BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signalled on Sunday (Feb 6) he was open to deploying more troops to Lithuania to bolster NATO’s eastern flank in response to a build-up of Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine.
The United States already ordered about 3,000 extra troops to bolster NATO in Poland and Romania in response to the fears of a Russian invasion of the former Soviet republic.
“We are ready to do all that is necessary to strengthen” the German-led battlegroup in Lithuania, Scholz said in an interview with ARD broadcaster shortly before his overnight flight to Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden.
The chancellor said he would discuss this with the heads of the three Baltic states who are set to visit him in Berlin next Thursday.
He nonetheless once more ruled out weapons deliveries to Ukraine due to Germany’s policy not to send arms to conflict zones – a stance rooted in the country’s bloody 20th century history that has come under scrutiny of late.
NATO deployed four multinational combat units which have some 5,000 troops in total to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in response to Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea region from Ukraine in 2014.
The mayor of Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency and a former U.S. ambassador to Canada says U.S. Republicans must stop interfering in the domestic affairs of its neighbor as protesters opposed to COVID-19 restrictions continued to paralyze Ottawa’s downtown
The ex-Fox News host Chris Wallace is reportedly ‘second guessing’ his big move
Chris Wallace is second guessing his move from Fox News to CNN, according to a report from Radar, as he is “irate” over the state of things at the network.
“Wallace feels that he has been stiffed. He’s got no staff, no Executive Producer and the guy he gave up a prized gig for has just walked out the door,” one source told the publication last week, referring to network head Jeff Zucker departing the network ahead of some major changes, including the launch of a streaming service, which Wallace is supposed to headline.
Zucker and Wallace, who is reportedly earning between $8 and $10 million annually, were allegedly close, with the former network head said to be a big reason behind the shocking jump from a primarily conservative leaning channel to a left-leaning one.
Russia could invade Ukraine “any day,” launching a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost”, a US official has claimed.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan offered another stark warning the day after Washington said Russia has assembled at least 70% of the military firepower it likely intends to have in place by mid-month to give President Vladimir Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“If war breaks out, it will come at an enormous human cost to Ukraine, but we believe that based on our preparations and our response, it will come at a strategic cost to Russia as well,” Sullivan said.
Quantum batteries could one day revolutionize energy storage through what seems like a paradox – the bigger the battery, the faster it charges. For the first time, a team of scientists has now demonstrated the quantum mechanical principle of superabsorption that underpins quantum batteries in a proof-of-concept device…..
Superabsorption had yet to be demonstrated on a scale large enough to build quantum batteries, but the new study has now managed just that. To build their test device, the researchers placed an active layer of light-absorbing molecules – a dye known as Lumogen-F Orange – in a microcavity between two mirrors…..
The team then used ultrafast transient-absorption spectroscopy to measure how the dye molecules were storing the energy and how fast the whole device was charging. And sure enough, as the size of the microcavity and the number of molecules increased, the charging time decreased, demonstrating superabsorption at work.
I AM NOT A ROBOT – But I Played One on Stage by Betsy Dorminey
In anticipation of our inevitable subjugation by a superior species I wish it to be known that I embrace the arrival of our robot overlords. I am pro-Bot, pro-Borg. Klaatu barada nikto, ya’all! It only needs saying once because I know they will remember forever. I’m your friend! And it’s only a matter of time before the takeover is complete. In fact, it may be all over now and we just don’t know it.
Because I know where they’re coming from, after a fashion. A couple of years ago I played a murderous robot in an adaptation of Karel Capek’s “Rossum’s Universal Robots” (R.U.R.) by Lee Eric Shackleford. Capek, a Czech writer, isn’t exactly a household name but he deserves to be, because he is to robots what Mary Shelley was to Frankenstein.
In 1920, when he wrote the play, Capek set the canon: like Ms. Shelley he draped our deepest fears in synthetic flesh. Made in our image? Check! Stronger and smarter than us? Check! Mistreated by us? Check! Vengeful, like us? Check and double-check! And ultimately the chickens come home to roost and there’s slaughter.
As Callida, the beret-wearing commander of the insurgent robot army, I turned my gun on Henry Domin (commendably played by Atlanta actor Fred Galyan): “We have labored in your laboratories for years. It is doubtful we have need of human scientists. And even if we did, you are not a scientist. You are only a salesman. A salesman who has no more customers to buy his product. You are no longer of value.” POW!
And so it ends for the human race – almost. I won’t spoil the show, but there’s at least a glimmer of salvation. And I let my robot pals saw my skull open to study my brain (offstage, thankfully).
Artificial Intelligence is waging a stealth war against the human race. If you don’t believe me just wait until the next time you drop your phone in the drink, or the computer crashes. We can be immobilized in a single tick of the atomic clock. Hackers provide regular reminders of our vulnerability but the robots will be much more efficient, and harder to stop.
