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Benford's Law
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1371
Listening to Radiolab, much fodder for the imagination. Like Benford's Law. For those not familiar, it basically states that "in lists of numbers from many (but not all) real-life sources of data, the leading digit is distributed in a specific, non-uniform way. According to this law, the first digit is 1 almost one third of the time, and larger digits occur as the leading digit with lower and lower frequency, to the point where 9 as a first digit occurs less than one time in twenty. This distribution of first digits arises logically whenever a set of values is distributed logarithmically."
Or, more precisely: "Benford's law states that the leading digit d (d ∈ {1, …, b − 1} ) in base b (b ≥ 2) occurs with probability:"
Source: Wikipedia
Now this is intriguing. It can be explained to some extent and in some instances by mechanisms of growth (eg: fibonocci sequence), or in other word most systems & organisms "grow" and so when measured exhibit typical growth patterns (eg: cities - addresses grow out from center, hence disproportionate number of addresses beginning with a 1..). But note the qualifier - that to some extent and in some instances. There are apparently as well instances of data that conform to Bedford's law yet in no ways could be considered "alive" or "organic". Which is curious.
And, to add to the curiosity, in the same program (radiolab, numbers), the point is raised that while the recognition of numbers is an ability we are all born with, it's not the observation of linear numbers and quantity as we know it, rather instead a logarithmic means of counting - meaning that a child will recognize double and quadruple amounts more readily and primitive tribes who have not developed the same perspective we have, if asked to choose the midway point between 1 and 9, for example, would choose 3, whereas we - by training and force of habit - would choose 5.
Which is very curious indeed. I've explained it poorly, but listen to the radiolab program to hear it explained more in depth and in a much more interesting fashion...
Ninjas don't tell you they're ninjas
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Conversations
- Hits: 1256
They've been breaking into his house again, he's not sure who, g-men, the illuminati. But he can tell because he went to take some vitamins this morning and he was completely out, and the last time he went to take vitamins there were some left. And there was a layer of dust on his toilet seat. Conclusive proof that people have been in the house while he's been away.
So he went down to one of those electronics shops that specializes in surveillance equipment. You know the ones, pinhole cameras concealed in walls, bedside clocks, teddy bears. Catch your wife sleeping around on you, catch your employees stealing from you, steal company secrets, night cameras, hidden microphones, you get the idea. And he was talking with the owner, a bright guy, he knew all the theories, about the birth certificates being traded on the stock exchange, about the new world order and the one world government. What are the chances that the owner of a surveillance shop would be paranoid as well? Bright guy. And apparently he's really, really busy, he could use a hand, my friend put in a word for me, the money's good...
Now this might be an opportunity....I've always been a recreational pervert, but the thought of making it a profession, well...there's an idea....
Anyways, he's quite enchanted at having discovered someone else on his page. It's validation.
The crazy girl from last time is at the coffee house too, only she's not so friendly this time, probably thinks we're crazy so we wave and say hi, then continue the conversation.
Apparently this guy, the surveillance guy, he's a black belt and a ninja.
"How do you know this?" I ask...
"He told me."
"Um. Ninjas don't tell you their ninjas" I tell him. "It's like black belts. They don't usually tell you they've got a black belt unless they're running a school or trying to get a date. Or like spies. If someone tells you they're a spy they're probably not a real spy..."
He hadn't actually looked at it this way...
Crazy VS Crazy
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Conversations
- Hits: 1743
Time for our weekly coffee, I've been remiss, busy with projects and other distractions, it's time to catch up.
He comes in to the cafe, there's a single girl, young, early 20's at a table near to us, working on her computer. And on his way to pick up his coffee he stops to chat with her, she's on a Vista Machine, that's a fortunate coincidence as the government has been covertly infecting his PC with viruses and he needs a VISTA disc to reinstall his OS....maybe she has one?
She's pleasant, she nods, she does have her disc, does she mind running home so he can borrow it? No? Great....She's going to go in just a few minutes...
Now this is crazy. Walking into a cafe and asking a complete stranger if they have a spare OS kicking around that you can borrow. But maybe he's met his match.
She looks like a treeplanter. Fluorescent fake fur boots, torn coat, matted blond dreadlocks. We go outside for a cigarette, she comes along. She's sort of pretty in a youthful way, hard to tell, she's wearing layers of army clothes...and she keeps leaning over to spit, there's a puddle of saliva at her feet, not the forceful, manly sort of expectorate, but more like big gobs dribbled out by someone chewing tobacco. It's not attractive. He asks her about it, why she's spitting all the time, she says "It's my style...".
Now maybe there should be some flags, some clues that things aren't what they should be. When we go back in she disappears into the washroom, he's mentions her spitting, he thinks she's crazy....
Probably she is, but it's really not his place to be throwing stones...
He asks her again for the disc, she tells him in a while, she's waiting for a friend...
Now she's not waiting for a friend. Maybe she doesn't have the disc, maybe she thinks he's crazy, but she's not going to go get it for him. She's stalling, looking over at me and smiling, it's uncomfortable this, being in the middle of Crazy VS Crazy....
He offers her a ride, but she says she lives just around the corner, she's going to go in a few minutes...
We go out for another cigarette, our coffee, our conversation is done, I'm just hanging out now to see how this pans out, Crazy VS Crazy. She comes out and joins us, a pretty smile, perfect teeth stained with tea and tobacco, pieces of popcorn and cookie stuck all along the gums.
It's pretty fucked up. And still he wants his OS, and she's gonna go and get it, how long will we be here? And I gotta leave, it's nuts this, he's going to wait, she packs up her PC and leaves and anyone could tell that Crazy's won, but he's going to wait just to be sure. But when she's left and he's waiting he tells me, he doesn't know what's the matter with her, but he thinks she's crazy....
Radiolab
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Audio & Podcasts
- Hits: 1279
Nothing new, an old favorite rediscovered is all, formerly lost in the 1000's of bookmarks that are my organizational skills....
WNYC.org - Public Radio, Listen Here: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/
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