Friday 31 May 2019

First American Financial Corp. Leaked Hundreds of Millions of Title Insurance Records

First American Financial Corp. Leaked Hundreds of Millions of Title Insurance Records

The Web site for Fortune 500 real estate title insurance giant First American Financial Corp. [NYSE:FAF] leaked hundreds of millions of documents related to mortgage deals going back to 2003, until notified this week by KrebsOnSecurity. The digitized records — including bank account numbers and statements, mortgage and tax records, Social Security numbers, wire transaction receipts, and drivers license images — were available without authentication to anyone with a Web browser.
Read more: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/05/first-american-financial-corp-leaked-hundreds-of-millions-of-title-insurance-records?source=Snapzu

Maine lawmakers pass bill to prevent ISPs from selling browsing data without consent

Maine lawmakers pass bill to prevent ISPs from selling browsing data without consent

Good news! Maine lawmakers have passed a bill that will prevent internet providers from selling consumers’ private internet data to advertisers. The state’s senate unanimously passed the bill 35-0 on Thursday following an earlier vote by state representatives 96-45 in favor of the bill.
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/30/maine-internet-history-data/?source=Snapzu

Assange 'subjected to psychological torture'

Assange 'subjected to psychological torture'

The UN's special rapporteur on torture says the Wikileaks founder is not fit to stand trial.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-48473898?source=Snapzu

A New York School District Will Test Facial Recognition On Students Even Though The State Asked It To Wait

A New York School District Will Test Facial Recognition On Students Even Though The State Asked It To Wait

The western New York school district says it is "confident" in its data collection policies.
Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/lockport-school-district-defies-new-york-education?source=Snapzu

The Collapsing Crime Rates of the ’90s Might Have Been Driven by Cellphones

The Collapsing Crime Rates of the ’90s Might Have Been Driven by Cellphones

Did technology disrupt the drug game, too?
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/05/how-mobile-phones-could-have-changed-the-drug-game/590503/?source=Snapzu

Retro PC Ads - 1975 Sphere 1

Retro PC Ads - 1975 Sphere 1

The Sphere 1 was a personal computer from 1975 built around the Motorola 6800 CPU. It was built by Sphere Corporation, located in Bountiful, Utah. Marketed as the first real computer (due to having a built in keyboard and monitor) targeted at consumers, it ran PDS (program development system) and included an editor, assembler and an edition of BASIC. The first few editions came as a kit, later on fully assembled units were available.
Read more: https://raymii.org/s/articles/Retro_PC_Ads_1975_Sphere_1.html?source=Snapzu

Now even McDonald's could be joining the vegan revolution

Now even McDonald's could be joining the vegan revolution

McDonald's boss Steve Easterbrook said the U.S. firm is considering bringing in a plant-based burger at a time when its competitors are cashing in on the dietary trend (stock photo).
Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7084729/Now-McDonalds-joining-vegan-revolution.html?source=Snapzu

Facial Recognition Technology Is Facing A Huge Backlash In The US. But Some Of The World’s Biggest Tech Companies Are Trying To Sell It In The Gulf.

Facial Recognition Technology Is Facing A Huge Backlash In The US. But Some Of The World’s Biggest Tech Companies Are Trying To Sell It In The Gulf.

Face recognition has been banned in San Francisco and linked by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to a rise in global fascism. But it’s being marketed in Dubai, which has spied on hundreds of dissidents, by American and Chinese tech giants.
Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/dubai-facial-recognition-technology-ibm-huawei-hikvision?source=Snapzu

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, President Ulysses S Grant

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, President Ulysses S Grant

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Grant's role in reconstructing the USA after the Civil War
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005f2k?source=Snapzu

Photographer 'overwhelmed' by eagle photo response

Photographer 'overwhelmed' by eagle photo response

Steve Biro snapped the picture of 'Bruce' the bald eagle at a raptor conservation centre in Canada.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48360559?source=Snapzu

World's smallest surviving baby born in San Diego

World's smallest surviving baby born in San Diego

At 8.6 ounces, or 245 grams, the newborn known as Saybie weighed 7 grams less than the world's previous smallest surviving baby.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/world-s-smallest-surviving-baby-born-san-diego-n1011621?source=Snapzu

