Very Strange Things That Have Happened in Just the Past Few Weeks

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Have you noticed that events have begun to accelerate? Over the past few weeks, things have officially started to get very weird. Chinese stocks are crashing, the Greek debt crisis is spiraling out of control, the New York Stock Exchange was down for about four hours on Wednesday thanks to a “technical glitch”, and global politicians have been acting very strangely. After several years of relative calm, could it be possible that the second half of 2015 will usher in a time of chaos and confusion on a worldwide scale? Personally, I have never been more concerned about a period of time as I am about the last six months of 2015. And if I am right, what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. The following are 10 very strange things that have happened in just the past few weeks…

#1 On Wednesday, the New York Stock Exchange, United Airlines and the Wall Street Journal were all taken down by unexpected “technical glitches“. Authorities are assuring us that hackers were not responsible for any of this.

#2 In China, a full-blown stock market crash is unfolding. The Shanghai Composite Index has plummeted more than 30 percent in less than a month, and the Chinese version of the NASDAQ has dropped by more than 40 percent. The amount of “paper wealth” that has been lost in China is 15 times greater than the GDP of Greece.

#3 Just the other day, hackers were able to hack into a German surface-to-air missile battery . . .

Well, this is absolutely terrifying. According to The Local, hackers attacked a German Patriot surface-to-air missile battery, like the one shown above, stationed along the Turkish-Syria border. The cyber attack caused the battery to carryout “unexplained” orders.

(Read more from “Very Strange Things That Have Happened in Just the Past Few Weeks” HERE)

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Here are the Top Late Night Google Searches and They’re Disturbing

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Google data analysis suggests that “porn” and “suicide” searches dominate late night online inquiries, while searches for free video games and other anonymous searches flow throughout the day.

A New York Times analysis of Google’s “very sharp” data for New York state pinpointed some rather precise searches throughout the day and night.

“Unblocked games,” or those not blocked by school administrators, peaks at 8:04 a.m., and stays high throughout the day until 1:30 p.m. Searches for “weather,” “prayer” and “news” peak before 5:30 a.m., suggesting Americans wake up early across their respective time zones.

Bizarre questions and those pursuing “anxiety” and “suicide” answers are rampant throughout late night hours. Google’s released data doesn’t show the total number of searches, but rather, the search rate for a word and at what time it’s highest – meaning an unusually large amount of searches went out at that respective hour.

In the U.K., searches for “Tinder” peak at 12:30 a.m., searches for porn peak at 1:30 a.m., and almost exactly one hour later, the search term “lonely” hits its peak at 2:30 a.m. In the U.S., searches between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. are key times for humans’ most vast inquiries: “What is the meaning of consciousness? Does free will exist? Is there life on other planets? The popularity of these questions late at night may be a result, in part, of cannabis use. Search rates for ‘how to roll a joint’” reports The Times. (Read more from “Here Are the Top Late Night Google Searches” HERE)

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Woman Frisked, Jailed, for Not Doing This

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A western Michigan woman heads to court Tuesday after being arrested for failing to renew her dog’s license.

Becky Rehr says she drove to the Kalamazoo County sheriff’s office June 23 to prove that she’s recently renewed the license for the family’s 11-year-old dog, Dexter. Rehr’s 14-year-old daughter waited in the car as her mother was arrested, fingerprinted and held for three hours, The Kalamazoo Gazette said.

“They frisked me and put me in this intake cell with all these inmates in orange jumpsuits,” Rehr said. “I was pretty nervous.” (Read more from “Woman Frisked, Jailed, for Not Doing This” HERE)

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Thanks to This Supreme Court Decision, the Government Could Seize Your Living Room

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Take a look around your living room. There’s a risk that it could become part of a food court in a mall or an assembly line in a factory.

This is possible because of a decision handed down 10 years ago this month by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Kelo v. City of New London, the court ruled that private property can be seized and transferred to another private party for economic development. In the case, the city of New London, Conn., seized the homes of Susette Kelo and other property owners in order to revitalize the city.

A decade later, Congress still has not taken meaningful action to address this attack on property rights—despite overwhelming bipartisan support to do so. This failure by Congress needs to end this year.

Under the Fifth Amendment, private property may be seized only for a public use. Kelo effectively deleted “public use” from the Fifth Amendment. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor famously said in her dissent, “The specter of condemnation hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory.”

While the threat of economic development takings can impact everyone, lower-income individuals are the most at risk, victims of a “reverse Robin Hood effect”—taking from the poor and giving to the rich. After all, cities typically seek out inexpensive properties that are not generating the desired economic benefits and transfer those properties to private parties that government officials think will help with economic development. (Read more from “Thanks to This Supreme Court Decision, the Government Could Seize Your Living Room” HERE)

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After Amazon Stops Selling Confederate Flags, California Rabbi Tells Amazon to Stop Selling Holocaust Denial-Books

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A week after Amazon stopped selling Confederate flags in the wake of a deadly shooting, Jewish organizations are calling on Amazon to ban books denying the Holocaust.

Sacramento Rabbi Mendy Cohen is leveling serious charges against Amazon for selling books denying the Holocaust.

Blatant anti-Semitism,” he said. “To deny the Holocaust is another mask of blatant anti-Semitism.”

The books say the stories of gas chambers and ovens in World War II Nazi Germany are made up . . .

Amazon has a list of offensive products it refuses to sell, which they say includes products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance. But Amazon officials did not respond to CBS13 for the story. (Read more from “California Rabbi Calls on Amazon to Cease Selling Holocaust Denial Books” HERE)

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Leading Evolutionist Demonstrates Why Most People Believe in Intelligent Design

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Forget Little Green Men – Aliens Will Look Like Humans, Says Cambridge University Evolution Expert

By Paul Gallagher. They are often portrayed on screen as little green men with elongated limbs and saucer-like eyes.

From E.T to the X-Files, aliens from outer space have captured our imagination for decades.

Yet a new book from a leading evolutionary biologist argues that if they exist and we ever encountered them, they would look very similar to us.

Professor Simon Conway Morris said extra-terrestrials that resemble human beings should have evolved on at least some of the many Earth-like planets that have been discovered by astronomers.

In his new book published on 2 July, The Runes of Evolution, the University of Cambridge academic builds on the principle of convergent evolution – that different species will independently evolve similar features, with the comparison of the camera eye of an octopus and a human eye a favourite example – and argues it will not just took place on Earth. (Read more from “Forget Little Green Men – Aliens Will Look Like Humans, Says Cambridge University Evolution Expert” HERE)

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MOD to Release UK’s Top Secret UFO ‘X-Files’ That ‘Could Prove Aliens Exist’

By Jon Austin. The major boost for alien hunters can be exclusively revealed by Express.co.uk on World UFO Day, which campaigners are using to call for the release of all such records globally.

UFO researchers, backed by House of Lords peer, have been fighting for the release of 18 top secret Ministry of Defence (MoD) files about UFO sightings from more than 30 years ago.

The Government faced claims of a cover-up from conspiracy theorists when their release was stalled at the end of 2013.

Some investigators claim the files could provide key evidence of extra-terrestrial life visiting the UK and of specific information about famous controversial sightings such as the Rendlesham Forest incident – a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and the alleged landing of one or more craft in Suffolk in late December 1980.

Lord Black of Brentwood, who asked the Government for an update through a Parliamentary question, was assured yesterday – the day before World UFO day – the files would be released by the MoD to the National Archives by March next year. (Read more from this story HERE)

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TV Land Pulls Dukes of Hazzard Episodes Amid Confederate Flag Uproar

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TV Land has pulled reruns of Dukes of Hazzard in light of the recent uproar over the Confederate flag, which is emblazoned on the roof of the show’s iconic General Lee 1969 Dodge Charger, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The show has faced criticism over the depiction of the controversial flag in the wake of the June 17 shooting in Charleston, S.C., that left nine dead, and what many viewed as South Carolina’s delayed decision to take the flag down.

