[FRIAM] Beastly thoughts

2006-06-06 Thread Robert Holmes
Given that the world is due to end today (what with it being 6/6/6) I thought I'd share these while I had time:Sum of squares of first seven primes = 2^2 + 3^3 + 5^2 + 7^2 + 11^2 + 13^2 + 17^2 = 666 Sum of first 144 ( = (6+6)(6+6) ) digits of pi = 666... and yet more on

[FRIAM] Cybermesa's over-enthusiastic spam filter

2006-06-12 Thread Robert Holmes
About half the time that I send email to someone with a Cybermesa email it get bounced because their spam filter (Spamcop) has listed the Gmail servers as potential spam sources. Anyone know how I fix this/get round it? I don't want to give up gmail because it's so gosh darm handy. Thoughts

[FRIAM] String-bashing

2006-06-24 Thread Robert Holmes
Here's a fun string-bashing article: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articleArchive/jun2006/notevenwrong.phpIt makes a couple of serious points though. What I found worrying was the claim (for which the author provides some limited evidence) that it is now impossible to get on in physics academia

Re: [FRIAM] computer models of the mind

2006-07-19 Thread Robert Holmes
Not strictly true I think. Sure, Linux can't run without a PC but does that mean it can't exist without one? Linux started its existence in Torvalds' head before it appeared on a CPU and if all CPUs vanished tomorrow it would still exist in his and other experts heads. Similarly, who says I can't

Re: [FRIAM] singularity

2006-07-19 Thread Robert Holmes
Indeed. I'm certainly capable of misapplying statistical techniques several orders of magnitude faster than I could a decade ago.RobetrOn 7/19/06, Russell Standish [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Jul 19, 2006 at 02:07:58PM +0200, Carlos Gershenson wrote: Also agree, but what I claim is that

Re: [FRIAM] formalization of Complexity (was Dynamics of Complex Systems by Yaneer Bar-Yam)

2006-07-23 Thread Robert Holmes
Models such as Schellings segregation and Axtel and Epsteins artificial societies typically take place on some bounded checker board through which nothing flows. By the defintion below are these therefore not complex systems?RobertOn 7/21/06, Stephen Guerin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yet when I ask

Re: [FRIAM] Dynamics of Complex Systems by Yaneer Bar-Yam

2006-07-23 Thread Robert Holmes
On 7/21/06, Owen Densmore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ...Does this mean, for complexity, there's no There There?... Do we all talk about complexity yet have no basis for it? -- OwenOwen,You have forgotten the Complexity Koan:The core concept of complexity science is that there is no core concept of

Re: [FRIAM] formalization of Complexity

2006-07-23 Thread Robert Holmes
On 7/23/06, Stephen Guerin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... In other systems like the ant foraging ABM model, we're trying to generalize the notions of work and heat beyond traditional mechanical processes. we've saidthat work is performed on the agents at the micro level as the system becomescomplex

Re: [FRIAM] Lyapunov Exponent

2006-07-23 Thread Robert Holmes
OK, I'll bite. Could you just give some details of how I calculate the Reynold's number for (say) an ant algorithm? I can see how I might ascribe a density, a characteristic length and a mean velocity but viscosity?? What's the analogue there? Why don't we all just get over our physics envy and

Re: [FRIAM] (GWAVA: SPAM) What have the Romans - sorry - complexity done for us?

2006-07-24 Thread Robert Holmes
] wrote: Well, there's the roads, yeah, and then there's the...Romans are the right metaphor, since much of what's happened in thelast X years has been diffusion of ideas--ideas, not measures--intonumerous different domains. Like Kuhn said... MikeOn Jul 24, 2006, at 7:21 AM, Robert Holmes wrote: Hi

Re: [FRIAM] What have the Romans - sorry - complexity done for us?