Thursday 30 May 2019

Evolution of Walking Upright Linked to Ancient Supernova in Weird New Theory

Evolution of Walking Upright Linked to Ancient Supernova in Weird New Theory

A massive star explosion 2.6 million years ago may be the reason we walk on two feet.
Read more: https://www.inverse.com/article/56213-how-did-supernovae-make-ancient-humans-evolve-to-walk-on-two-legs?source=Snapzu

The Mysterious Origins of the Eye of the Sahara

The Mysterious Origins of the Eye of the Sahara

The Eye of the Sahara is a unique geological formation in the Western Sahara that began forming hundreds of millions of years ago.
Read more: https://www.thoughtco.com/eye-of-the-sahara-4164093?source=Snapzu

New Data Paint An Unpleasant Picture of Poverty In The US

New Data Paint An Unpleasant Picture of Poverty In The US

The annual cost of child poverty comes to around $1 trillion. Meanwhile, every dollar spent reducing child poverty is estimated to yield $7 in the future.
Read more: https://ponderwall.com/index.php/2019/05/08/child-poverty-unpleasant-picture/?source=Snapzu

Connecticut House passes bill mandating education of human-induced climate change

Connecticut House passes bill mandating education of human-induced climate change

The Connecticut House on Tuesday passed a bill to make Connecticut the first state to mandate the teaching of human-induced climate change.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/445929-connecticut-house-passes-bill-mandating-education-of-human-induced?source=Snapzu

Alex Trebek shares 'mind-boggling' pancreatic cancer update

Alex Trebek shares 'mind-boggling' pancreatic cancer update

"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek says his doctors say he's in "near remission" of advanced pancreatic cancer and his response to the treatment is "kind of mind-boggling."
Read more: http://www.startribune.com/alex-trebek-shares-mind-boggling-pancreatic-cancer-update/510557082/?source=Snapzu

Poland has filed a complaint against the European Union’s copyright directive

Poland has filed a complaint against the European Union’s copyright directive

The directive was approved in April, and goes into force in June
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/25/18639963/poland-european-union-copyright-directive-filed-complaint-court-of-justice?source=Snapzu

Japan Then, China Now by Stephen S. Roach

Japan Then, China Now by Stephen S. Roach

Back in the 1980s, Japan was portrayed as the greatest economic threat to the United States, and allegations of intellectual property theft were only part of Americans' vilification. Thirty years later, Americans have made China the villain, when, just like three decades ago, they should be looking squarely in the mirror.
Read more: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/for-america-china-is-the-new-japan-by-stephen-s-roach-2019-05?source=Snapzu

Cable companies might have a secret weapon to deal with cord-cutting

Cable companies might have a secret weapon to deal with cord-cutting

Cable companies like Altice USA Inc. are starting to gravitate toward a business move that might — might — help them staunch the mounting losses on the cable side of their business. The solution? Offering cut-rate cellphone service, which no one wants to be without, and try to use it to retain customers who’d otherwise dump a cable company altogether.
Read more: https://bgr.com/2019/05/28/cord-cutting-options-2019-cell-phone-service/?source=Snapzu

Canadian lawmakers fume after Facebook's Zuckerberg snubs invitation

Canadian lawmakers fume after Facebook's Zuckerberg snubs invitation

It was the second time in six months Zuckerberg and Facebook’s Chief Operating Office Sheryl Sandberg have failed to show up when invited to address a committee of international lawmakers investigating disinformation, privacy and how to protect democracy. Zuckerberg and Sandberg will be served with an formal summons should they “decide to come to Canada to go fishing,” said Canada’s Charlie Angus, a parliamentarian for the left-leaning New Democratic Party. “It’s not good enough for them to blow us off.”
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-privacy/canadian-lawmakers-fume-after-facebooks-zuckerberg-snubs-invitation-idUSKCN1SY208?source=Snapzu

Why Criminals Love The Blockchain

Why Criminals Love The Blockchain

Blockchain technology is loved and adored by many, from the humble cryptocurrency investor to the passionate developer, the blockchain boasts advantages for everyone, remember, there’s a hell of a lot more to the blockchain than just Bitcoin, isn’t there.
Read more: https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2019/05/why-criminals-love-the-blockchain?source=Snapzu

Chrome to limit full ad blocking extensions to enterprise users - 9to5Google

Chrome to limit full ad blocking extensions to enterprise users - 9to5Google

In a response to negative feedback, Google shared that Chrome's current ad blocking capabilities for extensions will soon be restricted to enterprise users.
Read more: https://9to5google.com/2019/05/29/chrome-ad-blocking-enterprise-manifest-v3/?source=Snapzu

China on the trade war.

