Women DJs Australia, Retro Television, Rush Fanzines, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 21, 2020

Women DJs Australia, Retro Television, Rush Fanzines, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 21, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Stoney Roads: Aussie DJs start new dance directory for women and GNC. 99% sure that GNC in this case is “Gender Non-Conforming.” “About 12 months or so ago, a Google sheet began circulating that conveniently listed a stack of female and GNC producers and DJs from around Australia and New Zealand. It included handy things like artist name, state, links to socials and sometimes an email address to help event bookers and what not reach out. Seems like things got to a certain size that meant turning the once humble doc into a fully functioning directory dubbed the ‘WIP Project’ that not only features artists but also sound engineers, agents, bookers and general industry heads!”

Screen Rant: Watch TV From The 70s, 80s, & 90s On This Cool Retro Website. “A website called My Decade TV, created by Joey Cato, lets users watch TVs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that offer a variety of different channels, including cartoons, game shows, movies, news, music videos, and more. Cato explains in the TV manual, which can be accessed below the TVs, that the websites were created because he wanted ‘to honor the pop culture memories of decades past.’ He went on to add that ‘each site aspires to simulate the vintage experience of channel-surfing on a TV from a particular era,’ so to support that, ‘channel content may not necessarily start playing from the beginning.'” This might be “just” a YouTube wrapper, but if it is it’s ridiculously good. Warning: timesink.

c-X1: The ‘Necromancer’ For All Performers and Portrayers Fanzine Archive. This was a fanzine for the band Rush. “‘The Necromancer’ launched its first four issues across four consecutive months – from July through October of 1988. It then published its next five issues on a bi-monthly basis, ending with its final ninth issue on July/August 1989. Though the fanzine came to an end over thirty years ago, it has now found new life here at Cygnus-X1.net. A complete archive of each issue is now available for your reading and reminiscing pleasure.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNBC: Amazon plans to air Premier League soccer matches for free on Prime and Twitch . “Amazon has announced that it is making all of its Premier League soccer matches free to watch on Amazon Prime and its live video streaming service, Twitch. The tech giant, which has the broadcast rights to four Premier League matches, said an Amazon Prime membership won’t be required to watch the games.”

Reuters: Russia lifts ban on Telegram messaging app after failing to block it. “Russia on Thursday lifted a ban on the Telegram messaging app that had failed to stop the widely-used programme operating despite being in force for more than two years.”

USEFUL STUFF

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: The TikTok House Wreaking Havoc Next Door . “When a group of young men moved into a 7,800-square-foot mansion on a quiet street in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles in late January, their new neighbors took notice. Some assumed they were tech entrepreneurs. How else could they afford rent? Soon, the block’s residents began to observe what one might call frat-like behavior.”

Archinect: NMAAHC launches initiative to celebrate the work of Black architects. “The National Museum of African American History and Culture has launched Rendering Visible, a digital collecting initiative intended to celebrate the ‘creative production’ of Black architects.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNN: FCC seeks record fine against alleged scam operators who made 1 billion robocalls. “The US government is seeking fines of up to $225 million from health insurance telemarketers who allegedly made a billion unwanted robocalls in violation of Federal Communications Commission rules. The record-breaking penalty, announced Tuesday, is the largest proposed fine in FCC history. It targets Texas-based Rising Eagle for allegedly spamming consumers in more than a half-dozen states, including Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: From Africa to the World: Connecting African innovators and ideas to industry. “The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) today announced the launch of an innovative platform for African innovators to connect with partners who can provide funding, help them scale-up and commercialize their innovations or promote their uptake in policy. The Grand Challenges Africa Innovation Network GCAiN “will provide innovators with the resources they need to succeed. This includes mentors, potential new markets and funding,” said Dr Moses Alobo, Grand Challenges Africa (GC Africa) Programme Manager.”

The Conversation: Algorithms are designing better buildings. “At a basic level, algorithms can be a powerful tool for providing exhaustive information for the design, construction and use of a building. Building information modelling uses comprehensive software to standardise and share data from across architecture, engineering and construction that used to be held separately. This means everyone involved in a building’s genesis, from clients to contractors, can work together on the same 3D model seamlessly. More recently, new tools have begun to combine this kind of information with algorithms to automate and optimise aspects of the building process.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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June 22, 2020 at 04:04AM
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Sunday CoronaBuzz, June 21, 2020: 26 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.

Sunday CoronaBuzz, June 21, 2020: 26 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.

NEW RESOURCES – OTHER

Hürriyet Daily News: Turkish cultural group brings virus emotions to life. “A Turkish cultural institute launched a digital art project that brings together expressions of emotions from around the world during the coronavirus pandemic. The Turkish nonprofit Yunus Emre Institute began the project when the pandemic struck the globe with a sea of unexpected experiences.”

UPDATES

Tampa Bay Times: Florida logs another 4,000-plus day as state approaches 94,000 coronavirus infections. “On yet another record-breaking day for Florida, coronavirus claimed its youngest victim in the state yet: a 17-year-old boy in Pasco County. Only three people statewide under 24 have died from COVID-19, the respiratory illness causes by the virus. This is the first time someone under 18 has died from coronavirus in Florida. The state added 4,049 new cases on Saturday, bringing the overall total to 93,797 total infections since the first recorded case in March.”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

WXII: EXCLUSIVE: Bankruptcy cases plunge during coronavirus pandemic. “The number of bankruptcy filings nationwide during the coronavirus pandemic has actually plunged, down 34 percent for individuals and down 28 percent for businesses. Some states saw even steeper drops, including reductions of filings by individuals of 46 percent and 54 percent in Massachusetts and New York, respectively…. At first glance, it’s a counter-intuitive finding during the worst economy since the Great Depression. But Chris Mayfield, a business manager at Fitch Solutions for the PacerMonitor product, says trillions in federal stimulus and aid programs are temporarily keeping families and businesses afloat and out of bankruptcy court.”

