Our newest car has a key with buttons to lock and unlock it from a short distance. The key also has a button that unlocks the trunk, and a similar emergency button to make the car honk loud. These two buttons do nothing unless I press them for several seconds. In the dark it’s hard for me to remember which is which. (I wish the buttons had Braille markings.) Occasionally, I’ve had the traumatic experience of pressing the HONK button by mistake. I’ve developed a “protective” behavior because of that trauma: when I think I’m pressing the trunk-unlock button, to protect myself from an unexpected HONK, I hold the key as far from my body as I can.
There I am, right next to the car, holding the key away from me. I know that will have no effect on how loud the HONK is. But still ....
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A Prescient Lightbulb Joke:
I found on my PC, a file of fortune cookies that I collected in the late 1980's, intending (at that time) to add them to the Unix "fortune cookie" program. This light bulb joke was written WAY before the mortgage/banking crisis. Perhaps we didn't learn enough from the Savings and Loan disaster. (Someone should have listened to the author of this joke.)
Q: How many lightbulbs does it take a Savings & Loan disaster to change
four billion lightbulbs?
A: Just one. The federal government will take care of the other
3,999,999,999 lightbulbs.
Q: How many lightbulbs does it take a Savings & Loan disaster to change
four billion lightbulbs?
A: Just one. The federal government will take care of the other
3,999,999,999 lightbulbs.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Playlist for March 29, 2011, 2011 at 6 a.m., Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm and WPRB.COM (streaming around the world):
This is the playlist for my radio program of March 29, 2011, 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 EDT.
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast.
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast.
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for March 29, 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Orchestra | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Albeniz, Isaac, arr. Arbos | Iberia, parts 1 & 2 | Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra | Jesus Lopez-Cobos | n/a | Telarc 80470 | 6:01 |
| Weiss, Sylvius Leopold | Sonata XXIII, L'Infidele | n/a | n/a | Jon Mendle (archGuitar) | In a Circle Records ICR004 | 6:44 |
| Liszt, Franz | Mephisto Waltz: Dance in the Village Inn, S. 514 | n/a | n/a | Lise de la Salle (pno) | naive V 5006 | 7:04 |
| Bach, Johann Sebastian | Toccata in D, BWV 912 | n/a | n/a | Lise de la Salle (pno) | naive V 5006 | 7:20 |
| Glass, Philip | String Quartet #1 | Brooklyn Rider | n/a | n/a | Orange Mountain Music 0074 | 7:34 |
| Chopin, Frederic | Ballade No. 2 in F, op. 38 | n/a | n/a | Claudio Arrau (pno) | lp: philips 9500 393 | 7:51 |
| Schubert, Franz | Lieder: Auf dem Wasser zu singen (Stolberg), D. 744; Die Junge Nonne (Craigher), D. 828; An Sylvia (Bauernfeld after Shakespeare), D. 891 | n/a | n/a | Arleen Auger (Sopr), Lambert Orkis (pno) | Virgin classics 628598 | 8:00 |
| Wildhaber, Maria | Bulgarian Folk Love Songs: Wept my Sweetheart (Marin Goleminov) ; Kopanizza | n/a | n/a | Maria Jeleztcheva Wildhaber (bn), Tania Tachkova (pno) | MSR 1363 | 8:17 |
| Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus | Cosi fan Tutte, overture | Vienna Philharmonic | James Levine | n/a | DG 427 680 | 8:24:00 |
The way the mind works?
I was listening this morning, on my Streaming Radio, to (what I was sure was) the last movement of a piano concerto, one that I really like. The radio station was AOL’s Piano Virtuoso channel. I’m usually fiendishly good at recognizing classical music compositions, but I couldn’t place this one, perhaps because I’m not quite as young as I used to be.
Suddenly, I was convinced that if I read the identifying information on the radio’s tiny display, I could figure it out. Now I must explain that the Piano Virtuoso channel displays more information about the current composition than most. It lists the performer, the piece, the key, the opus, and even the tempo markings. But it never, ever, identifies the composer! Still, I was certain – and I couldn’t imagine why – that looking at its information, I would identify the composer. So I looked.
While I waited for the data to snail across the screen, I asked myself why I thought that it might help. I could easily think of several concertos whose identifying info would tell me nothing at all. Here’s what I read on the display:
Harnoncourt, Piano Concerto #1 in A minor, op. 54, allegro...
As soon as I saw “A minor”, I knew: Robert Schumann. Now comes the interesting part. (Interesting to me, anyway.) Why had I been so certain that the displayed info was all I needed? In the back of my mind, that place where we sift through our memories to find something relevant, I must have almost made the necessary connection. I just needed a hint to boost that data from the back of my mind to my conscious thoughts. Bing!
Suddenly, I was convinced that if I read the identifying information on the radio’s tiny display, I could figure it out. Now I must explain that the Piano Virtuoso channel displays more information about the current composition than most. It lists the performer, the piece, the key, the opus, and even the tempo markings. But it never, ever, identifies the composer! Still, I was certain – and I couldn’t imagine why – that looking at its information, I would identify the composer. So I looked.
While I waited for the data to snail across the screen, I asked myself why I thought that it might help. I could easily think of several concertos whose identifying info would tell me nothing at all. Here’s what I read on the display:
Harnoncourt, Piano Concerto #1 in A minor, op. 54, allegro...
As soon as I saw “A minor”, I knew: Robert Schumann. Now comes the interesting part. (Interesting to me, anyway.) Why had I been so certain that the displayed info was all I needed? In the back of my mind, that place where we sift through our memories to find something relevant, I must have almost made the necessary connection. I just needed a hint to boost that data from the back of my mind to my conscious thoughts. Bing!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Chin-lung Hu:
In the preseason, the Mets are playing Chin-lung Hu, a middle infielder whose defensive skills might help him make the team. I was listening to their Grapefruit League game today, and something happened that I think is very exciting. Just think: Hu hit a single.
UPDATE! Name corrected. My apologies for misspelling this fine player's name.
UPDATE! Name corrected. My apologies for misspelling this fine player's name.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
A Bad Back and a Laundry Mesh Bag:
First, let me explain to the few of you who have never experienced back pain: a small stress from the wrong direction inflicts, upon those of us who suffer: a sharp twinge, or, unpredictably, the start of weeks of abject pain, or something in between. We poor victims try to avoid any awkward stress, so I was fascinated to discover that my daughter carries her laundry loads in a mesh bag, instead of a laundry basket.
