Brain Implant That Decodes Intention Will Let Us Probe Free Will

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Imagine a world where you think of something and it happens. For instance, what if the moment you realise you want a cup of tea, the kettle starts boiling?

That reality is on the cards, now that a brain implant has been developed that can decode a person’s intentions. It has already allowed a man paralysed from the neck down to control a robotic arm with unprecedented fluidity.

But the implications go far beyond prosthetics. By placing an implant in the area of the brain responsible for intentions, scientists are investigating whether brain activity can give away future decisions – before a person is even aware of making them. Such a result may even alter our understanding of free will . . .

“These are exciting times,” says Pedro Lopes, who works at the human-computer interaction lab at Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany. “These developments give us a glimpse of an exciting future where devices will understand our intentions as a means of adapting to our plans.”

The implant was designed for Erik Sorto, who was left unable to move his limbs after a spinal cord injury 12 years ago. The idea was to give him the ability to move a stand-alone robotic arm by recording the activity in his posterior parietal cortex – a part of the brain used in planning movements. (Read more from “Brain Implant That Decodes Intention Will Let Us Probe Free Will” HERE)

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San Andreas Ready to Blow – in Theaters AND in Real Life

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Admit it, there’s nothing more fun than sitting in a dark theatre, munching on a bucket of buttery popcorn, and watching the Earth get demolished. In the latest round of catastrophic flicks, California is destroyed as the famous San Andreas Fault unleashes unimaginable (and unrealistic) devastation across the state.

The new film, San Andreas, depicts the rupture of an unknown fault near the Hoover Dam in Nevada, which gets the destructive ball rolling by setting off powerful earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault. And although earthquakes are nothing new to Californians, and pose serious threats along the famous fault, Hollywood has once again thrown caution (and science) to the wind in order to feed our catastrophic needs.

The San Andreas Fault is a very real hazard. At almost 800 miles long, the fault marks the boundary where the North American plate meets the Pacific plate. And it’s the movement of these plates against each other that causes the powerful quakes characteristic to the region.

A recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the inevitability of just such a quake, which is predicted to hit within the next couple of decades.

“The new likelihoods are due to the inclusion of possible multi-fault ruptures, where earthquakes are no longer confined to separate, individual faults, but can occasionally rupture multiple faults simultaneously,” lead author of the study and USGS scientist, Ned Field says. “This is a significant advancement in terms of representing a broader range of earthquakes throughout California’s complex fault system.” (Read more from “San Andreas Ready to Blow – in Theaters and in Real Life” HERE)

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Killer Robots Will Leave Humans ‘Utterly Defenseless’ Warns Professor

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Photo Credit: WarnerKiller robots which are being developed by the US military ‘will leave humans utterly defenceless‘, an academic has warned.

Two programmes commissioned by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are seeking to create drones which can track and kill targets even when out of contact with their handlers.

Writing in the journal Nature, Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkley, said the research could breach the Geneva Convention and leave humanity in the hands of amoral machines.

“Autonomous weapons systems select and engage targets without human intervention; they become lethal when those targets include humans,” he said.

“Existing AI and robotics components can provide physical platforms, perception, motor control, navigation, mapping, tactical decision-making and long-term planning. They just need to be combined. (Read more from “Killer Robots Will Leave Humans ‘Utterly Defenceless’ Warns Professor” HERE)

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After Secret Service Seized $115,000, North Carolina Man Continues Fight for ‘Justice’

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Photo Credit: Marla Bednar On the morning of Sept. 25, 2014, Tom Bednar was sitting in the bedroom of the Raleigh, N.C., home he shared with his wife, Marla, and two sons when Marla entered the room crying.

She had just looked at the bank account for their three-decade old business, Marla Enterprises, to find it empty. Now, Capital Bank was requesting close to $18,000 to cover the outstanding checks the couple had written.

After transferring money to straighten out their finances with the bank, the Bednars learned just what had happened with the $115,018.01 they had in their bank account: The United States Secret Service seized the money . . .

After months of litigation against the United States government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen West moved to dismiss the case earlier this month, meaning the Bednars will get their money back.

However, the government refused to cover the Bednars’ $25,000 in legal fees, which the couple is entitled to under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act. Though the fight to get their $115,000 back is now over, the family is continuing to push to have their expenses covered. (Read more from “After Secret Service Seized $115,000, North Carolina Man Continues Fight for ‘Justice'” HERE)

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Pentagon: Military Mistakenly Shipped Live Anthrax Samples to as many as 9 States

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday it is investigating what the Pentagon called an inadvertent shipment of live anthrax spores to at least one, and perhaps as many as nine, laboratories that expected to receive dead spores.

“At this time we do not suspect any risk to the general public,” CDC spokeswoman Kathy Harben said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, said the suspected live anthrax samples were shipped from Dugway Proving Ground, an Army facility in Utah, using a commercial delivery service.

Warren said the government has confirmed one recipient, a laboratory in Maryland, received live spores. It is suspected, but not yet confirmed, that anthrax sent to labs in as many as eight other states also contained live spores, he said.