BNN Bloomberg: The Pandemic Is Exacerbating America’s Systemic Food Inequality. ” Access to food has been unequal in America long before the onset of the coronavirus. But the pandemic has deepened the problem, with images of snaking lines at food banks bringing the harsh reality to light. Even in the U.S., one of the most food-secure nations in the world, millions face difficulty in accessing nutritious meals. Food inequality disproportionately impacts Americans of color, who’ve already been among the hardest hit by Covid-19 and its economic fallout.”

CORPORATIONS

Variety: AMC Theatres Unveils Plans to Reopen During Coronavirus. “AMC Theatres, the world’s largest exhibitor, has unveiled plans to re-open after coronavirus forced it to close its more than 600 venues in the U.S. for nearly four months.”

GOVERNMENT

DigitalVA: New Tool Helps VA Track and Analyze COVID-19 Data on the Ground. “In collaboration with VHA and Microsoft, experts in VA’s Office of Information and Technology (OIT) set out to build a summary and tracking tool that would help VHA gain better situational awareness of its patients and resources during the pandemic. The team rapidly built the National Surveillance Tool (NST) to meet VHA’s needs, and the tool has drawn interest across—and even outside—VA.”

Politico: Navy upholds firing of carrier captain who warned of coronavirus. “The Navy is upholding the firing of Capt. Brett Crozier, the former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt who was relieved of duty after raising the alarm about a Covid-19 outbreak on his ship in March. The decision marks a major reversal of senior leaders’ previous recommendation to reinstate the captain, the Navy announced Friday.”

MilitaryTimes: Despite steady rise in coronavirus cases, VA officials push ahead with return to normal operations. “The number of Veterans Affairs patients with active cases of coronavirus rose to its highest level in three weeks on Thursday, but department officials insist the steady recent increase is not a cause for concern. As of Thursday morning, VA researchers reported 1,755 active cases of the deadly virus spread across 130 department medical centers. That’s the highest level since mid-May and is up more than 26 percent from May 28, when the department reported a low of 1,390 cases.”

CBS News: We bailed out banks. Should we bail out restaurants?. “A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation to bail out restaurants, which have been battered by economic shutdowns around the U.S. caused by the coronavirus pandemic. More than 8 of 10 independent restaurants could close permanently, according to an analysis from the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC), a group formed to save afflicted restaurants, and Compass Lexecon, an economic consulting firm.”

WCBS: Cuomo Considers 14-Day Quarantine For Travelers From Florida. “Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he is considering requiring a 14-day quarantine for people arriving in New York from Florida as the Sunshine State sees an uptick in COVID-19 infections.”

Washington Post: Vermont borders states with major covid-19 outbreaks, but you won’t find that here. “Months into the pandemic, Vermont’s governor says the state is ‘the envy of the nation,’ with little more than 1,100 confirmed covid-19 infections and 56 deaths. Perhaps most remarkable is that Vermont has been relatively spared the effects of the disease even though a huge swath of the nation’s cases are mere hours from its borders; neighboring New York and Massachusetts have approximately half a million confirmed cases between them, and more than 37,000 deaths.”

Washington Post: CDC coronavirus test kits were likely contaminated, federal review confirms. “The test kits for detecting the nation’s earliest cases of the novel coronavirus failed because of ‘likely’ contamination at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose scientists did not thoroughly check the kits despite ‘anomalies’ during manufacturing, according to a new federal review. The review, conducted by two Department of Health and Human Services lawyers, also said there was ‘time pressure’ at the CDC to launch testing, and ‘lab practices that may have been insufficient to prevent the risk of contamination.’ The lawyers, from the department’s general counsel’s office, were not named.”

NPR: Whistleblower: TSA Failed To Protect Staff, Endangered Passengers During Pandemic. “The Transportation Security Administration withheld N95 masks from staff and exhibited ‘gross mismanagement’ in its response to the coronavirus crisis – leaving employees and travelers vulnerable during the most urgent days of the pandemic, a senior TSA official alleges in a new whistleblower complaint.”

INDIVIDUALS / BANDS / GROUPS

CNN: Fauci warns of ‘anti-science bias’ being a problem in US. “The White House coronavirus task force has been out of public view as President Donald Trump has shown an urgency to move past the pandemic, downplay recent surges in Covid cases in some states, and get Americans back to work. But the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has been warning Americans about the risk of further spread of the virus.”

HEALTH

Straits Times: Coronavirus lockdowns may be driving another virus wave: Dengue fever. “Getting people to hunker down at home has helped stem the coronavirus pandemic, but in parts of South-east Asia, it’s spurred another potentially deadly disease: dengue. The mosquito-borne viral illness, sometimes known as break-bone fever because of the joint-pain it inflicts, has skyrocketed in the tropical region just as the usual dengue-spreading season begins.”

NPR: As States Reopen, Do They Have The Workforce They Need To Stop Coronavirus Outbreaks?. “An NPR survey of state health departments shows that the national coronavirus contact tracing workforce has tripled in the past six weeks, from 11,142 workers to 37,110. Yet given their current case counts, only seven states and the District of Columbia are staffed to the level that public health researchers say is needed to contain outbreaks.”

