Truth and Hammer

Author: Truth & Hammer

  • Here’s What People In The 1900s Predicted Our Homes Would Look Like Today

    Here’s What People In The 1900s Predicted Our Homes Would Look Like Today

    Raise your hands if you think that by 2100, we will have flying cars, robots with artificial intelligence, holidays on Mars and utterly intelligent houses.

    People have been making predictions about what the future would look like for ages. Sadly, they are usually far-fetched or even utopian and society doesn’t seem to keep up with creative wishes. So, are the predictions extremely ambitious or we don’t put enough effort into bringing wild ideas to life? There’s a huge question mark tied to what’s coming in the future. And although cutting-edge technology moves at a fast pace and many ideas that seemed outlandish in the past are more than real nowadays, we shouldn’t be carried away by fantasies because the future might disappoint.

    Angie’s List teamed up with Neomam Studios to visualize 7 of the most eccentric futuristic ideas people had about our future houses with their realistic architectural renderings. A team of researchers and artists gathered science-fiction style concepts of homes our ancestors imagined for us from various decades of the 20th century. “Sometimes astute, sometimes idealistic, often absurd, reflecting today on these dreams of how we might have lived creates a sense of nostalgia for that lost innocence,” – notes Angie’s List.

    Seems like folks had serious hopes for the future. How would they react to what we’ve actually achieved? Step inside the homes that were never built. But who knows what the future holds…

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  • Leaked Records Reveal Tony Robbins Berated Abuse Victims, And Former Followers Accuse Him Of Sexual Advances

    Leaked Records Reveal Tony Robbins Berated Abuse Victims, And Former Followers Accuse Him Of Sexual Advances

    Tony Robbins claims he has helped millions of fans overcome some of life’s darkest difficulties. But leaked records reveal he has used his fame to berate victims of rape and violence, while female former staffers and followers have accused him of inappropriate sexual advances.

    When Tony Robbins leaps onstage in arenas around the world, under strobe lights and pulsing speakers, he’s greeted by thousands of screaming fans. They clap with him, jump with him, and when he puffs his chest and lets out a primal roar, they roar with him too.

    The world’s most famous self-help guru whips crowds into fits of euphoria few pop stars could dream of, but many of his fans are grappling with life’s most serious problems. Victims of sexual and physical abuse, along with people who struggle with addiction and have mental illnesses, pay thousands of dollars to see him on the promise he has the power to “transform your life” and “rewire your brain.”

    At the core of Robbins’ teachings is the message that his followers should not see themselves as victims, and should instead view their pain as something they have the power to “destroy.” He claims to have revolutionized millions of lives with this philosophy, while building a multibillion-dollar business and working with celebrities from Donald Trump and Bill Clinton to Oprah and the Kardashians. Access to his most exclusive membership program has cost as much as $85,000 a year.

    But behind that dazzling veneer, Robbins guards his empire with intense secrecy. Employees are bound by strict confidentiality agreements, and audiences who attend his multiday coaching camps must sign contracts forbidding them from recording what goes on inside.

    A yearlong investigation by BuzzFeed News, based on leaked recordings, internal documents, and dozens of interviews with fans and insiders, reveals how Robbins has berated abuse victims and subjected his followers to unorthodox and potentially dangerous techniques. And former female fans and staffers have accused him of inappropriate sexual advances.

    Two former followers who went on to work for Robbins provided BuzzFeed News with signed statements swearing under oath that they felt he had sexually harassed them by repeatedly pursuing them after they made clear they weren’t interested. Two more women who worked as his assistants said Robbins expected them to work alone with him when he was naked in his hotel room or in the shower. And another former employee said she was fired after having a consensual sexual relationship with Robbins. The events described by all five women took place in the 1990s and early 2000s, when Robbins’ fame was skyrocketing and before he married his second wife.

