Monday, March 4 2019

09:00 Lois and I have a little chat on Skype with Sarah, our younger daughter, who lives in Perth, Australia, with Francis and their 5-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie.

We ask the children about their first impressions of full-time school - they started in early February at the local primary school. They get very excited and tell us about what they have been doing in school, and about the class's "pets" – in fact two caterpillars:  my god, what madness !!! 

They also decide for some reason to show us some of their soft toys - how cute they are!

The twins also decide to show us

some of their soft toys for some reason – how cute they are!

flashback to February 22nd -

Lily and Jessie and their young classmates

09:45 We finish the Skype call and take the bus into town. We get off at the Elim church and walk around the corner. I pop into our new doctor's surgery, Overton Park Surgery, to get a urine sample bottle from reception. I'm having a blood test next month and they have asked me to bring a urine sample with me on the day. This will be my first interaction with our new surgery and our new doctors and nurses. We decided to change surgeries 3 months ago, after our previous doctors moved into a new build surgery 5 miles from here.

10:45 We pick up the urine sample bottle and walk down into the town centre, about 15 minutes away. 

We discovered the other day that we have two rather old gift certificates for Marks & Spencer's department store, which we had forgotten all about – my god, what madness!

Lois chooses a black slip and I choose a pair of dark trousers. Lois is also looking for winter leggings and winter tops that we can send our twin grandchildren in Australia. We collect our purchases and queue at the checkout, but unfortunately the store’s computers say that one of our two gift cards has expired, even though according to the corresponding receipt, the expiry date is actually in 2020 – my god, what madness (again)! A classic case of "Computer says no" syndrome.

The cashier calls his manager and they finally solve the problem, but only after about 20 minutes tomfoolery - damn!

Our M&S experience: a classic case of "Computer says no" syndrome

(copyright Little Britain)

11:30 We take the bus home and have lunch. Afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm - meanwhile, Lois swings by the neighbours (Bill and Mary) to chat a little with Mary who suffers from dementia, so Bill can relax and get a break from taking care of Mary and humouring her. a little respite. Lois is so kindhearted - if only I could be more like her!

15:30 I have a little alone time and listen to the radio, an interesting programme about language and culture. The host of the programme is the charming Andrew Marr.

An interesting discussion. The mathematician Marcus du Sautoy of Oxford University speaks a bit about computers and artificial intelligence. Computers can readily translate text into another language, but they have difficulty doing this if any sense of context is needed.

For example, the sentence "The city councillors refused to give the demonstrators a permit because they feared violence". Most human beings will understand from the context that the word "they" refers to the "councillors".

But if you change the word "feared" to "threatened", most human beings will understand that the word "they" now refers to the demonstrators.

People have no problem understanding both the sentences, but computers have far greater problems in this kind of case, however.

Marcus du Sautoy (crazy name, crazy guy),

Oxford University mathematician

In the Sony Computer Laboratories in Paris, Marcus watched a fascinating experiment where a bunch of robots were each programmed to create their own personal, individual language. They then started adopting some position or other in front of the mirror and naming this position in their own language. Subsequently, the robots began to interact with each other, saying, for example, "I was trying to lift my left arm," or the like, each in their own personal language.

And as they interacted with each other, they began to "reparameterise" their individual languages, so that by the end of the week they were all speaking one common language together.

The downside was that the researchers who programmed the robots in the first place did not themselves understand the new language - yikes, scary !!!!!

Sony Computer Lab, Paris

Another example:  the Google Brain team, which conducts research and experiments on the use of artificial intelligence, got two computers to produce a common cryptographic language that they both understood. A third computer then tried to hack into the language, but without success. A truly secure language, says Marcus!

Yikes, scary (again) !!!!!!

The Google Brain team that conducts research and

experiments in the use of artificial intelligence

16:30 Lois has not turned up yet, so I resume working on my "miniproject downsize” in our daughter Sarah's room. Sarah left a lot of personal belongings with us when she and Francis and their young twins moved to Australia in December 2015. Yesterday I examined the belongings she had stored and left behind under her old double bed.

Flashback to yesterday:  

some of the personal belongings I found under Sarah's bed

Today I examine the contents of her wardrobe, and I come across something that almost gets the tears rolling down my cheeks - Sarah's old security blanket, which she used to carry about with her everywhere, until she turned about 13 or so. It looks a bit threadbare now, to put it mildly.

Sarah's old threadbare security blanket

When we first arrived in the United States in 1982 to begin my 3-year posting over there, she accidentally left the blanket in a real estate agent's car one Friday, and the whole family spent an uncomfortable weekend with a very unhappy Sarah, until we could call the estate agent the following Monday, and arrange to get the blanket back - yikes!

Happy days !!!!

