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Monthly Archives: December 2019

Large-Capacity Magazine Bans Linked with Fewer Mass Shootings

Jennifer Abbasi, Large-Capacity Magazine Bans Linked with Fewer Mass Shootings, Deaths, JAMA Medical News & Perspectives (Dec. 18, 2019), https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2758008 (commenting on Louis Klarevas et al., The Effect of Large-Capacity Magazine Bans on High-Fatality Mass Shootings, 1990–2017, Am. J. Pub. Health (Dec. 2019), https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305311 [via Mary Whisner] Continue Reading

Will America ever get its local news back?

Washington Post – Ghost papers and news deserts – “First they started showing up thinner than before. Then they were printed on smaller paper, with local columns replaced by more out-of-town news. Then in some places, especially rural and down-on-their-luck parts, newspapers stopped showing up altogether. Since the Internet arrived in earnest 25 years ago,… Continue Reading

Emojis Have Unsettled Grammar Rules

…and Why Lawyers Should Care – Eric Goldman – “A new article by three Dutch researchers sheds some fascinating light on the grammar of emojis, or more precisely, the lack thereof. Their abstract concludes: “while emoji may follow tendencies in their interactions with grammatical structure in multimodal text-emoji productions, they lack grammatical structure on their… Continue Reading

Paper book readers better at various abilities than e-book readers

The Japan News: “People who habitually read paper books tend to have a higher degree of willingness to work on anything and to think more multilaterally than those who prefer to read electronic books on a smartphone or a computer, according to a recent survey by the National Institution For Youth Education, which was released… Continue Reading

How The Dodo Became the Warmest Fuzziest Corner of the Web

Wired – “The media empire’s heartwarming (and highly shareable) animal videos rack up 2.3 billion views each month. It might be our favorite website of the decade. “The Dodo racks up around 2.3 billion views each month with heartwarming videos about extraordinary pets (like this super-affectionate python), unlikely interspecies friendships (like this mini horse whose… Continue Reading

Washington’s New Anti-Robocall Law Won’t Stop the Calls

WSJ.com [article is paywalled but the 5 minute accompanying video is not, and well worth listening for the specificity of the explanation] “In a rare bipartisan achievement, Congress has moved to combat the scourge of robocalls inundating Americans. Just don’t stop the calls to stop coming any time soon..” Continue Reading

KKR investment firm to buy OverDrive, biggest library ebook company

TeleRead – David Rothman – “Toxic for libraries? The KKR investment firm is buying none other than OverDrive—the biggest library ebook company, providing ebooks and audiobooks to 43,000+ libraries and schools in 75 countries. The seller is Rakuten, also owner of the Kobo ereader, audiobook and ebook business. “The two sides did not provide a… Continue Reading