# Zed shaw zed shaw zed shaw

**URL:** <https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509>\
**Category:** ruby-talk\
**Created:** [4 January 2008 16:03 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509 "2008-01-04T16:03:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles\_Bowkett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Giles\_Bowkett](https://rubytalk.org/u/Giles_Bowkett)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 16:03 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/1 "2008-01-04T16:03:28Z")

</div>

Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
shaw.

> **···**
>
> --  
> Giles Bowkett
> 
> Podcast: [http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com](http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com)  
> Blog: [http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com](http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com)  
> Portfolio: [http://www.gilesgoatboy.org](http://www.gilesgoatboy.org)  
> Tumblelog: [http://giles.tumblr.com](http://giles.tumblr.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jeremy\_McAnally1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Jeremy\_McAnally1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Jeremy_McAnally1)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 16:52 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/2 "2008-01-04T16:52:04Z")

</div>

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.

Zed Shaw Zed Shawing. Zed! \>:(

--Jeremy

> **···**
>
> On Jan 4, 2008 11:03 AM, Giles Bowkett \<gilesb@gmail.com\> wrote:
> 
> > Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
> > zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
> > shaw.
> > 
> > --  
> > Giles Bowkett
> > 
> > Podcast: [http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com](http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com)  
> > Blog: [http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com](http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com)  
> > Portfolio: [http://www.gilesgoatboy.org](http://www.gilesgoatboy.org)  
> > Tumblelog: [http://giles.tumblr.com](http://giles.tumblr.com)
> 
> --  
> [http://www.jeremymcanally.com/](http://www.jeremymcanally.com/)
> 
> My books:  
> Ruby in Practice
> 
> > **[Ruby in Practice](https://www.manning.com/books/ruby-in-practice)**
> >
> > Like Ruby itself, Ruby in Practice will make you more productive. The book shows you practical techniques and strategies for small projects and large-scale environments. A cookbook-style reference, it gives you concrete examples of systems...
> 
> My free Ruby e-book
> 
> > **[Site not found · DreamHost](http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/)**
> >
> > The owner of this domain has not yet uploaded their website.
> 
> My blogs:
> 
> > **[Site not found · DreamHost](http://www.mrneighborly.com/)**
> >
> > The owner of this domain has not yet uploaded their website.
> 
> [http://www.rubyinpractice.com/](http://www.rubyinpractice.com/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Adam\_Bozanich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90db22/32.png) [@Adam\_Bozanich](https://rubytalk.org/u/Adam_Bozanich)\
**Post date:** [9 January 2008 03:41 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/3 "2008-01-09T03:41:33Z")

</div>

I can't help pointing out the irony in this thread.

-Adam

> **···**
>
> On Jan 4, 2008 8:03 AM, Giles Bowkett \<gilesb@gmail.com\> wrote:
> 
> > Giles Bowkett \<[http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com](http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com)\>  
> > Blog: [http://gilesbowkett](http://gilesbowkett)  
> > Portfolio: [http://www.giles](http://www.giles)  
> > Tumblelog: [http://giles](http://giles)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rick\_DeNatale1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@Rick\_DeNatale1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Rick_DeNatale1)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 17:41 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/4 "2008-01-04T17:41:51Z")

</div>

Well, I don't know if Rails is really a ghetto. But ruby-talk appears  
to be turning into a loony bin!

> **···**
>
> On Jan 4, 2008 11:52 AM, Jeremy McAnally \<jeremymcanally@gmail.com\> wrote:
> 
> > Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
> > 
> > Zed Shaw Zed Shawing. Zed! \>:(  
> > On Jan 4, 2008 11:03 AM, Giles Bowkett \<gilesb@gmail.com\> wrote:  
> > \> Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
> > \> zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
> > \> shaw.
> 
> --  
> Rick DeNatale
> 
> My blog on Ruby  
> [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles\_Bowkett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Giles\_Bowkett](https://rubytalk.org/u/Giles_Bowkett)\
**Post date:** [9 January 2008 05:05 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/5 "2008-01-09T05:05:23Z")

</div>

> \> Giles Bowkett  
> \> Blog: [http://gilesbowkett](http://gilesbowkett)  
> \> Portfolio: [http://www.giles](http://www.giles)  
> \> Tumblelog: [http://giles](http://giles)
> 
> I can't help pointing out the irony in this thread.

