Thoughts.

Today I just started computing the relations between groups. It’s been chugging along on my local machine for about 8 hours now, I’m 1% complete and have a table with 5 million entries (at 210mb).

If a word is shared between two groups, it forms an edge between those two groups. I’m storing that edge as the two group ids and the “overlap” value (the number of words shared between those two groups).

My algorithm is iterating through every word, finding the groups that the word is a part of, and creating an edge between them—computing overlap as it goes. I expect the rate to fall off as duplicate edges are thrown out…. but we’ll see.

tee is a Unix command that displays the output of a program and copies it into a file.
lint program.c | tee program.lint

1 cup flour (I’ve been using white whole wheat)

1 egg

~2tbps cool water

1. Mix flour and egg, adding water until flour is just moistened and sticks together

2. Let rest for 5 minutes

3. Knead the dough for 2 minutes. Or you can do it for 10 minutes; more kneading means better developed gluten and a “smoother” noodle.

4. Let rest 10 minutes

5. Roll out or whatever

(adapted from a cooks.com recipe

Info on Hemp Milk.

I just bought some of this (Manitoba Harvest brand, the chocolate kind) at Whole Foods. It’s not soy milk, but I’m not sure if it’s any better. I kind’ve got a bit of a choke in the back of my throat on the first sip, though after that it was pretty smooth.

Thoughts of mortality make people entrench their beliefs. (via boingboing). It also makes people act in ways that boost their self-esteem, which, importantly, affects their consumer behavior (via google).

These seem to both be domestic studies. I wonder how the US compares internationally in “mortality awareness”. (I’m guessing pretty low).

A great list of functional verbs for writing resumes or their reverse situational equivalent: job descriptions. (via Google)

ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION VERBS

advise	Offer an informed opinion or give specialized information to others.
adapt	Modify or change to fit specific or new situations.
administer	Manage or direct. (Generally requires some additional explanation to show specific detail.) See manage.
appoint	To set officially, arrange.
approve	Exercise final and decisive authority, causing action to use money, manpower, materials, or equipment.
arrange	To make preparations for, to plan.
authorize	Approve or commit an act implying subsequent action by others.
consult	Consider, asking advice or requesting opinion of.
control	Direct, regulate, or guide the use of money, methods, equipment, and materials. Also, the process of monitoring activities to ensure conformance with planned results.
coordinate	Regulate, adjust or direct the related actions of others in order to attain desired results.
decide	To select a course of action.
delegate	Entrust to another person tasks or duties which require exercise of some of the authority of the person originally responsible, as “To delegate an administrative assistant to represent the department at conferences.”
determine	To fix conclusively, regulate. To decide by choice of alternatives.
direct	Govern or control work operations by establishing the implementing objectives, practices and methods.
enforce	To effect or gain by force. To carry out effectively.
establish	To institute permanently by enactment or agreement.
execute	Put into effect or carry out methods, plans, etc.
initiate	Set going or introduce.
manage	Plan, organize, direct, control, and evaluate operation of an organizational unit, with responsibility for the output.
order	Arrange or command to come to a specified place or decision.
organize	To set up an administrative structure for. To arrange by systematic planning and united effort.
plan	To design or plot a scheme or project by means or method devised for doing something to achieve an end.
reject	To refuse to accept, consider or submit to.
require	To ask for by right and authority, request.
review	Consider or examine facts or results for accuracy, completeness and suitability.
supervise	Personally oversee or control work performance and conduct of others, where there is opportunity for control or inspection of work performed.
train	Teach, demonstrate, or guide others in the performance of assigned work.

PUSH ALONG VERBS

activate	Set up or formally introduce with necessary personnel or equipment.
encourage	Give help, inspire or pay patronage to.
expediate	Accelerate the process or progress of a plan, idea.
further	Promote or advance.
implement	Carry out or fulfill by taking action.
maintain	Keep in satisfactory condition.
motivate	Provide incentive or drive.

STOP VERBS

check	To proof or review for errors.
delete	Eliminate or wipe out.
prevent	Keep from happening or holding back.
return	Go back in thought or action. Give an official account to a superior.
stop	Keep from carrying out a proposed action.

HELPER VERBS

advise	Offer an informed opinion or give specialized information to others.
aid	Provide with what is useful or necessary for achieving an end.
cooperate	Act jointly with others. Act or work with others to obtain a mutual benefit.
counsel	Advise or consult.
explain	Make plain or understandable.
guide	Direct, supervise, influence or superintend the training of people.
instruct	Teach, demonstrate, or by other methods impart knowledge to others. Direct that a specific activity be performed, may include directing how it is to be performed.
participate	To take part or have a share in a project, group.
protect	Maintain status or integrity of project, idea.
serve	Comply with the commands and demands of a boss, group.
show	Propose or mention an idea as workable or desirable.
suggest	?

