Teaching Computers Proper Grammar

Today was the first day of classes for the Fall semester, as my Longhorn readers are already well aware of, and it went pretty well for me. I got good vibes from my professors for CC 303 (Intro to Classical Mythology), CS 310 (Computer Organization and Programming), and LAT 311 (Second Year Latin I). Plus, I tried out the Rec Center after my 10AM class (I have a 3 hour gap after it) and I must say that the weight room is more spread out than Gregory and less busy. Anyway, the most impressive item today was the research done at Cornell that can use patterns derived from a body of text in another language to create novel sentences in that language. The algorithm utilizes some complex statistical procedure to do so, and the article explains that it really is pretty smart. This is actually something I've been curious about for months since a CS 307 program where we did something similar with English texts although it was not nearly as smart as precise. This is all just something for you to ponder over because of what it could mean. It could mean programs that can translate better or grade your papers or do much more to help us out.

A war is brewing from the seed sown by VoIP over better solutions to the standard telephone companies. Microsoft has entered the arena by buying Teleo, which could provide the means for computers to communicate directly with telephones, and Yahoo had bought Dialpad, which I used to use to call India back in the day via VoIP. One blogger is being sued by a company because of what is written in their comments and I just think that we've entered an era that's testing the limits of the bill of rights in the technological arena. I find that this lawsuit infringes on freedom of speech, but the more important issue is that the blogger should not be responsible for what he did not write.

The teaser poster for Superman Returns may not look like much to you, but to me it's the start of what's sure to be a beautiful marketing campaign. I hope we can expect more from Singer's boys in the near future. Meanwhile, Casino Royale is moving at a snail's pace as none of the head honchos can agree on a leading man as good as or better than Pierce Brosnan. Keep waiting 007 fans, your day will come. If you're a Joe Pesci fan though your day has already arrived as he has come out of retirement to do one more movie with Robert DeNiro: The Good Shepherd. I'm curious to see how his acting is in his old age. Lastly, just a couple of trailers. There's going to be a 3-D IMAX movie on the first walk on the moon for all you stargazers. The other one is for North Country, which sounds like its riding the coattails of Erin Brockovich.

I just have to mention a couple of silly things before I conclude. I mentioned Jimmy Kimmel's spoof of the R. Kelly hip hop opera a while back and I just noticed that he aired the final two installments on his show so you can check those out here. They're a lot funnier if you watch all the R. Kelly videos in the saga.

Unfortunately, the BDI Mememeister lived in New Orleans so keep her in your prayers and if we're lucky maybe she'll come out of it alive and mind humping on Wednesdays. Meanwhile, I'm going to settle for the Question of the Day:

Did you ever have a crush on one of your teachers?
Yes, but that was in elementary school. Funny that it would happen so early in life, huh? That doesn't body well for my future with women, but it was in like the second grade I think. She was more like an assistant teacher (not a student TA though) and I remember that one time she was reading a story on the rug and after it was done everyone went back to their seats but I just stayed there looking at her. Ah, the memories.