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Post by ZETAR on Apr 16, 2018 4:47:08 GMT
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Apr 16, 2018 12:20:39 GMT
Good Monday morning 
posted 15 April 2018
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Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Apr 16, 2018 12:32:04 GMT
Iraqi News
Iraq declares UN initiative to rehabilitate ancient sites in Nineveh
by Mohammed Ebraheem
Apr 15, 2018, 12:58 pm
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraq uncovered on Sunday a UN initiative to rehabilitate ancient sites which were devastated by Islamic State extremists during their capture of Nineveh province earlier.
Speaking to IKH News, Iraq’s deputy tourism and antiquities minister Qais Hussein Rashid said the initiative, brokered by the UN and several other countries, aims at “re-constructing touristic, archaeological and heritage sites destroyed by terrorist IS gangs in the city of Mosul.”
“The rehabilitation process will mainly focus on the walls and tombs of the ancient Assyrian city,” Rashid pointed out.
He stressed that countries like the UAE, Kuwait, the US and Britain will take part in the UN-brokered initiative, besides many other countries.
Last week, Iraqi security forces foiled a plot by Islamic State militants to detonate an ancient citadel in Tal Afar district in Nineveh.
Several archaeological sites in Iraq suffered grievous damage at the hands of the Islamic State group, which declared a caliphate in the summer of 2014 from Mosul city.
After capturing the second largest city of Mosul, the IS group released a series of videos, showing its members smashing artifacts at Mosul Museum and blowing up parts of the site of the Assyrian capital of Nimrud.
Several activists, officials and historians condemned IS at the time for the destruction of the ancient Assyrian archaeological sites, while UNESCO described the act as a war crime.
www.iraqinews.com/features/iraq-declares-un-initiative-to-rehabilitate-ancient-sites-in-nineveh/
Crystal
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2018 13:25:20 GMT
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Apr 16, 2018 22:23:25 GMT
Welcome AnonCat,
If this works it would be wonderful. Hopefully there aren't any unintended consequences.
My favorite sandals are made out of recycled plastic.
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Apr 16, 2018 22:38:59 GMT
PerfectEdition.com
by Shefket
Apr 16, 2018
10 UFO And Alien Encounters From America’s Early Years
The historical past of the “New World” of North America, from the arrival of the Pilgrims to the institution of what would develop into America, is already one stuffed with intrigue. Additionally it is one that’s awash with unusual sightings of flying objects lengthy earlier than something mechanical ought to have been within the skies. Much more weird, a few of these early accounts appear to inform of “interventions” that ensured the success of the “experiment” that was America.
It could seem that UFOs, and the intelligence behind them, have had an curiosity in North America since European settlers first set foot on its shores. And if the accounts of the Native American tribes are to be believed, stated curiosity existed a very long time earlier than that. Listed here are ten otherworldly accounts from the early years of America.
more after the jump:
www.perfectedition.win/10-ufo-and-alien-encounters-from-americas-early-years/
Crystal
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2018 23:16:02 GMT
Welcome AnonCat,
If this works it would be wonderful. Hopefully there aren't any unintended consequences.
My favorite sandals are made out of recycled plastic.
Crystal
actually ..I was worried about the inside of car..the ants have been eating some of the biogdegrable green parts of the motor..they also mentioned a fungus they had..but works too slowly..! imagine that between your toes in that sandal!! The Fungus..that Ate Us!  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2018 23:57:59 GMT
PerfectEdition.com
by Shefket
Apr 16, 2018
10 UFO And Alien Encounters From America’s Early Years
The historical past of the “New World” of North America, from the arrival of the Pilgrims to the institution of what would develop into America, is already one stuffed with intrigue. Additionally it is one that’s awash with unusual sightings of flying objects lengthy earlier than something mechanical ought to have been within the skies. Much more weird, a few of these early accounts appear to inform of “interventions” that ensured the success of the “experiment” that was America.
