Friday, August 13, 2021

Friday CoronaBuzz, August 13, 2021: 63 pointers to updates, health information, research news, and more.

Friday CoronaBuzz, August 13, 2021: 63 pointers to updates, health information, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Please stay safe. Please get vaccinated. Please wear a mask when you’re inside with a bunch of people. Much love.

UPDATES

New York Times: Texas Hospitals Are Already Overloaded. Doctors Are ‘Frightened by What Is Coming.’. “At least two hospitals in Houston have been so overwhelmed with coronavirus patients this week that officials erected overflow tents outside. In Austin, hospitals were nearly out of beds in their intensive care units. And in San Antonio, a spike in virus cases reached alarming levels not seen in months, with children as young as 2 months old tethered to supplemental oxygen.”

Nola: COVID deaths surge, cases continue to rise in Louisiana as leaders fear ‘catastrophic situation’. “Hospitalizations, a harbinger of deaths to come, have hit new highs almost daily since Aug. 2, and the state now counts 2,835 inpatients with the coronavirus. Of those, 338 are on ventilators, the most serious level of care, a count not seen since the earliest weeks of the pandemic. The level is especially concerning given that doctors are now turning to ventilator use as a last resort, in contrast to the pandemic’s early days.”

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Broward County hospital admissions lead US, as Florida COVID cases hit another daily high at 24,753. “For the 11th straight day, Florida hospitals set records for the number of COVID patients they are treating, and on Wednesday the state set a new high for daily cases. On Wednesday, Florida hospitals had 15,449 patients a significant jump from just two days earlier when admissions surpassed 14,000 to set a record. The high count reached Wednesday occurred with only 230 of 261 hospitals reporting their COVID patients to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”

Deadline: Los Angeles Experiencing “Alarming Increase” In Covid Hospitalizations, With 8% Of Everyone Infected Now Requiring Admission. “With the bulk of new Covid-19 infections occurring among the unvaccinated, the pace of Los Angeles County residents being hospitalized due to the virus has begun rising at an equivalent rate of new cases, while the rate of people dying is also creeping higher, according to figures released today.”

MISINFORMATION / FACT-CHECKING

Vice News: This Woman Secretly Runs One of the World’s Biggest Anti-Vax Websites From Her House. “OpenVAERS, a site set up in early 2021 to spread vaccine misinformation by misusing federal data, is being operated by Liz Willner, 55, who lives in the wealthy enclave of Piedmont, a community completely surrounded by Oakland, California, according to new research conducted by AI-powered misinformation tracking group Logically, and shared exclusively with VICE News.”

Yahoo News: Yes, Florida hospitals did request hundreds of ventilators for COVID surge. “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Wednesday that it was sending 200 ventilators and 100 nasal breathing machines to Florida, where more than 10,000 people are hospitalized with coronavirus-related illnesses. Asked about the shipment on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that it had not taken place.”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

BBC: Weight Watchers shares dive as people put diets on hold. “Shares in WW International, formerly known as Weight Watchers, have dived 25% after the firm said people were putting diets on hold after lockdown. The weight loss firm, which is backed by talk show host Oprah Winfrey, had 4.9 million subscribers at the end of June, down from 5 million last year.”

University of Utah: How society’s inequalities showed up in COVID outcomes. “Racial minorities comprise around a quarter of Utah’s population but represent a third of COVID-19 cases in the state. A similar story has played out across the country. Why have racial minorities been unequally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic? Researchers are still working out the answer to this question, but a new study from University of Utah researchers including Daniel Mendoza and Tabitha Benney explores the hypothesis that variation in income and occupational status, on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood scale, may be the reason.”

ACTIVISM / PROTESTS

NBC News: As vaccine mandates spread, protests follow — some spurred by nurses. “A few hundred protesters lined the sidewalk Monday outside Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego to rally against California’s impending vaccination mandates for health care workers. And to the disappointment of many medical professionals, some of the protesters were nurses wearing hospital scrubs. It was the kind of protest that was common earlier in the pandemic but lost steam this year as restrictions eased. But a resurgent coronavirus and sluggish vaccine uptake have led to a push for vaccination mandates and masking rules — and renewed protests.”

HEALTH CARE / HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS

The Atlantic: Vaccine Refusers Risk Compassion Fatigue. “Unlike during the pre-vaccine phase of the pandemic, the current upsurge of suffering isn’t one that humanity has to go through. People are choosing it. And intent matters. Intent is the difference between a child who goes hungry because their parent can’t afford dinner and the one who goes hungry because their parent won’t buy them dinner. Having the ability to provide relief but not do so is cruel. To many medical providers working today, the rejection of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines feels like a giant ‘Fuck you’ from 29 percent of American adults. We will keep providing the best care possible, but they are making our job much harder.”

ABC News: As US battles delta variant, tens of thousands of vaccine doses are set to expire. “As the delta variant continues to drive the nation’s latest coronavirus surge, tens of thousands of vaccines are set to expire in the coming weeks — with several states already reporting thousands of ‘wasted’ doses.”

Texas Tribune: Texas children and children’s hospitals are under siege from two viruses: RSV and COVID-19. “More children are being treated in Texas hospitals for COVID-19 than ever before. But there’s a second factor that is putting pediatric hospitals on the path to being overwhelmed: an unseasonable outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, a highly contagious virus that can require hospitalization mostly among children five years and younger and especially infants.”

NBCDFW: No Pediatric ICU Beds Available in North Texas as COVID-19 Cases Surge. “On Thursday, the DFW Hospital Council announced that there are no available pediatric ICU beds in North Texas. There are currently 73 confirmed COVID-19 pediatric patients hospitalized in the trauma service area E. That is the highest level of pediatric COVID-19 patients ever treated.”

CNN: Covid-19 hospitalizations are surging again, but they’re different this time. “Florida and Louisiana are now reporting a record number of Covid-19 hospital admissions, and other states are close. In Mississippi and Arkansas, daily admissions are at more than 87% of their earlier peak, and in Oregon, Alabama and Washington, daily admissions are at more than 75% of their peak. But patients hospitalized with Covid-19 this summer tend to be younger than in earlier surges. And with vaccines widely available, they’re mostly preventable, too.”

INSTITUTIONS

Variety: Gulf Coast Jam, Florida Country Fest Set for Labor Day, Canceled Due to Massive COVID Spikes. “In what many in the music industry fear is a harbinger of things to come, Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam, a major country music festival set to go down Labor Day weekend in Florida, has been called off for this year due to record-breaking COVID spikes in the state.”

