power – Page 2

A New Face Of Corporate Political Power – Big Tech’s Swift Reaction To Capitol Rioters And A Threat To American Democracy

20Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

A New Face Of Corporate Political Power – Big Tech’s Swift Reaction To Capitol Rioters And A Threat To American Democracy

Big Business and Big Tech both reacted swiftly to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, punishing and condemning those they deemed responsible for the riot or for creating the conditions that led to it. But there was a big difference in how each group acted. Dozens of U.S. companies as diverse as Walmart, General Motors, McDonald’s and Nike at least temporarily shut off the cash spigot to politicians who voted against certifying the results of the presidential election. While the reaction was unprecedented, the next congressional election is almost two years away, leaving erstwhile donors the option to change their minds. Big Tech, however, responded more directly and consequentially. Twitter and Facebook banned former President Donald Trump, Apple and Google removed Parler – the prefer...

With The Right Kind Of Help Low-Income Families Can Also Benefit From Cheaper Solar Power

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

With The Right Kind Of Help Low-Income Families Can Also Benefit From Cheaper Solar Power

Until recently, rooftop solar panels were a clean energy technology that only wealthy Americans could afford. But prices have dropped, thanks mostly to falling costs for hardware, as well as price declines for installation and other “soft” costs. Solar power is becoming more common for households at all income levels. These homes in Richmond, California, went solar with the help of GRID Alternatives. GRID Alternatives, CC BY-ND Today hundreds of thousands of middle-class households across the U.S. are turning to solar power. But households with incomes below the median for their areas remain less likely to go solar. These low- and moderate-income households face several roadblocks to solar adoption, including cash constraints, low rates of home ownership and language barriers. Our team o...

In Atlanta The Ebenezer Baptist Church Has Been A Seat Of Black Power For Generations

18Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Religion

In Atlanta The Ebenezer Baptist Church Has Been A Seat Of Black Power For Generations

The high-stakes U.S. Senate race in Georgia catapulted the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church back into the spotlight. For 135 years, the church played a vital role in the fight against racism and the civil rights movement. It was the spiritual home of the civil rights leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. It is now the home of the state’s first Black senator – the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at the church. As a scholar of African American religion and Christian theology, I believe it is important to understand how the Ebenezer Baptist Church has been a seat of Black power and organizing for generations in Atlanta. ‘Stone of help’ Ebenezer Baptist Church, a predominantly African American congregation, was founded in 1886, nearly 20 years after the end of the Civil War. The pa...

Here’s Why AI Is So Power-Hungry – It Takes A Lot Of Energy For Machines To Learn

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

AI, TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Here’s Why AI Is So Power-Hungry – It Takes A Lot Of Energy For Machines To Learn

This month, Google forced out a prominent AI ethics researcher after she voiced frustration with the company for making her withdraw a research paper. The paper pointed out the risks of language-processing artificial intelligence, the type used in Google Search and other text analysis products. Data centers like this Google facility in Iowa use copious amounts of electricity. Chad Davis/Flickr, CC BY-SA Among the risks is the large carbon footprint of developing this kind of AI technology. By some estimates, training an AI model generates as much carbon emissions as it takes to build and drive five cars over their lifetimes. I am a researcher who studies and develops AI models, and I am all too familiar with the skyrocketing energy and financial costs of AI research. Why have AI models b...

The Disabilities Map Visualizes The Strength And Power Of Millions Of Athletes Around The Globe

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

The Disabilities Map Visualizes The Strength And Power Of Millions Of Athletes Around The Globe

When the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, it became illegal to restrict access – to employment, education or federally funded institutions – based on disability. The ADA made it easier for wheelchair users, senior citizens or a disabled child to navigate public spaces and to have equal access to learning. Qaphela Dlamini, educator, wheelchair basketball player and disability rights advocate from South Africa. globalsportsmentingprogram/flickr, CC BY-ND Many Americans who are not disabled benefit from the ADA. Building ramps, curb cuts, wider halls and audio instructions at crosswalks were a result of this law. The ADA made it easier for a parent to push a stroller down the sidewalk, to cross the street guided by aural prompts or for students with dyslexia to le...

