>> This is slightly different to constructing sentences which are very 
>> wordy but don't "say" anything. 
> 
> There was a conference on linguistics or some such where the authors 
> took markov chains from a few earlier papers and constructed a 
> completely random paper to submit, got it accepted, and presented it. 
> They were apparently up to the fifth or sixth slide before people 
> started to catch on that it was literally random nonsense.

Apparently this has been done more than once...

Hence my earlier comment about *Markov chains*! :-P

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> So... you have found a Markov-chain text generator?
>>
>> lol... nah, just seeing how many buzzwords I can cram into a sentence. :)
> 
> Frighening, eh?
> 
> Sometimes I do sit down and attempt to construct a sentence which *does* 
> convey the correct meaning, but is never the less maximally technical.
> 
> "We apppear to be experiencing copious quantities of solid-phase aqueous 
> precipitation in the lower troposphere currently."

Heh, yeah, that makes too much sense.

> This is slightly different to constructing sentences which are very 
> wordy but don't "say" anything. My sister has taken this to an art form. 
> I truly mean that. I read one of her reports for school once. I managed 
> to get through 3 pages, all the while thinking "gee, this stuff is 
> really good". And then I suddenly realised "wait a sec - you haven't 
> *said* anything yet!" True genius. No wonder she got such excellent 
> grades...
> 

She'll go far in incentivizing the workforce to produce maximally 
customer friendly intuitive content.

-- 
~Mike

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>> Sometimes I do sit down and attempt to construct a sentence which 
>> *does* convey the correct meaning, but is never the less maximally 
>> technical.
>>
>> "We apppear to be experiencing copious quantities of solid-phase 
>> aqueous precipitation in the lower troposphere currently."
> 
> Heh, yeah, that makes too much sense.

Well it depends what you're aiming for. If you want "technically correct 
but difficult to comprehend", that's what you just got. If you want 
"sounds impressive but actually meaningless", then talk to my sister.

> She'll go far in incentivizing the workforce to produce maximally 
> customer friendly intuitive content.

Actually, she's an accountant. :-D

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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> This is slightly different to constructing sentences which are very wordy 
> but don't "say" anything. My sister has taken this to an art form. I truly 
> mean that. I read one of her reports for school once. I managed to get 
> through 3 pages, all the while thinking "gee, this stuff is really good". 
> And then I suddenly realised "wait a sec - you haven't *said* anything 
> yet!" True genius. No wonder she got such excellent grades...

Reminds me of this announcement of an upcoming show at my school:

"My practice endeavors to register a world that is in constant flux.
Processes used incorporate symbolisms relating to historical representations
in both social and artistic associations. Metaphors are created in an
attempt to define the diversity that is the human condition.  It is about
possibilities, the importance of freedom and the action of an expression
that looks at moments of optimism, personal freedom and the necessity and
failure of idealism without being didactic in its manifestation.  The work
revolves around themes such as globalization, the power of the media and the
economy. Often this includes taking on the role of facilitator to develop
collaborative projects with a wide variety of participants, many of who
would have no formal artistic background."

Can you really take on the role of facilitator without your metaphors 
becoming didactic with regard to how the sybolisms relate to representations 
of associations?

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>>>> Why...WHY would you do this?? >_<
>>>     Then step in and advise them accordingly.
>> Yes. Because they're *really* going to take notice of what *I* say. :-P
> 
> They certainly are guaranteed to not take notice of what you say if you 
> say nothing.

I queried it. Needless to say, they don't think this is a real problem.

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On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:28:33 +0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:

>>>>> Why...WHY would you do this?? >_<
>>>>     Then step in and advise them accordingly.
>>> Yes. Because they're *really* going to take notice of what *I* say. :-P
>> 
>> They certainly are guaranteed to not take notice of what you say if you 
>> say nothing.
>
>I queried it. Needless to say, they don't think this is a real problem.

They are right, it is not a real problem, lots of companies work like this. You
and I know that there are better ways it can be done but spreadsheets work, it
must be said.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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>>>>>> Why...WHY would you do this?? >_<
>>>>>     Then step in and advise them accordingly.
>>>> Yes. Because they're *really* going to take notice of what *I* say. :-P
>>> They certainly are guaranteed to not take notice of what you say if you 
>>> say nothing.
>> I queried it. Needless to say, they don't think this is a real problem.
> 
> They are right, it is not a real problem, lots of companies work like this. You
> and I know that there are better ways it can be done but spreadsheets work, it
> must be said.

I wonder how well it will "work" once we have a few GB of data in there 
though?

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On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:22:21 +0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:

>>>>>>> Why...WHY would you do this?? >_<
>>>>>>     Then step in and advise them accordingly.
>>>>> Yes. Because they're *really* going to take notice of what *I* say. :-P
>>>> They certainly are guaranteed to not take notice of what you say if you 
>>>> say nothing.
>>> I queried it. Needless to say, they don't think this is a real problem.
>> 
>> They are right, it is not a real problem, lots of companies work like this. You
>> and I know that there are better ways it can be done but spreadsheets work, it
>> must be said.
>
>I wonder how well it will "work" once we have a few GB of data in there 
>though?

Not very well but you told them so. ;)
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Invisible wrote:

> Perhaps more worrying is that they have apparently decided that we're 
> goig to keep a record of every user account ever created... using an 
> Excel spreadsheet.

OK, so I've just received an email asking me for details of every user 
account that has ever existed in the UK system.

WTF?

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> OK, so I've just received an email asking me for details of every user 
> account that has ever existed in the UK system.
>
> WTF?

I would print out the list, scan it in, then email them the PDF.  Tell them 
you don't have the original document anymore of all the old users, that 
should keep them busy for a while :-)

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