Monthly Archives: June 2017

Watch live: Trump delivers remarks at Faith and Freedom Coalition conference – Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles Times
Watch live: Trump delivers remarks at Faith and Freedom Coalition conference
Los Angeles Times
Red state, blue state. Rural, citified. Black, white. Deep-breathing in a yoga pose, or slowly sipping an eye-opening Bloody Mary at a corner tavern. James B. Comey, the former FBI director-turned-Trump-tormenter, caused millions of Americans to halt ...
'I Was Right': As Trump Watches Comey on TV, Anxiety Yields to ReliefNew York Times
Unusually demure Trump quotes Bible as Comey hearing grips nationNew York Daily News
Trump To Address 'Faith And Freedom' Convention While Comey TestifiesWestern Journalism

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Watch live: Trump delivers remarks at Faith and Freedom Coalition conference - Los Angeles Times

Is there freedom in Orange Is The New Black’s riot? – A.V. Club

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Welcome to The A.V. Clubs coverage of Orange Is The New Black season five. These reviews and their comment sections are intended for those who have seen up to this episodeplease refrain from revealing or discussing events from future episodes in the comments.

At the end of season three, as the inmates piled through the open fence to the lake, few understood it as freedom. It was a fleeting moment of opportunity, which most inmates understood was going to be short-lived. No one tried to escape other than Maureen and Suzanne, whose efforts were short-lived once Maureen discovered that freedom didnt suit Suzanne. Everyone else just filed back into the prison, not realizing that their world had been turned upside down by the arrival of new inmates while they were gone.

I return to this moment now because the riot was, at least as first, a similar moment of freedom. The structure of the prison disappeared, and restrictions that once kept them from roaming the halls or exploring the grounds were gone overnight. The difference was that there is no clear agreement on when this particular freedom should end, or what exactly constitutes freedom in this environment. For some, freedom means justice; for others, justice is standing in the way of how they would choose to use their freedom. And in the end, no one is really free as long as their lives are held as collateral for a private prison system, and as a renegade guard acts out an absurd horror movie revenge fantasy for no discernible reason.

The Tightening is invested in this question of freedom on a few levels, utilizing a flashback to Reds final months in the Soviet Union in 1977 to think about what it really means to be free. She is a meek factory worker who gets dragged to a college party where young students wear blue jeans and listen to rock music. She gets swept up in it, believing that the business of smuggling blue jeans into the Soviet Union was a way to encourage real and legitimate change among a younger generation. But then she sees the barriers to freedom: people like her boyfriend, who wilts at the first sign of a crackdown, opting to go into hiding instead of protesting when their salespeople start disappearing. When milquetoast Dmitri approaches Red with the possibility of escaping to America, she realizes that freedom is not about rock music or blue jeans: its about commitment to finding a way to break down orif that proves too difficultescape the system that is oppressing you.

The flashback serves as a basic origin story for Reds belief system in an episode where she is convinced Piscatella is in the prison but reads as a drugged-up crazy person to everyone around her. But more than that, its also the story of someone who has the appearance of freedom but is not in fact free, and who must understand her personal meaning of freedom in order to find her true self. She says in the flashback that she doesnt have a choice about working in the factory, but it would be wrong to call her a prisoner: her freedom is simply constricted by the social structure around her. And the state of the riot has the inmates in a similarly complicated position: they have more choice than theyve ever had before, but they are still prisoners, and struggling with how precisely to explore these new freedoms while unable to make truly independent choices. They are trying to do what Red advised, protesting and fighting for their rights, but how much faith should they have in the system? And, more importantly, how many people will value their self-interest over that of the group?

That is the situation Gloria finds herself in when she gets on the phone with MCC and is told she can visit her son in the ICU if she releases the hostages. Its a somewhat frustratingly simple storyline: Gloria has been suddenly placed into a compromised emotional state, is given a tempting offer with no guarantee of follow-through, and then seems willing to sacrifice the entire negotiations as a result. I buy that Gloria might feel that way, but its frustrating from a narrative perspective to see a situation out of left field dramatically change her character arc so quickly. It gets across the point that they have newfound access to the outside world, which will influence their decision-making, but there is a suddenness to the whole situation that strikes me as hollow when taking the entire seasons arc into account.

Im more interested in the notion of freedom being prescribed by Lorna Morello, who is exhibiting her right to live in her own fantasy. Its still possible shes actually pregnant, but Lorna doesnt actually want to take a test: she actually hides them from sight as she dispenses medication. Instead, she goes and visits Suzanne, who spends the episode tied up in her bunk after Leanne and Angie commit a hate crime by putting her in white face with baby powder. When she gets there, though, she decides that part of their freedom is freedom from the definition of normal forced onto them by doctors, convincing Suzanne not to take her medication. And while I am in full support of both Lorna and Suzanne in terms of treating them as something other than just crazy, there is an argument to be made for freedom within limits, rather than the anarchy of Suzanne without any medication at all. But at a time when the inmates are able to define their own sense of freedom, these types of decisions will become more common, and create even more chaos as the riot reaches its climax.

The actual negotiations get almost nowhere: they cover a single issue, the education program, parsing out the chain gang from season four which gets complicated by Black Cindy blabbing about the dead guard in the garden and requires Caputo to come in as an extra negotiator to help plead the inmates case. They dont even resolve the issue: as Linda from Purchasing notes in failing to fit in with the inmates, MCC would sue the state for breach of contract if they tried to raise the budget for the prison, meaning that there might not actually be any justice to be found at the end of this process. Taystee is working hard to make this negotiation happen, but the definition of freedom within limits that the inmates are seeking requires a level of investment that MCC is never going to willingly make.

The one variable, though, is the liability problems created by Piscatellas one-man horror show. Its a storyline that fundamentally bothered me: yes, I appreciated the play on the different horror tropes as the story progressed on some level, but at its core the horror homage makes light of a situation that I find fundamentally absurd in its violence. My whole issue with Piscatella last season was that he was a one-dimensional villain that had no clear motivation for his cruelty, so to reframe him as a literal monster and turn it into an horror homage only steered into the skid with the characters problems. Nothing the show has done this season has given us any additional context into who he is, and so giving in so wholly to Reds conception of him felt like the show abandoning the grounded realism that started this riot for a sensationalist turn. Its a freedom that the chaos of the riot gives the showwe saw similar horror aesthetics during the previous night with Judy Kingin terms of formal experimentation, but story wise for me the escalation was too sudden and too rooted in a troublingly thin character.

