20200110 WINDOWS-7 what-will-happen-to-your-windows-7-pc-on-january-15-2020
https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-what-will-happen-to-your-windows-7-pc-on-january-15-2020/
Here's what will happen to your Windows 7 PC on January 15, 2020
Microsoft is ready to push a full-screen warning to Windows 7 users who are still running the OS after January 14.
The nag-screen payload is part of the December 10 Patch Tuesday monthly rollup.
20200109
https://www.zdnet.com/article/unremovable-malware-found-preinstalled-on-low-end-smartphone-sold-in-the-us/
Unremovable malware found preinstalled on low-end smartphone sold in the US
Malwarebytes said it found malware pre-installed on Unimax U673c handsets, sold by Assurance Wireless (Virgin Mobile) in the US.
Low-end smartphones sold to Americans with low-income via a government-subsidized program contain unremovable malware, security firm Malware bytes said today in a report.
The smartphone model is Unimax (UMX) U686CL, a low-end Android-based smartphone made in China and sold by Assurance Wireless, a cell phone service provider part of the Virgin Mobile group.
The telco sells cell phones part of Lifeline, a government program that subsidizes phone service for low-income Americans.
Adups backdoor
For starters, Malwarebytes said it found that one of the phone's components, an app named Wireless Update, contained the Adups malware.
The Adups malware was discovered in 2017 by Kryptowire, and it's a malicious firmware component created by a Chinese company of the same name.
20200117
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-probe/u-s-will-look-at-sudden-acceleration-complaints-involving-500000-tesla-vehicles-idUSKBN1ZG1IL
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Friday it will review a petition asking the agency to formally investigate 500,000 Tesla Inc vehicles over sudden unintended acceleration reports.
The petition covers 2012 through 2019 model year Tesla Model S, 2016 through 2019 Tesla Model X, and 2018 through 2019 Tesla Model 3 vehicles, the agency said.
The petition cites “127 consumer complaints to NHTSA involving 123 unique vehicles.
The reports include 110 crashes and 52 injuries,” the agency added.
20200128
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/danish-daily-angers-china-with-wuhan-pneumonia-virus-cartoon-12361754
https://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE11903105/kina-forlanger-undskyldning-fra-jyllandsposten-efter-satiretegning/
https://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE11903099/chefredaktoer-besvarer-kritik-fra-kina-der-er-ingen-spot-eller-haan-i-tegningen/
The cartoon, published in Jyllands-Posten on Monday,
depicted a Chinese flag with the yellow stars normally found in the upper left corner exchanged for drawings of the new coronavirus.
China's embassy in Denmark called the cartoon "an insult to China" that "hurts the feelings of the Chinese people".
The embassy said the cartoon crossed the "ethical boundary of free speech" and demanded that the paper and cartoonist
Niels Bo Bojesen "reproach themselves for their mistake and publicly apologise to the Chinese people".
Jyllands-Postens ansvarshavende chefredaktør, Jacob Nybroe, understreger, at det aldrig har været intentionen med tegningen at støde nogen.
https://earther.gizmodo.com/scotland-is-on-track-to-hit-100-percent-renewable-energ-1841202818
Scotland Is on Track to Hit 100 Percent Renewable Energy This Year 2020
Slàinte Mhath!
Brexit BigBen
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51271287 20200127
Campaigners have officially ended a crowdfunding appeal which was raising money to make Big Ben's bell ring to mark Brexit day.
The StandUp4Brexit group says the £272,000 raised will instead go to veterans' charity Help for Heroes.
They say efforts to persuade House of Commons authorities to accept the donation have been "unsuccessful".
Big Ben is being renovated and the total cost of getting the bell working by Friday had been put at £500,000.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1228242/brexit-news-boris-johnson-latest-big-ben-house-of-commons-cost
Why it will cost an astonishing £500,000 for Big Ben to ring on Brexit night
BIG Ben will NOT ring in Britain’s Brexit – unless a crowdfunding idea hinted at by Boris Johnson captures the imagination of the public – because of a shocking HALF MILLION POUND bill.
https://twitter.com/Joe_Gerth/status/1223278777045856257
Weirdest thing about guns in the Kentucky Capitol:
if you have one, you’re told to walk around the metal detector. Others must pass through and get wanded.
20200224
South China Morning Post scmp 20200224
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3052014/wearing-mask-wont-stop-facial-recognition-anymore
Wearing a mask won’t stop facial recognition anymore
The coronavirus is prompting facial recognition companies to develop solutions for those with partially covered faces
20200228
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/covid19-switzerland-ban-events-carnivals-concerts-coronavirus-12484814
-Meanwhile, popular carnival feasts in Basel and the town of Payerne in western Switzerland will not go ahead.
