Diners, drive-Ins, and drift

A Guy and his favorite condiment.

I recently wrote a silly little Python script which would randomly generate names of the kinds of meals one would only see in Guy Fieri's vivid, flame-scorched culinary imaginationscape. I'm not mocking the guy per se. He's clearly working with a winning formula even if it does take the lowest-common-denominator and divide it by zero. That is to say, the results fit expected parameters but aren't terribly rational.

But yes, the script. Here's some sample output:
Then we can start with the
Guy-talian Slammin' Bad Boy
Southern Honey Dijon Dumplings
Green Pepper Sashimi Kabobs
Pesto Baltimore Veggie Roast
Southern Johnny Garlic's Bourguignon
Bourbon Pesto Shrimp
and the
Lime Pepperoni Mashed Potatoes
then we can finish up with the
Queso Smothered Tostado Po'Boy

All the starting adjectives and nouns (that's where the meat is, this isn't any fancy code) are from the menu at Guy's own recipes, his restaurant, Applebee's, Hooters, or a competitor of these. They generally sound palatable with the possible exception of those mashed potatoes up there. That's not really the fun part, though. The fun part is that I wrote this for Python 3 though it still runs in Python 2. The output gets a bit garbled:
Then we can start with the
 Bakea  Sriracha
 Baked Potatoin'
 Kabobs Crazy
 Friestalarmesan-Crusted
 Bourguignonan
 Rings Pepperlo
and the
 HalibutSix-Cheese
then we can finish up with the
 Frittersanch

What we end up with is the logical extension of maximally-flavored American comfort-food: Guy's Impressionist Cuisine.  

The artist for today is Kate MccGwire. She makes feathery sculptures which look like they either want to eat you or want you to eat them.

Music for Programming

This mix series is wonderful. Ingredients, as per their aesthetic description:
Drones
Noise
Fuzz
Field recordings
Vagueness (Hypnagogia)
Textures without rhythm
Minor complex chords
Early music (Baroque, lute, harpsichord)
Very few drums or vocals
Synth arpeggios
Awesome
Walls of reverb

It's pretty decent background sound for programming, yes, but it's even better for an evening walk through the noisome late-February air.

Very Much Like Me

The unrelated background music for today.

Looks like it's time for another personal assessment. This is one of a series of questionnaires and inventories prepared as part of a program called Authentic Happiness. Yes, that's a name with some tall claims. The program is courtesy of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania so it may have some decent, scientifically-sound psychology chops.* It's also accessible without any monetary cost.

I took the VIA Survey of Character Strengths. (I think it's a longer version of the VIA Me! survey, which I have taken previously.) It's a series of 240 statements, evaluated in much the same way as the previous strengths surveys I've described (that is, a 5-point scale from Very Much Like Me to Very Much Unlike Me). Some of the statements feel rather transparent (i.e., "I am a spiritual person.") as it's clear how they translate to results (if you say you're spiritual, the survey won't disagree). This may be by design; perhaps the best indicator of a spiritual person is that they consider themselves spiritual.

Here are my results:

Your Top Strength

Creativity, ingenuity, and originality Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.

Your Second Strength

Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind.

Your Third Strength

Appreciation of beauty and excellence You notice and appreciate beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in all domains of life, from nature to art to mathematics to science to everyday experience.

Your Fourth Strength

Humor and playfulness You like to laugh and tease. Bringing smiles to other people is important to you. You try to see the light side of all situations.

Your Fifth Strength

Curiosity and interest in the world You are curious about everything. You are always asking questions, and you find all subjects and topics fascinating. You like exploration and discovery. So, not too different from the short version of the inventory. As part of my personal development class, we're being assigned the task to survey other folks about what strengths they think we display. I will have to see if there is a correlation. *I tend to take just about any psychological theory or finding with a Volvo-sized grain of salt. To be fair, I don't have any formal education or experience with the actual study of psychology. My blanket judgement is largely unfounded. I've just read enough poorly-supported, statistically-unsound psychology claims to be wary.

Here's a dumb GNOME Classic interface issue that I always seem to run into: desktop elements (i.e., launcher shortcuts) aren't movable or removable by the mouse alone.* Right-clicking them brings up context menus but some options remain hidden. Holding the superkey + Alt and then right-clicking makes those options show up. This forum thread was helpful.

*This may just be a change since Ubuntu 12.04. I'm just glad to have an interface other than Unity available.