Irony? What irony? That's crazy talk.

> **···**
>
> --  
> Giles Bowkett
> 
> Podcast: [http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com](http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com)  
> Blog: [http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com](http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com)  
> Portfolio: [http://www.gilesgoatboy.org](http://www.gilesgoatboy.org)  
> Tumblelog: [http://giles.tumblr.com](http://giles.tumblr.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bill\_Kelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Bill\_Kelly](https://rubytalk.org/u/Bill_Kelly)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 18:34 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/6 "2008-01-04T18:34:29Z")

</div>

> > Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
> > 
> > Zed Shaw Zed Shawing. Zed! \>:(
> > 
> > \> Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
> > \> zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
> > \> shaw.
> 
> Well, I don't know if Rails is really a ghetto. But ruby-talk appears  
> to be turning into a loony bin!

require 'net/http'  
\_,x = Net::HTTP.new("en.wikipedia.org").get("/wiki/Fictional\_races\_in\_South\_Park")  
p x.tr('Mm','Zz').gsub(/ez/,'em').gsub(/arklar/,'edhsaw').scan(/Ze\w+,\s+th.\*,\s+or\s+z\w+s./m)

sorry could not resist 🙂

Bill

> **···**
>
> From: "Rick DeNatale" \<rick.denatale@gmail.com\>
> 
> > On Jan 4, 2008 11:52 AM, Jeremy McAnally \<jeremymcanally@gmail.com\> wrote:
> > 
> > > On Jan 4, 2008 11:03 AM, Giles Bowkett \<gilesb@gmail.com\> wrote:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joel\_VanderWerf1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/94ad74/32.png) [@Joel\_VanderWerf1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Joel_VanderWerf1)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 22:31 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/7 "2008-01-04T22:31:04Z")

</div>

Rick DeNatale wrote:

> **···**
>
> > On Jan 4, 2008 11:52 AM, Jeremy McAnally \<jeremymcanally@gmail.com\> wrote:
> > 
> > > Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
> > > 
> > > Zed Shaw Zed Shawing. Zed! \>:(  
> > > On Jan 4, 2008 11:03 AM, Giles Bowkett \<gilesb@gmail.com\> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
> > > > zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
> > > > shaw.
> > 
> > Well, I don't know if Rails is really a ghetto. But ruby-talk appears  
> > to be turning into a loony bin!
> 
> To be more precise, it seems that Giles has blundered into a secret passageway into the brain of Z.S., and then tricked Z.S. to enter that passageway himself.[1]
> 
> It's not clear at this point exactly what kind of passageway Jeremy has entered.
> 
> [1] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/usercomments](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/usercomments)
> 
> --  
> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jeremy\_McAnally1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Jeremy\_McAnally1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Jeremy_McAnally1)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2008 19:50 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/8 "2008-01-05T19:50:33Z")

</div>

The buffalo thing is an old linguistics thing. You can make a whole  
sentence just from the word buffalo. 🙂

> **[Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo](https://merrimerri.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo/)**
>
> Have you ever seen or heard this sentence? Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo It means, ” Bison from Buffalo, New York who are intimidated by other bison in their community also …

--Jeremy

> **···**
>
> On Jan 4, 2008 12:41 PM, Rick DeNatale \<rick.denatale@gmail.com\> wrote:
> 
> > On Jan 4, 2008 11:52 AM, Jeremy McAnally \<jeremymcanally@gmail.com\> wrote:  
> > \> Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.  
> > \>  
> > \> Zed Shaw Zed Shawing. Zed! \>:(  
> > \> On Jan 4, 2008 11:03 AM, Giles Bowkett \<gilesb@gmail.com\> wrote:  
> > \> \> Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
> > \> \> zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
> > \> \> shaw.
> > 
> > Well, I don't know if Rails is really a ghetto. But ruby-talk appears  
> > to be turning into a loony bin!
> > 
> > --  
> > Rick DeNatale
> > 
> > My blog on Ruby  
> > [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/)
> 
> --  
> [http://www.jeremymcanally.com/](http://www.jeremymcanally.com/)
> 
> My books:  
> Ruby in Practice
> 
> > **[Ruby in Practice](https://www.manning.com/books/ruby-in-practice)**
> >
> > Like Ruby itself, Ruby in Practice will make you more productive. The book shows you practical techniques and strategies for small projects and large-scale environments. A cookbook-style reference, it gives you concrete examples of systems...
> 
> My free Ruby e-book
> 
> > **[Site not found · DreamHost](http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/)**
> >
> > The owner of this domain has not yet uploaded their website.
> 
> My blogs:
> 
> > **[Site not found · DreamHost](http://www.mrneighborly.com/)**
> >
> > The owner of this domain has not yet uploaded their website.
> 
> [http://www.rubyinpractice.com/](http://www.rubyinpractice.com/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Morton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@David\_Morton](https://rubytalk.org/u/David_Morton)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 20:06 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/9 "2008-01-04T20:06:48Z")