“There is no known risk to the general public, and there are no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection in potentially exposed lab workers,” Warren said. (Read more from “Pentagon: Military Mistakenly Shipped Live Anthrax Samples to 9 States” HERE)

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Exasperated White House Pushes Senate to Pass Surveillance Reform Bill

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By Dustin Volz. An exasperated White House on Tuesday ratcheted up pressure on the Senate to pass surveillance-reform legislation before intelligence tools considered crucial to national security expire at the end of the month—while appearing to throw a direct barb at Sen. Rand Paul for gumming up the process.

Though he didn’t call out Paul by name, White House press secretary Josh Earnest seemed to accuse the Kentucky senator of using the debate over the Patriot Act’s sunsetting spying powers to bolster his presidential campaign.

“At some point, the political ambitions of individual members of the United States Senate are going to have to come second to the national security of the United States,” Earnest said.

Earnest’s comments come after the Senate failed to forge a path forward on dealing with the June 1 sunset of the Patriot Act’s spy provisions following a late-night round of votes Friday night into Saturday morning. Those authorities include the controversial Section 215, which the National Security Agency uses to justify its bulk collection of U.S. call data.

House-passed reform legislation known as the USA Freedom Act, which would effectively end the NSA’s phone dragnet, failed to advance Saturday, coming three votes short of the 60 necessary to clear a procedural hurdle. A bill to extend the provisions unchanged also failed. (Read more from “Exasperated White House Pushes Senate to Pass Surveillance Reform Bill” HERE)

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Obama Claims Bill is Necessary to Keep Nation “Safe and Secure”

Photo Credit: APBy Erica Werner. President Barack Obama called on the Senate Tuesday to extend key Patriot Act provisions before they expire five days from now, including the government’s ability to search Americans’ phone records.

“This needs to get done,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s necessary to keep the American people safe and secure.”

But with the May 31 deadline fast approaching, there was scant evidence Tuesday of a search for a deal on Capitol Hill. The House and Senate stood in recess for the week, and a House GOP leadership aide said there were no talks happening between the two chambers. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity, because the aide was not authorized to discuss the issue on the record.

The Senate adjourned for its Memorial Day break early Saturday after a chaotic late-night session during which senators failed to pass a White House-backed House bill reforming the phone collection program. Attempts by GOP leaders to extend current law also repeatedly fell short, amid objections from presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and others.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling the Senate back into session on Sunday, May 31, just hours before the midnight deadline, but it’s not clear lawmakers will have any new solution. (Read more from “Obama Urges Senate to Renew Phone-Records Program” HERE)

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Bristol Palin Addresses ‘Elephant-In-The-Room,’ Opens up About Wedding That Didn’t Happen

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Photo Credit: Bristol Palin By Oliver Darcy. Bristol Palin turned to her blog Tuesday to address the “elephant-in-the-room” and open up to fans about her wedding to Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer that was suddenly called off.

“I feel like I need to address the elephant-in-the-room on this blog, since you guys have been with me through thick and thin. When I first got engaged, you were the first ones I wanted to tell,” wrote Bristol, daughter of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

“I guess you have seen by now that the wedding — that was supposed to happen last weekend — was called off,” she continued. “I’m sure you’ve seen this has been all over the media, but this is a painful time for family and friends and I would just really appreciate your prayers.” (Read more from “Bristol Palin Addresses ‘Elephant-In-The-Room,’ Opens up About Wedding That Didn’t Happen” HERE)

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Examiner Reports Bristol Palin Fiancé Dakota Meyer Already Married

By Victoria Miller. Bristol Palin and her fiancé Dakota Meyer made headlines for their recent engagement, but a new report reveals that the war hero has already been married. On Friday, Radar Online posted a marriage certificate that reveals Meyer was married to a Michigan woman. The official document shows Meyer and Cassandra Wain were married in Campbellsville, Kentucky, on May 20, 2008. It’s unclear if the two are now officially divorced because information about the marriage is sealed. While it’s impossible to determine the current status of the union, the news of Meyer’s first wife is a surprise.

In March, Palin announced her engagement to Meyer, a former U.S. Marine who received the U.S. Medal of Honor in 2011, making him the third living recipient of the award since Vietnam. Bristol’s mom, Sarah Palin, posted a lengthy message about her daughter’s engagement to Meyer on Facebook, revealing that her family is honored to welcome the war hero into their clan. Descriving her future son-in-law as an “American hero,” the onetime vice-presidential candidate said Meyer is a kind man who loves both Bristol and her young son, Tripp. (Read more from this story HERE)

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If Only US Leaders Read This Book on Pakistan That Was on Bin Laden’s Shelf

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Photo Credit: Defense One Live Last week, I learned that the introduction of my book, Fortifying Pakistan (co-authored with Peter Chalk), was part of Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad library. While some other members of the Bin Laden book club were amused to be included, I was incensed. Our book is about Pakistan’s unwillingness to avail itself of American assistance in order to be a more effective partner in combatting terrorism. We argue that Pakistan’s recalcitrance is rooted in its commitment to using terrorism as a tool of foreign policy in India and Afghanistan. One has to wonder why Bin Laden would be interested in reading about that. After all, by the time the book came out, he was already in Pakistan. He, of all people, knew full well the practical implications of our research. He was safely ensconced in a Pakistani sanctuary, a leisurely stroll down the road from Pakistan’s premier military academy, at Kakul.

