ARE YOU (STILL NOT) TALKING TO ME? PART 2
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE bots are learning to chat with each other in their own language. Using deep-learning skills to screw on bottle caps is one thing, but language is decidedly more … Continue reading
ARE YOU (NOT) TALKING TO ME? PART 1
FOR YEARS, science fiction has depicted computers developing their own lives and adversely affecting ours. Think of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968. Now, however, Artificial Intelligence has reached … Continue reading
ON POLITICIANS AND HYPOCRISY
THESE DAYS, “politician” and “hypocrisy” are naturals in a word-association test. Our current lamentable state encouraged me to do some etymological research on this word pair. My old pals Merriam-Webster … Continue reading
CELEBRATING TWO VERY SPECIAL MATHEMATICIANS
MATHEMATICIANS MARINA Ratner and Maryam Mirzakhani passed away within a week of each other, on July 7 and July 14, 2017, respectively. That they were successful women in a predominately … Continue reading
ON NIGERIAN OFFICIALS, SPANISH PRISONERS, (AND RUSSIAN AGENTS?)
AS A SimanaitisSays Public Service Announcement, I thought it most appropriate to offer details of classic cons. Three that come to mind are the Nigerian Official, the Spanish Prisoner, and, … Continue reading
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO PUT YOU IN THIS CAR?
SALES PITCHES for early automobiles evolved quickly indeed, with lines of persuasion that have come down through the years. My source for this is Floyd Clymer’s Historical Motor Scrapbook, 1944. … Continue reading
THOUGHTS ON COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION AND lady friend miscommunication have been in the news a lot these days. E-mails and tweets, leaked, deleted and otherwise, are part of this. Nathan Heller’s article in the … Continue reading
THE CHANNEL BY EUROSTAR AND EUROTUNNEL SHUTTLE
IT WAS a dream of Napoleon III. Winston Churchill advocated it. And likely Hitler would have tried using it: A tunneled link between continental Europe and the British Isles. I’ve … Continue reading
GAI LAN AND DUCK BACON
SO THERE I was, shopping at Mitsuwa, our local Japanese supermarket, for sashimi, inari sushi, salmon bento, and pickled cucumber. It’s a full marketplace, complete with Books Kinokuniya, boutique shops, … Continue reading
CELEBRATING WILL CUPPY—SATIRIST EXTRAORDINAIRE
WILL CUPPY is my favorite satirist; this, at a time when I find satire an immense comfort. I wonder how widespread Cuppy’s fame is? Cuppy, Indiana-born and raised, inherited the … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 