Intermediate - Reading

Página 1

How Effective Is the Mask You’re Wearing? You May Know Soon

Original article

Published at: Dec 16, 2020 | 22:37 pm

Source: click to check it out

More than 100,000 varieties of face masks are currently for sale. They come in silk, cotton and synthetics; with filters and without; over-the-head and over-the-ears. They have sparkles and sunflowers; friendly greetings and insults; cartoon characters and teeny reindeer.

What they don’t have is a label that shows how well they block infectious particles, an omission that has frustrated public health officials during the coronavirus pandemic. Those experts note that there is a big range in the effectiveness of various designs, and some barely filter out particles at all.

“The most fundamental, basic question is, What is the safest mask and how do I assure that I have that, and my family members and children have that?” said Fran Phillips, who stepped down in August from her post as deputy health secretary of Maryland. “It’s so startling that we are here in this moment and we don’t have that information.”

That may change soon. A division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to develop minimum filter efficiency standards, and labels showing which products meet them, for the vast and bewildering marketplace for masks and other face coverings.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the C.D.C. known as NIOSH, has been quietly writing guidelines with an industry-standard-setting organization, ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials), that are expected to be made public next month.

The effectiveness of masks can range “from 0 to 80 percent, depending on material composition, number of layers and layering bonding,” said Dale Pfriem, president of Protective Equipment Consulting Services and a member of the standards development working group addressing mask guidelines.

The gold standard for masks is the N95, which fits tightly and can filter out at least 95 percent of very small particles. But N95 masks are generally reserved for health practitioners, and they have been in short supply since the outbreak began. Hospitals, desperate for more N95s, have been driven to a booming black market to secure them.

To offset the shortage, the F.D.A. last spring authorized the sale of the KN95, the Chinese equivalent of the American N95. But the agency soon detected fraudulent and counterfeit products and narrowed the field of permissible KN95 imports. Despite that, the agency acknowledges that there is still rampant fraud, with countless companies stamping “KN95” on masks that do not meet the F.D.A. standards.

Página 2

Dozens of bandits seize Brazilian city, loot bank

Original article

Published at: Dec 01, 2020 | 21:44 pm

Source: click to check it out

Dozens of gunmen armed with assault rifles invaded a city in southern Brazil overnight Tuesday and took control of the streets as they assaulted a local bank. Video broadcast on the Globo television network showed hooded men dressed in black walking the streets of Criciuma in the state of Santa Catarina, and local residents being held hostage during the takeover, which began around midnight and lasted almost two hours. Shots echoed across the city of some 220,000 people.

At least 30 assailants and 10 cars were involved in the well-planned operation, Anselmo Cruz, head of the state police’s robbery and kidnapping department, told a news conference, speaking alongside the governor and the mayor. They blocked access to the city — including with burning vehicles — to prevent police reinforcements from responding swiftly, and deployed explosives in the robbery.

The gunmen traded fire with officers in the city center and at a police station, Santa Catarina’s military police said on their official Twitter account. Two people were wounded in the firefight: a security guard and a police officer, who was shot in the abdomen and remained hospitalized in serious condition.

“It was an unprecedented action for the state. There was never anything with this scope, this violence,” Cruz said in a separate interview with Globo News. The television network quoted him as saying the robbers fired bullets with calibers capable of downing a helicopter.

José Damasio was driving home from work around 11:30 p.m. when he passed street sweepers and other municipal employees painting crosswalks. Damasio had no way of knowing they would soon be taken hostage.“If I had been delayed 20 minutes, just a little later, I would’ve been screwed,” the 27-year-old Damasio told The Associated Press by phone. “I got home and 15 minutes later heard the shots.”

Through a window of his home, Damasio said he saw the men firing into the air — with each high-power shot booming like a bomb. He took shelter in a back room with his mother and remained there until the shooting stopped.

Images on Globo showed a bank vault with a square-shaped hole in it and a convoy of criminals’ vehicles as they made their escape. Bills were scattered across the ground in one area of the city, and newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported that police arrested several people who collected 810,000 reais ($150,000) worth of the notes.

Police later located the attackers’ vehicles in a cornfield of a neighboring municipality. Some of the cars’ interiors were stained with blood, indicating some of the gunmen had been hit by police bullets, the Santa Catarina police force said on its Twitter account.

State-run Bank of Brazil said in an emailed statement that its branch in Criciuma will remain closed and that it doesn’t provide information regarding the amount of money taken. It didn’t respond to an AP request for comment about local media reports the branch was a regional treasury.

The brazen robbery resembled another that took place in July in the city of Botucatu, in Sao Paulo state. There, around 30 armed men blew up a bank branch, took residents hostage, and exchanged gunfire with police officers before making their getaway.

The similarity between the two attacks indicated they may have been coordinated by one of Brazil’s powerful organized crime and drug trafficking rings, said Cássio Thyone, a board member of the non-profit Brazilian Forum on Public Safety. Such incidents have occurred with some frequency over the past decade, he said.

