Disconformity

Stuff about Earth Science, math, WoW, CS, and random other things.

[merlin]

Tilting your seat back on an airplane is pure evil. But so is installing seats that recline in the first place.

Reclining airplane seats are a terrible idea and should be banned. - Slate Magazine [via]

Totally agreed. I never recline. Just on principle.

Reclining your airline seat contributes to a Domino Effect of Bad Human Behavior.

(via merlin)

[desfido]

"... and I shall not stop until every single one of them is dead -- finger lickin' dead."

[desfido]

"Seven Nation Army" on lab equipment

[desfido]

After the usher gauntlet at the opera last time

Final Usher: Do you know where you're seated?

Me: I believe so. Think it's right down there.

Final Usher: Are you from Britain or Austrailia?

Me: ... what?

Final Usher: Are you from Britain or Australia?

Me: I'm from around here.

Final Usher: What?

Me: I'm from around here.

[desfido]

Don't understand this conversation. Not sure I want to.

Co-worker #1: And then you hose things down, get some bleach (mimes butter-churning)

Co-worker #2: (nodding slowly) Clorox.

[betterbooktitles]

J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[fuckyeahdementia]

nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan

[animalsrc00l]

[desfido]

elbeebee:

pretty!

[desfido]

Nested List Comprehensions in Python

So, for a bit, I kept messing up nested list comprehensions when I tried to use them. Since I'm usually writing in Python to Get All The Things Done, my usual response is, "Oh, I should figure out what I'm doing wrong sometime, but I'll just do a while loop or use reduce or whatever for now."

But the other day, I happened on a nice concrete example that clarified things for me, so I figured, maybe I should link it, and share another such example.

Suppose we have an XML file that contains results from timing how long requests to groups of URLs that are grouped together (I have such a file from my attempts to perform benchmarks on a rewritten server at work). In this case, there are two levels of groups, one for requests that correspond to a particular geospatial location, and one that corresponds to two related queries for two different types of information about that location (specifically, KML requests, and requests for the imagery corresponding to the particular KML file). The XML looks like sort of like this:

<location> <tile> <request type="kml" duration="100000" bytes="3150"> <![CDATA[url]]> </request> <request type="img" duration="102500" bytes="5316"> <![CDATA[url]]> </request> </tile> ... </location> ...

(Duration is in microseconds, if you're wondering why it's so freaking huge.)

Well, suppose I want to load all that data into Excel or Matlab or something. The easiest way to do that is to convert all that data into CSV. But I want to make sure to preserve an easy way to keep track of the location grouping and the tile grouping, since the whole point is to allow arbitrary analysis of the data set, and those attributes may be important to some particular statistics the analyst may want.

I can do something like the following to generate the appropriate CSV file:

from lxml import etree as ET def make_csv(xmlfile): csvline='{0},{1},{2},{3},{4},{5}' locations = ET.parse(xmlfile).findall('.//location') return '\n'.join( [ csvline.format(i, j, req.get('type',''), req.get('duration',''), req.get('bytes',''), req.text if req.text else '' ) for i,loc in zip(xrange(1,len(locations)+1), locations) for j,tile in zip(xrange(1,len(loc)+1), loc) for req in tile ] )

I'm not sure this is necessarily the most efficient way for me to do this, but oh well. Hopefully, this will both help me remember how to use nested comprehensions, and make it easier for someone else trying to figure out nested list comprehensions in the future (via the linked post if nothing else).

[ushishir]

[proofmathisbeautiful]

buddhabrot:

psychedelicately:

mymindcravesnectar:

Ammonite at kilve, Somerset

(via ushishir)

Math in nature is my favorite!

[desfido]

Ammonites are awesome, as all right-thinking people know.

[sidebr]

Major update:

Code overhaul. Userscript no longer depends on jQuery. Hopefully this doesn’t break compatibility…

You should notice some sort of speed increase b/c it’s not loading anything external.

As always, the userscript is here.

(Btw, I might have broken manually specified sidebars....

[allcreatures]

[desfido]

Hippo calf + hippo mom == adorable

[electricorchid]

[desfido]

electricorchid:

Scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, are researching how the common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) evades predators by matching the colour, pattern and posture of its body to the background. When the animal was placed next to artificial algae in the lab, it struck a pose to mimic its neighbour. | +

[mabelmoments-blog]

[desfido]

mabelmoments:

Betty the bald hedgehog ‘has no friends in wildlife rescue centre’

The mystery skin condition has left the six-week-old creature too scared and nervous to mix with other normal hogs at the Foxy Lodge in Hemsby, Norfolk. (Read more: metro.co.uk)

aw, bless

[allcreatures]

[allcreatures]

Comedian Milton Jones goes though his Pull the Udder One set to a herd of Hertfordshire Fresians during the Can Cows Laugh? experiment. The unique experiment into bovine behaviour has revealed that cows have a sense of humour and even display signs of laughter. The study combining cattle and comedy, thought to be the first of its kind, was conducted by The Laughing Cow together with Jones and leading independent cow expert, Bruce Woodacre.

[desfido]

[Video of part of the set, with commentary from the expert on cows](http://youtu.be/7nj-_cWirjE?hd=1)

[allcreatures]

A fire ant appears to be pulling off a one-handed breakdance move on a log. The insect held the pose - known as a hand freeze in breakdancing circles - for 30 seconds. Photo: Robertus Agung Sudiatmokos