The doctor is in

Please address the doctor in the form of a question: Watson, the IBM supercomputer that defeated two “Jeopardy” champions in 2011, has completed its medical residency and is available to confer with doctors to help diagnose lung cancer and can even recommend which treatments should be authorized for payment.

Two things to remember:

  • You’ll need to make your appointments for early in the morning; Watson has a 11 a.m. tee time to play golf with a foursome that includes a Wii console, an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3.
  • And it appears Watson’s “Jeopardy” experience is rooted deep in its memory banks. It informs patients of their allowable treatment options with: “You’ll take Chemotherapy for $15,000, Alex.”

What did you kill, Bungalow Bill? A special hunt of Burmese pythons set up by Florida wildlife officials has killed 50 of the invasive nonnative snakes. State wildlife officials have called the Everglades hunt a success, but some of the 1,563 hunters who registered for the hunt said they were disappointed more snakes weren’t found.

But even more disappointing: 1,513 Burmese pythons now seem to have hunter-shaped bulges.

Afraid to ask about toad in the hole: Great Britain’s food safety agency is requiring food producers to test all beef products for the presence of horse meat, following the recent discovery that one producer’s frozen lasagnas contained more than 60 percent horse meat.

If the British were really serious about what goes into their food, they would have long ago investigated what exactly spotted dick is.

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