We’ve known for years that the phrase “reality television” is an oxymoron, but is it actually possible that Big Brother 13, which is doing well for CBS in the ratings, is actually rigged? Okay, rigged might be too strong a word (does “strategically pre-planned” sound better?), but the summer reality TV staple is once again under the microscope by fans...
Two A.I. ChatBots Attempt a Conversation
While artificial intelligence cleverbots usually learn from “conversations,” with real people, the Creative Machines Lab at Cornell wanted to see what would happen if two ChatBots had a conversation with each other. This video is proof of two things: The researchers at Cornell are quite good at building autonomous systems that can design and create other machines, and, even as...
Ghostbusters And Ghost Hunters
In 1984 they came to save the world, and with a new comic book series from IDW Publishing due to hit the shops the Ghostbusters are back. The moment I saw them in the cinema more than a quarter of a century ago, I was captivated. Barely into my teens, I was already hugely interested in ghosts and the research into...
Let Them Talk: Hugh Laurie’s September Song
Actors moonlighting as musicians often get a bad rap. While it’s true that some like Bruce Willis and Steven Seagal should think twice before stepping into a recording studio again, there are those who can actually make music and do it with skill and artfulness. When Hugh Laurie was approached to make an album of blues songs, he was...
The Power of Persuasion: Interview with Alphas’ Laura Mennell
What if you could get pretty much anything you wanted just by asking for it? For most people that is simply a dream, but for Alphas’ Nina Theroux that has been the story of her life. An Influencer, she is able to “push” people into doing whatever she wants. Over the years Nina has used her gift to secure everything...
Watch and Choose: Which Is Your Favorite Royal Garden Party?
I was delighted to hear that Queen Elizabeth invites 10,000 people “from all walks of life” to her four garden parties. Can this mean there’s a chance for each of us? Watch the videos of the garden parties in London and Edinburgh, Scotland and choose which one you’d like to attend. Perhaps you prefer the sedate grandeur of the Buckingham...
Who Does Prince Harry Look Like? James Hewitt Myth Debunked
Watching Prince Harry in the first part of Harry’s Arctic Heroes (BBC One), in which Prince Harry accompanied four wounded soldiers on an expedition to the North Pole in April, I was struck by his resemblance to the Windsors – not the Spencers – despite the red hair that runs in his mother’s family. Now 26, Harry’s face has matured...
UFOs Are Unidentified – I’ll Say That Again, Unidentified – Flying Objects
Extra-terrestrials buzzed London last week – except they almost certainly didn’t. On 17 August one of the local (south London, UK) news websites announced: “UFO spotted in Croydon town centre”. Predictably, the article accompanying this headline was illustrated with a picture of flying saucers. One reader soon joked that aliens had flown to Croydon from the other side of the...
Gadget Review: Amimon’s WHDI Stick
If you are thinking of setting up a home theater and don’t want to worry about where to put your media playback equipment relative to the TV, a WHDI device could be the answer. Wireless Digital Home Interface is a technology designed to wirelessly connect video playback devices to displays. Members of the WHDI consortium, which includes Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung,...
The Rendlesham Forest UFO Revisited
It’s been called Britain’s Roswell, and it’s back in the news. Rendlesham Forest is in Suffolk, England. It stands close to what was once a twin military airbase (RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge) used by the USAF under the command of Colonel Ted Conrad. In the early hours of a late December morning in 1980 members of a security patrol...