Hey y’all, my latest Saturday Evening Post column is up at https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/04/no-sweat-tech-buying-from-amazon-3-steps-to-find-what-you-need-and-avoid-fake-reviews/ . It’s about doing your due diligence before buying on Amazon. And for those of you who were at Computers in Libraries: it chronicles my efforts to find a new toaster oven.

NEW RESOURCES

New-to-me: a site devoted to Alabama butterflies. From the article: “Launched in April 2017, the Alabama Butterfly Atlas (ABA) collects, interprets, and shares information about Alabama’s butterfly populations for the purpose of education and conservation. It puts science-based information into the hands of those who need it—students and teachers, gardeners, conservationists, and green space planners across the state.”

LawSites: New Site Is Comprehensive Resource for Federal and State Jury Instructions. “A new website, Trialdex, is a comprehensive resource for finding and comparing federal and state jury instructions. Formally launched yesterday, the site provides a searchable collection all official or quasi-official federal civil and criminal instructions and annotations, as well as an index of 20,000 legal terms, statutes, CFRs and Supreme Court cases referenced in jury instructions.”

Also new-to-me, from MEDIZIN ASPEKTE: Unlimited access to microbiological research data at BacDive. “The possibilities of using BacDive are continuously being expanded, currently scientists can use more than 600 data fields to search for microbiological information. The repertoire includes initial species descriptions and metabolic profiles as well as data on enzymatic activities and antibiotic resistance. In addition, BacDive offers 9,000 Analytical Profile Tests (API) for over 5,000 bacterial strains, the largest publicly available API data collection worldwide.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: National Geographic is bringing an Antarctic adventure to Oculus Quest. “National Geographic is delving deeper into VR with a 30-minute Antarctic adventure that will hit Oculus Quest this spring. In National Geographic Explore VR, you’ll be tasked with finding a lost penguin colony. The adventure will take you on a kayak ride through frigid water, and on a climb up an ice sheet as you search for the missing birds.”

BuzzFeed News: Indiegogo Will Ban Anti-Vaccine Fundraisers As Measles Cases Surge To A Record Level. “Crowdfunding site Indiegogo will no longer allow anti-vaccine fundraisers or any projects making health claims that do not have a scientific backing, the company said Friday. The move comes after anti-vaccine advocates raised $86,543 for a documentary based on the false claim that vaccines cause autism.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Radio Praha: Czech Republic’s Cultural Heritage To Go Online. “The Czech Republic’s cultural heritage is set to become more accessible than ever after the Ministry of Culture announced it will create a freely accessible central database of the country’s heritage online. Dubbed Czechiana, the EU funded project will make it possible to see anything from maps, pictures and diaries normally located in Czech museums and galleries, on the internet by November 2020.”

Quartz: Benin’s government has shut the internet ahead of an election that has no opposition. “Benin’s legislative elections today will have no one contesting from the opposition parties. Another thing that voters won’t have access to: the internet.”

South China Morning Post: China’s national library to archive 200 billion Weibo posts in project to preserve country’s digital heritage. “The National Library of China will archive over 200 billion public posts on Weibo, the country’s popular Twitter-style microblogging site, as part of an initiative to preserve the digital heritage of the world’s biggest internet population.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Globes: Google, Facebook could face huge Israel tax bill. “Who the next minister of finance will be is unclear, but the ambitious taxation plan already being formed follows the global trend towards imposing tax on the revenue of the global Internet tech giants like Google and Facebook. A legislative change has been under consideration for some time, and the Israel Tax Authority decided that once a new minister of finance takes office, the matter would be raised and a plan formulated. The plan is to tax 3-5% of these companies’ turnover.”

Ubergizmo: Russian Hackers Had Ability To Change Voter Roll Data In One Florida County. “Florida Senator Marco Rubio has revealed in an interview that Russian hackers were ‘in a position’ to alter voting records in a Florida county. They were able to breach one county’s voting systems during the Presidential Election back in 2016. Rubio said that not only were the hackers able to access the systems, they even had the ability to change voter roll data.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

ZDNet: Americans spend far more time on their smartphones than they think. “Almost everyone uses smartphones nowadays, they have become a major, vital part of our lives. They help us stay connected to everyone we need to. But how do our smartphone screen time habits vary across the US, and across different age groups?”

This is from February but I missed it then. From DutchCulture: 3D scans of Dutch VOC ships uncover secrets from the past. VOC ships were apparently the Dutch East India Company ships. “In 2018 maritime archaeologist John McCarthy spent 10 weeks visiting European museums to 3D scan models of Dutch VOC ships dated to the 17th and 18th centuries.” Good morning, Internet…

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