Putting things in perspective

People tend to perceive things in a logarithmic scale. This includes our perception of light brightness and sound frequency (was it also volume?). Maybe we also perceive time this way. That would make sense because recent events usually affect you more than older ones. Take a look at the following picture:

 Picture 1: logarithmic scale

The events spread out so nicely that you can actually relate between too recent and too old. Comparing with the linear timeline below I admit the first picture better reflects my view of these events:

Picture 2: linear scale

Since openoffice does not seem to do timelines, I hacked together a little perl script to make the images. You can get it here.

Mrs Pudenda

1. /* // C Programming 101 – Mrs Pudenda – for loop assignment #2 */
2. #include <stdio.h>
3.  
4.  
5. #define DANGER_DIVIDE_BY_ZERO(o,b,g,y,n,k) enum
6. #define PLETHORA_MAX(l,m,n) int
7. #define TAIL_RECURSION else
8. #define case_switch(m) if(m)
9. #define on_screen(y) putchar(y)
10. #define TELEPORT(x) goto x
11. #define SAVOR return
12. #define FLAVOUR 0
13. #define CHERRIES main
14. #define CHOCOLATE_RASPBERRIES 74
15. #define WILL_ROBINSON foul_your_pets
16. #define HTML main
17. #define BODY {
18. #define BODY_END }
19. #define MY_EOL ;
20.  
21. DANGER_DIVIDE_BY_ZERO(‘w’,‘t’,‘f’,‘b’,‘b’,‘q’) WILL_ROBINSON
22. BODY
23.         LEGO_MY_EGGO = 0,
24.         WEIRDO,
25.         THE_TOASTER_IS_ON_FIRE = CHOCOLATE_RASPBERRIES,
26.         BAD_TOUCH
27. BODY_END MY_EOL
28.  
29. #define D(p) (LEGO_MY_EGGO + 108)
30. #define I(o) (LEGO_MY_EGGO + 111)
31. #define C(o) (THE_TOASTER_IS_ON_FIRE + 37)
32. #define K(p) (THE_TOASTER_IS_ON_FIRE – LEGO_MY_EGGO * 1 + 36 + 2)
33.  
34.  
35. int HTML(void)
36. BODY
37.         PLETHORA_MAX(‘a’,‘r’,‘s’) loop_value_which_designates_increasing_or_decreasing_depending_on_your_loop_type;
38.  
39.         /* C++ compatibile comments */
40.         /* // Initialize loop_value_which_designates_increasing_or_decreasing_depending_on_your_loop_type */
41.         loop_value_which_designates_increasing_or_decreasing_depending_on_your_loop_type = LEGO_MY_EGGO MY_EOL
42.  
43.         /* // Set loop_value_which_designates_increasing_or_decreasing_depending_on_your_loop_type to the value, turn your cellphone off */
44.         loop_value_which_designates_increasing_or_decreasing_depending_on_your_loop_type = 4 MY_EOL
45.  
46. GOTO_HERE:
47.         /* // TODO: make into function */
48.         on_screen(D(‘p’))MY_EOL
49.         on_screen(I(‘o’))MY_EOL
50.         on_screen(C(‘o’))MY_EOL
51.         on_screen(K(‘p’))MY_EOL
52.  
53.         case_switch(–loop_value_which_designates_increasing_or_decreasing_depending_on_your_loop_type)
54.         BODY
55.                 TELEPORT(GOTO_HERE) MY_EOL
56.         BODY_END
57.         TAIL_RECURSION
58.         BODY
59.                 TELEPORT(GOTO_THERE) MY_EOL
60.         BODY_END
61.  
62. GOTO_THERE:
63.         /* // #C freenode, y this not print below????????? */
64.         /* // We are done. now. */
65.  
66.         SAVOR FLAVOUR MY_EOL
67. BODY_END

Qurashee makes you bad!

Some words have a very interesting history. One of my favourites, the greek word “μοχθηρός” (mohthiros) has indeed a very interesting etyomolgy. The word comes from “μόχθος” (mohthos – tiredness) and literally means “One who gets (physically) tired” (or a hard worker) but over the years its meaning has changed and its current meaning in modern Greek is “malicius“.

The same thing has happened to the word “πονηρός” (poniros). The word comes from “πόνος” (ponos – physical pain), its literal meaning is “one who receives (physical) pain” (mostly meaning again a very hard worker), and its current meaning is “cunning / tricky” (person).

The history of these words implies that hard workers eventually become evil, because of the difficulties they had in their lives, so the moral of the story is: “Take a break every now and then or you may end up a bad person”!

I’d better go back to work now to catch that deadline