Month: January 2018

Winfrey Accepts Cecil B. DeMille Award at Golden Globes

By Uponent | | No Comments | Entertainment

Talk-show host, actress, producer and humanitarian Oprah Winfrey earned multiple standing ovations at Sunday’s Golden Globes as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award with a moving speech referencing civil rights and Me Too.

Winfrey became the first black woman to be given the award, which was presented in Beverly Hills, California. She spoke about the feelings she had as a young girl watching Sidney Poitier win the best-actor Oscar in 1964 and likened the pride she felt watching Poitier, the first black man to win the best-actor Oscar, to the impact she hoped she could have on young women.

“His tie was white and of course his skin was black and I had never seen a black man being celebrated like that,” Winfrey said.

As her longtime partner Stedman Graham watched from the audience, she told the story of an Alabama woman named Recy Taylor, who died at the age of 97 on Dec. 28, 2017, and her fight for justice after her rape by six white men in 1944.

She expressed gratitude for Taylor and all the women who were silenced when they spoke out about powerful men, the women who worked in factories, farms, as domestic workers and in academia, whose names will never be known.

“For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men,” Winfrey said.

“But their time is up. Their time is up. Their time is up,” she said to a standing ovation.

Winfrey said while there was no justice for Taylor, whose attackers were never prosecuted, her truth lived on in the work of civil rights icon Rosa Parks, an ACLU investigator on Taylor’s case.

“It was somewhere in Rosa Parks’ heart almost 11 years later when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in Montgomery,” Winfrey said. “And it’s here with every woman who chooses to say, ‘Me too’ and every man, every man who chooses to listen.”

Winfrey, who got her start in television journalism, also thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gives out the Golden Globes.

“We all know that the press is under siege these days, but we also know that it is the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice, to tyrants and victims and secrets and lies,” Winfrey said.

She ended on a hopeful note saying “a new day was on the horizon” because of people, some of whom were in the Golden Globes audience, who will “take us to the time when nobody ever has to say ‘me too’ again.”

On Twitter the celebrity reaction was swift and in full support:

“Oprah cometh,” tweeted actress Amber Tamblyn, while musician Pharrell Williams called her the greatest of all time.

“Let me tell you this room is still vibrating like electricity from that speech,” Ava DuVernay tweeted.
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New Tech Gadgets Are Following the Sound of Your Voice

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

What’s the hottest thing in the world of technology these days? Your voice.

Some of the most popular gadgets over the holiday season were smart speakers with digital assistants from Amazon and Google . Apple is coming out with its own speaker this year; Microsoft and Samsung have partnered on another.

As the annual Consumer Electronics Show kicks off in Las Vegas this week, manufacturers are expected to unveil even more voice-controlled devices – speakers and beyond – as Amazon and Google make their digital assistants available on a wider array of products. If these prove popular, you’ll soon be able to order around much more of your house, including kitchen appliances, washing machines and other devices.

CES is expected to draw more than 170,000 people, as some 4,000 exhibitors showcase their wares over the equivalent of nearly 50 football fields, or more than 11 New York city blocks. The show formally opens Tuesday, with media previews starting Sunday.

While major tech companies such as Apple and Google typically don’t make big announcements at CES, their technologies will be powering products and services from startups and other small companies. Expect more gadgets using Google’s Android operating software and Google’s digital assistant, for instance, and products that work with Apple’s HomeKit, a smart-home system getting a boost with the coming launch of Apple’s HomePod smart speaker.

Here’s what else to expect at CES:

Artificial Intelligence

Computers that learn your preferences and anticipate your needs are no longer the stuff of science fiction. Consumers are seeing practical applications in voice-assisted speakers such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home. These systems will get more useful as manufacturers design new ways to control their products with voice commands.

You might also see hints of where AI is heading. Steve Koenig, senior director of market research at CES organizer Consumer Technology Association, says that as more people use these AI systems, companies have more data to better train the machines.

Auto makers will also demonstrate self-driving vehicles propelled by AI. CES is increasing the space for self-driving technologies by more than a third this year. Startups are expected to unveil earphones that promise real-time translations of conversations in different languages, much as Google’s Pixel Buds now do, but only for Google’s Pixel phones. There are also conference sessions devoted to high-tech retailing, including the importance of collecting and analyzing data on customers.

Smart Everything

Cars, lights, washing machines and other everyday items are getting internet connections. That could mean checking what’s left in your fridge from the grocery store, for instance. Expect more appliances and tasks for them to do online.

As more devices get connected, there’s greater concern for security. We’ll likely see more products and services designed to protect these smart-home devices from hacking.

