Free Republic

A 35-year-old man was charged on Friday with the theft of the boat being used to dredge the Weeki Wachee River, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. Charles William Fagerstrom, who had no address on paperwork filed with the court, was seen early Wednesday morning by workers who said he was sitting on a bucket on the boat eating potato chips, according to an arrest report. The boat had originally been docked at Rogers Park on Shoal Line Boulevard in Weeki Wachee. He had not gotten far down the river. “As patrol deputies responded to the area, the workers...

Online 'Smiley Face' :-) Turns 20 Thu Sep 19,12:58 AM ET By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It was 20 years ago today that Scott Fahlman taught the 'Net how to smile. The IBM researcher has devoted his professional life to artificial intelligence, the practice of teaching computers how to think like humans. Fahlman is known for his work with neural networks -- a computer technique designed to mimic the human brain -- and helping develop Common Lisp, a computer language that uses symbols instead of numbers, but the bearded scientist is perhaps best known for a flash of inspiration...