Friday, August 28, 2020

Don’t argue with anti-maskers

That’s the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to retail and service employees. The health agency issued new guidance to limit workplace violence that could be aimed at workers when enforcing their companies’ Covid-19 safety procedures. The procedures that retail and service businesses have been advised to implement under CDC guidelines include enforcing mask wearing, social distancing and limiting the number of customers allowed in a business at one time. Although no federal law currently exists enforcing mask wearing, more than 30 states mandate that people must wear masks or face coverings in public. ( Center For Disease Control and Provention)

Police officer’s wife died after getting trapped in the backseat of his cruiser for hours in the Florida heat

According to the , it happened outside of the couples home when she got in the back seat, looking for something. She then got trapped inside for four hours without any way of contacting anyone. The partition between the back seat and the front likely stopped her from being able to honk the horn, and she didn’t have her cell phone with her to call for help. The heat index around that time climbed from 91 degrees at 1 p.m. to 92 degrees at 3 p.m. The temperature held steady through 5 p.m. When the husband got home after covering the midnight shift, he fell asleep, but may have left his unit unlocked. The type of cruiser she was trapped in is designed to automatically lock once the doors are closed. The Miami-Dade Police Department is investigating the case. (Miami Herald)

Napster sold for a song to UK virtual events company

Napster, the file-sharing business that devastated the music industry at the turn of the century, has been sold to UK technology company MelodyVR in a $70 million deal. The acquisition from US company RealNetworks is the latest attempt to transform the famous tech boom brand, which was cofounded in 1999 by digital pioneer Sean Parker, who went on to be an early Facebook investor. Having found fame as a website that allowed millions of people to share music illegally over the internet, Napster was shut down in 2001 before being resurrected as a streaming platform. The purchase price comprises $15 million in cash, $11 million in MelodyVR shares and $44 million in payment obligations to various music publishers and record labels. (Arstechnica)

Mystery radio signal in deep space shows activity exactly when scientists expected

Back in June, astronomers discovered Fast Radio Burst 121102 had a 157-day repeating schedule. Right on schedule, scientists have detected activity from the mysterious radio signal. The findings suggest “that this repeater [FRB 121102] is likely in another active phase,” the researchers wrote. FRB 121102, which has been observed since 2016 by the Lovell Telescope in the U.K., was discovered to have a 157-day repeating pattern. It shows activity for approximately 90 days and then goes silent for 67 days. However, the new findings slightly tweak that time frame, suggesting FRB 121102 has an on-off time frame of approximately 156.1 days. The researchers, from the National Astronomy Observatory of China, detected “at least 12 bursts” from FRB 121102 on August 17th. They expect the active part of the signal to end between August 31st and September 9th. FRB 121102 is the second fast radio burst known to have a repeating schedule after FRB 180916.J0158+65 was found to have a 16-day repeating pattern in February. (Fox News)

The body of a missing Fort Hood soldier is believed to have been found in Texas

An initial examination of the body suggests it is that of 23-year-old Army Sgt. Elder Fernandes, who was reported missing August 19th after last being seen August 17th. Police in Temple, Texas, received a call earlier this week saying a male was seen near railroad tracks. When officers arrived they found a dead body that was believed to be that of the soldier. Authorities said foul play was not immediately suspected but an investigation was continuing. There have been several tragedies at / involving Fort Hood this year. (KPRC)

British researchers have identified 50 new planets using artificial intelligence, marking a technological breakthrough in astronomy

Astronomers and computer scientists from the University of Warwick built a machine learning algorithm to dig through old NASA data containing thousands of potential planet candidates. The research team trained the algorithm by having it go through data collected by NASA’s now-retired Kepler Space Telescope, which spent nine years in deep space on a world-hunting mission. Once the algorithm learned to accurately separate real planets from false positives, it was used to analyze old data sets that had not yet been confirmed, which is where it found the 50 exoplanets. These 50 exoplanets, which orbit around other stars, range in size from as large as Neptune to smaller than Earth, the university said in a news release. Some of their orbits are as long as 200 days, and some as short as a single day. And now that astronomers know the planets are real, they can prioritize them for further observation. (Oxford Academic)

Property damaged, 12 ducks killed following “misfire” at Fort Chaffee

During National Guard live-fire training last weekend at Fort Chaffee, a misfire from a large gun-howitzer caused an artillery shell to leave the training area. The shell landed on property off of Highway 22 in Franklin County creating a crater 4 feet wide and 1 and a half feet deep, according to Arkansas National Guard Spokesperson. Approximately 12 ducks were killed in the mishap. Shrapnel damaged tin on a barn and there was damage to windows of a home. Local law enforcement, Fort Chaffee Range Control officers, and Fort Chaffee Operations Managers are among those investigating the incident. The spokesperson said their investigation is focusing on figuring out if it was a malfunction or operator error. No one was injured due to the mishap. (KFSM)

Alaska’s attorney general sent hundreds of ‘uncomfortable’ texts to a female colleague

