Bay Area earthquake woes; rise and fall of the Rajneesh Cult; two factor authentication codes, and more
· Bay Area falling behind on quake safety despite booming tech economy
· Flesh-eating ulcer spreading rapidly in Australia
· A century ago, the Spanish flu killed 100 million people. Is a new pandemic on the way?
· The rise and fall of the Rajneesh Cult
· More than 700 children taken from parents at U.S. border in six-month period
· Just how random are two factor authentication codes?
· New tech suggests more homes near Des Plaines River at risk of flooding
· A cybersecurity power struggle is brewing at the National Security Council
· Alex Jones’s protegé, Paul Joseph Watson, is about to steal his crackpot crown
Bay Area falling behind on quake safety despite booming tech economy (Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times)
Property values are soaring to stratospheric levels. The tech economy is booming, fueling fast-paced development and spending on home renovations that ranks among the nation’s highest. But at a time of unparalleled prosperity in the Bay Area, there is growing concern that the region is not using more of its largesse to prepare for its greatest natural threat: a major earthquake.
Flesh-eating ulcer spreading rapidly in Australia (Melissa Davey, Guardian)
A severe tissue-destroying ulcer once rare in Australia is rapidly spreading and is now at epidemic proportions in regions of Victoria, prompting infectious diseases experts to call for urgent research into how it is contracted and spread.
A century ago, the Spanish flu killed 100 million people. Is a new pandemic on the way? (Michael Brooks, New Statesman)
Our leaders need to act like the outbreak has already started – because for all we know it may have.
The rise and fall of the Rajneesh Cult (Win McCormack, New Republic)
How the group at the center of the Netflix documentary “Wild, Wild Country” lost control in Oregon
More than 700 children taken from parents at U.S. border in six-month period (Caitlin Dickerson, New York Times)
The Department of Homeland Security has separated more than 700 children from immigrants claiming to be their parents at the border since October. More than 100 of those children were reportedly under the age of 4 at the time of the separation.
Just how random are two factor authentication codes? (Robbie Gonzales, Wired)
You know two-factor authentication tokens, the ephemeral, six-digit numbers you use as a second layer of security when logging into, say, your email? Those constantly updating, randomly generated numbers are one of the easiest ways to protect your accounts from being hacked. But for some time now, I’ve harbored a pet conspiracy theory about those codes: Maybe they aren’t as random as we’re led to believe.
New tech suggests more homes near Des Plaines River at risk of flooding (Patrick M. O’Connell, Chicago Tribune)
A newly released report from The Nature Conservancy and the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom indicates 41 million Americans live in areas at risk of flooding, three times more than official Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates.
A cybersecurity power struggle is brewing at the National Security Council (Chris O”Neill, Patrick Howell O’Neill, Cyberscoop)
Senior government officials are worried about the outcome of an ongoing power struggle inside the National Security Council that will shape the fate of the nation’s cybersecurity posture.
Alex Jones’s protegé, Paul Joseph Watson, is about to steal his crackpot crown (Nico Hines, Daily Beast)
Alex Jones’ apprentice at InfoWars has emerged from the shadows to carve out a following all his own—a fan base so huge that Paul Joseph Watson may soon eclipse Jones’ influence.
