Nicholas

I've moved!

2009-09-26T15:21:31Z

LiveJournal was making me feel a bit uneasy, so I moved my journal to wzdd.lardcave.net.

Unfortunately the new site doesn't yet have comments. I like comments, so I'll try to add that as soon as I can.

wzdd @ 2009-09-16T16:28:00

2009-09-16T06:28:45Z

Congratulations to Catie, who is now a doctor!

Belated congratulations to Leonid, Dave, and Matt, who also became doctors recently. You are an inspiration to me.

Why yes I do have a thesis to write, blah blah blah

2009-07-03T04:56:48Z

When I cook something in the microwave, I generally put it in for some time between 30 seconds and 3 minutes. This usage pattern is borne out by the wear on the buttons.

I wondered if this would follow Benford's law, but it doesn't seem to. Here are the buttons arranged in order of usage, based on the amount of wear:

There's no particular reason why it should, as the amount of time I want to heat my food isn't so much related to the actual heating requirements of the food as to the amount of times I feel like getting up and stirring it. Plus a bunch of other reasons. :) Sadly I think the wear patterns are too noisy to work out if the arrangement follows a Zeta distribution.

Wear on buttons can have more serious side effects: Bruce Schneier recently posted about security-code keypads which leak information by showing a pattern of wear on the correct keys.

Worst joke ever

2009-06-03T02:53:49Z

The worst joke ever is, my previous entry notwithstanding, this joke recounted by an unnamed Labor guy during the Senate proceedings:

Unnamed Labor guy 1: How do you confuse the opposition over climate change?
Unnamed Labor guy 2: I dunno, ask them about sequestration?
ULG1: No.
ULG2: Err... talk about biochar?
ULG1: Nope.
ULG2: I'm really at a loss here, unnamed Labor guy 1! How do you confuse the opposition over climate change?
ULG1: You don't have to say anything, because they're already confused!
ULG2: *reaction unrecorded*

Honestly, that's hardly even a joke. I'm beginning to suspect that people don't get up during Senate proceedings to tell jokes at all, but instead to make some rhetorical point.

Joke for you guys

2009-04-14T06:51:16Z

Q: How do you make a cross city tunnel?

A: Sneak up behind it and kick it in the arse!

(I had something here before about duplicating access, closing free roads, setting high tolls and going broke, but it wasn't as snappy.)

Net censorship, again

2009-03-27T04:36:14Z

I'm very encouraged by the reaction of the majority of the public to the flaws in the Australian government's Internet censorship plan, which has received widespread ridicule in the local and overseas press.

I enjoyed this cheap shot by the Associated Press, covering an interview with the Minister responsible, Stephen Conroy (full article):

"It is possible to support a blacklist and support free speech," Conroy said. He did not explain how.

If you're interested in following along, I recommend the (obviously biased) site somebodythinkofthechildren.com.

Communicating with men, if you're a man

2009-03-24T04:08:55Z

To start with, the conversation should be about 95% silence. Give the impression that you don't have to talk. Chatting is for the timid. You don't need it. Convey the absolute minimum amount of information necessary, as an afterthought. "Just a trim, please," you might say, for example. After five minutes of silence, he will perhaps respond with "shall I trim the sideburns?" and you can respond with something like "yes please."

Give the conversation time to develop. This requires the utmost delicacy. Think "deer in headlights" more than "Nescafé ad". With the proper timing, you should be hitting the conversational high points after a quarter of an hour, talking about male pattern baldness, how to attract the ladies, your computer science thesis -- and the minutes will just fly by.

Clive Hamilton's opinion piece: just the naughty words

2009-02-18T07:07:26Z

sex naked dildos sex sex oral sex cum facials blowjobs hard-core bondage fisting upskirts incest golden showers gang bangs scat vaginas penises sex defecating sexual sexual censorship censorship censorship censoring censor

full article

Coffee vs tea

2009-02-06T10:59:36Z

Coffee beans costs about $10 for 250 grams. That's 4 cents a gram. Apparently one shot of coffee is about 7 grams of ground beans, so the average shot is about 28 cents worth of coffee.

