Jersey Boy

The pride of New Jersey takes on IBM's Watson - and wins!

There are a lot of smart people on Capitol Hill. But none of them can claim quite the same brainy bragging rights as Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.).

On Monday, Holt beat IBM's super-computer, known as Watson, at a round of "Jeopardy!" at the Liaison Capitol Hill, part of an event organized by IBM.

OK, he's a Democrat, but we are putting parochial state pride ahead of petty partisn posturing.

FWIW, Holt was not a bad bet in this match-up:

To be fair, Holt is not your average congressman, especially not when it comes to trivia. He's a five-time "Jeopardy!" champion and a nuclear physicist, to boot.

Typical Jersey boy.

Comments

[steve]

If he's so smart, how can he be a Democrat?

[Ignatz]

--OK, he's a Democrat...--

Further proof, as if we needed any, that wisdom and knowledge are not necessarily coincident.

[Danube of Thought]

He has no judgment, Steve.

[Dave (in MA)]

Am I to surmise that this is an indication that Our Host hails from the land of the Buttafuocos and the orange guidos and not the Nutmeg State as I previously believed?

[Sue]

One of those that can't pour piss out of a boot with instructions written on the heel.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

If he's so smart, how can he be a Democrat?

That was my first thought too.

[Strawman Cometh]

Dave,
The Buttafuocos hail from are former denizens of Long Island

[Dave (in MA)]

d'oh

[Jack is Back!]

The only thing Jersey about him is that is where he was employed. He was born in West (by God) Virginia, got his B.S. at Carelton in Minnesota and his Doctorate at NYU.

A true "blue stater" through and through. Blue Stater vs. Big Blue - a natural.

The only way he could win is if they slowed down the response time circuit in Watson. That or Holt has pictures of Watson in bed with Linux.

[Thomas Collins]

If a GOPer had won, DailyKos would be awash with rumors that a Diebold employee had slowed down Watson's response time.

[Thomas Collins]

JiB noted:

"That or Holt has pictures of Watson in bed with Linux."

Are Watson and Linux protected by Lawrence v. Texas?

[Jim Ryan]

He was a solar physicist at Swarthmore when I was there. I used the same observatory, only at night because the suns my prof was studying came out at night. So, I didn't see him much.

[Rob Crawford]

Are Watson and Linux protected by Lawrence v. Texas?

Doubtful. Linux is typically portrayed as a penguin.

[Danube of Thought]

About ten years ago the Buttafuocos were living in Orange Couty, CA. I can confirm this because late one Saturday afternoon after a few cocktails at a friend's house in Newpot Beach we decided to order out for some pizza. The hostess misdialed by one digit and got an answering machine message, viz., "Hi, this is Joey Buttafuoco etc." Needless to say we had some fun with it.

[Henry]

Jim Ryan, how did you survive the "Kremlin on the Crum?" (as it was known when my parents were there).

[MarkO]

Oh, What a Night.

[Ignatz]

--Doubtful. Linux is typically portrayed as a penguin.--

Isn't that the slippery slope we always hear about?

[Jim Ryan]

Henry, here's the summary:

(1.) It's not all that leftist. The students are extremely bookish, rather than big fat libs. Don't get me wrong, they're naive lefties, but they're too busy studying to be serious about it. A Berkeley student studies bomb-making and Lenin, while a Swarthmore students studies the enormous reading lists on his course syllabi. I was typical. I had no political views to speak of, voted Dem because they were supposed to help poor people, and studied all the time.

(2.) The profs aren't so good and the education isn't so hot, besides the large reading lists. The peers are extremely stimulating.

(3.) The campus is gorgeous.

That was 25 years ago. Who knows now, except that the campus is still gorgeous.

[sbw]

Did I just hear Rep Holt say, "I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you."

[Henry]

Jim Ryan, that description matches what I was told about from 60 years ago. That and the campus survived the "Blue Route" and is still gorgeous. : )

[Captain Hate]

LUN for Steadman Shabbazz stepping in it again.