ABC News: Latinos shoulder disproportionate coronavirus cases: CDC data. “Under the scorching Florida sun, Adriana Enrique picks fresh fruit and vegetables every day. Bearing the responsibility of being the only provider for her family and being deemed by the federal government as ‘essential,’ Enrique is among a demographic that new data suggests is bearing a disproportionate share of coronavirus cases.”

CNBC: Black doctors push for anti-bias training in medicine to combat health inequality. “George Floyd’s last words, ‘I can’t breathe,’ have become a rallying cry during the weeks of protests against police violence. Doctors writing in the New England Journal of Medicine use those words as a refrain to lay out how systemic racism has negatively impacted the health of African Americans and how this is the moment to change it.”

OUTBREAKS

NBC Sports: Coronavirus outbreak at Phillies camp in Clearwater hits 5 players. “Five Phillies players who had been training at the team’s facility in Clearwater, Florida have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days, multiple sources tell NBC Sports Philadelphia. In addition to the five players, three staff members have tested positive. The identities of those infected is not known.”

TECHNOLOGY

Complex: Here’s the ‘Smart Ring’ NBA Players Will Wear to Monitor COVID-19 Symptoms While in Orlando. “Included in the NBA’s plan to restart the 2019-2020 season at Walt Disney World in Orlando is that players will be given the option to wear Oura smart rings to detect if and when they begin showing symptoms of COVID-19.”

RESEARCH

New York Times: You May Have Antibodies After Coronavirus Infection. But Not for Long. “It’s a question that has haunted scientists since the pandemic began: Does everyone infected with the virus produce antibodies — and if so, how long do they last? Not very long, suggests a new study published Thursday in Nature Medicine. Antibodies — protective proteins made in response to an infection — may last only two to three months, especially in people who never showed symptoms while they were infected.” The article stresses that the antibodies might not last long, but that doesn’t speak to how long immunity may or may not last.

OPINION

Bloomberg Opinion: Can Independent Bookstores Survive Covid-19?. “The pandemic has crushed independent booksellers across the country so ferociously, their futures are as precarious as they’ve ever been. There were about 1,887 independent book-selling companies running 2,524 stores nationwide in 2019, up from 1,401 booksellers running 1,651 stores a decade earlier, according to the American Booksellers Association. It’s hard to see how this growth spurt won’t be reversed now, given how many booksellers say they’re struggling to remain afloat. During the first few weeks of the corona-crisis alone, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit that supports indies, received applications for emergency financial support from more than 670 booksellers.”

New York Times: In This Pandemic, Personal Echoes of the AIDS Crisis. “The understanding that we were sheltering in place because this was our best chance at surviving our health care system’s ability to respond to the coronavirus felt like a distinct crisis from the older one I knew. But after a trip to the grocery store, while separating the items that needed washing, I found the spray bottle of bleach solution the cashier used to wipe down the counter in my bags — in the chaos, she had included it. As I walked with it to the bathroom to wash it, I had a 30-year-old memory of a walk from my bedroom to my bathroom in my old apartment in San Francisco, to dispose of a condom, conjured by the fear that an unseen virus was on an object in my home.”

POLITICS

ProPublica: Inside the Trump Administration’s Decision to Leave the World Health Organization. “Despite Trump’s declared exit from the WHO, officials continued working toward reforms and to prevent withdrawal. This week, they were told they must justify any cooperation with the WHO on the grounds of national security and public health safety.”

New York Post: Florida gov blames coronavirus rise on ‘overwhelmingly Hispanic’ workers. “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pointed to clusters of ‘overwhelmingly Hispanic’ day laborers and agriculture workers driving the state’s recent coronavirus spike — but farmworkers and industry associations argue that resources and testing came too late to those communities, according to new reports.”

CREW: Jacksonville Apparently Has No Health Guidelines For Republican National Convention. “A lack of records around responding to the coronavirus pandemic is getting to be a pattern. FEMA told us it could not find any records of criteria it uses to make distributions of PPE to states from the Strategic National Stockpile or records of any communication with the White House about making the distributions.”

CoronaBuzz is brought to you by ResearchBuzz. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment, send resource suggestions, or tag @buzz_corona on Twitter. Thanks!

June 21, 2020 at 09:35PM
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Radioactive Waste, Armenian National Library, Indigenous Australians, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, June 21, 2020

Radioactive Waste, Armenian National Library, Indigenous Australians, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, June 21, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

International Atomic Energy Agency: New IAEA Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Database Facilitates National Data Reporting and Sharing . “The Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Information System (SRIS) will provide an authoritative and integrated view of national and global spent fuel and radioactive waste inventories as well as relevant laws, regulations, policies, plans and activities. The IAEA is encouraging national authorities to take advantage of this important new tool by nominating representatives responsible for submitting data to SRIS, part of which will be available to the public and other countries using the system. So far, 38 countries have done so.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Armenian Mirror-Spectator: Digital Archives of Armenian National Library Restored Online. “According to the acting director of the National Library of Armenia, Hrachya Saribekyan, online access to digitized materials of the library has been restored after almost three weeks. In a June 3 press conference, he reiterated that the digitized files had been preserved in hard drives which were undamaged despite the fire in the server section of the library.” You can learn more about the Armenian archives fire here.

The Guardian: Aboriginal deaths in custody: 434 have died since 1991, new data shows. “Aboriginal deaths in custody: 434 have died since 1991, new data shows The Guardian has updated its groundbreaking searchable database as a definitive record of deaths of Indigenous Australians in prison or police custody.”

