Pentagon Wants AI to Read Social Media and Draw Up Lists of People for Lethal Autonomous Robots to Kill
May 16th, 2016
Via: Medium:
“LARs [lethal autonomous robots] have the unique potential to operate at a tempo faster than humans can possibly achieve and to lethally strike even when communications links have been severed. Autonomous targeting technology will likely proliferate to nations and groups around the world. To prevent being surpassed by rivals, the United States should fully commit itself to harnessing the potential of fully autonomous targeting. The feared legal concerns do not appear to be an impediment to the development or deployment of LARs. Thus, operational commanders should take the lead in making this emerging technology a true force multiplier for the joint force.”
Research Credit: HongPong
UK Developing Digital Driving Licence
May 16th, 2016Via: BBC:
The UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working on a smartphone version of its driving licence.
Chief executive Oliver Morley tweeted a photo showing a “prototype” using Apple’s Wallet app on an iPhone.
He says it will be an “add-on” to the plastic card rather than a replacement.
Research Credit: Jb
Britain: “Training” Bomb Left at Stadium
May 16th, 2016Via: BBC:
An “urgent” inquiry has been demanded after a dummy bomb used in a security exercise caused a Premier League match at Old Trafford to be postponed.
The game between Manchester United and Bournemouth was called off after the item was discovered close to kick-off.
A controlled explosion was carried out on the device, which police said was accidentally left by a private firm.
Research CRedit: Jb, HL
Hillary Clinton Holds $100,000-a-Head Fundraisers, Including One at Rothschild Residence
May 15th, 2016Via: Wall Street Journal:
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is ramping up her fundraising schedule, attending a number of fundraisers this week that cost donors six-figures to attend.
The former secretary of state attended a pair of small, intimate gatherings in New York City on Thursday evening that cost donors a minimum of $100,000 to attend, according to a campaign official. On Wednesday, she attended two $100,000-a-head events in Englewood, N.J., and New York City.
Maureen White and Steven Rattner, two prominent Democratic fundraisers, hosted one of the Thursday fundraisers at their home in Manhattan. Mr. Rattner also was a prominent businessman and served in the Obama administration. The second Thursday event was at the home of Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent New York businesswoman and supporter of Mrs. Clinton and Democratic candidates. On Wednesday, architect Jon Stryker and hedge fund manager Orin Kramer played host.
BAY AREA: FBI MICROPHONES RECORD PUBLIC CONVERSATIONS
May 14th, 2016Keep in mind, this is just what’s admitted.
Via: East Bay Express:
At the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland, the FBI planted hidden microphones inside light fixtures on the courthouse’s exterior steps to capture the conversations of people attending the foreclosure auctions. Cameras and microphones were installed in parked Alameda County vehicles next to the courthouse. The FBI even hid a microphone in the AC Transit bus stop on Fallon Street, and dropped a bugged backpack next to a statue inside the courthouse, according to a letter sent by US Justice Department attorney Kate Patchen to Marr’s attorneys on March 15. The surveillance was ongoing from March 2010 to January 2011.
In Martinez, the FBI planted microphones in bushes, at a bus stop, on a pole, and inside parked and roving vehicles near the auction site.
Bill Clinton Flew on Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ Plane 26 Times in Three Years
May 13th, 2016Via: Daily Mail:
Bill Clinton spent enough time aboard disgraced Wall Street mogul Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ airplane that he should be eligible for frequent flyer miles, according to a shocking new report that reveals how often the former U.S. president road along with with the convicted sex offender.
Flight logs reviewed by Fox News show Clinton took 26 trips aboard Epstein’s Boeing 727 jet, more than double the 11 flights previously known.
Epstein’s jet was reportedly set up with a bed where guests had group sex with young girls.
One of them, Virginia Giuffre, has claimed she was lured into joining Epstein’s harem when she was just 15 years old and was then known as Virginia Roberts.
The former teen prostitute has said she was used as a ‘sex slave.’
Wendy’s Installing Self-Service Ordering Kiosks in 6,000-Plus Restaurants
May 13th, 20162014:
Notice how companies in Seattle have between three and seven years to start paying the $15/hour rate? *wink*
And now…
Via: IBD:
Wendy’s (WEN) said that self-service ordering kiosks will be made available across its 6,000-plus restaurants in the second half of the year as minimum wage hikes and a tight labor market push up wages.
It will be up to franchisees whether to deploy the labor-saving technology, but Wendy’s President Todd Penegor did note that some franchise locations have been raising prices to offset wage hikes.
McDonald’s (MCD) has been testing self-service kiosks. But Wendy’s, which has been vocal about embracing labor-saving technology, is launching the biggest potential expansion.
Quebec Teen Discovers Ancient Mayan Ruins by Studying the Stars
May 11th, 2016Update: That Long-Lost Mayan City a Teen Found Isn’t Lost… Or a City
Via: Wired:
Geoffrey Braswell, a mesoamerican archaeologist at UC San Diego, and his graduate students have, by coincidence, actually been working in this area, and they immediately recognized the features in the satellite photos. The first image, Braswell says, is of the Laguna El Civalón, and the two rectangular features next to it are fields, probably either weed-filled fallow fields or marijuana fields based on the amount of vegetation.
