What is “text” for a sign language?













On this day in Parisian theater

Since I first encountered The Parisian Stage, I’ve been impressed by the completeness of Beaumont Wicks’s life’s work: from 1950 through 1979 he compiled a list of every play performed in the theaters of Paris between 1800 and 1899. I’ve used it as the basis for my Digital Parisian Stage corpus, currently a one percent sample of the first volume (Wicks 1950), available in full text on GitHub.

Last week I had an idea for another project. Science requires both qualitative and quantitative research, and I’ve admired Neil Freeman’s @everylotnyc Twitter bot as a project that conveys the diversity of the underlying data and invites deep, qualitative exploration.

In 2016, with Timm Dapper, Elber Carneiro and Laura Silver I forked Freeman’s everylotbot code to create @everytreenyc, a random walk through the New York City Parks Department’s 2015 street tree census. Every three hours during normal New York active time, the bot tweets information about a tree from the database, in a template written by Laura that may also include topical, whimsical sayings.

Recently I’ve encountered a lot of anniversaries. A lot of it is connected to the centenary of the First World War I, but some is more random: I just listened to an episode of la Fabrique de l’histoire about François Mitterrand’s letters to his mistress that was promoted with the fact that he was born in 1916, one hundred years before that episode aired, even though he did not start writing those letters until 1962.

There are lots of “On this day” blogs and Twitter feeds, such as the History Channel and the New York Times, and even specialized feeds like @ThisDayInMETAL. There are #OnThisDay and #otd hashtags, and in French #CeJourLà. The “On this day” feeds have two things in common: they tend to be hand-curated, and they jump around from year to year. For April 13, 2014, the @CeJourLa feed tweeted events from 1849, 1997, 1695 and 1941, in that order.

Two weeks ago I was at the Annual Convention of the Modern Language Association, describing my Digital Parisian Stage corpus, and I realized that in the Parisian Stage there were plays being produced exactly two hundred years ago. I thought of the #OnThisDay feeds and @everytreenyc, and realized that I could create a Twitter bot to pull information about plays from the database and tweet them out. A week later, @spectacles_xix sent out its first automated tweet, about the play la Réconciliation par ruse.

@spectacles_xix runs on Pythonanywhere in Python 3.6, and accesses a MySQL database. It uses Mike Verdone’s Twitter API client. The source is open on GitHub.

Unlike other feeds, including this one from the French Ministry of Culture that just tweeted about the anniversary of the première of Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, this one will not be curated, and it will not jump around from year to year. It will tweet every play that premièred in 1818, in order, until the end of the year, and then go on to 1819. If there is a day when no plays premièred, like January 16, @spectacles_xix will not tweet.
I have a couple of ideas about more features to add, so stay tuned!

How Google’s Pixel Buds will change the world!

Scene: a quietly bustling bistro in Paris’s 14th Arrondissement.

SERVER: Oui, vous désirez?
PIXELBUDS: Yes, you desire?
TOURIST: Um, yeah, I’ll have the steak frites.
SERVER: Que les frites?
PIXELBUDS: Than fries?
TOURIST: No, at the same time.
SERVER: Alors, vous voulez le steak aussi?
PIXELBUDS: You want the steak too?
TOURIST: Yeah, I just ordered the steak.
SERVER: Okay, du steak, et des frites, en même temps.
PIXELBUDS: Okay, steak, and fries at the same time.
TOURIST: You got it.

(All translations by Google Translate. Photo: Alain Bachelier / Flickr.)

And we mean really every tree!


























Ten reasons why sign-to-speech is not going to be practical any time soon.






    -My mistake. Please try again.




One way of generating spam

This showed up today in the comments that Akismet flagged for spam:

