Thomas W.P. Slatin

Recently I wanted to register a minor complaint with Windows Live OneCare. I opened the web page where I was informed of a newly installed Instant Response, which I took to mean that an Instant Messenger System had been installed. Gee, what a dandy idea! I started to write the nature of my complaint and was almost immediately interrupted by a message telling me to simplify my request. Wow, I thought, ELIZA was back alive and kicking. In the ‘60s the program ELIZA was a feeble attempt at AI (Artificial Intelligence.) At one time I had written a program, which I called, Delphi Oracle in honor of the Greek Delphi Oracle. The petitioner was asked to cross my palm with silver in prices ranging from $1.00, top deluxe model, down to one penny, cheapskate model, but actually the predictions were all the same, namely, ‘if you are dedicated, devoted, diligent and study hard, you will succeed in your opted’, <whatever>. It made no difference if brain surgeon or axe murderess had been chosen. Since no monies ever change hands, I did not fear a lawsuit in case the prediction failed to materialize.

The Delphi Oracle was written in simple BASIC on a Texas Instruments 99/4A computer. The computer had no mouse, no hard drive and no monitor. One used a hookup to a television set. Data files were kept on cassettes and you used the keyboard in place of a mouse. The program was based on the answers given to certain initial questions such as what is your name? How old are you? Are you a male or female? The program would look for about a dozen clues and respond with <whatever age> ‘is a nice age or, <whatever name.> ‘is a nice name’ and so on. It didn’t care if you said you were 4 months or 230 years old. The program latched on the first clue it found and ignored any other clue in each answer. Neither ELIZA nor Delphi Oracle would have passed the Turing Test, which distinguished a computer generation from a human being.

Getting back to Windows Live OneCare, I wrote, “You are a robot. I want to talk to a live person.” When the response came back, “I live in California,” I knew I had the pigeon by the throat. ELIZA had taken “live” to mean residence, instead of “live” meaning animate. I was half tempted to resurrect Delphi Oracle and have the two go at each other. I am not a malicious person and wrote, “California is nice.” And I signed off.

HELLO WORLD. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE WHO REMEMBERS ELIZA?

http://www.revver.com/video/579557/is-that-a-frech-fry/

I like indie music. I like to go places nobody else wants go to. I like things nobody else likes.  I like to be me. 

A young couple is out in the woods when they come across a small ghost town from the 1800’s. They decide to explore the town and realize that the town is still inhabited by people living and working as if they too were living in that era. It is a Sunday afternoon and since they are visitors, they are invited to church.  It is not until after church services that the couple visit the overgrown and abandoned cemetery behind the church that they realize that the people they just met are in fact, ghosts.  Now the couple must decide to either leave the town forever and forget about even being there and go back to their lives as the know it, or stay in the town and travel back in time to live with these new people in their time.

What do they do, and why?

PLEASE CREATE A TRACKBACK TO THIS ARTICLE IF YOU USE IT TO START A STORY.

You question me, you ask me why?
I am hidden with disbelief, I am broken
The sounds around me fade, and the voice within me remains silent,
what is your reason for such pain How could you think of me as if I am the past,
Already forgotten?
I cry, I hold my head in heartache. It is you that should believe, when all else fails you.
It is me that suffers the consequence.

Yeah, I probably should have followed Angie’s advice and put up more lights and decorations before we got our first snow storm of the season.

The book I’m writing (very slowly) will likely be on-sale in 2008.  While nothing is finalized, as it stands right now, 90% of the content from this website will be included in the book.  Therefore, if anyone that has been reading this site for any legnthy amount of time is interested in wrting a testimonial to the quality of the book, please submit a comment.

Of course, I have to make a living somehow, so there will be a ton of content in the book that has never been released before, ever.  But because I’m really nice, I’m going to leak a little bit of content every so often to the website as soon as folks start buying my book.

For those of you who don’t know, a testimonial is a blurb that goes on the back cover of a book that attests to the quality of the books content.  Please note that any comments posted here become property of TomSlatin.com, and of course, me, Thomas Slatin.  Therefore, any comments might appear on the back cover of the book.  You will be given full credit according to what you have written your name to be in the comment.

Any questions?  Ask them as a comment also.

Thomas

For the past few years, Angie has been bugging me to take her on a horse-drawn sleigh.  Well, today her dream came true.  Unfortunately, I would’ve liked to have taken her on her birthday (yesterday), but today was the opening day for horse-drawn sleigh season in Vermont.

Very special thanks to Adams Family Farm for allowing me to take pictures of their horses.

Check out this lonely old hay wagon I saw today!

Finger Eleven released a song recently entitled One Thing back in June of this year.  Whenever I hear it on the radio it makes me think, what would I want so much that I’d be willing to trade everything I own just to have?  If I were able to trade everything for just one thing, what would it be, and would it even be worth it?

Ask anybody what they would be willing to trade everything for.  Ask them to think deeper if they reply quickly, or reply simply with something stupid such as fame, or money.

(Thanks Finger Eleven!)

What’s your one thing?  Reply as a comment…