Really expensive Earl Grey tea from T2 costs $22 for 250 grams, or 8.8 cents a gram. But you only need 2 grams per cup of tea, so a cup of delicious tea costs only 18 cents.

Conclusion: drink tea!

(Numbers obtained from the Internet and Kevin, a self-confessed coffee addict.)

Skimble

2009-01-03T06:39:48Z

Skimble, my family's cat, was euthanised this morning after a pre-existing condition took a turn for the worse. He was 18.

When we bought him the woman in the pet shop told me that in her opinion he was the smartest there. We soon had reason to doubt her judgement, however, when we discovered his method for asking to be let inside. Obviously deciding that meowing was for lesser creatures, Skimble's preferred technique was to charge full-pelt at the front door and bash into it with his skull, generating a dull "boom" that could be heard throughout the house.

When inside, he gravitated to laps, completely oblivious to any pre-existing lap contents. I have many memories of sitting at my desk, typing, with a lap full of cat and his jackhammer-level purring filling the room. He never liked strangers, so it always made me smile to visit my mum's house and realise he still recognised me -- not bad for an old cat.

He is missed by Robyn, Charles, and me.

Dante's Inferno: the video game

2008-12-28T03:06:03Z

A couple of people have pointed out Dante's Inferno: the video game, since I was vaguely thinking about making a game based around Inferno as well. However, there are some subtle differences between the game as it currently stands, and the poem. Here's a quick guide for telling the difference between The Divine Comedy, three poems published by Dante Alighieri in the 14th Century, and Dante's Inferno: the video game:

Poem: Dante, an essentially good man, finds that he has strayed from the correct path -- he has become too worldly, accepting God in name only. As a sinner, he cannot repent and go directly back on the path of righteousness: He must first recognise, and then renounce, his sin. As part of this process, he is led through Hell, Purgatory, and finally to Heaven. The journey is both real and metaphorical: to recognise his own sin he must understand and accept God's punishment of the sins of others. The poem is intensely political, reflecting the tumultuous politics of Italy at the time -- Dante encounters historical figures and his political enemies at every level of Hell. Dante's logical and emotional reaction to these tortured souls is critical to his progression, both physically and spiritually.

Game: You're a guy and you get to stab things with a cross. Every so often you encounter a boss and you have to kill him in order to free lost souls so they can return to Purgatory.

As a game based on the poems, I think it's going to suck. Inferno is really only incidentally about Hell: it's a landscape which mirrors the condition of Dante's soul rather than a tangible place. Neither the author nor his guide commits any act of violence and, in fact, Dante cannot interact with the souls, as he is corporeal and they are not. It's obvious (I did it) to look at Inferno and see game-like concepts: there are nine circles, each one themed; there are various boss-like characters; the world is nicely filled with thousands of non-speaking NPCs plus a handful of more detailed characters; and it's set in Hell, which means there is a rich and accessible cultural heritage to draw from. But if you put all that together, you don't get Inferno, you get Doom, or God of War, or whatever. These are great games, but they're not Inferno, they're genero-Western-culture mashups. It's not even like someone could claim that they were re-using Dante's imagery, because he didn't come up with most of it. His genius was in re-using it to tell his story.

Anyway, I could be wrong and, to be fair, it's far too early to tell. There are lots of themes in the poem which are still relevant today (such as that of making best use of your time on Earth), but some which only make sense in a religious context (such as "human reason can only take us so far and to go further requires God's grace") -- which, I suspect, EA won't be keen to put in a mass-market game.

Sorry to go all Roger Ebert (ref) on this, but I had the same sort of idea about Inferno to start with: cool! Each level reflects a sin, there are lots of different monsters, awesome theme for a game! Then I actually read the book.

wzdd @ 2008-12-18T21:57:00

2008-12-18T11:57:27Z

Stephen Conroy's office sent me a form letter. I have included it, with my comments, below.

Internet filtering

Thank you for your correspondence concerning internet service provider (ISP) filtering. I appreciate your interest in this important issue.

