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Category Archives: Sci-Tech

GRACE HOPPER FORCED COMPUTERS TO SPEAK ENGLISH, SORTA PART 2

YESTERDAY NICE NEWS INTRODUCED US TO mathematician Grace Hopper. Today in Part 2, we follow her career in the pioneer days of computers and at the nexus of academe and … Continue reading →

December 14, 2023 · Leave a comment

GRACE HOPPER FORCED COMPUTERS TO SPEAK ENGLISH, SORTA PART 1

NICE NEWS (A WEBSITE THAT DISTRIBUTES JUST THAT) recently, December 8, 2023, had a fascinating item about computer scientist/Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. Quite appropriately, Hopper was known as “Queen of … Continue reading →

December 13, 2023 · Leave a comment

CATCHIN’ ZZZS WITH THE WADDLE

ANIMALS OF ALL SORTS, HUMANS INCLUDED, engage in microsleep, seconds-long interruptions of wakefulness. Why they/we do it is not completely clear, as the short duration may have little benefit in … Continue reading →

December 5, 2023 · Leave a comment

A.I. TO REVOLUTIONIZE WEATHER PREDICTION

METEOROLOGISTS DESCRIBE IT AS “the ‘quiet revolution’: a gradual but steady improvement in weather forecasting.” Paul Voosen writes in AAAS Science, November 17, 2023, “Today the 6-day forecast is about … Continue reading →

November 26, 2023 · 1 Comment

MORE A.I. BS

QUITE INDEPENDENT OF RECENT BUSINESS MACHINATIONS in the A.I. industry, there still remains the inherent problem of addressing hallucinations. SimanaitisSays discussed this in “On Chatbots and Other Hallucinators.” And in … Continue reading →

November 21, 2023 · Leave a comment

TURING’S BOMBE; HOLMES MEETS HARRY NILE 

TALK ABOUT SERENDIPITY: November 30 marks publication of Alan Turing’s 1936 paper “On Computable Numbers, with Application to the Entscheidungsproblem.” The November 2023 issue of BBC HISTORY recounts this idea … Continue reading →

November 19, 2023 · Leave a comment

A VERTICAL TOUR

BRITISH ASTRONOMER FRED HOYLE GOT ME THINKING about the sliver of atmosphere making life possible on Earth. Here are tidbits about this, sourced from one place and another, including SimanaitisSays. … Continue reading →

November 11, 2023 · 1 Comment

SCIENCE FOR ARTIES, POETRY FOR TECHIES

WE LAMENT THESE DAYS the chasms of thought between this and that, reds and blues, one thing and another. Occasionally, though, a unifying aspect appears. And so it is with … Continue reading →

November 10, 2023 · Leave a comment

INFANCY TIDBITS

ONE INTERESTING FACT LEADS to another. As an example, the Interesting Facts website recently noted that “Babies Blink Less Than Adults.” Here are tidbits gleaned from this report and from … Continue reading →

November 2, 2023 · Leave a comment

STAYING DRY, MINISCULE-FASHION

THIS IS A SMALL SIMANAITISSAYS ITEM DESCRIBING really small stuff, nanoparticles that help to keep things dry. The report from A? Aalto University, October 23,  2023, announces, “Revised method to … Continue reading →

November 1, 2023 · Leave a comment