2006-07-25 Thread Robert Holmes
would be good to read?There are apparentlyseveral! -- OwenOwen Densmorehttp://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.orgOn Jul 24, 2006, at 8:55 AM, Robert Holmes wrote: You beat me to it Mike. I was re-reading Kuhn this morning because I'm pretty darn sure that complexity science

Re: [FRIAM] Definition of Complexity

2006-07-25 Thread Robert Holmes
One can certainly start from the partition function. But the partitionfunction is something that is additional to the microscopic description, hence emergent. Indeed, the partition function isdifferent depending on whether you are using microcanonical, canonicalor grand canonical ensembles, each

Re: [FRIAM] Simulation and policy-making

2006-08-09 Thread Robert Holmes
On 8/9/06, McNamara, Laura A [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Computational social science doesn't lend itself to VV the way that physics-based mod-sim does, so creativity in VV is required...I agree, and I think the approach that RAND take is as good as any. My concern though is that any social science

Re: [FRIAM] Kinds of complexity

2006-08-09 Thread Robert Holmes
On 8/9/06, Pamela McCorduck [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip...In fact, asking for the true mathematical definition of complexity today is like asking for the true mathematical definition of electricity in 1800: to understand electricity, it turned out to be much more productive to define several

[FRIAM] Off-topic - thin wallets

2006-09-06 Thread Robert Holmes
Hi all,Owen asked me where I got my peculiarly thin wallet (handy for anyone who puts their wallet in back pocket and doesn't want their spine thrown out of kilter).From here: http://www.all-ett.com/R FRIAM Applied Complexity Group

Re: [FRIAM] Do you know? Do 'swarms' follow random walks?

2006-09-07 Thread Robert Holmes
Phil,Following on from Steve's comments, the mean distance of a randomly-walking point from its origin is of the order sqrt(N) where N is the number of steps in its walk. Steve's flocks don't exhibit this behaviour, so it's safe to say that no, swarms do not generally display random walk

[FRIAM] SFI public lectures next week

2006-09-08 Thread Robert Holmes
SFI are putting on quite a lecture series next week. The themed back-to-back public lectures is getting me all nostalgic for the Royal Institution's Christmas lectures (y'know, those guys up Hyde Park Road should think about an annual event like that...) RLecture I, Tuesday, September 12How Plants

Re: [FRIAM] incredible machine - Google Video

2006-09-10 Thread Robert Holmes
... and here's a toybox so you can build your own virtual versions:http://www.souptoys.com/RobertOn 9/9/06, Owen Densmore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: OK, Rube Goldberg, step aside! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3163263343187879320 -- OwenOwen Densmore

Re: [FRIAM] Seaside (Smalltalk web development framework)

2006-09-14 Thread Robert Holmes
Check out R. It's got good interpolation and plotting routines, it has a good package for time series analysis, it's free and has a huge user base.http://www.r-project.org/ RobertOn 9/14/06, Phil Henshaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Owen types: I'd like to get back to the task at hand -- evaluating

[FRIAM] Mass observation

2006-09-15 Thread Robert Holmes
At FRIAM today I was chatting with Mike (Agar) about the Mass Observation movement, an eccentric Enlish take on anthropolgy from the 1930s. Here's a link to a New Yorker article about it: http://www.newyorker.com/critics/content/articles/060911crat_atlargeRobert

Re: [FRIAM] R tutorial for idiots.

2006-09-24 Thread Robert Holmes
On 9/24/06, Phil Henshaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Robert, Thanks for asking. I'm getting a little help from Gabor on the use of zoo, and will eventually learn how to code the things I want. The R core is really neat in that what would be 50 tangled lines of code in lisp aresimple short

Re: [FRIAM] Unstrung

2006-10-03 Thread Robert Holmes
On 10/3/06, phil henshaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So I picked up last week's New Yorker to find one of it's thorough and insightful articles of the same name, in this caseby Jim Holt on the demise of string theory, and the books by Smolin and Woit. What caught my attention was the

[FRIAM] Google pwns you

2006-10-05 Thread Robert Holmes
http://www.google.com/codesearch/advanced_code_searchA prize will be awarded to the first person who finds some of their own code via Google. R FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

Re: [FRIAM] Animation via Behavior: Killer Game Programming in Java

2006-10-19 Thread Robert Holmes
How about Microsoft's XNA Game Studio Express?http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/gse/From the blurb on their website, it's ... aimed at helping students and hobbyists build games for Windows and the Xbox 360. I must admit, I quite like the idea of taking an Xbox into a client

Re: [FRIAM] Growth (was Re: so what would be wrong with sayingwhatyou think?)

