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Book Review: ‘A Brief History of Intelligence’ may help humans shape the future of AI

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

Ever wonder how Homo sapiens got so smart? How come we developed actual language when all the other animals didn’t? How about what first made a nematode turn its body in a different direction? Or… what’s a nematode?Answers to those questions and much, much more can be found in the pages of Max Bennett’s new book “A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI and the Five Breakthroughs that Made Our Brains.” At 365 pages plus 45 more with a glossary, chapter notes and a bibliography, readers can quibble whether it’s indeed brief, but it is certainly thorough. Bennett’s premise — he’s a software entrepreneur who founded a company called Bluecore that “helped predict what consumers would buy before they knew what they wanted” — is that humans won’t ever create true artificial intelligence without understanding exactly what led to the real intelligence we already possess. So he begins with those nematodes — worms, to you and me — and painstakingly details the five breakthroughs that ov...

School shooting in Brazil’s Sao Paulo leaves one student dead

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — A teenager opened fire at a high school in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo early Monday, killing one student and wounding two others, authorities said.The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper identified the assailant as a male student at the high school who was a frequent target of bullying and said that the victim who died was a 17-year-old girl who was shot in the head. Authorities did not immediately release details about the suspected shooter, but the Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that police took him into custody. Two students were wounded in the shooting, and one other was hurt in a scramble to escape. All three were brought to a hospital, it said. “At this moment, the priority is attending to the victims and psychological support to students, teachers and family members,” the statement said. This was Brazil’s first school attack in months, following a rash of them earlier this year. There have been almost two dozen violent episodes in Brazilian s...

School bus with numerous students rolls over north of Calgary, RCMP say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

DIDSBURY, Alta. — RCMP in central Alberta say there has been a collision involving a school bus.An officer from Didsbury came across the school bus rollover on Highway 2A at Township Road 320, police said in a news release Monday. “The bus contained numerous students,” Didsbury RCMP said. “The extent of injuries is unknown at this time.”Highway 2A, which is north of Calgary, is closed and no traffic can get through the area.Police said they were responding Monday to multiple collisions in the area, including potentially 12 between Carstairs and Olds on Highway 2, due to poor road conditions.Albertans woke up to freezing rain ahead of a predicted snowfall that Environment Canada says could see accumulations of 10 to 15 centimetres before Tuesday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct .23, 2023. The Canadian Press

Theft of 2 million dimes from truckload of coins from US Mint leaves four facing federal charges

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal authorities have released more details and unsealed charges in the theft of more than 2 million dimes earlier this year from a tractor-trailer that had picked up the coins from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.The truck driver was bound for Miami when he pulled into a parking lot to sleep on April 13. During the night, thieves made off with a portion of its cargo of $750,000 in dimes, a shipment weighing about six tons, authorities had said earlier. Thousands of coins were left scattered all over the lot in northeast Philadelphia.The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that prosecutors contend that the theft — which they now say totaled $234,500 in stolen dimes — was part of a spree of robberies from tractor-trailers passing through the region that also netted the thieves frozen crab legs, shrimp, meat, beer and liquor.Detectives said at the time that surveillance video showed six men, dressed in gray hoodies and armed with bolt cutters, approaching the truck in t...

Judge orders release of man who was accused of plotting ISIS-inspired truck attacks near Washington

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ordered the release of a Maryland man who has been imprisoned for more than four years on charges that he plotted Islamic State-inspired attacks at an airport and at a shopping and entertainment complex in the Washington, D.C., area.Rondell Henry, 32, of Germantown, Maryland, pleaded guilty in August to attempting to perform an act of violence at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis agreed to sentence Henry to the jail time that he already has served since his March 2019 arrest.Accepting terms recommended by both prosecutors and defense attorneys, the judge also sentenced Henry to lifetime supervised release with mandatory participation in a mental health treatment program. “It’s an unusual resolution for a highly unusual case,” Xinis said.Henry, then 28, abandoned his plan to plow a stolen U-Haul van into pedestrians at the airport because he didn’t think the early-morning crowd was lar...

