Monday, October 19, 2020

Wampanoag Voices, Battery Safety, Google Drive, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 19, 2020

Wampanoag Voices, Battery Safety, Google Drive, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 19, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

WBUR: Online Exhibit At Harvard’s Peabody Museum Elevates Wampanoag Voices. “‘Listening to Wampanoag Voices: Beyond 1620’ features artists, storytellers and researchers, discussing some of their cultural items and photographs that are housed in the museum’s collection. “Early on, we decided to blur the focus on the 17th century,” says Meredith Vasta, collections steward at the Peabody. ‘We wanted to look at more contemporary lives and perspectives of Wampanoag people.'”

Solar Power World: UL launches database of thermal runaway-tested battery brands and models. “UL has launched a free online database recognizing manufacturers that have completed testing under the ANSI/CAN/UL 9540A Standard for Test Method for Evaluating Thermal Runaway Fire Propagation in Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The database allows manufacturers that have had their cell, module, unit or installation evaluated for thermal runaway fire propagation by UL to share the data in three ways: the model number with contact information to obtain more test details, the UL 9540A report summary or the full test report.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Digital Inspiration: How to Password Protect Google Documents and PDF files in Google Drive. “Introducing PDF toolbox, a new Google Drive addon that lets you password protect PDF files and Google Documents. The app can also help you unlock PDF files that are already protected with a password in your Google Drive.”

USEFUL STUFF

ZDNet: Best cloud storage services: From Google Drive to Dropbox, the top options for business . “How do you choose which one is right for you? You could just pick by how much free storage space you get. That’s simple, but it’s only part of the story. The real value from a cloud storage service comes from how well it works for you or your business. As you’ll see, some work much better with some operating systems and business plans than others.”

MakeUseOf: 4 Ways to Schedule Posts to Multiple Social Media Platforms at Once. “Influencers use social media to promote products in return for a fee, while freelancers and businesses use it to attract new clients. All of this has made the task of keeping your social media accounts updated even more important. But there’s no need to let social media take over your life. Numerous tools let you schedule posts to a number of platforms at the same time, with other features including curation, reposting, and more. Here are our top picks.” Interesting list, but doesn’t mention my favorite, Buffer.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

GBH: Preserving The Present: Efforts To Archive Ongoing BLM Protests . “Historians call it ephemera: the ticket stubs and posters that often are just thrown away or put in scrapbooks. But there are times when the humble handmade sign becomes more than a personal memory — it becomes documentary evidence of a special moment in time. That’s why Smithsonian archivists started collecting the handmade posters and other materials especially created for the street protests following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Why is it important to collect this protest art? And what is its historic meaning?” Video; I do not see a transcript link.

Mashable: Facebook removes 120,000 posts for trying to ‘obstruct voting’ in U.S. election. “With the U.S. presidential election just weeks away, voter suppression efforts are in full-swing on social media. Among the prime targets for voter suppression attempts: The world’s largest social network, Facebook, and its sister platform, Instagram.”

Daytona Beach News-Journal: Google hack sends Clint Curtis searchers to Viagra ad. “Clint Curtis, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Florida’s 6th District, is asking Google to fix a problem. On Thursday morning, folks typing his name into the search engine can access what appears to be his website, clintcurtis.com. When the searcher clicks on the link, though, an online pharmacy ad pops up selling Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug.” I just tried it. I’m not in Florida but it works fine, no Viagra ads.

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Guardian: ‘Smart’ male chastity device can be controlled by hackers, users warned. “The maker of a ‘smart’ male chastity device has recommended using a screwdriver to break it open after warnings it can be locked remotely by hackers. The Bluetooth-controlled Cellmate device can only be unlocked via an app. Its manufacturer, the Chinese company Qiui, issued a video titled ‘When nothing else works’, showing the screwdriver fix.”

CNET: Google is giving data to police based on search keywords, court docs show. “There are few things as revealing as a person’s search history, and police typically need a warrant on a known suspect to demand that sensitive information. But a recently unsealed court document found that investigators can request such data in reverse order by asking Google to disclose everyone who searched a keyword rather than for information on a known suspect.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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October 20, 2020 at 01:05AM
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Monday CoronaBuzz, October 19, 2020 37 pointers to updates, useful stuff, research news, and more.

Monday CoronaBuzz, October 19, 2020 37 pointers to updates, useful stuff, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Please wear a mask. Wash your hands. Stay at home if you can. Please be careful. I love you.

NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH

Palo Alto University: Professor Lisa Brown Co-Authors Tool to Help Determine Risks of Social Activities During COVID-19. “This interactive tool (also available in PDF format in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin) is designed to help people determine what their risk tolerance and risk factors are. It guides users through a series of questions that are based on their interests and the activity’s level of risk. Working step-by-step through this decision aid may help individuals clarify the reasons for doing or not doing an activity where other people are present.”

UPDATES

BBC: China’s economy continues to bounce back from virus slump. “China’s economy continues its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic according to its latest official figures. The world’s second-biggest economy saw growth of 4.9% between July and September, compared to the same quarter last year. However, the figure is lower than the 5.2% expected by economists.”

Wyoming Tribune Eagle: Confirmed, active COVID-19 cases continue to rise across Wyoming. “As of 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, the total number of lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in Wyoming had increased by 194, from 7,479 to 7,673 in the past 24 hours, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.”

CBS Miami: Florida Reports Highest Coronavirus Numbers In Past Two Months. “Florida reported its highest coronavirus numbers in two months with another uptick in new infections Saturday, surging to more than 4,000 cases. The state also reported nearly 90 more deaths, which pushed its official death toll to nearly 16,000 Floridians since March. Since the outbreak began, Florida has recorded more than 752,00 coronavirus cases.”

FACT CHECKS / MISINFORMATION

CNN: More people have died from Covid-19 than in the past 5 flu seasons combined. And coronavirus is much more contagious. “…in just eight months, Covid-19 has killed more people than the flu did during the last five flu seasons combined. As for Trump’s claim that the flu kills ‘sometimes over 100,000’ people a year, CDC data from 1976 to 2007 and from 2010 until now show that’s not even close. There are several more reasons why Covid-19 is more dangerous than the flu — and why extra precautions are needed.”

