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Fibs - Fibonacci-based Poetry

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the nerdy-haiku dept.

Gregory K. writes "April is National Poetry Month (and, it turns out, Math Awareness Month), and on my blog, I decided to get people writing poetry based on the Fibonacci sequence. The poems are six lines, 20 syllables long with the syllable pattern 1/1/2/3/5/8, though they can go longer, obviously. I've been calling 'em Fibs, and people have been writing them on pop culture, politics, math, and more."

206 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. First Post! by afaik_ianal · · Score: 5, Funny

    First
    Post!
    I bet
    nobody
    can beat me to it
    with a Fibonacci poem!

    1. Re:First Post! by abscissa · · Score: 5, Funny

      Some
      troll
      you are.
      First posting
      is such a bad thing
      But, I will say, yours was funny.

    2. Re:First Post! by afaik_ianal · · Score: 5, Funny

      I
      hope
      the mods
      can have fun,
      or I'll get modded
      as a troll for my "first post" gag

    3. Re:First Post! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Let me guess... You're a subscriber and you were working on it fervently for the last 10 minutes?

    4. Re:First Post! by g-doo · · Score: 1

      Those
      are
      the best
      twenty beats
      I have ever seen
      in the name of Fibonacci.

    5. Re:First Post! by Bega · · Score: 1
      A ha! Kore wa nan desu ka? Yaranaika. Unko kudasai yo.
      --

      THIS IS THE INTERNET. PLEASE PICK UP YOUR SERIOUS BUSINESS SUIT AT THE FRONT COUNTER.
    6. Re:First Post! by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      Judging by the sound of it, I would call it Faiku (it sounds like expletive, but they were asking for it), of Fanka (or Funka, as some might may correct it).

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    7. Re:First Post! by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      Beat?
      You?
      Maybe.
      Anyway,
      I can do better
      by using up Fibonaccis
      up to a larger number than just your tiny eight.
      Indeed, my poem even gets up to a Fibonacci number as high as twenty-three!

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    8. Re:First Post! by Tragamor · · Score: 2, Funny
      It is only a pity that 23 is not part of the Fibonnacci sequence.

      1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55.....

      --
      To be is to do - Descartes. To do is to be - Sartre. Dooby dooby do - Frank Sinatra.
    9. Re:First Post! by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2

      Oh
      no!
      How could
      that happen?
      I am sure I did
      originally start with the
      number twenty-one, but while I did count syllables,
      I somehow managed to mutilate the twenty-one into twenty-three in my head.
      But this time I think my poem is correct, although it may still be that I miscounted the syllables of the English words when writing it.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    10. Re:First Post! by Sharpner · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's
      just
      you.

    11. Re:First Post! by Kees+Shui · · Score: 1
      Here's another one. Not exactly by your rules, but close. And it's Perl, so it's executable. Try it!
      $
      b
      ++
      ;do
      {($a,
      $b)=($b,
      $b+$a);print(
      $b- $a,"\n")}while(1);
    12. Re:First Post! by ramot · · Score: 1

      this one i dedicate to adsense..

      clicks
      on
      ads that
      are not real
      make lots of money
      on the web quite fraudulently

  2. Seen elsewhere... by Skreems · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not to take away from this poster's message, but this has been done elsewhere as well. The lyrics to Tool's song "Lateralus" are written in Fibonacci rhythm (I think up to 13).

    --
    Slashdot needs a "-1, Wrong" moderation option.
    The Urban Hippie
    1. Re:Seen elsewhere... by evrybodygonsurfin · · Score: 2, Informative

      See also MC Paul Barman's Paullelujah! album.

    2. Re:Seen elsewhere... by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Informative
      Tool is rather late on the bandwagon. The composer Sofia Gubaidulina made wide use of the Fibbonaci sequence in the 1980s, happy to find a way of systemization that still allowed the form to "breathe". Her 1986 symphony "Stimmen... Verstummen..." is a notable example: the length of its movements grow ever shorter according to the sequence. In the 9th movement is a conductor's "solo", where he motions before a silent orchestra, the distance between his hands growing ever larger according to the sequence. In the 1990s she began using the Lucas and Evanglist series as well, whose aesthetic imperfection alongside the divine harmony of the Fibonacci sequence makes tantalizing listening. See V. Tsenova's thesis Zahlenmystik in der Music von Sofia Gubaidulina for a musicological analysis.

      That's only one example. Per Norgard may be mentioned as well, his third symphony abounds in Golden Section references. And, as others is well known, Bartok used the sequence heavily in his work.

    3. Re:Seen elsewhere... by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      Aww poor baby has to pick on other people's musical taste to feel big?

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    4. Re:Seen elsewhere... by Evangelion · · Score: 1
      To quote:

      There's only one kind of Tool fan. The Tool fan who thinks that being a Tool fan lets them into some big secret that nobody else gets. They think that only a select few posses the secret Tool decoder ring. They'd love to believe that all the halfwits who listen to Tool actually don't get it, but really they're all listening to them for the same reason. The fact of the matter is, any moron can understand Tool, but the hidden appeal of Tool lies in the fact that they give the illusion of being a band for smart people. They do this, as any Tool fan knows, by throwing in jumbled references to high school psychology, obscure religious references, and miscellaneous meaningless nonsense. Bullshit or not, as long as there's something there to figure out or interpret, it's going to make some stoned dropout feel smart.
    5. Re:Seen elsewhere... by hisnameisalive · · Score: 1

      Actually, it goes back even farther than that. Beethoven used the Fibonacci (the Waldstein sonata is the only one I can name of the top of my head) and composers of the Renaissance were positively obsessed with it. Proof that an idea doesn't have to be original to be good.

    6. Re:Seen elsewhere... by eric_brissette · · Score: 1

      I think quoting rants you found on Something Awful puts you a rung or two below "stoned dropout"

    7. Re:Seen elsewhere... by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      Alright, I'll give you that, and take back my nasty attitude. Something about Tool definitely inspires a wild fanaticism normally found in Apple zealots and AMD fanbois.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    8. Re:Seen elsewhere... by Skreems · · Score: 1

      Joking or not, the fact remains that they are writing about conciousness and divinity, as opposed to most bands who do about 40 "hey baby" or "omg my daddy didn't love me" songs and then break up. And given his work with A Perfect Circle, it certainly seems he's just a very artistic writer who likes to explore unconventional themes.

      As for "The fact of the matter is, any moron can understand Tool"... there are plenty of people out there who listen to the music but ignore the lyrics completely, and couldn't tell you what a single one of the songs is actually about. I don't see how that equates to "getting it" as well as someone who has actually listened for the lyrics.

      --
      Slashdot needs a "-1, Wrong" moderation option.
      The Urban Hippie
  3. nice! by filthy_mcnasty · · Score: 1

    well i'm too tired to think of anything clever and witty, but hurray for math nerdiness!

    1. Re:nice! by afaik_ianal · · Score: 1, Informative

      It's
      not
      that hard.
      Have a go!
      You might be surprised
      at the peotry you can write!

    2. Re:nice! by archeopterix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah.
      Right.
      Breaking
      A sentence
      Into syllables
      Does not a poem make - how pointless

    3. Re:nice! by illuminatedwax · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If
      you
      restrict
      your options,
      you may be surprised.
      You might become more creative.

      --
      Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
    4. Re:nice! by Fozzyuw · · Score: 1

      We call people fibs all the time in my great state of Wisconsin

      --
      "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
  4. 8? by Ukoku · · Score: 1

    Funny, yours didn't seem to fit when I read it aloud, because I say "poem" with one syllable.

    1. Re:8? by Ukoku · · Score: 1

      Was just commenting, not insulting the user's poetry. Apparently I have a bit more of an accent than I thought. (Why bother being an Anonymous Coward, I wonder?)

