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October 30, 2011

Singularity Frustrations and Seven Layer Cake. A NJ Beach Cleanup (Part Living to 150?). Asbury Park Annual Zombie Walk.(5000 Zombies). Love Marriage Carriage. October 30, 2011

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 11:40 am

Singularity

Singularity

from the video. calvin interviews a zombie on asbury park boardwalk

Before Singularity and reading this fascinating blog, take 3:55 and please watch this YouTube video of your blog writer doing his first television reporting gig(and thanks):

my 1st tv reporter gig on YouTube video an absolute must watch!

 

INDEED PLEASE WATCH 4 minute video. comments welcomed/needed. I never held a microphone before.

Last week’s blog dealt mainly with the Singularity Summit in NYC; a meeting of 600 global scientists, technologists, business people, some boutique media and me, probably the only journalist from New Jersey covering this annual event that looks at the advancement of artificial intelligence and technology and how it will affect current 2011 denizens in the lurking future.

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Jason Silva at Singularity Summit

After several epiphanies and a great talk with Jason Silva from Current TV etc, I found a place for myself in the world of Singularity; a reason to believe; purposeful involvement; communication to bring the message of Singularity to high school and college kids and perhaps a few senior citizens. Getting to know me through my blog, you probably can sense my exuberance to share information that I believe in. I do believe. I do believe in Singularity. I don’t want a smart aleck computer in 15 years to clone itself into a smarter computer that passes us humans by. I certainly don’t want to spend my golden years in a mind matrix of field of dreams or on a self-imposed prune subsistence diet. I want to wait on line at a broccoli and cauliflower buffet and talk to real people about real sex and the NY or Jersey? Jets or Giants. I hate being confused in a world of total recall. Is it live or memorex? Does anyone remember that commercial?

On the day after the Summit, I took my unbridled enthusiasm, got on my horse that I rode through the Lincoln Tunnel on, and galloped into Monmouth County where I met with three honor high school students at a television studio. They were taping a segment on their amazing community service project. When I cornered two of them in a glass window room off camera, I introduced myself, told them I still play beer pong (a bonding commonality technique) and asked enthusiastically, “Did any of you ever hear about Singularity?” Of course the response was negative.

Singularity

Hyman Roth with Michael Corleone in Havana. nearby is a gold dial telephone

SingularityThree nights later, I was on a tennis court, with my regular doubles game. The other three players: a cardiologist, a dentist and an organic chemist who owns a lab( supplied dispersants to BP in the Gulf oil spill and as Hyman Roth said to Michael Corleone, “Your father and me. We made a fortune.”) and graduated with honors from Yale. Jennifer Cavalleri would’ve described him as, “A Yalie.”  I’m a hopeless movie romantic as well. In between tennis sets, I asked the triumvirate if they ever heard of Singularity. More negative responses. Undaunted, I stopped strange men and women on the street near where I live and asked the same question. No one ever heard. Hey, I was batting 1000%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singularity

Beach Sweep Registrar

Singularity

Belmar Fishing Club. members only

Last Saturday I journeyed to Belmar, New Jersey to participate in Beach Sweeps; a New Jersey coastal environmental project, sponsored by Clean Ocean Action, where up to 8000 Jersey citizens gather at 70 sites to rid the beaches of unsightly and harmful debris. Fishes, whales, birds and other animals mistake litter for food. Even cigarette filters mimic fish and have been found in the stomachs of birds and larger fish, blocking and affecting digestion. Plastic litter takes hundreds of years to break down, so it threatens wildlife for decades. So why do I run to the beach to pick up litter? Well, if I’m living to 150 years which as you know, I always blog about (part of Singularity future) then I’m not even close to mid-life and therefore a ‘young’ thing to do. Of course, a significant amount of literary license and Sunday morning light-headedness, but is there relevance and intrinsic mystical quality to doing supposedly young things? Maybe teasing a few neo-cortex neuronal connections. Enough said. I was excited about being part of the sweep and I picked First Avenue Beach in Belmar because it’s a few hundred feet away from my spiritual jetty at the Shark River, where I’ve been communing and meditating since I was 10 years old and first heard the Everly Brothers sing ‘Bye Bye Love.’

YouTube Bye Bye Love:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFoIdxLBm_A

At the registration, Brian, a college student, gave me a white plastic bag for litter, a black bag for recyclables and a reporting form for documenting everything I recovered. “Brian, before I venture on the beach, quick question for you. Did you ever hear of Singularity?” “Excuse me, sir,” he was puzzled. “Never mind.”  As I slipped under the boardwalk of the members only ‘Belmar Fishing Club,’ I found my first plastic straw next to a plastic bottle cap. I mattered; this clean up was now relevant. Observations 14 minutes into clean up: There was no one close to my age present.  Groups of young kids, ostensibly organized by schools, were there to feel environmentalism. Of course I was heartened; I remember the first Earth Day in May 1970: I’ve never stopped caring and being aware. Slyly, I let the sand formations of a recent tractor incursion lead me to a group of five students from East Brunswick High School.

 

Singularity

East Brunswick High School students and me at Beach Sweep

Singularity

Comrade Kruschchev with shoe at the UN. I asked my mother why he did that

I explained my novelist and journalistic background, gave them a business card, asked for a photo op and finally after thanking them, “Oh one more thing, has anyone ever heard of Singularity?” Heads were in synchronistic lateral movement like precision dance swimmers in the Olympics with of course smiling blank stares in front of perfectly situated teeth; one girl still had braces. “Well let me quickly tell you. It’s your world to inherit. Singularity contemplates a computer birthing another computer that’s finally smarter than us. Think of all the scenarios.” Then I was gone with the cool autumn wind under unrealistic blue sky which even looked adulterated blue. Still batting 1000%.  A pair of dark blue men’s socks (no designer logo visible) were tied together, half buried in the sand.  A plastic fork got socks into the bag. Could it be, the last time I held a collection bag of any sort, I was asking geographical neighbors (they’re almost never friends), back in Newark while Eisenhower was president “Anything for Halloween?”

 

Singularity

Students from Biotech High School at Beach Sweep

Aimlessly I wandered, still finding plastic straws, hoping to meet at least one senior citizen comrade. I remember comrade Nikita Kruschchev banging his shoe at the UN. Another group was near so I drifted to the left and introduced myself; a group from Biotechnology High School in Freehold. Same routine; no one knew Singularity and didn’t seem to worry about working for a computer in 20 years.  Still at 1000%.  My white bag was filling but no recyclables; maybe the species was learning. Off to the right was another group of kids, also from Biotechnology High, with two teachers. I slid over. Remarks were addressed to the teachers, kids listening. I hoped teachers would know about Singularity. Still 1000%. “It’s your future too. Here’s my card. Friend me on Facebook. A lot of information to share; it’s a brave new world.” Of course no friending or follow up. Still 1000%.

