I'm student teaching a drama class over at V.B. this Friday, and I need a list of 10 unique superhero names. (Groups of three/four students get together and create a single, unified hero - y'know, all of them become a part [leg, arm, cape, etc] of the hero. Then they move around as the hero, and go through some everyday activities: getting up in the morning, grocery shopping... it should be pretty sweet.) But, yeah, I can't come up with enough names here. So, uh, if you have any ideas, please share. (The more, the merrier.) They, y'know, just have to be appropriate for a grade seven class, ha ha. - Really appreciated guys.

yeah, Jess, I had to pay for my class where my prof got nothing for doing it. The university's pretty sticky on the whole "pay for everything" issue, even if they aren't reciprocating. Barb brought in her own slides, her own slide projector, her own animal samples, and even food for us... the only thing the University provided was a room and electricity... which we could've had if we'd just walked in there to study... for free. She also isn't a registered prof on campus, nor does she have an office or anything else that 'regular' profs do... yeah, admin wants everything they can get out of you in this case. Who knew a course credit (by itself) was worth almost $500?

Thanks guys, although I think I'll just bite the bullet and pay up. I wonder if they're going to charge me the same for my Directed Reading class, seeing as how they aren't going to pay the prof.... Probably they will. And thanks for the applying to convocate reminder Paras, I hadn't done that yet.

AHHHH Strawberry ice cream, why are you so good?

Did anyone see the clip about biosteel on t.v.?

I don't think it was just the Norwegians who saw it...

Dubya's Saulte

Oh, and while I'm posting, is it appropriate to term legislation banning pit bulls as canine genocide, on the same day that the UN held a special assembly remembering the Holocaust?

The evolution of a wikipedia article. This is actually really interesting and reminds me a lot about the runtime of an AI program. Having read that sentence, it seems a bit strange, but perhaps I can explain.

The way an AI program is written, in general, is the parsing of some data structure, with an evaluation function for, well, evaluating the data. As an example, in a chess program, moves are generated, each generated move generates more, and so on, until you get a tree. At some level, it runs this function that evaluates the board position, and then passes that information back up.

The thing is, apart from telling it how to generate moves and how to evaluate a board position, you haven't told this program anything. Just by the nature of how the data is laid out, if finds the best move, or an appropriate gambit.

I've been guilty of commenting that the "AI" in computer games isn't really "AI". (Another strange statement, but bear with me.) The "AI" in (to pick a random example) a hockey game is a large conditional statement. When you have the puck and an open shot, shoot. In this situation, hit. Et cetera. The programmer, though, has told the program all the information. In "real" AI, the information is inherent, but it's not necessary to explicitly outline it. "Real" AI has that magic; the outlines are set, and the program fills in the rest.

And this is what I see in this wikipedia evolution. Some parameters are outlined, and the people work out the rest. Vandalism is fixed nearly instantly, because we have some idea of what information should be there. It's refreshing to watch.

(That being said, have I reduced people to the level of a heuristic search-driven machine? Or, possibly worse, elevated Deep Blue to human intelligence?)

Alison, It's ok to like one of your volunteers. I mean, Melissa was one of my volunteers when I met her, and things are great. That wasn't the first time I've done it either. When you work with a group of great people like volunteers do, it's inevitable for a crushes to form. Really, as long as he makes the first move, you're golden.

Oh and Jess, if you don't pay your tuition, the University just charges interest like a credit card.

Keri doesn't know where the Prime Minister lives?

Colbert on NPR

Goddammit Keri how am I supposed to help if you don't answer the fucking phone?!?

The answer is 10 Downing Street...

Google is your friend, I doubt you'll even look here for it though.