ABC 7: Coachella, Stagecoach festivals to require fans to show proof of vaccination in order to attend. “The Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals will require fans to show proof of vaccination in order to attend, festival organizers announced Thursday. AEG Presents said it will be requiring proof of vaccination for entry into its owned and operated clubs, theatres and festivals nationwide no later than Oct. 1 — including the Coachella Music & Arts Festival and the country-themed Stagecoach Festival in Indio.”

BUSINESS / CORPORATIONS

Washington Post: 27 people test positive for coronavirus on Carnival cruise ship. “A Carnival Cruise Line ship that left from Galveston, Tex., has 27 coronavirus-positive people on board, according to the Belize Tourism Board. The outbreak is among the highest number of publicly reported cases on a ship sailing from the United States since cruises restarted this summer. According to the statement from Belize tourism officials, 26 of the infected people are crew members and one is a guest. All are vaccinated, and most have either mild or no symptoms.”

ABC News: Demand for air travel flatlines amid delta variant surge. “The first signs are emerging that the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is dampening demand for air travel: cancelations are rising, while passenger loads and air fare are on the decline. On Tuesday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened 1.7 million people nationwide — the lowest number of passengers in nearly two months.”

WORLD / FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

CNN: HHS will require health care workforce to be vaccinated against Covid-19. “Covid-19 vaccinations will be required for the more than 25,000 health care staff and volunteers working at the Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary Xavier Becerra announced Thursday.”

NBC News: FDA poised to OK 3rd vaccine dose for immunocompromised people. “The Food and Drug Administration is poised to amend the emergency use authorizations for the Pfizer and the Moderna Covid-19 vaccines Thursday to allow people with compromised immune systems to get a third dose, according to two sources familiar with the plans.”

CNBC: Sydney seeks to tighten Covid-19 curbs while Australian capital Canberra prepares to lockdown. “Extra Australian military personnel may be called in to ensure compliance with lockdown rules in Sydney, the New South Wales state government said on Thursday, as the highly infectious delta coronavirus variant spreads into regional areas. The move comes as Australia’s capital, Canberra, 260 km (160 miles) southwest of Sydney, announced a snap one-week lockdown from Thursday evening after reporting its first locally acquired case of Covid-19 in more than a year.”

Politico: Round one of child tax credit payments slashed hunger rates, U.S. data shows. “The percentage of American families with kids who report not having enough to eat fell dramatically after the first child tax credit payments were distributed last month, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The government’s finding shows that the monthly payments are having a major and immediate impact on millions of households, potentially bolstering President Joe Biden’s push to extend the tax credit past the end of this year, when it is set to expire.”

STATE GOVERNMENT

AP: Tennessee House GOP urges session to curb local COVID powers. “All 73 Tennessee House Republicans signaled their support on Wednesday for a special session to limit the authority of local officials to make rules aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19, as lawmakers fumed over mask requirements in a handful of school districts.”

Washington Post: Ron DeSantis’s dumb attempt at smart sanctions. “Ordinarily the hard-working staff here at Spoiler Alerts tries to focus on U.S. foreign policy and international relations. The politics of federalism are beyond my area of expertise. However, when governors and their press secretaries start talking like foreign policy wonks, it means we have arrived at my punditry comfort zone.”

Texas Tribune: Texas warns Austin restaurants that their liquor licenses could be revoked for requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccinations. “The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has warned two Austin restaurants that they could lose their liquor licenses for requiring their customers to provide proof of at least a first round of COVID-19 vaccinations before they would be served. The two restaurants, Launderette and Fresa’s, were first alerted by the TABC on Wednesday that they were in violation of Senate Bill 968, which passed during this year’s regular legislative session.”

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

New York Times: In Texas, a Quarantine Camp for Migrants With Covid-19. “Amid a ferocious resurgence of coronavirus infections in many parts of the country, some conservative politicians, including the governors of Texas and Florida, have blamed the Biden administration’s failure to halt the influx of migrants for the soaring case numbers. In fact, the massive operation in McAllen and others like it make that extremely unlikely, and public health officials and elected leaders here note that the region was facing rising case numbers even before the recent increase in border crossings.”

Nola: New Orleans to require COVID vaccines or negative tests for bars, Superdome, other venues. “The citywide vaccine mandate, one of the first in the United States, will take effect Monday and enforcement will begin Aug. 23. It comes amid a Louisiana surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations driven by the highly transmissible delta variant and the state’s low vaccination rate.”

INDIVIDUALS / BANDS / GROUPS

Washington Post: Rand Paul discloses 16 months late that his wife bought stock in company behind covid treatment. “Sen. Rand Paul revealed Wednesday that his wife bought stock in Gilead Sciences — which makes an antiviral drug used to treat covid-19 — on Feb. 26, 2020, before the threat from the coronavirus was fully understood by the public and before it was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The disclosure, in a filing with the Senate, came 16 months after the 45-day reporting deadline set forth in the Stock Act, which is designed to combat insider trading.”

CNBC: Rand Paul’s wife bought shares in Covid treatment maker Gilead in early days of virus, the couple’s only individual stock purchase in years. “Republican Sen. Rand Paul and his wife had not bought or sold stock in an individual company in at least 10 years when Kelley Paul purchased shares of the drug company Gilead Sciences in early 2020. The purchase came early in the novel coronavirus’ initial wave through the United States — and one day after the first U.S. clinical trial began for Gilead’s remdesivir as a treatment for Covid-19, according to records reviewed by CNBC.”

WDSU: ‘I made peace with dying’: New Orleans father tests positive before getting vaccinated, urges others to get a shot. “A New Orleans father tested positive before getting vaccinated and encourages people not to wait to get a shot. Al Grandoit, 47, broke down into tears when he thought about his 10-year-old daughter growing up without her father. The New Orleans resident said for a few weeks, he thought it was going to be a reality after he tested positive for COVID-19.”

SPORTS

For the Win: The Cubs released Jake Arrieta after he told a reporter to take his mask off during press conference. “Arrieta had already opened the season with irresponsible anti-vaccine comments, so it wasn’t exactly surprising to see his thoughts on masks fall into the same realm. But when Arrieta chose to mock a reporter over wearing a mask after allowing 8 runs in four innings on Wednesday, it appeared to be the final straw for the Cubs.”

