Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Wednesday CoronaBuzz, September 1, 2021: 66 pointers to updates, health information, research news, and more.

Wednesday CoronaBuzz, September 1, 2021: 66 pointers to updates, health information, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Ivermectin now has its own sub-category. Sigh. Please get vaccinated. Please wear a mask when you’re inside with a bunch of people. Much love.

USEFUL STUFF

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: The CDC eviction moratorium has ended: Learn your options . “On August 26, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision ending the CDC eviction moratorium. If you’re unable to make your rent payments, you’re not alone — here are options and resources to help you get back on your feet.”

(For a given value of “useful”) LifeSavvy: Krispy Kreme’s Vaccination Freebie Deal Just Got Even Better. “Given the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Krispy Kreme has decided to celebrate by sweetening its existing freebie deal. Since early this year, the chain has been giving free doughnuts to customers who present their proof-of-vaccination cards. However, between Aug. 30-Sept. 5, everyone who brings in proof of at least one vaccination shot (of any brand) will get not one, but two free doughnuts!”

UPDATES

CNN: What the data reveals about children and Covid-19 in the US. “Contrary to research early in the pandemic, children are just as likely to become infected as adults. According to the CDC, Covid-19 infection rates for adolescents aged 5 to 17 were as high as in adults 18 to 49, and higher than rates in adults over 50. There have been 4.8 million cases of Covid-19 in children since April 2020, according to the American Association of Pediatrics, making up about 15% of all documented cases in the United States. In the last month, the number of new weekly cases has surged to near-peak levels.”

Daily Yonder: Rural Vaccinations Climb by Fastest Rate in Six Weeks. “In the past three weeks, the weekly number of new vaccinations of rural residents has climbed by more than two thirds, an indication that concerns about the current spike in new infections are affecting vaccination uptake. Last week, 292,898 rural residents completed their Covid-19 vaccinations. In late July, only 150,000 new vaccinations were being completed each week in rural counties.”

MISINFORMATION / FACT-CHECKING

CNET: Coronavirus ‘doomsday variant’ headlines are wrong — and dangerous. “In short, there’s no reason to panic. There’s no doomsday variant (we don’t name variants this way) and there’s little evidence this new mutant strain is worse than delta. ‘There is no evidence it is particularly transmissible and it has not been flagged as a variant under interest so far,’ says Francois Balloux, a computational biologist at University College London.”

University of Utah Health: Kids, Masks And Mental Health: Navigating The Myths. “Addressing the misinformation about the mental and physical barriers that wearing a mask in school may bring – University of Utah Health experts weigh in. Face masks have been identified as one of the crucial tools to help stop the spread of COVID-19 yet the debate over whether they work or are necessary has been ongoing since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. ”

Wired: ‘Prebunking’ Health Misinformation Tropes Can Stop Their Spread. ” If we can anticipate what tropes will be used to construct conspiracy narratives in the future, it’s possible that we can preempt them. Instead of addressing and fact-checking specific claims reactively, what if we instead discussed their underpinnings preemptively?”

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County calls medical misinformation a health crisis after 15-hour debate. “After a 15-hour-long, sometimes rancorous meeting, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a measure declaring medical misinformation a public health crisis. The board voted 3-2 after more than 250 people signed up and most spoke against the motion, saying it would lead to restrictions on free speech and other violations of personal freedoms.”

MISINFORMATION / FACT-CHECKING – IVERMECTIN

CBC: Alberta feed stores inundated with calls for ivermectin over false claims livestock dewormer treats COVID. “Alberta feed stores say they’re receiving a deluge of callers asking to buy ivermectin due to misinformation that suggests the livestock dewormer can be used to treat COVID-19 in humans. Lance Olson, manager of Lone Star Tack & Feed Inc., located just outside of Calgary, said false claims circulating about the animal medication have brought the wrong kind of attention to his business.”

KTNV: Las Vegas feed store sells out of Ivermectin, blames customers trying to treat COVID-19. “At V & V Tack and Feed, they normally stock and sell Ivermectin for use on horses. But right now, they’re completely sold out of the horse dewormer, and store associate Shelly Smith suspects a lot of her customers aren’t using it as intended.”

Winona Daily News: Wisconsin doctors to Sen. Johnson: Stop pushing Ivermectin as COVID-19 cure. “Wisconsin physicians today gathered virtually to share a message with Sen. Ron Johnson: ‘Please stop pushing Ivermectin as a cure for COVID-19, and stop discouraging trust in the safe, effective vaccine that actually prevents COVID-19.'”

New York Times: Demand Surges for Deworming Drug for Covid, Despite Scant Evidence It Works. “Prescriptions for ivermectin have jumped to more than 88,000 per week, some pharmacists are reporting shortages and people are overdosing on forms of the drug meant for horses.”

Courier Journal: Kentucky Poison Control sees sharp jump in calls about people taking ivermectin for COVID. “Eight months into 2021, the Kentucky Poison Control Center has seen a big increase in intentional misuse of ivermectin, a treatment mostly used for parasites in animals, as some ignore health guidance and use it to treat COVID-19. In 2020, there was one call for ivermectin misuse, but as of Tuesday, there have been 13 misuse calls this year, center director Ashley Webb said, adding that ‘most of those have been because people are trying to treat COVID.'”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

The Enterprise: Bridgewater photographer, social worker documents seniors’ isolation during COVID pandemic. “When most nursing homes closed their doors to family members and other members of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic, photographer and social worker Melinda Reyes was able to get a look inside.”

Computerworld: What’s going on with the ‘Great Resignation’?. “A recent Harvard Business Review poll found ’employees want to work from home 2.5 days per week on average.’ As time goes on, people find they like working from home more than ever. Zoom chats, Slack conversations, and other remote work interactions used to be weird, but people have gotten comfortable with virtual meetings. Workers who think the boss is going to insist on a return to the old ways are going to quit. Indeed, they’ve already started.”

ACTIVISM / PROTESTS

The Guardian: ‘Open season on media’: journalists increasingly targeted at Los Angeles protests. “Attacks on the press are just one part of escalating rightwing street violence in the city, which has included multiple stabbings, people being sprayed in the face with bear Mace, an assault on a breast cancer patient outside a clinic, and repeated physical brawls with leftwing protesters in the streets. In another sign of growing tensions, protesters rallying against vaccine mandates showed up at the homes of two Los Angeles city council members on Sunday.”

