Lies, damned lies, and heuristics...

4 entries found for heuristic.

heu·ris·tic Audio pronunciation of "heuristic" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hy-rstk)
adj.

1. Of or relating to a usually speculative formulation serving as a guide in the investigation or solution of a problem: “The historian discovers the past by the judicious use of such a heuristic device as the ‘ideal type’” (Karl J. Weintraub).

2. Of or constituting an educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student.

3. Computer Science. Relating to or using a problem-solving technique in which the most appropriate solution of several found by alternative methods is selected at successive stages of a program for use in the next step of the program.


n.

1. A heuristic method or process.

2. heuristics (used with a sing. verb) The study and application of heuristic methods and processes.


[From Greek heuriskein, to find.]heu·risti·cal·ly adv.

[Download Now or Buy the Book]
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

heuristic

adj : of or relating to or using a general formulation that serves to guide investigation [ant: algorithmic] n : a commonsense rule (or set of rules) intended to increase the probability of solving some problem [syn: heuristic rule, heuristic program]

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

heuristic



1. A rule of thumb, simplification, or educated
guess that reduces or limits the search for solutions in
domains that are difficult and poorly understood. Unlike
algorithms, heuristics do not guarantee optimal, or even
feasible, solutions and are often used with no theoretical
guarantee.

2. approximation algorithm.

(2001-04-12)

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2005 Denis Howe

heuristic

heuristic: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

Source: On-line Medical Dictionary, © 1997-98 Academic Medical Publishing & CancerWEB

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SOURCE - http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=heuristic


(...)

Yahoo! News

Al-Qaida No. 2: Get Set to Fill Iraq Void

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - In a letter to his top deputy in Iraq, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader said the United States "ran and left their agents" in Vietnam and the jihadists must have a plan ready to fill the void if the Americans suddenly leave Iraq.

"Things may develop faster than we imagine," Ayman al-Zawahri wrote in a letter to his top deputy in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam — and how they ran and left their agents — is noteworthy. ... We must be ready starting now."

Senior U.S. military commanders have said that Iraqi security forces are improving significantly and some U.S. forces could return home early next year. Yet skeptics have raised concerns about whether such statements simply let the insurgency know how long they must wait for the U.S. to leave.

In a letter taking up 13 typed pages in its English translation, al-Zawahri also recommended a four-stage expansion of the war that would take the fighting to neighboring Muslim countries.

"It has always been my belief that the victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established ... in the heart of the Islamic world," al-Zawahri wrote.

The letter laid out his long-term plan: expel the Americans from Iraq, establish an Islamic authority and take the war to Iraq's secular neighbors, including Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

The final stage, al-Zawahri wrote, would be a clash with Israel, which he said was established to challenge "any new Islamic entity."

The letter is dated July 9, and was acquired during U.S. operations in Iraq. It was written in Arabic and translated by the U.S. government. The Pentagon briefed reporters last week on portions of the document, but the full text was not available until Tuesday.

In a statement, the National Intelligence Director's office said the letter "has not been edited in any way" and its contents were released only after it was clear no military or intelligence operations would be compromised.

House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said his committee is reviewing the letter, but he cautioned "against reading too much into a single source of intelligence."

In his letter, al-Zawahri, a Sunni, devoted significant attention to al-Zarqawi's attempts to start a civil war with the rival Muslim Shiite sect, the majority that now dominates the new Iraqi government. Ultimately, al-Zawahri concluded that violence, particularly against Shiite mosques, only raises questions among Muslims.

"This matter won't be acceptable to the Muslim populace however much you have tried to explain it, and aversion to this will continue," he wrote.

Al-Zawahri was also critical of the Taliban, which was toppled in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, because, he said, they did not have the representation of the Afghan people. He said students of the Taliban retreated to their tribes.

"Even the devout ones took the stance of spectator," al-Zawahri wrote.

Contrasting that, he saw fearlessness in battles waged in the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Al Qaim.

At times, the letter got personal. Al-Zawahri said he tasted the bitterness of America's brutality, noting that his "favorite wife's chest was crushed by a concrete ceiling" during an apparent U.S. attack. His daughter died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

To this day, he wrote, he did not know the location of their graves.

The letter then switches to the court of public opinion.

"More than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media," he wrote. "We are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of our umma," or community of Muslims, he wrote.

The line is an apparent reference to a phrase — "hearts and minds" — often used by President Bush.

___

On the Net:

Read the full letter in English or Arabic on the national intelligence director's Web site: http://www.dni.gov/release_letter_101105.html

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SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051011/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_al_qaida







BONUS: Lies, damned lies, and vital statistics...


Innocent victims?

Naaah...

They can't be...

The U.S. Military torturing innocent victims?

At Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere?

For years at a time?

Naaah...

Fuck them ragheads...

They gotta be guilty if we torture them!

After all...

They're guilty until proven innocent.


(...)

Infowars.com

Prison guards 'enjoy torture'

SA | October 11, 2005

An Egyptian man released earlier this month from the United States detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says the "torture" he suffered in the military camp left him crippled in a wheelchair.

Sami al-Leithy, 49, said: "They used to grab me by the arms and hurl me on the floor, on my back. They took pleasure in torturing us."

He said: "I have suffered a fracture in my backbone because of this."

Leithy was held four years in the US-run jail at Guantanamo before his release and handover to the Egyptian authorities in early October.

Medical certificates

He said: "Before my detention I used to play football and I was in good health."

He showed medical certificates attesting to his present condition.

Leithy charged that his interrogators "used to point a harsh light at us during questioning and would beat anyone who tried to close his eyes".

He said: "They would ask our opinion on US policies and would hit violently those who were against it or push their heads down on the floor with their boots."

But, Leithy said he was never witness to alleged reports that guards at Guantanamo desecrated the Qur'an, Islam's holy book, saying he "rarely left his cell".

Inmates had three meals a day

According to him, cells in Guantanamo were categorised "A" to "D", with the best ones given to those who co-operated with the authorities.

Prisoners held in "A" cells had three meals a day, two blankets, a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap.

He said: "These perks diminished until they disappeared in the worst cells, the 'D'."

Speaking in classical Arabic rather than colloquial Egyptian, Leithy recalled how he left Egypt at the age of 19 to study in Pakistan, where his brother-in-law, a professor at the al-Azhar Islamic University was teaching.

He graduated in 1986 from the University of Islamabad and worked for 10 years in Pakistan. Unable to renew his passport at the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan, he headed for Kabul to seek a new one.

Prisoner tries to escape

He taught at the University of Kabul and was wounded in US bombardment of the city in 2001.

He was taken to hospital in the border town of Khosht and tried to escape after the city also came under US attack, but was arrested by the Pakistani army and handed to the Americans who in turn took him to Guantanamo.

He said: "In 2004 I was finally brought before a US military court ... During the hearing, they refused to remove the shackles I had on my wrists and my feet and told me I was arrested with 15 other Arabs for having considered to fight the American army."

In May he was finally told he was innocent, but kept in detention until his release in October.

Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Abul Gheit said on Sunday that four Egyptians were still held in Guantanamo.

SOURCE - http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/gitmo_guards_enjoy_torture.htm

ORIGINAL SOURCE - http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1814276,00.html