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Al Michaels

Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television play-by-play sportscaster for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on network sports television since 1971, with his most recent work being with NBC Sports after nearly three decades (1976–2006) with ABC Sports. Michaels is known for his many years calling play-by-play of National Football League (NFL) games, including ABC Monday Night Football from 1986 to 2005 and NBC Sunday Night Football from 2006 to 2021. He is also known for famous calls in other sports, including the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics and the earthquake-interrupted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series.

Outside the venue of sports journalism, Michaels is also known for being traded in 2006 from ESPN, owned by The Walt Disney Company to NBCUniversal for the rights to the animated character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an unusual business transaction Michaels accepted with good humor.

Early life and education
Alan Richard Michaels was born on November 12, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. Michaels was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, to Jay Leonard Michaels and Lila Roginsky/Ross. He grew up as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. In 1958, Michaels' family moved to Los Angeles, the same year the Dodgers left Brooklyn. He graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in 1962. Michaels attended Arizona State University, where he majored in radio and television and minored in journalism. He worked as a sports writer for ASU's independent student newspaper, The State Press, and called Sun Devils football, basketball, and baseball games for the campus radio station. He also is a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.

Early career
Michaels's first job in television was with Chuck Barris Productions, choosing women to appear on The Dating Game. His first sportscasting job came in 1967, when he was hired to do public relations for the Los Angeles Lakers and serve as a color commentator on the team's radio broadcasts alongside veteran play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn. However, he was terminated after appearing on just four games due to Chick Hearn's displeasure on working with someone so young.

He resumed his broadcasting career in 1968 after moving to Honolulu, where he worked as a sports anchor for KHVH-TV (now KITV) and called play-by-play for the Hawaii Islanders baseball team in the Pacific Coast League as well as the University of Hawaii's football and basketball teams and local high school football games. He was named Hawaii's 'Sportscaster of the Year' in 1969. In 1970, Michaels appeared as attorney Dave Bronstein in an episode of Hawaii Five-O called "Run, Johnny, Run" (Air date: January 14, 1970); the episode also featured a young Christopher Walken.

In 1971, Michaels moved to Cincinnati, where he became the radio play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. In 1972, after the Reds won the National League Championship Series and advanced to the World Series, he helped to cover the Fall Classic for NBC Sports. He also was the network's play-by-play man for the hockey coverage at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

In December 1973, after Bill Enis, an NBC sports announcer and sportscaster for KPRC-TV in Houston had died from a heart attack at the age of 39 two days before he was to call the regular-season NFL finale between the Houston Oilers and Cincinnati Bengals, Michaels was brought in to replace Enis in the booth with Dave Kocourek.

In 1974, he left the Reds for a similar position with the San Francisco Giants and also covered basketball for UCLA, replacing Dick Enberg on the Bruins' tape delayed telecasts of their home games, during a period when UCLA was in the midst of an 88-game winning streak. He left NBC that year and announced regional NFL games for CBS Sports in 1975. In 1976 he joined ABC Sports part-time to call the network's backup Monday Night Baseball games. That year, he called two no-hitters: by the Pirates' John Candelaria vs. Los Angeles on August 9 (for ABC) and the Giants' John Montefusco at Atlanta on September 29, 1976 (for Giants radio).

ABC Sports (1977–2006)
In January 1977, Michaels signed with ABC Sports on a full-time basis. In 1983, he became the network's lead baseball announcer, replacing Keith Jackson. Up until that point, Michaels and Jackson would split play–by–play duties for ABC's coverage of the World Series beginning in 1979, with Michaels assigned to call the games from the National League park and Jackson calling games from the American League park.

Over the next three decades, Michaels covered a wide variety of sports for ABC, including Major League Baseball, college football (working alongside the likes of Frank Broyles, Lee Grosscup, and Ara Parseghian from 1977–1985 and later, his Monday Night Football colleagues Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf for the Sugar Bowl from 1989 to 1992), college basketball (normally teaming with Joe B. Hall from 1987–1989), the Indianapolis 500, ice hockey, track and field events, horse racing (including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes from 1986 to 2000), golf, boxing (such as the 1985 Marvin Hagler/Thomas Hearns fight), figure skating (working alongside Dick Button and Peggy Fleming), road cycling (Michaels in particular, provided commentary for those events at the 1984 Summer Olympics with Greg LeMond and Eric Heiden), and many events of the Olympic Games as well as the Olympic trials.

Other prominent events that Michaels covered for ABC included serving as the studio host for the Stanley Cup Finals from –. Also, he served as host for the yearly Tiger Woods Monday night specials that aired in July or August.

Episodes of Wide World of Sports featuring Michaels early in his ABC career have been featured at least two occasions on the ESPN Classic comedy series Cheap Seats.

The Miracle on Ice
Two of Michaels's more famous broadcasts were of the 1980 Winter Olympics ice hockey medal round match between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the attempted third game of the 1989 World Series.

In 1980, an unheralded group of college ice hockey players from the United States won the gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games. The medal round match on February 22—which, contrary to popular belief, did not yet assure the team of the gold medal—was of particular interest, as it was played against a heavily favored professional squad from the Soviet Union, and was in front of an incredibly excited pro-American crowd in Lake Placid, New York. Michaels's memorable broadcast of this game, including his interjection—"Do you believe in miracles? YES!"—as time expired on the 4–3 U.S. victory, earned the game the media nickname of The Miracle on Ice.

Most assume that the game was broadcast live (indeed, CTV, which held Canadian rights to the game, aired it live); but in reality, the game started at 5:05 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and ABC decided against pre-empting local and network news (on the East Coast) to carry the game live. Instead, most of it—including the entire third period—was broadcast within the regularly scheduled, prime-time telecast from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Eastern time (and on a six-and-a-half-hour delay on the West Coast from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Pacific Standard Time). Despite being on tape, the game was one of the highest-rated programs of the 1979–80 television season and remains the most-watched ice hockey game in the history of American television.

Michaels, along with broadcasting partner Ken Dryden, recreated their Olympic commentary in the 2004 movie Miracle. Although Michaels and Dryden recreated the bulk of their commentary for the film, the closing seconds of the game against the Soviet Union used the original ABC Sports commentary from 1980. Gavin O'Connor, the director of Miracle, decided to use the last 10 seconds of Michaels's original "Do you believe in miracles? YES!" call in the film because he felt he couldn't ask him to recreate the emotion he experienced at that moment. Thus they cleaned up the recording to make the transition to the authentic call as seamless as possible.

Michaels later recalled, "When I look back, obviously Lake Placid would be the highlight of my career. I can't think of anything that would ever top it. I can't dream up a scenario."

Michaels was only on this particular assignment because he had done one hockey game, eight years prior. The game in question was the gold medal game (the Soviet Union vs. Czechoslovakia) of the 1972 Winter Olympics (on NBC) in Sapporo, Japan. Other announcers on the ABC Sports roster such as Keith Jackson, Frank Gifford, and Howard Cosell had never done a hockey game before. Michaels recalled this during a Real Sports interview in January 2009. Michaels also apparently beat out WABC-AM and New York Islanders commentator George Michael for the assignment.

Two days later, Michaels would broadcast the gold medal game, in which the U.S. defeated Finland, closing the game out by declaring "This impossible dream comes true!"

Al Michaels continued serving as ABC's lead play-by-play announcer for their ice hockey coverage for their next two Winter Olympics, both with Dryden, the lead color commentator. In 1984 from Sarajevo, Mike Eruzione, who was the captain of the gold medal-winning United States ice hockey team from 1980, primarily worked with Don Chevrier. For ABC's final Winter Olympics four years later, Eruzione was this time, paired with Jiggs McDonald.

Michaels along with John Davidson would later call Games 1 and 4 of the Calgary–Los Angeles Stanley Cup playoff series in 1993 for ABC.

1972 National League Championship Series
Even though the events of October 17, 1989, in San Francisco are widely considered to be the most dramatic baseball-related moment of Michaels's career, he had several others that were memorable.

In the 1972 National League Championship Series, the defending World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates faced the Cincinnati Reds. In Game 5, with both teams tied at two games apiece, the Pirates led 3–2 in the bottom of the ninth inning and were three outs away from advancing to the World Series. But Pirates closer Dave Giusti unraveled. He surrendered a game-tying home run to Johnny Bench before allowing back-to-back singles to Tony Pérez and Denis Menke before being relieved by Bob Moose, who almost worked out of the jam by recording two outs. But with pinch-hitter Hal McRae at the plate, Moose lost his footing and uncorked a wild pitch sending George Foster, who was pinch running for Pérez, home with the pennant-clinching run and setting off a massive celebration at Riverfront Stadium.

As previously mentioned, later that October, Michaels participated in his first ever World Series as a broadcaster, where he assisted NBC's Curt Gowdy for Games 1–2, 6, and 7 in Cincinnati. Michaels was a product of the then broadcasting policy of announcers who represented the participating teams (a process that ended following the 1976 World Series) being invited to do televised network play–by–play for the World Series. As such, Games 3–5 of the 1972 World Series instead, featured Oakland Athletics broadcaster Monte Moore working for NBC alongside Curt Gowdy.

1983 World Series
On June 6, 1983, Michaels officially succeeded Keith Jackson as the lead play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Baseball. Michaels, who spent seven seasons working backup games (initially teaming with Bob Gibson and Norm Cash), was apparently very miffed over ABC Sports' delay in announcing him as its top baseball announcer. Unlike Jackson, whose forte was college football, Michaels as previously mentioned, had gigs with the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants before joining ABC in 1976. TV Guide huffed about Jackson by saying "A football guy, on baseball!" Jackson was unavailable for several World Series games in and  because of conflicts with his otherwise normal college football broadcasting schedule. Thus, Michaels did play-by-play for games on weekends.

1986 American League Championship Series
In 1986, Michaels was also on hand for what he says was "the greatest of all the thousands of games I've done." On October 12 at Anaheim Stadium, Michaels along with Jim Palmer called Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. The California Angels held a 3 games to 1 lead of a best-of-seven against the Boston Red Sox. In the game, the Angels held a 5–2 lead going into the ninth inning. Boston scored two runs on a home run by Don Baylor, closing the gap to 5–4.

