Month: June 2005

Wired’s AI is Weak

By AMH

I really ought to know better than to expect sensible commentary on computer science from Wired, but their The Other Turing Test article crossed the line of agitation for me. I’m fine with them deciding to recount a project by some undergraduates to replicate the male/female imitation game scenario in the Turing Test, and adding ALICE into the mix is interesting, though I think it misreads Turing’s intention to say that the computer has to pretend to be female, as compared to just human. But to say: “Scientists studying artificial intelligence have long argued over the meaning of this gender-bending … Continue reading Wired’s AI is Weak

Narbonic

By AMH

A friend pointed me to the cartoon Narbonic, whose archives are open for free this week, and suggested that I check it out starting from the beginning. I’m going to lose the rest of the afternoon to the archives. I knew I was hooked when I hit the week (probably a couple of months in) where the evil scientist Helen Narbon is being pursued by ANTONIO SMITH, FORENSIC LINGUIST for abuse of language in her manifesto. How can you resist a strip with lines like “11:33 AM, Eastern Standard. Once again I find myself scaling the face of a building, … Continue reading Narbonic

Top Children’s Lit

By AMH

Ah – I saw Cheeky Prof do this and it looked fun. Which of the National Education Association’s Top 100 Books for Kids according to parents and teachers (as compared to according to kids) have you read? I’ve read the ones in bold:

Distracted by Life Offline

By AMH

I really intended to weblog more this summer, but the open blocks of time have been calling to me for more focused projects, and my websurfing has been pretty listless. So, I’ll punt and send you over to the ACM’s US Public Policy site. Their Tech Policy Weblog has been very interesting the past week or two, discussing the impact of the several recent data breaches, and the status and potential good and ill of various laws being proposed in response. Certainly, it has to be treated as negligence for a company like CardSystems to store data in unencrypted form.

Creepy Plastic King

By AMH

I’ve been being entertained by the new-to-me Yirmumah! comic; this past week or so, the comic has involved fast food mascots, starting with the creepy, creepy Burger King king. A month or so back in the archives there was a long stretch of Star Wars themed comics as well, if you’re a big geek into that type of thing. I loved the Save Greedo one :)