Latest news with #Goliath
Rhyl Journal
3 days ago
- Sport
- Rhyl Journal
Calandagan rules supreme for France in King George
Francis-Henri Graffard's gelding was bidding to keep the trophy in the Chantilly yard after Goliath prevailed 12 months ago, with his key rival seemingly Aidan O'Brien's Coronation Cup winner Jan Brueghel, who had edged the Aga Khan Studs-owned four-year-old at Epsom. Calandagan was the well-backed 11-10 favourite to turn the tables and after an incredibly patient ride from Mickael Barzalona he swept through to pick off all of his rivals and pass the gallant Kalpana ahead of the line for a one-length triumph.
USA Today
6 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
Elon Musk is building a supercomputer in Memphis. Not everyone is loving it.
The images of xAI's Colossus supercomputer versus Memphis' Boxtown neighborhood are stark. David versus Goliath. Power versus pride. Far from the media spotlight where Elon Musk feuds with a sitting president and talks of starting a new political party, a largely unknown controversy is playing out in Memphis as the world's richest man builds what he calls the world's biggest supercomputer. The project is happening in Boxtown, a South Memphis neighborhood that is 99% Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly half of Boxtown's 2,865 residents have annual household incomes below $25,000 a year, yet many are homeowners. The images of xAI's Colossus supercomputer versus Boxtown are stark. David versus Goliath. Power versus pride. The indeterminate future of artificial intelligence versus the tawdry reality of majority African American neighborhoods becoming home to industrial polluters. Clumsy communications and lack of transparency have eroded the project's political support. Answers to the public's questions about environmental damage have been obscured by nondisclosure agreements with public agencies, redacted public documents and explanations coming from the Chamber of Commerce and mayor's office instead of from xAI itself. Michelle Taylor, the Shelby County Health Department director, has criticized the project's lack of transparency, saying her department was kept out of the loop in the early stages of its development. Why is a Memphis community fighting Elon Musk's supercomputer? After months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, the Greater Memphis Chamber announced in June 2024 that xAI would build the "world's largest supercomputer" in Memphis. Chamber representatives have often acted as de facto spokespeople for the project, rather than allowing xAI officials to respond for themselves. The project, which has increased in scope since that announcement, has raised many questions about air pollution, water usage and the equity of government incentives for the project. Neighborhood residents and environmental advocates have fought back, but it isn't easy. The swiftness of the project's progress leaves few options for stopping it. Desperate opponents like the Southern Environmental Law Center and NAACP plan to sue, and the nonprofit Memphis Community Against Pollution has organized to fight the project. Opinion: AI is changing our world. At what point will it change our reality? Colossus critics cite sweetheart deals and environmental racism A leader for the opposition group is state Rep. Justin Pearson, a Democrat from Memphis, who became nationally known when the Republican supermajority in the legislature expelled him after he used a megaphone during a gun control protest on the House floor in 2023. Pearson, who was reappointed to the state office by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, brings star power to his role with anti-supercomputer protests. He says African Americans are 75% more likely to live near toxic hazardous waste facilities and have higher cancer rates than White Americans. xAi in Memphis: Unpacking how Elon Musk's xAI supercomputer project in Memphis unfolded over the past year Already located near Boxtown are some of the region's largest emitters of hazardous chemicals: Tennessee Valley Authority's Allen Combined Cycle Plant, Valero Memphis Refinery and Nucor Steel. Yet, the nearest air monitoring station is 9 miles away in downtown Memphis. Fueling the opposition is a lack of convincing answers about issues like whether xAI should receive an air-emissions permit for 15 natural gas turbines as a backup energy source, and whether the turbines that have been operating at the site for a year are legal. Supercomputer's opponents face a colossal battle The addition of Colossus in Memphis raises two inconvenient truths: the city's failing grade in air quality (in 2021, the American Lung Association gave Shelby County an "F" grade) and charges of environmental racism in light of the history of locating polluting industries in African American areas of the city. When Memphis Mayor Paul Young hired a firm that concluded there were no dangerous levels of pollutants in Boxtown, critics dismissed it as a political stunt since the results supported the mayor's point of view. Memphis Community Against Pollution has announced that it will pay for air quality sensors for the Boxtown area. Young and others have made much of the fact that Colossus will pay $33 million in city and county taxes. But while the mayor says Musk's operation will get no tax breaks, the $12 billion project is assessed for property taxes at $2.2 billion. In addition, my research found that xAI buys electricity − enough for a city of more than 200,000 − from the local utility at the industrial rate of $64 per megawatt hour. Meanwhile, residents of Boxtown and all other residential customers in Memphis and Shelby County pay almost twice as much, at $122 per megawatt hour. In the rush to support the project, there's been little public discussion about tying the Memphis brand to Musk and becoming home to Colossus, which serves as the engine for what he has called the development of 'truth-seeking' systems. Yet, there's an air of inevitability about the completion of Colossus as it becomes a reminder about how powerful teams of lobbyists and public relations consultants get what they want, while grassroots groups can offer little resistance. Regardless of xAI's success in Memphis, it's clearly created division in a city in need of harmony. Tom Jones is the principal of Smart City Consulting, which focuses on public policy development and strategic planning. He writes a monthly column for Memphis magazine and has written the Smart City Memphis blog for 20 years.
