Longform recommends its top 100 articles [eclectic, insightful writing from a range of publications on issues of significant interest in 2019 – and beyond – grouped into the following categories: Top Ten Arts Business Crime Essays Health Media Politics Science and Nature Sports Tech World Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: December 2019
Add Speech-to-Text to Any Website With This Extension
LifeHacker – “If you’ve ever been using a website and wished it had a voice input, now you can add one yourself. Voice In is a Chrome extension that adds speech-to-text to most any website. That means you can do things like respond to Slack messages or send emails using your voice rather than typing… Continue Reading
2020 Open Educational Resources (OER) Sources and Tools
Via LLRX – 2020 Open Educational Resources (OER) Sources and Tools – This is a comprehensive listing of Open Educational Resources (OER) sources and tools available in the United States and around the world, by Marcus P. Zillman. His guide includes references to: search engines, directories, initiatives, books, E-books, E-textbooks, free online seminars and webinars,… Continue Reading
FRB launches new Twitter account highlighting research published in Board’s working papers and notes series
“The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 – launched a new Twitter account aimed at increasing access to the research done by the more than 400 economists and other research staff at the Board. The new account—@FedResearch—will highlight research published in the Board’s working papers and notes series, other staff articles, and conferences.… Continue Reading
An investigation into the smartphone tracking industry from Times Opinion
The New York Times – Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy – By Stuart A. Thompson and Charlie Warzel, December 19, 2019. “Every minute of every day, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are logging the movements of tens of millions of people with mobile phones and… Continue Reading
Farewell to the Newseum
Los Angeles Times – Michael Hiltzik [h/t Barclay Walsh]: “…At any newspaper worth its salt, articles and photos were clipped and placed in cross-referenced envelopes, along with archival copies of every edition. As reporters we were drilled never to start writing a story without “checking the clips” to see what had been written about our… Continue Reading
Noncompete Agreements Have Become More Common
Economic Policy Institute: Noncompete agreements – Ubiquitous, harmful to wages and to competition, and part of a growing trend of employers requiring workers to sign away their rights. Report • By Alexander J.S. Colvin and Heidi Shierholz • December 10, 2019 “In recent decades, the U.S. labor market has been marked by rising inequality and largely stagnant wages among all… Continue Reading
FOIA Suits Rise Because Agencies Don’t Respond
The FOIA Project at the Newhouse School TRAC/Syracuse University – “In the last few years, the number of FOIA lawsuits has risen dramatically, much faster than the rise in FOIA requests. Anecdotal reports suggest that delays in receiving responses to FOIA requests may be increasing and a reason for rising litigation. TRAC’s FOIA Project, with… Continue Reading
The dark side of Alexa, Siri and other personal digital assistants
The Conversation: “Digital assistants can be found in your office, home, car, hotel, phone and many other places. They have recently undergone massive transformation and run on operating systems that are fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI). They observe and collect data in real-time and have the capability to pull information from different sources such as… Continue Reading
WaPo – House vote on two articles creates indelible mark on Trump’s presidency
After 11 hours of fierce argument, lawmakers voted almost entirely along party lines to impeach the president on charges that he abused his office and obstructed Congress Pelosi does not rule out not sending impeachment articles to Senate The New York Times – President Trump is the third president in history to be charged with… Continue Reading
Meet the American animals that bounced back in 2019
National Geographic – This year, a gecko, a songbird, and a minnow joined the short list of recovered American endangered species. “…The list of 27 (plus specific recovered populations of an additional five animal species) is modest when put into context. Since the Endangered Species Act took effect in 1973, 719 animal species native to… Continue Reading
99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn’t Hear About in 2019
Future Crunch – If we want to change the story of the human race in the 21st century, we have to change the stories we tell ourselves. “…There were other stories out there, stories of conservation, better health, rising living standards, tolerance, peace, cleaner energy and environmental stewardship. Most of them didn’t make it onto… Continue Reading