Beyond that, companies will showcase the potential of smartening up entire cities so that maintenance crews can remotely detect roads needing repairs, and motorists can view and reserve parking spaces ahead of time. Better yet, how about traffic lights that aren’t set with timers, but reflect actual traffic and pedestrian flows?

For the first time, CES has an area devoted to smart cities, with more than 40 companies set to exhibit. The smart-cities concept has been making the rounds at several tech shows, but what remains unanswered is when it will actually begin happening – and who will pay for it.

Consumer Gadgets

CES is typically when Samsung, LG and other manufacturers announce their TV lineups for the year. In a bid to get consumers to upgrade sooner, higher-end models will come with fancy technologies going by such names as “4K,” ”HDR” and “OLED.” Many sets will come with voice controls. They will sit alongside basic sets that work just fine for regular viewing.

Don’t expect new iPhones or flagship Galaxy models. Apple and Samsung typically announce those at their own events. But CES is the place for less-known and lower-cost Android phones, along with tablets, laptops and other personal computers, not to mention storage drives and other accessories.

There will also be virtual-reality and augmented-reality technologies, some aimed at sports fans who want to feel they’re more part of the game.

And while a few companies like Apple and Fitbit are currently dominant in wearable devices, many startups are eager to challenge them with new approaches for tracking fitness and medical issues.

There should also be no shortage of flying drones overhead and scurrying robots underfoot. There will even be a robot that folds your laundry – though at a snail’s pace of one shirt every two minutes.

Behind the Scenes

Although CES is about consumer electronics, consumers will never see many of the technologies on display. Network-equipment makers, for instance, might use the show to display technologies for next-generation 5G wireless networks, which promise to be much faster than the existing 4G LTE. Phones that can take advantage of 5G won’t be around for a few more years.

Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Technology Association, said that given the changing nature of technology, about a third of CES is now about back-end business deals rather than direct-to-consumer products.

“Twenty years ago, people bought products sold at retail stores in very defined categories,” he said. “Now every company and business defines itself as a tech company.”

 
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Wolf-Dogs Help Veterans Cope With PTSD

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

The unpredictable and aggressive nature of wolf-dog hybrids makes them difficult to keep as household pets. But the founders of the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center in California say the dual nature of these animals makes them ideal therapists for combat veterans who suffer from PTSD. VOA’s Genia Dulot has more on the “Wolves and Warriors” program.
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500 Flee Surprise Eruption of Remote Papua New Guinea Volcano

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

A remote island volcano in Papua New Guinea has begun spewing ash into the air, forcing the evacuation of more than 500 residents, media and nonprofit groups said.

Kadovar Island, a 365-meter (1,197 feet) tall volcano on the north coast of PNG, was thought to be dormant until it began erupting Jan. 5.

“It’s just a continuous emission of volcanic ash at the moment,” Cheyne O’Brien, a forecaster at the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, told Reuters by telephone Sunday.

The ash clouds have been thrown up steadily to a height of 2,133 meters (7,000 feet), forming a plume that is traveling west-northwest, he added.

The plume does not yet pose a hazard to aviation, but a change in wind direction could hit operations at PNG’s Wewak airport, O’Brien said.

All the residents of the island have been evacuated with no loss of life, U.S.-based charity Samaritan Aviation, which operates seaplanes to remote areas of PNG, said on Facebook.

The eruption may become explosive, bringing a risk of tsunamis and landslides, domestic online media Loop PNG quoted the Rabaul Volcanological Observatory as saying.

There are no confirmed records of a previous eruption of Kadovar, said Chris Firth, a volcanologist at Macquarie University, but scientists speculate it could have been one of two “burning islands” mentioned in the journals of a 17th-century English pirate and maritime adventurer, William Dampier.

Dampier may have recorded the last eruption of Kadovar during a voyage in search of “Terra Australis,” the southern continent once thought to be mythical, Firth said.

Volcanologists are interested to observe its behavior now, Firth added. 

“It’s hard to predict what might happen, as there’s nothing to compare it to,” he said.
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New Research Shows How Alcohol Damages Stem Cells

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

The World Health Organization classifies alcohol as a “group 1 carcinogen.” That means there is convincing evidence it can cause cancer in humans. But new research shows how alcohol can damage the body on a genetic level. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Chemical Sniffer Machine Detects Bombs and Illegal Drugs

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Dogs are often used in airports to sniff out explosives or illegal drugs. But a high-tech machine has been developed that can “sniff” the air, so baggage handlers and bomb experts can check luggage and containers without touching them. VOA’s Deborah Block has more.
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Eritrea Closes Hundreds of Businesses for Bypassing Banks 

By Uponbiz | | No Comments | Business

Eritrea has temporarily shut down nearly 450 private businesses, the latest in a series of moves that has sent shockwaves through the economy of the Red Sea nation.

