Non-IT News Thread
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/messaging-app-telegram-moves-to-protect-identity-of-hong-kong-protesters-530431
Messaging app Telegram moves to protect identity of Hong Kong protesters
Will allow users to cloak their telephone numbers. -
@nadnerB said in Non-IT News Thread:
The proposal is part of a larger initiative to establish a new agency called the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency or HARPA, which would sit inside the Health and Human Services Department.
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HARPA would develop “breakthrough technologies with high specificity and sensitivity for early diagnosis of neuropsychiatric violence,” says a copy of the proposal. “A multi-modality solution, along with real-time data analytics, is needed to achieve such an accurate diagnosis.”The document goes on to list a number of widely used technologies it suggests could be employed to help collect data, including Apple Watches, Fitbits, Amazon Echo and Google Home. The document also mentions “powerful tools” collected by health-care provides like fMRIs, tractography and image analysis.
Also: https://gizmodo.com/the-plan-to-use-fitbit-data-to-stop-mass-shootings-is-o-1837710691?IR=T
smart devices are modalities now?
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Cancer 'biggest middle-age killer in rich nations'
Cancer now causes more deaths among the middle-aged in higher-income countries than cardiovascular disease, a study suggests.
Globally, heart problems and stroke is the leading cause of death at this age. But the researchers say people in rich nations are 2.5 times more likely to die of cancer than cardiovascular disease in their middle years. In poorer nations, the reverse is true - with cardiovascular disease three times more likely to claim the lives. The study, published in the Lancet, is drawn from a global research programme following the lives of thousands of people from across 21 countries. People from the UK are not involved. -
Teenage boy goes blind after existing on Pringles, white bread and French fries
Eating a diet of French fries, Pringles and white bread was enough to make one teenage boy lose his sight, according to a case study published in a medical journal.
Scientists from the University of Bristol examined the case of a young patient whose extremely picky eating led to blindness, and have warned of the dangers of a poor diet. The unidentified patient told doctors he had only eaten fries from the fish and chip shop, Pringles potato chips, white bread, slices of processed ham and sausage since elementary school, and he avoided foods with certain textures. He first visited a doctor at age 14, complaining of tiredness, according to a case report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday. He wasn't taking any medication, had a normal BMI and height, and showed no visible signs of malnutrition. Doctors discovered low vitamin B12 levels and anemia, treating the patient with vitamin B12 injections and offering dietary advice. One year later there were signs of hearing loss and vision symptoms, but doctors did not find the cause. -
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
Cancer 'biggest middle-age killer in rich nations'
Cancer now causes more deaths among the middle-aged in higher-income countries than cardiovascular disease, a study suggests.
Globally, heart problems and stroke is the leading cause of death at this age. But the researchers say people in rich nations are 2.5 times more likely to die of cancer than cardiovascular disease in their middle years. In poorer nations, the reverse is true - with cardiovascular disease three times more likely to claim the lives. The study, published in the Lancet, is drawn from a global research programme following the lives of thousands of people from across 21 countries. People from the UK are not involved.Ya I seen that news yesterday but couldn't find any info about which kinds of cancer were most abundant in their research. Anyone see that?
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Hurricane Dorian: Scale of Bahamas devastation emerges
Rescuers have begun to reach areas of the northern Bahamas devastated by Hurricane Dorian, with aerial images showing a trail of destruction.
PM Hubert Minnis said some areas had been "decimated" and expected the current death toll of seven would rise. The hurricane winds that hit the Abaco Islands equalled the highest ever recorded at landfall, and Grand Bahama also suffered severe damage and floods. Dorian has moved off north but still threatens the eastern US seaboard. Although the hurricane has weakened to a category two storm with maximum sustained winds of 105mph (165km/h), it has grown larger in area. -
US woman held in Philippines after airport staff find baby in her bag
An American woman is in custody in the Philippines after she allegedly tried to fly out of the country with a baby in her hand luggage, local authorities said.
Philippines Immigration Bureau spokesman Melvin Mabulac said they received a report around 6.20 a.m. Wednesday that a 43-year-old woman had been caught with a child in her bag at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. CNN Philippines said the baby was just six days old. The woman had claimed to be the child's aunt, but had not provided any evidence that they were related, CNN Philippines reported. The case has been handed over to the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation's Anti-Human Trafficking Division. -
Vegans and vegetarians may have higher stroke risk
People who eat vegan and vegetarian diets have a lower risk of heart disease and a higher risk of stroke, a major study suggests.
They had 10 fewer cases of heart disease and three more strokes per 1,000 people compared with the meat-eaters. The research, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at 48,000 people for up to 18 years. However, it cannot prove whether the effect is down to their diet or some other aspect of their lifestyle. Diet experts said, whatever people's dietary choice, eating a wide range of foods was best for their health. It analyses data from the EPIC-Oxford study, a major long-term research project looking at diet and health. Half of participants, recruited between 1993 and 2001, were meat-eaters, just over 16,000 vegetarian or vegan, with 7,500 who described themselves as pescatarian (fish-eating). They were asked about their diets, when they joined the study and again in 2010. Medical history, smoking and physical activity were taken into account, Altogether, there were 2,820 cases of coronary heart disease (CHD) and 1,072 cases of stroke - including 300 haemorrhagic strokes, which happen when a weakened blood vessel bursts and bleeds into the brain. -
Cookout planned outside vegan’s house that wants neighbour’s BBQ banned
Thousands of people are planning to attend a community barbecue outside the home of a vegan woman who made headlines for taking her neighbours to court over the smell of cooking meat.
