An Obfuscated Christmas

December 24th, 2009

Compile and run this C code for a cheerful holiday message.

#include <stdio.h>
main(t,_,a)
char *a;
{
return!0<t?t<3?main(-79,-13,a+main(-87,1-_,main(-86,0,a+1)+a)):
1,t<_?main(t+1,_,a):3,main(-94,-27+t,a)&&t==2?_<13?
main(2,_+1,"%s %d %d\n"):9:16:t<0?t<-72?main(_,t,
"@n'+,#'/*{}w+/w#cdnr/+,{}r/*de}+,/*{*+,/w{%+,/w#q#n+,/#{l+,/n{n+,/+#n+,/#\
;#q#n+,/+k#;*+,/'r :'d*'3,}{w+K w'K:'+}e#';dq#'l \
q#'+d'K#!/+k#;q#'r}eKK#}w'r}eKK{nl]'/#;#q#n'){)#}w'){){nl]'/+#n';d}rw' i;#\
){nl]!/n{n#'; r{#w'r nc{nl]'/#{l,+'K {rw' iK{;[{nl]'/w#q#n'wk nw' \
iwk{KK{nl]!/w{%'l##w#' i; :{nl]'/*{q#'ld;r'}{nlwb!/*de}'c \
;;{nl'-{}rw]'/+,}##'*}#nc,',#nw]'/+kd'+e}+;#'rdq#w! nr'/ ') }+}{rl#'{n' ')# \
}'+}##(!!/")
:t<-50?_==*a?putchar(31[a]):main(-65,_,a+1):main((*a=='/')+t,_,a+1) :0<t?main(2,2,"%s"):*a=='/'||main(0,main(-61,*a, "!ek;dc i@bK'(q)-[w]*%n+r3#l,{}:\nuwloca-O;m .vpbks,fxntdCeghiry"),a+1); }

Thanks, researchers at Bell Labs circa 1998!

Posted in compsci | No Comments »

Italian Spiderman

October 30th, 2009

I’ve only seen the first five episodes so far, but I already know that I can unreservedly recommend this series:

UPDATE: Yeah, it just gets better. There are ten episodes so far, which complete the first arc. Apparently there will be more eventually.

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Sand-mation

October 21st, 2009

I hate doing kottke reposts, but this is incredible:

That’s the winner of this year’s Ukraine’s Got Talent telling the story of Germany’s invasion of Ukraine in World War II.

Posted in art+design, video | 1 Comment »

Let's Talk About Ants

October 19th, 2009

This blog could easily turn into a collection of TED talks. Here’s Stanford biologist Deborah Gordon talking about emergent behaviors in ant colonies.

Posted in TED, animals, ants, science, video | No Comments »

Tree Bookshelf

October 16th, 2009

This bookcase is kind of adorable.

Posted in art+design, books | No Comments »

Ant Mega-colony Takes Over the World

October 14th, 2009

At least, according to the BBC.

Astute readers will notice that I’m continuing my tradition of only writing about articles like three months after they’ve been published.

Posted in animals, ants, science | No Comments »

SheevaPlug

October 12th, 2009

This is a tiny computer. If anyone would like to buy me a few, that would be OK.

[insert obligatory Beowulf cluster joke]

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How to be Healthy

October 9th, 2009

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interviews Michael Pollan on the issue of America’s food supply. Among many other things, they discuss disease outbreaks, the remarkable ability of agribusiness to co-opt organic terminology, the new Secretary of Agriculture, school lunches, and the relationship between food and health care.  This interview was actually recorded way back in May, but I somehow managed to miss it then, so you get to hear about it now.

Pollan has a knack for distilling a lot of good advice into pithy epigrams. Notably, “Don’t buy any food that you’ve ever seen advertised, ” and “Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.”

Posted in actualfood, science, video | No Comments »

Way better than Warhol

October 6th, 2009

A brilliant cover for a brilliant essay. The art on the Great Ideas series is fantastic.

Posted in art+design, books | No Comments »

A Glorious Dawn

October 4th, 2009

I just cannot tell you how much I love this Carl Sagan remix. Stephen Hawking has a cameo, too.

Posted in music, science, video | No Comments »