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"Warmer temperatures can enhance evaporation rates, resulting in more moisture in the atmosphere," she says. "This increased moisture content can lead to more intense rainfall and more frequent and severe storms, including hurricanes and cyclones."

Eight reservoirs in two districts of Beijing and the Yongding River, the largest river to flow through Beijing, released flood water at the same time, flooding parts of Hebei Province, such as Zhuozhou City, stranding many residents. Staff from Zhuozhou's Emergency Management Bureau admitted to Chinese media that upstream flooding from Beijing had caused Zhuozhou's water level to rise quickly. The CCP government communicated internally that in order to protect Beijing, where water isn't draining, both Hebei Province and Tianjin City need to protect Beijing and prioritize diverting floodwaters for Beijing. The flood discharge period will last for 8 days and 23 hours.

Hurricane Hilary, now a powerful Category 4 storm churning off Mexico's Baja California peninsula, is making its way towards the Pacific coast. It's projected to hit Southern California as a tropical storm — the first since 1939 — by Sunday night and into Monday, bringing high winds and the potential for dangerous flooding.

"Life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flooding likely over much of Baja California and Southern California this weekend and early next week," the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a Friday afternoon advisory.

The NHC forecasts Hilary will make landfall in Baja on Sunday as a hurricane but lose strength as it makes its way north. It's expected to hit Southern California as a tropical storm as early as Sunday. Hilary's monsoonal rains will cause flash, urban and arroyo flooding with the potential for "significant impacts," the NHC said.

Menstrual products are so vital in emergency situations, especially when there are supply chain issues and no retail shelves being stocked.

Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens sounded before people ran for their lives from wildfires on Maui that killed at least 55 people and wiped out a historic town. Instead, officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations — but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach.

Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, with about 400 sirens positioned across the island chain to alert people to various natural disasters and other threats.

But many survivors said in interviews Thursday that they didn’t hear any sirens or receive a warning that gave them enough time to prepare and only realized they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby. The wildfires are the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people.

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Were China planning to invade Taiwan, its military preparations would be hard to hide. But before troops begin to muster, other actions, of an economic and financial nature, might signal China’s intent.

One area to focus on is commodities, namely energy, food and metals. China would want to secure adequate supplies of each before launching an invasion.

Energy is a good place to start. China imports nearly three-quarters of the oil it uses. The substance accounts for only 20% of the country’s energy use, but it would be crucial to any war effort.

Whereas fuel would be needed to power China’s war machine, food must be procured to sustain its people. China imports more agricultural produce than any other country. Obsessed with food security, it already has enormous stockpiles. In 2021 an official said its wheat reserves could meet demand for 18 months.

As with fuel and food, unusual metal-buying patterns could be a signal. Changes in China’s exports would be a more visible indicator. It might become more reluctant to part with the rare-earth metals crucial to many technologies. China has a near-monopoly on many of these.

Similar thinking infuses China’s approach to the financial system. It has introduced a cross-border payment mechanism that could, if necessary, bypass Western financial institutions—though at present most transactions still go through foreign platforms. China and its state-owned firms increasingly push trade partners to sign contracts in yuan, to reduce the country’s dependence on the dollar. If it were planning for war, China might also move its foreign-exchange reserves out of dollars and euros and into assets that are harder to sequester, such as gold.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2961593

Vulnerabilities in Sogou Keyboard encryption expose keypresses to network eavesdropping.

Use of facial recognition software led Detroit police to falsely arrest 32-year-old Porcha Woodruff for robbery and carjacking, reports The New York Times. Eight months pregnant, she was detained for 11 hours, questioned, and had her iPhone seized for evidence before being released. It's the latest in a string of false arrests due to use of facial-recognition technology, which many critics say is not reliable.

Extensions possess more powers than many regular apps on your devices. This means that files on a computer might not be safe from the spying eye.

"True self-care is care for yourself, your family, and your community. The mindset and lifestyle around readiness invites us to put the fun back in providing the fundamentals of human needs."

Low-cost prepping for power outages using solar and other items.