When Donnie Moore came in to shut down the rally, there were two outs, and a runner on first base, Rich Gedman, who had been hit by a pitch. The Angels were one out from their first-ever trip to the World Series. But Dave Henderson hit a 2–2 pitch off Moore for a home run, giving the Red Sox a 6–5 lead. The Angels were able to score a run in the bottom of the ninth, pushing the game into extra innings. Moore continued to pitch for the Angels. He was able to stifle a 10th inning Red Sox rally by getting Jim Rice to ground into a double play. Nevertheless, the Red Sox were able to score off Moore in the 11th-inning via a sacrifice fly by Henderson. The Angels could not score in the bottom of the 11th and lost the game 7–6.

The defeat still left the Angels in a 3 games to 2 advantage, with two more games to play at Fenway Park. The Angels were not able to recover, losing both games by wide margins, 10–4 and 8–1. Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS ended with Calvin Schiraldi striking out Jerry Narron.

"The Red Sox can go from last rites to the World Series...and they do!"

Despite the fact that ABC Sports and ESPN have been under the same corporate umbrella (The Walt Disney Company) since 1996, Michaels never served as a regular commentator for ESPN Major League Baseball. The only time that Michaels appeared in an ESPN booth of any kind was as a guest commentator on Wednesday Night Baseball in 2003 as part of ESPN's Living Legends Series. Michaels joined Gary Thorne and Joe Morgan, whom he worked with on ABC's 1989 World Series coverage and served as ABC's #2 baseball team behind Michaels, Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver in 1989, for a game at Dodger Stadium between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds.

1987 World Series
In a February 2015 interview, Michaels alleged that the Minnesota Twins pumped artificial crowd noise into the Metrodome during the 1987 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Responding to Michaels' theory, Twins President Dave St. Peter said that he did not think the Twins needed "conspiracy theories" in order to win the World Series. Instead, he argued that "appreciation and respect" should be paid to players like Frank Viola, Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek, and Kirby Puckett, who, he said, "came out of nowhere to win a championship."

"To Gaetti...for the first time ever, the Minnesota Twins are the World Champions!"

1989 World Series
On October 17, 1989, Michaels was in San Francisco, preparing to cover the third game of the 1989 World Series between the home team, the San Francisco Giants, and the visiting Oakland Athletics. ABC's network telecast began with a recap of the first two games (to the soundtrack of James Taylor's "Hello Old Friend"), both won by Oakland. Soon after Michaels handed off to his broadcast partner, Tim McCarver, who started assessing the Giants' chances for victory in the game, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck (at approximately 5:04 p.m. local time). While the network feed was breaking up due to the shaking, Michaels exclaimed "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth —", and at that moment, the feed completely broke up before he could finish his sentence. ABC then put up a green "World Series" telop graphic card on the screen for technical difficulties and restored audio via a telephone link 15 seconds later. Michaels quipped, "Well folks, that's the greatest open in the history of television, bar none!" Michaels then reported from the ABC Sports production truck outside Candlestick Park on the earthquake, for which he later was nominated for an Emmy Award for news broadcasting. Michaels relayed his reports to Ted Koppel, who was stationed at the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C.

According to Tim McCarver, when the earthquake hit, he, Michaels and Jim Palmer immediately grabbed hold of what they perceived to be the armrests. In reality, the announcers were clutching on each other's thighs and they were each left with bruises the next day. Years later (on a 1999 SportsCenter retrospective about the 1989 World Series earthquake), Michaels would boldly admit his strong belief that had the earthquake lasted much longer than 15 seconds, he would have been killed. Michaels added that the only time that he really had been scared during the earthquake was when he moved in a position which he perceived to be backward. The three announcers were sitting on a ledge with their backs turned and no bracing behind them.

"At this very moment ten days ago, we began our telecast with an aerial view of San Francisco; always a spectacular sight, and particularly so on that day because the cloudless sky of October 17 was ice blue, and the reflections of the late-day sun sparkled like a thousand jewels.

That picture was very much a mirror of the feel and the mood that had enveloped the Bay Area and indeed most of Northern California. Their baseball teams, the Giants and the Athletics, had won pennants, and the people of this region were still basking in the afterglow of each team's success. And this great American sporting classic, the World Series, was, for the time being, exclusively theirs.

Then, of course, that feeling of pure radiance was transformed into horror and grief and despair in fifteen seconds. And now on October 27, like a fighter who's taken a vicious blow to the stomach and has groggily arisen, this region moves on and moves ahead.

And one part of that scenario is the resumption of the World Series. No one in this ballpark tonight- no player, no vendor, no fan, no writer, no announcer, in fact, no one in this area period- can forget the images. The column of smoke in the Marina. The severed bridge. The grotesque tangle of concrete in Oakland. The pictures are embedded in our minds.

And while the mourning and the agonizing and the aftereffects continue, in about thirty minutes the plate umpire, Vic Voltaggio will say 'Play Ball', and the players will play, the vendors will sell, the crowd will exhort, the announcers will announce. And for many of the six million people in this region, it will be like revisiting Fantasyland.

But Fantasyland is where baseball comes from anyway, and maybe, right about now, that's the perfect place for a three-hour rest."

There was later speculation that if Michaels won an arbitration case involving ABC, he would join CBS Sports as its lead baseball announcer. ABC following the 1989 World Series, had lost its baseball package to CBS for the next four years. Michaels had been feuding with the network over an alleged violation of company policy. Michaels' contract with ABC was originally set to expire in late 1992. Ultimately however, ABC announced a contract extension that sources said would keep Michaels at ABC through at least the end of 1995 and would pay him at least $2.2 million annually with the potential to earn more. That would make Michaels the highest-paid sports announcer in television.

The Baseball Network (1994–1995)
In 1994, ABC resumed their relationship with Major League Baseball for the first time since 1989 with a broadcasting joint-venture with NBC dubbed The Baseball Network. Michaels was once again paired with Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver, for whom he had broadcast three World Series (1985, 1987, and 1989), two All-Star Games (1986 and 1988), and the 1988 National League Championship Series with. On the subject of Michaels returning to baseball for the first time since the Loma Prieta earthquake interrupted the World Series, Jim Palmer said, "Here Al is, having done five games since 1989, and steps right in. It's hard to comprehend how one guy could so amaze."

"Hi everyone, and welcome to Baseball Night in America, I'm Al Michaels. And those of us at ABC are delighted to be back in the business of broadcasting baseball for the first time since the 1989 World Series. And it's a brand new concept, we'll have six regular season games on ABC, including tonight and again on Monday night. Then, we'll bring you the Division playoffs in October, part of baseball's new expanded playoff format, and the World Series in late October. Baseball Night in America, a regionalized concept, you'll see a game in your region that's important to those of you in those particular areas. It also gives us the capability of updating games as never before. So sit back, relax and enjoy the premiere of Baseball Night in America as we take you out to the ballgames."

A player's strike in August 1994 would however, force the cancellation of that season's postseason, including the World Series. Then in June 1995, both ABC and NBC announced that they would be dissolving The Baseball Network at the end of the 1995 season. The following month, Michaels along with Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver, called the All-Star Game from Arlington, Texas. Come that October, Michaels, Palmer, and McCarver could call Games 1–2 of the National League Division Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers, Game 4 of the NLDS between the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies, Games 1–2 of the National League Championship Series between Atlanta and Cincinnati, and Games 1, 4–5 of the World Series between Atlanta and the Cleveland Indians.

In what would be the final out that he would call for a baseball broadcast on ABC, Michaels yelled "Back to Georgia!" following Cleveland closer José Mesa's strikeout of Atlanta second baseman Mark Lemke. ABC was in-line to televise a possible seventh game (since NBC was already scheduled to broadcast Game 6), but the Braves wound up clinching the world title two nights later. Game 5 of the 1995 World Series would not only prove to be the final Major League Baseball game that Michaels would call (not counting a one shot appearance on MLB Network for a game between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets on July 8, 2011), but it would also prove to be the last time that a Major League Baseball game would be broadcast on ABC until the 2020 Wild Card series.

Michaels would later write in his 2014 autobiography You Can't Make This Up: Miracles, Memories, and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television that the competition between the two networks could be so juvenile that neither ABC nor NBC wanted to promote each other's telecasts during the 1995 World Series. To give you a better idea, in the middle of Game 1, Michaels was handed a promo that read "Join us here on ABC for Game 4 in Cleveland on Wednesday night and for Game 5 if necessary, Thursday." Michaels however, would soon follow this up by saying "By the way, if you're wondering about Games 2 and 3, I can't tell you exactly where you can see them, but here's a hint: Last night, Bob Costas, Bob Uecker, and Joe Morgan [NBC's broadcast crew] were spotted in Underground Atlanta."

Monday Night Football
Michaels's longest-running assignment was that of the lead play-by-play announcer on ABC's Monday Night Football telecasts, a position he held for 20 seasons beginning in 1986. Before that, his most notable NFL assignment for ABC was hosting (along with Jim Lampley) the pre-game coverage of Super Bowl XIX at the end of the 1984 season. In 1988, he called his first Super Bowl. Three years later, he was on hand to call the thrilling Super Bowl between the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills.

The trio of Michaels, Dan Dierdorf (who joined MNF the year after Michaels's first), and Frank Gifford lasted until the 1997 season when Gifford was replaced following disclosure of an extramarital affair. During the 1980s, Gifford would fill-in for Michaels on play-by-play whenever he went on baseball assignments for the League Championship Series (1986 and 1988) or World Series (1987 and 1989).

Former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason (who left after the 1999 season) replaced Gifford in 1998, and Dierdorf was dropped after that season. Unexpectedly, comedian Dennis Miller joined the cast in 2000 along with Dan Fouts. In 2002, following Miller and Fouts' departure, John Madden joined Michaels in a well-received pairing.

NBA on ABC
After disastrous ratings in the 2003 NBA Finals, ABC decided to revamp their lead NBA broadcast team. Brad Nessler was reassigned to the second broadcast team, where he was joined by Sean Elliott and Dan Majerle. Michaels was hired to replace Nessler as lead broadcaster of the NBA.

