TalkChess.com

Larry wrote:

Graham Banks wrote:
Yes it has, but I felt it was worth asking again in case anybody knew anything further.

Cheers,
Graham.

Hi Graham, I do seem to recall she gave birth for a second time.
To lose interest in something like chess programming, all it takes
is something to preoccupy you, something like a new job, a divorce,
a bankruptcy, or in her case, a birth. Nothing is permanent except
change.
Terry mentioned he does not know her married name. If her name
is Sarah Bird, then her married name is Bird, according to my logic.
She was married before she appeared on the chess scene, I think
you will find.
I remember she was an avid chess program enthusiast. Once she
showed a shot of her computer screen. It was more or less filled
with chess program icons.
regards,
Larry
PS I do get your point that it seems out of character for her not to
respond to a message letting us know all is ok.

There were no Sarah Bird in Barrie when I checked some time ago, if it is her married name then her husband may be listed but she wasn't.

I don't know the name of the husband.

Also people can be unlisted, it can be hard to pinpoint the right person when all you have is a name, not sure if maiden or married and only a rough location as Barrie may also include some regions just outside the city.

Maybe I'll resume the search. It took me years to find someone who didn't want to be found.

It's very bizarre she replied to no one, no one at all. Most people don't do that and she was the kind of person to stay in touch regardless.

So it would get you thinking...people unfortunately die tragically...I hope this is not the case.

Might have found her. Not sure if it is her, but seems like a good chance?



https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/slbird/


Portrait of Sarah Bird
Sarah Bird

Principal Program Manager,
Emerging Technology and Research Strategy Lead,
Responsible AI Lead,
Azure AI

About
Projects
Publications
Videos

About

Sarah leads research and emerging technology strategy for Azure AI. Sarah works to accelerate the adoption and impact of AI by bringing together the latest innovations research with the best of open source and product expertise to create new tools and technologies. Sarah is currently leading the development of responsible AI tools in Azure Machine Learning. She is also an active member of the Microsoft AETHER committee, where she works to develop and drive company-wide adoption of responsible AI principles, best practices, and technologies. Sarah was one of the founding researchers in the Microsoft FATE research group and prior to joining Microsoft worked on AI fairness in Facebook.



Sarah is active contributor to the open source ecosystem, she co-founded ONNX, Fairlearn, and WhiteNoise and was a leader in the Pytorch 1.0 and InterpretML projects. She was an early member of the machine learning systems research community and has been active in growing and forming the community. She co-founded the MLSys research conference and the Learning Systems workshops. She has a Ph.D. in computer science from UC Berkeley advised by Dave Patterson, Krste Asanovic, and Burton Smith.

There is even an e-mail address. So who is brave enough...

I don't think the Sarah Bird that works for Microsoft is the Sarah Bird who was a contributor to CCRL. The Sarah Bird you knew was from Canada, the Sarah Bird that works for Microsoft seems to be based in the United States. Her linkedin profile shows she's studied in multiple states in the United States starting from the early 2000's and have stayed in the US since it appears, and now lives in New York. Here's here linkedin profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/slbird

The microsoft Sarah Bird twitter profile also says she's in New York:
https://twitter.com/slbird

On the Rebel 11 review page it is stated that Sarah Bird is from Ontario Canada:
https://www.rebel.nl/reviews.htm

From scanning the web I have learned that the CCRL Sarah Bird lived in Scarborough Ontario, Canada. So I doubt the microsoft Sarah Bird is the same person.

I found the microsoft Sarah Bird's facebook. It states that she's from Plano, Texas. So i'm 100% sure she isn't the CCRL Sarah Bird. Here's microsoft Sarah Bird facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slbird/about_overview

this thread has gotten a little bit creepy, if Sarah Bird had wished to reconnect after 14 years, she would have done so ... best to let bygones be bygones...

Maybe we're why she left.

Marriage sometimes makes a woman move on in life.
The husband might just say "leave that old life behind you", and maybe even the computer breaks down and there is no compelling reason, or possibility to repair it.
So if you would meet her now, she might say "what?? Oh thaaatttt!!!!" Or "what do you want from my life? I'm only a woman"! Or "i married a rich husband so i didn't need to keep my old business anymore". Or even "now i'm a mother, and that is much more interesting".