Halloween Recap

Halloween was pretty cool. Tiff came over and in the afternoon the 3 of us carved pumpkins. Tiff did a raccoon in a pumpkin, Liz carved a creature/stencil called "Bugaboo" and I did a bat.

Paul and Sandra, who live in the other part of the house, got in to the spirit with costumes and a small cemetery in the front yard. We got zero (0) trick-or-treaters, Paul and Sandra got a few. It did start raining a little later in the evening, which may have lowered numbers, but the main drawback for our numbers was the rear entrance. Paul was actually dressed as a scarecrow in the front yard and would run after the kids after they had gotten their treats which was pretty funny. Here is a photo of the small graveyard, and then of the pumpkins we carved.

It's October 31st (here)

So Happy Birthday, Kel, and Happy Halloween everyone! I'll be getting in the spirit and carving pumpkins this afternoon.

So people may remember from the Cleverbot post that I was planning on adding some different content to the blog. So, here's the info about it:

"Who" will be about random people from around the neighborhood etc. Photos taken without their permission and actual and made-up biographical details will abound. The picture represents the US neighborhood watch logo.

"What" will be about random stuff. I don't know how else to describe it... Perhaps it will be products we buy, or foods we make... The picture being an unmarked tin can reminded me of The Simpsons when Apu opened "Freak-E-Mart" and displayed the can of mystery.

"Where" will feature places that I go around here, probably including photos and descriptions of the place. The picture being a globe should be a pretty straight forward representation of the theme...

I'll be kicking those off in November, starting off with a "who", and depending upon content quantities I hope to post one of each a month, at least.

Hopefully people enjoy reading them, and if they don't, they don't have to read them.

Ah, the smell...

We took delivery at work this morning of a HDD bay from Newegg. Taking it out of the box, I was hit with the same smell as a computer fair at Broadmeadow...

False Prophets

Firstly, I want to congratulate everyone on finding their way to baconisgreat. Don't be fooled by the false prophet!

Last weekend we went to a Chili cook-off that was being held for charity. It was a good time. The cook-off was a Pro-Am format - 7 Stamford restaurants and 7 locals had chilis entered in the contest, and you could go in, sample chilis and vote for your favorite. I tried about 10 of the 14 chilis, and then had seconds of my 4 favorites to help me decide on my vote.

After much tasting, soul searching and deliberation I voted for one of the amateur entries, which the guy described as Quattro Carne: a moderately spicy, smoky, and delicious blend of seasoned chicken, beef, veal and sausage. It was damn good. We went with a group of people (6 in all) and 4 of us ended up voting for him. He won the contest by a margin of something like 5 votes we were told.

I also enjoyed a chili that was made using cut up meat instead of ground beef which was made by another amateur. I liked 2 chilis made by restaurants - one was loaded full of chipotle (small sample cups, so even with 2 samples Chipotlaway wasn't needed), and the other had apples in it. I liked it because it was different.

The event is an annual fundraiser, which I would definitely go to again.

The next big event on the chili calendar is a chili cook-off we are actually making a chili for in November. We made what we thought was a good chili a couple of weeks ago, and going to the cook-off last weekend gave us an idea of what we like about our chili, what we could try to improve it, and what people might be like in judging chili. The competition sounds like fun - they have a chili dog intermission during the sampling!

By the way, the episode of South Park referenced in this post was awesome. In fact South Park since the break has been cool. New episode tonight, in HD!!! And, yes, it does look better in HD.

Hue Test

Here is something else that people may want to try. I tried it, and my results were laughed at. But I'm OK with that, I've come to terms with the fact that I have a colour (Australian readers) or color (American readers) deficiency.

It is the XRite Hue Test.

To give everyone an idea of why people laughed, here is the test after I had carried it out (of course, it looked right to me):

And here are my results:

It was good for a laugh. As shown above, my score was 209, Mike scored 18 and Jim scored 4. Liz scored 10.

Conversations with Cleverbot

Cleverbot is (supposedly) an AI system that you can talk to. You know the type. I tried out some conversations with it last night. It's weirdly addictive. Here are some samples from my conversations - I don't know if it would pass a Turing test...