    2. Re:8? by gameforge · · Score: 1

      "Poem" is definitely two syllables.

    3. Re:8? by miro+f · · Score: 1

      actually I had an english teacher who pronounced poem with three syllables

      poe-ee-um

      she was scottish, if that helps

      --
      being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
  5. Too Cool Even for Geeks! by under_score · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Some of the Fibs in the comments are astounding. So what about Prime's
    A short Poem with Prime syllables is Just as beautiful as the Fib. But don't hold your breath for more in this one!
    ... or pi's
    I eat pie . Please... Blueberry Pie... It's my favorite.
    --
    Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
    1. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by stymyx · · Score: 5, Funny

      That would be great, if PI were 3.1315...

    2. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 1

      Or PHI....

      Fee
      .
      The devine proportion
      or
      just a pretty spiral thingy?

    3. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by vistic · · Score: 1

      Fee?
      .
      It should rhyme with pie, and
      NOT
      with pee. Unless you are a Greek.

      Hope that helps
      at least some.

    4. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by mrogers · · Score: 1

      Maybe he's Swedish.

    5. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by Exit*2* · · Score: 1

      Perhaps a poem based on the oft-used constant 1.

      Here it is:

      One

      Enjoy!

    6. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by under_score · · Score: 2, Funny

      Imagine my chagrin when about 20 minutes later, lying in bed, I realized that not only am I not a cool geek, I'm stupid too! I can't believe I missed that. Must be the fact of being awake at 3:15am in my time zone and trying to write matematical poetry. Really it's the best time to do it, but it's also a pretty bad time to do it too :-)

      --
      Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
    7. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      That is nothing against this poem which you are currently reading. It is just one line because it is about a single integer. You know it, don't you? I bet it!

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    8. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by geoffspear · · Score: 1
      I'm fairly certain that pi is a greek letter, and should not rhyme with pie regardless of the ethnicity of the speaker.

      Then again, I live the Western Pennsylvania, and the French would be appalled at how people here pronounce the names of the towns of North Versailles and Du Bois.

      --
      Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
    9. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by vistic · · Score: 1

      Well... I've never had a math or science teacher ever pronounced phi as "fee", and Merriam-Webster only lists phi as being pronounced as rhyming with "pie".

      I was talking about phi, not pi. But both phi and pi should rhyme with "pie" in English.

    10. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by Cheeko · · Score: 1

      So was the mistake that you didn't remember that Pi is 3.1415, or that you didn't know how many syllables were in Blueberry?

      I think you maintain more geek cred if you say you didn't know how to pronounce blueberry. Or maybe you stutter and it comes out with 4 syllables when you say it.

    11. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by dmatos · · Score: 1

      I tried to write a poem based on sqrt(-1), but my laptop collapsed in on itself and disappeared. However, if I turn my head 90 degrees, I can still make it out, amongst the shadowy shapes now filling my living room.

      PS - this comment was written on my desktop computer.

      --

      It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
      --Scott Adams
    12. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by cagle_.25 · · Score: 1
      OK, so here's the weird one ... should a PI poem have 3,1,4,1,5 syllables or 3,1,4,1,6 syllables? Or should I write ten PI poems, nine of which have 5 syllables at the end...?

      To be a math geek or a physics geek, THAT is the question.

      --
      Human being (n.): A genetically human, genetically distinct, functioning organism.
    13. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by cagle_.25 · · Score: 1

      Then you never had me. Fee and Pie. Not only is it slightly more accurate, but it also helps keep one straight when using both in the same equation.

      --
      Human being (n.): A genetically human, genetically distinct, functioning organism.
    14. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by geenome · · Score: 1

      The base
      of natural logarithms;
      O!
      Amazing, you are one and one
      and one
      over two! and one over three!
      and
      one over four! and all the rest.
      Raising
      to the i pi power, and one,
      you equal zero.

      (I haven't written a poem in years. I definitely did something wrong. Pick me apart.)

      --
      I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this post that this sig is too narrow to contain.
    15. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by growse · · Score: 1

      Nice poem to remember the decimal places of pi: 3 . I Wish I Could Determine Pi, Eureka! Cried The Great Inventor. Christmas Pudding, Christmas Pie Is The Problem's Very Centre

      --
      There is nothing interesting going on at my blog
    16. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by Burning1 · · Score: 1
      That reminds me of a project named Songs To Wear Pants To who did a song using the letters of words to equal the digits of Pi.
      I AM THE FIRST FIFTY DIGITS OF PI 0:36

      Please compose and record a song extolling the virtues of your Web site in which the lengths of the words can also be used as a mnemonic for at least the first 50 digits of pi. In other words, the first word has three letters, the second word one letter, the third word four letters, and so on.

      [For your convenience, STWPT provides the first fifty digits of pi:

      3.
      1415926
      5358979
      3238462
      6433832
      7950288
      4197169
      3993751]

      -Fuldu
      Since I'm not about to hotlink an MP3 on the guys site, search for "digits of Pi" on the Songs to Wear Pants To archive.
  6. Re:Wasting time by gameforge · · Score: 2, Funny

    (lets try that again, w/out HTML formatting hehe)

    I
    thought
    Slashdot
    Readers had
    More important things
    To write about; but I was wrong.

  7. Obligatory... by Perdo · · Score: 5, Funny

    aich
    tee
    tee pee
    colon slash slash
    slash dot dot org poem

    I
    Wait
    For The
    Beowulf Hot
    Natalie Grits Goatse
    Signal Eleven Penis Bird

    --

    If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.

    1. Re:Obligatory... by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      Business
      plan:
      First: write
      a poem
      on Fibonacci.
      Second: row of three question marks
      Third: profit which is followed by exclamation mark.

      And
      also:
      In North
      Korea
      Only old people
      write poems with Fibonaccis.

      But
      the
      question
      is of course:
      do Fibonacci
      poems run on Linux systems?

      Did
      I
      miss some
      more of the
      obligatory
      Fibonacci poems? Of course!

      I
      just
      hope that
      I did not
      mis-count anywhere.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    2. Re:Obligatory... by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1
      Business
      plan:
      [...]

      Shit,
      this
      poem
      is faulty.
      Just pretend
      that in that poem
      "business" has just one syllable! :-)
      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    3. Re:Obligatory... by LiLWiP · · Score: 1

      You Are A Dumbass The Fibonacci sequence is 1, 1, 3, 5, 8

    4. Re:Obligatory... by LiLWiP · · Score: 1

      WTF! HTML code is cool.... Let's learn how to use it and repost my comment.....

      You
      are
      such a
      lame dumbass
      the fibonacci
      sequence is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8

      This is also why the Preview button is a cool thing.....

  8. Poem by neoshroom · · Score: 5, Funny

    Math,
    Makes,
    My head,
    Quake with pain.
    Writing a poem based
    On Fibonacci does the same.

    --
    Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
    1. Re:Poem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Is it just me, or are all these fibs a little Shatneresque?

    2. Re:Poem by Optical+Voodoo+Man · · Score: 1

      The phrasing does sound a lot like Shatner, who would be great at reading the finalists for these at a contest. I bet there are lots of Star Trek poems possible. It also sounds a little bit like Adam West from Batman.

  9. Re:Wasting time by abscissa · · Score: 1

    Wow!
    That
    Really
    Backfired!
    You got modded down
    for a simple mistake! Whoopsies!

  10. Damn by abscissa · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damn!
    This
    Will be
    Tough for the
    Mods, if they count all
    the syllables in every post!

  11. Fibonacci by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 5, Informative

    Did
    You
    Know That
    The Sequence
    Originally
    Described The Humping Of Rabbits?

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
    1. Re:Fibonacci by Da+Fokka · · Score: 1

      Respect, you just made my morning :)

    2. Re:Fibonacci by gowen · · Score: 1

      One
      plus
      root five,
      over two;
      to the power n.
      is close to n'th Fibonacci.

