Freedom Magazine on Failing Education Reform

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(PRWEB) November 18, 2014

American 15-year-olds ranked 36th in the world out of 65 participating countries tested in math, 28th in science and 24th in reading. And measures to better student performance and literacy over the last decade and a half, beginning with No Child Left Behind, have only made things worse, writes Freedom reporter Ray Richmond.

Why? Many educators believe that centralized measures like No Child Left Behind and Common Core have given rise to a punitive testing culture and led to an overall compromise of American public school education.

Teachers are largely scapegoated for declining student performance, as in Time magazines November 3 cover story ROTTEN APPLES: Its Nearly Impossible to Fire a Bad Teacher, Some Tech Millionaires May Have Found a Way to Change That. But through interviews with veteran educators, Richmond discovers a very different picturethat teachers are not the problem, but the answer to the crisis in Americas schools.

Also in the November issue of Freedom:

Shock TreatmentElectroconvulsive therapy got a public relations makeover, but is the procedure any less ugly?

Tibets Long Journey to FreedomA nations struggle for freedom, with its strongest advocates of human rights living in exile.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dan Luzzader on cultural biases, built-in and nurtured by the BBC.

Freedom Magazine is committed to accurate and accountable reporting. Freedom is the voice of the Church of Scientology and reflects its stance that responsible journalism and the free flow of information are the lifeblood of all great societies.

Published since 1968 and recently re-launched as a monthly print periodical, Freedom addresses issues, not politics. It seeks out and illuminates solutions to societys problems. Freedom proudly serves as a media watchdog, protecting the exchange of free ideas on which democracy relies. Freedom further spotlights the Church of Scientologys human rights, social betterment and volunteer works, thereby advancing its purpose of safeguarding and promoting the rights of all.

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Freedom Magazine on Failing Education Reform

Swift RX gets a bit of style

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The money-spinning eco car market is about to witness accelerated competition with the introduction of the second phase of the programme that allows both old and new manufacturers to churn out even more attractive models.

The first model in the Eco Car Phase 2 programme will be the award-winning Mazda2 that's set to be formally launched early next year. And although this car's price range may be considerably higher than eco cars on sale now, it rings a warning bell for other automakers to quickly shift into higher gear.

Suzuki was one of the first marques to offer a car under the first eco car project. The Swift five-door hatchback quickly gained cult status, witnessing more orders than Suzuki's plant could supply. Due to the high popularity, buyers had to wait months to take delivery on their cars.

Unlike several other eco cars that are cute small cars for the city - like the Nissan March, Honda Brio, Mitsubishi Mirage and Suzuki's own Celerio - the Swift boasts a larger body.

It is actually a B-segment car but can take advantage of eco-car privileges because it can fulfil all the requirements - fuel economy of 20 kilometres per litre, CO2 emissions of 120 grams per kilometre and Euro crash standards.

Toyota's Yaris, which was the last model to be sold under Phase 1, also fits the criteria, and now, the Mazda2 is set to take on the competition. It's a matter of engine downsizing.

The Swift is powered by a 1.2-litre, four-cylinder engine capable of producing 91 horsepower and 118Nm, which is basically what you would get from that displacement. The engine is mated to a fuel-saving continuously variable transmission (CVT).

With the competition heating up, Suzuki has decided to offer a new flagship model for its Swift range, which had been available with five trim levels at prices ranging from Bt434,000-Bt564,000.

The new Swift RX gets additional equipment upgrades and although final pricing has not been released, Suzuki executives say they will try to "keep it under Bt600,000" at the grand launch during the Thailand International Motor Expo later this month.

The main upgrades in the Swift RX include paddle shifters, cruise control and new headlights, making the price increase pretty acceptable for what you get.

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Swift RX gets a bit of style

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham – Let’s Play – Part 6 – [The Lantern Menace] – "Cyborg’s Forever Sleep" – Video

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LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham - Let #39;s Play - Part 6 - [The Lantern Menace] - "Cyborg #39;s Forever Sleep"
"CYBORG #39;S FOREVER SLEEP" LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Let #39;s Play - Part 6 With Commentary PS4 Gameplay Channel: http://youtube.com/DanQ8000 Live Streams: http://twitch.tv/DanQ8000 ...

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Rousey on Cyborg: I'm Going to Try to Kill Her with My Bare Hands

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Alexandra Wyman/Associated Press

When it comes to the topic of Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino, UFC champion Ronda Rousey has never been one to mince words.

