I'd approached Gregory Chaitin before, but it was one of his technical books, too difficult for me. I did learn a bit about LISP from it though. I ordered Meta Math!: The Quest for Omega from the library, and it was much more readable, although still difficult.

To use algorithmic …

Okay, here's my response!

You can get an idea of the friction added by jockey wheels by pedalling backwards. I think the friction is significant, and caused by the jockey wheels, especially if the bike is poorly maintained.

The gear change would work by changing to the smaller sprocket slightly …

The point at which the cost of copying information approaches zero is a milestone in the development of a civilization. After the advent of zero cost copying (ZCC), the economy divides into two, the money economy and the information economy.

For us I think ZCC occurred in the early 1990s …

Ok, fair challenge Tony. So here goes....

Firstly, I have an issue with your premise that the jocky wheels on the rear derailleur "sap your exergy!" I'd like to see figures on their consumption. In the absence of figures, my assumption is that the increase power needed would almost be …

I've read several books and things since we last spoke. Distress is impressive. The author's voice comes through with a clear view of the world, and one that is similar to my own. Often I snort derisively at the TV, films and sometimes books. Egan's work has the opposite effect …

Toby at work pointed out an article in The Economist describing a new theory of the evolution of homosexuality. It's the best theory I've heard yet.

Following my email on software patents, I got a prompt reply from my MP Andrew Murrison:

Thank you. The only remedy would be legislative so I'll write to the relevant BERR minister for his thoughts.

and a reply from Graham Watson MEP:

I am aware that there is growing debate …

One of the truly excellent things about Python is its use of whitespace to group statements. I think Lisp could benefit from the same treatment. Someone should write a pre-parser for Clojure to do it.

I think it was a good idea to add a boolean type to Python, but I don't agree entirely with PEP 285. Specifically:

4) Should we strive to eliminate non-Boolean operations on bools in the future, through suitable warnings, so that for example True+1 would eventually (in Python 3000 …