Python Liberation Front

pyGoogle is fun and easy to use and my program Ask Merlin is an example of this.

I am having a lot of fun using the pyGoogle module that uses the Google API. It is about as easy to use as I can imagine, and it is a lot nicer than using my old HTMl screen scraping habits.

My online CGI program Ask Merlin is an example. Currently, the program takes any user's question and picks the best answer from amongst the possible answers given by the user. The program uses an algorithm that uses an intelligent analysis of search results from Google. OK, OK, I know already, that this is of limited utility compared to answering any question without requiring the user to give options to choose from; and, furthermore i know full well that at this point Merlin is far from foolproof even when given options to choose amongst. Still, if you play with it for a while you will be amazed at how well it does do.

Moreover, I am hard at work on a version that will answer any question without being given options, by choosing options from Google search results that are most appropriate and then applying my "intelligent" algorithm.

But hey, even as it stands, when queried "which is the best programming language to use for ease of use," Merlin picks Python from amongst a list of python, ruby, ADA and java. When queried "which language is the best programming language to use for a large project requiring realtime operation and involving life and death issues of human life", Merlin picks ada out of the same list. And, when just plain asked "what is the best programming language" Merlin wisely picks Python from the list. And I assure you that none of this is "hard coded" but instead just uses the regular algorithm applied to any other question ;-))))

OK, it's just a fun little hack by a very amateurish hacker; but that's sort of the point. Just think what a good programmer could do with pyGoogle ;-))))

2005 a Year of Consequence

I predict that 2005 will be an important year, a watershed year and a turning point. Stay tuned for timely commentary.

Like Father Like Son

Just announced: Jakob Dylan's band, the Wallflowers, will release a new album on May 24, called Rebel Sweetheart. Jakob is a good song writer and a very good singer, and it has been 3 years since their last album release. I predict this will be a big hit. For the first time, Jakob has been quoted as saying his new songs will address politics and the current world situation, the kind of thing he has studiously avoided for his entire career.

Bob Dylan, his father, has just been in the studio and will have a new album coming out later in the year. Bob says he will favor the piano, "because it has more keys than the guitar has strings" and he wants to focus on the music and arrangements this time around ;-)))

They remind me of the Bachs of the 17'th century. Didn't some then claim that the son was better than the Old Man? History judged otherwise. Anyway, I really look forrward to both albums.

The track listing for Rebel, Sweetheart:

Days Of Wonder
The Passenger
The Beautiful Side Of Somewhere
Here He Comes (Confessions of a Drunken Marionette)
We're Already There
God Says Nothing Back
Back To California
I Am A Building
From The Bottom Of My Heart
Nearly Beloved
How Far You've Come
All Things New Again