NEW RESOURCES

Now available until the end of 2017: a collection of vintage Japanese animation. “Of special note is the inclusion of Junichi Kouchi’s The Dull Sword, the oldest surviving piece of Japanese animation (circa 1917)…. The archive contains some 64 animated films dated from 1917-1941, as well as profiles of various creators.” I had to use Chrome to translate the site, but after that was able to navigate without difficulty and watch some animation.

From Popular Mechanics (no, really): Check Out An Interactive Map of Every Dinosaur Fossil Found On Earth . “Some engineers have created an interactive map to navigate the overwhelming amount of data created by the Paleobiology Database, a massive collection of information about fossils and related research. The map essentially plots the location of every fossil ever found by scientists, from early mammals to dinosaurs.”

A new Web site provides extensive information on geology in Illinois. “People have been studying what exists beneath Illinois’ surface since the 1830s. This research exists as mountains of careful observations, combined with numerous individual research projects, distilled into three seminal scientific reports published decades ago on paper — crowning achievements of many a career at the Illinois State Geological Survey. Now freed from the book shelf, the collected knowledge of Illinois’ geologic past has been digitized, and released online as ILSTRAT – an interactive resource for the public, industry, and government to understand the rocks beneath our feet. Organized as an editable online database, or wiki, ILSTRAT brings to life the best scientific consensus of how Illinois was built – from the ground down.”

Digirati: Digirati to build Indigenous Digital Archive platform. “Digirati are building a new open source crowdsourcing platform for the Indigenous Digital Archive, a project of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe. The project will enable engagement with authentic public documents of community history, government actions, and civic life in New Mexico. The first phase will focus on open public records related to land and to the government Indian Boarding Schools from the late 1800s into the 1920s and 30s.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Guardian: Oxford Dictionaries add ‘clicktivism’ and ‘haterade’ as new words for angry times. “As well as political terms, public conversations about diet, fitness and gender were a strong influence on the words included in the latest update. ‘Superfruit’, a nutrient-rich fruit considered to be especially beneficial for health and wellbeing; HIIT, the acronym for high-intensity interval training; and ‘third gender’, a category of people who do not identify simply as male or female, all made it into the online database.”

Now available on IFTTT: Twitch. No actions at the moment, but eight triggers.

Google is bringing Google Assistant to more Android phones. “Everyone needs a helping hand sometimes. Enter the Google Assistant, which is conversational, personal and helps you get things done—from telling you about your day to taking a selfie. The Assistant is already available on Pixel, Google Home, Google Allo and Android Wear. Now we’re bringing it to even more people. Starting this week, the Google Assistant is coming to smartphones running Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 6.0 Marshmallow.”

CNET: Comcast soon will let you watch YouTube like a cable channel. “Comcast is ushering YouTube onto the boob tube. The two companies said Monday that later this year Comcast will incorporate Google’s massive video service onto X1, the cable company’s high-tech pay-TV service, used by about half of its customers. The new partnership means YouTube’s clips and streams will be available and searchable on Comcast X1 like a regular channel or show.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: 7 Easy Ways to Manage Your Podcast Collection. “One of the frustrating things about podcasts, however, is that not all of them are available on the same platform. For example, you may like listening to podcasts on SoundCloud, but all of the shows you like may not be available on that platform. The key to fixing this problem is collecting your favorite podcasts in one place. ”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Atlantic: The Monk Who Saves Manuscripts From ISIS. “Rescuing the world’s most precious antiquities from destruction is a painstaking project—and a Benedictine monk may seem like an unlikely person to lead the charge. But Father Columba Stewart is determined. Soft-spoken, dressed in flowing black robes, this 59-year-old American has spent the past 13 years roaming from the Balkans to the Middle East in an effort to save Christian and Islamic manuscripts threatened by wars, theft, weather—and, lately, the Islamic State.”

Engadget: On Facebook, love reactions triumph over hate. “Ever since Facebook introduced reactions a year ago, there’s been a lingering question: which reactions rule? At last, we know… although you can probably guess the answer. Facebook tells Select All that ‘love’ dominated the 300 billion reactions from the past year — more than half of them were hearts.” It’s all the cat pictures.

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

National Law Journal: Social Media Gets Some Respect from SCOTUS in First Amendment Case. “Mark the date: Feb. 27, 2017, may go down in history as the day that social media—from Facebook to Snapchat, Twitter to LinkedIn—entered the pantheon of expressions deserving First Amendment protection.
During a lively oral argument, U.S. Supreme Court justices discussed social media with the same respect usually reserved for colonial town criers and broadsheet newspapers that used to be the main source of news for Americans.” Good morning, Internet…

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