From the Trenches World Report

Disinformation – by JacobSloan

Scientists have created a network which various smart devices and artificial intelligences will use autonomously to share information and learn from each other – increasing their capabilities. Should we just surrender now? The BBC reports:

A world wide web for robots to learn from each other and share information is being shown off for the first time. The system has been developed by research scientists from Philips and five European universities including Eindhoven.   Continue reading “Skynet Has Arrived? European Union Unveils RoboEarth, An Internet Just For Robots”

Huffington Post – by Matt Sledge

A bill meant to stem deaths from heroin overdoses advanced in the New York Senate Tuesday, just days after actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of an apparent drug overdose.

Sponsored by State Sen. Kemp Hannon (R), the bill would increase access to naloxone, a special drug that can reverse overdoses from heroin and other opioids. Introduced before Hoffman’s death, it passed out of the state Senate’s Health Committee unanimously on Tuesday.    Continue reading “Heroin Overdose Prevention Bill Advances In New York After Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Death”

RT News

Production of crude oil in western Canada emits more harmful carcinogens into the environment than official estimates let on, according to a new study. The Keystone XL pipeline would, if approved, move tar sands oil from Alberta through the US to Texas.

A new study by the University of Toronto-Scarborough published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that Canadian officials may have underestimated emissions of harmful carcinogens known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from Alberta tar sands.   Continue reading “Toxic carcinogens from tar sands oil production underestimated – report”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — An unusual coalition of lawmakers from both parties, labor and business leaders, veterans groups and Canada’s ambassador to the United States joined forces Tuesday to push for quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Five Democrats joined Republicans at a Capitol news conference to urge President Barack Obama to approve the pipeline following a State Department report last week that raised no major environmental objections. The $7 billion pipeline would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The project has lingered for more than five years and has become a symbol of the political debate over climate change.   Continue reading “Broad coalition backs Keystone XL oil pipeline”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Several million American workers will cut back their hours on the job or leave the nation’s workforce entirely because of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, congressional analysts said Tuesday, adding fresh fuel to the political fight over “Obamacare.”

The workforce changes would mean nationwide losses equal to 2.3 million full-time jobs by 2021, in large part because people would opt to keep their income low to stay eligible for federal health care subsidies or Medicaid, the Congressional Budget Office said. It had estimated previously that the law would lead to 800,000 fewer jobs by that year.   Continue reading “Health care law will mean fewer people on the job”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy said Tuesday it is investigating about 30 senior sailors linked to alleged cheating on tests meant to qualify them to train others to operate naval nuclear power reactors. Representing roughly one-fifth of the reactor training contingent, sidelining 30 may put a pinch on the Navy’s training program, senior officials said.   Continue reading “Navy probing alleged cheating on nuke reactor work”

Mail.com

BEIRUT (AP) — Men pull a girl from the rubble and haul her onto a dirty sheet of plastic, while another child, coated in white dust save for a red streak of blood from his nose, lies with his crushed leg dangling off a gurney — the grisly aftermath from the dropping of a crude “barrel bomb” by Syrian forces on the city of Aleppo.

The bombing — one of at least seven such attacks in Aleppo on Tuesday — struck a mosque that was being used as a school, killing at least 11 people, activists said. A video supplied by activists contained scenes of the carnage.   Continue reading “Syrian forces hit mosque with crude bomb, kill 11”

Mail.com

ARVADA, Colo. (AP) — Authorities say the man who was shot to death by suburban Denver police after holding a 13-year-old boy hostage for nearly 18 hours had a criminal record and was wanted for a parole violation.

Officers fatally shot 34-year-old Don Pooley on Tuesday when he went to the door of the house he was barricaded in to retrieve unspecified items left by negotiators, Arvada police said. Members of a SWAT team immediately rescued the boy. A Denver Post photo shows an officer carrying the teen away in a bear hug.   Continue reading “Police: Man killed in Colorado standoff had record”

Popular Science – by Rose Pastore

When a soldier is shot on the battlefield, the emergency treatment can seem as brutal as the injury itself. A medic must pack gauze directly into the wound cavity, sometimes as deep as 5 inches into the body, to stop bleeding from an artery. It’s an agonizing process that doesn’t always work–if bleeding hasn’t stopped after three minutes of applying direct pressure, the medic must pull out all the gauze and start over again. It’s so painful, “you take the guy’s gun away first,” says former U.S. Army Special Operations medic John Steinbaugh.   Continue reading “How A Simple New Invention Seals A Gunshot Wound In 15 Seconds”

Common Dreams – by Andrea Germanos

Researchers are set to embark on a project to gather samples of kelp from the U.S. West Coast and analyze them for potential radioactive contamination caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster unleashed nearly three years ago.

Called “Kelp Watch 2014,” the campaign led by researchers from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will analyze how ocean currents might have carried over Fukushima radioactivity to California’s kelp forest, which the researchers describe as “a highly productive and complex ecosystem and a valuable state resource.”   Continue reading “Scientists to Analyze West Coast Kelp for Fukushima Radioactivity”

After a minute or two of staring through my scope, I dropped my rifle in the grass,
fell to my knees, and prayed for this blessed creature….