Our washing machine is in the cellar. I carry full laundry baskets down two flights of stairs, and I have to cantilever the basket’s weight in the process. Dangling a mesh bag seemed like a wonderful improvement. I have just obtained one, and perhaps I can learn to deal with it. But the first time I hefted a few pounds of laundry in my new bag, I got a surprise.
It swung.
And it continued to swing while I carried it.
Since my back currently experiences a threatening degree of tightness, the last thing I want is for the bag to waft off at a wrong, unexpected angle; because the bag weighs a great deal more than the proverbial straw. I traversed the first flight of stairs while my back flared little warning twinges and pops at me. Then I stopped to think.
At least part of the way, I can drag the bag on the ground. But not when the laundry is clean! I handled the second flight of stairs very carefully. Perhaps, with much forethought, the bag can be persuaded to hang motionless.
Our washing machine is in the cellar. I carry full laundry baskets down two flights of stairs, and I have to cantilever the basket’s weight in the process. Dangling a mesh bag seemed like a wonderful improvement. I have just obtained one, and perhaps I can learn to deal with it. But the first time I hefted a few pounds of laundry in my new bag, I got a surprise.
It swung.
And it continued to swing while I carried it.
Since my back currently experiences a threatening degree of tightness, the last thing I want is for the bag to waft off at a wrong, unexpected angle; because the bag weighs a great deal more than the proverbial straw. I traversed the first flight of stairs while my back flared little warning twinges and pops at me. Then I stopped to think.
At least part of the way, I can drag the bag on the ground. But not when the laundry is clean! I handled the second flight of stairs very carefully. Perhaps, with much forethought, the bag can be persuaded to hang motionless.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Girl with the Dragon, Too:
Now that my first novel is published in both book and eText forms (see http://RavensGift.com for details), I can look back fondly upon my first attempt to get some feedback from a reader.
I only had a rough draft at the time. A librarian at the local library expressed an interest in reading my book. I suppressed the “What if it’s awful?” fears as best as I could, and deposited a copy on her doorstep.
The book was back on my front porch in less than twenty-four hours. My first thought was “She liked it so much, she read it non-stop!” (I’m an optimist.) Inside the draft, I found a note. She apologized that my novel was apparently going to be too violent for her, and she just didn’t read that sort of thing. Sorry.
She still works at our local library, but somehow, I never saw her in the four intervening years, until yesterday. She asked after my novel, and I told her I had self-published it.
She said, “I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo recently.”
I was aghast. I said, “If you read that, you could certainly have read my book.”
She responded, “I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I certainly didn’t like it.”
I only had a rough draft at the time. A librarian at the local library expressed an interest in reading my book. I suppressed the “What if it’s awful?” fears as best as I could, and deposited a copy on her doorstep.
The book was back on my front porch in less than twenty-four hours. My first thought was “She liked it so much, she read it non-stop!” (I’m an optimist.) Inside the draft, I found a note. She apologized that my novel was apparently going to be too violent for her, and she just didn’t read that sort of thing. Sorry.
She still works at our local library, but somehow, I never saw her in the four intervening years, until yesterday. She asked after my novel, and I told her I had self-published it.
She said, “I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo recently.”
I was aghast. I said, “If you read that, you could certainly have read my book.”
She responded, “I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I certainly didn’t like it.”
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Getting started on a Sleepy Morning:
In the relatively new building from which I broadcast my radio programs, there’s a room that was built for ballet practice. (The building is a residential dorm, with four stories above a cellar level for the radio station and many other activity rooms.) The ballet room has a long barre in front of a wall that’s all mirror from top to bottom, end to end. The room is rarely used for ballet practice, because the building’s designers (apparently) were unaware that ballet dancers sweat. There is no extra A/C in the room. The room contains no chairs or mattresses, but it does get used.
One summer, as I approached the radio station (about 6 a.m.) a pair of undergraduates passed me on their way to the ballet room. Arm-in-arm, they looked half-awake. He wore pajamas. She wore shorty pajamas. They both wore flip-flops on their feet. As they closed the door behind them, I thought about that immense mirror and wished them well.
One summer, as I approached the radio station (about 6 a.m.) a pair of undergraduates passed me on their way to the ballet room. Arm-in-arm, they looked half-awake. He wore pajamas. She wore shorty pajamas. They both wore flip-flops on their feet. As they closed the door behind them, I thought about that immense mirror and wished them well.
Playlist for March 21, 2011 at 6 a.m., Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm and WPRB.COM (streaming around the world):
This is the playlist for my radio program of March 21, 6:00 to 8:30 EDT.
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6 to 8:30.
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6 to 8:30.
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for March 21 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Orchestra | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Dvořák, Antonín | Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in b, op.104 | Philadelphia Orchestra | Eugene Ormandy | Leonard rose | LP: Columbia MLS 6714 | 6:03 |
| Mittler, Franz | Sonata for Violin and Piano in D (1909) | n/a | n/a | Alexander Meshibovsky (vln), diana Mittler (pno) | Con Brio CBR21042 | 6:44 |
| Mahler, Gustav | Symphony #4 | Philharmonia Orchestra | Benjamin Zander | Camilla Tilling (sopr), Christopher Warren-Green (vln solo) | Telarc 80555 | 7:08 |
| Schubert, Franz | Lieder: An Grabe Anselmos (Claudius), D. 504; An Die Musik (Schober), D. 547; Die Forelle (Schubart), D. 550 | n/a | n/a | Arleen Auger (Sopr), Lambert Orkis (pno) | Virgin classics 628598 | 8:10 |
| Wildhaber, Maria | Bulgarian Folk Love Songs: Wedding Ratchenizza | n/a | n/a | Maria Jeleztcheva Wildhaber (bn), Tania Tachkova (pno) | MSR 1363 | 8:20 |
| Liszt, Franz | Transcendental Etude #10 in g | n/a | n/a | Claudio Arrau (pno) | Philips 456 339 | 8:25 |
Monday, March 21, 2011
Fred Wilpon and Muammar Khaddaffi:
I thought about writing a parody article, in which I described the Met’s owners’ situation as if reporting the news in Libya. The inspiration was tempting, because certain parallels do present themselves.