HEALTH CARE / HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS

NOLA: Generator failure during Hurricane Ida at Thibodaux hospital prompts scramble to move ICU patients. “Patients at Thibodaux Regional Health System in Lafourche Parish were bagged by hand, meaning hospital staff manually pushed air in and out of their lungs in place of mechanical ventilation, while they were transported to another floor, according to officials with the Louisiana Department of Health. Other generators in the hospital are still in working order, according to Dr. Joe Kanter, the state’s chief health officer, as workers and patients there continue to ride out the storm. ”

Wired: Are Off-Label Prescriptions a Backdoor to Giving Kids Covid Vaccines?. “With schools opening, mask-wearing unenforced (and in many places forbidden), and the Delta variant cresting everywhere, the question of being able to vaccinate kids feels like a synecdoche for the whole Covid response: a landscape of unclear risk in which policy is insufficient to clarify how much danger people—or their kids—are in. The vaccine approval for adults but not for children leaves pediatricians and pharmacists in an uncomfortable position.”

NBC News: At least 15M Covid vaccine doses have been wasted in the U.S. since March, new data shows. “Pharmacies and state governments in the United States have thrown away at least 15.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since March 1, according to government data obtained by NBC News — a far larger number than previously known and still probably an undercount.”

HEALTH CARE – PEDIATRICS

NBC Washington: Children’s National Hospital Sees Increase in COVID Patients. “Doctors are urging everyone to get vaccinated to protect our most vulnerable populations; that includes children under age 12, who aren’t yet eligible for the shots. The urgent message comes as Children’s National Hospital in D.C. says they’re just as busy now as they were during the peak of the pandemic last winter.”

New York Times: Children’s hospitals around the country are seeing a surge in Covid-19 patients, including this two-month-old baby in New Orleans.. “As children’s hospitals in many parts of the United States admit more Covid-19 patients, a result of the highly contagious Delta variant, federal and state health officials are grappling with a sharp new concern: children not yet eligible for vaccination in places with substantial viral spread, now at higher risk of being infected than at any other time in the pandemic. Nowhere is that worry greater than in Louisiana, which has among the highest new daily case rates in the country and only 40 percent of people are fully vaccinated, putting children at particular risk as they return to school.”

BUSINESS / CORPORATIONS

WSB-TV: Coronavirus: McDonald’s, other restaurants closing dining rooms amid surging caseloads. “As coronavirus cases continue to surge fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant, McDonald’s and other restaurants have or are considering temporarily closing their dining rooms.”

Los Angeles Times: Behind Hollywood glamour, an Instagram account highlights darker side for workers. “Hollywood’s return to production, after pandemic-induced closures caused thousands of job losses has been welcome to many in the industry. But the scramble to make up for lost time — combined with soaring demand for content from new streaming platforms — is taking a toll on crews. Below-the-line workers are putting in increasingly long hours, with the added pressure of making up for delays caused by COVID-19 outbreaks, [Ben] Gottlieb and other union representatives said.”

CNN: Some Princess Cruises ships not sailing until 2022. “A cruise line is delaying two ships’ return to sea due to the pandemic. Princess Cruises is abandoning plans to sail its Diamond Princess and Island Princess ships this year.”

New York Times: Flight Attendants’ Hellish Summer: ‘I Don’t Even Feel Like a Human’. “For cabin crews, the peak travel season has turned into a chronic battle involving frequent delays, overwork and unruly passengers that leaves them feeling battered by the public and the airlines.”

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

WTOP: State mask bans face federal civil rights inquiries. “The Education Department announced Monday that it’s investigating five Republican-led states that have banned mask requirements in schools, saying the policies could amount to discrimination against students with disabilities or health conditions.”

CNN: CDC adds 7 destinations to ‘very high’ Covid-19 travel risk list, including Puerto Rico and Switzerland. “Switzerland and Puerto Rico are now among the highest-risk destinations for travelers, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s regularly updated travel advisories list. People should avoid traveling to locations designated with the ‘Level 4: Covid-19 Very High’ notice, the CDC recommends. Anyone who must travel should be fully vaccinated first, the agency advises.”

CNN: CDC asks the unvaccinated not to travel this weekend and says even vaccinated need to weigh the risk. “Due to the surge of Covid-19 cases, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend. The US is surpassing an average of 160,000 new Covid-19 cases a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. With the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant and many students returning to the classroom for a new academic year, the rise is concerning officials and health experts.”

WORLD/COUNTRY GOVERNMENT

New York Times: Unvaccinated U.S. visitors could soon face new restrictions on travel to Europe.. “The European Union on Monday recommended that its member countries reintroduce travel restrictions for visitors from the United States who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus, a fresh blow to the continent’s ailing tourism sector and a sign that potential measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus might remain in place for months.”

BBC: Japan finds black particles in Moderna vaccine. “Japan has put a batch of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine on hold after a foreign substance was found in a vial. A pharmacist saw several black particles in one vial of the vaccine in Kanagawa Prefecture, according to authorities. Some 3,790 people had already received shots from the batch. The rest of the batch has now been put on hold.”

Midland Daily News: New Zealand wages high-stakes effort to halt virus outbreak. “Since the pandemic began, New Zealand has reported only 26 deaths from the virus in a population of 5 million. The death rate per capita in Britain and the U.S. is about 400 times higher. Remarkably, life expectancy for New Zealanders actually rose in 2020 as virus measures helped reduce other seasonal ailments like the flu.”

The Guardian: Denmark to lift all remaining Covid restrictions on 10 September. “Denmark is to lift all its remaining Covid-19 restrictions by 10 September after the health ministry declared the virus ‘no longer a critical threat to society’ because of the country’s high level of vaccination.”

STATE GOVERNMENT

KVUE: Travis County judge issues injunction against Gov. Abbott mask mandate ban. “A Travis County judge has issued a temporary injunction order against Gov. Greg Abbott and his ban on mask mandates, according to court documents obtained by KVUE. KVUE’s media partners at the Austin American-Statesman reported that lawyers say Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has already appealed Judge Catherine Mauzy’s ruling.”

WABC: Coronavirus NY: Vaccine or weekly testing for school staff, Hochul says. “Mandatory vaccinations in all state-run congregate facilities are being explored, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced during her first COVID briefing on Tuesday. But New York will not implement a vaccination mandate for school employees, and will instead opt to require weekly testing for the unvaccinated.”