The feature in the second image is a dried-up swamp, though an interesting archaeological site lies just to the south.
—
Students of woowoo arts, crafts and sciences have been aware of the Orion correlation theory for decades. I’m certainly no expert, but I don’t know of another case where a similar technique was used to discover previously undocumented megalithic ruins.
Anyway, amazing stuff.
Of all of the stories in Coincidence, this one has to take the cake.
Via: Yahoo News:
A teenager from Quebec has discovered an ancient Mayan city without leaving his province’s borders.
William Gadoury is a 15-year-old student from Saint-Jean-de-Matha in Lanaudière, Quebec. The precocious teen has been fascinated by all things Mayan for several years, devouring any information he could find on the topic.
During his research, Gadoury examined 22 Mayan constellations and discovered that if he projected those constellations onto a map, the shapes corresponded perfectly with the locations of 117 Mayan cities. Incredibly, the 15-year-old was the first person to establish this important correlation, reported the Journal de Montreal over the weekend.
Then Gadoury took it one step further. He examined a twenty-third constellation which contained three stars, yet only two corresponded to known cities.
Gadoury’s hypothesis? There had to be a city in the place where that third star fell on the map.
Satellite images later confirmed that, indeed, geometric shapes visible from above imply that an ancient city with a large pyramid and thirty buildings stands exactly where Gadoury said they would be. If the find is confirmed, it would be the fourth largest Mayan city in existence.
“I didn’t understand why the Maya built their cities far away from rivers, in remote areas, or in the mountains,” Gadoury told the Journal de Montreal, explaining how he developed his theory.
Once Gadoury had established where he thought the city should be, the young man reached out to the Canadian Space Agency where staff was able to obtain satellites through NASA and JAXA, the Japanese space agency.
Scientists across the board have been blown away by Gadoury’s discovery.
More: Forgotten Mayan City ‘Discovered’ in Central America by 15-Year-Old
Hyperloop One: Open Air Prototype Tested in Nevada
May 11th, 2016I’ve found that Americans, in general, only have a vague concept of what a bullet train is. They know that it’s theoretically possible to travel around the Homeland on the ancient and lumbering Amtrak system, if they want to pay a lot and go slow, but that’s about it.
Nothing worth seeing in other countries, as usual. Move along.
Now, imagine popping one of those inside a vacuum sealed cylinder, removing the air resistance… Woh.
It sounds great, but the hyperloop might as well be in the same basket as fusion power. The ETA is always a couple of decades away. As for the open air test mentioned below, sure, it’s a step toward a viable hyperloop system—in the way that a solid fuel rocket engine could be thought of as a step toward interstellar travel. *sigh*
What I’d like to know is why none of the stories that go on about how hard and expensive hyperloop transportation would be never mention this:
Enjoy the smell of diesel exhaust along your railways, Duhmerica, and here’s a consolation prize to go with it:
Via: Guardian:
Elon Musk’s much-vaunted Hyperloop supersonic train system took a tentative step towards reality with its first public track test of its propulsion system in the Nevada desert.
The company, which changed its name to Hyperloop One on Wednesday to coincide with the open-air propulsion test, has also closed an $80m series B funding round which included investment from the French national rail company SNCF.
When – and very much if – completed, the Hyperloop train would work by propelling a sled at high speeds through a vacuum-sealed tunnel, which its founder claims would be able make the journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just 30 minutes.
The Nevada test represents a very early proof of concept; there are a vast number of hurdles that the developers of Hyperloop still have to clear if the technology is to become a reality.
Hyperloop One also announced a series of other partnerships, including Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting and the British engineering consultancy group Arup, who are currently working on London’s Crossrail.
Rob Lloyd, CEO of Hyperloop One, said in a statement: “We will work alongside these world-class partners to redefine the future of transportation, providing a more immediate, safe, efficient and sustainable high-speed backbone for the movement of people and things.”
Volvo’s Self-Driving Program Will Have Redundancy For Everything
May 11th, 2016Via: IEEE:
Next year Volvo will do something no other company has tried: it will put 100 fully self-driving cars in the hands of customers. The tests, which will begin small and ramp up slowly, are to be held in Gothenberg, Sweden and in London.
It’s a lot harder than it may seem. True, the cars will be in self-driving mode only in the testing area and only when driving conditions permit. But they’ll be production cars, not experimental prototypes, and the drivers will be laymen, not engineers, with full ability to sit back and read a book, not continually putting a hand on the steering wheel to prove they’re capable of intervening at a moment’s notice. There’s no human being to serve as backup.
So far, driver-assistance features have enjoyed the inherent redundancy that comes from having a human being behind the wheel. “If antilock brakes fail in a car today, the driver steps on the brake,” says Erik Coelingh, a leader of the project. “In a self-driving car, if ABS fails you need a backup ABS. You need two systems for everything.”
