Canada has been on #65
That's a number 1 for Singapore
notables #23712 not posted
What time did the kegger start?
Canada #65
23andMe Reportedly Faces Bankruptcy ā What Will Happen to Everyoneās DNA Samples?
October 21, 2024
Since it was founded nearly two decades ago, 23andMe has grown into one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world. Millions of people have used its simple genetic testing service, which involves ordering a saliva test, spitting into a tube, and sending it back to the company for a detailed DNA analysis.
But now the company is on the brink of bankruptcy. This has raised concerns about what will happen to the troves of genetic data it has in its possession.
The companyās chief executive, Anne Wojcicki, has said she is committed to customer privacy and will āmaintain our current privacy policyā.
But what can customers of 23andMe themselves do to make sure their highly personal genetic data is protected? And should we be concerned about other companies that also collect our DNA?
What happened to 23andMe?
23andMe has had a rapid downfall after the 2021 high of its public listing.
Its value has dropped more than 97%. In 2023 it suffered a major data breach affecting almost seven million users, and settled a class action lawsuit for US$30 million.
Last month its seven independent directors resigned amid news the original founder is planning to take the company private once more. The company has never made a profit and is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy.
What this might mean for its vast stores of genetic data is unclear.
When people sign up for a 23andMe test the company assures them: āyour privacy comes firstā. It promises it will never share peopleās DNA data with employers, insurance companies or public databases without consent. It puts choice in the hands of consumers about whether their spit sample is kept by the company, and whether their de-identified genetic and other data is used in research. Four in five people who bought a 23andMe test have agreed to their data being used in research.
However, if you dig a bit deeper, itās clear that 23andMe uses peopleās data in many different ways, such as sharing it with service providers. Perhaps most importantly, if the company goes bankrupt or is sold, peopleās information might be āaccessed, sold or transferredā as well.
In a statement to The Conversation, a 23andMe spokesperson said Wojcicki is ānot open to considering third-party takeover proposalsā, and that in the event of any future ownership change, the companyās existing data privacy agreements with customers āwould remain in place unless and until customers are presented with, and agree to, new terms and statements ā and only after receiving appropriate notice of any new terms, under applicable data protection lawsā.
Tips for people to protect their genetic data
With 23andMe in the spotlight, people might want to take steps to protect their genetic data (although experts say thereās not really any more risk now than there has always been).
The simplest thing is to delete your account, which opts you out of any future research and discards your saliva sample. But if your data has already been de-identified and used in research, it canāt be retrieved. And even if you delete your account, 23andMe says it will keep hold of information including your genetic data, date of birth and sex, to comply with its own legal obligations.
Buying a DNA test online might feel fun and rewarding and itās certainly been marketed that way. There are plenty of good news stories about how getting those test results has helped people to connect with lost family or understand more about their health risks. People just need to buy tests with their eyes open about what this might mean.
First, the results might not be all positive. Finding out about health risks without guidance from a health professional can be scary. Learning that the person you thought was your mum or dad actually isnāt, is an outcome for as many as 1 in 20 people whoāve bought a DNA test online.
Second, every company selling DNA tests does so with lots of legal conditions attached. People click through these without a second thought but researchers have shown it is worth taking a closer look. Consider what the company says about what it will do with your data and your sample, how long they will keep it, who else can access it, and how easy it will be to delete later.
There are guidelines from organisations like Australian Genomics that can help. And bear in mind that if a company holding your DNA profile is sold, it might be hard to make sure that data is protected.
More:
https://activistpost.com/2024/10/23andme-reportedly-faces-bankruptcy-what-will-happen-to-everyones-dna-samples.html
>The people who invented our system never imagined such cancerous lying scum.
They did, that's why the stocks, pillories, and gibbets
Hmmm, one to Jamaica voyage by that vessel, then assigned to Pacific June 1943
David C. Shanks was a troop transport that served with the US Army during World War II as USAT David C. Shanks, and during the Korean War with the US Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service as the USNS David C. Shanks (T-AP-180).
