HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: levine_charles@tandem.com (Charles Levine)
Subject: Computer backgammon using neural nets
Followup-To: rec.games.backgammon
Organization: Tandem Computers
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 17:13:36 GMT

The following article is from today's ComputerGram.


+    IBMer TEACHES NEURAL NETWORK TO TEACH ITSELF BACKGAMMON

IBM Corp researcher Gerald Tesauro has developed a self-teaching
programme, TD-gammon, which, with the aid of neural network
technology has learned to play backgammon well enough to beat
experts - from scratch. The network uses the temporal-difference
algorithm created by Richard Sutton of GTE Corp's GTE
Laboratories in Waltham, Massachusetts, which is a kind of
delayed reinforcement mechanism. Tesauro's program runs on an
RS/6000 workstation, and sets out the rules and objectives of
the game and the layout of the board; the machine is then left
to develop its strategy, through trial and error, by playing
against itself. It assesses the viability of each potential move
against the values stored in the algorithm; these values are
adjusted after each game, either upwards when it wins or
downwards when it loses - a process that leads to significant
improvements in performance after only 100 games. The RS/6000
enables some 300,000 games to be played in a month - vital
because of the mere 25,000 synapses contained in the Tesauro
program, which is equivalent in complexity to the brain of a
slug. The game been declared one of the best by expert
backgammon players - the machine recently achieved a 19-19 draw
against experts at the World Backgammon Cup tournament. In
addition, Tesauro claims it has inspired research into the
application of similar techniques to automatic-control problems,
such as guiding robot hands and arms, and to prediction
problems, such as forecasting trends in the behaviour of
financial markets, and has thrown light on human and mechanical
learning processes.
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
From: tada@athena.mit.edu (Michael J Zehr)
Subject: Marty Storer
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 17:59:22 GMT

For those who are interested, Marty is doing a guest analysis next month
for Anchors, the newsletter of the New England Backgammon club.  I
probably can't post the problem here because of copyright stuff...  But
NEBC can be reached at:
	NEBC
	c/o Sheraton-Commander Hotel
	16 Garden St.
	Cambridge, MA 02138-3609

Looking forward to reading another one of your analyses, Marty!

-michael j zehr

Disclaimer: I'm a member of NEBC, but I am in no way involved in the
publication of their newsletter, and wouldn't get any profit from other
people subscribing.
From: pbf@rruxc.cc.bellcore.com (Phil Franklin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: Re: Cube action
Date: 29 Sep 92 19:24:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: walter.1992Sep29.192404.19780
Organization: Bellcore

In article <1992Sep29.143407.11214@athena.mit.edu>, tada@athena.mit.edu (Michael J Zehr) writes:
|> 
|> 13 14 15 16 17 18  19 20 21 22 23 24
|>              O  O   O  O  X  O  O   
|>              O  O   O  O  X  O  O   
|>                     O           O   
|>                                     
|>                   O                 
|>                     X  X  X         
|>                     X  X  X     X  X
|>                     X  X  X     X  X
|> 12 11 10  9  8  7   6  5  4  3  2  1
|> 
|> 0-0 in a match to 5, X on roll, cube action?
|> 
|> I looked at this and thought that any 5 or 6 (20 rolls) followed by a
|> dance (25 rolls) and I would lose my market.  Also, I thought there was
|> a good chance my opponent would drop.... So I doubled, rolled a 6-2 and
|> ran with 1 back checker, opponent rolled 43 to enter and hit loose, I
|> rolled 4-5 with which I hit and played 4-9 (figuring I didn't need a
|> third blot back, and expecting to win a race in the worse case) opponent
|> fanned, I rooled 11 to close him out and gammon him. ho-hum.  
|> 
|> But I question whether my double was correct.  As I said, my main reason
|> for doubling was I thought he would drop.
|> 
|> btw, I'm sure of all the pips in my home board, except maybe the spare
|> on my 6, and the points owned by each opponent, but I don't ecall
|> the exact placement of the spare checkers.  How sensitive is this
|> position to those extra checkers?

Michael, clearly your double was correct -- look at the results! ;-)

Seriously, I think your analysis is accurate -- you have several
immediate market losers (66, 65, 55, 32, 31, 21, and 11) plus a host
of others if your opponent dances.  Even without the spare checker on
your 6-point you have 7 immediate market losers.

Actually, it looks to me like you've already lost your market (which
is what you thought).  On the take side, there's little chance of a
gammon here if O plays super-safe, and the race is even.  However, as
your results show, X is likely to gain outfield control, forcing O to
leave blots against a 5-point board.

