NEW RESOURCES

California Department of Water Resources: State Develops Tool and Recommendations to Support Those Most Vulnerable to Drought. “DWR led a two-year process learning from stakeholder experiences about what puts small water systems and rural communities at higher risk of water shortages and what is needed to build their resilience to drought. The final report is now available online and could inform future legislation and efforts to help small water suppliers and rural communities reduce their risk of inadequate water supply amid a drought or other extreme event…. In addition to the report, a new online tool has been finalized that enables small water suppliers and rural communities to explore their relative risk of water shortage.”

University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Climate center develops tool to accompany release of new Climate Normals. “On May 4, the 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals are being released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). In conjunction, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s High Plains Regional Climate Center is publishing a new tool that allows users to examine what normal looks like relative to longer or shorter timeframes than the most recent 30 years.”

KLXY: Washington launches new site to help you track down your unclaimed cash. “Through the Department of Revenue’s new site, Washingtonians can now easily find if they are owed money. Currently, one in two Washingtonians have unclaimed property being held by the state. That unclaimed property includes bank accounts, insurance proceeds, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, utility and phone company deposits, uncashed checks or customer/patient credits.”

Environmental Defense Fund: New Tool Helps New York Gas Utility Planners Align Business Decisions with Climate Goals. “The Gas Company Climate Planning Tool is a free, unbiased and data-driven model for state regulators, utilities and the public to evaluate the long-term climate impacts of various energy scenarios. Pre-populated with publicly reported natural gas data from all 50 states, it can be used to evaluate energy scenarios anywhere in the country to help reduce the pollution and costs associated with new gas utility infrastructure investments.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

SiliconANGLE: Twitter buys Scroll, and news aggregator Nuzzel is on its way out. “Twitter Inc. announced today that it’s acquiring web content reading platform Scroll, which will mean Scroll’s popular news aggregator service, Nuzzel, will be no more.” I’m not as upset about this as I was about Google Reader, but it’s close.

NBC News: Twitter begins to show prompts before people send ‘mean’ replies. “Nasty replies on Twitter will require a little more thought to send. The tech company said Wednesday it was releasing a feature that automatically detects ‘mean’ replies on its service and prompts people to review the replies before sending them.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

BusinessWire: New Open Source Library Makes Data Visualization Attainable for Any JavaScript Developer (PRESS RELEASE). “Observable, the collaborative data visualization company, today launched the beta version of Observable Plot, an open-source JavaScript library that enables developers to easily create visual representations to explore and interpret data.”

Emirates News Agency: DCT Abu Dhabi to launch three new cultural heritage initiatives. “The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has announced it will launch a new series of cultural initiatives, including the Abu Dhabi Register of Artisans, the Abu Dhabi Crafts platform, and the recently reopened House of Artisans at Al Hosn, to help safeguard and disseminate the intangible cultural heritage of the Emirate and support local artisans in developing their crafts and skills.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Neowin: Microsoft announces Counterfit, an automation tool for security testing of AI systems. “Counterfit is an open source tool created by Microsoft to automate the security testing of an organization’s AI systems. The ultimate goal is to give high confidence to companies that their artificial intelligence systems are robust and reliable, given how heavily they are used in various industries. Microsoft notes that out of the 28 organizations it surveyed, 25 felt that they didn’t have the right mechanisms in place to protect AI systems and their security professionals are not well-equipped to handle threats against them.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Science: New Google effort uses cellphones to detect earthquakes. “…the internet giant announced that users of its Android phones in New Zealand and Greece will receive warnings of damaging earthquakes about to strike their locations. And those earthquakes will be detected not by the usual seismometers, but by the phones themselves.” Good evening, Internet…

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