K-12 EDUCATION

National Education Association: NEA announces support for educator vaccine and testing requirement. “National Education Association President Becky Pringle issued the following statement today announcing NEA’s support for requirements that all educators receive a COVID-19 vaccination or submit to regular COVID-19 testing.”

ABC News: Schools fight back against GOP governors, defy bans on masks. “With the highly contagious delta variant fueling a surge in coronavirus cases just as students return to classrooms, major school districts in Arizona, Florida, Texas and beyond are increasingly defying Republican leaders who banned school mask mandates in several states.”

ProPublica: My Kids’ School Won’t Reinstate Masks Despite a Recent Surge in COVID Cases. Here’s What I Chose to Do.. “Georgia’s Cobb County School District had parents choose between virtual and in-person learning, then lifted its mask mandate. Many families are frantically figuring out how to navigate this reality. ProPublica reporter Nicole Carr is one of them.”

CBS News: 12-year-old writes viral letter asking Florida school board to require masks. “A 12-year-old girl is advocating for other children, urging her Florida school district implement masks in schools. Lila Hartley wrote a letter to the Duval County school board and superintendent last week, saying she is vaccinated, but she is concerned about her 10-year-old brother, who is ineligible at his age.”

The 19th: ‘We need every tool in our toolbox’: COVID-19 Delta surge threatens to overwhelm school nurses. “School nurses spent the past year mitigating in-school coronavirus spread and helping vaccinate staff and students. This year, many say they are burned out – just as COVID-19 cases surge once again.”

Axios: Over 800 physicians call on DeSantis to repeal anti-mask order in schools. “More than 800 physicians signed a letter on Thursday calling on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to repeal an executive order that prohibits local officials from requiring masks in school. Driving the news: DeSantis is threatening to withhold pay from superintendents and school board members who mandate face masks in schools, even as Florida experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations driven by the Delta variant.”

CNN: A parent sent their child to school after a positive Covid-19 test. More than 80 students may have been exposed, officials say. “More than 80 students were potentially exposed to Covid-19 on the first day of class in Reno, Nevada, on Monday after a parent sent their child to Marce Herz Middle School, despite both the parent and child receiving a positive Covid-19 test just two days earlier, Washoe County Health District officials said.”

Mississippi Free Press: Pearl River High School Quarantines 40% Of Students In First Week, District Going Virtual. “An entire Mississippi school district is going virtual after Pearl River Central High School ordered 40% of its student body to quarantine after just one week of school. Classes began at the Carriere, Miss., school on Aug. 5 with no mask mandates. Since then, the high school has quarantined 394 members of its roughly 1,000-member student body.”

CBS Miami: Four Broward County Educators Lose Battle With COVID-19 In Less Than 24 Hours. “When it comes to picking its victims, COVID-19 does not discriminate. The vicious virus, in less than one day this week, between Tuesday and Wednesday, claimed the lives of three Broward County school teachers and one of its assistant teachers.”

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: 440 students in Palm Beach County in quarantine two days into school year. “Most of the 440 have not tested positive for COVID, but they presumably were exposed to someone with the virus. The school district on Thursday reported only 51 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the school system — 37 students and 14 employees. Still, the widespread quarantine disturbs parents and disrupts students’ education at a time when teachers say they need to be in class to make up the ground they lost during remote learning in the last school year. Test scores dropped dramatically when students were allowed to learn at home.”

WBTV: 200 children in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 in Gaston County. ” Gaston County officials say there are about 200 children in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 in the last 10 days. Officials say this increase in cases among children is proportional to the increase of total cases. Last August, county officials say about 16 percent of their cases were in children and this August the county is at 17 percent.”

HIGHER EDUCATION

Arkansas Tech University: ATU Implementing Mandatory Face Coverings Indoors. “Face coverings will be mandatory inside all Arkansas Tech University buildings effective Thursday, Aug. 12, and continuing until further notice. ATU students, faculty, staff and guests will be required to wear face coverings regardless of their vaccination status when indoors in a congregational setting, including classrooms, meeting rooms, building lobbies and hallways. Faculty and staff members who are alone in their offices and students who are in their residence hall rooms and on-campus apartments will not be required to wear face coverings.”

NBC News: Supreme Court rejects challenge to Indiana University’s vaccination requirement. “The Supreme Court refused Thursday to block Indiana University’s requirement that students be vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend classes in the fall semester. It was the first legal test of a Covid vaccination mandate to come before the justices. A challenge to the policy was directed to Amy Coney Barrett, the justice in charge of that region of the country, who denied it. There were no noted dissents from other justices.”

HEALTH

ABC News: Front-line workers warn of significant increase in pediatric COVID patients. “Since the onset of the pandemic, nearly 4.3 million children have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, with infection rates growing exponentially in recent weeks. In the last week, 94,000 new pediatric COVID-19 cases were reported, representing 15% of all reported new infections. Similarly, pediatric COVID-19-related hospital admissions are at their highest level since the onset of the pandemic.”

Newswise: Youth, the Pandemic and a Global Mental Health Crisis. “An alarming percentage of children and adolescents are experiencing a global-wide mental crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to a new University of Calgary study published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics. The UCalgary study is a meta-analysis, pooling together data from 29 separate studies from around the world, including 80,879 youth globally. The new findings show that depression and anxiety symptoms have doubled in children and adolescents when compared to pre-pandemic times.”

Washington Post: A majority of Americans in highly vaccinated counties now live in covid hot spots, Post analysis finds. “Two-thirds of Americans in highly vaccinated counties now live in coronavirus hot spots, according to an analysis by The Washington Post, as outbreaks of the highly transmissible delta variant — once concentrated in poorly vaccinated pockets — ignite in more populated and immunized areas still short of herd immunity. The Post analysis illustrates how rapidly the state of the pandemic changed in July from a problem for the unvaccinated to a nationwide concern.”

Los Angeles Times: Despite obstacles, Native Americans have the nation’s highest COVID-19 vaccination rate. “It’s not just the Fort Belknap reservation that has managed to protect itself. Experts say Native Americans have a higher vaccination rate than any other major racial or ethnic group. Those rates are difficult to determine, because many vaccine recipients do not provide their race or ethnicity when they get shots. But more than 100 million have done so. That data — collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — suggest that Native Americans are 24% more likely than whites to be fully vaccinated, 31% more likely than Latinos, 64% more likely than African Americans and 11% more likely than Asian Americans.”

