I am hoping to return to my usual news dump feature.
Life update…after 6 months of no rain we have had a couple of days of steady drizzle but that will do little to help the drought situation….we are 30 inches below what is usual…
A visit to my doctor and she tells me I am doing better and change my breathing treatment and more drugs….the good thing is that I have lost 5 pounds and now down to 200.
Local weather–after 156 days of no rain we have had 8 days of no sun and 4 days of light rain and our rain shortfall of 30 inches is now down to 28….yippy skippy. They say cooler weather is coming and not too soon.
Let’s move on from the mundane….
Cleanliness is next to godliness….heard that, right?
The team from the George Washington University Computational Biology Institute was investigating the skin microbiome – that is, the community of microorganisms living on people’s skin – of healthy individuals, with a particular focus on variations across skin areas, such as between the arms and those neglected areas of washing like the navel and behind the ears.
Keith Crandall, Director of the Computational Biology Institute and professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at George Washington University said in a statement that his grandmother had always told him to “scrub behind the ears, between the toes and in the belly button”. He speculated that these areas may harbor different types of bacteria to other areas of the body, due to neglect during washing.
In the study, 129 graduate and undergraduate students collected samples from their calves and forearms, behind their ears, between their toes and in their navels. These same students were taught to sequence the DNA in these skin samples, comparing the oily, neglected areas to the samples taken from dry, cleaner areas.
Sure enough, Crandall’s grandma and Crandall were right; areas that were more regularly cleaned had a much more diverse microbiome, containing a potentially healthier collection of microbes than the neglected areas.
https://www.iflscience.com/it-turns-out-the-grandmother-rule-of-washing-your-body-is-correct-71379
Surely you have exposed to the popular belief that cow farts (burps) is a leading cause of methane pollution…well there is another culprit that seldom gets mentioned….food waste….
More than one-third of the food produced in the US is never eaten. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it generates tons of methane that hastens climate change. That’s why more than 50 local officials signed onto a letter Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to help municipal governments cut food waste in their communities. The letter came on the heels of two recent reports from the EPA on the scope of America’s food waste problem and the damage that results from it, per the AP. The local officials pressed the agency to expand grant funding and technical help for landfill alternatives.
ey also urged the agency to update landfill standards to require better prevention, detection, and reduction of methane emissions, something scientists already have the technology to do but which can be challenging to implement since food waste breaks down and starts generating methane quickly. Tackling food waste is a daunting challenge that the US has taken on before. In 2015, the US Department of Agriculture and the EPA set a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030, but the country has made little progress, said Claudia Fabiano, who works on food waste management for the EPA. “We’ve got a long way to go,” Fabiano said. Researchers say the EPA reports provide sorely needed information.
One report found that 58% of methane emissions from landfills come from food waste, a major issue because methane is responsible for about a quarter of global warming and has significantly more warming potential than carbon dioxide. With the extent of the problem clearly defined, some elected leaders and researchers alike hope to take action. But they say it will take not just investment of resources but also a major mindset shift from the public. Farmers may need to change some practices, manufacturers will need to rethink how they package and market goods, and individuals need to find ways to keep food from going to waste.
Did you see that stat? One third , 33%, of the food produced is never eaten.
Better prevention? Yeah like the GOP in Congress will allow that.
Stop blaming the cows!
The singularity is at hand….
Singularity?
There’s at least one expert who believes that “the singularity”—the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses the control of humans—could be just a few years away. That’s a lot shorter than current predictions regarding the timeline of AI dominance, especially considering that AI dominance is not exactly guaranteed in the first place.
Ben Goertzel, CEO of SingularityNET—who holds a Ph.D. from Temple University and has worked as a leader of Humanity+ and the Artificial General Intelligence Society—told Decrypt that he believes artificial general intelligence (AGI) is three to eight years away. AGI is the term for AI that can truly perform tasks just as well as humans, and it’s a prerequisite for the singularity soon following.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a45780855/when-will-the-singularity-happen/
Skynet is coming!
This is the article that had me interested in the singularity…
How about those ‘new’ space weapons?
And nations are becoming increasingly creative in devising new ways to knock out enemy constellations. As US Space Force chief master sergeant Ron Lerch told the New York Times, the military branch is concerned over the sheer number of different “kinetic kill vehicles” that could soon be roaming around in space, including Russian “nesting doll” satellites that could damage other spacecraft like a violent, orbital jack-in-a-box. Other spacecraft, he said, might be able to cast nets or grab onto targets with grappling hooks.
Then there are China’s uncrewed space planes that could soon learn to communicate with the ground using quantum tech, or AI-powered satellites.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-force-boss-weird-new-weapons-orbit
Speaking of electronics…..some believe that their smart house and their mobile phones are spying on them….well move over so may your auto….
If you’ve ever had the sneaky suspicion that your car knows what you’re saying, you could be right — sort of. The GPS you can’t live without or the EDR (event data recorder) that collects data like speeding can actually harvest data beyond your knowledge (via Popular Mechanics). Technology has advanced to the point where the gadgets sitting in your car could actually cause you to get questioned or even arrested for a crime. Don’t panic though, as this is only the worst-case scenario.
The way it works is that, in recent years, these gadgets have been updated to include technology that stores data like where your car is located or even voice recordings and biometrics taken by your car’s camera and microphone. While this information can be handy, like all data, it could also be used in a non-beneficial way depending on who has access to it. Speaking to Reader’s Digest, digital privacy expert Jean-Paul Schmetz stated, “You need to operate under the assumption that the data your car collects about you will be used in a variety of different ways you cannot control or remove consent from later on. This data is often sold to advertisers but could also be sold to insurers or other third-party businesses that may have interest in it.”
https://www.grunge.com/1442573/how-your-car-spying-on-you-what-it-means/
I saved the best story for my conclusion….bull semen.
Police in Northern Ireland are on the hunt for a “large quantity” of stolen bull semen. Two cryogenic storage tanks holding cattle sperm were stolen from a farm in the village of Clogher, part of County Tyrone, sometime between 3pm on Oct. 21 and 1pm on Oct. 23, Newsweek reports. The tanks themselves may be worth $2,400; local police didn’t put an exact price on the sperm within but said it had “significant value.” The individual tanks have five or six storage compartments which can hold up to 200 or 300 plastic “straws” of bull semen each, the BBC reports, noting the most sought-after bull semen can sell for $600 per straw.
Artificial innsemination “is safer in physical and biosecurity terms than bringing a bull into a herd. But it also allows farmers to develop the genetic quality of their herd … for productivity, temperament or other characteristics,” per the BBC. Farmers use storage tanks to “sustain rare and sometimes irreplaceable genetics,” per the Independent. Peter Gittins, a lecturer in farm management at the University of Leeds, suggests the thieves may have wanted the semen “for personal use on an unregistered herd,” per Newsweek. “Or they may be able to fabricate records” to aid a future sale. Either way, they’ll need to be careful.
The tanks use liquid nitrogen to freeze the semen samples at -320 degrees Fahrenheit in order to preserve them, and “spilling the contents could cause major injuries,” reports Newsweek. That’s why those who use liquid nitrogen for artificial insemination storage must be trained and registered, per the BBC. If the thieves are inexperienced with handling cattle sperm, they also risk depleting the value of the haul by touching the straws. Heat from the hand is enough to kill sperm cells, per Newsweek. Mid Ulster Police said the theft occurred after burglars gained access to an outbuilding. “Our enquiries are ongoing as we work to establish the circumstances surrounding this theft.”
Just a bull squirt of a story.
You are now caught up and can resume your normal life.
Have a great weekend and as always….be well and be safe.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”