I, for One, Welcome Our New Robot Overlords

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Most if not all of us have seen dialogue box like the one above in our online lives. Sometimes, a real person is called for, even in our heavily automated world. Especially when real money is about to be moved from one virtual hand to another.

About fifteen years ago, some Carnegie Mellon computer scientists developed a method to be employed to differentiate between a human being and a bit of software. They dubbed it, “Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart,” or CAPTCHA. There are several dozen applications commercially available that perform the test.

Some require a user to type in a randomly generated word or number sequence that the app has displayed just for them. Some require a bit less, a simple mouse click inside a box that sits next to a (sometimes) charmingly worded version of the question, “Are you a robot?”
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January 28 in History

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

“We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of Earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.'”—U.S. President Ronald Reagan

Despite warnings from flight engineers that cold weather and ice should have led to a delay in the launch, a decision was made by NASA executives to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger thirty one years ago today.

Seventy-three seconds after lift-off, Challenger broke apart after its right-side solid rocket booster (SRB) sprung a fuel leak (caused in part by the cold weather and ice) which melted a steel brace that held it in place, which allowed the SRB to swing wildly and slam into the large central fuel tank which was still mostly full of fuel.
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A New Homeless Shelter in … Belgravia

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Lauri Love and friends took over a famous property in London this week to help the homeless

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The sources behind Andrey Goncharenko’s wealth are not publicly known. Like many other members of the current generation of Russian oligarchs, both Goncharenko and his wealth appeared suddenly in the media. Two things are known about him: he is able to afford expensive pieces of London real estate, and he is shadowy enough to merit one (only one) mention in the Panama Papers.

Between 2011 and 2014, Goncharenko purchased four homes in London for a combined £250 million. One of them, located at 102 Eaton Place in Belgravia, he purchased in 2014 for £15 million. It is a Grade II-listed Heritage property and housed the Instituto Cervantes of London until Mr. Goncharenko purchased it.

Mr. Goncharenko does not live in the building and it is reported that he has not yet visited it. He has not spent the night in it. Lauri Love and a group of activists took over the building this week and some of them started sleeping there Wednesday night. The group intends to open the mansion as a homeless shelter.
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