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  • New York State Senate introduces bill to make texting while walking illegal

    New York State Senate introduces bill to make texting while walking illegal

    Texting while walking isn’t only dangerous, but it could soon be a crime in New York.
    A new bill introduced by the State Senate would make it illegal for people to cross streets in the state with their eyes glued to their smartphone.  These days it’s very common to see eyes on cell phone screens no matter where you are.  “I could use it all day long,” one pedestrian said.  But what if using your electronic device means you could be fined when crossing the road?  “It makes sense, but I feel it’s too much, they’re kind of being too controlling,” smartphone user Jayla Thomas said  “People should, if they are going to get killed crossing the street not paying attention, that’s their fault, I don’t see why you need to legislate common sense,” Lyles Press said.
    While there’s no clear evidence that personal electronic devices used on the streets cause traffic accidents, state lawmakers are considering the use of messaging or playing games just on the streets, where the fines could range from $50 to $150 depending on the number of offenses.

    “This is a bill that says don’t text while crossing the street, wait the 10 seconds, to get to the other side,” Queens Senator John Liu said.  Similar laws have passed in smaller cities in Hawaii and California, but this is New York, with millions of people. So the question is, if it gets the green light, how will it be enforced?  “It’s a statewide law, depending on the municipality, it could be the police, it could be other law enforcement officers,” Liu said.  Some say it’s not going to work, however drivers want the law passed.  +”I’m driving down the street, and someone is not paying attention and they get hit by a car, who is going to get sued?” driver Wanda Richmond said.

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  • The World’s 41 Best Hotel Rooms, From Beverly Hills To Beijing

    The World’s 41 Best Hotel Rooms, From Beverly Hills To Beijing

    Step into any guest room at The Ritz Paris, and you’ll find a space dripping in opulence. The Louis XIV-influenced décor features rich brocades, tasseled tapestries, chandeliers and bursts of gold. Inside the Italian marble bathroom, there are more lavish touches, like the gilded swan faucet—an original amenity of the 1898 hotel—and accompanying sink knobs bejeweled with red and blue crystals. And when you settle into the spacious accommodations, expect to receive a welcome treat, like lemon and apricot pastries on a silver multi-tiered tray. It’s no wonder why countless luminaries—from Coco Chanel to F. Scott Fitzgerald—chose to live here.

    The Parisian grande dame is one of 41 hotels spanning 17 countries to earn a spot on Forbes Travel Guide’s 2019 list of the World’s Best Rooms, a compilation of the finest hotel accommodations around the globe—from Beverly Hills to Beijing.

    To assess properties, incognito inspectors check into a hotel for two nights, paying their own way and posing as ordinary guests. During their stay, they evaluate up to 900 objective, exacting standards, including whether the spaces are properly soundproofed, the quality of the linens, and what types of snacks are stocked in the minibar. The 41 winners each achieved perfect scores on guest room and bathroom standards measuring luxury, comfort, and convenience—on top of being spotless and well-maintained.

    Feast your eyes on the full list of the world’s best hotel rooms, and peek inside some of the most luxurious spaces below.

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  • Texas Woman Forcibly Taken Off Life Support Has Been SAVED By a Pro-Life Group

    Texas Woman Forcibly Taken Off Life Support Has Been SAVED By a Pro-Life Group

    A Texas woman who had her life-sustaining breathing assistance withdrawn by the doctors who were meant to be caring for her has been saved through an emergency hospital transfer.

    The transfer, which involved the use of a private ambulance, was funded by pro-life group, Texas Right to Life.

    Carolyn Jones was taken off life-support May 13 after medics invoked the 10-day rule, a Texas directive that allows doctors to stop medical treatment if they deem it futile.

    Since then, there has been a frantic effort to raise the funds required to transfer Jones to another facility. Now, after much prayer and some incredibly generous donations, Jones has finally been released from Houston’s Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital and ferried by private ambulance to Ben Taub Hospital, which is staffed by faculty, residents, and students from Baylor College of Medicine.

    here, the dedicated medics immediately ensured that Carolyn was adequately cared for.

