Latest news with #DeepThought
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Milwaukee abandoned boat; leader of crew that freed vessel talks
The Brief The owner of All City Towing spoke on Tuesday, May 20, about his team's removal of Deep Thought from Milwaukee's lakefront. The boat was abandoned back in October. Despite multiple attempts by other teams, the All City Towing crew successfully removed the boat in early May. MILWAUKEE - Boat watch 2025 is back! Well, sort of. On Tuesday, May 20, we learned a lot more about how a Milwaukee crew successfully removed Deep Thought, the boat that was abandoned on the city's lakefront. What we know On Tuesday, Jeff Piller, the owner of All City Towing, spoke at the Rotary Club. He was invited to share how his crew was able to free the boat which had been beached between Bradford and McKinley beaches from October 2024 until early May. Piller said his crew estimated the boat weighed between 40,000 and 50,000 pounds. It was actually close to 100,000 pounds. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android Piller spoke about the challenges of removing the boat. He initially estimated the cost to free it from the beach would be around $50,000. It turns out that it was much more than that. What they're saying "There was a lot of people who wanted to see it stay but it was definitely time to get rid of the boat," Piller said. Piller said he is giving the county and taxpayers a discount, as they are figuring out a way to come up with the money to pay for it. Two donors previously pitched in around $20,000 to help with the costs. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News "But we have went way over that," Piller said. "But I have a discount on my invoice. That's approaching about $35,000." What's next Milwaukee County Parks said final costs and responsibilities will be confirmed once it reviews the invoice. For now, the boat is being housed at All City Towing's lot on Milwaukee's south side. The Source The information in this post was produced by FOX6 News and taps into previous FOX6 News coverage.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Is Milwaukee County footing the bill for removing Deep Thought? What's next for the abandoned boat
The odyssey of Deep Thought, the boat abandoned for months on Lake Michigan's Milwaukee shoreline, is not over. After the boat's removal from the lake on May 6, questions remain about how much of the bill Milwaukee County will be left to pay. In an email to County Executive David Crowley and other department officials on May 7, County Board Supervisor Steve Taylor wrote: "The fun and games are over and I am asking for full transparency on the final cost and if Milwaukee County is paying for any shortfall." In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Taylor shared his concerns about the financial impact it could have on the already cash-strapped county and hopes that there are legal avenues that could be investigated to prevent taxpayers from covering the cost of its removal. "The story's not over," Taylor told the Journal Sentinel. The journey of Deep Thought began when it was left stranded during a thunderstorm by a Mississippi couple in mid-October after they ran out of gas and landed on the lakeshore. Since then, unsuccessful efforts to remove the boat placed it as one of Milwaukee's signature attractions with visitors coming from all over. And pilgrimages turned to a funerary tribute on May 6, when a crowd of about 100 onlookers gathered to cheer and mourn as the boat was dragged out of the lake. Crowley's office did not immediately respond to questions. The county's park department signed a $55,000 contract with a Milwaukee-based company, All City Towing, to remove the boat, according to a statement from the county. Supervisor Sheldon A. Wasserman, whose district was a temporary home for Deep Thought, told the Journal Sentinel that the dollar amount was the upper limit the county was willing to pay for the boat's removal. All City Towing is holding Deep Thought, and it is unclear how much storing the boat with the company might cost. Wasserman said he expects the boat to be held there for two or three months until the county sorts out the legalities of the boat's ownership. "It's junk. It's not gonna be repaired," he said. While Wasserman doesn't know exactly how much or if the county will have to pay, but he suspects the money would be pulled from an emergency fund. At least two donations to help finance Deep Thought's removal from the Milwaukee shoreline hit headlines. In late April, an anonymous donor contacted Milwaukee's Mayor Cavalier Johnson to provide financial support for part of its removal. It is not clear who or how much was proffered. Since then, the anonymous donor has not contacted the county, and no formal offer has been received, according to a statement from Wasserman. A week later, the Daniel W. Hoan Foundation donated $10,000 to the effort. The county continues to investigate pursuing legal avenues for reimbursement, given the tenuous nature of the boat's ownership. In mid-April, it was determined that Milwaukee County was responsible for salvaging the boat as it was left on county property by its Mississippi-based owners, Sherry and Richard Wells, after they ran out of gas. The couple previously expressed an inability to pay for the boat's removal. Wasserman suggested in his weekly newsletter that the original owners from Michigan, who sold the boat to the Wellses, may ultimately have to pay. At the time, the Milwaukee County corporation counsel was working on an outline for who was legally responsible to pay for the boat. Wasserman has since clarified that the corporation counsel's office would not pursue legal action against the Wellses. 