IBM: 120 Million Workers May Need to be Reskilled or Retrained in the Next Three Years
September 9th, 2019Via: IBM:
In the next three years, as many as 120 million workers in the world’s 12 largest economies may need to be retrained or reskilled as a result of AI and intelligent automation, according to a new IBM (NYSE: IBM) Institute for Business Value (IBV) study. In addition, only 41 percent of CEOs surveyed say that they have the people, skills and resources required to execute their business strategies.
Saudi Arabia Wants to Enrich Uranium
September 9th, 2019Via: Reuters:
Saudi Arabia wants to enrich uranium for its nuclear power program, its energy minister said on Monday, potentially complicating talks with Washington on an atomic pact and the role of U.S. companies.
Uranium enrichment has been a sticking point with the United States, especially after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 that the Sunni Muslim kingdom would develop nuclear arms if regional rival Shi’ite Muslim Iran did.
The world’s top oil exporter says it wants to use nuclear power to diversify its energy mix, but enrichment also opens up the possibility of military uses of uranium.
Army Starts Testing Next Generation Squad Weapons In 27-Month Test
September 9th, 2019Via: ZeroHedge:
The U.S. Army is getting much closer to deploying the next generation weapon that could soon replace the M4 carbine and M249 light machine gun sometime in the early 2020s.
On Aug. 29, the Army announced it selected three defense companies to deliver prototype weapons for the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program.
The new weapons must be lighter and able to penetrate the world’s most advanced body armor from at least 600 meters away, defense insiders say.
Baltimore: Police Found Van Containing 1,000 Gallons of Gasoline
September 9th, 2019Via: The Baltimore Sun:
Baltimore police discovered a van loaded with 1,000 gallons of gasoline Monday morning and are evacuating several office buildings from the Inner Harbor — where emergency officials are urging people to stay away, city council members confirmed.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting Baltimore police on the scene.
A police spokesperson said they received a call at 11:02 a.m. about a suspicious van and began evacuating 100 E. Pratt St., which houses T. Rowe Price and and global professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
America’s Aging Population Is Leading to a Doctor Shortage Crisis
September 8th, 2019Via: CNBC:
As America’s population ages and demand outpaces supply, a physician shortage is intensifying.
Projections from the Association of American Medical Colleges say the U.S. will see a shortage of 46,900 to 121,900 physicians by 2032 in primary and specialty care.
The aging of America’s population is slicing the health-care industry in multiple ways. Americans are living longer and seemingly healthier lives — and requiring more care later into life. What’s more, one-third of all doctors currently working will be older than 65 in the next decade, and retirements may squeeze supply.
‘The Neoliberal Takeover of the Human Body’
September 8th, 2019Via: MarketWatch:
Biometric mobile wallets — payment technologies using our faces, fingerprints or retinas — already exist. Notable technology companies including Apple and Amazon await a day when a critical mass of consumers is sufficiently comfortable walking into a store and paying for goods without a card or device, according to Sinnreich, author of “The Essential Guide to Intellectual Property.”
Removing the last physical barrier — smartphones, watches, smart glasses and credit cards — between our bodies and corporate America is the final frontier in mobile payments. “The deeper the tie between the human body and the financial networks, the fewer intimate spaces will be left unconnected to those networks,” Sinnreich said.
Mystery Surrounds Lost German Sea Data Station
September 7th, 2019Via: BBC:
A massive environmental monitoring station off Germany’s Baltic coast has disappeared from the seabed, baffling police and researchers.
The seabed “observatory”, worth about €300,000 (£270,000), weighed more than half a tonne. It could not have been dragged off by a storm, tide or large animal, German experts say.
Divers only found a torn power cable at the site, 22m (72ft) down and 1.8km (1.2 miles) offshore.
It is a prohibited area, north of Kiel.
No boats – not even local fishing boats – are allowed into the area, called Eckernförde Bay, about 70km (44 miles) south of the Danish border.
The missing observatory, installed in late 2016, stopped sending data on 21 August.
It consisted of a power unit, connected by cable to the coast, and an instrument unit, which together weighed 770kg (1,700 pounds).
The German instruments had been measuring seawater quality, including temperature and the levels of salt, oxygen, nutrients, chlorophyll and methane.
Driving an Ambulance in the Age of Narcan
September 7th, 2019Some days everyone is just dying and coming back left and right like junkie whack-a-mole.
Via: Hazlitt:
It’s pretty common in my city to have a dose of Narcan drawn up and rubber banded onto the rearview mirror of the ambulance. We keep the rest of our gear all the way in the back of the rig and we run so many overdoses that it’s just easier to have the Narcan ready to go. We’re lazy that way, I guess.
You remember Epi-pens? You probably knew a kid in your elementary school who had to keep one in his backpack in case he was attacked by a peanut. They make those for Narcan now, and they give them out at clinics and the needle exchange. It’s a little plastic device which contains a single dose, quick-release Narcan shot and can be given with little or no training. They’re all over the street.
“We gave him Narcan already!” a homeless man shouts as we pull up. “I gave him two of the thingies, the ones they gave us!”
Police carry them, social workers, other drug users. Often a patient will get far more than the recommended dose before we arrive, and we will step carefully through a pile of used heroin needles and Narcan packaging on our way to the patient. I’ve Narcan’d the same guy twice in a shift. Some days everyone is just dying and coming back left and right like junkie whack-a-mole.
MIT Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Anonymized His Donations
September 6th, 2019Via: The New Yorker:
The M.I.T. Media Lab, which has been embroiled in a scandal over accepting donations from the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, had a deeper fund-raising relationship with Epstein than it has previously acknowledged, and it attempted to conceal the extent of its contacts with him. Dozens of pages of e-mails and other documents obtained by The New Yorker reveal that, although Epstein was listed as “disqualified” in M.I.T.’s official donor database, the Media Lab continued to accept gifts from him, consulted him about the use of the funds, and, by marking his contributions as anonymous, avoided disclosing their full extent, both publicly and within the university. Perhaps most notably, Epstein appeared to serve as an intermediary between the lab and other wealthy donors, soliciting millions of dollars in donations from individuals and organizations, including the technologist and philanthropist Bill Gates and the investor Leon Black. According to the records obtained by The New Yorker and accounts from current and former faculty and staff of the media lab, Epstein was credited with securing at least $7.5 million in donations for the lab, including two million dollars from Gates and $5.5 million from Black, gifts the e-mails describe as “directed” by Epstein or made at his behest. The effort to conceal the lab’s contact with Epstein was so widely known that some staff in the office of the lab’s director, Joi Ito, referred to Epstein as Voldemort or “he who must not be named.”
2018: Decorated Former Palm Beach Detective Who Led Epstein Investigation Dies at 50
September 6th, 2019Via: Palm Beach Daily News:
Joseph Recarey, a former Palm Beach detective who had a knack for making others smile, who tackled the island’s largest and most important investigations, and who cared deeply for his family and friends, died Friday, May 25, 2018, after a brief illness. He was 50.
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Recarey was one of the most decorated police officers in the history of the department with more than 150 commendations, 11 officer-of-the-month awards and a 2013 Palm Beach Police Foundation Officer of the Year award, Reiter said. He worked in several units, including the Organized Crime Vice and Narcotics Unit and the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit. He was a lead detective in many major investigations, including the high-profile solicitation-of-minors case against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
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No other information about the cause of death was released.
