American West Sees Worse Drought in 1,200 Years

Parker Davis February 15, 2022

Western Megadrought Worsens To Driest In At Least 1,200 Years

From www.huffpost.com
2022-02-14 19:51:29

Excerpt:

The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds.

A dramatic drying in 2021 — about as dry as 2002 and one of the driest years ever recorded for the region — pushed the 22-year drought passed the previous record-holder for megadroughts in the late 1500s and shows no signs of easing in the near future, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The study calculated that 42% of this megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change.

“Climate change is changing the baseline conditions toward a drier, gradually drier state in the West and that means the worst-case scenario keeps getting worse,” said study lead author Park Williams, a climate hydrologist at UCLA. “This is right in line with what people were thinking of in the 1900s as a worst-case scenario. But today I think we need to be even preparing…

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2 Killed in Sudan Anti-Coup Protests

Mark Clouse February 15, 2022

Ex-Sudan official detained as 2 killed in anti-coup protests – Las Vegas Sun

From lasvegassun.com
2022-02-14 19:38:00

Excerpt:

Sudan’s military authorities have arrested a former senior government official a second time, his party said, and at least two demonstrators were killed as thousands once again took to the streets around the country Monday to protest an October military coup.

The Unionist Alliance party said Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former member of the ruling Sovereign Council, was detained Sunday in the capital of Khartoum. It said security forces stopped his vehicle as he was heading from his home to the party’s headquarters.

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UK Moves Troops into Eastern Europe

Freedomist Curator February 15, 2022

UK to send military personnel to Lithuania

From www.plenglish.com
2022-02-14 20:17:08

Excerpt:

As reported by the British Ministry of Defense through the social network Twitter, the military will provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to the Lithuanian armed forces and will help them increase their response capacity in the face of pressure on the border with Belarus.

Although it did not offer details on the number of British troops that will be deployed, Defense Minister Ben Wallace assured that London and Vilnius share concerns about the accumulation of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine and about the migratory crisis that is brewing, he said, on the Lithuanian-Belarusian dividing line.

The United Kingdom, the United States and other Western countries accuse Russia of wanting to invade Ukraine because the Ukrainian government applied for membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Moscow categorically opposes NATO expansion into Eastern Europe as a threat to its national security, and maintains more than 100,000 troops…

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Judge Tosses Palin NY Times Suit, but Lets Jury Trial Continue

Freedomist Curator February 15, 2022

Judge dismisses Sarah Palin’s New York Times libel lawsuit

From www.bbc.co.uk
2022-02-14 21:25:22

Excerpt:

In an unusual move, however, Mr Rakoff said that the jury deliberations – which began Friday – would be allowed to continue. He said that with an appeal from Ms Palin’s legal team likely, an appeals court “would greatly benefit from knowing how the jury would decide it”.

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Biden Follows Trump Down Yemen Fiasco

Mark Clouse February 15, 2022

Biden doubles down on a failed Yemen policy

From thehill.com
2022-02-14 21:30:15

Excerpt:

When running for office, President Biden to “make sure America does not check its values at the door to sell arms or buy oil.” In the context of the Yemen conflict, fulfilling this promise may not be easy, but it is clear: In Biden’s own words, America must “end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.” Unfortunately, the administration’s response to the recent escalation in the conflict has been to revert to the same failed playbook as previous administrations, risking further complicity in the Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) coalition’s violations.

The Yemen conflict has devastated the lives of millions of people in Yemen over the past seven years, but the recent uptick in hostilities makes clear the deadly cost of broken promises. U.S. policymakers should take bold…

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Inventor Claims to Have Created Self-Defining, Purposing AI

Parker Davis February 9, 2022

An inventor named Trevor E Chandler has claimed to have create an artificial intelligence that is capable of determining its own purpose, so to speak. The AI gets an initial code which, emergently, it ultimately overcomes, creating its own code to define its purpose, and thus action. This seems perfectly safe. I wonder if we can combine this AI with nanotechnology and just, you know, see what happens. Let’s create a nanotech ai that can replicate itself and develop its own purpose. That should be fun.

As usual, the claims might not meet the much more prosaic reality an inventor is hyping. We won’t be anytime soon seeing nanobots go up our noses and turn us into Biden voters, or, worse, Dallas Cowboys fans, but it does mean developing more autonomously developing tech that can positively enhance our ability to process and refine the world around us.

New Type of Artificial Intelligence can Self-Create and Self-Improve its Source Code

From www.einnews.com
2022-02-09 13:00:00

Excerpt:

A new type of artificial intelligence has been created with the capability to advance its own source code, persist, and use its learning across use cases, and through code generation and modification, advance its action set and objectives beyond their starting state without the need for human intervention.

Trevor E. Chandler, the inventor states, “All existing artificial intelligence is limited by human bias. We either tell the AI what actions it can perform or give it data that represents actions it can use. This stunts the potential of our systems, preventing them from achieving emergence. My new approach has overcome this, and other serious issues with machine learning today, resulting in a machine learning system generating emergent actions beyond its initial actions list or data and emergent objectives beyond its initial objectives.”.