What it does do, though, is immediately raise the stakes: although you could argue that the guards have been in mortal danger throughout the riot, this is the first time where you feel like things could go very wrong very quickly. The clock is ticking on the feeling of freedom within this riot, and now its time to figure out what kind of world theyre going to return to when its all over.

Next episode Orange Is The New Black refuses to add dimension to its worst villain

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Is there freedom in Orange Is The New Black's riot? - A.V. Club

The Nobel Prize Sperm Bank Was Racist. It Also Helped Change the Fertility Industry – Smithsonian

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The sperm in the Repository for Germinal Choice was intended to create ideal children, but for some prospective parents, it just offered them control over the process of having a child.

smithsonian.com June 9, 2017 6:00AM

Robert Klark Graham made millions with shatterproof lenses for eyeglasses and contact lenses. But he didnt stop there.

Graham, born on thisday in 1906, went on to foundthe Repository for Germinal Choice, a sperm bank that was supposed to produce "super-kids" from the sperm of (white) high achievers, like Nobel Prize winners. This unprecedented attempt at controlling reproduction was quickly shunned by the broader public, but it helped to change the business of sperm donation in ways that continue to raise questions.

The Repository was opened in 1979 in Escondido, California, according to Lawrence Van Gelder for The New York Times. Among Grahams donors were three Nobel laureates. In fact, Nobel Prize sperm bank was the nickname that the initiative quickly gained in the press, according to David Plotz, writing inSlate. Ironic, considering that Graham himself walked away with a 1991 Ig Nobel for the repository.

After Graham tried to sell the press on his idea in 1980, Plotz writes, two of the laureates quickly backed out. Many saidwith reasonthat Grahams theories about to create "ideal" children seemed a lot like the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century that eventually shaped Nazism. All his donors were white and had to be married heterosexuals, among other criteria, and the bank would only supply sperm to women who were the same. In theory, Graham said, the bank would producechildren that were allwhite, intelligent, neurotypical and physically conforming to one ideal aesthetic.

William B. Shockley, the inventor of the transistor and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics, was the only one to publically admit to being in the Repository, although Plotz writes that he never donated again. Shockleys longstanding reputation for racism and espousing evolutionary pseudo-theories that strayed far outside his area of expertise helped to discredit the bank.

Over time, Graham downgraded his promises from Nobel-winning sperm, wrote Tom Gorman for the Los Angeles Times in 1992, a decade after the first Repository baby was born. No women ever chose a Nobel laureate's spermthe men were probably too old anyway, Graham rationalized laterand today there is no Nobel sperm in the bank, he wrote.

Although Grahams approach was quickly discredited, writes Plotz in a different article for The Guardian, some would-be parents still sought out Graham and his vials of so-called genius sperm. 218 children in all were born of sperm from the bank.

But the bank also had a wider influence on the fertility business itself, Plotz writes. Even for people who would find the ideals espoused by someone like Shockley morally repugnant, the prospect of having some control over the process of choosing a genetic parent for their child appealed to parents, he writes. Before Grahams sperm bank, receiving donor sperm was an anonymous experience that was entirely controlled by a physician. Parents knew little more than the eye color of their donor. Graham offered some parents an opportunity to feel safer about their choice of genetic material.

Today, sperm banks are more like Grahams approach than the previous one, and they offer significant donor details to prospective parents. The lure of choice is one of the marketing strategies of sperm banks, which are, after all, businesses. But the question of whether sperm banks are engaging in eugenics on some level has never really gone away.

Offering parents the chance to select for everything from health to intelligence means that sperm banks are still trying to make ideal children, writes George Dvorsky for Gizmodo. Its narrowing humanity at a time when were starting to accept many aspects of diversity, bioethicist Kerry Bowman told Dvorsky. For instance,creativity has a high association with some of the things banned by sperm banks, such as dyslexia.

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The Nobel Prize Sperm Bank Was Racist. It Also Helped Change the Fertility Industry - Smithsonian

Baidu’s Case for an AI Ecosystem – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

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6/9/2017 5:14AM Recommended for you Film Clip: 'My Cousin Rachel' 6/7/2017 11:56AM Film Clip: 'The Mummy' 6/7/2017 11:50AM Film Clip: 'It Comes at Night' 6/7/2017 1:54PM Copycats of Chinese Tech Pop Up in U.S. 6/9/2017 1:03AM Opinion Journal: Comey Hearing: Not Good for Comey 6/8/2017 3:29PM Opinion Journal: Trumps Choice: Chaos or Success 6/8/2017 3:21PM Trump's Attorney Disputes Comey's Testimony Claims 6/8/2017 3:56PM Republicans Question to Comey Yields Tough News for Trump 6/8/2017 7:40PM Trumps Tweets Considered Official Statements Says Spicer 6/6/2017 7:17PM Comey Hearing in Two Minutes 6/8/2017 3:18PM Opinion Journal: When Is 'Unmasking' Legal? 6/8/2017 3:24PM Trump's Attorney Disputes Comey's Testimony Claims 6/8/2017 3:56PM

President Donald Trump's attorney Marc Kasowitz in a statement Thursday disputed former FBI Director James Comey's testimony that the president had indicated he wanted the FBI to back off its investigation of Flynn. Photo: AFP/Getty

Even as Islamic State is destroying antiquities in Syria, the militant group is also shipping them -- to intermediaries working with buyers in Europe and the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reveals a pattern of plunder that takes priceless relics from the battlegrounds of Syria to art traders in the West.

More U.S. tech companies including Apple and a startup called LimeBike are providing services, such as mobile wallets and bike-sharing apps, that imitate those offered by Chinese rivals, says venture capitalist Connie Chan at the WSJ D.Live Asia conference.

Watch highlights from former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Photo: Getty

President Donald Trump's attorney Marc Kasowitz in a statement Thursday disputed former FBI Director James Comey's testimony that the president had indicated he wanted the FBI to back off its investigation of Flynn. Photo: AFP/Getty

In a 2.5-hour keynote, Apple announced a slew of new hardware and software products. WSJ's Joanna Stern recaps what you need to know about the most important announcements.

Jessica and Cem Savas's London home includes partial walls and open bookcases to separate rooms. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors lead to the yard, which includes a vegetable garden and seating areas. Photo: Dylan Thomas for The Wall Street Journal

Tesla CEO Elon Musk outlines bold ambitions as the company's market value races past GM and Ford.