The Hill: Idaho governor activates National Guard to combat surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations. “Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) on Tuesday said he would be deploying additional National Guard personnel to assist state hospitals overwhelmed by recent surges in COVID-19 cases among unvaccinated communities. The move comes just two months after the Republican governor announced a timeline for drawing down the state National Guard’s COVID-19 Task Force as the situation had begun to improve.”

ABC 7: Some doctors say California should reinstate outdoor mask mandate. Here’s why. “The California Dept. of Public Health told San Francisco’s KGO-TV masking outdoors is currently recommended in high-risk settings when in packed crowds or concerts. No announcement indicating a potential outdoor mask mandate in California has been made public — But some doctors argue wearing masks outdoors should be mandated in certain situations, not just recommended.”

STATE GOVERNMENT – FLORIDA

Reuters: Florida Withholds Funds From Two School Districts Over Mask Mandates. “The Florida Department of Education said on Monday it has withheld funds from two school districts that made masks mandatory in classrooms this fall.”

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

NBC News: ‘Hell no’: Some police officers and their unions oppose vaccination mandates. “The battle brewing in Chicago is playing out in cities and towns across the country. Police unions in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Seattle; and Syracuse, New York, have pushed back against vaccination requirements, as has the union representing state police in Massachusetts.”

INDIVIDUALS / BANDS / GROUPS

The New Daily: Kiss singer Gene Simmons catches COVID-19. “Rock band Kiss have cancelled four tour dates after co-lead singer Gene Simmons tested positive for COVID-19. The chart-topping group was forced to axe a performance in Pennsylvania last week after frontman Paul Stanley also contracted the virus.”

Religion News Service: NRB spokesman Dan Darling fired after pro-vaccine statements on ‘Morning Joe’. “Daniel Darling, senior vice president of communications for the National Religious Broadcasters, was fired Friday (Aug. 27) after refusing to admit his pro-vaccine statements were mistaken, according to a source authorized to speak for Darling.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ‘I just can’t go through this again’: Why mom changed her mind on COVID vaccine. “Sherry Clements Wilmot has worked as a teacher in Ocilla, Ga., for 38 years. In an interview with staff writer Tamar Hallerman, she explained how her attitude about the COVID-19 vaccine shifted from hope to fear and how discussions with a trusted doctor, family and friends this summer helped her overcome her hesitancy — all in the nick of time. This interview was edited for length and clarity.”

SPORTS

Associated Press: US Open COVID protocols changed: Fans need vaccination proof. “The U.S. Tennis Association announced Friday that the New York City mayor’s office decided to require proof of vaccination to go into Arthur Ashe Stadium, the main arena at the National Tennis Center. The USTA then opted to extend that rule to cover all ticket-holders who are 12 and older and enter the grounds during the two-week Grand Slam tournament that begins Monday. ”

Yahoo Sports: Taking their shot: NBA referees to be vaccinated this season. “NBA referees will all be vaccinated against the coronavirus this season. The NBA announced Saturday that it has struck a deal with the National Basketball Referees Association on that requirement. Part of the referees’ agreement with the NBA also says that those working games will receive booster shots once they become recommended.”

K-12 EDUCATION

Washington Post: Fairfax County Public Schools will require a coronavirus vaccine for high school student-athletes. “Fairfax County Public Schools will require students who play winter and spring high school sports this academic year to get a coronavirus vaccine, officials announced Monday — marking one of the first such student vaccine mandates nationwide. The rule will go into effect Nov. 8, school officials wrote in a message to principals Monday. Starting that date, any student who wishes to participate in a Virginia High School League winter or spring sport during the 2021-2022 academic year must provide proof of vaccination.”

The Oregonian: Rural Oregon school superintendent fired after enforcing state mask mandate. “Kevin Purnell was fired Monday as superintendent of the Adrian School District just one week after students returned to school. The Adrian School Board, convening in an emotionally charged special meeting, voted 4-1 Monday evening to terminate Purnell after meeting in an executive, or closed door, session for less than half an hour to consider the matter.”

Bellingham Herald: Teacher who posted meme comparing mask opponents and KKK placed on leave in Nebraska. “A teacher who posted a meme on Facebook comparing mask critics to Ku Klux Klansmen has been placed on administrative leave by her Nebraska school district.”

BBC: Covid-19: The Indian children who have forgotten how to read and write. “Like everywhere else in India, schools have remained shut since March last year when the country went into lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. Affluent private schools and their students switched to online classes seamlessly, but government-run schools have struggled. And their students – often with no laptops or smartphones and patchy access to the internet – have fallen behind.”

Waco Tribune-Herald: Connally Junior High to close after second teacher dies of COVID-19. “Connally Independent School District is mourning the second Connally Junior High death from COVID-19 in one week and is closing the campus for the rest of the week starting Tuesday. Natalia Chansler, a sixth-grade social studies teacher who had joined the district in the 2020-21 school year, died on Saturday, said Jill Bottelberghe, assistant superintendent of human resources….David McCormick, 59, died on Aug. 24 of COVID-19. He was the seventh-grade social studies teacher and was last on campus on Aug. 18.”

K-12 EDUCATION – FLORIDA

Miami Herald: Anti-mask parent arrested on a child abuse charge at a Fort Lauderdale high school. “As the Broward County school district kept its mask mandate, a father trying to bring his maskless daughter to Fort Lauderdale High School Wednesday morning wound up in Broward County Jail. Police say Dan Bauman, 50, grabbed and twisted the arm of a girl trying to stop him from using his cellphone to video-record students walking into the school.”

HIGHER EDUCATION

NBC News: Liberty University in Virginia orders campus-wide quarantine amid Covid spike. “There were 159 active Covid-19 cases among students and staff as of Saturday, according to the school’s coronavirus dashboard. The university has about 15,000 students and 5,000 faculty or staff members on campus. The majority of infections, 124 cases, are among students. Last week, 40 students and staff members had tested positive for Covid. The current spike surpasses the previous high of 141 cases last September when nearly 1,200 people connected with the campus were quarantined.”

Newswise: Dust collected from campus buildings will help track COVID-19. “Researchers are collecting dust from 50 buildings on The Ohio State University campus this fall to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 and track the virus’s variants. Their analyses and experiments are designed to help the university understand where COVID-19 pockets might exist as the campus opens to near-pre-pandemic levels this fall.”

