People who worry about Things like Artificial Intelligence (AI) robots worry that one day the machines will realize they don’t need people to survive and annihilate us all. But the people over at DeepMind have a bigger problem with their AI robot as our friends at engadget pointed out: “It probably never occurred to anyone that, as soon as they discovered beer, Netflix and video games, that computers would ditch plans for world domination, drop out and get a job at the local gas station.”

Seems the folks at DeepMind wanted to see if the AI could learn to play video games without being taught. So they set it up with 2,600 Atari titles and let it go. They didn’t give it any instructions on how to play, but every time it did something right, it was rewarded with the electronic equivalent of a doggy treat. And you know what happened? It got really good at those games. So good, they want to teach it more complicated games like Pac-Man and StarCraft.

Every gamer knows those Things are totally addicting. If AI gets hooked on video games, we’ll never have to worry about it conquering the world. But it might crush you — and your friends — at Halo.

See you next week,
Bobby

As an avid reader (lurker) of the popular “random Things” web site, Reddit, I often stumble upon Things that are more shocking than the NSFW (not suitable for work) subcategory (subreddit).

Things that are so shocking, I have to share them with you.

In January a certain “Captain Mercedes,” announced that he had tracked every single bowel movement he had in 2014. But wait, there’s more: He compiled a data file cataloging each and every one of those movements using the “Bristol stool scale” (seven categories of shape and consistency). But wait, there’s a bonus! He posted the poop file for other Reddit users so they might “design hypotheses” of the data to help the poor captain better understand the mysteries of his secretions.

You can’t make Things like this up. Follow the adventures of Captain Mercedes and his output yourself. Fair warning: it might not be suitable for work.

See you next week,
Bobby

NASA’s Helioviewer, an online “solar data browser” allows people to check out what’s happening on our sun any time of the day or night. Now prominent UFO watchers like Scott Waring says he discovered a UFO “Tall Ship” the size of the moon on or around the sun using NASA’s own public tools. And this isn’t the first time.

Last December, Waring said he had discovered a similar “moon size UFO” exiting a dark spot on the sun’s surface—again through the Helioviewer. And again on Christmas Eve, the intrepid watcher was poring over Helioviewer images and saw what he believed to be a UFO “Mothership” blasting out of the sun’s surface.

But if not impossible, it seems improbable. The sun’s surface is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, enough to incinerate any known object instantly. But maybe we’re not talking about a known object. Maybe this is someThing beyond our grasp and technology. As one commenter on the UFO Sightings Daily blog says, “We have to remember that we are talking about a race that is thousands, perhaps even millions of years ahead of us…”

Maybe. I bookmarked the Helioviewer so I could watch for myself. I’ll let you know if I see anything.

See you next week,
Bobby

Does Joss Whedon want to be the next director to set the internet abuzz with gender-busting heroes? The creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” told Buzzfeed he’d like to make a “turn of the century female “Batman”.”

But then he added, “Not Batman actually. But, you know, something cool.” Why not Bat(wo)man? What could be cooler than that? It makes you wonder. Who would Batwoman’s sidekick be? And what would happen to Alfred? And what about her arch enemies? Would she have to face Catman?

The mind boggles with the possibilities. One Thing is certain: in Joss Whedon’s hands, Gotham and the DC Comics Universe would never be the same!

See you next week,
Bobby