First Mass Walmart Closure

Arkansas based retailer Walmart is closing 269 stores including 154 locations in the United States. The move is expected to result in a reduction of at least 11,000 10,000 jobs in the United States (archived). Walmart has never before engaged in a mass closing of stores in its home territory inside the United States. Of all the indicators pointing to a dire 2016 for fiat enterprises this might be the most dire so far.

Water Quality Crisis In United States Lake Region

In the impoverished United States province of Michigan, the post industrial hell hole commonly referred to as "Flint" is going through a water quality crisis. Dangerous levels of lead, iron, and other metals had been detected in Flint's municipal for months, and now there are concerns that Flint's water problems are contributing to an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (archived). Outbreaks of disease caused by Legionella bacteria have been increasing across the United State with deteriorating healthcare facilities most frequently being affected. The Flint outbreak is exceptional in the size geographic area apparently being affected. Travellers to the United States would be prudent to avoid drinking tap water that has not been further purified at the point of consumption. Much of Michigan is surrounded by the Earth's largest system of freshwater lakes.

OpenSSH Client Bug Leaks Memory Contents

A newly revealed bug in the OpenSSH client from versions 5.4 through 7.1 allows memory contents to be read by malicious servers (archived). The vulnerability exists in code that allows "roaming" which was added to the OpenSSH client but not the OpenSSH server. Patches which remove the roaming code from the OpenSSH client are available.

Mining Difficulty Already Up 9.12% This Year

While pundits seek alpha amid omega, fiat flows on towards its only good use: subsidizing Bitcoin mining. The new difficulty of 113,354,299,801.4711`3037 (a 9.12% increase over the 2015 close) pushes hashpower estimates over 850 PH/s, placing what nobody could've predicted merely 17.6% away (readily attainable in a single leap, should miners quit dicking about and resume their one fucking job).