irregular doom and gloom report #2 by 1kiki

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

irregular doom and gloom report #2

POSTED BY: 1KIKI
UPDATED: Sunday, April 12, 2015 13:20
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Saturday, April 11, 2015 2:12 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/04/baltimore-police-often-surveil-cellp
hones-amid-us-secrecy?et_cid=4510095&et_rid=366206770&type=headline

Baltimore police often surveil cellphones amid U.S. secrecy

The Baltimore Police Department has an agreement with the U.S. government to withhold certain information about secretive cellphone surveillance technology from the public and even the courts, according to a confidential agreement obtained by The Associated Press. On Wednesday, the department disclosed it has used the technology thousands of times since 2007(notice Bush and Obama).

The agreement between the police department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation also encourages the authorities and local prosecutors to sometimes dismiss cases instead of divulging details about the equipment. That arrangement, which was agreed to several years ago, has led police to believe that they can withhold evidence in criminal trials or ignore subpoenas in cases in which the devices are used.

The technology, using devices called Hailstorm or Stingray, can sweep up basic cellphone data from a neighborhood by tricking phones in the area that it's a cell tower and identifying unique subscriber numbers. That data is then transmitted to the police, allowing them to locate a phone without the user even making a call or sending a text message.

The Baltimore police entered into an agreement with the Justice Department in 2011, which calls for the department to withhold information about the device in "press releases, court documents, during judicial hearings or during other public forums and proceedings." The agreement states that the department must seek FBI approval before sharing any details with other law enforcement agencies.

http://www.dddmag.com/news/2015/03/common-bacteria-verge-becoming-anti
biotic-resistant-superbugs-0?et_cid=4485204&et_rid=366206770&type=headline

Common Bacteria on Verge of Becoming Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs

Antibiotic resistance is poised to spread globally among bacteria frequently implicated in respiratory and urinary infections in hospital settings, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The study shows that two genes that confer resistance against a particularly strong class of antibiotics can be shared easily among a family of bacteria responsible for a significant portion of hospital-associated infections.

Drug-resistant germs in the same family of bacteria recently infected several patients at two Los Angeles hospitals. The infections have been linked to medical scopes believed to have been contaminated with bacteria that can resist carbapenems, potent antibiotics that are supposed to be used only in gravely ill patients or those infected by resistant bacteria.

“Carbapenems are one of our last resorts for treating bacterial infections, what we use when nothing else works,” said senior author Gautam Dantas, PhD, associate professor of pathology and immunology. “Given what we know now, I don’t think it’s overstating the case to say that for certain types of infections, we may be looking at the start of the post-antibiotic era, a time when most of the antibiotics we rely on to treat bacterial infections are no longer effective.”

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2015/02/nitrogen-fertilizer-sl
owly-damages-plant-microbe-mutualisms#at_pco=smlwn-1.0&at_si=5509a4e7dca7b207&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=0&at_tot=1

Nitrogen Fertilizer Slowly Damages Plant-microbe Mutualisms

When exposed to nitrogen fertilizer over a period of years, nitrogen-fixing bacteria called rhizobia evolve to become less beneficial to legumes – the plants they normally serve, researchers report in a new study.

The find, reported in the journal Evolution, may be of little interest to farmers, who generally grow only one type of plant and can always add more fertilizer to boost plant growth. But in natural areas adjacent to farmland, where fertilizer runoff occurs, or in areas where nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels settle, a change in the quality of soil rhizobia could have “far-reaching ecological and environmental consequences,” the researchers wrote.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

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Saturday, April 11, 2015 1:08 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-pc-california-dust-bowl-
drought-20150409-story.html

California faces 'Dust Bowl'-like conditions amid drought, says climate tracker

With a slew of statistics projected on the slideshow behind him, California's state climatologist had a stark warning during a Thursday presentation on the severity of the drought.

"You’re looking on numbers that are right on par with what was the Dust Bowl," said the climatologist, Michael Anderson.

Will Gov Moonbeam be able to expell the citizens from California? Will his importation of more Mexicans result in less water consumed?

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Saturday, April 11, 2015 7:10 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Hmm. Stories about real problems - things that I suspect would make a normal person stop and think - and all you can find in your head are your personal obsessive fantasies.

