gretar4
- Uncategorized
- January 25, 2025
- 9 views
Giant pandas make their debut at the National Zoo!
The Smithsonian National Zoo opens its gates ahead of the highly anticipated public debut of the zoo’s newest giant pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao. (Source: WJLA) By Dorothy Sedovic Published: Jan. 24, 2025 at 11:51 AM CST|Updated: 10 hours ago WASHINGTON (Gray News) – Two new furry residents are ready to make their mark at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Giant Pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao made their public debut at the zoo on Friday. Brandie Smith, the zoo’s director, was there to open the gates to the renovated panda house, along with Xie Feng, the Chinese ambassador to the United States. “Washington, D.C. is no longer ‘unbearable’ and I believe all of you can ‘barely’ wait to see them,” Feng said during the event. The 3-year-old pandas arrived in Washington last October, as part of a new 10-year deal with Chinese authorities. The zoo had been panda-less for nearly 11 months before their arrival, having sent their popular trio, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and their cub Xiao Qi Ji, back to China at the end of the previous agreement. “Our shared love for pandas has deepened my conviction that China and the United States have much more in common than what divides us,” Feng said. Read More At wistv.com
- Animal Stories! , Chicago News , Conspiracies , Conspiracy and World News , Documentary , Education , Pets And Animals , Uncategorized , Washington Politics , World News
- January 25, 2025
- 13 views
My Time is Limited with My LION FRIENDS | The Lion Whisperer
Kevin Richardson takes Lion siblings Bobcat and Gabby on an enrichment walk in this episode of ‘Meet the Characters.’ Kevin reflects on how he doesn’t have much time left with many of his lion friends, and how we should appreciate every second. The Kevin Richardson Foundation is a ,non-profit conservation organization with nature’s most majestic creature, the lion, at its heart. Launched in early 2018 the foundation is committed to changing and reversing the state of Africa’s declining lion population by purchasing habitat and raising awareness to create safe, natural spaces where lions and other native species can flourish. By partnering with specialized organization’s and engaging with impoverished communities on the fringes of these protected areas, the foundation also aims to minimize human/wildlife conflict whilst improving living conditions for local villages. Learn More At The Kevin Richardson Foundation.
- Are UFOs Real , Chicago News , Conspiracies , Conspiracy and World News , Education , Science And Physics , Tech News , Uncategorized , Washington Politics , World News
- January 25, 2025
- 10 views
UFO is moving at incredible speeds underwater, congressman says!
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said in an interview Wednesday that an admiral — whom he did not identify — had told him of an unidentified craft moving at incredible speeds in the sea. “They tell me something’s moving at hundreds of miles an hour underwater… as large as a football field, underwater,” the Tennessee congressman told former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, who now hosts a show on right-wing news outlet One America News. “This was a documented case and I have an admiral telling me this stuff.” Burchett, known for claims that the U.S. government is hiding existence of UFOs and other alien activity, said anything is possible given “the vastness of God’s great universe.” However, he told Americans not to worry about the suspected extraterrestrials’ extraordinary advances. “I’m not worried about them harming me,” he said. “I mean, with that capabilities, they would have barbecued us a long time ago.” No evidence has been produced of intelligent life beyond Earth. However, Congress has taken an increasingly serious look at reports of mystery flying objects, treating the once widely mocked topic of UFOs — now often dubbed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) — into a serious issue. In March 2024, the Pentagon released a report that it had no proof of UFOs, saying that many suspicious sightings turned out to be merely weather balloons, spy planes, satellites and other normal activity. The Pentagon rejected claims made at a congressional hearing in 2023 by a former Air Force intelligence officer that the U.S. government had recovered a series of crashed unidentified…
- Business , Chicago News , City Budget Council Meeting , Conspiracies , Conspiracy and World News , Education , LAW & ORDER , Uncategorized , Washington Politics , World News
- January 25, 2025
- 13 views
Chicago schools to take $400M advance from revolving credit, Even Amid Possible Strike!
