One of the book world’s greatest mysteries is finally ending: J.D. Salinger’s son says previously unpublished work by his late father will be coming out. 

In comments that appeared Friday in The Guardian, Matt Salinger confirmed long-standing reports that the author of The Catcher in the Rye continued to write decades after he stopped publishing books. He said that he and Salinger’s widow, Colleen, were “going as fast as we freaking can” to prepare the material for release. 

“He wanted me to pull it together, and because of the scope of the job, he knew it would take a long time,” Salinger said of his father, who died in 2010 and had not published work since the mid-1960s.  

“This was somebody who was writing for 50 years without publishing, so that’s a lot of material. So there’s not a reluctance or a protectiveness — when it’s ready, we’re going to share it,” he said.  

Might take years

Salinger, who helps oversee his father’s literary estate, says any new work might be years away and did not cite any specific titles or plots. He did indicate that the Glass family made famous in such fiction as Franny and Zooey would be seen again. 

“I feel the pressure to get this done, more than he did,” he said, adding that the unseen work “will definitely disappoint people that he wouldn’t care about, but for real readers, I think it will be tremendously well-received by those people and they will be affected in the way every reader hopes to be affected when they open a book. Not changed, necessarily, but something rubs off that can lead to change.” 

Longtime Salinger publisher Little, Brown and Co. had no comment Friday.  

J.D. Salinger published just four books in his lifetime: Nine Stories, The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey and a volume with the two novellas Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. The last work to come out in his lifetime was the story Hapworth 16, 1924, which appeared in The New Yorker in 1965. 

Salinger rarely spoke to the media and not only stopped releasing new work but rejected any reissues or e-book editions of his published material. This year marks the centennial of his birth and signs of a new openness emerged in 2018 when his estate permitted new covers and a boxed edition of his old fiction to come out for the 100th anniversary. A Salinger exhibit is planned later this year at the New York Public Library, and other promotional events are in the works. 

Over the past half-century, rumors and speculation intensified about whether any new books existed and whether they were of publishable quality. A former lover, Joyce Maynard, and Salinger’s daughter, Margaret, have both contended that the author continued to write books, allegedly stored in a vault in the author’s home in Cornish, N.H. 

5 works predicted

A 2013 documentary and book by Shane Salerno and David Shields cited two “independent and separate sources” in predicting five new works. One of the Salinger books would center on Catcher protagonist Holden Caulfield and his family. Others would draw on Salinger’s World War II years and his immersion in Eastern religion.

Matt Salinger has dismissed the contents of the Salerno-Shields project, but never definitively said that no new work would appear. 

Salerno wrote in an email Friday to The Associated Press that “it was always his [J.D. Salinger’s] intention — and specific direction — to have his work published after his death.” 

“I’m thrilled that Salinger fans around the world will finally get to see this important work from one of America’s finest writers,” Salerno added. “As the stories roll out over the years, I think you will find that all of our reporting was correct.” 
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From: MeNeedIt

Tech companies and nearly two dozen U.S. states clashed with the government in federal court Friday over the repeal of net neutrality, a set of Obama-era rules aimed at preventing big internet providers from discriminating against certain technology and services. 

Judges challenged arguments made by both sides in the face-off in an appeals court in Washington.  

Lawyers for the states and the companies tried to persuade the three-judge panel to restore the net neutrality regime, set in 2015 but repealed in December 2017 at the direction of a regulator appointed by President Donald Trump. The companies challenging the FCC action include Mozilla, developer of the Firefox web browser, and Vimeo, a video-sharing site. 

The net neutrality rules had banned cable, wireless and other broadband providers from blocking or slowing down websites and apps of their choosing, or charging Netflix and other video services extra to reach viewers faster. 

The practice of slowing down transmission is known as “throttling.” 

The action by the Federal Communications Commission rolling back the neutrality rules “is a stab in the heart of the Communications Act,” said attorney Pantelis Michalopoulos, referring to the Depression-era law that established the FCC. 

