https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2107051558/

The world's top artificial intelligence (AI) professionals shared the latest achievements in various AI sectors at a forum in Shanghai on Monday as a key preview event for the World Artificial Intelligence Conference.

The Young Elite Symposium, which runs through Wednesday, jointly hosted by the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Development Alliance, gathered more than 50 young AI researchers from home and abroad.

Six leading AI experts, including Michael Wooldridge of Cambridge University and Sarit Kraus of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, delivered keynote speeches.

The International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, or IJCAI, launched its China office in Shanghai at the event.

IJCAI is the oldest academic meeting in the AI industry, as well as one of the most important and top level AI conferences. The first IJCAI meeting was held in 1969. Shanghai will host the IJCAI in 2024 to become the third Chinese city after Beijing and Macau to host the event.

The annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference, or WAIC, China's top AI event, will begin on Thursday in Shanghai.

Xuhui District, a branch venue of the WAIC, is developing an "Intelligent Valley" covering 1.2 million square meters along the Huangpu River for AI-related companies. A landmark AI Towers project has been built on the West Bund waterfront to attract the world's leading AI companies and research institutes.

Xuhui plans to create a multitude of AI applications in smart government affairs, transport, medical services and education to help citizens enjoy a safer, more convenient and better life.

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/07/05/drought-the-end-of-californias-groundwater-free-for-all/

The water spigots on California farms will soon be twisted tighter.

As the state faces a growing threat from drought, an increasing number of water agencies are planning to require flow meters on agricultural wells, part of a landmark effort to measure and constrain pumping that used to be free and unlimited. It’s a controversial step aimed at protecting water supplies that could change cultivation practices in the Golden State’s thirsty fields.

“It’s hard to be as efficient as possible if you don’t know how much water you’re using,” said Sierra Ryan, interim water resources manager for Santa Cruz County.

Under the state’s tough new groundwater protection law, “we now have a legal obligation to manage our groundwater sustainably,” she said. “And we cannot manage the basin with such large uncertainties in our water use.”

The new approach is a major shift. Since California’s early rough-and-tumble frontier days, the ability to pump water from a private well on personal property has been an agricultural birthright. If you owned the land, the thinking went, you owned the water under it. So while cities charge residents based on the amount of water they use, rural well owners did not need to report – or measure – their pumping.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgx4g4/trump-just-got-even-cozier-with-qanon

Two major QAnon influencers were given official press credentials to the latest Trump rally held in Sarasota, Florida over the weekend, signaling a new level of acceptance of the QAnon conspiracy theory by the former president and his team.

In the build up to last November’s election, Trump repeatedly failed to directly condemn QAnon, instead calling them “people that love our country” and who “like me very much.”

Now Trump, who QAnon supporters—and much of the Republican party—believe is still the rightful president, appears willing to embrace QAnon even further, by handing two of the movement’s most influential voices official press passes to his rally.

Jeffrey Pedersen, known in the Q world as In The Matrixx, announced on his Telegram channel on Friday that he and his podcast co-host, known as Shady Grooove, had been approved by the Trump Organization for media credentials.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9754999/Kamala-Harriss-stepdaughter-Ella-Emhoff-seen-France-GQ-editor-boyfriend-Sam-Hines.html

what the heck are the tats

https://apnews.com/article/maryland-health-coronavirus-pandemic-c1633e1d69a57f5ff6464a18a2d0cc27

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland’s gubernatorial race has its first pro-Trump candidate.

Dan Cox, a Republican state delegate, announced Sunday that he is running for governor in 2022.

Cox, 46, is serving his first term as a delegate representing Frederick and Carroll counties in the state legislature.

Cox called Vice President Pence a traitor in a tweet that he posted during the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Gov. Larry Hogan, a fellow Republican who is barred by term limits from running again, has dismissed Cox as a “QAnon conspiracy theorist.” QAnon centers on the baseless belief that Trump has been secretly waging a campaign against a Satan-worshipping cabal of “deep state” enemies and prominent Democrats operating a child sex trafficking ring.

Cox unsuccessfully sued Hogan over his stay-at-home order at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://dcdirtylaundry.com/texas-woman-with-severe-coronavirus-dies-in-hospital-after-catching-fire/

(Natural News) A Texas woman who was dealing with Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) in a hospital died after suffering severe burns from a defibrillator that burst into flames and caused an explosion.

Denise Jill Asaro, 69, was being treated for COVID-19 at HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood. On June 26, she went into cardiac arrest. Medical staff attempted to resuscitate her with a defibrillator. While using the medical device, for unknown reasons it caught fire and caused an explosion. Asaro was severely burned and later died. It remains unclear if the fire contributed to her death.

“It was literally her entire upper torso that was burned horribly, to the point of having to have a closed casket,” said Kristi Robbins, Asaro’s niece. “Who would ever expect your relative to be burnt to a crisp in a hospital?”

The Montgomery County Forensic Services Department is conducting an autopsy to determine Asaro’s cause and manner of death. The department wants to find out if Asaro died primarily from COVID-19 or if the injuries she sustained due to the fire and explosion contributed to her passing.

Catholic workers ? Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya

https://itsgoingdown.org/water-protector-sentenced-to-8-years-in-federal-prison-for-actions-to-stop-the-dakota-access-pipeline/

The judge sided with the Federal prosecutors and applied a domestic terrorism enhancement to Jessica’s case. The enhancement originated in the Bush era Patriot Act, which expanded the definition of terrorism to cover “domestic,” as opposed to international, terrorism. The prosecutor requested the enhancement claiming that Jessica’s acts of resistance were “violent”, “dangerous”, and sought to “intimidate the government”. The judge decided that this argument provided enough evidence to substantiate the enhancement, saying it was necessary to discourage others from taking similar actions. The enhancement increases Jessica’s sentence, but also has far reaching implications for broader social justice movements. This use of this enhancement interprets non-violent actions that challenge corporate profit as acts of terror against the government.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/7/28/meet_the_two_catholic_workers_who

Two Iowa-based Catholic Worker activists revealed they secretly carried out multiple acts of sabotage and arson in order to stop construction of the controversial $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. We speak with Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya about how they set fire to heavy machinery being used to construct the pipeline. They say their actions were inspired by the anti-nuclear Plowshares Movement which used nonviolent direct action to target nuclear warheads and military installations.

Update: On August 11th, the FBI raided the Catholic Worker home in Des Moines where Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya live.