I am aware that the issue of ISP filtering has attracted criticism from people who are concerned that it will lead to censorship of the internet.

Freedom of speech is fundamentally important in a democratic society. For many years however, most Australians have accepted that there is some material which is not acceptable, particularly for children.

The genesis of this is in civil society where social conflict is governed by the imposition of rules that restrain citizens from harming one another and society as a whole accepts that the public interest requires that those rules are enforced.

The Minister conflates protecting children from objectionable material and protecting adults from illegal material. I think this is because more people agree that keeping porn and hate speech away from children is a good idea. Fewer people agree that these things should be kept away from adults. Keep this in mind as you read the rest of the form letter. A large proportion of the focus is on child pornography, because blocking child porn is an "easy sell". Unfortunately the scope of Australia's filtering plan is a lot broader than this.

It's also worth noting that preventing children from seeing potentially-objectionable but legal material can be performed just as well by client-side filtering tools.

This is why we have the National Classification Scheme (the Scheme) for classifying films, computer games, and publications. Under the Scheme, it is illegal to distribute, sell or make available for hire material that is classified Refused Classification (RC).

The Minister does not mention that the list of items which have been refused classification is public knowledge, but the list of censored Internet sites is not. You can see the list of films here (click "include adult and RC content" and then select "RC content" from the dropdown). It is important to be able to see what is being censored, to facilitate debate on the topic. With the current filtering proposal, we do not know what will be censored, and we can't find out.

The internet is already subject to regulation which prevents ISPs or other internet content providers from hosting prohibited content as defined under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 within Australia. Prohibited content is determined by reference to the Scheme. We also have strong criminal laws aimed at preventing people from possessing or distributing material relating to child sexual abuse, including over the internet.

The Australian Government recognises that the internet is an essential tool for all Australian children through which they can exchange information, be entertained, socialise and do school work and research. The ability to use online tools effectively provides both a skill for life and the means to acquire new skills.

I am happy with the Government's current regulations and do not wish to see them either removed or augmented.

Cyber-safety commitment

The Government has committed $125.8 million over the next four years to a comprehensive range of cyber-safety measures, including law enforcement, filtering and education. Measures include:

Expansion of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Child Protection Operations Team - funding to detect and investigate online child sex exploitation;
Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions - funding to help deal with the increased activity resulting from the work of the AFP to ensure that prosecutions are handled quickly;
ISP-level filtering - funding to develop and implement ISP filtering, including undertaking a real world 'live' pilot;
Education activities - funding to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to implement a comprehensive range of education activities;
Websites / Online helpline - funding to ACMA to improve current government cyber-safety website resources and to make them easier for parents to use, and to provide up-to-date information. ACMA will also develop a children’s cyber-safety website to provide information specifically for children, and improve the online helpline to provide a quick and easy way for children to report online incidents that cause them concern;
Consultative Working Group - funding for an expanded Consultative Working Group. This group will consider the broad range of cyber-safety issues and advise the Government, to ensure properly developed and targeted policy initiatives;
Youth Advisory Group - funding for a Youth Advisory Group which will provide advice to the Consultative Working Group on cyber-safety issues from a young person’s perspective; and
Research - funding for ongoing research into the changing digital environment to identify issues and target future policy and funding.

This seems like a fine set of initiatives, apart from the ISP-level filtering initiative, which is what I wrote to the Minister about.

International cooperation in regard to online safety is crucial. The Government is pursuing an international agenda for collaborative action on cyber-safety. Progress on this was made through my recent engagement at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forum in Seoul in June 2008. The Seoul Declaration for the Future
of the Internet Economy states that participating economies agree to 'Ensure a trusted Internet-based environment which offers protection to individuals, especially minors and other vulnerable groups'.

The Minister is of course aware that ensuring a trusted Internet-based environment and ISP-level filtering are completely unrelated concepts. Read the Soul Declaration for the Future of the Internet Economy here.

Education

The above initiatives will tackle the issue of cyber-safety from a number of directions. More importantly, this approach is based on the key role parents and carers have in the online safety of children, and provides them with the necessary information to assist with this task.