17:00 Lois comes back from next door. She says she has been talking to our dementia-sufferer nieghbour Mary about the town of Cheltenham as it was in the past, and she showed Mary the photos we took in the town centre the other day, when many buildings were specially lit up and there was a temporary Ferris-wheel next to the town hall. .

flashback to February 24th: Lois and I go for a short walk

around the town centre

Mary feels more confident when  she is talking about the distant past, than she does about the present time, like many elderly people suffering from dementia. Poor Mary!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the evening watching a bit of television. Monday night is TV quiz night for us. "Only Connect" and "University Challenge are on.

Lois and I are always very happy about the questions that we can answer, but with which all the fresh young brains have problems with, because we believe it proves that we ourselves are not yet suffering from dementia - yet.

In "Only Connect" we see an interesting question: the two three-person teams are asked to find the connection between the following 4 things:

The answer is that the two adjectives in each case share an antonym for some of their meanings:

(1) thin, bright: thick

(2) heavy, dark: light

(3) soft, simple: hard

(4) diluted, untidy: neat

As usual, both Lois and I find some questions that we can answer, but which all the fresh young brains don't have the faintest idea about, like guessing the 4th thing in this sequence: 

The right answer is "visibility", which Lois and I both know well. This is the format of BBC radio's shipping  forecast: for example "Humber, Thames / Southeast veering southwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 later / Thundery showers / Moderate or good, occasionally poor."

These are the moments that Lois and I will cherish when we are really really old, ie 73 years or more ha ha

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg taler lidt på Skype med Sarah, vores yngste datter, der bor I Perth, Australien, sammen med Francis og deres 5-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie.

Vi spørger børnene om deres første indtryk af fuldtidsskole – de startede i begyndelssen af februar i den lokale folkeskole.. De bliver meget begejstret og fortæller os om hvad de har lavet i skole, og om klassens ”kæledyr” – to larver: du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!! De beslutter også af en eller anden grund at vise os nogle af deres bløde legetøj – hvor er de dog søde!

tvillingerne beslutter også af en eller anden grund at vise os

nogle af deres bløde legetøj – hvor er de dog søde!

tilbageblik til den 22. februar – Lily og Jessie

og deres unge klassekammerater

09:45 Vi afslutter Skype-opkaldet og tager bussen ind i byen. Vi står af ved Elim-kirken, og går rundt om hjørnet. Jeg smutter ind i vores nye lægehus, Overton Park Surgery, for at hente en urinprøveflaske fra receptionen. Jeg skal få taget en blodprøve næste måned, og de har bedt mig om at medbringe en urinprøve på dagen. Dette vil være min første interaktion med vores ny lægehus, og vores nye læger/sygeplejersker. Vi besluttede at skifte lægehuse, efter vores forrige læger for 3 måneder siden flyttede ind i et nybygget lægehus 5 miles herfra. 

10:45 Vi henter urinprøveflasken og går hen ind i bymidten, omkring 15 minutter væk fra lægehuset. Vi opdagede forleden, at vi har to gavekort til Marks & Spencers stormagasin, som vi havde glemmet om – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Lois vælger en sort underkjole, og jeg vælger et par mørke bukser. Lois leder efter vinterleggings og vintertops, vi kan sende til vores tvillingebørnebørn i Australien. Vi samler vores køb og står i kø ved kassen, men desværre magasinets computere siger, at ét af vores to gavekort er løbet ud, selvom ifølge det tilsvarende kvittering er udløbsdato faktisk i 2020 – du godeste, sikke et vanvid (igen)! Et klassisk tilfælde af ”Computer says no”-syndromet.

Kassereren ringer til sin manager, og de løser problemet omsider, men kun efter ca 20 minutters tosseri – pokkers!  

Vores M&S-oplevelse: et klassisk tilfælde af ”Computer says no”-syndromet

(copyright Little Britain)

11:30 Vi tager bussen hjem og spiser frokost. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 – i mellemtiden smutter Lois ind hos naboerne (Bill og Mary) for at snakke lidt med Mary, der lider af demens, så Bill kan slapper lidt af, og få en pause fra at passe på hende og føje hende, lidt pusterum. Lois er så varmhjertet – hvis bare jeg kunne ligne hende mere!

15:30 Jeg har lidt alenetid og lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om sprog og kultur. Programmets vært er den charmerende Andrew Marr.

En interessant diskussion. Matimatikeren Marcus du Sautoy af Oxford University taler lidt om computerer og kunstig intelligens. Computere kan oversætte tekst til et andet sprog, men de har svært ved at gøre dette, hvis en sans af kontekst er nødvendig.

For eksempel, sætningen ”Byens rådmændene afviste at give demonstranterne en tilladelse på grund af de frygtede vold”. De fleste menneskelige væsner vil forstå fra konteksten, at ordet ”de” henviser til ”rådmændene”.

