Thought of the Day

That's it for 2017. We'll be back on 8 January 2018.(8-1-18)

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Intelligent artificial "being"?

The only obvious error was to say "historical" when it meant "historic." Remarkable.

The first version of Sophia, a year earlier, was also interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Nearly half of the USD3,500 million in corruption proceeds we have restrained is related to just one enforcement action. That action was related to a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund known as 1MDB.

-- US Attorney General Jefferson Sessions - 4 December 2017

"Natural disasters have sadly become the new normal. "

- President Jean-Claude Juncker, 23 November 2017

We have achieved some incredible things these last two weeks, and the crypto space is beginning to notice us.

- "Joost van Doorn" - "Confido", 19 November 2017. (why the quotation marks? Because both may be a fiction)

We have some work to do over the money laundering regulations that were introduced in June

-- The Solicitors' Regulatory Authority (England and Wales) - 21 November 2017

“Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar,”

-- US President Donald Trump on Papadopoulous after his plea bargain was announced.

Simply, simply lovely

-- Mexican Grand Prix Team Radio - Red Bull - Verstappen after leaving the battle scarred Mercedes of Hamilton and Ferrari of Vettel behind after a first corner skirmish

#

“What happened in the last 30 years is not Saudi Arabia. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, people wanted to copy this model in different countries, one of them is Saudi Arabia. We didn’t know how to deal with it and the problem spread all over the world. Now is the time to get rid of it. We are simply reverting to what we followed – a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions. 70% of Saudis are younger than 30, honestly we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts, we will destroy them now and immediately.”

-- Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, quoted in The Guardian.

Asked about the rubber marks from the tyres of other riders on his leathers, and from his bike on the leathers of other riders...

"If that's the game, it's how we have to play it. If they are going to be very aggressive, then I have to be even more stupid than them."

-- Valetino Rossi, VR46, Multiple MotoGP World Champion after the Australian Grand Prix 2017

Correction: In yesterday’s newsletter we referred to China’s equivalent of eBay as Taboo. The auction site is called Taobao. We have now turned off autocorrect on our computers. Apologies.

-- The Economist from Daily Dispatch | Wednesday | September 27th 2017

As more and more people become fascinated with AI can I point out that I, along with many others, have Actual, not Artificial, Intelligence? And ours is proven to work.

-- Nigel Morris-Cotterill - www.countermoneylaundering,com.

I was watching the terminal screen as a Linux PC updated itself today and saw the message "unpacking girl." "How do they get a whole girl in that little box? I thought."

-- Nigel Morris-Cotterill