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Monterey County Begins Compliance with California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act for Overdrafted Basins

Monterey County, CA, officials have begun a move that will balance groundwater basins in Salinas Valley, after facing a state mandate to meet this goal over the next 20 years.

The county’s Board of Supervisors and water resources agency urged county staff in a meeting to develop a proposal for the establishment of a local groundwater agency and a sustainability plan for the next few years.

The proposal will be reviewed by the county water board by next month, before receiving final direction from the Board of Supervisors in early December.

Groundwater comprises 95% of available fresh water for the United States, including for agricultural use, with around 50% of U.S. residents getting their drinking water from these resources. Because the Salinas Valley well has overpumped, or overdrafted, the Salinas River for several years, many in the region’s agriculture sector called these actions unsustainable back in September.

The push for the proposal comes from California’s recently adopted Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, signed into law last month by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The act states that local communities with vulnerable groundwater supplies must have a local agency for sustainability by mid-2017, formed either from an existing agency or a brand new one. That agency must have a solid groundwater sustainability plan no later than 2022 to assure long-term water supply and quality, or else the state takes over.

Some state officials are wary of the act’s potential costs, as the state does not provide funding for these projects.

Supervisor Simon Salinas, who represents the Salinas Valley, said the focus is on meeting the act’s requirements by the deadline in order to maintain control of local water supplies.

The legislation only targets water basins of high or medium priority rather than all of the state’s groundwater supply. Salinas Valley, Carmel, and Pajaro basins are affected by the legislation.

The Carmel basin will be taken over by the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, and the Pajaro basin’s lead agency is the Pajaro Valley Water Management District.

In the Salinas Valley, however, no agency has yet been chosen as of yet. When one is chosen, it will have the ability to adopt rules and regulations, conduct investigations, levy fines and impose taxes, regulate and suspend groundwater extractions, and build new and expanded wells, according to a report from Chief Assistant County Counsel Les Girard.

Groundwater plans must have measurable objectives, including five-year milestones, and provisions to monitor and manage groundwater levels and quality. The plans must include descriptions of monitoring systems and plans for halting overdraft seawater intrusion, among other criteria.

Red Wine May Hold the Key to Creating More Effective Acne Treatments

Acne affects an estimated 40 million to 50 million Americans, regardless of age, health and other factors. For this reason, there are hundreds of acne treatment products and methods on the market today which promise to reveal smooth, healthy skin. However, new research shows that you may be more likely to find an effective cure for your acne in your glass of wine than in your local drugstore: an antioxidant found in red grapes, which are often used in the popular alcoholic beverage, has been shown to kill off the bacteria that causes breakouts.

Previous studies have found that resveratrol, the antioxidant in question, has been successful in preventing free radicals from forming and can also kill off the P. acnes bacteria, which causes pimples. However, scientists were unsure exactly how this happened. To gather data, a team at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles applied concentrations of resveratrol, benzoyl peroxide (a popular ingredient in many acne treatments), and combinations of both to colonies of P. acnes. The researchers also cultured human skin and blood cells from volunteers with and without acne.

The results were interesting: while benzoyl peroxide was able to effectively kill off the bacteria, the effects lasted no longer than 24 hours. In comparison, concentrations of at least 50 ug/mL of resveratrol were able to kill off P. acnes by weakening the outer membrane of the bacterial cells. These doses were also able to last for 48 hours. However, the most effective compound was the combined benzoyl peroxide and resveratrol: all concentrations killed the bacteria, and the results lasted longer than either product on its own.

One of the researchers, Dr. Emma Taylor, stated that the team was surprised by their findings: because benzoyl peroxide is an oxidant, they had initially hypothesized that the two opposing ingredients would cancel each other out. Instead, their data showed that benzoyl peroxide has a higher toxicity level, which may be why many patients report developing skin irritation and dryness when they use products with this ingredient. The resveratrol reportedly neutralized this toxicity, allowing the combination to treat acne more effectively with fewer side effects.