[matt]

it's all so and racist, CH!

[matt]

unfair and racist..

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I really don't know what this world is coming to, but it seems like it is coming to a head. So Obama says when a leader has to use violence against his people it is time to step down. We need to remember that.

[Jim Ryan]

Yeah, if you're driving by western Philly suburbs, stop by Swarthmore and take a stroll in the arboretum. You won't be sorry. The campus is absolutely vacant after spring semester ends and you have the whole thing to yourself then.

[lyle]

What a jagoff. "My people"?

[bgates]

If he's so smart, how can he be a Democrat?

He must be one of the evil ones.

[Army of Davids]

Chris Dodd is Hollywood's new top lobbyist.

fitting.

[Dave (in MA)]

AofD, there are a lot of waitresses in Hollywood.

[Captain Hate]

If I were Chris Dodd I'd either be living anonymously or relocating to another country with no extradition in case all his financial shenanigans ever have get revealed.

[MarkO]

Let his people go.

[narciso]

Yes, Captn, but you have a sense of shame, plus this administration just got Mozilo off
the hook, nothing will happen.

[lyle]

Walk like a Man

[lyle]

RagDodd

[RichatUF]

Jim-

Was your undergraduate work astronomy?

[RichatUF]

And hit got an Instalaunch on a post from 2008.

[Rob Crawford]

Anyone else ever read the "Hammer's Slammers" science fiction stories?

One of the fictional weapons systems imagined by the author has just been used in combat. LUN.

[daddy]

"...Newpot Beach..."!!!

Finally I'm figuring California out. (And Buttafuco-wise I s'pose it makes sense:)

[matt]

DoT;

I'm in Newport. let me know next time you come by.We can compare martini recipes.

[Danube of Thought]

Living in another country? Hell, didn't one of his crooked deals get him a huge spread in Ireland?

Walker is speaking at 5 eastern, right?

[Knucklehead]

He's a flaming left loon also. Have a mildly amusing story about Rep. Holt. 'Bout a decade or so ago one of my brats was receiving the Congressional Award. To get the award student set goals in several categories and then set about achieving those goals.

Categories are academic, community service, physical fitness, etc...

Rep. Holt was handing out the awards that day and reading off the vast litany of incredible achievements - perfect SAT scores, eradicating poverty in distant lands, curing the common cold, etc.

He appeared to be randomly picking one category from each kid and reading that particular blurb. The blurbs, of course, included something that demonstrated achieving the goal.

He also appeared VERY bored pretty soon. When he came to my brat he selected her physical fitness goal which was to become a better fastpitch softball pitcher. Her achievement to demonstrate success was that she threw 4 no-hitters in school ball. He was reading like a robot until he went past the words "four no-hitters" at which time he straightened up, shook his head, eyes wide, and repeated, "Four no-hitters! Did you really pitch four no hitters?" Well, yes, my brats don't lie, especially about playing ball.

"That's amazing!" he said and went straight back to reading the remaining blurbs like a robot. We got a good chuckle out of it.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

He has to be really smart to counter the absolute stupidness of this woman:

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that House Republicans want to strip government funding of PBS because they have a “vendetta against Elmo.” [...] Boxer said that the cost of four hours of the Iraq war would be enough to keep PBS funded — and the popular fire-red children’s character on the air.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I admit that I have a vendetta against Sesame Street, in general, but that isn't the reason I'd give to defund PBS. I shooed my kids outside to play rather than be indoctrinated by Elmo and Big Bird as couch potatoes in front of the TV. Sunshine, fresh air, exercise and interactive social time seemed more important for healthy kids, to me anyway.

[Dave (in MA)]

"Tommy Walnuts"

[lyle]

“vendetta against Elmo.”

Sorry, Babs, I've got nothing against Elmo. Charlie Rose on the other hand...

