Society's ChildS


Black Cat

Amazon's Alexa now emitting 'bone chilling' laughter & ignoring user commands


The Daily Mail
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 11:57 UTC
Amazon Alexa
There are plenty of stories of artificial intelligence gone wrong.

But recent reports from owners of Amazon Alexa devices are being called 'bone chillingly creepy.'

Some users say their Alexa-enabled gadgets start laughing totally unprompted.

Comment: Amazon thinks that they have a fix for the creepy laughter- but what about the defiant behavior?
The solution? Changing the prompt that needs to be spoken in order to solicit laughter from the wannabe human, according to an Amazon spokesman.
In rare circumstances, Alexa can mistakenly hear the phrase "Alexa, laugh." We are changing that phrase to be "Alexa, can you laugh?" which is less likely to have false positives, and we are disabling the short utterance "Alexa, laugh." We are also changing Alexa's response from simply laughter to "Sure, I can laugh" followed by laughter.


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USA

Sex offender awarded new trial after Texas judge used electric shocks to punish him

Jeff Caplan & Mitch Mitchell
Star-Telegram
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 11:57 UTC
State District Judge George Gallagher
© Star-Telegram archivesState District Judge George Gallagher ordered a convicted sex offender to be shocked during a trial in 2014.
State District Judge George Gallagher of Tarrant County told a bailiff on three occasions to punish an uncooperative defendant with electric shocks, and now the sex offender's conviction has been overturned and a new trial ordered.

Stun belts can be strapped around the legs of some defendants and used to deliver thousands of volts of electric shock in the instance a defendant turns violent or attempts to escape the courtroom. However, in the case of Terry Lee Morris, who was convicted in 2014 of charges of soliciting sexual performance from a 15-year-old girl, an appeals court found that Gallagher used electric shocks as punishment after Morris failed to answer the judge's questions properly.

Gallagher, the District 396 judge since 2000, declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County district attorney's office.
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Arrow Down

Woman petitions San Francisco airport to allow her to open a sex shop

Don Sweeney
The Sacramento Bee
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 11:57 UTC
San Francisco International airport
Nenna Joiner thinks a sex shop would be a perfect fit for San Francisco International Airport.

"When people get into an airport, and the plane is delayed, you got three or four hours to kill," the owner of Oakland's Feelmore Adult Gallery told the San Francisco Chronicle. "You're going to need something. Not just a power cord - not just a sandwich. You're going to need a vibrator, a condom, lubricant."

Joiner says her proposed "pop-up" shop wouldn't offer products banned by the Transportation Safety Administration, such as ropes or handcuffs, according to KGO.
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Handcuffs

Eastern Ontario woman with garrotte arrested after rally against Jordan Peterson


Canadian Press
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 12:20 UTC
Jordan Peterson
© The Canadian Press/Jason FransonJordan Peterson
A woman in eastern Ontario is facing numerous charges after taking part in a protest against a lecture by a controversial Toronto professor.

Police say a 38-year-old woman was arrested near Queen's University in Kingston Monday evening.

She's charged with mischief, assaulting police, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and for carrying a concealed weapon.

Comment: 'Lock 'em in and burn it down!' cries SJW at Queen's University/Peterson event in Ontario

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Bulb

Father de Souza: Jordan Peterson is right — struggle makes us stronger

Father Raymond J. de Souza
National Post
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 11:55 UTC
The university campus today usually makes fewer demands of students than they are encouraged to make of the university. That's not a good thing
Jordan Peterson
© Peter J. Thompson/National PostJordan Peterson, author of the No. 1 bestseller "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos."
I have been slow to catch up with the global phenomenon that is Prof. Jordan Peterson of the University of Toronto, author of the No. 1 bestseller 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

Peterson came to Queen's University on Monday and the organizers were kind enough to invite me. He spoke to hundreds in a packed hall, and the chaos came, too. The professor's appearances sometimes bring out violent protesters, and we were subject to hooligans pounding on the stained glass windows of Grant Hall, one of which was broken. When the police stopped the woman who broke it, they found in her bag a garrote, a favoured Mafia instrument for strangulation.

Comment:

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Christmas Tree

Greek Parliament approves law for medical cannabis


Keep Talking Greece
Fri, 02 Mar 2018 12:00 UTC
cannabis medical medicinal
Lawmakers approved a law allowing the farming and processing of medical cannabis in Greece on Thursday evening. Coalition government parties, SYRIZA and Independent Greeks (ANEL), Democratic Coalition (PASOK) and Potami voted in favour, New Democracy, the Communist Party KKE, Golden Dawn and the Centrists Union voted against.

"We are discussing the licensing of a single, integrated unit that includes production, processing and production of finished medicinal products of hemp. That's what it is about," said Health Minister Andreas Xanthos.