ABC News: CDC strengthens recommendation that pregnant women get vaccinated. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday announced new evidence that it said strengthens its recommendation that pregnant people get vaccinated.”

NBC News: Higher vaccination rates in Texas and Florida could’ve saved 4,700 lives, study finds. “The study from the Commonwealth Fund, a private health care endowment, was conducted by an international team of epidemiologists and data scientists. The analysis compared the Covid hospitalization and death rates of a group of states like Vermont and Connecticut, which had fully vaccinated roughly 3 in 4 adults on average, with those of Florida and Texas, where roughly 1 in 2 adults are fully vaccinated.”

AP: Extra COVID vaccine OK’d for those with weak immune systems. “U.S. regulators on Thursday said transplant recipients and others with severely weakened immune systems can get an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to better protect them as the delta variant continues to surge.”

New York Times: Are Delta Symptoms Different?. “Early in the pandemic, we learned about the hallmark signs of infection, which can include loss of taste and smell, fever, cough, shortness of breath and fatigue. But what about now, more than a year later? Have symptoms changed given that the Delta variant is currently the most common form of the virus in the United States? There is little data on this question and much left to untangle.”

TECHNOLOGY

CNET: Delta variant meets ‘my fall plans’: The saddest, most relatable meme. “The coronavirus delta variant is serious stuff. It’s more contagious, causes more hospitalizations, and as of late July, it accounts for about 80% of COVID cases in the US Unsurprisingly, it’s also found its way into memes and jokes, as many people’s best-laid fall plans suddenly take a jolting turn. The variant isn’t funny, but some of these memes sure are.”

RESEARCH

Los Angeles Times: Column: Major study of Ivermectin, the anti-vaccine crowd’s latest COVID drug, finds ‘no effect whatsoever’. “Ivermectin, the latest supposed treatment for COVID-19 being touted by anti-vaccination groups, had ‘no effect whatsoever’ on the disease, according to a large patient study. That’s the conclusion of the Together Trial, which has subjected several purported nonvaccine treatments for COVID-19 to carefully designed clinical testing. The trial is supervised by McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and conducted in Brazil.”

Haaretz: U.S. Jews Are Most Pro-vaccine Religious Group in America, Poll Finds. “The poll, conducted in June 2021, found that 85 percent of Jewish Americans are likely to be vaccine acceptors. However, while all other religious groups surveyed saw at least a 10-point growth in likelihood of acceptance rates since March, the rate among Jews has generally stayed the same.”

Phys .org: Large number of Americans reported financial anxiety and stress even before the pandemic. “A substantial number of adults in the United States between the ages of 21 and 62 felt anxiety and stress about their personal finances well before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report published today. Researchers found that financial stress and anxiety are highly linked to low levels of financial literacy, problematic financial behaviors and decreased financial security.”

OUTBREAKS

KDVR: 12 COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths in outbreak at Nissan of Durango. “At least 12 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at Nissan of Durango, including three people who died. San Juan Basin Public Health said a fourth person died after contracting COVID-19, but the case did not meet the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s case definition to be added to the outbreak list. All four people who died were unvaccinated and ranged in age from 40s to 60s.”

CRIME / SECURITY / LEGAL

Newswise: Crowding in Prisons Increases Inmates’ Risk for COVID-19 Infections. “Crowding in prisons dramatically increases the risk for COVID-19 infections among inmates, according to a new study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The authors of the study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, argue that policy changes are necessary to protect the vulnerable population of incarcerated men and women.”

NBC News: Prison suicides have been rising for years. Experts fear the pandemic has made it worse.. “Nationwide, prison suicides have been increasing for years, and some experts worry worsening conditions and staff shortages brought on by the pandemic may accelerate that rise. Delays in data reporting, though, make it difficult to tell: The most recent national figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics showed an 85 perccent increase in state and federal prison suicides from 2001 to 2018, but 2020 data won’t come out until next year.”

Los Angeles Times: LAPD officers are supposed to wear masks. They keep getting caught without them. “With coronavirus cases once again rising across Los Angeles and within the ranks of the city’s police, LAPD officers have been ordered to wear face masks ‘whenever in public or in the workplace.’ More than a few cops, however, are ignoring the directive — and getting caught.”

KSAT: Judge delivers blow to Texas Gov. Abbott’s ban on mandates, allows San Antonio to require masks in schools. “San Antonio leaders scored a victory in court against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday in the ongoing fight over mask mandates. A Bexar County Civil District Court Judge granted the city and Bexar County’s request for a temporary restraining order against Abbott’s executive order banning mask mandates in schools.”

NBC News: Parent attacks teacher after mask dispute on first day of school in California district, official says. “A parent attacked a teacher following a mask dispute on the first day of school, a California superintendent said. The incident occurred about an hour after the first day ended at Sutter Creek Elementary School in Amador County, NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento reported.”

POLITICS

CNN: A tale of two Kentuckians: Paul and McConnell diverge as Covid cases rise. “Sen. Rand Paul just got temporarily kicked off YouTube for an inaccurate tirade against masks. Sen. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, has been airing ads that urge people to go out and get the vaccine. The two Kentucky Republicans now perfectly exemplify the national divide over how to handle a deadly virus that is still ravaging the country — and they couldn’t be more diametrically opposed.”

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August 13, 2021 at 06:38PM
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100 Days of Dante, 2020 Census, Twitter Redesign, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, August 13, 2021

100 Days of Dante, 2020 Census, Twitter Redesign, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, August 13, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Aleteia: Take a trip through hell, purgatory and heaven with 100 Days of Dante. “100 Days of Dante is a new website through which modern seekers and pilgrims can follow the great epic poem with free video presentations three times a week. The journey begins on September 14, the date of Dante’s death in 1321, and concludes on Easter 2022. The three books of the Divine Comedy, known in Italian as Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, are divided into 33 chapters known as cantos. Each video will present one canto, with commentary on it from leading experts in Dante studies.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: US releases 2020 census data, revealing increase in diversity. “Key findings include a dramatic jump in the number of respondents who identified as multiracial, which surged from 9 million in 2010 to 33.8 million in 2020, an increase of 276%. The number of respondents identifying solely as white decreased by 8.8% over that same span, but that still represents the majority of Americans, at 204.3 million people, or 235.4 million when you add in respondents who identified as white in addition to another race or races. The total population of the US is now about 332.6 million, according to the Census Bureau’s population clock.”