Men hvis man skifter ordet ”frygtede” til ”truede om”, vil de fleste menneskelige væsner forstå, at ordet ”de” henviser til demonstranterne.

Mennesker har ikke problem med at forstå begge sætninger, mens computere har langt større problemer med det.

Marcus du Sautoy (skørt navn, skør fyr),

Oxford University-matematiker

I Sony Computer Laboratarier i Paris, overværede Marcus et fascinerende eksperiment, hvor en række robotter skabte hver deres eget personlige sprog. De gik så i gang med at påtage sig en eller anden kropsstilling foran spejlet og at navne denne kropsstilling på deres eget sprog. Til sidst begyndte robotterne at interagere med hinanden, og sagde for eksempel, ”jeg prøvede at løfte min vestre arm”, eller lignende på deres eget personlige sprog.

Og samtidig med, at de interagerede med hinanden, begyndte de at ”reparameterisere” deres sprog, så i slutningen af ugen har robotterne udviklet deres eget fælles sprog.

Ulempen var, at forskerne, der programmede robotterne, ikke forstod dette nye sprog – yikes, skræmmende !!!!!

Sony Computer Lab, Paris

Et andet eksempel: Google Brain-holdet, der gennemfører forskning og eksperimenter i brugen af kunstig intelligens, fik to computere til at producere et kryptografisk sprog, som de begge forstod. En tredje computer prøvede at hacke sig ind i sproget, men uden succés. En sandelig sikkert sprog, siger Marcus!

Yikes, skræmmende (igen) !!!!!!

GoogleBrain-holdet, der gennemfører forskning og

eksperimenter i brugen af kunstig intelligens

16:30 Lois har ikke dukket op endnu, så fortsætter jeg med at arbejde på mit mini-projekt-downsize i vores datter Sarahs værelse. Sarah efterlod en masse personige ejendele hos os, da hun og Francis og deres unge tvillinger i december 2015 flyttede til Australien. I går undersøgte jeg de ejendele, hun havde gemt under sin gamle dobbeltseng.

Tilbageblik til i går: 

Nogle af de personlige ejendele, jeg fandt under Sarahs seng

I dag undersøger jeg indholdet af hendes garderobe, og jeg falder over noget, der næsten får tårerne til at trille ned ad kinderne på mig – Sarahs gamle krammetæppe, som hun plejede at medbringe overalt, indtil hun fyldte 13 eller deromkring. Det ser lidt luvslidt nu, for at sige mildt.

Sarahs gamle luvslidte krammetæppe

Da vi i 1982 først ankom til USA for at begynde min 3-års udstationering derovre, efterlod hun krammetæppet én fredag i en ejendomsmæglerens bil ved en fejltagelse, og hele familien tilbragte en ubekvem weekend, indtil vi den følgende mandag kunne ringe til ejendomsmægleren, og sørge for, at få tæppet tilbage – yikes!

Lykkelige dage!!!! 

17:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra nabohuset. Hun siger, hun har snakket med Mary, der lider af demens, om byen Cheltenham i fortiden, og hun viste Mary de fotoer, vi forleden tog i bymidten, da mange bygninger var specielt belyst, og der stod et midlertidigt pariserhjul ved siden af rådhuset.

tilbageblik til den 24. februar: Lois og jeg går en kort tur

rundt omkring i bymidten

Mary føler sig trygere, nå hun snakker om den fjerne fortid, end om nutiden, ligesom mange ældre, der lider af demens. Stakkels Mary!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Mandag aften er tv-quiz-aften hos os. De viser ”Only Connect” og ”University Challenge.

Lois og jeg er altid glad for de spørgsmål, som vi kan besvare, men som alle de friske unge hjerner har problemer med, fordi vi tror det beviser, at vi selv ikke endnu lider af demens.

I ”Only Connect” ser vi et interessant spørgsmål:  de 2 3-personers-hold bliver bedt om at finde forbindelsen mellem de følgende 4 ting:

Svaret er, at de to adjektiver i hvert tilfælde deler en antonym for en eller anden af deres betydninger:

(1)    thin, bright : thick

(2)    heavy, dark: light

(3)    soft, simple: hard

(4)    diluted, untidy: neat

Som sædvanligt, finder begge Lois og jeg nogle spørgsmål, som vi kan besvare, men som alle de friske unge hjerner ikke har den  fjerneste anelse om.

Det rigtige svar er ”visibility”, som Lois og jeg begge ved godt. Det er formatet af BBC radios maritime vejrudsigt: for eksempel "Humber, Thames / Southeast veering southwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 later / Thundery showers / Moderate or good, occasionally poor."

De der er de øjeblikke, Lois og jeg vil værne om, når vi er virkelig virkelig gamle, dvs 73 år eller mere ha ha

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!