Lavender…

Lavender is a purple/blue flowering plant in the mint family that’s easily identified by its sweet floral scent. It’s believed to be native to the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and India, with a history dating as far back as 2,500 years. 

Everyday stresses can take a toll on your mental health: the good news is that lavender may help lift the dark cloud hanging over your head and give your mental outlook a much-needed pick-me-up. There’s plenty of research that suggests lavender has positive effects on mood, stress, anxiety, and depression.

And then there is another kind of Lavender: an Artificial Intelligence military machine application that resolves the “human bottleneck for both locating the new targets and decision-making to approve the targets.”

SOURCE

+972 Magazine @972mag

Independent news and analysis from Israel-Palestine. Run by Palestinian and Israeli journalists committed to equity, justice, and freedom of information.

click link for +972 Magazine article

n 2021, a book titled “The Human-Machine Team: How to Create Synergy Between Human and Artificial Intelligence That Will Revolutionize Our World” was released in English under the pen name “Brigadier General Y.S.” In it, the author — a man who we confirmed to be the current commander of the elite Israeli intelligence unit 8200 — makes the case for designing a special machine that could rapidly process massive amounts of data to generate thousands of potential “targets” for military strikes in the heat of a war. Such technology, he writes, would resolve what he described as a “human bottleneck for both locating the new targets and decision-making to approve the targets.”

Such a machine, it turns out, actually exists. A new investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reveals that the Israeli army has developed an artificial intelligence-based program known as “Lavender,” unveiled here for the first time. According to six Israeli intelligence officers, who have all served in the army during the current war on the Gaza Strip and had first-hand involvement with the use of AI to generate targets for assassination, Lavender has played a central role in the unprecedented bombing of Palestinians, especially during the early stages of the war. In fact, according to the sources, its influence on the military’s operations was such that they essentially treated the outputs of the AI machine “as if it were a human decision.”

so PM material eh…?

Aspiring PM PP inspired to paint a picture after his visit today with a far right group at NB/NS border

Court Painter engaged resident poet and Bard scholar Chatterley Gargantuan Persephone Thunderbutt (Chat GPT) to pen a few words for the occassion.

CLICK LINK FOR PRESS PROGRESS ARTICLE

https://pressprogress.ca/pierre-poilievre-meets-with-far-right-extremist-group-at-nova-scotia-new-brunswick-border/ #cdnpoli

largest conservation agreement in Canadian history…

click link for article

Nature Conservancy of Canada announces funds all raised for largest conservation agreement in Canadian history

It’s the largest such conservation agreement in Canadian history, covering 22,000 hectares of grasslands and wetland habitats in Sourthern Alberta

Calgary Herald: Author of the article:Stephen Tipper Published Apr 22, 2024 

The land features abundant wildlife, including elk, deer and even grizzly bear, as well as birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish. Recent wildlife surveys have revealed 27 species of concern living there, including ferruginous hawk (threatened), chestnut-collared longspur (threatened) and American badger (special concern).

“If we want bears and eagles and coyotes and deer, guess what? We’ve got to save some of the habitat in which they live,” said Ralph Thrall, whose family has owned the property for 76 years.

Outlining the importance of grasslands, Lynch-Staunton said they provide habitat for pollinators, filter water, and store and sequester carbon.

“When those grasslands remain intact, we are keeping carbon in the ground and pulling carbon from the atmosphere into the ground through those biodiverse plants that draw that CO2 into the soil,” he said.

The NCC’s goal is to protect 500,000 hectares of native prairie grasslands by 2030, and the McIntyre Ranch is the largest agreement completed under its Prairie Grasslands Action Plan, which launched last summer.

disheveled…

In an attempt to garner aesthetic kudos on the political image front it has been noted that a number of Great Dominion politicians are going for the disheveled Boris look to match their behaviour…it has been termed the biggest British Invasion since the mid 1960s.(Google it)

Out of respect for the individuals depicted,their identities have been omitted since overall most political actor’s behaviour can best be described as bagged out beat up blowzy frowzy grubby messed-up mussed-up mussy scuzzy slipshod sloppy slovenly uncombed unfastidious and untidy.

Blue helmet blues…

When the 1948 Arab-Israeli War ended in a cease-fire agreement, the international community recognized that an independent monitoring mechanism offered the best chance of maintaining the fragile peace process. 75 years ago, the U.N. peacekeepers were deployed for the first time. Their mission in that conflict would become the template for U.N. peacekeeping operations for decades to come: Bringing stability to tenuous and uncertain post-conflict environments.

Source: United States Institute of Peace

Source: Canadaland Podcast April 8/24

Click link for broadcast

‘Canadians have long thought of themselves as peacekeepers. But can we still make that claim today? Amid all of the the outrage towards our government over its relationship with Israel, are any protesters calling on Trudeau to send peacekeeping troops over there to intervene? When the guns finally fall silent there will likely be a call for some sort of peacekeeping force. But will Canada still be ready, or even willing, to resume our traditional role?

There’s really just one statistic worth sharing here to illustrate that Canadians have lost nearly all capacity for peacekeeping. In the mid 1990s, there were over 3000 Canadian troops deployed as UN peacekeepers around the world. Today there are 60. That means we’re now at 2% of our former capability. What the hell happened? ‘

canadaland podcast 978

At April 2023, Bangladesh was contributing 6,500 soldiers to United Nations peacekeeping missions, the highest number of any country. Nepal followed with 5,800 troops, while India contributed just above 5,500 troops. Except for Italy, all the top 20 contributors were countries in the Global South.

source -Statista.com

Selection of art works produced as video and drawings in 1993 based on AHMacKay’s war artist assignment as part of Canada’s partcipation in United Nations Operation in Somalia UNOSOM. Collection of the Canadian War Museum.

Drawings (4)

Video stills (9)

third-party pothole adjudicator…

Court Painter indicates his willingness to fill the job as a third-party pothole adjudicator

Former Nova Scotia Liberal premier Stephen McNeil suggested that the province have a third-party pothole adjudicator, an idea that was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a session at the legislature last Thursday, present Conservative Premier Tim Houston was asked about the possibility of implementing a third-party pothole adjudicator. He responded by stating, “it’s not something that has been on my radar.”

This situation exemplifies the ideological divide between Nova Scotia Liberals and Conservatives, reportedly one of the most severe, despite the potential for drivers of all affiliations to encounter damage during the season of potholes.

This issue has provided Court Painter the opportunity to take up the painterly subject of potholes and though on his bucket list,it was always dismissed until now!

eclipsed expectations…

Court Painter recently had the opportunity to do major portrait commissions from the Mar A Lago Club with rabid guest Lady Roseanne and owner The Donald in celebration of and in advance of the upcoming solar eclipse .

The portait of the Donald captures the teachings of the former president in the moment of how to look directly into the solar eclipse without 3D glasses or binoculars. Everyone is anticipating a repeat performance on April 8/24.

Lady Roseanne’s portaits unfortunately don’t capture the fiesty, rabid and frothy demeanor of the former TV star however do convey a sense of royal charm. She graciously posed before a past due date portait of preppy Donald and the new historically relevant replacement by Court Painter.

Court Painter decided that a simple frontal portait of Lady Roseanne holding a huge glass of wine with #45 would also be a wonderful momento for these divisive times.

So Court Painter whipped off a painting that takes into account the informal and slovenly friendship of Lady Roseanne and the former president.

Busy busy busy…