In particular, ACMA’s Outreach program has been expanded to provide additional general cyber-safety awareness presentations to teachers, parents and students which highlight the key issues and strategies to minimise potential online risks. The program will also include professional development on online safety issues for existing and trainee school teachers.

Note that this education program, which sounds like a good idea, is completely unrelated to the issue of ISP-level filtering, which is what I wrote to the Minister about.

ISP filtering

A part of the Government’s plan is to examine the introduction of ISP-level filtering. The Government’s policy will be developed through an informed and considered approach, including industry consultation and close examination of overseas models to assess their suitability for Australia.

The Minister does not address issue of client-side filtering. Note that Australia has had free client-side filtering available since 2005 (it was introduced by the Howard government). It has had extremely small take-up, which indicates a lack of public interest or a lack of public education.

Filtering technologies have been adopted by ISPs in a number of countries including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Finland, predominantly to filter child pornography. In these countries ISP filtering has not affected internet performance to a noticeable level.

The Minster does not mention that in the UK and Finland, this filtering is voluntary. This omission is reprehensible.

Laboratory trial and live pilot

ACMA has completed a laboratory trial of a sample of the available ISP filtering technologies. The trial looked specifically at the effect of a range of filter products on network performance, effectiveness in identifying and blocking illegal content, scope to filter non-web traffic and the ability to customise the filter to the requirements of different end-users.

The laboratory trial indicated that ISP filtering products have developed in their performance and effectiveness since they were last assessed in 2005. The Government is now proceeding with a 'live; pilot which will provide valuable information on the effectiveness and efficiency of filters installed in a ‘real world’ ISP network. The live pilot is proceeding in close consultation with the internet industry.

The ACMA report is here, but unfortunately I can't make any comment on it right now because, hilariously, the ACMA Web site is down.

The Government is committed to working closely with the internet industry to address the concerns of network degradation, over and under blocking, circumvention and costs. These concerns will be carefully considered during the pilot and will further inform the Government’s cyber-safety policy.

It is difficult to see how a "live pilot" which does not involve actual customers and which is based on a list which may or may not actually be the same as the list which is used should this scheme be implemented could adequately address issues of over- and under-blocking. There is no information on how these issues will actually be addressed during the live pilot. I suspect the reason is because the Minister is lying about addressing these issues during the live pilot.

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (the Department) has prepared material on a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding ISP filtering. This list is available on the Department’s website at www.dbcde.gov.au/cybersafetyplan.

These FAQs will be updated regularly to provide you with the most up to date information on ISP filtering issues.

ACMA Blacklist

The existing ACMA blacklist is a list of internet web pages which are defined as 'prohibited' under Australian legislation. The list has been in place since 2000 and currently contains around 1300 URLs.

ACMA has also negotiated agreement with the UK Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) facilitating access to the IWF’s list of child abuse image URLs.

ACMA is also working with the Australian Federal Police to arrange access to the USA National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children list of child abuse image websites.

ACMA's justification for keeping this list secret is that linking to prohibited material is illegal. Apparently there is no justification for keeping the larger, opt-in list secret.

In consultations with ISPs, concerns have been raised that filtering a blacklist beyond 10 000 URLs may raise network performance issues, depending on the configuration of the filter. The pilot will therefore seek to also test network performance against a test list of 10 000 URLs.

This paragraph doesn't make sense, as apparently ISPs are concerned by the technical challenges of a list containing more than 10000 URLs, but the Government is requiring that they test with a list of exactly 10000 URLs. Minor point, but I had hoped they would at least get their form letters right.

This will be a closed network test and will not involve actual customers. The list of 10 000 sites will be developed by the technical organisation assisting the Department on the pilot, which has access to lists of this size. As this test is only being performed to test the impact on network performance against a list of this size, and actual customers are not involved, the make-up of the list is not an issue.

As discussed above, it is impossible to address issues of over- and under-blocking when "the make-up of the list is not an issue".