'There are ongoing questions about who holds the title, and if the transfer was never properly completed, the original owners may still be liable,' Wasserman said on May 6. 'Either way, Milwaukee County residents shouldn't be forced to cover the cost of cleaning up after out-of-state tourists who abandoned their boat and their responsibility.' In the event the county is left to pay the final bill, Wasserman said that the county is seriously considering chopping up the boat and selling parts of it as mementos. "There's a real market there from what we've been seeing," Wasserman said, adding that any potential money could be put toward paying off the salvaging company. The day of the boat's removal from Lake Michigan, an MATC student sold a handful of salvaged pieces of Deep Thought for $10. Taylor has since requested an agenda item to go before the appropriate committees — possibly including the county's finance, parks and culture and judiciary and law committees — to glean more details about any other additional costs the boat's removal could have on the county. "It's kind of funny how it's taken a life of its own," Taylor said of Deep Thought. "But we need to just wrap this story up." Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@ Follow her on X @Vanessa_Swales. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County might pay for removal of abandoned boat Deep Thought
RTÉ News
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
To Avenge A Dead Gacier by Shane Tivenan
We present an exxtract from To Avenge A Dead Gacier, the debut short story collection by Shane Tivenan, winner of the RTÉ Francis McManus Short Story Prize and the John McGahern Award - read an extract from Mother Vs Big Blue below. Throughout the stories in To Avenge a Dead Glacier, Tivenan explores the lives of rural Irish outsiders. His characters are artists, sean-nós singers, members of the queer community, the gifted, the neurodivergent, the environmentally concerned, people with memory problems, the spiritual people, the non-human... These are stories rich in the essential detail of life, in the fraught exchanges that make up our every relationship, and very often of life lived beyond the confines of safety or simplicity. From Mother Vs Big Blue In the run up to Kasparov's rematch with Deep Blue in New York, the idea touted at the time was 'The Brain's Last Stand' (Newsweek, 3 May 1997). Mother and myself, however, were not worried about the outcome. Kasparov had played computers before. He'd played Deep Blue's forefather, Deep Thought, in 1989 (Deep Thought 0: Kasparov 2). In 1996 he took Deep Blue out in their initial match behind closed doors, and so the rematch in New York had an exhibition feel to it, where the quirky celebrity challenger would eventually go down before the bout was over. The Beast from Baku wouldn't even have to go through all the gears to get the win – he was playing a mindless computer made of silicon and cables, not a fellow 2800 super-grandmaster. Mother and myself booked into a fancy hotel for the rematch in New York. It was our first holiday alone together. We queued early outside the hall each day and wore matching the brain will not be bested T-shirts. A giant board with notated moves was projected onto a screen over the stage, and after each game, Kasparov and the IBM team would come out and face the crowd and take media questions. Kasparov dominated Game 1, but in Game 2, Deep Blue forced his resignation. Up until that point in our chess lives, Mother would always explain to me that the chess-playing style of a computer was brute force. It was a slow-moving wall that closes in on its opponents and takes takes takes, capturing all available material regardless of outcome. A computer does not understand sacrifice, she would say, and it is blind to the dangers of accepting one. A computer lacks hunch and instinct, and it can never play a psychological move. And Kasparov, he had prepared to play a computer. He was battle hardened for the brute force, but in Game 2 towards the latter half of the middle game, he offered up some material, convinced the computer would take it, which would allow holes to be punctured in Deep Blue's defence. But Deep Blue did not do what a computer is supposed to do. It thought hard. It crashed. It rebooted. Kasparov sweated and paced and held his head in the corner of the stage as after the third reboot, with fresh buffers and logs to think through, Deep Blue refused the sacrificial pawn, a sacrifice in itself, and it played instead a beautiful move. It played a human move. By Game 4 the bookies' odds began to swing. Spectators were quiet, sitting up straighter in their seats, small chess boards were out and lines were being analyzed and calculated. A Latino guy with micro-dreads and an FC Barça T-shirt in front of us left his seat every hour and came back with glazed eyes. I followed him out once and nodded at his hand and he smiled. I don't know about you, he said to me, but that Deep Blue dude, that thing is