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Saturday, April 11, 2015 8:22 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/04/baltimore-police-often-surveil-cellp
hones-amid-us-secrecy?et_cid=4510095&et_rid=366206770&type=headline

Baltimore police often surveil cellphones amid U.S. secrecy

The Baltimore Police Department has an agreement with the U.S. government to withhold certain information about secretive cellphone surveillance technology from the public and even the courts, according to a confidential agreement obtained by The Associated Press. On Wednesday, the department disclosed it has used the technology thousands of times since 2007(notice Bush and Obama).

The agreement between the police department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation also encourages the authorities and local prosecutors to sometimes dismiss cases instead of divulging details about the equipment. That arrangement, which was agreed to several years ago, has led police to believe that they can withhold evidence in criminal trials or ignore subpoenas in cases in which the devices are used.

The technology, using devices called Hailstorm or Stingray, can sweep up basic cellphone data from a neighborhood by tricking phones in the area that it's a cell tower and identifying unique subscriber numbers. That data is then transmitted to the police, allowing them to locate a phone without the user even making a call or sending a text message.

The Baltimore police entered into an agreement with the Justice Department in 2011, which calls for the department to withhold information about the device in "press releases, court documents, during judicial hearings or during other public forums and proceedings." The agreement states that the department must seek FBI approval before sharing any details with other law enforcement agencies.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-pc-california-dust-bowl-
drought-20150409-story.html

California faces 'Dust Bowl'-like conditions amid drought, says climate tracker

With a slew of statistics projected on the slideshow behind him, California's state climatologist had a stark warning during a Thursday presentation on the severity of the drought.

"You’re looking on numbers that are right on par with what was the Dust Bowl," said the climatologist, Michael Anderson.

http://www.dddmag.com/news/2015/03/common-bacteria-verge-becoming-anti
biotic-resistant-superbugs-0?et_cid=4485204&et_rid=366206770&type=headline

Common Bacteria on Verge of Becoming Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs

Antibiotic resistance is poised to spread globally among bacteria frequently implicated in respiratory and urinary infections in hospital settings, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The study shows that two genes that confer resistance against a particularly strong class of antibiotics can be shared easily among a family of bacteria responsible for a significant portion of hospital-associated infections.

Drug-resistant germs in the same family of bacteria recently infected several patients at two Los Angeles hospitals. The infections have been linked to medical scopes believed to have been contaminated with bacteria that can resist carbapenems, potent antibiotics that are supposed to be used only in gravely ill patients or those infected by resistant bacteria.

“Carbapenems are one of our last resorts for treating bacterial infections, what we use when nothing else works,” said senior author Gautam Dantas, PhD, associate professor of pathology and immunology. “Given what we know now, I don’t think it’s overstating the case to say that for certain types of infections, we may be looking at the start of the post-antibiotic era, a time when most of the antibiotics we rely on to treat bacterial infections are no longer effective.”

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2015/02/nitrogen-fertilizer-sl
owly-damages-plant-microbe-mutualisms#at_pco=smlwn-1.0&at_si=5509a4e7dca7b207&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=0&at_tot=1

Nitrogen Fertilizer Slowly Damages Plant-microbe Mutualisms

When exposed to nitrogen fertilizer over a period of years, nitrogen-fixing bacteria called rhizobia evolve to become less beneficial to legumes – the plants they normally serve, researchers report in a new study.

The find, reported in the journal Evolution, may be of little interest to farmers, who generally grow only one type of plant and can always add more fertilizer to boost plant growth. But in natural areas adjacent to farmland, where fertilizer runoff occurs, or in areas where nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels settle, a change in the quality of soil rhizobia could have “far-reaching ecological and environmental consequences,” the researchers wrote.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

I wish you'd posted these on separate threads, all interesting and all worth comment, but hard to do when they are collated thus.

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Sunday, April 12, 2015 1:20 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Hi Magons

These are just some real world things that caught my eye since the last time I posted an 'irregular doom and gloom report'. It was just easier to post them all in the same thread, next time I'll try separating them out.

I would be pleased to discuss any and all of them. Does a particular one strike you more than the others?

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