The closures were a response to companies hoarding cash and “failing to do business through checks and other banking systems,” according to a Dec. 29 editorial published by Eritrea’s Ministry of Information on the state-run website Shabait.com.

Most of the affected businesses operate in the hospitality sector, according to the announcement, and they will remain closed for up to eight months, depending on the severity of the violations.

About 58,000 private businesses operate across the country, according to the government; less than 1 percent was affected by the recent closures.

Replacing the currency

The government has taken other steps in recent years to reassert control over the economy.

In 2015, Eritrea mandated that citizens exchange all notes of the currency, the nakfa, for new notes. The government also imposed financial restrictions, including limits on the amount of cash that could be withdrawn from bank accounts or kept in private hands, according to multiple reports.

Business owners complained about the restrictions, and reports from inside the country indicate the rules have altered Eritrea’s black market exchange rate, which affects the price of many goods.

State control

Tesfa Mehari, a professor of economics in England, said the Eritrean government wants a state-owned economy. That’s a trap many other countries have fallen into that generally leads to economic failure, Mehari said.

“The government cannot develop the economy. Only the people can do that,” Mehari told VOA’s Tigrigna service. “The government can only be a facilitator. There hasn’t been a country in the world that developed because of government control.”

He also said that the closures harm people’s trust in the government and in banking institutions. 

“At the end of the day, if the people of Eritrea want to develop the economy of the country, they can only work based on trust, especially with banks. What you have with banks is a matter of oath,” Mehari said.

Compounding this mistrust, he added, is that the government’s actions aren’t backed by a specific law or decree that is publicly available for all to read.

In a statement, the government also acknowledged shortcomings in modernizing its banking sector with up-to-date technology and relevant expertise, another potential impediment to confidence in the system.

In contrast, Ibrahim Ibrahim, an Eritrean-born accountant who supports the government, said the actions are needed to fight inflation and stabilize the currency.

“I don’t think the Eritrean government is trying to control the economy, and I don’t think that’s the current environment,” said Ibrahim, who is based in Washington, D.C. “However, there might be a situation where the government is taking measures to adjust things that are not normal and turn it into normalcy as per usual.”

He said any government has the right to regulate its currency and the businesses operating within its borders.

“When these businesses are given permission to work, that means they’re entering a contract,” he said. “At the core of entering into such agreements is that the businesses work within the legalities and the laws in place. If these businesses are not working according to the law, the government is going to take appropriate measures.”
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Iran’s Working Class on Front Lines of Protests

By Uponbiz | | No Comments | Business

The Iranian town of Doroud should be a prosperous place — nestled in a valley at the junction of two rivers in the Zagros Mountains, it’s in an area rich in metals to be mined and stone to be quarried. Last year, a military factory on the outskirts of town unveiled production of an advanced model of tanks.

Yet local officials have been pleading for months for the government to rescue its stagnant economy. Unemployment is around 30 percent, far above the official national rate of more than 12 percent. Young people graduate and find no work. The local steel and cement factories stopped production long ago, and their workers haven’t been paid for months. The military factory’s employees are mainly outsiders who live on its grounds, separate from the local economy.

“Unemployment is on an upward path,” Majid Kiyanpour, the local parliament representative for the town of 170,000, told Iranian media in August. “Unfortunately, the state is not paying attention.”

​It’s the economy

That’s a major reason Doroud has been a front line in the protests that have flared across Iran. Several thousand residents have been shown in online videos marching down Doroud’s main street, shouting, “Death to the dictator!” At night, young men set fires outside the gates of the mayor’s office and hurl stones at banks.

Anger and frustration over the economy have been the main fuel for the eruption of protests that began Dec. 28. 

President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, had promised that lifting most international sanctions under Iran’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal with the West would revive Iran’s long-suffering economy. But while the end of sanctions did open up a new influx of cash from increased oil exports, little has trickled down to the wider population. At the same time, Rouhani has enforced austerity policies that hit households hard.

Demonstrations have broken out mainly in dozens of smaller cities and towns like Doroud, where unemployment has been most painful and where many in the working class feel ignored.

​Fury at ruling class

The working classes have long been a base of support for Iran’s hard-liners. But protesters have turned their fury against the ruling clerics and the elite Revolutionary Guard, accusing them of monopolizing the economy and soaking up the country’s wealth. 

