News for the week of 2023-09-25

The Prepared Support - September 25, 2023

News

Make a top-level comment for a new story/topic. Discussions about the topic should be in the replies to the top-level comment. That way things stay organized and every main comment as you scroll down is a different piece of news.

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The end of privacy? Not quite, but facial recognition will make it more difficult to remain anonymous online or in public.

https://www.404media.co/the-end-of-privacy-is-a-taylor-swift-fan-tiktok-account-armed-with-facial-recognition-tech/

 

Mississippi River is becoming salty in Louisiana. This is causing problems for drinking water, farming, ecosystems, and damage to appliances.

Drought has slowed down the river, allowing salt water to flow up river from the ocean. While this particular emergency was caused by a particularly hot and dry summer, a rising sea level in the coming decades will also increase the frequency and severity of river salination.

https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-mississippi-river-water-salt-drinking-0a59cea3ed99bd6646e5441843f3a048

 

CPAP machines from Philips have been causing cancer and other illnesses since 2009. Company ignored thousands of complaints over 10 years before finally recalling the machines.

https://www.propublica.org/article/philips-kept-warnings-about-dangerous-cpaps-secret-profits-soared

 

This security issue affects all web browsers. Definitely start by updating your browser to include the latest security patches. It’s not clear whether those patches are complete, so watch for more updates over the next few days. I’ll also be minimizing web browsing outside of a few trusted sites until this is fully fixed.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-assigns-new-maximum-rated-cve-to-libwebp-bug-exploited-in-attacks/

 

SARS-CoV-2 infects coronary arteries, increases plaque inflammation.

NIH-funded research sheds light on link between COVID-19 infection and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke over the following year.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/sars-cov-2-infects-coronary-arteries-increases-plaque-inflammation

 

Summary article in MedPage is easier to read:

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/106533

 

Why New York City keeps flooding 

NYC drainage can handle 1.75 inches of rain per hour. When rain falls at 2 inches per hour, as happened this week, a mix of rain and sewage flows into waterways and backflows through people’s toilets. The flooding is also made worse by debris blocking drainage into the sewers.

Every city’s drainage system has capacity limits, typically designed to match the situations they actually face. One of the risks of climate change is that infrastructure designed for the previous climate can’t handle the new climate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/29/nyregion/nyc-sewer-system-infrastructure.html

 

FEMA’s National Risk Index is a good resource for thinking about what risks are worth preparing for in your area.

https://hazards.fema.gov/nri/map

There’s lots to explore in this map, but I especially recommend everyone try out this one exercise:

Zoom in on your part of the map. Click the place on the county where you live. A sidebar on the right will show some information about your county. At the bottom of that sidebard, click on “create report” to create a report for your county. Scroll down the report to the section called “Expected Annual Loss for Hazard Types”. These rankings are based on expected monetary damages associated with each type of disaster. The top few risks on that chart deserve extra attention in your preparedness plans, because those are the disasters that you and others in your community are likely to actually face.