If you read my last post, I was a bit disappointed now that Battlestar Galactica is over. I’m glad I’m not the only one!
I guess we’ll all have to wait until the new content comes out.
President Obama depressed after the Battlestar Galactica Series Finale
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Flash Forward Thursdays on ABCFlash Forward Thursdays on ABC
Flash Forward
When I first heard of Flash Forward, I was intrigued. Time travel stories always have piqued my interest. This new show isn’t a typical time travel story. One day all of humanity is knocked unconscious, and most of them see what appear to be hallucinations (2:17 minutes worth) of the future. The rest of this pilot episode is the main characters picking up the pieces from the fallout of this event. Can you imagine the scale of destruction if that would really happen? Interestingly enough, by the end of the day everyone is home and contemplating what their visions actually mean. I would think they’d be busy cleaning stuff up for weeks after all of the crashes and looting that took place. I’m not sure if it was poor scripting or what, but quite a few times I felt like I was being spoon-fed information and “insights” as the actors tried to piece things together.
For example, some of the visions were disturbing. They didn’t like what they saw and were afraid the vision of the future would come true. The flipside of this is also touched on, but what about those that had no vision? Also, how will seeing the future affect the future? It is apparent that some will fight FOR the future, while others will fight AGAINST it. Who will win? Can both sides succeed? I am waiting to see how the writers can add a unique twist of their own.
Anyway, give it a try and judge for yourself.
Can a computer beat the best Jeopardy players?Can a computer beat the best Jeopardy players?
Tonight with my wife, I watched an interesting episode of Nova titled “The World’s Smartest Machine.” Romantic, right? You can tell we are a couple of geeks at heart. Being a huge fan of Asimov and his robot creations, I am continually amazed at the progress of robotics and artificial intelligence. As a kid I was playing chess as early as the 3rd grade. I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty good chess player. When I heard about a computer that supposedly could beat a world champion chess player, I was intrigued. Garry Kasparov battled IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer in 1996 and won, however he eventually lost a rematch in 1997. Well, IBM is back at it, this time taking on Jeopardy. Nova takes us behind the scenes with the developers of “Watson,” the next step in AI. I was disappointed when the episode ended and it didn’t say who won. I didn’t realize until logging on PBS.org that the contest actually was taking place while I was watching Nova (on my media center PC). After some frantic Google searches, I eventually came across a Twitter feed with a link to a Youtube posting of the episode. This was not quite 2 hours after the episode aired! Isn’t technology great? I expect the Youtube post to be served a DMCA take down, so watch it soon if you plan on it. In addition to the episode at the end of this post, I’ve embedded the Nova preview and an humorous parody of the challenges Watson overcame during his development. I suggest watching the Nova episode first. If you are at all interested in AI, you must check these out!
Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.
Jeopardy Robot Watson’s Untold Game Show History (VIDEO)
Jeopardy Feb. 14 2011 – Human vs Machine IBM Challenge Day 1 Part 1/2
Jeopardy Feb. 14 2011 – Human vs Machine IBM Challenge Day 1 Part 2/2
There are two more nights to the match, airing Tuesday February 15th, and Wednesday the 16th. Be sure to check them out, along with some live blogging on PBS.org. I find myself rooting for Watson, not because I want to see humans defeated, but because I want to see humans capable of making something smart enough to do it. Who do you think will win? Who do you want to win?
What The Frack Starbuck? Are you FRAKKING kidding me!? – The Battlestar Galactica Series FinaleWhat The Frack Starbuck? Are you FRAKKING kidding me!? – The Battlestar Galactica Series Finale
First, let me say that Battlestar Galactica is by far my favorite Sci-Fi TV series of all time. I was addicted from the beginning of the 2003 miniseries and followed it up until the series finale this week. I liked it so much that prior to season 4.5, I re-watched all of the previous seasons so I would have them all fresh in my mind. In doing so, I managed to get my wife addicted as well and took her along for the ride. I highly recommend everyone watch the entire series.
Let me start off with a huge ***SPOILER ALERT***
continue past the break for my rant 🙂 (more…)