University of Florida chose the ani-
mal as its mascot. Names like that and
the Arizona Rattlers of arena football
might be justified for the fear they
theoretically strike in the hearts of
opponents.
That doesn’t quite explain minor
league baseball’s Savannah Sand
Gnats, though. The Island Packet,
which covers news in Hilton Head,
South Carolina, writes, “Sand gnats
leave awful little welts where they rip
skin to drink blood.” Go, team!
The old XFL had several odd names,
including two that seemed to high-
light their areas’ history of organized
crime: the New York–New Jersey Hit-
men and the Chicago Enforcers.
As teams seek more and more color-
ful names to stand out in a crowded
marketplace and sell merchandise,
the trend of highlighting the worst of aregion may continue. Perhaps we can
look forward to the Los Angeles Mud-
slides, the New York Noise, and the
San Francisco High Cost of Living. RD
new york times (july 30, 2019), copyright © 2019
by new york times, nytimes.com.Artificial or Elizabethan? That Is the Question
Researchers at IBM used artificial intelligence to analyze more than
2,600 Shakespearean sonnets, then asked the AI to use what it had “learned”
to create its own poem. Can you tell which of these stanzas is by the Bard?A: With joyous gambols gay and still array
No longer when he twas, while in his day
At first to pass in all delightful ways
Around him, charming and of all his daysB: Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste
The vacant leaves thy mind’s imprint will bear
And of this book this learning mayst thou taste
rote b. rote a; shakespeare wer: the machine wanswReader’s Digest Department of Wit
50 april 2020