The Verge: Facebook’s revamped news section launches in the US with a focus on local sources. “Facebook is launching its revamped news tab in the US today, reports TechCrunch, and the launch will include a dedicated local news section among other topics, including a George Floyd-specific section as of Tuesday.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Farms .com: Highlighting First Nation agriculture. “A First Nation community wants to connect with local farmers, food producers and consumers to build an online database. The Anishinabek Nation is looking to compile enough industry information to create an Agricultural Asset Inventory, a directory and an online food map of existing agriculture and food-related businesses.”

Atlantic Council: Operation Carthage: How a Tunisian company conducted influence operations in African presidential elections. “A Tunisia-based company operated a sophisticated digital campaign involving multiple social media platforms and websites in an attempt to influence the country’s 2019 presidential election, as well as other recent elections in Africa. In an exclusive investigation that began in September 2019, the DFRLab uncovered dozens of online assets with connections to Tunisian digital communications firm UReputation.”

State of Maine: Maine State Archives offers grants for preservation of archival collections. “Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap and the Maine State Archives today launched the New Century Community Grant Program for the preservation of archival collections. This grant program will provide resources for collecting institutions throughout Maine to care for and improve access to their archival collections. Funding for the grant program comes from the Maine State Cultural Affairs Council and the Maine State Archives.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: Kinda goes without saying, but shore up your admin passwords or be borged by this brute-forcing botnet . “Servers are being targeted with a malware attack that uses its infected hosts to brute-force other machines. Known to Akamai researchers as Stealthworker, the infection preys on weak passwords then uses a massive arsenal of malware to overtake Windows and Linux servers running popular CMS, publishing, and hosting tools.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNBC: Why the buzz around DeepMind is dissipating as it transitions from games to science. “DeepMind’s army of 1,000 plus people, which includes hundreds of highly-paid PhD graduates, continues to pump out academic paper after academic paper, but only a smattering of the work gets picked up by the mainstream media. The research lab has churned out over 1,000 papers and 13 of them have been published by Nature or Science, which are widely seen as the world’s most prestigious academic journals.”

World Aquaculture Society: JWAS Moving to Open Access. “The WAS Board has recently approved a proposal to make [Journal of the World Aquaculture Society] a fully Open Access (OA) journal, effective January 2021. This decision was made after more than a year of analysis, deliberation, and negotiation with Wiley Publishers. The logistical and financial outcome of this decision will be carefully monitored over the next three years.”

XinhuaNet: China launches online birdwatching platform. “Chinese research institutions launched a birdwatching platform … for the study and protection of coastal wetlands and waterfowls. The platform is a cutting-edge system of bird identification and data collection, including a smartphone application, an online database, a mini-program for identifying bird species and a visual system for tracking bird migration routes.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

The Next Web: This tiny game runs directly in your browser’s title bar — and it’s kinda fun. “I was absolutely mind-blown when I first discovered the not-so-hidden Chrome dinosaur game. I’ll never forget that moment, because I spent the next several hours playing it — without even taking a break. I just loved how simple and unassuming it was. But now I’ve found something even simpler and more unassuming. Enter TitleRun, a micro-game that exists entirely in your browser‘s title bar (not to be confused with the URL bar, which is the mistake I first made).” Good morning, Internet…

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June 21, 2020 at 09:07PM
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African-American Funeral Programs, The Last Supper, Google, More: Saturday Evening ResearchBuzz, June 20, 2020

African-American Funeral Programs, The Last Supper, Google, More: Saturday Evening ResearchBuzz, June 20, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: More than 100 years of African American funeral programs now online. “The Digital Library of Georgia recently added more than 3,000 African American funeral home programs from Atlanta and throughout the Southeast to its vast collection of online sources. The programs span from 1886 to 2019 and can be great sources of information for genealogists. The materials that were digitized were contributed by the Auburn Avenue Research Library of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, the Wesley Chapel Genealogy Group and the Metro-Atlanta Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. Funding came from Georgia HomePlace, a program of the Georgia Public Library Service.”

ArtNet: Now You Can See Long-Faded Details in Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ Thanks to Google and the Royal Academy in London. “The Royal Academy of Arts in London (RA) is the latest institution to partner with Google Arts and Culture, the tech giant’s platform for the digitalization of the world’s most famous artworks….Twenty of the works are specially presented in Gigapixel clarity, an ultra high resolution made possible by a proprietary Google camera. But one artwork in particular stands out: a copy of The Last Supper made by Italian artist (and pupil of Leonardo da Vinci) Giampietrino.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Google now highlights search results directly on webpages. “Google is trying to make it easier to find the information you’re looking for on external websites by highlighting relevant sections in yellow, SearchEngineLand reports. The functionality works with Google’s Featured Snippets — the standalone boxes that appear at the top of search results that attempt to give you answers without having to visit a website beyond Google.”

CNBC: TikTok is the new place to learn about managing your money. “TikTok recently announced a new initiative, #LearnOnTikTok. The program will fund various educational videos in order to provide learning opportunities during the Covid-19 lockdown. The content is being funded through TikTok’s $50 million creative learning fund, which is apart of its broader $250 million commitment to assisting with the impacts of the pandemic.”

USEFUL STUFF

Yes, this article is from Awario, and the first tool suggested IS Awario, but the writeups for the rest of the resources are decent. So, from Awario: 7 best Google Alerts alternatives. “For the past… many years, mentions on social media have been getting a lot of attention. Communication between people and brands happens on social media all the time, and social media users often discuss brands without tagging the said brands. Of course, if you care about what the Internet says about you, ignoring social media is just not an option. So now we arrived at the most obvious conclusion the world has ever seen. If you care about your online presence, you need a Google Alert alternative. This is a list of such tools.” Let me add though while Google Alerts can be tedious and annoying, the last thing they are is useless.