I won’t do it, it would be unfair.
I can suspect that Wilpon’s judgment about money management has often hurt my favorite baseball team.
I can suspect that if Fred Wilpon does manage to hold on to the Mets, his new money woes could haunt the team for years.
Otherwise, the Wilpons seem to be spinning out a sad story, not a crazy or a vengeful one. Hey you Wilpons! The team you own is the team that has never managed to win a no-hitter. Maybe you can’t play a perfect game either. Please consider trying some other avocation.
I won’t do it, it would be unfair.
I can suspect that Wilpon’s judgment about money management has often hurt my favorite baseball team.
I can suspect that if Fred Wilpon does manage to hold on to the Mets, his new money woes could haunt the team for years.
Otherwise, the Wilpons seem to be spinning out a sad story, not a crazy or a vengeful one. Hey you Wilpons! The team you own is the team that has never managed to win a no-hitter. Maybe you can’t play a perfect game either. Please consider trying some other avocation.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Where there’s a will, there might be a way:
I shall not name the website, but we needed to use it to print some tax forms about our savings. In Firefox, I clicked on a line that was supposed to run a Java Script to display the printable forms, and nothing happened. I could find nothing wrong, so I called the company and talked to their web people for a while. They had me loosen my security settings and load a different version of Adobe Reader, to no avail.
All through this trial, I had my own suspicion of what was wrong. Our Anti-Virus company (which I shall also not name) does not coexist with Firefox very well. I was certain that IE8 would be able to display these forms, but I could not use IE8 with this website.
I’m not blaming IE at all. When we set up the login to this financial website, we supplied security questions and answers that they could use to verify us. Like many banks, the website uses the security questions in addition to (not instead of) our password to verify us. Firefox already had a verification cookie, so that we could just enter the password and get to the forms page. But IE required me to answer a verification question. And I couldn’t remember the answers. (Why can’t browsers on the same computer share cookies and remember each other’s remembered passwords, by the way?)
After struggling with Firefox and Adobe for over an hour, I had a brainstorm. You’ll probably wonder why I didn’t think of this fifty minutes sooner. I logged in to the website with Firefox and changed all the security questions and answers. Then I used my knowledge of the changed security questions to log in with IE8, and of course I was able to print the forms. Whee!
All through this trial, I had my own suspicion of what was wrong. Our Anti-Virus company (which I shall also not name) does not coexist with Firefox very well. I was certain that IE8 would be able to display these forms, but I could not use IE8 with this website.
I’m not blaming IE at all. When we set up the login to this financial website, we supplied security questions and answers that they could use to verify us. Like many banks, the website uses the security questions in addition to (not instead of) our password to verify us. Firefox already had a verification cookie, so that we could just enter the password and get to the forms page. But IE required me to answer a verification question. And I couldn’t remember the answers. (Why can’t browsers on the same computer share cookies and remember each other’s remembered passwords, by the way?)
After struggling with Firefox and Adobe for over an hour, I had a brainstorm. You’ll probably wonder why I didn’t think of this fifty minutes sooner. I logged in to the website with Firefox and changed all the security questions and answers. Then I used my knowledge of the changed security questions to log in with IE8, and of course I was able to print the forms. Whee!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Somebody did something about it:
My wife teases me about how interested I am in the weather. I complain that the major websites that report current weather and forecasts rely on a “local” weather site that is four miles away, separated from our town by a two-hundred-foot high hill. The so-called ‘current temperature’ over that hill can be five or six degrees different from what it is around our home. That’s a serious delta when worrying about whether water will freeze or melt on the ground.
I also complain that the major weather sites predict the weather, but they never tell you how good their predictions are. They look forward, not back. Well, I’ve got them now!
I discovered that Princeton University has several small Sensorscope weather stations scattered around town. These stations are on the web, and they record weather conditions for the previous 24 hours. I can get very accurate local readings, and I can see whether the predictions I foolishly trusted were accurate. Here’s the most detailed local weather station.
There’s a small catch of course. Temperature is in Centigrade. (I’m trying to get used to these numbers without converting to Fahrenheit.) Wind speed is in meters per second. (Double that number, to get a close approximation of mph.) And rainfall is measured in mm. Oh, I can handle that.
I also complain that the major weather sites predict the weather, but they never tell you how good their predictions are. They look forward, not back. Well, I’ve got them now!
I discovered that Princeton University has several small Sensorscope weather stations scattered around town. These stations are on the web, and they record weather conditions for the previous 24 hours. I can get very accurate local readings, and I can see whether the predictions I foolishly trusted were accurate. Here’s the most detailed local weather station.
There’s a small catch of course. Temperature is in Centigrade. (I’m trying to get used to these numbers without converting to Fahrenheit.) Wind speed is in meters per second. (Double that number, to get a close approximation of mph.) And rainfall is measured in mm. Oh, I can handle that.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Playlist for March 15, 2011 at 6 a.m., Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm and WPRB.COM (streaming around the world):
This is the playlist for my radio program of March 15, 6:00 to 8:30 a.m., EDT.
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6 a.m. EDT, on.
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, from 6 a.m. EDT, on.
