DaveRant

For a lot of American teens, prayer is a regular part of public school

Non-partisan Pew Research has found that about four-in-ten U.S. public school teens say they commonly see other students praying before school sports events, and roughly half see other students wearing religious clothing or jewelry. At the same time, majorities of teens say they rarely observe other types of religious behavior in their schools, and most say they rarely or never discuss religion with their friends.

Pew also found that 26% of religiously affiliated teens in U.S. public schools pray before lunch.

Includes excerpts from pew.com.

Info: shpr.fyi/schlprayer

Best kids tablets

As tested and evaluated by the editors of PC Magazine:

Apple iPad (2019)

Best for Budget-Friendly Apple Tablet

4.0 Stars Editors’ Choice

Apple iPad (2019)-07

$249.00 at Amazon

MSRP $329.00

Pros:

• Larger display.
• Third-party options.
• Software flexible.

Cons

• Mediocre cameras.
• Large bezels.

The Bottom Line

With its larger display, support for Apple’s Smart Keyboard, and iPadOS, the least-expensive iPad is a terrific tablet and potentially even a laptop replacement.

Amazon Fire HD 8 (2018)

Best for Overall Bang for Buck

4.0 Stars   Editors’ Choice

$59.99 at Amazon

MSRP $79.99

Pros:

• Simple user interface.
• Durable body.
• Works as an Echo Show.

Cons:

• Amazon’s app store is poor.
• Oriented toward Amazon.

The Bottom Line

The 2018 edition of the Amazon Fire HD 8 remains the best media tablet you can get for under $100.

Excerpts from PC Magazine,

Info: shpr.fyi/Fire8

2

Two Russian satellites stalking a US spysat in orbit.

The U.S. Space Force is watching.

Yesterday (Feb. 10), Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, the Space Force chief of space operations, revealed to Time magazine that a pair of Russian satellites have come extremely close, within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of a U.S. spy satellite.

“We view this behavior as unusual and disturbing,” Raymond told Time magazine. “It has the potential to create a dangerous situation in space.”

In an interview with Business Insider, Raymond said the two satellites have been behaving similarly to what are known as “inspector satellites” from Russia. “In any other domain,” such a move “would be interpreted as potentially threatening behavior,” he told Business Insider.

Includes excerpts from space.com.

Info:   shpr.fyi/russpysats

Nutrition scientists’
tied to food industry

Research showing little association of reduced red meat consumption with reduced heart attacks draws tremendous opposition from the anti-red-meat industry.

The authors, who noted that their recommendations were “weak” and based on low-certainty evidence, found no statistically significant link between meat consumption and risk of heart disease, diabetes, or cancer in a dozen RCTs that had enrolled about 54 000 participants.

Subsequent news coverage criticized the methodology used in the meat papers and raised the specter that some of the authors had financial ties to the beef industry, representing previously undisclosed conflicts of interest.

But what has for the most part been overlooked is that those opposing meat have numerous industry ties themselves. The difference is that their ties are primarily with companies and organizations that stand to profit if people eat less red meat and a more plant-based diet. Unlike the beef industry, these entities are surrounded by an aura of health and wellness, although that isn’t necessarily evidence-based.

Info: shpr.fyi/opposemeat

U.S. Gov’t finally admits investigating UFOs

“Was it about UFOs? Of course,” this U.S. military official whispers with a grin of melodrama.

Though diverse and muddled in how they define exactly what it all means, many enigmatic characters share one common belief: unidentified flying objects are neither myth nor figment of overactive imaginations. With absolute conviction, they’ve all told me that UFOs are real.

Provided, of course, that nobody says it out loud.

After months of conducting interviews and uncovering previously undisclosed materials, Popular Mechanics is revealing that the U.S. government has since 2008 indeed had a definite interest in UFOs.

The Popular Mechanics report is very long and too complex to even summarize here. The author was able to read and report much still secret material that remains unavailable to the public.

To muddle matters, a revolving door of Pentagon spokespeople have successfully issued waves of contradictory statements about what the Department of Defense (DoD) did or didn’t do when it came to studying UFOs.

One way the information is still kept hidden was by contracting with a private firm, Bigelow Aerospace in Las Vegas. Reports kept within this contractor’s files, though they’ve been described to various secret congressional and military officials, were, as a result, not subject to being released under the Freedom of Information Act.

One of the dozens of reports was released to Popular Mechanics and is available to the public: “Clinical Medical Acute & Subacute Field Effects on Human Dermal & Neurological Tissues.”

Image at the top is of the cached website of the now-defunct National Institute for Discovery Sciences, a 1995-2004 top secret subsidiary of Bigelow Aerospace.

Above link includes excerpts from the long article in the Feb. 14 issue of Popular Mechanics which you are encouraged to read!

Info:   shpr.fyi/ufo

 

 

Finding buried treasure

Huge hoard of coins found in Jersey Island, England, is recognized by Guiness as world largest

Discovered in January 2012, the collection of 69,347 coins was found in Jersey by amateur metal detector enthusiasts Reg Mead and Richard Miles, British news agency SWNS reports. The hoard is estimated to be worth approximately $13 million.

