This is why Indonesia’s tsunami warning failed

Aftermath of the tsunami that hit Indonesia

Indonesia’s tsunami-warning system has been out of commission for six years, officials revealed in the wake of the series of giant waves that just killed at least 373 there — and as the country’s president ordered its disaster agency to finally purchase a new early system Monday.

Victims on Indonesia’s islands of Java and Sumatra were taken totally by surprise when the Anak Krakatau volcano eruptions caused an underwater landslide that sent the tsunami crashing into their coasts Saturday.

The nation of islands has a network of tsunami-detecting buoys — devices floating off the country’s coasts designed to submit warnings about big waves to its national disaster agency — but they have been broken since 2012, an agency spokesman said.

“Vandalism, lack of funds, technical faults have caused the current absence of the tsunami buoy system,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho in a series of tweets, according to Channel NewsAsia.

But experts say that even if the buoy system had been working, it probably wouldn’t have offered much warning because the volcano was so close to the islands’ coastline.

“Tsunami warning buoys are positioned to warn of tsunamis originated by earthquakes at underwater tectonic plate boundaries,” David Rothery of the UK’s Open University told the Jakarta Post.

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Rescuers desperately search for survivors as death toll climbs from Indonesia tsunami

“Even if there had been such a buoy right next to Anak Krakatau, this is so close to the affected shorelines that warning time would have been minimal given the high speeds at which tsunami waves travel.”

Indonesia does have an advance warning system for earthquakes, but Sutopo said the country needed one that was also “triggered by undersea landslides and volcanic eruptions.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday ordered the agency to purchase new early detection and warning systems that will give people enough time to get to safety.

“I have instructed BMKG to purchase equipment for early detection, early warning systems that will be able to provide timely alerts for civilians, so that they can take action quickly,” he said while visiting the affected areas, per Channel NewsAsia.

This 195-gigapixel photo is so huge, you can zoom in and see people’s faces

A screenshot from the 195-gigapixel photo of Shanghai, China. Big Pixel

Smartphone cameras have gotten so good that we struggle to find a reason to invest in a point-and-shoot, but there are still major advancements being made in camera tech that are light years ahead of anything you can fit in your pocket. A new panorama shot by China’s Jingkun Technology (calling themselves “Big Pixel”) is a great example of that, and its size is so jaw-dropping, you could spend days staring at it.

The photo, taken from high on the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, shows the surrounding landscape in stunning detail. From your virtual perch many stories above the ground, you can zoom in so far that you can read the license plates on cars and spot smiling faces greeting each other on the sidewalk.

The image itself is way too large to post here, but you can visit the company’s website and use their online tool to enjoy it for yourself. It’s a bit like a treasure hunt, and you can easily lose some serious time just trying to find new and interesting things to check out. However, a bit of a warning: Jingkun’s website has been experiencing some downtime since the image was posted (likely due to lots and lots of visitors), so if the link leads to a dead end, just try again later.

So just how large is the image? It’s large enough that the numbers are actually hard to grasp. Consider your average smartphone camera, which is around 12 megapixels, give or take a few depending on what flagship model you own. It takes some pretty sharp photos, right? Well, this image of Shanghai is 195 gigapixels. One megapixel equals 1 million pixels, while a gigapixel equals 1 billion pixels … and we’re talking about 195 gigapixels in this particular image.

It’s a remarkable sight, but it’s also somewhat scary. As camera technology reaches incredible milestones like this, it raises the question of when (not if) it will be used for mass surveillance. How long will it be before just walking out your front door means being observed by a camera from miles away? The likely answer is “Sooner than we’d like.”

Musk’s SpaceX rocket company to raise $500M in funding: report

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX is set to raise $500 million at a $30.5 billion valuation, the Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the fundraising.

The company is raising the capital from existing shareholders and new investor Baillie Gifford & Co., the third-largest shareholder in Musk-led electric carmaker Tesla.

SpaceX did not immediately responded to Reuters request for comment.

SpaceX investors are paying $186 per share for new stock in the latest funding round, WSJ reported, adding that it is up about 10 percent from the $169-per-share paid during an April fundraising.

In April, Reuters reported that SpaceX was raising $507 million in a new round of funding, valuing the company at around $26 billion.

The Hawthorne, Calif.-based company has outlined plans for a trip to Mars in 2022, to be followed by a manned mission to the red planet by 2024.

Separately, SpaceX’s launch of a long-delayed navigation satellite for the US military was halted on Tuesday, postponing for at least a day the space transportation company’s first designated national security mission for the US.