      --
      Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
    3. Re:Fibonacci by WilliamSChips · · Score: 1

      It
      is
      in fact
      the closest
      integer to the
      nth power of the Golden Mean.
      Or something quite similar to that. I may be wrong.

      --
      Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
    4. Re:Fibonacci by mrogers · · Score: 1

      That
      is
      very
      intriguing.
      How did they get from
      zero to one and then to two?

    5. Re:Fibonacci by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 2, Informative
      It's not the number of individual rabbits, it's the number of pairs. From Wikipedia:

      In the West, [the Fibonacci sequence] was first studied by Leonardo of Pisa, who was also known as Fibonacci (c. 1200), to describe the growth of an idealised (although biologically unrealistic) rabbit population. The numbers describe the number of pairs in the rabbit population after n months if it is assumed that:

      in the first month there is just one newly-born pair, new-born pairs become fertile from their second month on each month every fertile pair begets a new pair, and the rabbits never die.

      Suppose that in month n we have a total of a pairs of rabbits and in month n + 1 we have b pairs. In month n + 2 we will necessarily have a + b pairs, because all a pairs of rabbits from month n will be fertile and produce a new pairs of offspring (since all a rabbits are at least two months old) -- plus b, which are the existing pairs of rabbits at n + 1 (remember the assumption that no rabbit ever dies).

      --
      When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
    6. Re:Fibonacci by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      Of
      course
      rabbits
      which read or
      post on Slashdot will
      never find someone to hump with,
      so here this topic is clearly just academic. :-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    7. Re:Fibonacci by muridae · · Score: 1

      I
      think
      you may
      well mean that
      A equals one plus
      the square root of 5 quantity
      over 2 while B equales one minus the square root
      of 5 quantity over 2, then the function of N, where N is the Nth number
      in the Fibonacci sequence, is equal to A to the N power plus B to the N power quantity over the square root of 5. So

      the eighth number in the squence is A to the eigth,fourty seven plus twenty one times the square root of five quantity divided by two, plus b to the eighth, same but minus instead,all divided by the root of five.

      (now that that's over with!)
      It's times like this I wish I had signed up for an account long ago. Line wrap ruined the artistic value of the above poem. So much for that. Anyways let a = (1+sqrt(5))/2 and b=(1-sqrt(5))/2. Then f_n = (a^n - b^n)/sqrt(5). That was something handed out in a discreet math class I took, oh... 3 years ago. Knew I saved it for a reason.

    8. Re:Fibonacci by gowen · · Score: 1

      I did it in a course on difference equations in my first year as an undergrad, and most of it stuck. Sadly, that was considerably longer than three years ago for me.

      --
      Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
  12. to 21 by fithmo · · Score: 3, Funny

    deb
    i
    compiz
    wtf
    compile mother bitch
    and something about the seasons
    no, wait, i am probably thinking about haiku
    damn this package! it has me all confused to the point that i can't even write a poem.

  13. Re:Mandatory (with HTML this time) by rewinn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well
    I
    For One
    Will Welcome
    (It's Mandatory)
    Our Fibonacci Overlords!

    --
    --- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
  14. Re:Wasting time by gameforge · · Score: 1

    LOL

    (It's news for nerds, in'nit? Or is it news at all?)

    When I took CSI-1050 at school (computer science 1), our prof had us write a fibonacci sequence writer in his little pretend assembly language. I knew from there on out, every reference I ever saw to Fibonacci would have to do with accomplishing nothing.

    Here, on Slashdot, just now, I confirmed that prophecy. Hehehe.

    And really, if you're going to post flamebait anyway, why not let it be on a story about fibonacci poetry?

    To
    me,
    stories
    about things
    like fibonacci
    poetry are just like flamebait.

  15. Re:Tool- Lateralus already does this. by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you are going to laugh at the article just because some rock band did something similar six years ago, then by your own standards Tool would have to be a laughingstock as well. Composers of art music have been using the Fibonacci sequence for decades. Bartok back in the 1930s and 1940s, Iannis Xenakis in the 1950s, Per Norgard in the 1970s, Sofia Gubaidulina in the 1980s. What took Tool so long?

  16. Tool - Lateralus by StrawberryFrog · · Score: 1, Redundant

    It is obligatory at this point to mention that the band Tool (very heavy, but not simple music) used this technique in the song Lateralus.

    --

    My Karma: ran over your Dogma
    StrawberryFrog

    1. Re:Tool - Lateralus by CRCulver · · Score: 2, Informative

      Tool's music is mind-numbingly simplistic compared to the art music composers who have used the Fibonacci sequence in their work (Gubaidulina, Xenakis, Bartok, Norgard, etc.). Tool's music sticks to rock rhythms and chord structures, doesn't use all twelve tones of the chromatic scale as has been encouraged since Schoenberg, and uses the same limited instrumentation as most rock (Carey's versatile drum kit doesn't compensate for the same-old same-oldness of the rest of the band).

    2. Re:Tool - Lateralus by starwed · · Score: 2, Funny

      "doesn't use all twelve tones of the chromatic scale as has been encouraged since Schoenberg"

      But on the other hand, I actually enjoy listening to Tool.

    3. Re:Tool - Lateralus by starwed · · Score: 1

      I'm kind of glad that taking four years of theory and composition classes didn't cripple my ability to enjoy rock music. And I'm not sure why you're so hung up on counting the number of tones used... hardly a measure of a piece of musics complexity or worth.

    4. Re:Tool - Lateralus by gameforge · · Score: 2, Informative

      Tool's music sticks to rock rhythms

      Actually, that's not entirely accurate... I really don't like Tool much at all, but one thing I found unique about them was that a lot of their songs don't use the traditional 4/4 (drumBASSdrumBASSdrumBASS) type rhythm. Don't they have some tunes in 9/8?

      Considering just about every rock song that comes out anymore sounds exactly like every other, a break from the 4/4 rock beat is noteworthy. Of course, all of my exposure to Tool at all comes from years ago...

    5. Re:Tool - Lateralus by starwed · · Score: 1

      "The number of tones has a lot to do with the complexity of a work, since the most complex work will necessarily be that which doesn't use any tone until it has used the other eleven."

      This is manifestly, mathematicly false on so many levels that it's not surprising you got modded troll. ^_^

      As far as Tool's music, what you're perhaps missing is that all the complexity lies in the rythmic space, not the melodic or harmonic.

    6. Re:Tool - Lateralus by StrawberryFrog · · Score: 1

      claim that Tool is not "simple music", as the OP does, is just flat-out lying.

      So, you are calling me a liar?

      I realise that "simple" is all relative, and from your lofty stratosperic perch all music made by four guys with drums and guitar must be be so simple as to numb your exultedly erudite brain, but to most rock listeners, lines with fibonacci number lengths, in 9-8-7 time (if it's a standard rock rhythm, name another rock song in the same time) are actually not at all simple, nor mindless, nor bubblegum. If you can't see that, then you shouldn't bother trying to communicate, since you are bound to fail.

      --

      My Karma: ran over your Dogma
      StrawberryFrog

    7. Re:Tool - Lateralus by drange_net · · Score: 1

      Tool - Lateralus Black
      then
      white are
      all I see
      in my infancy.
      red and yellow then came to be,
      reaching out to me.
      lets me see.

    8. Re:Tool - Lateralus by illuminatedwax · · Score: 1

      Tool does thigns like this, but this kind of non-traditional rock began years ago when the "progressive rock" genre began. And so do millions of other independent artists. A lot of popular rock songs are in 3/4, the Mission Impossible theme is in 5/4, etc.

      There's an entire genre called "math rock" that does exactly this - makes music in weird time signatures on purpose. Most recently, Mars Volta does things like this. Some times it sounds good (Dismemberment Plan, usually) and other times it's just ridiculous.