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Paleontologists discover lost ecosystem off the coast of southern California – Treehugger

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The ecosystem had thrived for thousands of years but collapsed less than two centuries ago. The seabed off the coast of southern California is one of the most studied areas in the world, characterized by its high biodiversity and by its important roles in biogeochemical cycling and commercial fishing. Today, this seabed consists of soft sediments and is inhabited by mollusks, crustaceans, worms, and urchins that feed on organic matter. However, this was not always the case.

Paleontologists Susan Kidwell of the University of Chicago and Adam Tomaovch of the Slovak Academy of Sciences recently discovered a lost ecosystem off the coast of Southern California that once stretched for nearly 250 miles from San Diego to Santa Barbara. Kidwell and Tomaovch noticed an abundance of dead shells from scallops and marine organisms called brachiopods in the muddy California seabed and began examining the remains. Using geologic methods that Kidwell had developed since the 2000s, the researchers discovered that the now-muddy seabed was once decorated with shell-gravel habitats that housed these scallops and brachiopods for at least 4,000 years.

Kidwell and Tomaovch analyzed 190 shells using a molecular dating technique known as amino acid racemization. They found that all of the shells were older than 100 years and that most were over 200 years old. No similar shells have been produced in the region within the past century, indicating that the sea creatures died off recently and relatively quickly.

Scallops and brachiopods prefer colder waters than those found off the coast of southern California, but Kidwell and Tomaovch do not consider climate change to be a likely cause of the ecosystems collapse. Instead, they argue that the main culprit is siltation, the pollution of water by fine sediments such as silt.

In 1796, Spanish missionaries introduced livestock such as cattle and sheep to southern California. For the next century, the regions economy was dominated by cattle production, subjecting the land to unmanaged, open-range grazing. The researchers believe that siltation resulting from this unmanaged grazing altered the ecosystem in the coastal seabed during the 1800s, leading to the decline and eventual collapse of scallop and brachiopod populations.

This loss unfolded during the 19th century, Kidwell explained, Thus well before urbanization and climate warming. The disappearance of these abundant filter-feeding animals coincided with the rise of lifestock and cultivation in coastal lands, which increased silt deposition on the continental shelf, far beyond the lake and nearshore settings where we would expect this stress to have an impact.

Kidwell and Tomaovch published their findings online in the journal Royal Society Proceedings B, arguing that more research is needed to fully understand the ecological consequences of coastal land use and siltation.

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Paleontologists discover lost ecosystem off the coast of southern California - Treehugger

Life aloft: The unexplored ecosystem above your head – New Scientist

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Petri Artturi Asikainen/Getty

By Lesley Evans Ogden

THE Federal Bureau of Investigation has a spectacular view of the city skyline from its Chicago office tower. But when special agent Julia Meredith arrived at work one Monday morning, her eyes were focused firmly on the ground. Thats where the bodies were more than 10 of them.

Some of the dead were Blackburnian warblers, birds with bright yellow and orange plumage that are rarely seen in the city. They had been on their way to their wintering grounds in South America when they had collided with the buildings glass facade. They had come all this way and here they were, dead, says Meredith.

Its not an isolated incident. Just last month, 395 migrating birds were killed in one building strike in Galveston, Texas. The world over, wherever humans are extending their buildings, machines and light into the sky, the lives of aerial creatures are at increasing risk. We dont have very accurate figures, but in the US, casualties are thought to run into the hundreds of millions every year. Yet while efforts to protect areas on land and in water have accelerated since the 1970s, the sky has been almost entirely ignored.

That could be about to change if a new wave of conservationists have their way. They want to reclaim the air for its inhabitants, creating protected areas that extend into the sky and designing buildings to avoid death. If this noble aim is to succeed, however, we must first address a more fundamental question: what exactly is it that we are

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Life aloft: The unexplored ecosystem above your head - New Scientist

Cris Cyborg loses sponsorship over Angela Magana incident, says company still owes her money – MMA Fighting

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Cris Cyborg is down a sponsor after a messy incident with a fellow UFC fighter last month, one she says has yet to pay her for an appearance.

GRRRL, a womens athletic clothing brand, has cancelled its sponsorship with Cyborg after Cyborg punched Angela Magana during the UFC Athlete Retreat, the company announced on its website.

Unfortunately, within a matter of hours of appearing and speaking at our event, Cris was involved in battery of another fighter on the street outside a UFC retreat, the statement read. Criss conduct in this regard has broadly been condemned by the fight industry and the organization by whom she is contracted as a fighter.

As a company with representation and brand ambassadors amongst girls as young as 6, we cannot publically [sic] condone this behaviour especially as the behaviour is directly in conflict with the messages Cris shared at the event, one of our speakers on cyber bullying and our company message to promote female harmony and unity.

The GRRRL statement read that it had signed up Cyborg for a 12-month deal, but could not continue on with it after the physical altercation.

This conduct has the potential to diminish the tireless work by our amazing network of women throughout the world to support female harmony and unity, the statement read. As a consequence of these matters, it is with regret that our sponsorship of Cris has come to an end.

Cyborg was cited for misdemeanor battery by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. She has said that she confronted Magana after Magana bullied her down multiple times on social media, including making fun of her looks in a picture taken while she was visiting kids at a cancer hospital. Video of the incident emerged and it did appear Cyborg hit the strawweight fighter.

The Las Vegas city attorney is still determining whether or not to pursue charges in the case.

Cyborg wrote Thursday on social media that she did an appearance for GRRRL that weekend and has yet to be paid. She insinuated that the company is using the punching incident as an excuse not to pay her. Cyborg said she was supposed to receive $7,500 and GRRRL sold tickets to her speaking engagement.

My public appearance fee was 7500$ they don't have the money to pay this and are looking for excuses after the event wasn't profitable pic.twitter.com/SBnCvJgkW2

The meet and greet was at a swingers hotel and after weeks of advertising me for a speaking engagement they sold tixs and I did they dnt pay

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Cris Cyborg loses sponsorship over Angela Magana incident, says company still owes her money - MMA Fighting

Cris Cyborg claims sponsor cut her after Angela Magana incident as excuse to not pay money owed to her – MMAmania.com

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The fallout from the ugly incident between Cris Cyborg and Angela Magana that saw the fearsome Striker deck Your Majesty right on the mouth during a recent UFC Athlete Retreat in Las Vegas, Nevada (see it) is still going strong.