“Crime has moved into the interior; cities that didn’t suffer from crime have become vulnerable because of their characteristics,” said Thyone, highlighting limited police presence and fewer access points. Criciuma Mayor Clésio Salvaro took to Twitter overnight while the attack was still unfolding to warn residents of the “robbery of great proportions, by very well-prepared thieves.”

“As mayor of Criciuma, I ask that you stay home, don’t leave home, exercise all precaution,” Salvaro said in a video he posted just before 2 a.m. Tuesday. “Tell your friends and families. Let the police do their job.” Thyone said the attack reflected a failure of intelligence gathering, a lack of integration between security forces, and that local police are unprepared to confront threats of this magnitude.

Página 3

Pictures Of Princess Diana And Emma Corrin From "The Crown" That Are Honestly Hard To Tell Apart

Original article

Published at: Nov 18, 2020 | 20:50 pm

Source: click to check it out

Pictures Of Princess Diana And Emma Corrin From "The Crown" That Are Honestly Hard To Tell Apart

It's truly uncanny.

The fourth season of The Crown just dropped on Netflix, and there's a ton of chatter about how much actor Emma Corrin looks like Princess Diana. And honestly? When you compare images, it's a little unreal.

First, it needs to be said that The Crown's costumers need to win all the awards.

The show's attention to detail is really made clear when you compare its scenes to old photos of the royals.

But Corrin's incredible resemblance to the young Princess Diana just takes everything to a whole new level this season.

It's crazy.

I mean, this is a pitch-perfect re-creation of Charles and Diana's engagement photo.

In conclusion: Are we sure that these women aren't somehow distantly related?

Página 4

How artificial intelligence may be making you buy things

Original article

Published at: Nov 09, 2020 | 19:20 pm

Source: click to check it out

The shopping lists we used to scribble on the back of an envelope are increasingly already known by the supermarkets we frequent. Firstly via the loyalty cards we scan at checkouts, and more and more so from our online baskets, our shopping habits are no longer a secret. But now more retailers are using AI (artificial intelligence) - software systems that can learn for themselves - to try to automatically predict and encourage our very specific preferences and purchases like never before.

Retail consultant Daniel Burke, of Blick Rothenberg, calls this "the holy grail... to build up a profile of customers and suggest a product before they realise it is what they wanted". So the next time you dash into your local shop to buy certain snacks and a particular wine on a Friday night, perhaps you can blame AI, and a computer that has learned all about you, for the decision.

Will Broome is the founder of Ubamarket, a UK firm that makes a shopping app that allows people to pay for items via their phones, make lists, and scan products for ingredients and allergens."Our AI system tracks people's behaviour patterns rather than their purchases, and the more you shop the more the AI knows about what kinds of products you like," he says.

"The AI module is designed not only to do the obvious stuff, but it learns as it goes along and becomes anticipatory. It can start to build a picture of how likely you are to try a different brand, or to buy chocolate on a Saturday." And it can offer what he calls "hyper-personalised offers", like cheaper wine on a Friday night.

Ubamarket has struggled to persuade the UK's biggest supermarkets to adopt the app, so it has instead done deals with smaller convenience shop chains in the UK including Spar, Co-op and Budgens, stores not traditionally associated with hi-tech.

Take-up of the app remains low but it is growing, in part thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, which has made people more reluctant to touch tills or stand in queues. "With the app we have found that the average contents of a basket are up 20%, and people with the app are three times more likely to return to shop in that store," says Mr Broome.

In Germany, a Berlin start-up called SO1 is doing similar things with its AI system for retailers. It claims that nine times more people buy AI-suggested goods than those offered by traditional promotions, even when the discounts are 30% less.

Getting offers on goods that you actually might want to buy rather than random coupons is great for consumers. However, Jeni Tennison, who heads up the UK's Open Data Institute, a body that campaigns against the misuse of data, remains cautious about the vast amounts of information on people that is being collected.

"People are happy to be recommended products, but start to feel more uncomfortable when they are being nudged, or manipulated, into particular buys based on a caricature of who they are rather than the full complexity of their personality," she says.

And she adds that there are bigger societal questions raised by the use of AI in retail. "We need to ask how equitable and ethical the data collection is. So, for example, are middle-class white women being offered money off fresh vegetables, but it is not being offered to someone who could really benefit from it?" says Ms Tennison.

"What we really need to understand is what impact data collection and profiling has on different sectors of society. Is it profiling people based on race, social economic status, sexuality?"

Online giant Amazon is no stranger to data collection. It has vast amounts of information on its customers from their online purchases, and via its products such as Ring doorbells and Echo speakers. It is now making a move into physical retailing, with bricks-and-mortar shops packed full of AI-aided computer vision technology.

It means that in its Amazon Go grocery stores, currently up and running at 27 locations in the US, people can shop with no interaction with a human or a till. They simply swipe their smartphones on the scanner when they enter the supermarket, pick up what they want to buy, and then just walk out. The AI is watching of course, and sends you a bill at the end.