Many protests have seen a startlingly overt rejection of Iran’s system of government by Islamic clerics.

“They make a man into god and a nation into beggars!” goes the cry heard in videos of several marches. “Clerics with capital, give us our money back!”

Food prices jump

The initial spark for the protests was a sudden jump in food prices. It is believed that hard-line opponents of Rouhani instigated the first demonstrations in the conservative city of Mashhad in eastern Iran, trying to direct public anger at the president. But as protests spread from town to town, the backlash turned against the entire ruling class.

Further stoking the anger was the budget for the coming year that Rouhani unveiled in mid-December, calling for significant cuts in cash payouts established by Rouhani’s predecessor as a form of direct welfare. Since he came to office in 2013, Rouhani has been paring them back. The budget also envisaged a new jump in fuel prices.

But amid the cutbacks, the budget revealed large increases in funding for religious foundations that are a key part of the clerical state-above-the-state, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from the public coffers. 

After the lifting of most sanctions in early 2016, the economy saw a major boost — 13.4 percent growth in the GDP in 2016, compared to a 1.3 percent contraction the year before, according to the World Bank. But almost all that growth was in the oil sector.

Growth outside the oil sector was at 3.3 percent. Major foreign investment has failed to materialize, in part because of continued U.S. sanctions hampering access to international banking and the fear other sanctions could eventually return.

Iran’s official unemployment rate is at 12.4 percent, and unemployment among the young, those 19 to 29, has reached 28.8 percent, according to the government-run Statistical Center of Iran.

The provinces face more economic hardship, but the pain has been felt in the capital, Tehran, and other major cities as well. But there it’s been more cushioned within a large middle class. Many can ignore those picking through trash for food. However, in December 2016, Iranians expressed shock over a series of photographs in a local newspaper showing homeless drug addicts sleeping in open graves in Shahriar, on Tehran’s western outskirts.
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‘Coach’ Co-star Jerry Van Dyke Dies at 86

By Uponent | | No Comments | Entertainment

Jerry Van Dyke, the younger brother of actor Dick Van Dyke who struggled for decades to achieve his own stardom before clicking as the dimwitted sidekick in television’s Coach, has died at age 86, his manager said.

John Castonia said Van Dyke died Friday at his ranch in Hot Spring County, Arkansas. His wife, Shirley Ann Jones, was by his side. No cause was immediately known.

Van Dyke had an affable, goofy appeal, but he spent much of his career toiling in failed sitcoms and in the shadow of his older brother, even playing the star’s brother in The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Until Coach came along in 1989, Van Dyke was best known to critics as the guy who had starred in one of television’s more improbable sitcoms, 1965’s My Mother the Car. Its premise: A small-town lawyer talks to his deceased mother (voiced by actress Ann Sothern), who speaks from the radio of an antique automobile.

Other bombs included 1967’s Accidental Family, in which he was a nightclub comedian; 1970’s The Headmaster, in which he was a gym teacher; and 1963’s Picture This, a game show that lasted only three months. He also joined The Judy Garland Show in 1963, to provide comic relief, but was fired at the end of the season.

‘Awful stuff’

“The show’s writers wrote awful, awful, awful stuff,” he recalled in a 1994 interview with The Associated Press, “and I was forced to do it. For instance, I had to come out and say to Judy Garland, ‘What’s a nice little old lady like you doing on television?’ ” He added: “And that was just the first week!”

In Coach, he finally made it, playing assistant football coach Luther Van Dam, comic foil to Craig T. Nelson’s coach Hayden Fox. The show aired from 1989 to 1997, and Van Dyke was nominated four times for an Emmy.

“I never knew what success was like, or having a hit series, or even doing something GOOD,” Van Dyke told the AP. “Finally I got a job that I enjoy doing, that’s not hard to do — and I get paid a lot of money.”

Nelson, his co-star on the show, paid homage to his former onscreen partner Saturday: “I am incredibly sad to hear of Jerry’s passing. He was such a brilliant comedian and we had a great time working together on Coach. It is just devastating news.”

Over the years, Van Dyke made guest appearances on numerous programs, among them The Mary Tyler Moore Show, whose star had played his sister-in-law on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

He also appeared on The Andy Griffith Show and Perry Mason and in such films as The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Palm Springs Weekend, Angel in My Pocket and McLintock! 

 

His decision to take the My Mother the Car role wasn’t the only unfortunate career move he made in the mid-1960s. He also passed on a chance to play the title role on Gilligan’s Island and to replace the departing Don Knotts as the deputy on The Andy Griffith Show.

