Sebastian Thrun: Best of TEDTalks 2011: Self-Driving Cars Roll Their Way In

In this special year-end collaboration, TED and The Huffington Post are excited to count down 18 great ideas of 2011, featuring the full TEDTalk with original blog posts that we think will shape 2012. Watch, engage and share these groundbreaking ideas as they are unveiled one-by-one, including never-seen-before TEDTalk premieres. Standby, the countdown is underway!

Watch Stanford AI Lab's director Sebastian Thrun's TEDTalk above and then explore his thoughts in this companion essay.

All it took was a roughly 60-second lap around the top of a parking structure at high speeds to convince TED attendees that autonomous vehicle technology has come a long way. Navigating hairpin turns with precision unmatched by many human drivers, the car in Long Beach merely hinted at its real potential. I'm excited to say that progress on the project has continued rapidly since I was at TED, and I'm more motivated than ever to realize what has been my dream and that of many others for a long time.

Like most people, my connection to driving is very personal. I lost my close friend Harald to a car accident when I was 18, after he lost control on an icy road and collided with an oncoming truck. Then, roughly a year ago, my lab manager Suvan was killed after a distracted driver hit her Prius from the side while she was crossing an intersection. Sadly, these tragedies are not uncommon.

In fact, the statistics are sobering. After the U.S. Department of Transportation recorded 32,788 traffic fatalities in 2010, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood referred to distracted driving as "a deadly epidemic." Think about all the distractions you face when driving -- the kids in the backseat, a ringing cell phone, the stalled vehicle on the side of the road. These moments are part of life and therefore are hard problems to solve. When you have a very hard problem, the key is sometimes to approach it from an unexpected angle. In the first legislation of its kind from any state or nation, the state of Nevada recently passed a law paving the way for drivers to operate a self-driving, autonomous car.

As you might expect, this means that a vehicle may drive itself without the active control of a human operator. More specifically, the car technology we have been working on at Google uses radar, GPS, cameras, a rapidly spinning LIDAR laser, and other devices to navigate properly and understand a complex driving environment.

I believe wholeheartedly that self-driving cars can make traffic safer. After all, they never blink or focus on switching the radio station. They have no blind spots, and they can simultaneously process information at a rate that no human can match. Driving is a completely different experience when you know the exact speeds and locations of all the vehicles around you, and when you can interpret and call upon detailed maps of road infrastructure and street-level signs. These capabilities may one day open up driving to the elderly and disabled who today do not have driving privileges. It's an exciting future.

But self-driving cars are not just about safety. I estimate that the average car is immobile 97% of its lifetime. Think about how many occupied parking spaces and underused cars that means. With less than 5% of Americans using public transportation to get to or from work, are we tackling this problem correctly? Self-driving cars can open up new models of car sharing that we can only imagine today. One way or another, America should take the helm of this kind of innovation.

Most of my professional life has involved my attempts to turn science fiction into reality. Thanks to the hard work of a world-class team, our self-driving cars have completed nearly 200,000 miles of autonomous driving on public highways. I envision a future in which this technology is available to anyone, and that's a vision I would like us all to keep on our horizon.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sebastian-thrun/self-driving-car_b_1131242.html

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The Pulse: What exactly did McQueary say? (Philadelphia Inquirer)

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Parents: Choking game, not suicide, killed 10-year-old

Police believe the tragic death of a 10-year-old Milwaukee boy was suicide, but the boy's heartbroken parents say it may have been due to a choking game. TMJ4's Nick Montes reports.

?

By msnbc.com staff and NBC station TMJ4

MILWAUKEE -- Police believe the tragic death of a 10-year-old boy?was suicide, but his?parents think?it may have been due to a game that went terribly wrong.

"It wasn't a suicide, because he was just too happy and he had no reason to commit suicide," Enzy Curtis says of his son, Thalian.

Curtis believes the boy's death was a tragic accident.

"I think it was just a game he was playing and it got out of hand of just him by himself," Curtis says.

Thailan's parents say he's played the choking game before, and they warned him. "I told him, 'Honey that's dangerous. You shouldn't do that,'" Yolanda Cash, the boy's mom,?says.

The choking game, also known as the fainting game, involves cutting off the supply of oxygen to the brain in order to induce a high.

Cash is?trying to make sense of why her son Thailan was taken so suddenly.

"Why my baby? He was only 10," Cash says. "I'm just hurt. I'm just angry with God."

Cash says Thailan's older brother found him in the upstairs living room Saturday night.

"He said, 'There's something around his neck and there's blood.'I said, 'Huh?' He said, 'There's blood,?? she says.

Cash quickly ran upstairs only to find Thailan slumped over with a curtain around his neck.