The first Amazon Go stores were small sites, because of the expense of the sensors and equipment needed, but the company is gradually expanding to larger stores. Amazon is also working on tech for supermarkets that don't want to retrofit their stores with such costly systems. This is where its Dash Cart comes in, a supermarket trolley that is packed with sensors to detect and collate everything you put in. In the Los Angeles store where it is being tested, it has a special fast lane to check out, without the need for a human, of course.

Another US retailer, Kroger, is experimenting with smart shelves fitted with LCD displays that beam contextualised content designed to draw customers towards them. Some display offers and personalised content by connecting via Bluetooth to loyalty apps on phones.

More than three-quarters of large retailers around the world either have AI systems now in place, or plan to install them before the end of the year, according to research group Gartner. Its analyst Sandeep Unni says the global pandemic has accelerated this trend because it has dramatically changed consumer habits.

"People panic bought, and focused on essential rather than non-essential goods, which in turn created a huge supply-demand imbalance," he says. "This meant that we saw shelves becoming empty, and demand forecasting was suddenly not working."

US firm Afresh makes AI-based supply systems for supermarkets to help best plan for what stock levels are required. Afresh founder Matt Schwartz says that staff have to teach the AI systems about key events in the calendar, such as the recent Halloween.

"Historically taking account of things like holidays [and other events] has been one of the biggest challenges for AI," he says. "[And] we can't fully automate away the humans. The AI may suggest 20 cases of pumpkins for October, and the humans can adjust that if they need to."

Página 5

10 Most Convincing American Accents Done By British Actors

Original article

Published at: Apr 01, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

10 Most Convincing American Accents Done By British Actors

By Kayleena Pierce-Bohen

Aside from marshaling their emotions on screen, an actor's ability to properly convey an accent is one of the most important ways they can convince an audience that they're truly inhabiting the role they've undertaken in a film. British actors, with their long tradition of elocution and oration in theater, often have a way with manipulating words and sounds to master a variety of accents, but the American accent remains the one they practice the most often.

With 80% of cinema in the UK coming from Hollywood, British actors know at one time or another they may be called upon to trade the Queen's English for a Southern drawl. Their most effective attempts make them completely disappear into the role, to such an extent that American audiences may have no idea they're British until they do an interview between projects. Below are the 10 most convincing American accents done by British actors, ranked.

10/10 - MAN OF STEEL (HENRY CAVILL)

Who knew the embodiment of American morality would be from Jersey, the largest of the islands in the English Channel?

9/10 - GONE GIRL (ROSAMUND PIKE)

Some of the film is told through Amy's voice over, in which she describes the listless and meaningless state of her life as a successful author and a perfect wife trapped in the monotony of her existence. No one would have guessed that America's missing sweetheart wasn't from America at all.

8/10 - DAMIAN LEWIS (BILLIONS)

His American accent has never been better or more fully on display than in Billions.

7/10 - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (KATE WINSLET)

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, an unconventional love story about two people who, despite desperately trying to find ways to quit each other, always end up back together through fate, her accent is the strongest when its inhabiting modern simplicity.

6/10 - THE WALKING DEAD (ANDREW LINCOLN)

If fans hadn't seen Lincoln pop up in successful British films like Love, Actually, they might never have known he was British. He's so convincing as Grimes, and he played him for so long, that his American accent became as well-worn and comfortable as the cowboy hat he often wore.

5/10 - AMERICAN HUSTLE (CHRISTIAN BALE)

Christian Bale has started to become known for his mastery of the American accent. American Psycho, which featured him as a serial killer moonlighting as a Wall Street trader, got him started with an over-the-top Wasp dialect.

4/10 - THE WIRE (IDRIS ELBA)

For many viewers it was their introduction to Idris Elba as kingpin Stringer Bell, who never knew the actor behind Baltimore's biggest drug trade was a subject of the Queen.

3/10 - CHIWETEL EJIOFOR (12 YEARS A SLAVE)

Based on a true story, Northup was a free man living in upstate New York when he was suddenly kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South.

2/10 - HOUSE (HUGH LAURIE)

His cynical yet genius Dr. Gregory House, with all the warmth of an empty bedpan, spoke with an unspecified American accent so well viewers were shocked to hear Laurie speak in interviews.

1/10 - LINCOLN (DANIEL DAY-LEWIS)

Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the most accomplished actors of his generation, has spent a lot of time telling American stories for someone who grew up British. It was as one of America's greatest statesmen, however, that he reached his linguistic peak, and only further cemented his reputation as an actor for whom no accent was too difficult.

Source: 10 Most Convincing American Accents Done By British Actors

Página 6

How Japanese and English merged to create a new language

Original article

Published at: Feb 26, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

By Emiko Jozuka

When John Dougill first came to Japan 30 years ago, he spotted an odd phrase adorning his neighborhood butcher's shop in Kyoto. Instead of "meat shop," its sign read "flesh shop." Dougill assumed shop staff weren't aware of their English-language error. But when he flagged it to the owners, they nodded politely at him. But they didn't change the sign.

