Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Now You Can Opt Out of Seeing Political Ads on Facebook


By BY MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/37AikYY

Wikipedia article of the day for June 17, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 17, 2020 is Nestor Lakoba.
Nestor Lakoba (1893–1936) was an Abkhaz Communist leader. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Lakoba helped establish Bolshevik power in Abkhazia in the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union. As the head of Abkhazia after its conquest by the Bolshevik Red Army in 1921, Lakoba saw that Abkhazia was initially given autonomy as the Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia. Though nominally a part of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic with a special status of "union republic", Abkhazia was effectively a separate republic, made possible by Lakoba's close relationship with Joseph Stalin. In 1931 Lakoba was forced to accept a downgrade of Abkhazia's status to that of an autonomous republic within Georgia. Another confidant of Stalin, Lavrentiy Beria, summoned Lakoba to visit him in Tbilisi in December 1936. Lakoba was poisoned, allowing Beria to consolidate his control over Abkhazia and all of Georgia.

Conviction in the Philippines Reveals Facebook’s Dangers


By BY SHIRA OVIDE from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/3e7u3R7

Riding Out Quarantine With a Chatbot Friend: ‘I Feel Very Connected’


By BY CADE METZ from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2AIqQcr

Monday, June 15, 2020

Wikipedia article of the day for June 16, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 16, 2020 is 1944 Cuba–Florida hurricane.
The 1944 Cuba–Florida hurricane was a large Category 4 tropical cyclone that caused widespread damage across the western Caribbean Sea and the Southeastern United States. It inflicted over US$100 million in damage and was responsible for at least 318 deaths. The unprecedented availability of meteorological data during the hurricane marked a turning point in the United States Weather Bureau's ability to forecast tropical cyclones. The system became a tropical storm on October 12 and intensified into a hurricane the next day. On October 18, it made landfall on western Cuba at peak strength with reported winds of 145 mph (230 km/h). At least 300 people were killed in Cuba, which suffered extensive damage from winds and storm surge, especially in the Havana area. Numerous ships sank in Havana Harbor. On October 19 the storm made a final landfall near Sarasota, Florida, as a Category 2 hurricane. Eighteen people were killed in Florida, half of those from the loss of a ship in Tampa Bay.

Ex-eBay Workers Sent Critics Live Roaches and a Mask of a Bloody Pig Face, U.S. Says


By BY NATASHA SINGER from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/3d3woLF