</div>

Now, that's what the ruby community is all about! LOL

David Morton  
Maia Mailguard [http://www.maiamailguard.com](http://www.maiamailguard.com)  
mortonda@dgrmm.net

> **···**
>
> On Jan 4, 2008, at 12:34 PM, Bill Kelly wrote:
> 
> > require 'net/http'  
> > \_,x = Net::HTTP.new("en.wikipedia.org").get("/wiki/Fictional\_races\_in\_South\_Park")  
> > p x.tr('Mm','Zz').gsub(/ez/,'em').gsub(/arklar/,'edhsaw').scan(/Ze\w+,\s+th.\*,\s+or\s+z\w+s./m)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rick\_DeNatale1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@Rick\_DeNatale1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Rick_DeNatale1)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 21:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/10 "2008-01-04T21:20:54Z")

</div>

umm should that last line be:

p x.tr('Mm','Zz').gsub(/ez/,'em').gsub(/arklar/,'edshaw').scan(/Ze\w+,\s+th.\*,\s+or\s+z\w+s./m)

or is there a subtlety I missed?

> **···**
>
> On Jan 4, 2008 1:34 PM, Bill Kelly \<billk@cts.com\> wrote:
> 
> > From: "Rick DeNatale" \<rick.denatale@gmail.com\>  
> > \> On Jan 4, 2008 11:52 AM, Jeremy McAnally \<jeremymcanally@gmail.com\> wrote:  
> > \>\>  
> > \>\> Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.  
> > \>\>  
> > \>\> Zed Shaw Zed Shawing. Zed! \>:(  
> > \>\>  
> > \>\> On Jan 4, 2008 11:03 AM, Giles Bowkett \<gilesb@gmail.com\> wrote:  
> > \>\> \> Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
> > \>\> \> zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
> > \>\> \> shaw.  
> > \>  
> > \> Well, I don't know if Rails is really a ghetto. But ruby-talk appears  
> > \> to be turning into a loony bin!
> > 
> > require 'net/http'  
> > \_,x = Net::HTTP.new("en.wikipedia.org").get("/wiki/Fictional\_races\_in\_South\_Park")  
> > p x.tr('Mm','Zz').gsub(/ez/,'em').gsub(/arklar/,'edhsaw').scan(/Ze\w+,\s+th.\*,\s+or\s+z\w+s./m)
> 
> --  
> Rick DeNatale
> 
> My blog on Ruby  
> [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles\_Bowkett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Giles\_Bowkett](https://rubytalk.org/u/Giles_Bowkett)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 22:39 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/11 "2008-01-04T22:39:09Z")

</div>

> \>\>\> Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
> \>\>\> zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
> \>\>\> shaw.  
> \>  
> \> Well, I don't know if Rails is really a ghetto. But ruby-talk appears  
> \> to be turning into a loony bin!
> 
> To be more precise, it seems that Giles has blundered into a secret  
> passageway into the brain of Z.S., and then tricked Z.S. to enter that  
> passageway himself.[1]
> 
> It's not clear at this point exactly what kind of passageway Jeremy has  
> entered.
> 
> [1] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/usercomments](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/usercomments)

Tangent: city ITA Software has a really cool interview question: come  
up with maximum number of combinations of movie titles, e.g., "The  
Unbearable Lightness Of Being John Malkovich."