Information vs. telecom service

The FCC wrongly classified the internet as an information service rather than a telecom service, using that as a rationale for not cracking down on misconduct by big internet providers, Michalopoulos said, who represents Mozilla and the other companies in the case.  

Government lawyers, as well as big internet providers such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, argued to keep net neutrality repealed. 

Thomas Johnson, the FCC’s general counsel, said the agency’s “light-touch” regulatory scheme, requiring the internet providers to disclose their practices and operations, provides adequate safeguards. The internet — used more extensively to transmit information — is different both in nature and function from phone service, Johnson maintained. It therefore should be regulated as an information service and not subject to the utility-style oversight of phone companies, he said.   

The politically charged issue has emerged from its origins as an engineering challenge to become an anti-monopoly rallying point and even a focus for “resistance” to the Trump administration.  

Once Trump took office, net neutrality became one of his first targets as part of broader government deregulation. The FCC chairman he appointed, Ajit Pai, made rolling back net neutrality a top priority. 

On the other side, support for net neutrality comes from many of the same people who also are critical of the data-vacuuming tech giants that benefit from it. Politicians have glommed on to the cause to appear consumer-friendly. 

The Democratic takeover of the House in November’s midterm elections could revive efforts to enshrine net neutrality in federal law, though Trump likely would veto any such attempts. 

At the hearing in the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Stephen Williams questioned Michalopoulos’s assertions that the FCC had wrongly classified the internet as an information service. Telephone services, too, offer an array of customer products, he said. On the question of broadband providers charging premiums for faster service, Williams said a large majority of consumers prefer cheaper, lower-speed options, citing polls. 

Judges’ views

The judges are weighing whether the FCC had the authority to nix the 2015 rules and get out of the business of enforcing net neutrality. It appeared that Williams was sympathetic to the FCC’s arguments, while Judge Patricia Millett raised possible legal avenues for the companies and states suing the agency, and Judge Robert Wilkins was the swing vote, said Doug Brake, director of broadband and spectrum policy for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank.  

The judges could decide to can the repeal or send it back to the FCC for a redo if they have specific objections.  

“Today we fought for an open and free internet that puts consumers first,” Mozilla Chief Operating Officer Denelle Dixon said after the hearing. “We believe the FCC needs to follow the rules like everyone else.”
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From: MeNeedIt

For the first time, scientists have linked climate change to the mass migration flows that followed the Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East a few years ago.

According to scientists from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, water shortages and droughts contributed to the Arab Spring conflicts, particularly in Syria, which remains mired in a civil war.

“People started not being able to produce agricultural production, and that was the start of migration from the rural areas to urban areas, which were already quite crowded. And the resources in the urban areas were also scarce. So with that kind of tension, fighting for limited resources, and on top is the ethnic polarization in Syria. So, it’s sort of all that combination,” said Raya Muttarak, of the University of East Anglia in Britain. She co-authored a report on the subject.

The researchers used United Nations’ data on asylum applications and conflict-related deaths. They combined this with data on drought and rainfall, plus other variables like population size and measures of democracy and ethnic diversity. All the figures were combined in a mathematical model. 

“So, let’s look at how climate affects the probability of conflict. And once we estimate that we use the number that we got from that to estimate the next step. So, the countries that experience conflict from climate variation — are they likely to send out the refugee flows or not?” explained Muttarak.

She said that climate change would not cause conflict and subsequent asylum-seeking flows everywhere.

“The effect of climate on migration, through conflict, is quite specific to certain time periods and to certain countries. So, climate-induced conflict, it’s a bit more likely in a country with a medium level of democracy.”

The results of this study are specific to the western Asia region. However, researchers say they hope the study will contribute to the global debate on how migration flows will be affected by increasingly severe climate change.
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From: MeNeedIt

The mass migration flows that followed the Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East were partly caused by climate change, according to new research. Scientists from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria say that in certain circumstances, climate conditions can lead to conflict, which drives increased migration. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

A Tuesday tweet from a U.S. government scientific agency seems relatively innocuous: “Winter storms do not prove global warming is not happening.”