The Guardian: Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’. “The Great Barrington declaration, which was said to have been signed by more than 15,000 scientists and medical practitioners around the world, was found by Sky News to contain numerous false names, as well as those of several homeopaths. Others listed include a resident at the ‘university of your mum’ and another supposed specialist whose name was the first verse of the Macarena.”

CNN: Twitter removes tweet from Trump coronavirus adviser that undermined importance of masks. “Twitter has removed a tweet from White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Scott Atlas that sought to undermine the importance of face masks because it was in violation of the platform’s Covid-19 Misleading Information Policy, a spokesman for the company confirmed on Sunday.”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

CNBC: ‘My kids are starving’: Food banks and pantries see explosive demand in North Carolina as pandemic continues. “One of the most terrifying points of 2020 for Christian Sullins was not when she was unemployed as a result of pregnancy complications following the birth of her son in January. It was not when she was working as a waitress serving customers in March as the coronavirus pandemic began to rip through the U.S. And it was not when she lost her job just two weeks after returning to work when North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper issued state-wide stay-at-home orders. No, the worst moment came when Sullins, a 32-year-old mother of two, ran out of food.”

New York Times: As the Coronavirus Surges, a New Culprit Emerges: Pandemic Fatigue. “With no end in sight, many people are flocking to bars, family parties, bowling alleys and sporting events much as they did before the virus hit, and others must return to school or work as communities seek to resuscitate economies. And in sharp contrast to the spring, the rituals of hope and unity that helped people endure the first surge of the virus have given way to exhaustion and frustration.”

INSTITUTIONS

New York Times: Broadway Will Remain Closed at Least Through May. “Broadway is going to remain closed at least through next May 30, which is 444 days after all 41 theaters went dark as part of New York’s effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.”

STATE / LOCAL GOVERNMENT

NBC News: Mayor of Tennessee city that hosts Bonnaroo dies of Covid-19 at 79. “The mayor of a small town in Tennessee that hosts the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival died Monday of Covid-19, officials said. He was 79…. Manchester Mayor Lonnie Norman was hospitalized earlier this month before dying ‘after a valiant fight against COVID-19,’ the city said in a Facebook post Monday.”

New York Times: How a Feud Between Cuomo and de Blasio Led to a Chaotic Virus Crackdown. “The governor and mayor, both Democrats, have feuded for years, and their reluctance to work together closely has become a critical issue during the pandemic. Mr. [Bill] de Blasio, who needed Mr. [Andrew] Cuomo’s approval to act, pushed out a plan without the state’s blessing, only to have the governor override that plan with one of his own — causing unnecessary confusion for thousands of business owners and school parents.”

BuzzFeed News: It’s A US Territory Where The Coronavirus Never Arrived — But Some Residents Can’t Get Home. “Even as more than 217,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the US, American Samoa has had zero recorded cases of the virus. The remote US territory — a small island located in the Pacific Ocean, roughly equidistant between Hawaii and New Zealand — is the sole part of the country that has managed to remain completely COVID-free, largely due to the governor’s move in late March to completely close off the island to the outside world to prevent the virus from coming in.”

COUNTRY / FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

BBC: Coronavirus in Australia: Victoria to ease lockdown as cases fall. “Officials are easing tight coronavirus restrictions in the state of Victoria after more than 100 days of lockdown. From Monday, people will be able to travel further and meet up with more friends without a time limit on how long they spend outside the home. But strict measures remain in place for restaurants and retailers, limiting them to takeaway and delivery options.”

Reuters: Swiss tighten measures to combat COVID-19 second wave. “Switzerland announced tighter restrictions on Sunday to tackle the second wave of the coronavirus hitting the country, including a nation-wide obligation to wear masks and a ban on large scale public gatherings.”

BBC: Covid-19: Italy tightens rules after coronavirus cases surge. “Italy has announced a new raft of measures to tighten restrictions amid a surge in coronavirus cases. A mask-wearing PM Giuseppe Conte said the measures were needed ‘to avoid a new lockdown’.”

INDIVIDUALS / BANDS / GROUPS

Variety: After Coronavirus Outbreak, This CBS News White House Correspondent Works Outside the Building. “Paula Reid has, for the moment, moved from the White House to her house. The CBS News White House correspondent is still working her job full-time. But for the last few days, she hasn’t been doing it at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

BBC: Covid-19: Top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat taken to Israeli hospital. “Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has been admitted to hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel with Covid-19. Mr Erekat, who tested positive earlier this month, was transferred from his home in the West Bank following a request by Palestinian officials.”

E Online: Influencer Dmitriy Stuzhuk Dead Of Coronavirus After Telling Followers It Wasn’t Real. “Fitness influencer Dmitriy Stuzhuk has passed away at the age of 33 after suffering from complications related to COVID-19. The social media star’s ex-wife, Sofia Stuzhuk, with whom he shared three kids, confirmed his death in a detailed Instagram post on Saturday, Oct. 17.”

BuzzFeed News: He Was Patient #10451 In Life — And Nothing More Than “XX” In Death. “The death of patient #10451 — the number given to him in documents from the hospital — made him just another statistic as the coronavirus started to take its toll on the Central American country of 17 million people. But it wasn’t just in death that he was little more than a number. No one had ever known his real name, his birthplace, who his parents were, or even his age. That’s because patient #10451 spent almost all of his life institutionalized, first in an orphanage known for neglecting the children in its care, and then in a mental health institution that has been described as the most dangerous hospital in the world.”

SPORTS

CNN: University of Florida head football coach tests positive for Covid-19. “University of Florida head football coach Dan Mullen tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement he posted on Twitter on Saturday. ‘I’m continuing to self-isolate from my family, who all remain healthy, and am following the guidelines set forth by UF Health, the CDC and our public health officials,’ Mullen tweeted.”

