NEW RESOURCES

ProPublica: The Most Detailed Map of Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution in the U.S.. “It’s not a secret that industrial facilities emit hazardous air pollution. A new ProPublica analysis shows for the first time just how much toxic air pollution they emit — and how much the chemicals they unleash could be elevating cancer risk in their communities. ProPublica’s analysis of five years of modeled EPA data identified more than 1,000 toxic hot spots across the country and found that an estimated 250,000 people living in them may be exposed to levels of excess cancer risk that the EPA deems unacceptable.”

University of Wisconsin-Madison: 40-year map project, History of Cartography, draws to a close. “The History of Cartography series brings together cutting-edge research and a colorful collection of stories and histories told through maps. As a research, editorial and publishing venture, the project is drawing international attention to the history of maps and mapping. It treats all maps — from prehistory through the 20th century — as cultural, technical and intellectual artifacts. With millions of words of rich content that includes extensive notes, plus thousands of illustrations, be forewarned: You don’t want to print it out on your home printer.” You can buy printed volumes but all completed volumes are also available to explore online.

EurekAlert: The Gutenberg Gait Database: World’s largest collection of gait analysis data of healthy individuals published. “The database has been compiled by Dr. Fabian Horst of the Institute of Sports Science at Mainz University and Djordje Slijepčević of St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in Austria and comprises data from 350 healthy volunteers who attended the biomechanics lab at JGU [Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz] over the past seven years. The database contains ground reaction force (GRF) and center of pressure (COP) data measured for two consecutive steps, which were recorded by force plates embedded in the ground over the entire duration of ground contact of the feet.”

IrishCentral: Maps of Dublin city, dating 1695 to 1827, available online. “Dublin City Libraries (DCL) has announced that its City Surveyors’ Maps Collection dating from 1695 until 1827 is now available on the Digital Repository of Ireland. Maps in the collection show the development of Dolphin’s Barn, Lazy Hill (now called Pearse Street), Essex Street, and a plan to develop buildings and stables on St. Stephen’s Green in 1758 that never came to fruition.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

MakeUseOf: LinkedIn Launches Service Marketplace, but Can It Compete With Fiverr and Upwork?. “Freelancers can now find work projects on LinkedIn. The popular professional social network is opening up opportunities for professionals to find work on its platform, going beyond merely giving them the tools to advertise their skills and experience. LinkedIn will do this through Service Marketplace, a new feature to compete with the likes of Fiverr and Upwork, but does Marketplace stand a chance against these platforms? Let’s find out.”

State Archives of North Carolina: Senate Audio, 1979-1980, Now Available in NCDC. “We are very happy to announce that the North Carolina Senate Daily Legislative Session Audio Recordings (SR.66.25) for the years 1979-1980 have been uploaded to the Internet Archive and are now available for listening through the North Carolina Digital Collections (NCDC; https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/custom/senate-audio).”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Toronto Star: Library and Archives Canada service cuts hindering research, historians complain . “Researchers say recent service cuts at Canada’s national archives are making their work — already hampered by COVID-19 — even more challenging. In a letter to Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Historical Association urges the institution to reconsider reductions that have left its archival reading room open just three days a week.”

Sydney Morning Herald: How the cosmetic cowboys ran free on the wild west of social media. “Calls to Dr Lanzer’s Melbourne clinic were bounced to a call centre in the Philippines with a message that no bookings for surgical procedures will be taken at this clinic until next year. Industry regulators, for their part, confirmed they were investigating the allegations outlined in the media investigation, Cosmetic Cowboys, which included videos of doctors dancing and laughing as they performed liposuction on an unconscious patient while holding a long stainless-steel cannula.”

This headline is a bit misleading, especially if you were a huge Google Wave stan, so please read the article. TechCrunch: Microsoft launches Google Wave . “Back in 2019, Microsoft announced the Fluid Framework (not to be confused with the Fluent design system). The idea here was nothing short of trying to re-invent the nature of business documents and how developers build real-time applications. Last year, the company open-sourced Fluid and started building it into a few of its own Office applications. Today, at its Ignite conference, it’s launching a whole new product built on top of Fluid: Microsoft Wave Loop. Loop is a new app — and concept — that takes the Fluid framework, which provides developers with flexible components to mix and match in order to create real-time editing-based applications, to create a new experience for users to collaborate on documents. In many ways, that was also the promise of Google Wave — real-time collaboration plus a developer framework and protocol to bring Wave everywhere.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: Regulators Ask Congress to Create New Rules for Cryptocurrencies. “Federal regulators say they urgently need more power from Congress to properly regulate stablecoins, a fast-growing type of cryptocurrency that they warn could result in bank runs, consumer abuse and payment snafus unless lawmakers act quickly, according to a report issued Monday by the Treasury Department.”

Meduza: Google permanently blocks Belarusian Investigative Committee’s YouTube channel due to sanctions . “The official Google account and linked YouTube channel of the Belarusian Investigative Committee has been blocked due to international sanctions imposed on Belarusian officials and organizations.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

ZDNet: Ditching Google Chrome was the best thing I did this year (and you should too). “If you have to use Google Chrome, I have some ideas on how to make it less awful. But at the end of the day, it’s still awful. It’s even awful on the new MacBook Pro running the M1 Pro chip . And that chip makes Adobe Premiere Pro look good. I don’t say this lightly, but my advice to everyone is to dump Google Chrome. I know not everyone can get rid of it completely (I’m one of those people), but do yourself a favor and go try some other browsers. And then you’ll see for yourself just how bad Google Chrome actually is.”

CBC: CBC is keeping Facebook comments closed on news posts. “To be clear, we aren’t interested in curtailing genuine criticism of our journalism, which we welcome (you can find plenty of it in the comments on the stories on our news site, which are closely moderated). We’re talking instead about trying to stop, in the online places where we have some control at least, the vile abuse, personal harassment and misinformation that’s so damaging to public discourse.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!