2006-10-30 Thread Robert Holmes
On 10/29/06, Phil Henshaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Robert,snip Where the implication that things beginning from scratch have to display implied derivatives of the same sign comes from is a corollary of theconservation laws. snip Consider these 3 attributes of a company: revenue R, cost C, profit

Re: [FRIAM] Lecture Nov 1 12p: Laura McNamara and Timothy Trucano

2006-11-01 Thread Robert Holmes
Aaaargh! One of the most interesting meetings in months and I have to miss it :-(Given the huge quantity of technologists round here we really out to get this whole recording/podcast thingy sorted outR On 10/31/06, Giles Bowkett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: +1Podcasts! (I have to go to Abq.

Re: [FRIAM] A 9D model for a chaos-hyperchaos transition

2006-11-03 Thread Robert Holmes
Scholarpedia seems like a good idea but IMHO is let down by it's complete lack of content. I clicked on a dozen links in the three encyclopedias they are hosting (the encyclopedia of dynamical systems sounded fun) and all I got was canned messages saying This article has been reserved by Prof.

Re: [FRIAM] voting machine tampering

2006-11-06 Thread Robert Holmes
As someone who doesn't have a vote here, I'm appalled by how little those who do have a vote care about it being stolen. See http://www.harpers.org/ExcerptNoneDare.html for a discussion of the media's lack of coverage of the Ohio thefts.ROn 11/6/06, James Steiner [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:I found

[FRIAM] New issue of JASSS

2006-11-06 Thread Robert Holmes
Latest issue of JASSS has just appeared: http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS.htmlIt includes a Netlogo simulation of a malfunctioning road traffic junction in India. Not - unfortunately - the one that we saw the video of earlier this year. Robert

Re: [FRIAM] voting machine tampering

2006-11-07 Thread Robert Holmes
Not really no. About 30% of the installed machines are the Diebold touch-screen model that does NOT give you a printout. There's no paper trail and absolutely no way to check that what the person voted for is what the machine recorded. In addition, Diebold won't release source code because it's

Re: [FRIAM] The yin and yang of numbers across cultures

2006-11-30 Thread Robert Holmes
Some mistake, surely? An English rainbow has seven colours, not six. Hence the mnemonic taught to all school children Richard of York gave battle in vain. (V for violet rather than purple). R On 11/30/06, J T Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: My apologies, and I seem to be pushing the evelope

Re: [FRIAM] rank clocks

2006-12-04 Thread Robert Holmes
Did you try to follow the link for the full text? $30!!! Now I know that Nature has to make their money just as much as any of the rest of us, but it galls me that after paying my taxes to fund this particular researcher and his institution I don't get access to the results for free R On

Re: [FRIAM] apple announces iphone

2007-01-11 Thread Robert Holmes
Oops. The iPhone may not be called the iPhone for much longer: http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/07/01/10/2320257.shtml Meanwhile in the UK... http://tinyurl.com/ycojk8 R FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at

Re: [FRIAM] More data visualizations

2007-01-25 Thread Robert Holmes
Phil, You're always asking for datsets and the site Tom linked to is full of them (http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/browse/data). How about using your tools on one of them and then reporting back to the group? I'm sure we'd all be happy to comment on the results once we had a concrete

Re: [FRIAM] timing news media

2007-01-31 Thread Robert Holmes
Googling grounded theory software comes up with NVivo and Nudist (both available through http://www.qsrinternational.com/). Both have free 30 day trials. Robert On 1/29/07, Nicholas Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, All. Is there a software that would allow me to listen to a piece of

[FRIAM] latest JASSS available

2007-02-01 Thread Robert Holmes
http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS.html Articles on social reputation and cultural stuff look promising. FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe,