The message from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is devoted to climate science and information, includes a link citing research that severe snowstorms may be even more likely in a warming global climate because higher ocean temperatures appear to create more moisture.

Many are viewing Tuesday’s post as a rebuttal to President Trump’s tweet late Monday noting an approaching deep freeze for the American Midwest and asking “What the hell is going on with Global Waming (sic). Please come back fast, we need you.”

A polar vortex has returned this week to the Midwest bringing extremely low temperatures that could break records.

NOAA denies any connection between the president’s comment and its social media posting.

“We routinely put this story out at these times,” the agency said in a statement. “Our scientists weren’t responding to a tweet.”

Most scientists say there is little valid research to counter the prevailing view climate change is real and note research also demonstrates that with global warming there will be more frequently extreme temperatures at both ends of the thermometer.

With a forecast of icy roads around the nation’s capital, one item of unanimous consent throughout the Trump administration Tuesday is non-emergency federal workers – just two days back on the job after a record-long shutdown – could leave early because of the weather.

“Employees of Federal offices in the Washington, D.C., area are authorized for early departure,” according to a notice from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. “Employees should depart 2 hours earlier than their normal departure times and may request unscheduled leave to depart prior to their staggered departure times.”

The notification is intended, in part, to alleviate congestion on streets that could soon become hazardous.

The ability of a mere dusting of snow or sheets of ice on roadways and sidewalks to create pandemonium in the U.S. center of power frequently puzzles those who have migrated to this part of the country from harsher winter climates.

A January 2016 snowstorm paralyzed the region, although only 2.5 centimeters of snow fell on Washington, D.C. roadways. There were hundreds of traffic accidents and many motorists abandoned their vehicles on highways after untreated roads became impassible with black ice.

The mess and lack of preparedness prompted a public apology by the mayor of Washington, D.C.

Muriel Bowser was taking no such chances on Tuesday, three years after the so-called Snowzilla (not to be confused with the area’s December 2009 Snowpocalypse).

Mayor Bowser, on Tuesday announced she had requested an additional $1 million from the city’s contingency fund “to cover higher costs than anticipated for salt/de-icing as a result of Winter Storm Gia.”

The city also issued a hypothermia alert, which will keep shelters open during daylight hours so the estimated 7,000 homeless people in Washington will have a warm and safe place to stay.

A member of Congress from Utah, as government employees began packing up early in the afternoon, on Tuesday threw his own virtual snowball at the threat of another approaching winter storm appearing to panic politicians, bureaucrats and lobbyists inside the Beltway.

“People in DC love to show how tough they are and call their opponents ‘snowflake,’” wrote Congressman Ben McAdams on Twitter. “Unless the weather forecast includes snowflakes, and then they cancel meetings, leave work early and buy all of the bottled water at the grocery store. Snowflakes.” He then tossed a promotional hashtag for a top winter recreational activity in his state that includes the Wasatch Mountain range: #SkiUtah.
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From: MeNeedIt

South Africa’s coal mining heartland has the worst air quality in the world, according to a recent study by environmental group Greenpeace. The 12 large coal mines in this area make it the world’s hotspot for toxic nitrogen dioxide emissions. Residents and health experts say the effects are ruining their health and their lives.

Patrick Mdluli, 35,  considered himself healthy until he moved two years ago to Mpumalanga province – South Africa’s coal mining heartland.

He developed breathing problems, including tuberculosis and nasal issues.

“The mines, the dust, pollution — you go to doctors, they tell you the very same thing. ‘Are you living next to a mine?’ Yes, I am. ‘Are you living next to a dumping site?’ Yes, I am,” said Mdluli.

A large coal mine operates, literally, in Mdluli’s backyard.

The mine has conducted blasts every day, shaking his small home to its foundation and causing a large crack in the wall. 

This sunny swath of South Africa last year earned the unfortunate distinction of having the world’s worst air quality, says the environmental group Greenpeace.

And it shows, said the head of one of Middelburg’s main clinics, Dr. Mohammed Tayob.  

Tayob has lived in the area his entire life and says the emissions from the mines have made many of his patients sick.  

