ANSA.it – News in English – Computer beats humans at crosswords
Computers won a points victory over human crossword puzzle enthusiasts at a contest organised during the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence here .
Webcrow, the first Italian software able to tackle a crossword, uses the Internet as a gigantic library. The man-versus-machine contest echoed events held in the 1980s where computers played chess against masters . Continue reading “Computer beats humans at crosswords”
Official Google Blog: Download the classics
Starting today, you can go to Google Book Search and download full copies of out-of-copyright books to read at your own pace. You’re free to choose from a diverse collection of public domain titles — from well-known classics to obscure gems.
Before the rise of the public library -– a story chronicled in this 1897 edition of The Free Library – access to large collections of books was the privilege of a wealthy minority. Now, with the help of our wonderful library partners, we’re able to offer you the ability to download and read PDF versions of out-of-copyright books from some of the world’s greatest collections.
Starbucks Pulls Free Coffee Promotion – Forbes.com
There’s no such thing as a free iced coffee at Starbucks – at least not anymore.
The world’s largest specialty coffee chain has pulled the plug on what was supposed to be a nearly five-week promotion after an e-mail coupon spread farther and wider than the company anticipated. Continue reading “Starbucks Pulls Free Coffee Promotion”
It seems reasonable to assume that much of the adolescent rage of the Arab Street was sexual frustration. So this debate about the legitimacy of this Islamic form of dating and polygamy is important. After all, why wait for the 72 virgins, when you can have it all now?
For over a decade, the phenomenon of marriage without commitment, called misyar marriage, has been spreading throughout the Sunni Muslim world, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries.(1) In such marriages, the woman relinquishes some of the rights that Islam grants her, such as the right to a home and to financial support from her husband, and, if he has other wives, the right to an equal part of his time and attention. In most cases, these marriages are secret, without the knowledge of the man’s other wives – even though a marriage contract is drawn up in the presence of witnesses, and although consent is commonly obtained from the woman’s guardian, and the marriage is registered and documented at the courthouse. Demand is high for misyar marriages on online matchmaking sites, as well as through services using text messages and email.(2) Continue reading “Islamic “Pleasure Marriages””
From Thomas Barnett’s seminal book “Blueprint For Action”
As 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft put it in his profile of the cohort, “Echo boomers are the most watched-over generation in history. Most have never ridden a bike without a helmet, ridden in a car without a seat belt, or eaten in a cafeteria that serves peanut butter.” As a result, they are naturally team-oriented overachievers who, unlike previous recent generations, trust the government, hold traditional values, and emulate their parents instinctively.
The Echo Boomers, or the huge 80-million-plus generation of Americans born between 1980 and 1995 (the largest generation this country has ever known), … come the year 2025, they’ll be the cohort (age thirty to forty-five) that’s doing the most moving and shaking in our economy and political scene. Continue reading “Echo Boomers”
Acronym and abbreviation dictionary: Find out what over 3,008,000 abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms stand for
With more than 500,000 human-edited entries, Acronym Finder is the world’s largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms. Combined with the Acronym Attic, Acronym Finder contains more than 3 million acronyms and abbreviations. (Thanks to Natalia for this link).
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | ‘God spot’ researchers see the light in MRI study
Brain scans of nuns have revealed intricate neural circuits that flicker into life when they feel the presence of God.
The images suggest that feelings of profound joy and union with a higher being that accompany religious experiences are the culmination of ramped-up electrical activity in parts of the brain. Continue reading “‘God spot’ researchers see the light in MRI study”
Thanks to Jeff for this on-line quiz to help find the true sports car inside of all of us.
Web Guitar Wizard Revealed at Last – New York Times
One of the most popular hits on this blog , since it was posted on Jan. 18th, has been this guitar video. Now the NY Times reveals “Who is this guy?” Turns out we had posted the original version, which later popularized with a version by a guy that called himself funtwo, who had added a drum track.
Eight months ago a mysterious image showed up on YouTube, the video-sharing site that now shows more than 100 million videos a day. A sinewy figure in a swimming-pool-blue T-shirt, his eyes obscured by a beige baseball cap, was playing electric guitar. Sun poured through the window behind him; he played in a yellow haze. The video was called simply “guitar.” A black-and-white title card gave the performer’s name as funtwo.
The piece that funtwo played with mounting dexterity was an exceedingly difficult rock arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon, the composition from the turn of the 18th century known for its solemn chord progressions and its overexposure at weddings. But this arrangement, attributed on another title card to JerryC, was anything but plodding: it required high-level mastery of a singularly demanding maneuver called sweep-picking. (Click on the pictures to see each video).
Beloit College
Members of the class of 2010, entering college this fall, were mostly born in 1988. For them: Billy Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin, Andy Gibb, and Secretariat have always been dead.
1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
2. They have known only two presidents.
3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.
4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.
5. They have grown up getting lost in “big boxes.”
6. There has always been only one Germany.
7.
They have never heard anyone actually “ring it up” on a cash register.
8. They are wireless, yet always connected.
9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents’.
10. Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.
11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
12.
Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines. Continue reading “2010 College Freshman Mindset”