K-12 EDUCATION

ProPublica Illinois: Illinois Has Had COVID-19 Outbreaks in 44 Schools but Won’t Say Where They’ve Occurred. “More children are testing positive for COVID-19 than they were between March and mid-August, when schools shut down. As parents weigh the safety of in-person learning, Illinois has not published information about the virus’s spread in schools.”

Chalkbeat: With most U.S. students still learning online, parents say they want better virtual instruction. “The majority of America’s public school students are learning exclusively online, according to a new national poll of their parents — and most of those parents want school officials to focus on improving that experience.”

HEALTH

Washington Post: Why the coronavirus is killing more men than women. “One possible culprit was male behavior. Perhaps men were more likely to be exposed to the virus due to social factors; a disproportionately male workforce, for instance, could place more men in contact with infected people. Or men’s lungs might be more vulnerable because they were more likely to smoke in the earliest countries to report the differences. What has become more evident, 10 months into this outbreak, is that men show comparatively weaker immune responses to coronavirus infections, which may account for those added deaths.”

Los Angeles Times: Boiling Point: These maps show how air pollution and COVID-19 can be a deadly mix. “During a news cycle dominated by COVID-19 infections spreading through the White House as President Trump and his associates flout public health guidelines, I’ve been thinking about some of the people suffering the most from this virus: Black people and Latinos, who are more likely to get sick and more likely to die than white people. I’ve also been thinking about the links between poor air quality and risk of contracting coronavirus, and the fact that people of color are more likely to breathe polluted air due to decades of racist housing and environmental policies.”

New York Times: Coronavirus Safety Runs Into a Stubborn Barrier: Masculinity. “The theme has been there since the beginning of the pandemic. Some experts who study masculinity and public health say the perception that wearing masks and following social distancing guidelines are unmanly has carried a destructive cost. The virus has infected more men than women and killed far more of them.”

Arizona Republic: COVID-19 cases in Arizona dropped 75% after mask mandates began, report says. “COVID-19 cases in Arizona spiked 151% after a statewide stay-at-home order expired and dropped 75% following local mask mandates, a new report says.”

RESEARCH

EurekAlert: Plastic film protects surfaces against novel coronavirus on contact. “An adhesive plastic film designed to protect surfaces such as doorknobs, handrails, elevator buttons, and touch screens inactivates the novel coronavirus on contact.”

KOAT: COVID-19 vaccine trials at Navajo Nation ‘overwhelmingly positive’. “As COVID-19 vaccine trials around the world are put on hold because of safety concerns, the trials happening at the Navajo Nation are seeing great success. The nation became one of the first groups in the country to begin vaccine trials. Currently the medical team at the John Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, said that since the trials began in September at least 40 people have signed up to participate in the trials.”

Willamette Week: Most Oregonians Are Willing to Wear Masks During the Pandemic, but Just Can’t Stop Attending Parties. “Two statewide surveys of Oregonians show that the majority of state residents take mask-wearing precautions seriously amid the COVID-19 pandemic but are still congregating in groups of more than 10.”

Fierce Pharma: No need to panic about COVID-19 trial halts, FDA chief says. They show the system is working. “Headlines about COVID-19 vaccine and drug trial pauses may ring alarm bells for millions of people watching their progress, but FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, M.D., has another point of view. The breaks in the action actually show the development process is working as intended, Hahn told Bloomberg.”

New York Times: First, a Vaccine Approval. Then ‘Chaos and Confusion.’. “The first vaccines may provide only moderate protection, low enough to make it prudent to keep wearing a mask. By next spring or summer, there may be several of these so-so vaccines, without a clear sense of how to choose from among them. Because of this array of options, makers of a superior vaccine in early stages of development may struggle to finish clinical testing. And some vaccines may be abruptly withdrawn from the market because they turn out not to be safe.”

CRIME / SECURITY / LEGAL

Washington Post: Crime rose unevenly when stay-at-home orders lifted. The racial disparity is the widest in years.. “A Washington Post analysis of 27 cities showed the rolling rate of violent crime in majority-White neighborhoods fell by 30 percent while stay-at-home orders were in effect, dipping to its lowest point in two years. Once the orders were lifted, violent crime in those neighborhoods returned to pre-pandemic levels, but stayed below average when compared with 2018 and 2019. In majority-Black neighborhoods, the rate of violence remained relatively steady while stay-at-home orders were in effect, but rose dramatically after orders were lifted, peaking at 133 crimes per 100,000 residents in July, the highest level in the past three years.”

OPINION

Daily Beast: 9 (Kinda) Hilarious Lessons From My 99 Days on a COVID Ventilator. “Let’s rewind the tape to when this grease fire of a year kicked off. It was late February, and I was a 31-year-old comedian struggling to pay rent on my shoebox Manhattan apartment. While visiting my parents in Massachusetts, I developed flu-like symptoms and ended up testing positive for COVID-19. Despite having no pre-existing conditions, I landed in the ICU on a ventilator before being airlifted to a second hospital for a 99-day catnap powered by modern medicine. As it turns out, a person like me can learn a lot from almost dying.”

POLITICS

MPR News: COVID-19 cases tied to MN campaign events — but full impact is unclear. “Public health officials worried these events might cause a delayed spike in COVID-19 cases. Typically, they start to see positive cases 5 to 7 days after the date of infection. And it can take weeks to understand the full impact of an event that sparks a COVID-19 outbreak. Now it has been weeks — and some infections have been traced back to the rallies and a smaller campaign visit by Trump’s presidential rival, Joe Biden — but the numbers for each of the events fall far short of what health officials initially feared.”

New York Times: Under Pence, Politics Regularly Seeped Into the Coronavirus Task Force. “At the task force, grim science-based projections were sometimes de-emphasized for rosier predictions, and guidance from public health agencies — about schools and summer camps, for example — was sometimes massaged by the vice president’s staff.”

Associated Press: Black churches mobilizing voters despite virus challenges. “In recent election cycles, Black church congregations across the country have launched get-out-the-vote campaigns commonly referred to as ‘souls to the polls.’ To counteract racist voter suppression tactics that date back to the Jim Crow era, early voting in the Black community is stressed from pulpits nearly as much as it is by the candidates seeking their support. But voter mobilization in Black church communities will look much different in 2020, due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected millions across the U.S. and has taken a disproportionate toll on Black America.”

