‘Jeopardy!’ to pit humans against IBM machine

NEW YORK — The game show “Jeopardy!” will pit man versus machine this winter in a competition that will show how successful scientists are in creating a computer that can mimic human intelligence. Two of the venerable game show’s most successful champions – Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter – will play two games against “Watson,” a computer program developed by IBM’s artificial intelligence team.

World pays tribute to Holbrooke: “The Bulldozer”

BRUSSELS — They remembered him as “The Bulldozer” – a diplomat with such a forceful persona he could drag politicians, military brass and even warlords to the negotiating table. World leaders on Tuesday praised U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke for engineering the end of the 1992-1995 Bosnia war – Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II – and for seeking to bring stability to war-torn Afghanistan. Holbrooke died unexpected death Monday following surgery for a tear in his aorta.

Hot chips will be hard to cash

Gambling chips stolen from Bellagio in an armed robbery Tuesday morning total $1.5 million, but the man who stole them will have a tough time cashing in, especially the $25,000 chips.

in brief

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Rodeo retailers say 2010 wasn’t the greatest go-round

The official numbers won’t be tabulated for several weeks, but many merchants who rented booths at the cowboy merchandise marts staged in conjunction with the recently ended National Finals Rodeo have already concluded it was a tepid year.

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