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The Daily Triptych132 / 365

12 MAY 2026

Day 132

The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim.

Edsger W. Dijkstra · The Threats to Computing Science
A thin brass quarter-circle plate engraved with dense scales and sighting marks, warm yellow-brown in colour, its surface only a millimetre and a half thick.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant

1388 · Canterbury · British Museum

Dug from soil beside a Canterbury inn in 2005, this thin brass plate is the only English-made astrolabe quadrant of its kind, and one of eight medieval survivors.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Hyperparameter Transfer Learning

training · small-to-large reuse · fastai API; MaxHedge online

Hyperparameters found on a modest model need not be thrown away when the task grows. Under the right conditions they can shorten the search on the larger problem.

Enter lesson 6 MIN
A night cityscape of a café terrace under artificial light, with a dark street beyond, a distant tower, a lighted shop and tree branches to one side, painted in oil on a tall rectangular canvas.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

Café Terrace at Night

Vincent van Gogh · September 1888 · Oil on canvas

In September 1888 van Gogh painted a lit café on the Place du Forum. He fixed one corner as his viewpoint, cut away the Roman ruins, and left the canvas unsigned.

Enter lesson 6 MIN