Science untangles the elusive power and influence of hope in our lives

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Science untangles the elusive power and influence of hope in our lives

On Erin Gruwell’s first day as a high school English teacher, she faced a classroom of 150 “at risk” freshmen. Most of these kids, statistically, were going to fail. They were tough, their young lives already defined by poverty, gangs, violence and low expectations. These students, she wrote, knew nearly every “four-letter word” except one: hope. Traditional dancers celebrate Hari Raya, the end of Ramadan. Photo by Aniq Danial for Unsplash, CC BY-ND Yet four years later, every one of her “at risk” students at Wilson High School in Long Beach, CA, had graduated from high school. More than half went on to graduate from college. The stories written by Gruwell’s students were published as a book called “The Freedom Writers Diary”. It became a New York Times bestseller and in 2007 was made int...

Towards Wakanda – Chadwick Boseman’s passing and the power and limits of Afrofuturism

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CELEBRITY NEWS, VIDEO REELS

Towards Wakanda – Chadwick Boseman’s passing and the power and limits of Afrofuturism

If you’re not a comics fan, you may have been surprised at the extent of the heartfelt grief expressed following the death of actor Chadwick Boseman. One explanation lies in the extraordinary power of the 2018 movie Black Panther, in which Boseman starred as T’Challa/Black Panther, to address racist stereotypes about Africa and Africans. Boseman’s character was heir to the hidden kingdom of Wakanda, a mythical African nation free of European colonisation. The film’s subtext explores African Americans’ varying identifications, past and present, with Africa and a global Black diaspora. Dark continent Westerners’ ideas about Africa are steeped in myth. The United States, wrote German philosopher Georg Hegel in 1830, was “the land of the future”. Africa, by contrast, was “the land of chi...

Why Congress can’t curb Trump’s power to commute Stone’s sentence and pardon others

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Why Congress can’t curb Trump’s power to commute Stone’s sentence and pardon others

President Donald Trump recently commuted the sentence of his friend and political ally Roger Stone, meaning Stone remains convicted but does not have to serve prison time. Article II, section 2 of the Constitution grants the president the power “to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment” – which includes reducing or commuting sentences, as well as pardoning people for federal crimes, which can reverse their convictions, or preventing them from being charged in the first place. All but two presidents in U.S. history have issued pardons – and the two who didn’t were William Henry Harrison and James Garfield, both of whom died after very short times in office. Trump is not the first president to use the pardon power to remedy what...

A smart second skin gets all the power it needs from sweat

22Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LIFESTYLE

A smart second skin gets all the power it needs from sweat

The big idea Skin is the largest organ of the human body. It conveys a lot of information, including temperature, pressure, pleasure and pain. Electronic skin (e-skin) mimics the properties of biological skin. Recently developed e-skins are capable of wirelessly monitoring physiological signals. They could play a crucial role in the next generation of robotics and medical devices. My lab at Caltech is interested in studying human biology and monitoring human health by using advanced bioelectronic devices. The e-skin we have developed not only analyzes the chemical and molecular composition of human sweat, it’s fully powered by chemicals in sweat. Why it matters Existing e-skins and wearable devices primarily focus on monitoring physiological parameters like heart rate and can’t assess hea...

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, TECHNOLOGY

Silicon Valley’s worst enemy gains even more power in Brussels

Margrethe Vestager has been accused of deliberately targeting tech firms in antitrust probes. The regulator who's made a name for herself by cracking down on tech giants is about to get even more power. Margrethe Vestager was picked Tuesday by EU Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen to be her executive vice president in charge of the bloc's digital affairs - a post that will hand the Dane broad oversight of issues relating to artificial intelligence, big data, innovation and cybersecurity. Even more concerning for those hoping to avoid a billion-dollar fine, Vestager will also keep her job as one of the most feared antitrust regulators. She squeezed huge penalties out of Apple Inc. and Google, rousing wrathful tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump...