Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Coronavirus tracker: California reported 6,540 new cases, 417 new deaths and 289 fewer hospitalizations as of Feb. 18

The end-of-day totals from California public health websites for Wednesday, Feb. 17, reported 6,540 new case, bringing the total number of cases to 3,485,119.

The 14-day number of new cases, 9,777, is down 76.9% from the Jan. 1 high of 42,268.

There were 417 new deaths reported Wednesday, for a total of 47,924 people in California who have died from the virus. The 14-day average of 389.7 deaths as of Wednesday is down 28.4% from the Feb. 1 high of 543.1 average new deaths.

There were 8,566 people needing hospital care Wednesday, a 61.3% drop since the Jan. 1 high of 22,853.

OCR-L-STATE-TRACKER-0219-map.jpg?fit=620

OCR-L-STATE-TRACKER-0219-tab.jpg?fit=620

 

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johns Hopkins University, the World Health Organization, the California Department of Public Health, The Associated Press, reporting counties and news sources

Related Articles

Found: The Lost Tlingit Fort That Defended Alaska From Russian Attack – Atlas Obscura

IN 1804, INDIGENOUS TLINGIT PEOPLE living near the Alaskan town of Sitka went to war with the Russians. Russian fur traders, actually, and their battle would have far reaching consequences, not just for the Tlingit, but also for the future of Alaska, by setting the stage for it to become part of the United States. The battleground where this took place is now part of the Sitka National Historic Park, but the precise location of the Tlingit fort had been debated, until now. Thomas Urban of Cornell University spotted it in a map he made using ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic induction, two technologies that sense subtle changes in the soil.

The raven helmet worn by Tlingit warrior K’alyáan, from the E.W. Merrill Collection. The battle wasn’t just fought with guns; much of it was hand-to-hand. Miller tells a story of a Tlingit hero named K’alyáan, who floated down the Indian River holding onto a log and popped up in the middle of the Russian and Aleut forces. He killed many of them, the story goes, using a blacksmith’s hammer. Like many Tlingit warriors, he wore a battle helmet, in his case shaped like the head of a raven, and armor made of leather and wooden slats.

Source: Found: The Lost Tlingit Fort That Defended Alaska From Russian Attack – Atlas Obscura

‘The authorities declared war on us because they’re afraid of the truth’. Belarusian journalists sentenced to two years in prison for live streaming a protest rally in Minsk

On Thursday, February 18, a Minsk court sentenced journalists Darya Chultsova and Katsyaryna Andreyeva from the independent television channel Belsat to two years in prison. They were found guilty of organizing protests, despite the fact that they were only running a live stream of the rally in question. Journalists from countries around the world have spoken out in support of these two women and human rights defenders have declared them political prisoners. Meduza recounts how the criminal case against Darya Chultsova and Katsyaryna Andreyeva came about and how their trial ended.

On Thursday, February 18, a Minsk court sentenced journalists Darya Chultsova and Katsyaryna Andreyeva from the independent television channel Belsat to two years in prison. They were found guilty of organizing protests, despite the fact that they were only running a live stream of the rally in question. Journalists from countries around the world have spoken out in support of these two women and human rights defenders have declared them political prisoners. Meduza recounts how the criminal case against Darya Chultsova and Katsyaryna Andreyeva came about and how their trial ended.

The world’s second-most popular desktop operating system isn’t macOS anymore

Despite the fact that macOS landed in third, it might not be accurate to see this as an example of Google beating out Apple directly. Rather, it’s likely that Chrome OS has been primarily pulling sales and market share away from Windows at the low end of the market. Mac market share actually grew from 6.7 percent in 2019 to 7.5 percent in 2020. (rewrite the headline folks!)

Just a few of the Chromebooks we've reviewed and tested in recent years.

Enlarge / Just a few of the Chromebooks we’ve reviewed and tested in recent years. (credit: Valentina Palladino)

For ages now, every annual report on desktop operating system market share has had the same top two contenders: Microsoft’s Windows in a commanding lead at number one, and Apple’s macOS in distant second place. But in 2020, Chrome OS became the second-most popular OS, and Apple fell to third.

That’s according to numbers by market data firm IDC, and a report on IDC’s data by publication GeekWire. Chrome OS had passed macOS in briefly in individual quarters before, but 2020 was the first full year where Apple’s OS took third place.

Despite the fact that macOS landed in third, it might not be accurate to see this as an example of Google beating out Apple directly. Rather, it’s likely that Chrome OS has been primarily pulling sales and market share away from Windows at the low end of the market. Mac market share actually grew from 6.7 percent in 2019 to 7.5 percent in 2020.

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Power grid operator: Texas isn’t “out of the woods yet,” but system is stabilizing

Details of electrical transformers at the Austin Energy/Sand Hill Energy Center  in Del Valle on March 24, 2020.

Electrical transformers at the Austin Energy/Sand Hill Energy Center in Del Valle.

Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune

The operator of Texas’ power grid said Thursday that it has made significant progress in returning energy to the state’s system and is no longer having to order electricity providers to cut power to homes and businesses.

But many people across the state remain without power due to more local problems in the electrical system. And in a growing crisis, millions of people across the state have had their water service disrupted because of the winter storm.

During a virtual news conference Thursday, Electric Reliability Council of Texas CEO Bill Magness said the state isn’t “out of the woods yet” — but that he thinks “we’re in a glide path.”

“We’re still in very cold conditions, so we’re still seeing much higher than normal winter demand,” he told reporters. “If we do hit a bump and have some generation have to come back off, we may have to ask for outages but if we do, we believe they’ll be at the level where they could be rotating outages.”

Temperatures are expected to rise well above freezing across much of the state on Friday, which could further help the electricity situation.

It’s unclear how many people currently are lacking power in the state, though the number has declined significantly in the past 24 hours. ERCOT officials said those without electricity still are more likely to have been affected by ice storm damage on power distribution systems or are on systems that need to be manually restarted by crews after they were forced to shut down. Some large industrial facilities that voluntarily went offline are also still without power.

The improved situation is evident by the number of outages some of the biggest local power providers were reporting Thursday afternoon: 11% of Austin Energy customers are facing outages, compared to the 40% on Monday, and CPS Energy, which serves customers in the San Antonio area, reported that less than 1% of its customers were facing outages.

Oncor Electric Delivery, Texas’ largest utility, provides power for almost 4 million customers across Texas. It indicated outages were still affecting more than 150,000 people in its system. The progress comes after many Texans went days without power as temperatures were well below freezing.

As power returns for some, a new challenge has taken its place, however: As of Thursday morning, more than 13 million Texans were faced with water disruptions.

Cities across the state have required residents to start boiling water before using it for drinking, bathing or cleaning. Major cities including Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, Galveston, and Corpus Christi, as well as a handfuls of cities in eastern, central and northern parts of Texas have all issued boil-water notices. Many Texans have had no running water at all for at least a day or more.

Disclosure: CPS Energy and Oncor have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

14293571.gif