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Man impersonating officer pulls over van full of cops
25-year-old Valiery Portlock is shown. Police say they arrested Portlock for attempting to pull an unmarked van full of detectives over on New York’s Long Island while posing as a police officer.
According to the Nassau County Police department, a Hicksville Man was arrested for criminal impersonation last week on August 16. Detectives say that 25-year-old Valiery Portlock of Gerald Avenue was traveling on Hicksville Road in a black Nissan Sentra when he activated his airhorn and emergency lights built on his car and attempted to pull over a van.Turns out the van was occupied by Nassau County Electronics Squad detectives. The detectives, while stopped in traffic, identified themselves and then approached Porlock’s vehicle. -
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
Man impersonating officer pulls over van full of cops
25-year-old Valiery Portlock is shown. Police say they arrested Portlock for attempting to pull an unmarked van full of detectives over on New York’s Long Island while posing as a police officer.
According to the Nassau County Police department, a Hicksville Man was arrested for criminal impersonation last week on August 16. Detectives say that 25-year-old Valiery Portlock of Gerald Avenue was traveling on Hicksville Road in a black Nissan Sentra when he activated his airhorn and emergency lights built on his car and attempted to pull over a van.Turns out the van was occupied by Nassau County Electronics Squad detectives. The detectives, while stopped in traffic, identified themselves and then approached Porlock’s vehicle.This happened in Texas this week, too.
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Donald Trump's Alabama obsession reveals a very deep flaw
As Hurricane Dorian strengthened over the Atlantic and spun toward the Carolinas on Thursday, the President of the United States took to Twitter with a message for Americans.
"In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama & Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida & to the Gulf," tweeted Donald Trump. "Instead it turned North and went up the coast, where it continues now. In the one model through Florida, the Great State of Alabama would have been hit or grazed. In the path it took, no. Read my FULL FEMA statement. What I said was accurate! All Fake News in order to demean!" -
Hurricane Dorian makes landfall along North Carolina coast as Category 1 storm
Hurricane Dorian has come ashore at Cape Hatteras on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, marking its first U.S. landfall since it slammed into the Bahamas days ago.
Dorian howled over North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Friday, lashing the low-lying barrier islands as a weakened Category 1 hurricane. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association weather station at Cape Lookout, located inside the western eyewall of Dorian, reported sustained hurricane-force winds of 74 mph (119 kmh), the National Hurricane Center reported early Friday. At 5 a.m. EDT, the agency said, Dorian’s center was passing just east of Cape Lookout, the southernmost point on North Carolina’s remote, 200-mile (320-kilometer) long string of barrier islands and spits. Forecasters said large and destructive waves could reach nearly to the ceilings of one-story structures along the narrow strip of land, where many year-round residents were determined to ride out the storm. Ann Warner, who owns Howard’s Pub on Ocracoke Island, said people did what they could to prepare. -
The 'zombie fungus' and the climbing dead
It's just bizarre... and utterly beautiful at the same time.
Those aren't some strange arrangement of antennae on a beetle but the fruiting bodies of a "zombie fungus" that has taken control of the insect. Its conquest complete, the fungus is about to spread its spores to the wind to find new victims to consume.This fascinating picture by Frank Deschandol is a Highly Commended image in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) competition.The overall winners will be announced by London's Natural History Museum (NHM) next month. -
Exclusive: US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017
In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government
Multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN. A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel. -
Dad posts adorable video of toddler 'besties' running toward each other in NYC
https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/social-media-loving-video-toddlers-hugging-65491201 -
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Kenyan schoolgirl takes her own life after 'period shaming'
A schoolgirl in Kenya has taken her own life after allegedly being shamed in class for having her period and staining her uniform.
The 14-year-old's mother said her daughter hanged herself after being humiliated by a teacher, Kenyan media reported. Police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of about 200 parents protesting outside the school, reports said. Kenya passed a law in 2017 to provide free sanitary towels for schoolgirls. However, a parliamentary committee is currently investigating why the programme is yet to be rolled out across all schools. -
Young man caught posing as senior citizen to fly to US
It was an impressive disguise: the snow-white beard, the oversized glasses, the wheelchair.
But it was when the seemingly frail and elderly passenger reached security at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport -- India's busiest airport -- that he caught the attention of staff.
At around 10.45 p.m. on the evening of September 8, the individual was hoping to get on an overnight flight to New York. "He posed as if he was very old and incapacitated," Shrikant Kishore, a senior official with the Central Industrial Security Force, told CNN. Dressed in a white tunic and trousers, with a white turban and black slippers, the passenger proved reluctant to be frisked.
"Our screener asked the person in the wheelchair to stand. He said that he cannot stand. Our screener asked if he would stand with support. He reluctantly stood up." -
After vaping-related illness, teen now has lungs like 'a 70-year-old's'
Adam Hergenreder's vaping habit almost killed him.
Late last month, the 18-year-old student athlete in Gurnee, Illinois, was hospitalized after using e-cigarettes for more than a year and a half. Now his lungs are similar to those of a 70-year-old adult, doctors told him. "It was scary to think about that -- that little device did that to my lungs," Adam said, remembering the news from his doctors about his lung health. Adam is among the hundreds of e-cigarette users in the United States who have been sickened with mysterious vaping-related lung illnesses, many of them young people. Investigators haven't yet identified the cause of the illnesses.
