James Tauber
@jtauber.com
Using computers to better understand languages, texts, and music
OG Web, Python, Corpus Linguistics, DataViz, Philology, Ancient Greek, Music Theory, Tolkien, Space, Health, Retro Computing
Perseus, Greek Learner Texts, @digitaltolkien.com
OG Web, Python, Corpus Linguistics, DataViz, Philology, Ancient Greek, Music Theory, Tolkien, Space, Health, Retro Computing
Perseus, Greek Learner Texts, @digitaltolkien.com
Pinned
James Tauber
@jtauber.com
· Nov 3
Intro for new followers: I'm a long-time (i.e. old) Python and Web developer. Now mostly apply that to digital humanities and corpus linguistics with focus on historical languages (especially Ancient Greek) and Tolkien. Also education, data visualization, music theory, and a handful of other things.
Reposted by James Tauber
INITIAL RESULTS...
If we initially consider 168 Sindarin character names from glossary.digitaltolkien.com, we get 85 consisting of 3 or more syllables.
Of those, 62 (72.9%) have a light penultimate and every single one of those has a heavy ultima.
So 72.9% cretic among Sindarin character names!
If we initially consider 168 Sindarin character names from glossary.digitaltolkien.com, we get 85 consisting of 3 or more syllables.
Of those, 62 (72.9%) have a light penultimate and every single one of those has a heavy ultima.
So 72.9% cretic among Sindarin character names!
December 7, 2025 at 10:04 AM
INITIAL RESULTS...
If we initially consider 168 Sindarin character names from glossary.digitaltolkien.com, we get 85 consisting of 3 or more syllables.
Of those, 62 (72.9%) have a light penultimate and every single one of those has a heavy ultima.
So 72.9% cretic among Sindarin character names!
If we initially consider 168 Sindarin character names from glossary.digitaltolkien.com, we get 85 consisting of 3 or more syllables.
Of those, 62 (72.9%) have a light penultimate and every single one of those has a heavy ultima.
So 72.9% cretic among Sindarin character names!
Reposted by James Tauber
Reposted by James Tauber
Given the way Elvish accentuation works, as long as the penult isn't heavy (i.e. has a long vowel or coda) then you pretty much have a cretic on words with three or more syllables but, more narrowly, the ultima should probably be heavy too to count. I'll give stats on both definitions.
December 7, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Given the way Elvish accentuation works, as long as the penult isn't heavy (i.e. has a long vowel or coda) then you pretty much have a cretic on words with three or more syllables but, more narrowly, the ultima should probably be heavy too to count. I'll give stats on both definitions.
Reposted by James Tauber
Fortunately I have a Python library which calculates all this.
December 7, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Fortunately I have a Python library which calculates all this.
Reposted by James Tauber
One probably needs to consider "heavy or stressed" rather than merely "long" (which is an acceptable definition of cretic, I think).
For example, Aragorn works not because it's long-short-long but because it's stressed-light-heavy.
For example, Aragorn works not because it's long-short-long but because it's stressed-light-heavy.
December 7, 2025 at 4:01 AM
One probably needs to consider "heavy or stressed" rather than merely "long" (which is an acceptable definition of cretic, I think).
For example, Aragorn works not because it's long-short-long but because it's stressed-light-heavy.
For example, Aragorn works not because it's long-short-long but because it's stressed-light-heavy.
Reposted by James Tauber
I'll report on the actual numbers shortly...
Once you realize Tolkien wants every heroic person or place name to be cretic (long-short-long syllable), you start seeing Tolkien names everywhere. Labrador. Pinkypie. Scoobydoo. Macklemore.
December 7, 2025 at 3:55 AM
I'll report on the actual numbers shortly...
Reposted by James Tauber
Idly had the thought “I wonder if Donald Knuth is still doing a Christmas lecture?” And the answer is of course he is, it was yesterday. Eighty-seven years old, still on the wholly Quixotic TAoCP path, and casually spitting out TeX fascicles. www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/fasc8...
![was acquired in 1911. A similar example, smaller and with more beautiful let-terforms, is object number UC 59254 in the nearby Petrie Museum of University College London [see W. M. F. Petrie, Objects of Daily Use (1927), #288]. What a pleasant coincidence that W. R. Hamilton himself would independently come up with the same concept some 1800 years later, and would proceed to find a closed cycle instead of just a path!
