a simple model of selection

2009.09.16 in computers/software, science | Leave a comment

(re-posted from coster3.com, the joint blog I share with my brothers)

Inspired by Dawkins’ METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL program (hereafter just weasel) described in his book “The Blind Watchmaker,” and wanting to practice my blossoming C++ skills, I decided to write my own version of weasel. It was successful enough, and I found the results interesting enough to warrant discussion. Download the program (Windows .exe file) so you can try it out for yourself (and you can also get the source code if you want). In this post I’ll discuss what the program does and why. In the next post I’ll talk a bit about the results of the program.

weasel_title

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Weasel Progress

2009.09.02 in computers/software, science | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

[UPDATE: I fixed a bug that reduced the average mutations by 1 and I also made it so that you can rerun the same scenario or change the settings before a run.]

I’ve finished the beta version of my METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL program. I want to tweak it to make it a little more visually pleasing and to add some options for more data retrieval. Or even an ascii graph!

Anyway, I’m posting the code and an executable. If you make any interesting changes (I’m keeping it open source, of course) please let me know. Otherwise, I’m happy to take suggestions.

Windows executable file.

c++ source code.

Methinks…

2009.09.01 in computers/software, science | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

it is like a weasel.

Apparently this is a line from Shakespeare. I don’t like Shakespeare (I appreciate it, but I don’t like it). This line came up because Dawkins used it, years ago in one of his books, to demonstrate the superiority of selection vs. randomness. He had written a simple program that would start with a random set of letters, make mutated “offspring”, and then select the one most like the target phrase “METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL.” After tens of generations, you get the target phrase.

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So long, Uganda (Part 2)

2009.08.09 in peace corps | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Well, I’ve been home for 3 months now and I haven’t finished telling my leaving story! I probably don’t even remember it all now, and I’m sure I’ll end up leaving out all kinds of stuff. I sincerely hope that none of these end up being false memories (my logic may be infallible, but my memory certainly isn’t! :) ). The timeline will most certainly be a little inaccurate.

Read Part 1 here. Now on to Part 2:

It looks like I left off with the end of the first day of trying to leave, where I was offered to teach at a university at a new site if I would stay.

After leaving the APCD’s office and taking a walk outside, I shortly realized that it didn’t make any difference to me at all. Which was really too bad, because I was hoping that I would have some reason to change my mind. But I didn’t. I spent some time wandering around Kampala and thinking, then talked to Brother Stoz on the phone, and talked to my fellow PCVs who had come with me. A few more came to town, so I got to explain to them why I wanted to go and say goodbye, which made me happy. By the end of the night I was even more certain than I had been before, so I went to bed ready to talk to the CD in the morning and tell him that I had for sure made the decision to leave.

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end of coster3

2009.08.09 in life | Leave a comment

[UPDATE] coster3 just got un-ended. Or de-ended. Anyway, we decided to keep it going. I’ll double-post most of my stuff, though things that are mostly personal will just be here, and rants my stay on coster3.

So, after getting Mindforge Technologies up and running (ish) my brothers and I decided to go back to having our individual sites. So I’ll be importing the posts I made there over to here. You can read Stoz’s posts at sethcoster.com, and Sqm’s probably at samcoster.wordpress.com, though that may be changing in the future.

So long, Uganda (Part 1)

2009.05.18 in peace corps | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 8 comments

I am BACK IN THE U.S. And, really, it would be difficult for me to be happier. Really difficult.

Why, you ask?

11 days ago, on Thursday, I hit bottom. I had only been at site for two weeks, had been unhappy since I arrived, and then, finally, for no apparent reason, I was tremendously sad all day. I randomly burst into tears a few times, and had no idea why. Everything around me seemed awful, I didn’t want to talk to anyone, my counterpart slighted me, the students took advantage of the fact that I didn’t know the rules, and I was just completely, absolutely, unhappy.

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Some drunk guy tried to steal my bike!

2009.05.03 in peace corps | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 comments

There’s a nice bicycle shop owner in town (also named John; there isn’t a large diversity in names here) who I’ve been taking my new bike to. I bought it in Kumi last week and it has been giving me all sorts of grief ever since. Its front tire was completely flat when I got home, the back wheel is mis-aligned (and also spins funny), and all of the little nuts and bolts are slowly undoing themselves because, apparently, locking nuts don’t exist in this country. But anyway, John has been taking decent care of me, told me to bring the bike in some morning or early afternoon to get the wheel lined up right.

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A bit of reprieve

2009.05.02 in peace corps | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I headed down to Mbale this yesterday with the two nearby PCVs from my group. We met two more there, plus a few from another training class, and had a great day of eating Indian food, buying things for our houses that aren’t available at site, and otherwise just chillaxing. I came back today, though there was no particular reason for me to do so. I feel like I should be forcing myself to stay at site so that I adjust more quickly, even though I would prefer to be associating with my fellow PCVs. I just need time, but I feel like I have too much of it!

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Getting heavy…

2009.05.02 in peace corps | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Just a warning: This post is a little on the obese side. I think you’ll get what I mean.

I want to discuss a little the guy that I am trying to help, and why I’m having difficulty figuring out how best to do it. He is 17 and has been out of school for some time, but wants to go back. He would be in Primary 6 (something like 5th grade). His father died, then his mother committed suicide, then his grandmother was poisoned, and, finally, his uncles stole the land that he and his brothers were supposed to inherit. He doesn’t even know where that land is. I don’t yet have a timeline on these events, and I certainly don’t want to prod.

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There's a reptile in the corner…

2009.04.29 in peace corps | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’m in the computer lab, after meeting with my counterpart to discuss our goals and ambitions for the next term. And under a pile of newspapers in the corner is a large skink. He’s just hanging out down there. There are tons of lizards here, and they are generally fairly large (6 inches or more), which makes my life just a little bit better. Things have settled down since my last post and I am back on an upswing. A kid peaked in the door and told me to give him money and I just glared at him and told him to leave. He did. I’m gaining the upper hand.

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