Alaska’s Attorney General has resigned just hours after it emerged publicly that he had sent hundreds of text messages to a young female employee who he had asked to come to his home more than a dozen times. The 61-year-old married Attorney General sent his resignation letter to Alaskan Governor earlier this week after it was revealed he had sent a junior state employee 558 text messages back in March. He had been on an unexplained leave of absence since the beginning of the month while an investigation was carried out. The records show Clarkson sent her 558 texts over a 27-day period and that he asked her to come to his home on 18 different occasions. His messages often included a kiss emoji and comments about her beauty. He texted until the woman told him in April that he needed to respect workplace boundaries and that she doesn’t take late-night calls on her personal phone. Soon after news of the texts emerged, Clarkson resigned and issued a statement in which he apologized to the female staffer for placing her in an ‘uncomfortable environment’ in the workplace. (Anchorage Daily News)

Neurologists are to start treating Alzheimer’s patients by sending electrical currents deep into their brain

A team at Imperial College London and the UK Dementia Research Institute have been given a $1.5million (£1.14million) grant by US philanthropists to trial the technology. Researchers have selected 24 patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s to undergo the therapy, which will involve two weeks of daily hour-long sessions. After dozens of failed trials for dementia drugs, experts have high hopes for this new method. The technology, called temporal interference brain stimulation, involves applying electrodes to the scalp. The electrodes then send two harmless high-frequency beams into the brain. These beams are of slightly different frequencies, 2,000 Hz and 2,005 Hz, and when they cross they create a third current, a low-frequency wave of 5 Hz. And it is this new wave which researchers hope will make all the difference. It will be triggered in the hippocampus, an area deep in the brain responsible for forming new memories. This will hopefully revive the area’s mitochondria, the energy source in every cell, which become damaged by Alzheimer’s. The two original beams are at too high a frequency to interfere with the healthy brain tissue through which they pass. But the new wave will have the same frequency at which brain cells fire – allowing it to spark diseased neurones back into action. Tests on healthy volunteers shows the technique increases blood flow to the brain and results in improved results in facial-recognition tests. But the new trial, which will start in January, will be the first time patients with Alzheimer’s undergo the treatment. (Daily Mail)

Jeanette Epps set to become first Black female astronaut on ISS in 2021

NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps will make history next year when she becomes the first Black female astronaut to be a crew member of the International Space Station, the space agency announced recently. She has a doctorate in aerospace engineering and worked for the CIA as a technical intelligence officer for seven years prior to joining the astronaut corps in 2009, has been assigned to NASA Boeing Starliner-1. “Epps will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition planned for a launch in 2021 to the orbiting space laboratory,” NASA said in a release. “The flight will follow NASA certification after a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.” (NASA)

CDC No Longer Recommends Testing for Suspected Coronavirus Exposure

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its coronavirus testing guidelines to remove the recommendation that anyone who has had close contact with an infected person get tested, even if they don’t present symptoms. Earlier this week, the CDC website was updated to read: “If you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one.” A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said, “The updated guidance does not undermine contact tracing or any other types of surveillance testing.” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

Man shot by U.S. Marshals was mistaken as the wanted murder suspect

We have learned that the man shot by U.S. Marshals earlier this week was not the man they were looking for. U.S. Marshals spotted the man they shot in a car connected to a fugitive murder suspect. The man tried to get away and rammed vehicles. Police fired their guns at the driver, he was shot, and arrested after it turned out that the man was in a stolen vehicle. The man was taken to the hospital in non-critical condition. The fugitive they were after originally has yet to be caught. (Fox 13)

Average 5G download speeds in the US are 50.9Mbps

It’s a nice step up from average 4G speeds, but far behind several countries where 5G speeds are in the 200Mbps to 400Mbps range. These statistics were reported by OpenSignal, which presented average 5G speeds in 12 countries based on user-initiated speed tests conducted between May 16 and August 14. The US came in last of the 12 countries in 5G speeds, with 10 of the 11 other countries posting 5G speeds that at least doubled those of the US. The US’ average 5G speed is 1.8 times higher than the country’s average 4G download speed of 28.9Mbps. User tests in neighboring Canada produced a 4G average of 59.4Mbps and a 5G average of 178.1Mbps. Taiwan and Australia both produced 5G averages above 200Mbps, while South Korea and Saudi Arabia produced the highest 5G speeds at 312.7Mbps and 414.2Mbps, respectively. In the US, average download speeds for users who accessed 5G at least some of the time was 33.4Mbps—that figure includes both their 4G and 5G experiences. This was the second lowest of the 12 countries surveyed by OpenSignal, with the highest speeds coming in Saudi Arabia (144.5Mbps) and Canada (90.4Mbps). The US fared better in 5G availability, the percentage of time in which users are connected to 5G; the US figure in that statistic is 19.3 percent, fifth best with Saudi Arabia placing first at 34.4 percent and the UK placing last at 4.5 percent. (OpenSignal)

Friday Fires Off With:

• Bow Tie Day
• Cherry Turnovers Day
• Crackers Over The Keyboard Day
• Power Rangers Day
• Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day
• Radio Commercials Day
• Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day
• Red Wine Day
• Thoughtful Day
• Weed Out Hate Day
• World Daffodil Day