“Children and adults are paying the ultimate price. When we say ultimate price, it’s the neurocognitive, loss of neurocognitive development, children’s infant mortality rate is higher in our area than other areas, adults, heart attacks and respiratory diseases are much higher. So people are paying with their lives, across the board, because of these pollutants in the air,” he said.

Tayob blames the coal mining industry and poor governance. 

Although mines are big money, locals say the coal companies have done little to improve the community.  

Middelburg is poor and many people lack basic services like electricity and running water. 

Tayob said the government is also failing to enforce environmental laws and crack down on the mines.  

“One cannot be faulted in thinking, ‘Is there some level of corruption operating in this area as well, where these big boys are getting away with murder, literally?’ They’re literally getting away with murder. It’s just the reality. I’d like someone to come up and dispute this fact and challenge me on that,” he said.

VOA contacted three of the larger mines in the area for comment. None of them responded to our request.

Environmental activist Bafana Hlatshwayo said he and other activists are preparing to lobby decision-makers at an upcoming mining industry gathering in Cape Town. 

They want the coal industry to shift to a cleaner resource: the region’s abundant sunshine.  

Bringing solar panel production to the area, said Hlatshwayo, would also create jobs.

“We are not saying we want to close down the mines…We must go the renewable energy way, we are saying, people will manufacture solar panels inside South Africa, and they are the ones who are supposed to install the solar panels and they are the ones who are supposed to maintain the solar panels,” he said.  

But that is a faraway dream for people like Mdluli and his neighbors, who complain unemployment is high and all of them – including the children – have health problems.

This province, said longtime resident and environmental activist William Jiyane, used to be beautiful.

“It’s endless agony, now, Mpumalanga. It’s not bread and butter anymore. It’s endless agony,” he said.

South Africa is the continent’s largest coal producer and relies on coal to power much of the economy.  

But for the poor communities that live in the shadow of coal mines – it just makes them sick.
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From: MeNeedIt

Apple has made the group chat function in FaceTime unavailable after users said there was a bug that could allow callers to activate another user’s microphone remotely.

The bug was demonstrated through videos online and reported on this week by tech blogs. Reports said the bug in the video chat app could allow an iPhone user calling another iPhone through Group Facetime to hear the audio from the other handset — even if the receiver did not accept the call.

“We’re aware of this issue and we have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week,” Apple said in a statement Tuesday.

Its online support page noted there was a technical issue with the application and that Group Facetime “is temporarily unavailable.”

The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, issued a statement warning people about the bug and urging people to disable the app until Apple fixes the issue.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Maine’s independent U.S. senator says he’s joining a group of Senate colleagues to call on the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to provide an update on research into a universal flu vaccine.

Sen. Angus King says the initiative is about reducing “the relentless burden the flu places on American families each year.” The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease released a strategic plan for a universal flu vaccine last year.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website says formulation of the flu vaccine is reviewed annually and updated to keep up with changing viruses. As a result, effectiveness can vary year to year.

The senators say the institute should describe for them how it has used funding provided by Congress to develop a universal vaccine.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Entering or exiting Cochin International airport in India’s southern Kochi city, it is hard to miss the sea of solar panels glinting under the sun on a vast stretch of land on one side of the road and on top of a massive car park. Close by, a huge billboard proclaims the airport’s status as the world’s first airport fully powered by solar energy.

The journey to that title began with a pilot project five years ago as airport authorities searched for ways to minimize ever-growing power bills. 

“We put solar panels on the rooftop of Terminal One, we observed it for a year and we found it is quite good and can be safely scaled up,” said the airport’s managing director, V.J.Kurian.

Now, the energy being produced by the sun-drenched airport’s solar plant meets its needs round the clock. The excess power harnessed by tens of thousands of solar panels during the day is stored in the city’s energy grid. 

“We will produce the entire energy during these morning 10 hours and directly we will use some part of energy,” explained project manager Jerrin John Parakkal. “Excess energy we will bank to grid and then during nighttime we will take it back.”