Mead and Miles were first tipped off about the find in the 1980s from an onlooker, but it had taken some time to locate it, dig it up and make sure it was authentic. The silver and gold coins were discovered under a hedge in a large mound of clay.

The least valuable coins in the hoard are worth $130. It has been designated as a “treasure” under the 1996 Treasure Act, which signifies the finders are entitled to a reward, though it officially belongs to the Queen.

Info: shpr.fyi/coinhoard

 

With all the attention on the China virus, we’re not looking at the far more serious annual “flu” that is going around the U. S.

As of Feb. 8, in the U.S., pneumonia and influenza mortality has been low, but 78 influenza-associated deaths in children have been reported so far this season. CDC estimates that so far this season in the U.S. there have been at least 22 million “flu” illnesses, 210,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths from “flu. “

None were caused by the Chinese coronavirus which infects FIFTEEN (15) people in the U.S. and has killed none.

Almost all of these “flu” illnesses are caused by the “flu” or “common cold,” normally non-serious corona and influenza viruses discussed last week.

Also, among persons who’ve received the influenza vaccine, none of these 22 million illnesses were caused by the serious influenza viruses for which the flu vaccine provided protection.

• Get the vaccine.
• Wash your hands often.
• Use sanitary wipes on shared surfaces like toys, phones, etc.
• Don’t share hand towels. Use paper towels instead.

Info: shpr.fyi/flufeb8

 

The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus named 2019-nCoV first identified in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Chinese authorities identified the new coronavirus, which has resulted in more than a thousand confirmed cases in China, including cases outside Wuhan City. Additional cases have been identified in a growing number of other nations, including the US where 110 cases, many in travelers from Wuhan, have been confirmed in four states (AZ, CA, IL, WA) as of January 27, 2020. There are ongoing investigations to learn more.

Risk Assessment

Outbreaks of novel virus infections among people are always of public health concern. The risk from these outbreaks depends on characteristics of the virus, including whether and how well it spreads between people, the severity of resulting illness, and the medical or other measures available to control the impact of the virus (for example, vaccine or treatment medications).

Investigations are ongoing to learn more, but person-to-person spread of 2019-nCoV is occurring. Chinese officials report that sustained person-to-person spread in the community is occurring in China. Person-to-person spread in the United States has not yet been detected, but it’s likely to occur to some extent. It’s important to note that person-to-person spread can happen on a continuum. Some viruses are highly contagious (like measles), while other viruses are less so. It’s important to know this in order to better assess the risk posed by this virus. While CDC considers this is a very serious public health threat, based on current information, the immediate health risk from 2019-nCoV to the general American public is considered low at this time. Nevertheless, CDC is taking proactive preparedness precautions.

What to Expect

More cases are likely to be identified in the coming days, including more cases in the United States. Given what has occurred previously with MERS and SARS, it’s likely that person-to-person spread will continue to occur. It would not be surprising if person-to-person spread in the United States were to occur. Cases in healthcare settings, like hospitals, may also occur. The virus is suspected of being able to be transmitted by an infected person several days before they have any symptoms.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, agreed there are many questions. “This is one of those inflection moments in outbreak history where we have enough information to be very concerned, but not enough information to say this is going to be an international crisis,” he said.

CDC Recommends

While the immediate risk of this new virus to the American public is believed to be low at this time, everyone can do their part to help us respond to this emerging public health threat:

• For everyone: It’s currently flu and respiratory disease season and CDC recommends getting flu vaccinations and taking everyday actions to stop the spread of germs. Use anti-bacterial wipes frequently on hands and shared surfaces such as toys, phones, keyboards, handles on doors, etc. Don’t share hand towels but use paper towels instead.

Vaccine coming…
but not soon

The NIH is in the process of taking the first steps towards the development of a vaccine, but it will take a few months until the first phase of the clinical trials get underway and more than a year until a vaccine might be available.

China taking extreme precautions

Wuhan, the city of over 11 million where the virus began, has travel prohibited both in and out, already causing serious food shortages.

China is also making an emergency “crash” effort to develop a vaccine very quickly.

Includes excerpts from CDC and news sources.

Info:… shpr.fyi/coronavirus

Canceling student loan debt makes little sense

Why? Because most borrowers earn incomes high enough that they can afford to make their student loan payments normally. Also many students, including those with low incomes, are eligible for our already existing generous student debt forgiveness at some future point.

Cancelling the $1.6 trillion in student loan debt would cost US taxpayers ten times the total cost of the Viet Nam war.