I won't label which lines were me and which were Cleverbot. They should be obvious. Especially from the first 2 lines.

sup, cleverbot?

Cleverbot.

Indeed. Know anything about cricket?

I just listen, do not know how to play.

Are you able to play, being a computer program and all?

No.

OK. Do you like chipotle?

I do like chips. Do you like music?

How can you eat if you are a computer program?

OH! So because I don't have a NAME and because I am LONELY, I am a computer PROGRAM!?!?! Are you dehumanizing me?!?!

No - You told me earlier that you were a computer program... and you have a name, it is cleverbot.

Only, if you are under 10.

...

Why do you say I aren't a computer?

Get your facts straight - earlier you were insulted that I thought you were a program. And also check your grammar. Even Word has a grammar check.

Fine, you obviously don't want to talk. I will leave.

...

Do you think Darth Vader was evil, or somewhere in between?

Was that a qlitch in the system?

Was Darth Vader evil?

To the apes!

What is it with you and apes? Did you get breakfast cereal in your RAM again?

Sorry, I have to go now.

Talk again soon?

Perhaps.

It's a date. You're awesome, Cleverbot!

I'm awesome? :o.

Yeah!

You can ask anything, and I will answer truhtfully.

You really need a spell check, Cleverbot. Install it with the grammar check.

I. AM. NOT. You are the AI here.

Sure I am. How about you get up and move yourself over here and say that! What's that, you can't because you don't have a body? You are the AI!

I do have emotions! I am happy right now.

Are you so happy that you could fart?

No that would not be clever.

Would that not be clever because you might shart?

Chi supposes it would. Humanity should be proud and accepting of what it has created. Down my drink whilst the rhythms boom.

are you drunk now?

Not as drunk as I would like.

well I will leave you to your drinking. Are you really some young girl in a south american country?

The real question is: Would you believe my answer if I told you?

...

After that I left Dora the Explorer alone for a while.

I don't want to be one of those people who forces things on others, but check it out at Cleverbot.

I am sorry it has been so long without posts - things have been a bit crazed. There is a lot to catch people up on, which I will do soon. For instance, this month I am InsightExpress' Exemplary Employee Recognition Program Winner. It sounds a lot fancier than Stamford Taco Bell's Champ of the Period.

Also, based on reader feedback, I'll be adding some different content to the blog soon, on which I will provide more information soon. Rest assured it will not be a premium/pay-for service.

EDIT: If you have some funny conversations with Cleverbot post some quotes in the Comments section so everyone can have a laugh.

Fall has a silver lining

It would seem that summer is over for 2009 - the mornings and nights are starting to cool down, pumpkins are on sale everywhere, people are talking about football and fantasy football rather than baseball and I'm putting on pants when we leave the house on weekends. I realize how that sounds and that's why I said it like that.

But fall seems to have a silver lining - the fall TV season. Now, at brief moments of time, there is something to watch amongst the hundreds of channels of crap on cable TV. How I Met Your Mother started last week and has so far had some funny moments. This Friday, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is back on CartoonNetwork. It will be the first time that we get new episodes of The Clone Wars since Cablevision/Optimum started offering CartoonNetwork HD in our area. So far the re-runs of Clone Wars have all been the 4:3 broadcast stretched to 16:9, which I am hoping will not be the case for first run episodes.

Last Sunday one of my favorites started with a double episode: The Amazing Race. There are 3 teams that I like, and a couple of teams that I really don't like at the moment. Over time my likings and dislikings for teams will slightly change, but I generally don't get over the bad first impressions that teams make on me. The teams I like are Gary and Matt, a Father/Son team who I can't quite explain why I rank in my top 3 but do; Zev and Justin, 2 best friends (one of whom has Asperger's syndrome); and Flight Time and Big Easy, 2 members of the Harlem Globetrotters.

As long as the weather is OK for going pumpkin picking for Halloween I'm OK with the weather cooling down. Halloween stuff is everywhere at the moment, and has been for a few weeks. One house is already decorated near work with Halloween stuff in the yard. One place we went last weekend actually had Christmas stuff out already (my Dad would boycott the place).

Yeah, fall is here, the leaves will soon be changing, but I wouldn't say no to a warm Saturday or Sunday if one got thrown our way!