"Please do not be cynical.

I hate cynicism.

For the record, it's my least favorite quality.

It doesn't lead anywhere.

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get.

But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

I’m telling you, amazing things will happen.

I’m telling you.

It’s just true."

— Conan O'Brien, January 25, 2010; final words on his last episode hosting The Tonight Show

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c The 11/3 Project www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis ...

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I have decided to pursue a degree. I sort of played with this years ago, and didn’t follow up. There were many reasons, and that was many years ago.

Now, the stars have aligned, and it’s time. I have always been interested in artificial intelligence and the idea of getting a computer to process language like a human being. The gold standard for whether anyone has succeeded at this is called the Turing Test. It’s a simple test. Put a human on one terminal, and a computer on the other (so an independent human judge can’t see the physical difference). Then have the judge talk to both terminals. If the human judge can’t tell the difference between the human on one terminal and the computer on the other, then the computer can, for all practical purposes, be said to have intelligence.

Who am I to think I can do this? Well, nothing special, but I would really like to contribute to the field, and learn how the work is coming along so far. Maybe I won’t personally be responsible for it, but I’d really like...

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Smells Like Rick Astley

About two months ago, my work moved me to a nice bright building with windows. A smaller cube, but not terribly smaller. There's a gym downstairs.

Now, after a recent bit of bad news, they're moving us back.

And, if I'm right, the bad news may turn around. So will I be back? I don't know. Maybe I won't unpack for a year or so.