The Rise of the Machines?

IBM has created a computer named "Watson" that is designed to play and win at jeopardy. The computer beat Jeopardy super champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a practice round. Watson will take part in real jeopardy contests slated to air Feb. 14 - 16.

According to Computer World:

"For IBM, the Jeopardy challenge represents the next stage in the challenge of creating computers that can mimic human intelligence. David Ferrucci, the scientist leading the Watson team, said in a previous interview that the challenge of natural language processing can be intense because of the many ways the same information can be conveyed."

Ok, does this sound like Skynet from the Terminator movies to anybody else? Why do we want computers that can mimic human intelligence? Doesn't that reduce the need for actual humans? Just because we can build a thing doesn't mean we should. Remember what happened with the Tower of Babel?

Today Jeopardy, tomorrow Armageddon? Let's hope John Connor is out there somewhere.

From the "What Is Wrong With People" File

Warning, this blog is going to tick off both left wing nutjobs and right wing crazies.

Over the last several days, I've had a couple of moments where I've just said to myself, "What is wrong with people?" We're are a totally screwed up society, and there are 2 cases over the past couple of days that confirms this for me.

First, last Friday, Rush Limbaugh reported that 41% of all pregnancies in New York City end in abortion. The numbers are even higher among minorities, almost 60% for non-hispanic blacks. Frankly, this disgusted me. I knew the numbers were too high...heck 1 abortion is too many, but 41%?!!! This just shows me how morally bankrupt our society is and how far we've gone in abandoning personal responsibility.

We're morally bankrupt because in our "greatest" city, we're killing 41% of our babies. Even if you're not a Christian or even if you consider yourself pro-choice, that should disgust you. Further evidence of the morally bankrupt society...the take away from the story is that birth control programs in schools aren't working.

And, we've abandoned personal responsilibity because I was always taught by my parents that, if you do the deed you have to be ready for the consequences. Apparently, parents haven't been teaching that lesson to their children.

Then today I read that the Westboro Baptist Church is going to attempt to protest at the funeral of the 9 year old girl who was shot in Tuscon this weekend. These are the same idiots that protest military funerals. Fortunately, the Arizona lawmakers are fast tracking a bill to keep these idiots 300 feet away from the funeral. What kind of nutjobs believe things like they put in this statement..."God sent the shooter to deal with idolatrous America," and "Thank God for the Shooter"?

Now, I'll fully admit I don't read my Bible as often as I should, but I am Catholic so we have like 7 extra books in there, and I don't ever remember reading anything saying that I should show up at tragic events in people's lives and tell them that this happened because God is mad at them. In fact, what I remember reading is that God is Love, and you should love your neighbor. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Westboro Baptist Church, or any church for that matter, decided to reach out to these families with a message of God's love? Wouldn't that draw more people to God?

But instead of reaching out with love, these morons are reaching out with a message of hate. And all it will accomplish is making these families hate this church, and I'm sure some people will come away with a strong dislike of Christianity because of what this church is doing. I'm generally for free speech, but you have to be responsible with your speech. This is neither responsible nor consistent with the message of the Kingdom of God that Jesus Christ brought to this world.

These things just make me wonder, what the heck is wrong with people?

Book Review: How Lucky Can You Be: The Story of Coach Don Meyer

When this blog was in it's first year of existence, I posted a video of Northern State University Basketball Coach Don Meyer accepting the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2009 ESPY's. As I mentioned in that blog, my wife's family is friends with Coach Meyer, so I had known for quite some time that ESPN's Buster Olney was working on a book about the coach.

Well, last week I sat down and read "How Lucky Can You Be: The Story of Coach Don Meyer," by Buster Olney. I didn't quite know what to expect, as I knew some of the details surrounding Coach Meyer's car accident that led to the loss of his left leg and the discovery of carcinoid cancer. I had seen ESPN's story on the coach and crossed paths with him a couple of times while visiting my wife's family. I knew Coach Meyer and his wife Carmen were good people who were always good to my wife's family, and I knew the coach was always great with my kids whenever they visited Grammy's office (which, until recently, was next door to Coach's office).

What I didn't know was the story of the impact Coach Meyer has had on the lives of the men who have played basketball for him or on the communities of Nashville, TN and Aberdeen, SD. I didn't know about the impacts the people in those communities have had on the Coach and his family. I didn't know about Coach Meyer's F words...Faith, Family and Friends. I didn't know about the arduous rehabilitation process that the Coach has had to go through or any of the details about the cancer that was discovered after the car accident that nearly took his life. In short, there was a lot I didn't know.

"How Lucky Can You Be" touched me in ways I couldn't have imagined. I found myself near tears on several occasions. I found myself learning new strategies that I can apply to my life from the methods Coach Meyer uses to teach basketball. One of my favorite quotes from the book is "Do the next right thing right." I will try to live that out in my daily life.

The author, Buster Olney, has always been one of my favorite ESPN personalities. The way this book is written and the way it portrayed the entire Meyer family just confirmed that my feelings about Olney were correct. The man is a great writer, and really does a masterful job weaving this story.

This would be wonderful book for sports fans and non-sports fans alike. I think this would be a really nice book for a study, such as a Church book club or a church youth group. I guess what I'm saying is I really like this book. And, as a bonus, it's not a big time commitment...at 225ish pages, you can easily read it in just 4-5 hours. I highly recommend you read "How Lucky Can ?You Be: The Story of Coach Don Meyer."

Movie Review: Secondhand Lions

"Secondhand Lions" is a movie that my wife has wanted us to watch for years. It was made in 2003, and I think late that year is about when she started mentioning she wanted to see it. After I got a Netflix subscription, it was one of the first movies I added to my queue, though it never quite made it to the top. A couple of weeks ago, it was all the way up to #2, and the #1 movie in my queue was not available, so "Secondhand Lions" showed up in our mailbox.

Starring Robert Duvall, Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osment, "Secondhand Lions" is a coming of age type of story. Duvall and Caine play brothers Hub and Garth McCann, who have returned to Texas after being gone for 40 years. Rumor has it, they have money and lots of it. And, as it turns out, they have a very adventurous spirit. Enter Mae, played by Kyra Sedgwick, a deadbeat mom who drops her 14 year old son Walter (Osment) with the brothers for the summer. Mae gives Walter one mission...find the money. The Brothers are none too pleased about this arrangement, but eventually they warm to Walter and he to them. Along the way, they have a series of adventures in which the 3 grow closer together and we learn, through stories, about the mysterious past of the McCann brothers.

"Secondhand Lions" is a great movie. I think it's easily 4.5 stars. I wish more movies were made like this one. It's a terrific story, filled with top notch acting, and enough action/comedy to keep things interesting for even the most non-thinking movie watcher. I think it's the kind of flick that a husband and wife can watch together, and neither walk away disappointed. This is sort of in line with movies like Forrest Gump.

I thought the acting in "Secondhand Lions" was terrific. But what do you expect from an "all-star" cast? Duvall and Caine are great...I especially liked Michael Caine's character. Caine did a remarkable job losing his British Accent for this movie. I also like Haley Joel Osment. Not sure what he's up to now that he's an adult, but definitely one of the most accomplished child actors out there.

I would rate "Secondhand Lions" as a great date night movie, if you and your significant other are staying in for the evening.