December 2020

A couple weeks ago, I added "new" labels to the front page of my website. They are rectangular and ugly, but soon they will be round.

I realized I could reuse the same labels in my blog index, so that each post's name will be followed by its tags, like this.

• Paper Republic
• Reed College Chinese Department
• Ryan Quest
• 21st Century D&D
• The Drongo interview series

I wanted to differentiate them from the "new" labels. Since "new" was the odd one out (expressing recency rather than a topic), I changed its shape and color scheme. Here's how looked before.

Type in words. For each line you type, this program will do its best to categorize the line by its pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. It does this by retrieving the stress pattern or patterns for each word from an ordinary dictionary (maybe several dictionaries), and comparing all possible paths through the line to determine, for words with multiple possible stress patterns, which is most likely to be right. Or, which would lead to what patterns. [Aside: run spell checker before doing analysis.]

Oh, typing is getting me nowhere. Examles of desired behavior will do better.

It is relatively easy to define "parody" when the object of parody is a book, poem, movie, or piece of music. What would it mean to parody a piece of software?

Functional Objects Can Be Parodied

It will not do to claim that software is immune to parody because it is a functional construct. A building is functional, yet its structure could be parodied, perhaps by a distorted replica having stretched hallways with non-rectangular cross sections, and doorways which are too small for humans or which lead nowhere. (Architecture in general can also be parodied: consider the ridiculous effect of a diminutive Arc de Triomphe in the middle of a normal-sized roundabout.)

Thanks for agreeing to an interview with The Drongo, or at least for being curious enough to read this FAQ!

This page lists answers to every question I've gotten about the interview process. If your question doesn't appear here, please email me.

• What's the time commitment for doing an interview?

  Pre-interview survey: 5-10 minutes

  Interview questions: ~60 minutes of writing (don't worry, I'lll handle all the editing)

• What's the pre-interview survey?

  The survey collects a brief bio, a photo of you, and some other summary information. Time commitment: 5-10 minutes.

  Your bio will help me write your interview questions, and serve as your self-introduction in the interview.

The Drongo is my email newsletter. You can subscribe here!

Interviews

The Drongo features an interview series with real-life drongos. Most of my fascinating friends and acquaintances will never have a chance to meet in person, so I'm offering them the next-best thing: starring roles in interviews which I produce and publish. Each interview is a casual, unfiltered conversation celebrating the interviewee's life, hobbies, and eccentricities.