playing some grandmaster s**t. Kasparov will hold, I told him. There's no way a computer beats the Beast. He shook his head and laughed and left me to finish off the blunt. And Kasparov did hold. We met him with a standing ovation as he walked across the stage after the penultimate game, having earned a third successive draw in a row, but the penny was starting to drop for all in attendance. We were no longer just cheering Kasparov on, we were cheering on ourselves. We were cheering on our biological brains and beating hearts and creative thinking minds. Mother squeezed my hand through all the remaining tense periods of play, looking at me each time Kasparov found a way to protect himself, whispering in my ear, We have it, son, we have it. He is going to find a brilliancy and win the match. Just watch. And I did. I watched the match. I watched Kasparov. I watched the guy in the Barça jersey and I watched Mother. But her face was different to everybody else's. It was like she was watching an actual war as opposed to a gamified one. At the end of Game 6, after Kasparov put out his hand in resignation, Mother's hand went limp in mine. She stared hard at the back of the seat in front of her. Kasparov himself went into a twelve-month period of grief after the match. He would eventually emerge and publicly state that he was not just defeated by Deep Blue in New York that day, he was killed. When answering questions about Deep Blue's preparations, the IBM engineers played down speculation that it was prepared specifically to play Kasparov. Deep Blue did not know it was playing Kasparov, they stated. Deep Blue did not even know it was playing chess. But Mother would argue, Kasparov would argue, by Game 2, Move 36, Deep Blue knew exactly what it was doing. On our flight home from New York, I tried coaxing Mother into playing a game of blitz on my travel board, but she turned away, staring out the porthole. Our game is dead, she said. She stopped painting in the latter half of that year. She returned to her job and her unused canvases were stored in the attic.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
From eyesore to icon, Milwaukee says farewell to abandoned boat, ‘Deep Thought'
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WFRV) – After spending nearly seven months abandoned along Milwaukee's lakefront, the boat known as 'Deep Thought' was finally removed. On Tuesday, May 6th, the long-awaited operation led to a full day of street closures, announced by Milwaukee County. Hundreds of people gathered at Bradford Beach yesterday to witness the long-awaited removal of the 75,000-pound boat. 'Get ready to clown around:' Insane Clown Posse coming to Green Bay 'Deep Thought' had been stranded between McKinley and Broadford beaches since October 13th, 2024, after its owners ran out of fuel, causing the boat so wash ashore. Over the months, the boat became a quirky local attraction, drawing curious visitors, serving as a backdrop to countless photos, featured in an animated music video, and even a song have been written about the local landmark. The National Bobble Head Hall of Fame even made a bobble boat. Earlier attempts to remove the boat didn't work, at one point, even a barge brought in to help got stuck. But on Tuesday, Milwaukee-based All City Towing finally got the job done using three cranes set up on the beach. District 3 County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman emphasized the importance of finally resolving the issue. He said it was a serious safety and environmental concern as the public starting climbing the boat, risking injury. 'Huge relief': Drivers and businesses thrilled Oneida St. is back open following NFL Draft The removal cost is estimated at $50,000, with Milwaukee County covering the initial expense. Crews faced major challenges during the extraction, calling it a difficult and complex operation. But saying goodbye wasn't easy for some, as many residents felt the boat had become a quirky piece of Milwaukee's shoreline history. According to County Executive David Crowley, there's even talk of possibly salvaging parts of the vessel and selling them, giving the boat one final chapter before it fades into memory. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Deep Thought's last day in Milwaukee brings tributes about the abandoned boat
Nothing has quite captured Milwaukee's attention and encapsulated the city's quirkiness like Deep Thought, the abandoned boat stranded along Lake Michigan for nearly seven months before it was removed May 6. Deep Thought provided countless memes, led to a bobblehead design and even inspired original song lyrics à la Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Whether you'll miss the bizarre, temporary landmark or feel relieved to see a graffitied eyesore gone, there's no denying Deep Thought brought the city together. Here's a roundup of the best social media reactions to the boat's removal: More: Over 100 spectators gather to cheer and mourn 'Deep Thought' for what could be its final hours in Milwaukee Comment byu/MagMC2555 from discussion inmilwaukee Comment byu/MagMC2555 from discussion inmilwaukee Comment byu/Appropriate-Owl5984 from discussion inmilwaukee Comment byu/Appropriate-Owl5984 from discussion inmilwaukee This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's abandoned boat, Deep Thought, gets social media tributes
