Wednesday, 26 July 2017
People Are Comparing This Picture Of Drunk Partygoers To Fine Art
New Years Eve is one of the few days it is socially acceptable encouraged, even to be a hot, drunken mess.
Many people, naturally, use this to their advantage; watching people staggering out of bars is expected as the old year turns new. Still, it makes for some pretty entertaining people-watching.
Such was the case this past New Years Eve in Manchester, UK.
While documenting the evenings festivities, photographer Joel Goodman stumbled upon a scene seemingly out of a movie. Police were wrestling one drunken partygoer to the ground while another was in the street nearby, beer in hand.
Goodman snapped a photo of the raucous scene and posted it to a New Years Eve gallery on the Manchester Evening News website, where it quickly took on a life of its own.
It began when one Twitter user compared the hilarious image to fine art.
So much going on this pic of New Year in Manchester by the Evening News. Like a beautiful painting. pic.twitter.com/szKKRM4U4i
— Roland Hughes (@hughesroland) January 1, 2016
Another narrowed down the type of art
modern renaissance art pic.twitter.com/jb9k5BAugh
— Elizabeth (@Elizigan) January 1, 2016
and others took the comparison and ran with it.
@hughesroland @ajlanghorn I had a go at turning it into a watercolour with Waterlogue pic.twitter.com/MmbiZ0SsD3
— Ben Darlow (@kapowaz) January 1, 2016
Some used Photoshop to make it even more art-y
@hughesroland @paul_tomkins pic.twitter.com/UIA91KB8ZJ
— The Wolf of Whatever (@mjlovatt_LFC) January 1, 2016
and others superimposed parts of the picture on famous works of art.
@hughesroland pic.twitter.com/B80KQGVP0t
— NOTLR (@NOTLR) January 1, 2016
Some pointed out the photos perfect composition.
@Elizigan @SwiftOnSecurity pic.twitter.com/KC3oppVSG7
— Jose Jacas (@josejacas) January 1, 2016
Others analyzed the scene and isolated the images natural subject.
@Elizigan It’s the guy who has almost lost his trousers but miraculously saved his beer that moves me: pic.twitter.com/ojWuuCgzSB
— Roger McCarthy (@RF_McCarthy) January 1, 2016
It got a bit out of control.
And there’s more – good work @johnbeck_ pic.twitter.com/N6me1jnn2E
— Roland Hughes (@hughesroland) January 1, 2016
Moral of the story: Dont make an ass of yourself if photographers are lurking nearby.
Beautiful, pastoral scenes in Manchester at New Year @hughesroland @lostandfounduk pic.twitter.com/Q3kx7D8sGA
— Iain Cook (@Iain_A_Cook) January 1, 2016
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source http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/27/people-are-comparing-this-picture-of-drunk-partygoers-to-fine-art/
Drinking in your early 20s vs drinking in your late 20s
The time between 21 and 29 is a pretty transformative time for almost everyone. We grow up and mature. Our priorities, hobbies and interests change. We become more refined and our tastes evolve.
And many popular social pastimes for people in their 20s include a few adult beverages, though what we consume, how we consume it and what we do while doing so tend to change at least slightly as we make our way from the early 20s to the mid and then late 20s.
Here are a few common differences.
Early 20s: Shots at 2 a.m. and a cheap pizza after closing time.
Late 20s: A couple flavored whiskey cocktails with the tasting menu at a new and trendy restaurant.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with staying out late every once in a while, but sometimes you just want some good drinks, some good food and to head home to hang out on the couch and watch some TV.
Early 20s: Day-drinking in a parking lot while tailgating for a football game.
Late 20s: Sipping mimosas over brunch, then watching the game from the comfort of your own couch.
Sometimes the best seat in the house actually is in your house, miles away from the arena or stadium, where the drinks are wildly overpriced anyway. And while both tailgating and brunching give great opportunities to catch up with friends and loved ones, the latter is generally more of a relaxed affair. Itd be tough to find a brunch spot where some of the customers are covered in face paint.
Early 20s: Drinking boxed wine.
Late 20s: Drinking a higher quality boxed wine.
Just because youre no longer slapping the plastic bladder bag that boxed wine comes in doesnt mean you cant enjoy wine from something other than a glass bottle. There are some really good boxed wines out there, and youre mature enough in your late 20s to not care about any negative stigma some attach to boxed wine.
Early 20s: Giving a speech to rally your best friend and mount a comeback in a game of beer pong.