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October 19, 2020 at 06:21PM
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Fashion Research, Federally Funded Language Programs, Environmental Activism, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, October 19, 2020

Fashion Research, Federally Funded Language Programs, Environmental Activism, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, October 19, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Dazed: Elise by Olsen has launched a fashion research library. “Launching today (October 15), the digital library includes more than 5,000 pieces of contemporary printed documents and artefacts, including books, magazines, lookbooks, show invitations, and illustrations from the likes of Acne, Comme des Garçons, Issey Miyake, Larry Clark, Martin Margiela, Nan Goldin, and more. The collection will keep growing through ongoing donations from fashion houses and publishers.” The archive is free to access.

US Department of State: Launch of Website on Federally Funded Language Programs . “The website provides a resource for Americans seeking to learn a foreign language by serving as a one-stop platform for U.S. government language programs. Americans can visit Languages.State.Gov to take a quiz to identify language programs that fit their goals and explore U.S. government scholarships and other resources. The website will categorize the language programs offered by the U.S. government by several criteria, including course length, location, and audience.”

Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation: IPLC Launches the Student and Youth Environmental Activism Web Archive. “The Student and Youth Environmental Activism Web Archive… documents youth and student engagement in climate change and environmental issues from around the globe beginning in 2019. It contains websites and online documents created by individuals, groups, organizations, and coalitions of student and youth-led environmental activism.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Make Tech Easier: Google Adds More AI to Search to Be More Helpful . “Google has become synonymous with search. The name has become an action. Who searches for things online? We google it. It’s come a long way since it was first developed in 1997 – when that’s all Google was, a search engine. Google has recently added more AI to search to make it even more helpful.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Guardian: From cut-out confessions to cheese pages: browse the world’s strangest books. “Edward Brooke-Hitching grew up in a rare book shop, with a rare book dealer for a father. As the author of histories of maps The Phantom Atlas, The Golden Atlas and The Sky Atlas, he has always been ‘really fascinated by books that are down the back alleys of history’. Ten years ago, he embarked on a project to come up with the ‘ultimate library’. No first editions of Jane Austen here, though: Brooke-Hitching’s The Madman’s Library collects the most eccentric and extraordinary books from around the world.”

Pappas Post: Help Us Preserve History: Ottoman Greeks of the United States Project. “The Ottoman Greeks of the United States Project (OGUS) is a multifaceted interdisciplinary research project at the University of Florida. OGUS was established in 2015 with the support of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and is one of the program’s many projects. Our main goal is to raise the public’s awareness and inspiring scholarly research about the experiences of Ottoman Greek immigrants and refugees in the United States. To achieve this goal, the project is interviewing descendants of immigrants in the US from regions of the former Ottoman Empire which constitute contemporary Turkey.”

Havana Times: Ireland & Cuba: Entangled Histories. “PhDs Margaret Brehony and Nuala Finnegan, both from the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at the National University of Ireland in Cork, refer to this distinctive seal in their collection of essays Ireland and Cuba: Entangled Histories. They are written with little or no angles, nothing doctored, and therein lies the book’s greatest uniqueness. The book talks about anti-slavery movements, ethnic whitening processes, women in the Irish diaspora, the slave trade… The following is our conversation with Margaret Brehony about a slice of history that interweaves both islands.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Judge orders DOJ to determine intent of Trump’s tweets ‘declassifying’ Russia docs. “A federal judge wants to know more about what President Donald Trump meant when he tweeted that he’d ‘fully authorized the total declassification’ of documents related to the probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US elections, according to media reports.”

The Daily Swig: GHunt OSINT tool sniffs out Google users’ account information using just their email address . “GHunt lets individuals, or security experts, analyze a target’s Google ‘footprint’ based just on an email. The open source intelligence, or OSINT, tool can extract the account owner’s name and Google ID, YouTube channel, and active Google services, including Photos and Maps. GHunt can also reveal public photos, phone model, make, firmware and installed software, and potentially, the user’s physical location.”

Associated Press: Activist fined for dislodging African art from Paris museum. “A Congolese activist was fined 2,000 euros ($2,320) on Wednesday for trying to take a 19th-century African funeral pole from a Paris museum in a protest against colonial-era injustice that he streamed online.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: Internet connectivity is oxygen for research and development work. “Fast and reliable internet access is fundamental for research and development activity around the world. Seamless connectivity is a privilege we often take for granted. But in developing nations, technological limitations can become stumbling blocks to efficient communication and cause significant disadvantages.”

LIS Scholarship Archive Works: Strategies for integrating Open Access Resources (OAR) into libraries collections: A study. “The study’s general purpose is to assist both management and collection development practitioners in adopting appropriate strategies for integrating OA materials into libraries’ collections. The study was designed to specifically examine the challenges to the integration of OAR into libraries’ collections and to explore relevant strategies for the integration.” 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!



October 19, 2020 at 05:22PM
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Sunday, October 18, 2020

Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank, SkinSafe, Google Trusted Contacts, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 18, 2020

Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank, SkinSafe, Google Trusted Contacts, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 18, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Taipei Times: New Web site sheds light on cultural history. “The Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank… curates people’s recollections and historic documentation in words, images, artifacts, audiovisual assets and other media to reconstruct Taiwan’s historical eras, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the memories are collected and introduced to the world on the Web site.” The site is in Chinese but translates okay for the most part, except for a couple of places where Chinese writing is part of a graphic and not translated.

