Algorithmic Distinguishing of Novelists from their Punctuation Patterns

Adam J. Calhoun has written a wonderful blog entry that illustrates, with some great data visualization, that it is possible to algorithmically distinguish different novelists based only on  their punctuation habits. The idea is simple: just remove all words from a corpus of text and look at the patterns of the punctuation. Here is an illustration.   […]

A peculiar science awards dinner in Doha…

“You have to write about that awards dinner,” said the distinguished, drunk science journalist, lurching out of a swanky hotel-top bar in Doha. “You have to. Promise me you will.” He leaned on me and swayed, but did not topple. Six other members of the profession watched and grinned, admiring this man’s traditional, how-to-exit-a-pub form […]