All posts tagged: flood

The Ark Before Noah: Discover the Ancient Flood Myths That Came Before the Bible

The Ark Before Noah: Discover the Ancient Flood Myths That Came Before the Bible

Published by José

The Lord said to Noah, there’s going to be a floody, floody; then to get those chil­dren out of the mud­dy, mud­dy; then to build him an arky, arky. This much we heard while toast­ing marsh­mal­lows around the camp­fire, at least if we grew up in a cer­tain mod­ern Protes­tant tra­di­tion. As adults, we may or may not believe that there ever lived a man called Noah who built an ark to save all the world’s inno­cent ani­mal species from a sin-cleans­ing flood. But unless we’ve tak­en a deep dive into ancient his­to­ry, we prob­a­bly don’t know that this espe­cial­ly famous Bible sto­ry was­n’t the first of its par­tic­u­lar sub­genre. As explained in the Hochela­ga video above, there are even old­er glob­al-del­uge tales to be reck­oned with. In fact, one such myth appears in the old­est known work of lit­er­a­ture in human his­to­ry, the Epic of Gil­gamesh. “In it, the god Ea learns of this divine flood, and secret­ly warns the humans about this com­ing dis­as­ter,” says Hochela­ga cre­ator Tom­mie Trelawny. Thus informed, the king …

The Danger of a Flood of Anti-Trump State Lawsuits

The Danger of a Flood of Anti-Trump State Lawsuits

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Who will defend the federal government against itself? Donald Trump’s administration is waging an aggressive campaign against the executive branch as it has long existed. Democratic leaders in Congress have demonstrated in the past week that they have neither the ability nor the will to slow Trump down. Individual federal employees—such as former Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, whom I profiled last week—have sued, but such suits take time and money that few individuals possess. State attorneys general, though, see an opportunity. This month, the chief law-enforcement officers of blue states have been working to enforce federal laws against the federal government, and they’ve had some success. Last week, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the government to temporarily rehire thousands of probationary federal workers in many departments. The judge, James Bredar, concluded that the administration had mass-fired workers using …

Facebook Planning to Flood Platform with AI-Powered Users

Facebook Planning to Flood Platform with AI-Powered Users

Published by José

“We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do.” Bot Net Were you hoping that bots on social media would be a thing of the past? Well, don’t hold your breath. Meta says that it will be aiming to have Facebook filled with AI-generated characters to drive up engagement on its platform, as part of its broader rollout of AI products, the Financial Times reports. The AI characters will be created by users through Meta’s AI studio, with the idea being that you can interact with them almost like you would with a real human on the website. “We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” Meta vice-president of product for generative AI Connor Hayes told the FT. “They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform… that’s where we see all of this going,” he added. Character Development The …

New dock gates at Bristol Port designed to boost West of England flood defences

New dock gates at Bristol Port designed to boost West of England flood defences

Published by skeptic

New custom-made dock gates at Avonmouth Port will boost West of England flood defence efforts. The upgrade is part of the Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area (ASEA) ecological mitigation and flood defence project, designed to protect the region from growing flood risks. Once complete in 2026-27, the 17 km of defences will shield 2,500 homes and businesses from tidal flooding and create 12,000 new jobs across the West of England. Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council and the Environment Agency are leading the ASEA project and contributing £6.8 million towards the new gates. The Bristol Port Company (BPC) managed the procurement and installation, using a specialist company in the Netherlands to manufacture the gates, which serve navigational and flood protection purposes. The previous gates, which were nearing the end of their life, formed the main entrance to Avonmouth Port. The new gates are designed to meet latest flood defence standards, capable of withstanding a one in 200-year tidal flood event, with allowances for rising sea levels due to climate change. Councillor Andrew Brown, Chair of the Economy …

The Pentagon Wants to Flood Social Media With Fake AI People

The Pentagon Wants to Flood Social Media With Fake AI People

Published by José

“This will only embolden other militaries or adversaries to do the same.” Pentagon Pals Pentagon-operated AI personas might be coming to an internet forum near you. As The Intercept reports, a wishlist put forward by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) — a furtive counterterrorism group within the US Department of Defense (DoD) — reveals the agency’s interest in using generative AI to create fake online internet users. That’s despite the US government’s persistent warnings that deepfakes and other AI-generated content will deepen the misinformation crisis and lead to a muddier information ecosystem for everyone. In the document, JSOC explains that it’s seeking “technologies that can generate convincing online personas for use on social media platforms, social networking sites, and other online content” for use by Special Operations Forces.  This “solution,” JSOC adds, “should include facial and background imagery, facial and background video, and audio layers.” According to the wishlist, JSOC wants SOF agents to “use this capability to gather information from public online forums.” In other words, JSOC wants to provide its special ops teams with the technology …

‘Multiple disasters all in one day’: New Mexico’s brutal week of fire and flood | New Mexico

‘Multiple disasters all in one day’: New Mexico’s brutal week of fire and flood | New Mexico

Published by skeptic

It’s been a harrowing week of fire and flood in New Mexico. Just days after a pair of fast-moving fires roared across drought-stricken landscapes and into communities, a tropical storm swirled north, unleashing downpours and golf ball-sized hail over scorched slopes that had only just burned. As the dueling dangers of two weather extremes converged, charred debris flowed into neighborhoods, crews were temporarily evacuated from the firefight as emergency officials pivoted from fire support to flood rescues, and strong winds swept up dried soils to create one of the largest dust storms the state has ever seen. Across the arid south-west, where fire risks typically rise with the temperatures in the spring before they are doused in a summer monsoon, weather patterns like these aren’t unheard of. But the climate crisis has supercharged extreme conditions, setting the stage for new types of catastrophes that are increasing in both intensity and frequency. When they overlap, the dangers grow. “We are used to these disasters, but I don’t think this agency has ever dealt with anything like …

Race against time to rescue Brazil flood victims after dozens killed

Race against time to rescue Brazil flood victims after dozens killed

Published by skeptic

PORTO ALEGRE: Authorities were racing against time on Sunday (May 5) to rescue people from raging floods and mudslides that have killed more than 50 and forced nearly 70,000 to flee their homes in southern Brazil. Viewed from the air, Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, is completely flooded, with streets waterlogged and the roofs of some houses barely visible. The Guaiba River, which flows through the city of 1.4 million people, reached a record high level of 5.09m, according to the local municipality, well above the historic peak of 4.76 meters that had stood as a record since devastating 1941 floods. The water was still advancing into economically important Porto Alegre and around a hundred other localities, with increasingly dramatic consequences. In addition to some 70,000 residents forced from their homes, Brazil’s civil defence agency also said more than a million people lacked access to potable water amid the flooding, describing the damage as incalculable. The agency put the death toll at 55, although that did not include two people killed …

Flood watch extended for Houston as more heavy rain is expected throughout weekend

Flood watch extended for Houston as more heavy rain is expected throughout weekend

Published by skeptic

A flood watch has been extended into Sunday for Houston following catastrophic flooding that turned backyards and streets into rivers and prompted water rescues in nearby communities. Parts of South Texas, including Harris County, home to Houston, have been hit with heavy rain. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county government’s top executive, declared a disaster Thursday as mandatory evacuations were ordered along the East Fork of the San Jacinto River. Photos posted on social media by Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez showed streets completely covered as first responders brought residents to safety. The Conroe firefighter carries a resident evacuated in a boat on Thursday in Conroe, Texas.Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle via Getty Images “Heroes,” Gonzalez captioned a series of photos of rescuers carrying small children and dogs. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said it rescued 73 people and 42 animals between Tuesday and Saturday morning. At a news conference on Saturday, Hidalgo said the numbers had increased to 178 people and 122 pets rescued across the county. In Montgomery County, Texas, 52 people …