> **···**
>
> --  
> Giles Bowkett
> 
> Podcast: [http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com](http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com)  
> Blog: [http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com](http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com)  
> Portfolio: [http://www.gilesgoatboy.org](http://www.gilesgoatboy.org)  
> Tumblelog: [http://giles.tumblr.com](http://giles.tumblr.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![W\_James](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e274bd/32.png) [@W\_James](https://rubytalk.org/u/W_James)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 23:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/12 "2008-01-04T23:20:14Z")

</div>

require 'net/http'  
\_,x = Net::HTTP.new("en.wikipedia.org").get("/wiki/  
Fictional\_races\_in\_South\_Park")  
puts x[/Marklar,.\*?or marklars./].gsub(/(m)arklar/i){$1.tr('Mm','Zz')  
+'edshaw'}

With word-wrap:

puts x[/Marklar,.\*?or marklars./].gsub(/(m)arklar/i){$1.tr('Mm','Zz')  
+'edshaw'}.  
scan(/\S.{0,64}\S(?=\s|$)|\S+/)

> **···**
>
> On Jan 4, 12:34 pm, Bill Kelly \<bi...@cts.com\> wrote:
> 
> > From: "Rick DeNatale" \<rick.denat...@gmail.com\>
> > 
> > \> On Jan 4, 2008 11:52 AM, Jeremy McAnally \<jeremymcana...@gmail.com\> wrote:
> > 
> > \>\> Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
> > 
> > \>\> Zed Shaw Zed Shawing. Zed! \>:(
> > 
> > \>\> On Jan 4, 2008 11:03 AM, Giles Bowkett \<gil...@gmail.com\> wrote:  
> > \>\> \> Zed Shaw zed shaw, zed; shaw. Zed shaw? Zed, zed, shaw, shaw; shaw  
> > \>\> \> zed. Zed zed shaw shaw shaw? Wahs dez! Wahs dez zed shaw, zed zed shaw  
> > \>\> \> shaw.
> > 
> > \> Well, I don't know if Rails is really a ghetto. But ruby-talk appears  
> > \> to be turning into a loony bin!
> > 
> > require 'net/http'  
> > \_,x = Net::HTTP.new("en.wikipedia.org").get("/wiki/Fictional\_races\_in\_South\_Park")  
> > p x.tr('Mm','Zz').gsub(/ez/,'em').gsub(/arklar/,'edhsaw').scan(/Ze\w+,\s+th.\*,\s+or\s+z\w+s./m)
> > 
> > sorry could not resist 🙂
> > 
> > Bill

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles\_Bowkett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Giles\_Bowkett](https://rubytalk.org/u/Giles_Bowkett)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2008 23:41 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/13 "2008-01-05T23:41:44Z")

</div>

> The buffalo thing is an old linguistics thing. You can make a whole  
> sentence just from the word buffalo. 🙂

It was actually used in a blog post recently by somebody who was  
pointing out that just because something conforms to a language's  
technical requirements for a sentence does not actually make it a  
coherent sentence, and using that to explain why confobfuscated code  
is a Bad Thing.

> **···**
>
> --  
> Giles Bowkett
> 
> Podcast: [http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com](http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com)  
> Blog: [http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com](http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com)  
> Portfolio: [http://www.gilesgoatboy.org](http://www.gilesgoatboy.org)  
> Tumblelog: [http://giles.tumblr.com](http://giles.tumblr.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bill\_Kelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Bill\_Kelly](https://rubytalk.org/u/Bill_Kelly)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 22:34 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/14 "2008-01-04T22:34:48Z")

</div>

> > require 'net/http'  
> > \_,x = Net::HTTP.new("en.wikipedia.org").get("/wiki/Fictional\_races\_in\_South\_Park")  
> > p x.tr('Mm','Zz').gsub(/ez/,'em').gsub(/arklar/,'edhsaw').scan(/Ze\w+,\s+th.\*,\s+or\s+z\w+s./m)
> 
> umm should that last line be:
> 
> p x.tr('Mm','Zz').gsub(/ez/,'em').gsub(/arklar/,'edshaw').scan(/Ze\w+,\s+th.\*,\s+or\s+z\w+s./m)
> 
> or is there a subtlety I missed?