For the first several weeks of the 2003–2004 season, he had no partner. However, Doc Rivers, a critically acclaimed analyst when he worked with Turner Sports, became available after a 1–19 start by his Orlando Magic. Rivers was hired weeks before ABC's Christmas Day season opener. He and Michaels worked that game together, one of only six they did together during the regular season (all other games Rivers worked were with Brad Nessler). During the playoffs, the team worked every single telecast, including the 2004 NBA Finals, which saw great improvement in television ratings. During the 2004 NBA Playoffs, Doc Rivers was hired by the Boston Celtics. Though Rivers continued to work games with him throughout the rest of the playoffs, ABC would have to find a new lead color commentator for the 2004–2005 season.

Early in the 2004–2005 season, ABC found a new partner for Al Michaels. Memphis Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown, a broadcasting legend with CBS, TBS, and TNT, was forced into retirement for health reasons and was soon after hired to replace Doc Rivers. He and Brown began their partnership on Christmas Day 2004, working the highly anticipated Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant game. After that game, the two did not do a game together again until March 2005. He became sporadic in NBA coverage, doing two games in early March, and then three more games in April. Brown worked every week of ABC's coverage, broadcasting some games with veteran broadcaster Mike Breen. For the 2005–2006 season, the pair were slated to remain as ABC's lead broadcast team. The duo worked that year's Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat and was expected to work the NBA Finals together as well. However, due to his impending departure to NBC, that plan did not come to fruition.

Replacing him on The NBA on ABC was Mike Breen, who became the lead broadcaster for an over-the-air NBA package for the first time in his career. Breen worked the 2006 NBA Finals with Hubie Brown, as well as all the main games ABC broadcast that year. This gave ABC its first consistent lead broadcaster since Brad Nessler, as Breen (unlike Michaels) did games every week. To put things into proper perspective, during his two-season tenure as ABC's lead NBA broadcaster, he called just 13 of a possible 26 regular season games, with all but two games taking place from either Los Angeles (where he resides) or Sacramento.

Besides his inconsistent work, Michaels (despite being initially seen as adding credibility to ABC's NBA broadcasts in contrast to his predecessor, Brad Nessler) was criticized for apparently lacking the kind of enthusiasm and confidence (for instance, Michaels initially reacted to Amar'e Stoudemire's block of Tim Duncan's shot during the 2005 playoffs by calling it a "great, great contested shot") expected of a No. 1 play-by-play voice. Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News said that Michaels was simply "not a basketball guy". Meanwhile, Bill Simmons said during the 2005 Finals that Michaels "shows up for these games, does his job, then drives home thinking, 'Only five weeks to the [NFL] Hall of Fame Game, I'm almost there!'"

Another criticism that he received was that he too often found himself making tediously long-winded explanations. In return, he would tend to talk over two or three possessions in a row (which Michaels seemed to be better suited for football and baseball broadcasts, for which he's better known). The result was that he would hardly have time to comment on the action viewers were seeing because he was so hung up on a prior subplot or storyline that he felt the audience just had to know about.

ABC loses NFL rights
In 2003, Michaels was quoted as saying, "ABC Sports has been my professional home for the last 26 years, and I am delighted that will continue to be for several more..." after signing a long-term contract extension.

In 2005, it was announced that Monday Night Football would be moving from ABC to ESPN beginning with the 2006 season, and partner John Madden announced he would be joining NBC Sports, which had acquired the rights to Sunday Night Football games. Despite speculation that Michaels might be joining NBC as well, Michaels stated that he would continue as the MNF play-by-play announcer, stating, "I feel like I'm a creature of Monday night. I'm home and I'm staying home." Plans were for Michaels to be teamed with Joe Theismann (who would be coming over from Sunday Night Football) on the Monday night telecasts.

At the time, then-ABC Television President Alex Wallau said, "For 26 years Al has played a pivotal role here at ABC Sports, and for 17 of those years he's been the face and voice synonymous with television's most successful sports franchise, Monday Night Football... It's Al's outstanding play-by-play coverage, coupled with his breadth of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm, that keep MNF fans invigorated, excited and coming back for more." also, "Al Michaels has been invaluable to the Network and we are thrilled to have him remain in our family. [...] Al is the consummate professional and makes everyone around him better" said then-ABC Sports President Howard Katz; however, in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl XL, it was widely speculated that Michaels was attempting to get out of his contract with ESPN to join Madden at NBC. By this time, it was clear that NBC's Sunday Night Football would be the NFL's premier prime-time package, with ESPN's Monday Night Football relegated to secondary match-ups similar to that network's previous Sunday night telecasts. Michaels added fuel to the fire by refusing to state his future plans, and he couldn't "respond to rumors ... because that would become a distraction."

On February 8, 2006, ESPN announced that its Monday Night Football team would consist of Mike Tirico on play-by-play, with Theismann and Tony Kornheiser as analysts. ESPN explicitly stated that Michaels would not return to either Monday Night Football broadcasts or ABC's NBA broadcasts (on which Michaels had been lead NBA play-by-play man).

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit "trade"
On February 9, 2006, NBC confirmed that Michaels would be joining Madden at the network to broadcast football on Sunday nights, thus ending Michaels's 20-year run on Monday Night Football and almost 30 years of service with ABC. In exchange for letting Michaels out of his contract with ABC and ESPN, NBCUniversal sold ESPN cable rights to Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups, granted ESPN increased usage of Olympic highlights, and sold to parent company Disney the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character developed by Walt Disney himself (which he lost in 1928) but previously owned by Universal Pictures (now NBCUniversal). NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol explained, "We earn nothing from those rights; they've had no value in the United States."

Michaels had a bemused take on the "trade". After it was noted to Michaels that the Kansas City Chiefs gave the New York Jets a draft pick as compensation for releasing coach Herman Edwards from his contract, Michaels stated, "Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice. I'm going to be a trivia answer someday." In an article with the magazine Game Informer, Warren Spector, a designer on the game Epic Mickey, stated that Disney CEO Bob Iger wanted Oswald to be in the game so badly, he made this trade to get the rights of the character back.

Sunday Night Football
Michaels and Madden began their new NBC tenure on August 6, 2006, with the network's telecast of the preseason Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, with their regular-season debut on September 7. Michaels called Sunday Night Football with John Madden from August 6, 2006 – April 15, 2009. On April 16, 2009, Cris Collinsworth made an agreement with NBC to join Michaels, replacing Madden for Sunday Night Football. On February 1, 2009, Michaels called Super Bowl XLIII, his first Super Bowl telecast for NBC and seventh overall as a play-by-play announcer. Michaels is the third man to ever do play-by-play for an NBC broadcast of a Super Bowl, following the footsteps of Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg. Michaels also called Super Bowl XLVI on February 5, 2012, Super Bowl XLIX on February 1, 2015, Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018, and Super Bowl LVI on February 13, 2022, and in doing so, he tied Pat Summerall for the most Super Bowls called by a play-by-play announcer, though Summerall still holds the record for the most Super Bowls announced at 16, having also worked Super Bowl I as a sideline reporter and Super Bowls II, IV, VI, and VIII as a color commentator.

Michaels usually ate his dinner while doing play-by-play commentary during a typical broadcast of Sunday Night Football. Michaels would have cookies and grapes during the first half and a light dinner during the second half, having his bites during commercial breaks.

On May 24, 2022, NBC announced that despite his official departure from Sunday Night Football following the 2021 season, Michaels would still call at least one NFL playoff game for NBC under an "emeritus" role, though in December 2023 it was reported that he was cut from postseason coverage on NBC beginning with the 2023–24 NFL playoffs.

NBC Olympic Daytime host
In March 2009, it was announced that Michaels would be serving as the daytime host for NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was Michaels's first involvement in an Olympic telecast since he called ice hockey at the 1988 Calgary Games for ABC, as well as his first non-NFL event for NBC. NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said that Michaels had previously expressed an interest in contributing to the network's Olympics coverage. Michaels also co-hosted NBC's coverage of the Closing Ceremony (with Bob Costas). Michaels also served as daytime co-host (with Dan Patrick) for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and co-hosted the Closing Ceremony (with Costas and Ryan Seacrest). For the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Michaels served as weekday host on NBCSN and weekend daytime host on NBC. He returned to host daytime coverage for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

According to Michaels, ABC was in the running to purchase the broadcasting rights for the 1996 Summer Games from Atlanta. As a provision in his contract renewal with ABC back in 1992, in the event that ABC were to broadcast the Olympics again, Michaels would get to become the prime time anchor while Jim McKay would instead play an emeritus role. Ultimately though, NBC bought the rights to the Atlanta Games for $456 million, edging out ABC by $6 million.

Premier Boxing Champions
In January 2015, NBC announced that Michaels would be at ringside along with Marv Albert and Sugar Ray Leonard for the PBC on NBC Saturday night bouts. In partnership with Haymon Boxing, NBC would televise 20 PBC on NBC events, including five shown in prime time on Saturday nights.

MLB Network (2011)
On July 8, 2011, Michaels teamed up with Bob Costas (with the two announcers alternating between play-by-play and color commentary) to call a game between the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants on MLB Network. It was Michaels's first appearance on a baseball telecast since August 6, 2003 (when he served as a guest commentator on an ESPN game, as previously mentioned) and his first as a primary announcer since Game 5 of the 1995 World Series on ABC. (Michaels had called Games 1, 4 and 5 of that series with Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver, while Costas called Games 2, 3 and 6 with Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker for NBC.) Michaels and Costas also made appearances on SportsNet New York and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area during the game's middle innings, since the MLB Network broadcast was blacked out in the Mets' and Giants' respective home markets.

Thursday Night Football (2016, 2022–present)
Michaels first called Thursday Night Football in 2016, as part of a deal which would see NBC produce several Thursday night games for broadcast on NFL Network with simulcasts on selected games on NBC. The following year, NBC confirmed that Mike Tirico would take over as the voice of NBC-produced Thursday night games.

On March 23, 2022, the NFL and Amazon announced that Michaels would become the full-time play-by-play announcer for Thursday Night Football, alongside Kirk Herbstreit, for the first year of the package airing exclusively on Amazon Prime Video and Twitch.

Throughout his tenure as the play-by-play announcer for Amazon Prime, viewers have repeatedly criticized Michaels for a perceived lack of enthusiasm during games. When asked about his experience calling Thursday night games, Michaels hinted at the suboptimal quality of the games and said, "I mean, you just can't oversell something. Do you want me to sell you a 20-year-old Mazda? That's what you're asking me to do. I can't sell you a used car."