The ACMA blacklist is developed by complaints by the public about online content to the ACMA hotline. ACMA does not arbitrarily assess and classify content. Online content is assessed in accordance with the National Classification Scheme. The Scheme was established by the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995.
Content which is the subject of a complaint is assessed by ACMA and in some instances referred to the National Classification Board for classification.

The ACMA complaints process has been established by the Australian Parliament through the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. If content is found to be prohibited and is hosted in Australia (i.e. located on a computer or server in Australia), ACMA will direct the content provider to remove or prevent access to the content. If content is found to be prohibited and is hosted overseas, ACMA must add the material to its blacklist.

There is apparently no way for a member of the public to request than the ACMA remove a site from its list.

ACMA officers and Classification Board members applying the Scheme are highly trained and apply criteria set out in the Scheme’s legislative framework. Further, decisions made by the Classification Board can be reviewed by the Classification Review Board.

The scope of the definition of prohibited content in legislation cannot be expanded without changes to legislation being passed by Parliament.

Thank you for your interest in this matter. I hope this information will be of use.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Conroy
Minister for Broadband,
Communications and the Digital Economy

My letter to the Minister for Broadband, Communications, and the Digital Economy

2008-11-10T03:27:15Z

Any comments before I post it?

This blog gets more and more specialised, but not in any particular direction.

2008-11-09T15:53:26Z

I just found a whole bunch of different readings of the last few lines of Coleridge's Kubla Khan, here. This is the bit they're talking about:

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

I think there are two interesting things about these readings. First is the pronunciation of "Abora". This can be pronounced with slight emphasis on the first syllable, or it can be pronounced with a strong, lengthened second syllable. The first pronunciation sounds more like a place name to me, but the second one means you get a vague rhymey thing happening with "saw". I wonder if there is a better description than "vague rhymey thing".

The second interesting thing is the emphasis in the line "I would build that dome in air". I have always spoken it with the emphasis on air, as if the miraculous thing about the statement is that the pleasure-dome could be constructed through words alone -- but also implying that it was at one point not built in air, i.e. it physically existed. But the first reader (Sheen) puts the emphasis on I, and thus removes the assumption I had made that the speaker in the poem was talking about something that ever existed, even in the poem's universe. I like that suggestion: Paradise can exist purely in one's imagination.

Paper deadline

2008-11-07T15:25:09Z

Look, here I am, at home, wearing a hat!

However, this is a far better hat, courtesy Catie.

Sine wave speech

2008-11-04T04:09:05Z

I just found this (via Mind Hacks). Apparently you only understand the garbled version after listening to the non-garbled version, but I didn't have any problem understanding the garbled version straight-off. I don't think I have magical ears, so I'm keen to find out if the same applies to you!

I didn't get the picture version, though.

UPDATE: I just browsed the linked paper, and apparently knowing that what you're hearing is supposed to be speech can be enough to work out what is being said. So the Mind Hacks site is a little misleading.

UPDATE 2: I downloaded the software and made my own recording.

wzdd @ 2008-10-27T13:03:00

2008-10-27T03:03:59Z

EXT. A SMALL CAFE IN THE CITY. LUNCH-HOUR RUSH.

DANIEL DENNETT sits opposite THOMAS NAGEL. NAGEL is dressed casually. DENNETT is dressed rather sharply (business suit?), but slouches in his chair. He pokes at his lunch, which consists of two bowls: one filled with a lumpy soup, and one completely empty.

NAGEL: Look, you wanted soup, so I got you soup of the day. It's not my fault you got two bowls, and it's not my fault that the soup du jour turned out to be quail. Who would have thought, at this dive?

DENNETT: I can't tell which one I want.

NAGEL: It's a simple question.

DENNETT: For you maybe.

NAGEL: Just send it back if you don't like it.

DENNETT: I like quail. I just...

NAGEL: What?

DENNETT: Well they're both sort of quail-ey.

NAGEL: That's even easier, if you'll just listen to me! Which one is quailey-er?

DENNETT stares at the bowls ferociously. The conversation is over for NAGEL, who grins briefly, leans back, and tucks in his serviette.

DENNETT: (Slowly) Urrrrrrrrr!