As such things go, immediately after I posted I noticed some glitches  
in the output that I had overlooked... ☹

Changing the last line to the following produces the intended output.

p x.tr('M','Z').gsub(/arklar/,'edhsaw').gsub(/\bme/,'ze').scan(/Ze\w+,\s+th.\*,\s+or\s+z\w+s./m)

🙂

Regards,

Bill

> **···**
>
> From: "Rick DeNatale" \<rick.denatale@gmail.com\>
> 
> > On Jan 4, 2008 1:34 PM, Bill Kelly \<billk@cts.com\> wrote:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joel\_VanderWerf1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/94ad74/32.png) [@Joel\_VanderWerf1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Joel_VanderWerf1)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 22:50 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/15 "2008-01-04T22:50:15Z")

</div>

Giles Bowkett wrote:

> Tangent: city ITA Software has a really cool interview question: come  
> up with maximum number of combinations of movie titles, e.g., "The  
> Unbearable Lightness Of Being John Malkovich."

Hat trick: Gone with the Winds of War and Peace.

Can this get any more off topic?

> **···**
>
> --  
> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles\_Bowkett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Giles\_Bowkett](https://rubytalk.org/u/Giles_Bowkett)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 22:58 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/16 "2008-01-04T22:58:15Z")

</div>

> \> Tangent: city ITA Software has a really cool interview question: come  
> \> up with maximum number of combinations of movie titles, e.g., "The  
> \> Unbearable Lightness Of Being John Malkovich."
> 
> Hat trick: Gone with the Winds of War and Peace.

No, the whole point is to do it in Ruby.

> Can this get any more off topic?

OK, do it in Ruby, and then tell everybody you're going to kick their ass.

> **···**
>
> --  
> Giles Bowkett
> 
> Podcast: [http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com](http://hollywoodgrit.blogspot.com)  
> Blog: [http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com](http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com)  
> Portfolio: [http://www.gilesgoatboy.org](http://www.gilesgoatboy.org)  
> Tumblelog: [http://giles.tumblr.com](http://giles.tumblr.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Philip\_Hallstrom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Philip\_Hallstrom](https://rubytalk.org/u/Philip_Hallstrom)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 23:09 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/17 "2008-01-04T23:09:22Z")

</div>

> Giles Bowkett wrote:
> 
> > Tangent: city ITA Software has a really cool interview question: come  
> > up with maximum number of combinations of movie titles, e.g., "The  
> > Unbearable Lightness Of Being John Malkovich."
> 
> Hat trick: Gone with the Winds of War and Peace.
> 
> Can this get any more off topic?

Yes. Unless we make it the next ruby quiz to query imdb.com 🙂

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World Is Not Enough, The

🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MenTaLguY1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@MenTaLguY1](https://rubytalk.org/u/MenTaLguY1)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 23:03 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/18 "2008-01-04T23:03:52Z")

</div>

Is there a database of movie titles readily available somewhere?

-mental

> **···**
>
> On Sat, 5 Jan 2008 07:58:15 +0900, "Giles Bowkett" \<gilesb@gmail.com\> wrote:
> 
> > > \> Tangent: city ITA Software has a really cool interview question: come  
> > > \> up with maximum number of combinations of movie titles, e.g., "The  
> > > \> Unbearable Lightness Of Being John Malkovich."
> > > 
> > > Hat trick: Gone with the Winds of War and Peace.
> > 
> > No, the whole point is to do it in Ruby.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MenTaLguY1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@MenTaLguY1](https://rubytalk.org/u/MenTaLguY1)\
**Post date:** [4 January 2008 23:18 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/19 "2008-01-04T23:18:25Z")

</div>

Well, it shouldn't be too hard in principle -- they have complete pages  
of just movie titles broken up by year and initial letter.

[http://www.imdb.com/TitlesByYear?year=#{year}&start=#{initial}&nav=/Sections/Years/#{year}/include-titles](http://www.imdb.com/TitlesByYear?year=#%7Byear%7D&start=#%7Binitial%7D&nav=/Sections/Years/#%7Byear%7D/include-titles)

(Where initial is one of 'A'..'Z' or '\*')

The main difficulty is normalizing titles where initial articles have  
been moved to the end, and doing so in a language-insensitive way.

However, I think the nice people at imdb.com would frown on someone (let  
alone lots of someones) mining hundreds of thousands of movie titles this  
way, so I was wondering if there was a reasonably large corpus of titles  
precompiled somewhere which we could use instead.