Well+Good: This Mayo Clinic Database Makes It Easy To Shop for Sensitive Skin-Friendly Products. “Those with sensitive skin know all too well the mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation they feel when trying out a new beauty product. The first step is finding a product that doesn’t irritate your skin. Only then can you figure out if the product is actually doing what you need it to do. To take some of the guess work out of the process, the Mayo Clinic and Her Inc. developed SkinSafe, a searchable database of beauty products that shows which products have potential skin allergens or irritants. And in a new partnership with CVS, you can also look at the ingredients of drugstore beauty products.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Neowin: Google bids farewell to its Trusted Contacts app. “Google has a reputation for killing off products and services. In fact, there’s a whole website dedicated to services that are Killed by Google. Google’s Trusted Contacts app, which the firm added in 2016 as a location-sharing app for loved ones, is being shut down after roughly four years. Similar functionality has since been built into Google Maps, which Google recommended users to check out while announcing the shutdown.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: 6 Instagram Tools for Power Users to Make Better Posts and Stories. “Instagram enforces restrictions on its users in how they can use the app. That’s why you need to turn to third-party apps to circumvent annoyances like bulk downloading someone’s photos and videos, or apps to repost photos and videos. In that same vein, try these others that break the Instagram bubble to make you stand out.”

Digital Inspiration: Reclaim Disk Space – How to Find the Biggest Files in your Google Drive. “Your Google account storage is shared between Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. What do you do when your Google account is running out of storage space? You either buy more storage from Google or the inexpensive option is that you spend some time spring-cleaning your account and delete the emails and files that could be hogging up the storage space.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

TechCrunch: Hands on with Telepath, the social network taking aim at abuse, fake news and, to some extent, ‘free speech’. “Today, a number of new social networks are trying to flip the old model on its head — whether that’s attempting to use audio for more personal connections, like Clubhouse, eliminate clout chasing, like Twelv, or, in the case of new social network Telepath, by designing a platform guided by rules that focus on enforcing kindness, countering abuse, and disabling the spread of fake news.”

Rudaw: Music is at the heart of Yezidis’ lives: Baroness Emma Nicholson. “Efforts to preserve Yezidi music for future generations are making headway, says Baroness Emma Nicholson, a British politician and founder of a charity that has spearheaded a cultural digitization project with the minority group.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

PCMag Australia: Google: Chinese Hackers Are Posing as McAfee Antivirus to Phish Victims. “Chinese state-sponsored hackers may be impersonating antivirus provider McAfee in order to trick high-profile targets into downloading malware. The suspected Chinese hacking group, APT 31, has been resorting to the tactic, according to Google’s security team. Back in June, the company’s security researchers reported that APT 31 had been targeting Joe Biden’s Presidential campaign by sending phishing emails to his staff. The goal was to hijack their personal email accounts, but Google says the phishing attempts all appear to have failed.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Stanford University: Analysis of an October 2020 Facebook Takedown Linked to U.S. Political Consultancy Rally Forge. “An astroturfing operation involving fake accounts (some with AI-generated images) that left thousands of comments on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Clients included Turning Point Action and Inclusive Conservation Group, a pro-hunting organization.”

Salina Post: Web-based AI program encourages users to submit photos of bees for IDs. “A Kansas State University researcher’s effort to develop an artificial intelligence tool for identifying bees has created quite a buzz already. Brian Spiesman, an assistant professor in K-State’s Department of Entomology, launched the website…earlier this year to relieve a backlog of information needed to help track trends in bee populations across the world.” Good afternoon, 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!



October 19, 2020 at 01:12AM
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Norway Genealogy, Virtual Language Observatory, Instagram, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, October 18, 2020

Norway Genealogy, Virtual Language Observatory, Instagram, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, October 18, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Translated from the Norwegian, a little awkwardly. Arkivverket: Has reached 80 million personal names in the Digital Archive. “The reason for the gratifying increase is the National Archives’ multi-year collaboration with the international genealogy companies Ancestry, MyHeritage and FamilySearch (AMF). These have helped to make the priest’s entries in church books up to the end of the 20th century searchable. In return, companies can also publish the information on their websites. For over 20 years, many enthusiastic volunteers have written from the sources the National Archives has published in the Digital Archive. This information has then been published in the Digital Archive, so that it becomes searchable for everyone and even more easily accessible.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Europeana Pro: Exploring new resources in CLARIN’s Virtual Language Observatory. “Since 2017, CLARIN and Europeana have worked together to increase the number of cultural heritage objects available for quick and easy discovery as well as processing by humanities and social sciences scholars. In this post, we take a look at the new resources integrated into CLARIN’s Virtual Language Observatory.”

CNN: Instagram to crack down on ‘hidden’ advertising. “Is that post on Instagram actually an advertisement? The photo and video sharing platform’s 1 billion users may soon have a better idea if they’re looking at a sales pitch thanks to new measures aimed at combating ‘hidden’ advertising.”

Internet Archive: Internet Archive Joins Project ReShare. “The Internet Archive is the newest library to join Project ReShare, a group of organizations coming together to develop an open source resource sharing platform for libraries. The project was formed in 2018 in response to concern about market consolidation and the pace of innovation among vendors serving libraries. Rather than rely solely on commercial providers, members wanted to be able to set their own priorities.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Inside Indiana Business: IU Awarded $500K Grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York is awarding a $500,000 grant to Indiana University to support the HathiTrust Research Center. IU says the grant will allow the center to develop reusable worksets and research models from the 17-million-volume HathiTrust Digital Library.”

New York Times: How The Babylon Bee, a Right-Wing Satire Site, Capitalizes on Confusion. “Emma Goldberg, a reporter for The New York Times, recently profiled The Babylon Bee, and wrote about how the site’s satire is frequently mistaken for reality. I chatted with Ms. Goldberg about her article, The Babylon Bee’s habit of skirting the line between misinformation and satire, and how it capitalizes on its audience’s confusion.”

Sports Collectors Daily: Lelands Acquires Brown Brothers Photo Archive. “A well-known photography archive, with roots in the early 20th century, has been acquired by Lelands. The company has acquired the archives of Brown Brothers, recognized as the most comprehensive American stock photo library covering events of the 20th century. Included are images of some of the most famous athletes in American history.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Politico: No Democrats expected to join Trump’s DOJ in suing Google. “The Justice Department is likely to file its long-awaited antitrust suit against Google early next week, but without the sign-on of any Democratic attorneys general, four people familiar with the case said Friday — upending the Trump administration’s hopes to enlist bipartisan support for its fight against the internet giant.”