Full story: Questions remain in death of young Milwaukee boy

"I tried pulling it from around his neck. But, it was just, I couldn't pull it. I had to shake the whole curtain down," she says. The image is stuck in her mind.?"Blood coming from his mouth and he was foaming, vomiting but he never came to,? Cash says while crying.

Milwaukee police told TMJ4 early Sunday morning the 10-year-old committed suicide.

Thailan's parents say he always lived in the moment. He loved going to school at Hope Christian School Prima, and asked questions about God. They do find some peace in that thought, but still wants answers.

"I still want to know why. I still want to know exactly what happened," Cash says.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/05/9222440-parents-choking-game-not-suicide-killed-10-year-old

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Amanda Knox hires DC lawyer as literary agent

SEATTLE (AP) ? Amanda Knox says she's hired a Washington, D.C., lawyer to help her land a book deal after an Italian court cleared her and her ex-boyfriend in the killing of her British roommate.

Knox family spokesman Dave Marriott says Robert Barnett will represent Knox in discussions with publishers and help her evaluate other opportunities.

Barnett has represented the literary interests of U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Knox returned to her hometown of Seattle in October after she was cleared in Meredith Kercher's death.

The 24-year-old had been in custody since 2007, and experts have suggested she could score a seven-figure book deal. She hasn't granted any interviews since her release.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-05-Knox-Literary%20Agent/id-5288363a624b42b78bc213878ba01b17

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Derby Mayor?s Inaugural Speech

Derby Mayor?s Inaugural Speech

by STAFF | Dec 3, 2011 12:00 pm

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Posted to: Derby, Derby 2011 Election

Derby Mayor Anthony Staffieri was sworn into a fourth term Saturday morning. The following is the text of the speech he gave at Derby High School. Note: This story will be updated later.

Staffieri?s Speech

Good morning.

Mayor DellaVolpe, Mayor Lauretti, I thank you for joining me today and wish to thank you for your friendship and the bi partisan relationship we have shared for the past six years.

I would like to thank His Honor, Joe Flynn, for being so kind in offering me the oath of office. Joe, your service to Derby, to our State of Connecticut and to the Judicial System has been extraordinary. You have set a standard of intelligence and impeccable honesty as a shining example for all of us to follow. You humble me with your presence.

To my dear friend, State Representative, Themis Klarides, who wore out shoes walking with me these last couple of months. I thank you for your spirit, your counsel, and of course, your shoe leather.

To those many volunteers who worked on my behalf during the recent campaign and Judy Szewczyk, who gave so much of her time, her intelligence and her creativity, I thank all of you. You amaze me.

To my sister Liz and my brothers Jim, Ezio and Aldo, I thank you. Family is everything to me and I am very lucky to be part of our family.

To my wife Diane and to my three sons, Anthony, Paul and Joe, your support and love has been and, continues to be, the high point of my life. I thank and love you.

The most sensational aspect of living in the United States of America is our wonderful ability to vote and elect those who will represent us.

The people in Derby have voted and we are now the elected officials selected to move forward, making the lives of Derby?s citizens better for today and into the future.

May I congratulate each and everyone of you on your successful campaign to serve the people of Derby.

May I also congratulate those who sought office but were not successful. Without your effort to gain elective office, our system of government would stagnate and lose its competitive nature. Your efforts provide the motivation for creativity, and a voice for what is best within our system.

In a campaign, we are either a Republican or a Democrat. Once the votes are counted, we are no longer party members but we are now elected representatives of the people.

We, as free minds, will differ on a number of issues but, the difference is not based on a party affiliation but on our vision of the future. We see enough partisan politics in Washington DC and in Hartford. The people of Derby deserve better and I believe they should receive better.

Join with me and lets begin moving forward in making Derby the very best. Let us disagree on minor issues but let us continue moving forward.

The downtown redevelopment is moving forward. In these tight economic times, to find a developer interested in the creation of a project has not been easy.

I believe we have found one. His plans are creative and practical. He is putting together his financial package and is ready to move forward. And may I add, without any money from the Derby taxpayer. This project will provide tax revenue to the City and many jobs for our citizens unemployed or underemployed.

We own an asset called East Derby Water Works built in 1971. We receive no value for our ownership. I want to sell East Derby Water Works and use the one time revenue for one time improvements to our City. Once sold, it becomes a taxable piece of property thus we will receive ongoing revenue from the sale.

With this one time revenue, we can protect the future of our city by putting some money into our fund balance.

We can also purchase one time items, whether it be modern vests for the protection of our police officers or new breathing devices for our volunteer fire fighters. The City Hall computer system is getting old and the expenses to keep it running are increasing dramatically. We can save our citizens tax dollars by replacing the system.