"It didn't matter if the sign said 'flesh' or 'fresh' or 'meat,'" recalls Dougill, a professor at Ryukoku University, who has researched the use of English in Japan. "It was just there to catch people's attention. It wasn't being used to communicate, as people could see it was a meat shop from outside." It was Dougill's first encounter with the Japanese phenomenon of "Engrish" or "Japanglish."

Engrish is what happens when English mistakes appear in Japanese advertising, on products like T-shirts and stationary, or on restaurant menus. Many of the common mistakes made by Japanese speakers stem from a difficulty to distinguish between "r" and "l" when pronouncing words -- hence why it's called "Engrish" instead of "English." The "s" at the beginning of words is associated with a Japanese hiragana character that's pronounced "shi." That's why "baby-sitter" can sometimes be misspelled as "baby-shitter." Plus, some connecting English words have no equivalent in Japanese so "I feel like a hamburger" becomes "I feel hamburger."

In the West, Engrish is often viewed more as an example of everyday racism intended to mock non-native English speakers. It's also not wholly a Japanese phenomenon. There's "Konglish" in Korea, "Singlish" in Singapore and "Chinglish" in China -- all referring to the different ways in which locals have repurposed English. English is the working language of many international organizations and the most widely taught foreign language in the world. But of the approximately 1.5 billion people who speak English, less than 400 million call it their first language, according to the World Economic Forum. That means roughly 1.5 billion people out of the world's 7.5 billion inhabitants speak it as a second -- or third, or fourth -- language.

Source: How Japanese and English merged to create a new language

Página 7

12 Signs that You’re Dealing with a Master Manipulator

Original article

Published at: Feb 18, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

By Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D.

Are there people in your life who you feel have their own agenda when they deal with you? Perhaps you’ve struck up a relationship with a fellow volunteer or co-worker while completing a group project. However, after a couple of weeks, you begin to sense that this other person doesn’t seem to have the best wishes of the group at heart.

Having missed several deadlines, this individual tells what you believe are untruths, such as “I sent that email—didn’t you get it?” Even worse, you find that you’re being asked to be a co-conspirator, as it were, by also lying to other group members about items that are past due. To cover up the fact that the work wasn’t done, this person asks you to send out an email that you know contains false information and won’t take no for an answer when you say you’d rather not. Your only recourse, without being dishonest yourself, is to finish the work for both of you so that it will get done in time.

The tendency to manipulate others in order to achieve one’s own ends falls into the category of “Machiavellianism,” a historical reference to the Italian philosopher Machiavelli associated with the phrase “the ends justify the means." As pointed out in a new study by The Australian National University’s Conal Monaghan and colleagues (2020), “History is also littered with many political leaders who achieved and maintained power through a callous and duplicitous disregard for the liberty of their citizens” (p. 277).

The psychological quality of Machiavellianism, the Australian researchers point out, is “is a relatively stable individual difference that is positively associated with unethical behavior in social exchanges and beyond” (p. 278). Your collaborator on the group project might meet the criteria for this undesirable personality trait by showing a tendency to lie and manipulate without showing concern for the group’s welfare.

Monaghan and his colleagues, in reviewing previous research, point to the importance of distinguishing between the manipulative tactics of people high in Machivellianism from the views they hold that other people are untrustworthy, weak, and vulnerable to being exploited. Furthermore, they propose that this highly antagonistic trait is shaped by environmental factors rather than being hardwired into personality. Among the childhood experiences that can shape the tendency to exploit and use other people are early neglect, abuse, and exposure to other trauma that leads to the development of cynicism and distrust.

Although the authors don’t cite Erik Erikson, his theory about psychosocial development seems to be relevant. Erikson proposed that you can achieve a sense of trust early in life if you are raised in a setting in which you feel cared for and safe. Additionally, as Monaghan et al. suggest, having a sense of trust can also help you to develop empathy and a sense of morality, making it unlikely that you would seek to harm or exploit others.

Even though there may be a reasonable basis for a person to try to manipulate and exploit you, this still doesn’t help when you have to figure out how to avoid these unpleasant outcomes with the people in your life. According to the Australian research team, the people who try to control you do so out of a combination of “an unflattering and pessimistic view of humanity, which is considered gullible, untrustworthy, selfish, and manipulative” (p. 278). This is the “views” dimension of Machiavellianism.

The second dimension, known as "tactics" reflects the “willingness to use any means, irrespective of traditional morality, to achieve their goals” (p. 278). Those high in Machiavellianism are not seeking personal pleasure but are seeking those end-oriented results. It’s possible they may take some joy out of seeing their convictions come true (i.e. that other people are gullible), but their main motivator is to get the job done with as little work as possible on their part.

With this as background, the Australian-led research team went on to develop an instrument that would make it possible to assess the two separate dimensions (views and tactics) of a brief Machiavellianism scale. They predicted that, if their scale was valid, the views dimension would relate positively to a series of negative emotions (fearfulness and emotional detachment) as well as high levels of narcissism. The authors predicted that Machiavellian tactics scores would correlate positively with psychopathy and a desire to maximize personal gains in a moral dilemma task. Monaghan et al. based their work on samples that included university students as well as employees of an international company and online participants recruited from a general website associated with the study.