      Of course, I believe moving it out of 4/4 makes it techinically not rock and roll anymore.

      --
      Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
    9. Re:Tool - Lateralus by StrawberryFrog · · Score: 1

      You know, I didn't start this thread in order to say "Tool is teh best band evar!!1!" because well, they aren't. Some of the rhythms are really nice, but I have to be in the mood to listen to it.

      All I wished to point out is that this is a good prior example of Fibonacci numbers used this way. Thanks for your other examples, it's a pity that you didn't expand on how they used Fibonacci numbers, and chose to whinge instead.

      --

      My Karma: ran over your Dogma
      StrawberryFrog

    10. Re:Tool - Lateralus by CRCulver · · Score: 1

      A post of mine giving an example of Gubaidulina's use of the Sequence can be found elsewhere among these comments.

    11. Re:Tool - Lateralus by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 1

      I know a lot of people who are very musically literate, and among them, Tool is mentioned often. I'm not familiar with them myself, but just because you can appreciate driving a Lambhorgini doesn't mean you can't enjoy driving an Acura.

      From what I understand, Tool is head-and-shoulders above most rock music (not that that's very hard).

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    12. Re:Tool - Lateralus by Alioth · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Forget your missing five tones.

      There is only one rule about music, and it's a subjective rule. That rule is that the music must sound good.

      If people find Tool sounds good, then it is good (to them at least) regardless of whether music snobs are whining that it is missing five tones. Part of music is not necessarily being too much. For example, many people love blues yet much of it only uses three chords and a pentatonic scale. It doesn't make it anything less - to those who love that kind of music, it obeys the only rule - it sounds good - regardless of what classically educated music snobs think.

      --
      Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
    13. Re:Tool - Lateralus by Alioth · · Score: 1

      The number of tones has a lot to do with the complexity of a work, since the most complex work will necessarily be that which doesn't use any tone until it has used the other eleven

      What utter rubbish. A simple chromatic scale doesn't repeat a tone until you've used them all but it's hardly 'complex'. You might also want to discover time and rhythm before you go on about a piece's work.
      --
      Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
    14. Re:Tool - Lateralus by CRCulver · · Score: 2, Funny

      There is only one rule about music, and it's a subjective rule. That rule is that the music must sound good.

      No, the only rule about music is that it must be complex, not that it has to sound good or bad. I'll repeat Xenakis' statement from Musiques formelles:

      Le son beau ou laid n'a pais de sens, ni la musiqe qui en découle; la quantité d'intelligence portée par les sonorités doit être le vrai critère de validité de telle ou telle musique.

      (The concept of "beautiful" or "ugly" sound makes no sense, nor does music written thereby; the amount of information carried by the sound is therefore the only true criterion for the validity of this or that music.)

    15. Re:Tool - Lateralus by tolan-b · · Score: 1

      By that logic 10,000 BPM tone-encoded-ASCII would be of far greater value than Mozart.

    16. Re:Tool - Lateralus by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      No, the only rule about music is that it must be complex, not that it has to sound good or bad.

      That's just sad. Literally sad, like I now feel sympathy for you, and what must be a tortured existence, forced to live amongst the rest of us, who don't share such an insane opinion.

      You must be making that up. Generally speaking I'm pretty good at the whole "mile in your shoes" thing, but I can't comprehend that point of view at all.

      I guess that other poster summed it up when he said he was glad learning music thory didn't ruin his ability to enjoy music. Sorry that's what happened to you.

      (The concept of "beautiful" or "ugly" sound makes no sense, nor does music written thereby; the amount of information carried by the sound is therefore the only true criterion for the validity of this or that music.)

      That guy must have been a freakin Vulcan.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    17. Re:Tool - Lateralus by rhakka · · Score: 1

      Actually, they go beyond running with *a* time signature on several songs, where they will often split the band members into two seperate time signatures running at the same time, which gives a really nice reoccurring point where the whole band comes together on a beat when the signatures match up, then seperate and match back up again...

      Like them or not, they are playing with music in a way very few other bands that have achieved any measure of popular success have. Definitely worthy of a little respect. Of course, I'm a drooling fanboy.

    18. Re:Tool - Lateralus by Alioth · · Score: 1

      Sigh. I think you're so wrapped up in music theory and the quotations of a French music snob that you can't see the wood for the trees. Music that's complex but sounds ugly is pointless, and whatever Xenakis says about it is utterly irrelevant - if it sounds crap it is crap. I could compose some music that used all sorts of rythms and every key on my piano, but it would sound awful, and therefore be worthless. Music that's simple but sounds great is great. Music that is complex but grates on everyone's ear is bad. It's as simple as that - and I guess you or the Frenchman you quote simply aren't actually living in the real world. The wittering of a million music snobs does not change this at all.

      --
      Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
    19. Re:Tool - Lateralus by mandolin · · Score: 1
      Music that's complex but sounds ugly is pointless, and whatever Xenakis says about it is utterly irrelevant - if it sounds crap it is crap.

      I completely agree with you, but there are a lot of Yanni fans out there who might think otherwise :-P

    20. Re:Tool - Lateralus by rhakka · · Score: 1

      Who gives a shit if a band is "underground"? People obsessed with image. Wear your uniform when you go to the show... wouldn't want the rest thinking you're not cool, coward.

    21. Re:Tool - Lateralus by teacher_dude · · Score: 1

      What a tool...

      --
      What if the hokey-pokey is what it's all about?
  17. Re:Tool- Lateralus already does this. by fithmo · · Score: 3, Funny

    "What took Tool so long?"

    Being born?

  18. Re:Tool- Lateralus already does this. by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    Exactly, maybe the writer of the article is too young to have become aware of the style earlier. There's no reason the OP should have been so hard on him.

  19. FIBS? by HaydnH · · Score: 1

    OH boy, I can see a law suit here from the First Internet Backgammon Server guys! Although as long as The fibonacci guys stay away from music they'll be fine... oh wait....

    --
    Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
  20. Re:no digg by Jaruzel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Stoppit! This isn't Digg!!!!!!

    But yeah, personal blog self-promotion - uber lame.

    -Jar

    --
    Together, We Can Make Slashdot Better. I Do NOT Mod ACs. - Check Me Out
  21. Fibonacci pineapples. 9 liner. by gihan_ripper · · Score: 3, Interesting

    01 It
    01 is
    02 really
    03 not taxing
    05 to create a Fib,
    08 but still they are interesting
    13 sequences of numbers. We are familiar with
    21 the 'rabbit generation' origins of the sequence, but it can also describe
    34 the number of petals on a flower, or the number of curves on a sunflower head, on a pineapple, or even on a pinecone.

    --
    Phoenix, Boston, Little Rock, see a pattern?
  22. Cutting it off at the pass by BinaryOpty · · Score: 5, Informative
    Before anyone else does a "OMG Tool did it first!!" and then someone responds to them with "No, [insert older reference here] did it first!", the blog author acknowledges this in his post (linked to in the first, longer link). I quote:
    and, as much as I'd like to say I invented a new form of poetry, these sequences have been part of various poetic structures since before Fibonacci's time.
    As such, now anyone who brings up the Tool/etc thing in such a way that they're implying the blog author is claiming credit for inventing this can be marked a troll.
  23. fibs on fibs? by Vo0k · · Score: 1

    Hey!
    Funny
    Most fibs
    I have seen
    are about the fibs.

    --
    Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
    1. Re:fibs on fibs? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      Oh,
      yes,
      indeed,
      however
      you should really note
      that "funny" has two syllables!
      But do not worry, I made my share of errors, too. :-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  24. More impressive than the Fib by mattgy · · Score: 1

    Gregory K is also the author of Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Diff'rent Strokes'.

    Now
    that's
    a show
    worth watching
    since it features guests
    like First Lady Nancy Reagan

  25. You blocked the pass ... by arrrrg · · Score: 1

    ... an hour and a half too late

    http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=182468 &cid=15082601

  26. Re:Tool- Lateralus already does this. by Varun+Soundararajan · · Score: 1

    What took Tool so long?