I would like to create a demolition fund so when a building is substantially blighted and the owners have abandoned the property, we have funds to purchase and demo the building. This will greatly enhance a number of neighborhoods within Derby and create opportunities for people to buy the property, build decent housing and attract more people to our city.

We need to consider items such as visiting team bleachers at Ryan Field, a public park for children on O?Sullivan Island, and other recreational activities like tennis courts.

The sale of the water company asset would allow us to investigate the above items. All in our effort to make our city a better place to live.

I wish to aggressively seek public and private funds for the Sterling Opera House. We now have a realistic plan for returning the Opera House to a functioning theater.
There is no better way to enhance the activity of our downtown than having a theater attracting people to Derby. Our restaurants, our shops, and our people will all be the beneficiaries.

Construction of our Greenway Phase III should begin shortly which means we need to get started on planning for Phase IV which will be the connection to Orange.

Our road into our new industrial park will be completed shortly. We must now prepare bid packages and review development plans to decide what best idea will suit Derby. Which proposal will produce the greatest amount of tax dollars and which will produce the greatest number of jobs for our citizens.

Finally, there has been much discussion about helping our senior citizens and how they pay their property taxes. There are a number of directions we can follow including the Four payment system, a tax freeze program and other ideas I have been investigating. Many cities throughout Connecticut have come up with creative solutions to help their older citizens living on a limited income. It is time for Derby to be creative.

I believe, by working together, we can solve any problem we are confronted with, we can move Derby forward into a bright future, and we can make Derby a better place to live, a better place to work, a great place to raise a family and a great city to retire.

All it takes is working together.

Join me and lets roll up our sleeves and get to work.

The voters deserve nothing less.

Thank you

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Source: http://valley.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/derby_mayors_inaugural_speech/

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Oregon court tells Philip Morris to pay judgment (Providence Journal)

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Apple Store policies on employee conduct

No idea how many Bothan spies died bringing him this information, but Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac managed to get his hands on Apple’s guidelines for Apple Store employees covering codes of conduct for social networks like Facebook and Twitter, personal websites, and inter-personal communications. Short version: Be honest, respectful,...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/i8CbwDRaFW8/story01.htm

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White House renews veto threat on defense bill

Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to examine US strategic objectives towards Iran. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to examine US strategic objectives towards Iran. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, during the committee's hearing to examine US strategic objectives towards Iran. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy R. Sherman listens at right, as Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings to examine US strategic objectives towards Iran. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House on Friday accused the Democratic-controlled Senate of "political micromanagement" at the expense of national security after it approved legislation requiring military custody of suspected terrorists, even those captured within the U.S., and indefinite detention of some without trial.

In a statement, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor renewed the White House threat of a presidential veto of the sweeping $662 billion defense bill that includes the far-reaching policy changes on how to handle suspected terrorists. The Senate voted 93-7 Thursday night for the legislation.

Vietor pointed out that counterterrorism experts from Republican and Democratic administrations had said the provisions would restrict the president's authority in the fight against al-Qaida and jeopardize national security.

"By ignoring these non-partisan recommendations, including the recommendations of the secretary of defense, the director of the FBI, the director of national intelligence and the attorney general, the Senate has engaged in political micromanagement at the expense of sensible national security policy," he said.

The Senate bill must be reconciled with a House-passed version in the closing days of the session. The administration opposes provisions in the House bill that would require military commissions for suspected terrorists and limit the president's authority to transfer terrorist suspects from the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to installations in the United States, even for trial. It also would make it difficult for the administration to move detainees to foreign countries.

Overall, the Senate bill would authorize money for military personnel, weapons systems, national security programs in the Energy Department, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Reflecting a period of austerity and a winding down of decade-old conflicts, the bill is $27 billion less than President Barack Obama requested and $43 billion less than Congress gave the Pentagon this year.

In a resounding vote, the Senate unanimously backed an amendment to impose harsh sanctions on Iran as fears about Tehran developing a nuclear weapon outweighed concerns about driving up oil prices that would hit economically strapped Americans at the gas pump.

"Iran's actions are unacceptable and pose a danger to the United States and the entire world," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

In an escalating fight with the White House, the bill would ramp up the role of the military in handling terror suspects. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and FBI Director Robert Mueller both oppose the provisions as does the White House, which said it cannot accept any legislation that "challenges or constrains the president's authorities to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the nation."

The bill would require military custody of a suspect deemed to be a member of al-Qaida or its affiliates and involved in plotting or committing attacks on the United States. American citizens would be exempt. The bill does allow the executive branch to waive the authority based on national security and hold a suspect in civilian custody.

The legislation also would deny suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention.

The series of detention provisions challenges citizens' constitutional rights, tests the boundaries of executive and legislative branch authority and sets up a confrontation with the Democratic commander in chief. Civil rights groups fiercely oppose the bill.

