Quartz – Here are the most targeted titles: “This week, ALA is holding its annual Banned Books Week, from September 18-24, to advocate for open access to information. While in the past bans usually targeted one book at a time, advocacy groups are now going after multiple titles at once, according to the association. So far… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: September 2022
The Supreme Court’s new term could be even more consequential than its last one
Vox – The Republican justices who overruled Roe v. Wade are only getting started. “The headline of this piece is likely to turn a few heads. The Supreme Court’s last term, after all, was an orgy of conservative excess unlike any since the Court’s Great Depression-era attacks on the New Deal. And it culminated in… Continue Reading
Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking – Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees: The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing a rule which would significantly strengthen protections for consumers by ensuring any fees charged to seat a young child with an accompanying adult, change or cancel a flight, or travel with a first checked bag,… Continue Reading
Study: Americans Own More Than 415 Million Firearms
English, William, 2021 National Firearms Survey: Updated Analysis Including Types of Firearms Owned (May 13, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4109494 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4109494 “This report summarizes the findings of a national survey of firearms ownership and use conducted between February 17th and March 23rd, 2021 by the professional survey firm Centiment. This survey, which is part… Continue Reading
You can ban a book, but can you stop teens from finding it online?
Washington Post – Online resources are at the center of the national battle between limiting and expanding book access for teenagers: “Books are being banned in U.S. school libraries in record numbers, led largely by conservative lawmakers and activists. This week, libraries and anti-censorship groups are among those hosting Banned Books Week to call attention… Continue Reading
House GOP Agenda Signals Push for Social Security and Medicare Cuts
Common Dreams – “House Republicans on [September 21, 2022] unveiled parts of a policy agenda that indicates the party would push for cuts to Social Security and Medicare if it retakes the majority in November. A one-page summary of the agenda that House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), are expected to formally… Continue Reading
This site tells you if photos of you were used to train the AI
Tech Crunch: “Deepfakes, AI-generated porn and a thousand more innocent uses — there’s been a lot of news about neural network-generated images. It makes sense that people started getting curious; were my photos used to train the robots? Are photos of me in the image-generating training sets? A brand new site tries to give you… Continue Reading
4-Day Workweek Brings No Loss of Productivity, Companies in Experiment Say
The New York Times: “Most of the companies participating in a four-day workweek pilot program in Britain said they had seen no loss of productivity during the experiment, and in some cases had seen a significant improvement, according to a survey of participants published on Wednesday. Nearly halfway into the six-month trial, in which employees… Continue Reading
Where Online Hate Speech Can Bring the Police to Your Door
The New York Times: “Battling far-right extremism, Germany goes further than other Western democracies in policing online behavior, testing the limits of free speech on the internet…Hate speech, extremism, misogyny and misinformation are well-known byproducts of the internet. But the people behind the most toxic online behavior typically avoid any personal major real-world consequences. Most… Continue Reading
Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide: Federal Role and Issues for Congress
CRS Report – Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide: Federal Role and Issues for Congress, September 22, 2022: “For several decades, the federal government has funded efforts to explore the feasibility of mitigating the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) while burning fossil fuels as a source of energy. Carbon capture and storage (CCS)—the process… Continue Reading
2022’s Happiest States in America
WalletNews: “Happiness comes from a combination of internal and external factors. We can influence it somewhat by approaching situations positively or choosing to spend time with people we love, doing activities we enjoy. It’s harder to be happy in some years than in others, though. The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the biggest stressors during… Continue Reading
Bay Area ship voyage recovers 96 tons of plastic from Pacific ocean
ABC7: “Nearly every day cargo ships arrive here in the Bay Area, carrying everything from cars to consumer goods. But one ship that just docked in Sausalito is delivering cargo that’s probably more valuable, at least for the environment. Striding across the deck of the recovery ship KWAI, is like taking a voyage straight into… Continue Reading