Unfortunately, this time it will hit Cyborg right in her pocket as GRRRL, one of her sponsors, severed all ties with the fearsome striker due to the fact that the incident violated terms of her contract.

From the statement (via MMA Fighting).

In response to criticism of GRRRL in respect of our recent dealings with Cris Cyborg, we consider it is necessary to present the background to what SHOULD have remained a private matter in respect of our commercial sponsorship of Cris. A little over a month ago we entered into a 12 month sponsorship agreement with Cris, to cover a personal appearance at our GRRRL:Live event in Las Vegas combined with an ongoing 12 month commitment through Criss social media channels. Unfortunately, within a matter of hours of appearing and speaking at our event, Cris was involved in battery of another fighter on the street outside a UFC retreat. Criss conduct in this regard has broadly been condemned by the fight industry and the organization by whom she is contracted as a fighter. As a company with representation and brand ambassadors amongst girls as young as 6, we cannot publically condone this behaviour especially as the behaviour is directly in conflict with the messages Cris shared at the event, one of our speakers on cyber bullying and our company message to promote female harmony and unity. This conduct has the potential to diminish the tireless work by our amazing network of women throughout the world to support female harmony and unity. As a consequence of these matters, it is with regret that our sponsorship of Cris has come to an end. We wish Cris well with her continued professional career. And every success in the future. We are unable to comment any further in respect of this matter as it is now being handled by our legal team.

According to Cyborg, however, her release is nothing but an attempt from the company to avoid having to pay her money still owed to her.

My public appearance fee was 7500$ they don't have the money to pay this and are looking for excuses after the event wasn't profitable pic.twitter.com/SBnCvJgkW2

The meet and greet was at a swingers hotel and after weeks of advertising me for a speaking engagement they sold tixs and I did they dnt pay

When it rains, it pours.

Still, Cris can find comfort in knowing that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is still in business with her, as company president Dana White recently stated that she would definitely be competing at the upcoming UFC 214 pay-per-view (PPV) event in Anaheim, California against an opponent to be named later.

Until then, it looks like Cris has yet another legal battle on her hands to take care of.

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Cris Cyborg claims sponsor cut her after Angela Magana incident as excuse to not pay money owed to her - MMAmania.com

Women’s clothing brand cancels sponsorship with ‘Cyborg’ after Magana incident – Bloody Elbow

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After lashing out at Angela Magana at last month's UFC Athlete Retreat, women's clothing company GRRRL has cancelled its sponsorship deal with Cris Cyborg

Cyborg, real name Cristinane Justino, was antagonized on social media by 'Your Majesty' and decided to hit the UFC strawweight contender after confronting her face to face.

'Don't talk sh-t', Justino said after hitting Magana at the Las Vegas retreat.

GRRRL released a public statement on its website, claiming that they no longer wish to represent Cyborg after her misconduct at the fighter summit.

Unfortunately, within a matter of hours of appearing and speaking at our event, Cris was involved in battery of another fighter on the street outside a UFC retreat, the statement read (h/t Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting). Criss conduct in this regard has broadly been condemned by the fight industry and the organization by whom she is contracted as a fighter.

As a company with representation and brand ambassadors amongst girls as young as 6, we cannot publically [sic] condone this behaviour especially as the behaviour is directly in conflict with the messages Cris shared at the event, one of our speakers on cyber bullying and our company message to promote female harmony and unity.

Justino was originally signed to a 12-month contract but GRRRL says her behaviour does not align with the company's values.

This conduct has the potential to diminish the tireless work by our amazing network of women throughout the world to support female harmony and unity. As a consequence of these matters, it is with regret that our sponsorship of Cris has come to an end.

Shortly after the incident, Magana claimed to have filed charges for assault, posting on social media that the "criminal [Cyborg] is getting arrested soon." The Las Vegas police department cited Justino for battery and is currently deciding whether or not to press charges.

Cyborg, 31, responded to GRRRL on Thursday, claiming that the sports clothing company terminated her contract because they owe her $7,500 for a public appearance at a 'swingers hotel'.

My public appearance fee was 7500$ they don't have the money to pay this and are looking for excuses after the event wasn't profitable pic.twitter.com/SBnCvJgkW2

The meet and greet was at a swingers hotel and after weeks of advertising me for a speaking engagement they sold tixs and I did they dnt pay

Despite her recent troubles, the UFC are still looking to book Cyborg for the UFC 214 pay-per-view against an undisclosed opponent on July 29.

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Women's clothing brand cancels sponsorship with 'Cyborg' after Magana incident - Bloody Elbow

Health advisories issued for several St. Pete beaches – FOX 13 News, Tampa Bay

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ST. PETE BEACH (FOX 13) - Health advisories have been issued for several St. Pete beaches after waterways were found to have poor water quality.

Tests of the waterat NothshoreBeach, Maximo Beach and LassingPark all showed elevated levels of Enterococcibacteria.

The City of St. Petersburg says no one should swim at these three locations until further testing shows a drop in bacteria levels.

The Department of Health says there is also an advisory for waters at Fort DeSoto's North Beach because of enterococci bacteria.

Another water sampling will be conducted June 12.

The city of St. Petersburg said it is also conducting enhanced weekly testing, in an effort to better inform and educate citizens. Public Works officials have expanded the regularly-scheduled testing of recreational waterways that may have been impacted by runoff from recent rains.

For more information about the testing and potential dangers from increased enterococci levels, visit http://www.stpete.org/water/waterquality.php.

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Health advisories issued for several St. Pete beaches - FOX 13 News, Tampa Bay

2 St. Pete beaches remain closed after high levels of fecal bacteria found in water – WFLA

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2 St. Pete beaches remain closed after high levels of fecal bacteria found in water
WFLA
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) Two St. Petersburg beaches remain closed because of high levels of fecal bacteria, as we head into the weekend. On Friday, the City of St. Petersburg announced it had reopened Northshore Beach, which was one of 3 ...
3 St. Petersburg, Florida beaches closed after high levels of fecal bacteria found in waterNBC4i.com

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Rough surf prompts red flag warnings at Virginia and OBX beaches – wtkr.com

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Rough surf prompts red flag warnings at Virginia and OBX beaches
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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. Red flags are up along beaches in Virginia and in the Outer Banks on Friday due to rough surf and the risk of dangerous rip currents. Tom Gill, Chief of the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service, says red flags are up at the Virginia ...