-The annual Geneva motor show, a major item on the global auto industry calendar, had been due to start on Mar 5 and organisers said that stands were nearly completed.
The show is usually attended by hundreds of thousands of people and planned to have some 160 exhibitors this year.
-Switzerland's famous watchmaking industry, which looks in particular to Asian buyers, also took a hit.
Baselworld, one of the world's biggest watch fairs, on Friday announced it was delaying until next year the planned show which was due to start on Apr 30.
-The ban will also affect the Swiss sporting world.
-The United Nations, which has its second-biggest office after New York in Geneva was also "assessing the situation"
-Clean Air in China after Corona virus: 20200225
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146362/airborne-nitrogen-dioxide-plummets-over-china
The maps on this page show concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, a noxious gas emitted by motor vehicles, power plants, and industrial facilities.
The maps above show NO2 values across China from January 1-20, 2020 (before the quarantine) and February 10-25 (during the quarantine).
20200303
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/03/opinions/coronavirus-prepare-not-panic-opinion-adams/index.html
Surgeon general: Be cautious, but not afraid of coronavirus
Government officials say face masks aren't necessary
-Summer in Australia: 20200103
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/12013978
Australian summers have become, on average, 31 days longer in Australia's capital cities, and in regional areas that number is even higher, according to a new report.
Key points:
The report found climate change had changed the length of Australian summers and winters
Sydney now has an extra 28 days of summer and 15 fewer days of winter compared to the 50s and 60s
Regional areas are experiencing the longest summers, with 48 more days of summer in Port Macquarie
Researchers at the Australia Institute crunched Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) data from between 1999 to 2018 and compared it with Australian weather records from 1950 to 1969.
The analysis found all Australian capital cities experienced longer summers and shorter winters,
with summer 31 days longer and winter three weeks shorter than in the 50s and 60s.
on 2020 March 04 :
https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/2020-02-29-caa-rechecking-bug/114591
https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/revoking-certain-certificates-on-march-4/114864
https://checkhost.unboundtest.com/
The certificate currently available on autohotkey.com is OK.
It is not one of the certificates affected by the Let's Encrypt CAA rechecking problem.
Its serial number is 0ef5106026637b43ce850b6f672461470000
20200308
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1236479276586807296
To fight the coronavirus,
China placed nearly 60 million people under lockdown and instituted strict quarantine and travel restrictions for hundreds of millions of others.
Its campaign has come at great cost to people’s livelihoods and personal liberties.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/03/12/2003732547
Virus Outbreak: Taiwan a leader in prevention, AIT director says
Prepping :
https://www.wired.com/story/prepping-industry-coronavirus/
The Prepping Industry Wasn’t Prepared for the Coronavirus
Once the obsession of fringe survivalists, disaster preparedness is now a national pastime—and supply can't keep up with demand.
Coronavirus Conference Gets Canceled Because of Coronavirus :
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-10/coronavirus-conference-gets-canceled-because-of-coronavirus
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/swiss-ramp-up-coronavirus-response-with-us-10-5-billion-aid-package--close-schools-12537038
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid19-travel-restrictions-italy-france-germany-spain-12534476
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/coronavirus-covid-19-singapore-malaysia-asean-stay-home-notice-12539952
COVID-19: Stay-home notices for all travellers entering Singapore from ASEAN countries, Japan, UK, Switzerland
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/germany-unleashes-biggest-post-war-aid-package-coronavirus-12536540
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/coronavirus-covid-19-germany-border-controls-12540502
BERLIN: Germany will reintroduce border controls with France, Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg and Denmark from Monday morning due to the coronavirus crisis,
interior minister Horst Seehofer said on Sunday (Mar 15).
"The spread of the coronavirus is progressing quickly and aggressively ... one of the most important measures will be to cut off the chain of infection,"
Seehofer told reporters as he announced the new border controls.
The measures will take effect at 20200318 8.00am (0700 GMT) Monday, with goods and cross-border commuters exempt.
German citizens and people with a residency permit will be allowed to return to the country.
People "without a significant reason to travel" and those suspected of having been infected with the virus will not be allowed to cross the affected borders, he said.
Seehofer stressed the new controls would be temporary, and would be reassessed "from time to time".
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/is-antibacterial-soap-better-killing-germs-hands-down-covid-19-12536098