Info:   shpr.fyi/studentloans

Windows 7 users must update to Windows 10
Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft. The last Microsoft update for Windows 7 was issued Jan. 14, 2020.
About one-third of PC computers worldwide are still using Windows 7. To receive continuing monthly security updates, every one of them must now be updated to Windows 10.
A major benefit of Windows 10 is that it will do your monthly security updates automatically, which Windows 7 did not do.
Info: shpr.fyi/windows10

Leafy green vegetables no benefit in
prostate cancer

Recent research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has found no significant difference in prostate cancer progression over 2 years among men who participated in a counseling program that encouraged consumption of leafy green, carotenoid, and cruciferous vegetables.
Info: shpr.fyi/veggiesprostate
Calcium and Vitamin D reduce fractures
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials of vitamin D alone (11 randomized clinical trials with 34 243 participants) showed no significant association with risk of any fracture or of hip fracture. In contrast, daily supplementation with both vitamin D and calcium (6 randomized clinical trials with 49 282 participants) was associated with a 16% reduced risk of hip fracture.
From JAMA.
Info: shpr.fyi/calcdfract
In Alzheimer research,
carbs are in focus
Areas or patterns of reduced glucose metabolism are often seen in brain scans of patients with Alzheimer disease and other dementias. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests that glucose hypometabolism may be more than just a biomarker on brain scans: it may be a key player in dementia pathology.
The digestion and breakdown of carbohydrate-containing foods into their simplest form produces glucose. A person’s blood glucose goes up after she eats, but certain foods have more of an impact on glucose levels than others.
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) can lead to loss of energy for brain function. This is why low sugar levels are linked to poor attention and cognitive function.
The key role of glucose in the body is fuel for energy, and the brain depends completely on glucose to operate normally. Brain functions such as thinking, learning and memory are closely tied to glucose levels and how effectively the brain utilizes glucose. If glucose is lacking, neurotransmitters are not synthesized and communication between neurons breaks down. Age also plays a role in glucose utilization since an older brain uses more glucose than a younger one to perform the same learning and memory tasks. Glucose is so crucial that memory function can be improved in elderly people with relatively poor memories after only one hour of eating a carbohydrate rich meal.
From JAMA.
Info: shpr.fyi/alzhsugar

Unused apps on your phone can do more harm than simply taking up space.
On many phones, to uninstall, just press and hold on them until they disappear.
https://www.popsci.com/delete-your-apps/?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email

Inexplicable
State of Faith TBN Series is explaining the inexplicable spread of the gospel throughout the world.
The gospel is the teachings of Jesus who taught 2,000 years ago for less than four years in Judea, a remote and very poor part of the Roman empire and who never traveled more than 40 miles from his birthplace, and by his twelve uneducated disciples none of whom had been prominent or noteworthy men.
The gospel is the basis for Christianity, by far the largest movement of like-minded people in the world.
“Part 1: From the Cradle of Christianity” premiered this past Monday, January 13 at 8/7c but is being rerun and the series will continue on Mondays at 5:00 pm PST.
TBN television channel is available on Dish channel 268 or online.
Info: https://www.tbn.org/
Ways to Live Longer
The Importance of Purpose
Damon observed that among 1200 adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 24 years, 20% expressed a sense of purpose that transcended self-interest. In a study of adults older than 50 years, Colby reported in the Pathways to Encore Purpose Project that 31% of 1198 individuals surveyed had a purpose “beyond the self” that included an interest in pursuing improving the lives of others, religious goals, making the world better, teaching and building community. Caring for others (including by grandparents) positively affects all-cause mortality. A recent study of 6985 individuals in the Health and Retirement Study of adults older than 50 years demonstrated that a stronger life purpose was associated with decreased mortality, suggesting that purposeful living has positive health benefits. For example, purpose can be renewed through career counseling in the workplace, as well as through churches, education and retraining opportunities at universities and colleges, or through community and public service or volunteer activities.
Social Engagement
In addition to having or renewing purpose, avoiding loneliness and promoting social connection correlate with health outcomes. A meta-analysis of 148 studies involving 408 849 participants showed positive social relationships were associated with a 50% increase in survival, whereas poor social relationships were associated with a 29% increase in cardiovascular disease and a 32% increase in strokes.9 Improving engagement can be achieved through friendships, family, and social networks as well as through religioius or community-focused social and volunteer groups.
Lifestyle Choices and Wellness
Lifestyle choices promoting wellness also influence morbidity and mortality. Notably, a favorable lifestyle was associated with a lower risk of dementia among individuals with high genetic risk and is a powerful example of disease mitigation through behavior and social choice. This is particularly important as society ages and the risk for dementia increases. The opportunity to modify the risk of obesity and dementia as well as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other disorders through changes in lifestyle and positive age beliefs is noteworthy. That regular exercise is pursued by 22.9% of the population speaks to the need for community-based fitness groups or mobile devices that engage individuals in health habits.
Pursing these life improvements is particularly important after major life changes such as retirement, divorce or moving to a new town.
Includes excerpts from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Info: shpr.fyi/livelonger

Amid US-China Trade Battle, Here is how America can Remain the World’s Strongest

 

The People’s Republic of China, a socialist dictatorship, is a challenge to America’s values and concept of world order. U.S.-China competition is likely to be the hardest geopolitical contest in generations — but it is a contest that the United States can win if we focus on the right objectives. So, where do we go from here?

1. Focus on GDP

The first step must be a focus on accelerating U.S. productivity growth. U.S. productivity growth need only increase from 1.3 percent a year to 2.5 percent for U.S. GDP to remain ahead of China’s for the entirety of the 2020s, the decade in which many expect China’s economy to surpass America’s.

By 2030, economic leadership will be easier to maintain as China’s demographic problems set in. Such a productivity increase is realistic, given that productivity growth from 1995 to 2008 was higher than 2.5 percent.

