what to do for a stroke

EU Parliament Committee Votes To Give Robots Rights (And A Kill Switch)

Foreseeing a rapidly approaching age of autonomous artificial intelligence, a European Parliament committee has voted to legally bestow electronic personhood to robots. The status includes a detailed list of rights, responsibilities, regulations, and a “kill switch.”The committee voted by 17 votes to two, with two abstentions, to approve a draft report written by Luxembourg MEP Mady Delvaux, who believes “robots, bots, androids and other manifestations of artificial intelligence” will spawn a new industrial revolution. She wants to establish a European Agency to develop rules for how to govern AI behavior. Specifically, Delvaux writes about how increased levels of autonomy in robot entities will make usual manufacturing liability laws insufficient. It will become necessary, the report states, to be able to hold robots and their manufacturers legally responsible for their acts.

Sounding at times like a governmental whisper of Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, the report states, “A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.”

The rules will also affect AI developers, who, according to the report, will have to engineer robots in such a way that they can be controlled. This includes a “kill switch,” a mechanism by which rogue robots can be terminated or shut down -read more

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Stump of tree that Braveheart William Wallace was tied to found at Lidl branch

A tree that Scotland’s Braveheart freedom fighter William Wallace is said to have been chained to by English soldiers has been found behind a Lidl store.

For nearly a year, experts have been examining two chunks of oak in order to find out if they really came from the same tree named in a local legend.

The chunks were found at the site of the former Gourock Ropeworks, Inverclyde, and from a tree thought to have stood in the grounds of the Holy Family Church.

According to local legend, Wallace was chained to the tree in 1305 after his capture by the English before being transferred to London, where he was hanged, drawn and quartered.

The segments of tree were examined by tree specialist Dr Coralie Mills - one of just three -read more

Man trip over 36 ft erect phallus in Dorset.

 Aman managed whilst walking to trip over a 36 ft erect phallus of Cerne Abbas Giant 180 ft chalk carving and tumbled down the steep slope at night.The man was rescued by local fire and rescue and taken to ambulance to get first aid.-http://www.druidry.org/library/library/cerne-abbas-giant-dorset-england

House of Commons debates seagull menace

Have you ever been accosted by a seagull while eating a snack at the seaside?

The problem has become so bad that it has been the subject of a debate at Westminster.

MPs heard that Largs in North Ayrshire is one town that has been badly affected by the marauding birds.

Our reporter Huw Williams has been to find out how people there are dealing with the problem.watch video

Foreign accent syndrome

Foreign accent syndrome is a rare medical condition in which patients develop speech patterns that are perceived as a foreign accent^[1] that is different from their native accent, without having acquired it in the perceived accent's place of origin.

Foreign accent syndrome usually results from a stroke,^[1] but can also develop from head trauma,^[1] migraines^[2] or developmental problems.^[3] The condition was first reported in 1907,^[4] and between 1941 and 2009 there were sixty-two recorded cases.^[3]

Its symptoms result from distorted articulatory planning and coordination processes and although popular news articles commonly attempt to identify the closest regional accent, speakers suffering from foreign accent syndrome acquire neither a specific foreign accent nor any additional fluency in a foreign language. Despite an unconfirmed news report in 2010 that a Croatian speaker had gained the ability to speak fluent German after emergence from a coma,^[5] there has been no verified case where a patient's foreign language skills have improved after a brain injury. There have been a few reported cases of children and siblings picking up the new accent from someone with foreign accent -wiki link