BBC: Egypt releases satirical blogger Shadi Abu Zeid. “An Egyptian blogger and satirist has been released after more than two years in detention. Shadi Abu Zeid, 27, was arrested in May 2018 on charges of spreading false news and belonging to a terrorist group. His work focused on prejudices in religion, sexuality and within the Egyptian family.”

Reuters: Exclusive: Google sweetens Fitbit concessions, EU okay in sight – sources . “Alphabet’s Google has tweaked concessions aimed at allaying EU antitrust concerns about its $2.1 billion purchase of Fitbit FIT.N, people familiar with the matter said, putting it on course to secure EU approval for the deal.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Toronto: Armed with 3D scanners, U of T anthropologists ready hundreds of fossils for virtual labs. “In a small room at the Terrence Donnelly Health Science Complex at the University of Toronto Mississauga, a cast of a hominin skull is carefully being scanned. Its prominent features, distinguishing characteristics and even the smallest surface details are all replicated in exacting detail as part of a project that’s bringing fossils into the digital realm. The skull is one of hundreds of specimens being added to an online 3D digital database for anthropology students who can’t access bone casts and fossils in person due to the pandemic.”

The Canberra Times: When a search engine’s the easy way out. “Information has become so easily accessible, so addictive, it’s now the conversational equivalent of junk food, undigested chymus cycling through a common digestive tract encircling the entire planet. We gorge and we defecate. A little bit of knowledge is, of course, a dangerous thing but what’s the result when we begin to hold knowledge in such contempt it loses its primacy? How dangerous is that?” Good morning, Internet…

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October 18, 2020 at 06:24PM
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Saturday, October 17, 2020

Wisconsin Newspapers, Contact Lenses, Windows Updates, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 17, 2020

Wisconsin Newspapers, Contact Lenses, Windows Updates, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 17, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Daily Jefferson County Union: All Daily Unions now digitized for online search. “All issues of the Daily Jefferson County Union — from its founding in 1870 through 90 day ago — now are available online, thanks to a partnership of library and newspaper organizations. The Daily Unions from 1892 through three months ago have been digitized and made available online through the Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers, a repository maintained by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.” Free for Wisconsin residents.

Optometry Times: US launches searchable contact lens database. “The listings are sustained and updated regularly by the Centre for Ocular Research & Education (CORE) at the University of Waterloo. The site allows visitors to filter, compare, and search for a variety of contact lenses and contact lens products. A feature allows manufacturers to log in and update product information directly, to keep listings current.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BetaNews: KB4579311 cumulative update is causing numerous problems for Windows 10 users. “A few days ago, Microsoft released a new cumulative update for Windows 10. The KB4579311 update was supposed to fix a range of issues with the operating system including various security problem, but — once again – this update is proving problematic for many people.”

Swarajya: US Presidential Elections: Google Terminates Over 3,000 China-Linked Fake YouTube Channels. “As the US presidential election inches closer, Google said it has terminated more than 3,000 fake YouTube channels in July-September period which were part of a large spam network linked to China that attempted to run an influence operation on YouTube.”

USEFUL STUFF

New York Times: How to Deal With a Crisis of Misinformation. “How do we adapt to avoid being manipulated and spreading false information to the people we care about? Past methods of spotting untruthful news, like checking articles for typos and phony web addresses that resemble those of trusted publications, are now less relevant. We have to employ more sophisticated methods of consuming information, like doing our own fact-checking and choosing reliable news sources. Here’s what we can do.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Sydney Morning Herald: Ex-Google staffer calls for regulation of big tech to fund journalism. “Influential technology critic Tristan Harris wants more regulation of the big tech companies and says Australia’s push to charge the tech giants to fund journalism has application on a global scale. Mr Harris is the founder and president of the Centre for Humane Technology, a former Google design ethicist and features in Netflix’s recently released documentary The Social Dilemma.”

The Atlantic: America’s Toxic Love Affair With Technology. “America has long carried on a great love affair with technological progress. But the truth is that really big inventions—the printing press, the internal-combustion engine, the internet—have both upsides and downsides. They make new things possible, but they also tend to undo settled expectations and create chaos. The real question is not whether there will be major technological changes, but whether societies can learn to better handle the disruptions that follow.”

I’m sticking with my iPhone 7, but if you’re looking to upgrade your phone, check this out from CNN: Your old iPhone is worth big bucks. Here’s why. “Apple this week widened the price range for its flagship smartphones, announcing the iPhone 12 mini at $699 for users who balk at spending over $1,000 for more premium models. But for people who want to spend even less — in one case, absolutely nothing — to upgrade, Apple (AAPL) and major wireless carriers are doling out big discounts to those trading in their old devices.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai to testify before Congress this month. “Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify before Congress on Oct. 28. The US Senate’s Commerce committee had voted unanimously to subpoena the appearances of Zuckerberg, Pichai and Dorsey, but the CEOs agreed to appear without being subpoenaed, according to The Washington Post.” I wonder how many of these hearings we have before we actually learn anything.

RESEARCH & OPINION

Phys .org: ‘Classified knots’: Researchers create optical framed knots to encode information. “In a world first, researchers from the University of Ottawa in collaboration with Israeli scientists have been able to create optical framed knots in the laboratory that could potentially be applied in modern technologies. Their work opens the door to new methods of distributing secret cryptographic keys—used to encrypt and decrypt data, ensure secure communication and protect private information.” I tried to look up framed knots but I was hit over the head with a mathematics cudgel. Wikipedia has an overview. Good afternoon, 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!



October 18, 2020 at 12:37AM
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Saturday CoronaBuzz, October 17, 2020: 32 pointers to updates, useful stuff, research news, and more.

Saturday CoronaBuzz, October 17, 2020: 32 pointers to updates, useful stuff, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Please wear a mask. Wash your hands. Stay at home if you can. Please be careful. I love you.

NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH

ABC7 : Filipinos at risk in pandemic will get help from new website. “Filipino Americans are disproportionately exposed to the pandemic, and now a nationwide organization of Filipino professionals is providing help through a mobile website. It is called TAYO, which in the Filipino language of Tagalog means ‘us.’ It was created as a virtual help desk and designed to be language-friendly and is culturally tailored.:

Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt researchers develop publicly available COVID-19 animal susceptibility prediction tool; suggests increased risk to horses. “A Vanderbilt team of experts in virology, genetics, structural biology, chemistry, physiology, medicine, immunology and pharmacology have together developed technology to understand and predict animal susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, the scientific name for the strain of coronavirus causing COVID-19 providing evidence that horses and camels may be at increased risk of the virus. The group has also released a publicly available tool to enable people to understand the likelihood of other animals’ susceptibility.”

Massachusetts General Hospital: New tool can detect COVID-19 outbreaks in U.S. counties that host pro football events. “Recent outbreaks of COVID-19 have been detected following football events in the United States, and games have the potential to become ‘superspreader’ events. Because the National Football League (NFL) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) made the decision to play their games amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School, Georgia Tech and Boston Medical Center have extended their artificial intelligence–based COVID-19 Outbreak Detection Tool to incorporate NFL and NCAA football games. The model can help public officials and team owners in their decision-making regarding in-person attendance.”

University of Birmingham: New online research database set to boost battle against COVID-19. “Launched today, the international open-access database for ongoing research activity COVID CORPUS aims to encourage collaboration and reduce duplication between researchers across all academic disciplines working on Covid-19 research. Through its easy-to-use interface, the database will allow researchers and funders around the globe to coordinate, collaborate and network to help shape the most effective and efficient response to COVID-19 and its many impacts.”

NEW RESOURCES – STATE-SPECIFIC

Cleveland 19: Coronavirus crisis: More than $6.9 billion in unemployment compensation paid out to Ohioans in last 30 weeks. “The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported 20,090 people filed for initial unemployment last week (Oct. 4-10) to the U.S. Department of Labor, which brings the total of unemployment claims filed in Ohio over the last 30 weeks to 1,772,416. To put that total into perspective, the total number of claims for the last 30 weeks is more than the combined total of unemployment claims filed over the last four years, according to ODJFS.”

KMBC: KDOL launches new website to track identity theft fraud during the COVID-19 outbreak. “The Kansas Department of Labor launched a new website… that helps people report identity theft fraud during the COVID-19 outbreak. The KDOL says scammers are filing fraudulent claims by using names and personal information of people who have not lost their jobs.”

Bangor Daily News: New tool allows parents to track coronavirus at Maine schools. “Designed to help parents track the coronavirus, the dashboard lists private and public schools that have less than five cases of COVID-19. For schools with more than five, it keeps count of the number of cases, also listing schools associated with outbreaks, Maine Department of Education officials said Tuesday.”

UPDATES

Washington Post: U.S. budget deficit breached $3.1 trillion in 2020 as pandemic slammed economy. “The U.S. budget deficit eclipsed $3.1 trillion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to government data released Friday, by far the biggest one-year gap in U.S. history. The data are a stark reflection of the staggering blow that the coronavirus pandemic has dealt to the U.S. economy.”

KBIA: Missouri Database Fixed; COVID-19 Cases Jump To Nearly 149K. “New numbers posted on the Missouri coronavirus dashboard Wednesday after a four-day shutdown show that the state has averaged 1,861 cases a day over the past week.”

CNET: COVID-19 cases top 8 million in the US. “The United States surpassed 8 million cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The grim milestone puts the US ahead of every other country in terms of total cases. Over 218,000 coronavirus deaths have been reported in the US as well, again setting a record that represents about 20% of total deaths worldwide.”

KELOLAND News: COVID-19 case surge: How South Dakota compares to other states, countries. “To give you an idea just how quickly cases are rising this month, a Reuters analysis found that North Dakota and South Dakota have reported more new COVID-19 cases per capita than all but one country in the world. There are also three times as many new cases per capita than the United Kingdom, Spain or France, where cases are also on the rise.”

FACT CHECKS / MISINFORMATION

Washington Post: The pandemic is amplifying the U.S. anti-vaccine movement — and globalizing it. “A nephew of President John F. Kennedy rallied a German crowd against big pharma and Bill Gates. American conspiracy theories have spurred anti-vaccine protests in Canada and Britain. A California-made video seeded ‘plandemic’ panic around the world. The coronavirus crisis is energizing America’s anti-vaccine movement and expanding its reach.”

New York Times: Former Fox News Host Spreads Virus Misinformation on His Sinclair Show. “In the latest episode of Eric Bolling’s show from the Sinclair Broadcast Group, ‘America This Week,’ the conservative broadcaster perpetuated misinformation about the origin of the coronavirus pandemic and measures that help slow its spread.”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

Washington Post: When Trump gets coronavirus, Chinese Americans pay a price. “In an analysis of 2.7 million tweets in the three days after Trump announced his and first lady Melania Trump’s diagnosis on Twitter, the ADL found elevated language associated with hostility against Asians, compared with the previous day. In the 12 hours after Trump’s announcement, ADL saw an 85 percent spike in such language. The announcement sparked thousands of online conversations blaming China for trying to purposefully infect the president, the researchers found.”

INSTITUTIONS

BBC: India Covid-19: Bollywood faces biggest box office test as cinemas open. “Cinemas have reopened in India after a seven month-long break forced by Covid-19. But with barely any new films being made and the pandemic still raging, lockdown losses will haunt its comeback, reports the BBC’s Krutika Pathi.”

Hyperallergic: Art in General, Beloved Brooklyn Arts Nonprofit, Announces Closure. “Art in General, the Brooklyn nonprofit dedicated to presenting new work by emerging and mid-career artists, has announced its closure after nearly four decades of operation. In a statement, Board President Leslie Ruff and Executive Director Irene Mei Zhi Shum cited the economic pressures of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.”

BUSINESS / CORPORATIONS

The Verge: Microsoft is letting more employees work from home permanently. “Microsoft will now allow employees to work from home freely for less than 50 percent of their working week, or for managers to approve permanent remote work. Employees who opt for the permanent remote work option will give up their assigned office space, but still have options to use touchdown space available at Microsoft’s offices.”

