California Adopted the Country’s First Major Consumer Privacy Law — Now Silicon Valley Is Trying to Rewrite It
To Win in 2020, Trump Needs More Than His Base ; Is the Loch Ness Monster a Giant Eel? ; and More Picks
Trump’s All About the Base, But He Likely Needs More Than That — Here’s Why (Gerry)
The author writes, “Needless to say, the president will emphasize that strategic handful of ‘purple states’ that have swung back and forth in recent presidential cycles. Most important are the ones he captured last time: Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona and Iowa. But he will also be looking to compete in swing states he lost to Hillary Clinton: Virginia, Colorado, Nevada and New Hampshire.”
Ancient Farmers Burned the Amazon, but Today’s Fires Are Very Different (Mili)
From National Geographic: “Paleoecology — the study of ancient environments — offers unique insights into how the first Amazonian peoples manipulated fire in the landscape, the effects of those fires on the forest’s ecology over time, and lessons that might help to prevent modern fires.”
What American Environmentalists Get Wrong About the Situation in the Amazon (Chris)
The author writes, “The Amazon is [not] the ‘lungs of the Earth’ … The Amazon’s net contribution to the oxygen we breathe is close to zero as the forest consumes as much oxygen as it produces. This is not to say that it’s not critical to oxygen cycling, but the Amazon’s true importance to planetary systems is as a primary regulator and distributor of temperature and heat over the Earth’s surface. Thus, if we must use metaphors, we could say it’s more like the ‘hypothalamus of the Earth.’”
How Apple Uses Its App Store to Copy the Best Ideas (Russ)
The author writes, “Developers have come to accept that, without warning, Apple can make their work obsolete by announcing a new app or feature that essentially copies their ideas. Some apps have simply buckled under the pressure.”
DNA Findings Suggest the Loch Ness Monster Might Be a Giant Eel (Reader Steve)
From the LA Times: “Neil Gemmell from the University of Otago in New Zealand … said at a news conference in Scotland on Thursday that the idea … is at least plausible.”