This finding has the potential to improve non-invasive acne treatments, creating better products that can be used by a greater number of patients. However, the research team is calling for further study, including tests on actual patients with acne, to see how the compounds actually work together before these ingredients can be paired in treatments.

Updated Google App Allows Users to Search Past and Upcoming Bills

Search engine use is currently one of the two most popular internet activities worldwide, and it’s easy to see why. Where an old-fashioned Google search used to require careful phrasing and involved punctuation techniques, smartphone users can just hit a mic button and ask their phones a question. Even if a query is poorly phrased, Google can usually still come up with a good answer.

Google has evolved to become the mobile equivalent of an extremely brainy personal assistant, with access to all the information the internet has to offer. As users get more and more used to getting information with a single question, Google’s next move shouldn’t come as a big surprise. The newest update to the mobile app will allow users to check the status of their bills, right from their search engines.

Once users download the newest version of the Google app, they just have to tap the mic and say “Show me my bills” or “my bills due this week.” The Google app will quickly search your Gmail account for any billing notifications, and a quick summary will pop up in your search results. Google hopes that the new feature will help users pay bills on time and maintain good credit standing.

The feature also requires users to enable Google Now, Google’s virtual personal assistant app that can also notify users of weather reports and traffic conditions, among other things. This will actually be advantageous to users concerned about privacy: they won’t be automatically opted into this feature, since they would have to manually enable Google Now and give it access to Gmail.

The new Google feature comes with a subtle re-branding: the Google Search app is now simply called Google, as part of the search engine app’s transition into an all-in-one tool. It’s a smart move on Google’s part, since the bill function is also an incentive for people to switch email functions to Gmail.

At the moment, there are no plans to introduce a desktop equivalent to the Google app, and it remains unavailable to Windows and Windows Phone users.

New Study Reveals Shift Towards Mobile Ads and Rich Media

Vdopia, a leader in rich media advertising, recently released a new study revealing that 77% of telecommunications companies’ mobile ad budgets are devoted to video and rich media.

The new report reflects the changing advertising landscape. Mobile ads represent a far bigger part of the marketing puzzle nowadays than they used to. Google, Facebook, and Twitter are just a few of the big names who are already reaping the shift’s benefits.

“With video consumption on the rise, telecom marketers are leveraging video ads to reach smartphone audiences in an engaging and intuitive manner,” says Vdopia CEO Saurabh Bhatia. “With larger and better smartphones and user access to faster mobile broadband, comes a great opportunity for marketers to leverage videos for conveying the right marketing message.”

The trend towards heavier spending on mobile ads should come as no surprise. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and a 2014 Pew Internet Research Group study, there are about 140,633,076 adult smartphone users in the United States. About half of these people use their devices as their primary Internet source, which means that mobile ads would most heavily affect about 70,316,538 adults.

Savvy marketing professionals are also riding the mobile ad wave. Just this month, Sprint’s top digital marketer of 15 years, Scott Zalaznik, has left the telecommunications company for mobile ad-tech firm xAd, which sells marketers location data for mobile-ad serving.

The report also found some interesting details about what telecom companies use mobile ads to advertise. According to the study, 35% of mobile ads pitch data plans, 29% advertise discounts and/or offers, and 27% advertise product promotions.

Yet few companies cared about increasing brand awareness. The study found that improving brand recognition was the chief goal of a mere 9% of campaigns running ads with Vdopia.

Heated Driveways Rid Homeowners of Winter Woes

As winter quickly approaches, homeowners are starting preparations to winterize their homes and prepare for the cold and snowy months ahead. Some of the to-do items on homeowners’ lists include replacing screens with storm windows, changing the direction of ceiling fans, taking shovels out of the basement and restocking on salt to help clear ice off sidewalks and driveways.

