Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - Posts
Those silly physicists. Everyone knows one. They have their silly ideas about the universe and forces and stuff. But make no mistake about it, when it comes to mathematics, the queen of the sciences, most physicists are orders of magnitude up the evolutionary chain from the average human. Most of my friends that are formally trained in physics are first and foremost first-rate mathematicians (at least from my plebeian perspective).
Some time ago, the Santa Fe Institute was founded as an institute in the study of complexity with a multidisciplinary approach to the science. Many researchers that are leaders in their disciplines work daily to study complexity with other leaders in other disciplines. As I oversimplify the significance of this work, this cross-disciplinary work yielded and continues to yield significant research.
I wish I could attribute the following story to its author, but I'll attempt to describe it as I remember it. In the early days of the Institute, one of the first meetings took place between a group of physicists and economists. As the physicists entered the room, one economist remarked "Here come the physicists". It was as though the economist was relegated to second-class status. The top of the food chain had arrived and was there to collaborate or devour, whichever opportunity first presented itself.
As I look at computing, I emphasize that language must receive a more rigorous treatment. Language in all of its forms, with grammars, syntax, semantics, etc.
Unfortunately, as I ask for this, I find myself saying "Here come the linguists". bigH just smiles.
Say hello to a few more of the .Net family in the Milwaukee Area:
Hello??? .... is this thing on?? - Marty Garins. Local senior developer. I've just started consulting (or contracting as the case may be) at the insurance firm where he's located.
Vini Vidi Vici - Sean McCormack's Blog [MVP] - Sean and I have not met yet, but I'm hoping to have lunch soon with him. As a C# MVP (translated: stud), I'm looking forward to talking with him. Sean runs Adapdev Technologies, the makers of Codus and ZaneBug. This stuff has been getting some serious attention recently.
(warning: needless tripe from an inside joke in this post)
Microsoft Web Services MVP E.B. Smith ee cummings casey has called me out. Dang it, I'm innocent. casey (notice the lower case out of respect) mentioned here that I do a little math, .Net, crypto, genetic programming, BizTalk (this is not my resume). I might add that you forgot finance and EC. Anyways, on to the charges . . .
In my first SMC post, I mention the movie "As Good as It Gets". So according to the lower cased one I must explain my ability to quote from this movie:
explanation 1
Mark Andrus was my college roommate my junior year. We would hang out and do a lot of stuff together. Mark was a writer and had aspirations to become a screenwriter in Hollywood. The Thanksgiving weekend of my junior year, Mark invited me over to his parent's house for the weekend. On the long drive (eight hours), he explained that he had an idea for a script that he called "While the Getting was Good". He said that the storyline was about a writer who liked his privacy. He actually worked out a few scenes right there in the car as he was driving. Later that weekend, he showed me the pages from the script he had typed up and I read the page with the line "People that speak in metaphors should trim my sideburns". Needless to say, it wasn't very funny. I suggested that he rewrite that section and pretend he was a tough guy actor like Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino or even maybe Jack Nicholson. I later saw the script and the rest is history. I suppose that I might even see the film before I die out of respect for my college roommate.
explanation 2
I was in the action section at my local Blockbuster. I had just picked up Terminator and Terminator 2. As I had never seen either of these movies, I put the DVD in my DVD player. Someone had switched the DVDs and had given me "As Good as It Gets" by mistake. But since I hadn't seen Terminator, I thought that was what I was watching. In fact, it took almost two full hours to realize that in a movie that featured Arnold Schwarzenegger, I hadn't yet seen him. I watched until the credits rolled, just in case I might have missed something. It turns out that the Terminator 2 DVD had actually been switched with "Terms of Endearment" and I proceeded to spend another two hours watching this instead of Terminator 2 waiting for Arnold.
