Things To Do In SW Florida

After nearly four years of playing catchup, Boeing is finally set to join SpaceX as one of two commercial partners capable of flying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is aiming for a May 6 launch, carrying commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams on the Crew Flight Test. They will fly atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41.

The duo are looking to dock Starliner with the ISS for about eight days before bringing the spacecraft back home for a ground landing in the western U.S. It will pave the way for Boeing to begin regular service to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the remedy to reliance on Russia for ferry service to the ISS after the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.

“It’s really exciting to finally get here to this day,” said Williams, and “represent so many people who have worked for years to get this Boeing Starliner ready to go. We just happen to be the tip of the spear, the face of it, and take it to space.” read more

By ANDREW DALTON (AP Entertainment Writer)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The estate of George Carlin has agreed to a settlement with the media company it sued over a fake hourlong comedy special that purportedly used artificial intelligence to recreate the late standup comic’s style and material.

In the settlement agreement filed with a federal court Monday, and a proposed order from both sides that awaits approval from a judge, the podcast outlet Dudesy agrees to permanently take down the special and to refrain from using Carlin’s image voice or likeness in the future without the express written approval of the estate.

The settlement meets the central demands laid out by the Carlin estate in the lawsuit filed on Jan. 25.

“I am grateful that the defendants acted responsibly by swiftly removing the video they made,” Carlin’s daughter Kelly Carlin said in a statement. “While it is a shame that this happened at all, I hope this case serves as a warning about the dangers posed by AI technologies and the need for appropriate safeguards not just for artists and creatives, but every human on earth.” read more

Visitors to Orlando’s Lake Eola can begin feeding the famous swans again after more than a month of bird flu-related restrictions.

“That’s perfect timing,” said Johanna Rosero of Winter Park on Tuesday. She was there with New Yorker Lis Loboa and her family, who fed the swans from their hands while visiting the park for the first time.

The city had banned direct contact with the more than 60 swans in the lake in February after four were found dead. Two tested positive for Avian Influenza, and dozens of other birds also succumbed to the virus.

But with no new deaths since March 1, Lake Eola Park staff have been advised by local veterinarians and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that they can begin reducing precautions around the park, city spokesman Ashley Papagni said Tuesday.

The level of caution surrounding human contact with birds that may be infected took on greater significance in the wake of the Texas health department’s announcement on Monday that a human had been infected with the A/H5N1 Avian Flu in the state, just the second-ever person in the United States to have contracted that strain of bird flu. read more