 

Singularity

the seven layer cake bakery in belmar site of complicity

Frankly my dear (blog readers) it was time to leave the beach. On the boardwalk, near my car, a group of four Rider University students had just finished Beach Sweep. My son went to Rider. I asked about Singularity; no one knew but laughed when I said, “And I still play beer pong.” Still 1000%. Seven days and seven nights asking people about the future and no one knew. On Main Street Belmar there’s an old fashioned bakery; I thought about the long week past and teaching (promulgating) the Singularity awareness journey ahead. I don’t do windows, bottles of wine or beer, red meat or chemical aids when frustration blows in the wind. But I do voluminous chocolate and especially seven layer cakes. And I finished a  substantial helping(which had been protectively sealed) by the last traffic light close to my house.

Singularity

Rider University students at Beach Sweep in Belmar. ocean backdrop

 

Much too long to delve into now, but I’ve been drifting into the world of journalism, writing for  OUR TOWN newspaper and then through the magic of social networking became involved with a television production company looking into New Jersey programming. Who would’ve ever thought?  Hours after my Beach Sweep, I’m back at the Jersey shore, in Asbury Park for the Annual Zombie Walk. Imagine 5000 zombies, incredibly made-up, preparing to walk downtown Asbury in front of 15,000 spectators. Deep inhalation: it was great to be alive (therefore I wore no costume), absorbing, witnessing, immersing myself in pure ecstatic joy at being there; soon the television crews arrived, gave me a microphone and I’d love to say at this juncture, the rest is history. You can judge for yourselves; my first reporting experience (4 fun-filled minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfFA-y115nc

Singularity

zombie walk.. does he look like johnny depp??

Prediction about Zombie Walk: Maybe 40,000 people next year. Hyped media coverage (including little ole me) will bring many people for the first time. In my own micro-cosmic world, I’ve received enough comments about how most just didn’t know these events went on. And Asbury Park, you keep going and growing, on the merry-go-round of an amazing renaissance. I love this town.

 

Singularity

more zombie walk

Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. I love this Sinatra song too:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRDBvKGc1fE

So I think on Monday, Earth’s population will hit exactly seven billion people. A few weeks back, I questioned a scientist on population, food, water, monopoly game boards, and the fact that French schools have banned American Heinz ketchup; Too much sugar, salt, and imports? Perhaps we’ll go to nine billion next time we count, he said and when I grimaced about poor mom earth supporting all that, he patted my shoulder, “Don’t worry. By the time the water tables dwindle, we’ll lose that extra two billion again.” Then I had strange vibes on my mind. “How about social change?” “You mean that in 1950, 33% of the adult population was single and now the figure is 50%.” Marriage today is an option not a necessity and we’ve got economic gender parity.

Singularity

even more zombie walk. truly fun stuff.

Then I looked at my own pre-disastered first marriage back in 1969. The night before the wedding, fiancé and me had a disagreement(a nicer word); she ran out of my house crying and mother appeared out of a saffron lit dining room; an almost vaporous figure with tears racing down each cheek. “Don’t marry this girl tomorrow. Mother’s know. Call up everybody right now and cancel. Give the gifts back. She’s all wrong for you.”

Psychology Today magazine taught me well. “Mah, my generation is getting divorced all over the place. So I want to get on with my life. It doesn’t make a difference who I marry tomorrow. It won’t last. So let me get the first over with as quickly as possible so I can get on with my life. Now do you understand?” “No, Calvin.”

Singularity

banned in French schools like books in Boston????

 


 

 

Singularity

my seven layer cake. was this pix necessary???

The other day I asked my son (about the same age as I was back then), “Did you call that girl from last week?” “No Dad, I’m not looking to get married for a long time, so I didn’t call. No rush. Do you understand?” I thought about my mother back in 1969 and had to say, “No.” But I really do. I really do a lot of things. I love writing this blog and looking to find ways to eliminate the 1000% Singularity shaking of the heads sideways. A few hours ago I talked with amazingly progressive Mayor Jonathan Hornik of Marlboro,N,J. about finding ways to teach the youth of the town and beyond about Singularity and their future world.  “Just have to wait until after Election Day,” he said. I was back on the beach running around, glad to be alive, head swimming with ideas. I’m on the way to fulfillment and dreamy stuff. What a purist high to resolve a mission. And it absolutely even did not bother me to seven layer cake thoughts again when the mayor originally said, “What’s Singularity?” And I thought, still 1000%  but………………..

 

Singularity

Singularity Summit auditorium. I'm 3rd from left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

website:  http://vichywater.net/

Facebook:  Cal SchwartzSingularity

Twitter:  Earthood

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

 

IMPORTANT LINKS:

 

Singularity

If on Facebook check out this NJ Discover site:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000125711074

OR   www.njdiscover.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique BUT refreshingly, topically unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

August 2011. Guest on Alicia Cramer Show (podcast) “Thin Healthy Happy” :

http://wausauhypnotherapy.podbean.com/2011/08/02/calvin-barry-schwartz-interview-on-living-life/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 19, 2011

SINGULARITY SUMMIT NYC Oct 15, 16. Comic Con NYC. Oct 14(Grant Alter Interview). Manhole Covers in NYC. I Met r2d2. ‘Watson’ the Computer. October 19, 2011

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 5:21 pm

Singularity

Singularity

bamberger's newark 1950's

First a few words on Singularity. On Monday night, I met three local high school honor students in a television studio to observe a taping. Give me a captive audience (sound proof room and glass window) and an idea (there were 73 prominent futuristic notions cerebrally floating around from the Singularity Summit). A few times as a little boy, I was in Bamberger’s Department Store in Newark. I loved elevator rides (my equivalent of the Starship Enterprise). As the doors opened and always a man with an oversized cap and uniform slid the metal doors slowly apart, my mother led me inside. I watched the floor indicator slowly move from left to right. Arrival sign on third floor said notions. “Hey mom, what’s a notion?” “Just stuff Calvin.”  I still don’t know. Back to the future and the high school kids: Picture me, filled with Singularity concepts and an earlier epiphany that my place in the world, and I espoused to several speakers, is to spread the message to mainstream youth, after all, I’ve come to accept, it’s their world. “Has anybody ever heard of Singularity and Ray Kurzweil?” A perfect expression of synchronistic lateral moving heads; “Just what I thought!”  Smiling, they stared quizzically at me. I hate that look; means a lot of work. Sometimes I get these ocular floaters; we all get them; mine usually are of a rocking chair variety and then they float away from fields of visions and dreams.