My Mother the Car lasted one season. (A New York Times critic cracked, “Last night’s premiere made a strong case for not fastening your seat belts.”) But Gilligan’s Island turned its star, Bob Denver, into a television icon and is still airing endlessly in reruns. Van Dyke said in 1990 that his brother told him My Mother the Car sounded good. (At the time, a show about a talking horse, Mister Ed, and other fantasy sitcoms were doing well.) 

“I never asked him for advice after that,” Jerry Van Dyke said.

Newhart role

He also rued the loss of a role in 1982 when he was up for a supporting gig in a series to star Bob Newhart, which would run for eight celebrated seasons. But Tom Poston got his role as George the handyman on Newhart. In recent years, Van Dyke made recurring appearances on The Middle and Yes, Dear.

He was born in Danville, Illinois, in 1931, six years after his brother. He said he knew from childhood that he wanted to be a comedian, and grew up listening to the radio shows of Bob Hope, Red Skelton and others. By age 8 he had earned a reputation as class clown.

He had his first brush with acting in a guest role on The Dick Van Dyke Show as Rob Petrie’s banjo-playing brother. “I came away thinking, ‘TV is a piece of cake; I want more of this,’ ” he told the AP.

Van Dyke entered Eastern Illinois University, but his education was interrupted by service in the Air Force during the Korean War. He spent much of that time entertaining colleagues at military shows with jokes and banjo playing.

When he got out of the service, he took that act on the road, with little success. Eventually he followed his brother to Hollywood.

Van Dyke is survived by his wife, two children from his previous marriage to Carol Johnson — Jerri and Ronald — and his brother. 
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US Flu Season Proves Unusually Severe So Far

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

Health experts say the influenza season in the United States is proving to be more severe than usual, with about twice the number of people reporting flu-like illness to their doctors compared with the same time last year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that in the week ending December 23, 36 states reported widespread flu. The agency said that nearly 2,500 people have been hospitalized for flu-related symptoms and that 13 children have died of the virus in the current season, which started in October.

The CDC said that across the nation, about 5 percent of patients saw their doctors for flu-like symptoms in the week ending December 23, compared with 2.2 percent of patients doing so during the same week in 2016.

Hospitals in California are particularly overwhelmed, with some Southern California pharmacies running out of flu medication. Health officials told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that 27 people younger than 65 had died of the flu in California since October. Only three people died of the flu in the same time period a year ago.

Medical experts say this year’s strain of influenza may just be peaking early in the season. By February last year, flu deaths had gone from the three reported in December to 68.

Experts say it is also possible that this year’s dominant strain, H3N2, is more resistant to treatment than some others. Health officials say more people may be getting ill because the vaccine is less effective against H3N2.

Los Angeles County’s interim health officer, Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, told the Times that this strain of flu causes more hospitalizations and more deaths than other strains that respond better to treatment. He said influenza is especially dangerous for the elderly, who are at greater risk of developing pneumonia or other complications along with the flu — conditions that could be fatal when combined.

Gunzenhauser said vaccination against influenza lowers one’s chances of catching the flu or being a carrier. Also, if the flu does later strike someone who has been vaccinated, his illness is likely to be less severe.

The stakes are low, Gunzenhauser said, noting that the worst side effect from the shot is likely to be “a sore arm.”
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Retired US Astronaut Young Dies at 87

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

Veteran U.S. astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and even smuggled a corned beef sandwich into orbit during one of his six missions in space, has died at age 87, NASA said Saturday.

Young, a former Navy test pilot, in 1972 became the ninth of 12 people ever to set foot on the moon.

“We’re saddened by the loss of astronaut John Young,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on Twitter.

The time and cause of Young’s death were not immediately clear.

Young became one of the most accomplished astronauts in the history of the U.S. space program. He flew into space twice during NASA’s Gemini program in the mid-1960s, twice on the Apollo lunar missions and twice on space shuttles in the 1980s.

He retired in 2004 after 42 years with the U.S. space agency.

​Moon mission

The Apollo 16 mission in April 1972, his fourth space flight, took Young to the lunar surface.

As mission commander, he and crewmate Charles Duke explored the moon’s Descartes Highlands region, gathering 90 kilograms (200 pounds) of rock and soil samples and driving more than 26 kilometers (16 miles) in the lunar rover to sites such as Spook Crater.

Recalling his lunar exploits, Young told the Houston Chronicle in 2004: “One-sixth gravity on the surface of the moon is just delightful. It’s not like being in zero gravity, you know. You can drop a pencil in zero gravity and look for it for three days. In one-sixth gravity, you just look down and there it is.”

