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- Uncle Leo from Seinfeld has died. (I never really liked that character.)
- There was a double murder near the SMU campus last night which prompted the school newspaper to immediately post a story about it. Judging by the comments, the story contained a photograph of a dead body that was later taken down because of complaints.
- We've always said we need to close the borders, just not this Borders.
- Not sure I needed to see Mark Davis and Bob Ray Sanders yell at each other about John Wiley Price for the first 13 minutes of Fox 4 News last night.
- That computer winning the Jeopardy match should be bigger news. Truly, that was a machine that could listen to the question and come up with the answer. There were no tricks. And Time has a feature article this week on what happens when computers become smarter than humans (which, at the current rate, would be in about 30 years.)
- Someone commented a couple of times saying "Why does Egypt mean anything to me?" Well, let a few more countries go down and have one of them launch an attack on Israel, and you'll learn very quickly what it means to you.
- Wise County lawyer the other day said that he thought "all that Egypt stuff was just some kind of pyramid scheme." (Insert WBAP Hal Jay wheeze laugh.)
- Saw a guy on a small motorcycle on 287 yesterday going 55 mph and you could tell he was getting bounced around by the wind. Scary.
- Wondering what ever happened to Marcia Clark?
- I never watch NASCAR but I saw where Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole position last weekend for the Daytona 500 and then wrecked the car yesterday. Now he has to use a backup car and start at the back of the pack. That guy is a knucklehead.
- The Intoxication Manslaughter case is still going on in Decatur. I really haven't had time to follow it but I did see a Messenger reporter in the gallery yesterday.
- Girl attaches camera to her booty and films people checking her out. (Credit bagofnothing.com)
- Any comments about the No Body Murder Trial can be left on the post down below, but I'll say this morning that it's most disturbing criminal justice verdict I've ever heard of.
- A very innocent and normal question that for some reason I find very intrusive: "Where do you live?"
- How music has changed: Glee has had 113 singles on Billboard's Top 100 list in less than two years breaking the all time record of Elvis who had 108 over the course of his lifetime.
75 comments:
People who are put off by questions like where do you live are the reason I refrain from speaking to anyone about anything most of the time. This has been a life long problem with me. However, I am also sensitive to personal questions. So we are alike in that area.
I am very upset over the no body conviction. That is why one should be very afraid if you are at the mercy of the court, especially if you are innocent. And, I certainly do not trust juries.
Why does an attack on Israel mean anything to me?
I would like to spit in the face of each one of the jurist in the no body trial. Karma will get them!
Uncle Leo just called and he don't like you either.
crazy moment on fox news last night when Heather Hays was "mediating" debate over John Wiley Price. Look it up.
Okay, with the guilty verdict they have now declared the woman dead. So is this just a step to get life insurance for her family, or prepare for a civil suit? I wonder.....I do hope the verdict is reversed.
"Where do you live?"
In a house.
Double Fake Watson
Me and the Sun have somethin in common,we both had mass ejections last night.
December 21 2012 is on the way.
A computer defeats humans in retrieving information? The next thing you know, a fork lift will be able to pick up more weight than a person can, and a motorcycle will go faster than someone peddling a bike.
We've always created machines that can outperform a human being -- that's what inventions are for. A machine beating a human is not that big a deal. It's the uses to which humans put the machines that are scary. Technology long ago outpaced judgment.
Neck down----nice.
If you ever wonder what happened to somebody who was well known many years ago (like Marcia Clark) then just do a Google search. You'll get results nine times out of 10, although you may have to do some digging.
I do the same thing with people who were famous 20 - 30 years ago.
Proof that justice cannot be served in this once great country. It is time to revolt, before it's too late my friends. May God help us all...
Ass cam -- very funny
9:00 Answer a question like that and you are considered a smart a**, or you indeed are trying to hide something. Either way you will be a loner.
The no body conviction should tell you to be sure a lawyer up, even if it is a traffice ticket.
I bet the intoxication manslaughter case ends up not guilty. Not that I think it should be guilty, but it will look strange up beside the no body verdict.
What the hell did 9:26 say?