The final 12-item scale divides into the two components of views and tactics, as shown below. The first three items in each category are scored as positive indications, and the second three as negative indications of the trait:

Views subscale:

In my opinion, human nature is to be dishonest.

I think that most people will take advantage of others in the right situation.

When people do something nice for me they really have another agenda.

I feel that deep down people trust each other.

I think people would rather help each other than act selfishly.

I believe that most people are essentially good.

Tactics subscale:

I think that it is OK to be unethical for the greater good.

I think that it is OK to take advantage of others to achieve an important goal.

It is sometimes necessary for me to mislead others to get things done.

I value being honest over getting ahead.

To me, it is never justified to deceive others.

To me, something is not worth doing if it requires being unethical.

After subjecting the scores from these items to rigorous statistical testing, including obtaining scores from the same people over time (to assess consistency), the authors concluded that this two-factor measure performed as they expected it to do. Indeed, as they predicted, people scoring high on the views dimension were more likely to have misanthropic views toward others, to be highly narcissistic, and to have lower well-being.

The participants with high scores on the tactics subscale were, again, more likely to be high in the predicted attributes of psychopathy, lack of willingness to reciprocate, and an approach to moral dilemmas that emphasized means over ends. In other words, with just these 12 items, you should be able to get an accurate picture of an individual’s tendencies to try to subject you to their cynical and exploitative world views.

Now that you know someone is high in this very unpleasant quality, how can you avoid being subjected to their unfair and unfeeling treatment as they attempt to bend you to their will? Most importantly, recognize that just as they are used to controlling people, they would most likely be more malleable than you imagine. If the words “just say no” come to mind, then go ahead and follow through on that thought. Their callousness and lack of morality should not stop you from asserting your own free will, particularly once you recognize just how low in empathy they are. Second, consider reminding these individuals about the importance of achieving whatever goal you are supposed to be working toward. In that group project, if in fact your co-collaborator wants to see results, you can emphasize that the best way to do so is to join forces.

To sum up, most of the everyday manipulators you run into aren’t trying to get control of the world in the true Machiavellian sense. Furthermore, as the Monaghan et al. team point out, Machiavellianism is a trait, not a category, and it is one that can be shaped by experience. There may be hope for those would-be controllers in your life, but in the meantime, avoid being forced to fulfill their wishes so that you can fulfill your own.

Source: 12 Signs that You’re Dealing with a Master Manipulator

Página 8

Ditch the flowers and gift your Valentine something different

Original article

Published at: Feb 09, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

By Alicia Lee, CNN

Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Have you bought a gift for your significant other yet? Your mind might dart to a traditional bouquet of red roses, but why not try gifting something new and creative for a change?

A number of restaurants and retailers are selling special bouquets for you and your Valentine to enjoy. For your convenience, we've compiled some below.

A bouquet of carbs

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but as a woman, let me tell you that statement is equally applicable to us as well.

Beginning February 13, Olive Garden will include a bouquet of breadsticks in its Valentine's Day ToGo Dinner for Two.

Cheddar bay biscuits for your 'cheddar bae'

Yes, this isn't a bouquet, but it's a heart-shaped box filled with Red Lobster's iconic Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Who could say no to that?

Starting February 10, you can order a half-dozen biscuits to be picked up in a restaurant or delivered to your loved one's door (or your own door. I'm not here to judge). The heart-shaped box can be added to your order for an additional $1, while supplies last.

Give a 'hole' lotta love with some donuts

What's better than a box of donuts? A bouquet of donuts, like this one from Harry & David.

It goes for $49.99 and has 10 mini cake donuts dipped in either dark or white chocolate. They're beautifully decorated with more chocolate drizzle and candy toppings so you can tell your boo, "I donut want to live without you."

Cold, hard cash

Honestly, cash is probably the easiest gift to give someone. It lets the recipient buy whatever they want and you don't have to worry about getting a gift receipt. But handing someone an envelope of money can seem more like a business transaction than a way to say "I love you."

With a money bouquet, you can gift cash in a fun way that shows you still put some effort and time into the gift.

This one from Etsy seller Moneyleis4U has 12 roses made out of dollar bills that add up to $96. Including the cash and labor costs, the money bouquet goes for $150.

Topics for Discussion

1. Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? How?

2. What's the difference between Valentine's Day and Dia dos Namorados?

3. If you have to choose only one of the gifts from the article, which one would it be?

4. Describe your perfect Valentine’s Day date.

5. How should a single person do on Valentine's Day?

6. What is your favorite romantic movie?

Página 9

Bumblebees Are Disappearing Because Of Extreme Heat

Original article

Published at: Feb 06, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

By Lauren Sommer

Extreme temperatures are driving a dramatic decline in bumblebees across North America and Europe, according to a new study, in yet another way climate change is putting ecosystems at risk. Researchers looked at half a million records showing where bumblebees have been found since 1901, across 66 different species. They found that in places where bumblebees have lived in North America, you're about half as likely to see one today.

