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Daily Archives: August 1, 2022

Policing Reimagined

Via LLRX – Policing Reimagined – The thesis of Albert Chang’s paper is the metaverse presents a unique opportunity for effective police reforms. Developers, data scientists and legal sector experts working within the metaverse may be able to implement changes more efficiently than Congress as they are not subject to constitutional constraints. Chang advocates a position that the federal government should strongly consider the adoption of immersive technology to demonstrate that a more effective method of policing is possible. This paper is especially significant in light of the fact that last week Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act which will bolster research with $290 billion in new funding.

There is a lot of antisemitic hate speech on social media—and algorithms are partly to blame

Fast Company: “Antisemitic incidents have shown a sharp rise in the United States. The Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based Jewish civil rights group that has been tracking cases since 1979, found that there were 2,717 incidents in 2021. This represents an increase of 34% over 2020. In Europe, the European Commission found a sevenfold increase in… Continue Reading

Infographic of the world’s $104 trillion economy

BoingBoing – “Fascinating at-a-glance look at the $104 trillion global economy, divvied up into slices of geographical pie. I wasn’t surprised that the United States has the biggest economy, at $25.3 trillion, and that China is close behind with $19.9 trillion (and is expected to surpass the United States by 2030). Things that surprised me:… Continue Reading

Cars Are Going Electric. What Happens to the Used Batteries?

Wired – “Used electric vehicle batteries could be the Achilles’ heel of the transportation revolution—or the gold mine that makes it real…Extracting the valuable materials from an EV battery is difficult and expensive. The recycling process typically involves shredding batteries, then breaking them down further with heat or chemicals at dedicated facilities. That part is… Continue Reading

The uneven energy costs of working from home

The Verge: “The COVID-19 pandemic has given us a sneak peek into how working from home changes electricity demand and what that might mean for Americans’ utility bills. The picture it’s painted so far isn’t very pretty, particularly for anyone who’s already struggling to meet their needs. The transition to remote work is changing our… Continue Reading

Facebook Data Shows Having Rich Friends Helps

Gizmodo: “New research measuring over 21 billion Facebook friendships seemingly confirms something you probably already inherently knew: having rich friends helps. Researchers at Harvard’s Opportunity Insights used a massive Facebook dataset based on over 72 million users to analyze the ways certain types of social conditions impact economic mobility in a pair of papers published… Continue Reading

The Vacancies Act: A Legal Overview

CRS Report – The Vacancies Act: A Legal Overview Updated August 1, 2022: “The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (Vacancies Act) generally provides the exclusive means by which a government employee may temporarily perform the functions and duties of a vacant advice-and-consent position in an executive agency. Unless an acting officer is serving in… Continue Reading

EPA 2021 TRI Preliminary Dataset

“The 2021 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) preliminary dataset contains data about chemical releases, waste management and pollution prevention activities that took place during 2021 at more than 20,000 federal and industrial facilities across the country. The TRI preliminary dataset is available each July through September, giving the public access to the most recent TRI information,… Continue Reading