...thing that approaches the importance of that reality is finding like minds that realize the same, and being able to make some connection with them. If these books have influenced you the same way that they have us, we invite your contact at the email addresses listed below. Enjoy, Michael Beight, piman_314@yahoo.com Steven Reddell, cronyx@gmail.com Here are some new links that we’ve found interesting: KurzweilAI.net News articles, essays, and discussion on the latest topics in technology and accelerating intelligence. SingInst.org The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence: think tank devoted to increasing Humanity’s odds of experiencing a safe, beneficial Singularity. Many interesting articles on such topics as Friendly AI, Existential Risks. A SingInst.org/Media Videos, audio, and PowerPoints from the Singularity Summits; and videos about SIAI’s purpose. blinkx.com/videos/kurzweil Videos on the internet in which the word “Kurzweil” is spoken. Great new resource! PRAISE FOR THE...
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...L’échec du BIC en lancement des sous-vêtements en FRANCE Sommaire L’histoire…………………………………... ………………………………………………3 Présence mondiale……………………… ………………………………………………4 Développement durable………………… ………………………………………………5 Bic en chiffres……………………………. ………………………………………………6 Références………………………………... ………………………………………………7 L’histoire Le Groupe BiC est une société cotée en bourse fondée le 25 octobre 1945, dont le siège social se situe à Clichy en France. Années clés – expansion vers international 1945 - Marcel Bich (1914-1994) et son associé Edouard Buffard (1908-1996) fabriquent à Clichy (France) des pièces détachées de stylos plume et porte-mines 1950 - Marcel Bich lance le stylo à bille BIC® Cristal® en France. BIC® est une version raccourcie de son propre nom 1954 - Entrée de BIC sur le marché italien 1956 - Entrée de BIC sur le marché brésilien 1957 - Entrée de BIC au Royaume-Uni, en Australie, en Nouvelle-Zélande, en Afrique du Sud... par l’acquisition de Biro Swan (Royaume-Uni) 1958 - Entrée de BIC sur le marché des Etats-Unis par l’acquisition de Waterman Pen 1959 - Entrée de BIC sur les marchés scandinaves 1960 - Expansion de BIC en Afrique et Moyen-Orient dès le début des années 60 1965 - Entrée de BIC sur le marché japonais et le marché mexicain 1969 - Création de BIC Graphic (marquage publicitaire) 1972 - Entrée de BIC en Bourse (Paris) 1973 - Lancement du Briquet BIC® 1975 - Lancement du Rasoir BIC® 1979 - Entrée de BIC sur les marchés...
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...Summary of A Conversation with Ai Weiwei, an interview conducted by Zheng Shengtian Ai Weiwei, a respected contemporary artist from China is the interviewee in Zheng Shengtian’s article, A Conversation with Ai Weiwei. Conducted in the artists’ studio in Caochangdi, Beijing on July 19, 2013, Shengtian delves deeply into Weiwei’s life before and after his foray into the art world. It is through this interview that we get a sense of what the underlying inspirations were and what the current motivating factors are for Ai Weiwei as an artist and activist. A privileged childhood was far from the reality for Ai Weiwei. At an early age, Weiwei was already grasping what it meant to be wrongly accused and the consequences it had. Weiwei and his family were sent to live in a military camp in Xinjiang, China after his father; Ai Qing was condemned as a “rightist” in 1957 (Shengtian 6). When asked about his life in the military camp, Weiwei did not have a clear recollection and only saved a few traumatizing memories. He recalled the time when their military camp fired the first shot of China’s Cultural Revolution on January 26th. “I remember hearing lots of explosive noises. I saw my family boarding up the door. I heard running footsteps on our rooftop. Because the rooftop was made of tiles, which were not soundproof, I could hear the bullets whistling by” (Shengtian 8). Seeing dead bodies, including classmate, Ma Lu, is still very much a vivid memory for Ai Weiwei. Such scenes would...