2. Protect America’s edge

The second step is to preserve our edge in advanced and emerging technologies. America must remain ahead of Communist China, not only in hard sciences, but also in the actual production of advanced goods and services.

If America competes against China only through soybean and oil production, we will fail to counter China in advanced industries such as robotics, semiconductors, aerospace and biopharmaceuticals. China is gaining in these and other technologies and industries and could eventually have a decisive advantage over the United States.

As Alexander Hamilton warned 200 years ago, America can’t be great if it is a “hewer of wood and drawer of water.” We must out-invent and outproduce China in advanced technology and industrial goods.

Maintaining U.S. advantage will require collaboration between government and corporations towards national goals in science, engineering and industry. This approach has long served our nation in times of international struggle and led to lasting commercial and national security breakthroughs.

3. New and Big

In order to attain these goals, Washington must think new and big:

New in the sense of a bipartisan consensus that productivity growth and technological competitiveness must be national priorities.

Big in the sense of big and bold proposals. Here are three: First, implement a robust research, development and investment tax credit that will stimulate innovation and investment on American soil. Second, establish a series of well-funded “moonshot” goals to ensure American leadership in emerging industries such as advanced robotics and quantum computing. Third, develop a national productivity strategy that will take the best ideas of government and industry and focus on building the next $10 trillion in annual U.S. GDP by 2030.

Half a century ago, under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy, America faced a Communist superpower that believed that it would “bury” the United States, much as Chinese Communist leaders today believe that the 21st century belongs to China. Kennedy reminded us then that America would “bear any burden” and “meet any hardship” to prevail in that consequential time.

1. Increase manufacturing

In the end, it was the power of the American economy, the power of American technology, and the power of American industry that brought victory over our ambitious foe. We must unleash these forces once again, wrestle them into national service, and build on toward the greater good — an American era that can and must prevail.

From Global Trade Daily

  November 19th, 2019 | Written by Jonathan Ward and Robert Atkinson with Fox Business

Info: shpr.fyi/beatchina

 

Want a
Privacy Co-Pilot?

Jumbo- A Privacy Co-Pilot

A fledgling privacy service called Jumbo shows what’s possible. From your phone, it logs into Google, Facebook, Amazon and others and spruces up your privacy on your behalf. In clear language and colorful illustrations, it explains the real choices we have and makes recommendations like you’d get from a really clued-in friend. It’s my favorite app of the year.

Excerpted from TheHour

Info: shpr.fyi/jumboprivacy

#ScienceandDigitalBriefs
By Shopper Editor Dave Bunting

Silent Night, Holy Night
Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863) was born into a poor linen weaver’s family and studied violin and organ even though his father wanted him to work in the family business.
There are several variations on the story of the writing of this hymn, but they all center on the little Church of St. Nicholas in Obendorf, a village near Salzburg, Austria, on Christmas Eve, 1818—and they all recount a church organ that wouldn’t play and a priest who was determined not to let the broken organ spoil the Christmas Eve service.
In one telling of the story, a band of roving actors came to Oben-dorf with their Christmas play, which so inspired Fr. Joseph Mohr that he wrote this song.
In another telling of the story, when Fr. Mohr discovered that the organ was broken, he remembered a poem that he had written two years earlier. He took the poem to the church organist, Franz Gruber, who set it to music.
But the story most frequently told has Fr. Mohr discovering that the organ was broken. Distraught over the possibility that the Christmas Eve service might be ruined, he sat down and quickly wrote these verses—and then took them to Franz Gruber, who com-posed the music.
Fr. Mohr did write the words for this carol. Franz Gruber com-posed the music. It was first sung on Christmas Eve, 1818, in the Church of St. Nicholas in Obendorf, and the original accompani-ment was a guitar. All the stories agree on those facts.
Also note that Silent Night was written for the Church of St. Nicholas, worshipped by children as the father of Christmas, and the name Santa Claus is a childrens’ mis-pronunciation or mis-translation of the name Saint Nicholas.

Joy to the World
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was born to Dissenting parents (people who refused to accept the authority and practices of the Church of England). As a boy, he sang hymns outside prison walls to encour-age his father, who had been arrested for his non-conformist beliefs.

Isaac showed promise as a poet at a very young age. As he grew, he became increasingly unhappy with the hymns that he sang in church each week. In those days, hymns were psalms set to music. Watts saw that the hymns thus reflected little or nothing of the New Testament, and set out to remedy that error. His hymns—at least his earlier hymns— reinterpreted the psalms in the light of the Chris-tian faith. In 1719, he published a book of hymns entitled, The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament.
One of those hymns was “Joy to the World,” based loosely on Psalm 98, which says, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises” (Psalm 98:4). That psalm looks forward to the day when the Lord will come to judge the world in righteousness. In this hymn, Watts reinterpreted the psalm to rejoice in the coming of the Christ as our Lord and savior.
This hymn was sung to various tunes for many years. Then in 1839, Lowell Mason, a banker who happened to be quite interested in church music, published the tune that we now associate with “Joy to the World.” Mason borrowed liberally from classical music and acknowledged his debt to Handel’s “Messiah” for parts of this hymn tune.
Watts wrote some 600 hymns altogether, and is considered to be the father or Christian hymnody.
Rev. Watts is also the father of logic, the study of our ability to think clearly, and wrote the book “Logic” or “The Right Use of Reason in the Inquiry After Truth,” which was written and used as a grade school textbook. Logic is the foundational logic textbook in nearly all colleges and universities worldwide for 200 years and it is still in print and use today.