"The bill is an historic threat to American citizens and others because it expands and makes permanent the authority of the president to order the military to imprison without charge or trial American citizens," said Christopher Anders, ACLU senior legislative counsel.

The bill reflects the politically charged dispute over whether to treat suspected terrorists as prisoners of war or criminals. The administration insists that the military, law enforcement and intelligence agents need flexibility in prosecuting the war on terror after they've succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki.

Republicans counter that their efforts are necessary to respond to an evolving, post-Sept. 11 threat, and that Obama has failed to produce a consistent policy on handling terror suspects.

On Iran, Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., had widespread bipartisan support for their amendment, which would target foreign financial institutions that do business with the Central Bank, barring them from opening or maintaining correspondent operations in the United States. It would apply to foreign central banks only for transactions that involve the sale or purchase of petroleum or petroleum products.

The sanctions on petroleum would only apply if the president determines there is a sufficient alternative supply and if the country with jurisdiction over the financial institution has not significantly reduced its purchases of Iranian oil.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-02-Congress-Defense/id-d95a46b8f8e445eaa1360ac9c347049e

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Website Offers Legal Help for Military and Veterans ? Robert ...

Even though it was launched a year ago, I only recently learned about?Stateside Legal, the first website in the U.S. to focus exclusively on the unique legal issues faced by military members, veterans and their families. The site was created by two legal services organizations, Pine Tree Legal Assistance of Maine and the Arkansas Legal Services Partnership, with initial funding provided by the Legal Services Corporation.

The site is designed to enable users to better understand their legal issues and to help them find free legal help when they need it. It features a ?Self Help? section where users can browse a library of legal resources related to common types of legal problems. Some topics include videos, step-by-step self-help guides and interactive legal forms and letters.

A ?Get Help? section lists free legal help and advocacy services. These include civil legal aid offices, pro bono attorneys, military legal assistance offices, Veterans Affairs offices and veterans? services organizations.

The site includes a ?smart search? function by which a user can enter basic information about themselves (state, branch of service, etc.) and more quickly zero in on applicable information and resources.

Although LSC provided start-up funding for the site, donations are needed to keep it running and to expand its content. If you like what you see, consider sending in a donation.

Source: http://www.lawsitesblog.com/2011/11/website-offers-legal-help-for-military-and-veterans.html

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Lava fingerprinting reveals differences between Hawaii's twin volcanoes

ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2011) ? Hawaii's main volcano chains--the Loa and Kea trends--have distinct sources of magma and unique plumbing systems connecting them to Earth's deep mantle, according to UBC research recently published in Nature Geoscience, in conjunction with researchers at the universities of Hawaii and Massachusetts.

This study is the first to conclusively relate geochemical differences in surface lava rocks from both chains to differences in their deep mantle sources, 2,800 kilometres below Earth's surface, at the core-mantle boundary.

"We now know that by studying oceanic island lavas we can approach the composition of Earth's mantle, which represents 80 per cent of the Earth's volume and is obviously not directly accessible," says Dominique Weis, Canada Research Chair in the Geochemistry of the Earth's Mantle and Director of UBC's Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research.

"It also implies that mantle plumes indeed bring material from the deep mantle to the surface and are a crucial means of heat and material transport to the surface."

The results of this study also suggest that a recent dramatic increase in Hawaiian volcanism, as expressed by the existence of the Hawaiian islands and the giant Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes (which are higher than Mount Everest when measured from their underwater base) is related to a shift in the composition and structure of the source region of the Hawaiian mantle plume. Thus, this work shows, for the first time, that the chemistry of hotspot lavas is a novel and elegant probe of deep earth evolution.

Weis and UBC colleagues Mark Jellinek and James Scoates made the connection by fingerprinting samples of Hawaiian island lavas--generated over the course of five million years--by isotopic analyses. The research included collecting 120 new samples from Mauna Loa--"the largest volcano on Earth" emphasizes co-author and University of Massachusetts professor Michael Rhodes.

"Hawaiian volcanoes are the best studied in the world and yet we are continuing to make fundamental discoveries about how they work," according to co-author and University of Hawaii volcanologist Michael Garcia.

The next steps for the researchers will be to study the entire length of the Hawaiian chain (which provides lava samples ranging in age from five to 42 million years old) as well as other key oceanic islands to assess if the two trends can be traced further back in time and to strengthen the relationship between lavas and the composition of the deep mantle.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of British Columbia.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Dominique Weis, Michael O. Garcia, J. Michael Rhodes, Mark Jellinek, James S. Scoates. Role of the deep mantle in generating the compositional asymmetry of the Hawaiian mantle plume. Nature Geoscience, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1328

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/38o9OU0Qfm8/111129185927.htm

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