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Another New Old Project: Langton’s Ant

2020-09-14 John Winkelman

Click here to see Langton’s Ant in the Labs.

I probably could have posted this project before the 3D version, but the 3D version was already done in Javascript, and besides: 3D is just cool!

The above screenshot is taken at just over 10,000 iterations into the animation. Langton’s Ant will, if undisturbed, create a “highway” which will proceed off into infinity unless the world it is crawling wraps at the edges, as this one does.

If you have seen one Langton’s Ant animation you have probably seen them all, though in this one I added a heat map which shows the number of times the Ant has visited each cell. It will take a while to begin to see different colors, and everything will look blue for quite some time. The above screenshot of the heat map was taken at approximately 100,000 iterations.

As with all of my experiments, all of the code is contained in a single page for easy download and modification. I did not use any external libraries and I commented the Javascript for ease of reading and interpretation. Enjoy!

Posted in Programming, UncategorizedTagged cellular automata, Javascript, Langton's Ants comment on Another New Old Project: Langton’s Ant

50K and Counting

2019-11-23 John Winkelman

At 9:00 pm on Wednesday, November 20, I passed 50,000 words in my NaNoWrimo 2019 project titled Neighbors: A Malediction. It. Felt. Wonderful. This is by far the earliest I have passed 50,000 words in the seven years I have participated in National Novel Writing Month. This is also my fifth win. I gave myself a much-needed break and slept in until 7:30 am yesterday, instead of the customary 5:15 which arrives oh, so early as the days get shorter and the nights darker.

Now that the bulk of the writing is out of the way I have time to read and catch up with my journaling, which has fallen by the wayside these past few weeks.

Three books arrived this past week, and none the week before. On the left is volume 1 of The Glimmer Train Guide to Writing Fiction, which I grabbed from the Write616 archives scattered around the floor of the Caffeinated Press office when I stopped by to pick up a few copies of issue 5.1 of The 3288 Review to ship to a customer. In the middle is Lesley Conner’s The Weight of Chains, which I received as a surprise lagniappe for backing a Kickstarter campaign for Apex Publications. On the right is the latest arrival from my subscription to Restless Book, Silence of the Chagos by Shenaz Patel, which looks like something I might need to bump up a few tiers in my TBR pile.

I have managed to set aside a little time for reading this month. I finished both J. Michael Straczynski‘s extraordinary memoir Becoming Superman and Tobias Buckell‘s extremely helpful book of writing advice It’s All Just a Draft. I am still working my way through Marlon James’ Black Leopard, Red Wolf, and loving it more with every page. And for my night reading I just picked up Paternus: Wrath of Gods by Dyrk Ashton, which I picked up (and got signed by the author!) at ConFusion 2019 back in January. I’m only about two chapters in but it is every bit as much fun as was the first book in the series, Paternus: Rise of Gods.

For  the last week of the month I plan to add a few thousand more words to the NaNoWriMo novel to get to the end of the first draft. Of course “first draft” is perhaps overselling the novel at this point. It is really the “pre-first” or “box of scraps” draft. A thorough re-read and hefty rewrite will bring it up to first draft.

This is the first time I have completed a novel during NaNoWriMo. In the first year I came close, though on re-read there are many things about it which were problematic and will need to be changed. But perhaps at this time next year I will be able to announce that I am shopping a novel around, looking for a publisher.

Posted in Literary Matters, UncategorizedTagged Caffeinated Press, NaNoWriMo, reading, writing comment on 50K and Counting

Links and Notes for the Week of June 3, 2018

2018-06-10 John Winkelman

* A worthy list from BookRiot: 50 Must-Read Books with Gorgeous Writing. From this list I have read The Ocean at the End of the Lane, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Kite Runner, and White Oleander. Looks like my Mount Tsundoku will be growing soon.
* The Midwest Socialist has published an excellent 5-part (so far) primer on the basics of radical thought and history.
** Part 1 – Dialectical Materialism
** Part 2 – Alienation
** Part 3 – Class
** Part 4 – Value
** Part 5 – Praxis
* Goddammit so much. Anthony Bourdain has left the kitchen. Here is a good round-up of the best writing about Bourdain to be found on the web.

