QuickJAB

Checkmate

ar·ti·fi·cial in·tel·li·gence

noun The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.
 
According to the internet, Artificial Intelligence had its beginning in 1956 at Dartmouth College in the US, so it appears that AI has been around longer than the current society realizes. As usual, the internet is not quite right.
 

Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734-1804)

 
Wolfgang von Kempelen
Self-portrait by Wolfgang von Kempelen
 
In 1769, Hungarian Wolfgang von Kempelen, poet and inventor, introduced his amazing Mechanical Turk that not only played high-level chess, but defeated most of its highly talented, skilled chess challengers and prominent figures.
 

The Turk

 
The TurkA reproduction of the Turk
 
The Turk sat behind a large box that contained gears and the mechanical parts which supposedly allowed the Turk to move chess pieces as it carefully considered each move. Von Kempelen opened the box to reveal the contents to his skeptical audiences before the chess competitions began. The Turk’s fame grew as it played and even won chess games against Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte.
 
The Turk was an amazing machine and a brilliant, profitable venture for the man who was an imaginative and highly skilled writer and artist, a brilliant inventor, talented story-teller, and successful fraud. 
 
Of course, Turk’s success sent the entire world into a tizzy of fear of what would happen if the machines take over the world. Sound familiar? Maybe they were onto something after all.
 
The Turk’s new owner took the chess-playing machine to Richmond, Virginia; Edgar Allan Poe studied the machine in operation then wrote an essay about the Turk in 1836. Anyone else suspect the Turk might have inspired the first of our modern day science fiction writers?
 

The Difference Engine

The Turk inspired other chess players who were inventors and scientists to consider the idea of artificial intelligence more seriously, and is highly regarded by many as the inspiration for the Difference Engine, which was the precursor of our modern computers that Charles Babbage built in 1821 fifty years after von Kempelen introduced his amazing Turk. 
 
Difference Engine

 

My (short) Chess Career

My first year in college, I discovered the Chess Club. I wasn’t allowed to be a member because of the Club Rules that were antiquated even then, but there was no known rule about “nonmembers” being in the Chess Club room, so I watched, learned, and quickly spotted the common errors and absorbed the strategies that won. 

It must have been a rainy day because there weren’t many chess club members in the sacred room, so I sat at a forbidden chest table, offered to play, and won. I loved chess. I played and won for weeks until the advisor told me I couldn’t play chess any more because a tournament was coming up, and the members couldn’t practice with “outsiders.” 

I suppose it should have been a major blow to my self-esteem, but it wasn’t. I was used to being an outsider and eventually became a computer programmer fifteen years later. I followed your lead, Turk!

Well played, Turk. Checkmate. 

 
 
 

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Cat’s Ears and Survival Month

See the feathery puffballs? Did you think of dandelions? These are actually Cat’s Ears and are related to Dandelions, which I think should be spelled Dandy Lion, so we can remember the name of their distant cousin, Cat’s Ears, aka Dandy Cat’s Ears.

All parts of the Dandelions and Cat’s Ears plants are edible, but the leaves are a tender delicacy in the spring, and full of vitamins A, C, and K in addition to folate, calcium, and potassium. I’ve eaten dandelion salad, and it had a similar taste to arugula. As a side note: I think if I ever made a Cat’s Ears salad, I’d call it a dandelion salad, just because.

So, how is this related to survival? Including greens in a diet helps a body stay healthy, and walking outside to forage in a chemical-free yard or field is much more convenient and nowhere as costly as driving to a grocery story. Alternatives are good.

I’ve been trying my best to grow greens in my garden the past few years, and I’m looking at you, buttercrunch lettuce, bok choy, romaine, and collard greens, but the bugs feast on the leaves before I can.

I’ve discovered the leaves on the Cat’s Ears aren’t ravaged by bugs. Who knew? I had a whole field of salad with no painstaking planting, watering, thinning, weeding, or weeping.

So, why is this month Survival Month? Because first, I sobbed over my collard greens then researched Dandelions and Cat’s Ears; and second, Book 5 of the Grid Down Survival Series, Danger at the Farm, will be released at the end of this month!

Want to read Danger at the Farm? Click here for the link!

Or would you like to start the Grid Down Survival Series with Book 1, Danger in the Clouds? Click here for the link!

You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!

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And the Award Winner is . . .

Danger in the Clouds!

 

The Independent Author Network announced the Winners for the International 2020 Book of the Year Awards!

DANGER IN THE CLOUDS was selected as a finalist in the category of Science Fiction where the TOP NINE Science Fiction novels for 2020 were recognized out of thousands of nominations.

What? You haven’t read Danger in the Clouds?

Don’t miss out! TAP or CLICK the button for DANGER IN THE CLOUDS

GRID DOWN SURVIVAL SERIES

DANGER IN THE CLOUDS, BOOK 1

DANGER IN THE WIND, BOOK 2

WATCH FOR THE NEW RELEASE! BOOK 3

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The Girl Who Saw Clouds Finds Her Niche

CLOUDS 3D

Sometimes it takes a book a while to find its niche. THE GIRL WHO SAW CLOUDS has settled in at

#1 Children’s Science Fiction Books

and

#1 Children’s Fantasy Books.

Of course! Science Fiction + Fantasy! That’s it!