IBM Computer Takes on Two Jeopardy Champions

Recently, the game show, Jeopardy, announced that they will pit man versus machine this season. The IBM computer, Watson, will be taking on two of Jeopardy’s former champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Ken Jennings broke the Jeopardy record during the 2004-2005 season for most consecutive games won. He played 74 games during the 2004-2005 season and accumulated more than $2.5 million. Brad Rutter was a contestant who had won more money than any other contestant on Jeopardy; more than $3.2 million. The IBM team hopes that their IBM computer, Watson, can answer questions as fast as a human. They have created Watson to listen to the questions then quickly and correctly answer them. In preparation, the IBM computer has been playing mock Jeopardy games with former game show participants. The developers believe that the IBM computer is now ready to face Jeopardy’s most successful champions. The Jeopardy challenge is similar to the chess match played by an IBM machine in 1997. In the chess match in 1997, the IBM computer called Deep Blue beat chess champion Garry Kasparov. Deep Blue was able to calculate 200 million chess moves per second based on a fixed problem. In the Jeopardy challenge, Watson will have to work differently then Deep Blue. Watson will have to listen to the question, interpret the question, figure out what it is being asked and answer the question.

The Jeopardy games featuring Watson will be airing February 14-16. The IBM researchers hope that question-answer systems like Watson will have real-life impacts on businesses such as health care, online self-service desks and tourism. The computer’s ability to quickly sort large amounts of data and answer precisely, as well as rank its confidence, will improve the intelligence of computerized systems and thus make life easier for humans.

I am amazed that new question-answer computers like Watson actually exist. I am anxious to see how well Watson performs against humans. I can’t wait to see if a computer system like Watson can think and react like a human. Like many others, I will be watching Jeopardy to see how Watson performs in this Jeopardy challenge. If the IBM team can create a computer that can think like a human, there is no telling what advances can be made to artificial intelligence.

Citations:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40656286/ns/today-entertainment/

http://www.eweek.com/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=65508&pop=1&hide_a...

By: greendragon

Pine Barrens Website

This website is made by greendragon, jazzmatazz9 and blackshinyarmordragon:

http://www.omegaredpinebarrens.webs.com/

Mutualism

This picture shows me standing in the foyer of my house with a tree. My parents purchased this tree when I was a baby. It sits in our foyer and has grown quite a bit since when we first bought it. You may be wondering what kind of relationship I could possibly have with a tree. Well, this tree and I represent an example of mutualism. Mutualism is a relationship between two organisms in which both benefit greatly from the association. This association is necessary for the organisms to survive. Without plants and trees, humans could not survive. Plants and trees produce oxygen which is the most important nutrient to the human body because life could not exist without oxygen. Every cell in our body uses oxygen. Brain function decreases dramatically when it does not have enough oxygen. Humans cannot survive without the oxygen produced from plants and trees. On the other hand, plants could not survive without humans. Humans produce carbon dioxide when we exhale. Plants take the carbon dioxide to make their food. The carbon dioxide is combined with water and sunlight in a process called photosynthesis. Oxygen is a byproduct of that process. Without the carbon dioxide produced from humans, plants could not produce food to survive. Plants (and trees) and humans are dependent on each other for their survival.

Abiotic Factor

Water is an abiotic factor. Water is a necessity to all living organisms. It can limit the population of an organism. If there is too much water, their homes would be flooded. If there is too little water, then the organisms can't survive. Water is a key abiotic limiting factor.

Picture taken by:
greendragon

All About Tornadoes

http://www.omegatornadoes.webs.com/

By:
greendragon
the environmentalist
sk8er789

Lit. Poems

“Liesel”

Caring, courageous, and daring
Who loves her parents, Papa and Mama
Who feels the desire to read
Who needs the encouragement of friends
Who shares her love of words with others
Who fears being alone
Who’d like to see her loved ones again
Who dreams of her dying brother
Who ends up a survivor

By:
Death

“Books and Fire”

Books
Intriguing, educational
Reading, writing, analyzing
Comforting, soothing, distracting, powerful
Burning, smoking, consuming
Bright, destructive
Fire

By:

greendragon

The Adventure Aquarium

My unit just finished learning about phylums in science class. There are about 35 major phylums into which biologists classify members of the animal kingdom. To reinforce what we had learned about phylums, the school planned a trip for us to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey so that we could see some of the animals we had read about. On Friday, May 7, 2010, we went on our field trip to the aquarium. I have visited the aquarium at least a dozen times. But each time I go I am still amazed at the views of the Ocean Realm. The Ocean Realm is this enormous tank. It has a huge collection of sea creatures freely swimming around in it. There are sharks, stingrays, shark rays and loggerhead sea turtles. There is a four hundred pound turtle named Bob that I always look for when I visit the aquarium. One strange thing about Bob is that Bob is a female turtle. Bob, a loggerhead turtle, is in the phylum Chordata. The sharks, stingrays and shark rays that share the Ocean Realm with Bob are also in the phylum Chordata. The Chordata is the animal phylum with which everyone is most familiar with because it includes humans and other vertebrates. You can sit and watch this beautiful collection of marine animals gliding by, giving us a glimpse into their ocean world. I also enjoy walking through the shark tunnel. As you walk through the tunnels, sharks are swimming all around you. They seem so close. Sometimes I think I can reach out and touch them. But if you want to touch a real shark, you have to go to the Touch-A-Shark exhibit. In this exhibit, you can actually touch sharks, not the great white sharks or hammerhead sharks that you see in the shark tunnel, but smaller white-spotted bamboo sharks. All these sharks are in the phylum Chordata. Another fascinating area is the Jules Verne Gallery. As you walk through the gallery you will see several exhibits displaying all different kinds of sea creatures. I especially liked the giant octopus, jellyfish and the giant spider crabs. The giant octopus is in the phylum Mollusca, which are invertebrates with soft, un-segmented bodies that are often protected by a hard outer shell. The jellyfish is in the phylum Cnidaria, which use stinging cells to capture food and defend themselves. The giant spider crab is in the phylum Arthropoda, invertebrates that have an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Irazu Falls is also a good place to stop by. There’s a waterfall and you can see some enormous fish from the Amazon swimming in the tank. If you like tropical fish, you should go to the area in the aquarium called the Caribbean Currents. There are hundreds of brightly colored tropical fish. If you look close enough, you’ll see some seahorses too. All these tropical fishes and the seahorses are in the phylum Chordata. Penguin Island is another great area to visit especially during feeding time. The penguins are in the phylum Chordata. These penguins are really smart. They know when it’s feeding time because they all gather at the door where the aquarium workers enter with food. It’s fun to see them swim and fight for food.




I really enjoyed our trip to the Adventure Aquarium. In my opinion, visiting the aquarium helped reinforce what we learned about phylums. Sure you can look at pictures and drawing, but seeing the real thing is much more interesting. I, like most students, learn best by seeing, touching and feeling objects that we have learned about in science class.