Short Takes – 7-4-23

CISA Sounds Alarm On Critical Infrastructure Devices Vulnerable To Ransomware. Duo.com article. Pull quote: ““Before that, a lot of our administrative subpoena work had been more focused on vulnerabilities in the industrial control system space, but with the pilot we have now been working to… reduce the prevalence of ransomware by taking away vulnerabilities that ransomware groups are exploiting,” said Wales.”

As Cases Soar, ‘Dementia Villages’ Look Like the Future of Home Care. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “But he warned that the effort could be more difficult in the United States, where the costs will fall primarily on individuals rather than governments. “People had been reticent to do it in the U.S. because it’s a private-paying market,” he said, “as opposed to Europe, which is all socialized medicine.””

A Year After July 4 Parade Shooting, Some Americans Rethink Big Gatherings. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “But as mass shootings have proliferated across the nation in recent years, some people say they have increasingly felt a sense of unease or fear of gun violence overtaking their sense of security at public events that were once considered unquestionably safe, whether concerts, worship services or parades. Others will carry on their holiday celebrations without concern, saying that they consider the possibility of random violence to be remote.”

About Those July 4 Fireworks and Air Pollution. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “On July 4 and 5, fine particulate matter levels across the country rise by 42 percent on average, according to a 2015 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Alongside the fireworks party, particulate matter pollution can rise as much as 370 percent.”

Independence. StatusKuo.Substack.com blog post. Pull quote: “We inherited both a sacred promise and a big mess from those who came before, and we’re still working on both. That fact that it is so very hard, and we have so very far still to go, is strong evidence of the incredible value of that promise. This is evidenced in great part by how fiercely others will fight with all they have to keep us from it.”

House Republicans scared to lose majority push back on extreme agenda. WashingtonPost.com article. Pull quote: “A growing fear among many Republicans is that Freedom Caucus members will force a government shutdown over spending cuts — a position some have publicly taken. While pragmatic lawmakers would vote to fund the government, reopening it might mean relying on Democrats again, a position that irked the far-right during the debt ceiling fight and caused them to again go after McCarthy.”

Saturn’s rings steal the show in new image from Webb telescope. ArsTechnica.com article. Great photos. Pull quote: “Webb pointed its 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) gold-coated mirror toward Saturn as part of an observing program to test the telescope’s ability to detect faint moons. The observations included several deep exposures of Saturn that astronomers are still analyzing to probe the planet’s fainter rings and search for undiscovered moons.”

These impossible instruments could change the future of music. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “Sassoon thinks this new generation of digital sound will change the future of music. One downside is that fewer people will learn to play physical instruments, he says. On the other hand, computers could start to sound more like real musicians—or something different altogether. “And that’s empowering,” he says. “It opens up new kinds of creativity.””