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: Effective Immediately – Embry-Riddle Expects Everyone to Wear a Mask Indoors, No Exceptions. “Excitement marked the first day of the fall 2021 semester at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s residential campuses, but there was also cause for disappointment. Although we have repeatedly and strongly encouraged everyone to wear face masks indoors, compliance with that recommendation was low yesterday. Many Eagles simply did not step up to help protect themselves and others who may face higher risks. This is unacceptable. From this moment forward, in light of the latest guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Embry-Riddle leadership expects everyone – whether you are vaccinated or unvaccinated – to wear a mask over your nose and mouth at all times whenever you are inside any university facility or aircraft.”

RESEARCH

Washington Post: Massive randomized study is proof that surgical masks limit coronavirus spread, authors say. “The authors of a study based on an enormous randomized research project in Bangladesh say their results offer the best evidence yet that widespread wearing of surgical masks can limit the spread of the coronavirus in communities. The preprint paper, which tracked more than 340,000 adults across 600 villages in rural Bangladesh, is by far the largest randomized study on the effectiveness of masks at limiting the spread of coronavirus infections.”

Indiana University: Professor pursues patent for origami-inspired face mask design. “When Indiana University artist and designer Jiangmei Wu started folding origami face masks in early 2020, it was, in her words, a ‘DIY project’ to get better personal protective equipment to her brother in China to help combat COVID-19. Eighteen months later, Wu has filed a U.S. patent application for her origami mask design, now called ‘Oricool,’ with help from the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office.”

University of California: LGBTQ+ youth face increased anxiety amid COVID-19 pandemic. “While a life-altering pandemic has caused a substantial uptick in anxiety and depression symptoms among adults and children alike, LGBTQ+ youth have turned to peers in anonymous online discussion forums for support. New research from the University of California, Davis, suggests these LGBTQ+ teenagers — who already experience disproportionate levels of psychological adversity — exhibited increased anxiety on the popular r/LGBTeens subreddit throughout 2020 and the start of 2021.”

Phys .org: Mutation rate of COVID-19 virus is at least 50 percent higher than previously thought. “The virus that causes COVID-19 mutates almost once a week—significantly higher than the rate estimated previously—according to a new study by scientists from the Universities of Bath and Edinburgh. Their findings indicate that new variants could emerge more quickly than thought previously.”

PUBLIC OPINION

Axios: Axios-Ipsos poll: Vaccine hesitancy may be crumbling. “Fewer adults than ever now say they won’t take the shot, and in the past two weeks there has been a sharp increase in the share of parents who plan to get their younger kids vaccinated as soon as it’s allowed.”

OUTBREAKS

New York Times: 180 cases are traced to a church camp and conference that didn’t require vaccinations or testing, the C.D.C. says.. “At least 180 coronavirus infections in three states have been traced to an Illinois church camp for teenagers and an affiliated men’s conference that did not require attendees to be vaccinated or tested for the virus, according to an investigation published on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

FUNNY

New York Post: New Zealand COVID-19 minister’s x-rated gaffe goes viral. “New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown is really heating up. The country’s pandemic response minister unintentionally gave Kiwis some x-rated advice during a live COVID-19 press briefing Sunday — reminding residents to social distance when they get outside to ‘spread their legs.'”

CRIME / SECURITY / LEGAL

Washington Post: A judge asked a mother if she got the coronavirus vaccine. She said no, and he revoked custody of her son.. “When Rebecca Firlit joined a virtual court hearing with her ex-husband earlier this month, the Chicago mother expected the proceedings to focus on child support. But the judge had other plans. ‘One of the first things he asked me … was whether or not I was vaccinated,’ Firlit, 39, told the Chicago Sun-Times. She was not, she said, explaining that she has had “adverse reactions to vaccines in the past” and that a doctor advised her against getting inoculated against the coronavirus…. Cook County Judge James Shapiro then made what the parents’ attorneys called an unprecedented decision: He said the mother could not see her 11-year-old son until she got a coronavirus vaccine.”

ABC News: Feds warn of alarming rise in reports of fake vaccine cards sold and used. “The Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General tells ABC News exclusively that they are receiving ‘increasing reports of individuals creating, purchasing, and using fake COVID-19 vaccination cards,’ warning that the proliferation of sham cards can leave victims’ personal identity vulnerable — and threaten the nation’s hard-fought gains against the virus.”

Ars Technica: Vaccine mandates work, especially when they’re done right. “Vaccine mandates and other rules that limit personal behavior in the service of societal well-being are super-legal. Just ask Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who reaffirmed that notion two weeks ago with a terse not-gonna-happen in response to a lawsuit brought by students at Indiana University against their school’s vaccine mandate. Barrett’s hard nope upheld an appeals court decision that was in turn based on Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the 1905 Supreme Court decision that gave the OK to requirements for smallpox vaccinations, among other public health regulations.”

New York Times: Instagram User @AntiVaxMomma Charged With Selling Fake Vaccine Cards. “The allegations against the woman, Jasmine Clifford, 31, were unveiled in Manhattan criminal court. Prosecutors said that Ms. Clifford sold about 250 forged cards over Instagram. She also worked with another woman, Nadayza Barkley, 27, who is employed at a medical clinic in Patchogue, N.Y., to fraudulently enter at least 10 people into New York’s immunization database, prosecutors said.”

Traverse City Record-Eagle: Sheriff investigating attack on R-E reporter. ” The Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a report of an attack on a Record-Eagle reporter while covering an anti-mask, anti-vaccine event at a township park Thursday evening.”

OPINION

Slate: Why I Finally Had to Quit Working in a COVID Ward. “Nobody from other specialties wanted to come into a COVID unit. You’d have people crying in the morning, ‘I need cardiology and neurology.’ And they’d be like, ‘Is that patient positive? We can’t see him. Do this.’ It was like you were out there on an island all by yourself. One of the most amazing things I saw—we had a patient dying, had the family come up. They had to be careful; they had to make sure they were negative. And we called the chaplain up. And the chaplain comes up, and he’s like, ‘Oh, is this patient COVID positive?’ And we’re like, ‘Yeah.’ And he’s like, ‘I can’t go in there.’ And three of the NPs just broke down. It was unreal.”

Washington Post: Opinion: For Navajo, crowded homes have always been a lifeline. The pandemic threatens that.. “Kay Atene’s family lives together on the same red earth in Oljato-Monument Valley in Utah that her great-grandparents returned to after surviving the ‘Long Walk’ more than 150 years ago. Generations living together is central to how the Navajo have navigated crises for centuries. But the coronavirus has put that in jeopardy: Crowded homes have become one of the deadliest places to be during the pandemic.”

