Monthly archives: December, 2015

BEA – Personal Consumption Expenditures by State, 1997-2014

“Today, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its first set of official statistics on personal consumption expenditures (PCE) by state for 1997-2014. PCE by state – the measure of goods and services purchased by or on behalf of households by state of residence – provides insight into household spending patterns across states and can …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

GAO Reports – Asylum, Centers of Excellence, Information Technology and the Library of Congress, Office of National Drug Control Policy

Asylum: Additional Actions Needed to Assess and Address Fraud Risks, GAO-16-50: Published: Dec 2, 2015. Publicly Released: Dec 2, 2015: “The total number of asylum applications, including both principal applicants and their eligible dependents, filed in fiscal year 2014 (108,152) is more than double the number filed in fiscal year 2010 (47,118).” Centers of Excellence: …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Libraries, Medicine

Replacing Military Personnel in Support Positions With Civilian Employees

CBO Report – “Only military personnel engage in combat operations, according to U.S. government policies. However, either military personnel, civilian employees of the Department of Defense (DoD), or contractors may carry out support functions, such as accounting services. In 2012, about 340,000 active-duty military personnel were assigned to commercial positions that perform support functions. Those …

Subjects: Congress, Defense, Economy, Government Documents

Federal Court Lifts Gag Order on National Security Letter Recipient

EPIC – “For the first time, a federal court has lifted a national security letter gag order, allowing an Internet Service Provider to publish the FBI’s demands for records of user web browsing history, IP addresses, online purchases, and location information. The FBI issues thousands of NSLs each year, forcing companies to disclose troves of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Records, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

Step on stage with the Google Cultural Institute

Google Official Blog:  “It takes years of practice to perfect the pirouettes. Months of rehearsal to get the crescendos just right. Multiple stories of lights, rigging and machinery to set the scene. At the world’s leading performing arts venues —like Carnegie Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Bolshoi Theatre—artists, costume designers, musicians, stage crews and many …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work

The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work, Phillip Rogaway, Department of Computer Science, University of California, Davis, USA. December 1, 2015: “Cryptography rearranges power: it configures who can do what, from what. This makes cryptography an inherently political tool, and it confers on the field an intrinsically moral dimension. The Snowden revelations motivate a reassessment of …

Subjects: Defense, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management

Library of Congress Literacy Awards Publishes 2015 Best Practices

“The Library of Congress Literacy Awards program, now in its third year, has just published “Best Practices 2015,” a review of the outstanding work in the field of literacy being done by the three 2015 Literacy Awards award winners and 14 additional organizations that are successfully implementing best practices in literacy and reading promotion. The …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries

3.2B People Now Online Globally TechCrunch Reports

“The 2015 edition of the Measuring the Information Society Report was launched on 30 November, 2015, on the first day of the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS) 2015, in Hiroshima, Japan. Parallel launch events took place in Addis Ababa, Brasilia, Cairo, Geneva and Moscow. The Report, which has been published annually since 2009, features key ICT …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Economy, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management

Testimony on CBO’s Analysis of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2016 Shipbuilding Plan

Testimony by Eric J. Labs, Senior Analyst for Naval Forces and Weapons, before the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives, December 1, 2015. The submitted statement reprises CBO’s report, An Analysis of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2016 Shipbuilding Plan, which was released on October 29, 2015. That …

Subjects: Congress, Defense, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents