Techies Are Hiring This Wiccan Witch to Protect Their Computers From Viruses and Offices From Evil Spirits [+video]

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Many people have had their computer or smartphone possessed by an evil demon — or at least that’s what it can feel like when some mysterious bug keeps causing an app to crash, or your phone keeps shutting off for no reason.

But if you truly think your electronics have been invaded by an evil spirit, there’s someone who will take your call — Reverend Joey Talley — a Wiccan witch from the San Francisco Bay Area who claims to solve supernatural issues for techies.

The Bay Area has always had a freewheeling spirit, which is part of the reason the tech industry found such a firm foothold there. And tech people are often experimental by nature, gravitating toward promises of an improved life through trial-and-error. This has led to some interesting crossover in San Francisco, with certain tech big shots from companies like Salesforce, Facebook, and Apple seeking out mystic help for conventional problems, SF Weekly reports.

Talley is one of those mystics, a Marin County witch boasting three master’s degrees and over 40 years of experience. Though tech problems are not the only ones Talley tackles, she is routinely called upon to debug people’s tech woes with spiritual energy.

“Most people want me to protect their computers from viruses and hacks,” she told SF Weekly. “So I’ll make charms for them. I like to use flora.” And when there are problems in office hardware, Talley turns to “Jet,” a black stone that serves to block energy. In extreme cases, she casts protection spells of her own over the entire company. (Read more from “Techies Are Hiring This Wiccan Witch to Protect Their Computers From Viruses and Offices From Evil Spirits” HERE)

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‘Artificial Intelligence Is as Dangerous as NUCLEAR WEAPONS’: AI Pioneer Warns Smart Computers Could Doom Mankind

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Artificial intelligence has the potential to be as dangerous to mankind as nuclear weapons, a leading pioneer of the technology has claimed.

Professor Stuart Russell, a computer scientist who has led research on artificial intelligence, fears humanity might be ‘driving off a cliff’ with the rapid development of AI.

He fears the technology could too easily be exploited for use by the military in weapons, putting them under the control of AI systems.

He points towards the rapid development in AI capabilities by companies such as Boston Dynamics, which was recently acquired by Google, to develop autonomous robots for use by the military.

Professor Russell, who is a researcher at the University of California in Berkeley and the Centre for the study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University, compared the development of AI to the work that was done to develop nuclear weapons. (Read more from “‘Artificial Intelligence Is as Dangerous as NUCLEAR WEAPONS’: AI Pioneer Warns Smart Computers Could Doom Mankind” HERE)

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You May Not Want to Use Hand Sanitizer If You Are a Man, Here’s Why

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Hand sanitizer causes the skin to absorb 100 times more of the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA), according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Missouri and published in the journal PLOS ONE.

BPA exposure [also] came from handling receipts printed on thermal paper, the kind typically issued by cash registers.

“Our research found that large amounts of BPA can be transferred to your hands and then to the food you hold and eat as well as be absorbed through your skin,” lead author Frederick vom Saal said.

Research had previously shown that hand sanitizers cause the skin to absorb higher levels of chemicals, but this had not previously been demonstrated with BPA . . .

“BPA exhibits hormone-like properties and has been proven to cause reproductive defects in fetuses, infants, children and adults as well as cancer, metabolic and immune problems in rodents,” vom Saal said. “BPA from thermal papers will be absorbed into your blood rapidly; at those levels, many diseases such as diabetes and disorders such as obesity increase as well.” (Read more from “You May Not Want to Use Hand Sanitizer If You Are a Man, Here’s Why” HERE)

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Robots Denounce Child-Bearing as ‘Immoral’

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As the world’s robotic development becomes more mature, there have been no shortage of experts who have predicted seismic cultural, economic and social changes on the horizon for our planet.

But one of the little-discussed aspects of robotics is the development of AI – artificial intelligence – even though it is one of the most rapidly advancing computer science disciplines.

Much of AI relies on development of a scientific process known as conversational modeling, which – up to this point – has been rudimentary. But all of that is changing; devices – computers, robots, any device utilizing AI – are becoming much more mature.

Case in point: A new Google AI bot that lectured a human researcher during trials recently who was attempting to get a definition of morality.

“The project studied conversational modeling, the prediction on what should come next within dialogues, which is a key to understanding natural language and artificial intelligence,” Tech Times reported. . .

As documented further in the research study, during one Q & A with the AI robot, the researcher asked, “What is immoral?”

The machine answered, “The fact that you have a child.”

(Read more from “Robots Denounce Child-Bearing as ‘Immoral'” HERE)

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Billionaires’ Strange, Secret Life Revealed

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In February 2011, Paramount Pictures asked me if I could fill in for a week as a driver for Sumner Redstone, the executive chairman of Viacom and CBS Corp. I’d had experience driving Hollywood talent and had a good reputation, and I accepted the position from the Paramount transportation planner.

Prior to starting the job, I met with Redstone’s regular driver to learn the routine. My initial instructions were pretty basic: a tour of the restaurants that Redstone frequented and ordered out from, the locations of his physicians’ offices, the Westwood theater location where Redstone was to make a red-carpet appearance at a movie premiere . . .

My week of employment began on a Monday morning after picking up from Paramount a custom Lincoln Town Car that contained a satellite television, along with interior video monitors. When I arrived at the gated Beverly Park Terrace residence, I was informed by a staff member at the house that I would be taking both Redstone and Sydney Holland (picture above right, with Redstone and his companion, Manuela Herzer) to his dentist appointment. However, the staff member first gave me a check with “Beverly Park LLC” in the top corner made out for several thousand dollars that was to be cashed at a Bank of America branch in Beverly Hills and the money brought back to the house. I proceeded to the bank and returned to the house with the cash envelope.

Upon my return, while parking in the front driveway, I noticed an old, red subcompact car that had the driver-side mirror duct-taped in place. The 40ish woman getting out of the vehicle was attractive but also looked a bit weary in her appearance. I figured she was hired help for the house, so I wondered why she would be parking in the main driveway rather than on the side, where I knew the house staff was told to park.

[Her name was Sydney Holland.] It had become pretty clear during my first few weeks back that Holland had aligned herself with Redstone and was reaping significant financial benefits. I had heard various rumors about Holland from people on staff and learned that she had been known as Sydney Stanger and was the co-founder of “The Inner Circle,” a VIP social club that advertised matchmaking services. (Read more from “Billionaires’ Strange, Secret Life Revealed” HERE)

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Duck Dynasty Stars Sadie and Korie Robertson Make Hilarious Debut on ‘Celebrity Family Feud’

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Members of the Robertson family, who star in the A&E hit series “Duck Dynasty,” will appear on “Celebrity Family Feud” this Sunday in a bid to raise money for charity.

Willie Robertson appears on the game show alongside his wife of more than 20 years, Korie, his newlywed son, John Luke, and daughters, Sadie and Rebecca. In a preview clip Sadie, a former “Dancing With the Stars” contestant, is seen drawing laughter and audience applause while answering an unusual question.

“Feud” host Steve Harvey asks: “Hey Sadie, C’mon now, if they made a sexy perfume for female dogs what might it smell like?”

After pondering in thought for a few seconds, she replies: “a fire hydrant?”

Her response instantly draws fits of laughter from everyone, including herself. (Read more from “Duck Dynasty Stars Sadie and Korie Robertson Make Hilarious Debut on ‘Celebrity Family Feud'” HERE)

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Ancient Peru Mystery: Archaeologists Unveil New Geoglyphs on Peru’s Nazca Plateau

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Japanese archaeologists have discovered 24 new geoglyphs on the Nazca Plateau in Peru that they say are similar to the animal shapes for which the region is famous – but were created two centuries earlier.

Archaeologists from the University of Yamagata in Japan made the discovery a mile north of the city of Nazca, in central Peru. The shapes are mostly geometrical, including a figure resembling a flame and other less recognizable representations.

According to a report submitted to the Peruvian government by the Japanese team, the newfound figures are smaller and less distinct than the older ones (a spider, a hummingbird, a condor and a monkey) but it would seem that some of the new ones depict llamas.

“Because they have been degraded, it is difficult to determine the exact shape of the picture on the ground of all the animals,” the researchers said told the Telegraph.

The head of the team, Dr. Masato Sakai, told the paper they used a three-dimensional scanner and photos to highlight the degraded lines and identify the images. (Read more from “Ancient Peru Mystery: Archaeologists Unveil New Geoglyphs on Peru’s Nazca Plateau” HERE)

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Cheer up, the Post-Human Era Is Dawning

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Unlike many who believe that artificial intelligence will eventually threaten humankind, this author has a far more optimistic view:

The far future will bear traces of humanity, just as our own age retains influences of ancient civilisations. Humans and all they have thought might be a transient precursor to the deeper cogitations of another culture — one dominated by machines, extending deep into the future and spreading far beyond earth.

Not everyone considers this an uplifting scenario. There are those who fear that artificial intelligence will supplant us, taking our jobs and living beyond the writ of human laws. Others regard such scenarios as too futuristic to be worth fretting over. But the disagreements are about the rate of travel, not the direction. Few doubt that machines will one day surpass more of our distinctively human capabilities. It may take centuries but, compared to the aeons of evolution that led to humanity’s emergence, even that is a mere bat of the eye. This is not a fatalistic projection. It is cause for optimism. The civilisation that supplants us could accomplish unimaginable advances — feats, perhaps, that we cannot even understand.

Human brains, which have changed little since our ancestors roamed the African savannah, have allowed us to penetrate the secrets of the quantum and the cosmos. But there is no reason to think that our comprehension is matched to an understanding of all the important features of reality. Some day we may hit the buffers. There are chemical and metabolic limits to the size and power of “wet” organic brains.

Today’s computers do not learn like we do. Their internal network is far simpler than a human brain, but they partly make up for this disadvantage because their “nerves” transmit messages at the speed of light, millions of times faster than the chemical transmission in human brains. They can learn to identify dogs, cats and human faces by crunching through millions of images. They learn to translate from foreign languages by reading multilingual versions of millions of pages of EU rules, among other documents (and, crucially, they never get bored).

(Read more from “Cheer up, the Post-Human Era Is Dawning” HERE)

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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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