A GUIDED TOUR INTO WORLD'S LARGEST VOODOO MARKET.

Beninese

Deep inside the heart of West Africa,Vodou (Togo); Vodoun (Benin), or more familiarly, Voodoo (Haiti) is not only alive and well, but it is thriving.

Togo’s capital city of Lomé is the birthplace of the largest Voodoo market in the world – a kind of super supply store for fetishes, charms and anything else one might need for a ritual.

The Akodessewa Fetish Market, or Marche des Feticheurs, is a place where you can find anything from leopard heads and human skulls to Vodou (voodoo) priests who bless and create fetishes or predict the future and make medicines to heal whatever ails you.

Though many people think of Haiti as Voodoo’s biggest stronghold, the religion originated in West Africa. Vodoun is the official religion of neighboring Benin and is still the largest religion in the area, which is obvious given that the outdoor market’s location is in the heart of Togo’s capital.



Although the market is owned and run by Beninese. The Akodessewa Fetish Market is a mecca to local practitioners and they travel there from all over the African continent.

Many believers view the Marche des Feticheurs as a kind of hospital or pharmacy – it is the place you go when you either cannot afford traditional treatment or traditional treatment has failed you. Here you can find talismans and charms good for treating everything from the flu or infertility to removing the blackest of curses.

In the practice of Voodoo every single creature is potent and divine, whether alive or dead, and in the Akodessewa Fetish Market you may find them all – monkeys, alligators, goats, leopards, gazelles, and many, many more – in various stages of decay and stacked up in macabre piles for blocks.

The outdoor location doesn’t quite suppress the stench but at least the huge market is in the open air. It is a jarring place for tourists who are not used to the idea of animal sacrifice as part of worship or using pieces of the dead as talismans, but for locals who practice the religion, it is a treasure and a necessity.

MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF FUNDS OUT OF GTBank BY NIGERIANS

Sequel to the court battle between the management Guaranty Trust Bank and the Industrialist Chief Innocent Chukwuma the Chairman of Innoson Group which led to the humiliating arrest of the latter at his residence in Savage Crescent G.R.A Enugu by Law Enforcement officers Attached to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, over some Financial disagreement. This further led to the massive Transfer of funds from GTB to other Banks like UBA, Fidelity bank, First Bank, Diamond bank, Zenith Bank etc and closure of Bank accounts by Nigerians especially Business men and women of the IGBO extraction.
 As at yesterday being the 20th day of December and today 21st of December 2017, over 18.5 Billion Naira have been moved to other Banks and over 20 Million GTB accounts have been closed following the campaign launch of #BoycottGtb on Twitter and other social media platforms. Thereby making the bank standing the risk of folding up.
To many Nigerians, this is a welcome move in solidarity on the premise of "A disservice to one is a disservice to all"
There is a revolution coming in Nigeria where Nigerians will unite as one to fight Injustice and irregularities in the political circle.

 
                     

THE EVOLUTION AND CLASSES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE...From the Simple programmed to Self Awareness.

 With advances in computing power which includes machine language,neural networks, natural language processing, genetic algorithm and computational creativity, to name just a few. We seem to have discover that Artificial Intelligence is evolving or transforming from the simple programmed to self awareness machines. But before we can go further, it is important we know what an Artificial Intelligence or A.I(for short) is, the types of A.I, a look at where A.I is and the prospect of what it may become in the future.

WHAT IS AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ?
 Artificial Intelligence according to John McCarthy is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines especially intelligent programs.
Artificial Intelligence is a way of making a computer, computer controlled robot or a software think intelligently in the same way Human beings think and react.
Therefore A. I is accomplished by studying how human brains think, learn, decide and work when engaged in problem solving using the outcomes of the study as a basis of developing intelligent softwares and systems.
Now we have an overview and the knowledge of what an Artificial Intelligence is, we can now proceed further to know the Classes and types of Artificial Intelligence and where we can classify them if we perceive and see them.

        CLASSES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

1) PURELY REACTIVE OR PROGRAMED A.I
     This is the most basic form of A.I. it perceives it's environment and situation directly and acts on what it sees. It doesn't have a concept of the wider world. It can't form memories or draw on past experiences to affect current situations thereby making it a Specialist in a particular field or area.
Example of this class of A.I are
 •  IBM 's Deep Blue which beat Garry Kasparov at Chess
             

 •  Google's AlphaGo which won human Go Champions.

         


 2) LIMITED MEMORY

As we go further up on the A.I evolutionary ladder, this type of A.I considers pieces of past information and add them to it's pre programmed representations of the world. It has just enough experience to make proper decisions and execute appropriate tasks. Examples of this class of A.I
• Self driving cars.

• Chatbots, Personal Digital assistants.

3) THEORY OF MIND

This type of A.I has the capacity to understand human thoughts and emotions which of course affect human behavior or character. This type of A.I which can comprehend feelings, motives, intentions, expectations and can interact Socially is yet to be built, but would likely be the next class of intelligent machines. Examples of this class of A.I are.
• C-3P0 and R2-D2 from the Star Wars universe.
                 

• Sonny in the 2004 film I Robot.
   