    Please, slashdot didnt exist that time, nor do fools like you and me reading such a thing

  27. Primes by ELProphet · · Score: 1

    Primes
    Also
    Make a poem
    though the size can get
    rather large, rather quick so
    I will stop while I am a bit over ten.

    1. Re:Primes by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      But
      why not
      just use the
      ordinary
      integer number
      sequence for your poems?
      It has the big advantage
      that your lines do not get too big
      even if you use a few more lines.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  28. Re:Primes -- Powers by ELProphet · · Score: 1

    Powers
    twos for this post
    grow still faster than those darn primes
    now I have to get sixteen syllables on one line; 4th is good!

  29. Re:Primes -- Powers by ELProphet · · Score: 1

    Powers three
    Oh where may these possibly be seen?
    Google Labs Aptitude Test could be given a new little problem to stumble and confuse Stanford Doctors

  30. iirc by weierstrass · · Score: 1

    gregor k is also the guy who was turned into a huge beetle?

    --
    my password really is 'stinkypants'
    1. Re:iirc by Bambi+Dee · · Score: 1

      You may be thinking of Josef K, the protagonist of The Trial. The protagonist of The Metamorphosis is called Gregor Samsa (which also matches 'Kafka' in a way). And it wasn't a beetle, nor a roach, but an 'ungeheures Ungeziefer' (roughly 'enormous vermin').

  31. Re:Wasting time by kaiidth · · Score: 1

    Good
    Grief.
    Amazed
    at how much
    time some people have... :-)

  32. Accent by Venner · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of a comedian I heard one time who was from the deep south. He said when he moved to Chicago, everyone made fun of the way he said his cat's name - with 4 syllables. The name? Shithead.
    (Shee-it hey-ed) :-)

    --
    A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.
    1. Re:Accent by rah1420 · · Score: 1

      A New York morning drive time host once had a similar bit; wryly observing how teachers mangle names on the first day of school, and how much fun you could have if you named your kid "shi-thead".

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
  33. Re:Fibonacci pineapples. 9 liner. by fishbot · · Score: 1

    Easy?
    No,
    Not true.
    It is simple.
    Don't blindly split prose,
    produce a poetic stanza!

  34. Poets and Mathematicians! by R_power_N · · Score: 1

    Thought there werent many elements in {Poets}intersection{Mathematicians} !! A Fib Newly Attempted: Mood siesta now Fibonacci laughing aloud! Poets would love this: a song that any professor Would listen to and approve sure And, the studious Write now a... Poem! A Fib!

  35. Poets and Mathematicians! by R_power_N · · Score: 1

    Huh! needed formatting!

      A
      Fib
      Newly
      Attempted:
      Mood siesta now
      Fibonacci laughing aloud!
      Poets would love this: a song that any professor
      Would listen to and approve sure
      And, the studious
      Write now a...
      Poem!
      A
      Fib!

  36. Mine by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

    War
    Debt
    Iraq
    OBL
    The World Trade Center
    The World is filled with tragedy

    (C) 2006, me

    1. Re:Mine by JeanBaptiste · · Score: 1

      well i was gonna mod but I guess I'll respond instead.

      not everything has to be about War, Debt, Iraq, OBL, world being filled with tragedy etc.

      some things can be just for fun you know. like poems based on fibonacci sequences.

      its really kind of sad that you have this stuff on your mind 24-7

      cause having it on your mind 24-7 isn't doing anyone any good, especially you... unless you're actively doing something about it, and given that you're posting on slashdot, i'm guessing you're not (as I also am not).

      worry about what you can control, and don't worry too much about the things you cannot. you will find yourself much happier that way.

    2. Re:Mine by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

      dude, I think you read into that way too much. I just needed 8 syllables... and bullshit only had 2 whereas tragedy had 3... the math just worked out better...

  37. Fibspam by EmagGeek · · Score: 2, Funny

    Cheap
    Drugs
    Call Now
    We're Waiting
    Do Not Hesitate
    Lincoln Building Tether Pineapple Goat

    1. Re:Fibspam by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

      For those of you pedants who will undoubtedly notice that there are one-too-many syllables in the last line, before thinking about the meaning, the poem is intended to demonstrate that those who are bad at math and fail at school end up in dead-end professions like spamming, being hated by everyone.

    2. Re:Fibspam by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

      And then the author will notice, in a fit of irony, that there are actually two-too-many syllables in the last line, demonstrating that one can still be bad at math and be more or less successful, thereby removing any original meaning that was intended by the poem in the first place.

      The author will then make a note to self to never ever ever ever ever give up coffee for Lent ever ever ever ever again...

  38. colors, material science, and the art of dance by caudron · · Score: 1

    Roses are
    Red.
    Telephones
    Are plastic.
    Disco is
    dead.
    But this poem is
    Fantastic!

    Tom Caudron
    http://tom.digitalelite.com/poetry.html

    --
    -Tom
  39. Palindrome version by Chapter80 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Palindrome version. (It's early, best I could do...)


    God,
    all!
    It's fib,
    version A.
    Edit idea...
    No! Is rev B, if still a dog.

  40. Must... stop... fibbing by mrogers · · Score: 4, Funny
    Unfortunately no matter what the subject matter, the poems sound like they're being spoken by a superhero through gritted teeth.

    Must...
    stop...
    fibbing!
    Got to get...
    back to my haikus!
    So many syllables... wasted!

    1. Re:Must... stop... fibbing by notnAP · · Score: 1

      poems sound like they're being spoken by a superhero through gritted teeth.

      So true. Unfortunately for me, owing to my two young girls, the only superhero that came to mind for me while reading that poem was The Crimson Chin, as voiced by Jay Leno.

      Did someone say... JUSTICE?!

  41. Fine Form by Alan+Reynolds · · Score: 1

    This

    form

    forces

    fine feelings

    into abstruse lines

    each longer longing to affix

    a meaning to creations made live by febrile minds

    and for this new spring trick I thank both you and SlashDot. Well done. Though if continued cumbersome.


    http://www.alanreynolds.nl/

  42. fibo8.mid by Bimo_Dude · · Score: 1

    Here

    --
    "Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
  43. Wasting time? Say not so. by perfessor+multigeek · · Score: 1
    Hey, ya gotta be careful about what you define as "wasting time". I, personally, occasionally write poetry about staplers.

    Much fun, cool exercise of the faculties, and you'ld be amazed at the stuff I've seen people free associate after trying it.

    -Rustin

    --
    Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
    1. Re:Wasting time? Say not so. by gameforge · · Score: 1

      Well in all fairness, I do stuff that most people would consider wasting time... like playing Paganini's 5th Caprice over, and over, and over again on the guitar. I don't consider it wasting time just like you don't consider your poetry (which I like btw, as well as your blog) wasting time.

      But... why is Slashdot posting an article about someone's fibonacci poetry blog entry? IMHO, that's a pretty lame /. story - why does the middle-of-the-night crowd get all the lame stuff? Last night, it was a footlocker on wheels roaming Antarctica. I'm sorry, I'm sure it's very important research and all, but most people couldn't care less! Maybe they have a giant shortage of article submissions? (right)

      All in all, I decided to write a fib poem about /.ers having better things to comment on. :) Ultimately, /. is one big community waste of time, depending on how you look at it or who you ask...

      cheers!

  44. I don't get it? by ShadowBot · · Score: 1

    Why is this considered Science?

    --
    Quantum Physics a.k.a. sub-molecular statistics
    1. Re:I don't get it? by gkwok · · Score: 1

      The
      Fib
      Sequence
      Is tied to
      Many things in science.
      Wikipedia lists a few:
      Bees' parents, grass, flowers, pinecones, raspberries, and shells.
      Fascinating--pineapples have two Fibonacci spirals in different directions.
      And I think you'll agree that the Fibonacci numbers are intrinsically mathematical, and no one would deny math is a science.