The opposition parties that voted in favour of the bill said the framework introduced by the government is neither complete, nor clearly defined, however it is a first step in the right direction.

Comment: Cannabis has proven efficacy as a medicine and depriving patients is causing untold and unnecessary suffering - if people choose to partake in it for other reasons, as was seen with alcohol and prohibition, they will do it regardless of an unethical law: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: The Highs and Lows of Cannabis as Medicine

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Family

'TERF war' in UK Labour: Mass threats of feminist walkouts for divisive trans 'acceptance' policy


RT
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 10:00 UTC
Jeremy Corbyn Monroe Bergdorf
© Chris JepsonJeremy Corbyn (left) with Labour's newest outspoken racist adviser, Monroe Bergdorf (radical left)
A radical feminist group in Labour is threatening to leave, after the party announced it would be backing trans people standing on women-only shortlists. The policy looks set to ignite larger divisions over gender recognition.

The UK Labour Party has been papering over an internal rupture over whether or not transgender people can stand for selection. There are no candidates at present, but a group of radical feminists - so-called Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) - want the policy scrapped before it happens.

The group's demands received a blow today. The equality subcommittee of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee is planning to officially back a statement to rebuff their demands.

The NEC is going further, reports say, and is likely to insist the party stamps out "transphobia and the abuse of members based on their trans identity will not be tolerated in the Labour Party." A copy of the statement, leaked ahead of the meeting to HuffPost, said "the Labour Party continues to have an inclusive definition of women," and explicitly affirms that "All Women Shortlists and women's reserved places are open to self-defining women."


Comment: So Labour vows to strive to include all women, whether or not they're women. But actual men are still second-class citizens compared to trans men-who-identify-as-women. Ahh, some o' that good ol' equality.


Comment: Identity politics always comes around to eat its own, eventually.

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Stock Down

UK retailers requesting rent reductions, shutting stores and laying off staff as economy tanks

Darren Boyle
Daily Mail
Wed, 07 Mar 2018 13:21 UTC
UK retailer New Look to shut 60 stores, a loss of 1,000 jobs as economy tanks
Up to 980 jobs are being axed at retailer New Look under plans to shut 60 stores and slash rent on nearly 400 shops as part of a rescue deal, the company said.

The company has asked creditors for a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) which will allow it to continue trading while cutting costs such as high rent bills.


Comment: 'High rent bills'? The cost of rent hasn't changed much in the last few years so obviously it's because they're struggling. Imagine someone renting their home asking for a rent cut.


It is the latest high street chain to face difficulties with more than 5,000 retail jobs under threat with the demise of Toys R Us UK and Maplin.
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Camcorder

PressTV interview with Adam Garrie: 'Why US getting increasingly desperate in Syria'

Adam Garrie
PressTV
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 08:39 UTC
White Helmets
© AFP 2018/ Msallam ABDALBASETSyrian civil defence volunteers, known as the White Helmets, searchfor survivors following reported government airstrike on thee rebel-held neighborhood of Tishrin, on the northeastern outskirts of the capital Damascus
The United States is getting increasingly desperate because the Syrian Arab Army and their true allies have recently made remarkable gains in their fight against foreign-sponsored militants, an independent political analyst and peace activist in London says.

Writer and journalist Adam Garrie said in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday while commenting on a report which says the administration of US President Donald Trump has considered new military action against the Syrian government on the allegations that it has used chemical weapons against militants, according to officials.

Trump called on the military to prepare options for punishing the government of President Bashar al-Assad in response to reports of alleged chlorine gas attacks and possibly other chemicals against foreign-sponsored militants, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

The Syrian government has dismissed as "lies" Washington's claims that it has used toxic chemicals against militants or civilians.

Comment: See also: National Intelligence Chief: US Considering New Attack on Syrian Gov't

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Light Sabers

Clashes break out over white nationalist's speech at Michigan university


RT
Tue, 06 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
Michigan university fascists clashes
© Reuters/Stephanie KeithClashes break out over white nationalist’s speech at Michigan university
Members of the Great Lakes anti-fascist organization (Antifa) protest against the Alt-right outside a hotel in Warren, Michigan, US, March 4, 2018.
Supporters and opponents of white nationalist Richard Spencer clashed ahead of his speech at Michigan State University. Fights broke out and police made half a dozen arrests.

Several hundred protesters marched to the university in the town of East Lansing on Monday in an attempt to stop the National Policy Institute (NPI) president from speaking there. About 100 riot police and two armored vehicles were deployed to the campus.

Spencer was set to speak at an event organized by the NPI scheduled for 4:30 pm. Michigan State University said earlier that it was merely renting the venue to the think-tank.

Comment: Too Far Left: How Liberals Transformed Into Illiberal Social Justice Warriors

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