Temperature swings have left crops across the Plains in terrible conditions, with some farmers opting not to harvest

Merrill Nielsen’s wheat crop looked healthy after he planted it in the fall on his 2,500-acre farm in north-central Kansas, about 50 miles west of Salina, the plants benefiting from higher-than-normal November rainfall.

But an abnormally warm and dry winter, followed by extreme temperature variability, stressed the developing wheat. In the winter-to-spring transition, temperatures fluctuated from 70 to 80F on some days and lows in the teens or low 20s on other days.

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Though open marriage is often imagined as something men want, women also choose this relationship structure – with all its rewards and challenges

It’s late afternoon, and Lucy texts her husband’s girlfriend. The sound of cartoons plays somewhere in the living room, and she absentmindedly wipes a smear of jam off the countertop.

A few minutes earlier, Lucy’s phone buzzes with a school email: a parent-teacher event for Thursday evening. She’s been attending these events alone, but pauses this time. She wants her husband, Oliver, there.

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U schreef ons over de belangrijkste sociale rol van kappers, over klimaatdemonstranten en over waterschaarste.

Volgens Arnon Grunberg is moralisme niet alleen streng, maar ook onhaalbaar. „Mij zijn echt heel veel slechte dingen niet vreemd.” Hij vertelt open dat hij vroeger naar bordelen…

TENERIFE (ANP) - Het Nederlandse cruiseschip Hondius komt naar verwachting zondag rond 12.00 uur aan bij de Canarische Eilanden. Dat meldt de Spaanse omroep RTVE. Het schip vaart van Kaapverdië naar Tenerife en is volgens GPS-gegevens vrijwel halverwege.

Vooralsnog heeft de WHO acht gevallen gemeld van mogelijke hantavirusbesmettingen, waaronder drie sterfgevallen. Bij vijf van de acht gevallen is het hantavirus vastgesteld.

Meerdere anderen zijn besmet geraakt. Volgens de Spaanse minister van Volksgezondheid Mónica García worden alle buitenlandse opvarenden gerepatrieerd, ook als zij symptomen hebben, tenzij ze dringende zorg nodig hebben. Aan boord van het cruiseschip zitten nog ongeveer 150 mensen, onder meer uit het Verenigd Koninkrijk, de Verenigde Staten, Spanje, de Filipijnen en Nederland.

EPISODE 9 It's 3:30 am and I'm at work, having been woken up by numerous outage notifications. The Boss – as useful as Jason Statham's method acting coach – is also on site, presumably to offer moral support. The Building Manager – who's so old that his CV likely includes the construction of a vessel for the shipping of pairs of animals – is nowhere to be seen. The PFY is also absent. His excuse will likely be that he "accidentally" put his phone into silent mode. Had any of the alerts been from his rack of Bitcoin mining machines, however, he'd have been in the office in a flash. Security appears to be hard at work protecting the couches in the foyer of the building from being stolen. The rest of the building is in darkness – save for the shining beacon that is Mission Control. "What's happened?" the Boss asks. "Power outage," I reply. "Do we get someone in for that?" "Only if we want to wait till 9am to call our electrical contractors, who'll agree to turn up between 9 and 5 sometime in the next two weeks." "So what do we do?" "We go to the basement!" I reply, "but first we need THE KEYS". "The keys?" "No. THE KEYS." "What are THE KEYS?" he asks. "THE KEYS are what ex-local government buildings like this have for access to places you're not supposed to go. They're for the rooms you 'accidentally' show people if you think they're planning a hostile takeover of the company. You open the door and say something like 'I'm pretty sure that's not asbestos' or 'Why would we have needed all those leaky drums of 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid ?'" "Are the rooms dangerous?" "Not if you keep the doors closed." "So what are you going to do?" "I'll open a couple of the doors." ...Five minutes later in the basement... "Oooh, there's a clue," I say to the Boss, pointing. "A Bakelite – or, to be specific, phenolic – label. Circa 1970s. There's bound to be something horrible behind that door." >creak< ... >slam< "Moving on," I say. "What was behind the door?" "Something horrible. We're not talking 'three-hour Richard Stallman monologue' horrible, but it was pretty bad. Anyway, let's try door number two." >creeeeeeak< "Ah, now this is promising. Cables from the ceiling. Unless they're snakes." "SNAKES!" the Boss gasps. "Nah, just cables. And, look, ALL METAL service breakers – and not a speck of safety-oriented insulation to be seen!" "What does that mean?" "It means life was cheap back in the '70s. Now, see those four massive breakers, all pointing to the Bakelite ON position, and one ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE breaker over there, in the OFF position?" "Yes. Do we just turn it on?" the Boss asks. "Only if you want to save your loved ones the cremation fees." "?" "The smaller breakers are three-phase 1,000-amp units, but that big one's a 5,000-amp unit. Designed for the days when offices were crammed with people and bar heaters." "So what do we do?" the Boss asks. "We get a broom. A wooden broom. A DRY wooden broom. Then we turn OFF all the massive breakers, then turn ON the REALLY massive breaker." ...Two minutes later... "Is this safe?" the Boss asks nervously. "Not even slightly," I say, brandishing the broom. >CLACK!< >CLACK!< >CLACK!< >CLACK!< "That wasn't so bad," the Boss sighs. "We're not to the good part yet. But maybe you want to move away a little bit." "How far?" "The third floor would be wise, but the doorway will do." .... >CLUNK!< ... "So we're... OK then?" the Boss asks. "In the words of Karen Carpenter, we've only just begun. Now we have to turn all of those smaller breakers on again, one of which will likely trip the massive breaker." "Is that a problem?" "The really massive breaker's over 50 years old, covered in rust, and has probably only ever tripped from a fault once. The miracle here is that it did so without exploding." "So?" "So, sometimes you've just got to spin the potato," I say, raising the broom again. >CLACK!< ... >CLACK!< ... >CLACK!< ... ... >CLACK!< "It worked!" the Boss gasps happily, as light returns to the building. "Yeeeessss," I say, leading the Boss out of the room and shutting the door as quickly as I can. "You... don't seem happy?" "No. There's a fair chance that whatever tripped the big breaker will trip it again the next time whatever it is star-" >FZZZZZ< >CLUNK< "Oh," the Boss says, disappointed. "Do we switch it back on again?" "Did you hear that buzzing sound before the lights went out?" "Uhhh, yes. What does that mean?" "It means we need to (a) go upstairs, (b) turn off the power to a rack of very noisy machines, and (c) switch our phones to silent and pretend we've never been here..." BOFH: Previous episodes on The RegisterThe Compleat BOFH Archives 95-99

