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| There are great benefits to connectedness, but we haven't wrapped our minds around the costs. |
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Hawking to Trekkies: Sorry! |
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| Topic: Science |
2:05 am EDT, Jul 22, 2004 |
"There is no baby universe branching off (inside a black hole), as I once thought. The information remains firmly in our universe. I'm sorry to disappoint science fiction fans, but if information is preserved, there is no possibility of using black holes to travel to other universes." Hawking to Trekkies: Sorry! |
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Hot Reruns Burn Up TV's Summer of New Series |
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| Topic: TV |
1:57 am EDT, Jul 22, 2004 |
Why is CBS, with a lineup dominated by repeats of its regular-season shows, performing significantly better this summer than last? And why is every other network, including those trying to lure viewers with a lineup of new series, doing worse? CBS has even increased the ratings lead it had over second-place NBC during the regular television season, with repeats of a few hit comedies like "Everybody Loves Raymond". "This is the future of television. And we just have to face it." Face it -- everybody loves Raymond! Hot Reruns Burn Up TV's Summer of New Series |
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'Jeopardy' Millionaire Is Smart, but Is He a Genius? |
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| Topic: Games |
1:43 am EDT, Jul 22, 2004 |
You've got to be bright and quick to win at "Jeopardy." You have to know a lot of things. And although the game is not chess in terms of complexity, or even checkers, there do seem to be some elements of strategy. But while everyone would agree you need smarts, is that the same thing as intelligence? For that matter, what do we really mean by intelligence? In addition to his quick recall, Ken Jennings has also demonstrated lightning speed at solving anagrams. Perhaps this might be called "puzzle intelligence." At least a few MemeStreams users are known to have high levels of "puzzle intelligence." 'Jeopardy' Millionaire Is Smart, but Is He a Genius? |
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Head of Kidnapped American Is Discovered in a Saudi Raid |
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| Topic: Current Events |
1:29 am EDT, Jul 22, 2004 |
The Saudi police have made the grisly discovery in Riyadh of the frozen head of Paul Johnson, the American hostage decapitated by his captors last month. Head of Kidnapped American Is Discovered in a Saudi Raid |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
10:14 pm EDT, Jul 21, 2004 |
Now to the Report itself. We hope that the table of contents will enable you to find your way round it easily. For those of you who have to read it quickly there is a final Summary of Conclusions which brings together the main conclusions in (I hope) a coherent way. But I emphasise that these conclusions should be read in the context of the sections to which they relate. They should be treated as signposts not substitutes for reading the earlier sections. While there is much material which we have not been able to include, we have prepared a Report which is published in full, including an unprecedented amount of intelligence material. There are no asterisks. We believe that these accounts are creditable and impressive stories. We hope that they will give readers a glimpse of just a fraction of the work intelligence does in trying to make the world a safer place. Our conclusions can be summed up as follows: The JIC found no evidence of co-operation between the Iraqi regime and Al Qaida. Assessments that Iraq sought uranium from Africa were well-founded on intelligence. The Butler Report |
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Crafting a Revolution with the Brother of the Macintosh |
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| Topic: Human Computer Interaction |
1:41 am EDT, Jul 21, 2004 |
There are currently two genres in interface design: graphical user interfaces and command line interfaces. Neither is exemplary. GUIs are slow to use and CLIs are hard to learn. THE synthesizes the best parts of these two ideas into a framework that creates an interface which is both easy to learn and efficient to use. To anyone watching, it seems like magic. To a user, it becomes indispensable. Crafting a Revolution with the Brother of the Macintosh |
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Reforming the Culture at CIA |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
9:23 am EDT, Jul 20, 2004 |
By now, almost everyone knows that the CIA is a mess. Almost everyone knows that what it needs is a top-to-bottom overhaul. Almost everyone is wrong. Without question, the intelligence community needs fixing. Unfortunately, the debate over reforming the CIA seems to be going off track. Nothing makes Washington's policy wonks more comfortable than rearranging an organization chart. Reforming the Culture at CIA |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
9:15 am EDT, Jul 20, 2004 |
Bill Casey broke all the rules at CIA. It's time to find another Bill Casey. The Problem With the CIA |
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Learning to Think, and Live |
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| Topic: Education |
8:57 am EDT, Jul 20, 2004 |
Why aren't there more scholars who teach students to be generalists, to see the great connections? Instead, the academy encourages squirrel-like specialization. Too many universities have become professionalized information-transmission systems, when teaching should instead be this sort of relationship between the experienced and the young, on whom little now is lost. Learning to Think, and Live |
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| Topic: Movies |
9:16 pm EDT, Jul 18, 2004 |
Marlon Brando, who was considered by many to be one of the greatest actors in American movie history, died on July 1st, at the age of eighty. Here, from 1957, is a long Profile of Brando by Truman Capote. The Duke In His Domain |
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