Current Reading
Congressional Bills Introduced: Abortion, Encouraging STEM Education, Affordable Birth Control and Child Care Credits
Issues Covered: A bill to provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception; a bill to protect pain-capable unborn children; a bill to strengthen the provisions relating to child labor; a bill to provide grants to eligible local educational agencies to encourage female students to pursue studies and careers in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology; a bill to establish a permanent, nationwide summer electronic benefits transfer for children program; a bill to ensure timely access to affordable birth control for women. more »
The Scout Report: Folger, Math, Yale Writing, Portraiture & Art Techniques, British Colonialism Images and The Quabbin Reservoir
Can you use a popular book to explore interfaces between science, citizen action, public health, and the US Legal system? The Science in the Courtroom makes it possible; Interested in integers? Fascinated by fractals? Consult MIT's OpenCourseWare Math website; Folger Digital Texts visitors will find a source code that allows new noncommercial Shakespeare projects and apps; The Yale Writing Center Advice for Students contains areas that include "What Good Writers Know" and "Model Papers from the Disciplines." more »
Private Lives: Stanford Graduate Students Show Phone Record Surveillance Can Yield Significant Information
Two computer science graduate students have found that the NSA's mass collection of phone records can yield much more information about people's private lives than the US government claims. New research shows how "metadata" surveillance can be used to identify information about callers including medical conditions, financial and legal connections, and even whether they own a gun. more »
Monuments Men (and Women): National Gallery of Art's The Inside Story, Smithsonian's On the Frontline to Save Europe's Art
"These men — and women — worked to protect Europe's cultural heritage at the height of World War II, ensuring its safety in the aftermath and returning works, when possible, to their rightful owners once peace and security were restored." Edith Standen dug up an antique bronze cannon with her own bare hands. ""It had been taken from the Musée de l'Armée. It went back to the Musée de l'Armée."
David Finley in his office at the National Gallery of Art. Finley was director of the Gallery from 1938-1956, and vice chairman of the Roberts Commission. National Gallery of Art,… more »