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When art and astronomy mix – Astronomy Magazine

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It can be hard to visualize something you can't see, so when NASA announced the TRAPPIST-1 system, they knew they needed to get some great artists to visually represent the amazing new system.

Robert Hurt, a visualization scientist at Caltechs IPAC Center with a Ph.D. in astrophysics, and Tim Pyle, a multimedia producer with a background in Hollywood special effects, came together to create visualizations of the TRAPPIST-1 system.

The seven-planet system discovered by NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope has three Earth-size planets in its habitable zone. As no telescope is powerful enough to photograph our distant neighbors yet, the two were tasked with creating realistic renderings of what they might look like.

"For the public, the value of this is not just giving them a picture of something somebody made up," Douglas Hudgins, a program scientist for the Exoplanet Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, said in a press release. "These are real, educated guesses of how something might look to human beings. An image is worth a thousand words."

Hurt and Pyle worked with data from telescopes and consulted the discovery team at NASA as they went along. TRAPPIST-1b was inspired by Jupiters moon, Io. Pyle based the design of TRAPPIST-1h, the most distant and mysterious planet in the system, off two more of Jupiters moons, Ganymede and Europa.

"When we're doing these artist's concepts, we're never saying, 'This is what these planets actually look like,'" Pyle said. "We're doing plausible illustrations of what they could look like, based on what we know so far. Having this wide range of seven planets actually let us illustrate almost the whole breadth of what would be plausible. This was going to be this incredible interstellar laboratory for what could happen on an Earth-sized planet."

Based on the possibly that the planets are tidally locked, Hurt put an ice cap on TRAPPIST-1cs dark side. Hurt also took a little creative liberty, putting water on the dayside of TRAPPIST-1d, one of the three habitable planets. Scientists originally wanted him to depict an eyeball world, where the side facing the host star would be hot and dry, the side on the back would be icy, and the middle would have water. But Hurt tried to convince them his design would be the best bet.

Then I kind of pushed back, and said, 'If it's on the dark side, no one can look at it and understand we're saying there's water there,' Hurt said.

After the disagreement, the team compromised, allowing water to be seen in the dayside.

Ultimately, the teams main goal was to get the public excited about science and give them more information about what these planets might look like.

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When art and astronomy mix - Astronomy Magazine

Ingredient of life found around infant Sun-like stars – Astronomy Now Online

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ALMA has observed stars like the Sun at a very early stage in their formation and found traces of methyl isocyanate a chemical building block of life. This is the first ever detection of this prebiotic molecule towards a solar-type protostar, the sort from which our Solar System evolved. The discovery could help astronomers understand how life arose on Earth.This image shows the spectacular region of star formation where methyl isocyanate was found. The insert shows the molecular structure of this chemical. Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/L. Calada

ALMA has observed stars like the Sun at a very early stage in their formation and found traces of methyl isocyanate a chemical building block of life. This is the first ever detection of this prebiotic molecule towards solar-type protostars, the sort from which our Solar System evolved. The discovery could help astronomers understand how life arose on Earth.

Two teams of astronomers have harnessed the power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array(ALMA) in Chile to detect the prebiotic complex organic moleculemethyl isocyanatein the multiple star systemIRAS 16293-2422. One team was co-led by Rafael Martn-Domnech at theCentro de Astrobiologain Madrid, Spain, and Vctor M. Rivilla, at the INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetriin Florence, Italy; and the other by Niels Ligterink at theLeiden Observatoryin the Netherlands and Audrey Coutens at University College London, United Kingdom.

This star system seems to keep on giving! Following the discovery of sugars, weve now found methyl isocyanate. This family of organic molecules is involved in the synthesis ofpeptidesandamino acids, which, in the form of proteins, are the biological basis for life as we know it, explain Niels Ligterink and Audrey Coutens.

ALMAs capabilities allowed both teams to observe the molecule at several different and characteristic wavelengths across theradio spectrum. They found the unique chemical fingerprints located in the warm, dense inner regions of the cocoon of dust and gas surrounding young stars in their earliest stages of evolution. Each team identified and isolated the signatures of the complex organic molecule methyl isocyanate. They then followed this up with computer chemical modelling and laboratory experiments to refine our understanding of the molecules origin.

IRAS 16293-2422is a multiple system of very young stars, around 400 light-years away in a large star-forming region calledRho Ophiuchiin the constellation ofOphiuchus(The Serpent Bearer). The new results from ALMA show that methyl isocyanate gas surrounds each of these young stars.

Earth and the other planets in our Solar System formed from thematerialleft over after the formation of the Sun. Studying solar-type protostars can therefore open a window to the past for astronomers and allow them to observe conditions similar to those that led to the formation of our Solar System over 4.5 billion years ago.

Rafael Martn-Domnech and Vctor M. Rivilla, lead authors of one of the papers, comment: We are particularly excited about the result because these protostars are very similar to the Sun at the beginning of its lifetime, with the sort of conditions that are well suited for Earth-sized planets to form. By finding prebiotic molecules in this study, we may now have another piece of the puzzle in understanding how life came about on our planet.

Niels Ligterink is delighted with the supporting laboratory results: Besides detecting molecules we also want to understand how they are formed. Our laboratory experiments show that methyl isocyanate can indeed be produced on icy particles under very cold conditions that are similar to those in interstellar space This implies that this molecule and thus the basis for peptide bonds is indeed likely to be present near most new young solar-type stars.

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Ingredient of life found around infant Sun-like stars - Astronomy Now Online

The TRAPPIST-1 system may have formed pebble-by-pebble … – Astronomy Magazine

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The TRAPPIST-1 system looks more like Jupiter and its moons than our own solar system. Seven planets orbit in an elaborate synchronous dance around a star only slightly larger than Jupiter. Those seven planets are constrained within a 3 million-mile space and all of them are between the size of Mars and a slightly-larger-than-Earth rocky planet. Oh, and at least three of the planets are habitable.

And now, a group of University of Amsterdam professors believe they know how it formed. And they think it happened rock-by-rock.

Solar systems typically form from nebula as gas accumulates and clumps, it forms a star, which then helps gravitationally shape planets. But in a small system like TRAPPIST-1, the planets have to stay close in order to keep gravitationally bound. In the TRAPPIST system, the first batch of planets formed from material leftovers clumps of dirt and ice then migrated outward. At a certain point they reach a place where water sublimes into vapor, and water accumulates onto that ice and rock. It becomes enough material to smoosh into a proto-planet and migrates closer to the star.

