9 June 2014 (Monday) - Goodbye Rick

Over brekkie I watched the antics of Warwick Davies in "Life's Too Short". He was making a fool of himself in front of Sting and Cat Deeley today.

"Furry Face ^TM" slept through most of brekkie; he did come over when I waved the brush at him; he likes being combed. But, as is often the way on a Monday morning, he did seem to still be tired out from the Sunday walk.

To work; as I drove the news told that for the first time a computer has been built that passes the Turing Test. Basically in a Turing Test the person conducting the test sits in one room; a computer or another person in another, and the two communicate. For a computer to pass the Turing Test the first person must be unable to determine whether they are conversing with a person or with a machine.

On the one hand the development of artificial intelligence software that is indistinguishable from human behaviour is amazing. On the other hand I've met several people who wouldn't have sufficient wit to pass a Turing Test. Perhaps the standard has been lowered since Alan Turing developed the idea.

The pundits also announced that serious research is taking place in the field of improving the lifetime of the batteries in our mobile phones. It's no secret that our mobiles are amazing devices, but their ability and computing power has fast outstripped our ability to power the things. Apparently there is big money to be made for a battery which last longer.

Who would have thought it?

I once again stopped off in Morrisons to get some fruit for lunch. I was once again amazed at the rudeness of the staff who (yet again) were more interested in their petty gossiping than in dealing with the paying public.

Lunchtime sax practice went reasonably well. I have three new tunes to master. "Row, row, row your boat" is relatively straight-forward. "In dulci jubilo" is getting there, but the third tune (a nursery rhyme medley) leaves a little to be desired. I'm hoping that the sax mouthpiece cushioning I bought on the way home might help.

Once home I walked my dog round the park; we played our curious version of fetch in which I throw a ball and he eats it. With "er indoors ^TM" off bowling I spent a little while ironing shirts. Dull...

And in closing Rik Mayall died today. Bearing in mind he's been the funniest thing on the telly for the last twenty years he'll be sadly missed. Mind you I'm showing my age on this one; most of my younger colleagues had never heard of him...