [Still] Matter – Jonathan Zittrain…”To this day, the Harvard Law School Library, which I direct, claims distinction as the largest academic law library in the world. Volume of volumes was never the whole story, though. Libraries have, over time, inhabited the roles not only of guardians of knowledge, but of curators, and not merely for …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries

Thank you!