Above Includes excerpts from sermonwriter.com

Sorry about the hyphens imported from Word but I had to do this quick. I’ll do better next time.

Chinese Don’t Carry Cash

Read the report linked below about how Chinese don’t carry cash, credit cards or wallets, but pay everything with their phones. Everything about them accumulated digitally is used to qualify them for loans, jobs, security clearances and rewards based on their Communist Party loyalty. Digital information sent through their phones is also used to influence their choices in purchasing and elections.
Info: shpr.fyi/2Ekl27z

Artificially Intelligent applications such as autonomous killer drones to not be banned in Europe

In early April, the European Commission published guidelines intended to keep any artificial intelligence technology used on the EU’s 500 million citizens trustwor-thy.
Industry group DigitalEurope representing such companies as Microsoft, Facebook and Google influenced the European Regulators on Artificial Intelligence (AI) limitations, to NOT ban AI uses such as autonomous weapons.
Editor Note: As we wrote in the Shopper a year ago, military use of a drone programmed to kill and armed with a lethal lightweight rifle could be a catastrophically effective weapon.
The industry group also success-fully recommended against banning Chinese “social scoring” that uses big data to track and rank what you do—your purchases, your pastimes, your mistakes.
Info: shpr.fyi/2Jqv3Ex

Chicago and Detroit have bought real-time facial recognition systems.

Although perhaps not yet fully implemented, the recognition sys-tems will be used to identify want-ed persons as they appear in public.
For several years, companies have been suspected of using facial recognition by streetlight cameras as well as cellular tower travel route records of cellphones to alert sales-people about customers before they walk in together with their purchas-ing desires, habits and spending capability.
Most people don’t realize that carrying their phone results in their exact route and stops being record-ed by cell carriers, whose data then may be purchased by Google for sale to others. Further, many appli-cations installed in our phones do the same tracking. If on installing an app, it asks you to allow it to know your location, it will track you, usually for your benefit, but sometimes for data about you to sell to others.
Google among others has mil-lions of server farms loaded with virtually all such data about us. The sole purpose of recording such data is to sell it to companies, gov-ernments and others.
Google’s revenue in 2017 was $111 billion. The bulk of Google’s $110.8 billion revenue in 2017 came from its proprietary advertis-ing service, Google AdWords.
When you use Google to search for anything from financial infor-mation to local weather, you’re given a list of search results gener-ated by Google’s algorithm. The algorithm attempts to provide the most relevant results for your que-ry, and, along with these results, you may find related suggested pages from an AdWords advertiser who is paying Google for that ser-vice.
Info: shpr.fyi/2YFSMnD

ProtonMail voted best email provider

NordVPN (a top VPN provider, used by the Shopper) asked their developers and sys admins which email providers they use personally and what they would recommend to you.
Google, as one of the many email providers who reads our email, notorious for data harvest-ing, was caught in 2017 scanning users’ emails for personal infor-mation and using it to serve target-ed ads. The tech giant was accused of illegal wiretapping and stopped peeking into users’ emails after a class action lawsuit. However, to this day, Google bots still scan emails to detect spam and viruses, enable email searches, and use the auto-reply feature. It seemed like the scandal had been put to bed until The Wall Street Journal dis-covered that Google had been giv-ing third-party apps access to cus-tomers’ emails.
Every time someone logged into an app using their Google account, the app could ask for permission to access their emails. Many blindly accepted. You are not the only one who used an app to keep an eye on cheap flights or to plan your holi-days. Google stated that they re-view each app’s request to access sensitive data and block those that “misrepresent themselves.” Howev-er, it seems that they do not object to third-party developers reading their customers’ emails as long as they state it in their privacy policy.
NordVPN’s affiliates’ top best email provider: ProtonMail
ProtonMail is an open-source email service provider, based in Switzerland. It uses end-to-end encryption and requires no person-ally identifiable information to sign up. ProtonMail also allows setting an expiration date to emails, after which they will be automatically deleted from the recipient’s inbox.
Info: shpr.fyi/2VzJk3d

Sleeping less than seven hours damages our health, and sleeping in extra hours on weekends doesn’t help

One of the first studies to sug-gest that insufficient sleep can dis-rupt metabolism came out 2 dec-ades ago.
And yet, despite growing evi-dence that inadequate slumber is a risk factor for obesity and diabetes, approximately a third of US adults sleep fewer than the 7 hours a night recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.
Many people think they can re-pay sleep debt incurred during the week by catching extra z’s on the weekend but sleeping in on the weekend doesn’t help.
Info: shpr.fyi/2HrCBEA