Awards and honors
Sportscasting
 * Five-time Sports Emmy Award winner – Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play
 * Three-time NSMA National Sportscaster of the Year
 * Sportscaster of the Year – American Sportscasters Association (ASA)
 * Sportscaster of the Year – Washington Journalism Review
 * ASA Top 50 Sportscasters of All Time.
 * Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism (2002).
 * Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters "Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award" June 16, 2017

Halls of Fame
 * Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
 * NSMA Hall of Fame inductee (class of 1998)
 * Television Academy Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2013)
 * 2013 Pete Rozelle Radio & Television Award – Pro Football Hall of Fame
 * 2021 Ford C. Frick Award winner – Baseball Hall of Fame

State/local
 * Football stadium at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles (Michaels's alma mater) named Al Michaels Field.

Personal life
Michaels is the eldest child of Jay and Lila Michaels. Michaels has a younger brother, David Michaels, and a younger sister, Susan.

Al Michaels currently resides in Los Angeles. He was 21 years old when he married his wife Linda on August 27, 1966. Al and Linda have two children together, Jennifer and Steven. Steven Michaels serves as president and CEO of independent film company Asylum Entertainment in Los Angeles. Michaels is also a Los Angeles Kings season ticket holder.

Al's younger brother David is a television producer. David Michaels has produced such programs as NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games, Triple Crown, and Fox Sports Net's Beyond the Glory series.

Michaels was arrested and charged for driving under the influence on April 21, 2013. He was released after about five hours. He eventually pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of reckless driving and was sentenced to 80 hours of community service plus probation.

In 2014, Michaels released his autobiography titled You Can't Make This Up: Memories and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television, which reached The New York Times Best Seller list for nonfiction.

Michaels has claimed that he has never knowingly eaten a vegetable in his lifetime.

In popular culture
Michaels had an acting role in a 1970 episode of Hawaii Five-O, and has appeared as himself in the films Jerry Maguire and BASEketball, as well as on several TV shows including Coach and Spin City. His call of the U.S. hockey team's victory in the 1980 Olympics can be heard in the 2004 film Miracle. Michaels re-recorded all his original play-by-play coverage for the film, except for the memorable line.

Brian d'Arcy James portrayed Michaels in the 2002 television movie Monday Night Mayhem. Michaels has also been lampooned on several occasions by noted impressionists, Frank Caliendo and Billy West as well as in the Family Guy episode "Mother Tucker".

Michaels was also the featured voice in HardBall III, a popular computer baseball game for PC. He was also featured, along with John Madden, in the Madden NFL series from Madden NFL 2003 to Madden NFL 09.

Michaels also appeared in two episodes of Arliss, portraying the older cousin of sports agent Arliss Michaels.

Notable broadcasts
Michaels was the play-by-play announcer for all notable events unless otherwise noted.

 * 1972 Winter Olympics men's ice hockey
 * 1972 National League Championship Series
 * 1972 World Series
 * 1977 NAPA National 500
 * 1978 Atlanta 500
 * 1979 Gabriel 400
 * 1979 World Series (Games 3–5)
 * 1980 Atlanta 500
 * 1980 Winter Olympics men's ice hockey ("Miracle on Ice")
 * 1981 World Series (Games 3–5)
 * 1982 Coca-Cola 500
 * 1982 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500
 * 1983 World Series
 * 1984 Winter Olympics men's ice hockey
 * Super Bowl XIX (1985, co-host with Jim Lampley)
 * 1984 Summer Olympics athletics and road bicycle racing
 * 1985 World Series
 * 112th Kentucky Derby (1986, host)
 * 111th Preakness Stakes (1986, host)
 * 123rd Belmont Stakes (1986, host)
 * 1986 American League Championship Series
 * 113th Kentucky Derby (1987, host)
 * 112th Preakness Stakes (1987, host)
 * 124th Belmont Stakes (1987, host)
 * 1987 World Series
 * Super Bowl XXII (1988)
 * 1988 Winter Olympics men's ice hockey
 * 114th Kentucky Derby (1988, host)
 * 113th Preakness Stakes (1988, host)
 * 125th Belmont Stakes (1988, host)
 * 1988 NLCS
 * 1989 Sugar Bowl
 * 115th Kentucky Derby (1989, host)
 * 114th Preakness Stakes (1989, host)
 * 126th Belmont Stakes (1989, host)
 * 1989 World Series
 * 1990 Sugar Bowl
 * 116th Kentucky Derby (1990, host)
 * 115th Preakness Stakes (1990, host)
 * 127th Belmont Stakes (1990, host)
 * 1991 Sugar Bowl
 * Super Bowl XXV (1991)
 * 117th Kentucky Derby (1991, host)
 * 116th Preakness Stakes (1991, host)
 * 128th Belmont Stakes (1991, host)
 * 1992 Sugar Bowl
 * 118th Kentucky Derby (1992, host)
 * 117th Preakness Stakes (1992, host)
 * 129th Belmont Stakes (1992, host)
 * 119th Kentucky Derby (1993, host)
 * 118th Preakness Stakes (1993, host)
 * 1993 Stanley Cup Finals (host)
 * 130th Belmont Stakes (1993, host)
 * 120th Kentucky Derby (1994, host)
 * 119th Preakness Stakes (1994, host)
 * 131st Belmont Stakes (1994, host)
 * Super Bowl XXIX (1995)
 * 121st Kentucky Derby (1995, host)
 * 120th Preakness Stakes (1995, host)
 * 132nd Belmont Stakes (1995, host)
 * 1995 World Series (Games 1, 4–5)
 * 122nd Kentucky Derby (1996, host)
 * 121st Preakness Stakes (1996, host)
 * 133rd Belmont Stakes (1996, host)
 * 123rd Kentucky Derby (1997, host)
 * 122nd Preakness Stakes (1997, host)
 * 134th Belmont Stakes (1997, host)
 * 124th Kentucky Derby (1998, host)
 * 123rd Preakness Stakes (1998, host)
 * 135th Belmont Stakes (1998, host)
 * 125th Kentucky Derby (1999, host)
 * 124th Preakness Stakes (1999, Host)
 * 1999 Indianapolis 500 (host)
 * 136th Belmont Stakes (1999, host)
 * Super Bowl XXXIV (2000)
 * 126th Kentucky Derby (2000, host)
 * 125th Preakness Stakes (2000, host)
 * 2000 Indianapolis 500 (host)
 * 2000 Stanley Cup Finals (host)
 * 137th Belmont Stakes (2000, host)
 * 2001 Indianapolis 500 (host)
 * 2001 Stanley Cup Finals (host)
 * 2002 Stanley Cup Finals (host)
 * Super Bowl XXXVII (2003)
 * NBA on Christmas Day 2004: Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat
 * 2004 NBA Finals
 * NBA on Christmas Day 2005: Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat
 * 2005 NBA Finals
 * Super Bowl XL (2006; last Super Bowl and NFL telecast for ABC)
 * Super Bowl XLIII (2009; last telecast paired with color commentator John Madden)
 * 2010 Winter Olympics (daytime host and co-host of closing ceremony)
 * The "Butt Fumble" November 22, 2012
 * Super Bowl XLVI (2012)
 * 2012 Summer Olympics (daytime host and co-host of closing ceremony)
 * 2014 Winter Olympics (weekday host for NBCSN, weekend daytime host for NBC and co-host for closing ceremony)
 * Super Bowl XLIX (2015)
 * 2016 Summer Olympics (daytime co-host)
 * Super Bowl LII (2018)
 * Super Bowl LVI (2022)
 * The Sign (Bluey) (2024)

Career timeline

 * 1968–1970: Hawaii Islanders Play-by-play
 * 1971–1973: Cincinnati Reds Radio Play-by-play
 * 1971–1974: NFL on NBC Play-by-play
 * 1972 and 1980–1988: Winter Olympics Hockey Play-by-play (NBC 1972, ABC 1980–1988)
 * 1973–1975: UCLA Basketball TV Play-by-play
 * 1974–1976: San Francisco Giants TV & Radio Play-by-play
 * 1975: NFL on CBS Play-by-play
 * 1976–1989, 1994–1995: Major League Baseball on ABC Play-by-play (Lead Play-by-play from 1983 to 1989 and 1994 to 1995)
 * 1977–1985: College Football on ABC Play-by-play
 * 1986–2000: Kentucky Derby Host (ABC)
 * 1986–2000: Preakness Stakes Host (ABC)
 * 1986–2000: Belmont Stakes Host (ABC)
 * 1986–2005: ABC Monday Night Football Play-by-play
 * 1987–1989: College Basketball on ABC Play-by-play
 * 1989–1992: Sugar Bowl Play-by-play (ABC)
 * 2000–2002: NHL on ABC Stanley Cup Finals host
 * 2003–2005: NBA on ABC Play-by-play
 * 2006–2021: NBC Sunday Night Football Play-by-play
 * 2015: PBC on NBC Host
 * 2016: Thursday Night Football on NBC/NFL Network Play-by-play
 * 2022–present: Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video Play-by-play
 * 2022–present: NBC Sports Emeritus role

Broadcast partners

 * Hank Stram
 * Hubie Brown
 * Frank Broyles
 * Nelson Burton, Jr.
 * Norm Cash
 * Cris Collinsworth
 * Howard Cosell
 * Heather Cox
 * Dan Dierdorf
 * Ken Dryden
 * Don Drysdale
 * Boomer Esiason
 * Dan Fouts
 * Bob Gibson
 * Frank Gifford
 * Lisa Guerrero
 * Lee Grosscup
 * Kaylee Hartung
 * Kirk Herbstreit
 * Suzy Kolber
 * Andrea Kremer
 * Tommy Lasorda
 * John Madden
 * Tim McCarver
 * Dennis Miller
 * Joe Nuxhall
 * Jim Palmer
 * Ara Parseghian
 * Doc Rivers
 * Lon Simmons
 * Melissa Stark
 * Michele Tafoya
 * Kathryn Tappen
 * Mike Tirico
 * Bob Uecker
 * Lesley Visser
 * Wayne Walker
 * Earl Weaver
 * Bill White

title: Al Michaels


text:
Brown-capped rosy finch

The brown-capped rosy finch (Leucosticte australis) is a medium-sized finch endemic to North America.