She's been vocal about Justino and steroids and other weighty issues for years. But Rousey's comments have always felt like they were made in the service of building a fight. Because that is what Rousey does so well, when she wants: she builds animosity and creates drama, and then you pay to see her fight. It has worked out well for her ever since she talked her way into a Strikeforce title shot with Miesha Tate.

And so you take what Rousey says about Justino with a grain of salt, because you figure she's going to fight her eventually and she wants to make money.

But after a Monday media day in Las Vegas attended by Bleacher Report, I'm not sure that's the case. In fact, I'm pretty certain Rousey passionately hates Justino.

The topic of Justino will always be one that sends Rousey spiraling over the edge she constantly teeters on, but the emotion she displayed when asked about a potential fight with the former Strikeforce women's champion was real. Her voice faltering, Rousey blasted Justino for having the temerity to request her release from the UFC last year.

"22 hours after they announce out of competition drug testing and she asks to be released? Does this raise any red flags for anyone else? Why am I the only person that ever mentions this? Shes the one that didnt want to fight anymore. Shes the one who went and found a doctor that she she was going to die if she made 135 pounds," Rousey said. "So now, because the UFC doesnt want to have to take the risk, she has to go and make weight elsewhere and prove she can make weight safely before they can even take the risk of bringing her in. And then she says she got injured?

"If your definition of injured is 'I took too many steroids and I cant make weight,' then she must be pretty f*****g injured right now."

This is Rousey's stance on Justino, and she is not changing it for anyone. The curse words start flying, and the accusations come tumbling out in bunches. Rousey, the face of women's mixed martial arts, has gone Hollywood and come out the other side wearing designer clothing. She is the face of David Bitton Buffalo jeans. At the media event, she is wearing a designer black dress and looks stunning. And then you ask her about Cyborg, and all the glamour goes out the window.

"I dont give a f**k. Shes a fraud and shes terrible for the sport. And if they are going to bring her into the UFC, it is my responsibility to put her away so she cant ruin womens MMA again," Rousey said. "But I dont think she has the right to compete. Coming in on PEDs in MMA is the equivalent of walking in there with a weapon.

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Rousey on Cyborg: I'm Going to Try to Kill Her with My Bare Hands

The Golden Isles in Georgia: Exploring historic places and pristine beaches – Video

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The Golden Isles in Georgia: Exploring historic places and pristine beaches
Georgia #39;s Golden Isles include St. Simons Island, Little St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island, Sea Island and the mainland city of Brunswick, perfect for a cultu...

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The Golden Isles in Georgia: Exploring historic places and pristine beaches - Video

Paradise beaches | Amazing places in the world | Beautiful beaches to see – Video

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Paradise beaches | Amazing places in the world | Beautiful beaches to see
Paradise Beach is an Australian television series made by Village Roadshow Pictures. It is associated with New World Television for the Nine Network that aired between 1993 and 1994. The series...

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Northern Auckland beaches granted set-net bans

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Opponents of set-net fishing at Auckland's northern beaches have achieved a partial victory.

Set-nets will be banned in Army Bay and Te Haruhi Bay this summer.

But community calls to ban set-net fishing at other beaches appear to be going unanswered.

Auckland Council has decided against banning them in Omaha, Hatfields Beach and Browns Bay.

Hatfields Beach resident Neil Henson says that's despite repeated requests from residents.

He says most local board members and residents have been asking the council for bans.

He says 20 months of asking the council to do something about it, they still haven't seen any response.

Mr Henson says the beach can be full of nets from dawn to dusk.

He says the nets are a safety hazard for swimmers, paddle-boarders, kite-surfers and boaties.

A separate ban in Arkle's Bay will come up for review next year.

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Northern Auckland beaches granted set-net bans

Artificial Intelligence: Skyrim – The Elder Scrolls V, Video 05 – Video

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Artificial Intelligence: Skyrim - The Elder Scrolls V, Video 05
A review of Artificial Intelligence in Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V, as well as several other prominent games. To download this mod, visit either of the sites below: Skyrim Workshop on Steam...

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Elon Musk’s secret fear: Artificial Intelligence will turn deadly in 5 years – Video

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Elon Musk #39;s secret fear: Artificial Intelligence will turn deadly in 5 years
In case you #39;re not familiar with Elon Musk, he #39;s the billionaire who founded PayPal, is the man behind the Space X project which hopes to one day colonise Mars, and is hoping to make the Tesla...