Young’s first time in space came in 1965 with the Gemini 3 mission that took him and astronaut Gus Grissom into Earth orbit in the first two-man U.S. space jaunt. It was on this mission that Young pulled his sandwich stunt, which did not make NASA brass happy but certainly pleased Grissom, the recipient of the snack.

Astronaut Wally Schirra, who was not flying on the mission, bought the corned beef sandwich on rye bread from a delicatessen in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and asked Young to give it to Grissom in space. During the flight, as they discussed the food provided for the mission, Young handed Grissom the sandwich.

NASA later rebuked Young for the antics, which generated criticism from lawmakers and the media, but his career did not suffer.

Rehearsal for moon landing

His May 1969 Apollo 10 mission served as a rehearsal for the historic Apollo 11 mission two months later in which Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon.

Young and his crew undertook each aspect of that subsequent mission except for an actual moon landing.

Young’s fifth space mission was as commander of the inaugural flight of NASA’s first space shuttle, Columbia, in 1981. In 1983, he became the first person to fly six space missions when he commanded Columbia on the first Spacelab trek, with the crew performing more than 70 scientific experiments.

He never went to space again. Young had been due to command a 1986 flight that was canceled after the explosion of the shuttle Challenger earlier that year. He ended up as the only person to fly on space shuttle, Apollo and Gemini missions.

Young was born September 24, 1930, in San Francisco and grew up in Orlando, Florida. After receiving a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952, he entered the Navy and graduated from its test pilot school. NASA picked him in 1962 for its astronaut program.
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Virtual Reality Helping Australians Protect from Catastrophic Bushfires

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

Emergency authorities in Australia have released a virtual reality program recreating potentially catastrophic bushfire scenarios.  The project aims to encourage residents in the state of Victoria to prepare for extreme danger.  

“This emergency warning is being issued for Hare Creek.  There is a bushfire at Hare Creek that is out of control.  The bushfire is traveling in a north-westerly direction towards Upper Hare Creek,” says the program’s warning.

The virtual reality programs have three different scenarios.  They show how residents who leave it too late to respond to an advancing bushfire can face disastrous consequences.  

Officials say the technology allows Australians to get a taste of the type of hostile conditions they might face and helps them make better decisions.  The simulation urges homeowners to decide early whether to leave, seek shelter, or stay and defend their property.

South-eastern Australia, one of the world’s most fire-prone regions, has been preparing for a scorching weekend with temperatures forecast as high as 45 degrees Celsius.

Victoria state Emergency Management Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, says the bushfire risk in some areas will be extreme.

“Obviously it is about heat, it is about fire.  We are going to see a fire today that is going to be hot, dry and windy, and with a wind change late in the day that if we had fires running in the afternoon the wind change will change the direction of the fires and traditionally that is where we lose most of our property after the wind change.  So it is one of those days that has got everything in it.  Look after yourself, your neighbors, your family, your friends,”  Lapsley said.  

Australia’s most deadly bushfire killed 173 people in Victoria in 2009.  However, Australia’s deadliest natural hazard is extreme heat.  More than twice as many victims lost their lives in the heatwave that preceded the so-called ‘Black Saturday’ blazes.  It is the very young, the infirm, and those over the age of 75 who are most risk from searing temperatures. Heat-related illness, which can occur when body temperature exceeds 37.8°Celsius, includes dehydration, cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.  The consequences can be catastrophic, resulting in heart attacks, brain damage and death.

Firefighters have been predicting one of the worst fire seasons on record.  They say warmer conditions have been coupled with a very dry winter.

 
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Social Media’s Impact on Children Rising

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Researchers in Europe and the U.S. say the use of social media among preteens and teenagers is on the rise, while internet companies, authorities and parents are slow to recognize its potentially harmful impact. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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Tech Companies Gear up for CES, the Massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Nearly 4,000 companies and 170,000 people will descend on Las Vegas next week for CES, the massive consumer electronics show. For many small technology companies, the event is a big opportunity to raise their profile. VOA’s Michelle Quinn visits one San Francisco company to learn how they prepare for “the Super Bowl of conferences.”
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US Economy Ends Year with Modest Job Gains

By Uponbiz | | No Comments | Business

The U.S. economy ended 2017 by adding 148,000 new jobs in December. Despite the modest gain, hiring was strong enough to suggest the economic momentum will continue. But while the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent, analysts say the pace of job growth may be slowing down. Mil Arcega has more.
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Bitter Cold Latches on to East Coast

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

Frigid temperatures, some that felt as cold as minus 30 degrees (-34 Celsius), moved across the East Coast on Friday as the region dug out from a massive winter storm that brought more than a foot of snow, hurricane-force winds and coastal flooding a day earlier.