Confederate merchandise has since been dropped by Walmart, Target, Amazon and other businesses after the shooting, which took place at a historic black church.

Shortly after the attack, photos surfaced showing alleged shooter Dylann Roof burning one American flag and stepping on another, while waving and posing provocatively with Confederate banners.

In a recent interview with THR, Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider defended the series’ use of the flag. “Labeling anyone who has the flag a ‘racist’ seems unfair to those who are clearly ‘never meanin’ no harm,'” he said. His co-star Ben Jones has also come out in defense of the flag, saying it represents the “indomitable spirit of independence.” (Read more from “TV Land Pulls Dukes of Hazzard Episodes Amid Confederate Flag Uproar” HERE)

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7-Foot Shark Pulls Man Under Water Ocracoke Island in NC, Victim Airlifted to Hospital

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Photo Credit: Stephen Lee A 68-year-old man was pulled under the water by a shark Wednesday in the Outer Banks — this time on Ocracoke Island.

The man was swimming outside the first breaker about 25 feet offshore, directly in front of the lifeguard stand, when he encountered a gray shark about 7 feet long, Hyde County officials said. A lifeguard saw the shark pull the man under the water. He suffered several bites to his rib cage, hip, lower leg and both hands . . .

The victim was able to swim out of the water, where a doctor who happened to be in the area was able to stabilize him, said Justin Gibbs with Hyde County EMS. The man, who was visiting from Massachusetts, was then airlifted off the island to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, N.C. The man was stable and alert, officials said . . .

Wednesday’s attack marks the seventh incident on North Carolina beaches in June and July. Last year, there were only four reported in the state through the summer. George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, told FOX8 recently that there are several environmental factors that make North Carolina appear to be a “perfect storm” for shark activity this summer . . .

On Friday, a 47-year-old man was bitten by a shark in the leg and back while trying to get children and another adult out of the water near Avon. (Read more from “7-Foot Shark Pulls Man Under Water Ocracoke Island in NC, Victim Airlifted to Hospital” HERE)

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This State Has More Marijuana Shops Than Starbucks

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Starting Wednesday, adults in Oregon will be able to legally possess and consume marijuana. But the state already has more ganja shops than Golden Arches or places to buy Grande Frappuccinos.

There are currently 269 medical marijuana dispensaries open for business in Oregon, according to the state’s health authority, which started issuing permits in March 2014. The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, by the way, has mapped nearly all of them. Medical weed is legal is 23 states, but very of few of them have licensed dispensaries. Oregon already has the second-highest number of medical marijuana patients per capita in the country, behind only Colorado.

Weed shops in Oregon are so plentiful that they top the total number of McDonald’s or Starbucks in the state. (Read more from “This State Has More Marijuana Shops Than Starbucks” HERE)

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Threat From Artificial Intelligence Not Just Hollywood Fantasy

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From the dystopian writings of Aldous Huxley and HG Wells to the sinister and apocalyptic vision of modern Hollywood blockbusters, the rise of the machines has long terrified mankind.

But it now seems that the brave new world of science-fiction could become all too real.

An Oxford academic is warning that humanity runs the risk of creating super intelligent computers that eventually destroy us all, even when specifically instructed not to harm people.

Dr Stuart Armstrong, of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, has predicted a future where machines run by artificial intelligence become so indispensable in human lives they eventually make us redundant and take over . . .

Dr Armstrong envisages machines capable of harnessing such large amounts of computing power, and at speeds inconceivable to the human brain, that they will eventually create global networks with each other – communicating without human interference. (Read more from “Threat From Artificial Intelligence Not Just Hollywood Fantasy” HERE)

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