  45. I've thought about this before by bersl2 · · Score: 1

    I personally rejected it for a few reasons:

    1. Starting with one-, two-, and three-syllable lines leaves the stanza generally sounding forced.
    2. Once you get to 21-syllable lines, you've generally reached the limits of absurdity within good taste.

    That leaves you with lines of 5, 8, and 13 syllables, and perhaps 3 or 21, if the circumstances are right. That just isn't as interesting as it initially looked.

    That said, perhaps I should RTFP now, to actuallly see how well the writer got it to work.

  46. A Presidential Fib. by m487396 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bush
    said
    that the
    weapons of
    mass distruction in
    Iraq posed an imminent threat.

  47. Fibonacci Sequence Memonics by Frightened_Turtle · · Score: 1

    Once.
    Twice.
    Three times.
    Three and five make eight.
    Eight and five will make eleven.
    Eleven and eight will make number nineteen.

    © Frightened_Turtle 2006

    --


    Whew! This water sure is cold!
    1. Re:Fibonacci Sequence Memonics by Chapter80 · · Score: 1
      Eight and five will make eleven.

      Clearly poetic license here! Lemme guess, you did better on the Verbal part of the SAT.

    2. Re:Fibonacci Sequence Memonics by cpeikert · · Score: 2, Funny

      Eight and five will make eleven.

      Really?

    3. Re:Fibonacci Sequence Memonics by Frightened_Turtle · · Score: 1

      I gone done reel gud on my vurbil STA! My math scor wuz eevin all most az gud!

      Ah, well! So much for my moment of fame! I guess I should have taken off my shoes when I started getting over 10... :P

      Thanks for catching it guys! It would have been weeks before I noticed. :-D

      Here's the corrected version:

      Once.
      Twice.
      Three times.
      Three and five make eight.
      Then eight and five will make thirteen.
      Thirteen and eight gets twenty-one.
      On and on we go, counting every syllable hoping that the count will be correct.

      Frightened_Turtle © 2006

      Time to crawl back under the rock and bask in the red glow of my embarrassment! :D

      --


      Whew! This water sure is cold!
    4. Re:Fibonacci Sequence Memonics by Frightened_Turtle · · Score: 1

      On top of that, I misspelled Mnemonics!

      --


      Whew! This water sure is cold!
    5. Re:Fibonacci Sequence Memonics by Frightened_Turtle · · Score: 1

      I should've said "42"

      No one can argue with that answer! ;)

      --


      Whew! This water sure is cold!
  48. Re:Tool- Lateralus already does this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Rock
    Tool
    Bartok
    Xenakis
    All of them are great
    Fibonacci sequence or not

  49. geek-/. culture: Wasting time? by perfessor+multigeek · · Score: 1
    I dunno, the first community I ever dealt with that was into haiku was the Mad Scientist's Club in my geeky high school, which then got trumped by the haiku writers I met from MIT which then got trumped by the early music variants at my ever geekier college (while, of course early music was percolating through the entire Cambridge scene).

    I'ld say that if /. is going to carry "news" about Star Wars movies and be paid for in part by toy vendors like Think Geek[1] then fibonacci poetry fits right in. The real issue, which, in fairness, /. is working on, is a better system of tags and categories so that users can set which kinds of stuff we see.

    btw, if you liked the stapler poetry, wanna write some? I'm always looking for more ;->

    -Rustin

    [1] One of these days I'm gonna open a real geek store, selling oscilloscopes, power supplies for industrial lasers, smart materials, nanotech and superconductor devkits, custom O'Reilly manuals, and, someday, sharks! with frickin' lasers on their heads!

    --
    Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
  50. For You Tool Fans by ras_b · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I copied the following directly from this website which has an interesting analysis of tool's lateralus album.
    There's a Fibonacci in Maynard's lyrics, specifically the syllables:

      black [1]
      then [1]
      white are [2]
      all I see [3]
      in my infancy [5]
      red and yellow then came to be [8]
      reaching out to me [5]
      lets me see [3]
      there is [2]
      so [1]
      much [1]
      more and [2]
      beckons me [3]
      to look through to these [5]
      infinite possibilities [8]
      as below so above and beyond I imagine [13]
      drawn outside the lines of reason [8]
      push the envelope [5]
      watch it bend [3]

      I suppose it's not actually a true Fibonacci, since it does reverse itself.

    1. Re:For You Tool Fans by bloodstains · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I was working on this as well untill I got to the following lyrics:
      Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
      Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
      Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.
      I decided I may have been missing the point of the song.
    2. Re:For You Tool Fans by luiscyfier · · Score: 1

      Is it not possible to have more than one influence in a song. Stinkfist for example, give the listener a story of a senior figure leading another into the pleasures of fist fucking but on closer inspection one can see the song is alluding to deeper plots and lines. One of these is the search of realization of the self thought pushing oneself to there own personal limits, trying to find where the ego ends and real life begins.

  51. Good initiative by arih · · Score: 1

    ... And it's not only for the geeks! Danish poet Inger Christensen's famous poem Alphabet from 1981 is based on the Fibonacci sequence. It's a beautiful systemic poem about everything that exists in the world and how it is under threat.

    More about Inger Christensen.

  52. Conformity by Limbo+Socrates · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ugh.
    Rules.
    Structure.
    Makes me wince.
    Perhaps I should try...
    Running around naked with my hair on fire screaming, "ANARCHY! ANARCHY! Take that Fibonacci, you wiper of other peoples bottoms! go away and I shall taunt you no more!"

    1. Re:Conformity by Limbo+Socrates · · Score: 1

      Yo.
      Mod.
      Yeah, you.
      Score of one?
      Give me a break, huh?
      No one will read my clever post!

  53. Surprised no one came up with this: by Chapter80 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Here's a Python program written in a fib...


    try:
    ....foo
    except:
    ....print "Display"
    ....print "Fibonacci"
    ....count = prevcount = 1
    ....while prevcount <= 7000:
    ........print prevcount ; count, prevcount = count + prevcount, count

    The way *I* read the program (pronouncing each special character except for the quotes and colons), it's a fib. AND it does something useful. It displays the first twenty Fibonacci numbers!

    Pronounced:
    (1) try
    (1) foo
    (2) ex cept
    (3) print dis play
    (5) print fib on ac ci
    (8) count e quals prev count e quals one
    (13) while prev count less than or e qual to sev en thou sand
    (21) print prev count sem i col on count com ma prev count e quals count plus prev count com ma count

    Now that's *real* nerdy. Geeks should be proud.

    1. Re:Surprised no one came up with this: by hobo+sapiens · · Score: 1

      I'd
      mod
      you with
      awesome points
      for that if I could!
      sadly I don't have any points..


      --
      I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV!

      --
      blah blah blah
    2. Re:Surprised no one came up with this: by Careless+Feather · · Score: 1

      Whoa!
      What
      a nice
      programming language!
      Sounds almost like human to me.

  54. Eas-y by grandmofftarkin · · Score: 1

    Ha!
    Ha!
    Nice Try
    First line wrong,
    That's unfortunate,
    I so wanted you to be right!

    1. Re:Eas-y by fishbot · · Score: 1

      Oops!
      D'Oh!
      My bad,
      Damn my eyes!
      Checked the longer lines,
      Forgot the simplest of errors.

  55. Math is everywhere you look by hey! · · Score: 3, Interesting
    For example, consider the famous poem "The Tiger" by William Blake:

    TIGER, tiger, burning bright
    In the forests of the night,
    What immortal hand or eye
    Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

    If you read this alound (or at least subvocalize), you'll see a patern, and patterns in my opinion are quintessentially mathematical:

    TIGer/TIGer/BURNing/BRIGHT */
    IN the / FORests /OF the /NIGHT */
    WHAT im/MORtal / HAND or/ EYE */
    could FRAME / thy FEAR/ful SYM/meTRY?