Forecasters predicted strong winds and record-breaking cold air to hang around through the weekend.

The worst cold is likely to be in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The Mount Washington Observatory, on its website, predicted the mountain’s highest summits could see wind chills of minus 100 degrees into Saturday.

WATCH: East of the Rockies, North America Shivers

Jess Flarity, a 32-year-old visiting a friend in Concord, New Hampshire, said the deep chill reminded him of his time in Alaska.

“I’ve been in minus 60 before so minus 20 doesn’t frighten me,” he said as he waited for a bus back to Boston Friday. “But I did have to prepare, bring some extra cold weather gear — gloves, boots and those kinds of things.”

In Portland, Maine, Jeanne Paterak said the cold snap revived her worries about the impact of climate change. 

“We are seeing some historic temperatures and everyone will be vulnerable,” she said as she stocked up on milk, vegetables and juice at a supermarket Friday morning.

​Wind chill a worry

The arctic blast could make temperatures feel as low as minus 15 degrees to minus 25 (-26 to -31 Celsius) from Philadelphia to Boston and make residents of states like Maryland and Virginia shiver from temperatures ranging from 10 degrees to 15 degrees (-12 to -9 Celsius). The wind chill could make it feel like minus 35 degrees (-37 Celsius) in the Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts, the National Weather Service said.

Thursday’s storm packed wind gusts of more than 70 mph (113 kph) and dumped as much as 18 inches (46 centimeters) of snow in some places.

It caused school and business closings, airline and rail service cancellations or reductions and thousands of utilities outages, many of them restored quickly. Some ferry services also had to be shut down.

Flights resumed at airports along the East Coast after hundreds were canceled Thursday.

Fires and floods

Massachusetts officials said the storm caused more than 1 million gallons of untreated sewage to spill into Nantucket Harbor after a huge sewer main break. In Gloucester, north of Boston, an estimated 50 cars were destroyed in a school parking lot after a storm surge submerged the lot under a few feet of salt water.

In New Jersey, gusty winds carried flames from a vacant building across the street to two other buildings Friday morning. The flames also spread to two structures adjacent to the vacant building, damaging a total of five in Newark. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries.

In the South, the winter weather forced the need for portable toilets outside Mississippi’s Capitol after pipes burst, and it caused iguanas to become sluggish and topple from trees in South Florida. Residents of southeast Georgia were treated to a rare half-foot of snow (15 centimeters).

​Record coastal flooding

In New England, powerful winds brought coastal flooding that reached historic levels in some communities.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed Friday that water levels in Boston broke the record set during a massive blizzard in 1978.

The flooding sent large trash containers floating down Boston streets, forced the shutdown of a subway station as water cascaded down the steps and prompted rescues of people trapped in cars and homes by rapidly rising waters in several Massachusetts communities.

In Scituate, south of Boston, residents were spending Friday trying to dry out their basements before more frigid temperatures arrived.

Longtime resident Dianne Davis said her home was surrounded by ocean water that eventually filled her basement.

“I’ve never been afraid, but when the water was coming up over my front steps, that’s when I said … ‘OK this is getting serious,”’ Davis said.

At least 10 deaths

At least 10 people died in weather-related accidents, including a 13-year-old girl who was sickened by carbon monoxide in an apartment building in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

In Massachusetts, a worker suffered cardiac arrest and died Friday while clearing snow at a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority facility. Two people died of cardiac arrest during the storm Thursday on New York’s Long Island, officials said. And in Maine, authorities on Friday said they’re still searching for a clammer who disappeared during the blizzard.

Sunday morning was expected to bring the coldest temperatures from Portland, Maine, to Washington, D.C. More seasonable weather is expected to return early next week with temperatures in the high 30s and near 40s.
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Twitter Says Accounts of World Leaders Have Special Status

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Social media giant Twitter has reiterated its stance that accounts belonging to world leaders have special status, pushing back against calls from some users for the company to ban U.S. President Donald Trump. 

In a blog post Friday, Twitter said it would not block the accounts of world leaders even if their statements were “controversial” because of a need to promote discussions about public policy. 

​“Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate,” Twitter said.

It said such a move would also not silence a world leader, but it “would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.”

“Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society,” the post said. 

The company has previously said that it considers whether a post is newsworthy and of public interest before deciding whether to remove it. 