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...2013 Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei is an internationally celebrated Chinese artist whose voice is heard loudly through his art. He believes in freedom of expression and despises the Chinese Government’s power. Ai’s contemporary style comes in many forms; Sculpture, architecture, installation, film and photography, are only some of his great talents; his art exposes the very real hardships of the Chinese people and how their culture has been muted over time. The government has become such a major influence and has gained so much power that at one point they convinced the people to destroy their cultural reminders in hopes that they will leave behind an insignificant past. Ai Weiwei was born the 18 of May 1957 to father Ai Qing and mother Gao Ying. Ai Qing was well known throughout China for his very forward poetry. Qing would later be considered a liberal who spoke out by joining a very left wing Artist Association and in doing so he was subsequently arrested in the early 1930’s, this decision cost he and his family to be sentenced to live in a labor camp. For the first eighteen years of Ai Weiwei’s life was spent in Xinjiang and later they would be removed to Gobi Desert (with even worse conditions) then back again to Xinjiang before being released in 1975. Life was very hard for the family during this long period of time. The year of 1975, brought with it great change for their entire Weiwei family, they were allowed to return home to Beijing and in the year of 1978, Ai Qing would...
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...machines that were able to do some kind of intelligent work. According to AI concept it is possible for a machine to think. Actually intelligence has different meanings according to different people so let’s skip this talk and come to the point Strong vs Weak AI. Strong AI: According to think tanks of AI a day will come when computer’s computations and calculations will become so strong that a computer will be able to take decisions just like human brain, so that we will be able to call it as intelligent as human brain. In other words a machine will think in the same way as a human brain does. Weak AI: Weak AI is also intelligence in a way because the technology that we are using today as AI can be referred to as weak AI. Because the level of AI that we attain today can’t be placed at the level of human brain, because the most advance machines today we have can’t actually think like human brains. The case of chess master Garry Kasparov vs IBM's Deep Blue program is a good illustration. Although Kasparov had the advantage of human intuition, Deep Blue had the ability to calculate 200 million probabilities per second. Better approach to adopt: According to me it is impossible for a machine to attain a level of intelligence like human brain. But if we consider that it happens so this will be a destruction of the world. Because human brain is equally as dangerous as it is intelligent, so better approach is weak AI but it should be evolved for the betterment of...
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...Tanya Leadmon English 111 11/04/13 Singularity When Raymond Kurzweil wrote “The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology” in 2005, he predicted that Singularity would occur in the year 2045. Singularity is defined as when computers become smarter than humans. Kurzweil truly believes that this will happen in the year 2045. While reading my critique of Kurzweil’s theory, decide for yourself if you believe Singularity will occur in 2045, or ever. Kurzweil describes his law of accelerating returns as exponential increase in technologies like computers, genetics, nanotechnology and robotics, and artificial intelligence. Kurzweil also predicts that once Singularity has been reached, machine intelligence will be a quintillion times more powerful than all human intelligence combined. Before Singularity can occur, Kurzweil states that there will be exponential growth in evolutionary progress, computational capacity, how the brain works, and revolutions in genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. Kurzweil believes computational capacity will continue to grow exponentially. He feels that a new paradigm will debut to carry on this growth. According to him, this new paradigm will be nanotubes. He goes on to say that the best way to build machine intelligence is to first understand human intelligence. The first step is to peer inside the brain. Kurzweil predicts that during the 2020’s greater details of the brain will surface because...
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...I was absolutely amazed by Ai Weiwei’s work. I love how he didn’t just use his art as a means to acquire wealth or to paint away his grievances and stay silent, but instead used it as a way to speak out about what really mattered. To speak up for those who saw the underlying darkness of China but were too afraid to say something. Its truly admirable that he decided to be the voice that would represent an entire country, knowing the risks, knowing that the government would frown upon it and still having the courage to go against that and fight for what he believed in. And i think that for us, especially the younger generations, who live in america, where these types of things are common, we fail to see how dangerous expressing one’s feelings can be. I mean when we think of a country like China, most of us think of a globally dominating culture, who is leading the world into the future; when in reality (according to...