- Phil
From: mrubin@cs.umb.edu (Mark Rubin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: BG Server IP addresses
Date: 4 Oct 92 03:32:17 GMT
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Boston

This is the server in Germany:

134.130.130.46 4321

This is the server in the US:

128.146.37.78 3200

-Mark
--
==========================================================================
|| Mark Rubin		|| Don't let your schooling interfere with	||
|| mrubin@ra.cs.umb.edu	|| your education.				||
|| UMass/Boston		|| 			-Mark Twain		||
==========================================================================
From: gomide@FPSP.FAPESP.BR
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: Apologies re: InterMeta course
Date: 28 Sep 92 20:19:59 GMT
Reply-To: gomide@brfapq.bitnet

PLEASE DO NOT SEND MONEY !
It is with regret that I perform this task. Dr. Gelson V. Gomes. a
professor of the University of Parana, Brazil, has exceeded this
privileges and announced a eletronic course:

> ____________________________________________________________
>        Mastering INTERNET Tools, Seizing METANET Power -
>                      The InterMeta Course
> ____________________________________________________________

I must apologize for this flagrant breach of network etiquette. Please
be aware that Dr. Gelson had no right to do so, since this is against
the rules of our ANSP network, and also against the Bitnet rules.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND MONEY!
I will not discuss what his motivations were. But his account has been
revoked, and there will be no such course through my network.

Please write by normal mail, to:
-> Gelson V. Gomes
-> 358, R. Alvaro Andrade - ap.1201
-> Curitiba PR BRAZIL 80610-240
to get more information on his objectives. He may want to give the
course by normal mail.  :-)

With regards,
--
Alberto Courrege Gomide | Fundacao de Amparo `a Pesquisa - (11)831-3357
Software Supervisor     | Rua Pio XI, 1500 - CEP 05468-901 - Sao Paulo
<gomide@fapq.fapesp.br> | FAX (11)261-4167 Telex (11)82014 - Brazil
(ACG8) - .BR Domain Technical Contact. |
--
From: rnlee@sdcc3.ucsd.edu (Profess'nal Agitator)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
Subject: Re: Largest cities by area (was re: largest cities on each continent?)
Date: 3 Oct 92 12:43:13 GMT
Organization: MAWL - Mudd Alums Without Lives

In article <1992Oct2.071215.15580@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> kappa@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Glenn Capuano) writes:

>	Since everyone has thrashed out what are the largest cities by
>population, does anyone have a list ranking cities by metropolitan area?
>I've been told that Melbourne and Sydney are among the largest in area,
>but I haven't been able to find figures for the rest of the world. I know
>Melbourne has an area of about 6000 sq.km. I believe LA is also near the
>top here. Anyone got exact figures?

LA is a touchy subject.  Depends on how large you want to define the
metropolitan area.  On a broad base, you could include almost the
whole of LA County, the eastern part of Ventura Co., the Inland
Empire, and all of Orange County.

Most geographers classify the LA metropolitan area as LA-Long Beach.
Ventura drops out of the picture entirely.  The Inland Empire is
listed as San Bernardino-Riverside and OC is listed as either OC or
Anaheim-Orange-Santa Ana.

However, the largest city proper by area in the US is Jacksonville,
Fla, 843 mi^2.

And San Diego must be up there too, since I've seen San Diego city
limit signs up in the sparse north county.

Agitator
  #->

"A political deadend."                  Bruce Herschensohn for U.S. Senate!!!
    --Gore on the Vice Presidency when    Not the ten-year       //  The REAL
      asked about a Dukakis-Gore ticket   Congress insider      //   outsider
--------------- R E M E M B E R   B E I J I N G ------------\\ //------------
IBM PC - Who wants a politically correct computer?           \X/  Only AMIGA!
========================================== Bring Back the Caltech Cannon!! ==
Roderick Lee, HMC '91      "The Professional Agitator"      agitator@ucsd.edu
From: mark@ansoft.com (Mark Knewtson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
Subject: Re: Religious trivia
Date: 4 Oct 92 19:51:55 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Ansoft Corp.

In article <421dhg8@Unify.Com>, barb@ufycorp.Unify.Com (Barbara Kane) writes:
|> >
|> >|> 
|> >|> Also, How many loaves of bread and how many fish did He use to feed
|> >|> the multitudes?
|> >
|> Two loaves of bread.  Sorry, don't remember about the fish.
|> 

All 4 gospels agree that when Jesus fed the 5,000 he used 5 loaves and 2 fish.
(see Matt 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, John 6).  John mentions that the loaves were barley
loaves, he's also the only one to say that they got them from a boy.  Matthew
points out that there were 5,000 men plus an unknown number of women and children.
All 4 agree that they took up 12 baskets full of leftovers.

