Author Archives: Anton

FCC cube generator

I could have used this a week ago. def fccstack(): newlimit = 0 while True: oldlimit = newlimit newlimit += 1 # extend z for x in xrange(oldlimit): for y in xrange((x+oldlimit)&1, oldlimit, 2): yield (x,y,oldlimit) # extend y for … Continue reading

Posted in mathematics, neep-neep | Leave a comment

some thoughts about packing

My bundle of 19 fullerenes is arranged in a face-centred cubic lattice, each ball occupying one of the 24 even-numbered cells of a 4×4×3 array (and parts of the adjacent cells). The spacing of the grid planes is determined by … Continue reading

Posted in mathematics | 3 Comments

in which I curse my lack of omniscience

I want to push several hundred greyscale images through a threshold filter, so that an output pixel is black or white according to whether the corresponding input pixel is less or more than 1/2 bright. (My goal is a ‘woodcut’ … Continue reading

Posted in neep-neep | 2 Comments

small irregular fullerenes

Shapeways has thirteen models of (the most symmetrical and famous form of) C60, but none of the thousands of smaller fullerenes. So I designed models of the 35 smallest, i.e. up to C36; this includes the smallest with no symmetries, … Continue reading

Posted in merch, sciences | 1 Comment

yeah, that makes me a total hermit

Yesterday I relayed a message from the local humane society, which contained an email address and a phone number; and the first response I got was “Is she on Facebook?” Phooey. Apparently it’s no longer possible to delete my Facebook … Continue reading

Posted in society | 1 Comment

to boldly spam

A recent fad in spam is Star Trek filler: Sisko swiveled toward his chief engineer. “What do you think? Is there anybody still aboard the cargo shuttle?” The commander nodded grudgingly. “Yes, I know. But you thought they might steal … Continue reading

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amazing restraint

Roderick Long defines right-conflationism as defending existing economic structures as if they were outcomes of a genuinely free market (what Kevin Carson calls vulgar libertarianism), and left-conflationism as using those outcomes to attack the concept of free markets. I hope … Continue reading

Posted in economics, politics | Leave a comment