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for XXDATE | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Orchestra | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Piston, Walter | Symphony #2 | Seattle Symphony | Gerard Schwarz | n/a | Naxos 559161 | 6:02 | Bartok, Bela | fourth string quartet (preceded by just the pizzicato movement) Sz91 | The Hagen Quartet | n/a | n/a | Newton 8802011 | 6:32 |
| Wildhaber, Maria | Bulgarian Folk Love Songs: Hey, Stoyane; Gankino Horo | n/a | n/a | Maria Jeleztcheva Wildhaber (bn), Tania Tachkova (pno) | MSR 1363 | 7:02 |
| Schumann, Robert /arr. Christian Hommel | Quintet, Op. 44 (originally piano & string quartet: now, piano & oboe, clar, horn, bassoon) | n/a | n/a | Hommel (ob), walter Ifrim (cl), Wolfgang Rüdiger (bn), Volker Grewel (hn), Dorothea Eppendorf (pno) | Ars Musici 232225 | 7:08 |
| Ibert, Jacques | Concerto for Cello and Winds | USF (University of South Florida) Winds | James Croft | Antony Cooke (vc) | LP: Golden Crest CRS4189 | 7:39 |
| Rameau, Jean-Philippe | fifth concert | The Boston Museum Trio | n/a | n/a | Centaur CRC 2979 | 7:51 |
| Schubert, Franz | Lieder: Seligkeit (Hölty), D.433 ; An die Nachtigall (Hölty or? Claudius), D. 497 ; Wiegenlied (anon), D. 498 | n/a | n/a | Arleen Auger (Sopr), Lambert Orkis (pno) | Virgin classics 628598 | 8:03 |
| Wildhaber, Maria | Bulgarian Folk Love Songs: Hey, Stoyane; Gankino Horo | n/a | n/a | Maria Jeleztcheva Wildhaber (bn) | MSR 1363 | 8:12 |
| Sibelius, Jean | Finlandia, op. 26, #7 | Atlanta Symphony Orchestra | Yoel Levi | n/a | Telarc 80320 | 8:20 |
Monday, March 14, 2011
Special Playlist for Pi day, March 14, 2011 at 7:58 a.m. EDT, Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm (streaming around the world):
Special Playlist for Pi day, March 14, 2011 at 7:58 a.m. EDT, Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm (streaming around the world): The first playlist in my blog (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, Monday morning up to 11:00 a.m. EDT.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, Monday morning up to 11:00 a.m. EDT.
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for March 14, 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Orchestra | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Bach, J.S. | three of his six little preludes, BWV 939/940/941 | n/a | n/a | Pieter-Jan Belder (harps) | Brilliant CD94 (99372/11) | 7:58 |
| Schumann, Robert | Kreisleriana, Op. 16 | n/a | n/a | Burkard Schliessmann | MSR MS 1361 | 8:05 |
| Lansky, Paul | Smalltalk | Computer Generated Sound | n/a | n/a | New Albion NA 030CD | 8:44 |
| Mittler, Franz | Cello Sonata in G (1910) | n/a | n/a | André Emilianoff (vc), diana Mittler-Battipaglia (pno) | Con Brio CBR21042 | 9:00 |
| Janáček, Leoš | Sinfonietta, Op. 60 | Czech State Philharmonic | José Serebrier | lots of extra trompets | Reference RR-65CD | 8:34 |
| Grainger, Percey / arr. for and by Maud powell | Molly on the Shore | n/a | n/a | Rachel Barton Pine (vln), Matthew Hagle (pno) | Cedille 90000 097 | 9:56 |
| Stravinsky, Igor | Petrushka | Detroit Symphony Orchestra | Antal Dorati | n/a | London 417 758 | 10:02 |
| Hindemith, Paul | Symphonic Metamorphosis on little-known themes by Weber | The Philadephia Orchestra | Wolfgang Sawallisch | n/a | London 421 523 | 10:38 |
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Awful! Japan,we wish you the very best luck from now on:
As Japan faces the possibility of reactor meltdown and dirty radiation, I can't help remembering how the "experts" sold the safety of nuclear reactors, back in the 1950's and '60s and '70s. They offered expert analyses proving that an accident at a nucler reactor was unlikely to happen for 10,000 years. Let me guess at a few things those "analyses" failed to consider: Operators accidentally setting a control room on fire (actually happened in Georgia, US); Chernobyl; Three Mile Island; and oh, a really powerful offshore earthquake.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Manual is online:
The Internet is a mixed blessing, but one of its great achievements is placing almost every manual for almost everything online. If you can’t remember where you put the manual for any of your machines or accessories, or if you’ve inherited or purchased something that lacks a manual: the user instructions are a search and a few clicks away.
Or look at it this way: throw away all those manuals that are clogging up a few drawers in your home. You probably don’t need to keep them.
Or look at it this way: throw away all those manuals that are clogging up a few drawers in your home. You probably don’t need to keep them.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wade-Giles, or Pinyin?
I'm about to start working with a guy who was born in China, whose last name begins with a 't'. I'm looking forward to learning how to pronounce it.
The Pinyin system of Chinese transliteration (adopted around 1979) is probably more consistent and easier to handle than the older Wade-Giles method, but it's really hard to guess whether the name of a person of Chinese descent uses the old system or the new one. You just have to ask and listen carefully.
Once upon a time, I was barely aware of Wade-Giles.
I worked in the late 1960's at a company that employed a good computer programmer named Helen Tu. (We pronounced the 't' as a 't' sound.) I was her manager for a while. After some years, her husband got a job far away and she resigned. She asked a few of us to come to her home to help with a little packing, and we happily agreed.
She was proud of her five year old son Eugene. She had pictures of him in her office, but we had never met him. When we got to her home, he came barreling out with his mother to meet us.
"So this is the marvelous Eugene Tu, that I've heard so much about," I said.
"Eugene Du," she replied, and I had an "Oh, my God" moment. I realized that for years, everyone at work had mis-pronounced her last name. She must have felt that it would be impolite to correct us, but she had every right to make sure we pronounced her son's name correctly. And she did.
The Pinyin system of Chinese transliteration (adopted around 1979) is probably more consistent and easier to handle than the older Wade-Giles method, but it's really hard to guess whether the name of a person of Chinese descent uses the old system or the new one. You just have to ask and listen carefully.
Once upon a time, I was barely aware of Wade-Giles.
I worked in the late 1960's at a company that employed a good computer programmer named Helen Tu. (We pronounced the 't' as a 't' sound.) I was her manager for a while. After some years, her husband got a job far away and she resigned. She asked a few of us to come to her home to help with a little packing, and we happily agreed.
She was proud of her five year old son Eugene. She had pictures of him in her office, but we had never met him. When we got to her home, he came barreling out with his mother to meet us.
"So this is the marvelous Eugene Tu, that I've heard so much about," I said.
"Eugene Du," she replied, and I had an "Oh, my God" moment. I realized that for years, everyone at work had mis-pronounced her last name. She must have felt that it would be impolite to correct us, but she had every right to make sure we pronounced her son's name correctly. And she did.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Playlist for March, 8, 2011 , 2011 at 6 a.m., Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm and WPRB.COM (streaming around the world):
This is the playlist for my radio program of March, 8, 2011 ,6 a.m. to 8:30 EST .
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, on March, 8, starting at 6:00.
My first such Classical Playlist (with an explanation) is here.
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, on March, 8, starting at 6:00.
