NEW RESOURCES

Spotted in my Google Alerts and then chased all over Google for a while: The Lenczner Slaght Supreme Court of Canada Database. From the “About” article on the front page: “This database includes information about each reported decision of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1954 onward. … The authors of this database hope that it will provide a useful resource for academics and practicing lawyers alike who are interested in the decisions and judges of the Supreme Court of Canada.”

State of New York: Governor Hochul Announces Launch of New Online Wage and Employment Tools as Part of Continued Commitment to Transparency. “Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the launch of two new interactive online resources designed to improve transparency and enhance access to employment statistics and occupational wage information. The Current Employment Statistics dashboard provides monthly estimates of non-farm employment, hours, and earnings by industry for New York State, metropolitan areas, and counties outside of metropolitan areas. The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics dashboard provides estimates of employment and wages for nearly 800 job titles across New York State.”

Arizona State University: ‘Keeping It Civil’ podcast dedicated to improving civil discourse. “From a young age, Americans are often told to avoid controversial topics such as politics and race. But avoiding them altogether may have contributed to today’s political polarization. Instead, Americans should engage in civil discourse. That is the rationale behind the relaunch of the podcast ‘Keeping It Civil,’ a partnership between Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership (SCETL) and Arizona PBS. ‘Keeping It Civil’ is dedicated to creating space for disagreement on relevant topics and bridging political polarization through civil discourse.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

USDA: USDA NASS to livestream agricultural data briefings, enhances public access to valuable information. “On March 30, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will livestream the Secretary of Agriculture’s data report briefing for the first time. This and future Secretary data briefings will stream on NASS’s YouTube channel five minutes after NASS reports are released to the public.”

The Verge: Google Stadia is subtly reinventing itself to attract new games and gamers. “Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service didn’t stick the landing, and it’s been a rough ride since. But today, at the Google for Games Developer Summit, it feels like Stadia might be moving in a promising direction — one that gives both gamers and game developers a reason to pay attention. And the magic word is ‘free.'”

CNET: Snap Opens Up Ways to Add AR Layers to the Real World. “Snap’s AR Landmarkers, which can layer AR on top of real-world 3D-scanned places, are opening up for developers to start building on their own. Snap sees this AR layer as a key piece of its own road to AR glasses.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Los Angeles Times: Why this L.A. TikTok star dreamed of boxing glory. “In the last decade, the number of people who make money as a ‘creator’ — a person who creates video, photo or digital content primarily on social media — has grown to more than 50 million people worldwide, including 2 million who do it as a full-time job, according to data released in 2020 by San Francisco venture capital firm SignalFire. But gaining new fans for creators or influencers has become increasingly challenging, as the once-nascent social media platforms have now grown to massive, global video libraries where it’s difficult to stand out from the crowd. That’s where boxing comes in.”

Springfield News-Leader: Federal grant expands library’s online photo collection of Ozarks’ life and history. “A $10,000 federal grant is expanding the Springfield-Greene County Library’s online digital collection of photographs ‘vividly documenting a period of rapid change in Springfield and the Ozarks.’ Part of the digital collection ‘From the Darkroom,’ library staff will add 5,000 more digital images to the nearly 29,000 images already acquired. Those images originate from the Springfield News-Leader’s estimated 2.7 million photographs and negatives from 1945 to 2011.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Government Executive: DOJ’s New FOIA Guidance Promotes Openness. “In July 2016, President Obama signed a law that codified the ‘presumption of openness’ that he championed during his first year in office and later received mixed reviews on, as Government Executive reported in 2015. The new guidance from Garland follows Obama’s goals of a ‘presumption of openness’ and directs agencies ‘make it clear that the Justice Department will not defend nondisclosure decisions that fail to do so,’ said the Justice Department.”

Bleeping Computer: Hundreds of GoDaddy-hosted sites backdoored in a single day. “Internet security analysts have spotted a spike in backdoor infections on WordPress websites hosted on GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress service, all featuring an identical backdoor payload. The case affects internet service resellers such as MediaTemple, tsoHost, 123Reg, Domain Factory, Heart Internet, and Host Europe Managed WordPress.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

PsyPost: Longitudinal study reveals how using the internet as a form of escape can end in increased depressive symptoms . “New research suggests that using the internet as an escape from worry may be harmless in the short term, but can lead to emotional issues down the line. The study found that people with a greater tendency to use the internet as a distraction had higher average levels of problematic internet use and depression. The findings were published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.”

The Register: Even complex AI models are failing 5th grade science . “Researchers from the University of Arizona, Microsoft, and the Allen Institute for AI tested several different state-of-the-art agents and found them readily able to answer the ‘what’ of a situation, but incapable of determining the ‘how’ of them.” Good morning, Internet…

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