Foul-mouthed parrot uses Alexa to order snacks while owner is away

An African grey parrot has made headlines recently for inadvertently making orders via his owner’s Amazon Echo. Originally reported via The Times of London, the parrot — whose name is Rocco — would mindlessly activate Alexa and have the virtual assistant tell jokes and play music. Rocco even tried to order a few items from Amazon, but the owner wisely had set up controls to prevent unauthorized purchases.

What makes the somewhat lighthearted story even more amusing is that Rocco previously had a stint living at the UK’s National Animal Welfare Trust (NAWT) but was kicked out — yes, kicked out — because he was swearing too much. As the old adage says, truth is stranger than fiction. Rocco was subsequently placed under the care of a NAWT employee named Marion Wischnewski whereupon he quickly started activating Alexa.

In an interview on the story, Wishnewski said that she was surprised to look at her Amazon shopping list and stumble across a number of items she certainly didn’t order. Funny enough, Rocco had attempted to purchase quite a few snacks, including strawberries and ice cream.

While many people simply assume that parrots are smart because they can mimic human language, the reality is that most parrots are far from intelligent creatures. The African grey parrot, however, is something of an exception to the rule. Interestingly enough, a 2012 study published in The Royal Society found that the grey parrot has cognitive thinking skills in some areas that are on the same level as a 3-year-old human child.

You have to be high to enter this martial arts tournament

Doing jiu-jitsu is hard. Doing it while stoned on weed? It’s completely blissful, according to some pot-loving practitioners.

In Los Angeles, where weed is legal for recreational use, fighters are drawn to jiu-jitsu tournaments in which being high is not only an option but an actual requirement.

So much so that referees officiating the events have been known to dip in with their lighters and ignite joints for contenders needing to stay under the influence. Operating as High Rollerz BJJ  — the initials stand for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — these stoned-out showdowns are put on by Matt Staudt (his eponymous PR firm caters to the cannabis industry as well as MMA) and martial arts-loving imbiber Lonn Howard.

The point of all this is, at least in part, to dispel “antiquated cannabis stereotypes,” Los Angeles magazine reports.

The second High Rollerz event brought in 66 competitors from around the United States, including 16 women. Michelle Lopez, who won the female’s expert division enthuses, “I love weed and I love jiu-jitsu.”

That’s a good thing, as the prize for each division champion was a pound of pot.

Anyone who is skeptical about fighting while stoned should indulge in a blaze session with Erik Daniel Cruz. The musician-actor and martial arts black belt tells LA Weekly that he “likes to smoke a joint to calm nerves before a big competition.” He says, “It helps you to relax and stay focused while you’re in an anxiety combat situation.”

Still, Cruz adds, getting high before hitting the mats may not be for everyone. “When you compete so much that you don’t get nervous anymore, that’s when you can start using cannabis.”

These are the worst holiday toys of all time

As kids raced to help four colorful hippos stuff their faces, parents were treated to the ear-splitting sound of marbles hitting plastic. Said marbles also had a knack for popping off the game board and onto the floor, where they turned into slippery booby traps.

Tickle Me Elmo (1996)

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Kids begged for this squeezable version of “Sesame Street’s” little red monster. But moms and dads who managed to get their hands on one were rewarded with round after round of Elmo’ s creepy, riotous laughter.

Tamagotchi (1997)

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This keychain-sized digital hatchling required nonstop attention (food! play! sleep!) and would beep angrily if its needs went unmet. Just like any other family pet, Tamagotchi’s care and feeding often fell to irritated parents.

Furby (1998)

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Parents who invited this owl-like, animatronic creature into their home were disappointed to discover that cute-looking Furby was actually an insufferable chatterbox. Even worse: It had no volume control — or off-switch.

“The Elf on the Shelf” (2005)

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Kids adore Santa’s lurking little envoy, even though he’s supposedly spying on them. But annoyed parents don’t like having to move him around every morning — nor do they appreciate the widespread expectation that the Elf delivers pre-Christmas treats.

Family finds cat alive a month after deadly wildfire destroyed home

PARADISE, Calif. — A family has been reunited with their cat after it stayed behind during a deadly wildfire last month that leveled their home in Northern California.

Courtney Werblow and her family returned to her parents’ burned home in Paradise over the weekend and found their beloved cat, Timber, standing near the ruins.

Werblow recorded a video of the emotional moment when she spots the beige cat with a brown face looking at them from a distance.

She starts to cry as she calls Timber for a bowl of cat food.

After some hesitation, Timber walks over to Werblow, who exclaims in tears “You made it! You made it!”

Werblow tells news station ABC10 it was a much-needed moment of hope for her family and parents who lost everything in the fire.