​UN award

In 2018 Cochin airport won one of the United Nations top environmental awards: Champions of the Earth Award for Entrepreneurial Vision. The project is a testament to India’s ambitions of rapidly scaling up the use of solar power to reduce its carbon emissions and has prompted other airports and infrastructure projects to explore the potential of solar energy.

Kurian, who led the project, recalls that initially there were doubts about the project’s financial viability — the cost of producing one megawatt of power was pegged at $1 million. But the falling price of solar panels in recent years brought down costs and helped make the ambitious project a reality. 

“We get back our investment in less than six years time, which I thought was an excellent investment opportunity and next 25 years is meant for all profit,” Kurian said.

Expanding capacity

To retain the title it received in 2015 as the world’s first fully solar powered airport, the facility has steadily expanded capacity. The more than 29 megawatts currently produced will soon be scaled up to nearly 40 megawatts to meet the needs of ever-growing passenger traffic in a city that is Kerala’s commercial capital and a gateway to tourist destinations. 

The solar panels had been placed on a large tract of unused land set aside for future cargo, but because usable land is the biggest challenge for solar projects, airport authorities have searched for alternatives. They found available space on top of the airport’s car park and a 2-kilometer canal.

Airport authorities estimate that the elimination of carbon emissions over 25 years would be equal to planting 3 million trees. And to make the green project even greener, organic vegetables are being grown under the solar panels and on spare land on the side. About 60 tons were produced last year and were sold to airport staff.

Interest in solar grows

The project has prompted interest from other airports in India and in some African countries, which are also eyeing the potential of solar power. 

“We have signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the government of Ghana. We have had a team from Liberia who were interested in us helping them to put up solar panels specially in the airport sector,” Kurian said.

The Cochin airport is being seen as a model of how from household rooftops to big infrastructure projects, sunny India is increasingly turning to solar power. 

“They have a demonstration effect also. So many people walk through the airport. If they get to know that solar energy is being utilized on such a scale, that means it is a viable solution,” said Amit Kumar, a solar energy expert with the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi.

India’s massive rail sector is also turning to solar energy. Solar panels are being placed on top of some train coaches. A rail station in the northeastern city of Guwahati has begun generating enough solar power to meet its needs. The government is also exploring how highways could be lighted with solar lights.

India’s target of increasing its solar capacity to 100,000 megawatts by 2022 has attracted big investments in the sector. Japan’s SoftBank has promised to invest $20 billion in Indian solar projects, and some of the world’s largest solar parks are being built in the country. That has raised hopes that India will be able to meet its commitment of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions about 35 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

However experts warn that the imposition of import duties last year on solar panels from China and Malaysia amid a push to increase indigenous manufacturing has affected the momentum of growth.

“It is moving fast, but in recent times there have been some hiccups (disruptions). I would say it is moving towards its target, at the moment a bit slowly,” Kumar said.
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From: MeNeedIt

India’s southern Kochi city in Kerala state is among the world’s most innovative airports, completely powered by solar energy. Winner of the United Nations Champions of the Earth Award for Entrepreneurial Vision in 2018, the project is testimony to India’s ambitions of rapidly scaling up the use of solar power to reduce its carbon emissions. Anjana Pasricha has this report.
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From: MeNeedIt

Called the “greenest office building in the world,” the Bullitt Center in Seattle, Washington, generates its own electricity and its own water, collected from rain falling on the roof. Opened on Earth Day in 2013, the Bullitt Center has been nicknamed a “Living Building.” Natasha Mozgovaya visited the green building to see for herself what makes it so unusual. Anna Rice narrates her report.
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From: MeNeedIt

A New York disc jockey wearing a policeman’s uniform. The outfit is not a costume, it’s the work uniform of New York City Police officer who takes his hobby as a DJ seriously. Lieutenant Acu Rhodes says it started as a casual pastime, but quickly became a serious devotion. So serious that Rhodes, or DJ Ace, turned it into part of the NYPD’s community policing outreach. Evgeny Maslv reports from New York City, in this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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From: MeNeedIt