Komando: Always wanted to learn Morse code? This app makes it easy. “To make Morse code easier for anyone to learn, Google has developed an input method for its wildly popular Gboard keyboard, which can be installed on your smartphone. The app includes a tutorial function, keyboard integration and several games for users to practice with. Gboard is already cool enough on its own, with features like emoji fusion and highly-intelligent auto-suggestions. But the Morse code extension actually goes deeper and teaches new users the actual letter and number meanings behind those dashes and dots.”

The Quint: Lockdown Productivity: Top 5 Google Certifications for Free. “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the entire world to a halt and a lot of us have suddenly have a lot of spare time. Searching ways to be productive during these times is a constant habit for everyone staying at home. Fortunately, Google recently rolled out a lot of free courses for beginners and professionals to help people acquire new skills and also improve existing ones. Whether you have a background in IT, management or even want to start a new business, Google has provided courses and certifications for all subsets. Here are the top 5 Google certifications available for free on the learning platforms Coursera and Udemy.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Lion’s Roar: 84000 Buddhist translation initiative launches “Save Wisdom Now” video campaign. “84000, a non-profit global initiative to translate the words of the Buddha into modern languages, has marked their tenth anniversary with a new video campaign titled ‘Save Wisdom Now’ that tells the story of the project. The organization is working to preserve the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, the world’s largest and oldest collections of writings with 230,000 pages ‘locked within the fading Classical Tibetan language.'”

Business Insider India: Chinese social media deletes Modi’s remarks on border row. “Known for government control and censorship, Chinese social media has now removed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech and India’s official statements on the border row.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

University of Massachusetts Amherst: Researchers Call for New Federal Authority to Regulate Facial Recognition Tech. “A group of artificial intelligence experts, including computer vision researcher and lead author Erik Learned-Miller of the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s College of Information and Computer Sciences, recently proposed a new model for managing facial recognition technologies at the federal level. In a white paper titled, ‘Facial Recognition Technologies in the Wild: A Call for a Federal Office,’ the authors propose an FDA-inspired model that categorizes these technologies by degrees of risk and would institute corresponding controls.” Good evening, Internet…

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!

June 21, 2020 at 06:13AM
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Saturday CoronaBuzz, June 20, 2020: 28 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.

Saturday CoronaBuzz, June 20, 2020: 28 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.

NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH

Northwestern Now: New A.I. tool is a potential timesaver for COVID-19 researchers. “Northwestern University computer scientists are aiming to speed up treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 — by making researchers’ jobs easier. The team has developed a new tool that searches through scientific literature, predicting the most useful results for each user. After pulling documents of interest, the tool then uses artificial intelligence to generate a short, easy-to-skim summary of each paper.”

Emory University: Emory launches national dashboard to help visualize and target COVID-19 disparities. “On the homepage, users can see a snapshot of COVID-19 deaths across the country. Selecting a state brings up a map displaying COVID-19 mortality by county. Drilling down, users can select a county to see how it compares to the rest of the state and to the country in average daily cases and deaths, and in social characteristics, such as percentage of residents who are African-American, percentage who live in poverty, percentage who are obese, percentage who have diabetes, and more. The dashboard allows users to compare counties within the same state, aggregating key metrics that tell a story of a community’s social and economic health.”

NEW RESOURCES – LEGAL / SECURITY / PRIVACY / FINANCIAL

Small Business Administration: SBA Rolls Out Dedicated Tool for Small Businesses to Connect with CDFIs, Small Asset Lenders Participating in PPP. “Today, U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Jovita Carranza announced the launch of a dedicated online tool for small businesses and non-profits to be matched with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), Certified Development Companies (CDCs), Farm Credit System lenders, Microlenders, as well as traditional smaller asset size lenders in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).”

USEFUL STUFF

ABC 7: Is it safe to fly now? SoCal doctor lists extra precautions to take before and after boarding flight amid COVID-19 crisis. “From the new California mask mandate to what you need to know before getting on a plane this season — Dr. Anthony Cardillo, CEO of Mend Urgent Care and ER specialist, joined ABC7 via Skype to discuss the latest on the coronavirus pandemic.” Includes abbreviated text article.

UPDATES

WPTV: ‘Dramatic decline’ in average age of Florida coronavirus patients, Gov. Ron DeSantis says. “Calling it a ‘dramatic decline,’ Gov. Ron DeSantis says the average age of coronavirus patients in Florida has dropped significantly from the 60s months ago to 37 just last week. The governor held a news conference on Friday at the Ernest R. Graham Center on the campus of Florida International University in Miami-Dade County.”

FACT CHECKS

BBC: Coronavirus: ‘Deadly masks’ claims debunked. “This week, face masks became mandatory on public transport in England, and changes to the use of face coverings in hospitals were introduced. The BBC’s anti-disinformation team has been investigating misleading claims about the health risks of face masks. Here is a look at some of the most widely seen examples on social media.”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

Slate: “You’re Starting to Get Vacation Travelers Who Are Just Willing to Risk It.”. “Demand for flights is picking up. While the airline industry is still struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, there have been reports of packed flights, filled primarily with vacation travelers defying warnings from public health experts. This development has been met by complicated feelings from those working in the industry: more flights means better job security, but also greater potential for exposure in the airports and staffing the planes. Slate spoke to a 34-year-old flight attendant with one of the ‘Big Three’ airlines (American, Delta, and United). He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for his employment. His answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.”