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...J’ai visité la France et la Belgique pendant les vacances d'hiver. J’ai voyagé pour le plaisir et pour rencontrer des gens différents. J'ai visité la Tour Eiffel, Notre-Dame de Paris et l'Arc de triomphe. C’est formidable et magnifique! Il y a eu beaucoup de monde et il a plu toujours pendant le voyage, mais j'ai toujours le plaisir quand même! J’ai habité dans une auberge, c'est pas mal, les chambres est minuscules avec des lits jumeaux, et le prix est eu raisonnable. Mais il y avait les personnes que je n'ai pas connu dans la même chambre que moi, alors, c'est un peu inconfortable. J'ai préféré prendre le train et le bus en France, parce que le taxi est très cher. J'ai pris souvent le bus ou le métro à Paris, c'est plus cher à Paris qu'à Galesburg pour prendre un taxi. Je suis allée à Rouen pour le visiter mon amie, j'ai pris le train de Paris, le prix est raisonnable, et ça fait une heure et demie pour y aller. La plupart des Français peut parler un peu anglais. Je parle un peu français, mais j’ai une amie qui parle bien français, donc on n'a pas eu beaucoup de problèmes de communiquer. Mais j’ai eu un problème d’argent, parce que les choses sont toutes trop chères en France. J’aime la France, et je pense que la Tour Eiffel est très belle et inoubliable! Je suis allée à la Seine aussi, et il y a eu beaucoup de serrures d'amour sur les ponts parisiens, c'est vraiment romantique! Je vous recommande...
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...French Writing Controlled Assessment (Mon hero) La personne que j'admire est mon oncle, Olufemi Oloyede. Il est le frère de mon père. Il a quarante-huit ans. Il habite au Nigeria, à Lagos et Il a habité depuis vingt-cinq ans. Il n'a rien accompli de particulièrement spécial, mais je crois que il est respecté parce que sa profession. Apres avoir étudié médicine à l'université, Il a spécialisé dans Cardiologique. Quelle bonne idée! Je l'aime parce qu’Il a étudié très bien à l'école sans hésiter, malgré le fait qu’il a fallu dix ans. Il était vraiment travailleur. Alors même qu’Il travaille beaucoup, Il n'est jamais fatigué ou éculé. La plupart du temps il ne plaignait jamais. Mon Oncle est grand et forte. Il porter toujours un costume car Il a souvent dit qu’ils sont à la mode. Ses vêtements sont toujours bien propres. Il est savant, judicieux et drôle, plus drôle, à mon avis que tous les autres. Il est moins strict que mes parents. Il a deux sœurs et deux frères. Il est marié et a deux enfants. Une fille de dix-sept ans et un garçon de deux ans. Mon Oncle est mon héro parce que Il m’a inspiré à devenir docteur. Je travaillerai dur et si je deviens médecin, Je lui serais reconnaissant. J'étais sur le point étudier la musique, car toujours, je pensais que devenir un docteur, ce serait trop dur. Cependant, selon moi, Il a transformé mon opinion et mon but. C'est pourquoi mon oncle est mon...
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...Some years ago, I (GLS) was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the MIT AI Lab's PDP-10, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab's hardware hackers (no one knows who). You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labeled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words ‘magic' and ‘more magic'. The switch was in the ‘more magic' position. I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch had only one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it's a basic fact of electricity that a switch can't do anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one side and no wire on its other side. It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed. Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but nevertheless restored the switch to the ‘more magic’ position before reviving the computer. A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, David Moon as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a supernatural belief...
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...an organization is thinking of implementing a New It Initiative they must ensure that they are well organized and fully understand the length and time a project may take. According to Cook “ Project failure occurs when a project is significantly over budget, takes must longer than estimated timeline, or has to be terminated because of so many problems have occurred that proceeding is no longer judged to be viable.” With Memorial Health System failed implementation of a CPOE system they had many problems including an over budgeted project, Lack of belief in project, Insufficient leadership support, Failure to respect uncertainty, Failure to anticipate short-term disruptions, and initiative undernourishment. In this paper we will discuss all six of these problems along with give possible solutions to each of them. Failure to respect uncertainty: When the system was finally implemented it was had a lot of bugs in the system. They implemented the system at all of facilities. Because of this as well as a few other issues such as lack of training the system was taken offline and they continued with the old system. The solution to this problem would have been to implement the system in one location instead of the entire hospital. This place can be used as the test facility in which you can do two things. One you can work all the bugs out and the other would be to use it as a training facility where you can send employees to get training on a system that is up and running. This will...
