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Titanic explorer says two likely disaster causes are survivable, one is not

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

By Danielle Bochove | Bloomberg The submersible vessel that vanished during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck may have experienced one of the so-called trinity of disasters that all such expeditions seek to avoid: a hull breach, a fire or an entanglement.The first of those outcomes isn’t survivable, said Joe MacInnis, the renowned Canadian explorer and physician who has been to the Titanic site four times and is a close friend of one of the passengers aboard the missing Titan.“A hull failure is catastrophic,” MacInnis, 86, said in an interview Tuesday. “There is this kind of implosion, and it’s terrible.”However, the second two disasters can be managed. Crew train for fire emergencies and although challenging, all good subs have firefighting capabilities. And MacInnis has himself experienced what it’s like to be trapped by the doomed passenger ship — and to break free — more than 30 years ago.“It was my second dive to the Titanic,” he said. He was inside a Russian Mir submersible when...

Temecula councilmember walks off dais over LGBTQ Pride Month proclamation

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

When Temecula Mayor Zak Schwank started reading, City Councilmember Jessica Alexander started walking.Alexander, an outspoken Christian conservative, walked off the council dais during a recent meeting as the mayor began to read a proclamation honoring LGBTQ Pride Month in the city.Before she left, Alexander decried what she described as sexually explicit LGBTQ flags, including one she said promotes pedophilia.The proclamation, declared by the city’s Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Commission and presented to high school clubs supporting LGBTQ rights, is inappropriately aimed at children, said Alexander, who opposes the seven-member commission and criticized the Temecula City Council’s Pride Month proclamation in 2022.“Where is your moral and ethical line for each one of you as a city council member?” Alexander said to her colleagues during the council’s Tuesday, June 13, meeting.“If you don’t oppose this proclamation being given to minors, we are celebrating and encouraging s...

Opinion: Why baseball fans should root for gambling’s expansion

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

The next time your favorite baseball team negotiates a nine-figure deal for an injury-prone pitcher, blame the oddsmakers. They’ll soon be the source of cash upon which baseball depends to sustain the sport’s lofty pay packages.Both Major League Baseball and media companies are vying to control the next wave of sports gambling, integrating betting into streamed broadcasts of games. The expansion of betting will make some baseball traditionalists queasy. But wary fans should consider the alternative — higher costs to watch or attend games as both teams and media companies grasp for new sources of revenue.For years, baseball and other sports leaned upon regional television networks to pay them billions of dollars for the rights to broadcast games to the home fans. Now, cord-cutting is choking off that lucrative pipeline.The question over who should benefit from the switch became more urgent two weeks ago, when a court ordered Diamond Sports Group, a Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary...

Consumer tip: How to recognize text message scams

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

Scammers have expanded their schemes from emails to text messages, hoping their ease of use and speed of response will be too hard for potential victims to resist. The scammers are relying on you to not pay attention to details in these texts and respond with less thought. The scam texts usually have one thing in common — they impersonate a known entity like a bank or delivery service.Related ArticlesTechnology | Opinion: Daniel Ellsberg legacy inspires whistleblowers and truth-tellers Technology | Hackers threaten to leak Reddit data if company doesn’t pay $4.5 million, change pricing policy Technology | Oakland hit with class-action lawsuit over ransomware attack The Federal Trade Commission reports that in 2022 the top 5 text scams were copycat bank fraud prevention alerts; fake “free” gift offers that involved significant costs; fake package delivery problems; phony job offers; and false security alerts from Amazon. The response to...

Celebrate National Tequila Sunrise Day where it has important Bay Area roots

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

Wednesday is National Tequila Sunrise Day. Who knew? Certainly not me, at least not until recently, and I’m the one who wrote the original comprehensive history of that drink when I wrote for National Geographic Assignment in 2012, as well as the IJ.The history of that drink is now pretty well documented. The name was invented at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel by Gene Sulit, but it was Billy Rice and Bobby Lozoff, two bartenders at the Trident restaurant in Sausalito, that reinterpreted that name into the drink that we know today.Premiered this year by Santo Spirits — Red Rocker Sammy Hagar’s tequila/mezquila company — the Sunrise and rock ‘n’ roll connection comes almost like an awareness slap to the head. But, of course, because it was the Rolling Stones that originally brought the drink to national attention.“We trademarked ‘National Tequila Sunrise Day’ but are also having a love affair with the cocktail’s versatility and multigenerational appeal,” says Sausalito’s Kate Palmer, regi...

