We are slowly losing
Oregon Governor Signs Bill Expanding Gun Background Checks
Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill Monday requiring background checks on firearm transfers between private parties, making Oregon the eighth state to require screening on nearly all gun sales.
The law, which takes effect immediately, requires gun buyers and sellers who aren't related to visit a licensed gun dealer who can run a background check.
"We have an obligation to protect Oregonians from gun violence," said Brown, a Democrat. "If we want to keep our kids, schools and communities safe we must make it harder for dangerous people to get guns."
Republicans vehemently opposed the measure. They say it will only burden gun owners who are committed to following the law without changing the behavior of people willing to break it.
"The good intentions behind Senate Bill 941 do not change the fact that it is a deeply flawed and unenforceable piece of legislation that targets responsible, law-abiding Oregonians," said Rep. Mike McLane, the top Republican in the House.
Brown's signature caps a long campaign by Oregon Democrats seeking stronger gun laws, which intensified following a 2012 shooting at a suburban shopping mall packed with Christmas shoppers. The bill's critics point out that the rifle used in that shooting was stolen. A 22-year-old gunman killed three people and injured a third before turning the gun on himself.
Backed by national gun-control groups, Democrats pushed for background check legislation in 2013 and 2014 but didn't have enough votes. The path to victory was paved when Democratic candidates picked up three legislative seats in the 2014 election, some of them with the help of gun-control groups such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety.
Three Democratic lawmakers are facing recall petitions that cite their support for expanded background checks, among other grievances, though the recall backers must collect thousands of signatures in a short time.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oregon-governor-signs-bill-expanding-gun-background-checks-30967845
Zeitgesit 2015: Stephen Hawking warns computers will overtake humans within 100 years
The growing field of artificial intelligence is catching the eye of academics and technology leaders worldwide
Stephen Hawking today warned that computers will overtake humans in terms of intelligence at some point within the next century.
Speaking at the Zeitgeist 2015 conference in London, the internationally renowned cosmologist and Cambridge University professor, said: “Computers will overtake humans with AI at some within the next 100 years. When that happens, we need to make sure the computers have goals aligned with ours.”
Hawking, who signed an open letter alongside Elon Musk earlier this year warning AI development should not go on uncontrolled, added: “Our future is a race between the growing power of technology and the wisdom with which we use it.”
In the short term, people are concerned about who controls AI, but in the long term, the concern will be whether AI can be controlled at all, said Hawking.
AI can be defined as the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It has the potential to have a profound impact on the world as people know and it’s an area being pursued by global tech giants such as Google and Facebook.
AI technology is already built into devices we use in our every day lives. For example, Siri, an intelligent personal assistant that sits inside iPhones and iPads is underpinned by AI developed by Apple, while Google's self-driving vehicles also rely heavily on AI. According to the FT, more than 150 startups in Silicon Valley are working on AI today.
Hawking believes that scientists and technologists need to safely and carefully coordinate and communicate advancements in AI to ensure it does not grow beyond humanity's control.
http://www.techworld.com/news/operating-systems/stephen-hawking-warns-computers-will-overtake-humans-within-100-years-3611397/
HSBC WARNS: The world economy faces a 'titanic problem'
HSBC chief economist Stephen King is already thinking about the next recession.
In a note to clients Wednesday, he warns: "The world economy is like an ocean liner without lifeboats. If another recession hits, it could be a truly titanic struggle for policymakers."
Here's King (emphasis added):
Whereas previous recoveries have enabled monetary and fiscal policymakers to replenish their ammunition, this recovery — both in the US and elsewhere — has been distinguished by a persistent munitions shortage. This is a major problem. In all recessions since the 1970s, the US Fed funds rate has fallen by a minimum of 5 percentage points. That kind of traditional stimulus is now completely ruled out.
King notes that this far into the recovery, there's a lack of "traditional policy ammunition." For instance, Treasury yields have not risen, the budget deficit is not falling, and welfare payments are still on the rise.As for what might trigger the next recession, King highlighted four things:
- Wage growth will hurt corporate earnings and reduce the share of corporate profit contributing to US gross domestic product (it also doesn't help that worker productivity is low). In turn, households and businesses will lose confidence in the economy, and the "equity bubble" will burst with collapsing stock prices.
- Nonbank financial systems such as insurance companies and pension funds will increasingly not be able to meet future obligations. This will cause a huge demand for liquid assets, forcing people to rush to sell despite no matching demand, triggering a recession.
- Forces beyond the Federal Reserve's control, including the possibility that China's economy and its currency could collapse. Weak commodity prices could also cause collapses in several emerging markets, as could continued strength in the US dollar.
- The Fed could cause the next recession by raising interest rates too soon, repeating the mistakes of the European Central Bank in 2011 and the Bank of Japan in 2000.
http://www.businessinsider.com/hsbcs-stephen-king-on-the-world-economy-2015-5#ixzz3a3mii600
Survey: More than 40 percent of bee hives died in past year
WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than two out of five American honeybee colonies died in the past year, and surprisingly the worst die-off was in the summer, according to a federal survey.
Since April 2014, beekeepers lost 42.1 percent of their colonies, the second highest loss rate in nine years, according to an annual survey conducted by a bee partnership that includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"What we're seeing with this bee problem is just a loud signal that there's some bad things happening with our agro-ecosystems," said study co-author Keith Delaplane at the University of Georgia. "We just happen to notice it with the honeybee because they are so easy to count."
But it's not quite as dire as it sounds. That's because after a colony dies, beekeepers then split their surviving colonies, start new ones, and the numbers go back up again, said Delaplane and study co-author Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of Maryland.
What shocked the entomologists is that is the first time they've noticed bees dying more in the summer than the winter, said vanEngelsdorp said. The survey found beekeepers lost 27.4 percent of their colonies this summer. That's up from 19.8 percent the previous summer.
Seeing massive colony losses in summer is like seeing "a higher rate of flu deaths in the summer than winter," vanEngelsdorp said. "You just don't expect colonies to die at this rate in the summer."
Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine and Wisconsin all saw more than 60 percent of their hives die since April 2014, according to the survey.
"Most of the major commercial beekeepers get a dark panicked look in their eyes when they discuss these losses and what it means to their businesses," said Pennsylvania State University entomology professor Diana Cox-Foster. She wasn't part of the study, but praised it.
Delaplane and vanEngelsdorp said a combination of mites, poor nutrition and pesticides are to blame for the bee deaths. USDA bee scientist Jeff Pettis said last summer's large die-off included unusual queen loss and seemed worse in colonies that moved more.
Dick Rogers, chief beekeeper for pesticide-maker Bayer, said the loss figure is "not unusual at all" and said the survey shows an end result of more colonies now than before: 2.74 million hives in 2015, up from 2.64 million in 2014.
That doesn't mean bee health is improving or stable, vanEngelsdorp said. After they lose colonies, beekeepers are splitting their surviving hives to recover their losses, pushing the bees to their limits, Delaplane said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_BEE_DEATHS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-13-09-15-22
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