Posted in Links and Notes, UncategorizedTagged books, death, economics, Marxism, politics comment on Links and Notes for the Week of June 3, 2018

Subscribing to Book Publishers

2015-10-17 John Winkelman

A list of 50 book publishers who offer subscriptions to their catalogs. This list may or may not be updated regularly. I have subscriptions to Open Letter Books, Restless Books, And Other Stories, Deep Vellum and Horse Less Press, and I love every one of them!

  • Open Letter Books
  • Restless Books
  • And Other Stories
  • Deep Vellum
  • Horse Less Press
  • Fitzcarraldo Editions
  • Octopus Books
  • Ugly Duckling Presse
  • Tupelo Press
  • Sarabande Books
  • Archipelago Books
  • SOHO Press
  • New Vessel Press
  • Pushkin Press
  • Two Lines Press
  • Black Ocean
  • Ahsahta Press
  • Alice James Books
  • Anchor and Plume Press
  • Argos Books
  • Black Lawrence Press
  • Brooklyn Arts Press
  • ChiZine Publications
  • Conundrum Press (the “New Release Book Club” in their store)
  • Curbside Splendor Publishing
  • Found Press (ebooks only)
  • Four Way Books (the “standing order” plan under “Donations”)
  • Furniture Press Books
  • Green Writers Press
  • Imaginary Friend Press
  • Les Figues Press
  • Textile Series
  • Marick Press (by donating at the “benefactor” level)
  • McSweeney’s
  • New Michigan Press
  • Noemi Press
  • Rose Metal Press
  • Rubicon Press
  • Sundress Publications
  • Textile Series (The “Chapbok Club”)
  • Great Indian Poetry Collective
  • The Operating System
  • Timeless, Infinite Light (subscription offers discount and perks)
  • Copper Canyon Press (“Subscribing Patrons”)
  • Torrey House Press (“Founding Friend”)
  • Trio House Books (“Book Series Patron”)
  • Tsehai Publishers (“Friends of Tsehai”)
  • Wake Forest University Press (“Book Club”)
  • Wave Books
  • Yes Yes Books
Posted in UncategorizedTagged books, reading

Birds of Prey

2004-08-02 John Winkelman

hawk-1

owl

eagle

hawk-2

parrot

Photos taken at the Silver Leaf Renaissance Faire. Birds provided by Accipiter Enterprises (website is kind of half-broken at the moment). If you have never been close to birds like this, you are missing out on a truly beautiful, humbling experience.

Posted in Uncategorized comment on Birds of Prey

Are You Looking’ At Me?

2004-07-26 John Winkelman

katydid

Posted in Uncategorized comment on Are You Looking’ At Me?

Word of the Day

2003-08-19 John Winkelman

Schlimmbesserung – an intended improvement which makes things worse.

So: what is your favorite word ?

Posted in Uncategorized comment on Word of the Day

Something Weird and Wonderful

2003-07-16 John Winkelman

Watch this .

Posted in Uncategorized comment on Something Weird and Wonderful

Kaboom

2003-05-24 John Winkelman

Off to the kung fu tournament. Details tomorrow.

Posted in Uncategorized comment on Kaboom

I Got Nuthin’

2003-04-08 John Winkelman

toad

Posted in Uncategorized comment on I Got Nuthin’

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JohnWinkelmanJohn Winkelman@JohnWinkelman·
9 Apr

Yeah, that would have been a totally different movie.

Alex de Campi@alexdecampi

Clockwork Orange, hat test, 1971

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9 Apr

5 of 5 stars to How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi https://www.goodreads.com/review/show?id=3914846425

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5 Apr

4 of 5 stars to How to Dress a Fish by Abigail Chabitnoy https://www.goodreads.com/review/show?id=3922597309

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