Articles of Note
The asterisk dates back at least to Aristarchus of Samothrace, who edited Homer. It has been used to signal caution — marking plagiarism, omissions, and vulgarity... more »
New Books
The economist Albert O. Hirschman’s insights have been watered down by Gladwell and Sunstein into “Hirschmanisms,” bland chestnuts repeated by the dinner-party bore... more »
Essays & Opinions
Does having views typical of one’s time absolve one from the judgment of future generations? Consider the example of Winston Churchill... more »
Facebook can track you across the web. Here’s how to stop it
CNET: “No, the Off-Facebook Activity tracking rumor is not a hoax. Here’s how to keep the social media platform from tracking your web browsing. If you haven’t been using the privacy feature Facebook introduced last year, now’s the time to start. It’s called Off-Facebook Activity and it lets you see and control data that apps and websites share with the platform — and monitor the kind of information third-party apps can access. With the privacy feature, you can clear the history of apps and websites that have shared your data. You can also turn off future Off-Facebook activity, which tells Facebook to disconnect any information the company has shared from your account. Or you can selectively choose which companies you want to stop sharing your activity and it’ll stop showing you those targeted ads…”
“Starting today, - Brave Search beta now available in Brave browser - online users have a new independent option for search which gives them unmatched privacy. Whether they are already Brave browser users, looking to expand their online privacy protection with the all-in-one, integrated Brave Search in the Brave browser, or users of other browsers looking for the best-in-breed privacy-preserving search engine, they can all use the newly released Brave Search beta that puts users first, and fully in control of their online experience. Brave Search is built on top of a completely independent index, and doesn’t track users, their searches, or their clicks. Brave Search is available in beta release globally on all Brave browsers (desktop, Android, and iOS) as one of the search options alongside other search engines, and will become the default search in the Brave browser later this year. It is also available from any other browser at search.brave.com….Brave Search is different from other search engines because it uses its own index and follows different principles:
- Privacy: no tracking or profiling of users.
- User-first: the user comes first, not the advertising and data industries.
- Independence: Brave has its own search index for answering common queries privately without reliance on other providers.
- Choice: soon, options for ad-free paid search and ad-supported search.
- Transparency: no secret methods or algorithms to bias results, and soon, community-curated open ranking models to ensure diversity and prevent algorithmic biases and outright censorship.
- Seamlessness: best-in-class integration between the browser and search without compromising privacy, from personalization to instant results as the user types.
- Openness: Brave Search will soon be available to power other search engines…”
Gartner: 51% of global knowledge workers will be remote by the end of 2021
Tech Republic: “By the end of 2021, 51% of all knowledge workers worldwide are expected to be working remotely, up from 27% of knowledge workers in 2019, according to Gartner. The research firm also estimates that remote workers will represent 32% of all employees worldwide by the end of 2021. This is up from 17% of employees in 2019. Gartner defines knowledge workers are those who are involved in knowledge-intensive occupations, such as writers, accountants and engineers. Gartner defines a remote worker as an employee working away from their company, government entity or customer site at least one full day a week (hybrid workers), or who works fully from home (fully remote workers)…”
U.S. Agriculture Department paintings of fruits and nuts are actually stunning
Washington Post: “…Why, then, can’t I stop picking up and poring over “An Illustrated Catalog of American Fruits and Nuts,” a book that seems to have followed me around the house for more than a month now? One reason is that it’s so ridiculously beautiful. Published by Atelier Editions in Los Angeles, it has an orange cover with handsome black typography. It has a fascinating introduction, a good index and glossary; it even smells nice. But the best thing about it, undoubtedly, is the pictures. They’re pictures of fruit. And nuts. Made by hand. In watercolor. Hundreds of them have been selected from more than 7,500 paintings, drawings and lithographs from the Agriculture Department’s Pomological Watercolor Collection. (Pomology is the branch of agriculture focused on fruit.) Made between 1886 and 1942, the illustrations were commissioned from artists, the majority of them women, by the Division of Pomology, which wanted to create a national register of fruits. And oh my goodness! They’re beautiful…”
TAIWAN’S FOREIGN MINISTER: ‘We need to prepare ourselves for a possible conflict’ with China.
Fortunately, if things get rough, Biden’s military is at full readiness: U.S. Air Force Base Asserts Drag Queen Promotes “Readiness of the Military.”
OK, maybe not the Air Force. Let’s check how things are going in the Navy:
Guys, the Village People called and said you might want to dial it back a bit.