This new type of machine learning automatically searches for, finds, and uses code from other artificially Intelligent components as its starting state, continually writing code into itself from preexisting systems, then modifying its own source code as it advances its action set beyond its starting state through use of a built-in code generating and evaluation artificial intelligence. This allows useful information from preexisting machine learning systems to be utilized, not wasted, but only as a starting point…..

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Graphene Could Be Expanded to Store More Hydrogen

Parker Davis February 9, 2022

If you can organize graphene in three dimensions, you can greatly expand the amount of hydrogen you can store in graphene. This could greatly reduce the cost of hydrogen storage, and even allow for bulk room-temperature storage. Researchers out of the Istituto Nanoscienze, a research consortium, published results from an experiment that demonstrates organizing graphene in three dimensions is possible.

3D arrangement of graphene enables storage of larger quantities of hydrogen

From innovationorigins.com
2022-02-09 11:00:00

Excerpt:

A research consortium has discovered how to organize graphene in three dimensions. This novel process could be used to store larger quantities of hydrogen and develop more sensitive gas sensors….

He found the relevant expertise at the Institute for Sensor and Actuator Systems at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria. Here, Professor Ulrich Schmid‘s group has been researching processes for years that make it possible to integrate extremely fine, porous structures into dense materials in a controlled manner….

Dr. Stefano Veronesi, a member of Dr. Heun’s research group at the Istituto Nanoscienze, explains what the application of this process means in terms of hydrogen storage: “Graphene can bind (store) molecular as well as elemental hydrogen on the surface. At room temperature, however, only elemental hydrogen binds well to graphene. Molecular hydrogen, on the other hand, forms only a very weak bond with the graphene surface. By selective functionalization (“grafting”) of the graphene surface, the ‘storage’ capability of the graphene surface can be significantly increased even at room temperature. How much hydrogen can be stored is determined by the graphene surface area present – the more graphene, the more hydrogen can be stored.”

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VP’s Husband Evacuated from High School After Bomb Threat

Ivo Fysic February 9, 2022

Douglas Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ Husband, was recently rapidly evacuated from a high school in America after the school received a bomb threat. Emhoff was making at an appearance at Dunbar High School in Washington DC to talk about Black History Month when he was suddenly escorted out of the building.

US Vice President Kamala Harris’ Husband Douglas Emhoff Evacuated In Bomb Threat

From www.ndtv.com
2022-02-09 06:00:32

Excerpt:

The husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris was evacuated Tuesday after a reported bomb threat at the Washington high school he was visiting to celebrate African American history, officials said.

Douglas Emhoff, whose official title is second gentleman, was pulled away by his security detail during commemorations of Black History Month at Dunbar High School in Washington, DC. Pupils were also told to leave.

“It was a bomb threat,” Washington public schools spokeswoman Enrique Gutierrez told reporters. “We had a threat today to the facility so… basically we took the precaution of evacuating everybody, as you saw. I think everyone is safe. The building is clear.”

No immediate details about the nature of the bomb threat were made public.

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EU Will Get Poland Fines by Withholding EU Cash

Mark Clouse February 9, 2022

After the EU fined Poland for not bending its knee to the EU’s demands that it cuts off a power station and ends a lignite mining operation, Poland told the EU it’s just not paying the fines. Now, as the EU prepares to doll out the cash it gives out to member nations, it has informed Poland it will simply withhold the funds that it needs to pay the fine.

EU notifies Poland it will withhold its EU cash to cover unpaid fines

From www.euronews.com
2022-02-09 10:15:41

Excerpt:

BRUSSELS – The European Commission notified Poland on Tuesday it would withhold cash that the EU was to pay Warsaw as part of regular EU transfers, to cover the first part of fines imposed by the EU’s court on Poland which the country did not pay.

This is the first time that the Commission has to withhold EU money for a member country because it is not complying with a ruling by the EU’s top court.

Last September, the Court of Justice of the European Union put a 500,000 euro ($571,000) daily fine on Poland for not stopping the operations of its Turow lignite mine and power plant on the border with Czech Republic.

This followed a complaint from Prague that its operations were endangering water sources of residents across the border. Poland’s eurosceptic and nationalist government refused to comply with the court ruling.

“The Commission has informed Poland that it would proceed with the offsetting of payments for penalties due under case C-121/21 Czechia v Poland on Turów lignite mine”, Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said in a statement.

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Taliban’s Afghanistan Becoming Safe Haven for Terrorists

Ivo Fysic February 9, 2022

Terror groups enjoy greater freedom in Afghanistan than any time in recent history: UN report

From www.financialexpress.com
2022-02-09 10:12:51

Excerpt:

Terror groups enjoy greater freedom in Afghanistan than at any time in recent history and there are no signs that the Taliban leadership has taken steps to limit the activities of foreign terrorists in the war-torn country, a report of the UN Secretary-General has said.

The report says the dreaded Islamic State terrorist group aims to position itself as the “chief rejectionist force” in Afghanistan, expands into neighbouring Central and South Asian countries and is viewed by the Taliban as its primary armed threat.

The ’14th report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIS to international peace and security and the range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States in countering the threat’ notes…

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