Keeping Spam At Bay

I came across an interesting article on using Bayesian networks to filter out spam messages. The probability that each message might be spam is calculated based on the frequency of words found in previous messages. It was an interesting read for me after taking a number of AI classes at the University of Michigan. After reading this article, somebody implemented a qmail filter in Perl using the algorithms outlined in the article. I wonder if the junk mail filters that hotmail and the Apple Mail tool use take advantage of Bayesian networks.I’ve also heard about a package called SpamAssassin that is supposedly very good at filtering out spam. Among other methods, it uses Vipul’s Razor, a package that compares hashes of the mail of all of its users to determine mass mailings.

Catching Up

Well, I guess I’ve got a little catching up to do. Jennifer and I recently went on a two week trip to England and Germany. And although it would have been possible to post new enties to the site during that time, I have to admit it was rather refreshing to have a vacation from the Internet as well (yes, I did check my email once or twice from Jennifer’s parents place in Bad Soden). I’ll get pictures up soon.This past week Jennifer and I saw two concerts up at the Historic Mountain Winery. The first was Norah Jones on Sunday night. We would have liked to have seen her up in San Francisco during the week, as that would have given us a few days to recover from the jet lag, but those shows sold out quickly. The Sunday night show sold out as well, but I was quick on the draw to buy tickets. 🙂 The concert was terrific. Norah has a beautiful, soulful voice and a down to earth personality. She was really fun to watch and listen to. It was a relatively cool night and she had to have a heater next to the piano to keep her hands warm. At one point in the show a fan rushed up on stage and offered her a leather jacket to keep warm, but the fan was quickly escorted off stage. Jennifer and I underestimated just how cold it would get considering it has been fairly warm down in the valley, so we huddled under my jacket, using it more as a blanket to keep in the heat and divert the wind.Friday night we saw Kitaro. This show wasn’t sold out, though I think it should have been. The music was terrific. Kitaro’s music is kind of like a mix of New Age, Classical, World, and a soulful Japanese movie score (yes, I do have ecclectic tastes). I found out about him though my parents, though I’m not sure where they heard about him. I don’t have many of his CDs, but I do enjoy his music quite a lot. Looking at his discography I seem to have his earliest release (Asia [1975]) which I really like and Kojiki (1990), which we only recently picked up. This concert wasn’t quite as cold as the Norah Jones concert, though this time we came prepared with jackets and blankets. We were late in getting to the show as we were half expecting an opening act. We had picked up some food to take with us and eat on the picnic tables next to the Winery. We ended up eating while listening to the first 20 minutes of the performance from outside!

You’re my hero. NOT!

Chalk another one up for reasons why I despise George W. Bush:So far we’ve had:1) A broken election.2) A terrorist attack. Maybe not his fault… but then his administration did ignore mounting evidence that something was going down.3) Blind retaliation and denial rather than trying to understand why other countries might be mad at us.4) Destructive energy plans (rejected, thankfully).5) Knee-jerk reactions to Pledge of Allegiance ruling.6) Hipocritical investment scandal and crackdown (yes, it’s satire…but true! with the VP involved, too!)7) Crying wolf about terrorist attacks.8) Internet and Phone taps without a warrant.Now we have:9) Turning American citizens against each other.No wonder I had a hard time feeling patriotic July 4th this year. Give me a leader I can be proud of, please. Pretty please?

Give Yourself A Little Pat Of Butter

I just came across the following article [free registration may be required] on the New York Times web site discussing how food nutritionalists are facing the realization that “low-fat” diets are not necessary very healthy diets, a message that has been preached for nearly 30 years. The Atkins diet, which has become increasing popular as of late, was described as early as the late 1960’s, and in which the types of foods were described as an ideal diet as early as 1825 by the French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Continue reading →

Soda Pop, Please

Want to travel the US but no look like a tourist the next time you order your Diet Pepsi? This site shows where the of various terms for “soft drink” (“pop”, “soda”, “Coke”, or another term) are used across the US based on submissions from Internet users. The usage areas seem to be divided up into the East Coast/California/some Midwest (“soda”), the Midwest/Northwest (“pop”), and the South (“Coke”). I personally used to use the term “pop” while living in Michigan but have since switched to “soda” since moving to California. I’ll never understand why folks in the southern states use the term “Coke”. I guess it’s along the same lines as calling a tissue a Kleenex or a bandage a Band Aid even though there are other companies that make similar products with different names. It’s amazing how deep a brand can penetrate the human psyche.

Back in the Seattle Again

I’ve just returned from a trip to Seattle for the wedding of one of my good college friends Maija Brissey (nee Schommer). She was one of my housemates for 2 years, along with 11 other friends, at 514 Monroe in Ann Arbor while attending the University of Michigan. This was the first time that many of us have been together at the same time since May of 1998. A lot has happened to many of us over the years and it was great to get a chance to catch up with each others lives. It felt like I had just seen them yesterday, and yet they were all experiencing very different life situations. Many of my friends are getting married or starting to have kids. One of my housemates has married and had a child. I’ve married. Two others have now married. One is engaged. I suppose this is the time of my life when it will happen the most. I can’t wait until the next time we get together. Continue reading →

Minority Report

So I went to see Minority Report on Saturday. Surprisingly enough, even though it starred Tom Cruise, I rather enjoyed it. The overall look of the movie was very similar of Gattaca with colors and hues carefully chosen, and the overall message was fairly similar (beware of where technology is leading us. it is still in the hands of humans and is only as good as its users). though parts of the movie were fairly predictable (rather ironic, considering the movie revolves around three clairevoiants), there were enough plot twists and visualizations of the future that made the moving worth seeing. It has made me interested in reading more stories by Philip K. Dick.