Report – People spend a third of their waking day staring at their phones

Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.

— Lysander Spooner, born in 1808

Argentina’s COVID Miracle Joseph Stiglitz, Project Syndicate

Report – People spend a third of their waking day staring at their phones

Mashable: “Worried you’re spending too much time staring mindlessly at random apps? Well, apparently you’re not alone. In 2021, people in the world’s top 10 mobile markets for Android spent a solid 4.8 hours browsing apps, according to app analytics company App Annie’s State of Mobile 2022 report. That’s roughly a third of our waking hours. Brazil and Indonesia were the countries with the highest usage (both clocking up a solid 5.4 hours on average), while the U.S. came in 10th with 4.2 hours per day (an hour more than Americans spend watching TV), and the UK came in 12th with four hours per day. Usage has increased 30 percent since 2019…”

 The Black Vault: “These records were provided by the family of anthologist and transparency activist Russ Kick, from his papers, facilitated by the generous assistance of Dr. Susan Maret. This is not a complete collection set of his papers, but rather, a selection of items sent to The Black Vault for digital preservation. Biography – Russell Charles Kick III (July 20, 1969 – September 12, 2021), or Russ Kick, was an American writer, editor, and publisher. Early in his career, Kick wrote articles, a column, and a cover story for The Village Voice. He was the founder and editor of The Memory Hole, Memory Hole 2, and Altgov2, which published and archived U.S. government documents, including scientific studies, documents received under FOIA and civil rights-related reports, intelligence and covert action reports, consumer safety reports, and images including photographs of flag-draped coffins of American military personnel. These photographs of the war dead garnered worldwide media attention, including heavy rotation on all 24-hour news channels and front-page coverage on major newspapers, including The New York Times. The Memory Hole also gained attention for posting a completely uncensored version of a Justice Department report about its internal hiring practices, leading to a front-page story in The New York Times. Kick was editor-at-large for The Disinformation Company and he wrote three books and edited six anthologies for them, including You Are Being Lied To and 50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know. He also was editing an anthology of classic and contemporary poems about death for Disinformation and Red Wheel/Weiser. From 2018 to 2021, he was the director of open records for Rise for the Animals where he expanded the ARLO (Animal Research Laboratory Overview) database  to include information obtained through FOIA and public records requests related to animal experimentation and research facilities. At the age of 52, Kick died on September 12, 2021, in Tucson, Arizona. Kick’s obituary can be found at the Washington Post.”

CNET – “You’ll likely need access to a Microsoft Word document, a PowerPoint presentation or the product of another basic tool from Microsoft 365 at least once in 2022 — for either work, school or personal use. Although the software may seem like a necessity, its high price makes some people run the other way. If you don’t want to spend your money on Microsoft 365, don’t stress. There are a few ways to get the service for free. Microsoft’s suite of productivity software consists of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. The collection typically costs between $70 and $100 every year for subscription access across devices and family members (as Microsoft 365). Microsoft also released a new stand-alone version of Microsoft Office for Windows and Mac, called Office Home and Student 2021 — for a flat price, no subscription required — on Oct. 5, the same day Windows 11 began its rollout..”

5 free privacy tools for protecting your personal data

PC World: “Ideally, protecting your privacy shouldn’t require hours of time or gobs of money. Instead of having to meticulously manage all the personal data that’s floating around on the internet, you should be able to minimize data collection automatically or proactively. If you value privacy like I do, you’ll want to check out the following apps and tools. While some have premium versions for certain features, all of them are free to use..”