Research and reporting by ProPublica and NPR: “CVS is among hundreds of health providers nationwide that repeatedly violated the federal patient privacy law known as HIPAA between 2011 and 2014, a ProPublica analysis of federal data shows. Other well-known repeat offenders include the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Walgreens, Kaiser Permanente and Walmart. And yet,… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: December 2015
Open Pit Mine in Extraordinarily High Peruvian City Poisoning Citizens With Lead
National Geographic: “Latin America over the past decade has seen its mining sector triple in value to $300 billion. Peru’s economy, among the fastest growing, derives one-sixth of its gross domestic product from minerals. At Cerro de Pasco, you can see the entire history of Peruvian mining —and the costs it sometimes imposes: The mine… Continue Reading
NOAA Climate Data Online Search
“The demand for high-value environmental data and information has dramatically increased in recent years. To improve our ability to meet that demand, NOAA’s former three data centers—the National Climatic Data Center, the National Geophysical Data Center, and the National Oceanographic Data Center, which includes the National Coastal Data Development Center—have merged into the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).… Continue Reading
Record breaking North Pole Storm Pushes Temps to 50 degrees
Washington Post: “A powerful winter cyclone — the same storm that lead to two tornado outbreaks in the United States and disastrous river flooding — has driven the North Pole to the freezing point this week, 50 degrees above average for this time of year. From Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, a mind-boggling pressure drop was recorded… Continue Reading
H.R. 1321, the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015
On Monday, December 28, 2015, the President signed into law H.R. 1321, the “Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015,” which prohibits the manufacture and introduction into interstate commerce of rinse-off cosmetics containing intentionally-added plastic microbeads. Continue Reading
Federal Reserve – The Slowdown in Global Trade
The Slowdown in Global Trade, Jane Haltmaier. December 30, 2015. “The ratio of real global trade to GDP has leveled off since its recovery after a sharp decline during the global financial crisis (GFC).1 Relative to industrial production (the red line), trade has continued to edge up, but the increase in this ratio is also… Continue Reading
Model for Tabular Data and Metadata on the Web
Via W3c – “The CSV on the Web Working Group has published four Recommendations: Model for Tabular Data and Metadata on the Web: An abstract model for tabular data, and how to locate metadata that enables users to better understand what the data holds. This specification also contains non-normative guidance on how to parse CSV… Continue Reading
Two Drafts Published by the Data on the Web Best Practices WG
Via W3C – “The Data on the Web Best Practices Working Group has published two Working Drafts: Data on the Web Best Practices: Data Quality Vocabulary: This document provides a framework in which the quality of a dataset can be described, whether by the dataset publisher or by a broader community of users. It does… Continue Reading
Google provides digital walk through of British Museum exhibits
National Geographic – A New Site Lets You Walk the British Museum From Your Couch – The world’s oldest national public museum is now the world’s largest indoor Google Street View. “The British Museum’s remarkable collection spans over two million years of human history and culture. Over 6 million visitors every year experience the collection,… Continue Reading
Paper – 58 million trees in California may be victims of drought
Newsweek: “The past four years of punishing drought have badly hurt California’s forests. Rain was scarce, the days were too hot, and this year’s wildfire season was the worst anyone has seen in years, burning up nearly 10 million acres across the West. For the first time, a team of researchers has measured the severity of… Continue Reading
Correctional Populations in the United States, 2014
Lauren Glaze, Danielle Kaeble, Todd Minton, Anastasios Tsoutis, BJS Statisticians. December 29, 2015. NCJ 249513. “Presents statistics on persons supervised by adult correctional systems in the United States at yearend 2014, including offenders supervised in the community on probation or parole and those incarcerated in state or federal prison or local jail. The report describes… Continue Reading
Maryland State Parks need old Christmas trees for bird habitat enrichment
“Want to recycle your Christmas tree? The Maryland Park Service will take Christmas trees to provide enrichment and habitat for birds! Please drop off your Christmas tree at your local aviary! Please remove all decorations. Birds that benefit are bald eagles; kestrels, barred and barn owls and even screech owls. Click on the links below… Continue Reading