China on the trade war.

Escalating the fervor.
Read more: https://snapzu.com/Appaloosa/china-on-the-trade-war?source=Snapzu

Wednesday 29 May 2019

What an Extinct Bird Re-Evolving Says About “Species”

What an Extinct Bird Re-Evolving Says About “Species”

You may have heard the news of what sounds like a resurrection story on the small island of Aldabra, off the coast of Madagascar. Around 136,000 years ago, the island was submerged in water and a layer of limestone captured the rails—a species of flightless bird—living there. The birds (and all other land species living on the island) went extinct. Recently, though, scientists reported that the bones of these fossilized rails are virtually indistinguishable from rails living on the island today. They are calling this an instance of iterative evolution—where the same species evolves multiple, distinct times.
Read more: http://nautil.us/blog/what-an-extinct-bird-re_evolving-says-about-species?source=Snapzu

The Art of Doodling

The Art of Doodling

To doodle is human, as these drawings from Stephen King, Queen Victoria, and more prove.
Read more: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/05/22/the-art-of-doodling/?source=Snapzu

Hundreds marry in Taiwan on Asia's first day of same-sex marriage

Hundreds marry in Taiwan on Asia's first day of same-sex marriage

Island becomes first Asian nation to pass law but some newlyweds still fear anonymity necessary
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taiwan-same-sex-marriage-legalised-lgbt-couples-marry-taipei-a8928416.html?source=Snapzu

The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia

The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia

For a while, the residents of Manitoba Colony thought demons were raping the town's women. There was no other way of explaining how a woman could wake up with blood and semen stains smeared across her sheets and no memory of the previous night.
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4w7gqj/the-ghost-rapes-of-bolivia-000300-v20n8?source=Snapzu

Iceland to become first European country to ban circumcision

Iceland to become first European country to ban circumcision

Religious leaders have reacted with outrage to a bill proposed by MPs in Iceland that would criminalise male circumcision. The bill proposes a six-year prison term for anyone found guilty of “removing sexual organs in whole or in part”. Salmann Tamimi, president of the Muslim Association of Iceland, described the proposal as an “attack on religion”.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/iceland-male-circumcision-ban-religious-leaders-outrage-mp-bill-proposed-a8217696.html?utm_source=reddit.com?source=Snapzu

Metrics show Trump's tweets are losing their potency

Metrics show Trump's tweets are losing their potency

After repeated attacks, the shock value has worn off, according to his interaction rate.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/president-trump-tweets-engagement-4c6067a8-734d-4184-984a-d5c9151aa339.html?source=Snapzu

Nine People Arrested and 50 Kids Rescued After Probe into an International Pedophile Ring

Nine People Arrested and 50 Kids Rescued After Probe into an International Pedophile Ring

Nine people have been arrested in Thailand, Australia and the U.S. and 50 children were rescued after an investigation into an international paedophile ring.
Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/nine-people-arrested-50-kids-153313326.html?source=Snapzu

Why Las Vegas Is Betting on Elon Musk

Why Las Vegas Is Betting on Elon Musk

Even if the Boring Company's “people mover” for the Las Vegas Convention Center is a bust, it helps burnish the city's high-tech brand.
Read more: https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/05/elon-musk-tunnel-las-vegas-loop-boring-company-electric-cars/590287/?source=Snapzu

Before Netscape: The forgotten Web browsers of the early 1990s

Before Netscape: The forgotten Web browsers of the early 1990s

From the archives: Does anybody remember Erwise? Viola? Cello? Let's reminisce.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/05/before-netscape-forgotten-web-browsers-of-the-early-1990s/?source=Snapzu

Amash gets standing ovation at first town hall after calling for Trump's impeachment

Amash gets standing ovation at first town hall after calling for Trump's impeachment