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September 1, 2021 at 10:47PM
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Humanitarian Response, MIT Open Documentary Lab, Flipboard, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, September 1, 2021

Humanitarian Response, MIT Open Documentary Lab, Flipboard, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, September 1, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

ReliefWeb: UN launches online tool to help humanitarians assess environmental risks in urban areas. “The free, cloud-based Urban-Nexus Environmental Assessment Tool (U-NEAT+) offers an easy way to assess a range of potential environmental threats and sensitivities and suggests how to mitigate them. Assessments are recorded in an online questionnaire that can be completed with a smartphone. The tool’s special features dive deeper into specific response areas such as shelter, food security, health, livelihoods, and water, sanitation and hygiene.”

I had heard of this but I had no idea it was so extensive. MIT News: Transformative truth-telling at the MIT Open Documentary Lab. “When he was convicted, his twin children were 45 days old. Now, they’re 21. This father’s voice is one of dozens collected in the ongoing documentary project ‘A Father’s Lullaby’ by current MIT Open Documentary Lab Fellow Rashin Fahandej. It comprises a compilation of recorded lullabies and oral histories from incarcerated fathers separated from their young children…. This inventive and moving inventory of lost lullabies is one of many examples of the boundary-pushing creative works that are found in the MIT Open Documentary Lab (ODL) archive — a deep archive known as the Docubase.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Flipboard rolls out newsfeed personalization tools to save you from doomscrolling. “The company announced this morning the launch of a new controller on the cover of its own main newsfeed, aka the ‘For You’ feed, which now allows users to select new topics to follow and deselect those they no longer want to hear about. The feature, which Flipboard dubs ‘an antidote to doomscrolling,’ allows users to customize their For You feed to deliver a wider selection of stories related to their various interests, instead of focusing their home page on breaking news and politics.” Personalizing is always great but I’m getting Excite flashbacks. Remember when everything was Portal?

Google Blog: Testing new ways to explore and share through Chrome. “Flags and experiments in Chrome Beta let you choose which in-development features you want to test out before they hit the main stage. With our latest Chrome Beta release, you can try out some upcoming features that can help you more easily explore, keep track of, and share the things you find on the web.”

USEFUL STUFF

Mashable: 10 TikTok accounts to follow if you love to cook . “There are lots of amazing cooking accounts on TikTok, so this is by no means comprehensive. But the ones to make this list were chosen for their genuine usefulness, diversity of cuisines, and unique voice. Bon appétit!”

SatelliteJournalism: Best practices for working with satellite data — what I learned from the experts. “Satellites orbiting the earth are collecting vast amounts of data about our planet — much of it openly available to the public. For reporters, this offers unique opportunities for original investigations and visual storytelling. But how do you get started? And what should you be looking out for? I spoke to four journalists who regularly work with satellite data about how to start, best practices and most importantly — mistakes to avoid.”

Search Engine Journal: How to Successfully Promote Your Facebook Page Everywhere. “Today, we’re going to hone your Facebook skills. If you’re not already promoting your Facebook page and you run a business, you need to start. Facebook isn’t just a site for friends to stay in touch anymore. Many utilize it to search for basic information about companies before they make a purchase. That’s why it’s essential that you learn to promote your Facebook Page where and whenever possible.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: The Silent Partner Cleaning Up Facebook for $500 Million a Year. “For years, Facebook has been under scrutiny for the violent and hateful content that flows through its site. Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive, has repeatedly pledged to clean up the platform. He has promoted the use of artificial intelligence to weed out toxic posts and touted efforts to hire thousands of workers to remove the messages that the A.I. doesn’t. But behind the scenes, Facebook has quietly paid others to take on much of the responsibility. Since 2012, the company has hired at least 10 consulting and staffing firms globally to sift through its posts, along with a wider web of subcontractors, according to interviews and public records.”

CNET: Biden administration to launch US Digital Corps. “In a bid to bring more technology talent to federal agencies, the White House is launching a fellowship program called the US Digital Corps, geared toward improving government responses to shifting IT challenges. Announced Monday, the corps will be located within the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services division and will launch this fall with 30 successful applicants filling the two-year fellowships.”

The Verge: After Weeks Of Hate Raids, Twitch Streamers Are Taking A Day Off In Protest. “On Wednesday, September 1st, a number of channels on Twitch will go dark as streamers participate in #ADayOffTwitch, a walkout designed to bring attention to the ongoing hate and harassment that’s plagued the platform for the last several weeks.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Google, Facebook, Microsoft Top EU Lobbying Spending – Study. “Alphabet Inc’s Google unit, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp are the three biggest lobbying spenders in Europe in a battle against tough new laws aimed at curbing U.S. tech giants’ powers, a study released on Tuesday showed.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Northern Arizona University News: Astronomer recruiting volunteers in effort to quadruple number of known active asteroids. “The study of active asteroids is a relatively new field of solar system science, focusing on objects that have asteroid-like orbits but look more like comets, with visual characteristics such as tails…. Through funding from a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award in 2018, doctoral student Colin Orion Chandler in Northern Arizona University’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science launched an ambitious new project, Active Asteroids, which is designed to engage volunteers in the search for more of these enigmatic objects.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 1, 2021 at 05:25PM
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Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Frontiers for Young Minds, Mapping Wildfire Smoke, Hawaiians in Technology, More: Tuesday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 31, 2021

Frontiers for Young Minds, Mapping Wildfire Smoke, Hawaiians in Technology, More: Tuesday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 31, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Arab News: New partnership aims to push boundaries of science for young Arabic speakers. “King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia teamed up with a leading academic publisher for the recent launch of the Arabic version of Frontiers for Young Minds, an open-access educational resource through which young Arabs worldwide can access a library of child-friendly scientific articles in their own language.”

Deseret News: This tool shows you the smoke forecast for Utah and the West. “The New York Times has a new tool that will help you see the forecast for wildfire smoke in the coming days. The tool — which you can find here — tracks wildfires across the West. Right now, it shows three major fires in California.” I tried opening this in an incognito window and I was not paywalled.

Pacific Business News: New website connects Native Hawaiians in the tech industry. “In April, [Emmit] Parubrub encountered a like-minded individual in Taylor Ho, a 31-year-old principal designer at Twitch, who like Parubrub grew up in Windward Oahu and was a transplant to California… They pooled their knowledge to launch Hawaiians in Technology, a digital directory for Native Hawaiians in tech jobs or those aspiring to get one. They also created a Hawaiians in Tech Discord channel for basic introductions. Requirements are fairly straightforward: people of Native Hawaiian ancestry, and people with tech jobs or tech aspirations.”

