Offensive Squid

Post edited 2:49 pm – January 3, 2011 by Hljothlegur

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The new Strahan, Engineering Infinity is available at Amazon:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Engineer…..1907519521

 

It was announced here on the Crawl, for reference:

 

http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?…..9#comments

Post edited 9:23 am – January 4, 2011 by Hljothlegur

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Flanders said:

…the Crawl's completely moribund lately. I think he's dead.

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 *gasp*
 
You read my mind.  I was just going to post to ask where old Sir Typesalot is at.  Maybe Facebook.  The dread FB is forbidden to me at work.  I mean, he usually announces this stuff on Le Crawl himself.  How are we supposed to keep his Walesopedia page up-to-date if he doesn't announce this stuff?
 

What if he woke up recently Completely Out of Ideas, and is hiding from us until he can figure out what to do?  *horrorstricken face here*   HAHA  … more likely he just figured out his fanbase is a bunch of annoying aspbergery dweebs…   
 

I'm a good driver, a very good driver 

Flanders said:

…the Crawl's completely moribund lately. I think he's dead.

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maybe he's too busy writing. one hopes

every now and then I check his facebook page to see if I've missed any status updates or news. nothing new last time I checked. there was something about a dream where he had a bizarre drinks and turtle hors d'oeuvres.

found a review for "Malak"

http://www.bestsf.net/2011/01/…..-infinity/

Hljothlegur said:

sheila said:

found a review for "Malak"

http://www.bestsf.net/2011/01/…..-infinity/

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Did you get it yet?  I've been stuck on one of Stieg Larsson's brick-like tomes.  From the preview on the Crawl, I am anticipating some Yeatsian poetry from The Squid on this one.  *rubs hands together*

 

Bet you got it on your Kindle, didn't you?

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Nopers. see my post up there?

/me shakes fist at the world.

/me obsessively clicks "I'd like to read this on my kindle."

I haven't broken down and ordered the physical copy yet. I'll procrastinate and maybe it will come out in ebook form. I wonder if Watts will skim this thread. Damn you, Watts, can't you use your powers of evil to make them release it in ebook form?

Post edited 8:41 am – January 20, 2011 by sheila

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Got the book earlier this week and I'm part-way through Stross's story by now.

Thanks for the link, Andrea. Here is the Google translated version.

Ronald Arkin's page with links to articles and technical papers

an account of overrides going in the opposite direction of the story…

How Does a Terminator Know When Not to Terminate?

Sullivan walked out of the heat and into the small, single-wide trailer operations room (the “ops cell”) to assess the situation firsthand. Maneuvering the Reaper by joystick, the pilot pointed to the screen: Four human shapes were silhouetted against a tarp some 7,500 miles away. The local time was 2 a.m. These were hardly goatherds, and with no coalition soldiers reported on the hill, consensus emerged that the four figures were insurgents. Sullivan ordered the countdown for lethal force, and his pilot began the 10-minute sequence for launch of a laser-guided Hellfire missile. Then Sullivan noticed a detail that gave him pause. Two of the men were doing sit-ups and push-ups. “I’ve been watching the Taliban for years now in small units like that,” he said. “They would not be doing exercises.”
Ultimately U.S. commanders on the ground were asked to check with their field units one last time. Sullivan watched via infrared video feed from half a world away as one of the silhouettes picked up a portable phone. With only minutes to spare, Sullivan stopped what would have been a deadly friendly-fire missile strike on American troops.

Robotics experts call what Sullivan exercised “discrimination,” the ability to target enemy forces while keeping fire away from civilians, friendly troops, and prisoners of war. In the move toward increasing use of unmanned military machines, discrimination is the elephant in the room.

forgot to add:

Statistical Prediction Rules Out-Perform Expert Human Judgments, an essay on lesswrong.com, which I haven't gotten around to reading yet. I'm thinking it will be a nice accompaniment to the meal.

I'm hoping to follow up with a more thoughtful post, and one with lots of questions.