    What makes this pattern interesting is not what it is, but what it is not. It's like you can hear a quantum entanglement with the poem it is not, but easily might have been. A lesser poet would have written: "TIGer, TIGer, BURNing BRIGHTly", which would be a metrical form called "trochaic quadrameter". A trochee is a two syllbale unit (or "foot") with stress on the first syllable (like this: dah DUM), as opposed to an iamb which stressed the second (va VOOM).
    Hiwawatha is an example of trochaic quadrameter:

    By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
    By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
    Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
    Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.

    Four footed forms are very solid and predictable, but are seldom chosen by profesional poets because they quickly become monotonous and susceptible to parody, as in this excerpt of a Geroge Strong's lampoon of Hiawatha:

    He killed the noble Mudjokivis.
    Of the skin he made him mittens,
    Made them with the fur side inside,
    Made them with the skin side outside.
    He, to get the warm side inside,
    Put the inside skin side outside.
    He, to get the cold side outside,
    Put the warm side fur side inside.
    That's why he put the fur side inside,
    Why he put the skin side outside,
    Why he turned them inside outside.


    Tiger's unusual and broken meter gives it a haunting feeling (haunted by the missing syllables?) that fits its subject perfectly.

    Getting to the subject of the article, efforts like this are often successful at getting people who are interested in poetry to try their hands at it. I think in part because it's so easy to be write bad poetry, it's helpful to have the safety net of a highy arbitrary form to fall back on: after all, what can you expect given the restrictions? The 5-7-5 structure of Haiku is also popular for the same purposes and reasons.

    I wonder whether a similar effort could be made using patterns in scansion, like in "Tiger". Maybe you could create a set of rules encoding messages in stress and rhyme, and then set out a task to "encrypt" a message as verse.
    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    1. Re:Math is everywhere you look by no+reason+to+be+here · · Score: 1

      Any truly great poet will take a poetic form and make sure that it has encoded into it some kind of meaning. In English poetry the easiest place to see this is the sonnet. The English (Shakespearean) sonnet is 14 lines, divided into groups of 4-4-4-2; each quattrain, if written skillfully, describes some separate aspect of the subject matter of the poem. The concluding couplet features a turn or reversal of thought. The rhyme scheme (ABABCDCDEFEFGG) re-inforces this division of thought in the English sonnet. If used successfully, then the sonnet will carry part of the meaning simply in its form, apart from the words. There are similar divisions of thought encoded into Italian (Petrarchan), and Spenserian sonnet forms as well.

      --
      my pet machine
    2. Re:Math is everywhere you look by hey! · · Score: 1

      Any truly great poet will take a poetic form and make sure that it has encoded into it some kind of meaning.

      You mean like Kurt Gödel?

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:Math is everywhere you look by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It's trochaic / iambic _tetrameter_, not 'quadrameter.' Also, the meter in Blake's poem is not that unusual at all; verse missing the final unstressed trochaic syllable as in "The Tyger" is known as "catalectic" (you could also see it as iambic tetrameter with the first syllable elided).

      You're right about the safety net, though. Robert Frost (who himself often employed iambic tetrameter) said writing free verse is like playing tennis without a net: you either have to be bad, or really, really good (there is a good software engineer metaphor here, but it eludes me).

      Those interested is more mathematical, rather than metrical, verse, should check out the line from Zukofsky and the Objectivists through Cage and the Black Mountain School up to the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets. They composed around mathematical sequences / constructs, among other things.

  56. SPAM Filters Blocking Poetry by refriedchicken · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hi
    Bob
    Click Here
    VIAGRA
    Penis Enlargement
    Satisfy your woman tonight

  57. i have a new one! by Gone84 · · Score: 1

    I
    think
    pointing
    at a song
    by the band called Tool
    is an exercise in lameness
    considering that its been done since way before them

  58. A true fibonacci poem: by kevinatilusa · · Score: 1

    1: Love. 1: Hate. 2: Love hate. 3: Hate love hate. 5: Love hate hate love hate. 8: Hate love hate love hate hate love hate. 13: Love hate hate love hate hate love hate love hate hate love hate. Why just add syllables when you can add entire lines?

  59. Another mistake. by grandmofftarkin · · Score: 1

    It..
    is..
    sim-ple.
    wrong again,
    That's four syllables!
    Try counting them one at a time.

    1. Re:Another mistake. by fishbot · · Score: 1

      Hmm,
      Yes,
      I see.
      Perhaps if
      I wasn't slightly
      Drunk I would make better sense, eh?

    2. Re:Another mistake. by grandmofftarkin · · Score: 1

      Drunk?
      Ahh!
      Ok,
      Nevermind.
      It was pretty good
      and your replies were much better! ;-)

  60. Another try... by Chapter80 · · Score: 5, Funny
    OK, now I am addicted.


    One.
    One.
    Then Two.
    Three is next.
    Five, of course, comes next.
    Then Eight. It's getting hard to do.
    Next is 1D. We're counting in Hex - this is slashdot!

    Gotta love the surprise ending!

    1. Re:Another try... by Chapter80 · · Score: 1
      Shoot... I hopped in the shower, and then it occurred to me that 13 decimal is D Hex, not 1D.

      Guess I have to re-write the last line:
      Next is D. We are counting in Hex. This is Slashdot.

      OK, now I feel better. (especially after picking on someone else for their math this morning. Karma will get you every time!)

  61. Good come back! by grandmofftarkin · · Score: 1

    Yeah..
    well..
    Fuck it!
    you were close,
    and a great reply.
    Guess it is harder than it looks!

  62. Spiraling out of control by griffjon · · Score: 1

    This \
    is \
    going \
    to spiral \
    way out of control \
    I can see the disaster now \
    Websites, blogs, podcasts, and wikipedia entries \
    All written in Fibonacci sequences, getting longer and longer as they go... \

    --
    Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
    1. Re:Spiraling out of control by nosugarsadded · · Score: 1

      I can think of worse memes. This will not be a disaster--in fact, it will be quite lovely.

  63. Nothing Special by na641 · · Score: 1

    While I do find this whole 'fibs' thing interesting, I wonder whats to stop people from using any methodical mathematics to create 'poetry'. The idea just seems irrelevant to me.

  64. oblig too by Arthur+B. · · Score: 1

    In soviet Russia fibs poem always write you!

    --
    \u262D = \u5350
    1. Re:oblig too by Arthur+B. · · Score: 3, Funny

      html formatting bug..
      In soviet Russia
      fibs poems
      always
      write
      you!

      --
      \u262D = \u5350
  65. another one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    young
    geeks
    waxing
    pathetic
    math and poetry
    go outside, it's a fine spring day

  66. Techno Mantra by puppetluva · · Score: 1

    Win
    Mac
    *nix
    Religions ;)
    Emacs beats vi

    1. Re:Techno Mantra by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      Win
      Mac
      *nix
      Religions ;)
      Emacs beats vi

      OK, I give up: how do you pronounce ";)" ? Apparently it's got zero syllables.

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
  67. Lovely Idea for a Friday Morning by nosugarsadded · · Score: 1

    I
    Love
    Geek Poems
    Make my day
    Just a bit sweeter
    They are worth optimizing for

  68. My Fib Poem by GypC · · Score: 1
    Fib

    Verse

    Makes one

    Sound just like

    A Captain Kirk speech.

  69. Fib fight by greg_barton · · Score: 1

    Hey!
    You!
    Yeah, you.
    With the face!
    What you lookin' at?
    Gonna break my foot up yer ass!

