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Tuesday, April 4, 2017

The Writer's Life 4/4 - Sci-Fi Meets Real World

It had to happen sooner or later.  A Chinese artificial intelligence engineer has given up on the search for love and married a robot he built himself. Zheng Jiajia, 31, decided to make the commitment after failing to find a human spouse. He'd tired of constant nagging from his family to wed, so he turned to Yingying. After two months of dating, he married her at a ceremony attended by his mother and friends. While not officially recognized by the authorities, the union had all the trappings of a typical Chinese wedding. Yingying’s head was covered with a red cloth in accordance with local tradition. For now she/it can only read a few Chinese characters and images and speak a few simple words, but Zheng plans to upgrade his bride to be able to walk and do household chores. Until then he has to carry the 30kg robot to move her. In China there are 113 women for every 100 men. (Edited by yours truly.) Here's a pic of the happy couple. It and the article are at theguardian.com:



Also in China: To stop the theft of toilet paper from public stalls, someone has invented a device that dispenses two-feet of TP every nine minutes. That should just about cover it... At Sweden's Epicenter, numerous workers have consented to having a chip implanted in the hand. It serves as a swipe card... In Canada in 2016, there were 1131 UFO sightings. Of course, The X-Files was filmed there. (All three items gleaned from the NY Post, reworded by yt.)

There is fake news and there are fake college basketball programs. Last night the University of North Carolina won the NCAA tournament. The school is currently under investigation for fraud. Many football and basketball players were given passing grades in no-show courses... Also in college basketball: former NY Knicks center Patrick Ewing has been hired as head coach by Georgetown University, which he led to a national championship in the '80's. One thing is certain - no one will outwork him.

I lost patience waiting for the weather to clear after 11 AM, which turned out to be a mistake. I fell asleep doing a crossword puzzle. When I woke and looked out the window, I saw the ground was dry. I set up shop around 2:30 PM, and packed up 15 minutes later when it began drizzling. That's the way it goes some days.
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

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