The research project that culminated in the 2006 publication of Fortifying Pakistan began in 2004, when I was a new researcher at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). My boss, Paul Stares, (now at the Council on Foreign Relations) hired me to initiate a South Asia research program. This project was not an easy sell. Most of Washington had long decided that Pakistan was our most allegiant ally in the war on terrorism. That attitude endured until the Obama administration came into office.

Simply put: It was blasphemous to suggest, in 2004, that then-president Musharraf was playing a both sides with Washington. The Bush administration could not countenance such a possibility, or even consider the plausibility of it, given that its attention and resources were focused on Iraq.

Prior to joining USIP, I served as a Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation. (Note: I am not, nor have I ever been, an actual political scientist.) During one of my last projects for RAND, I had briefed a senior Department of Defense official in early 2004, after returning from a January fact-finding trip I had made to Peshawar. I learned from numerous persons that the Pakistanis, through elements of the Frontier Corps, were facilitating Taliban operations in Afghanistan and movements into and out of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

This was no surprise to me. After all, Pakistan’s army and intelligence agency (the ISI) had long used the Frontier Corps to train Islamist militants operating in Afghanistan. The official seemed nonchalant at the time of the briefing, which puzzled and discomfited me. He seemed to be playing tic-tac-toe while the Pakistanis were playing three-dimensional chess. (Read more from “If Only US Leaders Read This Book on Pakistan That Was on Bin Laden’s Shelf” HERE)

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Illinois Couple Who Welcomed 100th Grandchild: ‘We Just Love Them All’

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Baby Jaxton Leo Zanger recently became the 100th grandchild for one Illinois couple. Technically, the little guy entered the world as their 46th great-grandchild. He joins 53 grandchildren and one great-great grandchild . . .

“We just love them all and they’re all so precious,” said Leo Zanger, who calls his newest family member, born April 8, “just another precious little bundle.”

Leo and his wife, Ruth, recently celebrated their 59th anniversary. They have 12 children: The oldest is 58 and the youngest, now 31, was an uncle to 10 kids by the time he was born.

Most of the family still lives in or near Quincy, Illinois, where Leo runs a real estate agency that also employs four sons, one daughter and two daughters-in-law.

The grandchild who lives the farthest away — about a three-hour drive — is also the oldest at 39, said Donna Lane, one of Zanger’s 12 children and the unofficial family historian. (Read more from “Illinois Couple Who Welcomed 100th Grandchild: ‘We Just Love Them All'” HERE)

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Marine Court-Martialed for Refusing to Remove Bible Verse

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Photo Credit: Fox News By Todd Starnes. A United States Marine was convicted at a court-martial for refusing to remove a Bible verse on her computer – a verse of Scripture the military determined “could easily be seen as contrary to good order and discipline.”

The plight of Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling seems unbelievable – a member of the Armed Forces criminally prosecuted for displaying a slightly altered passage of Scripture from the Old Testament: “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.”

Sterling, who represented herself at trial, was convicted February 1, 2014 in a court-martial at Camp Lejune, North Carolina after she refused to obey orders from a staff sergeant to remove the Bible verses from her desk.

She was found guilty of failing to go to her appointed place of duty, disrespect toward a superior commissioned officer, and four specifications of disobeying the lawful order of a noncommissioned officer.

The Christian Marine was given a bad conduct discharge and a reduction in rank from lance corporal to private. (Read more from “Marine Court-Martialed for Refusing to Remove Bible Verse” HERE)

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More Background on the Court-Martialed Christian Marine

By Liberty Institute. While stationed at Camp Lejune, LCpl Sterling, a devout Christian of Haitian descent, noticed that other service members had placed various personal items in their work spaces at the military base. So she decided to express herself as well in her workspace by displaying one of her favorite Bible verses.

LCpl Sterling printed out the words of Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” But after taping it in three different places in her workspace, LCpl Sterling’s supervisor—who also happened to be her former drill instructor—ordered her to remove the Bible verse, cursing at her in the process. When LCpl Sterling asked why, her supervisor said, “I don’t like the tone.” The service member explained it was her First Amendment right to display the Bible verse and declined to take them down. Moreover, no other person in the unit ever complained about the verse.

The next day, LCpl Sterling discovered that her supervisor tore down the Bible verse and threw it in the trash. Adding injury to insult, the U.S. Government charged LCpl Sterling with the crime of failing to obey a direct order because she did not remove the Bible verse.

“If a service member has a right to display a secular poster, put an atheist bumper sticker on their car, or get a Star of David tattoo,” explains Berry, “then Lance Corporal Sterling has the right to display a small Bible verse on her computer monitor.”

Liberty Institute has defended service members in all four branches of the military—from officers to enlisted service members to chaplains who are black and white, male and female. “Nobody in the military is safe anymore,” adds Berry, “regardless of rank, age, color, gender or branch of service. Whether you are a lowly private, or a commanding general, opponents of religious freedom simply don’t care. Clearly, people of faith are the targets.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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