San Diego Union-Tribune: Coronavirus puts poor Argentines’ soccer dreams on hold. “Worried the lost time is costing them shots at professional careers, some young players are giving up and succumbing to the temptations of drugs and alcohol. Others desperate to stay in shape are playing for money in dangerous illegal games that have caused outbreaks of COVID-19 among players, spectators and people who live near soccer fields.”

INSTITUTIONS

Baltimore Sun: How a West Baltimore nursing home has zero COVID-19 infections | COMMENTARY. “Here’s a key question for the Rev. Derrick DeWitt, director of the Maryland Baptist Aged Home in West Baltimore, a 100-year-old nursing facility that has had no coronavirus infections: What was the moment you realized the threat was real and that you had to take action to protect your residents and staff? ‘Right after President Trump said we had 15 cases and it would soon be down to zero.’ I dare not put words in a Baptist minister’s mouth, but it sounds like he listened to what the President of the United States had to say, then decided just the opposite would be true. ‘It does sound like that,’ Reverend DeWitt agreed.”

The Hill: WHO warns world faces ‘dangerous phase’ of coronavirus. “The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a sobering warning late this week about the status of the coronavirus pandemic, saying that the virus that has killed more than 460,000 people worldwide is still malignant.”

CORPORATIONS

Deseret News: American Airlines passenger removed from flight for not wearing a mask. “American Airlines removed a passenger from a recent flight after the passenger refused to wear a mask onboard, a sign the national airline company is looking to enforce strict mask-wearing policies, according to multiple reports.”

CNN: Airlines ban alcohol on planes in response to Covid-19. “Alcohol sales may have boomed during lockdown, but our return to air travel will be an altogether more sobering experience. Airlines including Easyjet and KLM in Europe, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines in the United States, and Asia’s Virgin Australia, are suspending all or part of their alcoholic drinks service in response to Covid-19.”

GOVERNMENT

The Scotsman: Face coverings to be made compulsory on Scottish public transport. “Industry sources said the move is expected to be announced as part of the next phase of lockdown easing. Demand for public transport is expected to increase, such as more shops are allowed to re-open.”

CNN: ‘There are two realities.’ What is really happening in Nicaragua during the pandemic?. “In the past three months, at least six politicians have died, although the details are vague on some of the causes. ‘Express burials’ are happening at night, witnesses told CNN, and doctors have been allegedly fired for raising alarm about the virus’ spread. Medical experts have also questioned government-released details about the country’s coronavirus infection rate.”

INDIVIDUALS / BANDS / GROUPS

Washington Post: First female African American senior zookeeper at Baltimore zoo dies of covid-19. “There was magic and greatness when Mary Wilson interacted with the animals. Those who know her describe how a sick and immobile gorilla stirred for the first time in three months after she walked into a room. A chimpanzee that had just bitten off a woman’s ear hung his head in shame upon seeing her. And an elephant that had been roaming wildly through the zoo obediently marched back into his cage when she appeared. ‘She took time to sit and watch animals, enjoying the world from their perspective, not ours,’ said Mike McClure, who worked with Wilson as a zookeeper at the Maryland Zoo. ‘I never once got the feeling that Mary looked down on them or in any way saw them as pets. She treated the animals like equals.'”

Tennessean: Kid Rock’s honky-tonk, other bars have beer permits suspended for violating pandemic health rules. “The Metropolitan Beer Permit Board on Thursday issued a five-day beer permit suspension against four downtown bars for violating one of the Health Department’s COVID-19 restrictions. Moxy Nashville Downtown, Kid Rock’s Big Honky Tonk and Steakhouse, Broadway Brewhouse and Nudie’s Honky Tonk were seen serving patrons at the bar on Saturday.”

HEALTH

Slate: COVID Cases Are Rising. COVID Deaths Are Declining. Why?. “Cases of coronavirus are increasing in 20 states, with dramatic spikes found in places from Florida to California. Even so, overall deaths due to coronavirus are on the decline in the U.S. Part of that is thanks to how much better things are finally getting in New York, the former national epicenter of the pandemic. But even in some places where cases are spiking, the number of people checking into hospitals and dying of the coronavirus is actually stable, or even going down. What’s going on?”

OUTBREAKS

Washington Post: In countries keeping the coronavirus at bay, experts watch U.S. case numbers with alarm. “As coronavirus cases surge in the U.S. South and West, health experts in countries with falling case numbers are watching with a growing sense of alarm and disbelief, with many wondering why virus-stricken U.S. states continue to reopen and why the advice of scientists is often ignored.”

Local 10: Coronavirus: Florida reports 4,049 more cases of COVID-19, third straight record day. “Florida reported 4,049 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, marking three straight days of record-breaking numbers. A then-record 3,822 new cases were confirmed by the state Friday, after 3,207 on Thursday.”

NBC News: Brazil tops 1 million cases as coronavirus spreads inland. “Brazil’s government confirmed Friday that the country has risen above 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases, second only to the United States. The country’s health ministry said that the total now stood at 1,032,913, up more than 50,000 from Thursday. The ministry said the sharp increase was due to corrections of previous days’ underreported numbers.”

TECHNOLOGY

Fortune: E-book reading is booming during the coronavirus pandemic. “The COVID-19 crisis forced bookstores and libraries to close across the country, which has ignited a revival in reading electronic books. The e-book market had been in decline for the past six years, but now that it’s one of the easiest ways to get new books during the pandemic, libraries and publishers report a surge of new interest.”