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) received a standing ovation Tuesday evening at his first public event since becoming the first Republican to call for President Trump's impeachment. 
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/445862-amash-gets-standing-ovation-at-first-town-hall-after-calling-for-trumps?source=Snapzu

Police in Canada Are Tracking People’s ‘Negative’ Behavior In a ‘Risk’ Database

Police in Canada Are Tracking People’s ‘Negative’ Behavior In a ‘Risk’ Database

The database includes detailed, but “de-identified,” information about people’s lives culled from conversations between police, social services, health workers, and more.
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kzdp5v/police-in-canada-are-tracking-peoples-negative-behavior-in-a-risk-database?source=Snapzu

China ready to Hit Back at U.S. with Rare Earths

China ready to Hit Back at U.S. with Rare Earths

China is ready to use rare earths to strike back in a trade war with the United States
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-rareearth/china-ready-to-hit-back-at-u-s-with-rare-earths-newspapers-idUSKCN1SZ07V?source=Snapzu

Chernobyl: the wildlife haven created when people left

Chernobyl: the wildlife haven created when people left

Rare and endangered animals have thrived in the Chernobyl disaster zone since it was evacuated in 1986, as a new wildlife tour in southern Belarus shows
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/may/28/chernobyl-wildlife-haven-tour-belarus-created-nuclear-disaster-zone?source=Snapzu

MacKenzie Bezos, worth nearly $37 billion, will give half her fortune to charity

MacKenzie Bezos, worth nearly $37 billion, will give half her fortune to charity

MacKenzie Bezos has promised to give at least half of her fortune to charity, just months after finalizing her divorce from the world's richest man.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/28/business/mackenzie-bezos-giving-pledge/index.html?source=Snapzu

Dayton Stuck With $650,000 Bill for KKK Rally That Drew 9 People

Dayton Stuck With $650,000 Bill for KKK Rally That Drew 9 People

After Dayton, Ohio became the site of a peaceful protest against a very small Ku Klux Klan rally on Saturday, Mayor Nan Whaley is proud of the way her community came together. There’s only one problem: paying the massive bill required to keep protestors, and KKK demonstrators, safe.
Read more: http://time.com/5596284/dayton-mayor-kkk-rally-cost/?source=Snapzu

'Blatant Attempt to Politicize the Science': Trump Reportedly Moving to End Long-Term Studies of Climate Crisis

'Blatant Attempt to Politicize the Science': Trump Reportedly Moving to End Long-Term Studies of Climate Crisis

In what environmental experts warned could be President Donald Trump's most dangerous assault on science yet, the White House is reportedly moving to end long-term assessments of the impacts of the climate crisis while pushing a polluter-friendly agenda that is making the planetary emergency worse.
Read more: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/28/while-hastening-climate-apocalypse-big-oil-agenda-trump-reportedly-moving-end-long?source=Snapzu

People leave nearly $1 million in loose change in TSA bins every year

People leave nearly $1 million in loose change in TSA bins every year

Air travel can be stressful when passengers are rushing to get to their boarding gates on time, especially on busy days like Memorial Day. Maybe that’s why people keep leaving behind their change at security — almost $1 million a year, all of which goes to the Transportation Security Administration.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/2019/5/27/18637386/people-leave-nearly-1-million-in-loose-change-in-tsa-bins-every-year?source=Snapzu

Discipline or treatment? Schools rethinking vaping response

Discipline or treatment? Schools rethinking vaping response

Officials at schools around the United States have begun rethinking their approach to teen vaping as statistics show a spike in suspensions and other disciplinary actions for students caught using e-cigarettes on school grounds
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/discipline-treatment-schools-rethinking-vaping-response-63287275?source=Snapzu

New iPod touch delivers even greater performance

New iPod touch delivers even greater performance

Apple today introduced the new iPod touch with enhancements to power, capability and communication at a remarkable price. The Apple-designed A10 Fusion chip brings improved performance in games, and for the first time on iPod, immersive augmented reality (AR) experiences and Group FaceTime, making it easy to chat with family members, friends or colleagues simultaneously. The new iPod touch is available to order on apple.com and in the Apple Store app starting today and in stores later this week.
Read more: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/05/new-ipod-touch-delivers-even-greater-performance/?source=Snapzu

Most Canadians think Catholic Church has handled sexual abuse scandal poorly: poll