Service history
The ship was laid down for the Maritime Commission (MC) as MC hull 165, yard hull number 298, with prospective names of American Farmer / Gulfport, a Type C3-1N-P&C (Passenger & Cargo) ship by Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ship was allocated to the War Department, completed on 24 April 1943 and turned over for operation by the US Army Transportation Service at Mobile, Alabama as USAT David C . Shanks. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Army transport
Completed as an Army troop transport named for Major General David C. Shanks, the commander of the Port of Hoboken during World War I, the 12,097 GRT, 489 ft (149.0 m) overall length ship with capacity for 1,935 passengers was accepted by the Army, briefly put into New Orleans and made a voyage to Jamaica and return to New Orleans. [5]
In June 1943 the ship transferred to the Pacific stopping at San Francisco Port of Embarkation for a voyage to Honolulu. The next voyage in July was for the South West Pacific theatre (SWPA) to Brisbane and Milne Bay. In September the ship returned to San Francisco, where minor modifications improving ventilation and armament were made with operations resumed to SWPA ports including Auckland, Oro Bay, Noumea, Biak, and others. [5]
The transport left San Francisco for the Atlantic in July 1945 going to Leghorn, Italy returning troops to Hampton Roads. From Hampton Roads the transport made two round trips to Marseilles and Gibraltar before stopping at New York in December 1945 before sailing for Leyte, Philippines. On return 1 February 1946 to San Francisco after that voyage the ship underwent modifications to transport 430 dependents and 678 troops. After modification the transport made a voyage to Honolulu, Auckland, and Sydney. [5]
Transfer to Navy
On 15 March 1950, along with most of the Army's large transports, the ship was transferred to the MSTS designated USNS David C. Shanks (T-AP-180). Navy shifted the transport's home port, then Seattle, to San Francisco where voyages were made throughout the Pacific, including Honolulu, Manila, Guam, Kwajalein, Alaska, Japan, and Taiwan. In September 1959 the transport made final arrival at Los Angeles before shifting to San Francisco in October for inactivation and layup. The ship participated in operations to contain the Communist Chinese advance in Korea during the conflict there between December 1950 ā January 1951, and earned a battle star for her service. [3] The final transport configuration at layup was for a total of 1,013 passengers, 329 cabin and 684 troops. [2]
https://wikimili.com/en/USNS_David_C._Shanks
Pic from: https://shipscribe.com/usnaux2/AP/AP180-p.html
And then there's the ones that hide behind TOR
Canada #65
Europe Prepares List Of US Goods It Will Target With Tariffs If Trump Wins
by Tyler Durden Friday, Oct 18, 2024 - 05:45 AM
With Trump inching ever closer to unleashing the "most beautiful word in the dictionary" on America's trading partners - especially after tonight's disastrous Kamala Harris interview with Bret Baier - the European Union is bracing for the worst and according to Bloomberg, has already prepared a list of American goods it could target with tariffs if the former president wins the US election and follows through on his threat to hit the bloc with punitive trade measures.
Citing "people familiar with the blocās thinking", Bloomberg writes that new levies against US firms arenāt a base case for the EU and will only be used to retaliate against a move by the White House. In other words, a threat to Trump when, not if, he becomes president again. Which is a bold move for Brussels, let's see how it pays off for them when Trump and Europe, so desperate to export its goods anywhere now that China no longer wants much of what Europe has to sell and which exports far more to the US than it imports, launch a tit-for-tat trade war.
Trump caught the EU by surprise in 2018 when he hit European steel and aluminum exports with tariffs. In that instance, the bloc targeted politically sensitive companies with retaliatory duties, including Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Levi Strauss jeans. Since Trumpās win in 2016, the EU has adopted several trade defense tools, including an instrument to respond to economic coercion. Unfortunately for Europe, in the years since, the continent has been flooded with cheap Chinese EV models which have crushed what little is left of the German economy (now that cheap Russian gas is a thing of the past), and has forced it to fight for its "manufacturing powerhouse" survival. Which is why any trade war with the US will only lead to an accelerated demise of what is already a continent barely hanging on.
Meanwhile, Trump is unlikely to be scared off by the threat of retaliatory tariffs: āto me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ātariffs,ā Trump said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, where he reiterated his desire to impose broad tariffs against trading partners post the election. āItās my favorite word.ā
Trump has said that as president, he would target countries like China with tariffs anywhere from 60% to 100%, with a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports from other countries. He could also impose counter-measures against European digital services taxes that implicitly go after US technology champions.
āOur allies have taken advantage of us. More so than our enemies,ā Trump said. āOur allies are the European Union. We have a trade deficit of $300 billion with the European Union.ā
The news is the latest development as the EU prepares an impact assessment of the consequences of the November ballot, paying particular attention to the scenario in which Trump emerges as victor. Regardless of who wins the election, trade relations with the US will be a top priority. In the event of a Harris win, the EU will seek to sort out several of the irritants left unsolved during Bidenās presidency such as a permanent deal to get rid of the remaining steel and aluminum tariffs, said the person.
Harris has cast Trumpās tariffs as a tax on American consumers, even though her senile, demented boss whom she overthrew in a quiet palace coup in July, has refused to drop any of them
Even though Bidenās rhetoric has been more conciliatory than Trumpās, and his alignment with the EU over Ukraine has helped to repair the transatlantic relationship, EU officials remain conscious that his trade policy still has much in common with his predecessorās āAmerica Firstā approach. The Europeans were shaken, in particular, by Bidenās $390 billion-plus subsidy program to support green technology, which offers companies an incentive to shift investment from Europe to the US.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/europe-prepares-list-us-goods-it-will-target-tariffs-if-trump-wins
>Who are Persians?
The ones that had an empire that lost on land to the Spartans and at sea at the Battle of Salamis to other Greek city-states. For centuries after Persians were born dizzy from the whoopin