[FRIAM] Math tutor required at College of Santa Fe

2007-02-08 Thread Robert Holmes
Anyone round here want to teach finite math? R On Behalf Of Nancy O'Connor Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 10:01 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Tutor Wanted CAE (*The Center for Educational Excellence at the College of Santa Fe*) is looking for

Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: Arrow's Impossibility Theorem

2007-03-29 Thread Robert Holmes
BTW: Since this was written, Robert Holmes discussed with several of us one of the fair voting schemes in the UK. I forget the details, but the aim was to insure the individual voters maximized their input into the vote. Robert -- do you know where that scheme fits into AIT? I would like to add

Re: [FRIAM] One of my projects

2007-03-29 Thread Robert Holmes
In my role as FRIAM's official Cassandra (I should get a T-shirt printed), has anyone ever shown that these highly intensive simulations give quantitatively better results than, say, something written on Owen's laptop in NetLogo? Do we know that we get a better assessment of (for example) the

Re: [FRIAM] One of my projects

2007-03-29 Thread Robert Holmes
Fair enough: big simulation answers some questions, small simulation answers others. So what are the specific questions that a big epidemiological simulation can answer? It can't be anything too predictive (ohmigod, New York has just fallen to small pox. Which city is next?) because that depends

Re: [FRIAM] Magic Number Machine

2007-04-10 Thread Robert Holmes
On the topic of calculators - I see that HP are to re-release the HP-35 this summer in celebration of its 35th anniversary. At last! I can get myself an RPN calculator that isn't littered with redundant financial functions. R On 4/7/07, Owen Densmore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For the Mac

[FRIAM] New issue of JASSS

2007-04-10 Thread Robert Holmes
Another issue of Journal of Artificial Societies Social Simulation has been released. The article on empirical validation was OK but somewhat waffly. http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk Robert FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets

Re: [FRIAM] bigger plans, bigger little mistakes

2007-04-29 Thread Robert Holmes
Phil, I don't think that your reliance on the second law is correct. The Clausius statement of the 2nd law is: The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium. The earth isn't an isolated system: the sun inputs

Re: [FRIAM] bigger plans, bigger little mistakes - Electron Symmetry

2007-05-03 Thread Robert Holmes
From today's FT. Clearly the problem isn't getting China to play along, it's getting the US to play along. Robert Carbon credits market triples to $30bn By Fiona Harvey in Cologne Published: May 3 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 3 2007 03:00 The market in carbon credits grew faster than

[FRIAM] Global warming - the real story

2007-05-21 Thread Robert Holmes
At last, someone has had the courage to tell the real story behind global warning. Robert From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 16 April 2007, Letters section, page 6B: You may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot. As a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest

Re: [FRIAM] More on micropayments

2007-05-23 Thread Robert Holmes
Good question and one that there doesn't seem to be a whole load of consensus on. Wikipedia (fount of all knowledge) suggests that the traditional granularity is one cent. And therein lies the problem: even asking myself the question is this worth one cent? has used up more than one cent's worth

Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: ABM

2007-06-02 Thread Robert Holmes
Here's a couple of sites that could be worth checking out Phil: http://www.google.com/search?hl=enq=object+oriented+programmingbtnG=Google+Search http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming Robert On 6/2/07, Phil Henshaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well, for the knowledgeably

Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: ABM

2007-06-04 Thread Robert Holmes
On 6/2/07, Douglas Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip [*Footnote from the (or should be) above: I know people who have written applications with no object-oriented technologies at all, using FORTRAN or C, (or worse, purely procedural Java) and who claim to have developed an ABM. I contend,

Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: ABM

2007-06-05 Thread Robert Holmes
On 6/5/07, Glen E. P. Ropella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip Saying some thing _can_ be an impediment is very different from saying that it is _always_ an impediment. Well there's your problem Glen - you're trying to introduce conditionals and realistic shades of grey when this group is more

Re: [FRIAM] photosynth

2007-06-09 Thread Robert Holmes
Even better - you can try it for yourself here: http://labs.live.com/photosynth/ Robert P.S. Does anyone have any ideas what tools they are using to deliver clever stuff over the web like this? Seems far more compelling than the usual Ajax stuff On 6/8/07, David Breecker [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[FRIAM] Question from an evolutionary ignoramus