  70. Oh no... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 1

    Oh,
    No.
    To Think
    the haikus
    written on slashdot
    were bad enough for all of us.
    ---
    But who cares now, anyway?
    Soon someone will write
    A slashdot Fibs plus Haiku.

    1. Re:Oh no... by vandon · · Score: 5, Funny

      We
      Get
      Signal
      All your base
      Are belong to us
      Somebody set up us the bomb.

    2. Re:Oh no... by Chapter80 · · Score: 1

      Worst.
      Post.
      Evar.
      4. Profit!!!!
      Insensitive Clod.
      Imagine a Beowulf cluster.
      In So-vi-et Russia Slashdot is predictable.

  71. Ha ha! by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 1

    Shoot... I hopped in the shower, and then it occurred to me that 13 decimal is D Hex, not 1D.

    Ha,
    Ha!
    Nelson's
    been quoted,
    This is what you get
    For not clicking on the preview!
    Now I, slashdot math Nazi, can rest and read more posts.

  72. Troll Fib by Anonymous+Monkey · · Score: 1
    Me

    Troll

    Mod me down

    Not up for this fib

    Karma can't lie, I am a troll

    --
    We are the Borg...
    1. Re:Troll Fib by Anonymous+Monkey · · Score: 1
      I

      am

      a monkey

      but you don't know me

      I am Anonymous Monkey

      --
      We are the Borg...
  73. A Fib by waynegoode · · Score: 1

    Fib
    Poem
    Art form
    Based on math
    Beauty meets reason
    Or is it just a long haiku?

  74. Ode to the slashdot poet. by Chapter80 · · Score: 2, Funny


    Po-
    et-
    ry real-
    ly should nev-
    er be written ex-
    clusively by geeks on a for-
    um such as slashdot. They tend to really sound horrib-

  75. one for the script kiddies by Gone84 · · Score: 1

    when
    I
    try to
    perform a
    SQL injection
    I get caught because i'm stupid
    where do i put that damn apostrophe anyway?




    hehehe

  76. 404 by Frazbin · · Score: 1

    To the slashdotted site (copied from my submission to the blog comments page)

      A fib 404 message in the public domain:

    This
    Page
    Is not.
    404
    You'll find nothing here
    You'd better just click "back"-- move on.

  77. For the slashdot crowd. by ThomK · · Score: 1

    I
    won't
    ever use
    IIS
    while apache is still alive

    --

    TK

  78. Starting with a different number by Flyboy+Connor · · Score: 2, Funny
    You can start Fibonacci sequences with a different number.

    Here's a fib that starts with zero:

  79. Simposons Fib by b_burton1981 · · Score: 1

    Marge? Marge? Homer? Where are you? Um - I am somewhere Where I do not know where I am. Has anyone ever seen the movie Tron?

  80. Last one? by Chapter80 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Next Challenge, a fib that's a rectangle.


    Deutsch
    through
    Balkans
    Germany
    UKandUS
    WWIcrap

    That one was really tough to have it make any sense.

  81. Lastt of the Fibonacci Sequence Memonics by Frightened_Turtle · · Score: 1

    I should just quit while I'm behind, but I have to get it right! I blame it on Daylight Savings Time! (Yeah, any port in a storm.)

    Thank God that any man can at least count to 21!

    Once.
    Twice.
    Three times.
    Three and five make eight.
    Then eight and five will make thirteen.
    Thirteen and eight gets twenty-one.
    This could continue for a very long time, indeed.
    On and on we go, counting every syllable hoping that the count will be correct.

    --


    Whew! This water sure is cold!
  82. Shatner by awarlaw · · Score: 1

    now,
    I
    see why
    Captain Kirk's
    way of speaking was
    such a de-light to listen to.

    -Aaron

    --
    TIME is the Aether...
  83. Must... not... welcome... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1
    With regrets...

    I,
    We,
    Must not
    Welcome these
    New Fibonacci
    Poem overlords - no "Fibs" here.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  84. Form comes from function by xavier_forrest · · Score: 1

    Structure doesn't create great poetry, unless it's concrete poetry. Instead, structure should automatically come out of what's being expressed. This is like the Apple III. Apple built the case before the innards and the machine overheated and popped chips. Form comes from function, not the other way around.

  85. ugh by hurfy · · Score: 1

    I
    Knew
    reading these
    comments was going
    to be risky based on the past

  86. Tjanting and Oulipo by treepour · · Score: 1

    For what it's worth . . . Ron Silliman's 1981 book Tjanting uses the Fibonacci sequence to determine the number of sentences in each paragraph, starting with 1 and ending with 4,181; and the mid-century French Oulipo group is famous for its application of mathematical and other formal restraints to the production of poems.

  87. wrong number by Sinistah · · Score: 1

    /. should have used phi as the icon for this story

  88. Re:Tool- Lateralus already does this. by organgtool · · Score: 1

    Few people are claiming that Tool is the first band to use the Fibonacci sequence in music. However, despite the fact that using the Fibonacci sequence in lyrics has been done before, Tool has taken this one step further.

    Not only do the lyrics conform to the Fibonacci sequence in Tool's song "Lateralus", but the percussion does as well. The first line of the chorus is played in 9, the second line of the chorus is played in 8, and the third line of the chorus is played in 7. If you put these numbers together, you get 987 which is the sixteenth number in the Fibonacci sequence. This was intentional, as Tool's drummer, Danny Carey, mentioned this in an article in Modern Drummer magazine (although he incorrectly called 987 the twelth step of the Fibonacci sequence). While that's fairly impressive, what's really astounding is the fact that the song sounds very natural and most people would not have noticed the odd timing of the song if it had not been pointed out to them.

    Anyway, simply pointing out that something has been done before is not constructive. Just about everything has been done before, so instead of just whining over and over again that something has already been done, why not take the time to look further into modern works of art. They may not be the first to do something, but there are good modern artists out there that will be able to put their own creative touch into the work. And yes, I am a drummer. :)

  89. It ain't priceline, but... by Cappy+Red · · Score: 1

    Spock,
    What
    Do you
    Make of this?
    A new lifeform, or...
    KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!

    --
    This is my sig. It's prescription, I swear. I need it for reading things... on the other side of things
  90. Are you for real? by p3d0 · · Score: 1
    What makes this pattern interesting is not what it is, but what it is not. It's like you can hear a quantum entanglement with the poem it is not, but easily might have been. A lesser poet would have written: "TIGer, TIGer, BURNing BRIGHTly", which would be a metrical form called "trochaic quadrameter".
    I am having a hard time believing that you honestly hold in such high regard the very commonplace rhythm from such "quantum entangled" gems as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Dropping unstressed syllables at the end of the line is very common in poetry.
    --
    Patrick Doyle
    I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
  91. Rusty Cage and Eleven by p3d0 · · Score: 1

    I think the end of Rusty Cage by Soundgarden is in 19/3 time. Primus has a song called Eleven that is in 11/3 time.

    --
    Patrick Doyle
    I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
    1. Re:Rusty Cage and Eleven by illuminatedwax · · Score: 1

      (19/3 and 11/3 are not proper time signatures. You probably meant 19/8 or 11/8.)

      --
      Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
  92. Well, okay by Careless+Feather · · Score: 1

    No Thing In the Beginning There was a Number And the Number was minus one *** One Neo Defeats Whole army Of agent Smith clones - Whoa! I bet you could not do that. *** In the next fib the number 8 is hidden but it is there. End Is Geek's goal However The girls need it too o0o O

  93. Oh, crap! I have to insert html tags manually by Careless+Feather · · Score: 1

    No
    Thing
    In the
    Beginning
    There was a Number
    And the Number was minus one

    ***

    One
    Neo
    Defeats
    Whole army
    Of agent Smith clones -
    Whoa! I bet you could not do that.

    ***

    In the next fib the number 8 is hidden but it is there.

    End
    Is
    Geek's goal
    However
    The girls need it too.

    o0o
    O