Walkability Preliminary Concept Art by Sam

Hey Guys, you should all check out this preliminary concept art for the Interactive Community Platform.



Please leave your feedback so we can continue to improve this awesome new project.

Passover

I've been trying to find an effective segue to create some kind of coherent narrative of last night's celebration of Passover, and I really can't. It could be I'm just not that strong a writer, but I really don't know how to describe the feeling of family that I felt last night. For a group that has only started to truly know each other over the past three weeks I was just blown away by how close we have become in such a short time. The efforts of all those who helped bring together a fantastic dinner should be most definitely be mentioned, the chef for the evening was Robin Drogin, who was served quite capably by Sous Chefs Chris and Sam. Comprised of the traditional Passover fair, all 20 guests at our small apartment seemed to truly enjoy their meal.

Artificial General Intelligence

Artificial general intelligence is a minute field compared to many others, but it can also be described as a very important field.

In a nutshell, artificial general intelligence strays from the field of artificial intelligence in that people in the field believe that in order for something to be intelligent, it needs to have some specific set of values. Unfortunately not many people agree on what those values are.

One thing that was made very clear by Dr. Pei Wang is that though it is a small field there are many differing opinions. To be specific, Dr. Wang divides the fields of thought into 5 different categories;

• People who believe that something intelligent must look and act like a human being


• People who believe that something intelligent must act human


• People who believe that something intelligent must be able to solve logical problems


• People who believe that something intelligent must have cognitive faculties


• People who believe that something intelligent must obey rational norms

Furthermore, even the people who do agree on the definition of intelligence have different ways of going about achieving their goals.

• Connecting existing artificial intelligence techniques together


• To combine modules based on other techniques into an overall architecture


• To extend or augment a core technique into a single system

This may seem confusing, and that's because it is. Dr. Wang went on to give many examples of each of these, but I will just talk about Dr. Wang's research. His project is called NARS, or Non-Axiomatic Reasoning System. The basic premise is that it is a reasoning system with the capability to learn from mistakes.

Dr. Wang jokingly said that he is often proud of his system when it makes a mistake, because then it can learn from it. This is an interesting concept because, as was stated at the lecture, the system often resembles the learning of a toddler. For example, a toddler might make the incorrect assumption that, since an entire family wears glasses, and he does not, he is not a part of the family. There is logic behind this assumption, even though it is untrue.

One of the things that makes a system able to do this learning, is the implementation of defeasible rasoning. This is where one can say that if x is true, then it stands to reason that y would also be true. The difference between that and the deductive reasoning system that had been used in the past is that there is a chance that a computer's deductions are untrue. This makes many more things possible than were before, because a computer has the chance to amend its previous assumptions.

Pranzo Italian Grill and Restaurant

If you are looking for absolutely amazing Italian food within walking distance of the Complex the best place to go is Pranzo.
For about $15 per a person you can get a spectacular array of Italian food. For appetizers we tried the minestrone soup, and the fried calamari. Both were good, but the calamari was the better of the two as it came with two different sauces. a garlic butter sauce and a spicy sauce. Both complimented the appetizer spectacularly. For meals we ordered a wide variety of food including a tender juicy steak, raviolis, pasta with meatballs, and two different kinds of pizza. The best meal was by far the Pizza Funghi, everyone at the table thoroughly enjoyed it. The best part of the meal was dessert as Pranzo has their own Micro creamery, and makes spectacular ice cream.

No Dearth of Digging Ducklings

From More Santa Fe Bootstrap photos

Digging a mile worth of irrigation ditch is not what we usually do on a Saturday morning, but this Saturday was different.

From More Santa Fe Bootstrap photos

An Acequia, as I'm sure you all know by now, is an ancient irrigation method that dates back to the Spanish colonization of the southwest. They allowed the first towns and cities in New Mexico to be sustainable, and in many ways still shape the society today. Every year the ditches must be cleared, and everyone in the local rural community participates in one way or another. But enough of the history lesson, back to us. We rose from our respective beds at around 7:30, rubbed our eyes, dressed, rubbed our eyes again, and got into the car to drive the half hour to the La Cienega Acequia. The digging was already well underway, with about 30 to 40 locals already digging up and down the Acequia. It was a surprisingly brisk morning, almost in the 60s and yet still very dry. We were handed gloves and footed boots. We picked up our sharpened shovels and walked to the nearest undug section of the ditch. The dry earth was thick with the roots of grass, which other than the branches was the main thing being removed from the ditch-about three inches of soil needed to be dug out from the bottom. The walls of the ditch also needed to be made steeper, which in turn made it more difficult to climb out. The dry clay earth yielded effortlessly to the plunging blade of the shovel, resisting only slightly to being forced over and out the ditch.

From More Santa Fe Bootstrap photos

Then the water began. As the earth grew wet the once easy dirt septupled in weight, the ground gave under the back of the shovel eliminating all hope of leverage, and even the grassroots seemed deeper and hardier. The mud sucked at your boots, making it difficult to take even a single step, and the wet slope meant embarrassing moments of heaving a chunk of earth the size of a large sandwich but with the weight of half a bowling ball to the edge of the ditch, only to see it slide back down again instantly becoming one with the mud once more.

From More Santa Fe Bootstrap photos

The mud splashed and flecked on our clothes, not excessively, but noticeably. Mud caked on gloves from simply taking the larger chunks of dirt and heaving them out of the ditch by hand. It was a clean mud, a pure mud. Mud that felt good getting on yourself.

From More Santa Fe Bootstrap photos

The natives were quiet most of the time around us, but talked amongst themselves while digging, usually about digging. They talked about how some of the northern acequias had finer, drier soil and could shovel more easily, and some more mountainous acequias had pine trees running up and down their ditch, whose roots made the digging magnitudes more difficult.
There were mixed reactions to us, outsiders, helping them in this annual ritual. Some snorted at our efforts to clear the ditch, others simply looked past us, but a few were welcoming and empathetic towards our novice ability. In the end our action was treated with the gratitude of an unnecessary favor from a stranger. A "Gee, thanks..." feeling.

From More Santa Fe Bootstrap photos

Nevertheless, we managed to finish 45 minutes early, having dug all the way to the reservoir that fed the Acequia. There was no cheering or outward celebration, but more of just a nod, looking back at what we did, what we all helped do, and knowing it was finished. We all climbed in the back of several trucks and drove to the La Cienega Community Center, where a workers meal was prepared by the women. The potluck was delicious, added to by the fatigue of hours of digging. The Mayordomo made a short speech where thanked everyone for helping and complimented everyone on the state of the Acequia. He hoped to see them all next year with just as much effort. Then people finished eating and simply left. We followed suit. Grabbing our shoes, getting in the car, driving away, showering at home, and climbing back into bed. The act was wholesome and even a little therapeutic. We knew we had engaged in something difficult and necessary, and as we lay down we knew we had done well that day.

First Friday Fractal by Sam

Last night we all decided to go to one of the most amazing shows ever, First Fractal Friday. According to their website "First Friday Fractals is the spectacular, award-winning fulldome planetarium show that takes viewers on a tour of the fractals in nature and zooms through infinitely complex mathematical fractals. Featuring original music, the show is both educational and highly entertaining, and suitable for audiences 3 and up." Located at The New Mexico Museum of Natural History planetarium, it is a simple train ride away. This show is a must see.

Meow Wolf: A Night Dread Naught.

Laura Goldhamer and the Silver Nail

You can tell that thought went into these lyrics. That the emotions behind them were burningly intense. Topics and stories that have complicated, hidden morals are the formula for most of their songs. With a lead female singer that might try too hard to be Janice Joplin.



Their stop-motion visuals added even more enjoyment to the songs. When they were on queue, that is. The crowd was responsive, and appreciative of the band, as was to be expected.



An overall together band that I will remember having the pleasure of listening to.

Apple Miner Colony

A band whose size rivals that of 70's supergroups. It is more an orchestra than a simple group of musicians. Cole Wilson, the lead guitarist and singer acts also as a conductor, often turning around and directing the rest of these college-student twenty-somethings.
17 Band Members were present, though their last.fm has them listed as 25 in total:
3 Guitars,
1 Violinist,
1 Violist,
1 Cellist,
2 Saxes,
3 Horns,
1 Flautist,
1 Clarinet,
1 Banjo,
1 Pianist,
1 Bassist (both upright and guitar)
And a drummer, of course.
All playing simultaneously, though usually to reduce complexity a few always hung back.


Aside from the excessive feedback in more places than were forgivable, heartfelt rhythm filled the space. The band taking up about as much room as the audience. The wall of sound that we anticipated was experienced, but not to the point where we were fully satisfied. Perhaps that was the idea.

An band that is not afraid to break boundaries and be ingenious once and awhile. A metal xylophone played with a violin bow! The sound is like that of a perfect harmonic octave.
The songs are mostly of sadness, but the band keeps it humorous.

I don't know, but unsigned bands just have this different energy about them. A hopeful determination, a happy acceptance of sadness. The fact that the genre that night was Folk makes it even more pronounced. Sound for sound's sake. And beautiful sound at that. I like that.