The Secret History of Home Economics

The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live by Danielle Dreilinger

Home economics has had an interesting history. It has been a mixture of progressive and conservative philosophies, primarily in the immediate post-World War II era.  There were desire to provide both outside employment and work in the home. Home economics also tied into various other parts of culture. There were separate black and white home economists. Black colleges ended up with very good instruction because professors were limited from participation at other colleges. Women that were able to enter all male colleges often ended up associated with the field. School lunch became connected (and connected to racism.) Home Economics gradually came out of favor as being too "traditional." There have been attempts to rebrand and give it a more progressive bent. However, those have backfired. Even as this has faded, "maker" and other creative "home" exercises. Maybe it is best to bring back home-ec? This book is clearly written for contemporary readers, trying to but a modern spin on home-ec and encouraging a modern resurgance.

Pegasus: How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy

Phones have become a personal part of our lives today. They have a great deal of technology and connectivity that is not well understand by users. Things are fairly opaque and "secure". This makes the phones vulnerable to attacks. Software can theoretically use the microphone to listen, camera to see and scan any activity from the phone. Via the network, this can all be sent back to others to view. NSO group took advantage of this "theory" and implemented spyware that it sold to states. Once installed, a person could be tracked in detail.

This book has two parts. The title parts is a look at modern computer security, the NSO Group and the Pegasus Spyware. However, a big part of the book is spent on the second part: the process of journalism. There is discussion of how different journalists work together, and the concerns they have when breaking a story. They want to balance giving people a chance to defend themselves with the alerting bad players of the investigation. They also don't want to hurt people's feelings by breaking news.

The Pegasus spyware was supported by a large computer system. They focussed on selling it to state actors. It had been used to infiltrate Mexican Drug Lords and other criminal operations. However, it had also been illicitly used to spy on opposition parties and journalists. There are many people that could be viewed as "bad" by those with the power of spyware. With great power comes great responsibility. Openness and privacy each have benefits and drawbacks.