8.11.2018

Librarians are heroes, as we've always said

Being a Victorian Librarian Was Oh-So-Dangerous | JSTOR Daily

Being a Victorian Librarian Was Oh-So-Dangerous | JSTOR Daily


https://daily.jstor.org/being-librarian-dangerous/

8.09.2018

Habits of successful procrastinators

H/T Lynn C Dot

Football

The Patriots play the Slur tonight in what is apparently the first game of the pre-season season, in Foxborough, MA. I usually don't watch the Pats as a matter of principle but since it's only a pre-season game and since the drought has been long I might make an exception just this once.

Actually, although tonight's game is the first pre-season game it's not exactly the first game—the Chicago Bears played one of those bird teams in the Hall of Fame game a week or so ago. I don't watch the Bears as a matter of boredom so I only watched a few minutes of that game, on a replay. And it was.

I wouldn't mind changing my opinion of the Bears, though.

No wonder they're so scary


What Happens When China Exports Its Surveillance Technology to the Rest of the World?
Slate

If American cities and states are laboratories of democracy, China's remote provinces have become laboratories of authoritarianism. 

China is even using facial recognition to prevent the overuse of toilet paper in some public bathrooms.

Read the full story

(Shared from Apple News)

(Also, it might be time to start re-thinking your attitudes about privacy. You might have more to hide than you think.)

8.08.2018

In case you were wondering how they do this

From XKCD

Romans: What we need to finally get that expressway fixed

How 2,000-year-old roads predict modern-day prosperity - The Washington Post

How 2,000-year-old roads predict modern-day prosperity - The Washington Post


Roman roadways were massive infrastructure projects even by modern standards. They consisted of several base layers, including stone, gravel and sand, over which large stone slabs were laid. At the empire's peak in 117 A.D., scholars estimate, the Romans had built more than 80,000 kilometers of roadway across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Many of them have lasted well into the present day.
(Emphasis mine.)

Smile

"Washington, D.C., now has more than forty-eight hundred government surveillance cameras, and Chicago has seven hundred. In 2006 a report indicated that 25 percent of U.S. cities were investing in surveillance camera systems, and since then the number has continued to increase."

–From the book, Nothing to Hide: False Tradeoff Between Privacy and Security, by Daniel J. Solove, published in 2011.

Corrupt? Heavens!

Top Trump Campaign Aides Are Portrayed as Corrupt at Manafort Trial - The New York Times

Top Trump Campaign Aides Are Portrayed as Corrupt at Manafort Trial - The New York Times


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/us/politics/manafort-trial-gates-testify.html


8.06.2018

Family values

Osama bin Laden's son marries 9/11 hijacker's daughter

Osama bin Laden's son marries 9/11 hijacker's daughter


"We're not sure where he is, but it could be Afghanistan."

http://own.li/d35l

Hide the silverware


Tech Firms, Embattled Over Privacy, Warm to Federal Regulation
The Wall Street Journal

U.S. tech companies are hoping to get ahead of the public and legal fallout by working with policy makers to help shape potential new federal privacy legislation. Read the full story

Shared from Apple News

The last thing you want is Facebook and Google writing your laws.

What people do


Fishy Fish Pills

Paul Greenberg’s newest book explains why omega-3 supplements may be useless for you and terrible for the environment.

–Slate

Or…

Wikipedia

Building bigger and better fires in California

The reason that California wildfires are worse than ever

The Mercury News

"People think, 'I am in suburbia, and my house won't burn.' "

Read the full story


These guys should have stuck to stagecoaches

Wells Fargo says mistake led to hundreds of foreclosures

Wells Fargo says mistake led to hundreds of foreclosures


The error in the bank's underwriting tool lasted from 2010 until it was fixed in late 2015, an internal review found.