frogblog

I thought I would kick off the weekend with a topic that is sure to challenge the imagination and bring all sorts of ideas - good and crazy - out into the open.
So just what is The Singularity? The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) describes it thus:
The Singularity is the technological creation of smarter-than-human […]

A lovely story from the Telegraph to lighten your Friday:
When André Tchaíkowsky died of cancer in 1982 aged 46 he donated his body for medical science.
But he added the proviso that his skull “shall be offered by the institution receiving my body to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical performance.”
Since then it has […]

It’s official. The electoral commission has published the final results of the election, and the Green Party is up one more MP than previously announced. Kennedy Graham, the number 9 on the party list, is officially in parliament.

Ken teaches (taught?)  international politics and international law at the School of Law, Canterbury and Victoria University, and […]

 
I laughed out loud at this image over at Tumeke this morning, in a post from Bomber. I’m not entirely sure who gets the image credit, but perhaps it is best ascribed to John Key himself, as quoted in the NZ Herald:

Do [New Zealanders] want to put in a National government with a fresh view […]

Luckily John Key has rushed through signing up his new government and announcing his cabinet just in time to go to the APEC leaders conference in Peru.  But that’s all probably just an excuse to visit to the world-renowned Peruvian guinea pig festival.  So cute dressed up their ickle costumes, and once he’s tired of […]

Maurice Williamson misses out on cabinet but wins our Photoshop Willie award. It seems mentioning roading tolls that don’t exist (?) repeatedly through the campaign means Key has put him on the road to the backbenches again.

Well I have to say I was somewhat surprised to read that one of the first headline topics to be addressed in the National-ACT Confidence and Supply Agreement is ‘Joint Aspirations’. It seems the two parties have come to an agreement about getting higher (productivity growth) and allowing more (economic) freedom.

Although I don’t agree with them I can see there are many strong arguments why they Greens should have put ourselves in a position to do a deal with National after the election.  But I really don’t get this one from the editorial of the Taranaki Daily News:
THE Greens just don’t get it. Sometimes, if […]

Nelson’s police force has taken up bicycling.  Good on them, especially for this bit of ‘kiwi ingenuity’:
The special lights and sirens can be ordered from the United States for about $US300 ($NZ520), but police had rigged their own up for about a 20th of the cost.
The siren was more like an air horn than those […]

John Key is being shadowed by a heavy police presence, with three diplomatic protection squad members accompanying him even to a caucus meeting attended by his MPs and party officials.
Poor old John Key!  That doesn’t sound like much of a life, surrounded by DPS guards.  At least they seem to have isolated the threat as coming […]