Anacostia Park can help weaken climate change’s damage

Anacostia Park could better serve the needs of the surrounding community if it were easier to access and there were more to do there. Fixing it up could also help protect generations of District residents from the worst impacts of climate change.

Real environmental problems are on the horizon

The primary challenge that climate change will put in front of the District in coming decades will be the risk of flooding caused by both tides and storm water. DC will lead the East Coast in tidal floods by 2045, due to rising sea levels, according to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists released last year.

Large-scale projects such as seawalls are going up to protect DC’s critical infrastructure, but smart growth and green infrastructure can often accomplish the same mission at a fraction of the cost. For the full article click here 

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Marines are facing $1B shortfall in modernization needs

The Army and Marine Corps are forced to compromise infrastructure modernization and therefore future military readiness due to a lack of funding, officials told Congress Dec. 3.

Top military infrastructure officials said that the military services have had to defer infrastructure maintenance because the Defense Department has prioritized funds for other needs, jeopardizing long-term readiness.

“There are four things you need to generate readiness. You need airspace, you need land, you need IT infrastructure … and you need personnel,” said Army Maj. Gen. Patrick White of G3 Operations U.S. Army Forces Command, during a House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness hearing. For the full article click here 

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Paris Talks Highlight Region’s Vulnerability to Climate Change

Two decades after the first United Nations climate summit in Berlin, and more than a century after the first scientific study linking atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide to climate change, global leaders have gathered in Paris to negotiate their response to a changing world.

While the world’s response to climate change has been dangerously slow – and while the largest polluters have already locked in significant global warming regardless of the outcomes of climate negotiations – many are optimistic that the Paris negotiations represent a major opportunity to initiate a global framework to substantively address climate change.

As Regional Plan Association develops recommendations for our Fourth Regional Plan, a long-term planning effort focused on the future of the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area, it is clear that the need to anticipate and adapt to climate change has become one of the region’s highest priorities. For the full article click here 

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The TPP’s ban on source-code disclosure requirements: bad news for information security

The secretly negotiated Trans Pacific Partnership is 2,000 pages’ worth of regulatory favors for various industries, but one that stands out as particularly egregious is the ban on rules requiring source-code disclosure.

Hardly a day goes by without a researcher discovering critical flaws in devices ranging from hospital cardio servers to home alarm systems. Source code disclosure is an important step in making these devices more secure, allowing for independent scrutiny and auditing of tools that could literally kill us if their programming contains undisclosed defects.

TPP’s ban on code auditing ties the hands of the countries that sign onto it, forbidding their legislatures and regulators from making rules that require vendors to disclose their source-code for regulatory approval or legal importation. For the full article click here 

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Xtralis VESDA-E Chosen by Australian Telecoms Giant Telstra to Protect Infrastructure Against Fire Threat

Xtralis VESDA-E smoke detectors have been selected by Telstra, the leading telecommunication service provider in Australia, to protect its switching exchanges and data centres against fire threats.

Telstra provides 16.7 million retail mobile services, 6.0 million retail fixed voice services, 3.1 million retail fixed data services, and also serves 20 countries outside of Australia. Telstra’s critical communication infrastructure has been protected by VESDA solutions for decades, with VESDA Xenon and Laser-based detectors deployed since the late 1990s.

With VESDA-E VEU, Telstra is matching its state-of-the-art communications facilities with the best in very early & reliable smoke detection and fire protection, ensuring its customers have the complete reliability and service continuity.

Only VESDA can provide the sensitivity & reliability to ensure smoke & fire threats are prevented in telecommunication and data communication facilities and Telstra’s long use of VESDA is a testament to that. For the full article click here

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House Subcommittee Unanimously Advances Draft Spectrum, Broadband Bills

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology unanimously voted on Wednesday to advance the Federal Spectrum Incentive Act.

The draft bill, also known as H.R. 1641, is a bipartisan measure that seeks to “incentivize federal agencies to free up additional spectrum for commercial use by relocating and consolidating spectrum holdings in return for a portion of the auction revenues.”

During Wednesday’s markup session the committee also approved a Discussion Draft bill that would amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to facilitate smoother deployment of broadband infrastructure. For the full article click here

 

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Take Down a Drone (Safely) and Win $100,000

A non-profit group will hold a competition next fall designed to help prevent drone attacks and accidents.

The federal government is seeking advice on disabling drones after they fly into restricted areas that doesn’t involve blasting them with shotguns or shooting them down with missiles.

A nonprofit called MITRE, which operates federally funded research and development centers, is hosting a competition aimed at creating technologies to help law enforcement prevent drone disasters. As it is, there is little authorities can do to stop drones from crashing into the stands at a packed sports stadium or being used as flying bombs. For the full article click here

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