coming

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Electric Planes Are Coming: Short-Hop Regional Flights Could Be Running On Batteries In A Few Years

Electric planes might seem futuristic, but they aren’t that far off, at least for short hops. Two-seater Velis Electros are already quietly buzzing around Europe, electric sea planes are being tested in British Columbia, and larger planes are coming. Air Canada announced on Sept. 15, 2022, that it would buy 30 electric-hybrid regional aircraft from Sweden’s Heart Aerospace, which expects to have its 30-seat plane in service by 2028. Analysts at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab note that the first hybrid electric 50- to 70-seat commuter plane could be ready not long after that. In the 2030s, they say, electric aviation could really take off. That matters for managing climate change. About 3% of global emissions come from aviation today, and with more passengers and flights expecte...

Powering My House With My Electric Car – Vehicle-To-Home Charging Is Coming

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, VIDEO REELS

Powering My House With My Electric Car – Vehicle-To-Home Charging Is Coming

As manufacturers introduce new models of electric vehicles, demand for them is growing steadily. New EV sales in the U.S. roughly doubled in 2021 and could double again in 2022, from 600,000 to 1.2 million. Auto industry leaders expect that EVs could account for at least half of all new U.S. car sales by the end of the decade. EVs appeal to different customers in different ways. Many buyers want to help protect the environment; others want to save money on gasoline or try out the latest, coolest technology. In areas like California and Texas that have suffered large weather-related power failures in recent years, consumers are starting to consider EVs in a new way: as a potential electricity source when the lights go out. Ford has made backup power a selling point of its electric F-150 L...

The History Of ‘Coming Out,’ From Secret Gay Code To Popular Political Protest

15Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LGBTQ

The History Of ‘Coming Out,’ From Secret Gay Code To Popular Political Protest

You probably know what it means to “come out” as gay. You may even have heard the expression used in relation to other kinds of identity, such as being undocumented. But do you know where the term comes from? Or that its meaning has changed over time? In my new book, “Come Out, Come Out, Whoever You Are,” I explore the history of this term, from the earliest days of the gay rights movement, to today, when it has been adopted by other movements. Selective sharing In the late 19th and early 20th century, gay subculture thrived in many large American cities. Gay men spoke of “coming out” into gay society – borrowing the term from debutante society, where elite young women came out into high society. A 1931 news article in the Baltimore Afro-American referred to “the coming out of new debut...

Here’s What Won’t Work, And What Might – Lawsuits Over Bans On Teaching Critical Race Theory Are Coming

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION, VIDEO REELS

Here’s What Won’t Work, And What Might – Lawsuits Over Bans On Teaching Critical Race Theory Are Coming

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida As states and school districts started threatening teachers with disciplinary action for teaching about systemic racism, the question naturally arose: Does this violate the teachers’ First Amendment rights? The First Amendment protects free speech against government punishment, outside of something as extreme as a threat of violence. A school district is a government agency. So anyone punished by a school district for nonthreatening speech seems to have the makings of a First Amendment case. But from years of teaching and researching First Amendment case law, I know that this is where things get complicated. Public school teachers are government employees. And thanks to a much-disputed Supreme Court decision from 15 years ago, government employees, ...

A Place For Trans Youth To Find One Another And Explore Coming Out Was Created By The Early Internet

25May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CULTURE, LGBTQ

A Place For Trans Youth To Find One Another And Explore Coming Out Was Created By The Early Internet

Follow coverage of trans issues, and you’ll hear some people say that teens who change their gender identity are participating in a fad, and that social media is the culprit. As one proponent of legislation that would restrict access to care for trans teens claimed, social media platforms are where trans youths are falsely “convinced” that their feelings of identifying as a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth – known as gender dysphoria – are valid. These fears of Instagram, Tumblr and TikTok as breeding grounds for instilling gender dysphoria in young people recall other moral panics over new media, from the Victorian-era paranoia that serialized stories called “penny dreadfuls” were going to incite a youth crime wave to 20th-century anxiety over children’s exposure to v...

