I remember a full dozen years ago the feeling of independence, tinged with some slight digital survivalism, of running a local version of Wikipedia from my Nexus One smartphone. It was cool, but I used that feature on maybe a couple of flights. I know better now that I feel a similar impulse about running powerful LLMs from my smartphone.
Tag: wikipedia
Enantiodromia
Wikipedia informs: Enantiodromia (Ancient Greek: ἐναντίος, romanized: enantios – “opposite” and δρόμος, dromos – “running course”) is a principle introduced in the West by psychiatrist Carl Jung. In Psychological Types, Jung defines enantiodromia as “the emergence of the unconscious opposite in the course of time.”[1] It is similar to the principle of equilibrium in the natural world, in that any extreme is opposed by the system in order …
User error
It was his fault! [Citation not needed] Richard Trevithick was an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive. […] During further tests, Trevithick’s locomotive broke down three days later after passing over a …
The Global Consciousness Project
[Citation not needed] The Global Consciousness Project (GCP, also called the EGG Project) is a parapsychology experiment begun in 1998 as an attempt to detect possible interactions of “global consciousness” with physical systems. The project monitors a geographically distributed network of hardware random number generators in a bid to identify anomalous outputs that correlate with …
Reading air
[Citation not needed] A common phrase “Ba no Kuuki wo Yomu”, “understanding the situation without words” or “sensing someone’s feelings”, is a very important concept for understanding Japanese culture. […] Sensing and practicing “Bano Kuuki wo Yomu” is considered social manners or social intelligence in Japan. Unlike the individualistic and expressive cultures in Western countries, …
Gotta go hoover the talking seal!
[Citation not needed]: Hoover was a harbor seal who was able to imitate basic human speech. […] On the British comedy panel game show QI, host Stephen Fry asked the question: “What is meant by the expression “Hoover the talking seal”?” Panelist Roger McGough answered, “Well, it’s either one of those wonderful Oz expressions for …
Going like a bat
[Citation not needed]: During the Pascal-B nuclear test, a 900-kilogram (2,000 lb) steel plate cap (a piece of armor plate) was blasted off the top of a test shaft at a speed of more than 66 km/s (41 mi/s; 240,000 km/h; 150,000 mph). Before the test, experimental designer Dr. Brownlee had estimated that the nuclear …
That is so Hollywood
[Citation not needed] Sandra Zober Sandra Zober was an actress. She was the first wife of actor Leonard Nimoy, with whom she had two children. […] She eventually joined a support group for women divorced from Hollywood stars that was initially called Life After Divorce Is Eventually Sane (LADIES), but was soon renamed the Hollywood Dumpettes. …
Gelato Jilatu
I think it was my brother who first introduced me to the concept of Wiki-nationalism. This happens when an article on Wikipedia says very different things in different languages, reflecting the point of view of a given country or culture. I remember laughing while reading the article on Christopher Columbus in English, Spanish and Italian. The English …
Alpheidae, the fireball-throwing shrimp
[Citation not needed] The snapping shrimp competes with much larger animals such as the sperm whale and beluga whale for the title of loudest animal in the sea. The animal snaps a specialized claw shut to create a cavitation bubble that generates acoustic pressures of up to 80 kPa at a distance of 4 …