2007-06-09 Thread Robert Holmes
I've been reading a compilation of Stephen Jay Gould's writings The Richness of Life. One of his recurrent themes is how we have a hard time interpreting probability - he illustrates this with a discussion of hitting streaks in baseball and hot-hands in basketball. He claims that although

Re: [FRIAM] Somethint to talk about tomorrow

2007-06-09 Thread Robert Holmes
On 6/7/07, Nicholas Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snipThe thing about this way of thinking that makes my palms sweat is suddently makes Waddington's concept of Genetic Assimilation totally transparent. Before the heat shock procedure, there was isoethic variation in wing-formation genes;

Re: [FRIAM] Apologies for last post...

2007-06-18 Thread Robert Holmes
OK - I'll bite. What does a RMAR think? I ask, because your last question to me at Wedtech (So Robert, ARE you a materialist?) sent me scurrying to my reference books from which I'm only just emerging and - apparently - I'm a glutton for punishment. And in answer to your question, yes I am; in

Re: [FRIAM] Article on Epstein

2007-06-26 Thread Robert Holmes
is the exception rather than the rule. And this is why we need more Mike Agars in this world. Robert On 6/26/07, Pamela McCorduck [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What kind of explanation of social behavior would satisfy you? On Jun 26, 2007, at 8:31 AM, Robert Holmes wrote: Epstein has a new book and MIT Tech

[FRIAM] Trapped in the house. Was: Seminal Papers in Complexity

2007-06-27 Thread Robert Holmes
On 6/27/07, Glen E. P. Ropella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip p.s. My argument above does not make the word mathematician useless by ascribing it to _everyone_ (as Bristol did when implying that every thing is emergent). It is only ascribed to those who attempt to form rigorous conceptions

[FRIAM] JASSS (and despair)

2007-06-30 Thread Robert Holmes
The latest issue of Journal of Artificial Societies and Simulation is available at http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS.html I dunno, after our discussions about the nature of explanation, reading JASSS left me thoroughly depressed. Want to guess how many papers compared their simulation results

Re: [FRIAM] JASSS (and despair)

2007-07-03 Thread Robert Holmes
Read the articles and tell me what you think. But I believe the answer to your last question is No. Robert On 7/3/07, Phil Henshaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The task of associating abstract and real things is rather complicated, and often made more so by using the same names for them, so it

[FRIAM] Electronic junk

2007-07-18 Thread Robert Holmes
I've got three satellite tuners and a Tivo that are surplus to requirements. Anyone in town need them (gratis) for an exciting MAKE style project? The local thrift stores won't touch these things so they need a home... Robert FRIAM

Re: [FRIAM] Edge: The Need for Heretics

2007-08-11 Thread Robert Holmes
On 8/11/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Certainly there is a need for heretics and I consider myself a minor heretic and mystic outlaw, but to deny the reality of global warming/climate change is just stupid. snip No it's not. Given the conclusion of the IPCC report that

Re: [FRIAM] Edge: The Need for Heretics

2007-08-12 Thread Robert Holmes
The Copenhagen Consensus is a Danish think-tank that gets economists and politicians to address the question in a world of limited resources, if we cannot do everything at once what should we do first?. The top-4 ratings from their 2006 meeting are: 1. communicable diseases 2. sanitation

Re: [FRIAM] Pascal's Wager and Kant's Categorical Imperative

2007-08-13 Thread Robert Holmes
Nick, The good idea is a hypothetical imperative as it compels actions in a given circumstance (not all circumstances): if it will aid the boat's stability, I should move to the opposite side. If you want a categorical imperative that would be applicable, I'd suggest: I should not act like a

Re: [FRIAM] speed vs. rpm (was English and conservatism)

2007-08-14 Thread Robert Holmes
Creating no emissions? Really? Wow - you must be generating the electricity for your car from one of those zero-emission power stations we keep hoping for. R On 8/14/07, Marcus G. Daniels [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Glen E. P. Ropella wrote: How about if I use my own form of carbon offset?