CIA once secretly implanted mind-control devices in dogs’ brains

The CIA created remote-controlled dogs by operating on their brains during a bizarre mind-control experiment, according to freshly declassified documents.

During the top-secret 1963 project, researchers implanted a device inside six canines’ skulls and guided them through an open field, according to documents posted on The Black Vault, a website specializing in declassified government records.

The pooches could be made to run, turn and stop as scientists zapped the reward center of their brains with electrical currents, according to the CIA papers, which were published in 1965.

“The specific aim of the research program was to examine the feasibility of controlling the behavior of a dog, in an open field, by means of remotely stimulated electrical stimulation of the brain,” the documents state.

“Such a system depends for its effectiveness on two properties of electrical stimulation delivered to certain deep lying structures of the dog brain: the well-known reward effect, and a tendency for such stimulation to initiate and maintain locomotion in a direction which is accompanied by the continued delivery of stimulation.”

Some of the dogs suffered side effects, including infections caused by a head wound that failed to properly heal, according to the papers.

Eventually, the CIA tried a method in which they “embedded the electrode entirely within a mound of dental cement on the skull,” the document states.

The experiment was part of the notorious MKUltra project, in which the CIA fed humans psychotropic drugs and shocked them to learn about mind control.

Millennials are using social media to name their kids

Young parents have a handle on naming their kids.

“I have two kids — daughters — and social media played a role in both of their names,” Sara Mauskopf, a 33-year-old San Francisco mom and the founder of parenting app Winnie tells Marketwatch.

While Mauskopf knew she wanted her now 3-year-old daughter’s first name to be Bryn, her requirements for a middle name were that it started with “A” and that the Twitter handle was available. “I was really gung-ho about getting the Twitter handle, so in choosing a middle name I was checking Twitter,” she explains, eventually axing Ava, Anne and others because those Twitter user names were taken.

And when she had her second child earlier this year, she once again turned to a social media forum on her app Winnie — this time to get feedback on a name she loved, Isla. But users told her that it was “impossible for people to see the name spelled and pronounce it correctly … they were very convincing,” she says. So her youngest daughter is now named Aubrey.

She’s not alone in considering social media when naming her child, says Ari Lightman, a professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College in Pittsburgh. “Millennials really understand the importance of creating a digital identity,” he says.

And relationship expert April Masini says that the internet is the “new stomping ground” for naming your kids as “parents in the know are wanting their kids’ names to be relevant, and they are wanting to reserve Twitter and Insta handles, as well as buy up domain names.” Indeed, about half of millennial parents say that it’s crucial that their children have an online presence early on, versus just one in four Gen Xers, according to a survey released this year by domain provider GoDaddy.com.

Even those slightly older than millennials are using social media to figure out baby names. Stephen Seidel, 41, the founder of consultancy firm The Seidel Agency, is one of them. He used Facebook to narrow down names for his 4-year-old daughter (he and his wife liked Samantha, but when a Facebook friend named her daughter that, they axed the name), and got her a YouTube channel, domain name and Gmail address shortly after she was born.

The goal, he says, was to “give her the opportunity to create her own business” in the future, and to allow her to easily replay memories and experiences (they “periodically email her and let her know about all the wonderful things she does and the milestones she’s accomplished,” he says, so she can read them in the future.).

And experts say consulting social media when naming your child — be it asking others about a name on Facebook, or using social media handles to inform a name — can be smart. “With the goal of not having your child get lost in the social shuffle and losing opportunities, it may be best to take a proactive social branding strategy or ‘self-insurance’ from the very start of their life,” says Robb Hecht, an adjunct professor of marketing at Baruch College in New York City . “Just like a kid graduating with top grades or obtaining scholarships, a kid today could have a distinct advantage if her or his parents were setting them up for their future virtual self.” And Masini notes that it’s smart and “especially important for people wanting to create a special identity for themselves and their children and families.”

Others disagree: Lots of people have a social media handle that’s different from their name, so that shouldn’t be a factor in naming your child, says Kim Randall, the owner of KiMedia Strategies. Adds Kent Lewis, the president and founder of marketing firm Anvil: “A [social media] handle can be changed or modified over time, and typically isn’t as important as the content and visibility of the profile.”

But both Randall and Lewis still believe that securing social media handles and domain names very early — even before they’re born — is smart. That’s what Elizabeth Piper, 30, a social media strategist at Sparkloft Media, did. “My husband and I claimed the handle for my soon-to-be-born baby girl after we made the announcement on our social accounts, because we have a good number of people tagging a great potential handle for our baby in our posts’ comments,” she says. “I didn’t want someone to take advantage of that and snag it, so I did it first.”