A detour from my usual snarky comments:
1. Texas law permits charges without a body. There are good reasons for that rule.
2. Most of us were not in the courtroom every day to hear the same evidence that the jury heard.
3. It was, by practice & law, a jury of his peers. No better or worse than other Texas juries.
4. If there was a miscarriage, the system has processes to rectify.
5. One bad case does not mean you cry out to toss the whole system. You move on and improve the system. See OJ murder case.
Back to the snark.
My Other Brother Darryl
wk
A machine having more muscle power than a human is not the same as one having more brain power. This is not about calculating,machines have been doing that better than humans for decades; this is about reasoning and coming to conclusions. Think about Hal.
Check out the Time article.
Uncle Wally
8:45
Why does attack on Israel mean anything to you?
You may not be aware but we have spent billions of dollars and thousnds of American lives on a couple of wars in the middle east for the last eight years. Soooo.....try REAL hard to think about how ANY event in that area can affect you. Don't strain yourself.
Uncle Wally
Barry, I'll bet your house that the Stobaugh verdict holds up on appeal. Either your time in Denton County at UNTSU didn't give you much insight into the makeup of the county or you see things in black and white -- kind of like the police.
Wordkyle...
The trick with Watson wasn't the high speed access to huge databases of information, that is pretty much a given nowadays, the trick was to "educate" the computer to understand the question.
Example, one category was "One Buck or Less". Most humans would assume the category is talking about items that cost less than $1. However, a machine may interpret the category as a choice, One Buck versus Less, or possibly people with the names Buck or Less, or one male deer or less.
The trick wasn't having the correct data, the trick the IBM folks solved(for the most part) was the interpretation of language and supplying the correct data based on that interpretation.
I can tell you that those of us in the IT world are pretty impressed with IBM's work.
Double Fake Zeroes and Ones
9:26 said: The no body conviction should make you want to lawyer-up right away, even if it is only a traffic ticket; and, especially if you are innocent.
UW - This was indeed a calculating machine on display, using logic rules written by humans (calculation) and retrieving information -- it stored 200 million pages of content, according to the article. I'm no romantic, but Watson is merely the next step in machinery. It's the high-tech descendant of a pair of dice. Watson is pretty cool, but so were Rock'em Sock 'em Robots.
1002 - I understand what you're saying, and I'm not saying it's not impressive. I simply can't get excited at a machine answering questions. It shows the value of brute force devoted to a single purpose. (As the article implied, try asking Watson to make a pot of tea.) It's the next natural development of complicated machinery. In comparison, I think Gutenberg's development of the printing press was much more earthshaking. The language context component is still calculation, using logic rules provided by humans. And I disagree with your "most humans" assessment. Small children use puns all the time, and someone playing a game such as Jeopardy makes leaps in word play naturally.
Charles will win out. Especially when Kathy shows up in Mexico.
Question: IF Kathy shows up alive, and IF Charles wins his appeal and is finally found not guilty, and IF he THEN kills her... can he be tried for the murder of Kathy since he was already found innocent of the crime? Double Jeopardy?
If you don't think the attack on Israel ot the trouble in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Lybia or any of those psycho countries will have any affect on us, think about this......oil......Suez Canal
wk
I know you hate to admit you are wrong so I will forgive your inalbiliy to do so. Equating Watson, or any computer with reasoning ability, with a "machine" will not enhance your status as a....well...wordkyle.
Stick to your forklift, that is a machine.
Uncle Wally
Watson also answered the first Final Jeopardy question very wrong. The catagory was "US Cities" and his answer was "Toronto". Not very bright if you ask me. Must have skipped geography in that 2 million pages of data.
aaannnnddddd, the Update reports that DISD will face the hardest budget yet! Admin, teachers, etc will be cut! But... bring on the turf, boys! Bring on the turf!
The reason Watson is not bigger news may be that it aired a behind the scenes spread prior to the actual contest airing.
That and I don't think its a stretch to say the majority of humans are simply ignorant of this type of research (AI is hardly new, its just getting easier to implement). Some have anticipated it; greater computing power will drive our biotechnologies exponentially. 2045 is the year we are said to spike.
Our destiny or the folly of some enlightened neo-Frankensteins?
Man, if people are going to practically live forever, we really need to slow our reproduction as a species.
The Singularitarion
Here is why Egypt/Israel might matter to you:
The following is a copy of an article written by Spanish writer
Sebastian Vilar Rodriguez and published in a Spanish newspaper on Jan. 15, 2008. (Edited for brevity).
ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ By Sebastian Vilar
Rodrigez
Europe died in Auschwitz. We killed six million Jews and
replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent.
And under the pretence of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to
ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates
to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious
extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty.
We have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred,
creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and
superstition.
We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their
talent for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to
life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed
by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and
theirs.
The Global Islamic population is approximately is ONE
BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population. They have
received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature: 1
Peace:4
Economics:
(zero)
Physics:
(zero)
Medicine: 2
TOTAL: 7 SEVEN
The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000; that is
FOURTEEN MILLION or about 0.02% of the world's population. They have
received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature: 10
Peace: 8
Physics: 54
Economics: 13
Medicine: 44
TOTAL: 129!
The Jews are NOT promoting brain washing children in military training
camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of
Jews and other non Muslims. The Jews don't hijack planes, nor kill athletes
at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants. There is NOT
one single Jew who has destroyed a church. There is NOT a single Jew who
protests by killing people.
Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the
Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more
culpability on Israel 's part, the following two sentences really say it
all:
'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more
violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more
Israel ." Benjamin Netanyahu
Wordkyle is about to pass the creep on the most irritating comments list. Let's stay with the Seinfield theme,,,,he's a "smart talker"
If the schools in Texas would stop spending so much freaking money on sports, we would have no budget problems. All the exercise they need is to run round a track a couples times each day. We have actually lost many lives to the sports!! Spend the money on properly trained teachers!!
One huge difference between Glee and other legitimate stars. They sing hit songs from other artists, past and present. Nothing original.
The budget deficit is all Mack Brown's fault. Somehow.
UW - Hold off on the superior tone for just a bit longer. For many years I followed the development of the ability of computers to play chess, a "reasoning" task. IBM led the way -- using brute force calculation -- and developed Deep Blue, which beat a world champion.
One of Deep Blue's developers, Murray Campbell, says pretty much what I've been saying -- Watson takes up (using brute force) where Deep Blue left off. From the New York Times: ...what Watson does is not all that dissimilar from what Deep Blue did, Dr. Campbell said. “We don’t claim that Watson is thinking in the way people think. It is working on a computational problem at its core.”
I'm sorry that my lack of being impressed rubbed so many people the wrong way. Next time somebody builds a bigger wheelbarrow I'll make sure to bake a cake.
I thought that headline read "Find the Breast" hahahaha that's funny as all get out.
This explains the popularity of Glee.
Barry,
Over 20 years ago, a HS classmate of mine was murdered by her soon-to-be ex-husband in Maryland. There was no body. They have never found her body. Yet, a jury found her husband guilty. Her unmarried brother was the only one capable of raising her two young children. Why do you have such a problem with there not being a body?
If you never see a woman pregnant, yet you see the baby, does that mean the baby wasn't born? To me your logic is lacking.
The other day you listed your pet peeve about the lawyers chi-chatting with other lawyers rather than talking with their nervous clients.
I can remember almost a year ago you complaining that you hate having clients come in to see you and they want to talk rather than listen.
Hmmmm, it's not OK for those lawyers to act like jerks, but it is OK for you to act like one.
1:16, I doubt Barry could comment about the case you describe without having much more information. As a lawyer myself, and a person disturbed by the Denton County conviction, I can tell you that the lack of a body is only one thing that is disturbing about the trial. Not only does the prosecution have no body, it has no theory how the husband killed the wife or what he did with the body. There is little or no circumstantial evidence that a crime was committed. All you have is a husband--who admittedly had substantial motive--and a wife who seems to have disappeared into thin air.
You can't really put any blame on Earnhardt for wrecking. He didn't want to practice but the team wanted him out there. Slower cars ahead of him blocked the track and caused the wreck.
He's usually a knucklehead, but not in this case. He's still a favorite to win the race.
Do you think being a lawyer and/or the owner of this blog intensifies your feelings of intrusiveness when the "Where do you live?" question is asked?
There was a NOVA episode about Watson, and it specifically detailed the difference in computers playing chess and computers understanding the nuances of the questions asked on Jeopardy. The machine would learn as it went in certain categories to understand that the answer would always be something like the name of a month, where the question was literally asking for some other answer. This is an evolutionary step in computing, it's just not understood by people like wordkyle. But I'm sure he's not surprised by something being smarter than him. It happens on this blog every day.
Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted for reasons that I suspect are similar to the no body murder defendant. Jurors will just go along with a prosecutor, and they think that some people just need killin'.
Triple Fake Rage Judicata
The problem with the verdict in that Denton case stems, for me, from the reasonable doubt standard and the role of the trial judge in the case. I fail to see how a judge would even allow the case to go to the jury since the state has not and never will be able to show that the defendant caused the death of the missing lady, beyond a reasonable doubt, unless and until those facts are establshed. Sure, a jury might not understand the law. Murder cases are very emotional but feelings are not facts. Thats why we have judges. I wish I could hear the judge explain how the case got to the jury. Problem is that the criminal appellate courts in Texas are not where I would like to hang my hat to see that justice is done, if I am unfortunate enough to be the guy that is convicted.
wk
Is too! Is too! doesn't keep me interested. I still love you and I'm sure you will do better next time.
luv,
Uncle Wally
mY iOBOT IS VACUMING THE HOUSE AS WE READ
1:16
You can't deny the baby was born, but there is still reasonable dobt as to who gave birth to the child. I carry my grandchildren around all the time. That does not mean I gave birth to them, I am their grandfather.
I wonder if there are more mexican restaurants than any other type other than hamburger joints.
Ojeidas or something like that name is very good, new in Paradise, opens 7 days a week, eveen for breakfast. They are a chain out of Dallas.
211 - If it were not for the fact that an IBM expert in computers had said something similar to what I'm saying (see above) then you're attempt at an insult might carry more weight. I'm not sure your watching an episode of NOVA trumps his opinion.
Wally - Ibid.
wordkyle, we can't help if you take the quotes of people who are smarter than you out of context.
Rage
Rage, I think you knocked WK's pipe right out of his mouth.
:-)
I am with 8:42 as to the current judicial system and the untrustworthiness of juries. Those who actually believe that just because a jury makes a ruling that it's valid must live in a bubble. Consider all the false convictions now coming to light from days past when there was no DNA evidence testing. Today there are still innocent folks being trampled by our system and there are sentences being handed down which are in no manner FAIR, EQUITABLE, or even SENSIBLE. Depends on who is up for election that year and what the DA considers will get him/her the most popularity and notariety. Screw the poor defendent who may or may NOT deserve the sentence. I hope there is a nice place in hell for all prosecuting attorneys.
I am with the several commenters above. You still haven't told me (other than the ridiculous ranting of 12:01 which was just simply crap) why I should care about Israel or Egypt. Is it going to cost me more for gas? What is your point? I still don't get it. I have no sons eligible to go to war, so that isn't the issue. I don't give a damn if they all kill each other. I have to pay taxes either way. Again, so what if Egypt self-destructs and so what if they attack Israel? HOW DOES THAT AFFECT ME? And yes, I am serious. You are all giving answers which are really no answers at all. Spell it out please becaues I just can't work up the energy to care with what you've posted thus far.
WK
If you were a professional in the IT field, you would understand the differences.
The dude you keep referring to from the IBM Deep Blue project is loath to tell you that the Watson project trumps the Deep Blue project, hands down.
For instance....
The response time for Deep Blue was much greater than for Watson. If you've ever played chess, or watched chess being played(which means, you need to get a life), you'll note that there is significantly more time to decide your next move in chess than to decide if you know the answer in Jeopardy. Watson was in a competition where response time to the question was critical to playing and winning the game. Deep Blue had a fixed 8x8 grid with 16 pieces per side with 6 rule sets for moves by the various pieces(example, 8 pawns, but each pawn moves the same, equaling 1 rule set) within the 8x8 grid. Watson had to figure out statements like "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?".
In the end, both machines use math as a base for their "thinking", but I guarantee you, as an IT professional for over 30 years of hands on experience, including service with the Itty Bitty Machine Co.(IBM), it's much easier to program the concepts of the game of chess than it is to program the interpretation of the English language.