Re: [FRIAM] speed vs. rpm (was English and conservatism)

2007-08-14 Thread Robert Holmes
cases this represents more lifetime emissions than if you'd been running an oil or gas plant. Robert On 8/14/07, Marcus G. Daniels [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Robert Holmes wrote: Creating no emissions? Really? Wow - you must be generating the electricity for your car from one of those zero

Re: [FRIAM] Facebook? iPhone?

2007-08-17 Thread Robert Holmes
I've seen several articles recently on Myspace vs Facebook demographics: lots of claims that it splits along class lies. For example: http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2007/07/20/facebook-myspace-internet-tech-cz_ccm_0723class.html Robert

Re: [FRIAM] FRIAM and causality

2007-11-17 Thread Robert Holmes
On Nov 16, 2007 5:32 PM, Nicholas Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip So, in my idiotic postivisitic mode, I assert, that pattern IS what causality is. I mean why would one bother to attribute it anywhere else than where we know it. No it's not Nick, as witnessed by the following

Re: [FRIAM] FRIAM and causality

2007-11-19 Thread Robert Holmes
On Nov 18, 2007 11:58 AM, Nicholas Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Robert, Does a blank white wall have a pattern on it? Nick Nick - *YES *- Robert FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St.

Re: [FRIAM] some thoughts on the educational aspect of 632

2007-11-28 Thread Robert Holmes
Dave I think the idea of using togas to denote status at 632 is inspired. Here's what the different togas used to signify (from http://ancient-culture.suite101.com/). I presume that Steve gets the *toga picta*. I'll leave it to others to suggest additional person-toga mappings. *Toga virilis* –

Re: [FRIAM] FRIAM and CAUSALITY (was NOT complexity and emergence)

2007-12-12 Thread Robert Holmes
Correct me if I'm wrong Nick, but isn't this all simply a case of hard scientists (physicists, chemists etc.) understanding causality and attributing it appropriately and soft scientists (biologists, ethologists etc.) not? Robert

Re: [FRIAM] huge amount of material on Second Life

2008-02-03 Thread Robert Holmes
In this month's Physics World: Doing physics in Second Life http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/32673 Robert P.S. Nick - apparently NOAA have got an SL presence... you could have your avatar wander through its favourite storm system. On Feb 1, 2008 8:58 PM, James Steiner [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[FRIAM] JASSS on validation

2008-02-03 Thread Robert Holmes
The latest issue of JASSS has an interesting article on the practice (rather than theory) of ABM validation: http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/11/1/5.html Robert FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St.

Re: [FRIAM] Hosting + CMS?

2008-02-17 Thread Robert Holmes
Please not HostGo! Otherwise I'll never get any email from you guys (bounce, bounce, bounce) One thing we discussed over lunch a week or so ago - how about hosting it yourself? You'll probably be able to identify and repair problems faster than the typical ISP's customer (non-)service. Plus

Re: [FRIAM] The Apex of the Vee

2008-03-31 Thread Robert Holmes
Actually chaps, it's all Darwin. See last week's Economist article: http://tinyurl.com/2ntgaf and today's JASSS article: http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/11/2/2.html Robert -- Cycling 100 miles to raise $4500 - support me in raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Please donate at

[FRIAM] Agent-based modeling in The Atlantic

2008-05-14 Thread Robert Holmes
See the Bruce Sawhill reference in http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200805/dayjet - Robert -- Cycling 100 miles to raise $4500 - support me in raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Please donate at http://www.active.com/donate/tntnmep/robertholmes

[FRIAM] More complexity in the press

2008-05-14 Thread Robert Holmes
And this from Stuart Kauffman in the current New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg19826556.000-perspectives-why-humanity-needs-a-god-of-creativity.html I must confess to being a little disappointed in this article - once again, it's got the Aunt Sally figure of the

[FRIAM] open source multi-touch tables

2008-05-14 Thread Robert Holmes
I picked this up from an Economist article on the current Maker Faire phenomenon: Addie Wagenknecht is going to be selling kits for constructing multi-touch surfaces. Seem to be rather cheaper than Microsoft's proprietary Surface http://nortd.com/touchkit/faq.html Robert -- Cycling 100 miles

Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: Earth energies: Messages from the earth

2008-06-20 Thread Robert Holmes
Here's a guide to making your own crop circles: http://www.circlemakers.org/guide.html Robert On 6/19/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Interesting, although crop circles may be made by FRIAMers in England. Paul -- Forwarded message -- From: Earl James [EMAIL

Re: [FRIAM] Complexity Science movie?