Singularity

HAL from 2001

 

Singularity

forbidden planet

Delving time: So what would happen if and when greater than human intelligence is created either by building artificial intelligence or doing something expansive to our brains? I remember the movie ‘Forbidden  Planet’ in 1956 when a character takes the Krell mind boost. I made my 25 year old son watch that movie a few months ago then coincidentally, a few weeks later, at Hayden Planetarium, Dr. Michio Kaku tells us that ‘Forbidden Planet’ was his favorite movie growing up; a redemption for dad. Today technological advances move forward at an ever increasing rate. What if the intelligence we create could create even greater intelligence; prospects are hugely scary and remind me of ‘2001’ and ‘HAL,” the nasty computer. I never liked its voice; like an old science teacher back in Newark who gave me a ‘C.’ Aw hell, it was ‘D.’ This event was called Singularity by author and computer scientist, Vernor Vinge.

 

Singularity

Singularity is Near

 

Singularity

Singularity Summit auditorium t minus five

 

Ray Kurzweil (go Google him, he’s too amazing to even begin to blog about) has pioneered singularity concepts. One of his books, The Singularity Is Near was published in 2005 and is a movie.   http://www.singularity.com/themovie/index.php

The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is dedicated “to research and rational deliberation on the future of humanity and in particular the promise and perils of advanced artificial intelligence.” Hey, don’t forget IBM’s ‘Watson’ computer beat Ken Jennings on Jeopardy earlier this year. Ken Jennings was the last speaker on Sunday; funny guy; smart too.

 

 

Singularity

watson playing jeopardy

 

 

Singularity

Ray Kurzweil and me. Notice I made this pix bigger.

The Singularity Summit is in its sixth year casting a hopeful but cautious eye on the latest developments in science and technology and what portends for future of intelligence and therefore all of us, the human league family. If you’ve been reading my blog the past 20 months, you’ll remember I’m an environmentalist who doesn’t hold much earthly hope down the road. This year alone, I apologized to my son several times for what we’re environmentally leaving his generation. “Do you mean Dad, out of your guilt that I don’t have to pay my monthly phone bill anymore?” But for the first time in a decade, after spending two days at Singularity Summit, I’m not doom and environmental gloom. Wow, there’s amazing things coming. Maybe living forever, measuring consciousness, doubling earth’s agricultural output and three dimensional computing.(soon)  Christof  Koch (PhD. Biophysics) talked about measuring our consciousness (phi) with an equation. In the lobby, he said that one day we’ll even be able to see your dreams too; I thought a whole new field of law, “He dreamt, she dreamt.”

 

One scientist told me global warming will melt the polar ice caps so we’ll have plenty of water. But from a high placed oil company executive, a month ago, he said in confidence to a cousin, there’s plenty of oil but I’d start worrying about water; mixologist messages? Singularity Summit, at the 92nd StreetY, had about 600 attendees from all over the globe, mostly scientists, technologists, business people, press and me, representing OUR TOWN newspaper; I think the only journalist from New Jersey media.  A block away from the Y, I crossed the street at Third Avenue and 92nd. A manhole cover prominently displayed ‘Made in India.’ Is this globalization? It must’ve cost a fortune to ship those heavy objects. There were 24 speakers; all major global intellects.

Singularity

comic con characters

 

Singularity

neal adams art work

Now hear this. The day before Singularity Summit, I went to Comic Con, NYC at Javits convention center for a complete roll me away reversal. Comic Con is also a mind expansive journey through the world of imagination and comics such that 100,000 show up, some dressed to kill, to explore their world of characters, gaming, pulp and plots. My son has me going for years and I love it; why not, I got a photo-op with ‘Snow White’ and r2d2 (I had to drop to my knees to meet him eye to eye).

 

 

 

 

 

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a neat booth at comic con

 

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r2d2 and me

Reflecting back on the past weekend, I wonder how many of the 101,000 visitors to both Singularity Summit and Comic Con mixed the two events as I did. Perhaps it’s one of those volatile mixtures like drinking and driving or tranquilizers. I’d like to think I’m one in 101,000. So I made it to both events last weekend; throw in a really great blues band (Slim Chance and The Gamblers in Aberdeen, NJ) late on Saturday night and I was a tad tired to write yesterday. A friend recently asked why I always run around; perhaps it’s partly posturing myself to feel the rays of the warm sun on my face which means staying alive by throwing as much into the old cortex as I can; perhaps it’s a Ponce De Leon thing; staying young and vital, stretching mind and body; perhaps it’s a cerebral maintenance thing much like an oil change for your car. Anti-aging phenomenon Aubrey de Grey said that over the weekend. I spoke to him briefly at Singularity.

You tube: Aubrey de Grey, “why we age and how we can avoid it.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iYpxRXlboQ

Singularity

Singularity

grant alter and derek ruiz

 

Back to chronological events. Comic Con was eye-opening. I ran around with a camera, jumping next to famous or infamous characters for photo-ops, marveling at Marvel Comic’s booth, observing really far out costumes; imagine one masculine soul having the fortitude/anatomy to run around in just under shorts. I did observe subtle changes in attendee demographics over the years, from hard core comic followers, escaping into its wondrous world of limitless imagination to something akin to mainstream Docker Polo folks just wanting to see ‘What’s it all about Alfie?’ Highlights included my first real interview as a reporter with Grant Alter, an accomplished writer from St. Louis who is adapting Richelle Mead’s ‘Storm Born’ comic; he’s also at Comic Con to promote his book. He’s a big proponent of Facebook for writers to network while artists still need websites. I agree with his Facebook contention. Soon he’ll be on his way to Wizard World in Austin. I invited myself; anything to get back to Texas. When I was in Austin last summer, in the capital building, taking an elevator (no men in hats to open doors) a civilian walks in wearing a holster and a real gun. You could cut my silence. Later I asked a Texas state trooper about the guy in a cowboy hat wearing a real gun, roaming around the capital building. “As long as it’s not concealed,” he said. I wondered if New Jersey would ever get there. You can’t sneeze in Trenton without; I humored myself.

