It took me a minute to dissect this video of a Japanese baseball pitch. I was expecting some kind of complicated throw giving the ball some awkward spin that drive it crazy, but it is much simpler than that. It is still effective, however. I wish we had this guy in the bullpen in Tampa Bay.

I have always had a fascination with alternative and gothic women. I like the whole scene myself, and have tried to find where people like them congregate so I could meet a few more. I was excited when a friend told me about a new website. Darkyria.com : Love Different was the first thing I saw on this page, and it wasn’t lying. This network allows you to mingle with other gothic and alternative singles. Membership is free, so you can spend time browsing profiles and sending out “Winks” to the people you are interested in. Forums and video chat just put the icing on the cake for this great gothic dating site. Come see what all the fuss is about and find your beautiful goth single today at Darkyria.com.

Boston won a World Series. Yippie, I am just jumping for joy they were able to buy this championship, with uber-dork owner John Henry at the helm. That’s the thing, I lost a hundred dollars on a bet against the Red Sox, and of course they have to pull it out. Next year they will face stiff competition. Boston as a whole is elated, though. Boston College and the Patriots are both undefeated. It’s a lucky time to be a wimply little New Englander right now.

Have you ever had a chatterbox application on your computer? If so, you realize how fun it can be to have a conversation with it. That was yesterday’s technology, though. Applications like that are now more advanced, which is proof as to why Zabaware Wins 2007 Loebner Prize for AI. That’s right: the Zabaware Ultra Hal application won the prestigious award for having the best artificial intelligence. This application will actually help you rather than just serve as a virtual companion. You can even download Ultra Hal Assistant 6.1 to use free for a 30-day trial. Just check out the press release:

Zabaware’s Ultra Hal software won the “most human” computer of the year in the 17th annual Loebner Prize Competition for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The contest was held in New York City hosted by philanthropist Hugh Loebner.

The Loebner Prize is an annual competition where software programs attempt to convince human judges that they are actually people. The format of the competition is called a Turing Test. In a Turing Test a judge talks with 2 “entities” simultaneously through a text-based instant messaging system. One entity is a human and the other is a computer. It is up to the judge to decide which is which by typing questions to both entities and receiving answers.

Zabaware is an Erie, Pennsylvania based company that specializes in artificial intelligence technology. The company’s mission “giving your computer the power of thought” once considered a futuristic pipe dream is becoming a 2007 reality.

It is one thing to talk to your computer it is quite another to have a conversation where you are exchanging information and the computer learns and utilizes the information in the future. Zabaware’s Ultra Hal technology and its associated brain are currently doing just that. The software can give your computer a personality using AI technology, speech recognition technology, and real-time animation. It can be used as an entertainment program, a companion, or an office assistant. It learns from conversations and evolves and improves the more it talks with a person. In addition to chat it can perform useful functions such as remembering and reminding of appointments, keeping an address book, dialing phone numbers, launching program, and more.

Zabaware’s Ultra Hal software runs on most standard Windows computers. The artificial intelligence software is available for download at www.zabaware.com as a free 30-day trial.

My nephew Jamie and I went to the local Indian casino the other day, and he was looking to play a machine without the bingo card at the top corner. I explained to him that that’s the way they get around the law in Florida. I wish political people would stop pandering by keeping gambling illegal. They will always find ways around it, like by using bingo or having good games on cruises. I think they just want people scratching the dollar tickets for school funds.