The decline is especially pronounced in Mexico, where bumblebees once lived in abundance. Big heat events can stress both the bees and the flowers they depend on. "It's these extreme events throughout the year that's pushing bees beyond what they've ever had to handle before," says Peter Soroye, a graduate student at the University of Ottawa and lead author on the study published in the journal Science. "And that seems to be driving a lot of the disappearances in bees."

Bumblebees also don't seem to be rapidly expanding into new habitats in search of cooler temperatures. Scientists believe that some plants and animals will move northward or to higher elevations as the climate warms. "They're simply not able to colonize new regions at the same rate that they're disappearing from old ones," Soroye notes.

"The trends are disturbing," says Rebecca Irwin, a professor of ecology at North Carolina State University who was not involved in the study. Bumblebees are crucial pollinators for natural landscapes. Just don't confuse them with honeybees. "It's an important distinction," Soroye says. "Bumblebees are fuzzy. They're like little teddy bears flying around in the sky."

Honeybees were brought over from Europe to pollinate many agricultural crops, while bumblebees are native to the U.S., evolving with the ecosystems that rely on them. "Bumblebees are some of the best pollinators that we have," Soroye says. "They're just so much bigger. When they land on a flower, they vibrate the entire flower." That signature buzz pollinates flowers that honeybees often can't. Crops like tomatoes and blueberries keep their pollen tucked away, unlike many plants that leave theirs out in the open.

"You can think of it like the pollen is stuck in a little salt shaker, and the bees need to shake the pollen at a certain frequency to get the pollen out of the salt shaker," Irwin explains. She says that "we need to figure out ways to help species cope with climate change, because if we don't do something, we're going to lose species that are really important for ecosystem function."

One bumblebee, the rusty patched bumblebee, is listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. In California, a legal battle has erupted between the state, agricultural groups and conservationists over protecting four bumblebees species under state law.

Still, scientists say there's a lot everyday people can do. "If you have a garden, fill it full of native plants that the bees can go visit," Soroye says. He also recommends leaving fallen logs or leaf piles on the ground, which can create shelter and shade during extreme heat events. "It's OK that your garden looks messy," Irwin says. "That's a good thing for the bees."

Source: Bumblebees Are Disappearing

Página 10

There's been a run of surgical masks in the US

Original article

Published at: Jan 28, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

There's been a run of surgical masks in the US because of the coronavirus scare. You don't need them, physicians say

By Scottie Andrew, CNN

In Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus has killed at least 106 people and sickened 4,515 more, wearing face masks is mandatory. Half a world way in the US, major retailers are selling out of basic surgical masks amid panic from consumers.

Surgical masks are a basic defense against some viruses, and they may be helpful in communities where health officials suspect viruses are circulating widely. But in the US, there's no need to wear surgical masks -- says infectious disease expert Dr. Charles Chiu.

There's no evidence of sustained novel coronavirus transmission in the US like there is in China, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not recommended Americans wear masks in public. "Right now, there's no evidence that wearing face masks is going to help prevent that infection," Chiu, a professor of laboratory medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN. "I would not recommend that someone in the US who does not have direct exposure, did not recently travel to China...or in general that you go buy a face mask."

"Wearing a surgical mask helps you prevent sharing your germs if you're sick," Saskia Popescu, a hospital epidemiologist and infection prevention expert, told CNN. In China's Heibo Province where the coronavirus is thought to be actively spreading, surgical masks aren't a fail-safe, but they're "better than nothing," Popescu said. But in the US, Chiu said, wearing a mask could give wearers a "false sense of security," he said: If concerned people wear a surgical mask, usually made out of thin fabric or paper, they may not continually wash their hands or fear contact with infected people. "That's really not the nature of transmission," he said. "That's thought to be contact transmission -- touching infected surfaces, touching the eyes and nose."

Chiu and the CDC recommend what he calls "common-sense measures": Avoid contact with ill people, stay home from work when sick, thoroughly wash hands with soap. The CDC's recommendations for response in the US could change as the situation does. But at this point, Americans don't need to wear masks in public. "We should certainly continue to monitor the situation closely, but right now is not the time to panic," he said.

Source: There's been a run of surgical masks in the US because of the coronavirus scare

Questions for Discussion

What is 2019 Novel Coronavirus?

How does the virus spread?

How many people have already died from coronavirus?

Has anyone in Brazil gotten infected?

What would you do if you were in China?

How can I help protect myself?

What are the symptoms and complications that 2019-nCoV can cause?

Página 11

Millennials Vs. Boomers

Original article

Published at: Jan 07, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

30 Tweets Comparing Millennials Vs. Boomers That Are Funny Because They're True

By Matt Stopera

Boomer culture:

Baby Boomer culture is posting a stock image of a tropical location with an accompanying caption of, "So beautiful," or, "This would be the life!"

Millennial culture:

Millennial culture is tweeting photos of tropical vacation destinations that none of us will ever be able to afford.

Boomer culture:

Boomer culture is using ??? as crying emojis

Millennial culture:

Millennial culture is suppressing your urge to use emojis in emails to seem professional, then instantly worrying that your tone came across as rude ?