Inside The Coming Voice-Profiling Revolution – Shhhh, They’re Listening

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Inside The Coming Voice-Profiling Revolution – Shhhh, They’re Listening

You decide to call a store that sells some hiking boots you’re thinking of buying. As you dial in, the computer of an artificial intelligence company hired by the store is activated. It retrieves its analysis of the speaking style you used when you phoned other companies the software firm services. The computer has concluded you are “friendly and talkative.” Using predictive routing, it connects you to a customer service agent who company research has identified as being especially good at getting friendly and talkative customers to buy more expensive versions of the goods they’re considering. This hypothetical situation may sound as if it’s from some distant future. But automated voice-guided marketing activities like this are happening all the time. If you hear “This call is being reco...

Millennials Are Coming Out And Living In Their Gender Much Earlier Than Older Trans Generations

27Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LGBTQ

Millennials Are Coming Out And Living In Their Gender Much Earlier Than Older Trans Generations

There are a few common identity milestones that transgender, or trans, people experience across their lives. One is starting to feel different than the sex assigned to them at birth. Another is identifying with a trans identity – for instance, as a trans man or genderqueer person, meaning they don’t identify with a binary gender such as a woman or a man. There also is the experience of living in line with this identity, which can include disclosing it to others, and changes to a person’s name, pronouns and appearance. And then there’s accessing gender-affirming medical care like puberty blockers, hormones or surgeries. These milestones can happen at any age in a person’s life, despite stereotypes that trans people must have always known they were trans. Some people may not go through all...

Who Will Pay Them? Delinquent Electric Bills From The Pandemic Are Coming Due

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

VIDEO REELS

Who Will Pay Them? Delinquent Electric Bills From The Pandemic Are Coming Due

The shutdowns and restrictions that governments have imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19 have made it hard for many households to afford basic needs. Thousands of Americans are struggling to pay monthly utility bills. Utilities and policymakers recognized that services like water and electricity are essential to people’s health, safety and comfort. Since mid-March they have taken steps to keep those services coming. The most popular approach has been for them to impose moratoria on late fees and disconnections for nonpayment of bills. Every state in the U.S. has enacted some version of this policy, from formal declarations to voluntary programs offered by utilities. Map of disconnection moratoria as of Nov. 3, 2020. NARUC But now these moratoria are starting to expire. Consumers are ...

Researchers Are Preparing For The Coming Wave Of Deepfake Propaganda In A Battle Of AI Versus AI

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

VIDEO REELS

Researchers Are Preparing For The Coming Wave Of Deepfake Propaganda In A Battle Of AI Versus AI

An investigative journalist receives a video from an anonymous whistleblower. It shows a candidate for president admitting to illegal activity. But is this video real? If so, it would be huge news – the scoop of a lifetime – and could completely turn around the upcoming elections. But the journalist runs the video through a specialized tool, which tells her that the video isn’t what it seems. In fact, it’s a “deepfake,” a video made using artificial intelligence with deep learning. Journalists all over the world could soon be using a tool like this. In a few years, a tool like this could even be used by everyone to root out fake content in their social media feeds. As researchers who have been studying deepfake detection and developing a tool for journalists, we see a future for these to...

The Complicated Legacy Of The Pilgrims Is Finally Coming To Light 400 Years After They Landed In Plymouth

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LIFESTYLE

The Complicated Legacy Of The Pilgrims Is Finally Coming To Light 400 Years After They Landed In Plymouth

The 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ voyage to Plymouth will be celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic with a “remembrance ceremony” with state and local officials and a museum exhibit in Plymouth, England. IBM has even outfitted a replica of the Mayflower with an AI navigating system that will allow the ship to trace the course of the original journey without any humans on board. Plimoth Plantation, in Plymouth, Mass., is a living museum that’s a replica of the original settlement, which existed for 70 years. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Yet as a scholar of early 17th-century New England, I’ve always been puzzled by the glory heaped on the Pilgrims and their settlement in Plymouth. Native Americans had met Europeans in scores of places before 1620, so yet another encounter was hardly...