Archive for category Left over ideas
Test Driven Evolutionary Development
Posted by admin in Left over ideas, Software on June 12th, 2009
I’m becoming interesting in a form of guided evolution, specific to given real-world relatively large-scale engineering problems.
The rough way I see this working is to exploit hierarchy using TDD. The hierarchy itself is an object hierarchy, designed top-down, but using TDED to evolve the actual program code bottom up.
At each level of the hierarchy (starting at root L0) level Ln will use the evolved programs at Ln+1 as its terminals (meaning they cannot be further evolved by Ln). This should not only reduce bloat, but will produce re-usable code, and good starting populations.
A really interesting adaptation would, however, be to feed in the Fitness measure of Ln into Ln+1. This may allow sub-levels to shake themselves into even better fit with the system in which they are being encapsulated.
Web based simple document management with semantic search
Posted by admin in Business, Left over ideas on March 25th, 2009
I realise ever more how difficult it is for the company I am currently working with to manage the sheer volume of files which get sent between itself and its suppliers, not to mention the versions which are being sent… and whether files have been supplied for outstanding requests…
They require some sort of generally accessible web interface, which is really really simple to use (not putting any great requirement on any of the users)…
There wouldn’t be a login, just email addresses you send files to (with the email content being the comment).
This is where semantic technology could really come in… deducing from the email content the relationship of its contents as best as possible.
The web interface would allow semantic/natural search and browsing.
It would simply be a proxy that a provider can setup simply (after all, it may be that the firm only wants to forward on emails to this address).
It would also have a webdav interface for mouting the drives remotely, but this WebDav would ENFORCE a meaningful directory naming convention.
The Financial Crisis in Historical Context
Posted by admin in Business, Left over ideas, Politics on February 25th, 2009
Michellange’s blog collates some excellent graphs from dshort.com and others. I’ve included a few of the most brutal here, but go and check it out.
Four bad bear markets
Job Losses
Cyclical Markets
DIY Wood Stove
Posted by admin in Left over ideas on January 22nd, 2009
A good friend has just had a wood stove, for his self-built Yurt, made out of an old Calor Gas barrel.
Not bad, but I was wondering for a few minutes about all the old PC cases I’ve got lying around.
They might not offer much volume, but for a Yurt you’ll generally only need to use some branches, twigs, and maybe the odd log. The trick there would be to line the base of the case with Clay, making it heavy, but capable of giving off stored heat throughout at least part of a long night. With the case being relatively thin, however, it’d need to be lined with some fireproof plates.
Note the diagram below is my first attempt to do anything with Google’s newly released Sketch Up (which has a really great UI by the way). Thanks for drawing my attention to it Bro Tim 
Using a PC as a woodburner