It could seem that UFOs, and the intelligence behind them, have had an curiosity in North America since European settlers first set foot on its shores. And if the accounts of the Native American tribes are to be believed, stated curiosity existed a very long time earlier than that. Listed here are ten otherworldly accounts from the early years of America.
more after the jump:
www.perfectedition.win/10-ufo-and-alien-encounters-from-americas-early-years/
Crystal  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2018 4:14:37 GMT
haha..I enjoyed the link..Thank you Gort! Amazing..I saw something like that in Manchester .on meh way to Hammersmith to pick up a PC I had in repairs. A nice British Gypsy Lady runs the shop..does stellar work..anywho..It was hovering slightly above tree top level. All quiet like. GobSmacked..I asked the taximan to pull over. I would have taken a picture but I left meh camera in the glove compartment of meh car that was in repairs too..The driver, a nice bloke from Somalia obliged and took some. It was just zipping and skimming along like a bug on water. I've never seen anything like it! Then zap crackle and pop..it was gone! On the return trip, we looked at the pictures. I had just finished eating a tuna fish sandwich, so I was very careful not to smear the phone and possibly damage or hit delete the delete key with a slip of my fingers....The driver promised to email the pictures as soon as he got home. I offered him a nice tip..but he refused.. strange...but I'll share them as soon as I can. Prolly some new experimental craft.but meh gut says this was something quite different..not natural..unsettling even...but those RAF boys are always making mischief.Have to keep up with those Ruskies somehow..right mate?  |
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Post by Lev Umpteen on Apr 17, 2018 5:11:22 GMT
If I had seen that, it would shirley have freaked me out.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2018 6:19:46 GMT
If I had seen that, it would shirley have freaked me out. Ay Doubles..! And look at the town and the people....we be missin' the "Big Picture" I never knew the yanks had gotten so advanced ! Like in them science fiction books..well truth be told..I only read a few comics..but look at them..they have such... character! If I can get meh fax machine workin, it's been right uncooperative all of a sudden..never did it before..I will fax it to Billy..he has to screen these things I hear.. |
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Apr 17, 2018 12:09:05 GMT
Good morning AnonCat,
And the fungus isn't much better!
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Apr 17, 2018 12:13:13 GMT
Good morning lovely UFOCasebookers,
Der Spiegel
The Power of the Algorithms
Pedro Domingos on the Arms Race in Artificial Intelligence
In an interview, best-selling author and machine-learning expert Pedro Domingos discusses the global competition to take the lead in artificial intelligence, the advance of autocrats and the threats modern technology presents to Western democracies.
Interview Conducted by Christoph Scheuermann and Bernhard Zand
April 16, 2018 05:10 PM
In an interview, best-selling author and machine-learning expert Pedro Domingos discusses the global competition to take the lead in artificial intelligence, the advance of autocrats and the threats modern technology presents to Western democracies.
It's a quiet hallway in the computer science department at the University of Washington in Seattle. To the right, young software engineers sit in front of their laptops in the windowless, artificially lit rooms. To the left, computer science professor Pedro Domingos opens the door to his office, which has a view of the massive trees on campus.
Domingos' book "The Master Algorithm," about the technology of artificial intelligence (AI), made him famous and is also considered a standard reference work. The best-selling book, published in 2015, describes how machines that can learn are changing our everyday lives -- from the social networks and science to business and politics and right up to the way modern wars are waged. The book drew praise from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Recently, a third prominent figure noted that he'd read the book: Chinese President Xi Jinping. When state television broadcast his new year's speech this year, viewers discovered that next to Marx's "Capital" and "Selected Works" by Mao Zedong, he also has a copy of "The Master Algorithm" on his bookshelf.
"The book is much read in China," says Domingos. "That's probably why Xi and his people became aware of it. It's possible that it has now become even more popular." The book has also been published in Russian, Japanese, Korean and in many other languages, but not yet in German.
