Duck Test (for Minda and Corey) by sandra46

Photography • Atmosphere/Mood • posted on Oct 06, 2010

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Description

I dedicate this shot to Minda, as a belated gift for her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!, and to Corey (Coreyblack) who has come back from the hospital (WELCOME BACK!!!). The shot was taken in a wonderful Botanic garden in New Brunswick last summer. At the end of the caption you'll find the solution to the question: is the waterfowl taking off on the pond shore a duck? The duck test is a humorous term for a form of inductive reasoning. This is its usual expression: ' If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. ' The test implies that a person can identify an unknown subject by observing that subject's habitual characteristics. It is sometimes used to counter abstruse arguments that something is not what it appears to be.Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley (1849â��1916) may have coined the phrase, but the phrase was later popularized in the United States by Richard Cunningham Patterson Jr., United States ambassador to Guatemala during the Cold War in 1950, who used the phrase when he accused the Jacobo Arbenz GuzmÃ¡n government of being Communist. According to another version the father of this phrase was a different person. The Turing Duck Test is an assay developed by Alan Turing (1912-1954) to determine whether a subject is a human or a duck. Turing, though most famous for his eponymous Turing Test, a procedure to determine whether a subject is a man or a robot, actually devised dozens of experiments to determine whether people are, in fact, human beings. While the Turing Duck Test is rarely employed today, it did give rise to the often-misattributed Turing Hypothesis: 'If it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it's a duck.' Solution: it isn't a duck, because it neither walks nor quacks. ;D Thank you for your kind comments.

Comments (43)

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jayfar

10:41AM | Wed, 06 October 2010

Only a bird could have posed this question!!!

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tennesseecowgirl

11:07AM | Wed, 06 October 2010

A beautiful dedication~

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brycek

11:09AM | Wed, 06 October 2010

Beautiful capture..very lovely spot!!

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flora-crassella

11:13AM | Wed, 06 October 2010

a wonderful picture!!!!!!

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renecyberdoc

11:29AM | Wed, 06 October 2010

lovely spot and nice text gives the one some thinkings.

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durleybeachbum

11:54AM | Wed, 06 October 2010

Marvellous text Sandra!! And a beautiful place (with duck)

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lajasmine

12:17PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

Magnifique vue!

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Richardphotos

12:23PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

very beautiful landscape Sandra

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pspworkshop

12:34PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

Formidable work and great dedi !!!

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mgtcs

1:19PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

WOW....what a terrific place! Perfect capture here, congratulations!

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Umbetro38

1:37PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

wonderful capture and dedi

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MaraP

2:17PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

So beautiful!

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magnus073

3:00PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

Sandra, this is such a lovely photo and a splendid dedi to them both. Very much enjoyed your thoughts on the duck test also.

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drifterlee

3:16PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

What a beautiful shot and place!!!!!!!

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stonelight

3:28PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

Very beautiful place! Wonderful shot!!

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claude19

4:30PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

WONDERFUL shot ! Peace and tranquility on this site ! what a beautiful bird !

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mariogiannecchini

4:43PM | Wed, 06 October 2010

Bel posticino hai trovato , Sandra !Bella foto dai bei colori ! E grandi dediche ! ( prendi 2 e paghi 1 direbbe la mia vecchia immagine di 30 anni in un supermercato ) . Non conosco Corey ,ma sono comunque contento per lei.Conosco invece Minda a cui rinnovo i miei auguri.

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