San Quentin inmates lack water or functional toilets after pipe failure

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

A failed water pipe at San Quentin State Prison has left 1,698 inmates without drinking water or functional toilets in their cells for days.Prison Lt. Guim’Mara Berry said that the staff became aware of the problem at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday when “flooding from the outside of the San Quentin State Prison perimeter toward the visiting building and lower parking lot” was reported.“As a precautionary measure, movement was limited at the institution until the flooding situation was under control,” Berry said. “All areas were checked for flooding, and necessary measures were taken to address the issue.”Berry said that all leaks and flooding were controlled by 9:30 a.m. Saturday.“They are investigating the flood. I can only confirm that there is a busted pipe underground,” she said.Tyler Silvy, a spokesperson for the Marin Municipal Water District, said his agency dispatched a service crew to the area at about 7 a.m. Saturday. Silvy said workers confirmed that the pipe failure occurred w...

Winnebago: Fiscal Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — Winnebago Industries Inc. (WGO) on Wednesday reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $59.1 million.On a per-share basis, the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based company said it had net income of $1.71. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $2.13 per share.The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.74 per share.The recreational vehicle maker posted revenue of $900.8 million in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $950.6 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WGO at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WGOSource

Condenan a un ex agente de Policía de Nueva York y a otras dos personas por acechar a una familia de Nueva Jersey en nombre del Gobierno chino

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

(CNN) — Un jurado federal en Nueva York condenó a tres hombres este martes por acosar a una familia de Nueva Jersey en nombre del Gobierno chino.Los acusados son Michael McMahon, de 55 años; Zhu Yong, de 66 años; y Zheng Congying, de 27 años. Todos fueron declarados culpables de cargos de conspiración y acoso relacionados con el complot tras un juicio de tres semanas. McMahon, ex sargento del Departamento de Policía de la ciudad de Nueva York, y Yong también fueron condenados por actuar ilegalmente como agente de la República Popular China.Los veredictos de culpabilidad son la primera victoria en un juicio en los esfuerzos del Departamento de Justicia de EE.UU. para combatir la Operación Fox Hunt, la supuesta campaña anticorrupción internacional del Partido Comunista Chino dirigida a aquellos que el gobierno chino considera fugitivos, a menudo exfuncionarios o personas ricas sospechosas de cometer delitos económicos.Otros tres acusados se han declarado culpables en relación co...

“Daños catastróficos”: demanda había advertido sobre riesgos del sumergible desaparecido

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

La compañía que gestiona el sumergible desaparecido en el Atlántico Norte en una inmersión turística al pecio del Titanic fue advertida varias veces de que el vehículo podría sufrir problemas “catastróficos” de seguridad, según documentos judiciales.Había cinco personas a bordo del Titan, que si seguía funcionando tendría una reserva menguante de oxígeno, mientras una creciente flota internacional de barcos y aviones buscaba al vehículo operado por OceanGate Expeditions. La compañía de exploración submarina con sede en Everett, Washington, ha hecho viajes anuales al Titanic desde 2021.En la primera buena noticia desde que comenzó la búsqueda, una aeronave canadiense detectó ruidos submarinos, aunque no se había localizado el sumergible, según indicó el miércoles por la mañana la Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos. Sumergible desaparecido: avión de Canadá detecta ruidos en el área de búsqueda Tripulantes del sumergible desaparecido tienen oxíge...

Hong Kong pollster plans to limit questions on sensitive topics, including Tiananmen crackdown

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:34:57 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — One of Hong Kong’s most reputable sources for public opinion data is limiting its survey scope, including on sensitive topics such as the Tiananmen crackdown. The change, on the heels of a risk assessment done by the government, would likely muffle access to information showing changes in public sentiment toward the city.Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute announced Tuesday it tentatively decided to cancel about one-fourth of its regular survey questions, and use about one-third of the remaining ones only for internal reference, academic research, and commissioned services, rather than releasing them for public use. The announcement came two weeks after the release of its report about the anniversary of China’s crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy protests was canceled due to the Hong Kong government’s risk assessment. The institute’s CEO, Robert Chung, told the Associated Press in an email reply Wednesday that the government’s risk ev...