DER SPIEGEL recently sat down with Domingos in his Seattle office for an interview.
DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Domingos, Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he who leads in artificial intelligence will rule the world. Is that true?
Domingos: I agree with him, realistically. Artificial intelligence is a very powerful technology, and there is an arms race going on. Fast forward 20 years into the future and one of the players could have won the race. China is more likely to win than Russia is, although Russia has a lot going on. So, we could end up in a world that China may not formally control, but they effectively do because they rule the cyberworld.
DER SPIEGEL: Why is this tantamount to world domination?
Domingos: AI lowers the cost of knowledge by orders of magnitude. One good, effective machine learning system can do the work of a million people, whether it's for commercial purposes or for cyberespionage. Imagine a country that produces a thousand times more knowledge than another. This is the challenge we are facing.
DER SPIEGEL: Chinese President Xi Jinping is very interested in artificial intelligence. Did you know before his new year's speech that your book was on his shelf?
Domingos: I didn't know before, but I found out pretty quickly. This is something that Xi Jinping regularly does. These books are on his shelf to send a message, and the message that I think he is sending by having my book is, "We really believe in artificial intelligence." So, when I found out about it I was not extremely surprised given that the Chinese government had announced before that it wants to dominate in AI.
DER SPIEGEL: Which sentiment prevailed when you saw your book there -- a sense of recognition or one of concern?
Domingos: It was both exciting and scary. Exciting because China is developing rapidly, and there are all sorts of ways the Chinese and the rest of the world can benefit from AI. Scary because this is an authoritarian government, going full tilt on using AI to control their population. In fact, what we are seeing now is just the beginning. Like any technology, AI gives you the power to do good and evil. So far, we have been focusing on the power to do good, and I think it is enormous. But the power to do evil is there, too.
DER SPIEGEL: Is it by coincidence that two autocrats like Xi and Putin take such an interest in AI?
Domingos: When I travel around America, Europe and Asia, it is interesting to see how differently people feel about this technology. The picture coming out of Silicon Valley is a very optimistic one, informed by libertarian ideas. The very opposite is true for Europe: I just came back from a conference in Berlin where I was struck by the sheer pessimism. Every other session was about: "Oh, we have to fear this. Who knows what may be going on here?" Until someone made a point that was really on the mark -- as the conference was called "Humanity disrupted." He asked: "Why don't we call the conference 'Humanity Enhanced'?" Sure, AI brings disruption -- but we are being much more enhanced than disrupted.
DER SPIEGEL: And China and Russia?
Domingos: They unfortunately see the authoritarian and less the libertarian potential. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin ask themselves: "What could we do with this technology?"
DER SPIEGEL: Are we Europeans losing out to the autocrats?
Domingos: There are many AI applications being used in the U.S. and China, be it on the local or the national level, in medical research or traffic management. Less so in Europe. So, yes, Europe is missing out to an extent, unfortunately.
DER SPIEGEL: Your book has been translated into Russian and Chinese, but not into German or French.
Domingos: My literary agent told me: "You are going to sell this book all over the world, but not in France and Germany." And that's what happened. "The Master Algorithm" was sold to Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea. There are Polish and Russian translations. But my agent was right when he said: "The Germans and the French don't like these things."
DER SPIEGEL: Your book warns of the limitations, even dangers of this technology if it ends up in the wrong hands. Aren't we worried for good reasons?
Domingos: There are dangers, and in terms of regulating AI, Europe is ahead of the U.S. Unfortunately, there is too much regulation without understanding the technology that is being regulated.
DER SPIEGEL: What do you mean by that?
Domingos: The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is putting too much value on the factor of explainability -- meaning why an algorithm decides this way rather than that way. Let's take the example of cancer research, where machine learning already plays an important role. Would I rather be diagnosed by a system that is 90 percent accurate but doesn't explain anything, or a system that is 80 percent accurate and explains things? I'd rather go for the 90 percent accurate system.
