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Irene takes out cell towers, disrupts communications
Computerworld – Communications networks took a hit from Hurricane Irene, as 1,400 cell towers and cell sites were damaged or disrupted — mainly in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina, the Federal Communications Commission said Monday.
In addition to cell site disruptions from power outages or other problems, 132,000 wired voice subscribers lost service as of Sunday, while 500,000 cable customers lost service, mostly in Virginia, an FCC spokesman said in an email early Monday. Three broadcast radio stations were also down for at least part of the storm, he said. The FCC didn’t say what percentage of the thousands of cell towers along the East Cost were affected.
On Sunday afternoon, when Irene was downgraded to tropical storm status, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said there Read more…
America counts the cost of Hurricane Irene as flooding hits north east
At least 29 people in eight states have now been killed, many through drowning, as estimates of the damage caused to property alone reached $13 billion (£8 billion).
More than 500,000 homes and businesses across Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire were left without electricity, as rivers around the north-east burst their banks.
Another 285,000 homes and firms in eastern Canada lost power after being struck by Irene as it left the US, bringing the total dealing with blackouts to more than 5.5 million people.
“The impacts of this storm will be felt for some time,” President Barack Obama told Americans late on Sunday. “And the recovery effort will last for weeks or longer”.
Millions of commuters in New York City faced delays and packed trains upon their return to work on Monday morning, as thousands of evacuated residents continued to return to their homes.
It was their upstate neighbours, however, who bore the brunt. Several small towns throughout the Catskill Mountains were totally submerged by water after local rivers and streams flooded.
Already waterlogged following the wettest August on record, the outer Read more…
Britain enacts blanket ban on protests
The Home Office announced the blanket ban on all marches in five London boroughs for 30 days starting from September 2, the Independent reported.
Home Secretary Theresa May banned all marches in Tower Hamlets, east London, and four neighbouring boroughs in the capital for a 30-day period following a request from Scotland Yard Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin.
The move comes amid fears of violence and disorder if the marches were allowed to go ahead.
“Having carefully considered the legal Read more…
About 100 evacuated as fire burns outside Yosemite
About 100 people have been ordered to leave their homes as a wildfire burns outside Yosemite National Park, fire officials said Sunday.
Residents of the community of Rancheria were told to evacuate Saturday, while residents of the nearby communities of Yosemite West, Old El Portal, Incline and Jerseydale have also been told they may have leave their homes.
The blaze, which is burning in a steep and rugged area of thick forests along Highway 140, has also forced the indefinite closure of the roadway. The highway, one of the main entrances into the park, is shut down for nearly a 15-mile stretch from just east of the town of Mariposa to about two miles outside of the park’s entrance.
Park officials are suggesting Read more…
ID breakthrough at UC
Emdad Hossain is working on ground-breaking technology which identifies people by analysing their gait and stride. Photo: KATE LEITH
PINPOINTING a criminal by the way they walk is now within grasp, thanks to technology from University of Canberra student Emdad Hossain.
Biometrics, which uses one or more physical or behavioral trait to identify an individual, is being deployed across the world to increase safety and security at sensitive locations and to verify the identity of people tracked by surveillance technology.
Mr Hossain, a PhD candidate who came to Canberra from Bangladesh at the start of the year, has devised a system that fuses facial recognition technology and analysis of gait and stride – and it’s attracting attention around the world.
Just nine months into his studies, the 27-year-old has been Read more…
World-wide cholera pandemic traced to Bangladesh
A cholera pandemic that has swept poor countries in three waves over nearly four decades has been traced to a bacterial strain that first emerged in Bangladesh, scientists reported on Wednesday.The current pandemic is the seventh since cholera, a water- and food-borne diarrhoeal disease caused by the Vibrio cholerae bug, emerged nearly two centuries ago.
Gene sequencing of 154 samples of V. cholerae taken from patients around the world show today’s pandemic can be traced to an initial outbreak of cholera in the Bay of Bengal in 1975, the investigators said.
In 1982, the strain, known as El Tor, acquired genes making it resistant to antibiotics. As a result, successive waves of the disease spread around the world, propagated from the original source.
The new probe, published in the British journal Nature, points to the Read more…
Huge Bubble Cloud over Beijing Skies Mystifies Observers
Big fish-kill on Bandon
DEREK EVANS
A SIGNIFICANT fish-kill was discovered in the River Bandon in Cork after a member of the public alerted staff of Inland Fisheries Ireland.
More than 350 salmon and trout were found dead over a one-mile stretch of the river. The fish kill included salmon of up to 2.7kg (6lb). Many of the fish were decomposing.
An extensive search revealed no source of pollution and it was concluded that the event that caused the kill had passed by the time investigations began.
Head of fishery operations Dr Greg Forde, said: “During the summer, rivers are particularly vulnerable and factories and farmers Read more…
Giant Underground River ‘Rio Hamza’ Discovered 4km Beneath The Amazon
nanopatentsandinnovations.blogspot
Mouths of the Amazon
Image: Wikipedia
A giant hidden river flows beneath the jungles of Brazil.
A river hidden underground has surfaced. Scientists estimate a subterranean river, called Rio Hamza, may be 6,000km long and hundreds of times wider than the Amazon
The territory in Brazil has 20% of freshwater on the planet, but apparently, this number may be even greater. According to the State agency, Researchers at the National Observatory (ON) found evidence of an underground river of 6,000 km in length, which runs down the Amazon River, at a depth of 4000 meters.
The two streams still have the same flow direction, ie from west to east, but its features are quite different.Brazilian scientists have discovered the existence of an underground river about 6,000 kilometers long running 4,000 meters deep Read more…
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