Adults are brown on the head, back, and breast with pink on the belly, rump, and wings. The forehead is black. They have short black legs and a long forked tail.

Their breeding habitat is mountain peaks in the central Rocky Mountains of the United States. They build a cup nest in a cavity on a cliff, or re-use abandoned cliff swallow nests.

In winter, these birds migrate short distances to lower elevations.

These birds forage on the ground, but may fly to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat seeds from weeds and grasses and insects. They often feed in small flocks.

At one time, the three North American rosy finches were considered to be one species.

The population of this bird appears to be declining.

Book

 * Johnson, R. E., P. Hendricks, D. L. Pattie, and K. B. Hunter. 2000. Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte australis). In The Birds of North America, No. 536 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Articles

 * Banks RC & Browning MR. (1980). Correct Citations for Some North American Bird Taxa. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. vol 92, no 1. pp. 195–203.
 * Hendricks DP. (1977). Brown-Capped Rosy Finch Nesting in New-Mexico. Auk. vol 94, no 2. pp. 384–385.
 * Hendricks P. (1978). Notes on the Courtship Behavior of Brown-Capped Rosy Finches. Wilson Bulletin. vol 90, no 2. pp. 285–287.
 * Hendricks P. (1980). Reaction of Brown-Capped Rosy Finches Leucosticte-Australis to Banded Nestlings. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol 51, no 2.
 * Johnson RE. (1965). Reproductive activities of rosy finches, with special reference to Montana. Auk vol 82 pp. 190–205.
 * Johnson RE. (1977). Seasonal Variation in the Genus Leucosticte in North America. Condor. vol 79, no 1. pp. 76–86.
 * Marti CD & Braun CE. (1975). Use of Tundra Habitats by Prairie Falcons in Colorado USA. Condor. vol 77 pp. 213–214.
 * Shreeve D. F. (1980). Behaviour of the Aleutian Grey-crowned and Brown-capped rosy finches Leucosticte tephrocotis. Ibis vol 122 pp. 145–165.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Brown-capped rosy finch


text:
Ray Solomonoff

Ray Solomonoff (July 25, 1926 – December 7, 2009) was an American mathematician who invented algorithmic probability, his General Theory of Inductive Inference (also known as Universal Inductive Inference), and was a founder of algorithmic information theory. He was an originator of the branch of artificial intelligence based on machine learning, prediction and probability. He circulated the first report on non-semantic machine learning in 1956.

Solomonoff first described algorithmic probability in 1960, publishing the theorem that launched Kolmogorov complexity and algorithmic information theory. He first described these results at a conference at Caltech in 1960, and in a report, Feb. 1960, "A Preliminary Report on a General Theory of Inductive Inference." He clarified these ideas more fully in his 1964 publications, "A Formal Theory of Inductive Inference," Part I and Part II.

Algorithmic probability is a mathematically formalized combination of Occam's razor,   and the Principle of Multiple Explanations. It is a machine independent method of assigning a probability value to each hypothesis (algorithm/program) that explains a given observation, with the simplest hypothesis (the shortest program) having the highest probability and the increasingly complex hypotheses receiving increasingly small probabilities.

Solomonoff founded the theory of universal inductive inference, which is based on solid philosophical foundations and has its root in Kolmogorov complexity and algorithmic information theory. The theory uses algorithmic probability in a Bayesian framework. The universal prior is taken over the class of all computable measures; no hypothesis will have a zero probability. This enables Bayes' rule (of causation) to be used to predict the most likely next event in a series of events, and how likely it will be.

Although he is best known for algorithmic probability and his general theory of inductive inference, he made many other important discoveries throughout his life, most of them directed toward his goal in artificial intelligence: to develop a machine that could solve hard problems using probabilistic methods.

Life history through 1964
Ray Solomonoff was born on July 25, 1926, in Cleveland, Ohio, son of Jewish Russian immigrants Phillip Julius and Sarah Mashman Solomonoff. He attended Glenville High School, graduating in 1944. In 1944 he joined the United States Navy as Instructor in Electronics. From 1947–1951 he attended the University of Chicago, studying under Professors such as Rudolf Carnap and Enrico Fermi, and graduated with an M.S. in Physics in 1951.

From his earliest years he was motivated by the pure joy of mathematical discovery and by the desire to explore where no one had gone before. At the age of 16, in 1942, he began to search for a general method to solve mathematical problems.

In 1952 he met Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy and others interested in machine intelligence. In 1956 Minsky and McCarthy and others organized the Dartmouth Summer Research Conference on Artificial Intelligence, where Solomonoff was one of the original 10 invitees—he, McCarthy, and Minsky were the only ones to stay all summer. It was for this group that Artificial Intelligence was first named as a science. Computers at the time could solve very specific mathematical problems, but not much else. Solomonoff wanted to pursue a bigger question, how to make machines more generally intelligent, and how computers could use probability for this purpose.

Work history through 1964
He wrote three papers, two with Anatol Rapoport, in 1950–52, that are regarded as the earliest statistical analysis of networks.

He was one of the 10 attendees at the 1956 Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence. He wrote and circulated a report among the attendees: "An Inductive Inference Machine". It viewed machine learning as probabilistic, with an emphasis on the importance of training sequences, and on the use of parts of previous solutions to problems in constructing trial solutions for new problems. He published a version of his findings in 1957. These were the first papers to be written on probabilistic machine learning.

In the late 1950s, he invented probabilistic languages and their associated grammars. A probabilistic language assigns a probability value to every possible string. Generalizing the concept of probabilistic grammars led him to his discovery in 1960 of Algorithmic Probability and General Theory of Inductive Inference.

Prior to the 1960s, the usual method of calculating probability was based on frequency: taking the ratio of favorable results to the total number of trials. In his 1960 publication, and, more completely, in his 1964 publications, Solomonoff seriously revised this definition of probability. He called this new form of probability "Algorithmic Probability" and showed how to use it for prediction in his theory of inductive inference. As part of this work, he produced the philosophical foundation for the use of Bayes rule of causation for prediction.

The basic theorem of what was later called Kolmogorov Complexity was part of his General Theory. Writing in 1960, he begins: "Consider a very long sequence of symbols ... We shall consider such a sequence of symbols to be 'simple' and have a high a priori probability, if there exists a very brief description of this sequence – using, of course, some sort of stipulated description method. More exactly, if we use only the symbols 0 and 1 to express our description, we will assign the probability 2−N to a sequence of symbols if its shortest possible binary description contains  N digits."

The probability is with reference to a particular universal Turing machine. Solomonoff showed and in 1964 proved that the choice of machine, while it could add a constant factor would not change the probability ratios very much. These probabilities are machine independent.

In 1965, the Russian mathematician Kolmogorov independently published similar ideas. When he became aware of Solomonoff's work, he acknowledged Solomonoff, and for several years, Solomonoff's work was better known in the Soviet Union than in the Western World. The general consensus in the scientific community, however, was to associate this type of complexity with Kolmogorov, who was more concerned with randomness of a sequence. Algorithmic Probability and Universal (Solomonoff) Induction became associated with Solomonoff, who was focused on prediction — the extrapolation of a sequence.

Later in the same 1960 publication Solomonoff describes his extension of the single-shortest-code theory. This is Algorithmic Probability. He states: "It would seem that if there are several different methods of describing a sequence, each of these methods should be given some weight in determining the probability of that sequence." He then shows how this idea can be used to generate the universal a priori probability distribution and how it enables the use of Bayes rule in inductive inference. Inductive inference, by adding up the predictions of all models describing a particular sequence, using suitable weights based on the lengths of those models, gets the probability distribution for the extension of that sequence. This method of prediction has since become known as Solomonoff induction.

He enlarged his theory, publishing a number of reports leading up to the publications in 1964. The 1964 papers give a more detailed description of Algorithmic Probability, and Solomonoff Induction, presenting five different models, including the model popularly called the Universal Distribution.

Work history from 1964 to 1984
Other scientists who had been at the 1956 Dartmouth Summer Conference (such as Newell and Simon) were developing the branch of Artificial Intelligence that used machines governed by if-then rules, fact based. Solomonoff was developing the branch of Artificial Intelligence that focussed on probability and prediction; his specific view of A.I. described machines that were governed by the Algorithmic Probability distribution. The machine generates theories together with their associated probabilities, to solve problems, and as new problems and theories develop, updates the probability distribution on the theories.

In 1968 he found a proof for the efficacy of Algorithmic Probability, but mainly because of lack of general interest at that time, did not publish it until 10 years later. In his report, he published the proof for the convergence theorem.

In the years following his discovery of Algorithmic Probability he focused on how to use this probability and Solomonoff Induction in actual prediction and problem solving for A.I. He also wanted to understand the deeper implications of this probability system.

One important aspect of Algorithmic Probability is that it is complete and incomputable.

In the 1968 report he shows that Algorithmic Probability is complete; that is, if there is any describable regularity in a body of data, Algorithmic Probability will eventually discover that regularity, requiring a relatively small sample of that data. Algorithmic Probability is the only probability system known to be complete in this way. As a necessary consequence of its completeness it is incomputable. The incomputability is because some algorithms—a subset of those that are partially recursive—can never be evaluated fully because it would take too long. But these programs will at least be recognized as possible solutions. On the other hand, any computable system is incomplete. There will always be descriptions outside that system's search space, which will never be acknowledged or considered, even in an infinite amount of time. Computable prediction models hide this fact by ignoring such algorithms.

In many of his papers he described how to search for solutions to problems and in the 1970s and early 1980s developed what he felt was the best way to update the machine.

The use of probability in A.I., however, did not have a completely smooth path. In the early years of A.I., the relevance of probability was problematic. Many in the A.I. community felt probability was not usable in their work. The area of pattern recognition did use a form of probability, but because there was no broadly based theory of how to incorporate probability in any A.I. field, most fields did not use it at all.

There were, however, researchers such as Pearl and Peter Cheeseman who argued that probability could be used in artificial intelligence.

About 1984, at an annual meeting of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), it was decided that probability was in no way relevant to A.I.

A protest group formed, and the next year there was a workshop at the AAAI meeting devoted to "Probability and Uncertainty in AI." This yearly workshop has continued to the present day.