Once the snow finally arrives, alarm clocks need to be set about 15 minutes earlier, as well, to leave enough time to shovel the driveway. While some may view morning snow shoveling as their morning workout, most people dread having to throw on snow gear and head out early to clear their driveway of last night’s snowfall. Some people may elect to hire a plow service, or the kid down the street, to get rid of the snow, but if the plow or neighborhood shoveler doesn’t arrive on time, these people end up doing the work themselves anyway.

Wouldn’t it be great to wake up in the morning on your own time, knowing that no matter how much it snowed the night before, the driveway will be snow-free? Believe it or not, it can be done. Heated driveways are a great way to eliminate the need to shovel or hire a plow, and they also keep people safe from slipping on dangerous ice that often accumulates on the driveway.

Last year’s harsh winter that dumped heaping piles of snow across the country led to a drastic increase in heated driveway installations over the year, according to The Times Herald. With weather experts forecasting another harsh winter this year, a heated driveway doesn’t seem like a bad investment, especially since other types of driveways can take a beating during the winter.

While small-stone gravel driveways provide good traction, they can be ruined by plows and shovels. Regular concrete driveways can also be harmed in the winter from being overloaded with road salt. As salt melts the snow, excess moisture in the concrete can cause concrete driveways to crack. Heated driveways melt snow as soon as it touches the surface, and prevent ice patches from building up, as well.

Heated driveways can run on the pricier side, but what homeowners are really paying for is peace of mind, and can you put a price on that?

POS Systems at Jimmy John’s and 108 Other Restaurants Affected by Malware Breach

In a saga that seems to have no end, the sandwich restaurant chain Jimmy John’s is the most recent company to acknowledge a major point-of-sale system breach.

It’s a refrain that anyone who’s been following the POS breaches knows by heart: malware was once again used to steal customer credit card data, including card numbers, cardholder names, expiration dates and verification codes.

At least 216 of Jimmy John’s locations were affected, between June 16, 2014 and Sept. 5, 2014. The malware appears to have been installed on the company’s POS devices on July 1, 2014, and the bulk of it was discovered and removed between Aug. 3 and Aug. 5, 2014.

Jimmy John’s says that it doesn’t have access to the information that would allow them to contact affected customers, but customer can view a list of affected stores with dates of exposure online.

“Jimmy John’s has taken steps to prevent this type of event from occurring in the future,” the company said in a statement, “including installing encrypted swipe machines, implementing system enhancements, and reviewing its policies and procedures for its third party vendors.”

Unfortunately, this particular breach doesn’t end with Jimmy John’s. A total of 108 independent restaurant locations running POS equipment provided by Signature Systems have been affected as well, according to a statement released by the POS provider. POS systems allow retailers and restaurants to review daily sales reports and retain customer information. It’s the second feature that hackers are taking advantage of.

A full list of the affected restaurants can be viewed at http://www.pdqpos.com/notice.html.

“We have determined that an unauthorized person gained access to a user name and password that Signature Systems used to remotely access PoS systems,” Signature Systems announced in a statement. “The unauthorized person used that access to install malware designed to capture payment card data from cards that were swiped through terminals in certain restaurants.”

This statement echoes many statements released by companies in the last year. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning last month that over 1,000 American businesses had been affected by the infamous Backoff POS malware alone.

Consumers are advised to watch for any unusual charges on their accounts, and retailers are advised to upgrade and secure their POS systems.

Why Generation Y is in No Hurry To Say “I Do”

Here comes the bride, all dressed in whi– wait a minute, not so fast.

According to a recent report from Pew Research, it is predicted that more people under the age of 35 will be single forever. Forever? Yes, forever and ever.

The number of Americans who have never been married, and are likely to never do so, is at an historic high, based on data from the report. This is in part due to the fact that many do not have jobs or feel financially secure enough, and also because traditional views on marriage have dramatically changed. Marriage isn’t as highly regarded as it was in past generations. Over the course of the last four years, the number of young singles who want to get married significantly decreased, as attitudes have shifted.

