Frontier Justice
by Jack Brummet
1
A roiling thunderstorm clears the air
Like Wyatt Earp's peacekeeper
2
A bad beginning can be overcome
But a good end lasts forever
---o0o---
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Poem: Frontier Justice
Frontier Justice
by Jack Brummet
1
A roiling thunderstorm clears the air
Like Wyatt Earp's peacekeeper
2
A bad beginning can be overcome
But a good end lasts forever
---o0o---
The National Jukebox
By Jack Brummet, American Music Editor
A fantastic resource for the school, teacher, researcher, writer, student, and blogger is The Library of Congress digital archives. The LoC has now mounted The National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the amazing collections of the Library of Congress, Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation, and other contributing libraries and archives, including an amazing treasure trove of ten thousand old 78 RPM recordings from the R.C.A. Victor catalog, all digitized and available for streaming (but not downloading). Check it out.
A fantastic resource for the school, teacher, researcher, writer, student, and blogger is The Library of Congress digital archives. The LoC has now mounted The National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the amazing collections of the Library of Congress, Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation, and other contributing libraries and archives, including an amazing treasure trove of ten thousand old 78 RPM recordings from the R.C.A. Victor catalog, all digitized and available for streaming (but not downloading). Check it out.
---o0o---
Monday, October 03, 2011
Sunday, October 02, 2011
"Highly placed aides" to Chris Christie say he is considering White House run
By Pablo Fanque, Election 2012 Editor
illustration by Jack Brummet
After saying over and over and over that he would not make a run for the White House, sources close to Jersey Gov. Chris Christie say he is reconsidering his decision to stay out of the 2012 contest.
Staffers say that he is expected to decide soon. He has no choice; if he is running, he needs to start organizing the field for upcoming primaries and caucuses. There are filing deadlines coming up soon in the early primary states.
You may remember he has denied wanting to run all along. Just a year ago he said that "short of suicide" he wasn't sure what he could say to convince people that he's not running. With half the Republican party begging him to run, it has to be very hard to walk away from what is surely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
illustration by Jack Brummet
After saying over and over and over that he would not make a run for the White House, sources close to Jersey Gov. Chris Christie say he is reconsidering his decision to stay out of the 2012 contest.
Staffers say that he is expected to decide soon. He has no choice; if he is running, he needs to start organizing the field for upcoming primaries and caucuses. There are filing deadlines coming up soon in the early primary states.
You may remember he has denied wanting to run all along. Just a year ago he said that "short of suicide" he wasn't sure what he could say to convince people that he's not running. With half the Republican party begging him to run, it has to be very hard to walk away from what is surely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
---o0o---
Saturday, October 01, 2011
The smartest first grader, ever
A first-grade teacher, Ms. Brooks, was having trouble with one of her students. The teacher asked, 'Harry, what's your problem?'
Harry answered, 'I'm too smart for the 1st grade. My sister is in the 3rd grade and I'm smarter than she is! I think I should be in the 3rd grade too!'
Ms. Brooks had had enough. She took Harry to the principal's office.
While Harry waited in the outer office, the teacher explained to the principal what the situation was. The principal told Ms. Brooks he would give the boy a test. If he failed to answer any of his questions he was to go back to the 1st grade and behave. She agreed.
Harry was brought in and the conditions were explained to him and he agreed to take the test.
Principal:
'What is 3 x 3?'
Harry:
'9.'
Principal:
'What is 6 x 6?'
Harry:
'36.'
And so it went with every question the principal thought a 3rd grader should know.
The principal looks at Ms. Brooks and tells her, 'I think Harry can go to the 3rd grade'
Ms. Brooks says to the principal, 'Let me ask him some questions..'
The principal and Harry both agreed.
Ms. Brooks asks, 'What does a cow have four of that I have only two of?'
Harry, after a moment: 'Legs.'
Ms. Brooks: 'What is in your pants that you have but I do not have?'
The principal wondered why would she ask such a question!
Harry replied: 'Pockets.'
Ms. Brooks: 'What does a dog do that a man steps into?'