Boomer culture:

Baby Boomer Culture is having your phone’s ringer at maximum volume in a dead silent room and spending 30 seconds looking at the screen before silencing it.

Millennial culture:

Millennial culture is not knowing what your own ringtone sounds like because your phone’s been on vibrate since 2009

Boomer culture:

Boomer culture is holding a phone in one hand and typing with the others pointer finger while squinting at the screen like it’s the sun

Millennial culture:

Millennial culture is watching tv while also being on ur phone and laptop at the same time

Source: 30 Tweets Comparing Millennials Vs. Boomers

The Silent Generation: born from 1925 to 1945

Baby Boomers: born from 1946 to 1964

Generation Z or Gen Z (sometimes called post-millennials): born from 1997 on

Millennials: born from 1981 to 1996

Generation X: born from 1965 to 1980

Página 12

Australia Wildfires Have Claimed 25 Lives

Original article

Published at: Jan 06, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

Australia Wildfires Have Claimed 25 Lives And Will Burn For Months, Officials Say

By Bill Chappell

Australia's government is offering new help to people who have lost their homes and others affected by bushfires that have burned millions of acres of land. At least 25 people have died in the fires, which have brought historic levels of destruction.

While conditions improved slightly over the weekend, forecasters warn that dangerously hot and windy conditions will likely return later this week. At least 19 deaths have been reported in New South Wales, with several other fatalities in both Victoria and South Australia. Fire officials in New South Wales said Monday morning that 69 fires remained uncontained, with a total of 136 fires in the state.

The fires will continue to burn for months to come, officials say. "The number of cattle and sheep killed is still being tallied, but the losses are expected to be enormous," NPR's Jason Beaubien reports. "And the death toll among wild animals is even worse. An ecologist at Sydney University estimates that nearly half a billion animals perished in the state of New South Wales alone."

While a large portion of southeast Australia has been under threat of fires in recent weeks, people on its northwest coast are facing a new peril that could further strain national emergency authorities: Cyclone Blake, the first cyclone of Australia's tropical storm season, is expected to make landfall late Tuesday or early Wednesday local time.

A Category 1 storm as of Monday, Blake could intensify into a Category 2 cyclone as it moves to the south-southwest along the coast, national forecasters say.

Source: Australia Wildfires

Página 13

A family thought they were just baking a pizza

Original article

Published at: Jan 02, 2020 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

A family thought they were just baking a pizza. Then they found a snake inside their oven

By Alisha Ebrahimji

A family in North Carolina thought they were just making themselves some dinner, but there was something else in the oven with the frozen pizza. Amber Helm's husband Robert went to preheat their oven Monday night for what she said she thought would be an easy dinner. Once it had heated, Robert popped a frozen pizza in.

The Helms noticed smoke in the kitchen before realizing there was a snake in the oven. "The oven started smoking and I told my boys 'back up' so I can make sure a fire or anything didn't happen," Amber Helm said. "I looked closely and was like 'Oh my God! That's a frigging snake.'"

The family doesn't store anything in the oven when it's not being used so they never thought to check inside before preheating, according to Helm. "The oven was dark and the snake was likely dead by then from the preheat," she told CNN. The last time the family used their gas oven was on Christmas Day to cook a ham. "It got in via the holes at the bottom that allow for airflow," Amber Helm said.

The Helms have two small children. Their 3-year-old shared their shock while the 1-year-old was left unsure of what had happened. "I immediately got them out of the house and took them to Applebee's while my husband stayed home and got rid of the snake and a started to air out the house and clean the oven," Helm said.

The Helms just moved into their home last January and said the neighbors across the street own a horse farm and told them they never had any issues like this before. "I was queasy and it was creepy," Robert Helm said. A local company is coming by the Helm home next week to make sure their future is snake free.

Source: Snake inside the oven

Página 14

Russian dairy farmers gave cows VR goggles

Original article

Published at: Nov 27, 2019 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

Russian dairy farmers gave cows VR goggles with hopes they would be happier and make better milk

Virtual reality isn't just for video games anymore. The technology is changing industries that many people had never thought it would, such as, *checks notes*, dairy farming? And here you thought technology couldn't get any weirder. A farm just outside of Moscow is testing VR glasses for its cows, it says, in an effort to increase the quantity -- and quality -- of the milk produced.

That's according to a news release published Monday from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Moscow region. It came accompanied by photos of a cow trying out its fancy new goggles.

The ministry rationalizes it like this: Studies have shown that cows' environmental conditions can impact the milk produced, specifically improving its quality or increasing its quantity. So, a team of developers, with the help of veterinarians and consultants for dairy production, made some oversized VR glasses for cows. They adapted the human versions to account for cows' different head shapes and eyesight, the news release says. And then voila! Cow VR glasses.

So far, it's unclear if the glasses have helped milk production -- further study will be needed for that. But a first test did reveal a decrease in anxiety and an increase in the emotional mood of the herd, the release said.

