The seed of reason

Creatures

A couple of years ago I wrote a program.  I didn't have a clear purpose in mind in writing it.  I guess it was meant to be (a) A computer art project (b) An example of a complex system (c) A metaphor for insect life (d) A demonstration that a computer can be behave in a biological/creative manner.

But really I wrote it because I wondered what the program I had in mind would look like when run.  Screen shots from this program will go up in a subsequent post.  Today I give the wider world access to this program of mine released under the GPL (which means you can do almost whatever you like with it!).

The program is a simulation of Turing machines operating in 2 dimensions of tape.  The Turing machines can turn left, right, go forward, backwards and change the colour of the square they are hovering over.  They do this according to a simple program (randomly generated).

The program can be found at [this page] on my blog.  At the beginning of this program there are various variables that you can set to get different images.

ScreenOpt=12 or 13 (12 is high resolution, 13 low)

numTermites=1-30 (Number of the Turing machines operating simultaneously)

NumColours=1-32 (Number of colours that are available for the Turing machines)

bias = 0 to 4 (The higher the number the more the machines tend to use a smaller palette of colours)

wrap = 0 or 1 (Set to 1 the machines wrap around the screen like the ship does in the game asteroids.  Set to 0 and the edge of the screen becomes a boundary)

blawhi =0 or 1 (If the screen is set to low resolution you can choose to have the colours all shades of grey)

Chocolate flapjack recipe

250g salted butter
150g brown sugar
150g moskovado sugar
225g processed oats
225g whole rolled oats
50g cocoa
5 desert spoons golden syrup

Butter a baking tray and pre heat oven to 140 degrees C.  Measure out oats and cocoa.  Measure out sugars.  Melt butter (do not allow to bubble) and add golden syrup on a low heat.  Add sugar and stir in (a few small lumps will not hurt but get rid of the bigger ones).  Add the oats and cocoa and stir in.  Spoon out onto baking tray (the mixture will not pour) and flatten with a fork.  Cook for 20-25 minutes in the oven.  Remove and allow to cool for 30 mins.  Score flapjacks. Wait until fully cooled to cut out flapjacks (if time is pressing placing in the fridge helps).

If the flapjacks are too crumbly then less butter, more golden syrup or longer in the oven may help.  Conversely if they are too toffee like more butter, less golden syrup or less time in the oven may help. Note that small changes in these three things make a big effect on the flapjack's texture.

Enjoy ;)

There's an elephant at the ball

In this blog post I give you a poem I wrote a while back (I had some help from a friend named Pedro).  I wrote it during some of my category theory lectures.  It was submitted to a poetry competition for political satire organised by my old college (it came second).  It is therefore in its final form and I will not edit it further.  I hope you enjoy reading it.

There's an elephant at the ball:

There's an elephant loose in Cambridge
It's drunk up all the gin
The porter's had a drop too much
And let the elephant in

It cornered the senior tutor
Against one side of court
He hadn't a hope of getting away
However hard he fought

When the bursar tried to round it up
It threw him over the wall
The dean in an effort to chase it away
Drove it into the ball

As the elephant got to the bridge
The puntsman was all a quiver
The elephant grabbed the end of his pole
And dropped him into the river

A band was playing in hall
Where a fellow enjoyed the feast
He failed to notice the change in the key
When the band was joined by the beast

The gardeners came to chase it off
Waving their forks and rakes
And now they're scattered all around
The ornamental lakes

The master exclaimed to his wife
We saw one of those in Nepal
She screamed with delight "What a comical sight.
There's an elephant at the ball!"

The sun was about to rise
The elephant needed some rest
At the master's caprice his dutiful niece
Was enjoined to remove the pest

A lady both noble and wise
She soothed the elephants's mood
Using her charm, the wave of her arm
And a wondrous variety of food

She rode on its back through the mayhem
Feeding it fruit and fine wines
The revelers cheered and marched behind
In tired but triumphant lines

The survivors posed for their photo
They had made it through to dawn!
Some moved away as he started to sway
He collapsed in a heap on the lawn

We're saving up on soda
To souse it's aching head
God help us in the morning
When it gets out of bed