FamilyTreeWebinars.com is offering free access this weekend. “It’s hard to believe, but this Friday FamilyTreeWebinars.com will air webinar number 500. That’s 500 ways to find your ancestors taught by the genealogy industry’s finest researchers and educators. Since 2010 we’ve laughed together, we’ve been inspired together, and we’ve solved brick walls together….In addition to the big celebration during Friday’s live webinar, we’re unlocking the membership key of the Webinar Library for the first time ever. Beginning Friday and continuing through Sunday evening, the entire library – all 500 classes – will be open and free to the public. Just visit http://www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com and browse or search for any topic or presenter and enjoy!”

NEW RESOURCES

From the University of Minnesota: Humphrey School Launches CIVIOS, an online collection for sharing research. “When academic research meets cutting-edge technology and social networking, the result is Civios: a new online collection of videos, podcasts, and other multimedia tools that translate public affairs research into easy-to-understand presentations. Hosted by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and officially launched today, this collection features research on a wide array of public affairs issues—from urban planning and immigration to predatory policing and human services—conducted by faculty members from across the University of Minnesota.”

The University of Wisconsin: The Seed Variety Database is Now Live. “Badgerbean is proud to introduce a grower-generated database that will allow you to look up seed varieties with identical genetics. We designed this tool for farmers across the country to help each other find the Seed Varieties they need, when they need them, at the best possible price. Please take a few moments to locate the Variety Lookup tab at the bottom of the badgerbean homepage. Just enter your Seed Variety ID to check if it is already part of the database. If it is, you’re done. If your Seed Variety ID is not yet in the database, please add the information requested—by Variety ID, Company and Brand. Your submissions to the database are—and will remain—anonymous.” It’s not super clear where the database is – look for the form at the bottom of the Badgerbean homepage.

Hongkiat: Free For Commercial Use – A New CC0 Stock Photo Site. “Cheesy stock photography is on the way out being replaced by quality stock photos, many of which can be downloaded for free. Yes, there are plenty of paid photo sites but the free ones are easier to use and more accessible with a $0 price tag. One of the newest sites in this arena is FFCU, an abbreviation of Free For Commercial Use. It’s not the catchiest name but the content is phenomenal.”

A new Web site shows toxic hazards in New York state and their proximity to homes. “Use Toxics Targeting’s Free Map to search any neighborhood for more than 650,000 abandoned landfills, toxic dumps, leaking tanks and other government-reported contamination threats in the Empire State.” I ran a quick test on 35 Easy Street, in Hoosick Falls, New York. I got notations for spills but if I want a thorough report I have to pony up $150.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

From The Daily Wildcat (University of Arizona): UA professor to update old native films by ‘tribesourcing’. “When the UA received the American Indian Film Gallery, an original collection of over 450 non-fiction films from the mid-1900s exploring the cultures of Native Americans, Jennifer Jenkins was convinced that the university should do more than simply host a display of the coveted film collection. From this inspiration, Jenkins, an associate professor in the Department of English, has created a unique project that is rousing recognition and excitement. She and a research team will spend the next three years traveling to native communities in Arizona and New Mexico to conduct interviews and record narratives from modern-day native cultural groups. Then, they will add these perspectives to the decades-old films, creating a more accurate account of Native American culture.”

Business Insider: Sir Tim Berners-Lee asks if Twitter is ‘actually a net good for the planet?’. “Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, on Monday called out Twitter as an example of why many people are ‘re-thinking’ how to regulate the internet.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Oh good grief. From Search Engine Land: Ask.com exposing real-time user queries to the public. “Ask.com’s Apache server status page is open to the public at ask.com/server-status. That technically means that any queries and user actions done on that server on Ask.com are open to anyone to look at.” The leak has since been closed.

ZDNet: A huge trove of patient data leaks, thanks to telemarketers’ bad security. “A trove of records containing personal and health information on close to a million people was exposed after a former developer working at a telemarketing company uploaded a backup of its database to the internet.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNET: What if you traded currency based off tweets?. “A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at 633 days of tweets about the euro/dollar exchange rate, and gauged how profitable it was to trade based off tweets. The researchers, Vahid Gholampour and Eric van Wincoop, looked at 268,770 tweets mentioning ‘EURUSD’ between October 9, 2013 and March 11, 2016.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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