Happy birthday, HAL!

Geek Trivia: Name the time and place

Both literary science-fiction fans and outer-space movie aficionados are today celebrating the birth of perhaps the most famous fictional computer in history—HAL 9000, the enigmatic artificial intelligence from both the book and the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. But ask each of these respective groups what HAL's "age" is today, and you'll likely hear two different answers.

In the novel (and screenplay), HAL first came to life on Jan. 12, 1997, but on the big screen, HAL's birthday is Jan. 12, 1992. So based on the source material, HAL turns either 8 or 13 years old today.

Then again, both the book and the film debuted in 1968, so HAL could arguably be in his late 30s. Regardless of his actual age, HAL and the works of fiction that spawned him have served as cultural benchmarks for the progress of consumer technology.

Going by author Arthur C. Clarke's and director Stanley Kubrick's late-1960s estimations, we should be currently enjoying passenger space flights, stays aboard orbital luxury hotels, and careers on the surface of the moon—to say nothing of working with fully self-aware artificial intelligences capable of recognizing both voice and visual clues.

Indeed, by Kubrick's and Clarke's measure, who worked together to coauthor the film's screenplay, these activities should be so mundane, so ingrained into our daily consumer experiences that they're unworthy of narrative exposition (something notoriously sparse in the film).

It's ironic, then, that many of the consumer brand names used to underscore this point in the film were defunct by the time 2001 actually rolled around. Case in point: In one part of the film, a character makes an orbital videophone call using the Bell telephone system, famously divested in 1984.

Similarly, Pan Am appears not only as a major air carrier but also as a passenger spaceflight company, despite the fact that the real Pan American World Airways shut down in 1991. (An unaffiliated airline has since resumed use of the name.)

In one case, one product became obsolete even before the film's debut. RCA Whirlpool appears as the maker of zero-gravity food systems, despite the fact that the company dropped the RCA name from its appliance products before the film's 1968 release.

However, one significant technology brand name that appeared in several aspects of 2001 is still going strong, though its often professed connections to the HAL 9000 computer's name amount to little more than an eerie coincidence.

What famous technology brand, displayed prominently in 2001: A Space Odyssey, shares an eerily coincidental connection to the HAL 9000 computer's name?

IBM is the technology giant in question, a company often mistakenly credited as the basis for the HAL 9000's three-letter name. In the standard English alphabet, the letters H, A, and L immediately precede the letters I, B, and M, respectively.

The coincidence is so striking that many have often assumed that the HAL initials are a veiled reference to Big Blue. The fact that a number of fake IBM products appear in the film—including several monitors and a spacesuit control—only served to reinforce this assumption.

In actuality, HAL's real-world creator, Arthur C. Clarke, and his instructor in the novel, Dr. Chandra, both profess that the HAL name is shorthand for heuristic algorithm, purportedly the mathematical principle that serves as the basis for HAL 9000's artificial intelligence. Clarke has also gone on record to say that, had he noticed the IBM-HAL connection before the release of the film or novel, he would have named the computer something else.

If there's any actual connection between HAL and IBM that's intentional, it's perhaps the one most cleverly obscured. As embattled astronaut Dave Bowman slowly disconnects the HAL 9000's processors, the computer noticeably regresses in intelligence, ultimately clinging to one of its first "lessons" in human interaction—a song.

That song, "A Bicycle Built for Two," was actually the first song "sung" by any computer—a feat accomplished at Bell Laboratories in 1961 by an IBM 7094 computer. The touch is a subtle nod to computer history, if not IBM itself.

And just to hammer home the point, when Clarke penned the sequel to 2001 in 1982, 2010: Odyssey Two, he didn't name HAL's twin the HAL 9001 or the HAL 9000-B but instead chose SAL 9000. Whether that will put the HAL-IBM issue to rest is a matter of debate—and of great Geek Trivia.

And yet more Woolamaloo hullabaloo

Scotsman.com and Guardian Unlimited both have articles about Joe Gordon and the Woolamaloo Gazette. The Guardian Unlimited article even quotes the 'defaming' posts.

Woolamaloo hullabaloo . . .

It is growing by leaps and bounds, the Woolamaloo hullabaloo is. I've had a nice little jump in visits here thanks to folks doing a search for www.woolamaloo.org.uk at Technorati.

And just in case my opinion wasn't clear on this subject in my prior post and comment thereon, I think Waterstone's grossly mishandled the situation and have generated more negative press for themselves than the Woolamaloo Gazette ever could have or did . . . until now. If anyone knows of a colossal business faux pas award such as the Golden Razzies are for Hollywood, Waterstone's needs to be nominated.

PhysOrg: Spacetime wave orbits black hole: beyond Einstein's general relativity

I am such a geek! I love this stuff.

The Woolamaloo Gazette

If you haven't heard the story yet, you aren't really wired in. From all accounts, a very nice man named Joe 'publishes' the Woolamaloo Gazette. It has been around forever and he uses it to satirize whatever strikes his fancy. He also uses it to vent when something goes wrong at work. Well, it seems the manager of the establishment he worked for - Waterstone's, a UK bookseller in the ilk of Border's - took exception to the venting and fired Joe. The reason given is the satirical venting Joe did defamed Waterstone's. Given Joe's account and what I've read on other blogs, I suspect however Joe defamed Waterstone's in his blog is nothing compared to the defamation Waterstone's has brought down on its own head by firing him. Not only is Joe's story making the round of blogs - BoingBoing, Neil Gaiman - but news sites as well - Times Online, CNET. And the general consensus is that Waterstone's is in the wrong, that they have, in fact, cut off their nose to spike their face.