Most Canadians think Catholic Church has handled sexual abuse scandal poorly: poll

Almost eight in 10 Canadians say the Catholic Church has done a poor job of handling clerical sexual abuse and more than half of practising Catholics agree, a new poll says. The Angus Reid survey questioned 1,611 Canadians about how the decade of abuse allegations has affected their beliefs and opinions on the church.
Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/most-canadians-think-catholic-church-has-handled-sexual-abuse-scandal-poorly-poll?source=Snapzu

Physician Burnout Costs the U.S. Billions of Dollars Each Year

Physician Burnout Costs the U.S. Billions of Dollars Each Year

Burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion as well as feeling cynical, ineffective or unaccomplished at work, is bad for both employees and employers. For doctors and hospitals, though, the ramifications can be especially dire. Doctors in the U.S. experience symptoms of burnout at almost twice the rate of other workers, often citing as contributors the long hours, a fear of being sued, and having to deal with growing bureaucracy...
Read more: http://time.com/5595056/physician-burnout-cost/?source=Snapzu

Tuesday 28 May 2019

Tobacco stocks tumble as cigarette sales decline

Tobacco stocks tumble as cigarette sales decline

Tobacco stocks slid Tuesday after new Nielsen data showed cigarette sales volumes declined 11.2% in the past month, according to Nielsen.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/28/altria-british-american-tobacco-stocks-slide-on-nielsen-cigarette-data.html?source=Snapzu

Tony Horwitz, Prize-Winning Journalist and Best-Selling Author, Dies at 60

Tony Horwitz, Prize-Winning Journalist and Best-Selling Author, Dies at 60

A Pulitzer Prize winner at The Wall Street Journal, he wrote the best sellers “Blue Latitudes” and “Confederates in the Attic” and seven other books.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/obituaries/tony-horwitz-dead.html?source=Snapzu

Netflix to 'Rethink' Georgia Investment if Anti-Abortion Law Goes Into Effect

Netflix to 'Rethink' Georgia Investment if Anti-Abortion Law Goes Into Effect

The next Zelda game, officially titled Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring the Legend of Zelda, will seemingly launch this week for Nintendo Switch. On the surface, Nintendo of America's website simply states the game will be released this "spring," but inspecting the site's source code reveals a line that reads, "Release date: May 30, 2019."
Read more: https://www.thewrap.com/netflix-will-rethink-our-entire-investment-in-georgia-if-anti-abortion-bill-becomes-law/?source=Snapzu

2,300-Year-Old Bark Shield Showcases a Previously Unknown Iron Age Technology

2,300-Year-Old Bark Shield Showcases a Previously Unknown Iron Age Technology

A one-of-a-kind bark shield dating back to the Iron Age has been unearthed in England. Archaeologists have never seen anything like it, describing the artifact as “lost technology.” The bark shield was discovered four years ago in what was once a livestock watering hole, according to a release issued by the University of York. Normally, items made from organic materials, such as bark, don’t preserve well, but in this case, the moist, soggy conditions prevented the shield from degrading.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/2-300-year-old-bark-shield-showcases-a-previously-unkno-1835005153?source=Snapzu

Trump pledges to help bring home Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea

Trump pledges to help bring home Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea

U.S. President Donald Trump pledged Monday to support Japan’s effort to repatriate citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s as he met with a group of the abductees’ kin in Tokyo. Monday marked the second time for Trump to sit down with family members of the abductees. The families have “suffered the unthinkable heartbreak of having their loved ones abducted by North Korea,” Trump told a joint news conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the State Guesthouse at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo.
Read more: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/27/national/politics-diplomacy/trump-pledges-help-bring-home-japanese-citizens-abducted-north-korea/?source=Snapzu

3rd horse in 9 days dies at California's Santa Anita racetrack, marking 26 fatalities in 6 months

3rd horse in 9 days dies at California's Santa Anita racetrack, marking 26 fatalities in 6 months

Another horse died at Southern California's prominent Santa Anita racetrack over the weekend, marking the third thoroughbred fatality at the facility in the last nine days, and the 26th fatality since December.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/gma/3rd-horse-9-days-dies-californias-santa-anita-024800887--abc-news-topstories.html?source=Snapzu