STATE / LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Guardian: Liverpool mayor urges people to follow Covid-19 rules as brother in ICU. “The mayor of Liverpool has revealed his brother is in intensive care with Covid-19 and urged people to follow the rules to prevent the spread of the virus. Joe Anderson said on Twitter that his eldest brother was in a ‘very serious condition’ in hospital. He tweeted on Friday: ’10 mins ago my sister-in-law a Nursing Sister has told me my eldest brother her husband has got Covid-19.'”

COUNTRY / FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

BBC: Covid: Tighter rules kick in for millions in England. “Millions of people have seen Covid-19 rules tighten as areas have moved up England’s new three-tier alert system. London and York are among those moving up to tier two, meaning people cannot mix with other households indoors. A stalemate continues between Greater Manchester’s local leaders and central government over stricter new measures.”

INDIVIDUALS / BANDS / GROUPS

AJC: Top White House aide hosted lavish Atlanta wedding in May despite virus restrictions. “White House chief of staff Mark Meadows hosted a lavish wedding for his daughter in Atlanta this May, despite a statewide order and city of Atlanta guidelines that banned gatherings of more than 10 people to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The wedding took place May 31 at the Biltmore Ballrooms in Midtown Atlanta. The 70 or so guests, including U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, donned tuxedos and ball gowns for the indoor affair, but no masks, as Meadows walked his daughter, Haley, down the aisle through a path of soft white flower petals.”

Washington Post: Hope Hicks returned to the White House to pull Trump across the finish line. Then coronavirus hit.. “The Russia investigation that she had been caught up in was over, the impeachment had just ended and the headlines about her personal life were largely forgotten. With a new title and a bigger office, she was set to be the main liaison between the White House and the Trump reelection campaign, charged with interpreting a volatile boss and keeping him focused on a message about the thriving economy. Two days later, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic.”

SPORTS

NBC News: The Invisible Crowd: Inside the NFL’s Fake Crowd Noise System. “Wendel Stevens has spent decades mixing sound for live football broadcasts. During a game, he’s thinking about the sound of the announcers’ voices, when to play the iconic theme music, what players are doing on the field and what coaches are yelling from the sidelines. But there’s one thing he’s never had to give much thought: the crowd.”

HIGHER EDUCATION

Gainesville Sun: UF reveals new dashboard that tracks daily COVID-19 cases. “The redesigned University of Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard now tracks the daily number of cases on campus and specifies who’s quarantined or isolated through contact tracing. The dashboard, which reports case numbers from UF Health’s Screen, Test & Protect program, now has a bar graph atop the page that shows the day-by-day positive and negative tests among all testing sites.” I am not going to note every university’s dashboard, but Florida’s transparency is not all it should be so I think it warrants inclusion.

CTV News: UBC students criticized on social media for partying amid pandemic. “Fraternities at the University of British Columbia are being called out for allegedly partying and breaking COVID-19 rules limiting the size of gatherings. The complaints online are anonymously posted on a Facebook group called ‘UBC Confessions’ and directed at students at the university.”

HEALTH

NBC News: FDA warns of methanol-tainted hand sanitizer — but can’t force companies to recall it. “A 44-year-old man in the Southwest, seeking medical treatment after his vision suddenly deteriorated in late spring, admitted that he had been drinking hand sanitizer for a few days. Blood tests revealed he had been poisoned by methanol, an extremely toxic form of alcohol that is never supposed to be used in consumer products like hand sanitizer. Despite treatment, he was left permanently blind. The case was part of a disturbing trend that toxicologists in New Mexico and Arizona caught wind of beginning in May.”

RESEARCH

Phys .org: Scientists identify common vulnerabilities in COVID-19 and other lethal coronaviruses. “Scientists from the University of Sheffield are working with almost 200 researchers from around the globe to identify vulnerabilities in three lethal coronaviruses—including SARS-CoV-2 responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Reuters: Exclusive: Moderna vaccine trial contractors fail to enroll enough minorities, prompting slowdown. “Private contractors hired by Moderna Inc to recruit volunteers for its coronavirus vaccine trial failed to enroll enough Black, Latino and Native American participants to determine how well the vaccine works in these populations, company executives and vaccine researchers told Reuters.”

CGTN: China develops AI model that can tell COVID-19 from other respiratory diseases in 3 seconds. “Chinese researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can help doctors discriminate COVID-19 from flu and other respiratory diseases in less than three seconds, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Communications earlier this month.”

FUNNY

Derbyshire Times: Instagram star Oakley gains international attention as Derbyshire springer spaniel puppy shows correct way to wear a face mask. “Like many of us during the pandemic, twenty-seven-year-old beauty therapist Shannah Nightingale was becoming increasingly frustrated at people wearing their masks incorrectly in shops. So Shannah and her mum decided to get one-year-old pet puppy Oakley to try a mask on for some ‘cute pictures’ and to illustrate the right and many wrong ways to wear a face covering.”

OH THAT’S SO NICE

CBS News: Utah toddler befriends Halloween skeleton amid COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s hard being an only child – especially during a pandemic – which may explain why 2-year-old Theo Brady of Salt Lake City, Utah, recently felt a strange attraction to a Halloween decoration. ‘I think he got kind of lonely, and he found this skeleton and was like, “Oh, this can be my friend,”‘ said Theo’s mother, Abigail Brady.”

POLITICS

Los Angeles Times: Even some supporters are disappointed that COVID-19 bout didn’t humble Trump. “The COVID-19 outbreak at the White House has refocused attention on how Trump has dealt with the pandemic — his biggest political liability. A Washington Post/ABC poll released last weekend found 58% of voters disapprove of how Trump has handled the pandemic. Many of those are Democrats, but in interviews even supporters of the president said he seemed to lack empathy for those who have suffered.”

STAT News: For many of Washington’s most powerful, Covid-19 public health guidance does not apply. “Public health experts are aghast at the way the administration is approaching the spread of Covid-19 within the highest echelons of the government and the Republican Party.”

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!



October 17, 2020 at 11:29PM
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