"The idea of overhearing machines talking about what they’re doing is, to my mind, quite delightful."

In fact credit goes to Tom and his collaborators for taking what he calls an "untapped data source" (http://is.gd/qHZ) and turning it into something like a living thing. Bravo.

The moral of the story (there's always a moral) is that there is lots of static, "untapped" data out there that can be brought to life with a bit of inspiration, a little clever coding, and a well-designed interaction model.