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for March, 8, 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Orchestra | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Noblet, Charles | Premiere Suite | n/a | n/a | Charlotte Mattax Moersch (harpsic) | Centaur CRC 3005 | 6:02 |
| Sibelius, Jean | Symphony No.7 in C, Op. 105 | New York Philharmonic | Leonard Bernstein | n/a | Sony SM2K 47622 | 6:26 |
| Ysaÿe, Eugène | Sonate, Op. 27, #5 (solo violin) | n/a | n/a | Matitiahu Braun (vln) | Musicians MS1068 | 6:48 |
| Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus | Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A, K. 581 | Ballard Quartet | n/a | Sean Osborn (cl) | TROY1033 | 7:02 |
| Ravel, Maurice | Gaspard de la Nuit | n/a | n/a | David Korevaar (pno) | MSR 1125 | 7:37 |
| Schubert, Franz | Lieder: Sei mir Gegrüsst (Rückert), D. 741 , Du bist die Ruh (Rückert), D. 776, Lachen und Weinen (Rückert), D. 777 | n/a | n/a | Arleen Auger (Sopr), Lambert Orkis (pno) | Virgin classics 628598 | 8:03:00 |
| Prokofiev, Sergei | Visions Fugitives ##16-20 | n/a | n/a | Jerry Wong (pno) | MSR 1357 | 8:21 |
I should have posted a "HOLD BUTTON" sign:
We returned home from a lovely three-day trip to elsewhere. It was about seven pm when I brought our stuff in and started to unpack. It was a lovely evening, except that: our house was COLD. And it seemed to get colder and colder. At eleven pm, while dressing for bed, I remembered lowering the thermostat before we left on our trip.
We have a mildly programmable thermostat. The easy way to save fuel is to pick some number, say, 62 degrees, and click the HOLD button. You click HOLD again to return to your normal program.
I rushed downstairs, clicked HOLD, and went to bed. Next time we go away on a trip, I will leave a sign in the kitchen that says: PRESS THE HOLD BUTTON!
We have a mildly programmable thermostat. The easy way to save fuel is to pick some number, say, 62 degrees, and click the HOLD button. You click HOLD again to return to your normal program.
I rushed downstairs, clicked HOLD, and went to bed. Next time we go away on a trip, I will leave a sign in the kitchen that says: PRESS THE HOLD BUTTON!
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Recipe: Apple Cardamom Ginger drink:
Inspired by a NYT story about a new company that is inventing unusual sodas, such as a ginger cardamom apple soda, I concocted a delicious drink:
2/3 cup apple juice
2/3 cup water
6 thin ginger slices
6 cardamom pods.
Some cardamom pods are easy to break open. Open these, and drop the pods and slices into the liquid. Bring to an almost-boil and simmer for ten minutes. Delicious! (I believe the drink would be delicious cold, as well. If you have the patience to chill it.)
2/3 cup apple juice
2/3 cup water
6 thin ginger slices
6 cardamom pods.
Some cardamom pods are easy to break open. Open these, and drop the pods and slices into the liquid. Bring to an almost-boil and simmer for ten minutes. Delicious! (I believe the drink would be delicious cold, as well. If you have the patience to chill it.)
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Net Neutrality: Perhaps I’m suffering without it:
Let me say right off that I connect to the Internet via Verizon. I use a DSL modem, not FIOS. And I can only speculate about my problem.
We bought a CC Crane Internet radio that gives me access to hundreds of classical music stations. It also gives my wife a clear signal from her favorite public radio station. When we first got the radio, I left it on a lot, as one does with radios in general. You don’t have to listen, but they provide a great background for daily life.
Except for the ten and twenty second silences.
Before the radio can play any stream, it must buffer some seconds of audio. Then, despite the vagaries of internet transmission, it can play continuously. A severe delay in the delivery of audio causes the radio to stop playing and buffer data again. Meanwhile it displays “buffering” on its little screen. And while it is buffering, we are losing some of the radio station's talk, or its music.
There are many issues that can cause buffering problems. For example, the radio stream station may be overloaded and falling behind while delivering its audio. But I tried a simple experiment, and it raised my suspicions. I’m now careful to turn the radio off unless I’m listening to it. I play it a lot less. And I rarely have buffering problems. Consequently, it feels as if my internet provider was punishing me for trying to keep a stream of one million bits per second going. (That stream is far less than the rated capacity of my DSL connection.)
I can’t help wondering whether Verizon is capable of noticing that I am enjoying an audio stream, and it is giving me a gentle hint that I might do better to upgrade to FIOS and get all my entertainment direct from them. I’m not accusing Verizon, I’m just wondering. Because, given the lack of Net Neutrality, Verizon is free to punish me in this way, if it chooses to do so.
We bought a CC Crane Internet radio that gives me access to hundreds of classical music stations. It also gives my wife a clear signal from her favorite public radio station. When we first got the radio, I left it on a lot, as one does with radios in general. You don’t have to listen, but they provide a great background for daily life.
Except for the ten and twenty second silences.
Before the radio can play any stream, it must buffer some seconds of audio. Then, despite the vagaries of internet transmission, it can play continuously. A severe delay in the delivery of audio causes the radio to stop playing and buffer data again. Meanwhile it displays “buffering” on its little screen. And while it is buffering, we are losing some of the radio station's talk, or its music.
There are many issues that can cause buffering problems. For example, the radio stream station may be overloaded and falling behind while delivering its audio. But I tried a simple experiment, and it raised my suspicions. I’m now careful to turn the radio off unless I’m listening to it. I play it a lot less. And I rarely have buffering problems. Consequently, it feels as if my internet provider was punishing me for trying to keep a stream of one million bits per second going. (That stream is far less than the rated capacity of my DSL connection.)
I can’t help wondering whether Verizon is capable of noticing that I am enjoying an audio stream, and it is giving me a gentle hint that I might do better to upgrade to FIOS and get all my entertainment direct from them. I’m not accusing Verizon, I’m just wondering. Because, given the lack of Net Neutrality, Verizon is free to punish me in this way, if it chooses to do so.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Experience Everyday Life...
A half-page ad in the New York Times screams:
Experience Everyday Life in Ancient Pompeii
Before signing up, I want to know which day it is.
(Back to Net Neutrality in my next entry.)
Experience Everyday Life in Ancient Pompeii
Before signing up, I want to know which day it is.