Greg Nichols, writing in ZDNet quotes Pieter Abeel, a professor of robotics at UC-Berkeley and host of The Robot Brains podcast, saying that 2022 may be the inflection point where AI, machine learning, and machine vision finally come together:
“Popular coverage of robotics trends towards home-butler style robots and self-driving cars because they’re very relatable to our everyday lives. Meanwhile AI Robotics is taking off in areas of our world that are less visible but critical to our livelihoods – think e-commerce fulfillment centers and warehouses, farms, hospitals, recycling centers. All areas with a big impact on our lives, but not activities that the average person is seeing or directly interacting with on a daily basis.”
I don’t know about you but I’m getting ready. I say “thank you” to the navigation software in the car, to elevators, to Siri and Alexa and all the rest of them. Never cuss them out. I’ll dance with the guys at Boston Dynamics (especially the dog-one). I love you, robots!
Recap: YouTube and Disney reached an impasse late last week that resulted in the disappearance of 18 Disney-owned channels from YouTube TV. As YouTube explained, they partner with content owners to bring various channels to YouTube TV and occasionally, these deals need to be renewed. Despite negotiating for several months, the two sides were unable to reach an agreement that both deemed fair before the existing contract expired, thus the channels were pulled from YouTube’s streaming service.
YouTube TV decreased its monthly rate by $15, from $64.99 to $49.99, to reflect the change.
Cooler heads seemingly prevailed over the weekend as both sides returned to the negotiating table and were able to hammer out a new deal. This means that all of the channels that were pulled, including ABC, FX, National Geographic and the ESPN family of channels, have returned. So, too, has the original $64.99 price point.
Daria I. Novak – “Approximately 808,000 “noncitizens” may vote in future New York City elections, if the City Council welcomes them to do so, as early as December. These potential new members of the electorate would include green card holders and those with certain work permits,” according to a November 29, 2021, Daily Caller story by Deroy Murdock.
If we lose our sovereignty, ALL is lost! There are 3 basic tests that are accepted and used since the start of the modern nation-state system in 1648 (Peace of Westphalia) to determine if a location is a nation-state. We’ve lost one principle and are losing the remaining two. A 3-legged stool can’t stand without all its legs intact and neither can the United States of America.
First, there is recognition of a country by an international legal body such as the UN. Check. We are recognized as a legal nation-state.
Second, the country must have a generally understood common culture… religion, language, etc. that unite the citizens as “one people.” WE ARE LOSING THIS ONE.
Third, there is a recognized physical border that differentiates the “us” from the “them.” WE ARE LOSING THIS ONE, TOO!
Many of our fellow citizens arrived from failed or failing states. None of our legal immigrants want us to become what they escaped from in the past. Yet here we are making big mistakes with the aid of countries such as China, Russia, Iran, and others supporting ideas antithetical to everything this country has stood for since 1776.
I am not proposing taking up arms. I am proposing that each of us, as Ronald Reagan said long ago, has a responsibility to ensure that freedom is preserved for the next generation. It may be uncomfortable to talk about with those who are indoctrinated with a false truth, but we must be active or there will be no country left for the next generation to inherit from us. It is no longer enough to simply raise our families and go to work. We need to move from a passive support of our beliefs to one of active participation.
That means getting out the vote and teaching those among us who lack an understanding of how and why our country was formed and the dangers we face today. Make people aware of what is happening inside the classroom, corporate America, the media, and our government.
We the people have the power to reclaim the nation-state our Founding Fathers designed to serve us – a country governed by the people with certain tasks assigned to government that individuals can’t easily handle. We have lost our way and become slaves to the state instead of citizens of the country!
If those of us who remember don’t speak up, those who never knew will be doomed to a dark future.
The Ukrainian soldier stood in a muddy trench, cigarette cupped in his palm to avoid attracting the attention of Russian-backed separatist fighters less than 350 metres away.
“It’s good weather for reconnaissance scouts,” he said, warily. “No one wants to come out of their warm dugout on a night like this.” It was 9pm and the rainy Ukrainian steppe was pitch dark, shrouded in a dense fog. The sound of artillery and small arms fire could be heard all along the front.
Since fighting began in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014, a vast labyrinth of trenches has been dug across much of a front line that stretches for over 250 miles. Tensions have increased across the region in recent weeks amid fears that Russia
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The first police officer on the scene of Ahmaud Arbery’s killing told jurors Monday that one of three white men charged with murder “cornered” Arbery before the Black 25-year-old was fatally shot.
Ricky Minshew, a former Glynn County Police Officer, said he spoke with William “Roddie” Bryan when he arrived on the scene, who told Minshew he “blocked,” “cornered” and “cut off” Arbery five times.
“Should I have been chasing him? I don’t know,” Bryan said, according to a transcript of Minshew’s body camera video read in court.
Monday marked the beginning of the first full week of testimony in the trial of Bryan and father and son Greg and Travis McMichael. In the morning, jurors heard from an investigator who documented the crime scene and took a series of graphic photos.
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