Drug Companies Sued for Price Fixing

Soaring drug prices from both branded and generic manufacturers have sparked outrage and investiga-tions in the United States.
The criticism has come from across the political spectrum, from President Donald Trump, a Repub-lican, to progressive Democrats including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is running for presi-dent.
The 20 drug companies engaged in illegal conspiracies to divide up the market for drugs to avoid com-peting and, in some cases, con-spired to either prevent prices from dropping or to raise them, accord-ing to the complaint by 44 U.S. states, filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut.
45 of the 50 US States have filed suit against 19 drug companies, accusing them of price fixing gener-ic drugs, increasing the price of some by 1,000 per cent.
Info: shpr.fyi/2JLzNns

Eat more fiber

The popularity of low-carb diets, such as Atkins and keto, have helped give the macronutrient a bad name, and in part, it’s deserved.
“Have carbs got a bad reputation? Certainly…for a very understanda-ble reason,” said Jim Mann, MB, ChB, PhD, a professor in human nutrition and medicine at the Uni-versity of Otago in New Zealand. “They are highly refined, and, in many countries, sugar intake is high.”
But just as there are “bad” fats and “good” fats, there are also bad carbs and good carbs.
“We showed very clearly in our work in diabetes that the benefits of carbs came from the good carbs, and the good carbs are not high in sugar,” Mann said. “Good carbs are high in fiber.”
A high-fiber diet protects against a range of conditions,
Looking to add more fiber to your diet? Fiber — along with adequate fluid intake — moves quickly and relatively easily through your digestive tract and helps it function properly. A high-fiber diet may also help reduce the risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Women should try to eat at least 21 to 25 grams of fiber a day, while men should aim for 30 to 38 grams a day. Whole grains and vegetables are good sources of fi-ber.
Info: shpr.fyi/2VzRfgT

Marijuana use in youth results in 250% increase in suicidal thoughts

Cannabis use in youth age 12-18 results in 50% increase in depres-sion, and 250% increase in suicide ideation, in young adult years 18-32.
Eleven studies comprising 23,317 individuals were included in the quantitative analysis.
The probability of developing depression for cannabis users in young adulthood was 137% of the result for nonusers.
The probability for suicidal thoughts was 150% of that for nonusers.
The probability for suicidal at-tempt was 346% of the probability for nonusers.
Info: shpr.fyi/2WbcmKV
Suicidal emergency room visits by youth doubled from 2007 to 2015
Emergency room visits for sui-cide attempts and suicidal ideation doubled among youth between 2007 and 2015.
In the United States, suicide is a major public health concern and the second leading cause of death among youths age 10 to 18 years, persisting into early adulthood.1 Attempted suicide is the strongest predictor of subsequent death by suicide,2 and many children with suicide attempts (SA) and suicidal ideation (SI) first present to an emergency department (ED).3 Re-cent evidence has demonstrated marked increases in SA/SI among children and adolescents presenting to US tertiary children’s hospital emergency rooms.
Attempted suicide is the strong-est predictor of subsequent death by suicide.
Info: shpr.fyi/30seCfX

Widening Horizons — Philmont Scout Ranch

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Tucked away in the foothills of the southern Rockies, the Philmont Scout Ranch has become a holy grail, its stretches of untamed wilderness and challenging backcountry treks drawing more than 1 million Boy Scouts and other adven-turers from across the United States over the past 80 years.
For many of those who have spent time at the mountain retreat, they can’t get enough. It gets in the blood, it’s infectious and it’s the reason there was so much heart-break last year when a wildfire ripped through the heart of the ranch burning one-fifth of Philmont Scout Ranch.
Dozens of miles of trails were wiped out along with campsites, leaving behind a scar that will take years and millions of dollars to restore.
The work is necessary, ranch managers and troop leaders say, pointing to Philmont as a crown jewel of the scouting experience.
“There’s just a real sense of loss, kind of a grieving process so to speak,” said Roger Hoyt, a long-time Scout leader and Philmont’s general manager. “But at the end of the day, nature does renew itself and I think from the tragedy and the heartache comes this sense of renewal and opportunity.”
More than a half-million dollars already has been raised and the re-building effort is well underway with the installation of 85 new campsites and work to shore up some of the ash-covered hillsides.
Crews were sidelined in January due to snow, but work has resumed in the lower elevations as the clock ticks down for the start of the summer season.
And it will be a banner season with a record number of Scouts — possibly as many as 24,000 — expected to pass through Philmont, Hoyt said. Some of them initially planned to make the trek in 2018 but were derailed due to the fire and the subsequent closure of the back-country. 

Science & Digital Briefs for April 10, 2019

By Dave Bunting, Shopper Editor

Payroll employment increases
by 196,000 in March;
unemployment rate
remains at 3.8%:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 196,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in health care and in professional and technical services.

Info:   shpr.fyi/2IlYg1K

Carbon Monoxide Detectors
look for biological life
on exo-planets

The detectors similar to those in our homes could be used on telescopes looking at planets similar to earth. If they found a little CO2, it could mean life. But if they found a lot of CO2, it would mean no life.

Info:   shpr.fyi/2uSSkp0

Unemployment Applications
at 49-year low

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell to a 49-year low last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength despite slowing economic growth. In the week ending March 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 202,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since December 6, 1969 when it was 202,000.