Mashable: Twitter’s ‘follow’ button redesign is causing lots of confusion and unfollows. “In short: the ‘Following’ button is the same color of the apps background, which looks just like how “Follow” button used to look. That means lots of folks have now accidentally unfollowed people they already followed. It’s sort of a muscle-memory mistake because things look different at first glance.”

The Register: Thunderbird 91 lands: Now native on Apple Silicon, swaps ‘master’ for ‘primary’ password, and more. “Mozilla’s Thunderbird is a cross-platform, open-source email client. Its future looked uncertain in 2015 when Moz CEO Mitchell Baker said ‘sooner or later paying a tax to support Thunderbird will not make sense as a policy for Mozilla.’ Early last year, though, matters improved, with the formation of a wholly-owned subsidiary, MZLA Technologies Corporation, to manage the project.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Upcoming: Federico Fellini museum to open this month in Emilia-Romagna’s Rimini. “The seaside city of Rimini, in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, is welcoming a brand-new museum dedicated to Federico Fellini this month, allowing for an aftermath of last year’s centennial of the acclaimed Italian film director and screenwriter. The Federico Fellini International Museum is scheduled to open on 19th August, becoming the world’s largest museum devoted to the life and work of Fellini and his poetic heritage. It features drawings, costumes, exhibitions, film screenings, scenographic elements and multimedia presentations, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the world of Fellini, who is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century.”

Indy Week: Her Take: Talking With North Carolina Hip-Hop Blogger Nancia Odom. “It has now been a year since this hip-hop column debuted. I have enjoyed every minute of my experience documenting hip-hop in the Triangle area, but I am not the first to do so…. Highpoint native Nancia Odom, a registered nurse by trade who now leads teams in support of clinical software, launched [her blog] in 2008. The blog made her one of the first people to document hip-hop in North Carolina, and the site is still active.”

TechCrunch: Felt raised $4.5 million to get you to ‘think in maps’. “Felt is a collaborative software company that wants to make it easier for people to build maps on the internet. It announced today that it has raised $4.5 million led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Designer Fund, Allison Pickens, Akshay Kothari (COO of Notion), Dylan Field (CEO of Figma) John Lily (former CEO of Firefox), Julia and Kevin Hartz, and Keval Desai.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

WRAL: NC town accused of hiding discriminatory billing by burying thousands of records in a field. “Some town leaders are suing the town, accusing them of burying the documents to hide a history of racially discriminatory billing practices. Whether or not the town is hiding a dark past, the buried documents pose a security risk, with personal information and even social security numbers clearly visible on the unearthed paper.”

CNN: Twitter blocks Indian opposition accounts for revealing identity of child allegedly raped and murdered. “The girl was a member of the Dalit community, the most oppressed group in India’s Hindu system of caste hierarchy. Four men have been arrested, though they have not yet been charged. The incident prompted a judicial inquiry and sparked days of protests from outraged villagers and activists who think Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has not done enough to address longstanding sexual assault problems.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Search Engine Journal: Web Accessibility for the Human Experience: When We Can Help. “If you were talked into buying an accessibility automatic AI product by today’s version of a vacuum cleaner salesperson selling pink colored Kirby’s, you are making assumptions about the needs of persons with disabilities. The pushback by accessibility advocates and persons who find themselves facing interference by unwanted accessibility tools is intense and justified. The claim that one line of JavaScript inserted into a web page automatically fixes all accessibility issues and prevents an ADA lawsuit has been proven to be false.”

Harvard Gazette: How the government can support a free press and cut disinformation. “In a new book, ‘Saving the News: Why the Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve Freedom of Speech’ (Oxford University Press, 2021), Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard Law School, says the First Amendment not only does not preclude the federal government from protecting a free press in jeopardy, it requires that it do so. Minow spoke with the Gazette about some of the ways to potentially clean up social media and bankroll local news, and why arguing on Twitter isn’t a First Amendment right.”

NiemanLab: “No, nothing will be fine” — but could these misinformation games help at least a little?. “In the span of a decade, we’ve gone from a model where most people accessed information through trusted intermediaries, such as newspapers or the evening news, to now getting it through social media, he said. But that world is structured so that inaccurate information can become popular very easily and then ranking algorithms boost it even further. And platforms are constantly changing the rules and tweaking their secret algorithms, said [Professor Filippo] Menczer.” Good morning, Internet…

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August 13, 2021 at 05:39PM
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Thursday, August 12, 2021

Utah Apprenticeships, Hawaii Remote Work, India Independence Day, More: Thursday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 12, 2021

Utah Apprenticeships, Hawaii Remote Work, India Independence Day, More: Thursday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 12, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

ABC 4: New website launched to help find apprenticeships in Utah. “The site… will serve as a resource to help interested people find apprenticeships across a variety of industries, with the hopes of addressing growing labor shortages in the state.”

KITV (Hawaii): New website launched for residents and employers looking for remote work opportunities . “The state launched a new website that has programs for residents looking for remote work opportunities and employers looking to hire Hawai’i residents for remote work. The website provides residents with direct links to partners of the Hawai’i Remote Work Pilot Project and the local American Job Center.”

Hindustan Times: Independence Day 2021: India gets official website for celebrations, features 360-degree VR. “The Independence Day celebration platform also provides a host of other features, including a special IDC radio, gallery, interactive filters, e-books on deeds of gallantry, 50 years of 1971 victory, and blogs on the freedom movement, wars and war memorials.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Al Jazeera: Twitter, Google to ban content denying Srebrenica genocide: RFE. “Twitter and Google intend to remove content that denies the genocide in Srebrenica from their platforms, according to a report by Radio Free Europe (RFE). RFE reported on Wednesday that Twitter and YouTube, responding to a request by the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada (IRGC), said the companies have a clearly established policy that ‘sanctions all hate speech’.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Variety: ‘Star Trek’ Creator Gene Roddenberry’s Estate Brokers Sweeping Digital Archive Deal With OTOY (EXCLUSIVE). “The project will include key texts and documents from Roddenberry’s career (the show predicted tablet computers among many other gadgets, after all), as well as images, blueprints and models. The archive will span the flagship ‘Star Trek’ series, original films, and subsequent spinoffs. The immediate benefit of the archive will be the ability to generate NFTs from the collection for Trek diehards, as well as offer the public life-sized hologram installations that promise to be “indistinguishable from reality” via Light Field Lab.”