Based on census data and Pew’s own surveys, the report is the latest to project that marriage rates are sharply declining. Young people are saving marriage for later in life, choosing to focus on their education and establishing careers before walking down the aisle — if they decide to walk down the aisle at all. Nearly 20% of Americans older than 25 had never been married in 2012, up from 9% in 1960. The numbers are even starker in the black community, with 36% of black Americans older than 25 having never married, which is nearly four times the number from 50 years ago.

So why are so many people choosing not to get hitched anymore? According to the study, 30% of people have yet to find the right person, 27% did not feel financially ready or stable enough, and 22% are simply not ready to settle down. However, researchers aren’t quick to label this as the new normal just yet.

Some young people are putting off tying the knot, and while many are choosing instead to live together in long-term relationships, the number of couples moving in together in lieu of getting married is still lower than one might think. “Cohabitation is much less common than marriage and cohabiting relationships are much less stable than marriages,” says Kim Parker, co-author of the study. “It’s hard to imagine marriage being replaced any time soon.”

The Pew researchers also managed to squeeze out other reasons by asking participants what they wanted in a spouse. The majority of women are choosing practicality over romance, and want a husband with a stable job, followed closely by similar beliefs in raising children, which was the exact same quality men desired in a spouse.

In 1960, 93% of men between the ages of 25 and 34 were employed, compared to 82% in 2012. Young men who are employed now just aren’t bringing home as much bacon as they did at one time. Factoring in inflation, the median hourly wage of men ages 25 to 34 are up to a fifth less than what they were in 1980. Also, women are contributing to the labor force in much higher numbers, with some earning higher salaries than their counterparts. While there are more single and available men than women, there are substantially fewer employed men who are single than employed women.

However, postponing marriage may be smart, as divorce rates continue to increase across the United States. Perhaps after seeing their own parents’ marriages end in divorce, millennials are wary about rushing down the aisle. Several studies have indicated that marriages are more likely to be healthier, and therefore last longer, when people marry at an older age, have a higher education, and earn more money.

This doesn’t mean that marriage is falling out of favor, but instead illustrates how attitudes regarding the American dream have changed.

Top Social Media Platforms Slammed for Unclear Policies on Harassment of Women

Some of the most popular social media platforms have been slammed for their lack of attention to harassment of women on their sites.

The Association for Progressive Communications’ Women’s Rights Program took Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to task for each platform’s policy for reporting and resolving instances of harassment or violence against women, including online sexual harassment and direct violent threats.

Women outnumber men on almost every single social media platform, making them a force to be reckoned with. With 76% of online adult women on Facebook, and 30% of them accessing the site daily, that is a big audience for whose safety the platform has shown little regard.

On its Community Standards page, Facebook claims that safety is their top priority. They specifically address harassment, violent threats, and hate speech as acts that they will not tolerate, but go on to explain that “because of the diversity of our community, it’s possible that something could be disagreeable or disturbing to you without meeting the criteria for being removed or blocked.”

Facebook has been more upfront with its reporting process, and has safety teams numbering into the hundreds, handling complaints in over 20 languages. But still, they don’t publish their abuse numbers, an act which would truly make them accountable to their users.

By contrast, when a video is flagged on YouTube, it is sent to their team to review. Though it’s a 24-hour review team, the priority of a review is determined by an algorithm, so the victim has no way of knowing how long their review will take.

YouTube’s parent company, Google, says on their page about harassment and cyberbullying that they “will remove comments, videos or posts where the main aim is to maliciously harass or attack another user.” However, they make a point to emphasize their value of the freedom of expression, and explain that persons who post content violating the harassment policy will receive a “strike” against their YouTube account. There is no indications of how many strikes will result in the account being terminated.

This can be concerning news to businesses attempting to market themselves on social media. Businesses have to have their own social media pages nowadays in order to thrive by engaging consumers.

Facebook and YouTube are two particularly of the more successful social media platforms.