The end result? Seven icy, Earth-sized worlds. Chris Ornell, lead author of the paper recently accepted to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, said in a press release, We have been working on pebble aggregation and sweep-up by planets for a long time and were also developing a new ice-line model. Thanks to the discovery of Trappist-1 we can compare our model with reality.

This method of accumulation also helps settle why the system seems to have no gas giants like Neptune or Uranus, at least that we know of. Its unknown yet if such a mechanism creates atmospheres on the planets or how this might affect habitability in the system.

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The TRAPPIST-1 system may have formed pebble-by-pebble ... - Astronomy Magazine

Help Astronomers Track a Giant, Ringed Planet – Sky & Telescope

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The possible discovery of a massive ringed planet in Orion needs confirmation and amateur astronomers can help.

Update (June 8, 2017): Finder charts are now available! Scroll down to the bottom for color and black-and-white versions.

Do you want to help observe a giant planet orbiting a young star in Orion?

Astronomers suspect a giant, ringed planet orbits a young star in Orion, as depicted in this artist's conception. University of Warick, UK

Professional astronomers are once again teaming up with amateur astronomers all over the world to capture the eclipse of PDS 110, a young star in Orion orbited by a large planet (or perhaps a brown dwarf) that is itself surrounded by a ring system and moons.

Perhaps you remember the case of J1407 that system featured a gigantic ring system full of gaps, presumably from exomoons. The PDS 110 system, detailed by Hugh Osborn (University of Warwick, UK) in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, shows some similarities to the J1407 companion.

PDS 110 is a star in the Orion OB1a association, northwest of Orions belt. The association, like many others in Orion, contains young, massive stars less than 20 million years old. PDS 110 itself is estimated to be 7 to 10 million years old and is still growing, accreting material from its natal cloud. The stars mass is 1.6 times that of the Sun, but unlike the Sun, it emits a lot of light at infrared wavelengths, probably emitted by the surrounding gas and dust heated by the infant stars radiation. Since its relatively bright, it has been the object of surveys for decades.

Osborn and his team began poring over data from a few automated surveys, including the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) and Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT), when they noticed some interesting events in brightness of the star over time. In November 2008 and January 2011, the light coming from PDS 110 dimmed dramatically for a couple weeks, to about 30% its usual value.

Osborn ruled out other explanations for these dips, including clumps of dust orbiting the star any such clumps wouldn't last, they'd quickly spread out along their orbits. Instead, he suggests that there is a companion with between 2 and 80 times the mass of Jupiter orbiting PDS 110 every 808 days. This period corresponds to an average distance from the star of 2 astronomical units (twice the average distance between Earth and the Sun).

What makes this system so fascinating is the nature of the eclipses, as seen by their shape in the light curve that traces the stars brightness over time. While lone planets cause a stars brightness to dip steadily and symmetrically, the two eclipses observed so far in the PDS 110 system are far deeper than your typical exoplanet transit, and theyre ragged too, indicating some kind of structure to the eclipsing object.

Whats exciting is that during both eclipses, we see the light from the star change rapidly, and that suggests that there are rings in the eclipsing object, but these rings are many times larger than the rings around Saturn, says coauthor Matthew Kenworthy (Leiden University).

Similar behavior was seen in the J1407, which Kenworthy discovered, but that system only has one observed eclipse. PDS 110 has exhibited this behavior twice, and if Osborns hypothesis is correct, the the companion object and its massive set of rings will once again eclipse the star in September 2017. The ring system appears to be full of gaps and variations in density, which could signal exomoons, as in the J1407 system.

The team will be producing finder charts and instructions for observers to be released prior to September, and we will link to that information here as it becomes available. If the period is confirmed, PDS 110 will stand alone as the only confirmed ringed companion to a star outside our solar system. It will likely be the target of follow-up spectroscopy, which will enable Osborn and colleagues to more precisely estimate the companions mass, as well as ALMA observations that may reveal material or companions in more distant orbits around the star.

Color finder chart for PDS 110. Right-click to save and print.

Black and white finder chart for PDS 110. Click (or right-click) image to see, download, and print PDF file.

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Help Astronomers Track a Giant, Ringed Planet - Sky & Telescope

How Will Artificial Intelligence Change Healthcare? – Forbes

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What it takes to build artificial intelligence skills – ZDNet

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Artificial intelligence, AI, is all the rage these days -- analysts are proclaiming it will change the world as we know it, vendors are AI-washing their offerings, and business and IT leaders are taking a close look at what it can potentially deliver in terms of growth and efficiency.

For people at the front lines of the revolution, that means developing and honing skills in this new dark art. In this case, AI requires a blend of programming and data analytics skills, with the necessary business overlay.

In a recent report at the Dice site, William Terdoslavich explores some of the skills people will need to develop a repertoire in the AI space, noting that these skills are in high demand, especially with firms such as Google, IBM, Apple, Facebook, and Infosys absorbing all available talent.

Machine learning is the foundational skill for AI, and online courses such as those offered through Coursera offer some of the fundamental skills. Abdul Razack, senior VP and head of platforms at Infosys, notes that another way to develop AI expertise is to "take a statistical programmer and training them in data strategy, or teach more statistics to someone skilled in data processing."

Mathematical knowledge is also foundational, Terdoslavich adds, requiring a "solid grasp of probability, statistics, linear algebra, mathematical optimization--is crucial for those who wish to develop their own algorithms or modify existing ones to fit specific purposes and constraints."

Programs popular with AI developers include R, Python, Lisp, Prolog and Scala, Terdoslavich's article states. Older standbys -- such as C and C++ and Java -- are also being employed, depend upon applications and performance requirements. Platforms and toolsets such as TensorFlow also provide AI capabilities.

Ultimately, becoming adept in AI also requires a degree of a change in conceptual thinking as well, requiring deductive reasoning and decision-making.

AI skills -- again, which blend expertise n programming, data, and business development -- may continue to be in short supply, and David Kosbie, Andrew W. Moore, and Mark Stehlik sounded the alarm in a recent Harvard Business Review article, calling for an overhaul of computer science programs at all levels of education. AI is "not something a solitary genius cooks up in a garage," they state. "People who create this type of technology must be able to build teams, work in teams, and integrate solutions created by other teams."

This requires a change in the way programming is taught, they add. "We're too often teaching programming as if it were still the 90s, when the details of coding (think Visual Basic) were considered the heart of computer science. If you can slog through programming language details, you might learn something, but it's still a slog -- and it shouldn't be. Coding is a creative activity, so developing a programming course that is fun and exciting is eminently doable."

