Facebook Doesn’t Know What It Does With Your Data, Or Where It Goes
April 30th, 2022Via: Vice:
Facebook is facing what it describes internally as a “tsunami” of privacy regulations all over the world, which will force the company to dramatically change how it deals with users’ personal data. And the “fundamental” problem, the company admits, is that Facebook has no idea where all of its user data goes, or what it’s doing with it, according to a leaked internal document obtained by Motherboard.
“We’ve built systems with open borders. The result of these open systems and open culture is well described with an analogy: Imagine you hold a bottle of ink in your hand. This bottle of ink is a mixture of all kinds of user data (3PD, 1PD, SCD, Europe, etc.) You pour that ink into a lake of water (our open data systems; our open culture) … and it flows … everywhere,” the document read. “How do you put that ink back in the bottle? How do you organize it again, such that it only flows to the allowed places in the lake?”
(3PD means third-party data; 1PD means first-party data; SCD means sensitive categories data.)
Researchers Build Portable Desalination Unit That Generates Drinking Water Without Need for Filters or High-Pressure Pumps
April 29th, 2022Via: MIT:
MIT researchers have developed a portable desalination unit, weighing less than 10 kilograms, that can remove particles and salts to generate drinking water.
The suitcase-sized device, which requires less power to operate than a cell phone charger, can also be driven by a small, portable solar panel, which can be purchased online for around $50. It automatically generates drinking water that exceeds World Health Organization quality standards. The technology is packaged into a user-friendly device that runs with the push of one button.
Unlike other portable desalination units that require water to pass through filters, this device utilizes electrical power to remove particles from drinking water. Eliminating the need for replacement filters greatly reduces the long-term maintenance requirements.
This could enable the unit to be deployed in remote and severely resource-limited areas, such as communities on small islands or aboard seafaring cargo ships. It could also be used to aid refugees fleeing natural disasters or by soldiers carrying out long-term military operations.
Google Turns Off ‘Newspeak’ Correction Tool (For Now)
April 29th, 2022Via: Summit News:
Google claims that it has disabled a feature within its document editor that was correcting language to make it ‘more inclusive’, but only while it refines the tool to make it work more effectively.
As we reported Monday, Google Docs was trialling ‘inclusive warnings’, which act like a language checker, suggesting that users refrain from using terms such as ‘policeman’ or ‘landlord’, because they are gendered, and words like ‘fierce’ and ‘annoyed’ for being threatening.
Critics (even ones with rainbow flags in the bio) compared the move to the Ministry of Truth from Orwell’s 1984, policing language and making sure that its Newspeak is implemented whenever necessary.
Lake Mead’s Water Intake Pipe Exposed For First-Time
April 29th, 2022Via: ZeroHedge:
The top of the first water intake pipe at Lake Mead is now visible as the lake’s plummeting water level hit a new record low.
“It’s official – the top of Intake No. 1 is now visible and the low lake level pumping station is now operational,” tweeted Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA).
After nearly half a century, the first intake is out of service and can no longer draw water. Water levels at the lake hit record lows this week, falling to 1,056 feet. Luckily, SNWA has two other intakes at much lower levels that are still operational.
“There was no impact to operation’s ability to deliver water,” Bronson Mack, public outreach officer SNWA, told CNN. “Customers didn’t notice anything. It was a seamless transition,” he said while referring to the switch of intake number 2.
Federal Informant on Investigation Into Donald Trump’s Relationship with Deutsche Bank Found Dead
April 29th, 2022Update: Prosecutors search Deutsche Bank HQ in money laundering investigation
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The documents that Valentin Broeksmit provided to the FBI were left behind by his stepfather, Bill Broeksmit, a former Deutsche Bank executive, after he committed suicide back in 2014.
Hmm…
Via: The Hill:
An informant who aided federal investigators with key documents and information about the German financial company Deutsche Bank and aided in a probe into former President Trump’s dealings with the bank was found dead in Los Angeles County on Monday.