    “Not only did they accept her, but they agreed that she needed dialysis if she was going to live,” explained pro-life campaigner Mark Dickson, who has been advocating on behalf of the family.

    “Because Ben Taub had no extra beds, they arranged an emergency transfer to another hospital that was ready and willing to help Carolyn Jones get the life-sustaining treatment that she desperately needed,” Dickson added.

    Though Jones is stable for now, Mark reminded supporters just how desperately unprofessional the original hospital had been throughout the entire process.

    “Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital refused to provide Carolyn Jones with the care that she needed to survive,” Dickson explained of the shocking situation. “That hospital was a death trap and one we had to escape from.”

    Though the private transfer was successful, it was certainly a struggle. Dickson noted that hospital workers at the Memorial booted out many of those supporting the family through this nightmarish situation.

    “In the process of this great escape, several of our patient advocates were kicked out of the hospital and off of Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital’s property,” Dickson explained.

    Still, for now, Carolyn is out of the woods — and that is a massive answer to prayer!

    “Thank you Jesus. I know Texas Right to Life and Right to Life of East Texas are both extremely grateful for everyone who played a role in helping Carolyn Jones get the help that she needed,” Dickson said.

    While the immediate danger is no more, Dickson added that “the fight for the life of Carolyn Jones is not over!” and urged people to keep giving to the fundraising effort.

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  • Govt Program Leads the Fight Against Fake Videos and Disinformation Online

    Govt Program Leads the Fight Against Fake Videos and Disinformation Online

    Fake videos and disinformation known as deep fakes is a growing threat. Now, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is spearheading the detection of those deep fakes.

    “When you look at an image or a video online, can you tell if it’s been manipulated or not?”

    That’s the central question posed by Dr. Matt Turek, the program manager for the Media Forensics program at DARPA.

    Faking pictures is not new, a portrait painter in 1865 stuck Abraham Lincoln’s head on a southern Civil War politician’s body. A famous 1902 image of former General of the US Army and later President Ulysses S. Grant is actually a composite of three other photographs. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s army of photo-retouchers removed an official from an image after the official was executed in the 1930s.

    But in the span of just a few years, technology has harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to create and manipulate new worlds and new faces.

    From the cityscape of the first AI made streets, to the creation of photorealistic faces that may or may not even exist, researchers at NVIDIA have used AI to play puppet master. In some instances, using videos of dancers to make other researchers put on the moves.

    The level of deep fakes that can be created by deep learning and artificial intelligence is getting harder and harder to detect.

    The ability to synthesize dance patterns is one thing, but the folks at DARPA are working to detect these sorts of manipulations to prevent much more sinister scenarios. Turek said that “you can construct multiple instances of media that all support an event that never happened.”

    The worry is that state actors could use deep fakes to manufacture completely fictitious events. Artificial intelligence isn’t quite there yet, but “with multiple supporting media…the potential for that is probably a year or a couple of years out,” said Turek.

    The man behind the curtain in a 2018 deep fake featuring President Obama is actor Jordan Peele – but the warning is real. “We need to be more vigilant with what we trust from the Internet,” said Peele, in a BuzzFeed produced message.

    “We have a bit of a cat and mouse game going on here,” said Turek. DARPA’s detection team is racing to keep pace as the technology behind a-i-engineered video manipulation accelerates at break-neck speeds.

    “The ability to detect whether an image or video has been manipulated may provide you some clue that maybe there’s a disinformation campaign that’s going on,” said Turek.

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  • ‘It’s Only God’: Genocide Survivor Shares How She Forgave Man Who Cut Her Baby in Half

    ‘It’s Only God’: Genocide Survivor Shares How She Forgave Man Who Cut Her Baby in Half

    This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide. During that time of violence, at least 800,000 people were killed in just 100 days, mainly Tutsis at the hands of radical Hutus.