Singularity

michael shermer(skeptic magazine) and jason silva(imagination foundation)

 

So much went down at Singularity Summit. You know what, go to the website and check it out. In a week they’ll have podcasts of lectures etc.

http://www.singularitysummit.com/

If I had to capsule some self relevant highlights:

I’m always blogging about living to 150 years. Sonia Arrison, a futurist at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco, Calif., said that by engaging end-of-life diseases like cancer, medical advances could nearly double human life expectancy to 150 years;  do  I ever feel vindicated. I met David Brin (PhD in physics and NY Times best selling author) at the coffee pot. In a passing remark during his question/answer segment, he said he’d like to see someone fund another clock, set up next to the National Debt clock showing what our debt would be if we charged royalties for satellite communications, the internet and pharmaceutical research. We chatted later. I told of my recurring futuristic colorized dream when I’m wearing a white toga, waiting in line for a cup of water and cracker then I’m sitting in a vast cathedral in 2050, thousands of people are all there wearing blue vests with the words, “How can I help you?” We laughed.

Jason Silva positively electrified with unbridled energetic imagination. “We need to give people goose bumps.” And what has to go down as a personal top ten event, Jason Silva asked to interview me. Funny thing as I observed, in addition to our physically seeing eye to eye, we’re ‘together’ on spreading the Singularity word. I had an epiphany just that morning, half-way through the lonely Lincoln Tunnel, that my place in the world of Singularity, as a growing media person, is to  imaginatively illuminate youth.  “I can do that. I still play beer pong. I relate to them. That’s what I’ll take back from this Summit; spreading the word.”

 

Check out this 2 minute video with Jason Silva (Imaginary Foundation)

¨http://www.vimeo.com/29938326

Singularity

(ferrucci and cerruti from ibm)

IBM scientists David Ferrucci and Dan Cerutti told how they watched Ken Jennings win 74 times in a row on Jeopardy and thought how neat to make a computer to beat him; the birth of ‘Watson.’ They envision one of the early uses of ‘Watson’ is in the medical field. Wait until the insurance companies get this machine instead of a doctor (hint). Stephen Badylak told it’s possible to re-grow muscles in humans and better yet, someday treating stroke patients by regenerating pieces of the functioning human brain.  Peter Theil, inventor of PayPal, would like us mainstream folks not to distrust or be uneasy with technology; look at Steve Jobs and how he deposited new technology in our laps. And fasten your seat belts; it’s going to be a wild ride. Dimitry Itskov(‘Russia 2045’) has rather bold ‘where no man has gone before’ plans to create a human like avatar entity, transplanting a human brain into a new body in 15 years, and putting consciousness in hologram-like bodies in 35 years. Somewhere over the rainbow, I remember an Arnold Schwarznegger film (‘Total Recall’) and Baron Von Frankenstein yelling in my ear, “It’s alive!” I paid 25 cents back in the day to see that movie at the Park Theatre. A heavy scientific conference usually connotes unapproachable; Alexander Wissner-Gross(PhD Physics Harvard, triple major from MIT where he is a research affiliate in Media Lab) and I sat in an nearly empty press room talking anti-aging and beer keg stand youth-bonding which I explained in my Jersey accent.  He turned me on to a recent article on the potential of curing diabetes with a starvation diet.

Singularity

ray kurzweil at press conference

 

And I didn’t understand everything. Stephen Wolfram made me feel like an amoeba on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Asbury Park. He would like to make as much of the world’s knowledge as possible, computable and accessible. I did understand when he said that he’s got data on every keystroke that he’s typed for the last 20 years. “Lions and tigers, oh my,” I thought sitting in the balcony,  momentarily checking Facebook messages on my Steve Jobs technology birthday gift for being an advanced senior citizen. But as I thought to myself in silence of the balcony, if I’m living to 150, then I’m not even at mid-life and no where near being a senior citizen. Hey, social security cost of living increase is up around 3% to $39 extra a month. Ken Jennings was bothered by losing to ‘Watson.’ It had to do with sense of self, dehumanization, being threatened but still left him with a sense of wonder. In closing, Ken Jennings said that when he was at IBM and preparing to take on ‘Watson’ for Jeopardy, he thought being there, “was an away game for humanity.” Perhaps.

 

 

 

Singularity

ken jennings and dileep george

I just lifted glasses off my head. I hear Walter Cronkite saying, “And that’s the way it is.” There was never enough time for him to cover the news each night in the 22 minutes CBS gave him. And not enough time for me to blog about being a kid last weekend on Christmas morning about to open a myriad of presents. I was a kid at Singularity; wanting to shove(open) as much as I could into my growing neo cortex and meet as many scientists and personalities as I could. I did it. I really did it. The day before, I was at Comic Con. I really did that. And I really think I was the only person (and Jersey journalist) left in the world who did both Comic Con and Singularity Summit. What does it all mean?  I thought about that sitting on my favorite Jersey Transit train contemplating smoke stacks and small sail boats in Raritan Bay, thinking about next summer dreams and sojourns. What does it all mean? I just thought that again sitting here at keyboard. I am getting younger with a lot of roads to travel and no rocking chairs (even if they’re on sale) in my future. Singularity has given me a mission to share and a jolt to my imagination and yes Virginia, there is a future Santa Claus.

Singularity

1947 Santa Claus at Bambergers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

website:

http://vichywater.net/

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

 

Twitter:  Earthood

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long  Singularity

 

IMPORTANT LINKS:

 

ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique BUT refreshingly, topically unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

 

If on Facebook check out this NJ Discover site:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000125711074

OR   www.njdiscover.com

 

Singularity

 

 

 

 

August 2011. Guest on Alicia Cramer Show (podcast) “Thin Healthy Happy” :

http://wausauhypnotherapy.podbean.com/2011/08/02/calvin-barry-schwartz-interview-on-living-life/

 

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

 

 

 

October 10, 2011

A Day in the Life at Asbury Park. Pulp Non-Fiction. Jobs Bill, Steve Jobs: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” Consumer Update. SINGULARITY SUMMIT, NYC. October 11, 2011

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , — earthood @ 11:36 pm

Asbury ParkAsbury Park

Asbury Park. When I was a kid, President Eisenhower had difficulties with the ninth hole(golf) and a few foreign policy issues, the Everly Brothers sang ‘Bye Bye Love’ and my parents rented a bungalow in Belmar on Seventh Avenue for August. When my father came for weekends, we’d go to nearby Asbury Park for boardwalk rides, Kohr’s Custard and wide-eyed dreams emanating beyond ocean’s horizon.