Now fast forward to the ninth century,](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:myqic77tkmdhmaufgkvj43hr/bafkreiauxqszwklhwmktrzae3gps4zfriozp7r72nwdvexsvv7hrbr6dx4@jpeg)
December 5, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Idly had the thought “I wonder if Donald Knuth is still doing a Christmas lecture?” And the answer is of course he is, it was yesterday. Eighty-seven years old, still on the wholly Quixotic TAoCP path, and casually spitting out TeX fascicles. www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/fasc8...
Reposted by James Tauber
I'm already convinced of the main thesis of @patrickmccray.bsky.social's README on biographical grounds. I largely became interested in computers, and various aspects of computing, through reading about them.
December 4, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I'm already convinced of the main thesis of @patrickmccray.bsky.social's README on biographical grounds. I largely became interested in computers, and various aspects of computing, through reading about them.
A history of computer *books*...
A perfect Venn diagram intersection for me :-)
A perfect Venn diagram intersection for me :-)
December 4, 2025 at 9:06 PM
A history of computer *books*...
A perfect Venn diagram intersection for me :-)
A perfect Venn diagram intersection for me :-)
December 4, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Book acquisition #2 this week…
December 4, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Book acquisition #2 this week…
Reposted by James Tauber
Reposted by James Tauber
Reposted by James Tauber
Rolling Stone: clearly documents a 30+ year long con job. A rural county's own leadership lined their pockets by helping ag interests destroy the water supply.
Everyone who read the article apparently??: Amazon data centers did this in 2011
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Everyone who read the article apparently??: Amazon data centers did this in 2011
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
'The Precedent Is Flint': How Oregon's Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis
Amazon data centers constructed in eastern Oregon's farmland have worsened a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages.
www.rollingstone.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Rolling Stone: clearly documents a 30+ year long con job. A rural county's own leadership lined their pockets by helping ag interests destroy the water supply.
Everyone who read the article apparently??: Amazon data centers did this in 2011
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Everyone who read the article apparently??: Amazon data centers did this in 2011
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Reposted by James Tauber
Answer: 1965 marked the "coming of age" of computing in the humanities, after two decades of striking advances.
Quick: without looking it up, what date was this article written?
December 4, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Answer: 1965 marked the "coming of age" of computing in the humanities, after two decades of striking advances.
Mommy, I won a prize!
Quick: without looking it up, what date was this article written?
December 4, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Mommy, I won a prize!
Reposted by James Tauber
Reposted by James Tauber
Django 6.0 released ✨ a mosaic of modern tools and thoughtful design 🎨🧩🛠️💡#Django -- www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2025...
Django 6.0 released
Posted by Natalia Bidart on Dec. 3, 2025
www.djangoproject.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Django 6.0 released ✨ a mosaic of modern tools and thoughtful design 🎨🧩🛠️💡#Django -- www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2025...
My most-used words in 2025 were:
1. "code" (30×)
2. "ryland" (30×)
3. "tolkien" (28×)
4. "done" (22×)
5. "language" (21×)
See which words you used the most here: anisota.net/harvest
1. "code" (30×)
2. "ryland" (30×)
3. "tolkien" (28×)
4. "done" (22×)
5. "language" (21×)
See which words you used the most here: anisota.net/harvest
Anisota's Annual Bluesky Harvest 2025
A recap of your year on Bluesky. Discover patterns, connections, and insights from your journey in the ATmosphere.
anisota.net
December 3, 2025 at 6:59 PM
My most-used words in 2025 were:
1. "code" (30×)
2. "ryland" (30×)
3. "tolkien" (28×)
4. "done" (22×)
5. "language" (21×)
See which words you used the most here: anisota.net/harvest
1. "code" (30×)
2. "ryland" (30×)
3. "tolkien" (28×)
4. "done" (22×)
5. "language" (21×)
See which words you used the most here: anisota.net/harvest
Reposted by James Tauber
why doesn't /usr/share/dict/words have the word 'hang'?
December 3, 2025 at 10:39 AM
why doesn't /usr/share/dict/words have the word 'hang'?
Doing bibliographic work on Tolkien, I realized the registrant 00 ISBNs are now at around publication 879000 and I wonder when they'll hit 999999.
December 3, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Doing bibliographic work on Tolkien, I realized the registrant 00 ISBNs are now at around publication 879000 and I wonder when they'll hit 999999.
I'm on two block lists (by the same person) titled "Bots" and "Good Germans" 🤷♂️
December 2, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I'm on two block lists (by the same person) titled "Bots" and "Good Germans" 🤷♂️
Reposted by James Tauber
“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas”
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
December 2, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas”
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.