AC Milan reports a profit for the first time in nearly two decades with record revenue

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Italian soccer club AC Milan has recorded a profit for the first time in nearly two decades.Milan reported a profit of 6.1 million euros ($6.51 million) for the 2022-23 financial year at a shareholders meeting on Monday. That compared to losses of 66.5 million euros (then $66.7 million) last year, which had been reduced from the previous season.It is the first time Milan has been in the black since 2006. The turnaround has been driven by club record revenue of 404.5 million euros ($431.4 million) — about 100 million more than last year.“Combining sporting performance, global competitiveness and financial sustainability in soccer, when on a virtuous path, is possible: the financial statement that has just been approved is a testament to that,” Milan president Paolo Scaroni said. “This marks an important step in our club’s history with a return to net profit after 17 years.”Milan’s finances were boosted by the team reaching the Champions League semifinals last year. That ...

B.C. to remove barriers for internationally trained professionals: premier

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government has introduced legislation that is expected to add skilled workers into the labour force more quickly by reducing barriers for internationally trained professionals. Premier David Eby says B.C. cannot leave people with skills and experience on the sidelines, given labour shortages the province is facing now and in the coming years.He says the legislation would require regulatory bodies to remove “unfair barriers” for 29 different professions, including veterinarians, lawyers, teachers, paramedics, early childhood educators, architects, natural resource professionals and others.Eby says the act introduced in the legislature today builds on work the B.C. government has been doing to support internationally trained health-care workers.Andrew Mercier, the minister of state for workforce development, says international professionals face unnecessary barriers, such as redundant language testing and a “catch-22” requirement...

Fraser says housing measures coming in budget update, weighs in on short-term rentals

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

Housing Minister Sean Fraser says the federal government will reveal more housing measures in the fall budget update and in the coming months.In a news conference on Monday, he also weighed in on how the federal government can address the strain short-term rentals are putting on housing affordability.“You should expect to see additional measures on housing in the fall economic statement. You should expect to see additional measures more broadly in the months ahead as they are ready. I’m not going to wait and hold them for some magic date, where we suddenly release all of the policies at once,” Fraser said.Some of the measures that are expected include tying federal infrastructure spending to housing outcomes in local communities. Fraser also said there will be more policies geared toward increasing the stock of social housing, and increasing workers’ skills and innovation in the construction industry.“There’ll be a series of other measures that we...

Pritzker joined bar associations to condemn anti-Arab hate and violence

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

CHICAGO -- Gov. JB Pritzker joined Arab American Bar Association Monday morning to share concerns on the rise of hateful rhetoric amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Officials of the Arab American Bar Association joined state officials to share what they say is a rise in anti-Arab and Islamophobic rhetoric. The group gave examples like the killing of the 6-year-old Palestinian boy in Plainfield which was charged as a hate crime and that it is just one of many examples discussed at the press conference. Tensions rise amid clashing rallies in Skokie "It is up to us, those left grieving in the wake of this tragedy, to stand together in the very hatred that took them hostage or killed them -- to reject the notion that Muslims, Jews, and Palestinians, here, are responsible for the actions of governments thousands of miles away," Gov. Pritzker said. Officials are reminding people to stay vigilant and report any hate crimes they may have witnessed or may have been a victim while remindin...

Danny Pellegrino celebrates unhinged holidays with 'The Jolliest Bunch'

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:31:06 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — There may be several days of the spooky season remaining in October but for many people — including comedian and writer Danny Pellegrino, that only means there are just a few days in the way of the best season of all.It's the holiday season: time for festive family gatherings, yes, but also the time for very merry meltdowns with the ones you love the most. In his latest essay collection, "The Jolliest Bunch: Unhinged Holiday Stories," out Tuesday, Oct. 24, Pellegrino, host of the popular "Everything Iconic" podcast sets the table for a celebration of all things holiday — while also appreciating the jingle bell hell that can befall any yuletide. What is ‘funflation’? And what does Taylor Swift have to do with it? "I had fun holidays as a kid," Pellegrino says. "Even when they were chaotic, I love those chaotic ones. I say this in the book but those chaotic Christmases — or the unhinged Christmases — those are the ones we look back on fondly after a lot of time has passe...