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Okay, I don't recall who predicted this, but congrats, you called it:

A coalition of 34,000 black churches is blasting President Barack Obama's decision to stop defending the federal law that bans recognition of gay marriage. The Rev. Anthony Evans, who heads the National Black Church Initiative, says Obama "has violated the Christian faith" by failing to uphold Jesus' teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman. The Justice Department announced Wednesday that, at Obama's direction, it would not defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in a court case where it's being challenged. As a result, Evans says black churches must "reassess their extraordinary support for him."

[Jack is Back!]

When I got of the Air Force and got my job as a junior engineer (translate to gofer), I share a house with guy who just got his BSME from Swarthmore and another who had just got his BSME from Drexel. The guy from Drexel raced formula B as a hobby and the kid from Drexel drove an old egg truck - see where this is headed?

The guy from Swarthmore had played Lacrosse there and the kid from Drexel worked his ass off in a junk yard part-time (thus the egg truck). The guy from Swarthmore used to take his car apart to clean it, oil it, mic it, etc. The tires got piled up in the corner of the living room, the chassis hung from special hooks in the ceilinig of the dining room (like a chandelier), the engine block and transmission were at least kept in the carport but the molded gas tank/seat was used with a pillow as another chair in the living room.

One weekend he is off to Limestone in Connecticut to race and on Sunday morning the Drexel guy and I are up and about fixing breakfast when the local news comes on the radio. Something about a local man involved in a serious accident at the Limestone speedway. We call the hospital in Connecticut and get a nun who says the Swarthmore guy has left and if we see him give him 3 big whacks on his buttocks for leaving without permission.

Next thing I know he is pulling into the drive with a trailer full of melted fiberglass, twisted enel metal tubing and smoldering block of oily engine. He is wrapped up like a mummy and the first thing he asks the Drexel guy if it will be all right if he can use the egg truck tonight since he has a date with Buffy (or whatever her name was but sort of like that). Classic Mainline!

[Jack is Back!]

::grrr:: The guy from Swarthmore raced Formula B::

[DebinNC]

If WI is Central Time, Gov. Walker should be giving his speech about now.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

JiB, I think I knew that guy. My guy thought of car parts as beautiful sculptures and used them as decoration all over his apt. Oh wait, he went to the Univ. of Oregon. He asked me to marry him, but we could not agree that a carburetor should hold the place of honor in the center of the mantle or that the backseat of an old beat up Mazda made a good couch.

[lyle]

I was not the only one, Sara, but I commented last week about how the black community is damn near monlithically against gay marriage. So...yay, me. I pride myself on my picayune status here at JOM, dontchaknow.

[lyle]

monOlithically (missed the 'O', I'm obviously a racist)

[Henry]

Try 1130 am Milwaukee radio for live feed of Walker. (I don't know how to paste a link on this I-phone).

Now waiting for Walker to enter.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

LOL, Lyle.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

JIB:

I worked for GE MSD (then at 32nd and Chestnut) and went to law school in Philly. I always thought Swarthmore was a tres artsy school. Until now, I never knew Swarthmore even had a school of engineering. Was the Swarthmore guy a good engineer? If so, he must have gotten some course work at Drexel:>)

[William Mayes]

This guy was not playing against a computer. He was playing against a computer program. Which was written by a human. There is no way he could have beaten the computer if it had been properly programmed.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Waker just started.

[centralcal]

Fox News has a live stream, Henry. I am watching the speech now.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rob-

That is so cool the "Iron Curtain" is operational.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Walker has a knack for sounding reasonable. He doesn't fit the picture painted by the demonstrators. I think a significant majority of all but the lefties and hard core union folks will agree.

[Jack is Back!]

jim rhoads,

He was a damn good engineer. We were in the field doing a coal-fired plant and he was our best piping guy. I did startup with him. Good brain.

But Dad paid full ride for him. Legacy student.

Didn't catch Walker, Beck is on now trying to get me to cry or something.

What did he say?

[Jane (get off the couch - come save the country)]

Well I saw the last minute and some rousing applause. Did any fleebaggers show up?