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Google Can Now Describe Your Cat Photos

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Google 's computers learned to recognize cats in photos. Now, theyre learning to describe cats playing with a ball of string.

Computer scientists in the search giants research division, and a separate team working at Stanford University, independently developed artificial-intelligence software that can decipher the action in a photo, and write a caption to describe it. Thats a big advance over previous software that was mostly limited to recognizing objects.

In a blog post, Google described how it is using advanced machine-learning techniques that mimic the human brain to recognize a photo of a person riding a motorcycle on a dirt road, or a herd of elephants walking across a dry grass field.

The new software can capture the whole scene and generate corresponding natural-looking text, says Yoshua Bengio, a professor of computer science at the University of Montreal and a leading expert in the field. That defies predictions that software would be limited to recognizing objects, he said.

The new technology could lead to big improvements in the accuracy of Googles image-search results, which today often rely on text found near a photo on a web page. One day it might help people search vast libraries of untagged photos or videos stored on smartphones, says David Bader, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech. A startup called Viblio is using similar research out of Simon Fraser University to automatically categorize videos.

In 2012, a Google/Stanford team famously taught a computer to learn how to recognize cats. The computer was shown millions of images from YouTube videos, and used then-state-of-the-art machine-learning algorithms to teach itself to spot felines.

Similar advances are helping improve other Google services. Earlier this year, Google researchers disclosed how its computers had learned to read house numbers from images captured by its Street View cars, making it quicker and easier to locate buildings in Google Maps, for instance.

Google is making big bets on artificial-intelligence technology. Earlier this year, it paid hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire Deep Mind Technologies, a London-based startup that employs many specialists in advanced machine learning. Earlier, it bought DNNResearch, a small company started at the University of Toronto, in order to hire a top academic in machine learning, Geoffrey Hinton.

Artificial-intelligence research also helps speech-recognition software, used by smartphone assistants like Apple 's Siri or Google voice search.

Others also are investing in the field. Facebook scooped up a top artificial-intelligence academic late last year. Meanwhile, Chinese search engine Baidu has said it will invest $300 million in an artificial intelligence lab in Silicon Valley. To lead the lab, Baidu hired the head of Stanfords artificial-intelligence lab, Andrew Ng, who helped build the computer that taught itself to recognize cats from YouTube videos.

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Artificial Intelligence Creates Its Own Magic Tricks

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November 18, 2014

Eric Hopton for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Have you ever wanted to be a magician? Heres your big chance, courtesy of a neat bit of artificial intelligence (AI) and a smartphone app. It wont exactly turn you into an instant David Blaine or Dynamo. It might not enable you to pull a rabbit out of a shiny top hat or saw your beautiful assistant in half. But you should be able to fool some of the people some of the time with some cool card tricks or a magic jigsaw puzzle.

Some people seem to have fun jobs and, if this playing with magic work is anything to go by, there are a bunch of scientists at Queen Mary University of London who probably cant wait to get to work every day. They have been working on a way to get a computer to produce its own variation on some familiar conjuring tricks.

The researchers fed information into a computer program about how a magic jigsaw puzzle and a mind reading card trick work. They also built in the results of experiments into how humans understand magic tricks. The system then created completely new variants on those old magic tricks. Hey Presto! New tricks for old ones thanks to artificial intelligence!

The QMUL team say that the new tricks rely on the use of mathematical techniques rather than sleight of hand or other theatrics. Details of the research were published on Monday November 17th in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. The magic puzzle was also on sale in a London magic shop where it apparently proved very popular with working magicians. The card trick itself is available as an app called Phoney in the Google Play Store.

Howard Williams, co-creator of the project, described the way AI could help magicians come up with new ideas. Computer intelligence can process much larger amounts of information and run through all the possible outcomes in a way that is almost impossible for a person to do on their own. So while, a member of the audience might have seen a variation on this trick before, the AI can now use psychological and mathematical principles to create lots of different versions and keep audiences guessing, he said.

The computer also produced a magic jigsaw. Using what the QMUL team call a clever geometric principle, the trick involves taking a jigsaw apart and then reassembling it so that certain shapes have disappeared. This type of trick can involve highly complex calculations involving many simultaneous factors including the size of the puzzle, the number of pieces and shapes that appear and disappear, as well as the numerous possible ways the puzzle might be arranged. As the creators say, Something this complex is ideal for an algorithm to process, and make decisions about which flexible factors are most important.