DENNETT clambers over the table and begins to eat NAGEL's brain.

FADE OUT.

Feelings and experiences vary widely. For example, I run my fingers over sandpaper, smell a skunk, feel a sharp pain in my finger, seem to see bright purple, become extremely angry.

- The poor tormented souls at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Meet the walking zombie of Year 10 English

2008-10-24T05:25:07Z

The first time I heard W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues", which begins

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

I thought it was pretty strange that Auden would make such a tasteless connection between dog bones and funerals. I had a post written out asking if this connection was as obvious to everyone else and whether they thought the poet knew about it BUT then Catie and I did some research and it turns out that the reason it sounds so strange is because the poem is actually a joke -- or at least the first part of it started off as one. The first two stanzas come from Auden's play "The Ascent of F6" and are apparently read as a satirical eulogy for a politician. This actually makes me feel a lot better about it, since the alternative was that it was just bad poetry.

So there you go.

wzdd @ 2008-10-23T09:12:00

2008-10-22T23:12:07Z

Parliamentary question time yesterday was full of grandstanding disguised as "questions" about the Government's decision to guarantee bank deposits. A lot of the focus was on Treasury secretary Ken Henry, who (it is claimed) misrepresented the opinion of the Reserve Bank governor to Kevin Rudd (more info).

I'd just like to share with you this part of a hilarious speech by Mr. Gray, Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia, who weighs in with his own opinion on Liberal Party trashing of public servants:

Mr GRAY- [...] The Leader of the Opposition and shadow Treasurer are lawyers. They are used to mastering a brief without engaging in morality, ethics or propriety. They are lawyers; they prosecute their brief. They turned up in this place on the first day, I have no doubt, thinking they had all the integrity of Atticus Finch. No, they do not. They are just grubby politicians seeking a vote under whatever rock they can find it under by creating whatever nervousness and instability they can create in our
banking system.

Mr Robert—A Labor politician talks about grubby politicians? You guys are the ultimate grubs!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. AR Bevis)— Order! The parliamentary secretary will be heard in silence. As much as it would pain me, I will remove you if you keep it up.

Mr GRAY—I notice those opposite reserve for this parliament the same lack of courtesy that they do for senior public servants—the same lack of regard that they reserved for our significant prudential institutions like the Reserve Bank when they lined up to appoint their own donors as members. It is why they turn around and attack the Secretary to the Treasury this week. It is why they turn around and attack the Reserve Bank itself. It is why those opposite impugn the integrity of public servants and prudential regulators, most of whom they appointed. It is why they feel no twinge of conscience as they set about doing damage, because the damage to our banking system will, those members opposite hope, deliver a vote dividend. It will lift their profile. Damage the banks, win votes is the equation. Who cares about the damage? Damage to whom? To the very people those opposite would seek to represent. They also seek to damage the very character of the Secretary to the Treasury. We have seen the Leader of the Opposition call upon the government to sack the Secretary to the Treasury for doing his job. This is the very same Secretary to the Treasury who has served multiple federal governments. He served the Hawke government and the Keating government. He served the Howard government with great distinction. One might wonder why they so hate the Secretary to the Treasury. I wondered that myself. Could it be his work ethic—he has one; they don’t? Could it be his ethics— he has them; they don’t? Could it be his character—he has one; they don’t? Could it be that he understands that they do not understand the issues that they drag around our parliament and community like a dead rat?

For the thrilling conclusion consult Wednesday's Hansard (1.8MB PDF) and search for "dead rat".

Why yes, I do have a thesis to write. How could you tell?

2008-10-19T09:32:01Z

Today I took a break from fixing non-existent bugs to attend the Crows Nest Fair with Catie (and, unexpectedly but pleasantly, Peter). I did like the book stall with one section labelled "women's books" and another labelled "blokes", but I was a little disappointed overall.

Eventually I decided to stop looking at books and T-shirts and instead to collect as much religious material as people were willing to hand me. I didn't do a great job at this, but I was very polite about it and ended up with four separate sets of flyers.

