Hometown Newspaper For The Free World
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”.
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…
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…..
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.”
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.
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.
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…
Libyan parliament set to name new PM amid signs of power struggle | News
From www.aljazeera.com
2022-02-09 11:21:38
Excerpt:
Interim PM Dbeibah says he will not hand over power, a position that could lead to a flare-up of conflicts between rival factions.
Libya’s parliament is set to name a new prime minister to head the transitional government on Thursday, raising concerns over the possibility of a new power struggle.
The effort to replace interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah comes after the date for Libya’s first presidential election – scheduled for December 24 last year – came and went during his watch.
Lawmakers argue that the mandate of Dbeibah’s government ended when the presidential election was supposed to happen: December 24. He has refused to leave.
The postponement dealt a major blow to international efforts to end a decade of chaos in the oil-rich Mediterranean nation.
The presidential vote was postponed over disputes between rival factions on laws governing the elections and controversial hopefuls.
Slovakia lawmakers approve defense military treaty with US – CBS17.com
From www.cbs17.com
2022-02-09 11:44:18
Excerpt:
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s parliament on Wednesday approved a defense military treaty with the United States.
The Defense Cooperation Agreement passed 79-60 in the 150-seat legislature in a vote split between lawmakers from the four-party ruling coalition and the opposition.
The treaty allows the U.S. military to use two Slovak air force bases — Malacky-Kuchyna and Sliac — for 10 years while Slovakia — a NATO member — will receive $100 million from the U.S. to modernize them.
From www.wdrb.com
2022-02-09 06:22:14
Excerpt:
Almost 80 percent of Germans want to gradually make the country independent of energy imports from Russia. 74 percent consider it important to become independent of gas imports – for example delivered via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Renewable energies should be expanded more quickly. These are the findings of the new “Energy Trend Survey 2022” by Stiebel Eltron. In February 2022, a market research institute conducted a representative survey of 1,000 German citizens on behalf of the company.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220208005962/en/