Custard evolved from an old original recipe that added eggs to the mixture to stiffen the product because their stores were located near the salt air ocean which tended to melt it quicker. Then I went away to college. Then I got married for a first time and Asbury Park somehow faded from sensibility. The city’s new building construction projects seemed to stop on the third floor; concrete skeletons endured for decades. Then Springsteen sprinkled magic. Then another viable Fifteenth century Renaissance; Asbury Park is now a Parisienne center (the left bank is the Atlantic Ocean) of music, art, boutique food and just plain chic stuff. Last Wednesday, I spent the day in Asbury Park stumbling around; the day could’ve been the sunniest, most perfectly blue sky day since September 8, 1934, when the S.S. Morro Castle, on the way from Havana(pre Castro) to New York, caught fire, burned and killed 137 people off the coast of Asbury Park.

Asbury Park

S.S. Morro Castle after the fire. It was beached in Asbury Park

 

Asbury Park

new vintage tee shirts for sale

I found a plaque near Convention Hall commemorating the disaster. Here’s my deal. Something had come over me this day. A week later, now as I write this, I still feel a sense of abandon and loneliness. As often mentioned in my blogs, I adore the word ‘something.’

Last Wednesday was a random day; free of purpose, filling my nostrils with magic ocean air; I wandered and roamed with a strange sense of abandoned sadness; my photographic experience was filled with desolation and solitude. In the distance the boardwalk seemed to end near the blue sky and awfully dark blue ocean. One lone person approached me. I waited for his passage and moved on. Convention Hall was open but wondrously empty.

 

 

Asbury Park

Asbury Park

boardwalk abandon. someone approaches in distance.

Just me and a few strange signs;  ‘Open all Year. Closed’ and in front of a surreal cafe (no people whatsoever), a dozen empty ‘outside’ tables with a pastel sign, ‘ Please Wait to be Seated.’ Back on the lonely boardwalk, I saw a pigeon about to walk into an outdoor restaurant. The sun passed through a wrought iron fence and cast a strange shadow on the pigeon’s body. “Jonathan Livingston Pigeon, I presume?” I called out; no aviary answer. Pink web feet helped it scamper under an empty table that in season served ‘world famous lobster rolls’ and sausage and pepper sandwiches.’

 

Asbury Park

I love materializing; an antique shop, ‘Flying Saucers’ sells empty boxes of mothballs, ‘Two Guys’ stores tee shirts and ‘Schaefer Beer’ trays;  Heaven Art Gallery had an amazing showing of ‘Jersey Shore: Images from Sandy Hook to Island Beach.’ Artist Michael Miller was featured. I spent an hour absorbing. A few feet further down on Cookman Avenue was ‘Paranormal Book and Curiosities.’ The owner told me about the Zombie Parade in Asbury Park on October 22nd. I told the owner about my meeting George Miller, a ghost from a west Jersey eyeglass store, who once jumped into my cell phone. I have witnesses. Can you imagine 4000 zombies? Of course I’m a Zombie non-believer and will probably wear jeans and a Rutgers cap when I absorb the sunset festivities.

 

Asbury Park

jonathan livingston pigeon on boardwalk.

 

Asbury Park

infant boardwalk tumbleweeds

Suddenly I was in a Texas town, Anarene, a real ghost town but is the subject of the movie and book, ‘Last Picture Show.’  Black and white sage brush was blowing across a dirt street. A pool hall screen door swings open and closed in relentless wind. I looked down at my feet, firmly fastened on the Asbury Park boardwalk; infant sagebrush blew around my feet. Where did it come from? This is Jersey. How fitting and proper in my sadness to see ‘stumble’ weeds on a deserted boardwalk. A few yards away, ‘Obey Records’ had several vintage 60’s billboards on top of a sealed building that served as a brewery (just my imagination) during the high times of the Volstead Act (prohibition).

 

 

 

Asbury Park

Asbury Park

steve jobs

Two hours later, I was home, loading my pictures into a computer. On a distant den television, CNN announced Steve Jobs had passed and I knew why strange sadness surrounded me all day with ‘palpable’ that I couldn’t explain whilst in Asbury Park. It’s not for me to memorialize Steve Jobs; the media can do that. But I think how empty and helpless I still feel; how such an amazing man with   $ 8 billion can not change the rules; we’re all in a line waiting for earthy popcorn and orange juice. Weeks ago, I wrote several blogs about Somalia; millions of people starving and dying. Millions of people mourned Steve Jobs’ passing including me too.  I listened to his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford five times already; I memorized the ending:

 

‎”Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” -Steve Jobs

 

One more thought about jobs. The federal Jobs Bill. If you can put people back to work, then just pass the bill; put politics aside. Same rational thought; if there is the slightest doubt about innocence or guilt, then you never execute (dedicated to the state of  Georgia,USA)

Asbury Park

pulp fiction jules and vincent

In my never ending pursuit of fatherly bonding, beer pong fantasy teams and enjoying the company of my 25 year old son, said prodigal son came home for the weekend and asked me to watch ‘Pulp Fiction’ with him on Friday night. I’d seen bits and pieces; my son, in classic Siskel and Ebert format, narrated me through poignancy, relevancy and Quentin Tarantino genius. So now I love the movie, dialogue, craftsmanship, style and will surely see it again if only to figure out what was in the brief case. In the molecular rearrangement I’ve made since Friday night lights and action, maybe this is a good time to espouse some pulp non-fiction things which concern me. On a car trip my son and I took together over the weekend, I asked if we had started to sound like Jules and Vincent. He hesitated and half shook his head in agreement. And then I said to my son, “I still haven’t memorized the passage from Ezekiel 25:17.” He laughed and told me not to bother. I asked, “Wouldn’t that help our father-son bonding if I impressed you that way?” “No Dad.” I love when he calls me ‘Dad.’

 

 

 

Asbury Park

occupy wall street

Asbury ParkThen I suggested to him at the third traffic light in a row that I caught, “Would you be proud of me if I went to the Occupy Rally on Wall Street, perhaps wearing that old ‘Lehman Brothers’ tee shirt.”  He laughed and said it’s just like me to do something foolish like that. And I felt good about him calling me foolish. I always aspire to be that no matter what; after all, “Stay Foolish” was the last two words Steve Jobs said to the Stanford students. I’ve been on a foolish quest for a long time. I think it’s an intrinsic ingredient to living to 150 years anyway.

So more pulp non fiction; a good friend and surgeon tells me how insurance companies are quietly, under the cover of darkness, trying to lobby lawmakers to change the rules regarding ancillary medical personnel (secretaries, window washers?) being allowed to administer Propofol (the stuff that killed Michael Jackson) during an operation because it is such a wonderfully safe anesthetic that leaves the body so fast and is relatively risk free; 50,000 procedures and not one problem. And I asked, “Why would insurance companies trespass on the way you perform operations and treat patients?” And before he answered me, I said, “Ah ha, the insurance companies, like car and drug companies that don’t recall things in a timely fashion, want to save money by not using/paying for the anesthesiologist.” He smiled sardonically.