YouTube is actually the number two search engine in the world. A study by OutBrain shows that search engines are the #1 driver of traffic to content websites. Videos increase people’s understanding of your product or service by 74%, according to recent studies. Including videos on your company website, or links to videos on YouTube, will prove more engaging than a simple text-based post.

With social media harassment and bullying a growing problem, if social media platforms don’t step up their anti-harassment policies and procedures, and in turn become forthcoming with the public about the specifics of who is being harassed and what the sites are doing to prevent it, it will make these platforms seem unprofessional and unreliable to users.

Apple is Monopolizing Shipping Carriers to Meet iPhone 6 Demand

Want to buy the new iPhone 6 this month? You’re in luck. But that’s about all that will be shipping out from China, as Apple may have booked every cargo flight from China to the U.S. on three major freight carriers for two weeks, to deliver enough iPhone 6 units to fulfill demand for the phone’s launch on Sept. 19.

Though it’s been reported that Apple will only have a limited supply of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus (10 million for the month of September), the company is said to be shipping up to 80 million combined units this year.

PCMag spoke to several smaller manufacturers and analysts at the CTIA Wireless Super Mobility Week trade show, who all told the same story.

This won’t affect big names like Samsung and LG, but the smaller manufacturers are frustrated about not being able to get their products into the U.S. during the iPhone shipping crush, simply because they don’t have the same preferential rates and reserved air cargo space.

Shipping is no small concern for electronics. The iPhone, for example, must be stored in temperatures between -4 degrees and 113 degrees F, (-20 to 45 degrees C). That may seem like quite a broad range, but shipping containers can easily reach extreme temperatures while traveling between point A and point B.

Climate controlled containers are an excellent choice for shipping cargo which absolutely requires protection against temperature extremes. They keep the electronics at the proper temperature, so they are ready and operational for the hungry consumers that await them.

Apple has played this game before. In 1997, Steve Jobs bought up all the holiday freight space for the new iMacs. In 2012, Apply took up enough capacity on DHL for shipping the third-generation iPad that DHL bumped up everyone else’s rate by 20%.

Because of all the hubbub, several smaller manufacturers, including American Network Solutions, Unnecto, and Blu, all said they have new phones launching in October, rather than September.

Wisconsin’s Costly Highway Projects Draw Criticism From Lawmakers, Environmental Group

For four of its highway expansion and renovation projects, the state of Wisconsin is expected to spend a whopping $3 billion.

It’s a price tag that is causing many of the state’s taxpayers to speak out — including two legislators and an environmental group that call the projects “unnecessary,” especially considering rising trends in alternative modes of transportation in cities like Milwaukee.

According to a September 9 Fox 6 Now article, the WISPIRG (Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group) Foundation is pressing Wisconsin’s legislation to spend these billions on repairing local roads and funding alternative transportation methods like bicycles and public transportation.

“Local transportation infrastructure is in disrepair,” a WISPIRG Foundation statement reads. “We could implement all the recommendations of the 2013 bi-partisan Transportation Policy and Finance Commission for local road repair, transit, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and the rehabilitation of state-owned roads, for the next 10 years, for just over $1 billion of those highway expansion funds.”

In addition to costing taxpayers literal billions, expanding highways like I-94 requires the use of large industrial construction equipment — and when this equipment is mostly stored in warehouses, there are a number of safety hazards that come along with it.

The forklift battery, which powers the machinery that transports this construction equipment in and out of warehouses, is especially notorious for the harmful chemicals it contains. If a warehouse doesn’t follow OSHA regulations for battery room ventilation, the gases that leak from a forklift battery during the watering or maintenance processes can be extremely hazardous to one’s health when inhaled.

All told, travel by car in Wisconsin reached its peak a decade ago, according to Fox 6 Now. More and more of its residents are choosing instead to travel by bike, public transit — even by foot. Considering this, it’s hard to think of reasons to support the state’s planned spending on highway repairs.