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AIML: Artificial Intelligence Markup Language.
(Not that it matters, but can intelligence ever be artificial? What does that even mean? I think this distinction will become increasingly unclear.)
If I were writing a hollywood terrorist thriller it would go like this:
Main character would be a Johnnie Walker type all american kid descending into the murky underworld of militant islamic thinking. He rises quickly in the terrorist network like Johnny Depp rising through the drug smuggling ranks in Blow. Eventually, after a series of exciting capers proving his abilities, he is given the big job of making a deal with the Russian mob for a nuclear device. He gets to the deal expecting to take posession of the bomb, but the clever Kyser Sose-ish bad guy calmly informs him that he does not have the device. Pause. "Because it's already in the U.S."
It turns out that the Soviets, years ago, fearing the U.S. ability to cripple all their long range nuclear capabilities with some sort of lightning first strike (EM bomb?) planted nuclear weapons at many key points inside this country. Deep cover secret agents exist just waiting for the orders to trigger the devices. After the break up of the Soviet Union there was no real way, or desire, to deactivate these devices. So instead of an actual bomb, Johnny gets the location of several devices and the satellite codes needed to defeat the fail safe mechanisms. Nail biting chase ensues, followed by an improbable computer hacking scene (the single master password is the name of some Soviet general's mistress, or possibly his cat.) But in the final scene it turns out Johnny was working for the CIA all the time. When you think he is about to blow up Washington D.C., he is really deactivating the bomb. He suceeds with one second to spare, of course. Much rejoicing.
Note: I didn't say it would be a good movie.
The New York Times has yet another article on weblogs today. Page C6. Same old story. "Weblogs could be big, and maybe even important, but right now they all suck." They give the last work to some guy who used to blog, but stopped in favor of email. He says, "If you want to communicate with people, email it to them. Don't force them to come to your site every day..." That is ridiculous. There is much more force involved in an email list. It shows up in your in box whether you feel like reading it that day or not. Plus, it destroys the most important thing: archives. What good are all those emails? Who can ever get at that information? Emails just sit on people's hard drives until their systems crash or get thrown out.
My good friend Jeff wrote me an email yesterday. We haven't spoken in quite some time. He's from the brief Bozeman Montana episode in my life. Said he looks in on this page from time to time. I'm glad. I wish all of my friends, especially ones living far away who I don't speak with much, would keep web pages. How the hell am I supposed to know what's going on?
What do you say Bubsie? And you too Frank (you've got to actually put some words on that page.) And I wonder if Diana ever looks in here? What I'd give for a window into that world. It doesn't have to be anything special. I just want to know what you had for breakfast this morning.
Well, OK, I probably already know: bacon. Still, I'd love to hear it from you.
I used to think to myself "Paul Ford should write a book," but I've come to be happy just reading his site. I mean who needs a whole exfoliated book when you can just get the seed? Much more efficient, really. I'll unzip it on my end. Here's the beginning to todays gem:
I took off my clothes and stepped into the shower to find another one sitting near the drain. It was about 2 feet tall and made of metal, with bright camera-lens eyes and a few dozen gripping arms. Worse than the Jehovah's Witnesses.
``Hi! I'm from Google. I'm a Googlebot! I will not kill you.''
``I know what you are.''
``I'm indexing your apartment.''
I am the worst photographer of all time. Not one picture came out from dinner last night. I'll try again on Monday.
Aside from that everything went well. The kitchen still has some work to do, but that was expected. What they had ready was tasty. The staff seems good. Very nice energy. And the place looks great.