I have several friends who run marathons and specifically St. Louis area marathons so when I saw a story about how a woman cheated to win this year’s GO! St. Louis Marathon I was intrigued. The story gets even worse because the woman, Kendall Schler, apparently successfully cheated to finish third in last year’s race. […]
I just read a really nice story about a fellow named Magnus Carlsen who is the best chess player in the world. He might well be the best chess player in the history of the world. He also seems like a pretty nice guy. The story goes into how Magnus took up chess at the […]
I’m a chess player so recent events in the world of chess have captured my attention. Perhaps most of the people who read my blog will be less interested. The World Chess Championship between former champion Viswanathan Anand and the new champion Magnus Carlsen just completed and it was an interesting match for a number […]
What is a sport and what is a game? I’m watching the live stream of the 2013 PGA Championship, that’s golf for all you non-golf fans, and they are having a vigorous discussion about that very topic. The Wiki article is pretty broad and comes to no conclusions on the matter. It’s an interesting question and there […]
The 2012 London Olympics are fast approaching and there is a fascinating situation unfolding. A South African by the name of Oscar Pistorious is being allowed to compete in the sprint competitions. Being allowed? Yep, he’s a cyborg! His legs were amputated at a young age and he uses artificial devices called blades in their place. […]
After yesterday’s post summing up my conclusions on intelligence I got a comment asking my opinion on how I thought “Emotional Intelligence” factors into success. So that’s today’s topic. I admit a complete lack of knowledge on this subject but that isn’t going to stop me from telling you all about it! A quick perusal of […]
Today Intelligence Week takes a turn towards science fiction as I examine the concept of Artificial Intelligence. I’ve spoken about IQ test and trying to define intelligence, now it’s time to determine if computer intelligence is already or will someday soon surpass that of humans. By many units of measurement computers are already far, far smarter than […]
Tomorrow Intelligence Week continues when I take a look at the state of Artificial Intelligence development. It’s tough to define intelligence and not so easy to quantify it either but there is still a chance we can build it. I’ll talk about where we are now, with some chess references of course, and what the […]
Last night I was having a philosophical discussion on my Chess Site waiting for my Dungeons and Dragons game to get started … yes, it’s true and not an April Fool’s Joke. I am a nerd. Anyway the topic turned, as it often does, to Free Will or the lack thereof. The debate usually gets […]
The perception is that the internet is without controls or standards and while there is truth in this idea the reality is that an organization founded by Tim Berners-Lee, The World Wide Web Consortium, is largely in charge. The W3C is located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and manages the standards for the World […]
Or … how I eased my conscience by curing cancer, stopping child molestation, bringing down a brutal dictator, and wishing my mom happy birthday all in less than thirty seconds. While having a delicious burger and fries from Five Guys and Fries with a young co-worker the conversation drifted to his social media inundation with promotions […]
The final day of my weeklong attack against Facebook Platitudes has arrived and I like to think I’ve save the best, and by that I mean most egregious, for last. You can do anything if you set your mind to it. I can do no better than to quote the magnificent Penn Jillette, “Eat the […]
Yesterday I talked about how playing chess against a wide variety of players in the internet age improved my game at a much faster rate than when I played against the same opponent again and again. This led me to the conclusion that variety of experience leads to a better life and improved skill. I […]