Matthew and Mark also report a second mass feeding in which 4,000 men were fed.
(see Matt 15, Mark 8) This time, they had 7 loaves of bread and "a few small
fishes". There were only 7 baskets of leftovers this time.*

-- 
Mark Knewtson    | Anyone who loves knowledge wants to be told when
mark@ansoft.com  | he is wrong. It is stupid to hate being corrected.
Pittsburgh, PA   |			- Proverbs 17:27-28
Disclaimer: My opinions are my own. (as far as I know)
From: nrp@csug3.cs.reading.ac.uk ("Educated bags" Neilski)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
Subject: Re: What is the largest city on each continent?
Date: 29 Sep 92 14:11:58 GMT
Reply-To: nrp@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk
Organization: University of Reading

kenneth@ducvax.auburn.edu writes:

>Asia: Beijing? #2 choice Shanghai, #3 choice Tokyo

Isn't Shanghai bigger than Beijing, even though Beijing is the capital?

>Antarctica...WHO CARES? ;)

I CARE!

Mind you, I read "ignore" messages in test groups.

-- neilski

-- 
nrp@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk  \--------------------------------------------------
----------------------------\ What great opponent of Cartesian dualism
resists the reduction of psychological phenomena to purely physical states
and claims there is no difference between the extended and the unextended?
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia,tor.general,ont.general
From: dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque)
Subject: Re: Largest cities by area
Organization: Pseudopolis Yard
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 06:51:00 GMT

sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog) writes:
>Daniel Blum (blum@news.ils.nwu.edu) writes:
>>I prefer not to discuss suburbs,
>>etc., since they're impossible to define consistently.
>
>And so are cities. Some places are divided into a number of
>small cities and boroughs like London. Others takes the whole 
>and a lot of wasteland around it. You call that consistent?

And indeed, Jacksonville and Juneau have expanded to take in rural
areas.  Jacksonville more or less merged with its county and someone
has already described what Juneau did.  Virginia Beach, Virginia also
merged with its county.  Another case like this, although I don't know
the exact details, is Toronto.  Any Ontarions want to fill us in?

Also, I understand that Shanghai, China has lots of rural areas (albeit
heavily populated rural areas) within its limits.

---
Dan Tilque    --     dant@techbook.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
From: blum@news.ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Blum)
Subject: Re: What is the largest city on each continent?
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 01:06:05 GMT

>25 most populated world cities:

>Asia:	Tokyo (mind you, it's not on the continent of Asia...)
>N.Amer:	Mexico City
>S.Amer:	Sao Paulo, Brazil
>Asia:	Seoul, South Korea
>	New York
>	Osaka
>	Bombay
>	Calcutta
>	Buenos Aires
>	Rio
>Europe:	Moscow
>	LA
>	Manila
>Africa:	Cairo
>	Jakarta
>	London
>	Teheran
>	Paris
>	Delhi
>	Karachi
>	Lagos
>	Essen, Germany
>	Shanghai
>	Lima
>	Chicago
	
>And Sydney is the most populous city in Australia.
>--
>Sharon Belville

Are you sure that this isn't a list of the top 25 metropolitan areas,
rather than cities per se?  Last time I looked, London and Paris had
much higher pops than LA, for example, and Shanghai should be much
higher on the list (possibly even first).  New York shouldn't be as
high as it is, etc.  If it IS metro areas then it looks right.

_____________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum           Institute for the Learning Sciences   Room 327
blum@ils.nwu.edu   1890 Maple Ave., Evanston, IL 60201   708-491-3207

"By the power vested in me by my own over-inflated ego, I now 
 declare this bridge officially open."
_____________________________________________________________________
Xref: sparky rec.games.trivia:3187 rec.arts.tv:18782
From: hamel@uakari.primate.wisc.edu (Ray Hamel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia,rec.arts.tv
Subject: 1960s tv commercial?
Date: 29 Sep 1992 07:58:21 -0500
Organization: UW-Madison Primate Center
NNTP-Posting-Host: uakari.primate.wisc.edu


	Does anyone remember a commercial from the late 1960s,
probably from the President's Council on Physical Fitness, that
showed what was left of man in the future -- just a head -- because
of the lack of exercise.  The head was cared for by robotic
assistants.  But the robots stopped coming, and the head starting
saying "Hello?  Q-15?  Is anybody there?"  
	Now the question -- Does anybody remember the real name
of the robot (I made up the Q-15, but it was something similar)?

