Thom Ryng

YouTube video by Don Mac Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald ( Lyrics )

This day in 1975. Requiescat In Pace.
youtu.be/yGvmuFu5zb4

The introduction to Turing’s paper titled ‘Computing Machinery and intelligence’: I PROPOSE to consider the question, 'Can machines think ?' This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms "machine' and "think'.The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous. If the meaning of the words 'machine' and 'think' are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, 'Can machines think ?' is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll. But this is absurd. Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words.

Introduction to an opinion piece published in the New York Times on 8 November 2025, by Barbara Gail Montero, titled ‘A.I. Is on Its Way to Something Even More Remarkable Than Intelligence’: Not long ago, A.I. became intelligent. Some may dismiss this claim, but the number of people who doubt A.I.'s acumen is dwindling. According to a 2024 YouGov poll, a clear majority of U.S. adults say that computers are already more intelligent than people or will become so in the near future.

On the left, Alan Turing’s 1950 paper introducing the imitation game, where he says that using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent is absurd.

On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.

🧪🤖

From Living and Chosen Stones would be forgiven for thinking that the Pope’s main church is St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. It’s certainly the largest. But no. The Pope’s own church, his episcopal s…

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Camino Photo of the Day: the Endless Stairs of Rocamadour From the medieval town, there are more stairs upwards, ever upwards, to the shrine churches. There are several here, and in the coming days, we’ll explore them. Meanwhile, you can get a prett…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - steeply, steeply

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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UPDATE: Reached out to the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister who was there that day and has been active in religious demonstrations at Broadview.

“They are making it clear that they are scared of prayer … it speaks the truth that what they are doing in that building is evil.”

I’ve never seen an American elected official fight so hard to starve people.

This really hasn’t gotten enough attention this week.

@wired.com #ICE
www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...

Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.

Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative

electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...

Camino Photo of the Day: Looking Up in Rocamadour difficult to capture the sheer otherworldliness of Rocamadour in photographs. This is a view looking up from the main medieval street of the town. There are additional levels of the town clinging t…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - time to find another set of stairs

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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Camino Photo of the Day: the Streets of Rocamadour main street of Rocamadour is very touristy during the day, though in the evening, after the tourists left, it was actually quite charming. This is one of the most visited Catholic shrines in France…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - tourists and pilgrims

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot this day in 1605, a cabal of Catholic plotters, hoping to turn back the tides of reformation and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne of Great Britain, attempted to assassinate the very Protest…

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Camino Photo of the Day: Into Rocamadour town and shrines of Rocamadour are built into the side of a cliff. This stair is the main access to the old medieval town. It is just the first of many such stairs I will climb today. I took this p…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - up the stairs to the mystical hill town

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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Praying for the Dead We finally got Francine’s autopsy results on Monday. The whole week was kind of a blur after that. I didn’t even go to OCIA on Tuesday. I did manage to make soup for my friends Adam and…

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Devastating. Teen Vogue's politics coverage has been incredible and this is a major loss for journalism.

Legacy journalism keeps on getting rid of the only people making it worth anything anymore.

Camino Photo of the Day: the First View of Rocamadour Alzou Gorge trail ended in a parking lot, which was something of an anticlimax. And then, as I walked into the field beyond, I caught my first view of Rocamadour. It was like something straight out…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - breathless

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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More Insta snaps from the let them eat cake ball at Mar a Lago

For All the Saints This is the day when we celebrate all the saints, known and unknown: the Church Triumphant. We ask them to pray for us. I, for one, could use all the help I can get! This day has been a feast since…

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I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.

On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.

Reformation Day Protestants all over the world celebrate “Reformation Day” on October 31. I don’t. In 2017, on the five-hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther’s revolt, I wrote a lengthy es…

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Camino Photo of the Day: Ruin Everywhere not just one, but four ruins in the Alzou Gorge on the way to Rocamadour. All were mills, and each ruin is progressively less impressive than the previous. I think this is the second one. By the ti…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - the second old mill

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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I am certainly no seasoned strategist but I am a little skeptical of the political wisdom behind building a giant golden ballroom and sharing a dozen photos of a renovated marble bathroom at the very moment that millions of people are losing access to healthcare and food.

Dom Guéranger on the Vigil of All Saints prepare our souls for the graces heaven is about to shower upon the earth in return for its homage. To-morrow the Church will be so overflowing with joy, that she will seem to be already in possess…

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Amazon just announced 14,000 layoffs. Its CEO made over $40M last year.

UPS announced 48,000 layoffs. Its CEO made over $24M last year.

Intel announced 20,000 layoffs. Its new CEO's pay package is valued at nearly $69M.

This is what I mean when I say the system is rigged.

Camino Photo of the Day: the Cliffs of Insanity! through the ruins of the Moulin de Tournefeuille, you can see the shape of the Camino canyon route. This is the Alzou Gorge, carved out over long millennia by the river of the same name. The canyon…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - Alzou Gorge

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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Camino Photo of the Day: Through the Ruins I walked through the ruins of the Moulin de Tournefeuille. This old mill site (and probable defensive work) straddles the narrow canyon to Rocamadour. It’s the first of a series of mills on t…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - down, down, down

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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Rough day today.

I ask in your mercy that you pray for a personal intention.

Camino Photo of the Day: Moulin de Tournefeuille this is not the ruins of Helm’s Deep. This is the remains of a mill that once spanned the canyon walls, providing not only flour but also an outer defence for the town of Rocamadour to the no…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - straight out of Tolkien

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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Camino Photo of the Day: the Road to Rocamadour goes through woods like this pretty much all the way. Those moss-covered stones on the right are what’s left of a wall possibly dating to medieval times. There would be more spectacular ruins…

Today's #CaminoPhotooftheDay - the narrow way

#Camino #ViaPodiensis #CaminodeSantiago

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