Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters

NOAA – “The U.S. has sustained 341 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2022). The total cost of these 341 events exceeds $2.475 trillion. In 2022, there were 18 weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect the United States. …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Housing, Legal Research, Transportation

Unbanning Books: LJ’s 2023 Librarians of the Year

Library Journal: “Brooklyn Public Library’s Nick Higgins, Amy Mikel, Karen Keys, Jackson Gomes, and Leigh Hurwitz have been named LJ’s 2023 Librarians of the Year for their work on Books Unbanned, providing free ebook access to teens and young adults nationwide to help defy rising book challenges across the country. In 2022 Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned Team began …

Subjects: Censorship, Education, Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

EEOC on the lookout for tech-fueled employment bias

FCW: “The federal agency responsible for enforcing employment discrimination rules plans to sharpen its focus on algorithmic and other tech-related employment discrimination.  The new strategic enforcement plan released by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission on Tuesday covers priorities for fiscal years 2023-2027, and is open for comment through Feb. 9, 2023. The document states that …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Too Many Managers: The Strategic Use of Titles to Avoid Overtime Payments

NBER –  Too Many Managers: The Strategic Use of Titles to Avoid Overtime Payments – Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun & N. Bugra Ozel Working Paper 30826. DOI 10.3386/w30826. Issue Date January 2023 – “We find widespread evidence of firms appearing to avoid paying overtime wages by exploiting a federal law that allows them to do …

Subjects: Economy, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Google Docs’ voice-to-text feature is getting major upgrades. Here’s how to use it

ZDNET: “Your voice is a powerful tool, and Google’s dictation tool can help you harness it, convert it, and even present it. With the Google suite’s voice-to-text capabilities, transferring thoughts from speech to digital copy is quick and simple. On top of that, Google just announced that its upcoming batch of voice-to-text improvements, coming in …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management

What are Large Global Banks Doing About Climate Change?

What are Large Global Banks Doing About Climate Change? Daniel O. Beltran, Hannah Bensen, Amy Kvien, Erin McDevitt, Monica V. Sanz, and Pinar Uysal. January 2023 – We review the “climate action plans” of Global Systemically Important Banks (GSIBs) and the progress they are making toward achieving them. G-SIBs have identified the drivers of climate …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System

The 3 Best Alternatives to ChatGPT

MakeUseOf: “Since its public launch in November 2022, ChatGPT, the mesmerizing AI chatbot by OpenAI, has grown in popularity like wildfire. Social media feeds are filled with incredible things people are doing with the chatbot. Jobseekers, programmers, high school teachers, content creators—professionals in almost every field are finding good uses for the tool. However, when …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management