Ray Hamel
University of Wisconsin
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
From: engjs@wombat.newcastle.edu.au (James Smith)
Subject: Re: What is the largest city on each continent?
Organization: University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 03:44:02 GMT

Laurie 8 writes:

>>Australia not sure...Sydney or Melbourne..
> Sydney - #1
> Melbourne - #2
> (those are definite, and I think it then is...)
> Canberra - #3
> Brisbane - #4
> Perth - #5
> Adelaide - #6
> Hobart - #7
> Woolongong - #8
> Darwin - #9

1. Sydney
2. Melbourne
3. Brisbane
4. Adelaide
5. Perth
6. Newcastle
7. Gold Coast
8. Canberra

I'm not sure of the order of 4 and 5, but I think Adelaide is bigger.
I'm sure Newcastle is still bigger than Canberra, but I'm not sure
where the Gold Coast is up to, as it is (was) still growing pretty
fast. Hobart, Wollongong and Darwin are all smaller than these.

Jim
-- 
James J Smith             | "I couldn't get over it. All these women
School of Engineering     | in the world...and under their clothes
Newcastle University      | each and every one of them was naked, you
engjs@cc.newcastle.edu.au | know..." -- Psycho-killer, "Sandman"
From: sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
Subject: Re: Largest cities by area
Date: 5 Oct 92 08:39:19 GMT
Organization: Enea Data AB

Daniel Blum (blum@news.ils.nwu.edu) writes:
>I was talking about the area of cities proper, not including suburbs.
>As for US cities - Jacksonville is indeed larger than LA, but Juneau
>is larger still (granted, much of it is fairly empty, but that empty
>land is legally part of the city).  I prefer not to discuss suburbs,
>etc., since they're impossible to define consistently.

And so are cities. Some places are divided into a number of
small cities and boroughs like London. Others takes the whole 
and a lot of wasteland around it. You call that consistent?

Continuous areas of urban and suburban areas certainly gives
us much more consistent figures, the problem is only that you
probably need a world-wide tour to compile them.
-- 
Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - sommar@enea.se
There are many sorts of Macedonians: Greek, Bulgarian, Roumanian, Macedonian...
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
From: blum@news.ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Blum)
Subject: Re: What is the largest city on each continent?
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 20:25:09 GMT

>I doubt. Folks from UK can probably give us the exact number of
>people living in City of London, but I'd doubt that it beats L.A.
>At least it is a hardly number which places it on any top lists
>over large cities.

>-- 
>Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - sommar@enea.se
>There are many sorts of Macedonians: Greek, Bulgarian, Roumanian, Macedonian...

Are you kidding?  London had at least 8 million people the last time I
looked, although of course it may be smaller now.  LA has only a
little over 3 million.  Note that the "City of London" is NOT the
entire, actual city of London - it's a very small part of it.

--
_____________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum           Institute for the Learning Sciences   Room 327
blum@ils.nwu.edu   1890 Maple Ave., Evanston, IL 60201   708-491-3207

"By the power vested in me by my own over-inflated ego, I now 
 declare this bridge officially open."
_____________________________________________________________________
From: hamel@uakari.primate.wisc.edu (Ray Hamel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
Subject: WEEKLY QUIZ #22
Date: 2 Oct 1992 08:58:18 -0500
Organization: UW-Madison Primate Center
NNTP-Posting-Host: uakari.primate.wisc.edu


QUIZ #22

	I am experiencing some hard disk problems, so the results to
quiz #21 will be posted on Tuesday.  In the meantime, mull over these
questions in quiz #22.  Each question is worth 1 point.  Please
send your answers (DO NOT POST) to hamel@primate.wisc.edu.    Answers
are due by October 9.

WEEKLY QUIZ #22

#1)  Merwyn Bogue is the real name of what cornet player and comedian
in the Kay Kyser Band for 20 years, specializing in bizarre haircuts and
semi-nonsense poetry?

#2)  Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married in Las Vegas on
December 29, 1957.  The same day, they served as witnesses at the marriage
of what musical performers, still singing together after 35 years?

#3)  What Russian poet was killed in a duel with his brother-in-law,
Baron Georges d'Anthes?

#4)  On the tv series, "Good Times", what was the name of J.J.'s
younger brother?

#5)  While not all the Beatles were pleased with the production work
on their album "Let It Be", George Harrison liked the man enough to
hire him as the producer for his first solo album "All Things Must Pass".
Name this famed record producer.