Info:   shpr.fyi/2Kty6Nc

Recent Widespread
DNS Hijacking Attacks

The U.S. government — along with a number of leading security companies — recently warned about a series of highly complex and widespread attacks that allowed suspected Iranian hackers to siphon huge volumes of email passwords and other sensitive data from multiple governments and private companies. But to date, the specifics of exactly how that attack went down and who was hit have remained shrouded in secrecy.

The post linked below seeks to document the extent of those attacks, and traces the origins of this overwhelmingly successful cyber espionage campaign back to a cascading series of breaches at key Internet infrastructure providers.

Before we delve into the extensive research that culminated in this post, it’s helpful to review the facts disclosed publicly so far. On Nov. 27, 2018, Cisco’s Talos research division published a write-up outlining the contours of a sophisticated cyber espionage campaign it dubbed “DNSpionage.”

The DNS part of that moniker refers to the global “Domain Name System,” which serves as a kind of phone book for the Internet by translating human-friendly Web site names (example.com) into numeric Internet addresses (192.168.123.456) that are easier for computers to manage.

The researcher said the perpetrators of DNSpionage were able to steal email and other login credentials from a number of government and private sector entities in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates by hijacking the DNS servers for these targets, so that all email and virtual private networking (VPN) traffic was redirected to an Internet address controlled by the attackers.

Some DNS servers such as those set for us by our internet service provider (ISP) carriers, without our knowledge, redirect our addresses to sites from which they can earn money by putting ads onto our screens. Some DNS servers are known to be less reliable at getting us to the web site we want, some are more vulnerable, more easily hijacked. Hackers can change the DNS servers so that they direct us to criminal sites that steal our passwords and credit card numbers. We need to specify DNS servers that are known reliable. Generally we specify two DNS servers, a primary and a secondary. 

Known reliable and free DNS servers are those by Cloudflare.com: 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1, and those by OpenDNS.com: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. These are known and verified to not be hackable, and they keep no record of the sites we visit. They just simply and purely translate our words like google.com or highwayshopper.com into their correct computer addresses.

This is pretty deep for most computer users, even though every computer user, especially every user who buys and turns on a router or computer, within that setup process, actually chooses the DNS server they will use.

If you delve deep enough into your router or computer to be able to set the DNS servers you want to use, a good choice would be 1.1.1.1 for primary, and 208.67.222.222 for secondary.

Info:   shpr.fyi/2IhN8TG

Einstein once asked:

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind,
what is an empty desk a sign of?”

 

Earth Day April 22
in past years

There are currently 7.7 billion people worldwide and we (sometimes literally) burn through natural resources quickly, leaving an indelible mark on the planet. We’ve known about this impact for a long time—since well before environmentalism became a topic of politics—but it’s hard to change our ways.

• March 1879: Cutting down so many trees helped boost the industrial revolution, but even in the late 19th century “disastrous effects” were recognized.
• August 1948: The dust storms of 1948 were a reminder of how farming on “marginal lands” created the “dustbowl.”
• August 1974: “The ocean is a plausible place” to dump garbage. Although plastic pollution back then was a matter of “aesthetics.”
• September 2016: Modernity is great! But the long-lasting planetary transition caused by human activity now has a name: The Anthropocene.

Info:   shpr.fyi/2UpA2ef

We might improve the health
of our blood veins and arteries
by killing the bacteria in our gut.

Researchers gave young mice and old mice broad-spectrum antibiotics to kill off the majority of bacteria living in their gut, aka their gut microbiome. After three to four weeks of the treatment, the young mice saw no change in vascular health. The old mice, however, saw vast improvements on all measures.

“When you suppressed the microbiome of the old mice, their vascular health was restored to that of young mice.

Info:   shpr.fyi/2U4ceHV

By Dave Bunting, Shopper Editor

What is “5G?”

Most adult Americans
expect big changes

• 72% expect income gaps to widen, and 44% see living standards declining.
• 57% see tougher financial times on the horizon for older Americans. 84% say by 2050 most Americans will have to work into their 70’s.
• 59% of adults are pessimistic about the environment, and 69% are worried about climate change.
• 82% say robots and computers will definitely or probably do much of the work currently done by humans. 69% see this as a bad thing for the U.S.
• Americans are more likely to see the nation’s shift to “majority-minority” status as a good thing than a bad thing, but 42% say it’s neither good nor bad.
• 87% expect a woman and a Hispanic person to become president by 2050.
• 60% of adults see a smaller role for the U.S. on the world stage.
• 65% of adults say the U.S. will be more politically divided in 2050 than it is today, and this belief is held across partisan lines: 68% of Republicans say this, as do 62% of Democrats.
• 48% say they are very worried about the ability of political leaders to solve the country’s biggest problems.
• Info: fyi/2TYxWBZ

What is “5G”?

5G or 5th Generation is the latest generation of cellular mobile communications.

5G refers to the method by which your cellphone connects to the internet when you are not within range of a wifi router or base station. Our cellphones now connect to the telephone tower using 4G or older generations. 4G is the current 4^th Generation that we now have.

