Author: gulley

I was reading something (can’t remember where) about why people write open-source code. It used the word “reputationism” (as opposed to capitalism) as the motivating force. I think there’s something to that. The author mentioned Advogato’s trust metric as an example of how trust and reputation can be automatically tracked in large communities. If this kind of thing works, it really does make new social structures and kinds of work possible. This is related to Francis Fukuyama’s concept of social capital.

You’ve heard all about the human genome. Here it is. The National Center for Biotechnology Information has made a good web-based interface for zooming down to wherever you want on the chromosome. You can search for something like Huntington’s disease, and it will highlight the part of the genome you care about, in this case the short arm of chromosome 4.

From my friend JMike and his poker-playing friends comes this discussion of the phrase “to beg the question.”

To beg the question is to use an argument that assumes what was to
be proved. It derives from a secondary meaning of “beg,” to evade
or dodge. This time-honored and useful meaning is fast disappearing under the
prow of ignorance; currently “beg the question” is often used to
mean elicit or raise the question.

Since learning the correct meaning, I can’t hear the phrase without thinking of the time I was escorted by
security out of the Flamingo Hilton:

Me: What’s going on?
Floorman: You’re out of here.
Me: Yeah, but why?
Floorman: Why? Because get the fuck out of here, that’s why.

From the Coffee Czar: Why Mathematicians Now Care About Their Hat Color

Ever wonder why snowflakes are all different, but each of their six little arms are exactly the same? Read all about it at the Caltech Snow Crystals site, where they can now custom build designer snowflakes.

What’s new at the O’Reilly Network. As seen at BoingBoing. If you don’t read BoingBoing regularly, consider it. Those guys are always digging up the good stuff.

This is a great article on rapid scaling, as described in Web Techniques. From Hot Concept to Hot Site in Eight. hotornot.com probably scaled up more and faster than any company to date. Fun read.

Incredible but true. An entire game of chess written to fit within 5k of memory. Try it… it’s a pretty creditable player, at least for me. It’s part of the 5k challenge.

More OpenCola news. Tech Review sez: Have Some Code and a Smile. Remember you heard it here first.

Check out the Word from the Czar for the true story behind the illicit liaison between Megnut and the famous Front Page bot cursor.