Ray Hamel
University of Wisconsin
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
From: heard@franklin.cc.utas.edu.au (George Heard (Laurie 8))
Subject: Re: What is the largest city on each continent?
Organization: University of Tasmania, Australia.
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 00:18:10 GMT

kenneth@ducvax.auburn.edu writes:


>In particular, in population...
>I'm particularly wondering about Africa, but other cities on other continents
>are welcome!
>Here's what I think, for better or worse:

>Australia not sure...Sydney or Melbourne..
Sydney - #1
Melbourne - #2
(those are definite, and I think it then is...)
Canberra - #3
Brisbane - #4
Perth - #5
Adelaide - #6
Hobart - #7
Woolongong - #8
Darwin - #9

>Antarctica...WHO CARES? ;)

Mawson Island research station, then the Russian base (Vostok?)

Laurie (ask a stupid question) 8

Laurie 8 <heard@franklin.cc.utas.edu.au> | Some Driveways are concrete
Theoretical Chemistry PhD student        | Some Driveways have bricks
University of Tasmania, Australia        | Other Driveways
Unashamed 70s man, glad to be glam.      | Have Pebble-Mix - Laurie 8         
Opinions expressed above are those not only of Laurie 8, but the whole world

Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
From: kappa@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Glenn Capuano)
Subject: Re: Largest cities by area (was re: largest cities on each continent?)
Organization: Monash University General Access Unix
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 00:50:04 GMT

Erland Sommarskog (sommar@enea.se) wrote:
> >LA is not all that large, actually.  I don't remember the figures, but
> >in the US, Jacksonville and Juneau, at least, beat it by quite a bit
> >(Juneau is the largest US city by area, since they annexed Douglas (?)
> >Island).
> 
> Again, we are in very muddy waters. The world's biggest city used to
> be Swedish Kiruna until 1971. What happened in 1971? Well, Sweden got
> rid of city priviledges all together, so all you have these days is
> communes. Thus, the city of Kiruna became the commune of Kiruna but
> the size it's the same.
> 
> I don't know the exact size, but the distance from Kiruna town to
> the village of Karesuando is over 150 km. Needless to say, the
> most of this "city" is wasteland, and the entire population does
> not exceed 50.000.

	Yeah, sounds like a bit of a non-city to me. Actually, I have
heard that Mt. Isa, Queensland, is the largest city in Australia, but I
found it a bit hard to believe since the population is only about 50,000.
Never been there myself.

> What was asked for here, was indeed not "city", but metropolitan
> area, but we first have to agree on a definition of what is a
> "metropolitan area", and then hope find statistics which agrees
> with this definition. Fat chance.

	Yeah, I guess it would vary with the type of city. I'd define it
as the area of continuous suburbia surrounding a city. I've only heard
figures for one city other than Melbourne, and that's London, about 4,400
sqkm (1700 sqmi).

Regards,
	Glenn

Xref: sparky rec.games.trivia:3222 rec.arts.tv:19172
From: rind@binoc.bih.harvard.edu (David Rind)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia,rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: 1960s tv commercial?
Date: 4 Oct 92 02:32:08 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.trivia
Distribution: na
Organization: Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston Mass., USA

In article <1992Sep29.152615.19689@news2.cis.umn.edu>
 stitzel@lenti.med.umn.edu (Joel Stitzel (Med)) writes:
>You've made my day--I _am_ sane, after all!

Sadly, no.

The "memory" of this commercial was one of the implanted recollections
in our lab's XJ-56 series replicants.  Sorry to be the one
to break it to you.


-- 
David Rind
rind@binoc.bih.harvard.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
From: kappa@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Glenn Capuano)
Subject: Re: Largest cities by area (was re: largest cities on each continent?)
Organization: Monash University General Access Unix
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 00:39:31 GMT

Profess'nal Agitator (rnlee@sdcc3.ucsd.edu) wrote:
> In article <1992Oct2.071215.15580@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> kappa@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Glenn Capuano) writes:
> 
> >	Since everyone has thrashed out what are the largest cities by
> >population, does anyone have a list ranking cities by metropolitan area?
> >I've been told that Melbourne and Sydney are among the largest in area,
> >but I haven't been able to find figures for the rest of the world. I know
> >Melbourne has an area of about 6000 sq.km. I believe LA is also near the
> >top here. Anyone got exact figures?
> 
> However, the largest city proper by area in the US is Jacksonville,
> Fla, 843 mi^2.
> 
> And San Diego must be up there too, since I've seen San Diego city
> limit signs up in the sparse north county.

	Hmmm...what about New York? I would have thought it'd be right up
there? The figure given above, does that include all the suburbs of
Jacksonville?

Regards,
	Glenn

Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia