News roundup for Fri, Jun 4, 2021

3 Comments on News roundup for Fri, Jun 4, 2021
Has the NYC metro been hacked

I don’t understand the need to suppress communication regarding damage done by earthquakes, but apparently this kind of information suppression is  happening in some parts of the globe:

Shell faced the Hague and the Hague proverbially smacked the company down. Shell has been ordered to reduce carbon emissions by 45% by 2030.

New York City’s MTA was hacked in April. Data was not stolen, but multiple systems were breached. Transportation was not disrupted. Given concerns of future breaches, the transportation agency has since bolstered their cybersecurity.

Peter Turchin thinks civil unrest will continue in the US, and he bases this prediction on mathematical modelling of historical trends. He blames the overproduction of an elite class of workers (not enough jobs for all those lawyers, for example) on the subsequent societal turn towards anti-elite movements–and all the civil unrest that is necessarily tied to that kind of pivot. As we know with models, that data coming out is only as good as the data going in. Critics say his work is no more than pop science. It’s an interesting read nonetheless.

The world has over 172.8 million COVID cases. The world has gained over 3.2 million cases in a week. Global cases appear to be on a decline. There have been over 3.7 million deaths in total. The US has had nearly 34.2 million cases. Over 611,000 Americans have died. There have been 525 deaths in the last 24 hours in the US. The US gained over 14,000 new cases in the last day. India still leads the globe in daily deaths, with over 2,700 in the last day. India has gained over 131,000 new cases in the last day. Case growth and deaths in India are still on a downtrend. Brazil had over 1,600 deaths yesterday.

The poorest households in India are even poorer after the pandemic:

Our vaccination efforts are really paying off:

Vaccine efforts continue to pay off—literally. Some lucky Colorado teenagers who get vaccinated may be eligible for a $50K scholarship.

The White House says it’s going to donate 75% of its unused vaccines to nations around the world that need it. The US will be working with the UN’s COVAX program to help distribute the doses. The Administration adds that that is working towards this goal as altruistically and with as few strings attached as possible.

At least 1 billion have been vaccinated per BNO, but with cumulative doses now reaching two billion, I think it’s more accurate to say that ~1.5 billion have received at least one dose:

Here’s a way to track COVID vaccine incentives that might be applicable to you:

If those don’t work for folks, how about free beer?

Stephanie Arnold | cosmicpixle

Stephanie Arnold is an advanced practice psychiatric nurse and a doctoral candidate in UA Tuscaloosa’s DNP program. Stephanie moonlights from time to time at UCLA teaching mental health nursing. She also likes making cold-process soap.

  • 3 Comments
    • EzlyAmuzzed June 7, 2021

      I do believe in history repeating itself and that predictions can be made mathematically. However, I do wonder how accurate those equations can be considering how different we are from the past technologically. Additionally, while we hear from several experts who have accurately predicted current times, how many predictions have there been that never came true that we have not heard of? Statistically, if enough predictions are made, some are bound to become true. Regardless of any mathematical predictions, we all see conflict in the US now, no experts needed to tell us that.

      Regarding government transportation hacking, I’m not going to elaborate on how I know but I do know positively that there are some transportation-specific systems that come with a generic vendor password that transportation agencies are not always the best at changing. This makes for a VERY easy exploit that has been happening in several cities, it just doesn’t always make the news because the hacked systems are not a catastrophe.

      3 |
      • Stephanie ArnoldContributor EzlyAmuzzed June 7, 2021

        Very true. The models should be taken with a grain of salt. The idea of overproduction of elite job-seekers as a catalyst for social unrest is interesting, though. We have a “horseshoe” problem where there are too many folks vying for top-paying jobs on one end, and too many folks at the other end in need of skilled labor opportunities (where much of our factory work has been shipped overseas). And the folks in the middle bear the lion’s share of the tax burden and are terribly financially over-burdened. Double or triple whammy, there. Of course there’s going to be unrest! 

        As for the hacking, it won’t take much for some state actor to cause catastrophe. We need to get it together! Our political leadership doesn’t seem terribly tech savvy on any end of the political spectrum. Our military and intelligence agencies have a lot of red tape, bureaucratic inertia, rigid and out-of-date operational practices, etc. they have to overcome to modernize, adapt, and innovate. Our transportation and energy sectors have many of the same problems. My fear is that we’re going to be so slow in our response to these threats that we will fail to prevent a few major hacking-related catastrophes. 

        2 |

      • Agree with all you said!

        I want to add to your political leadership comment, that in government nepotism runs so high that the result is hiring someone who is not qualified in a leadership role. I have seen in state transportation agencies IT managers that have ZERO IT experience! Then adding to this problem, since the pandemic, employees want to continue the work from home or at least hybrid and when companies don’t (frequent in government agencies) the best leave, resulting in brain drain. When you have unqualified leadership and employees that are not as experienced then there is a higher risk of the transportation agencies suffering an attack they are not prepared for. 

        4 |