Random Babbling - 114

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Anybody seen IBM's Jeopardy Challenge with Watson? I thought it was really interesting.

 

WANT!

 

Oh glorious. Our Defense Minister, whom I so far detested on purely intuitive grounds [I hate the type - CV optimiser, the gelled hair, something else I just couldn't put my finger on], eventually gave me rock solid reasons that confirmed my overwhelmingly negative verdict.

The way he (mis)handled the Gorch Fock incident - a cadet had a fatal accident on a training ship, prompting him to fire the ship's captain - confirmed my worst suspicions that he was a shallow careerist not in the slightest interested in the people he leads, and that he certainly won't let some soldier get in the way of his career.

Now he apparently was caught to have copy-pasted his PhD thesis, extensively so, starting with the introduction Yes! Best bit: He apparently copy-pasted the intro from a professor at the army university in Hamburg. Delicious. There are calls for him stepping down. He doesn't see why. So far he will stop using his title for the time being, suggesting he (implausibly) claims congeniality. There is no shame ...

PS: Odds are he perhaps even hired somebody to write his thesis for him since he didn't have time to waste on such things - titles are preconditions for careers all right, but having to write them (which usually takes approx 2 years) shouldn't slow one down. As I said right from the start - a CV optimiser. What a puke.

 

Hmm, doesn't look like the kind of chap you want in charge of things. Read the articles you linked- bit amused by a section in the second one. It mentions that there were claims that the 'sudden discovery could be politically motivated'. Surely that's pretty irrelevant? Plagiarism is plagiarism no matter what caused it to be discovered.

 

Exactly.

He is using the politically motivated thing as an excuse, just like "But I wrote it while pursuing my professional career and caring for family" ... poor little him. I expect him to never admit to anything.

Presumable next line of defence, when the identity of text passages will be irrefutably established: "Well, that Professor X congenially wrote the very same thing as I, years earlier, only shows how brilliant we both are. It gives credence to the old adage 'Great Minds think alike"

 

He may have acted compulsively but there is a long standing belief -- when lives are lost at sea it is the Captain who is ultimately responsible and accountable.

In my opinion, if someone dies in a training exercise the Captain must be held accountable. The Captain should, except in rare and extreme circumstances, be relieved of command. The "sea is a harsh mistress" and those accepting a life at sea are held to high level of accountability.

I agree with your statements about your defense minister, he does not appear to be the right person for the job. But I happen to agree with the man in the firing of the commanding officer (which is really a "no brainer").

 

Made the news in Holland too.

 

Flash! Aaaaaahhhhhh!

 

Starting to learn how to play Scar Tissue on acoustic.

 

T2,
when Gutenberg sacked the captain he didn't even give him a hearing.

Point is, the woman fell off the sail. Be it due to exhaustion or because she slipped. When someone slips on a piece of soap in the bathroom and breaks his neck that is also no reason to relieve the captain. There are no safeties up there, and there haven't been any safeties up there ever since that sort of rig was invented. There have been really only few accidents. It is reasonably safe. I am all for accountability, but not for that. This was no martinet at sea like Holly Graf.

Exacerbating was that after that accident some other cadets refused to go into the sails, because they found it dangerous. They were disciplined for disobeying orders. These cadets also complained about having been yelled at. IMO the sort of cadet who recognises too late that to study dentistry at a civil university was what they actually wanted. A training cruise for officer cadets is no fun cruise for the experience. It should be fun, and should be a great experience, but that's not the primary aspect.

By the way, some trivia: The US Coast Guard is using a German war bounty as the training ship USS Eagle, originally christened Horst Wessel, which is a predecessor class to the Gorch Fock. The old Gorch Fock, a sister ship of the USS Eagle, is serving as the training ship Tovarishch in the Russian Navy. A third ship, christend as the Albert Leo Schlageter, is serving as the training ship Sagres III in the Brazilian navy. A fourth ship, the Mircea, was built for the Romanian navy and is also still sailing.

Below, the Gorch Fock.
​

 

Work was brutal this week. Especially today. Me needs an Amstel when I get home... Maybe two. Or three...

 

I feel fuzzy

Funny what a small increment in meication will do to you.

 

An Amstel, are you kidding me? At least settle for a Hertog Jan.

 

Awesome reference was a fail.

 

Amen!
Still, it's better than Heineken. But what, except for Oranjeboom, isn't?

/me pops open a HJ
Btw, I once wrote a blog, expressing my love for Hertog Jan somehow. It's in Dutch though, so I guess I can't put it on my personal account.

 

... that and not shaving for a week.

 

I wouldn't know about that

Am hoping the adjustment to going back on these meds isn't too long though, I've slept for sixteen hours a day since Thursday now. At this rate I'm going to turn into a cat! A cat who is too tired to do her coursework!

 

Re our (hopefully soon to be late) Defence Minister: Turns out he ordered the scientific service of the parliament to write an analysis about the core question of his doctorate thesis, and then copy pasted it unquoted into his dissertation. That in addition to the stuff he copy pasted from elsewhere. Right, what's what you are minister for - to have high calibre taxpayer funded researchers contribute to your dissertation ... the perks of the office. That betrays a sentiment of entitlement.

And he is still not to admit to anything that could come into the way of his chancellor ambitions.

The nerve this prick has. If he ever runs for office I will vote against him as the person is unsuited for office. He's career over substance all the way, and we have enough of such pricks around already. Think of our equally horrible Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

Contrast any of them to Wolfgang Schäuble, a man I dislike, but a man whose ability and integrity are beyond dispute.

 

Yes, I watched it. It was interesting, seeing how the people programmed the machine how to disseminate the clues even when using slang, colloquialisms and multiple meanings.

 

What struck me most was that Watson can be confused with several possible answers and admits he's not sure. Like the "Toronto????" and best of all, it was able to adjust this uncertainty by betting enough to still maintain its lead.