Harry: 'Pants.'
The principal sat forward with his mouth hanging open.
Ms. Brooks: 'What goes in hard and pink then comes out soft and sticky?'
The principal's eyes opened really wide and before he could stop the answer, Harry replied, 'Bubble gum.'
Ms. Brooks: 'What does a man do standing up, a woman does sitting down and a dog does on three legs?'
Harry: 'Shake hands .'
The principal was trembling.
Ms. Brooks: 'What word starts with an 'F' and ends in 'K' that means a lot of heat and excitement?'
Harry:
'Firetruck.'
The principal breathed a sigh of relief and told the
teacher, 'Put Harry in the fifth-grade, I got the last seven questions wrong.
---o0o---
Banks raise fees on the very same people who bailed their arses out
Go here to read the post by Andy Borowitz (one of my favorite internet denizens): Borowitz Report - Banks Raise Fees on Same People Who Bailed Out Their Asses
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Friday, September 30, 2011
Terraform
By Jack Brummet, Software Editor
I haven't broken out the Terraform software (a terrain editor and generator) in years...I did this river and valley in about ten minutes.
I haven't broken out the Terraform software (a terrain editor and generator) in years...I did this river and valley in about ten minutes.
click to enlarge
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Those wacky monkeys typing away at Shakespeare may actually succeed one of these days
By Jack Brummet, Poetry Editor
Maureen O'Connor just wrote an article titled "Monkeys on Typewriters ‘Close to Reproducing Shakespeare." We've written about the Shakespeare/Monkey theorem a few times before, and a few years ago we participated in a crowd-sourced/distributed computing project that put virtual monkeys typing away on thousands of peoples computers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. I think we came up with a couple of lines from two or three plays.
"As a fun side project," Jesse Anderson created millions of small computer programs that generate "random sequences of nine characters." As each sequence is created, it is compared to Shakespeare's oeuvre; if it matches anywhere, it gets checked off a list. The monkeys have been typing for 35 days, and most recently completed "A Lover's Complaint."
"Those monkeys are typing Shakespeare in order, so monkey-literature-ologists aren't sure if it should "count."
As it turns out, the one time someone actually went out and hired real monkeys to do the mashing, the sequences weren't even random, according to an article in the Daily Telegraph:
Maureen O'Connor just wrote an article titled "Monkeys on Typewriters ‘Close to Reproducing Shakespeare." We've written about the Shakespeare/Monkey theorem a few times before, and a few years ago we participated in a crowd-sourced/distributed computing project that put virtual monkeys typing away on thousands of peoples computers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. I think we came up with a couple of lines from two or three plays.
"A computer programmer testing the "Infinite Monkey Theorem"—that, with enough time, a monkey randomly mashing a typewriter would eventually type the complete works of Shakespeare—says his virtual monkeys will soon complete the works, way ahead of their infinity deadline!"
According to another article by Nick Collins in The Telegraph: "The monkeys, which started typing on August 21, have already completed more than five trillion of the 5.5 trillion possible nine-letter combinations, but have so far only finished one whole work. But the experiment is an imperfect reproduction of the infinite monkey theorem because it saves correct sections of text while discarding future wrong guesses, experts said."
According to another article by Nick Collins in The Telegraph: "The monkeys, which started typing on August 21, have already completed more than five trillion of the 5.5 trillion possible nine-letter combinations, but have so far only finished one whole work. But the experiment is an imperfect reproduction of the infinite monkey theorem because it saves correct sections of text while discarding future wrong guesses, experts said."
"As a fun side project," Jesse Anderson created millions of small computer programs that generate "random sequences of nine characters." As each sequence is created, it is compared to Shakespeare's oeuvre; if it matches anywhere, it gets checked off a list. The monkeys have been typing for 35 days, and most recently completed "A Lover's Complaint."
"Those monkeys are typing Shakespeare in order, so monkey-literature-ologists aren't sure if it should "count."
As it turns out, the one time someone actually went out and hired real monkeys to do the mashing, the sequences weren't even random, according to an article in the Daily Telegraph:
"In 2003 the Arts Council for England paid £2,000 for a real-life test of the theorem involving six Sulawesi crested macaques, but the trial was abandoned after a month.
The monkeys produced five pages of text, mainly composed of the letter S, but failed to type anything close to a word of English, broke the computer and used the keyboard as a lavatory."
---o0o---
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Robert Plutchik's "Wheel of Emotions"
By Mona Goldwater
Psychology and behavioral sciences editor
Thirty years ago, Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions. He believed there were eight primary/bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. His model also connects the idea of an emotion circle and a color wheel. The primary emotions can be expressed just like colors at different intensities and you can mix with one with the other to form different emotions.
Psychology and behavioral sciences editor
Thirty years ago, Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions. He believed there were eight primary/bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. His model also connects the idea of an emotion circle and a color wheel. The primary emotions can be expressed just like colors at different intensities and you can mix with one with the other to form different emotions.
| Human Feelings (The results of Emotions) | Feelings | Opposite |
|---|---|---|
| Optimism | Anticipation + Joy | Disapproval |
| Love | Joy + Trust | Remorse |
| Submission | Trust + Fear | Contempt |
| Awe | Fear + Surprise | Aggression |
| Disappointment | Surprise + Sadness | Optimism |
| Remorse | Sadness + Disgust | Love |
| Contempt | Disgust + Anger | Submission |
| Aggression | Anger + Anticipation | Awe |
---o0o---
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Eric Schulman's "History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less"
By Jack Brummet
Unexplained Phenomena Editor
This is Eric Schulman's "History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less." I have been been grokking on this one for a couple of weeks (and looking up the words and phrases I didn't understand). Wow.
These 200 words inspired A Briefer History of Time which also led to the Annals of Improbable Research Universal History Translation Project. Reprinted from the AIR, Volume III, Number 1, January/February 1997, page 27.
Unexplained Phenomena Editor
This is Eric Schulman's "History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less." I have been been grokking on this one for a couple of weeks (and looking up the words and phrases I didn't understand). Wow.
These 200 words inspired A Briefer History of Time which also led to the Annals of Improbable Research Universal History Translation Project. Reprinted from the AIR, Volume III, Number 1, January/February 1997, page 27.
Quantum fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Strong nuclear interaction. Particle-antiparticle annihilation. Deuterium and helium production. Density perturbations. Recombination. Blackbody radiation. Local contraction. Cluster formation. Reionization? Violent relaxation. Virialization. Biased galaxy formation? Turbulent fragmentation. Contraction. Ionization. Compression. Opaque hydrogen. Massive star formation. Deuterium ignition. Hydrogen fusion. Hydrogen depletion. Core contraction. Envelope expansion. Helium fusion. Carbon, oxygen, and silicon fusion. Iron production. Implosion. Supernova explosion. Metals injection. Star formation. Supernova explosions. Star formation. Condensation. Planetesimal accretion. Planetary differentiation. Crust solidification. Volatile gas expulsion. Water condensation. Water dissociation. Ozone production. Ultraviolet absorption. Photosynthetic unicellular organisms. Oxidation. Mutation. Natural selection and evolution. Respiration. Cell differentiation. Sexual reproduction. Fossilization. Land exploration. Dinosaur extinction. Mammal expansion. Glaciation. Homo sapiens manifestation. Animal domestication. Food surplus production. Civilization! Innovation. Exploration. Religion. Warring nations. Empire creation and destruction. Exploration. Colonization. Taxation without representation. Revolution. Constitution. Election. Expansion. Industrialization. Rebellion. Emancipation Proclamation. Invention. Mass production. Urbanization. Immigration. World conflagration. League of Nations. Suffrage extension. Depression. World conflagration. Fission explosions. United Nations. Space exploration. Assassinations. Lunar excursions. Resignation. Computerization. World Trade Organization. Terrorism. Internet expansion. Reunification. Dissolution. World-Wide Web creation. Composition. Extrapolation?
Copyright 1996-1997 by Eric Schulman.
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Copyright 1996-1997 by Eric Schulman.
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