What's in demand right now in terms of AI skills? A perusal through current job listings yields the following examples of AI jobs:

Senior software developer - artificial intelligence and cognitive computing (insurance company): "Lead the application prototyping and development for on premise cognitive search and analytics technologies. Candidate should have experience with AI, machine learning, cognitive computing, text analytics, natural language processing, analytics and search technologies, vendors, platforms, APIs, microservices, enterprise architecture and security architecture."

Artificial intelligence engineer: (aerospace manufacturer): "Will join a fast-paced, rapid prototyping team focused on applied artificial intelligence. Basic qualifications: 5 years experience in C/C++ or Python. Algorithm experience. Experience with machine learning and digital signal processing (computer vision, software defined radio) libraries."

Artificial intelligence innovation leader (financial services firm): "Oversee strategic product development, product innovation and strategy efforts. Evaluate market and technology trends, key providers, legal/regulatory climate, product positioning, and pricing philosophy.... Work closely with IT to evaluate technology viability and application. Qualifications: 7+ years of senior level management experience, PhD/masters in computer science, AI, cognitive computing or related field."

Artificial intelligence/machine learning engineer (Silicon Valley startup): "Deal with large-scale data set with intensive hands-on code development. Collect, process and cleanse raw data from a wide variety of sources. Transform and convert unstructured data set into structured data products. Identify, generate, and select modeling features from various data set. Train and build machine learning models to meet product goals. Innovate new machine learning techniques to address product and business needs. Analyze and evaluate performance results from model execution." Qualifications: "Strong background and experience in machine learning and information retrieval. Must have experience managing end-to-end machine learning pipeline from data exploration, feature engineering, model building, performance evaluation, and online testing with TB to Petabyte-size datasets."

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What it takes to build artificial intelligence skills - ZDNet

An Artificial Intelligence Retrospective Analysis Of IBM 2017 Q1 Earnings Call – Seeking Alpha

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Analyzing a company's earnings call gives an investor a first hand heads-up on the company's latest status with regards to operational and financial health. Investors can read the transcript, look at the numbers, and draw their own conclusions.

In addition to the traditional approach of evaluating an earnings call, we used our Artificial Intelligence engine to objectively analyze a call transcript. The purpose of this exercise is to acquire additional insights directly from the company's perspective. This write-up focuses on the Executive Statement from the IBM (NYSE:IBM) 2017 Q1 Earnings Call.

The following is a summary of findings:

Analytics with Artificial Intelligence

Our AI Analytics is based on symbolic logic and propositional calculus. In other words, our algorithm discovers symbols that represent some level of importance based on propositional logic to drive a causational model. The causational model seeks out supporting context surrounding these situations. Thus, for each of the points, we expect AI to tell us the rationale.

In a nutshell, the AI part of the analysis is to read the transcript like a human researcher and bring out positive points, negative points, and points with both positive and negative aspects. It does so in an objective way using Meta-Vision.

Our AI analysis of the earnings call Executive Statement resulted in the following Meta-Vision:

Meta-Vision Legend:

Our AI engine discovers important points we call 'Meta-Objects'. There are two type of Meta Objects, namely, Machine Generated Hashtag (or MGH) nodes and Supporting Fact (or SF) nodes. MGH nodes are important points discovered by CIF from the given dataset. SF nodes are the text that is being analyzed. 'Meta-Vision' is the topological mapping of Meta-Objects across a quadrant chart by semantics, context, and polarity. The quadrant chart connects Meta-Objects (MGH and SF nodes) by edges to depict their respective relationships. Clicking on a node opens a new window showing corresponding context for that node. The North-East "NE" quadrant is called the "common-positive quadrant." The North-West "NW" quadrant is called the "common-negative quadrant." The South-West "SW" quadrant is the "negative quadrant." The South-East "SE" quadrant is the "positive quadrant." The name of each quadrant denotes the connotation (common, negative, positive). Placement of nodes are determined by the AI. Machine generated hashtag nodes are labeled. The relative location from the X-axis denotes the strength of a MGH node. The closer the FN nodes are to the center, the higher the number of MGH nodes that it supports.

For each of the important points (MGH node), the co-ordinate indicates the connotation. Clicking a MGH will bring out all the corresponding quotes in verbatim from the transcript (supporting facts and context). MGH nodes are also connected to fact nodes. Each Fact node represents the excerpts from the original document. Clicking a fact node will bring out the semantic and sentiment analytics on that excerpt.

In summary, without any human interaction or influence, our AI algorithm has determined that the following points, represented by machine generated hashtags, are negatively stated in the earnings call: #Income, #GBS, #Earning, #Workforce

Our AI algorithm determined that the following points, represented by machine generated hashtags, are positively stated in the earning call: #Cloud, #Solutions, #Digital, #Profit, #Investment, #IBM

Our AI algorithm determined two points carried a negative connotation, but also has positive aspects. They are: #Software, #Track

Our AI algorithm determined that the following points contained both positive and negative supporting facts, while the positive supporting facts are dominant: #Margin, #Client

Our AI algorithm determined that the following points contained both negative and positive supporting facts, while the negative supporting facts are dominant: #Performance, #Revenue

Evaluating the Executive Statement with Meta-Vision

Based on our examination, we identified strategic points and corresponding supporting facts. We did so with the following agendas in mind:

The following are points (MGH nodes) that we picked out are based on the above criteria:

#income #workforce

#gbs

#cloud

#ibm

#margin, #solutions, #profit

#clients

Deriving Insights through Bionic Fusion

While the details of the technology behind the analysis is beyond of scope of this article, the general concept is not difficult to understand. The idea is to equip a software system with the ability to master a language, such as English, to the equivalent of a graduate student or researcher who can learn a core subject from a lecture or research medium. In this scenario, the medium uses English to introduce new subjects. In the process of knowledge transfer, the medium draws relationships between subjects and expresses the properties of the underlying context. The researcher, using English as a medium, can learn any subject and acquire new knowledge by listening to lectures. In a similar manner, the software system uses visual charts to depict the discovered subjects, relationships, underlying context, properties, and references to source documents. When a user navigates through these properties, together with human thinking, it forms a bond of bionic fusion which enables the user to gain insights by drawing inference from these visuals.

The AI algorithm did the work of identifying important points, connotation, and supporting facts. We examined each point and supporting fact to draw inference into perceived strengths and weaknesses. To corroborate our findings, we also referred to our enterprise data lake for business intelligence around competitive marketspace and external market forces.