explanation 3
I was just walking down the street one Saturday afternoon. As I turned the corner to head up the street where I live, a nondescriptive, black van with government plates pulled up, slid open the side door and hoisted me into the cargo area. I was gagged, blindfolded and given some sedative that knocked me out cold. When I awoke, I was face down in a carpeted living room, naked from the waist up. My blindfold had been removed and to my left was what appeared to be an empty bottle of antifreeze and three or four empty packs of cigarettes. To my right I noticed that there was a big funnel with a rubber hose, some lighter fluid and a book of matches. As the sedative wore off, I began to realize that my butt really, really hurt. I was then put on a steel folding chair and was restrained by what seemed like three rolls of duct tape. As I tried to figure out what would happen next, a large screen TV was rolled into the room. My eyelids were taped open and my head fixed in the direction of the TV. The two men with ski masks then put in the DVD of "As Good as It Gets", hit the repeat movie button and left for what seemed like 24 hours. I saw the movie 7 times in a row. I can't remember how I made it home the next day, but I remember having to stand when I rode the bus because there were at least two more empty bottles of antifreeze that I can recall . . .
explanation 4
So I'm straight-up chillin' and bassin' and a mackin in my Benz and I sees these two fine honies leavin the video store. So I puts my swerve on and jes like as smooth as silk say, "Hey ladies, you been in a Benz today?" I didn't even notice what movie these fine looking ladies were renting as they answered "no sugar". As they is gettin in my fly Benz two more fine ladies notice me. It turns out that they haven't been in a Benz today either. Now I could goes on and on about wut happenz next, but we's gots to keep some decorum.
explanation 5
I own the DVD.
HINT: The answer might be none of the above.
Local .Net developer and all around good guy Gerry posted this recently. I was particularly interested in this link to Spore.
As a practitioner of AI, specifically GP and EC, I am genuinely pleased to see this kind of progress in other areas of computing. I actually entered into computing as many teenage boys do: I fell in love with video games and wanted to write them. Now, some years later (I'm an old man in gaming years), and a few generations of hardware and knowledge later, this new generation of games begins to show the promise that I and many others have hoped would emerge.
If I read the description correctly, the game allows for emergent properties in at least three different ways: on the player as an organism, on a group of organisms, and finally at a macroplanetary level. I'm anxious to see this in action.
bigH decided to mention a few of our projects in his welcome post here. He used the phrase "at the block". Ivan mentioned ATB as well.
At the block (ATB) is JJBR slang for anything that may be placed in the public domain.
Like many informal research organizations, there are assets that improve the value of the research within the organization and while they may benefit other PUBLIC parties, they remain intellectual property within the organization. These assets, protected within "JJBR walls" are not disclosed in any PUBLIC forum and are referred to as off the block or OTB. The fact that we have OTB collateral should be no surprise to anyone who produces research or product or any other IP.
ATB assets are any collateral and communications around that collateral that are in the domain of JJBR, but are available in some form in the public domain as released by JJBR. This may include research, communications about research, software or other collateral.
All of the GP work that I'll be releasing is ATB as is any conversation about that GP.
Besides, some of us work for other "research firms" with similar or stricter OTB policies and practices.
On the way home from work this evening I decided to stop in at the local Barnes and Noble Superstore. If you know where I live, then you know that the selection of books on the shelves in my city and surrounding areas are not comprehensive.
So I have a few particular titles that I'm searching for (you'd think I'd call ahead, or order online), but I was in no hurry. As I completed my shopping, I glanced up and saw this thick black book hiding in the Biology section. I immediately grabbed it (as though someone else might actually wrestle it from me). This book hits the spot, ahhhhhhhhhhhh. It's copyright 2001, so I wonder how I missed this. I was not aware that it existed. As it is a paperback and flimsy, I'll guess that it will be worn out within six months. Even the JJBR guys were wondering how a copy made it all the way to this little, itty, bitty city with virtually no sense of itself in the sciences.
This book once again reinforces the realization that I have to allocate more time for reading and that I still have a great deal to learn.
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