Double Fake King's Bishop
People amaze me...Computers cannot give an answer that has not been programmed by a human. There is science of reason which Watson does very well and the art of reason, which a computer can never do. Human intelligence allows us to navigate the nuances of everyday life. A computer can be programmed to give the wrong answer and it will never know the difference. I have never heard a scientist say the human brain can be duplicated but some are much better than others.
Hmmm..."out of context." If the words I quoted above are not what Dr. Campbell's words, nor what he meant, please feel free to point out what his real meaning was.
Interesting how you defense attorneys defend the jury system if you win and condemn it the rest of the time. It isn't perfect but where you want to look for a better one? Iran? Irag? Egypt? How about France where the defendant's parents are being prosecuted, yes prosecuted, for libeling the investigators who worked on their convicted daughter's case. Bitch about it all you like. Right here in the good old USA, Decatur, Texas, America you have more rights if you are charged with a crime than anywhere in this world. There are so many safeguards that very few people are acquitted. That's because very few cases where a person is actually innocent ever make it that far. I don't necessarily agree with the verdict in Denton but that's how the system works. Figure out a better one if you don't like it or shut up.
3:22
World War Three! Care yet?
3:22 If Britain were attacked would you say the same thing? Israel is our ally. I don't know about you but my parents taught me to be a man of my word. If we have given our word to Israel that we will back them that should be reason enough to back them. It's called integrity.
It isn't perfect but where you want to look for a better one? Iran? Irag? Egypt?
It can be truthfully said that we have the worst system in the world... except for all the others.
Rage
4:10, I'm fine giving our word to Israel. But giving them billions of dollars and letting them test our weapons platforms and sell our secrets to China? I'm not OK with that.
Enough with the Israel guilt already. The Japanese murdered and raped far more people than Hitler ever did. Get over it Jews!
Rage
347 - Did Watson sprout from thin air? Or is it the next logical development made possible by building on previous technology and research? I'm sure that it clobbers Deep Blue, just as televisions now clobber TV's from ten years ago. Everything is more impressive now.
Let me be clear -- I don't mean that Watson's feat isn't very cool. But there seems to be a lot of people displaying a lot of awe and wonderment at a machine doing something better than a human, and I think that's ridiculous.
The lead story in the update is the budget cuts for DISD....why did you Barry not even mention this? Are we suppose to forget about the million dollars that was spent, plus the $10,000 raise for the new supt?
What about all this budget problems issues for a board that just spent over $1 million because they had too much money and gave the super a $10,000 raise!
WK
You need to watch the Star Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer".
Double Fake M5
Is Decatur ISD really outta of money?
One mill for sports and 10,000 on the new super. now if only they would spend 3to 4 million on turf a few more jumbotrons and get rid of a few of the dead beat coaches then we would be ready for all the budget cut from the state. How proud of that new school board are ya now voters?
I heard the Chico Superintendent recently got a raise, toooo. Nice sinc he is axing people this week.
Here's one scenario in which an attack on Israel may concern you. An effective Arab force finally succeeds in overrrunning Israel and threatens complete extinction of her population. Israel decides to go out to the tune of 200 nukes hitting every Arab (or Persian) capitol in the region. Maybe even Moscow just for the hell of it. pakistan answers with her arsenal.
My friend, if you think this winter was brutal, just wait til you get a taste of nuclear winter.
On the bright side I guess global warming will be reversed.
"Albert Einstein on crack"
But Decatur blew millions in January and now they are crying. Are foxes runnin the hen house?
Does anyone really believe "Coach" Rage has a law degree with the pathetic comments and arguments he makes on this forum? If so, he must be Stobaugh's attorney or the idiot judge in Stobaugh's case.
WordKyle has taken you boys to the woodshed on the Watson discussion.
Speaking of Watson, I read somewhere that after the first day, the folks running the experiment decided to feed the questions to Watson as a text file giving Watson a possible advantage over the human competitors. Watson's solid state circuitry definitely gives it an advantage over the human competition.
Jumping in to help Israel or anyone else is just par for the course for the US. Vietnam, Gulf War, we love to jump in where we have no busienss, and I view any war short on on US soil to be butting in where we have no business. Will I support such a war in anyone else's defense? NO. Will it matter? NO. I haven't supported a war in my lifetime of 57 years but we keep jumping in to prove our macho-ism anyway. sucks
I think 10:48 was wordkyle
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