Asbury Park Finally, one more bit of pulp non-fiction. Out of the clear blue infinitesimal realm of the synchronistic universe, which I’ve been travelling through for the last several decades, I got a letter from Harvard Medical School over the past weekend that saw Rutgers University football upset Pittsburgh34 to 10. The letter was an invitation to participate in a blind supplement study for five years regarding fish oil and Vitamin D. So the world it seems is Vitamin D deficient because we’re all sitting inside at computer screens and bathing in sunscreens while the sun helps us synthesize D. For no cash compensation, do I want to take a chance and pull myself off these supplements I’ve been taking for the last 40 years with the hope I’m not the fickle finger of fate with a five year placebo? Moments ago, Diane Sawyer reported on ABC World News about the results of a multi year study of women and supplements; they may not help but actually may hurt up to 3.8%.(iron) Only calcium helps. By the way, that letter is now on my old fashioned bulletin board, hanging next to a picture of Walt Frazier, Ron Jaworski and me. I do get around. I’d like to know how big brother knew I love taking supplements on my 150 year journey. Did a blogger or Facebook give me away?

 

A quick word about consumerism:  Last week I went to CVS drug store to buy a bottle of Lipo-flavonoid Plus supplement ($32.99). A few days later, I forgot that I have an account with Amazon and looked it up. This is not a commercial. Amazon sells it for $23.61 and no shipping charge. Then I looked up Hyaluronic acid which I buy from a national vitamin chain ($22.99).  Amazon sells for $13.21 with shipping. But the national vitamin store chain made me a VIP customer and I get a free health magazine every few months.

 

Finally,  I’m standing outside this huge green door that rises up two stories from the good earth. On tip toes, I reach for a door knocker and bang the drum slowly for a minute. A small portal opens and a man with a huge handlebar moustache asks my business. I exclaimed, “I’m here for help, to see the smart man. I think you call him a wizard.” There’s silence. Again I ask for help. The door opens slowly; surprisingly squeaky too. I’m led down a long hallway by that man who’s wearing a Beefeater uniform.

Asbury Park

beefeater at the door to greet me

More doors open. Meanwhile, a small circle in the palm of my hand started glowing ghastly green. Now I’m standing in a great room with tables and wooden stools. White cloths, dishes, wine glasses and plastic dinnerware tell me I’m in an adult dining room. In front of a makeshift stage, I see a long table with chafing dishes warmed by gas jets. Then I remembered the Jets just lost to New England. Then I snapped out of resignation. Did Cher slap my face too? The Beefeater guy points to a robust tall man with a ladle stirring something in a pot. “Go talk to Rex,” he said. I walk over. Rex  asks if I’d like some split pea soup with or without croutons. I decline. “I need advice. A lot of heavy personal things; you know, crossroads stuff.”  Then he whispered, “With or without croutons? And the soup is not greasy.” So I yelled, “Stop with the soup!” I’ve been waiting to use that line for a long time. Holding the ladle menacingly, Rex said, “Try it with the croutons. And the crossroads stuff. When you get to a fork in the road, take it.” I said, “That’s a foolish answer.” He smiled. “Isn’t that what you’re about? Staying foolish.”  And I said, “Thanks for being incisive.”  I turned around as all the doors opened. A football team rushed to the buffet line. When I turned back around, my new wise friend, who just might be the king, was gone; ladle was still on table.

 

Now new business: Here’s information and links re: Singularity Summit. As far as I’m concerned,  I’ll finally be in OZ after a long winding yellow brick road.

 

http://www.singularitysummit.com/program

 

 

Singularity Summit Explores Ground-Breaking Technologies, Features IBM’s Watson’s Computer and Record-Breaking Jeopardy! Winner

What is the future of artificial intelligence?

New York,NY(PRWEB) September 20, 2011

Over 700 scientists, engineers, businesspeople, and technologists for this year’s Singularity Summit – the world’s leading conference on emerging technologies. The event will be held October 15 & 16 at 92Y inNew York.

The Summit will explore “big picture” questions such as the direction of the global economy, philosophy of mind, and the ethics of technological development. Twenty-five speakers will present including two professors of robotics, financial experts, a co-founder of Skype, a pioneer in regenerative medicine, scientists from the MIT Media Lab, a longevity expert, economist Tyler Cowen, cosmologist Max Tegmark, neuroscientist Christ of Koch, and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

The recent victory of IBM’s Watson supercomputer on the game show Jeopardy! will be the central theme of discussion, with a keynote by Jeopardy contestant and 74-time winner Ken Jennings.

Jennings surprised audiences around the world in 2004 when he won 74 continuous Jeopardy! matches, winning over $2,500,000 on a six-month streak. In February, Jennings went up against Watson in on a special exhibition match of Jeopardy! and lost. In his keynote at Singularity Summit, Jennings will recount his experience on Jeopardy! and what it felt like to lose to a machine on the game show he otherwise dominated.

Ray Kurzweil, futurist and inventor, will be speak on the implications of the Watson victory. Dan Cerutti, who manages the commercialization of Watson at IBM, will speak on applying Watson to fields besides Jeopardy!, such as medicine. Stephen Wolfram, a pioneer in artificial intelligence, will speak on computation and the future of humanity.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

 

website:

http://vichywater.net/

Facebook: Cal Schwartz

Twitter:  Earthood     Asbury Park

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

August 2011. Guest on Alicia Cramer Show (podcast) “Thin Healthy Happy” :

http://wausauhypnotherapy.podbean.com/2011/08/02/calvin-barry-schwartz-interview-on-living-life/

 ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique  BUT unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

 

October 2, 2011

“Parsley. Wise Sage. Don’t Like Rosemary. Thyme Machine? ” I Still Hate NCAA. SINGULARITY SUMMIT UPDATE OCT 15,16. Beware Prudential Life. October 2, 2011

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 1:03 pm

NCAABefore the NCAA talk:  A song from the 60’s resonates within my soul. Whenever I want to feel lonely, confused and sad followed by a folk-lift of hope, I listen to Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Parsley Sage, Rosemary and Thyme;’ which is a restoration software pod sound of calvin’s soul. Notice I didn’t capitalize my name.

