Mail-In Voting Is Not Only in America

NewsGuard Reality Check: Debunk: U.S. is One of 33 Countries That Uses Mail-in Ballots, Contrary to Trump and Pro-Kremlin Claims. What happened: Donald Trump and pro-Russian and conservative sources are falsely claiming that the United States is the only country that permits voting by mail, advancing the argument that the method leads to widespread corruption …

Subjects: Censorship, E-Records, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research

Hundreds of HHS staffers call on Kennedy to stop misinformation in wake of CDC shooting

The Hill – “More than 750 current and former staff members of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are calling on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop “spreading inaccurate health information” and do more to protect public health professionals in the wake of a shooting at the headquarters of the Centers for …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Education, Health Care, Knowledge Management

Is Your TV Spying on You? Here’s How to Check

PCMag – “Your internet-connected TV has Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) features that track what you watch. Here’s how to disable it, along with smart privacy advice from security experts. Smart televisions offer internet access, streaming apps, and sometimes even built-in cameras and microphones. They’re also collecting loads of personal data in order to sell it …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet

Charting How U.S. Tariffs Will Hit Key Products

Visual Capitalist: “U.S. tariffs have climbed to an average rate of 18.6%—the highest since 1933. But what does this mean for everyday consumers? This visualization, developed in collaboration with the Hinrich Foundation, highlights major goods expected to face sustained price increases due to rising tariffs. Based on data from the Yale Budget Lab, it explores …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Firefox Was My Favorite Browser. Here’s Why I Finally Stopped Using It

MakeUseOf – “I use Firefox primarily because I have always believed it’s the gold standard for privacy. This is more than an assumption—it’s how the browser markets itself. However, after many years of using the browser, I quit. It took some deep digging, but honestly, beyond the surface, the cracks begin to show…So yes, I …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, E-Records, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

Eclipse Atlas

The newly launched Eclipse Atlas website contains “over 2,000 historic and modern eclipse maps dating from 1654 to the present” as well as maps & guides for future eclipses. “Eclipse Atlas is a passion project of Michael Zeiler to celebrate the beauty of historic eclipse maps and to serve as a gallery of his eclipse …

Subjects: Education

The End of Handwriting

Wired – no paywall – “For years, smartphones and computers have threatened to erase writing by hand. Would that be so bad? Parents, educators, and fellow penmanship advocates have been lamenting the end of handwriting for years. Email began edging out cards and letters decades ago. Then smartphones hit the market, and our reliance on paper …

Subjects: AI, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management

The State of Independent Technology Research 2025: Power in Numbers

Coalition for Independent Technology Research: “A report on the struggle to keep public-interest technology research alive and the growing Coalition working to protect it. What’s At Stake – Understanding how technology shapes society shouldn’t be dictated by corporate agendas or political interests. It should be driven by and for the public, because without independent research, …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management

The Dangerous Legal Strategy Coming for Our Books

The Atlantic – Our picture book was pulled from library shelves in Florida [no paywall]: The argument being used to defend the ban threatens the right to read. By Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. “In 2023, our book was one of thousands pulled from library shelves around the country, and as we write, an evolving …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Legal Research

Blaugust: Four Tools for Easier Date-Based Searching

Tara Calishain – “Do your Internet research tasks include a lot of date-based searching? I find that date-based searching helps a lot when searching historical (and man do I feel weird saying that about stuff that happened just a couple decades ago) events, companies, people and information. The results you’ll find when searching for something …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines