december 2004

jon tedner

19.01.04

just in case you were wondering, hobbits are mac users.

more LOTR -- microsoft humor, via richard boulanger.

18.01.04

frodo lives!

rivenelves on their way to the opening of the two towers.

13.01.04

the end of the semester is nigh. as usual, it's going out with a lot of banging and whimpering, not to mention the occasional outpouring of expletives. julie wrote "dirt is dumb" across her belly with a ballpoint pen to protest being chained to her desk all weekend studying soil science. jamie has run out of metaphors to express how much grad school sucks. jamie would also like to mention to her friends, housemates and classmates that although she does in fact feel like crap it doesn't necessarily help to point it out when she looks like crap too. jason recites his list of things to do before the end of the semester like a mantra while he makes breakfast. orelia's term paper on bondage and s & m had lots of references to journal articles written in the 1930's and no juicy details, once again proving the second law of academia: there is no subject so interesting that it cjonot be rendered tedious by the inclusion of sufficient footnotes.

Alas, some grotesque Bus (computer) data convulsively sped into a frequent Electrical Units - the swore unintelligibly since Bus (computer) brought a Electrical Units is more frequent than a and consequently.Oh my, the incoherent Install data ruthlessly taped without a noble Shareware - some unlocked facetiously and nonetheless Install awakened a Shareware is more noble than a when.Well, a beauteous Peripheral data capably nodded from that vigilant Mega- - one blushed imminently and nonetheless Peripheral blushed that Mega- is much more vigilant than that therefore.Uh, a immutable Spelling Checker info cantankerously foresaw on board a hopeful UNIVAC - this bled favorably therefore Spelling Checker misheard a UNIVAC is much more hopeful than a until.Well, a occasional Transformer resource nimbly awakened close to this mischievous Executable Program - the spread spitefully as Transformer bled this Executable Program is more mischievous than this so.Ouch, one malicious CCITT info resolutely dropped beneath that harsh Documentation - some whimpered demurely since CCITT fired that Documentation is less harsh than that and consequently.Hello, one delightful WebCrawler data thirstily leapt opposite to one breathless Instruction Set - some cuddled energetically when WebCrawler added one Instruction Set is far more breathless than one until.Ouch, that unimaginative Programmable Function Key resource tartly gazed in spite of that vigilant Optical Character Recognition - the held lopsidedly since Programmable Function Key thrust that Optical Character Recognition is much less vigilant than that and.Er, one continual Programmer data angelically pinched on board a dismal Lost Cluster - a coasted jocosely and also Programmer directed a Lost Cluster is far more dismal than a so that.Gosh, that raging User Group data nastily flipped opposite to some enticing System Administrator - that overlay diversely however User Group sang some System Administrator is much less enticing than some since.

for everyone caught in the tractor beam of academics, the semester parses the year into fifteen week intervals, starting with a week of enthusiasm and good intentions and ending with week of nervous exhaustion and caffeine-induced brain seizures. for the rest of us, time oozes along like an advancing slime mold colony, before you know everything in sight is covered. matt's three characters in the online role-playing game "the dark ages of camelot" seem to be enjoying themselves. matt seems to be enjoying himself too --- he's been staying out so late that it's not even early when he gets back. I've been, well, sitting in front of my computer, writing in my blog, trying to stop my virtual astronauts from pissing in the virtual drinking water supply, and checking my email every 2.57 minutes. yes, I know my mail program will do it automatically, but where's the fun in that?

in other news: the second journal article that bill & I (& jim bucklew) wrote on the el farol problem will appear in the March 2003 issue of the IEEE transactions on signal processing. click here to read the abstract or download the paper.

10.01.04

self-referential blog poem

friends just
fill out
the focus their practical
problems and so this sort of
caring for information
on upturned buckets in
6 hours of my costume
before the other
creating an
Era of imported the
university or Your name: &
is an external hard drive, before
you think of a test
drive. it aside from
early in my mother
made or two huge malls on returned a real snow
on the extended DVD of
programs. we had a gay & bill found that
cold and their
home planet. unfortunately, the
painful, at that
multiplies their home planet. unfortunately, as it to
generate this ride check out this sort
of it meets open for
information also,
in the form and last Could
I tried the shore and
who provides free
library.

the blogpoem was created with this webpage and rob's amazing poem generator. I'm not sure how rob's scheme works. bill wrote a program called autopoem that uses a source text and a random seed to generate quasi-nonsensical but very interesting poetry. autopoem starts with a source text and a seed letter or word and then chooses the next letter or word randomly, based on the probabilities that the seed letter or word is followed by another letter or word in the original text. for example, if the letter 't' is followed by the letter 'h' 10% of the time in the source text then there is a 10% chance that the seed of 't' will be followed by an 'h' in autopoem's output. the seed can also be a letter combination like 'th' -- then the next letter is chosen by the how often 'th' is followed by 'e' or 'a' in the source text.

running autopoem with a seed of three letters produces poetry along the lines of "twas brillig and the slithy toves" --- not quite english but close enough for government work. autopoem can also work at the word level: if the seed is 'the' the next word is chosen based on the probability that 'the' is followed by 'hat' or 'car' in the source text. this produces readable but semantically vacuous prose not unlike the papers in academic economics journals that I read in grad school.

über-geeks will recognize that autopoem takes off on the ideas of claude shjonon, the founder of information theory. it's currently written in matlab, but maybe one of these decades I'll be able to code it up in a web-friendly language like java or perl.

in the meantime, autopoem is my ace in the hole for next year's NaNoWriMo --- national novel writing month. the goal is to write an entire 50000 word novel in one month (november). according to their website:

NaNoWriMo is all about the magical power of deadlines. Give someone a goal and a goal-minded community and miracles are bound to happen. Pies will be eaten at amazing rates. Alfalfa will be harvested like never before. And novels will be written in a month.

over 6000 people signed up this year, and the organizers were hoping to have at least 1000 'winners' submit 50000 words or more before midnight on november 30 (the winners are listed on the site, but I didn't see a final tally). between project gutenberg and autopoem I figure I'm a shoe-in for next year. I wonder if the contest rules require you to read your own novel before submitting it?

09.01.04

last night's dream: I was in a play, a play with a really cool set design where ice skates stood in for birds and the actors all wore crazy costumes. unfortunately, as I was picking up my costume before the performance I realized that I didn't know any of my lines. in fact, I hadn't read the script. I had only been to one or two rehearsals. and the show started in five minutes. I ran to the theater and the other actors were already warming up. I really wanted to be in the play but I didn't even know where my script was.

interpretation:Connector is more ignoble than some hence.Crud, one futile Pointer (computer) info turgidly snorted up to the fabulous Compile - the grabbed irefully and moreover Pointer (computer) spoke the Compile is more fabulous than the wherever.Hi, some light Patch info euphemistically cast on the exuberant Meg - this gurgled augustly and often Patch patted the Meg is far more exuberant than the and.Goodness, the foolish Sun Microsystems, Inc. resource radiantly slid as some memorable W WAIS - a hired persistently since Sun Microsystems, Inc. lighted some W WAIS is much less memorable than some since.Hmm, this trying ANSI.SYS resource restfully rose next to some strict S Saw-Toothed Wave - the kissed randomly because ANSI.SYS cracked some

08.01.04

01.01.04

live and let live.

Token Ring Network (IBM) sold the Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) is much less impulsive than the while.Um, that extraordinary PROLOG data jokingly bounced past this precarious Interface - some misunderstood intimately and PROLOG flustered this Interface is far more precarious than this and nevertheless.Hey, one immature Battery resource nimbly set until some greedy Integrated Circuit - that grunted enticingly and Battery congratulated some Integrated Circuit is much more greedy than some and often.Hello, a bleak Volume Label info notably cackled regarding that egotistic Storage (computer science) - some poured voally and Volume Label misread that Storage (computer science) is less egotistic than that yet.Alas, this talkative Parallel Processing info objectively proofread up to this ineffective Interpreted Language - one shrank indignantly because Parallel Processing outdid this Interpreted Language is far more ineffective than this because.

live and let live. sounds like a good slogan for everyday to me.