Twitter did not specifically mention Trump in its statement. The debate over Trump’s tweets grew on Wednesday, when he tweeted that he had a “much bigger” nuclear button than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Critics said the tweet violated Twitter’s ban against threats of violence. 

Last month, Twitter began enforcing new rules to remove “hateful” content on the network, including posts that promote violence. 

The company said Friday that it reviews all tweets, including those of world leaders. “We review tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly,” the statement said.

A White House spokeswoman said she did not expect there to be any White House comment on the Twitter statement. 

Pete Heinlein at the White House contributed to this report.
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Businesses Delay Patch, Fear Fix Will Be Worse Than Chip Flaw

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Chances that a fix to a major microchip security flaw may slow down or crash some computer systems are leading some businesses to hold off installing software patches, fearing the cure may be worse than the original problem.

Researchers this week revealed security problems with chips from Intel Corp and many of its rivals, sending businesses, governments and consumers scrambling to understand the extent of the threat and the cost of fixes.

Rather than rushing to put on patches, a costly and time-intensive endeavor for major systems, some businesses are testing the fix, leaving their machines vulnerable.

“If you start applying patches across your whole fleet without doing proper testing, you could cause systems to crash, essentially putting all of your employees out of work,” said Ben Johnson, co-founder of cyber-security startup Obsidian.

Flaws not ‘critical’

Banks and other financial institutions spent much of the week studying the vulnerabilities, said Greg Temm, chief information risk officer with the Financial Services Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, an industry group that shares data on emerging cyber threats.

The flaws affect virtually all computers and mobile devices, but are not considered “critical” because there is no evidence that hackers have figured out how to exploit them, said Temm, whose group works with many of the world’s largest banks.

“It’s like getting a diagnosis of high blood pressure, but not having a cardiac arrest,” Temm said. “We’re taking it seriously, but it’s not something that is killing us.”

Testing the patches

Banks are testing the patches to see if they slow operations and, if so, what changes need to be made, Temm said. For instance, computers could be added to networks to make up for the lack of processor speed in individual machines, he added.

Some popular antivirus software programs are incompatible with the software updates, causing desktop and laptop computers to freeze up and show a “blue screen of death,” researcher Johnson said.

Antivirus software makers responded by rolling out fixes to make their products compatible with the updated operating systems, he said. In a blog posting Friday, Microsoft Corp said it would only offer security patches to Windows customers whose antivirus software suppliers had confirmed with Microsoft that the patch would not crash the customer’s machine.

“If you have not been offered the security update, you may be running incompatible antivirus software, and you should consult the software vendor,” Microsoft advised in the blog post.

Government agencies also are watching. The Ohio Attorney General’s office is monitoring the situation, a spokesman said by email.

“Intel continues to believe that the performance impact of these updates is highly workload-dependent and, for the average computer user, should not be significant and will be mitigated over time,” the world’s No. 1 chipmaker said on Thursday in a release.

​No significant patch impact

It cited Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc’s and Microsoft as saying that most users had seen no significant impact on performance after installing the patches.

The cloud vendors are among a group of firms that quickly patched their technology to mitigate against the threat from one of those vulnerabilities, dubbed Meltdown, which only affects machines running Intel chips.

Major software makers have not issued patches to protect against the second vulnerability, dubbed Spectre, which affects nearly all computer chips made in the last decade, including those from Intel, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, and ARM-architecture manufacturers, including Qualcomm Inc. 

However, Google, Firefox and Microsoft have implemented measures in most web browsers to stop hackers from launching remote attacks using Spectre.

Governments and security experts say they have seen no cyber attacks seeking to exploit either vulnerability, though they expect attempts by hackers as they digest technical data about the security flaws.

One key risk is that hackers will develop code that can infect the personal computers of people visiting malicious websites, said Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer of cyber security firm Veracode.

He advised PC owners to install the patches to protect against such potential attacks. Computer servers at large enterprises are less at risk, he said, because those systems are not used to surf the web and can only be infected in a Meltdown attack if a hacker has breached that network.

Operating system protection

Microsoft has issued a patch for its Windows operating system, and Apple desktop users with the most recent operating system are protected. Google has said most of its Chromebook laptops are already protected and that the rest would be soon.

Apple said it planned to release a patch to its Safari web browser within coming days to protect Mac and iOS users from Spectre.

While third-party browsers from Google and others can protect Mac users from Spectre, all major web browsers for Apple’s iOS devices depend on receiving a patch from Apple.

Until then, hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users will be exposed to potential Spectre attacks while browsing the web.
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