{Photo|Picture|Photograph|Image|Photography|Snapshot|Shot|Pic|Photographic|Graphic|Pics} {credit|credit score|credit rating|credit history|credit ratings|consumer credit|credit ranking|credit standing|consumer credit rating|credit scores|credit worthiness}: {AP|Elp} | {FILE|Document|Record|Report|Data file|Submit|Computer file|Data|Register|Archive|Database} #file_links\keywords1.txt,1,S] {-|–|:|*|( space )|( blank )|,|To|. . .|And|As} {In this|Within this|On this|With this|In this particular|During this|In such a|Through this|From this|In that|This particular} {O|To|A|E|I|U|} #file #file_links\keywords2.txt,1,S] _links\keywords3.txt,1,S] ct. {7|Seven|Several|6|8|Six|5|Five|9|Eight|10}, {2012|Next year}, {file|document|record|report|data file|submit|computer file|data|register|archive|database} {photo|picture|photograph|image|photography|snapshot|shot|pic|photographic|graphic|pics}, {Chicago|Chi town|Chicago, il|Detroit|Dallas|Chicago, illinois|Philadelphia|Los angeles|Denver|Chicagoland|Miami} {Bears|Has|Contains|Holds|Carries|Provides|Offers|Includes|Teddy bears|Requires|Features} {middle|center|midsection|midst|heart|centre|core|mid|central|middle section|middle of the} linebacker {Brian|John|Mark} Urlacher {watches|wrist watches|timepieces|designer watches|wristwatches|different watches|pieces|running watches|looks after|monitors|devices} {from the|in the|from your|through the|on the|with the|within the|belonging to the|out of the|out of your|of your} {sideline|part time} {during the|throughout the|through the|in the|over the|while in the|within the|all through the|through|usually in the|within} {second half|other half|better half|lover|wife or husband|partner|loved one} {of an|of the|of your|associated with an|connected with an|of|of any|of each|associated with the|of some|associated with} {NFL|National football league|American footbal|Football|Nhl|Nba} {football|soccer|sports|basketball|baseball|hockey|footballing|rugby|nfl|golf|nfl football} {game|sport|video game|online game|recreation|activity|match|adventure|gameplay|performance|gaming} {against the|from the|up against the|contrary to the|resistant to the|about the|with the|on the|versus the|with|around the} {Jacksonville Jaguars|Gambling} {in|within|inside|throughout|with|around|during|on|when it comes to|for|found in} {Jacksonville|The city of jacksonville|The town of jacksonville}, Fla. {The|The actual|The particular|Your|This|A|Any|Typically the|All the|That|All of the} {Bears|Has|Contains|Holds|Carries|Provides|Offers|Includes|Teddy bears|Requires|Features} {announced|introduced|declared|released|reported|proclaimed|publicised|publicized|launched|revealed|stated} {on|upon|about|in|with|for|regarding|concerning|at|relating to|on the subject of} {Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Wed|Saturday|Sunday|Mondy|Monday|The following friday|The following thursday|Tuesday}, {March|03|Goal|Drive|Walk|April|Mar|Strut|Next month|May|Celebration} {20|Twenty|Something like 20|30|Thirty|10|21|19|More than 20|20 or so|22}, {20|Twenty|Something like 20|30|Thirty|10|21|19|More than 20|20 or so|22} #file_links\keywords4.txt,1,S] {13|Thirteen|Tough luck|12|14|15|10}, {that they were|that they are|them to be|they were} {unable to|not able to|struggling to|can not|struggle to|cannot|incapable of|helpless to|struggles to|could not|canrrrt} {reach|achieve|attain|get to|accomplish|arrive at|access|obtain|get through to|contact|grasp} {a contract|an agreement|a legal contract|a binding agreement|binding agreement|legal contract|a partnership|an understanding|a|a deal} {agreement|contract|arrangement|deal|understanding|settlement|commitment|binding agreement|legal contract|transaction|decision} {with|along with|together with|using|having|by using|utilizing|through|with the help of|by means of|by way of} Urlacher, {who is|who’s|that is|that’s|who’s going to be|who will be|who may be|who might be|who seems to be|who is responsible for|the person} {an|a good|a great|the|a|a strong|some sort of|a powerful|a particular|any|an excellent} unre #file_links\keywords5.txt,1,S] stricted {free|totally free|free of charge|no cost|cost-free|absolutely free|zero cost|100 % free|complimentary|free of cost|no charge} {agent|broker|realtor|adviser|representative|real estate agent|professional|advisor|solution|dealer|factor} {for the first time|the very first time|the first time|initially|in my ballet shoes|somebody in charge of|at last|now|responsible for|as a beginner|there’s finally someone} {in his|in the|as part of his|in their|within his|in her|within the|in|on his|during his|with his} {career|profession|job|occupation|vocation|employment|work|professional|livelihood|position|line of work}. ({AP|Elp} Photo/Phelan {M|Michael|Meters|Mirielle|L|T|D|N|E|S|R}. Ebenhack, {File|Document|Record|Report|Data file|Submit|Computer file|Data|Register|Archive|Database})