- and it's only taken a couple of hours to manage it. Okay, you'll have to put up with me as I work through a miasma of weak connections, bad puns and non sequiteurs. Business as usual, in other words.
Go!
No, I am not talking about the Lemonjelly track "Go!", as voiced (rather than sung) by William Shatner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2s03sH1VgQ
Although there's the link if you want it.
Nor am I talking about the Moody Blues track "Go Now!" which was in the days before they bought a Mellotron. No link, it's not that good*.
No, I am talking about the game of Go. I have played it a few times and concentrated so hard I gave myself a headache.
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| Go. Do not pass. |
Why mention the game now? Because of THIS!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35423572
To quote the headline: "Google's Deepmind AI beats Europe's Go Champion" where "AI" means "Artificial Intelligence".
Did I say "Go Now" wasn't relevant? Actually it is, in the worrying sense of "APOCALYPSE NOW!" because this triumph of the machines was predicted to be as many as ten years away. So, our evil machine overlords might be only just around the corner instead of safely distant in the middle future. Perhaps the most terrifying concept in any of the "Terminator" films is that Skynet is INEVITABLE. Not only can this amoral AI arrive, it WILL arrive. And you humans have been helping it arrive for, lo, these many millenia - I've just been reading about how the ancient Babylonians invented calculus to study astronomical movement.
The fools! I bet they ignored the big, grey, grumpy-looking chap with bad eyesight, sat in the corner looking grim, who predicted trouble. Skynet ahoy!
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| Art, are you sure this isn't the Stockport Pyramid? |
See Page 115 of Woolrych's "Battles of the English Civil War", where he mentions, in the context of the battle of Naseby, the village of Stony Stratford. An obscure English village never encountered before, and never to be heard of again.
A reasonable assumption. But WRONG!
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| "The white heat of technology missed Stony Stratford entirely." |
None but - Stony Stratford.
I'm sure there's a perfectly goo - DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!
The Wordless Birds
Well well, what a refreshing change. Utterly silent at the bus stop this morning. Highly unusual, as you surely realise from these many weeks suffering from their sarcastic squawking sobriquets. Apparently it takes a high wind to silence them. They don't get off with a dignified silence, mind -
CONRAD: I say, apart from the wind soughing in the trees, how silent it is.
DANROC: "Soughing"?
CONRAD: Er - I read it. In a book.
DANROC: And you wonder why the birds mock you, let alone people.
CONRAD: Don't you start! Can't I at least have an inner dialogue without criticism?
DANROC: Depends. Do you want me to be honest or tactful?
CONRAD: Honest.
DANROC: No, you can't.
CONRAD: Tactfull!
DANROC: Still no.
CONRAD: Dog Buns! what an alter ego - I think I preferred the birds.
Happyword Occured
You'll just have to take my word for the performance rating here, as the paper is downstairs and I can't be bothered to go get it and take a photo to post for verification purposes. Today's Cryptic Crossword was done in 16 minutes with no recourse to outside help (like Tom). As mentioned yesterday, on occasion it's better to be older and wiser (though still handsome**) than young, good-looking and dim. Plus, as cannily observed by my dad, over time you get to know how crossword compilers think.
Which is a bit worrying. Over time, those colleagues at work will have figured out how your humble scribe thinks. Oops.
Last Day Of Sobriety
Yes I say, Michael Bay! Tomorrow from 6 p.m. I shall be snorting bucketfuls of beer and cider. Well, probably not. Moderation in all things, and after being off the sauce for over 4 weeks I'd better take it slowly.
It has been remarkably stress-free, for me at least, although all those around me have had to endure my witless babbling about it and will probably be grateful that SpongeGob doesn't have an excuse to wax boastful any longer.
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| My 5 litre aperitif |
Na zdravye!
* There. Go x 2 = GoGo, + computer genius = Einstein
** Allow me to dream, gentle reader
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