RE: GBS, Strategic Imperatives

If management saw growth in its Strategic Imperatives, IBM would need the following:

This needs upfront investment, a substantial increase in human capital, and a faster time to market with industry-specific vertical applications. This proposition is contradicted by the decline in Global Business Services (or GBS). If management was dedicated to building a backlog and pipeline in its GBS unit, the subsequent rebalance of workforce should result in an increase in expense. Judging from the continuing rebalancing of workforce in the negative column, and the need to build industry specific solutions, GBS will have problems with scale. Customers cannot put their business on hold and will seek for alternative competitive solutions in the marketplace such as open source or off-the-shelf solutions. Consequently, we do not believe that management is confident in GBS pipeline growth.

RE: Cloud

IBM is transforming their business into a 'data and cloud first' company. The super set of cloud business consists of private cloud (enterprise cloud), public cloud, and hybrid cloud. IBM's cloud is not a public cloud like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s AWS offering. IBM only focuses on enterprise. The public cloud space has a market cap that is projected to exceed $500 billion by 2020. IBM's Executive Statement did not reflect any initiative that would position IBM for a share of this huge market. The enterprise cloud space has major competitors such as HP (NYSE:HPE), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). Moreover, IBM's enterprise cloud is a service that will compete with IBM's legacy mainframe business for the same customer IT budget. IBM recognizes that this shift will require a level of investment a longer return profile which is already being reflected in their margins and will require continued investment.

RE: Cognitive

Cognitive is industry-specific. It will cost substantial time and additional investment in building each of the vertical problem domains. Artificial Intelligence is becoming a crowded market. IBM will have to compete with new startups. Time, cost and efficiency will weigh against IBM just like its legacy Personal Computing and server business. Technology is changing at a fast pace; custom-built solutions that takes years to materialize will face obsolescence before it is put to use.

Conclusion:

Products and services that make up the Strategic Imperatives are part of the "red-ocean" in a crowded market. If Strategic Imperatives as identified by IBM is its main turnaround strategy, it is going to face a lot of competition. Based on the Meta-Vision analysis of IBM's 2017 Q1 earnings call, we do not see any counter initiatives that will improve IBM's outlook in near-term.

Additional Notes - Process of Analysis:

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: I am neither a certified investment advisor nor a certified tax professional. The data presented here is for informational purposes only and is not meant to serve as a buy or sell recommendation. The analytic tools used in this analysis are products of SiteFocus.

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An Artificial Intelligence Retrospective Analysis Of IBM 2017 Q1 Earnings Call - Seeking Alpha

Artificial Intelligences are Quickly Becoming Better Artists – Futurism

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In BriefThe line between human and artificial intelligence isincreasingly blurring. When AI software isn't too busy beatinghumans at their favorite games, they are also finding time tocompose music, write movies, and edit film trailers. Soon no onemay be able to point out AI artists amidst humans. Intelligence Challenge

Lets start with a little challenge: which of the following tunes was composed by an AI, and which by an HI (Human Intelligence)?

Ill tell you at the end of the answer which tune was composed by an AI and which by an HI. For now, if youre like most people, youre probably unsure. Both pieces of music are pleasing to the ear. Both have good rhythm. Both could be part of the soundtrack of a Hollywood film, and you would never know that one was composed by an AI.

And this is just the beginning.

In recent years, AI has managed to

Now, dont get me wrong: most of these achievements dont even come close to the level of an experienced human artist. But AI has something that humans dont: its capable of training itself on millions of samples, and constantly improve itself. Thats how Alpha Go, the AI that recently wiped the floor with Gos most proficient players, got so good at the game: it played a few million games against itself, and discovered new strategies and best moves. It acquired an intuition for the game, and kept rapidly evolving to improve itself.

And theres no reason that AI wont be able to do that in art as well.

In the next decade, well see AI composing music and even poems, drawing abstract paintings, and writing books and movie scripts. And itll get better at it all the time.

So what happens to art, when AI can create it just as easily as human beings do?

For starters, we all benefit. In the future, when youll upload your new YouTube clip, youll be able to have the AI add original music to it, which will fit the clip perfectly. The AI will also write your autobiography just by going over your Facebook and Gmail history, and if you want will turn it into a movie script and direct it too. Itll create new comic books easily and automatically both the script and the drawing and coloring part and whats more, itll fit each story to the themes that you like. You want to see Superman fighting the Furry Triple-Breasted Slot Machines of Pandora? You got it.

Thats what happens when you take a task that humans need to invest decades to become really good at, and let computers perform it quickly and efficiently. And as a result, even poor people will be able to have a flock of AI artists at their beck and call.

At this point you may ask yourselves what all the human artists will do at that future. Well, the bad news is that obviously, we wont need as many human artists. The good news is that those few human artists who are left, will make a fortune by leveraging their skills.

Let me explain what I mean by that. Homer is one of the earliest poets we know of. He was probably dirt poor. Why? Because he had to wander from inn to inn, and could only recite his work aloud for audiences of a few dozen people at the time, at most. Shakespeare was much more succesful: he could have his plays performed in front of hundreds of people at the same time. And Justin Bieber is a millionnaire, because he leverages his art with technology: once he produces a great song, everyone gets is immediately via YouTube or by paying for and downloading the song on iTunes.

Great composers will still exist in the future, and they will work at creating new kinds of music and then having the AI create variations on that theme, and earning revenue from it. Great painters will redefine drawing and painting, and they will teach the AI to paint accordingly. Great script writers will create new styles of stories, whereas the old AI could only produce the old style.

And of course, every time a new art style is invented, itll only take AI a few years or maybe just a few days to teach itself that new style. But the human creative, crazy, charismatic artists who created that new style, will have earned the status of artistic super-stars by then: the people who changed our definitions of what is beautiful, ugly, true or false. They will be the people who really create art, instead of just making boring variations on a theme.

The truly best artists, the ones who can change our outlook about life and impact our thinking in completely unexpected ways, will still be here even a hundred years into the future.

Oh, and as for the two tunes? The first one was composed by a human being and performed by Morten Faerestrand in his YouTube clip 3 JUICY jazz guitar improv tools. The second was composed by the Algorithmic Music Composer and demonstrated in the YouTube clip Computer-Generated Jazz Improvisation.

Did you get it right?

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Artificial Intelligences are Quickly Becoming Better Artists - Futurism