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...SUMMARY Recently there is something wrong with the performance of our company and I think what we should do is to upgrade the office furnitures. Because more and more of our employees claimed about the poor working condition. We can reduce the surgery fee and the sick days from the employees after the upgrade. Therefore, we can increase our productivities a lot. THE PROBLEM 1 Increase health problem- More of our employees are having health problems because of the uncomfortable furnitures. 2 Sick days increase-Because of their health problem, employees asked for the extra vacation day. 3 Surgery fee increased- Three employees had to have carpal tunnel surgery, and another had back surgery 4 Insurance fee increase- The insurance carrier was threatening to raise its premiums. 4 Productivities reduce- The day-to-day productivity of the office reduced THE REASON The problem came up from last year. If we don’t care about the problem, it will cost us a lot. For example , we already have three employees need to do carpal tunnel surgery . Cost of surgery and rehabilitation is in the range of $5,000 to $10,000 (data from :http://www.mycarpaltunnel.com/surgery-release-carpal-tunnel.shtml).And we have one employee need to have back surgery. According to the data from www.ehow.com. This procedure costs an average of $12,000to$15,000. So far the maximum cost is approximately $45000. And if we ignore that, the number of employees who need surgery would double in the next...
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... VII Appendix 7 1. Introduction- a The purpose of this survey is to gain a prospective view on what goes on inside a alcohol anonymous program and the benefits and experiences people gain from it. I also want to see how the community gets involved with people who have alcohol problems and the actions taken by the community to get help for these people. b The epidemiology of the program i surveyed is to study; the patterns that go on for people with alcohol related problems, the causes of these patterns and the problem itself, and the effects this problem has on the person and people related to that person. c. The intent of this survey is to collect all the necessary information need by someone with alcohol related problems therefore allowing them to access this information and receive help. II. About the organization: St Joseph's Gift Of Life Walk in or Phone St. Joseph's Chruch Rev. Jon Murry 208 South Main St. Attleboro Ma 508-226-1115 III. About the Program A.The program takes in people from the community with alcohol abuse problems to try and help cope with these...
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...Buenavista Plywood Corporation The Problem The problem confronting Mr. Antonio Garcia, the Plant Superintendent of Buenavista Plywood Corporation is how to deal with the absentee rates of the employees from Bohol such that the production of the plant will operate at capacity, with adequate workforce and the interests of the company and employees be served. Objectives More specifically, the problem resolves itself into the following objectives which Mr. Garcia has to achieve in the course of action he has to take: 1. To maintain a stable and reliable workforce; 2. To protect the company’s reputation by avoiding confrontation with formal union groups; 3. To address production problems and costs; 4. To meet the rated capacity of the plant; 5. To safeguard the long-run profitability and stability of Buenavista Plywood Corporation. Situational Analysis The Buenavista Plywood Corporation was organized in Cagayan de Oro City in 1950 by the Santiago Family. Don Jose Santiago, the present head of the family, was well qualified to carry the traditions of this prominent family. The Santiagos have been involved in politics in nearby Bohol, the ancestral home. They had been pioneering industrialists in the plywood business. Don Jose had been an early advocate of local processing of lumber as opposed to the shipping of log abroad. VISTAWOOD, the trademark chosen for their plywood, was one of the first export plywood production in the Philippines. Late in the...
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...to discuss the staff management problem Arthur Reed faces every summer. Arthur Reed, a supervisor at the Blue Grocery Stores, has an issue with hiring temporary workers in sufficient numbers to cover the sick and vacationing workers for the summer months. As warehouse supervisor in charge of two shifts on the shipping dock, Arthur usually manages to run the shifts smoothly every year except in the summer months. During the summer months, Arthur faces a shortage of staff when most of his senior staff call in sick or take vacation. Arthur runs into this problem every summer and does not look forward to the frustration of trying to hire sufficient temporary workers this summer. Although Arthur has earned the respect within the industry and has 20 years experience in the grocery industry, when it comes to dealing with staff shortage, Arthur does not know how to manage the problem. If Arthur knows he will faces this problem yearly, then why does he not plan ahead to avoid the frustration? Perhaps Arthur is not managing his staff as well as he can because he is lacking in supervisory skills; otherwise, he would not have run into this problem every summer. What are the problems? Staff management and on-call workers are the problems. In my opinion, Arthur is having a problem managing his senior staff because he is not communicating with them effectively regarding scheduling vacation and call-in sick days. The reason he keeps having the same problem every summer is that there are no...
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