Short Takes – 5-20-23

30 Tons of Explosive Chemicals Disappeared Somewhere Between Cheyenne and California. CowboyStateDail.y.com article. Pull quote: “A railcar carrying 60,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in explosives at Wyoming coal mines, left Cheyenne for California on April 12. Two weeks later, the chemical was discovered missing from the railcar and no one is entirely certain what happened to it.” Leak or terrorist theft?

Multiple Interstellar Objects Have Entered Our Solar System, Study Finds. ScienceAlert.com article. A little geeky. Pull quote: “This study takes a closer look at ISO [interstellar object] capture and tests the idea that some ISOs could be captured in near-Earth orbits rather than solar orbits. The researchers behind the work say that there could be a steady population of ISOs in near-Earth orbit.”

‘In a lot of the world, the clock has hit midnight’: China is calling in loans to dozens of countries from Pakistan to Kenya. Fortune.com article. Pull quote: “An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia — found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. And it’s draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving some with just months before that money is gone.”

National Chemical Transportation Safety Advisory Committee; June 2023 Meetings. Federal Register CG meeting notice. Summary: “The National Chemical Transportation Safety Advisory Committee (Committee) will conduct a series of meetings over 2 days in Washington DC, to discuss matters relating to the safe and secure marine transportation of hazardous materials. The subcommittee meetings will also be available by videoconference for those unable to attend in person, however the full committee meeting will be held in person only. All meetings will be open to the public.”

2023 CISA SBOM-a-Rama. Federal Register CISA meeting notice. Summary: “The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will facilitate a public event to build on existing community-led work around Software Bill of Materials (“SBOM”) on specific SBOM topics.”

Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities. Federal Register PHMSA 60-day ICR notice. Renewal requests for:

• Inspection and Testing of Portable Tanks and Intermediate Bulk Containers (2137–0018),

• Hazardous Materials Shipping Papers & Emergency Response Information (2137–0034),

• Approval for Hazardous Materials (2137–0557),

• Rail Carrier and Tank Car Tanks Requirements, Rail Tank Car Tanks—Transportation of Hazardous Materials by Rail (2137–0559),

• Testing Requirements for Non-Bulk Packaging (2137–0572),

• Hazardous Materials Public Sector Training and Planning Grants (2137–0586),

Politicians Need to Learn How AI Works—Fast. Wired.com article. Pull quote: “Cummings also says that politicians and regulators badly need to get up to speed on developments in AI and become more familiar with the technology and how it works. To that end she says she is looking at ways to train people to investigate accidents involving AI, and is creating a course at George Mason aimed at policymakers and regulators who want to be better informed about the technology.”

There’s no final debt ceiling deal. But already, lawmakers don’t like it. WashingtonPost.com article. Pull quote: “Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have also threatened to vote against a deal that includes work requirements, potentially imperiling Democratic support in a narrowly divided Senate. In a statement this past week, Fetterman said that he “cannot in good conscience support a debt ceiling proposal that pushes people into poverty.””

China, Birthplace of the Covid Pandemic, Is Laying Tracks for Another Global Health Crisis. Reuters.com article. Pull quote: “Animals that may not have had much contact in the forest now live in close quarters, near humans. For that reason, rural areas such as this are where most deadly new pathogens spill over. “There is a higher circulation of viruses in these places,” said Frutos, director of research at the Agricultural Research Center for International Development, a French governmental institute.”