2008-06-30 Thread Robert Holmes
Koyanisquaatsi. Some fascinating shots of crowds of people, traffic etc. The score (Philip Glass) is also an interesting example of emergence: its an apparently simple pattern (arpeggio after arpeggio in a pretty straightforward chord progression) but it ends up far more sonically engaging than it

[FRIAM] Pythagorean theorem

2008-07-04 Thread Robert Holmes
Re today's discussion about proofs of the Pythagorean theorem - here's a link to a page with ~80 proofs: http://www.cut-the-knot.org/pythagoras/index.shtml Proof #4 is the one that Frank I were so impressed with; #1 is the one that Nick (along with anyone who graduated St Johns) failed to

Re: [FRIAM] Mentalism and Calculus

2008-07-09 Thread Robert Holmes
This is based on nothing more than reading the entry on categories at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/categories/ so please take with a pinch of salt... It seems that the tools necessary to construct category systems are severely broken. Specifically, there is no generally accepted method for

Re: [FRIAM] Mathematics and Music

2008-07-12 Thread Robert Holmes
Let me see if I've followed David's argument... science doesn't need math and it doesn't need to possess any predictive power and - given the cultural/individual specificity of metaphors - reproducibility seems kinda optional. So exactly what does something need to make it science? Robert On

Re: [FRIAM] Mentalism and Calculus

2008-07-12 Thread Robert Holmes
Nick - the snippet below illustrates the key problem with invoking category errors. I think giving the infinitesimal point speed and direction makes sense and you do not. You see a category error and I do not. So how do we adjudicate? We can't: there's no objective methodology for saying if a

Re: [FRIAM] A talk of possible interest to FRIAMers

2008-07-13 Thread Robert Holmes
I must admit I'm having a hard time understanding Jeanette's simple daily examples (I'm taking this from the slides that Owen linked to; I didn't attend the talk itself). Knowledge of parallel processing would help me cook better? If I could remember those hashing algorithms I'd be able to clean

Re: [FRIAM] Haiku-ified was: Mathematics and Music - missed opportunity

2008-07-14 Thread Robert Holmes
Five in the first line Seven in second Oh bugger, I got it wrong Robert On 7/14/08, Saul Caganoff [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I hate haiku. I can never remember How many syllables -- Saul Caganoff Enterprise IT Architect LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/scaganoff

Re: [FRIAM] Mentalism and Calculus

2008-07-15 Thread Robert Holmes
mentors taught me to think of consciousness as a point of view. It is a place from which the world is viewed, or at b Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) - Original Message - From: Robert Holmes To: [EMAIL

Re: [FRIAM] Testing ... Can Friam support WYSIWIS?

2008-07-29 Thread Robert Holmes
But Owen, why are you trying to put equations into emails? Professor David West's thread has already shown that anyone using math is a victim of the dominant western scientific episteme's cultural hegemony and as such should be helped to overcome their akrasia (the state of acting against their

Re: [FRIAM] GridPaths, Knuth's nifty book a Question

2008-08-21 Thread Robert Holmes
completely using non-overlapping 2x1 rectangles? Robert On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 4:15 PM, Owen Densmore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Aug 19, 2008, at 9:47 PM, Robert Holmes wrote: I'll take a top-down approach instead of Roger's bottom-up approach... I'm guessing that the problem has a bunch

[FRIAM] Browsers

2008-09-06 Thread Robert Holmes
So I've been playing with Chrome, Google's new browser. This comic is uncomfortably close to my experience: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080906 BTW, Google have provided a comic book that describes some of the under-the-hood techie decisions they made during Chrome's construction. An