EPISODE 9 It's 3:30 am and I'm at work, having been woken up by numerous outage notifications. The Boss – as useful as Jason Statham's method acting coach – is also on site, presumably to offer moral support. The Building Manager – who's so old that his CV likely includes the construction of a vessel for the shipping of pairs of animals – is nowhere to be seen. The PFY is also absent. His excuse will likely be that he "accidentally" put his phone into silent mode. Had any of the alerts been from his rack of Bitcoin mining machines, however, he'd have been in the office in a flash. Security appears to be hard at work protecting the couches in the foyer of the building from being stolen. The rest of the building is in darkness – save for the shining beacon that is Mission Control. "What's happened?" the Boss asks. "Power outage," I reply. "Do we get someone in for that?" "Only if we want to wait till 9am to call our electrical contractors, who'll agree to turn up between 9 and 5 sometime in the next two weeks." "So what do we do?" "We go to the basement!" I reply, "but first we need THE KEYS". "The keys?" "No. THE KEYS." "What are THE KEYS?" he asks. "THE KEYS are what ex-local government buildings like this have for access to places you're not supposed to go. They're for the rooms you 'accidentally' show people if you think they're planning a hostile takeover of the company. You open the door and say something like 'I'm pretty sure that's not asbestos' or 'Why would we have needed all those leaky drums of 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid ?'" "Are the rooms dangerous?" "Not if you keep the doors closed." "So what are you going to do?" "I'll open a couple of the doors." ...Five minutes later in the basement... "Oooh, there's a clue," I say to the Boss, pointing. "A Bakelite – or, to be specific, phenolic – label. Circa 1970s. There's bound to be something horrible behind that door." >creak< ... >slam< "Moving on," I say. "What was behind the door?" "Something horrible. We're not talking 'three-hour Richard Stallman monologue' horrible, but it was pretty bad. Anyway, let's try door number two." >creeeeeeak< "Ah, now this is promising. Cables from the ceiling. Unless they're snakes." "SNAKES!" the Boss gasps. "Nah, just cables. And, look, ALL METAL service breakers – and not a speck of safety-oriented insulation to be seen!" "What does that mean?" "It means life was cheap back in the '70s. Now, see those four massive breakers, all pointing to the Bakelite ON position, and one ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE breaker over there, in the OFF position?" "Yes. Do we just turn it on?" the Boss asks. "Only if you want to save your loved ones the cremation fees." "?" "The smaller breakers are three-phase 1,000-amp units, but that big one's a 5,000-amp unit. Designed for the days when offices were crammed with people and bar heaters." "So what do we do?" the Boss asks. "We get a broom. A wooden broom. A DRY wooden broom. Then we turn OFF all the massive breakers, then turn ON the REALLY massive breaker." ...Two minutes later... "Is this safe?" the Boss asks nervously. "Not even slightly," I say, brandishing the broom. >CLACK!< >CLACK!< >CLACK!< >CLACK!< "That wasn't so bad," the Boss sighs. "We're not to the good part yet. But maybe you want to move away a little bit." "How far?" "The third floor would be wise, but the doorway will do." .... >CLUNK!< ... "So we're... OK then?" the Boss asks. "In the words of Karen Carpenter, we've only just begun. Now we have to turn all of those smaller breakers on again, one of which will likely trip the massive breaker." "Is that a problem?" "The really massive breaker's over 50 years old, covered in rust, and has probably only ever tripped from a fault once. The miracle here is that it did so without exploding." "So?" "So, sometimes you've just got to spin the potato," I say, raising the broom again. >CLACK!< ... >CLACK!< ... >CLACK!< ... ... >CLACK!< "It worked!" the Boss gasps happily, as light returns to the building. "Yeeeessss," I say, leading the Boss out of the room and shutting the door as quickly as I can. "You... don't seem happy?" "No. There's a fair chance that whatever tripped the big breaker will trip it again the next time whatever it is star-" >FZZZZZ< >CLUNK< "Oh," the Boss says, disappointed. "Do we switch it back on again?" "Did you hear that buzzing sound before the lights went out?" "Uhhh, yes. What does that mean?" "It means we need to (a) go upstairs, (b) turn off the power to a rack of very noisy machines, and (c) switch our phones to silent and pretend we've never been here..." BOFH: Previous episodes on The RegisterThe Compleat BOFH Archives 95-99