Wired: TikTok Smells Like Gen X Spirit. “Immerse yourself in TikTok and you’ll see a raucous return of the old ’90s themes: self-savagery, acid disdain for the rich, anti-commercialism, open mental illness, and every shade of irony. Though the mere word TikTok scares off boomers, with their love of speechifying on Facebook, and millennials, with their commitment to polished brand-of-me’ing on Instagram, the indolent, endless scroll of TikTok smells like teen spirit. That’s seductive to Gen Xers who are rounding the bend to reading glasses and name-forgetting.” Oh as an older X’er I’ve done rounded that bend. Lol.

SECURITY & LEGAL

ThreatPost: Microsoft Warns: Another Unpatched PrintNightmare Zero-Day. “One day after dropping its scheduled August Patch Tuesday update, Microsoft issued a warning about yet another unpatched privilege escalation/remote code-execution (RCE) vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler. The zero-day bug, tracked as CVE-2021-36958, carries a CVSS vulnerability-severity scale rating of 7.3, meaning that it’s rated as ‘important.'”

CBS News: Report links ransomware gangs to Russian intelligence. “Russian intelligence services worked with prominent ransomware gangs to compromise U.S. government and government-affiliated organizations, according to new research from cybersecurity firm Analyst1.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Washington Post: China’s mental health system has long been inadequate. Can AI change that?. “Before dying by suicide in 2012, a student from Nanjing in eastern China made a final post on Weibo saying goodbye. It quickly became an online gathering place for the depressed, garnering millions of responses. Users called it a ‘shudong,’ or ‘tree hole,’ for things they couldn’t say out loud. And nine years on, it still draws new comments every day. Each of these comments is a data point for the Tree Hole Rescue Project, an organization that uses artificial intelligence to scan Weibo posts and identify users at risk of hurting themselves.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Washington Post: A Yale doctor is using a video game to fight the opioid crisis. “‘PlaySmart’ is one of several games that have been funded over the past decade by the National Institutes of Health and developed by Yale University’s play2PREVENT Lab, which designs games to promote ‘health, wellness, education and social intelligence.’ The game was made in part thanks to a grant from NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) fund, which launched in 2018. The fund aims to help public health officials and health care providers better understand the root causes of the opioid crisis as well as research optimal treatments for opioid addiction and chronic pain.” Good evening, Internet…

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August 13, 2021 at 05:25AM
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British Newspaper Archive, Twitter, PrintNightmare, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 12, 2021

British Newspaper Archive, Twitter, PrintNightmare, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 12, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

British Newspaper Archive: Introducing Free to View Pages on the British Newspaper Archive. “Now, with one million pages made free to view today, consisting of 150 titles and spanning the years 1720-1880 more and more people will be able to search the unparalleled resource which is offered by the British Newspaper Archive, in partnership with the British Library. Over the next three years, we will see a total of 3.7 million free to view pages being added to The Archive, with the aim of shedding light on the diverse content held by the British Library.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Twitter redesigns website and app with new font, less clutter and high-contrast features. “Among the changes, which are also rolling out to iOS and Android, is the implementation of Twitter’s new font, ‘Chirp,’ and changes to various elements that will make them more high-contrast, among other things. Soon, Twitter will roll out new color palettes as well.”

From BetaNews with a side order of head-desk: PrintNightmare fixing KB5005033 update is causing performance issues in Windows 10. “Windows 10 users who have installed the KB5005033 update that was supposed to fix the PrintNightmare security flaw are reporting unwanted side effects. Among the problems being reported are issues with reduced performance, particularly in games.”

USEFUL STUFF

Tom’s Guide: How to disable the new Twitter font. “Although there’s not much you can do to change the Chirp font in the Twitter app for Android and iOS (where it feels more at home), there is a workaround, shared by Twitter user Twilight Sparkle, that lets you restore the traditional font on the Twitter website.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

BBC: Instagram says sorry for removing Pedro Almodovar film poster. “Instagram’s owner Facebook has reversed a ban on a poster for Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s new film, showing a nipple producing a drop of milk.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Senate targets Apple and Google app stores in new bipartisan bill. “A bipartisan Senate bill unveiled Wednesday could set new rules for how app stores are run and for what rules companies like Apple and Google can impose on developers. The bill, introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, marks the latest effort by lawmakers to rein in big tech companies.”

NBC DFW: Case Files Affected in Dallas Police Department Data Loss. “Multiple terabytes of Dallas Police Department data are missing and may be unrecoverable after being deleted during a data migration process in April, according to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney John Creuzot said in a disclosure notice to defense attorneys Wednesday that the city had learned in April that 22TB of data were deleted between March 31 and April 5 during the migration of a police department network drive.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Walden University: Walden University Creates AI-powered Tutor Built with Google Cloud. “Walden University is spearheading a dynamic artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps students reinforce their learning through practice. The Walden AI-powered tutor, named Julian™, is built with Google Cloud’s AI and machine learning (ML) capabilities, driving personalized experiences and knowledge mastery through various educational engagement activities.”

The Conversation: From CRISPR to glowing proteins to optogenetics – scientists’ most powerful technologies have been borrowed from nature. “Three cutting-edge techniques – the gene-editing tool CRISPR, fluorescent proteins and optogenetics – were all inspired by nature. Biomolecular tools that have worked for bacteria, jellyfish and algae for millions of years are now being used in medicine and biological research. Directly or indirectly, they will change the lives of everyday people.”

Phys .org: World’s rarest rabbit spotted on Facebook. “Sumatran striped rabbits are seldom spotted, in either sense of the word. Known only from a dozen Dutch museum specimens collected in the early 20th century, plus an occasional sighting in the wild and a handful of camera trap images, the species is widely considered to be the rarest rabbit in the world. Finding one flaunted on Facebook is the Indonesian equivalent of stumbling upon a thylacine in a Tasmanian pet shop, and the conservation community was quick to respond.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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August 12, 2021 at 11:41PM
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Technology Improvements, Irish Famine Memorial, New Jersey African-American Cemeteries, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, August 12, 2021

Technology Improvements, Irish Famine Memorial, New Jersey African-American Cemeteries, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, August 12, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Fast Company: MIT built a Google search to spot the most important tech innovations of the future . “Is there any way to predict the improvements coming to other technologies, ranging from displays, to electric motors, to farming equipment? Now there is, thanks to researchers at MIT. They’ve built the equivalent of a Google search for innovation. Using their online search engine, you can type in one of 1,757 different technologies, and get one sharp number, which is its expected rate of improvement each year.”