DER SPIEGEL: Why can't we have both -- accuracy and explainability?
Domingos: The best learning algorithms are these neural network-based ones inspired by what we find in humans and animals. These algorithms are very accurate as they can understand the world based on a lot of data at a much more complex level than we can. But they are completely opaque. Even we, the experts, don't understand exactly how they work. We only know that they do. So, we should not allow only algorithms which are fully explainable. It is hard to capture the whole complexity of reality and keep things at the same time accurate and simple.
DER SPIEGEL: How, then, should AI be regulated?
Domingos: There is no law detailed enough to compete with the complexity of things that algorithms can do. What can be regulated, though, are the dangers that come from overly crude objective functions such as Facebook's algorithms maximizing the time you spend on their site. These can be regulated by saying: OK, you have these business elements in your objective function because you need to make money. But you should also have these societal goals like, for example, the truth value of the things that are being said.
DER SPIEGEL: Which part should not be regulated?
Domingos: There is this notion predating the GDPR that data can only be used for the purpose it was collected for. This sounds plausible, but if we had been using that principle all along we would not have penicillin. We would have no X-ray. We wouldn't have all of the scientific discoveries that came unexpectedly. Serendipity, discovering new things in old data, is a huge driver in progress.
DER SPIEGEL: Have you explained this to European politicians?
Domingos: I have talked with some politicians, but again, less in Europe than in other places. The irony is that there are a lot of great AI researchers in Europe. Not as many as in the U.S., but in terms of the quality of research, Europe is better than China. But China is now coming up very fast ...
DER SPIEGEL: ... and may pull ahead of us in the end with its authoritarian model?
Domingos: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that, by 2025, China will be ahead because Beijing has a concerted strategy. This is entirely conceivable. But different areas have different advantages. The U.S. has a system that works very well from the basic research funded by the government to the VCs and startups which transfer knowledge from the universities. China's advantage is the huge data pool which fuels machine learning. Europe's advantage is the diversity of its people. If I had to choose between Europe or China as the pool of data to learn from I might choose Europe because in China, the data are often more homogeneous and redundant. Another aspect is that China is so cavalier about protecting the individual -- which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.
DER SPIEGEL: Why?
Domingos: In cancer research, for example, it should be the ethical duty of the patients, in my view, to provide their data. But they will be hesitant to do so if they have to worry about privacy. So, the quality and security of data may be lower -- even if the volume is much bigger.
DER SPIEGEL: Will the AI arms race be mostly between countries or between big corporations?
Domingos: The world will change dramatically in this respect, the borders are already shifting. When I talk to people in the military -- a lot of my research is funded by the Department of Defense -- they have long given up the hope of keeping the enemy outside the walls. The enemy is already inside, as much as we try to patch up the walls. And this is why China becomes very good at building a surveillance state.
DER SPIEGEL: How does this concern the big internet corporations?
Domingos: It's between companies where the arms race is farthest along. So far, they have been working on AI and keeping it quiet, partly for competitive reasons. Today, the biggest tech companies owe allegiance to nobody -- five or six in the U.S., two or three in China. But sooner or later, there will be retrenchment, and the companies will become more nationally controlled. Again, this may be to China's advantage as the government and the companies there help each other with little compunction. This is very different in the U.S.
DER SPIEGEL: Which, would you say, are the leading companies in AI?
Domingos: The No. 1 company is Google, which has an extraordinary number of people in this field and units, like DeepMind and Google Brain, which are focused on AI. Then there is Microsoft, and, coming up from behind, Facebook and Amazon. Amazon has hundreds of thousands of people working in their warehouses who they probably would like to replace with robots.
more after the jump:
www.spiegel.de/international/world/pedro-domingos-on-the-arms-race-in-artificial-intelligence-a-1203132.html
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Apr 17, 2018 12:17:00 GMT
Published on Apr 17, 2018
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Crystal
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