20031227
I recently wrote this to my boss...seemed a shame to have this writeup hidden.
The Bayes engine works by learning 'tokens', which are defined as words and small sets of words in this case. It currently has well into the hundred-thousands of tokens stored in its database.When it learns a token, it gives it a score based on whether the token came from 'spam' or 'ham' (ham being anything that is not spam). Of course, some tokens can be found in both types of emails, but giving a score that can be adjusted depending on where it is found over time allows it to better define what a score for a specific token should be.
That's why in a Bayes engine it's best to give it volumes and volumes of both spam and ham...currently 1545 spam emails and 1395 ham emails have been learned, and it's doing very well based on that. Much of that was hand-learned...manually telling the Bayes engine that specific emails are spam or ham. Now that it's operational though, I've set it to autolearn based on the scores that SpamAssassin gives...a score of 0.5 or less and the email is learned as ham, 7.5 or more (so we don't auto-learn emails that are borderline) and it's learned as ham.
The junk words that you are seeing in spam these days are attempts by spammers to poison the Bayes database. It's been pretty ineffective since the spammers don't seem to understand that using unusual words ("alumina cleft abacus sophism actinium" from a recent spam) and garbage (eGG3j2 8Dk46up4 1d8 362I CPbIR1p3v) doesn't do anything that affects the usual content of emails arriving here.
20031224
Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody, 1974. Dedicated to John Lennon
Thanks to tajomaru for pointing this out!
Harbors open their arms to the young searching Foreigner
Come to live in the light of the beacon of liberty
Planes and open skies, billboards would advertise
Was it anything like that when you arrived?
Dreamboats carried the future to the heart of America
People were waiting in line for a place by the river
It was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play
They tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room
That people could come from everywhere
Now he arrives with his hopes and his heart set on miracles
Come to marry his fortune with a handful of promises
To find they've closed the door
They don't want him anymore
There isn't anymore to go around
Turning away he remembers he once heard a legend
That spoke of a mystical, magical land called America
It was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play
They tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room
That people could come from everywhere
20031221
Stubble is looking good, grey in spots I didn't know were grey! I did a little shaping this morning, but still allow myself to go for the Lemmy from Motorhead look if I decide to :)
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if
Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running
around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills
and listening to repetitive electronic music."Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989
20031218
20031215
I used to be a lot more libertarian...I'm now just about equal with Jean Chretien, which scares me greatly.
Economic Left/Right: -3.25
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.90The older I get, the less I think that I should trust the forces of corporate structure, and the more I seek government to come in and deliver the pimp hand. I used to not care of corporates and their wily ways., while hating the governmental bureaucratic bullcrap. Now, I see that the government may be stupid and ineffective, but it's not so self-serving and malicious (note that I am in Canada - I distrust the US government like you wouldn't believe) as corporations have shown themselves to be.
20031211
(Note: I copied this from Snopes.com, I know very well it was Colin Mochrie, not Rick Mercer. That's what they have on their site though, and I copied the whole thing. - GWW)
A truly Canadian Apology to the USA, courtesy of Rick Mercer from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, CBC Television:
Hello. I'm Anthony St. George on location here in Washington.
On behalf of Canadians everywhere I'd like to offer an apology to the United States of America. We haven't been getting along very well recently and for that, I am truly sorry. I'm sorry we called George Bush a moron. He is a moron, but it wasn't nice of us to point it out. If it's any consolation, the fact that he's a moron shouldn't reflect poorly on the people of America. After all, it's not like you actually elected him.
I'm sorry about our softwood lumber. Just because we have more trees than you, doesn't give us the right to sell you lumber that's cheaper and better than your own. It would be like if, well, say you had ten times the television audeince we did and you flood our market with great shows, cheaper than we could produce. I know you'd never do that.
I'm sorry we beat you in Olympic hockey. In our defence I guess our excuse would be that our team was much, much, much, much better than yours. As word of apology, please accept all of our NHL teams which, one by one, are going out of business and moving to your fine country.
I'm sorry about our waffling on Iraq. I mean, when you're going up against a crazed dictator, you want to have your friends by your side. I realize it took more than two years before you guys pitched in against Hitler, but that was different. Everyone knew he had weapons.
I'm sorry we burnt down your White House during the War of 1812. I see you've rebuilt it! It's very nice.
I'm sorry for Alan Thicke, Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Loverboy, that song from Seriff that ends with a really high-pitched long note. Your beer. I know we had nothing to do with your beer, but we feel your pain.
And finally on behalf of all Canadians, I'm sorry that we're constantly apologizing for things in a passive-aggressive way which is really a thinly veiled criticism. I sincerely hope that you're not upset over this. Because we've seen what you do to countries you get upset with.
For 22 minutes, I'm Anthony St. George, and I'm sorry.
video (Realplayer)
LINKS and STUFF
Userfriendly.org - It's a geek comic strip. Really it's the main geek comic strip that has content based more for the geek crowd than any other. Other 'geek' comic strips have humour and content that almost anyone can get. I go there more out of habit these days than anything else, I used to work for it, and am still the head moderator for their comments system. I guess that's my intro to blogging in some way.Aspectus - This is Illiad's (of Userfriendly fame) other project, which is like Slashdot in some ways and like a personal blog in some ways, but cooler than either. Needs more content, and more visitors, but that'll come.
RED MEAT - Oh my. I imagine there is a FBI file on the artist. I never, ever want to meet him. But I will glory in his comic strip. Brilliance and intelligence wrapped up in the tattooed skin of a circus freak and tied with a bow made of blown O-rings.
Imparte.com - Rich's site. Not going to talk about it until he says I can. But go visit anyway.