The Chicago Board of Education tapped $400 million from its short-term revolving credit agreements with Bank of America and PNC Bank! Read More At Crains Chicago. CHICAGO (WLS) — The potential of a teachers strike is moving closer to reality in Chicago. Chicago Public Schools and the teachers union are reaching a stalemate in negotiations. Chicago teachers are no strangers to strikes: The last three contracts with Chicago Public Schools landed after the teachers walked off the job. “To force our hand to take a strike vote is a very cruel and mean joke,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said. Davis Gates claims CPS CEO Pedro Martinez is deliberately stalling. “He is being a bully,” Davis Gates said. Martinez and his team deny they are stalling. “There is all this rhetoric and accusations that are not based on truth; we have more agreements today in contract than last two contracts,” Martinez said. Both sides have agreed to take the next step, which is a fact-finding: a path to a potential strike. Read More At ABC 7 Chicago. New CPS school board needs fiscal discipline, creative problem-solving There were hopeful notes at the swearing-in of 20 new board members, half of them elected. Now the hard work begins. We don’t envy the difficult job facing Chicago’s new Board of Education members, 20 of whom were sworn in on Wednesday. But we’re rooting for the board to succeed, especially in these tumultuous times. And the swearing-in at Chicago Public Schools headquarters provided plenty…
- Business , Chicago News , Documentary , Education , Science And Physics , Tech News , Uncategorized , World News
- January 25, 2025
- 13 views
Apple CEO Tim Cook says Steve Jobs taught him a vital lesson in decision-making—and it’s a skill few leaders have
Natalie McCormick Updated January 14, 2025 4 min read AAPL-0.62% When Apple founder Steve Jobs recruited current CEO Tim Cook in 1998, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. At the time, Cook was vice president of corporate materials at Compaq Computer Corporation, had worked at Intelligent Electronics, and had a 12-year-stint at IBM immediately after college. Despite protestations from those close to him about moving to Apple, Cook felt the move was necessary. “I thought I had the chance of a lifetime,” he recently told the Wall Street Journal. “I didn’t want to pass that up.” The risk paid off, he said, and it helped him develop a unique leadership style and ascend to the corner office under Jobs’ tutelage. Among the key management skills he learned from Jobs was the importance of not being married to past beliefs, a competency that Cook says few leaders possess. Jobs welcomed debates, relished being challenged, and valued those who were willing to admit they were wrong when new evidence emerged. “You could always change [Jobs’] mind if you had the best idea,” Cook said. “We changed each other’s minds. That’s the reason it worked so well.” Often, Jobs played devil’s advocate and took a stance he didn’t believe in in order to spark a spirited discussion. He felt this was the best way to learn, Cook said at a Recode conference in 2022. One of the most extensive and long-lasting debates between Jobs and Cook was over how the first iPhone should be sold in the early 2000s. Jobs wanted a…
- Business , Chicago News , City Budget Council Meeting , Conspiracies , Conspiracy and World News , Education , LAW & ORDER , Uncategorized , Washington Politics , World News
- January 25, 2025
- 10 views
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s finance reports show trouble raising money, accounting for it – Chicago Tribune/MSN
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s latest campaign finance reports suggest ongoing issues with sloppy clerical work as well as fundraising, a troubling sign for the freshman mayor midway into his term. State records show that from July through September 2024, the mayor’s political fund raised about $3,500, at that point his lowest haul during his first two years in office — and a surprise given his role as host mayor of the Democratic National Convention that August. After that, Johnson reported an astonishingly low total of $970 raised during the next quarter that ended Dec. 31. Johnson’s political spokesman, Jake Lewis, did not say Friday whether that $970 was a mistake beyond suggesting that amendments were forthcoming. Another spokesperson, Christian Perry, had told Politico the previous day that the mayor actually raised about $200,000, a much higher total but one that could land his political committee in hot water with the state due to contribution reporting requirements. “Our campaign abides by all state and local campaign finance rules and regulations,” Lewis said in a statement. “Recent changes to city campaign finance law have required us to take the necessary time to properly vet contributions and ensure compliance. As we’ve done for the entirety of this Mayor’s term, we will file the appropriate amendments to reflect contributions to the campaign, a process that is commonplace in Illinois.” Lewis did not elaborate on what city law he was referring to, but the mayor last year clashed with his handpicked Ethics Committee chair, Ald. Matt Martin, 47th,…
- Ancient History , Chicago News , Conspiracies , Conspiracy and World News , Education , Medical News , Science And Physics , Uncategorized , World News
- January 24, 2025
- 10 views
Romanian fossils show hominins in Europe 500,000 years earlier than thought