The coming new cellular 5G succeeds the 4G (LTE-A, WiMax), 3G (UMTS, LTE) and 2G (GSM) systems. Every cellphone we have uses one of these. 5G performance when it is implemented will offer better high data rate, reduced connection delays, energy saving, cost reduction, higher system capacity, and massive device connectivity.

Wifi and cellular are different kinds of communication. Our WiFi strength is shown on our phones usually by several umbrella-shaped arcs. Our cellular strength is shown by several vertical bars of increasing height.

Our current 4G telephone devices perform around 5 to 12 Mbps with peak download speeds hitting the 50 Mbps range.

Mbps is millions of data bits per second.

MBps with the capital B is millions of data Bytes per second where each Byte is eight bits—watch out for the difference indicated by the capital B or lowercase b when comparing speeds. A speed of 1MBps is the same as 8Mbps.

Most current model Wifi Wireless-N users can expect around WiFi 40 to 50 Mbps and the currently fastest Wifi Wireless-AC users around 70 to 100 Mbps.

Wifi communication is faster than cellular data but is geographically limited to within range of a wifi router or base station.

Performance-wise, when fully implemented in the next several years, 5G is expected to operate at speeds that are three times the speed of 4G technology, or 15 to 36 Mbps primarily due to speedier data speeds. Some network providers claim, however, that their 5G networks will be able to achieve 20 times current speeds.

For comparison, wired ethernet systems such as ours at the Shopper office and in many businesses and homes, have higher speeds depending on the terminal devices but mainly limited by the cable type used: Cat5E cable can have speeds of 1000 Mbps or one Gigabit per second, and Cat6 cabling would give 10,000Mbps or 10 Gbps. Ethernet speeds are much faster than either wifi or cellular 4G, even 5G, but require wire cabling. However, the low 5 to 12 Mbps speed of current 4G is enough for many users.

The new mmWave 5G will use frequencies between 30GHz and 300Ghz. The highest band used for cellular in the US at the moment is 2.5GHz. The advantage of using such higher frequencies is that there is a lot of mmWave bandwidth available and it is also much easier to develop massive antenna arrays with higher frequencies.

The higher frequencies shorten range, though carriers probably will build many more towers so a tower will be closer to us. One phone maker- Samsung- said recently that it tested its 28Ghz infrastructure with Verizon Communications Inc. for its home-brewed fixed 5G service at ranges of up 1,500 feet, much smaller than our current 4G-LTE-A systems with range of up to and over five miles.

Also, the signal penetration and range at 28GHz or higher gets more subject to line-of-sight as well as blockages and reflections by building walls and foliage.

Carriers can’t fully implement 5G until its specifications are established. The first phase of 5G Specifications in Release-15 will be completed by April 2019 to accommodate the early commercial deployment. The second hopefully final phase of specifications in Release-16 is due to be completed by April 2020 for submission to the International Telecommunication Union, the body that controls such specifications worldwide.

5G implementation will take several years. The first 4G phones in the US appeared in 2010, but the sorts of 4G applications that changed our world didn’t appear until later. Snapchat came in 2012, and Uber became widespread in 2013. Video calls over the new 4G-LTE networks also became widespread in the US around 2013.

The speed and latency in early deployments, using 5G NR software on our current 4G hardware, are only slightly better than current-best 4G systems, estimated at 15% to possibly 50% better.

For now, 5G may be largely hype. For example, AT&T’s “5G E” service is slightly slower than Verizon’s and T-Mobile’s advanced 4G LTE networks, a study by OpenSignal has found. AT&T renamed a large portion of its 4G network, calling it “5G E,” for “5G Evolution.” If you see a 5G E indicator on an AT&T phone, that means you’re connected to a portion of AT&T’s 4G LTE network that supports standard LTE-Advanced features such as 256 QAM, 4×4 MIMO, and three-way carrier aggregation. All four major carriers have rolled out LTE-Advanced. But while Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile accurately call it 4G, AT&T calls it 5G E.

No carrier is yet offering true 5G.

The actual 5G radio system, known as 5G-NR, isn’t compatible with our 4G phones. But all 5G devices in the US, initially, will need 4G because they’ll need it to make initial connections before rising up to 5G where it’s available.

In 2018 ninety percent of US citizens had at least one Internet-of-Things (IOT) device, such as home security or heating/air-conditioning systems, printers or nursery webcams. Approximately 21 billion IOT devices will be in operation by 2020, which is three for every person on the earth. Every IOT device has a computer-like CPU and is capable of communicating worldwide on the internet. Many IOT devices are readily taken over by criminals and used for various nefarious purposes such as theft of our credit card, bank and other passwords, and forming millions of them together as robots to simultaneously disrupt government, business or other systems. Our home and business routers are almost as vulnerable as other IOT devices.

The 5G technology will connect billions of devices and sensors, and will have a formidable impact on all people and industries in the form of smart homes, fully automated vehicles, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, and technology-enhanced health care services including automated surgery. Our world will change quite drastically!

The mention of a potential 6G technology by President Trump created a stir in technology circles, with some industry observers saying no such technology exists and others saying that consumers can and might expect 6G mobile by 2030 or so.

Info:   shpr.fyi/2I3yYW4

https://www.pcmag.com/article/345387/what-is-5g