June 23, 2023  By now you've likely heard of artificial intelligence.  The computer technology is drastically changing problem-solving and now a brewery in Bucks County, PA  is using it to generate beer recipes.  Second Sin Brewing used AI to generate its latest beer release.  The one question now is who makes a better beer: a human or a robot?  "This beer is called Jake Against," Jake Howell said.  "This is my recipe.  Both beers turned out well.  I won't hide my bias.  I think mine is better."  It's Jake Against the Machine literally.  "Jake Against" is Second Sin Brewing's newest IPA and was made by Head brewer and Co-owner Howell.  But "the machine" was generated by using AI technology.  The industry trade group Brewers of Pennsylvania says this is the first time AI has been used to brew a beer in Pennsylvania.  Jake the brewer won with a score of 60-48 against AI.  Howard Monroe   https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/chatgpt-artificial-intelligence-brews-beer-second-sin-brewing-bucks-county-pennsylvania/   

Daniel Handler is the author of seven novels, including Why We Broke Up, We Are Pirates, All The Dirty Parts and, most recently, Bottle Grove.  As Lemony Snicket, he is responsible for numerous books for children, including the thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events, the four-volume All the Wrong Questions, and The Dark, which won the Charlotte Zolotow Award.  Mr. Snicket’s first book for readers of all ages, Poison for Breakfast, was published by Liveright/W.W. Norton in 2021.  Handler has received commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, Berkeley Repertory Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has collaborated with artist Maira Kalman on a series of books for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and with musicians Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields), Benjamin Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie), Colin Meloy (of the Decemberists) and Torquil Campbell (of Stars).  https://www.danielhandler.com/  See also https://www.lemonysnicket.com/    ROE

Snow Crash is a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cyber-sensibility to bring us the gigantic thriller of the information age.  In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince.  Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.   https://www.worldcat.org/title/snow-crash/oclc/25026617   

“ . . . as the number of media grew, the material became more up to date, and the methods for searching the Library became more and more sophisticated, it approached the point where there was no substantive difference between the Library of Congress and the Central Intelligence Agency.  Fortuitously, this happened just as the government was falling apart anyway.  So they merged and kicked out a big fat stock offering.”  Snow Crash, a novel by Neal Stephenson  https://genius.com/Neal-stephenson-snow-crash-chapter-three-annotated   

“When someone gives you their food . . . they are giving you a piece of themselves.”  Under a Sardinian Sky, a novel by Sara Alexander    

Evva Foltz Hanes, the face of the popular Mrs. Hanes’ Moravian Cookies brand, died July 6, 2023.  Hanes and her husband, Travis, built The Moravian Sugar Crisp Co. into a thriving business after taking it over from her mother when they were a young married couple, just starting a family.  The business is still family-owned, and it is still known for making classic ultra-thin and crisp Moravian sugar cookies the old-fashioned way, rolling and cutting them by hand.  The company has dozens of employees and 90,000 mail-order customers, and it ships to all 50 states and 30 other countries.  Hanes began helping her mother bake cookies at age 5 or 6.  By age 8, she was baking them herself–on a wood stove.  Hanes took over for her mother in the 1950s, even though she had a full-time job and was busy raising a family.  See many pictures at https://journalnow.com/entertainment/dining/evva-hanes-the-face-of-mrs-hanes-moravian-cookies-dies-at-age-90/article_d6cd34a2-11fb-11ee-989e-2fc639e401a4.html    

Peter Nero, 89, the legendary pianist, longtime player-conductor of the Philly Pops, and jazz maestro, died July 6, 2023.  The former child prodigy, born Bernard Nierow on May 22, 1934, began his musical journey on the New York children’s talent-show circuit.  Before landing his first deal, Mr. Nero studied at New York’s High School of Music and Art, now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and studied part time at Juilliard on Saturdays.  And while earning a bachelor of arts degree at Brooklyn College, he studied privately with esteemed piano pedagogues Abram Chasins and Chasins’ wife, Constance Keene.  Mr. Nero played the children’s talent shows during the 1950s and eventually garnered the attention of Paul Whiteman, whom he toured with for several years.  Mr. Nero took his final stand as Philadelphia Pops director in 2013.  The crowd rose in a standing ovation before he graced the keyboard, and Mr. Nero gave his last directorial signal before closing out that concert in Verizon Hall.  Earl Hopkins and Peter Dobrin  https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/peter-nero-famed-pianist-conductor-of-philly-pops-dead-at-age-89-20230708.html    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2694  July 10, 2023