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1 MARCH 2007

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more katy!

G: We brought Katy over to the Looneys last Thursday, just three days after getting her. I promised she wouldn't get up on the table and that she was very well behaved. But she saw Shiro as soon as she came in and spent most of the evening looking for her. The cats were hiding in the secret bunker, but would venture out occasionally, sending her into a tizzy. She doesn't chase a cat who doesn't run... Anyway, she didn't spend much time snuggling with everyone like I'd hoped, but she did get called the cutest dog in the world by Petra! And the Looney household was very gracious about her behavior. They say the cats have to get used to it since Alison is working on getting a dog.

On Saturday John went with Dave and Gavin to see The Number 23; I skipped it because the previews made it look like a very scary horror movie. Apparently it wasn't so much, but I still had John just tell me the whole story while we were waiting at Udupi Palace for Dave and Gavin to show up. They stopped off to pick up their friend Josh on the way. We all went back to our place and they all playtested some new designs - Leo came over later to help with that, and Margit and Sev came over to meet Katy.

On Sunday John and I went over to Alex and Renee's to watch the Oscars. That is pretty much what we did, with many comments on what people were wearing and such. Jeff, Sandy, and Janet were there, and Petra showed up later. We couldn't stay until the end because we got too tired. I've been getting up earlier than usual for me, and I get sleepy around midnight nowadays. I get up around 8 or 9am, give Katy a long walk in the woods and do yoga with Izolda most mornings. This has become my exercise routine. I'm really enjoying the yoga.

We've enrolled ourselves in a dog training class at the Canine Training Association in Beltsville. John went to the orientation last night, I couldn't because I had a class to teach. But we'll be going Thursday nights for and hour for 10 weeks. John says he started practicing with Katy on their walk tonight and she was very good.

Can I tell you more about Katy? Like, I'd never thought she'd be able to get up on our bed, which is set up quite high (the top of the mattress reaches my hips). But after the first time we put her up there, she's been jumping up there whenever she wants (not too often really). I have yet to see how she does it - I am always on the bed already. She leaps off like Superman.

She has the softest ears. She's 29.5 lbs, and has a long body and short, sturdy legs. She's almost all white, with a few light tan specks on her ears and along the edges of them. She is a little timid sometimes. She cowers a bit if you make a sudden movement.  She whines a bit, but it's getting better. She comes up to me if I am on the couch or lying down and puts her head under my arm. She's really starting to enjoy the woods. She played with a toy for the first time today. Lori had her chasing after a little plush squeaky toy and even bringing it back sometimes. John and I did it a little bit too. But mostly she is a cuddly couch potato.

is there anybody out there?

J: The simulation argument claims that one of these three propositions is true:
  1. The chances that a species at our current level of development can avoid going extinct before becoming technologically mature is negligibly small.
  2. Almost no technologically mature civilizations are interested in running computer simulations of minds like ours.
  3. You are almost certainly in a simulation.
The longer we go without finding extraterrestrial intelligence, the more propositions 1 & 3 are supported. Running a simulated universe with few intelligent species takes less memory than a universe with many intelligent species.

The fact that games like the Sims are popular and continue to advance simulated worlds toward an uncanny valley indicate that proposition 2 is not true— if we manage to push through the valley.

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