Did he announce the cuts?

tell us please

[Ignatz]

--I'm in Newport. let me know next time you come by.We can compare martini recipes.--

I know Newport isn't exactly a small town matt, but you seem to have a bit of a hand in some of the DoD stuff. Do you happen to know Wes Bush, the CEO of Northrup?

[DebinNC]

Walker did just fine imo. No disruptions. Seemed earnest and sincere.

[giantslor]

LOL, you Republicans are too dumb to realize that Democrats are smarter than you. That's OK, keep on believing in the literal truth of the Bible and the infallibility of free markets, and keep disbelieving in evolution and global warming.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

JIB:

That's interesting. The few kids from my HS who got in Swarthmore were sons of doctors and were there for pre-med. All were superior students.

Walker's speech has been over about 10 minutes. I don't think many democrats attended, and there were no demonstrations during the speech.

[Henry]

Jane, JiB, yes Walker announced lots of cuts (state aid to locals & schools, co-pays for Medicaid & Badgercare), ended all limits on vouchers for Milwaukee students, and dinged the fleebaggers for not showing up while blaming them for any paupers which will follow. Also proprty tax caps (yay!).

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

New Bogie at four o'clock. Obviously has not been following comments here.

[Henry]

Paupers? I meant layoffs.

[lyle]

You mean, like Barbara Boxer smart? How about Sheila Jackson Lee? Smart as her? Joe Biden smart? Barack Hussein Obama smart?

[DebinNC]

...and no capital gains tax or those who invest in WI businesses or hire WI workers? - not sure I remember that one correctly)

[Rob Crawford]

Gotta love the dedication to the party line of someone who claims to "believe" in evolution and not free markets.

Have to roll your eyes at their intellectual depth, though.

[Army of Davids]

Gumpta (Harvard)-Goldman-Obama-Democrat contributor.

Where will this go?

[Extraneus]

Walker calls for 'reform budget'

Gov. Scott Walker today unveiled a "reform budget" he says finally deals with the state’s $3.6 billion deficit in an honest way after years of mismanagement by both sides.

Walker hailed his budget for reducing all funds spending by $4.2 billion, a cut of 6.7 percent, and said it would result in a structural deficit of $250 million, down 90 percent and the lowest structural deficit in recent history.

To accomplish it, Walker proposed $1.7 billion in GPR cuts -- much of that in aid to schools and local governments -- and rejected more than $600 million in agency spending requests. Other savings were found through allowing UW-Madison to split off from the UW System and through his austerity measures for state workers, restructuring debt, and other cuts and lapses.

“We will do the heavy lifting to protect our children and grandchildren from having to make the hard decisions that were once avoided,” Walker planned to say, according to prepared remarks.

Walker also pledged no tax increases, no fee hikes and no fund raids.

And while he blamed both parties for past bad budgeting practices -- including Gov. Scott McCallum’s use of tobacco money to plug a hole in 2002 and Gov. Jim Doyle’s use of money from the Patients Compensation Fund in 2007 -- Walker included a new call for Senate Dems to return to the Capitol to allow a vote on his budget repair bill:

"Again, this is why it is so vitally important for the Senate democrats to come back and do their jobs. If they do not, our schools face massive layoffs of teachers. However, if they do come back, overall savings for schools across the state will outweigh reductions, ultimately allowing schools to put more money in the classroom."

Walker tried to answer the question: what will happen next?

"Well, I'm an optimist," Walker said in his prepared remarks. "I believe that after our budget repair bill passes, tempers will cool, and we will find a way to continue to work together to help grow our economy. We will position Wisconsin to emerge from this economic downturn stronger than ever, with new opportunities for our workers and our families."

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

The Fox News feed was interesting. After the speech, two commentators, one from WI Public Radio and the other from WI Public TV, interviewed a spokesman from the WI Taxpayers Union who gave a very rational analysis of the proposed budget. It was a straight interview and not a hit job. I think that's progress.

[Henry]

Deb, I think you got that right. Walker wants to change the perception of WI as hostile to business. More along the same lines will be proposed after the two budget bills are passed.