Late 20s: Giving a speech to toast your best friend and his partner on their wedding day.
We wouldnt necessarily rule out some beer pong later on in the reception, though.
Early 20s: Chasing shots with sports drinks, soda or whatever else is on hand to take away the after-taste.
Late 20s: Drinking beverages that dont require a chaser.
At a certain point the appeal of shooting something that tastes awful sort of dissipates. And if you find yourself in a situation where you are drinking something you wouldve previously chased with a sugary soft drink, you simply down the shot and take it like the champion you are.
Early 20s: Welcoming your guests into your home with a lukewarm beer.
Late 20s: Giving your visitors a few different classy cocktail options to choose from.
Chances are, youll upgrade from your first post-collegiate apartment to a nicer home by the time youve entered your late 20s and youll want to host guests to show off your space. By then, youll likely have also developed some drink-making prowess, and can prep something at your home bar. If youre looking for some inspiration, check out the Wild Turkey American Honey recipes for an American Sour or Honey Mule.
Early 20s: Participating in a “Power Hour.”
Late 20s: Having a drink or two during conversation at Happy Hour.
For the uninitiated, a “Power Hour” is when you drink a shot glass of beer every minute for 60 straight minutes. By the time youre in your late 20s, youve likely adopted some less extreme imbibing methods.
source http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/26/drinking-in-your-early-20s-vs-drinking-in-your-late-20s/
Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Dont Pass Go: AI Will Beat You at Pretty Much Everything
Earlier this month, in a paper published in Nature, Google DeepMind researchers revealed that theyve attained the holy grail of artificial intelligence game-playing: besting the European champion in the ancient Chinese game of Go.
Go is deceptively simple: players put down black and white stones on points on a 19 x 19 gridded game board (thats 361 squares; smaller game boards are available for shorter games). The objective is to control real estate on the board without getting surrounded and captured by the other players stones. The game gets more complicated when players link stones, which makes them harder but more enticing to capture. For AI, the sheer number of possibilities (2.082 x 10170, according to mathematiciansmore atoms than there are in the universe, in case youre counting) makes Go incredibly difficult to play and win.
But if its one thing we know about AI, its not to count it out for long.
DeepMind, a British AI company that Google acquired two years ago, has a simple mission: to solve intelligence. This means understanding what intelligence is and how it workswhich is easier said than donebut DeepMind has taken another major step toward that end.
The big leap made by DeepMind and other AI creators involves the development of artificial neural networks (ANN), which emulate the neural networks in human brains. In an ANN, nodes function like connected neurons, collectively processing information. The most exciting and game-changing feature of neural networks is the ability to learn by experience and example, which helps gaming AI effectively respond to opponents.
Thats exactly what Googles AI AlphaGo did, employing both value networks and policy networks to understand the layout of the pieces on the board in any given moment and then decide on a play. The AI beat the three-time European Go Champion five games to none, signifying a major triumph in the AI world.
Humans have a history of measuring AIs meddle by throwing down the gaming gauntlet. IBMs Deep Blue supercomputer beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a 1996 match, though it ultimately lost the set. IBM developers upgraded Deep Blue and in the 1997 rematch, the AI won the majority of games and a place in history. Deep Blues programming is the precursor of todays artificial neural networks, with 30 nodes each containing microprocessors that allowed it to weigh 200 million moves a second. Kasparov claimed that IBM cheated and that the company dismantled the supercomputer before he could have his revenge. IBM denies those claims and says one of their computer scientists offered to rebuild the Deep Blue program in another machine, but Kasparov refused. Who can blame him?
That same year, the computer program Logistello went 6-0 against the Othello world champion (17 years earlier, a program called Moor went 1-5 against the human champion).
In 2011, IBMs Watson computer beat the top two human Jeopardy contestants of all time, outscoring them by over $50,000 (dont feel too bad for themthey got $300K and $200K for playing). Watson not only has four terabytes of information stored away, including all of Wikipedia, and infallible statistical capabilities, but its also capable of understanding human speech and responding appropriatelya feat unto itself. Watson had another major advantage: it didnt have to use the handheld buzzer.
An AI program called Polaris beat human poker champions in 2008, humbling its human counterparts when it adjusted its approach in the middle of a 500-hand round. Soon, robots with AI will be able to sit at the table with humans and win face-to-robotic face. Algorithms are better than humans at assessing whether people are lyingtheyre right between 77-82 percent of the time, according to one study, compared to 53 percent accuracy for humans. Facial recognition technology, a common component of many social robots, can link facial expressions and emotional states as accurately, if not more, than humans can. Good luck hiding that tell against a robot.
