Day's Headlines: Satellite has Gone Black-Hole; Robo-Dogs; Underwater Education; 30,000x Faster; Secret Ethics; BDS; Israel Warns Citizens in Turkey; Radar in the Sea; NK Sends Sam-Propaganda; CA Min Wage; Church of England is More Building than Church; and Immortality

Monday, March 28, 2016

Satellite has Gone Black-Hole; Robo-Dogs; Underwater Education; 30,000x Faster; Secret Ethics; BDS; Israel Warns Citizens in Turkey; Radar in the Sea; NK Sends Sam-Propaganda; CA Min Wage; Church of England is More Building than Church; and Immortality

Space

Japan loses track of $273 mn black hole satellite businessinsider

The ultra-high-tech "Hitomi" -- or eye -- satellite was supposed to be busy communicating from orbit by now, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said, but no one can say exactly where it is.

Tech

Robo-dogs to the rescue phys.org

Scientists in Japan have developed a system using information technology to augment and enhance the capabilities of canine search and rescue (SAR) teams. Outfitted with special suits, these cyber-enhanced SAR dogs can transmit information about disaster sites and victims to their handlers and rescue workers.

'Robo-Dog' makes it sound so sci-fi. Actually, more like 'well-equipped rescue dog'. Includes a video (nausea warning!)

Students to follow robotics industry beneath the waves washingtontimes

The competition is representative of the growing presence of robotics in industrial applications and for scientific research.

AI

IBM unveils concept for new chip that can speed up AI training by a whopping 30,000x hardwarezone

Researchers at IBM have released a paper featuring a new concept they invented for a chip called a Resistive Processing Unit (RPU). This RPU is supposedly a huge boon to current efforts to train deep neural networks – it is capable of accelerating the training by up to 30,000x compared to conventional CPUs.

The biggest mystery in AI right now is the ethics board that Google set up after buying DeepMind businessinsider

Google's artificial intelligence (AI) ethics board, established when Google acquired London AI startup DeepMind in 2014, remains one of the biggest mysteries in tech, with both Google and DeepMind refusing to reveal who sits on it.

Israel

Boycotts will disappear when Israel advances peace, EU envoy says timesofisrael

“The most effective antidote against the BDS movement is to solve the Palestinian issue. If there were no Palestinian issue, there would be no BDS movement,” Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen said at a conference in Jerusalem.

To summarize the article - BDS is Israel's fault. See also: BDS is the modern form of anti-Semitism and also Analysis: Addressing BDS and its existential threat to Israel

Israel Warns Citizens To Leave Turkey ‘As Soon As Possible’ jewishbusinessnews

Israel has called on its citizens on Monday urging its citizens to leave Turkey “as soon as possible.” The Israeli government’s Counter Terrorism Bureau has raised its travel warning from Level 2 (basic concrete threat) to Level 3 (high threat).

Military

Tensions are mounting between Russia, China, and Japan in the Pacific businessinsider

Japan on Monday switched on a radar station in the East China Sea, giving it a permanent intelligence gathering post close to Taiwan and a group of islands disputed by Japan and China, drawing an angry response from Beijing.

North Korea threatens nuclear strike on DC in video thehill

The four-minute video titled “Last Chance” uses computer animation to depict a ballistic missile hitting Washington, followed by a nuclear explosion.

Business

Deal reached to boost California's minimum wage to $15 latimes

Lawmakers and labor unions have struck a tentative deal to raise the statewide minimum wage to $10.50 an hour next year and then gradually to $15, averting a costly political campaign this fall and possibly putting California at the forefront of a national movement.

Apostasy

Rejoice! Why that circus in the aisle could bring new life to your church theguardian

We Britons are famously obsessive about our heritage. Our attachment to stately homes, castles and cathedrals sometimes verges on the fanatical. And yet almost half of all the Grade I listed buildings in England are in the hands of a single organisation – the Church of England, which is mildly bemused as to what it should do with them. It has 15,700 buildings in all, compared with, say, Tesco’s 3,376 UK stores.

This article is just a rambling discussion on what the Church of England plans to do with some of their buildings, but the fact that the buildings are seen as somehow inherently spiritual is what makes this interesting. There is also an odd, off-handed comment about some people actually believing churches aren't the buildings followed by completely misrepresenting what Christians believe on that subject:

It is not a new argument, of course. Christians believe Jesus tore down a temple and rebuilt it again in three days.

Immortality

The Coming Reality of Age Reversal industrytap

Call it what you will: age manipulation, age shifting, senescence reversal, enhanced regeneration, youth inducement, rejuvenation, resurrection, or longevity medicine. By whatever name, scientists are beginning to talk about semi-immortals and even immortals. These concepts have been part of science fiction for decades and part of the human imagination from the beginning, but never part of the discourse of respected scientists. Living longer, much longer, is no longer the fantasy talk of late-night snake oil salesman.

Also see Inventor Ray Kurzweil believes we’ll be able to extend our lives ‘indefinitely’

Other...

Crew Blames Google Maps for Demolishing the Wrong House fortune

N.J. lawmaker wants fines for ‘distracted walking’ washingtonpost

The island prison off the coast of Florida you didn’t know existed holykaw

No comments :

Post a Comment