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Friday, November 25, 2016
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said this week that humans might be making a huge mistake by trying to make 'first contact' with alien species. Hawking is part of the "Breakthrough Listen" project. It's goal is to develop super sensitive radio receivers to listen in on alien civilizations. If they're there.

But there's another project called Breakthrough Message. It aims to create a transmission "representative of humanity and planet Earth" to send to an extraterrestrial civilization. They pledge "...not to transmit any message until there has been a global debate at high levels of science and politics on the risks and rewards of contacting advanced civilizations".

Professor Hawking thinks that's a seriously bad idea. He wants to eavesdrop on alien civilizations, but stay out of the conversation. In his mind, it's in our best interest to keep our heads down and our mouths shut. He says he worries that advanced aliens “will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.”

Ouch.

Some people think it might be dangerous even to listen to an alien message. It's possible it could be an encoded message like a computer virus that, once in our minds, could kill us. Or worse.

But the whole Thing might be a moot point. We've been broadcasting everyThing from I Love Lucy to Star Trek into the cosmos for decades. If someone is out there listening, it's probably too late to shut up now.

See you next week,
Bobby

Posted by: Bobby | 8:00 AM | permalink
Friday, November 18, 2016
An Artificial Intelligence (AI) robot named Torobo-kun failed the entrance exams for Tokyo University for the fourth time last week. Here's Torobo-kun working on the exam, which consisted of eight tests covering five different subjects.


The robot scored well on its history and physics exams, but his English scores were, well, pretty awful. Which shows us that AI is still behind the curve when it comes to Things like context and interpretation, which are critical language skills.

Torobo-kun sored 525 out of a possible 950, which, any human student would tell the robot, is a pretty respectable showing. Though it wasn't enough to make the cut at one of the top-ranked schools in Asia, the AI robot could have chosen from among about 500 other colleges or universities in Japan.

But his creators claim that after four years of hard work, Torobo-kun has barely managed to improve his test scores so now it must "accept defeat and work at a 'real job'".

I feel bad for Torobo-kun. But this might be a good Thing for the poor robot. At least it doesn't have to study for any more exams!

See you next week,
Bobby

Posted by: Bobby | 8:00 AM | permalink
Friday, November 11, 2016
I love writing about dumb Things criminals do to get themselves caught and subsequently ridiculed mercilessly by the press, Internet trolls, and of course bloggers like me. Remember this paranoid pair who got themselves busted with 20 pounds of pot in Idaho? Or the nerdy burglar who couldn't resist posting the clever steps he took to evade police - complete with geotags - on Snapchat? Pretty dumb, right? Well, meet Raymond Brooks of Youngstown, Ohio.

Mr. Brooks was pulled over last month after he cut off a police officer in traffic. The local paper reported that Brooks was "acting nervous and gave police permission to search his car." The search turned up a 9mm ammunition clip under a loose cup holder cover. The CD player also looked a bit loose, so police removed it from the dashboard. Behind it was a loaded handgun with an extended magazine.

Oh, but it gets better. Turns out Brooks is a convicted felon and therefore not allowed to possess a firearm. At all. So police arrested him. He was charged with "improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and being a felon in possession of a firearm".

Still it gets even better. On the way to the jail, Brooks asked if he could get his gun back. On the way to the jail! According to the local paper, a response from police "was not recorded". My guess is if it had been recorded, the response would have been uproarious laughter.

See you next week,
Bobby
Posted by: Bobby | 8:00 AM | permalink
Friday, November 4, 2016
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the whole political Thing this year. I vote, yes. I pay attention, yes. I even volunteer if I think there's a good reason to lend my time and energy to an issue or a candidate.

After all we've been through this year, I think most of us are sick of all the scandals, the childish arguing, the candidates (both sides) avoiding the issues and the non-stop, day-and-night, back-to-back political ads. But I have some good news: it's almost over. I can tell because all of our political Things are on sale.

I just want to go to the polls, cast my vote and wait for the end of this rancorous season. Sure, I hope Things turn out the way I want them to, but if they don't...well...that's part of living in a democracy, right?

Maybe we sometimes forget the beauty of a system in which power changes hands in a peaceful, civilized way. Well, somewhat civilized. The other night my family was arguing all Things political. There was a bit of yelling. A few threats to leave the country if one side or the other doesn't 'get their way'.  And everyone was trying to drag me into the fray.

But I refused to take the bait. I just said, "I'll live by whatever the voters decide. Isn't that what America is all about?"

The silence was positively golden.

See you after the election,
Bobby

Posted by: Bobby | 8:00 AM | permalink
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