The pronunciation of English

English has become the universal language of arts, science, business and technology. His weak point is a completely irregular pronunciation pattern. Some dictionaries deal with this issue using pronunciation respelling notation. More sophisticated phonetic systems have been developed, such as James Murray’s scheme for the original Oxford English Dictionary, and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which replaced it in later editions and has been adopted by many British and international dictionaries.

Champion at Checkers That Cannot Lose

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/20/science/20checkers.html

Computers and the Internet, Software, Artificial Intelligence,University of Alberta

By KENNETH CHANG

Published: July 20, 2007

Checkers has been solved.

A computer program named Chinook vanquished its human competitors at tournaments more than a decade ago. But now, in an article published Thursday on the Web site of the journal Science, the scientists at the University of Alberta who developed the program report that they have rigorously proved that Chinook, in a slightly improved version, cannot ever lose. Any opponent, human or computer, no matter how skilled, can at best achieve a draw.

In essence, that reduces checkers to the level of tic-tac-toe, for which the ideal game-playing strategy has been codified into an immutable strategy. But checkers — or draughts, as it is known in Britain — is the most complex game that has been solved to date, with some 500 billion billion possible board positions, compared with the 765 possibilities in tic-tac-toe.

Even with the advances in computers over the past two decades, it is still impossible, in practical terms, to compute moves for all 500 billion billion board positions. So, the researchers took the usual starting position and looked only at the positions that occurred during play.

“It’s a computational proof,” said Jonathan Schaeffer, a professor of computer science at the University of Alberta who led the effort. “It’s certainly not a formal mathematical proof.” That means it is impossible for anyone to check every calculation the computer has performed.

Because of the vast calculations, the researchers had to keep painstaking track of the data. Miscopying a single bit — a glitch that did occur every few months — could render their result incorrect if not caught and corrected. When an error was caught, calculations had to be restarted from that point. A checkers hobbyist has independently verified major components of the proof with another computer program.

Dr. Schaeffer began his quest in 1989, aiming to write software that could compete with top checkers players in the world. In April, 18 years later, he and his colleagues finished their computations.

“From my point of view, thank God it’s over,” Dr. Schaeffer said.

For an exercise in futility, anyone can play a game against the perfect Chinook at http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~chinook/play/. (It is limited to 24 games at a time.)

The earlier incarnation of Chinook, relying on artificial intelligence techniques and the combined computing power of many computers, placed second in the 1990 United States championship behind Marion Tinsley, the world champion, who had won every tournament he had played in since 1950.

That achievement should have earned Chinook the right to challenge Dr. Tinsley, a professor of mathematics at Florida A&M University, for the world championship, but the American Checkers Federation and the English Draughts Association refused to sanction a match. After much wrangling in the checkers world, Dr. Tinsley and Chinook battled for the man-versus-machine checkers title in 1992.

Dr. Tinsley won, 4 to 2 with 33 draws. Chinook’s two wins were only the sixth and seventh losses for Dr. Tinsley since 1950. In a rematch two years later, Dr. Tinsley withdrew after six draws, citing health reasons. Cancer was diagnosed, and Dr. Tinsley died seven months later.

Chinook easily triumphed over other human challengers, but the unfinished match against Dr. Tinsley left lingering doubt whether Chinook could claim to be the best of all time.

The new research proves that Chinook is invincible in traditional checkers. In most tournament play, however, a match now starts with three moves chosen at random. In solving the traditional game, the researchers have also solved 21 of the 156 three-move openings, leaving some hope for humans.

Alexander Moiseyev, the current world champion in what is known as three-move checkers, has never faced Chinook. He said he used computers to study and analyze games but did not play against them, and he readily conceded that people were no longer worthy competitors for computers.

“This time is over today,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me.” The next game Dr. Schaeffer hopes to conquer is poker, which is harder to solve, because players do not have complete knowledge of their opponents’ positions. Next week, his program, Polaris, will take on two professional poker players in Texas Hold ’Em for the $50,000 man-versus-machine world championship.

Soon, computers may not just be winning games, but taking people’s money, too.

Ecclesiastes III

From the Bible, Ecclesiastes III (King James Version):

3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The piece was set to music in 1952 by Pete Seeger in his song ‘Turn!, Turn!, Turn!’

Reference

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/141100.html

Psalms

They who sailed the sea ships, trading on the deep waters, these saw the works of the LORD and his wonders in the abyss.

His command raised up a storm wind which tossed its waves on high.

They mounted up to heaven; they sank to the depths; their hearts melted away in their plight.

They cried to the LORD in their distress;

from their straits he rescue them, he hushed the storm to a gentle breeze, and the billows of the sea were stilled.

They rejoiced that they were calmed, and he brought them to their desired haven.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his kindness and his wondrous deeds to the children of men.

 

I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew mw clear and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O LORD,you brought me up from the netherworld;

you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.

Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger lasts but a moment;

a lifetime, his good will.

At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing.

Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;

O LORD, be my helper.

You changed my mourning into dancing;

O LORD, my GOD, forever will I give you thanks.

Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Profession of faith

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in our Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and our salvation he came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died, and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.

He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Amen

Gloria

Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth

Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.

For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father.

Amen

Penitential Rite

I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned through my own fault
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to do;
I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me;
Body of Christ, save me;
Blood of Christ, inebriate me;
Water from the side of Christ, wash me;
Passion of Christ, strengthen me;
O good Jesus, hear me;
Within your wounds, hide me;
Separated from you, let me never be;
From the evil one protect me;
At the hour of my death, call me;
And close to you bid me;
That with your saints, I may be,
praising you forever and ever.
Amen

Reference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima_Christi