    On April 6, 1994, Rwanda’s Hutu President, Juvenal Habyarimana, was killed in a plane crash. The incident is credited with igniting the genocide. Radical Hutus accused Tutsis of shooting down his plane. It is still not known who was responsible, but the violence that followed the incident will never be forgotten.

    During the genocide, Alice Mukaruinda spent her days in hiding.

    Hiding Among Dead Bodies

    “We would either hide under the dead bodies when we heard them come to start shooting or dig a place to hide. Because I had a baby, a young baby I couldn’t do any of that. I would just sit in the water,” she recalled.

     “They Took My Baby and Cut Her in Two Pieces”

    “The Interahamwe Militia had operating hours. There was a whistle that would go at 10 a.m. and then that marking the start and 3 p.m. marking the end. And so we knew those hours and we would go and hide. And on that day we did the same,” said Alice.

    “They took my baby and cut her in two pieces,” said Alice.

    Today she still has the scars that show the beating and mutilation she endured. Attackers also brutally beat her husband, but he was saved by rescue workers.

    “When he started to come back to his senses. He remembered that they had left me.  And he asked the military and the police to take him back to where I was,” she said.

    The Long Road to Reconciliation

    After the genocide humanitarian organizations like World Vision were on the ground, with first aid, food, and medicine. The group also played a major role in reconciliation efforts.

    “You cannot think of long term development if people are disconnected, not united,” said Ananias Sentozi, Operations Manager for World Vision Rwanda.

    During and before the genocide Hutu Militia pushed propaganda and encouraged citizens to participate in the killing of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. After the genocide many of those responsible flooded the criminal system.

    Allowing Criminals to Seek Forgiveness

    President Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s current President, refused to use killing as punishment and abolished the death penalty. Instead, he offered another solution; a system of community courts called Gacaca. It allowed criminals to confess and seek forgiveness.

    “I started forgiving myself when I stood in front of the court,” said Emmanuel Nadayisaba.

    He confessed his crimes and after prison became a community-building volunteer. While working he realized he was actually on a team with one of his victims, although she had no idea who he was.

    “We both joined that association of peacebuilding and reconciliation that World Vision was involved in,” said Alice as she recalled meeting Emmanuel.

    After her attack, Alice said a prayer and asked God to bring her to those who wronged her and to lead her to forgiveness. “I wanted to be close to God and not just be on the surface.”

    Alice Meets Her Attacker Face-to-Face

    She didn’t think her prayer would be answered, and then one day Emmanuel asked to speak with her.

    “I was all sweaty. I was very nervous. Everything was hot everywhere. I fell down on my knees and raised my hands up and told her that I’m the person who was responsible,” said Emmanuel.

    When Alice heard his confession, she fainted. “The next thing I remember I was at the hospital. I didn’t respond. I guess I was in shock.”

    “I was still on my knees when she fainted and they took her away, said Emmanuel.

    Days later Alice asked to meet with Emmanuel, all she asked of him was that he apologize to her family. She then became an advocate for him in court.

    “She helped me open the case. And plead for mercy. I was able to not go back to prison,” said Emmanuel.

    Alice said The Lord gave her the strength to forgive Emmanuel, “it’s only God. I can’t explain it. It’s only God nothing else. No one else.”

    As a symbol of unity, Alice and Emmanuel planted fruit trees together in front of each of their homes. Their hope is that their grandchildren and others will eat the fruit of their reconciliation.

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  • ‘I Just Felt the Holy Spirit Speak to Me’: Man Stops Dramatic Suicide in Progress, Leads Jumper to Christ

    ‘I Just Felt the Holy Spirit Speak to Me’: Man Stops Dramatic Suicide in Progress, Leads Jumper to Christ

    On April 25, 31-year-old Collin Dozier was driving home around midnight when he noticed a car pulled on the side of the road on the Lesner bridge.

    He said he felt compelled by God to investigate after not seeing the driver of the car.