The Conversation: Domestic abusers use tech that connects as a weapon during coronavirus lockdowns. “The coronavirus pandemic has driven much of daily life – work, school, socializing – online. Unfortunately, perpetrators of violence against women and girls are also increasingly turning to technology in response to the pandemic.”

RESEARCH

National Institutes of Health: All of Us Research Program launches COVID-19 research initiatives. “The All of Us Research Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced that it is leveraging its significant and diverse participant base to seek new insights into COVID-19—through antibody testing, a survey on the pandemic’s impacts and collection of electronic health record information.”

Phys .org: Global urbanization created the conditions for the current coronavirus pandemic. “Wildlife trade, deforestation, land conversion, industrial animal farming and burning fossil fuels are contributing to the increasing frequency of novel zoonotic diseases. Urbanization is both a driver of zoonosis and a determining influence on human-nature and human-animal relationships.”

SECURITY / LEGAL

BBC: Coronavirus: Zimbabwe health minister in court on corruption charges. “Zimbabwe’s health minister is appearing in court in Harare charged with corruption over the procurement of coronavirus tests and equipment. Obadiah Moyo was arrested on Friday after the government came under pressure from the opposition and on social media.”

The Oklahoman: Oklahoma Supreme Court OKs Trump campaign rally. “The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday denied a request for a temporary injunction to stop the BOK Center in Tulsa from hosting a campaign rally for President Trump on Saturday.All nine justices agreed that the groups filing the lawsuit could point to no law requiring that the BOK Center management force people to wear masks or maintain certain distances.”

POLITICS

NBC News: Warren wants to know why Pence rejected U.S. goods in COVID fight. “Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Thursday that the Trump administration’s failure to prioritize American manufacturing during the initial stages of its COVID-19 response ‘likely contributed’ to the “ongoing spread of the disease.””

NBC News: Top members of coronavirus task force advised against Trump’s Tulsa rally. “Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, and task force response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx both vocalized concerns internally in the last week about the safety of holding a rally on Saturday with as many as 19,000 people in an enclosed arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”

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June 21, 2020 at 03:49AM
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Women Architects, Mozilla VPN, Facebook, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 20, 2020

Women Architects, Mozilla VPN, Facebook, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 20, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

ArchDaily: Rebelarchitette Releases a New Public Women Architects World Map. “Rebelarchitette has created a new tool that aims to detox architecture from inequalities, an interactive public world map showcasing 732 outstanding women architects from all over the world.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BetaNews: Firefox Private Network VPN renamed to Mozilla VPN and priced at $5 per month. “Mozilla is a company that I trust more than some others (I trust no person or company 100 percent, however!) thanks to its respectable data privacy principles. That is why I surf the web with Firefox whenever I can. That company has been beta-testing a VPN service of its own called ‘Firefox Private Network VPN’. Yeah, that name stinks as it is too wordy. Thankfully, the company has wisely decided to rename it to the much cleaner ‘Mozilla VPN.’ In addition, we learn how much the VPN service will eventually cost — $4.99 a month.”

NME: Facebook launches interactive app for fans to comment on live events in real time. “Facebook has launched a new app that acts as a second screen for fans to comment on live events and engage with others watching. Venue, described as ‘the companion app to live events’, arrives days after Facebook announced Collab, a short-form music video app that allows users to overlay up to three recordings at a time to create remote musical collaborations.”

USEFUL STUFF

Texas Monthly: 14 Resources for Teaching Your Kids About Racial Injustice. “We’ve talked about racism and the history of violence against African Americans that extends to this day, and their teachers have led discussions on tolerance, fairness, and inclusiveness. Still, as the questions keep coming along with a need for more understanding, I turned to the minds behind the state’s African American Studies high school elective, which was based on an initiative conceived by board member Aicha Davis and piloted in Dallas schools last school year. This past fall, when the Texas State Board of Education was considering implementing the class, students testified to the course’s benefits. Not only did it help them understand more about African American history, they said, it helped them understand the ways that historical events led to oppression today—and think about ways they can promote justice.”

Digital Inspiration: How to Send Google Forms with Pre-filled Answers. “This step-by-step video tutorial explains how you can create pre-filled Google Forms with dynamic information from a Google Sheet. You can then use Mail Merge or Document Studio to automatically send the prefilled forms to your contacts in bulk with Gmail.”

Search Engine Journal: How to Completely Set up & Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page. “The employment-oriented platform provides a professional atmosphere for many business operations including hiring, internal communication, and industry-related groups for information, events, and more. However, all of these perks mean nothing if customers can’t find the business in the first place. Or, if there isn’t enough information on the profile and a user loses interest – or the ability to learn what it needs about the company, the messaging really could be all for naught.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Modern Ghana: Experts On Africa Seek Specialists To Bring African Expertise Closer To International Conversations. “Experts on Africa, an initiative by What’s in it for Africa, launches its call for applications [June 2]. In search of specialists with sector expertise across the fields of Health, Trade, History, Literature, and more to be part of a one-stop-shop database to profile African expertise. The database will launch in early 2021.”