USEFUL STUFF

CNN: How to encourage family and friends to stop spreading misinformation on social media. “Your cousin knows for a fact that coronavirus vaccines have mind-controlling microchips. ‘Stop the steal’ conspiracy theories maybe flooded your social media feeds during and after the 2020 US presidential election. Your friend shares an article about why 5G technology will harm everyone’s health.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Toronto Star: Certain ‘Indian’ day school records off-limits to public while province conducts investigation. “After committing to investigate the history of New Brunswick’s infamous day schools for Indigenous children, the New Brunswick government is now calling on the province’s museum, archives and ‘other institutions’ to make records of the schools available to First Nations communities.” The headline is confusing. What I get from the article is that records are temporarily unavailable while they are being digitized for broader access.

The Moscow Times: Russia’s Drive to Replace Foreign Technology Is Slowly Working. “The relentless Russian offensive against global online platforms doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. That poses a question: Is Russia preparing to get rid of global platforms by the end of the year? Such a development now seems highly likely, given the scale of the Russian import substitution effort in technology — a campaign which is much more important than learning how to produce Russian parmesan in the Moscow suburbs.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Daily Hive: Blogger to pay $30k after negative reviews of breast augmentation surgery. “British Columbia’s Supreme Court has ordered a woman to pay tens of thousands of dollars in damages after posting defamatory reviews after her breast augmentation surgery.”

Law Street Media: Judge: Clearview AI Cannot Use First Amendment as Defense in ACLU’s Privacy Suit. “Late last week, an Illinois state court ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy rights groups in their fight against Clearview AI Inc. over its unauthorized collection of Illinois residents’ faceprints. According to the order, the court has jurisdiction over the matter and the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) claims will proceed, despite Clearview’s proffered free speech defense.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Times Higher Education: The push for open access is making science less inclusive. “To avoid publishing becoming economically prohibitive, the push for open access above all other publication priorities must be substituted by a push for true inclusiveness. Required measures include, at the minimum, the extension of full waivers to lower-middle-income countries and the extension of substantial automatic discounts to upper-middle-income countries such as ours. The scientific community must also ensure fair practice and pricing in academic publishing. Consortia of national funding agencies could collect and analyse publishers’ budgets, comparing them with estimated publishing costs and deciding on a maximum fair price that they are prepared to pay.”

The Nation: Can We Live Without Twitter? Oh, probably. My cat won’t get most of my jokes, though. “The platform has become an important space for political conversations; it is also run by a for-profit private enterprise and full of cruel trolling. Is there a way to have the good without the bad?” Good evening, Internet…

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September 1, 2021 at 05:53AM
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Facebook, Livestreaming Video, Windows 10, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 31, 2021

Facebook, Livestreaming Video, Windows 10, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 31, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

Hey y’all, I’ve been chewing through my RSS feeds so hard that I knocked the crown off my back tooth. I’m getting it tended to but updates may be late/missing for a few days.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Axios: Scoop: Facebook’s new moves to lower News Feed’s political volume. “Facebook plans to announce that it will de-emphasize political posts and current events content in the News Feed based on negative user feedback, Axios has learned. It also plans to expand tests to limit the amount of political content that people see in their News Feeds to more countries outside of the U.S.”

USEFUL STUFF

Mashable: How to reduce lag while livestreaming video. “If you broadcast a show on YouTube or your favorite games on Twitch, you know how a laggy internet connection can ruin the stream. Working from home and meet with colleagues over video chats on Zoom? You know all about lag time, too. It’s annoying! Yet all video streamers have to deal with it. Some issues that cause lag, such as a spotty internet connection, are out of your hands. But, what if I told you that there are some simple things you can do to help minimize and maybe even eliminate lag from most of your livestreams and video chats?”

Bleeping Computer: Customize your Windows 10 experience with these free tools. “Windows 10 comes with built-in personalization settings to help you customize the desktop and it provides plenty of options by default. However, if you want to get the most out of your desktop, we recommend these third-party open-source programs.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The VOU: Retro Futurism Explained: Definition, Aesthetic, Fashion Examples (2021). “Retro-futurism plays a massive role in the contemporary world we live in, from media to design and from technology to fashion. In this comprehensive guide in Retro-futurism, I’ll detail the origin and definition of this current. I’ll then introduce you to the latest Retro-futurism themes, such as the ones described above.”

CNN: The Taliban’s social media dilemma. “…even as the Taliban presses for US forces to leave the country, it remains reliant on American social media companies such as Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR) to get its message out, both within Afghanistan and beyond its borders. On Twitter, for example, multiple Taliban spokesmen, including Mujahid and Suhail Shaheen, have active, unverified accounts, each with more than 300,000 followers. But many of those platforms, including Facebook and its subsidiary WhatsApp, have said they will crack down on accounts run by or promoting the Taliban.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Associated Press: EU Mission Helps Kosovo With Database on War Crimes. “The European Union’s mission in Kosovo said Monday it has assisted the country’s police in developing a database to help investigate war crimes. The EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, or EULEX, reconfigured its mandate in 2018 and handed over all its files, including around 400 war crime cases, to the government.”

Markets Insider: Apple and Google’s ability to take a cut of every app purchase is in peril due to a new South Korean bill. “Apple and Google are the target of a new South Korean bill that intends to open the smartphone platforms to alternate payment options. South Korea’s parliament on Tuesday approved a bill that bans major app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing software developers to use their payment systems, effectively stopping them from charging commissions on in-app purchases.”

The Irish News: Tech giant Google will face international businessman in the Irish courts in landmark case. “Defamation proceedings have been issued at Dublin High Court by lawyers on behalf of Kheir Allab, a French-Algerian entrepreneur. Despite having won a court order in Switzerland and instituted criminal libel proceedings in France, Mr Allab says he is continuing to be targeted by detractors on YouTube with videos making false and defamatory claims.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: Educatool, a tool for identifying the best way to bring up children. “The project is based on a web platform that can be used on any device, including computers, tablets and smartphones. Parents and anyone else interested in knowing ‘whether their parenting is on the right track’ can go to the website, register and answer a free online questionnaire. The results will help each person to understand how correct their approach to parenting is in terms of various aspects.”

Benedict Evans: Ads, privacy and confusion. “Privacy is coming to the internet and cookies are going away. This is long overdue – but we don’t know what happens next, we don’t have much consensus on what online privacy actually means, and most of what’s on the table conflicts fundamentally with competition.” 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!