Of course, we could always just write the scripts anyway and pretend  
we had a more accessible database of titles to work from.

-mental

> **···**
>
> On Sat, 5 Jan 2008 08:09:22 +0900, Philip Hallstrom \<ruby@philip.pjkh.com\> wrote:
> 
> > > Can this get any more off topic?
> > 
> > Yes. Unless we make it the next ruby quiz to query imdb.com 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ken\_Bloom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Ken\_Bloom](https://rubytalk.org/u/Ken_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [7 January 2008 02:10 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/zed-shaw-zed-shaw-zed-shaw/43509/20 "2008-01-07T02:10:02Z")

</div>

K=100 #set this to the number of movies you want in the invented title

require 'open-uri'

MOVIES=open('[http://itafullsite.dev.neptuneweb.com/careers/puzzles/](http://itafullsite.dev.neptuneweb.com/careers/puzzles/)  
MOVIES.LST'){|f| f.readlines}  
MOVIES.collect!{|x| x.split}

class Array  
&nbsp;&nbsp;def shuffle!  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;size.downto 1 do |n|  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;push(delete\_at(rand(n)))  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;end  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;self  
&nbsp;&nbsp;end  
end

cstack=[MOVIES.dup.shuffle!]  
pstack=[cstack[-1].shift]

while pstack.size\<K  
&nbsp;&nbsp;cstack \<\< MOVIES.select{|x| x[0]==pstack[-1][-1]}.shuffle!  
&nbsp;&nbsp;while cstack[-1].empty?  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;cstack.pop  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;pstack.pop  
&nbsp;&nbsp;end  
&nbsp;&nbsp;pstack \<\< (pstack[-1][0...-1] rescue )+cstack[-1].shift  
end

puts pstack[-1].join(" ")

HANGMANS CURSE OF THE PUPPET MASTER NINJA I LIKE IT LIKE THAT DARN CAT  
PEOPLE WILL TALK RADIO DAYS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY COME EASY  
GO NOW YOU SEE HIM NOW YOU DONT TELL MOM THE BABYSITTERS DEAD HEAT AND  
DUST TO GLORY ROAD HOUSE OF DRACULA PAGES FROM A VIRGINS DIARY OF A MAD  
BLACK WOMAN ON TOP GUN CRAZY PEOPLE WILL TALK RADIO DAYS OF HEAVEN CAN  
WAIT UNTIL DARK BLUE CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE AROUND THE WORLD  
IN 80 DAYS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY COME EASY GO NOW YOU SEE  
HIM NOW YOU DONT GO IN THE HOUSE OF DRACULA DEAD AND LOVING IT COULD  
HAPPEN TO YOU CAN COUNT ON ME WITHOUT YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE AS A HOUSE  
PARTY 2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY GIRL IN THE CADILLAC MAN TROUBLE EVERY DAY FOR  
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD MAN OF THE HOUSE PARTY GIRL IN THE CADILLAC MAN  
TROUBLE IN PARADISE ROAD HOUSE PARTY GIRL IN THE CADILLAC MAN OF THE  
HOUSE PARTY 2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY GIRL IN THE CADILLAC MAN TROUBLE IN  
PARADISE ROAD HOUSE PARTY 3 NINJAS KICK BACK TO THE BEACH PARTY MONSTER  
IN A BOX OF MOON LIGHT OF DAY FOR NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY  
TRAIN RIDE TO HOLLYWOOD

> **···**
>
> On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:58:15 -0500, Giles Bowkett wrote:
> 
> > > \> Tangent: city ITA Software has a really cool interview question: come  
> > > \> up with maximum number of combinations of movie titles, e.g., "The  
> > > \> Unbearable Lightness Of Being John Malkovich."
> > > 
> > > Hat trick: Gone with the Winds of War and Peace.
> > 
> > No, the whole point is to do it in Ruby.
> > 
> > > Can this get any more off topic?
> > 
> > OK, do it in Ruby, and then tell everybody you're going to kick their  
> > ass.
> 
> --  
> Ken (Chanoch) Bloom. PhD candidate. Linguistic Cognition Laboratory.  
> Department of Computer Science. Illinois Institute of Technology.  
> [http://www.iit.edu/~kbloom1/](http://www.iit.edu/~kbloom1/)

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