Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Get Your Geek On

I wanted to share a bit of news I came across today, but, could not find a thread to drop it in. Since I thought other Moose might have off-topic things in their heads as well…Open Thread!

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Join me below the fold, my fellow Geeks.

(oh, come on, I know most of you Moose are Geeks…don’t try to deny it)

Before I go any further…how many of ya’ll remember the tv series ‘Freaks and Geeks’? Though is only ran for a partial season, it has quite the cult following. It was geared to a younger audience…but, obviously written by those closer to my age (actually, I believe Judd Apatow had a hand in it). It was just a good show…I don’t really have much else to say about it (it came to mind because of the diary title). Oh, actually, I do have something else to say about it…one of the lead characters, a scrawny geeky kid at the time, was the played by the guy currently stars as ‘Dr. Sweets’ on the series ‘Bones’. Hmmm…and another ‘factoid’, ‘Freaks and Geeks’ also starred James Franco and Seth Rogan…both of whom have grown into successful movie careers. Ok, I think that is all I have to say about that.

Now, as to what I happened across a few minutes ago…it will bring a smile to some faces…and the blank look of a total lack of recognition to others.

Firefly is returning to cable.

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For those of you who are already fans…Rejoice! It will shown in full, and in the proper episode order, on The Science Channel. The pilot will air on March 6th at 8pm and will be followed by the first episode at 10pm…it will then air weekly on Sunday nights.

Extra bonus: it has been upgraded to high-def

For those of you still staring blankly…Rejoice! You now have the opportunity to watch one of the best series put to screen (also, one of the most under-appreciated…ergo its early demise. Da bastids.) Created by Joss Whedon (of ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’ fame), it is a Space Western (no, I’m not kidding) with the plot centered around an ensemble cast. I won’t try to explain why you ought watch it…I will just ask that, if you have even the smallest Geek bone in your body, you watch it.

Extra bonus: ‘Castle’ fans can see Nathan Fillion as a Space Cowboy.

< /Geek>

So what is on the minds of my fellow Moose?

Geeky or otherwise, let us know.

Open thread is now….OPEN.

~~lol, and because I am forever distracted…in the time it took me to put this together, another Open Thread has gone up…still gonna post cuz I don’t want to figure out how to cram it all into a comment, but am pulling Open Thread from the title…use the thread as ye may, Mooses.~~

Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 122 Comments

122 comments

  4. John Allen

    Did anyone see the Jeopardy shows Monday through Weds with the IBM computer competing against the best Jeopardy players of all time? I was lucky enough to stumble across a Nova program on PBS about the development of that computer and the challenges they faced. That show made me aware of the upcoming Jeopardy shows which allowed me to record them. Watson, the computer, kicked ass. IMO, creating a computer that can compete on Jeopardy is simply amazing.

    Some people may see the project as trivial or without practical purpose. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The Watson project was anything but trivial.


    A massively parallel machine

    Racked into a space that is roughly equivalent to 10 refrigerators in volume, the system is a cluster of 90 IBM Power 750 servers, each of which contains 32 POWER7 processor cores running at 3.55 GHz, according to the company. This architecture allows massively parallel processing on an embarrassingly large scale: as David Ferrucci, the principal investigator on the Watson project, told Daily Finance, Watson can process 500 gigabytes per second, the equivalent of the content in about a million books.

    Moreover, each of those 32 servers is equipped with 256 GB of RAM so that it can retain about 200 million pages worth of data about the world.

    What needs to be kept in mind is that Watson is not a finished product. It is only the beginning. Imagine a massive parallel computer like Watson containing every piece of medical knowledge in the world and then imagine a doctor being able to describe a patient’s symptoms to that computer. Now imagine that doctor is in a rural hospital in a remote region. The benefits such a system would bring are mind-boggling.

    Of course, Watson isn’t ready for primetime for anything other than a television show. It made some laughable errors. The type of errors that could lead to serious negative consequences if they were given in a life and death situation like health care.

    For example, the final Jeopardy question in the second round of the contest was:

    “Its largest airport is named for a World War II hero; its second largest, for a World War II battle” in the category of “U.S. Cities,”

    Watson buzzed in and answered “What is Toronto?”

    The audience gasped as the answer was stupidly wrong. How could this happen?

    The correct answer to that question is Chicago.

    Artificial Intelligence is still a relatively young science. The dangers have been explored in movies like the Terminator and Matrix series and in 2001 – A Space Odyssey. The potential benefits, however, have never been fully explored in popular entertainment. Extrapolating from the Watson victory on Jeopardy gives us a glimpse of what it might be like in the future. I probably won’t live to see that future, but in historical terms it is just around the corner.

    PBS series on Watson

    IBM’s Watson web site.

  7. sricki

    Let’s send Sarah Palin to shoot it!!!

    “Each hump moved in a rippling movement and it appeared to have a huge shadow around it, suggesting it was much bigger underwater,” Pickles added. “Its skin was like a seal’s, but its shape was completely abnormal. We watched for about 20 seconds before it plunged out of sight. It was petrifying.”

    Ever since the first reports of Bow-Nessie emerged in 2006 from Lake Windermere — England’s largest lake, located in the northern part of the country — a legend has taken root with people wondering if this could be a not-too-distant relative of the legendary Loch Ness Monster of Scotland.

  12. sricki

    Time to, once again, plug one of my recent favorite artists, Joshua James.

    This one is My Confessionary Hymn. Long, but stellar. Listen to it all.

  14. canadian gal

    if i qualify as a geek (though i do watch an unhealthy amount of tv to be sure) but i have a serious crush on nathan fillion (he’s canadian!). if i had a freebie five – he’d probably occupy the first 5 spots ; )

  18. sricki

    **rolls eyes**

    Auburn, Alabama (CNN) — Hundreds of Auburn University fans rallied Saturday under their beloved oak trees, hoping against hope that the trees poisoned — allegedly by a disgruntled University of Alabama fan — might yet be saved.

    “They’re Auburn. They’re the heart of the town. They’re 130 years old. And you can’t squish what these trees are,” said Kristen Easterling, a junior at Auburn University.

    The trees’ plight — university scientists say its doubtful they can survive the poisoning with a harsh herbicide — has even helped bind the deep-seated rivalry between Auburn fans and its cross-state arch rival, the University of Alabama.

    More than 50,000 people have joined a Facebook page called Tide for Toomers, whose organizers said on the page that supporters have raised nearly $32,000 to help support efforts to save or replace the trees.

    CNN

    Where football is taken way too seriously.

  20. Stipes

    The bastards!

    Well, at least we got a full length feature film out of it.

    The most promising SF show in decades, and the MFs killed it.

    Hey, there is always Farscape!

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  22. Chris Blask

    A ‘friend’ just sent me this video of me failing to drop one of those damn widowmaker poplars up at the lodge in Canada a couple years ago.

    Thanks, Billy. I feel much more competent now. :~P

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