What do I think? I think we would all be wise not to mention work, except in the most glowing, anonymous terms, in our blogs. It probably would be wise not to speak about work, except in the most glowing, anonymous terms, to anyone. Actually, we shouldn't even think about work except in the most glowing, anonymous terms. You never know who might be eavesdropping.

Scientific American: Rats Can Tell Languages Apart

Without all of the information available and based just on what was reported in this article, it sounds more as if this was a Pavlov's Bell experiment using words for the bell, or possibly even the sound of a particular voice, than it really was an experiment in language recognition.

The rats' abilities were somewhat limited, however: when different speakers were used for each sentence, the animals encountered more difficulty telling them apart.

Scientific American: Evidence for Milky Way's Long-Theorized Stellar Graveyard Found

..::...Vores ØL...::..

Open source beer . . . I'm getting really, really close to having seen just about everything.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Iapetus moon bulges at the sides

The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche and Other Odd Acquaintances by Peter S. Beagle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Great Catnip Rumble Tumble of '04

The Great Catnip Rumble Tumble of '04 is a movie the Prodigal Son shot. It is 7.38 MB in size so it will take a very long time to load on anything other than a broadband connection.

My little furry monsters, since it's been a while

Heru doing some carefree napping.


Rainbow inspecting the leftover catnip in her cat bed.


Goblin resting in the dining room.


Mouse attempting another Alien impersonation.

Small world

I've just had a small world experience. Someone from a mailing list I lurk on - I think I've only posted half a dozen times on the list - has just joined a message board I babble incessantly on. When you consider how many mailing lists there are and how many message boards and how many people are on the 'net, well . . . And then you factor in that he is from South Africa and I'm not . . . small world!

having children has justified my life.

Someone at a place where I participate posted that as a response to part of a thread on the joys of parenting. This is my response to her:

"Having a child has complemented my life. It has complicated my life. It has made it interesting, joyful, painful, hopeful, sorrowful. It has led to new discoveries and old memories. It has taught me patience, sympathy, empathy, anger, fear, tolerance. Having a child has done many things, but it has never been justification for my life. The sum total of me is much more than parent."

I'm never sure if I should be happy or sad that someone defines themselves as / through a single aspect of their lives. By the same token, I'm never sure there isn't something wrong with me because I don't. Are they the 'normal' ones, or am I?

The Best Awful by Carrie Fisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first Fisher book I've read and I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but what I got was a very passable feeling of what crazy was really like. It was well written and I enjoyed my trip into the manic end of the "shit bag mood disorder stick" as lived by the Suzanne Vale character. The other thing I got was a very sincere appreciation for "getting the short end of the shit bag mood disorder stick". After reading this book, I much prefer the short end.

Link to amazon.com

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Star Wars voted top for effects

For me, the opening sequence of the first film is the definitive Star Wars moment. Sitting there in the theatre, scrunched down in the front row seat, looking up at the screen, it had an awe inspiring effect. It was as if that Corellian cruiser were flying over me.

Jeez!

Whch Dysfunctional Faerie are You?

You scored as A Too Lazy Faerie. You hate being active, and thats the way you like it. Waited on and totally pampered, looking beautiful without the effort. You like to watch the world circle around you and you're great for a long chat or long snooze. You prefer a more slow and peaceful way of living, but remember a little bit of exercise is good for your health, giving you more life for luxury ;-)

See All Results/Comment

A Too Lazy Faerie		95%
A Too Sweet Faerie		60%
A Too Astral Faerie		50%
A Too Evil Faerie		40%
A Too Silly Faerie		40%
A Too Depressed Faerie		40%
A Too Kinky Faerie		35%
A Too Sporty Faerie		35%
A Too Serious Faerie		25%

Which Dysfunctional Faerie are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Wanderlust

Heru has developed a very bad case of it. Every time anyone opens the front door, the little son of a feline tries to sneak out. Every time. He's made it out a few times but we've always spotted him and corralled him immediately. His usual tactic is to rush out the door and then just casually stroll along. Tonight, he got out and nobody noticed. Not only did he get out, he casually wandered across several busy downtown streets to return to the house where he used to live before he became my spoiled rotten little . . . cat.

How do we knows this? Because a friend of the Prodigal Son happened to be walking down the street where Heru used to live. Heru spotted him and decided to chat him up. The friend thought this strange cat looked and acted an awful lot like Heru so he picked him up and bought him home where I was happily oblivious to all of this - playing on my computer - until the Prodigal Son stuck his head in my door and asked me if I knew what Heru had been up to.

So much for the theory that neutered males like to stay home.

Reaping the rewards

Of being a good tipper, that is. I had dinner tonight at my favorite steakhouse in town - at which I've never actually eaten steak - and I'm at the point where I'm becoming a regular to the long time wait staff there. Not only did I have dinner there, but I also placed a to go order for the Prodigal Son, with dessert to take away as well since I never have room for it when I eat there. Anyway, when I got home and unpacked everything, I found the mints the waitress had put in my bag. All 20 of them. One peppermint, two spearmint, and 17 of those lovely chocolate ones I really like. Rewards, I tell you!

Oh, wait. I have had steak there. It was a chicken fried steak and I didn't like it. I much prefer the lemon peppered chicken or pork chops. And baked potato. With sour cream and real honest to goodness bacon bits, not those plastic things that pass for bacon bits you buy in jars. And some of the best cheesecake in town. Yum!

I've decided to adopt

Goran Visnjic, that is. During some seriously mindless web cruisin' I stumbled across an adopt a celebrity thing. So I did. I'm a sucker for tall, dark, and not American.