Sowhat games can humans win against AI and robots?
Not ping pong. Or beer pong (unless youre looking to get wasted).
Definitely not rock, paper, scissors.
A robot will break your Rubiks cube-solving record, no problem.
Our chances are pretty good at soccerfor now. Or maybe charades.
Suffice it to say, we should enjoy winning the odd game of hearts against the computeror other humanswhile we can. And be warned: if you invite robots to your game nights, be prepared to lose.
source http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/25/dont-pass-go-ai-will-beat-you-at-pretty-much-everything/
Monday, 24 July 2017
More than 3,000 cases of beer stolen from Atlanta brewery | Fox News
June 21, 2016: This image shows beer stolen from Sweetwater Brewing Company in Atlanta, Ga. Approximately one-quarter of the nearly 3,300 cases were recovered at a warehouse in Clayton County, Ga. (Sweetwater Brewing Co. )
A mystery is brewing in Georgia after thieves stole two trailers containing nearly 3,300 cases of beer early Tuesday.
SweetWater Brewing Co. said the trailers had been loaded for an early morning pickup when they were taken from the company’s plant north of downtown. The two trailers carried 3,272 cases altogether — or more than 78,500 bottles — of SweetWater’s Summer Variety Pack, company spokeswoman.
Both trailers were located with the help of GPS later Tuesday. However, the beer was gone.
By Tuesday afternoon, about one-fourth of the stolen beer was found at a warehouse in Clayton County just south of Atlanta, spokeswoman Tucker Berta Sarkisian said. But Sweetwater marketing director Steve Farace told the Associated Press “we can no longer trust that that beer would be up to the quality standards that we as a brewery maintain, so unfortunately we have to destroy it all.”
“For a small company like us to lose that much beer, it really hurts,” Farace added.
The warehouse where the beer was found isn’t far from some of the locations where the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit was filmed. In the movie, Coors Beer is hauled across the South with a sheriff in hot pursuit. Those similarities have led to plenty of jokes inspired by the movie since word of the crime spread through the SweetWater plant, Farace said.
But it’s not generating many laughs at the company.
The timing of the heist is unfortunate, because one of the beers in the Variety Packs contained the company’s “Goin’ Coastal,” a pineapple-flavored IPA which has been in extremely short supply.
“This has pretty much wiped out our Atlanta inventory” for that particular beer, Sarkisian said.
The company is asking retailers to contact them if someone other than the company attempts to sell the beer, which has expiration dates of Sept. 20 or Sept. 21.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
source http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/25/more-than-3000-cases-of-beer-stolen-from-atlanta-brewery-fox-news/
The takeover begins: Vegas opens up first bar run by robots
Would you tip a robotif it poured you the perfect drink? You might have to solve that one yourself if you plan on making a trip to Sin City. The Tipsy Robot bar at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas is set to open today, and it will be serving up drinks from the claws of its fully autonomous robot staff.
Programmed without all the faults of a human, the two robot arms employed as bartenders should serve up the perfect pour in under 70 seconds.
“My partners and I decided to do something to create a new trend so we can be ahead of time,”owner Rino Armenitold the Las Vegas Sun. “So, this is a gift from us to the city of Las Vegas.”
Ah yes, what a wonderful gift to create jobs for lifeless robot arms instead of the wonderful citizens of Las Vegas.
To make matters worse, these robots aren’t even the cute ones that will speak to you. Customers will have to interface with the robotic bartenders at one of the tablet stations throughout the bar or on their smartphones. They will be askedto enter their email address to receive a QR code that gets scanned by the robots. This lets bargoers see where they are in the queue. They will also receive an alert when their drink is ready.
Once the order is placed, a robotic arm grabs a glass, fills up the “head,” and prepares the drink as requested. It then reaches up to more than 150 bottles of liquor suspended from the ceiling before placing the drink on a belt that moves it toward the customer. The bartenders even wash themselves between drinks.
It’s worth noting that while the robots themselves are fully autonomous, the bar still staffs 16 humans to serve beer, champagne, and mimosas.
You would thinklimiting human labor costs would help keep the price of a cocktail down, but you’ll have to shell out $14 for a one-shot drink from a bartender that can’t even recommend a concert on the Strip.
H/T CNET
source http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/24/the-takeover-begins-vegas-opens-up-first-bar-run-by-robots/