The app looks like a lot of fun. It mimics the way a magician might perform a similar mind reading card trick. But using the app means that magician (thats you and I, of course) does not have to remember the order of the cards.

A deck of playing cards is arranged in a specific way. A few seemingly innocuous pieces of information are gathered from the subject who is then asked to choose and identify a card from the deck. The Android app then reveals the card on a mobile phone screen. Because of the way the computer was used to arrange the decks, the correct card could be identified with the minimum of information. In fact the program was able to suggest deck arrangements that, on average, needed one less question to identify the card than a traditional magician would need.

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Artificial Intelligence Creates Its Own Magic Tricks

Computer uses artificial intelligence to create magic tricks

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Researchershave taught a computer to create itsown magic tricks It came up with new twists on a mind-reading card trick, and magic puzzle Tricks are based on maths, not theatrics, using artificial intelligence Computer's card trick can now be downloaded as a smartphone app

By Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline

Published: 10:32 EST, 17 November 2014 | Updated: 12:17 EST, 17 November 2014

David Blaine and Dynamo are considered among the worlds best magicians, but they may soon have competition from machines.

Researchers have taught a computer to create its own magic tricks, including a mind-reading card illusion.

And what the computer lacks in creativity, it makes up for in logic, because the tricks were created from maths rather than theatrics, using artificial intelligence in this way for the first time.

Researchers have taught a computer to create its own magic tricks, including a mind-reading card illusion (pictured) which they have developed into an app called Phoney

Researchers at Queen Mary University London gave a computer program guidelines on how a magic jigsaw puzzle, and a mind-reading card trick work, as well the results of experiments into how humans understand magic tricks.

From this, the intelligent system created new versions of the tricks, which could be performed by a magician.

Co-creator of the project, Howard Williams said: Computer intelligence can process much larger amounts of information and run through all the possible outcomes in a way that is almost impossible for a person to do on their own.

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Computer uses artificial intelligence to create magic tricks

Artificial intelligence is now creating its own magic tricks

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Queen Mary University of London QMUL's

You might not have to be a professional magician to come up with clever tricks in the near future. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have developed artificial intelligence that can create magic tricks (specifically, those based on math) all on its own. Once their program learns the basics of creating magic jigsaws and "mind reading" stunts, it can generate many variants of these tricks by itself. This could be particularly handy if you like to impress your friends on a regular basis -- you could show them a new card trick every time without having to do much work.

The best part? You can try some of these computer-generated tricks yourself. The 12 Magicians of Osiris magic jigsaw is available as a web pack, and you can download the Android component for one card trick, Phoney, from Google Play. Neither will give you as much satisfaction as developing tricks from scratch, but they're proof that computers can do more with math than solve equations.

QMUL

Frontiers

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Artificial intelligence is now creating its own magic tricks

Researchers use artificial intelligence to create magic tricks

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Brittany Hillen

A group of researchers at Queen Mary University in London have taken to creating magic tricks using artificial intelligence -- something they've made available for anyone who is interested over on the QMagic site. There are four tricks so far, including one that involves having a smartphone guess what a playing card is, and another that turns one's smartphone into a "crystal ball" that can read minds. Even better, the app-based tricks have been released in the Google Play Store for others to enjoy.

The trick featured below, for example, uses an app to guess which card out of a lineup the viewer chooses -- something, obviously, it does correctly. The setup behind it is simple. The app itself is expecting a certain card order, which the magician arranges beforehand.

Artificial intelligence has a benefit over human-made magic tricks, as explained by the project's co-creator Howard Williams. "Computer intelligence can process much larger amounts of information and run through all the possible outcomes in a way that is almost impossible for a person to do on their own." And because it can come up with so many arrangements for the deck, it requires less information from the viewer to make a correct guess.

In addition to creating the tricks uisng artificial intelligence, the researchers are also using the data gathered to amass research on "the psychology of being a spectator." Giving one example, researcher Peter McOwan said the team had thought maybe an audience would be "suspicious" of including technology as part of the trick, but that turned out incorrect.

With this artificial intelligence, researchers have also developed a clever jigsaw puzzle with disappearing shapes (download available via PDF), as well as the aforementioned Crystal Ball, the Subliminal Card trick, and the Phoney trick featured above.

SOURCE: io9

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Researchers use artificial intelligence to create magic tricks