(Back to Net Neutrality in my next entry.)
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Keep the pocket closed:
I wear a small Lowepro case on my belt that can hold two Flash Memory sticks. Sometimes I carry only one. When there are memories in the case, I am careful to keep it zipped up.
After some heart-stopping moments, I learned that I must also keep the case zipped up when it is empty. If I don't, sooner or later I notice the case is open and empty, and then I think: Oh, no! Did I drop a flash memory somewhere?
After some heart-stopping moments, I learned that I must also keep the case zipped up when it is empty. If I don't, sooner or later I notice the case is open and empty, and then I think: Oh, no! Did I drop a flash memory somewhere?
Monday, February 28, 2011
Playlist for March 1st, 2011 at 6 a.m., Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm
Playlist for March 1st, 2011 at 6 a.m., Music on WPRB princeton, 103.3 fm (streaming around the world).
My first one (with an explanation) is here. (There was no show for me on Feb 22nd.)
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. to 8:30.
My first one (with an explanation) is here. (There was no show for me on Feb 22nd.)
The actual list will get filled in as I broadcast, Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. to 8:30.
| Playlist for Tobias on WPRB, 103.3 FM and WPRB.COM, for Dec 21, 2010 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Title | Orchestra | Conductor | Soloists | Album ID | Starting time |
| Humperdinck, Engelbert | Königskinder: overture; intros to acts 2 & 3 | Bamberg Symphony | Karl Anton Rickenbacher | n/a | Virgin 628584 | 6:03 |
| Stravinsky, Igor | Duo Concertante | n/a | n/a | Jennifer Frautschi (vln), Marta Aznavoorian (pno) | Artek Ar 0006 | 6:28 |
| Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai | The Invisible City of Kitezh (suite) | Scottish National Orchestra | Neeme Jaarvi | n/a | chan 8327/8/9 | 6:45:00 |
| Mahler, Gustav | Das Lied von der Erde | Los Angeles Philharmonic | Esa-Pekka Salonen | Placido Domingo (ten), Bo Skovhus (bar) | Sony SK 60646 | 7:12 |
| Schubert, Franz | Lieder: Suleika I (D. 720) & II (D. 717) {Words by Marianne von Willemer, not Goethe) ; Dass Sie Hier Gewesen {Words by Rückert), D. 775 | n/a | n/a | Arleen Auger (Sopr), Lambert Orkis (pno) | Virgin classics 628598 | 8:17 |
Net Neutrality: I’m for it, but...
Right now, I believe I am suffering from a lack of net neutrality. I can’t be sure, but I believe my Internet connection is being managed in an un-neutral way. I’ll tell you about that in my next post. First, I want to explain what I think about net neutrality:
I do not think the government, or any governing body, should make laws to regulate net neutrality. They will never get it right; there will be awful loopholes in any such law; and the law will be ten years out of date, causing awful damage, before it gets amended, to bring it almost up to date, with new loopholes.
Good network management, even the most benign, requires an internet provider to adjust priorities for the various streams it handles. That makes it really hard to define exactly what neutrality is.
The way to achieve a nearly neutral internet is to make sure that the internet providers do not have a conflict of interest over the data they are carrying. We’ve got it wrong in the US. Why shouldn’t Comcast try to crush Netflix, since Comcast has its own ways of delivering movies to us? Why should a company that delivers both cable TV and the internet, hobble its internet connections to make us use our TVs more, since TV costs a lot more than personal internet connections?
Legislate us away from these conflicts of interest, and then hope for the best.
I do not think the government, or any governing body, should make laws to regulate net neutrality. They will never get it right; there will be awful loopholes in any such law; and the law will be ten years out of date, causing awful damage, before it gets amended, to bring it almost up to date, with new loopholes.
Good network management, even the most benign, requires an internet provider to adjust priorities for the various streams it handles. That makes it really hard to define exactly what neutrality is.
The way to achieve a nearly neutral internet is to make sure that the internet providers do not have a conflict of interest over the data they are carrying. We’ve got it wrong in the US. Why shouldn’t Comcast try to crush Netflix, since Comcast has its own ways of delivering movies to us? Why should a company that delivers both cable TV and the internet, hobble its internet connections to make us use our TVs more, since TV costs a lot more than personal internet connections?
Legislate us away from these conflicts of interest, and then hope for the best.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Don’t buy tickets to the Mets?
There are lots of new rumors since I declared the (financial) baseball season open. First, without doubt, the MLB loaned a chunk of money to Fred Wilpon and the Mets. Now, on to raw speculation:
The MLB is the “bank of last resort.” Wilpon won’t be able to borrow from a real bank now.
The Mets had a cash flow problem, either when they made this loan, or when the made their last large bank loan.
With their interest payments and huge Mets payroll, Wilpon risks another cash flow problem in the near future.
Where can he get cash? Well, he can sell a chunk of the Mets, but that prospective sale seems not to be going well. He might sell some of his real estate empire...
Tickets! Ticket sales! That’s where he can get the cash he needs.
Only the rumor is, ticket sales are painfully below last year. And last year’s sales were way below the previous year. Do you want to buy tickets to see a team with only one solid starting pitcher?
Here’s the more serious question: Do you want to help Fred Wilpon keep the Mets? He needs cash. Do you want to see another decade of his ownership? If you do, this is the time to buy tickets.
The MLB is the “bank of last resort.” Wilpon won’t be able to borrow from a real bank now.
The Mets had a cash flow problem, either when they made this loan, or when the made their last large bank loan.
With their interest payments and huge Mets payroll, Wilpon risks another cash flow problem in the near future.
Where can he get cash? Well, he can sell a chunk of the Mets, but that prospective sale seems not to be going well. He might sell some of his real estate empire...
Tickets! Ticket sales! That’s where he can get the cash he needs.
Only the rumor is, ticket sales are painfully below last year. And last year’s sales were way below the previous year. Do you want to buy tickets to see a team with only one solid starting pitcher?
Here’s the more serious question: Do you want to help Fred Wilpon keep the Mets? He needs cash. Do you want to see another decade of his ownership? If you do, this is the time to buy tickets.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Redesign the Power Grid!
A recent article on interface standards pointed out something that I really like: if you keep an interface stable, people can productively design new products and inventions to that interface. For example, in 1981 when IBM released the entire spec for its new PC, hardware and software developers changed everything in new products, but hewed to the IBM interface, creating a world of compatible invention.