Northside Community Church: Definitely has the nicest show bag. Includes "Christianity explained", which was helpful. Includes business-card-sized invitation to church.

NCA Church: Slogan "ordinary people -- extraordinary God" which I thought pretty snappy. Includes similar business-card-sized invitation to church, which somewhat detracted from the novelty of the idea. Also includes a small chewy sweet.

Falun Gong: Apparently this is a "spirituality practise" rather than a religion. In any case, I really just got a newsletter talking about Falun Gong for people who know what Falun Gong is, which was both nice (no advertising) and confusing (what is it?)

Twelve Tribes: Last time I visited the fair, followers from this group were holding hands and dancing around in a circle to music. They were at it for hours, which was pretty impressive. Unfortunately this year there was no dancing, just a couple of people selling bread and distributing "The Voice", which includes a fun story about our responsibility towards the environment.

EDIT: Later I bought some honeycomb from "Poppy's Honey", and I asked Poppy how long it would last. She rolled her eyes, laughed, and said "This? Longer than religion." But I put it in the fridge anyway.

wzdd @ 2008-10-19T18:51:00

2008-10-19T08:51:51Z

And now for some more programming advice. Today I spent a long time trying to track down a bug in my circular buffer implementation. These were the conditions:

The bug manifested as a buffer entry apparently being 1 number larger than it should be (when writing consecutive integers into the buffer);
It only showed up when the producer and consumer were in separate processes or threads;
Whenever it appeared, the consumer had just wrapped around the buffer;
The problem wasn't to do with insufficient locking.

I'll spare you the painful details: it turned out to be a bug in my test code, in which the test sometimes ended up writing non-consecutive numbers. The wraparound condition, multiprocessing requirement, consistently-being-off-by-one factor? All spurious. The buffer works perfectly and actually seems to be correct even without any locks (though this is because of a happy, but difficult to control, confluence of pro-atomic hardware and compiler factors as I am not explicitly doing atomic locking).

There is no moral for this one (in direct contradiction of the first sentence of this post), apart from "check your test code again" and "Nicholas is an idiot".

KPCOFGS

2008-10-08T11:13:26Z

Is the hierarchical classification scheme for organisms really useful any more, or are people just doing it for fun?

Finchley Central

2008-10-01T02:27:20Z

Finchley Central is a non-game described by Anatole Beck and David Fowler in Manifold:

Two players alternate naming the stations on the London Underground. The first to say 'Finchley Central' wins. It is clear that the 'best' time to say 'Finchley Central' is exactly before your opponent does. Failing that, it is good that he should be considering it. You could, of course, say 'Finchley Central' on your second turn. In that case, your opponent puffs on his cigarette and says, 'Well, ...' Shame on you.

(via Metamagical Themas)

A walk through a FAQ on biodegradable plastic, with little bubbles

2008-09-30T05:17:13Z

Natureworks, Wikipedia.

The Swedish model for the US financial crisis

2008-09-24T14:00:16Z

I don't know much about banking, but I know what I like, and one thing I like is the Swedish model. During crises, more economists should consider the Swedish model. Cast your eyes upon the Swedish model and have a personal revelation! About banking. (I just thought I'd get these out of the way early.)

In 1992 Sweden was in the middle of a finanical crisis rather similar to the current U.S. one. It was also partially precipitated by a housing bubble collapse, and they responded with a government bail-out along the same lines as the proposed U.S. solution. However, the Swedish bailout came with conditions: in some cases, the government only bought a bank's debt in exchange for equity in that bank, resulting in banks that were partially publicly owned (the government has since sold its stakes, recovering at least half its bail-out money).

From what I understand, equity isn't part of the current plan (it is a "no-strings-attached" bail-out). This concerns Bo Lundgren, architect of the Swedish model. He believes that the threat of giving the government a stake inspired some banks (such as SEB) to arrange private recapitalisation, obviating the need for governmental payments. For the banks which did need government money, the return on sales of their share in the banks returned at least some money to the public. The governmental oversight also restored confidence in the Swedish financial market more quickly than expected.

References: New York Times, Time, The Local.