Pull Tight

“You asked the impossible of a machine and the machine complied.”  ―  Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ,  The Sirens of Titan Most of the recent books and many news stories I am reading (or listening) are at least somewhat related to Artificial Intelligence. Truly amazing subject matter for where we have arrived and where we may be headed. It seems to be advancing at an ever-increasing rate. Here are some of the AI-related observations I have made in just the past week. Two chatbots at Facebook created a new language to communicate with each other A humanoid robot was granted citizenship in Saudia Arabia Heard artificial intelligence mentioned in a lecture not directly related to AI An interactive toy  from Mattel was pulled from production because of the privacy concerns  Noticed an ad for an Account Representative for IBM Watson in the Dallas area You often hear concerns about AI and robotics taking away jobs.  And, most of us think...

About once a month I buy coffee from a world-class coffee roaster who happens to be not far from where I work. Coffee is always roasted the same day as ordered and always very good.  Discovered Rodaks a couple years ago https://pulltight.blogspot.com/2014/10/unexpected-treasure.html Marvin Rodak an I have become friends, exchanging stories, cooking tips, etc. He is quite the fan of drag racing. A couple of months ago, Marvin suggested I come to his annual meet and greet for the drag racing teams coming to town.  There would be barbeque, beer, racing crews, and fans  Not a particular fan of racing myself, but suspected the food would be good and the attendees might be interesting. Last Thursday was the night.  A couple of factory grill reps for were cooking (competing?) as well as Marvin.  All in attendance were quite interesting and shared a love for good food.  And the food was excellent, beginning with grilled oysters and ending with ...

"This was not only the most dangerous moment of the Cold War. It was the most dangerous moment in human history." Arthur M. Schlesinger  advisor to the  John F. Kennedy  administration I am currently listening to the audio version of a book about artificial intelligence (AI). Much of the book is about the safety of artificial intellignece. The potential of AI and the evolving technology for military or terrorist is truly frightening. There is a discussion of military mishaps resulting from misinterpretation of information resulting in many accidents.  Some of these have involved multiple fatalities such as the accidental downing of civilian aircraft.  10/27/1962 - Then, there is the discussion of  B-59, a Russian submarine with nuclear missiles during the Cuban Missle Crisis. The sub was too deep in international waters for radio contact.  The US Navy began dropping depth charges in an attempt to bring it to the surface. The subma...

Sometimes during the morning workouts I attend, we do an exercise called the bird dog.  The others attending probably think I am losing my mind as this exercise brings a smile to my face.  Always think of my old friend Joe, his bird dogs and one particular story he used to tell. I often recall other stories from Joe such as https://pulltight.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-cat.html. But this one of the favorites. Joe was a college football player in mid-1960s.  Not sure of the circumstances but he ended up playing at Notre Dame for Ara Parseghian and then transferring to Univ of Texas where he played for Darrell Royal.  I suspect he may be the only player in history to have played for both of these legendary coaches. Back to bird dogs. When I met Joe he was an avid bird hunter with a couple talented dogs.  He came out to the farm with me a couple of times with his dogs. Watching a good hunter work with a good bird dog is really something to see. ...

Started the day with a flat tire.  Don't have nearly as many flats as in time past, but they are more of a pain when they occur.  Get out the miniature spare that doesn't look safe  enough to drive on and then searched for some place that repairs flats. When I was a kid we either fixed ourselves with something like Monkey Grip (consisting a glue a piece of rubber and a rasp) or took the tire one of the two full service stations in Tolar and got a hot patch on the inner tube. Remember the hot patch as small metal container with some sort of chemicals. Whoever patched would clamp the metal to the tube and then ignite the chemicals with a match or his cigarette. Think I remember it costing $0.25 or $0.50. When I finally found someone to fix today, it was a relative bargain at $10.00 after convincing the repair shop I didn't want or need a new tire. Read we are just a few years from tires that never go flat or that are actually made as part of the wheel. Can't wai...