NEW RESOURCES

The Drive: We Found the Full List of All 677,081 Cars Killed in Cash for Clunkers. “The federal scrappage scheme that destroyed almost 700,000 supposedly gas-guzzling vehicles had basic criteria: no cars could be 25 years old or older, the cars must manage 18 mpg combined or worse, driveable, and its rebate and scrap value must be applied to a car that would be registered and insured for one continuous year after purchase. What was taken off the roads has hopefully been recycled several times over, but the truth isn’t lost, as we’ve dug up a little-known, long-lost complete report on every car CFC destroyed.”

UCLA Newsroom: UCLA Law launches project to track attacks on critical race theory. “UCLA School of Law’s Critical Race Studies Program has created an innovative project to track and analyze legislative, regulatory and administrative efforts to block or undermine the teaching of a more complete history of the United States in schools across the country. Critical race theory, or CRT, is the study of systemic racism in law, policy and society.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google Blog: How we’re improving search results when you use quotes. “The snippets we display for search results (meaning the text you see describing web content) will be formed around where a quoted word or phrase occurs in a web document. That means you can more easily identify where to find them after you click the link and visit the content. On desktop, we’ll also bold the quoted material.” An excellent update.

Associated Press: Musk response to Twitter lawsuit to be made public by Friday. “Elon Musk’s answer to Twitter’s lawsuit over his attempt to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company will be made public by Friday evening at the latest, a judge ruled Wednesday.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Gizmodo: The Notorious Hacker Who’s Trying to Fix Social Media. “Over the past two decades, social media has taken over the world and become a menace to democracy. Can a pseudonymous hacktivist get it back on the right track?” I’m on CounterSocial and I like it a lot. Became a Pro user in May and I’m pleased to report that my credit card has suffered no injury. It’s not a place to be if you just want to splash around in outrage, but if you like to hang out and share news and have conversations and post music and pet pictures, it’s great.

NBC News: Dozens of fake news websites and social media accounts pushed pro-China talking points. “A Chinese marketing firm hosted a ring of at least 72 fake news sites in 11 languages with corresponding fake social media personas that pushed Chinese government talking points, according to research published Thursday.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNN: Russian accused of money laundering and running $4B bitcoin exchange extradited to US. “A Russian national accused of running a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange that allegedly profited from various hacking and extortion schemes has been extradited from Greece and is on his way to the US, according to the suspect’s lawyer.”

Reuters: EU antitrust regulators quiz developers on Google app payments – sources . “EU antitrust regulators have asked app developers whether Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) unit Google’s threat to remove apps from its Play Store if they use other payment options instead of its own billing system has hurt their business, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.”

NBC News: Class-action suit filed against Equifax after millions of scores were affected by glitch. “A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Equifax following a report that millions of credit scores were affected by a technical glitch in the credit bureau’s reporting system.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Michigan: How Social Media Usage & Online Navigation Changes During A Crisis. “As part of the Social Responsibility Series, Paul Resnick, PhD, joins Michigan Minds to share insight on the use of social media during times of national crisis, the impact of digital search filters, and how users can stay informed about misinformation.” Podcast with accompanying article.

University of Melbourne: How Data Expertise Is Fostering Endangered Languages. “The PARADISEC digital archive model revitalising endangered languages around the Pacific has now been taken up in North America by the Cherokee Nation.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Texas A&M Today: Texas A&M Team Translates Thousands Of Pages Of Math Into Braille. “When Texas A&M University Mathematics Lecturer Vanessa Coffelt wanted to further accommodate coursework for students who are blind or visually impaired, the staff at Texas A&M’s Department of Disability Resources accepted the challenge. They worked closely with the Department of Mathematics to create a Braille translation — more than 2,300 pages worth.” Good morning, Internet…

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