YouTube Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme

The song evokes dreams of by-gone days; studying organic chemistry in a smoke-filled second floor bedroom surveying disappearing streams of smoke, or enviously watching the student takeover at Columbia University and wishing I was part of Dr. King’s 50 mile march from Selma to Montgomery and being a spectator when Mickey Mantle hit the first indoor home run in the Houston Astrodome. Why do I want back so much?  Sometimes I am back, time stuck at a long checkout before express line’s innovation of ten items or less. I was always too honest balancing 11 items in the regular line.

NCAA

parsley

 

NCAA

Elaine and Benjamin in back of bus.

I just saw a bus carrying Elaine and Benjamin down a deserted surreal street here in Southern California. Where have all the street people and cars with fins gone?

One of the carried items was a pound of parsley. What weighs more, falls faster; a pound of steel or parsley? I love the taste of parsley, dipped in Atlantic Ocean salt water; confused tastes of chlorophyll still refresh my breath instead of an aerosol spray or swig of Listerine bitters. Once upon a time, I was in Provincetown, Cape Cod with my elusive first butterfly.

 

 

NCAAA spider, the size of Woody’s Buick, appeared on my windshield. It was either me or Charlotte. I call all spiders ‘Charlotte’ since that movie. Imagine a world without a masculine arachnid?  I had no offenses (hammer or insecticide) and knew I couldn’t drive around historical sand dunes with a tarantula stuck in my dashboard. Breath spray aerosol to the rescue. Two shots then Charlotte passed; an auto body shop removed remains with the Jaws of Life.

I’ve become a wild wise old sage. A few months ago, I met a flower older woman child at a Stone Pony rock concert. Eleven seconds passed then a hand-shake and I knew history; her life pain, lost love, disappointments and alcohol abuse; all on her face and in a raspy smoky phlegm voice. Resignation set in. Why wasn’t I a sage when Lyndon Johnson was trying to draft me or a next door neighbor was advising to get into plastics?

 

NCAA

flower woman child

Two days ago, I opened up a large bag of flatbreads, flavored with rosemary. Hunger was no match for the bland emptiness of rosemary’s stale, stored in the attic flavor. Once I knew Rosemary; the same year ‘All in the Family’ came on the air.  She loved Edith Bunker’s innocence; I loved hers’ and wonder what became of that loud exuberant ‘ding bat’ voice.

NCAAThese days I think about thyme a bunch. I remember the movie, ‘The Time Machine,’ when H.G. Wells’ best friend Philby, from across the street, realized that H.G. was gone forever, but he still had all the time in the world. So if I’m going to make it to 150 years or as the Immortality Institute (see link below) believes, forever, then I’m just getting a head of steam. Meanwhile, this ballad by Simon and Garfunkel means a few other things. Rosemary symbolizes notions of remembrance going back to ancient Greeks. Thyme is really courage; at this stage of the life cycle to be embarking on a long writing journey is courageous. Sage symbolizes strength. I need parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme to keep writing. When I hit that wall, it’s always iTunes instead of a St. Bernard displaced from a Matterhorn gift shop.

 

NCAA

Rosemary

NCAA( National Collegiate Athletic Association) is on my mind; not the last thing either. “Goodness gracious sakes alive,” I dislike the NCAA. The late iconic Coach John Wooden used that expression as his quintessential cussing expression. I’m not going to make this a long boring diatribe but folks ought to know some basics. The NCAA presides over college sports. I don’t know who presides over them; bespectacled fat cats with the best deal in town; good seats at NCAA finals and ridiculously bloated salaries. As athletic departments struggled to weather economic downturn, the National Collegiate Athletic Association spent nearly $6 million to compensate 14 of its highest-ranking executives, according to public federal tax documents.

NCAA

Myles Brand

 

The highest-paid of those officials was the late Myles Brand, the former NCAA president who died of cancer while still in office. Mr. Brand received $1,145,880 in total compensation for the fiscal year ending August 2009. The sum included $770,739 in salary and more than $200,000 in bonuses and incentive compensation, as well as other pay and benefits. Other highly paid executives were Thomas W. Jernstedt, the former executive vice president who left after 38 years( I wonder if his thinking got stale and unimaginative after all those fat years) ($604,679); Bernard W. Franklin, executive vice president for membership and student-athlete affairs ($509,429). Got the picture? Hey, I’ll preside for a flat $100,000. I don’t like the bunch because they look the other way too often; like when sleazy characters stand on the street corner and give rolls of money to young impressionable visiting high school senior football players to induce them to play for their (southern) university.

 

NCAA

John Wooden

The whole world knows what’s going on. But it goes on and on while fat teams keep winning and branding their train trestle names. Give me liberty and a clean college football program (high APR/Academic Progress Rate). Maybe the kids (all athletes) should get paid; they give their bodies, mind and future health to perpetuate alumni dreams, local ego and of course the obese NCAA. Maybe if the kids got paid, the NCAA execs might earn less. I heard sports-writer Jason Whitlock use the term ‘plantation’ on a past edition of ‘Real Sports.’ Here’s my gripe; there’s corruption, politics and inconsistency all over the NCAA and it seems I’ve had a lapful lately.

NCAA  I love college sports; the purity, body and flavor (an old Ballantine Beer Commercial). When I see ostensibly curiously refereed games in college sports, it upsets me, especially when the NCAA does nothing to keep their house clean.

A few years ago the Rutgers women’s basketball team played at Tennessee with legendary coach Pat Sumitt. ‘Somehow’ the Tennessee official game clock keeper illegally stopped the clock seconds before the end of game enabling enough time for Tennessee to beat Rutgers. Here’s a YouTube of the sportscaster’s coverage of the last minute of the game. You can’t make this stuff up. Of course the NCAA does nothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwYcfFvn-uY

If you read my blog you know that the basketball game in March, 2011 between Rutgers men’s basketball team and St. John’s in Madison Square Garden Big East tournament had to be fixed (see March 11th, April 1st and April 23rd blog) against Rutgers winning, as all three referees failed to make five egregious calls against St. Johns and then walked off the court with nearly two seconds left which was enough time for Rutgers to win. The NCAA rewarded the refs by giving assignment games in mid-west tournaments.

You can’t make this stuff up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZEbe3Q2ps

Now, finally Toledo plays Syracuse in football on Saturday September 24 in Syracuse. Near the end of game, Syracuse kicks an extra-point and misses wide left. The whole world sees it, even my friends in a deli in Moscow, Russia. But the refs call the kick good and it’s confirmed by upstairs review. Then it comes out. The officials made a huge “mistake.” The Big East (NCAA) once again culpable. There’s Shakespearean Denmark all over the place; Toledo University officials demand they be awarded the victory because Toledo would’ve had a 30-29 lead at the end of regulation time. Game over. Toledo wins. But Syracuse wins 33-30 in overtime. Gosh, give me a piece of that payoff. I’ll quietly buy a beach house on the island of Tortola in the Caribbean and won’t bother the NCAA anymore. The good old NCAA folks plunder, blunder and reap the winds of war. The NCAA is a horribly corrupt archaic field of dreams.