Re: [FRIAM] Young but distant gallaxies

2008-09-07 Thread Robert Holmes
On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 4:45 PM, Douglas Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: snip Don't get me wrong: I do not totally reject reductionism. Well, actually, I do, as regards to finding any utility in it for myself. But other people seem to swear by it, and I am truly happy for them. ;-}

Re: [FRIAM] Is programming a mathematical formalism

2008-10-01 Thread Robert Holmes
Nick, Is programming a mathematical formalism? No. I know that when I'm cranking out Python scripts I am not doing any math. Is computer science a mathematical formalism? Yes. When I'm trying to work out whether my algorithm scales as N**2 or N.log.N, I'm doing math. For an enlightening (and more

Re: [FRIAM] Bernanke's Financial Modeling Technology

2008-10-03 Thread Robert Holmes
necessary to accurately model the US/World economy. On Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 12:18 PM, Robert Holmes [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: A couple of points: 1. At least he's not using Excel 2. Are you really REALLY sure that the ultra-micro sims in which you specialise lead to better policy

[FRIAM] Mail goggles

2008-10-08 Thread Robert Holmes
Any way that we can implement something like this for postings to FRIAM? http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081007-mail-goggles-a-breathlyzer-test-for-your-gmail.html FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at

Re: [FRIAM] Main Page - Statistical Mechanics: Algorithms and Computations

2008-10-11 Thread Robert Holmes
Owen - how's the book? I've been thinking about brushing up on my statistical mechanics - Robert On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 10:42 AM, Owen Densmore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I recently bought this book, and was delighted to see how complete a wiki was associated with it:

Re: [FRIAM] Grappa Wireless Internet

2008-10-26 Thread Robert Holmes
Charming people but their internet service sucks. My connection from them is currently running at about 300K instead of the 1.5M I'm paying for ($70 per month). Also because of the location of their radio towers (Santa Fe ski basin) their service gets even worse during the winter. Last winter they

[FRIAM] Latest JASSS

2008-11-02 Thread Robert Holmes
Latest issue of JASSS out and it's huge. ABM stuff by the bucket load as usual: http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk Robert FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives,

Re: [FRIAM] Why Model?

2008-11-02 Thread Robert Holmes
Hmmm anyone else troubled by the fact that both definitions of indoctrination seem to be wholly applicable to the Epstein piece? Robert On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 10:02 PM, Douglas Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: I prefer the dictionary definition: Dictionary.com Unabridged (v

[FRIAM] Fewer subscription requireds

2008-11-11 Thread Robert Holmes
A neat little tip (via lifehacker) that improves the odds of avoiding those subscription required messages when you are searching for academic papers: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/11/when-google-scholars-integration-with.html Robert

Re: [FRIAM] Racism Emerges As Europe Reacts To Obama : NPR

2008-11-13 Thread Robert Holmes
IMHO, the notion that europeans are relative newcomers to the conversation about race is just plain silly. The UK has been colonized by the Romans, the Jutes, the Angles, the Saxons and the French. We've been having conversations about race for a *very* long time. Robert On Thu, Nov 13, 2008

Re: [FRIAM] Racism Emerges As Europe Reacts To Obama : NPR

2008-11-13 Thread Robert Holmes
And the Vikings. Mustn't forget the Vikings -- Robert On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Robert Holmes [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: IMHO, the notion that europeans are relative newcomers to the conversation about race is just plain silly. The UK has been colonized by the Romans, the Jutes

Re: [FRIAM] Racism Emerges As Europe Reacts To Obama : NPR

2008-11-13 Thread Robert Holmes
Not quite. It's more about assimilation than simple conquest. There's a good discussion of this in the intro to Hugh Thomas's The English the Normans, page 6 onwards (it's available online through google book search at http://tinyurl.com/6ljma5 Though if you want to limit it to purely the

Re: [FRIAM] funny shapes..

2008-11-20 Thread Robert Holmes
Phil - thanks for your timely suggestion that I should sell my Monsanto stock a year ago. Do you have any recommendations for what I should sell last week? -- Robert On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 6:40 PM, Phil Henshaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 5yr Dow Monsanto today

  1   2   3   >