       
     
 4) SELF AWARENESS

These types of A.I can form representations about themselves which makes them an extension of the Theory of Mind A.I. They are aware of their internal states, can predict the feelings of others, make abstractions and inferences. They are the future generation of machines; Super intelligent, sentient and conscious. Examples of this class of A.I are.
• Ava in the 2015 movie Ex Machina

• Synths in the 2015 T.V series Humans
• Chappie in the 2016 movie Chappie
   

Over the week, the World Bank announced that loans will no longer be available for the implementation and execution of Fossil fuel based projects around the world.
This announcement was welcomed by climate change supporters who were present at Present at the Climate change held in Paris to curb against
fossil fuel-based energy, the World Bank President
made this announcement at the One Planet
summit called by French President Emmanuel
Macron. The bank, which provides loans to
developing countries to foster economic growth,
announced on December 12 that it will no longer
offer financial support for oil and gas exploration
after 2019.
During the summit, the bank released a statement
saying it “will no longer finance upstream oil and
gas,” citing a need to change in a “rapidly changing
world.” In 2015, the bank previously vowed to have
28% of its portfolio dedicated to climate action by
2020. The bank’s latest statement on fossil fuel
financing suggests that it is on course to achieve that goal.
This is yet another tragedy to the fossil fuel energy
industry, and a seemingly significant win for
environmental advocates. The economics surrounding the energy sector are increasingly making it more attractive and useful for entities to switch to renewable energy.
Across the world, it has become cheaper to build new renewable energy installations than to operate and maintain existing coal power plants.

The World Bank’s plan does lay out a caveat for
“exceptional circumstances,” saying that they will
consider “…financing upstream gas in the poorest
countries where there is a clear benefit in terms of
energy access for the poor and the project fits within
the countries’ Paris Agreement commitments.”
The Paris agreement is a major factor in the decision.
The One Earth summit was planned on the two-year
anniversary of the historic agreement, which was
looking uncertain after the President of the United
States, one of the major financial and influential
member nations, decided to withdraw . Even so, the
agreement looks to be thriving, even in the US, which
may reach the goals laid out in Paris against all odds.

WATER, NEVER A BEST REMEDY FOR HOT PEPPER CONSUMPTION

Do you know that Peppers play an integral role in spicing up foods. Do you also know that without peppers, food cannot taste good. In as much we recognize the role peppers play in making foods tasty, it is important for us to know that Hot peppers are loaded with capsaicin, which binds to pain receptors in the mouth?
Anyone who has ever wondered why eating certain spicy foods makes your mouth feel like it’s on fire should take a look at a new video released by the American Chemical Society, which explains the science behind some of the world’s most excruciating dishes.

The main culprit is a molecule called capsaicin, which is found in the tissue of a number of hot peppers – including the infamous ghost chili, as well as the all hottest Carolina reaper Pepper and Dry pepper – and binds to pain receptors in the mouth. This stimulates the brain into coordinating a response designed to get the invading substance out of the body as quickly as possible, by making the eyes stream, the nose run, and the sweat begin to pour. There’s even a scale to measure the intensity of this response, called the Scoville scale.

However, rather than waiting for the body to recover naturally, pepper-stricken diners can take matters into their own hands by seeking out a non-polar substance to dissolve the capsaicin in. Non-polar molecules are those which are not positively charged at one end and negatively charged at the other. Since capsaicin falls into this category, it can only be dissolved in other non-polar substances – of which water is not one. Milk, however, contains molecules such as fat and a protein called casein, which are ideal for removing capsaicin from the pain receptors in the mouth.

Obviously, you don’t have to be a scientist to know not to take a bite out of a hot chili, although by watching the video below, you’ll at least be able to understand the chemistry behind your pain the next time you eat something that’s just a little too fiery.

Lady Calls Out Man She Met On Instagram Who Allegedly Abused Her Sexually (Audios)

Lady Calls Out Man She Met On Instagram Who Allegedly Abused Her Sexually (Audios)

Uber's self driving cars on the streets this month

Sometime early this year, Uber's self-driving car was tested around the Pittsburgh area. And Now, the goodnews is that the company just announced that their self cars will start taking passengers as soon as this month after testing the prototype self driven car three months ago.

This comes in accordance to the plan to build an autonomous vehicle empire, Uber plans to launch more than a million self-driving cars to replace human drivers, with around 100 Volvo XC90s modified for autonomy to start taking passengers. An engineer will be on the driver’s seat to start, as well as a co-pilot to take down observations. A “liquid-cooled” computer will also be recording trip and map data in the trunk. Passengers who take the experimental self-driving cars will get their ride for free.

Uber’s self-driving car. Image source: Uber

Uber plans to install self-driving kits into existing vehicles rather than building autonomous cars from the ground up. Earlier this month, Uber acquired Otto, a company that works on retrofitting heavy-duty freight haulers on the highway into self-driving trucks.

Otto’s LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensor technology detects infrared emissions to monitor speed is geared to be adapted for use in Uber’s autonomous vehicles.