As part of the protest at the first workshop, Solomonoff gave a paper on how to apply the universal distribution to problems in A.I. This was an early version of the system he has been developing since that time.

In that report, he described the search technique he had developed. In search problems, the best order of search, is time $$T_i/P_i$$, where $$T_i$$ is the time needed to test the trial and $$P_i$$ is the probability of success of that trial. He called this the "Conceptual Jump Size" of the problem. Levin's search technique approximates this order, and so Solomonoff, who had studied Levin's work, called this search technique Lsearch.

Work history — the later years
In other papers he explored how to limit the time needed to search for solutions, writing on resource bounded search. The search space is limited by available time or computation cost rather than by cutting out search space as is done in some other prediction methods, such as Minimum Description Length.

Throughout his career Solomonoff was concerned with the potential benefits and dangers of A.I., discussing it in many of his published reports. In 1985 he analyzed a likely evolution of A.I., giving a formula predicting when it would reach the "Infinity Point". This work is part of the history of thought about a possible technological singularity.

Originally algorithmic induction methods extrapolated ordered sequences of strings. Methods were needed for dealing with other kinds of data.

A 1999 report, generalizes the Universal Distribution and associated convergence theorems to unordered sets of strings and a 2008 report, to unordered pairs of strings.

In 1997, 2003 and 2006 he showed that incomputability and subjectivity are both necessary and desirable characteristics of any high performance induction system.

In 1970 he formed his own one man company, Oxbridge Research, and continued his research there except for periods at other institutions such as MIT, University of Saarland in Germany and the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Lugano, Switzerland. In 2003 he was the first recipient of the Kolmogorov Award by The Computer Learning Research Center at the Royal Holloway, University of London, where he gave the inaugural Kolmogorov Lecture. Solomonoff was most recently a visiting professor at the CLRC.

In 2006 he spoke at AI@50, "Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence Conference: the Next Fifty Years" commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the original Dartmouth summer study group. Solomonoff was one of five original participants to attend.

In Feb. 2008, he gave the keynote address at the Conference "Current Trends in the Theory and Application of Computer Science" (CTTACS), held at Notre Dame University in Lebanon. He followed this with a short series of lectures, and began research on new applications of Algorithmic Probability.

Algorithmic Probability and Solomonoff Induction have many advantages for Artificial Intelligence. Algorithmic Probability gives extremely accurate probability estimates. These estimates can be revised by a reliable method so that they continue to be acceptable. It utilizes search time in a very efficient way. In addition to probability estimates, Algorithmic Probability "has for AI another important value: its multiplicity of models gives us many different ways to understand our data;

A description of Solomonoff's life and work prior to 1997 is in "The Discovery of Algorithmic Probability", Journal of Computer and System Sciences, Vol 55, No. 1, pp 73–88, August 1997. The paper, as well as most of the others mentioned here, are available on his website at the publications page.

In an article published the year of his death, a journal article said of Solomonoff: "A very conventional scientist understands his science using a single 'current paradigm'—the way of understanding that is most in vogue at the present time. A more creative scientist understands his science in very many ways, and can more easily create new theories, new ways of understanding, when the 'current paradigm' no longer fits the current data".

title: Ray Solomonoff


text:
Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, also known as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and CCAMLR, is part of the Antarctic Treaty System.

The convention was opened for signature on 1 August 1980 and entered into force on 7 April 1982 by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, headquartered in Tasmania, Australia. The goal is to preserve marine life and environmental integrity in and near Antarctica.

It was established in large part to concerns that an increase in krill catches in the Southern Ocean could have a serious impact on populations of other marine life which are dependent upon krill for food.

In 1989, CCAMLR set up the Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP) to further monitor the effects of fishing and harvesting of species in the area.

On 19 October 2022, Ecuador became a New Member of the Commission, the 26th member of the CCAMLR.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
In 2009, the Commission agreed by consensus to creating a representative network of MPAs by 2012. It was the first international body to do this based on recommendations from the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development. In 2011, it identified nine planning domains within which to designate these protected areas.

South Orkneys MPA
In 2009, the Commission agreed by consensus to establish the world's first high-seas MPA to protect ocean surrounding the South Orkney Islands in the south Atlantic Ocean.

It was proposed by the United Kingdom and covers 94,000 km2. It came into force in May 2010.

Ross Sea MPA
In 2010, a proposal for an MPA in the Ross Sea were put forward by both the US and New Zealand. These were later combined as a joint proposal.

In July 2013, the Commission held a special meeting in Bremerhaven to consider proposals for MPAs in both the Ross Sea and East Antarctica. Consensus was not reached after Russia voted against the proposals, citing uncertainty about whether the commission had the authority to establish a protected area.

On 28 October 2016, after several years of scientific and diplomatic discussions, the Commission agreed by consensus to designate the Ross Sea marine protected area at its annual meeting in Hobart. The protected area covers 1.55 million square kilometres of ocean, of which 72% is a no-take zone. The remaining 28% include some harvesting of fish and krill for the purpose of scientific research.

The Ross Sea MPA will be in force for 35 years. At the end of its review period in 2052, CCAMLR Members must agree by consensus to renew or modify it as needed.

East Antarctic MPA
In 2010, Australia, France and the European Union submitted a proposal for an MPA in East Antarctica. It originally included seven representative areas with varying degrees of protection and covered 1.8 million square kilometres of ocean. By 2017, these were scaled back to three areas covering just under 1 million square kilometres. This was due to the political concerns and economic interests expressed by some Member states. The proposal was also amended to include an expiration of 30 years after designation and the ability to review its monitoring and management every ten years. It has been under consideration by the Commission since 2012.


text:
Christian Gmelin

Christian Gottlob Gmelin (12 October 1792 – 13 May 1860) was a German chemist. He was born in Tübingen, Holy Roman Empire, and was a grandson of Johann Konrad Gmelin and a great-grandson of Johann Georg Gmelin.

Scientific career
In 1818, Gmelin was one of the first to observe that lithium salts give a bright red color in a flame.

In 1826, Jean-Baptiste Guimet was credited with having devised a process for the artificial manufacture of ultramarine. Two years later, in 1828, Gmelin published his own process for the artificial manufacture of ultramarine. Since Gmelin was the first to publish this process, he received the recognition for this discovery. In his publication, Gmelin stated that silica, alumina, and soda are the main constituents of ultramarine and the rich color comes from sulfur.

Death
Gmelin died in Tübingen, Germany, where he spent his entire life, on May 13, 1860.

Works

 * Einleitung in die Chemie . Vol.1&2 . Laupp, Thüringen 1835-1837 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf

title: Christian Gmelin


text:
Subtropics

The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and south. The horse latitudes lie within this range.

Subtropical climates are often characterized by hot summers and mild winters with infrequent frost. Most subtropical climates fall into two basic types: humid subtropical (Köppen climate classification: Cfa/Cwa), where rainfall is often concentrated in the warmest months, for example Southeast China and the Southeastern United States, and dry summer or Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa/Csb), where seasonal rainfall is concentrated in the cooler months, such as the Mediterranean Basin or Southern California.

Subtropical climates can also occur at high elevations within the tropics, such as in the southern end of the Mexican Plateau and in Da Lat of the Vietnamese Central Highlands. The six climate classifications use the term to help define the various temperature and precipitation regimes for planet Earth.

A great portion of the world's deserts are within the subtropics, as this is where the semi-permanent subtropical anticyclone resides (typically inland on the southwest sides of continents). Areas bordering warm oceans (typically on the southeast sides of continents) have hot and wet summers with frequent (but brief) convective rainfall (tropical cyclones can also contribute to annual rainfall). Areas bordering cool oceans (typically on the southwest sides of continents) are prone to fog, aridity, and dry summers. Plants such as palms, citrus, mango, pistachio, lychee, and avocado are grown in the subtropics.

Definition
The tropics have been historically defined as lying between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes north and south, respectively. According to the American Meteorological Society, the poleward fringe of the subtropics is at latitudes approximately 35° north and south, respectively.

Several methods have been used to define the subtropical climate depending on the climate system used.

The most well known is the Trewartha climate classification, which defines a subtropical region as one that has at least eight months with a mean temperature greater than 10 °C and at least one month with a mean temperature under 18 °C.

German climatologists Carl Troll and Karlheinz Paffen defined warm temperate zones as plain and hilly lands having an average temperature of the coldest month between 2 °C and 13 °C in the Northern Hemisphere and between 6 °C and 13 °C in the Southern Hemisphere, excluding oceanic and continental climates. According to the Troll-Paffen climate classification, there generally exists one large subtropical zone named the warm-temperate subtropical zone, which is subdivided into seven smaller areas.

According to the E. Neef climate classification, the subtropical zone is divided into two parts: rainy winters of the west sides and eastern subtropical climate. According to the Wilhelm Lauer & Peter Frankenberg climate classification, the subtropical zone is divided into three parts: high-continental, continental, and maritime. According to the Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification, subtropical is one of six climate zones in the world.

Leslie Holdridge defined the subtropical climates as having a mean annual biotemperature between the frost line or critical temperature line, 16 °C to 18 °C (depending on locations in the world), and 24 °C. The frost line separates the warm temperate region from the subtropical region. It represents the dividing line between two major physiological groups of evolved plants. Most of the plants are sensitive to low temperatures on the warmer side of the line. They can be killed back by frosts as they have not evolved to withstand periods of cold. On the colder temperate side of the line, the total flora is adapted to survive periods of variable lengths of low temperatures, whether as seeds in the case of the annuals or as perennial plants that can withstand the cold. The 16 °C–18 °C segment is often "simplified" as 17 °C $\bigl(2^{(\log_{2}12\ +\ 0.5)}\ ^\circ\! \mathrm{C} \approx16.97\ ^\circ\! \mathrm{C}\bigr)$.

The Holdridge subtropical climates straddle more or less the warmest subtropical climates and the less warm tropical climates as defined by the Köppen-Geiger or Trewartha climate classifications.

However Wladimir Köppen has distinguished the hot or subtropical and tropical (semi-)arid climates (BWh or BSh) having an average annual temperature greater than or equal to 18 °C from the cold or temperate (semi-)arid climates (BWk or BSk) whose annual temperature average is lower. This definition, though restricted to dry regions, is almost similar to Holdridge's.