GET & GIVE VERBS

accept	Give admittance or approval to.
accumulate	Increase gradually in quantity or number.
acquire	Come into possession or control of an item or items.
arrange for	To make preparations for, to plan.
buy	Acquire possession, ownership or rights to the use of services, items.
collect	Gather or exact information or materials from a number of persons or sources.
compile	Put together information or assemble data in a new form.
deliver	Send or bring a desired object.
distribute	Deliver or hand out to several or many.
exchange	Give and receive reciprocally.
forward	Send goods or information onward.
furnish	Provide or equip with what is needed.
gather	Bring together or collect parts of a group.
get	Obtain or receive.
give	Grant or yield to another.
inform	Communicate knowledge to others.
inquire	Ask or search into.
issue	Make available through distribution.
keep	Preserve or maintain in a good and orderly condition.
mail	To send by the postal service.
notify	Give notice or a report on an occurrence or information.
obtain	Gain or possess.
pick up	?
procure	Get possession or obtain by particular care and effort.
provide	To supply support to meet a need, make available.
pull	Demand or obtain advantage by use of exertion or influence.
purchase	Gain or acquire by labor, money.
recall	Call back or cancel.
receive	Come into possession of or acquire an item, idea.
recruit	Increase numbers of a group or bring in new members.
render	Deliver or hand down.
report	Give an account or make a written summary or statement.
secure	Put beyond hazard or receive lasting control.
sell	Give up property in exchange for money.
send	Deliver or dispatch as means of communication or delivery.
solicit	To make a petition or request for services, money.
submit	Yield or surrender to authority.
supply	Make materials available for use.
take	Get or seize into possession.
transfer	Pass over from one person to another.
withdraw	Back away or remove.

CREATIVE VERBS

create	Produce through imaginative skill.
design	Create or fashion a plan or idea.
develop	Disclose, discover, perfect, or unfold a plan or idea, in detail, gradually. Implies study and/or experiment unless otherwise stated. When used as “to develop subordinates”, see train.
devise	Form in the mind by combinations of ideas, new applications of principles, or new arrangement of parts.
establish	To institute permanently by enactment or agreement.
estimate	Forecast future quantities, values, sizes, extents, etc., either on the basis of judgment or calculations. Frequently, estimating is shared with others, in which case it is more precise to use “estimate” as a noun, and to state the job’s function in relation thereto, i.e., originates, analyzes, endorses, approves, etc., estimates of…
forecast	Predict future events based on specified assumptions.
formulate	Put into a systemized expression or statement.
iniyiate	Set going or introduce.
install	To set up for use.
originate	Begin or initiate.
plan	To design or plot a scheme or project by means or method devised for doing something to achieve an end.
project	Plan, figure, or estimate for the future.
schedule	Appoint a fixed time.

APPRAISE/STUDY VERBS

analyze	Identify the elements of a whole and critically examine and relate these component parts separately and/or in relation to the whole.
appraise	Judge as to quality; compare critically with established standards.
ascertain	Find out or learn with certainty.
check	To proof or review for errors.
compare	To examine characteristics to discover similarities or differences.
consider	To observe or think about with regard to taking some action.
criticize	To evaluate and judge merits or faults.
develop	Disclose, discover, perfect, or unfold a plan or idea, in detail, gradually. Implies study and/or experiment unless otherwise stated. When used as “to develop subordinates”, see train.
evaluate	Appraise, to determine value, condition, significance or worth.
examine	Investigate in order to determine progress, fitness or knowledge.
forecast	Predict future events based on specified assumptions.
identify	The act of proving identity.
inspect	Examine materials, equipment, reports, work, etc., to determine quality, suitability for use, etc.
interpret	Explain to others (orally or in writing) the meaning or significance of something.
interview	Obtain information through questioning.
investigate	Uncover facts by systematically finding them, conducting a search, and examining various sources.
measure	Control or regulate by a standard or in measured amounts.
plan	To design or plot a scheme or project by means or method devised for doing something to achieve an end.
rate	Estimate or determine the relative value, rank, or amount of an item.
research	Specific inquiry involving prolonged and critical investigation, having for its aim the study of new facts and their interpretation, the revision of accepted conclusions or theories that may be affected by newly discovered factors, or the practical application of such new or revised conclusions. Example: Technical research to develop new products for the company.
resolve	Deal with a problem, dilemma successfully.
review	Consider or examine facts or results for accuracy, completeness and suitability.
solve	Find a solution, answer, or explanation for a question or problem.
study	Apply thought to any subject of investigation in order to arrive at the most suitable conclusion.
summarize	To tell and reduce a story, idea.
survey	Examine a condition, situation or value.
test	Assign a value or evaluate an item by a given test.
weigh	Merit consideration as to importance.