    “I figured he wasn’t even near his car that much,” Dozier told CBN News. “So, I just felt the Holy Spirit speak to me and tell me to go up there.”

    The man, 27-year-old Jacob Palmer, had gotten out of his car to jump from the bridge.

    “At that point I was like, ‘Hey man, don’t do it. Jesus loves you. He’s got a plan for your life,’” Dozier explained.

    Dozier, a devout Christian, said that while Jacob didn’t respond, that didn’t stop him from talking and at times sharing his own personal testimony.

    “No matter what I said he wouldn’t listen,” said Dozier.  “So, that’s when I did the only thing I knew to do in a situation like that and that’s to pray. So, I reached out my hand and I was like, ‘Lord Jesus please speak to this man. I pray right now you open up his eyes and show him your love.’”

    He continued, “I was like, ‘Man I’ve gone through a lot of hard times in my life and there’s only one thing that’s really going to help me get through those hard times and that’s turning to the Lord.”

    Dozier said things escalated when the police arrived.

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  • Missouri Passes 8-Week Abortion Ban, Planned Parenthood Retaliates by Slurring ‘White Men’

    Missouri Passes 8-Week Abortion Ban, Planned Parenthood Retaliates by Slurring ‘White Men’

    Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature on Friday approved a sweeping bill to ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy, joining Alabama and other states that have moved to severely restrict the procedure.

    Republican Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign the bill.

    The ban would be among the most restrictive in the U.S. It would include exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Doctors would face five to 15 years in prison for violating the eight-week cutoff. Women who receive abortions wouldn’t be prosecuted.

    “Until the day that we no longer have abortions in this country, I will never waver in the fight for life,” Parson said during a Wednesday rally with supporters of the legislation.

    Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Leana Wen said in a statement Thursday that enacting the measure would be “disastrous.”

    “Missouri Gov. Parson should be ashamed of riding the disgraceful coattails of 25 white men in Alabama who just voted to ban safe, legal abortion,” Wen said.

    The Missouri legislation comes after Alabama’s governor signed a bill Wednesday making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases.

    Supporters say the Alabama bill is meant to conflict with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationally in hopes of sparking a court case that might prompt the current panel of more conservative justices to revisit abortion rights.

    Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia also have approved bans on abortion once fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which can occur in about the sixth week of pregnancy. Some of those laws already have been challenged in court , and similar restrictions in North Dakota and Iowa previously were struck down by judges.

    Missouri’s bill also includes an outright ban on abortions except in cases of medical emergencies. But unlike Alabama’s, it would kick in only if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

    If courts don’t allow Missouri’s proposed eight-week ban to take effect, the bill includes a ladder of less-restrictive time limits that would prohibit abortions at 14, 18 or 20 weeks or pregnancy. Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr has said the goal is for the legislation to withstand court challenges.

    A total of 3,903 abortions occurred in Missouri in 2017, the last full year for which the state Department of Health and Senior Services has statistics online. Of those, 1,673 occurred at under nine weeks and 119 occurred at 20 weeks or later in a pregnancy.

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  • ‘I Committed Murder’: Violent Gang Member-Turned-Pastor Reveals the Moment That Changed Everything

    ‘I Committed Murder’: Violent Gang Member-Turned-Pastor Reveals the Moment That Changed Everything

    Casey Diaz was once a gang member and murderer who took pleasure in the violence and chaos that was inherent to his lifestyle — until an encounter with the Bible’s message of hope changed his life in the most profound ways imaginable.

    Diaz, who tells his life-affirming story his new book, “The Shot Caller: A Latino Gangbanger’s Miraculous Escape from a Life of Violence to a New Life in Christ,” recently appeared on PureFlix.com’s “Pure Talk” to reveal the ins and outs of his unlikely transformation.

    The former gang leader said life started to get complex after he and his family immigrated to America from El Salvador when he was just 2 years old. By the time he was 8, familial chaos raged, with drugs and alcohol entering the home and his mother facing abuse from his dad.

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