Oh here’s the Toledo-Syracuse video from YouTube and Toledo News coverage article link.  You can’t make this stuff up.

http://www.toledoblade.com/UT/2011/09/26/UT-asks-for-loss-to-be-overturned-2.html

 

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2011-09-26/toledo-asks-to-be-credited-with-victory-after-referee-error

Now, perhaps, as the sun sets over water logged fields of vegetables, grains, sunflowers and a red mountain where I once climbed barefoot, my blog readers can understand why I hate the NCAA; I went to Toledo for two years before transferring to Rutgers for four years.

NCAA

me sedona barefoot

Mornings are filled with ‘Today’ and ‘Good Morning America.’ The movie ‘Good Morning Vietnam’ captivates me each and every time; a couple of lines make me smile( I think you can guess one of them; “more dire need.”) and almost wished I was jungle-bound, listening live to Adrian Cronauer. Robin Williams’ tour-de force performance resonates like ‘Parsley Sage.’ On Monday morning September 26, a banner on the TV told me the N.J. Board of Public Utilities was conducting a hearing in Manalapan on Jersey Central Power and Light’s (JCPL) performance response (lack) to Hurricane Irene.

 

NCAA

NJ Bd of Public Utilities Hearing 9-26-11

Overcome with sense of civic pride and feline curiosity (I’ve never been to a public hearing with politicians and irate citizens), I decided to attend, armed with camera and notes. For three hours, I listened to mayors, Congressman’s aide, assembly folks, and scores of irate citizens ALL complain about the lack of communication and preparedness by JCPL. Board President Solomon made it perfectly clear, like Richard Nixon used to, that they could only listen and not discuss courses of action against JCPL. Personally, I’d love to see other companies come in and bid for the contract; somehow I think JCPL might care a bit more. One joker from Old Bridge claimed JCPL was perfect; he had no problems with communication and information. Someone yelled out, “A company plant.” Here’s what I came away with. There were two suited men sitting to the right of the stage. I assume JCPL representatives. One man, around 50, chewed gum for three hours and smirked the whole time, took no notes and sent a clear message; that he and JCPL just don’t care; people need power; are they going to call ‘Ghostbusters.’ What happened to power to the people?

 

JCPL’ s message is a perfect segue to Prudential Insurance Company’s message to me that they don’t care either. What is it with big companies not caring? Not recalling products in a timely fashion. Or putting too much salt in the processed food they sell. Nearing thirty years as a policy holder, Prudential jumped as quickly as they could, to lapse a life policy even though their agents and managers (even way below used car salesmen and amoebas on the food chain) committed documented malpractice. So beware of the crumbling rock.

NCAA

Band playing 'Pennsylvania Polka'

 

Now it’s Sunday morning. Saturday was rewarding. Rutgers beat Syracuse in double overtime. Of course I take issue with the referees and NCAA. Enough. Last night, I drifted back in time which I love to do, spending time in Highlands, New Jersey at an Octoberfest; my first one. So check this out; as we walk in under a light drizzle, a small band with a Norman Rockwell tuba player was playing “Pennsylvania Polka,” right out of ‘Groundhog Day.’

NCAA

 

 

YouTube Groundhog Day Pennsylvania Polka:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kTWwJ9NQbY

I was home, where I belong, in the middle of America. I looked all around; in the distance, boats were dry docked, New York glistened, a sign for $4 beer and potato pancakes beckoned, a few children scampered towards a swing and sliding board and I loved being a cub reporter. Hemingway started out as a cub reporter. I started out writing a novel. Go figure. I feel better now. A bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon added. And maybe later, I’ll close my eyes and see Phil Connors (Bill Murray) from ‘Groundhog Day.’  He was a reporter of sorts. I’ve been drifting around a bit writing this blog. I do feel better now; wiser and older. And I don’t think I’ll have to listen to ‘Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme’ this day.

UPDATE ON SINGULARITY SUMMIT. NEW YORK CITY OCTOBER 15TH 16TH:

Singularity Summit Explores Ground-Breaking Technologies, Features IBM’s Watson’s Computer and Record-Breaking Jeopardy! Winner

What is the future of artificial intelligence?

  • NCAA

IBM Computer Watson — Jeopardy Champion

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 20, 2011

Over 700 scientists, engineers, businesspeople, and technologists for this year’s Singularity Summit – the world’s leading conference on emerging technologies. The event will be held October 15 & 16 at 92Y in New York.

The Summit will explore “big picture” questions such as the direction of the global economy, philosophy of mind, and the ethics of technological development. Twenty-five speakers will present including two professors of robotics, financial experts, a co-founder of Skype, a pioneer in regenerative medicine, scientists from the MIT Media Lab, a longevity expert, economist Tyler Cowen, cosmologist Max Tegmark, neuroscientist Christof Koch, and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

The recent victory of IBM’s Watson supercomputer on the game show Jeopardy! will be the central theme of discussion, with a keynote by Jeopardy contestant and 74-time winner Ken Jennings.

Jennings surprised audiences around the world in 2004 when he won 74 continuous Jeopardy! matches, winning over $2,500,000 on a six-month streak. In February, Jennings went up against Watson in on a special exhibition match of Jeopardy!, and lost. In his keynote at Singularity Summit, Jennings will recount his experience on Jeopardy! and what it felt like to lose to a machine on the game show he otherwise dominated.

Ray Kurzweil, futurist and inventor, will be speak on the implications of the Watson victory. Dan Cerutti, who manages the commercialization of Watson at IBM, will speak on applying Watson to fields besides Jeopardy!, such as medicine. Stephen Wolfram, a pioneer in artificial intelligence, will speak on computation and the future of humanity.

 

 

Contact Information:

website:

http://vichywater.net/

 

Facebook: Cal Schwartz   NCAA

 

Twitter:  Earthood

 

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long

 

IMPORTANT LINKS:

 

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

 

August 2011. Guest on Alicia Cramer Show (podcast) “Thin Healthy Happy” :
http://wausauhypnotherapy.podbean.com/2011/08/02/calvin-barry-schwartz-interview-on-living-life/

 

ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique  BUT
unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:
http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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