September 1, 2021 at 12:54AM
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POW/MIA Records, Hate Crime Statistics, Blinken OSA, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, August 31, 2021

POW/MIA Records, Hate Crime Statistics, Blinken OSA, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, August 31, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Fold3: New POW/MIA Records Added!. “The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the United States Department of Defense. Their mission is to recover the remains of military personnel who are listed as prisoners of war or missing in action from past conflicts. We’ve added a new collection of indexed records for the estimated 82,000 American military and civilian personnel still missing in action. The index covers multiple conflicts including WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and more recent conflicts including Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

FBI: FBI Releases 2020 Hate Crime Statistics. “Today the FBI released Hate Crime Statistics, 2020, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s latest compilation about bias-motivated incidents throughout the nation. The 2020 data, submitted by 15,136 law enforcement agencies, provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes.”

Central European University: Digital Archive of Cultural Heritage a New Addition to Blinken OSA Catalog. “In 2019, the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (Blinken OSA) and the Department of Medieval Studies at Central European University, which runs the Cultural Heritage Studies Program, initiated a collaboration facilitating the research work conducted by students and faculty of the Cultural Heritage Studies Program to be preserved and made available to researchers at Blinken OSA. The new archival fonds are the result of this cooperation, and to date, three research collections of intangible cultural heritage have been processed.”

EVENTS

Smithsonian: Smithsonian To Host First Annual Educator’s Day. “The Smithsonian will host its first annual Educator’s Day Friday, Sept. 17. The free full-day virtual event will bring together museum educators and teachers from across the country to explore opportunities to collaborate, learn from one another and discuss the future of education. The day will include plenary sessions and more than 30 breakout sessions between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. ET. Pre-K–12 teachers across the country are invited to participate in this inaugural event.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Wall Street Journal: The Social-Media Stars Who Move Markets. “Total users at the six top online brokerages, which are used mainly by individual investors, topped 100 million in 2021. At Robinhood Financial LLC, the investing app popular among younger investors, accounts have grown explosively, from 7.2 million in March of 2020 to 18 million a year later, according to company financial filings. Along with the rise of commission-free online trading has come demand for advice at the lowest price in the most accessible place: free, and online. Now, a new generation of Jim Cramers has risen up on social media with massive followings as guides to these market newbies.”

Gizmodo: How to Nominate Movies to the Library of Congress National Film Registry. “The National Film Registry already has 800 movies that have been inducted since it started in 1989, and the Library of Congress keeps a very long list of films that have yet to be added, if you want some ideas. The deadline for public nominations is September 15, so you better get your list in quickly. The only limitation? Movies must have been released prior to 2011.”

Fierce Pharma: Show me the funny: FDA social media account gets spunky, adding wit and wordplay to combat misinformation. “Last week, the FDA Twitter account posted, ‘You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.’ The post linked to an article discouraging use of ivermectin, commonly used to treat parasites in animals, to treat COVID-19. Spurred by serious reports of people hospitalized after self-medicating with the veterinary drug, the cheeky tweet contained a serious message. And that’s the point, says the FDA.”

ANI: Think tank flags concerns over China’s use of DNA profiling against Uyghurs . “Amid the mounting accusation of large-scale human rights violations and persecution of Uyghurs by China, fresh reports have emerged where the Chinese authorities are said to be racially profiling minority group to build a large DNA database.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Techdirt: FCC Bungled Broadband Mapping And Subsidies So Badly, It Got Boxed Out Of Broadband Infrastructure Plan. “While the agency has been taking steps to remedy some of the problems under interim boss Jessica Rosenworcel, the agency’s mapping and subsidy dysfunction seems to have resulted in it being boxed out of managing the $65 billion in new broadband funding included in the infrastructure bill.”

TechCrunch: Ragnarok ransomware gang shuts down and releases its decryption key. “Ragnarok, a ransomware gang operational since 2019 that gained notoriety after launching attacks against unpatched Citrix ADC servers, has shut down and released a free decryption key for its victims.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Tech Xplore: Researchers offer standards for studies using machine learning. “Researchers in the life sciences who use machine learning for their studies should adopt standards that allow other researchers to reproduce their results, according to a comment article published today in the journal Nature Methods.”

Google AI Blog: Recreating Natural Voices for People with Speech Impairments. “PnG NAT is a new text-to-speech synthesis (TTS) model that merges two state-of-the-art technologies, PnG BERT and Non-Attentive Tacotron (NAT), into a single model. It demonstrates significantly better quality and fluency than previous technologies, and represents a promising approach that can be extended to a wider array of users.” 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!



August 31, 2021 at 06:19PM
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Monday, August 30, 2021

Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, More: Monday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 30, 2021

Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, More: Monday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 30, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Instagram users must disclose their birthday to the company going forward. “If you haven’t already informed it of your birthday, Instagram will start to ask you for that information when you open the app. You’ll receive a handful of reminder notifications, according to Instagram, but if you haven’t provided your birthday by a certain point, you won’t be able to use the app.”

TechCrunch: Telegram tops 1 billion downloads. “Popular instant messaging app Telegram has joined the elite club of apps that have been downloaded over 1 billion times globally, according to Sensor Tower. The Dubai-headquartered app, which was launched in late 2013, surpassed the milestone on Friday, the mobile insight firm told TechCrunch. As is the case with the app’s chief rival, WhatsApp, India is the largest market for Telegram. The world’s second largest internet market represents approximately 22% of its lifetime installs, Sensor Tower said.”

USEFUL STUFF

Washington Post: How to block Facebook from snooping on you. “Facebook says it’s not literally activating the microphones on our smartphones, but it is tracking what we do in other apps, websites and even real-world stores. That much data can make ads feel as on-point as if it was in the room…. So what can you do about it? If you’re very committed — or a bit techie — there are some steps you can take to try to hide from Facebook’s personal data vacuum.”

Make Tech Easier: 10 of the Best Free Ebook Download Libraries. “You may be surprised to find out there are thousands of free ebooks available to download from digital libraries. Whether you like to read on a Kindle, iPad or smartphone, we’ve searched the web to discover the best places to download short stories, novels, and even kids books – all without spending a dime. Let’s take a look at the best ebook libraries you can visit today to download free ebooks.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

N Lifestyle: Metaverse style: the fashion houses vying to dress your online avatar. “This weekend, Dolce & Gabbana’s couture NFT (non-fungible token) collection will be released. The fashion house is to reveal its high jewellery and haute couture collections for men and women (Alta Gioielleria, Alto Sartoria and Alto Moda respectively) in Venice, and it will also unwrap its first-ever NFT collection called Collezione Genesi. Comprising nine pieces, four will be entirely digital, while the remaining five – two dresses, a man’s suit and two crowns – will have both physical and digital iterations.”