IrishCentral: The shocking story behind an Irish Famine memorial in Quebec. “Located along the banks of the Gatineau River in western Quebec, just north of Canada’s National Capital Region, a sleepy rural community still holds deep Irish roots. It is here, in Low, Quebec, where a unique memorial stands in testament to the survivors of Ireland’s Great Hunger who settled this area in the 1800s.”

North Jersey: New database maps African American cemeteries in New Jersey. “Across New Jersey, numerous African American burial sites contain prominent figures and regular folks, freed and enslaved peoples. Like others across the United States, these grounds are a treasure trove ripe for discovery, connecting family and American histories. But where are they all? Researchers and genealogists would have a tough time finding a guide. There is no official database. At last count, more than 40 have been identified in New Jersey.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BBC: Instagram launches ‘limits’ to hide abusive messages. “Instagram has announced new features designed to restrict abusive messages during ‘sudden spikes’. Its new ‘limits’ feature automatically hides comments and messages from people who do not follow – or just started following – users who switch it on.”

Google Blog: Best Trends forever: 15 years of Google Trends. “What were you doing in 2006? Maybe you were going through your emo phase. Maybe you were loving low rise jeans. Maybe you were mourning Pluto’s (temporary) demotion from planet to dwarf planet. Maybe you were checking out these trends — and plenty of others — on Google Trends, which went live in the summer of 2006. Though the tool’s data goes back to 2004, it became available two years later. This summer, Google Trends turns 15, so we thought it would be the perfect time to look back on trends of yesteryear and compare what people were searching for back in 2006 to today.”

USEFUL STUFF

Mashable: 10 free audiobook sites for discovering your next literary obsession. “Great literature is closer than you think, and you don’t even need to visit a bookstore or pick up your e-reader to find it. If you haven’t got time to sit down with a book — or if you just like being read to — check out one of these sites, which allow access to thousands of free audiobooks. There’s the perfect one for you in the mix!”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: How Facebook Failed to Stem Racist Abuse of England’s Soccer Players. “In May 2019, Facebook asked the organizing bodies of English soccer to its London offices off Regent’s Park. On the agenda: what to do about the growing racist abuse on the social network against Black soccer players…. A few months later, Facebook provided soccer representatives with an athlete safety guide, including directions on how players could shield themselves from bigotry using its tools. The message was clear: It was up to the players and the clubs to protect themselves online.”

University of Oxford: African Poetry Digital Portal: an online archive for the continent’s poetry. “An ambitious international project to establish a portal and archive for African poetry from across the continent has won $750,000 in backing from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation. The African Poetry Digital Portal, based at the University of Nebraska, involves poets and librarians from across the African continent and will also be supported by others, including Oxford’s English Faculty and the Bodleian library.”

The Guardian: Why Instagram’s creatives are angry about its move to video. “The social media platform was once a favourite of artists and photographers, but a shift towards TikTok-type videos and shopping could leave them looking for a new home online.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bleeping Computer: One million stolen credit cards leaked to promote carding market. “A threat actor is promoting a new criminal carding marketplace by releasing one million credit cards stolen between 2018 and 2019 on hacking forums. Carding is the trafficking and use of stolen credit cards. These credit cards are stolen through point-of-sale malware, magecart attacks on websites, and information stealing trojans.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Georgia: Why people snub their friends with their phone. “Smartphones have made multi-tasking easier, more understandable, and at times compulsive. But in social settings, these devices can lead to a form of contemporary rudeness called phone snubbing, or phubbing, the act of ignoring one’s companions to pay attention to a phone. While it may be commonplace, snubbing one’s friends (Fphubbing) can have serious repercussions on relationships, and there are a variety of factors that may drive individuals to ignore their friends in favor of an electronic screen, according to a new University of Georgia study.”

Michigan Daily: Texts from the void. “I collect text messages. I’ve done this for as long as I’ve had a smartphone. I know I will probably never look at many of these little screenshots of contextless conversations again. However, I still feel a responsibility to memorialize conversations that could easily be forgotten in our fast-paced, digitally evolving world. When I look back on these conversations, they bring me more joy or make me laugh harder than most in-person conversations. More often than not, though, I do not look back on these conversations at all. They end up in the ever-growing but hardly checked ‘screenshots’ folder of my phone, to be forgotten.” Good morning, Internet…

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August 12, 2021 at 05:27PM
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Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Isle of Man Food & Drink, Microwedding Venues, Residential Schools, More: Wednesday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 11, 2021

Isle of Man Food & Drink, Microwedding Venues, Residential Schools, More: Wednesday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 11, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Manx Radio (Isle of Man): New website to showcase food and drink producers. “A new website showcasing the Island’s vibrant food and drinks industry has been launched by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture.”

Hudson Star-Observer: Growing small venues with love, new website provides backyard connections for microweddings. “The website is a nationwide venture, and the two welcome potential sites from anywhere in the country. To begin, they’re focusing on the St. Croix Valley and Twin Cities area, as that’s where they’re from. Currently the site has six backyard sites available. The microweddings, an increasingly popular trend in the wedding industry, does not include all the aspects of traditional large venue weddings.” This is very, very new, not much here yet.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Wall Street Journal: At Schools Where Native American Children Died, New Hope for Answers. “Sifting through archived records, the volunteer group has compiled 67 names, but with little funding for more research, they have no way of knowing how many of the children are buried in Chilocco’s cemetery, which bears only a single marked grave. Theirs is one of numerous efforts by tribal historians and researchers over the past several years to uncover evidence of Native Americans who died at the boarding schools. Until now, these grass roots investigations have been stymied by limited resources and logistical hurdles. Now, those leading the projects are hoping a new federal investigation can shed light on a mystery that has haunted Indian Country for generations.”

New Republic: The Uncomfortable Rise of the Instagram Novel. “Behind every digital avatar, after all, is not only posture and hyperbole but an infinite number of taps, swipes, pinches, and strokes. As the research firm Dscout reported in 2017, the top 10 percent of users touch their phones 5,427 times a day. If we account for the average adult’s recommended seven hours of sleep, that’s equivalent to over five touches per waking minute. It takes a lot of real upkeep to be fake.”