Vanity Fair: Is Trump’s Social Media Firewall Starting To Crumble?. “The Snapchat standoff represents Trumpworld’s most recent clash with social media companies. But the conflicts have been ongoing, particularly since the president came out vocally against police-brutality protesters. Last week Twitter added a cautionary disclaimer to his threats against looting ‘THUGS’ and added a fact-check label to his tweets claiming that mail-in ballots boost voter fraud. Neither step made the tweets inaccessible; rather, users simply had to click through the former post’s warning to read it.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

NBC News: France’s top court upholds $56 million fine for Google over privacy breach. “France’s highest administrative court has upheld a fine of 50 million euros ($56 million) Google was ordered to pay for not being ‘sufficiently clear and transparent’ with Android users about their data protection options.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Space: NASA needs your help teaching its Curiosity rover how to drive on Mars. “NASA is asking for your help to guide its Curiosity rover around sand traps, sharp rocks and other obstacles on the Red Planet. A new online tool called AI4Mars, hosted on Zooniverse, allows anyone to label parts of the terrain in the landscape surrounding Curiosity, which has been roving on Mars since 2012.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

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June 21, 2020 at 12:57AM
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Biodiversity, Heartbeat of the Earth, Piano Classical Music, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, June 20, 2020

Biodiversity, Heartbeat of the Earth, Piano Classical Music, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, June 20, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

NASA: NASA Fosters Innovative Ways to Understand Biodiversity. “To study and monitor changes in Earth’s biodiversity, or the immense volume of organisms in the world, scientists and citizen scientists record their sightings in the field. At the same time, sensors on the ground and on board satellites and aircraft monitor flora and fauna on a regional to global scale. NASA has funded four projects to create new, virtual portals that bring into focus this wealth of biodiversity information to help inform scientists, land managers and decision makers around the world regarding the status and health of terrestrial ecosystems.”

Scoop New Zealand: UN, Google Arts & Culture Announce ‘Heartbeat Of The Earth’ – An Artistic Take On Climate Data. “On World Environment Day (June 5), UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Google Arts & Culture Lab residency program announce ‘Heartbeat of the Earth’, a series of experimental artworks inspired by climate data. Five artists—Cristina Tarquini, Fabian Oefner, Laurie Frick, Timo Aho & Pekka Niittyvirta—used key findings from the UN’s landmark 2018 IPCC report and data from scientific institutions, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the World Meteorological Organization, to create four interactive art pieces about our climate. They’ve addressed the topics of declining ocean life, food consumption, melting glaciers and rising sea levels.”

Rhinegold Publishing: Historic piano recordings database goes online. “Michael Spring, owner of historic piano recordings label APR, has launched a free, comprehensive online database of 78 rpm piano recordings, comprising more than 12,000 entries dating from the 1890s until the mid-1950s.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNBC: Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will allow users to turn off political ads. “Users will be able to turn off political, electoral and social issue ads from political candidates, Super PACs and ‘other organizations that have the “Paid for by” political disclaimer on them,’ the company told CNBC. The company will start rolling this feature out to some users on Wednesday, and it will become available to all U.S. users over the next few weeks, Facebook said.”

CNET: Google says it will increase diversity in leadership 30 percent by 2025. “Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday said the search giant will add more black employees, as well as employees from other ‘underrepresented groups,’ to its leadership ranks. The company vowed a 30% improvement over the next five years.”

Variety: Facebook Adds Tool to Bulk-Delete Old Posts, Hide Content From Other Users. “Facebook is making it easier for users to wipe out embarrassing or otherwise personally painful posts. The social-media giant announced Manage Activity, a new feature to make it easier for users to delete or hide many posts at once.”

USEFUL STUFF

The Verge: ‘Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over’ shortcut makes it easy to record police. “As protests against racial police violence have spread across the US, we’ve seen how video captured on mobile devices can help identify misconduct by law enforcement. But such evidence isn’t just useful at a protest, but during all sorts of routine interactions with the police, including traffic stops. That’s why the Siri shortcut ‘I’m getting pulled over’ exists.”

MIT Technology Review: How to protect yourself online from misinformation right now. “The logical response to seeing potentially harmful misinformation spread across the internet is to debunk, and to inform others on how they can avoid falling for it themselves. But it’s difficult to evaluate a river of information when you’re going through something traumatic—in the midst of a global pandemic, and with police escalating their use of force against people protesting police brutality.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

AdWeek: Civil Rights Groups Urge Large Facebook Advertisers to Boycott the Platform in July. “Six civil rights groups have organized a social media boycott effort against Facebook, calling on media buyers, planners and brands to stop advertising next month unless the social network takes steps to curb the proliferation of hate on its platform. The group was formed by the Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change, Common Sense Media, Free Press, the NAACP and Sleeping Giants, and is spreading its cause under the hashtag #StopHateForProfit.”

Media Matters: Facebook finally removed Trump campaign ads with inverted red triangle — an infamous Nazi symbol. “Since June 3, the Trump campaign has been running Facebook ads fearmongering about ‘antifa.’ On June 17, the campaign added an inverted red triangle to some variations of the ad — a symbol the Nazis used to designate political prisoners.”

The Guardian: National archives’ 90-day delay to declassify palace letters ‘extremely disappointing’. “The historian Jenny Hocking says she is ‘extremely disappointed’ that the National Archives of Australia has asserted it has 90 business days to declassify the palace letters prior to release, saying it may misunderstand the orders of the high court. The archives on Tuesday issued a statement saying it was working to prepare the letters – correspondence between the Queen, her private secretary, and the governor general, John Kerr, in the lead up to the former prime minister Gough Whitlam’s 1975 dismissal – for release following a momentous high court ruling last week.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Facebook, Google, Twitter tell lawmakers they’re doing more to safeguard elections. “Facebook, Twitter and Google officials signaled to lawmakers on Thursday that they are more prepared for the 2020 US presidential election even as bad actors change their tactics to try to evade detection. Foreign interference has been a top concern for lawmakers after Russian trolls used social media sites to sow discord among Americans during the 2016 elections. Since then, officials from all three companies say they’ve taken steps to take down fake accounts and make it more clear who is behind political advertising.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!

June 20, 2020 at 04:54PM
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