CONTROL VERBS

allocate	Assign or apportion for a specific purpose or to a particular person.
audit	Perform a formal examination into a company’s formal accounts.
check	To proof or review for errors.
conserve	Slow or block the progress of something
control	Direct, regulate, or guide the use of money, methods, equipment, and materials. Also, the process of monitoring activities to ensure conformance with planned results.
edit	Alter, adapt or refine a written text, concept, or idea.
enforce	To effect or gain by force. To carry out effectively.
ensure	Make sure, certain, or safe.
guarantee	Undertake to answer for debt and default or promise security.
inspect	Examine materials, equipment, reports, work, etc., to determine quality, suitability for use, etc.
regulate	Fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate.
restrict	Place under restriction as to use or distribution.
review	Consider or examine facts or results for accuracy, completeness and suitability.
verify	Confirm or substantiate by oath, law, or other documentation.

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Just saw this demo of an algorithm that rates the trustworthiness of Wikipedia articles. It computes the “trust” of authors by how long their edits stick around, then applies that to articles. (via Slashdot)

I wonder how it works on entries that are intentionally misleading, like the entry on Discordianism.

CCK’s single checkboxes require a strange configuration in the Allowed Values list:

0

1	Checkbox title

My associate, Rebecca, and I have been starting to think critically about Panlexicon.com, the unique, tag-cloud based thesaurus I’ve written about previously. We’re hoping to put some more time and effort into the project and in the process, learn some more about what’s happening with the language and the underlying structure of the thesaurus taxonomy.

The thesaurus data we’re working with is the Moby Thesaurus from the Project Gutenburg library of free electronic texts. Like many thesauruses, it’s structure in an interesting way. Every word is assigned to one or more groups based on it’s general meaning or idea. Each group has a keyword, also known as a headword, that is a general encapsulation that idea—this is why, for example in Roget’s, you must first look up a word in the index to acquire its keywords. Each group has only one keyword, but a keyword can exist in other groups (but as an ordinary word).

This thesaurus structure allows us to do some easy simplifications and analysis on the data. For many functions, we can treat the groups as supernodes, performing operations and storing connections upon them in place of the words themselves. For example, when determining relatedness between words, we only have compare the groups they are a part of; while there are approximately 100,000 words in our database, there are only 30,000 groups, which greatly diminishes the size and complexity of the data set we’re working on.

Currently Panlexicon works by comparing the overlap between groups of words. When typing in a search term, Panlexicon looks up all of the groups that word is a member of. It then returns a list of words that are also in those groups. The weight of each word (or size in our word cloud model) is calculated according to how many groups—-of those groups that include the search term—that word is a member of. A property of this is that no other returned word will have a heavier weight than the search term. When searching multiple terms, Panlexicon creates a set of groups such that all search terms are a member. In the case when there exists no groups that contain all the search terms, Panlexicon returns nothing.

Already we’re digging into some interesting relations that turn up in the thesaurus data. For example, one of my favorite linguistic myths is that Eskimos have 50 different words for snow. The supposed lesson was that eskimos had a different conception of snow than us (the non-Eskimos). I always wondered, “Well, is 50 a lot?” The largest group in our thesaurus has the keyword cut with 1448 related words or synonyms. This is followed by set (1152), turn (1108), run (1025), and color (1007). That’s quite a bit.

Also, interestingly in our dataset, are the most versatile words. These words are members of the most groups. The list shares four out five of the same words as those of the most synonyms, beginning with cut, being a member of 1120 distinct groups. This is followed by set (928), run (750), turn (715), and check (699).

Right now, we’re investigating paths between words. This will allow us to play the Kevin Bacon game, making connections between words that may not share the same group. It will be interesting to determine what words are connected (even through a medium) and which ones are disconnected. Lastly on our list of things to do is determine the eigenvectors of our groups in relation to how their connected to other groups. This will allow us to determine—without using fancy words like Markov chains—which words are probably used the most. I say probably because we’re analyzing a taxonomic work, rather than actual speech. Who knows if they match up; we’ll find out.