Hee. Meer info van de politie over de explosie bij het partijkantoor van D66 gisteren. "Al snel kon de politie een verdachte aanhouden. Dit gaat om een 37-jarige man zonder vast woon- of verblijfplaats. Het onderzoek is nog in volle gang, zo doen we ook nog onderzoek naar het motief om mede te kijken of de verdachte alleen handelde." Een 37-jarige man zonder vaste woon- of verblijfplaats, die is zeker boos dat Rob Jetten zijn tien steden nog steeds niet gebouwd heeft, al kun je dan beter een gebouw kraken dan een vuurwerkbom naar binnen gooien. Zul je zien dat er binnenkort allemaal boze stille tochten worden georganiseerd door bange Jonge Democraten die eisen dat alle mannen zonder vaste woon- of verblijfplaats onmiddellijk worden uitgezet. Nu het hoofd koel houden mensen. #NotAll37JarigeMannenZonderVasteWoonOfVerblijfplaats.
INSTANT UPDATE: We hebben even gekeken, Fakkelman Max is nog geen 37

De WOEDE van Rob Jetten

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Wired describes the recent Canvas breach as an unusually disruptive ransomware-style extortion incident because one attack on Instructure's learning platform temporarily paralyzed thousands of schools during finals and end-of-year assignments. The hackers using the "ShinyHunters" name claim more than 8,800 schools were affected, while Instructure says exposed data included names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and platform messages. From the report: Higher education has long been a target of ransomware gangs and data extortion attacks. But never before, perhaps, has a cyberattack against a single software platform so thoroughly disrupted the daily operations of thousands of schools across the United States. The widely used digital learning platform Canvas was put into "maintenance mode" on Thursday after its maker, the education tech giant Instructure, suffered a data breach and faced an extortion attempt by attackers using the recognizable moniker "ShinyHunters." Though the hackers have been advertising the breach and attempting to extract a ransom payment from Instructure since May 1, the situation took on additional immediacy for regular people across the US and beyond on Thursday because the Canvas downtime caused chaos at schools, including those in the midst of finals and end-of-year assignments.

Universities like Harvard, Columbia, Rutgers, and Georgetown sent alerts to students about the situation in recent days; other institutions, including school districts in at least a dozen states, also appear to have been affected. In a list published by the hackers behind the attack on their ransom-focused dark web site, they claim the breach affected more than 8,800 schools. The exact scale and reach of the breach is currently unclear, though. And the fact that Canvas was down throughout Thursday afternoon and evening further complicated the picture. In a running incident update log that began on May 1, Steve Proud, Instructure's chief information security officer, said that the company had "recently experienced a cybersecurity incident perpetrated by a criminal threat actor." He added on May 2 that "the information involved" for "users at affected institutions" included names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and messages exchanged by users on the platform.

The situation was ultimately marked as "Resolved" on Wednesday, with Proud writing that "Canvas is fully operational, and we are not seeing any ongoing unauthorized activity." At midday on Thursday, though, the Instructure status page registered an "issue" where "some users are having difficulties logging into Student ePortfolios." Within a few hours, the company had added another status update: "Instructure has placed Canvas, Canvas Beta and Canvas Test in maintenance mode." Late Thursday evening, the company said that Canvas was available again "for most users."

TechCrunch reported on Thursday that the hackers launched a secondary wave of attacks, defacing some schools' Canvas portals by injecting an HTML file to display their own message on the schools' Canvas login pages. According to The Harvard Crimson, attackers modified the Harvard Canvas login page to show a message that included a list of schools that the hackers claim were impacted by the breach. The message from attackers "urged schools included on the affected list to consult with a cyber advisory firm and contact the group privately to negotiate a settlement before the end of the day on May 12 -- or else risk their data being leaked," The Crimson reported. "It is unclear what information tied to Harvard affiliates was included in the alleged breach."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The original 1881 serial ended in chapter fifteen with the puppet hanging dead from an oak tree. Italian children wrote in begging the author to continue. He resumed reluctantly. What followed — donkey-skin drums, dead-girl fairies, a satire of every other moralising children's book in Italy — became one of the most translated books in human history, and quietly helped teach Italians their own language. [Storica]