CNBC,
by
Annie Palmer
Original Article
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Ketchuplover
—
6/24/2022 8:49:49 AM
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Amazon is devising a way for users to speak to their family members through its Alexa voice assistant, even after they’ve died. (Snip)
In a demonstration video, a child said, “Alexa, can Grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?”
Alexa confirmed the request with the default, robotic voice, then immediately switched to a softer, more humanlike tone, seemingly mimicking the child’s family member.
The Alexa team developed a model that allows its voice assistant to produce a high-quality voice with “less than a minute of recorded audio,” Prasad said.
The feature is currently in development, Prasad said.
Pew Research Center,
by
Drew DeSilver
Original Article
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Ketchuplover
—
6/20/2022 6:58:39 PM
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Two years ago, with millions of people out of work and central bankers and politicians striving to lift the U.S. economy out of a pandemic-induced recession, inflation seemed like an afterthought. A year later, with unemployment falling and the inflation rate rising, many of those same policymakers insisted that the price hikes were “transitory” – a consequence of snarled supply chains, labor shortages and other issues that would right themselves sooner rather than later.
Now, with the inflation rate higher than it’s been since the early 1980s, Biden administration officials acknowledge that they missed their call.
CNBC,
by
Silvia Amaro
&
Arjun Kharpal
Original Article
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Ketchuplover
—
5/31/2022 8:41:43 AM
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DAVOS, Switzerland — Hungry attendees at this year’s World Economic Forum may have found some of the food a little hard to stomach, with some eye-popping prices in some locations.
Just a stone’s throw away from the main Davos Congress Center, the fancy Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvedere was charging punters 49 Swiss francs ($51) for a burrito on its “snacks” menu.
It was accompanied by a small bowl of guacamole and salsa. For comparison, a burrito in Taco Bell can cost as little as $2.
A portion of French fries was also on offer at the Belvedere for 21.50
Newsbusters,
by
Kevin Tober
Original Article
Posted by
Ketchuplover
—
5/25/2022 2:08:29 AM
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Fox News host Tucker Carlson blasted President Joe Biden in the immediate aftermath of his bitterly partisan and divisive speech to the nation on the tragic elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 18 elementary school children and one teacher were killed. (Snip) Seconds after Biden finished talking and walked out of the room, Carlson tore into Biden:
The President of the United States, frail, confused, bitterly partisan, desecrating the memory of recently murdered children with tired talking points of the Democratic Party. Dividing the country in a moment of deep pain rather than uniting, his voice rising, amplified
Associated Press,
by
Seth Borenstein
Original Article
Posted by
Ketchuplover
—
5/12/2022 8:38:22 AM
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Cleaner air in United States and Europe is brewing more Atlantic hurricanes, a new U.S. government study found.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study links changes in regionalized air pollution across the globe to storm activity going both up and down. A 50% decrease in pollution particles and droplets in Europe and the U.S. is linked to a 33% increase in Atlantic storm formation in the past couple decades, while the opposite is happening in the Pacific with more pollution and fewer typhoons, according to the study published in Wednesday’s Science Advances.
WSAV.com (Savannah GA),
by
Holly Lewis
Original Article
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Ketchuplover
—
4/27/2022 8:42:19 AM
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A secluded post office in Antarctica is hiring. This could be a great opportunity for those who enjoy monitoring wildlife, handling artifacts, sorting mail and are eager to embrace the penguin lifestyle.
Port Lockroy, also known as the “Penguin Post Office,” is now recruiting for a new team to be based in Antarctica for the 2022-23 season. The roles available are base leader, shop manager and general assistant.
Although some consider penguins majestic, working at the Penguin Post Office could be far from opulent. Temperatures on the island where the post office is located can dip as low as
by
Janon Fisher
Original Article
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Ketchuplover
—
4/19/2022 8:01:42 PM
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Three US Navy sailors have died on an aircraft carrier in less than a week, with officials saying the tragedies are all unrelated.
The deaths happened on the USS George Washington earlier this month, with two of the three victims so-far identified.
They are Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Natasha Huffman, who died on April 10 and Retail Services Specialist 3rd Class Mika'il Rayshawn Sharp who passed away on April 9, both on separate undisclosed locations on the ship.
Both named sailors were 23. The third victim was found unresponsive on April 15. Their identity has yet to
PJ Media,
by
Robert Spencer
Original Article
Posted by
Ketchuplover
—
3/14/2022 12:52:23 AM
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Virtually all Americans believed, until the inauguration of Donald Trump as president on January 20, 2017, that when someone became president, he could begin to implement his agenda. Certainly Old Joe Biden’s handlers have done so with a vengeance since they took over; but when Trump became president, he immediately began to encounter resistance from entrenched members of the government bureaucracy who refused to do as he ordered. Some worked actively against Trump, while the establishment media assured us that these self-appointed “deep state” saboteurs were the courageous guardians of “our democracy.” At his South Carolina rally Saturday
Daily Caller,
by
Philip Lenczycki
Original Article
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Ketchuplover
—
3/6/2022 12:49:41 AM
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“Jail awaits me,” the pastor of a fugitive Chinese church wrote over an encrypted messaging service. “They’ve accused me of subversion of state power.”
Although the 60 religious refugees of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church found sanctuary on South Korea’s Jeju Island in 2019, now the renegade congregation faces imminent deportation back to Communist China after repeated asylum requests have been denied by the left-wing government of South Korea. (Snip)
“The Communist Party is the enemy of all cultures and morals,” said Pastor Pan. “This has been proven by history for over one hundred years and is the consensus of mankind."
CBC (Canada) News,
by
Nicole Williams
Original Article
Posted by
Ketchuplover
—
2/28/2022 11:37:26 PM
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Kevin uses one word to describe the first days of the protests in downtown Ottawa: torture.
"Literally there was trucks right underneath me," said Kevin, "It was one thing for me, but I've got animals. I've got three cats, two dogs. So yeah, it was torture." (Snip) The trucks have since been removed, with police pushing the majority of protesters outside of the downtown core over the Family Day long weekend. Even still, some downtown residents say they're haunted by "phantom honking" — what sounds like blaring truck horns, but no actual sounds are there.
Fox News,
by
Brie Stimson
Original Article
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Ketchuplover
—
2/28/2022 7:50:41 PM
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Liquor stores across the U.S. and Canada have started throwing out their stocks of Russian vodka in protest of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to reports.
In Ontario, Canada, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy directed the provincial Liquor Control Board to have stores remove Russian vodka and other alcoholic products, according to the Canadian Press.
“Ontario joins Canada’s allies in condemning the Russian government’s act of aggression against the Ukrainian people and we strongly support the federal government’s efforts to sanction the Russian government,” Bethlenfalvy said. “We will continue to be there for the Ukrainian
Alpha News MN,
by
Evan Stambaugh
Original Article
Posted by
Ketchuplover
—
1/8/2022 3:55:58 PM
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Former Republican congressional candidate Kendall Qualls has announced that he will be running for governor of Minnesota.
(snip)
“Are we perfect? Show me one country that is. But it is by far the best country for all people from different backgrounds in the world,” he said Thursday night.
“If you love that flag and you love the country for which it stands, you have no greater ally, you have no greater friend than me,” he added. “If you have an issue with that flag or this country, if you believe it is evil or systemically racist, you have no greater enemy than me.”
Comments:
This seems a lot more creepy and intrusive than comforting.