Spectrum News: One of SoCal’s oldest bilingual newspapers gets resourceful to survive . “As subscription and advertising revenues flatline and even dip at times, a local newspaper that’s served a community of color for more than 100 years finds a lifeline. The Rafu Shimpo was started in 1903 and reports in both English and Japanese.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

BetaNews: Microsoft finally fixes PrintNightmare vulnerability with KB5005031 and KB5005033 updates. “To help address the ongoing problems with the so-called PrintNightmare vulnerability (CVE-2021-34527), Microsoft has announced a change to the default behavior of the Point and Print feature in Windows. The change has been delivered via the KB5005033 and KB5005031 update and means that in order to install printer drivers, users will have to have administrative privileges.”

Krebs on Security: Phishing Sites Targeting Scammers and Thieves. “I was preparing to knock off work for the week on a recent Friday evening when a curious and annoying email came in via the contact form on this site: ‘Hello I go by the username Nuclear27 on your site Briansclub[.]com,’ wrote ‘Mitch,’ confusing me with the proprietor of perhaps the underground’s largest bazaar for stolen credit and identity data. ‘I made a deposit to my wallet on the site but nothing has shown up yet and I would like to know why.'”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNET: Twitter AI bias contest shows beauty filters hoodwink the algorithm. “A researcher at Switzerland’s EPFL technical university won a $3,500 prize for determining that a key Twitter algorithm favors faces that look slim and young and with skin that is lighter-colored or with warmer tones. Twitter announced on Sunday it awarded the prize to Bogdan Kulynych, a graduate student examining privacy, security, AI and society.”

Florida State University: FSU professor awarded NSF grant to create new software tool. “The National Science Foundation awarded a Florida State University professor a $410,000 grant to create a software tool designed to help scientists make more accurate predictions regarding populations of endangered or commercially exploited animal species.”

Bloomberg: Using Artificial Intelligence to Sniff Out Corporate Greenwashers. “Barely a day goes by without a company talking up their green credentials–how they’re aligning themselves with global climate goals, cutting waste and upping their recycling. With all this corporate happy-talk about saving the planet on the rise, so are concerns about greenwashing. Investors and regulators are increasingly sounding the alarm about companies that exaggerate or misrepresent their environmental bona fides. That’s what prompted academics at University College Dublin to develop algorithms to help the financial services sector detect and quantify greenwashing.” Good evening, 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!



August 12, 2021 at 05:18AM
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East Central Georgia, Zorin OS, Patch Tuesday, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 11, 2021

East Central Georgia, Zorin OS, Patch Tuesday, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 11, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Digital Library of Georgia: Two New Digital Collections Provide Genealogical Coverage to Underrepresented East Central Georgia. “As recipients of a service grant awarded earlier in 2021, the Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System has worked in partnership with the Digital Library of Georgia to release court records dating back to the 1700s and funeral home records from the mid-twentieth century available online.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Register: Zorin OS 16 Pro arrives complete with optional ‘Windows 11’ desktop. “Zorin OS is one of a few commercial Linux distributions which aim to be user-friendly alternatives to Windows and Mac. The OS is open source and pricing is based on a freemium model, with free Core, Lite and Education editions, and a paid for Pro edition (formerly called Ultimate).” I haven’t used Zorin in a few years, but I really liked it. I installed it on my husband’s old laptop and he, who is not geekly like me and very much a Windows guy, took to it quickly.

Neowin: Windows 7 and 8.1 Patch Tuesday updates are out, here’s what’s new. “It’s the second Tuesday of the month, which is when all supported Windows versions receive cumulative updates. This includes supported Windows 10 versions such as the three latest versions based on the same codebase, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 users who have opted for extended security updates (ESU). Unlike Windows 10, Windows 7 and 8.1 users receive one update a month, with there being some exceptions for when there are critical vulnerabilities.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: How to Set Your Smartphone to Actually Shoot in Its Highest Resolution. “There was a time long past when cellphone cameras were hot garbage. These days, however, smartphones shoot incredible video. Hollywood has even made a feature film or two on these things. But if you want to take full advantage of that great video quality on your iPhone or Android, you’ll need to make sure its actually shooting in the highest resolution possible.”

MakeUseOf: The 8 Best Tools to Analyze Social Media Performance. “Social media analytics is not only for large marketing companies and most popular influencers. If you want to become a social media influencer or currently growing your reach, you should also make the best use of these tools. The following tools gather performance data of your social media accounts so that you can make a concrete decision about your efforts.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Sydney Morning Herald: Archives pleaded with Attorney-General to release report on its future. “The National Archives spent a year pleading with then-attorney-general Christian Porter to respond to a report into the institution, which revealed it needed a huge injection of cash to preserve some of the country’s most at-risk documents and help it abide by its own laws. Documents released to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age under Freedom of Information show the Archives’ advisory council made repeated calls on Mr Porter to at least release the report that was handed to the attorney-general in early February last year.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

USPTO: Get the USPTO to SXSW 2022 . “We need your PanelPicker votes to ensure intellectual property (IP) is part of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference conversation. From August 10-26, 2021, you can vote for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 2022 PanelPicker session proposals. Make sure you leave comments about what you’d like us to talk about, and share the details about the panels with friends. You can vote for more than one panel, and you can vote even if you don’t plan to attend SXSW.”

South China Morning Post: As Australia returns Indian antiques worth US$2.2 million, many others remain smuggled worldwide . “India is set to welcome back 14 antiques worth US$2.2 million from Australia’s national art museum, in the fourth such repatriation of artworks allegedly stolen by a man described as ‘one of the most prolific commodities smugglers in the world’. The National Gallery of Australia acquired dozens of pieces between 1989 to 2009 from the New York gallery of Subhash Kapoor, who is currently on trial in India on several cases of fraud and antique pilferage.”

Reuters: U.S. Judicial Panel Moves Texas Lawsuit Against Google to New York . “A U.S. judicial panel on Tuesday said that Texas’ antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google would be moved to the Southern District of New York, where other similar cases would also be heard. Google had asked that the case, which was filed against it by Texas and other states, be combined with similar cases in U.S. District Court for Northern California.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNET: Twitter: Racist tweets after Euros final didn’t rely on anonymity. “If you’ve never been a victim of online abuse, it would be easy to assume that perpetrators of such abuse hide behind anonymous avatars and usernames that obscure their real identities. But that’s not the case. Twitter revealed in a blog post Tuesday that when England’s footballers were targeted by racist abuse last month after they lost the Euro Cup final, 99% of the accounts it suspended were not anonymous.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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August 12, 2021 at 12:23AM
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