The article that I was reading mentioned the American power grid as an example of stability that furthered invention and progress.
Oh, Yeah?
How many DC transformers do you own? Don’t forget to count the ones for your current gadgets, the ones you have forgotten to throw away, and the ones you are not sure what device they belong to. I’m sure that, in my lifetime, over forty of the gadgets I've bought came these. And I don’t buy that many gadgets. The stupendous cost of these 6 and 12 volt DC transformers, and their constant drain of electricity (we keep them plugged in, don’t we?), could all be eliminated by providing 12 or 24 volts of DC to every home.
Isn’t it way past time to redesign the electrical grid?
The article that I was reading mentioned the American power grid as an example of stability that furthered invention and progress.
Oh, Yeah?
How many DC transformers do you own? Don’t forget to count the ones for your current gadgets, the ones you have forgotten to throw away, and the ones you are not sure what device they belong to. I’m sure that, in my lifetime, over forty of the gadgets I've bought came these. And I don’t buy that many gadgets. The stupendous cost of these 6 and 12 volt DC transformers, and their constant drain of electricity (we keep them plugged in, don’t we?), could all be eliminated by providing 12 or 24 volts of DC to every home.
Isn’t it way past time to redesign the electrical grid?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Spying on Not-Invented-Here
The Help Net Security website has a fascinating article about a common hole in security, in the business world: One in 10 IT pros have access to accounts from previous jobs.
You would think that when a person leaves a company, all of his or her access to that company’s computers would be removed. You might even think that all of a person’s access was controlled at one secure control point, so that a single action was all that was required to remove all of a person’s ability to connect to a previous company. Alas, it’s not that simple. An observation of Bruce Schneier seems to hold, instead: companies set up their projects with productivity in mind, not security. Security can slow things down a bit, and is often an afterthought.
I benefited from one of these loopholes in an amusing way. I was working at a company, developing software for a client. This development work was “on spec” because the client had no money to pay us until they floated a public offering. I worked closely with the client to identify needed software, and I was proud of my results.
After the client got their next round of funding, they brought in a new set of developers, a group whose experience was better suited than mine to their future needs. For a very short time, we all worked together while they set up their development environment. I proposed to give them a walkthrough of the features of my software so that they could decide what they might want to integrate into their future work. Politely but firmly, they made it clear that they were only interested in what they would write themselves. It would be a waste of their time to spend even one day on my work. I didn’t feel too awful about this, because I had been paid for my work, and I know that the “NIH” sentiment is very strong among programmers. The client severed all connections with me and I no longer had access to their developers or to their work.
Except for one thing.
When the client was setting up its development environment, it used an excellent tool for tracking bug reports. I was working with their people at this time, so my email account was added to the list of bug report recipients. I got to read all their bug reports.
I would say that 98% of these were either boring to me or incomprehensible, but the remaining 2% made my day. These were reports about unexpected problems they had to solve, that I had already solved in my software that it was not worth their time to know about. I’ll give you a taste:
In the client’s product, a modern UNIX system had to communicate with customer terminals that ran a very customized version of an older UNIX. UNIX systems store the date as the number of units since a reference date, say, midnight, January 1, 1964. In the client’s case, the two different UNIX systems used a different reference date, so that the same date “number” meant different a day and year in the two systems. My software had routinely adjusted date fields between the two systems, to allow for this. I was delighted to see the bug report about “Holy Cow, did you realize that the date fields are different on the two systems, and that it’s screwing us?”
It was a long time before I stopped enjoying those bug reports.
You would think that when a person leaves a company, all of his or her access to that company’s computers would be removed. You might even think that all of a person’s access was controlled at one secure control point, so that a single action was all that was required to remove all of a person’s ability to connect to a previous company. Alas, it’s not that simple. An observation of Bruce Schneier seems to hold, instead: companies set up their projects with productivity in mind, not security. Security can slow things down a bit, and is often an afterthought.
I benefited from one of these loopholes in an amusing way. I was working at a company, developing software for a client. This development work was “on spec” because the client had no money to pay us until they floated a public offering. I worked closely with the client to identify needed software, and I was proud of my results.
After the client got their next round of funding, they brought in a new set of developers, a group whose experience was better suited than mine to their future needs. For a very short time, we all worked together while they set up their development environment. I proposed to give them a walkthrough of the features of my software so that they could decide what they might want to integrate into their future work. Politely but firmly, they made it clear that they were only interested in what they would write themselves. It would be a waste of their time to spend even one day on my work. I didn’t feel too awful about this, because I had been paid for my work, and I know that the “NIH” sentiment is very strong among programmers. The client severed all connections with me and I no longer had access to their developers or to their work.
Except for one thing.
When the client was setting up its development environment, it used an excellent tool for tracking bug reports. I was working with their people at this time, so my email account was added to the list of bug report recipients. I got to read all their bug reports.
I would say that 98% of these were either boring to me or incomprehensible, but the remaining 2% made my day. These were reports about unexpected problems they had to solve, that I had already solved in my software that it was not worth their time to know about. I’ll give you a taste:
In the client’s product, a modern UNIX system had to communicate with customer terminals that ran a very customized version of an older UNIX. UNIX systems store the date as the number of units since a reference date, say, midnight, January 1, 1964. In the client’s case, the two different UNIX systems used a different reference date, so that the same date “number” meant different a day and year in the two systems. My software had routinely adjusted date fields between the two systems, to allow for this. I was delighted to see the bug report about “Holy Cow, did you realize that the date fields are different on the two systems, and that it’s screwing us?”
It was a long time before I stopped enjoying those bug reports.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Is this a heavy Winter? (NJ)
Each winter, when - and if - snow falls, I keep track of how many consecutive days it lies on the ground. Consecutive snow for forty days is a heavy winter for me. This one has been a beaut: Continuous since December 26: 55 days so far.
My count is somewhat subjective. Eventually, the only snow left is the remnant of the ten-foot tall hunks that have been heaped up in parking lots. These are so man-made, that at some point, as they shrink, I ignore them.
The last inch of snow is currently retreating from our home, but there's real, untouched snow out there, and my count continues.
