Picard Tips (@PicardTips) tweeted at 2:40 PM on Sun, Apr 10, 2016:

Picard strategy tip: Don’t assume your opponent will behave rationally. Plan for their emotional response.

(https://twitter.com/PicardTips/status/719233490483437568?s=03)

http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2016/04/opm-seeking-social-media-tracking-background-checks/127380/

The Office of Personnel Management is preparing for a pilot program to automatically track public social media postings of people applying for security clearances.

Ah! The list we read in PADM 753!

http://www.openculture.com/2016/04/carl-sagan-presents-his-baloney-detection-kit-8-tools-for-skeptical-thinking.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/04/07/hubble_image_of_galaxies_in_sculptor_implies_100_billion_galaxies_in_the.html

Look back at the image taken by Hubble. Look at it closely. The Universe is so vast it may be impossible for us to grasp its size and scale; yet by studying it, by embracing it, we see that our being a part of it is special.

If there is one most amazing thing that astronomy, that science, has shown us, I believe it is that.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/04/07/libraries-and-learning/

Most Americans believe libraries do a decent job of serving the education and learning needs of their communities and their own families. A new survey by Pew Research Center shows that 76% of adults say libraries serve the learning and educational needs of their communities either “very well” (37%) or “pretty well” (39%). Further, 71% say libraries serve their own personal needs and the needs of their families “very well” or “pretty well.”

As a rule, libraries’ performance in learning arenas gets better marks from women, blacks, Hispanics, those in lower-income households, and those ages 30 and older.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0327-santos-polling-problems-20160327-story.html

We should consider the source before trusting a poll, much like we do stock market tips or sports picks. Polling organizations that are members of American Assn. for Public Opinion Research’s Transparency Initiative provide a standard level of technical disclosure about their methods for anyone who is interested in getting into the weeds. Regardless, while pollsters scramble to build a better mouse trap, we should be cognizant that election forecasts can and will continue to fall short. We should avoid using them to pick among candidates. And, of course, we should all get out and vote.

Amusing stuff!

http://chronicle.com/article/Inside-the-Elaborate-Web/235982

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/save-netflix

Netflix is in terrible danger. In fact, these might be its last days.

Oh, not today’s Netflix. The Netflix you’re using today is fine. It made it—got to do something daring and edgy, prove out its model, and become part of the establishment.

But the next Netflix—the company so cool it makes Netflix look like Blockbuster.

http://www.govexec.com/management/2016/04/defense-department-begins-enrolling-civilians-new-personnel-system/127186/

The Pentagon began evaluating thousands of employees’ job performance on a new system Friday, the first step in a massive overhaul of performance management across the Defense Department.

Defense rolled out to about 14,000 employees the first phase of its New Beginnings system, which will eventually change the appraisal process for virtually all of the department’s 750,000 civilians. The initial group will serve as a pilot for a program six years in the making, and comes after some pushback from labor groups.

http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-local-government-march-jobs-report.html

The latest jobs data suggests local government hiring has picked up so far this year.

New U.S. Department of Labor estimates published Friday indicate that local governments added 19,000 jobs last month and 48,000 positions so far this year.