Mint
7 days ago
- General
- Mint
Liger 'Goliath', born in private zoo in Romania, turns 9 weeks; attracts visitors
A liger has been born in a private zoo in Zaharesti, near the city of Suceava in northeastern Romania, reported Reuters, adding it is attracting visitors. With a lion for a father and a tiger for a mother, the 9-week-old male cub is thriving and in good health, dpa report vet Gabriel Gaspar as saying. The liger's caregivers have named him "Goliath." The zoo has made a beautiful cage for this little liger, which is also decorated with colourful balls and teddy bears. The zoo staff is closely monitoring every activity of the cub so that it does not face any kind of trouble, added the report. Informing more about development, private zoo owner Dorin Soimaru told dpa that he set out to produce the hybrid species by housing lions and tigers together in enclosures, as he heard that ligers are popular with the public. There are at most 20 ligers in the world at the moment. In mid-May, the environmental and veterinary protection authorities inspected the zoo after Goliath's premature birth. However, Soimaru denied reports which claimed fines have been imposed on the site. Gasper added that since the liger's mother is not looking after her offspring, they are feeding Goliath with special powdered milk and poultry. The liger's sibling, a female, did not survive, added the report. Usually, big cats in captivity and the wild often don't look after their offspring. Meanwhile, a zoo in the western German city of Cologne on Monday issued a statement saying they were forced to euthanize two lion cubs born last week following the mother refused to feed them. "It is evolutionary that a mother lion only looks after the cubs that have the best chance of being born," said the zoo. As per details, male ligers are sterile and can mate with either a lion or a tiger. However, a hybrid born from a male tiger and a female lion, it is called a tigon.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Absurdity of the Pitch: BE Toons
Pitches are an absurd phenomenon. An entire team of writers, strategists, visualisers, business people coming together to craft an elaborate plan, narrative or campaign to merely put themselves in consideration for a job. Ask the previous generation, and they will speak about how invitations to pitches came through personal contacts, relationship building and having your presence in the industry. LinkedIn has been the royal juggernaut that has singlehandedly brought about a tectonic shift in this entire process. Now any and every agency, no matter how small or big, has a shot at the business whose brand manager posted a cryptic, vague invitation on LinkedIn—talking about how they are the next big revelation since god invented grass, and how they are looking for a 'partner in crime' who will help them slay Goliath in seven business days. Hopeful founders will flock the comments section in thousands. Quite a spectacle - akin to a lone ice cream vendor at the Baisakhi Boi Mela that takes place every year in Krunamayee ground in Calcutta. This, of course, is an exercise in comic exaggeration, but the sentiment of how changing times have brought about minimalistic functionality in place of human-led finesse (or so it would seem). Yes, AI is a massive disruptor, attention spans are shifting, tolerance for mediocrity is low, competition is high, and at any given time there are studies that expound how the planet will become unlivable in some decades. We will have to live through that—and by god, we shall. But maybe, just maybe, we can keep humanity alive through it all? Maybe its not too much to expect basic decency? A call returned? A touch of kindness? Maybe?
Euronews
7 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
World court to rule on countries' duty to fight climate change
On Wednesday, the UN's top court will deliver a landmark advisory opinion setting out countries' legal obligations to address climate change. The ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will also set out consequences for those states whose emissions have harmed the planet. Legal experts believe it is the most significant in the latest string of rulings on international climate law and has the potential to impact governments and companies around the world. Jotham Napat, Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu, said ahead of the ruling that it isn't just a legal milestone, it's a 'defining moment in the global climate justice movement and a beacon of hope for present and future generations'. What is the ICJ being asked about countries' climate obligations? This story begins with a 2019 campaign by Pacific Island students calling on governments to go to the ICJ to clarify states' climate obligations under international law. Backed by Vanuatu and more than 130 other nations, the UN General Assembly formally referred the questions to the ICJ in March 2023. The ICJ has been asked by the UN to answer two questions. Firstly, what obligations do states have under international law to address climate change for both current and future generations? Second, what are the legal consequences for states that fail to meet these obligations, causing serious climate harm? At hearings in December last year, the ICJ heard from more than 100 countries and organisations, with written statements or comments from around 150 more, making it the largest case the top UN court has ever seen. Though advisory opinions from the ICJ aren't binding, they do carry significant legal weight and authority. A 'David versus Goliath' battle It has been dubbed a 'David versus Goliath' battle, with vulnerable nations attempting to create a more robust framework to set clear international legal obligations for climate action. 'We turned to the Court to clarify what international law already requires of States, because putting all our faith in mechanisms like the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement are not generating the actions the world urgently needs fast enough,' Napat said. Pacific nations have watched their homelands disappear due to climate change. More than a third of Tuvalu's population applied for a climate migration visa earlier this year, and in Nauru, the government has begun selling passports to wealthy foreigners to raise funds for potential relocation efforts. Vanuatu itself has been hit by intensifying cyclones, rising seas and saltwater intrusion threatening its residents' way of life. 'We sought confirmation that States' legal obligations extend to their climate-related actions, especially when those actions have caused harm beyond borders,' Napat added. Some major polluters, however, made the case that the current international legal framework, under which the Paris Agreement was made, is sufficient. They argue that new guidelines on what countries are obliged to do are not needed. How could the ICJ ruling impact global climate action? The ruling is expected to provide a clear legal benchmark which will lay out countries' climate obligations under international law. Many believe it could help accelerate funding for Loss and Damage, pin down more ambitious targets for mitigation and shape international climate negotiations for years to come - including those at COP30 in Brazil later this year. The advisory opinion will also have major implications for judgments in climate cases in courts around the world. 'A favourable opinion from the Court could affirm that States have had long-standing legal obligations to act on climate change, including obligations rooted in human rights and environmental law,' according to Vanuatu's PM. 'It could clarify the legal consequences for States that have failed to meet these obligations. It could provide a powerful tool for courts, communities, and negotiators around the world to seek remedies for the climate injustices that have occurred. It could support vulnerable nations in securing climate finance, technology, and loss and damage support. "And it could help shift the global response from promises to accountability.'
