Irish America

Irish America

Ray Cavanaugh

John McCarthy: The Father of Artificial Intelligence

By Ray Cavanaugh
Summer 2021

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Artificial intelligence is impacting the future of virtually every industry and every human being, and we owe it all to an Irishman named McCarthy. Few phrases evoke the rapid hi-tech acceleration of our era like “artificial intelligence” (also known by the somewhat less-threatening acronym of “AI”). Until very recently, this world, for better or worse, was ours. But, … [Read more...] about John McCarthy: The Father of Artificial Intelligence

Window on the Past

The Irish Bambino

By Ray Cavanaugh, Contributor
March / April 2020

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In late 1990s baseball, home runs were everywhere. The balls were allegedly juiced. The sluggers were definitely juiced. Players who had been lanky rookies would later display cartoon-sized muscles, thanks to a regimen of syringes in the posterior. Even hitters of mediocre power were expected to belt 15 home runs per season. About one century earlier, however, 15 round-trippers … [Read more...] about Window on the Past

The Irish Bambino

Window on the Past: Stampede of a New York Cowboy

By Ray Cavanaugh, Contributor
October / November 2019

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Calgary, nicknamed “Cowtown,” is home to the largest rodeo in the world, the Calgary Stampede, which annually draws millions of visitors. The first Calgary rodeo in 1912 was organized by a New Yorker with Irish roots, as Ray Cavanaugh explains. Cowboys seem like a self-assured lot. But Guy Weadick was more than self-assured; he was a bold visionary, and … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: Stampede of a New York Cowboy

Window on the Past: The Triumph of a Sad Clown

By Ray Cavanaugh, Contributor
August / September 2019

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The extraordinarily gifted Emmett Kelly, who turned clowning into an art form. Though he was most certainly a clown, Emmett Kelly’s performances were wistful rather than slapstick. Instead of wearing cheerfully bright clothes and having a prominent grin painted on his face, Kelly flouted clownish convention, wearing dark-colored rags and having a face forever contorted … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: The Triumph of a Sad Clown

Window on the Past: Manifest Destiny

By Ray Cavanaugh, Contributor
May / June 2019

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Two words from one Irishman who trumpeted the world's superpower. “Manifest destiny...” These words, placed together, command one’s attention. They sound important, almost biblical. But they didn’t come from an Old Testament patriarch or New Testament prophet. Rather, they came from the pithy pen of a 19th-century Irishman named John O’Sullivan. His ancestors were from County … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: Manifest Destiny