Monthly archives: November, 2018

Raising the profile of animal law to match the stakes

Harvard program aims to protect more than wildlife – “According to Harvard Law School lecturer Jonathan Lovvorn, saving the planet and its inhabitants from climate catastrophe begins with the world’s most vulnerable population: animals. “We have populations everywhere around the world in environmental distress, in economic distress, in political distress,” said Lovvorn, who is senior …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Education, Environmental Law, Legal Research

Bibliotherapy: how reading and writing have been healing trauma since World War I

The Conversation – “Bibliotherapy – the idea that reading can have a beneficial effect on mental health – has undergone a resurgence. There is mounting clinical evidence that reading can, for example, help people overcome loneliness and social exclusion. One scheme in Coventry allows health professionals to prescribe books to their patients from a list …

Subjects: Health Care, Libraries

Amazon’s own ‘Machine Learning University’ now available to all developers

Dr. Matt Wood – “Today, I’m excited to share that, for the first time, the same machine learning courses used to train engineers at Amazon are now arevailable to all developers through AWS. We’ve been using machine learning across Amazon for more than 20 years. With thousands of engineers focused on machine learning across the …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management

UK Parliament seizes cache of Facebook internal papers

The Guardian – Documents alleged to contain revelations on data and privacy controls that led to Cambridge Analytica scandal – “Parliament has used its legal powers to seize internal Facebook documents in an extraordinary attempt to hold the US social media giant to account after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to answer MPs’ questions. …

Subjects: Cybercrime, E-Mail, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Framing Algorithms – Competition Law and (Other) Regulatory Tools

Picht, Peter Georg and Loderer, Gaspare, Framing Algorithms – Competition Law and (Other) Regulatory Tools (October 30, 2018). Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper No. 18-24. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3275198 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3275198 “As other fields of law, competition law is put to the test by new technologies in general and algorithmic market …

Subjects: Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II

Axios: Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United StatesThe National Climate Assessment (NCA) assesses the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century. The Black Friday climate report, formally known as the National Climate Assessment, follows a landmark U.N. science …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents

Why a library fire feels like an ‘attack on humanity’

PBS NewsHour = Published on Nov 13, 2018 – “In April 1986, fire raged through the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, damaging or destroying more than a million books. Journalist and author Susan Orlean resurrects this nearly forgotten story in “The Library Book,” which also explores the emotional attachment so many of us feel …

Subjects: Libraries

The politics of “political” – how the word has changed its meaning

Oxford University Blog: “Over the course of history, the word “political” has evolved from being synonymous with “public sphere” or “good government” to meaning “calculating” or “partisan.” How did we get here? This adapted excerpt from Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary explains the evolution. The problems posed by political result from a combination …

Subjects: Congress, Education, Knowledge Management

New 136-page guide to House members

Via Axios – “Phil Singer and his team at Marathon Strategies are quick out of the gate with a 136-page guide to the House members, including these talkers: Katie Hill (R-CA-25): Rock climbing enthusiast Gil Cisneros (R-CA-39): Won $266 million in Mega Millions lottery Donna Shalala (R-FL-27): Former HHS Secretary Sharice Davids (R-KS-03): Former MMA …

Subjects: Congress, Legislation