[DebinNC]

Walker's budget highlights

[Army of Davids]

Gupta-Goldman-Harvard-Obama-Democratic donor.

Where will this go?

[lyle]

New Bogie at four o'clock. Obviously has not been following comments here.

Nah...just a fly-by loser trying to prop up his self esteem because a Dem "beat" a computer. It's like, "That guy that beat the computer is a Democrat. Hey, I'm a Democrat! I must be smart, too!. QED! Okay, I don't really know what those letters mean but it makes me look smart! Well, smarter than a Republican but how hard is that? Wait a minute..."

[centralcal]

Bummer - clients came in and I had to minimize and mute the live feed. When I returned it was all over :(

[Ignatz]

When even unscrupulous mushheads like Henry Blodgett get it you know you've got a problem.
He posts a chart showing about 62% of our present budget going to entitlements and declares there is no way to control our debt without slashing them.

[DebinNC]

You can watch Walker's speech here

[Captain Hate]

That's OK, keep on believing in the literal truth of the Bible and the infallibility of free markets, and keep disbelieving in evolution and global warming.

Somewhere there's a rooster with a very sore rectum.

[Rick Ballard]

Ignatz,

What's the big deal? Just double personal and corporate taxes and we'd only be around $200 billion short of a balanced budget. Eliminate the home mortgage deduction as well and we'd almost be in surplus.

See, it's easy.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

LOL, you Republicans are too dumb to realize that Democrats are smarter than you. That's OK, keep on believing in the literal truth of the Bible and the infallibility of free markets, and keep disbelieving in evolution and global warming.

Do you think they just have these comments in a cut and paste file somewhere? I *swear* I've seen exactly that comment before, word for word.

[clarice]

Jim, My impression about 20 years ago was that Swarthmore was lovely..and a damned good liberal arts school, but in science, those kids coming in from highly competitive private schools found little more than one year's worth of courses in stuff they had not already studied and very limited lab opportunities. Many better educated high school kids frankly need to attend large universities.

[Henry]

Clarise, they may have an arrangement with Penn to cover curriculum limitations. Haverford and Bryn Mawr had deals with Penn (my brother was at Haverford) back then. Swarthmore would never let Haverford get ahead of them. : )

[narciso]

Haverford was where Dave Barry went, whereas Dukakis went to Swarthmore, to give just two
examples

[Ignatz]

Sorry, Rick, that should have been a mere 58% of the present budget going to entitlements; problem solved.

[Henry]

Narc, Chevy Chase got exPelled from Haverford. ; )

[Henry]

Just heard on Belling, several fleebaggers are in Madison right now. Min Leader Miller is not among them. They have not gone back to work yet, but Jane should warm up her "I won" dance.

[Ignatz]

--Narc, Chevy Chase got exPelled from Haverford. ; )--

Probably flunked out of comedy studies.
Should have joined Dukakis at Swarthmore for the humorless numbnuts program. Would have made honors.

[Try Hang Gliding]

I once worked for a brick layer who graduated from Swarthmore with a degree in philosophy.

[Captain Hate]

LOL Iggy. I'll never forget Chase's talk show that made Magic Johnson's look like the Best of Carson. I almost felt sorry for the humorless mutt he was tanking so badly.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Somehow I'm not surprised, Henry. He must have been a legacy to get in.

[clarice]

Could be that they have that arrangement, Henry.

[Henry]

Jim, the story is he "borrowed" PA DOT traffic barriers and detours Rte 30 through the campus. I don't know how he got in, but everyone from Haverford says that is how he got out.

[narciso]

That wasn't a good timeslot vis a vis Carson and Letterman, but rest assured he made the worst of it. Btw, Oscar continued with it's tradition of agitprop 'documentaries' like so, in the LUN

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Hilarious, Henry.

[Extraneus]

Dodd to be Hollywood's top man in Washington

Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will be Hollywood’s leading man in Washington, taking the most prestigious job on K Street.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) named Dodd chairman and CEO on Tuesday. He will start his new job on St. Patrick's Day, March 17.