Audi’s New Suspension System Converts Potholes Into Energy

Audi has designed an active suspension system called eROT, which allows the electromechanical dampers to store the energy from bumps and potholes for use in the car. It also makes the ride far smoother, adapting the car to the road.

The automotive industry’s ‘green revolution’ hopes to make electric vehicles far more efficient. Every bit of force under the hood should be used to its maximum potential. That why you have concepts such as regenerative braking, which return some of the energy used in braking back into the system.

But Audi is looking at tapping another roadway staple: potholes. It has created a system called eROT, an active suspension system that stores the energy when a driver hit potholes, bumps, and other forces that induce kinetic energy on a car.

The eROT system was created by replacing hydraulic shocks with electromechanical ones. The electromechanical rotary dampers in the 48-volt electrical system allow the car to use this kinetic energy.

Audi

This is all accomplished by having a lever arm absorbing the motion of the wheel carrier, which is then transmitted to an electric motor via a series of gears. The electric motor then transforms this into electricity.

On average, this system is able to pump out 100 to 150 watts. That varies depending on road condition. For example, a newly paved highway will generate as little as 3 watts, and a rough country road as much as 613 watts. According to Audi, this would translate to CO² savings of up to three grams per kilometer (4.8 g/mi).

But this system doesn’t just store energy from potholes. eROT also makes your drive better. The system allows the dampers to adapt to the road conditions and the driver’s driving style. These new dampers also free up space in the lugage compartment.

Drive better, and enjoy the potholes along the way. Seems like a pretty good deal.

S

China launches the world's first quantum satellite into space

China is on the verge of launching if possible fully prepared for the launch of its quantum-enabled satellite for some time now. And that has made it not only a Chinese first, but a world first.

Now, China has actually done it! Just this past Tuesday, August 16, China launched its Micius Quantum Space Satellite from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.

Micius was named after a fifth century B.C. Chinese philosopher and scientist who was one of the first in the world conducting optical experiments.

The satellite contains the equipment needed for quantum key distribution, creating entangled photons that will change when a third party tries to observe them. This means that when someone tries to eavesdrop, the message will be altered and the interception will be obvious.

“The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China’s role — from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements,” said Pan Jianwei, chief scientist of the project, to Chinese state media.

Another kudos to the Chinese Government

Elon Musk’s OpenAI is Using Reddit to Teach An Artificial Intelligence How to Speak

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI just received a package took $2 billion to develop: NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang just delivered the first DGX-1 supercomputer to the non-profit organization, which is dedicated to “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”

Jen-Hsun Huang with Elon Musk, and the DGX-1. NVIDIA.

The “AI supercomputer in a box” is packed with 170 teraflops of computing power—that’s equivalent to 250 conventional servers. NVIDIA says it’s a very fitting match: “The world’s leading non-profit artificial intelligence research team needs the world’s fastest AI system.”

“I thought it was incredibly appropriate that the world’s first supercomputer dedicated to artificial intelligence would go to the laboratory that was dedicated to open artificial intelligence,” Huang added.

The supercomputer will tackle the most difficult challenges facing the artificial intelligence industy…by reading through Reddit forums. And apparently, Reddit’s size was not a hindrance. In fact, the site’s size the main reason why the online community was specifically chosen as DGX-1’s training ground.

“Deep learning is a very special class of models because as you scale up, they always work better,” says OpenAI researcher Andrej Karpathy. 

The nearly two billion Reddit comments will be processed by DGX-1 in months instead of years, as the $129,000 desktop-sized box contains eight NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPUs (graphic processing units), 7 terabytes of SSD storage, and two Xeon processors, apart from the aforementioned 170 teraflops of performance.

DGX-1 will take on Reddit to learn faster and to chat more accurately. “You can take a large amount of data that would help people talk to each other on the internet, and you can train, basically, a chatbot, but you can do it in a way that the computer learns how language works and how people interact,” Karpathy said.

The supercomputer is also equipped to make things easier from the developers at OpenAI. “We won’t need to write any new code, we’ll take our existing code and we’ll just increase the size of the model,” says OpenAI scientist Ilya Sutskever. “And we’ll get much better results than we have right now.”

Dubai’s 3D-Printed ‘Office of the Future’ is Officially Open

Dubai's 3D-printed "Office of the Future" is now officially open: it will house the Dubai Future Foundation and will serve as a meeting place for international delegates. Take a look inside.

The “Office of the Future” is now officially open…but it won’t be serving as just any office.

Dubai’s 3D-printed building is a 2,700-square-foot, single-story structure printed out of a special mix of concrete, fiber reinforced plastic, and glass fiber reinforced gypsum. And it looks astounding.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the Office of the Future. 

It will serve to promote innovation and enhance communication, specifically as a meeting place for international delegates. It will also house the Dubai Future Foundation, a government initiative dedicated to solving modern society’s biggest challenges.

To that end, Austrian office furniture company Bene furnished its interiors with modern pieces.

Earlier this year, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE of Dubai, inaugurated the building as part of his goal to put Dubai in the forefront of global innovation.

The futuristic structure took only 17 days to print—resulting in an 80% reduction on construction costs, 60% on labor, and 60% on waste.