Search Engine Land: How Google and Yelp handle fake reviews and policy violations. “Unfortunately, bad actors may seek to harm a business’s online reputation through fake reviews or by crowding them out with fake listings. While Yelp and Google both have extensive systems and policies to fight bad actors, there are important distinctions that every local marketer should be aware of, and knowing them can help frame your expectations for each platform as well as enable you to make more informed decisions about where to spend your time and resources.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

NPR: China’s Microsoft Hack May Have Had A Bigger Purpose Than Just Spying. “NPR’s months-long examination of the attack — based on interviews with dozens of players from company officials to cyber forensics experts to U.S. intelligence officials — found that stealing emails and intellectual property may only have been the beginning. Officials believe that the breach was in the service of something bigger: China’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The Beijing leadership aims to lead the world in a technology that allows computers to perform tasks that traditionally required human intelligence — such as finding patterns and recognizing speech or faces.”

CNN: Google and Apple’s next regulatory headaches are looming across the Pacific. “Google and Apple are catching heat for their app store and payments practices in Asia Pacific. Less than a week after Apple said it would allow App Store developers to promote alternative payment methods to their users, South Korea is poised to end restrictions that critics say harm competition. And Australia is piling on the pressure by floating reforms for how to tackle payment systems provided by Apple and Google.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Quanta Magazine: Computer Scientists Discover Limits of Major Research Algorithm. “Many aspects of modern applied research rely on a crucial algorithm called gradient descent. This is a procedure generally used for finding the largest or smallest values of a particular mathematical function — a process known as optimizing the function. It can be used to calculate anything from the most profitable way to manufacture a product to the best way to assign shifts to workers. Yet despite this widespread usefulness, researchers have never fully understood which situations the algorithm struggles with most.”

The Conversation: Data privacy laws in the US protect profit but prevent sharing data for public good – people want the opposite. “U.S. data protection laws often widely permit using data for profit but are more restrictive of socially beneficial uses. We wanted to ask a simple question: Do U.S. privacy laws actually protect data in the ways that Americans want? Using a national survey, we found that the public’s preferences are inconsistent with the restrictions imposed by U.S. privacy laws.” 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 31, 2021 at 05:59AM
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Xayn, Knight Center MOOC, Yahoo India, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 30, 2021

Xayn, Knight Center MOOC, Yahoo India, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 30, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

TechCrunch: Xayn launches a desktop version of its ad-free, privacy-safe search. “Berlin-based Xayn, which as we reported last year is doing ad-free, personalized, privacy-safe search as an alternative to tracking and profiling adtech giants like Google, has expanded its product offering — launching a desktop version (in beta for now).” It’s an open beta so I spent a few minutes playing with it. Gotta say I’m intrigued.

EVENTS

Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: Join thousands of journalists learning about ‘product thinking’ in Knight Center’s new free online course. “Six thousand people from around the world have just started the Knight Center’s newest Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to learn about ‘product thinking,’ an emerging discipline in journalism that has had an impact on media outlets that have moved from being mono-product to multi-product companies. ‘Product Strategies for Journalism: How to align editorial, audience, business and technology,’ began on Aug. 23, but there’s still time to register and catch up!”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Register: Yahoo! India! shuts! down! news! operation!. “Yahoo!’s Indian outpost has stopped publishing news – even news about cricket. ‘We did not come to this decision lightly,’ states an FAQ about the shut-down, adding ‘However, Yahoo! India has been impacted by changes to regulatory laws in India that now limit the foreign ownership of media companies that operate and publish digital content in India.'” Not surprising considering the regulatory situation in India, but also not great.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

StarTribune: Twitter rejects blue check mark verification for former Viking, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page. “A spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a seat on Minnesota’s highest court and a shiny medal symbolizing the nation’s highest civilian honor. Apparently Alan Page needs to work a little bit harder to achieve the ‘notability’ that Twitter requires before it bestows one of its coveted blue check marks signaling verification of authenticity.”

Bloomberg: Who Runs Twitter’s @Twitter?. “For most of its existence, the company used its formal Twitter accounts the way you’d expect a large, public-facing company to use its Twitter accounts. Tweets were long, and the language was formal. Then in late 2018, the company adopted a more conversational approach. Twitter’s tweets got shorter and wittier. They were suddenly topical, and sometimes downright funny. Twitter took on a voice that was noticeably self-aware, as was the case with Fleets.”

Washington Post: An army of veterans and volunteers organizes online to evacuate Afghans, from thousands of miles away. “On a quiet, tree-lined street in the Bay Area, Jon Reed’s computer screen swam with maps of Kabul, chat threads and text messages from Special Operations forces, other service members and civilian contractors inside and around Hamid Karzai International Airport. A former Green Beret, Reed is one of thousands of veterans, active-duty service members, former government officials and civil servants working online to help Afghans flee Taliban retaliation.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Techdirt: PSA: Universal Music Group Has Copyrighted The Moon. That is All.. “I know, I know, you’re thinking, ‘The moon? Is Timothy having another stroke while writing a post?’ First off, my personal health is none of your concern. And secondly, nope, because a video recording of the moon as seen from Greece, which included no audio, was blocked all over the place due to a copyright claim made by Universal Music Group.”

Educause: Beyond Social Media: The Full Context of Section 230. “On July 23, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition), a trade association for companies that provide the technical infrastructure and services through which the internet operates (e.g., data centers, web hosting companies, domain registrars, and cloud infrastructure providers), held an online panel discussion to explore what Section 230 liability protection means in relation to how the broader internet functions.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Poynter: 3 ways news organizations can improve accessibility right now. “Almost every news organization relies on social media to share information, yet they often overlook accessibility best practices. This leaves out a portion of the population from receiving significant information…. By changing the way they post to social media and considering how people navigate the digital world differently, news organizations can connect with their audiences in a more compassionate way.”

ZDNet: Facebook is the AOL of 2021. “The 1990s had a word for being trapped inside a manipulative notion of human contact: AOL. Facebook and its ilk are the rebirth of that limited vision.” 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!



August 31, 2021 at 12:10AM
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