Two avalanche warnings have been issued for parts of Washington and Oregon as heavier-than-usual rainfall and snowfall is expected to hit part of the West Coast through Monday. From a report: One of the warnings, a Level 4 on a scale of 5, said there was a high avalanche danger for parts of North Cascades National Park by the Canadian border,…
Tag: danger
Texas Was ‘Seconds and Minutes’ Away From Catastrophic Monthslong Blackouts, Officials Say
Texas’ power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months, officials with the entity that operates the grid said yesterday. Texas Tribune reports: As millions of customers throughout the state begin to have power restored after days of massive blackouts, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or…
Facebook Blames ‘Technical Issues” for Its Broken Promise to the US Congress
Facebook is blaming “technical issues” for its broken promise to the U.S. Congress to stop recommending political groups to its users, reports The Markup: Facebook made the pledge once in October, in the run-up to the presidential election, and then falsely reiterated it had taken the step after rioters overtook the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a deadly event partially coordinated…
A record deadly week for US avalanches in early February
2021 has brought a deadly avalanche season. “We’re only halfway through the season and we’re 3/4 of the way to the number of fatalities we’d see in a typical year. The dangerous, record-breaking year keeps avalanche forecasters up at night,” one expert said. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/avalanches-2021-united-states-how-to-survive…
Hacker Increased Chemical Level At Florida City’s Water Supply, Police Say
An anonymous reader quotes a report from WTSP: hacker gained access to Oldsmar’s water treatment plant, bumping the sodium hydroxide in the water to a “dangerous” level, according to Pinellas County’s sheriff. In a press conference Monday, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said his deputies, along with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, are investigating the breach as it is unclear if it…
Accused Murderer Wins Right To Check Source Code of DNA Testing Kit
“A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that a man accused of murder is entitled to review proprietary genetic testing software to challenge evidence presented against him,” reports The Register. Long-time Slashdot reader couchslug shared their report: The maker of the software, Cybergenetics, has insisted in lower court proceedings that the program’s source code is a trade secret. The co-founder of…
When will Betelgeuse explode?
The red supergiant star will explode in a supernova, close enough to shine brightly during the day but far enough away that Earth won’t be in danger. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/betelgeuse-will-explode-someday…
How to prevent crashes between orbiting satellites
Thousands more satellites will soon orbit Earth. We need better rules to prevent space crashes. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/satellites-prevent-space-crashes…
How Reddit’s Co-Founder, Jim Cramer, and Wall Street Reacted to GameStop’s Surge
Friday afternoon CNBC reported that “heightened speculative trading by retail investors” (later referred to as “GameStop mania”) had “continued to unnerve the market.”
The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 620.74 points, or 2%, to 29,982.62, the first time the 30-stock gauge has closed below the 30,000 mark since Dec. 14…. The market also experienced the highest trading volume in years as the…
Our world is losing ice at a record rate
The rate at which ice is disappearing across the planet has been speeding up, with 65% since the 1990s, a survey of global ice loss using European Space Agency satellite data reveals. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/esa-satellites-show-record-rate-ice-loss…