Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, June 23, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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extirpate
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| Article of the Day | |
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 ChatterbotsIf you had a recent conversation with ELIZA, PARRY, A.L.I.C.E., or ELLA, you were talking to a chatterbot, a computer program designed to simulate an intelligent conversation with human users through auditory or textual prompts. Though many appear to be interpreting human input before providing a response, most chatterbots simply scan for keywords and pull a similar reply from a database. Some people find these sorts of conversations engaging. What book was allegedly written by a chatterbot? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Edgardo Mortara Kidnapped from Jewish Family after Secret Baptism (1858)Mortara, the son of a Jewish couple living in the Papal States, was secretly baptized Catholic as an infant by a panicked servant during an infantile illness. The baptism was deemed valid by the Catholic Church and, because canon law forbade non-Christians from raising Christian children, Pope Pius IX ordered the six-year-old Mortara to be taken to Rome as his ward. Several countries objected to the pope's decision and called for the boy to be returned to his parents. What became of Mortara? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Alan Mathison Turing (1912)Turing was a groundbreaking English mathematician and logician who worked on artificial intelligence (AI), among other things. He created the Turing test to determine whether a computer is capable of humanlike thought. His papers on the subject are widely acknowledged as the foundation of research in AI. He also did valuable work in cryptography during WWII, helping to break the German Enigma code. In the midst of his pioneering work, Turing committed suicide after being convicted of what crime? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefore.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Windjammer Days (2020)The annual Windjammer Days Festival in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, celebrates the U.S. Coast Guard's 200 years of service to coastal Maine. The festival is also a salute to the large sailing merchant ships that once carried trade along the New England coast. There is an antique boat parade as well as tours of Navy and Coast Guard ships. Band concerts, seafood, and fireworks add to the merrymaking. More... | |