by Justin Jackson , Phys.org Research led by the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at Ohio University has found evidence of hominin activity at a Romanian fossil site dating to at least 1.95 million years ago. This discovery pushes back the known date of European hominins by half a million years and establishes Grăunceanu as the oldest confirmed European evidence of hominin activity. Grăunceanu, part of the Tetoiu Formation in Romania, lies within a Late Villafranchian biochronological zone (2.2–1.9 Ma) and has yielded a diverse faunal assemblage indicative of a forest-steppe environment. The timing of the earliest hominin dispersals into Eurasia has been elusive. Fossil evidence from Dmanisi, Georgia (~1.85–1.77 million years ago) represents the earliest indisputable hominin presence outside Africa. Isolated sites in Europe and Asia with lithics and bone modifications suggest earlier, intermittent hominin activity. Until now, no European site had reliably demonstrated hominin activity predating ~1.4 million years ago with robust age determinations. In the study, “Hominin presence in Eurasia by at least 1.95 million years ago,” published in Nature Communications, researchers analyzed faunal remains from Grăunceanu, a site in the Olteţ River Valley of Romania, identifying cut marks indicative of hominin butchery methods. A total of 4,524 specimens were examined for surface modifications such as weathering, root etching, and anthropogenic cut marks. Linear marks were analyzed macroscopically and quantitatively using 3D optical profilometry. Twenty bones exhibited anthropogenic surface modifications, including seven high-confidence cut-marked specimens. These marks were found on animal tibiae and mandibles, showing straight, transverse trajectories consistent with…
- Chicago News , Education , Music And Movies , Music And Movies! , Science And Physics , Tech News , TV Shows & Movies , Uncategorized , World News
- January 24, 2025
- 12 views
‘ELIZA,’ the world’s 1st chatbot, was just resurrected from 60-year-old computer code
By Kristina Killgrove published January 17, 2025 Researchers discovered long-lost computer code and used it to resurrect the early chatbot ELIZA. Scientists have just resurrected “ELIZA,” the world’s first chatbot, from long-lost computer code — and it still works extremely well. Using dusty printouts from MIT archives, these “software archaeologists” discovered defunct code that had been lost for 60 years and brought it back to life. ELIZA was developed in the 1960s by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum and named for Eliza Doolittle, the protagonist of the play “Pygmalion,” who was taught how to speak like an aristocratic British woman. As a language model that the user could interact with, ELIZA had a significant impact on today’s artificial intelligence (AI), the researchers wrote in a paper posted to the preprint database arXiv Sunday (Jan. 12). The “DOCTOR” script written for ELIZA was programmed to respond to questions as a psychotherapist would. For example, ELIZA would say, “Please tell me your problem.” If the user input “Men are all alike,” the program would respond, “In what way.” Weizenbaum wrote ELIZA in a now-defunct programming language he invented, called Michigan Algorithm Decoder Symmetric List Processor (MAD-SLIP), but it was almost immediately copied into the language Lisp. With the advent of the early internet, the Lisp version of ELIZA went viral, and the original version became obsolete. Read More At Live Science.
- Business , Chicago News , City Budget Council Meeting , Uncategorized , Washington Politics , World News
- January 24, 2025
- 9 views
1901 Project proposal by United Center owners unanimously approved by Chicago Plan Commission
CHICAGO (WLS) — A $7 billion commercial, residential and entertainment district planned near the United Center easily cleared the first hurdle Thursday. The Plan Commission unanimously approved the development proposal, which is now on the fast-track to full City Council approval. ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch The 1901 Project, named for the address of the United Center, was praised Thursday as a development that will transform the West Side, turning parking lots into a flourishing mixed-use campus. Big changes are coming to the area around the United Center that could make part of the West Side almost unrecognizable in the next 10 years or so. The first phase would include a 6,000-seat theater-style music venue that could be built by 2028, along with a hotel with 233 rooms. Both would be built on the parking lot to the south of the United Center. There will also be a parking garage with an elevated park and playground just west of the UC. RELATED: United Center owners pitch $7B investment called 1901 Project to revitalize neighborhood Alderman Walter Burnett serves on the Plan Commission. The project is also in his ward. “This is a huge project to give people hope that there’s life in the city of Chicago; there’s life on the West Side, and it’s going to drive more development on the West Side, said Burnett, who represents the 27th Ward. The project, funded by the owners of the Bulls and Blackhawks, will include significant retail development…
- Are UFOs Real , Chicago News , Conspiracies , Conspiracy and World News , Music And Movies , Music And Movies! , Tech News , TV Shows & Movies , Uncategorized , World News
- January 24, 2025
- 12 views
27 Years Later, Stephen King’s Controversial X-Files Episode Is Still Worth Revisiting
With over two decades’ worth of content, not every The X-Files episode will hit home for audiences. The monster-of-the-week series created by Chris Carter has famously had peaks and valleys, particularly following David Duchovny’s departure from The X-Files. But even in its heyday, some episodes have not met the mark, even with the help of a published author. In Season 5, Episode 10, entitled “Chinga,” prolific horror writer Stephen King wrote an episode for the series. In classic horror fashion, the episode follows the activities of the titular evil doll in the hands of a young girl named Polly. Naturally, misfortune follows her wherever she goes. King was a fan of the series at the time and had expressed an interest in writing an episode. Despite his pop culture presence, “Chinga” is not always viewed favorably. Many fans have decried that the concept is tired, and Mulder and Scully were written out of character. But with three decades to ruminate on the episode, there are still some moments worth turning in for. Scully Gets to Work Her Own Case The X-Files is largely defined by the push and pull between its two lead actors. Mulder and Scully arguably defined the male-female partnership that became so prevalent in procedurals down the line. Mulder’s belief in the occult contradicts Scully’s skepticism and works wonderfully until the rare occasion when they come together. But now and then, fans are due for a shake-up. Even though Mulder is relegated to barely a supporting role in the episode, Scully gets the chance…