My count is somewhat subjective. Eventually, the only snow left is the remnant of the ten-foot tall hunks that have been heaped up in parking lots. These are so man-made, that at some point, as they shrink, I ignore them.
The last inch of snow is currently retreating from our home, but there's real, untouched snow out there, and my count continues.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Jeopardy: Q & A and Watson:
When Watson played on Jeopardy, my wife wanted to see more of the word-play categories that Watson would likely be deficient in. There were few such challenges during the Watson match. I suspect that the Jeopardy producers played fair in this respect, picking categories at random from hundreds they had prepared in advance for their shows. But in real life, Watson-style systems will have to deal with vaguer questions than the majority that were used in the TV quiz game, so it’s a pity there weren’t more such challenges.
My favorite category that stumped Watson was the one where every answer was a key on your computer keyboard (shift, home, etc.). You know what? I want to see Watson play Wheel of Fortune, although it will have a gigantic advantage in that game, even if it ignores the confusing “category” hints.
Speaking of Jeopardy: if any of you are diehard fans, you may be distressed that I have persisted in calling the “answers” questions, and the “questions” answers. Well, I’m right, and the show is just silly in this respect. Contestants have to say “what is” or “who is” to preface their answers, but so what? Let me give you an example.
According to Jeopardy, this is the “question” that the contestants must guess after seeing the “answer”:
What is Elegance?
Suppose you asked "What is Elegance?" to a hundred people. Do you think that any of them would come up with the so-called Jeopardy “answer”? This is an actual item from the Watson contest:
A recent best seller by Muriel Barberry is called ‘This of the Hedgehog.’
I rest my case.
My favorite category that stumped Watson was the one where every answer was a key on your computer keyboard (shift, home, etc.). You know what? I want to see Watson play Wheel of Fortune, although it will have a gigantic advantage in that game, even if it ignores the confusing “category” hints.
Speaking of Jeopardy: if any of you are diehard fans, you may be distressed that I have persisted in calling the “answers” questions, and the “questions” answers. Well, I’m right, and the show is just silly in this respect. Contestants have to say “what is” or “who is” to preface their answers, but so what? Let me give you an example.
According to Jeopardy, this is the “question” that the contestants must guess after seeing the “answer”:
What is Elegance?
Suppose you asked "What is Elegance?" to a hundred people. Do you think that any of them would come up with the so-called Jeopardy “answer”? This is an actual item from the Watson contest:
A recent best seller by Muriel Barberry is called ‘This of the Hedgehog.’
I rest my case.
Jeopardy, Watson, and that damned Click!
Brad Rutter looked frustrated. Ken Jennings appeared very frustrated. It’s pretty clear that only one “game” decision enabled Watson to beat these two men: the timing of the click.
I’m very impressed by the ability of the Watson computer system to understand questions. I’m also impressed at the vast database of facts the computer has at its chippertips. But all of that computer power and “knowledge” is not what enabled Watson to win the TV game of Jeopardy.
The majority of the questions asked in these two Jeopardy games required straightforward factual knowledge. It was obvious, again and again, that all three contestants knew the answers to these questions. When they all knew, over and over, it was Watson that clicked first. If Watson had been required to click, oh, a tenth of a second later every time, I think that thousands more dollars would have gone to the human beings. Consequently, Watson’s victory means a great deal less. Now let me explain.
In Jeopardy, the contestants click a button when they want to answer a question. They are not allowed to speed-read the question and click at once. They have to wait until Alex Trebek has finished reading the question out loud. After that, according to John Markoff for the New York Times, a light flashes and then they can click.
Watson was fed the questions as text messages. (I’m sure Watson got no ‘advance info.’ Watson doubtless had to ‘read’ the questions while Ken and Brad were reading them.) If Watson found an answer to a question, it was permitted to click TEN MILLISECONDS after the light flashed. And that moment was too soon for its human opponents.
In the second game (on Wednesday) it was obvious that these two great players were learning to speed up their click reflexes. Perhaps if they played ten more games with Watson, they would gear up their reflexes almost fast enough. But this week, Watson had it all over them.
I understand there was some real agony, in preparing this challenge, about deciding how soon Watson would be allowed to click. Clearly, the decision was unfair. Giving Watson this edge was just great for IBM. I bet that very few humans can answer questions and then click a button within one hundredth of a second after some stimulus! I’d like to see an experimental psych trial back me up on this.
I’ll tell you what it seems like to me: The triumph of Watson could be worth millions to IBM. It could have been very, very,very, very important to Watson’s people to get that response time down to ten milliseconds. Who knows?
I’m very impressed by the ability of the Watson computer system to understand questions. I’m also impressed at the vast database of facts the computer has at its chippertips. But all of that computer power and “knowledge” is not what enabled Watson to win the TV game of Jeopardy.
The majority of the questions asked in these two Jeopardy games required straightforward factual knowledge. It was obvious, again and again, that all three contestants knew the answers to these questions. When they all knew, over and over, it was Watson that clicked first. If Watson had been required to click, oh, a tenth of a second later every time, I think that thousands more dollars would have gone to the human beings. Consequently, Watson’s victory means a great deal less. Now let me explain.
In Jeopardy, the contestants click a button when they want to answer a question. They are not allowed to speed-read the question and click at once. They have to wait until Alex Trebek has finished reading the question out loud. After that, according to John Markoff for the New York Times, a light flashes and then they can click.
Watson was fed the questions as text messages. (I’m sure Watson got no ‘advance info.’ Watson doubtless had to ‘read’ the questions while Ken and Brad were reading them.) If Watson found an answer to a question, it was permitted to click TEN MILLISECONDS after the light flashed. And that moment was too soon for its human opponents.
In the second game (on Wednesday) it was obvious that these two great players were learning to speed up their click reflexes. Perhaps if they played ten more games with Watson, they would gear up their reflexes almost fast enough. But this week, Watson had it all over them.
I understand there was some real agony, in preparing this challenge, about deciding how soon Watson would be allowed to click. Clearly, the decision was unfair. Giving Watson this edge was just great for IBM. I bet that very few humans can answer questions and then click a button within one hundredth of a second after some stimulus! I’d like to see an experimental psych trial back me up on this.
I’ll tell you what it seems like to me: The triumph of Watson could be worth millions to IBM. It could have been very, very,very, very important to Watson’s people to get that response time down to ten milliseconds. Who knows?
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