I hate Southern drawls and, it would seem, so do speech recognition and natural language
processing programs.
“SHREVEPORT, La. – Southern drawls have thwarted voice recognition equipment
used by the Shreveport Police Department to route non-emergency calls.”
Woohoo! Doctor Who
is coming back to TV!
Actually, I already knew that, but I never blogged it, so this is the “official”
celebration. This was one of my favorite shows growing up. In fact, it’s a family
favorite. My parents have watched it since they were newlyweds.
I found poll results for fans’
favorite stories and picked up the DVD for the top choice, “The
Talons of Weng-Chiang”. When I have more money, I’ll pick up number two,
“The
Caves of Androzani”, and so on. 🙂
Buffy
Star Favorite to Play Dr Who
“LONDON (Reuters) – Buffy star Anthony Head was voted in a poll of Radio Times
readers on Monday as their favorite to play the next Dr Who. Head, who plays Giles in the cult US television series ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ beat Alan Rickman into second place.”” ‘I suppose I would be a logical choice to play the Doctor just because Giles,
my character in Buffy, has the same light and dark sides and quirkiness as Doctor
Who,’ Head told the listings magazine. Comedians Stephen Fry and Alan Davies were third and fourth and actor Ian Richardson was fifth. The BBC have not announced who will play the sci-fi legend but British media say
Richard E. Grant, Bill Nighy and Eddie Izzard are being considered.”“The cult series aired from 1963-1989. It will return to television screens in 2005.”
The
Smoke and Mirrors of Food Labeling
By SHERRI DAY
“Food companies – including some that have pledged to act in the face of rising
obesity rates – routinely exploit labeling laws that allow them to make their products
seem less fattening than they really are, according to nutritionists and consumer
groups.”
While deception in the form of dishonest food labels is deplorable, any furor over
it really just underscores a fundamental lack of common sense among consumers. The
trick to losing weight isn’t counting calories. Just eat sensibly. Eat many small
portions throughout the day with some care given to nutrition. Keep junk food to
a minimum. Exercise. How hard is that to understand? Maybe people already understand
but are too lazy to do it. Americans was quick fixes, not hard work. My diet is
far from perfect, but my portions are now smaller and I exercise – Yoga and Tai
Chi. I’ve lost about ten pounds over the last few months.
So scientists created an artificial virus. Great. How long will it be before artificial
biological weapons are developed. Don’t pretend the Pentagon wouldn’t be interested
in that. *sigh*
Scientists
create a virus that reproduces
By Elizabeth Weise
“It is the stuff of science fiction and bioethical debates: The creation of
artificial life. Up until now, it’s largely been just that. But an important technical bridge towards the creation of such life was crossed Thursday when genomics pioneer Craig Venter announced that his research group created
an artificial virus based on a real one in just two weeks’ time. When researchers created a synthetic genome (genetic map) of the virus and implanted it into a cell, the virus became ‘biologically active,’ meaning it went
to work reproducing itself.”
US War Dead in Iraq Exceeds Early Vietnam Years
By David Morgan
"PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – The U.S. death toll in Iraq (news – web sites) has surpassed the number of American soldiers killed during the first three years of the Vietnam War, the brutal Cold War conflict that cast a shadow over U.S. affairs for more than a generation."
Will Iraq become the next Vietnam? More US soldiers have been killed in the two years we've been in Iraq than in the first three years of combat in Vietnam. Will this war end similarly.
There are definitely differences. First of all, we have nearly tens times as many soldiers in Iraq than we had in Vietnam in 1964. By percentage, more of today's soldiers are living. Also, there isn't a major force facing us this time. Guerrillas, while deadly, do not an army make. Unless a nation with a sizeable military joins the Hussein loyalists, Iraq is unlikely to become another Vietnam. Furthermore, if it did, we'd be more like France than ourselves this time. International forces would likely get involved as we did 40 years ago. However, I think the international community lacks the resolve and pig-headed stubbornness that drove us then.
Anyhow, I don't expect to see a casualty explosion like experienced after 1965. If this conflict does get out of hand, I hope the soldiers receive better treatment than their predecessors.