"Neil Johnson" <njohnson@interl.net> wrote: # # Is it just me, or did anybody consider the fact # that someone else was using her laptop ? Spending three hours screwing around on her laptop? Printing out a coupon for ice cream? ---- Jimmy Crick wrote: # # http://www.msnbc.com/news/603082.asp?cp1=1#BODY That's just fascinating, Choate. Only no one has accused Condit of personally making Levy disappear. No one. ---- Notes from Italy: the person who shot the protester was not a regular cop. He was a 20-year-old doing "national service". http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,30155,00.html # # Police said Saturday they were looking into bringing manslaughter # charges against the policeman who fired at Giuliani. They did # not release the officer's name but said he was a 20-year-old # drafted into Italy's Carabinieri, a unit that performs police # and military functions. Police said the officer was in shock # and had been hospitalized. ---- http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,30163,00.html # # IBM Develops Annoying "Passenger" to Keep Drivers Alert # # DETROIT - You're driving along and suddenly a voice starts # shouting personal questions at you: # # "Where did you go on your first date? What's your favorite song? # What's your mother's maiden name? Where'd you go to school? What's # your favorite food? Who won the ball game?" # # If you don't answer quickly enough, correctly or at all, then # the fun really begins. Windows start opening and closing, a buzzer # might sound and worse, you might get spritzed with a stream of # cold water. # # It's a cross between Stephen King's maniacal car Christine and # the yapping disembodied voice of Ann Sothern in the never-lamented # TV show "My Mother the Car." # # Indeed, IBM's "artificial passenger" is designed to be as annoying # as possible all in the name of safety, says David Nahamoo, IBM # senior manager for human language technology. # # "Essentially, the technology and the system relies on # conversational interaction as a mechanism for keeping a person # alert," says Nahamoo. But can you hump it?