on may 11, 1997, the computer program “deep blue” won the sixth and deciding game of its rematch with world chess champion gary kasparov. kasparov had won a match against it the previous year. deep blue’s victory was widely regarded as an important milestone in the advance of machine intelilgence.
on the night of june 17, joe wilson found what he thought was a safe spot behind some bushes in washington park in springfield illinois and fell asleep. joe was now 57 years old, and had been preaching, and been mostly homeless, for 15 years.
he had a dream that judgment day had arrived and that he, joe, was obliged to get on a bus to new york city - a place he had never visited - and preach to terrified hordes of sinners. the bus was driven by pontius pilate and the only other passengers were mary magdalene, who kept to herself, covered in a dark shawl and sitting behind pontius pilate, and st luke, who was ensconced across from joe in a seat toward the back.
st luke had a suitcase full of large bibles filled with brightly colored pictures and he was trying to get joe to buy one. joe insisted that he preferred to keep his little battered pocket bible that had served him so well, and he and st luke had a long, confused conversation which involved joe actually entering the pictures in luke’s bibles and wandering through the holy land..
in the morning of june 18, rex, a beagle belonging to abby carter, an underwriter for the kemper insurance company, found joe behind the bushes where he had fallen asleep. joe’s bible was safe in his coat pocket, but his shoes had been stolen and he was dead.
on july 1, control of the territory of hong kong - hong kong peninsula and kowloon island - was officially transferred from great britain to the people’s republic of china.
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