NEW RESOURCES

Google Blog: Google for Creators: Helping creators learn and grow. “Google for Creators shows how the web can become part of your content mix. A quick quiz on the homepage provides personalized recommendations with topics most relevant to you. So if you’re just getting started, the quiz might recommend that you check out guides for finding a niche or creating a content strategy. Or if you’re a more seasoned creator, you might see recommendations for learning how to grow your audience and make more money.”

Engadget: The new Assassin’s Creed educational tour lets you explore the Viking Age. “Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tours can offer valuable educational insights into historical periods, and that may be particularly true for the latest instalment. Ubisoft has released a Discovery Tour: Viking Age update for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla that gives you the chance to explore Viking-era England and Norway without the usual conflicts. There’s a new format, however. Rather than go on guided tours and visit exhibits, you assume the roles of four Anglo-Saxon and Viking characters (such as Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great and a Viking merchant) as they undertake eight quests that illustrate their daily lives.” You do not have to buy the video game to get the educational tour; a stand-alone version is available for $20.

EVENTS

McMaster University: Rare texts on magic and the occult unearthed for Archives Alive event. “Leather-bound books with ancient alphabets, pentagrams outlined in red paint on a floor, and hooded figures chanting incantations by candlelight; these are among the depictions commonly conjured in popular culture around magic and the occult. But where do these concepts come from? This month’s must-see Archives Alive event will take audiences back in time to explore rare texts at McMaster University rooted in the very real tradition of magic and philosophy in western Europe.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Facebook to demote all Groups content from users who break its rules. “Facebook said Wednesday it will demote all content posted in Groups from users who have broken the site’s rules, making potentially problematic content harder for others to find. The social network will also let people who manage groups know when content from members has been flagged by Facebook and will offer administrators the ability to appeal before a post gets removed.”

Ubergizmo: Instagram Now Lets Users Post From Their Desktop. “The good news is that Instagram has since announced that you can now post photos and videos up to a minute long from your computer. If this sounds familiar, it is because the company had actually started testing out the feature earlier this year, and now it looks like it will be available to all users starting on the 21st of October.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Vice: Mastodon’s Founder Says Trump’s New Social Network Is Just Mastodon. “Mastodon is a piece of open-source software that people can use to create their own social networks. The platform has a timeline style similar to Twitter. Whereas some people have moved to Mastodon for a social network experience away from more established, Big Tech companies, Neo-Nazis and other extremists have also used the platform.”

Mashable: Nude art is getting censored on social media for a tourism board. So they went to OnlyFans.. “Vienna, Austria’s capital city, is known amongst other things for a rich history of art, measured by its many museums and infamous artistic revolt. But the tourist board found obstacles in its path to promote the city’s art, particularly the works that feature nudity. Turning to OnlyFans as a solution, Vienna has featured its ’18+ content’ on the site from artists known for ‘provocative’ portraits, some nude, like Egon Schiele, Richard Gerstl, and Amedeo Modigliani, saying it is providing ‘these artworks the freedom they deserve’.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: YouTube Sued Over Animal Abuse Videos, Accused of Not Enforcing Ban. “Lady Freethinker, which has exposed dogfighting rings in Chile and dog meat auctions in South Korea, said YouTube had ignored the group’s repeated flagging of animal abuse videos. YouTube’s community guidelines, the rules for what is allowed on the site, say animal abuse content is not permitted. The ban includes videos in which humans inflict physical harm to an animal to cause suffering.” I saw no explicit content in the article, but just the descriptions of abuse were enough to make me nauseated. Click with caution.

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Guardian: Egypt detains artist robot Ai-Da before historic pyramid show. “Ai-Da is due to open and present her work at the Great Pyramid of Giza on Thursday, the first time contemporary art has been allowed next to the pyramid in thousands of years. But because of ‘security issues’ that may include concerns that she is part of a wider espionage plot, both Ai-Da and her sculpture were held in Egyptian customs for 10 days before being released on Wednesday, sparking a diplomatic fracas.”

Smithsonian Magazine: What’s Next for the 1.2 Million Prehistoric Fossils Now at Smithsonian. “Under the grass, gravel, soil and sand lies layers of rock containing a record of past life. In North America, paleontologists have been studying this record for over 150 years. Many of the fossils they unearthed were stored in the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Denver Fossil Collection…. Earlier this year, the last of the USGS collection’s 1.2 million fossils arrived at the museum, completing an acquisition that began back in 2018. But the acquisition was only one step in a bigger plan to systematize and digitize the USGS fossils for scientists everywhere to access for research.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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