moon traveller herald

Hopfield circuit I was pretty lucky to cover neural networks on occasions for EDN Product News in the 1990s. I'd edited articles on the topic previously for ESD. So always paid close attention  .. and more so  as machine learning increasingly concentrated on neural engines. So, when The Nobel Prize for Physics went to Hopfield and Hinton, I shifted from on project and wrote an old style tech news story. A bit of a pleasant rush, especially to complete for Miller Time for my Progressive Gauge Blog .  Here I insert some images that basically show neurals. Admit the story lacked that. JV The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences today announced that neural network science pioneers John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2024. The two researchers are cited for “foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” The Nobel award is a capstone of sorts for two premier researchers in neural n...

  A Discussion: Boston Punk Rock: Landmarks, Bands, and the Scene - Saturday, September 14, 3:00pm–4:30pm Parker Hill – Registration is required.   Raw and simple, punk music emerged in the 1970s in reaction to mainstream rock of the era. It was DIY - you just needed three chords, and you didn’t have to be in tune.   That is arguably background for Saturday’s special discussion which features A.J. Wachtel who has covered the Boston Entertainment scene as a music journalist for over 40 years. He is the host on Wachtelligence podcast, where he has interviewed such Boston music mainstays as Rick Berlin, famed of Orchestra Luna, Steve Cataldo of The Nervous Eaters, Bob Margolin of the Muddy Waters Band, and many others.   The event is intended as a celebration of the city's vibrant punk heritage, spotlighting influential bands, iconic venues -- Who went to The Ratskellar?! -- and the indelible impact they've made on the genre.   In fact, the discuss...

  A favorite picture of Cecelia [in Chicago, late 1970s]

NIS T researchers have developed a system called lunar coordinate time with the express purpose to achieve precise timekeeping on the Moon.    We may recall US astronauts wore Omegas to the Moon. But maybe their time was off.   That’s because the Moon's weaker gravity causes clocks to tick faster than on Earth. That’s due to what Einstein reckoned was gravity’s influences on passage of time,   I guess you could “synchronize watches” as they did in every Mission Impossible heist, and you’d remain in time with your bro buddies, if not the cosmos.   That may not work when the great era of colonized lunacy arrives, and the machines inside different Ice Stations Gamma Alpha and Zebra call each other at an agreed-to time.   NIST boffins say this innovation paves the way for a GPS-like navigation system on the Moon, which would greatly enhance lunar exploration efforts by enabling precise landing and navigation capabilities.   Will they us...

Player Piano by Vonnegut describes the factory and the rise of automation in a dystopian but whimsical future. Machinists with their blackened hands. The punch press sound: 'Aw grump. Tonka Tonka. Aw grump. Tonka Tonka.' Vonnegut paints a picture where all humans face the fate of Native peoples run over by a colonizing power, in this case the power is technology, you have little but leisure time, your caught in a dream of 1984 with less harsh edges. He was something of a technical writer when he composed Player Piano [alternatively titled "Utopia."  [a press release and story writer for GE in Schenectady, NY after WW II] and was quite aware of "Cybernetics" because Weiner's writings were prominent. Norbert Weiner appears on page 14 of Player Piano, he comes up in conversation about time and motion.  Reading' And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut a Life" by Charles J Shields page 97 vonnegut is working at General Electric in Schenectady the job he got th...