Source: Russian dairy farmers gave cows VR goggles

Página 15

How Meditation Can Help You Make Fewer Mistakes

Original article

Published at: Nov 11, 2019 | 22:30 pm

Source: click to check it out

How Meditation Can Help You Make Fewer Mistakes

If you are forgetful or make mistakes when in a hurry, a new study from Michigan State University – the largest of its kind to-date – found that meditation could help you to become less error prone. The research, published in Brain Sciences, tested how open monitoring meditation – or, meditation that focuses awareness on feelings, thoughts or sensations as they unfold in one's mind and body – altered brain activity in a way that suggests increased error recognition.

Lin and his MSU co-authors – William Eckerle, Ling Peng and Jason Moser – recruited more than 200 participants to test how open monitoring meditation affected how people detect and respond to errors. “These findings are a strong demonstration of what just 20 minutes of meditation can do to enhance the brain’s ability to detect and pay attention to mistakes,” Moser said. “It makes us feel more confident in what mindfulness meditation might really be capable of for performance and daily functioning right there in the moment.” “It’s great to see the public’s enthusiasm for mindfulness, but there’s still plenty of work from a scientific perspective to be done to understand the benefits it can have, and equally importantly, how it actually works,” Lin said.

Source: Michigan State University - Meditation

Short adjectives:

We usually add –er to one-syllable words to make comparatives:

Josh is taller than his sister.

Long adjectives:

We use more to make comparatives for most two-syllable adjectives and for all adjectives with three or more syllables:

I’m more interested in music than sport.

Página 16

Croatian port of Dubrovnik may ban new restaurants

Original article

Published at: Nov 05, 2019 | 10:30 am

Source: click to check it out

It has so far fought overtourism by limiting the number of cruise ships that dock in its ports, banning four in five souvenir stalls, and cutting the number of tables and chairs outside restaurants by 20%. And now the Croatian port of Dubrovnik has suggested an even more stringent measure: an effective ban of all new restaurants.

The city has seen a substantial growth in visitor numbers in recent years, partly driven by its starring role in the popular "Game of Thrones" TV series. Dubrovnik's council will vote in December on the restaurant proposal, which would see a moratorium on any new outdoor chairs and tables in the Old Town for the next five years. That doesn't seem like much to most of us -- but since most restaurants in Dubrovnik's Old Town are built into the city walls, indoor seating is extremely limited. Effectively, the move translates as a ban on new restaurants.

"Anyone wanting to open a restaurant in the Old Town cannot put down new tables and chairs for the next five years," Mayor of Dubrovnik Mato Franković, who is proposing the move, told CNN of his plans. "They can open inside, but knowing the Old City it's very hard to find a place where you can work inside. Ninety nine percent of restaurants work mainly with outside tables."

The city council owns all the public space in Dubrovnik, and can therefore decide whether or not a restaurant can be allocated space outside for tables. If a restaurant closes, Franković said, it would be considered as fully closed -- meaning other businesses would not be able to take over the space. When asked if that would effectively mean a five-year ban on new restaurants, he said: "Correct."

Graham Carter, founder and director of Unforgettable Croatia, told CNN Travel that "the majority" of Dubrovnik's restaurants use outdoor seating, due to limited space indoors. He added, "Limiting new restaurants from opening is a smart move. "Space is already at a huge premium in Dubrovnik, particularly in the peak season months. The increased space needed by restaurants means less area for pedestrians to walk through and overcrowded streets."

The fight against overtourism

Franković has cast himself as a fighter against the negative effects of mass tourism. Last year, he announced that no more than two cruise ships per day would be allowed to dock in the city -- something that the port has stuck to for 70% of the time in 2019.

He has also closed down 80% of souvenir stands in the town, and cut back on 20% of outdoor seating -- with another 10% to be cut from January 1 2020, as voted on by the city council Monday night.

It is thought to be the first restaurant-related salvo in the fight against overtourism. Venice voted to ban new fast food outlets in 2017, but many Venetians claim that new take-out joints continue to open. The mayor of Venice was not available for comment.

The moratorium forms part of the "5x5x5" model that Franković introduced in October. Previously, contracts on business premises were renewed annually on 31 December. But the new model will give five-year leases, in order to give owners "more business

security" and the city a "strategic role in managing public space," a spokesperson told CNN.

Dubrovnik locals seemed tentatively hopeful at the news. "I think it is good to limit the number of restaurants as order is good," Alan Mandić, the owner of boutique travel agency Secret Dalmatia -- who refuses to work with tourists who take any kind of cruise in Croatia -- told CNN, "Restaurants have both indoor and outdoor seating but of course it is far more attractive to sit outside." But he

added: "It should not be just restaurants that should be in order."

Justin Francis, CEO of Responsible Travel, which campaigns for sustainable tourism, told CNN: "A limit on the number of new restaurants may stop the overcrowding problem from worsening in the Old Town, which residents describe like living in the middle of Disneyland.

This is a welcome move as listening to and working with the residents is an essential step in having a successful tourism policy."

CNN Travel - Dubrovnik