CRS Report – Understanding Federal Legislation: A Section-by-Section Guide to Key Legal Considerations, September 27, 2021 [91 pages]: “Federal bills are increasingly complex, making them difficult to understand for the average reader and the seasoned practitioner alike. What a congressional drafter understands to be the import of a given provision could later be discussed and… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: September 2021
Why We Need to Upgrade Our Face Masks and Where to Get Them
Scientific American: “High-quality respirators such as N95s and K95s are now widely available and provide the best protection against COVID, according to experts. Why aren’t more people wearing them..There is now a cornucopia of high-filtration respirator-style masks on the market, including N95s, Chinese-made KN95s and South Korean–made KF94s. They have been widely available and relatively… Continue Reading
See where birds are migrating in real time, in one map
Vox: “…BirdCast, forecast provides a three-day outlook of how many birds will be flying overhead across the country — and where. After sunset on Tuesday, for example, BirdCast estimates that 74,000 of them will journey through the skies of New York City. The tool, which was developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and a… Continue Reading
Google Maps tracks global warming with new “Fire” layer, Tree Canopy tool
Ars Technica: “Google Maps is getting a few new features to help people better understand our burning planet. The first is a new “fire” layer in the main map view, which will let you view the exact boundaries of a wildfire just as easily as you can look up the current traffic patterns. Google has… Continue Reading
These systems are facing billions of attacks every month as hackers try to guess passwords
CNET – “Computer networks are being aggressively bombarded with billions of password-guessing attacks as cyber criminals attempt to exploit the growth in remote desktop protocol (RDP) and other cloud services in corporate environments. Cybersecurity researchers at ESET detected 55 billion new attempts at brute-force attacks between May and August 2021 alone – more than double the… Continue Reading
The mail is getting slower this week: Here’s why and what it means for your deliveries
Fast Company: “After a year plagued with pandemic slowdowns, the United States Postal Service could hardly be called the class overachiever. But this Friday, it’s making that lax approach to deadlines official by loosening some of its mail delivery guarantees by roughly 30%. Here’s what to know: What’s changing? Starting Friday, October 1, the delivery standard… Continue Reading
US says ivory-billed woodpecker, 22 other species extinct
AP: “Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government on Wednesday declared them extinct. It’s a rare move for wildlife officials to give up hope on a plant or animal, but government scientists say they’ve exhausted to find these 23. And… Continue Reading
Metasoftware: Building Blocks for Legal Technology
Shadab, Houman B., Metasoftware: Building Blocks for Legal Technology (June 29, 2021). NYLS Legal Studies Research Paper No. 3876785, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3876785 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3876785 “This Article develops a novel concept in information technology called metasoftware. It then applies the concept of metasoftware to developing legal technology. Metasoftware enables users to create the software of… Continue Reading
USA Facts – Climate in the United States
“The United States has experienced a wide variety of extreme weather over the last 125 years, impacting people, communities, and geographies. Track monthly data on how counties experience severe weather, including precipitation and temperature. USAFacts, a not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic initiative that makes it easy for all Americans to access and understand government data, today launched… Continue Reading
Free Law Project Creates the First Online Database of Federal Judicial Financial Disclosures
“At Free Law Project, our mission is to make legal information free and open to all, and especially to journalists, researchers, and academics. That is why we are excited to announce the creation of a new, first-of-its-kind database of federal judicial financial records. Over the past several months, we provided award-winning journalists James Grimaldi, Coulter… Continue Reading
19 Face Masks We Actually Like to Wear
Wired: “We didn’t want it to happen, but it did. Months after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed mask guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals, the organization has again updated its instructions. Now the CDC recommends that even vaccinated individuals continue to wear masks indoors to help mitigate the spread of the much… Continue Reading
New Chrome feature can tell sites and webapps when you’re idle
Tech Republic: “The new Idle Detection API gives Chrome the ability to register whether a user is active, and has drawn concerns from privacy advocates. Here’s how to disable it…” Continue Reading
