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Showing posts from February, 2020

Coronavirus: COVID-19 outbreak grows in South Korea as CDC warning in U.S. rattles markets

#SouthKorea #China #Coronavirus #COVID-19 #Outbreak #Quarantine #Pandemic  The  coronavirus epidemic  that started in China late last year continues to spread around the world, with hundreds more cases confirmed in South Korea on Wednesday and Italy racing to try and control a smaller, but equally worrying outbreak. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans Tuesday to be prepared for the COVID-19 illness to start spreading within the U.S. populace, saying it's a question of when, not if. Among the almost 1,300 cases in South Korea — the largest outbreak outside China — was a 23-year-old U.S. service member who has been ordered to self-quarantine in their home off-base. Before he was isolated, however, he recently visited two U.S. military facilities in the region where South Korea's outbreak is focused. The U.S. has thousands of troops based around the city of Daegu, where the outbreak has been linked to a large church congregation. ...

How to Prepare for the Coronavirus: What to Buy Now in Case a Pandemic Is Declared, According to a Virologist

As the deadly new coronavirus continues to spread around the world, a scientist has released a list of items to collect in case COVID-19 is declared a pandemic—but stressed that people should not panic buy or hoard. Virologist Ian Mackay, adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia, wrote in a blog post that, as COVID-19 isn't widespread in most parts of the world, "now is a great time to make a list, label up a 'Pandemic Stash' box, and begin to slowly fill it with items that won't go off and that you won't touch unless needed." Writing on his Virology Down Under website Tuesday, Mackay said if more cases appear and can't be traced back to known chains of transmission then "the efforts in some countries to contain COVID-19 will have failed." "At some point, we'll be in the main phase of a pandemic," he said, emphasizing that "a pandemic doesn't necessarily mean the disease is severe...

Most Americans will need a new ID to fly, starting in October

#RealD #DriversLicense #Travel #Airport #HomelandSecurity #TSA Think your driver's license is enough to get you through airport security in the United States and onto your domestic flight? Maybe not. Some two-thirds of US state driver's licenses are not compliant with a post-9/11 security law set to go into effect on October 1. Those who are not compliant will not be able to fly if they don't have other forms of "REAL ID-compliant" identification. Concerned about the impact on travel, the head of the US Department of Homeland Security loosened the restrictions this week, allowing the various state agencies to accept identity documents electronically. While Wolf says this "pre-submission" of documents will result in a faster application process, it's not clear how much faster it will be. The REAL ID Act, which established minimum security standards for the issuing of state licenses and their production, prohibits federal agencies from ...

Disney Reportedly Wants To Limit LGBTQ Characters In The MCU

#LGBTQ #MCU #KevinFeige #MarvelStudios #Disney It’s sounding like there may be some internal conflict going on at Disney. Word is that Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige is eager to get more openly LGBTQ characters in the MCU, but those plans are having the brakes put on them by the Mouse House. Sources close to WGTC – the same ones who said that National Treasure 3 was moving forward and that Marvel was planning a She-Hulk show, both of which turned out to be correct – are telling us that Disney are scared that the inclusion of too many LGBTQ characters may mean that Marvel movies will be unable to be screened in the increasingly lucrative Chinese market. This story comes hot on the heels of the confirmation that The Eternals will feature the MCU’s first same-sex kiss between an openly gay married couple. This was intended to be an opening salvo for the MCU integrating more openly queer main characters in Phase 4, with Thor: Love and Thunder already confirmed to show Tessa Thompson’s Va...

Daylight saving time begins soon: when do we change the clocks?

#Daylightsavingtime #March8 Since the winter solstice on Dec. 21, 2019, the nights have been getting shorter, and the days are longer. So, when do we change the clocks? Daylight saving time (often erroneously said as daylight savings time) begins Sunday, March 8, 2020. via GIPHY That Sunday, the clocks will spring forward, causing areas that practice daylight saving time to lose an hour (don't worry, the hour is gained back in the fall). When the clock strikes 2 a.m., the time will change to be 3 a.m. via GIPHY Most of the United States practices daylight saving time,  much to the disdain of lawmakers including  Lancaster County Sen. Scott Martin (R-Martic Township). Arizona is the only state that refrains from practicing daylight saving due to the summertime heat. The residents of Arizona prefer their cooler nights as a break from the harsh temperatures,  according to the National Geographic. The amount of sunlight ...

Supreme Court to Hear Case on Gay Rights and Foster Care

#SupremeCourt #LGBTQ #GayRights #FosterCare  By Adam Liptak WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether Philadelphia may exclude a Catholic agency that does not work with same-sex couples from the city’s foster-care system. The city stopped placements with the agency, Catholic Social Services, after  a 2018 article  in The Philadelphia Inquirer described its policy against placing children with same-sex couples. The agency and several foster parents sued the city, saying the decision violated their First Amendment rights to religious freedom and free speech. A unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia,  ruled against the agency . The city was entitled to require compliance with its nondiscrimination policies, the count said. Leslie Cooper, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Supreme Court’s decision in the case would affect many familie...

Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab

#China  #Coronavirus #Outbreak #Quarantine #Pandemic #Wuhan At an emergency meeting in Beijing held last Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke about the need to contain the coronavirus and set up a system to prevent similar epidemics in the future. A national system to control biosecurity risks must be put in place “to protect the people’s health,” Xi said, because lab safety is a “national security” issue. Xi didn’t actually admit that the coronavirus now devastating large swaths of China had escaped from one of the country’s bioresearch labs. But the very next day, evidence emerged suggesting that this is exactly what happened, as the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology released a new directive titled: “Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.” Read that again. It sure sounds like China has a problem keeping dangerous pathogens in test tubes where they belong, doesn’t it? A...

How to watch Live: Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s Memorial Service at Staples Center (Watch Live-stream Here)

#KobeBryant #GiannaBryant #Memorial #StaplesCenter #LiveStream The official memorial ceremony for former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, will begin at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) Monday at Staples Center and organizers have urged people without tickets to stay away from the arena.   There are several ways you can watch the memorial service: As for streaming, the Lakers’  Facebook page  will be live streaming the service, beginning at 10:00 a.m. PT, and its website will also be streaming the event. The Lakers’  YouTube channel  will be live streaming the event as well. If you’re looking to watch on TV, NBA TV will be carrying the entire service, according to its website. And if you live in Southern California, several local Los Angeles stations will be airing the event, as well as Spectrum SportsNet, the Lakers’ main television partner.  The memorial service will not be airing on the large screens outside of Staples ...

Katherine Johnson Dies at 101; Mathematician Broke Barriers at NASA

Mrs. Johnson at her desk at Langley in an undated photo. Credit...NASA #KatherineJohnson #Mathematician #Apollo11 #NeilArmstrong #NASA They asked Katherine Johnson for the moon, and she gave it to them. Wielding little more than a pencil, a slide rule and one of the finest mathematical minds in the country, Mrs. Johnson, who died at 101 on Monday at a retirement home in Newport News, Va., calculated the precise trajectories that would let Apollo 11 land on the moon in 1969 and, after Neil Armstrong’s history-making moonwalk, let it return to Earth. A single error, she well knew, could have dire consequences for craft and crew. Her impeccable calculations had already helped plot the successful flight of Alan B. Shepard Jr., who became the first American in space when his Mercury spacecraft went aloft in 1961. The next year, she likewise helped make it possible for John Glenn, in the Mercury vessel Friendship 7, to become the first American to orbit the Earth. Yet th...