Valentin Broeksmit, 46, was confirmed deceased by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. His cause of death at this moment is under investigation.
His body was found in the early morning hours on Monday at Woodrow Wilson High School, according to the Los Angeles Times. There was no evidence of foul play, police told the outlet.
…
Broeksmit was the son of the late Deutsche Bank senior executive Bill Broeksmit, who died by suicide in 2014.
Valentin Broeksmit had a trove of bank documents and cooperated with the FBI amid an investigation into the financial giant over alleged money laundering operations and other fraud allegations.
The Department of Justice ultimately fined Deutsche Bank $130 million in January 2021. The House Intelligence Committee also subpoenaed Broeksmit to testify about the bank’s dealings with Trump.
Joe Biden’s Latest Cognitive Malfunction
April 29th, 2022Does he really have the football? https://t.co/w51kScGFiI
— Dr. Vladimir Zelenko (@ZelenkoZev) April 28, 2022
And Now… Department of Homeland Security Creates Disinformation Governance Board
April 29th, 2022Maybe they’ll ask Comrade Cindy to offer some tips.
Jacinda Ardern: “We will continue to be your single source of truth”
Via: Summit News:
The Department of Homeland Security’s new ‘disinformation’ unit will be headed by a woman who says free speech makes her ‘shudder’ and who falsely labeled the Hunter Biden laptop story disinformation.
Oh dear.
Just two days after it was revealed that Elon Musk had reached an agreement to buy Twitter, DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas announced the creation of a “disinformation governance board.”
The new board will focus primarily on “misinformation related to homeland security, focused specifically on irregular migration and Russia.”
The board will be headed by Nina Jankowicz, a former advisor to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry who oversaw related issued at the National Democratic Institute lobby group.
90% of Nurses Considering Leaving the Profession in the Next Year
April 27th, 2022Via: HealthcareITNews:
Nurses are thinking about leaving, and the pandemic isn’t solely to blame. Ninety percent of respondents are considering leaving the nursing profession in the next year, with 71% of nurses that have more than 15 years of nursing experience thinking about leaving as soon as possible or within the next few months. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they were experiencing nurse burnout long before the pandemic.
As staff shortages increase, so do the workloads of active nurses.
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High patient-to-nurse staffing ratios and the resulting impacts.
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Access to care is dropping for patients.
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Administrative burden and manual tasks are among key drivers of nurse burnout.
‘Big Guy’ Biden Had $5.2 Million in Unexplained Income
April 27th, 2022Via: Daily Mail:
Joe Biden agreed to pay son Hunter’s legal fees for his deal with a Chinese government-controlled company, emails reveal.
The revelation ties the president even closer to Hunter’s overseas business dealings – and makes his previous claims that he never discussed them with his son, even less plausible.
Joe was able to pay the bills after earning millions of dollars through his and his wife’s companies after he left office as vice president.
Some of the wave of cash came from their book deals and speaking engagements.
But the president’s financial filings reveal that he declared almost $7million more income on his tax returns than he did on his government transparency reports, an analysis by DailyMail.com of the president’s financial records shows.
Some of that difference can be accounted for with salaries earned by First Lady Jill Biden and other sums not required on his reports – but still leaves $5.2million earned by Joe’s company and not listed on his transparency reports.
The ‘missing millions’ – combined with emails on Hunter’s abandoned laptop suggesting Joe would have a 10% share in Hunter’s blockbuster deal with the Chinese – raise a troubling question: did Joe Biden receive money from the foreign venture?
Chinese Police Build Cages Around Shanghai Homes in World’s Strictest COVID Lockdown
April 27th, 2022Via: Daily Mail:
Shanghai authorities have put up fences outside residential buildings as China hardens its strict ‘zero-COVID’ policy, sparking fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city’s 25 million people indoors.
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In Shanghai, images of workers in white hazmat suits sealing entrances of housing blocks and closing off entire streets with green fencing – roughly roughly two metres tall – went viral on social media, prompting questions and complaints from residents.