Rainfall
Heating of the earth by the sun near the equator leads to large amounts of upward motion and convection winds along the monsoon trough or intertropical convergence zone. The upper-level divergence over the near-equatorial trough leads to air rising and moving away from the equator aloft. As the air moves towards the mid-latitudes, it cools, gets denser and sinks, which leads to subsidence near the 30th parallel of both hemispheres. This circulation is known as the Hadley cell and leads to the formation of the subtropical ridge. Many of the world's deserts are caused by these climatological high-pressure areas, within the subtropics. This regime is known as a semiarid/arid subtropical climate, which is generally in areas adjacent to powerful cold ocean currents. Examples of this climate are the coastal areas of Southern Africa and the west coast of South America.

The humid subtropical climate is often on the western side of the subtropical high. Here, unstable tropical airmasses in summer bring convective overturning and frequent tropical downpours, and summer is normally the season of peak annual rainfall. In the winter (dry season) the monsoon retreats, and the drier trade winds bring more stable airmass and often dry weather, and frequent sunny skies. Areas that have this type of subtropical climate include Australia, Southeast Asia, and parts of South America. In areas bounded by warm ocean like the southeastern United States and East Asia, tropical cyclones can contribute significantly to local rainfall within the subtropics. Japan receives over half of its rainfall from typhoons.

The Mediterranean climate is a subtropical climate, usually found on the western side of continents, with a wet season in winter and a dry season in the summer. Regions with this type of climate include the rim lands of the Mediterranean Sea, southwestern Australia, parts of the west coast of South America around Santiago and the coastal areas of the lower west coast of the United States.

Flora
These climates do not routinely see hard freezes or snow due to winter on average being above freezing, which allows plants such as palms and citrus to flourish. As one moves toward the tropical side the slight winter cool season disappears, while at the poleward threshold of the subtropics the winters become cooler. Some crops which have been traditionally farmed in tropical climates, such as mango, litchi, avocado and aloe vera, are also cultivated in the subtropics. Pest control of the crops is easier than in the tropics, due to the cooler winters.

Tree ferns (pteridophytes) are grown in subtropical areas, as are dracaena and yucca, and trees in the Taxaceae. Apple, pear and pomegranate also grow well in the subtropics.

Humid subtropical climate

The humid subtropical climate is a subtropical climate type characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. This climate can be found in northern Middle East, northern South Asia, northern Indochina, eastern Australia, southern and southeastern China, southern Japan, the deep southeastern United States, southeastern South America, southeastern Southern Africa, northcentral Southern Europe, and southern and southwestern Eastern Europe.

In most humid subtropical climates, summer is the wettest season. In summer, the subtropical high pressure cells provide a sultry southernly flow of tropical air with high dew points, and frequent (but brief) convective showers are common. With decreasing latitude most humid subtropical climates typically have drier winters and wetter summers, however some sectors with this climate see a more even rhythm of seasonal rainfall. Tropical lows and weakening tropical storms often contribute to seasonal rainfall in most humid subtropical climates. In the cool season (winter) the subtropical highs retreat, and the humid subtropics are more influenced by the westerlies and the fronts and storms that move with them.

Subtropical highland climate
The Subtropical highland climate is a climate variant often grouped together with oceanic climates found in some mountainous areas of either the subtropics or tropics. It has characteristically mild temperatures year-round, featuring the four seasons in the subtropics and no marked seasons in the tropics, the latter usually remaining mild to cool through most of the year. Subtropical highland climates under the Cfb classification usually have rainfall spread relatively evenly in all months of the year similar to most oceanic climates while climates under the Cwb classification have significant monsoon influence, usually having dry winters and wet summers.

Mediterranean climate

The Mediterranean climate regime resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, parts of lower West Coast of the United States, parts of Western and South Australia, in southwestern South Africa and in parts of central Chile. The climate is characterized by hot dry summers and cooler winters with rainfall. In Europe, the northernmost mediterranean climates are found along the Italian Riviera, at 44° latitude. Parts of southwestern Australia around Perth have a Mediterranean climate as do areas around coastal South Africa.

Semi-desert/desert climate

According to Köppen, arid subtropical climates are characterized by an annual average temperature above 18 °C, the absence of regular rainfall, and high humidity.

title: Subtropics


text:
Aluminum can

An aluminum can (British English: aluminium can) is a single-use container for packaging made primarily of aluminum. It is commonly used for food and beverages such as olives and soup but also for products such as oil, chemicals, and other liquids. Global production is 180 billion annually and constitutes the largest single use of aluminum globally.

Usage
Use of aluminum in cans began in 1957. Aluminum offers greater malleability, resulting in ease of manufacture; this gave rise to the two-piece can, where all but the top of the can is simply stamped out of a single piece of aluminum, rather than constructed from two pieces of steel. The inside of the can is lined by spray coating an epoxy lacquer or polymer to protect the aluminum from being corroded by acidic contents such as carbonated beverages and imparting a metallic taste to the beverage. The epoxy may contain bisphenol A. A label is either printed directly on the side of the can or will be glued to the outside of the curved surface, indicating its contents.

Most aluminum cans are made of two pieces. The bottom and body are "drawn" or "drawn and ironed" from a flat plate or shallow cup. After filling, the can "end" is sealed onto the top of the can. This is supplemented by a sealing compound to ensure that the top is air tight.

The advantages of aluminum over steel (tinplate) cans include; The easy-open aluminum end for beverage cans was developed by Alcoa in 1962 for the Pittsburgh Brewing Company and is now used in nearly all of the canned beer market.
 * light weight
 * competitive cost
 * usage of easy-open aluminum ends: no need for a can opener
 * clean appearance
 * aluminum does not rust
 * easy to press into shape

Recycling
Aluminum cans can be made with recycled aluminum. In 2017, 3.8 million tons of aluminum were generated in the US of which 0.62 million tons were recycled - a recycling rate of 16%. According to estimates from the Aluminum Association, a large amount of aluminium remains unrecycled in the US, where roughly $700 million worth of cans end up in landfills each year. In 2012, 92% of the aluminum beverage cans sold in Switzerland were recycled. Cans are the most recycled beverage container, at a rate of 69% worldwide.

One issue is that the top of the can is made from a blend of aluminum and magnesium to increase its strength. When the can is melted for recycling, the mixture is unsuitable for either the top or the bottom/side. Instead of mixing recycled metal with more aluminum (to soften it) or magnesium (to harden it), a new approach uses annealing to produce an alloy that works for both.

The aluminum can is also considered the most valuable recyclable material in an average recycling bin. It is estimated that Americans throw away nearly 1 billion dollars a year in wasted aluminum. The aluminum industry pays nearly 800 million dollars a year for recycled aluminum since it is so versatile.

Because of the advantages of aluminium packaging (shelf life, durability, food grade factor) over plastics, it is considered an alternative to PET bottles, with the possibility of replacing the majority of them in the next decades.

Cans as collectibles
Some people collect cans as a hobby. Can collections can be exclusive to one sector only, eg., some collectors may collect soda cans only, while others may dedicate themselves to collecting beer cans or oil cans exclusively, but some collectors may collect cans regardless of the type of can.

One aspect that may make someone interested in building a can collection as a hobby is the variety of cans available worldwide promoting such things as films, musical albums and tours, sporting teams and events, countries, ideals and even some non-food or petrol-oriented brands and companies.

Celebrities can also be featured on collectible cans; such was the case of tennis player Andre Agassi, who had a set of four Pepsi Max soda cans dedicated to him in 1996.

Davide Andreani of Italy is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest collection of soda cans of one specific brand in the world, with over 20,000 cans in his collection. According to a website named canmuseum.com, the largest collection of Pepsi Cola cans belongs to Chris Cavaletti, also of Italy, who owned 12,402 Pepsi Cola cans from 81 countries as of 2022, while the largest collection of Coca-Cola soda cans belonged to Gary Feng of Canada with 11,308 variations of the Coca-Cola cans from 108 countries collected, with William B. Christensen of the United States owning the largest collection of beer cans with 75,000 from 125 countries and Allan Green, of the United States also, with the largest collection of wine cans, at 449.

Some webpages are dedicated to the hobby of can collecting.

title: Aluminum can


text:
Johann Friedrich Gmelin

Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist.

Education
Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp Friedrich Gmelin in 1748 in Tübingen. He studied medicine under his father at University of Tübingen and graduated with a Master's degree in 1768, with a thesis entitled: Irritabilitatem vegetabilium, in singulis plantarum partibus exploratam ulterioribusque experimentis confirmatam, defended under the presidency of Ferdinand Christoph Oetinger, whom he thanks with the words Patrono et praeceptore in aeternum pie devenerando, pro summis in medicina obtinendis honoribus.

Career
In 1769, Gmelin became an adjunct professor of medicine at University of Tübingen. In 1773, he became professor of philosophy and adjunct professor of medicine at University of Göttingen. He was promoted to full professor of medicine and professor of chemistry, botany, and mineralogy in 1778. He died in 1804 in Göttingen and is buried there in the Albani cemetery with his wife Rosine Louise Gmelin (1755–1828, née Schott).

Johann Friedrich Gmelin when young became an "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus, probably when Linnaeus was working in the Netherlands, and undertook a plant-collecting expedition to "Persia" on his behalf. Later in life he published several textbooks in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceutical science, mineralogy, and botany. He also edited and published the posthumous 13th edition of Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus from 1788 to 1793. This contained descriptions and scientific names of many new species, including birds that had earlier been catalogued without a scientific name by John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. Gmelin's publication is cited as the authority for over 290 bird species and also a number of butterfly species.

Legacy
Among his students were Georg Friedrich Hildebrandt, Carl Friedrich Kielmeyer, Friedrich Stromeyer, and Wilhelm August Lampadius. He was the father of Leopold Gmelin.

He described the redfin pickerel in 1789. In the scientific field of herpetology, he described many new species of amphibians and reptiles. In the field of malacology, he described and named many species of gastropods.

The plant genus Gmelina was named after J.F. Gmelin (or possibly J.G. Gmelin) by Linnaeus.

The abbreviation "Gmel." is also found.

Publications

 * Allgemeine Geschichte der Gifte, 2 Vol., 1776/77 Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 * Allgemeine Geschichte der Pflanzengifte, 1777
 * Allgemeine Geschichte der mineralischen Gifte. Nürnberg: Raspe, 1777. Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 * Johann Friedrich Gmelins ... Einleitung in die Chemie zum Gebrauch auf Universitäten. Nürnberg: Raspe, 1780. Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 * Einleitung in die Pharmacie. Nürnberg: Raspe, 1781. Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 * Beyträge zur Geschichte des teutschen Bergbaus, 1783
 * Über die neuere Entdeckungen in der Lehre von der Luft, und deren Anwendung auf Arzneikunst, in Briefen an einen Arzt, von J. F. Gmelin, 1784
 * Grundsätze der technischen Chemie, 1786
 * Caroli a Linné, equitis aurati de stella polari, … Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata, Lipsiae [Leipzig], Georg Emanuel Beer, 1788–1793
 * Grundriß der Pharmazie, 1792
 * Apparatus Medicaminum tam simplicium quam praeparatorum et compositorum in Praxeos Adiumentum consideratus, Ps. 2, T. 1 – Ps. 2, T. 2., 1795–1796. Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
 * Geschichte der Chemie, 1799
 * Allgemeine Geschichte der thierischen und mineralischen Gifte, 1806
 * Allgemeine Geschichte der thierischen und mineralischen Gifte, 1806

title: Johann Friedrich Gmelin


text:
Algorithmic probability

In algorithmic information theory, algorithmic probability, also known as Solomonoff probability, is a mathematical method of assigning a prior probability to a given observation. It was invented by Ray Solomonoff in the 1960s. It is used in inductive inference theory and analyses of algorithms. In his general theory of inductive inference, Solomonoff uses the method together with Bayes' rule to obtain probabilities of prediction for an algorithm's future outputs.

In the mathematical formalism used, the observations have the form of finite binary strings viewed as outputs of Turing machines, and the universal prior is a probability distribution over the set of finite binary strings calculated from a probability distribution over programs (that is, inputs to a universal Turing machine). The prior is universal in the Turing-computability sense, i.e. no string has zero probability. It is not computable, but it can be approximated.

Formally, the probability $$P$$ is not a probability and it is not computable. It is only "lower semi-computable" and a "semi-measure". By "semi-measure", it means that $$0 \le \sum_x P(x) < 1$$. That is, the "probability" does not actually sum up to one, unlike actual probabilities. This is because some inputs to the Turing machine causes it to never halt, which means the probability mass allocated to those inputs is lost. By "lower semi-computable", it means there is a Turing machine that, given an input string $$x$$, can print out a sequence $$y_1 < y_2 < \cdots$$ that converges to $$P(x)$$ from below, but there is no such Turing machine that does the same from above.

Overview
Algorithmic probability is the main ingredient of Solomonoff's theory of inductive inference, the theory of prediction based on observations; it was invented with the goal of using it for machine learning; given a sequence of symbols, which one will come next? Solomonoff's theory provides an answer that is optimal in a certain sense, although it is incomputable. Unlike, for example, Karl Popper's informal inductive inference theory, Solomonoff's is mathematically rigorous.

Four principal inspirations for Solomonoff's algorithmic probability were: Occam's razor, Epicurus' principle of multiple explanations, modern computing theory (e.g. use of a universal Turing machine) and Bayes’ rule for prediction.

Occam's razor and Epicurus' principle are essentially two different non-mathematical approximations of the universal prior.

 * Occam's razor: among the theories that are consistent with the observed phenomena, one should select the simplest theory.
 * Epicurus' principle of multiple explanations: if more than one theory is consistent with the observations, keep all such theories.

At the heart of the universal prior is an abstract model of a computer, such as a universal Turing machine. Any abstract computer will do, as long as it is Turing-complete, i.e. every computable function has at least one program that will compute its application on the abstract computer.

The abstract computer is used to give precise meaning to the phrase "simple explanation". In the formalism used, explanations, or theories of phenomena, are computer programs that generate observation strings when run on the abstract computer. Each computer program is assigned a weight corresponding to its length. The universal probability distribution is the probability distribution on all possible output strings with random input, assigning for each finite output prefix q the sum of the probabilities of the programs that compute something starting with q. Thus, a simple explanation is a short computer program. A complex explanation is a long computer program. Simple explanations are more likely, so a high-probability observation string is one generated by a short computer program, or perhaps by any of a large number of slightly longer computer programs. A low-probability observation string is one that can only be generated by a long computer program.

Algorithmic probability is closely related to the concept of Kolmogorov complexity. Kolmogorov's introduction of complexity was motivated by information theory and problems in randomness, while Solomonoff introduced algorithmic complexity for a different reason: inductive reasoning. A single universal prior probability that can be substituted for each actual prior probability in Bayes's rule was invented by Solomonoff with Kolmogorov complexity as a side product. It predicts the most likely continuation of that observation, and provides a measure of how likely this continuation will be.

Solomonoff's enumerable measure is universal in a certain powerful sense, but the computation time can be infinite. One way of dealing with this issue is a variant of Leonid Levin's Search Algorithm, which limits the time spent computing the success of possible programs, with shorter programs given more time. When run for longer and longer periods of time, it will generate a sequence of approximations which converge to the universal probability distribution. Other methods of dealing with the issue include limiting the search space by including training sequences.

Solomonoff proved this distribution to be machine-invariant within a constant factor (called the invariance theorem).

I. Kolmogorov's Invariance Theorem
Kolmogorov's Invariance theorem clarifies that the Kolmogorov Complexity, or Minimal Description Length, of a dataset is invariant to the choice of Turing-Complete language used to simulate a Universal Turing Machine:

 * $$\forall x \in \{0,1\}^*, |K_U(x)-K_{U'}(x) | \leq \mathcal{O}(1)

$$

where $$K_U(x) = \min_{p} \{|p|: U(p) = x\}$$.

Interpretation
The minimal description $$p$$ such that $$U \circ p = x$$ serves as a natural representation of the string $$x$$ relative to the Turing-Complete language $$U$$. Moreover, as $$x$$ can't be compressed further $$p$$ is an incompressible and hence uncomputable string. This corresponds to a scientists' notion of randomness and clarifies the reason why Kolmogorov Complexity is not computable.

It follows that any piece of data has a necessary and sufficient representation in terms of a random string.

Proof
The following is taken from

From the theory of compilers, it is known that for any two Turing-Complete languages $$U_1$$ and $$U_2$$, there exists a compiler $$\Lambda_1$$ expressed in $$U_1$$ that translates programs expressed in $$U_2$$ into functionally-equivalent programs expressed in $$U_1$$.

It follows that if we let $$p$$ be the shortest program that prints a given string $$x$$ then:

K_{U_1}(x) \leq |\Lambda_1| + |p| \leq K_{U_2}(x) + \mathcal{O}(1) $$

where $$|\Lambda_1| = \mathcal{O}(1)$$, and by symmetry we obtain the opposite inequality.

II. Levin's Universal Distribution
Given that any uniquely-decodable code satisfies the Kraft-McMillan inequality, prefix-free Kolmogorov Complexity allows us to derive the Universal Distribution:

P(x) = \sum_{U \circ P = x} P(U \circ p = x) = \sum_{U \circ p = x} 2^{-K_U(p)} \leq 1 $$

where the fact that $$U$$ may simulate a prefix-free UTM implies that for two distinct descriptions $$p$$ and $$p'$$, $$p$$ isn't a substring of $$p'$$ and $$p'$$ isn't a substring of $$p$$.

Interpretation
In a Computable Universe, given a phenomenon with encoding $$x \in \{0,1\}^*$$ generated by a physical process the probability of that phenomenon is well-defined and equal to the sum over the probabilities of distinct and independent causes. The prefix-free criterion is precisely what guarantees causal independence.

Proof
This is an immediate consequence of the Kraft-McMillan inequality.

Kraft's inequality states that given a sequence of strings $$\{x_i\}_{i=1}^n$$ there exists a prefix code with codewords $$\{\sigma_i\}_{i=1}^n$$ where $$\forall i, |\sigma_i|=k_i$$ if and only if:

\sum_{i=1}^n s^{-k_i} \leq 1 $$

where $$s$$ is the size of the alphabet $$S$$.

Without loss of generality, let's suppose we may order the $$k_i$$ such that:

k_1 \leq k_2 \leq ... \leq k_n $$

Now, there exists a prefix code if and only if at each step $$j$$ there is at least one codeword to choose that does not contain any of the previous $$j-1$$ codewords as a prefix. Due to the existence of a codeword at a previous step $$i \sum_{i=1}^{j-1} s^{k_j - k_i} $$

Dividing both sides by $$s^{k_j}$$, we find:

\sum_{i=1}^n s^{-k_i} \leq 1 $$

QED.

History
Solomonoff invented the concept of algorithmic probability with its associated invariance theorem around 1960, publishing a report on it: "A Preliminary Report on a General Theory of Inductive Inference." He clarified these ideas more fully in 1964 with "A Formal Theory of Inductive Inference," Part I and Part II.

Key people

 * Ray Solomonoff
 * Andrey Kolmogorov
 * Leonid Levin

title: Algorithmic probability


text:
Sharpie

Sharpie, Sharpy or Sharpey may refer to:

Boats

 * Sharpie (boat), a type of long, narrow sailboat
 * 12 m2 Sharpie, a small, vintage, former Olympic sailboat

People

 * Sharpie, a member of Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice
 * Sharpies (Australian subculture), members of certain Australian youth gangs in the 1960s and 1970s
 * William Sharpey (1802–1880), Scottish anatomist and physiologist called the "father of British physiology"
 * Thomas J. Sharpy, United States Air Force lieutenant general, commander of the Eighteenth Air Force in 2015
 * Sharpy or Sharpie, nickname of Patrick Sharp (born 1981), Canadian retired ice hockey player
 * Sharpy, nickname of Will Sharp (born 1986), Nigerian rugby league footballer

Other uses

 * Sharpie (marker), a brand of markers, particularly permanent markers
 * Sharp-shinned hawk, a bird sometimes referred to as a "sharpie"
 * Sharpy, a character in The Bluffers, a Dutch children's cartoon series
 * Sharpie, a nickname for steam locomotives manufactured by Sharp Brothers - see History of rail transport

title: Sharpie