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An Iambic Pentameter Checker in JavaScript

January 15, 2024

iambic, javascript, literature, programming

My iambic pentameter generator has been one of the most popular posts of the blog. To be honest, I’m not sure if that’s still the case or not. Since I completely revamped the blog (actually even earlier), I removed Google and Jetpack analytics. In any case, today we’ll be looking at, essentially, the reverse scenario: We’re making a very simple iambic pentameter checker.

Just in case you need a reminder, an iambic pentameter line consists of ten syllables, of which every other is stressed. For instance, “And you, my sinews, grow not instant old” (from Hamlet).

So, how can we create a JavaScript iambic pentameter checker that tells us if a line is an iambic pentameter or not?

iambic pentameter checker, AI render of Shakespeare using a computer — I couldn’t resist using AI to generate this image of Shakespeare using a laptop. Like all tools, AI tools can be fun and useful, if one understands their limitations…

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Individuality and Capitalism: Lessons From Remaking my Website

November 13, 2023

Home For Fiction, Programming, Society

capitalism, home for fiction, programming, society

7 comments

For a long time I’ve been meaning to revamp Home for Fiction. When I put it together back in 2017, I was in the middle of defending my doctoral dissertation, and I had no time or energy for coding, so I simply picked a ready template. Recently, I finally decided to modify it, and the process was thoroughly revealing. From all things, it also taught me a thing or two about individuality, capitalism, and how society is becoming increasingly more dysfunctional.

Yeah, I know; all this from putting together some web pages?

But, in the end, that’s why we need to be experiencing the world around us before we write: in order to discover the connections that lie there unnoticed.

So, in this post, I’ll briefly explain my motivation in changing some things and, above all, what it taught me about individuality and capitalism. And we’ll begin precisely from this point.

individuality and capitalism – cartoon of Punning Walrus in front of computer — This image holds *meta-* value, because the inclusion of my **Punning Walrus cartoon** was one of the motivating factors behind modifying the Home for Fiction website

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Digital Literacy and Old Age: an Irrelevant Correlation

September 25, 2023

Programming, Society

computer, ignorance, programming, society

4 comments

There is a persistent but fallacious belief regarding digital literacy: “Old people can’t use computers”. Not only is this hilariously wrong, it also has some dangerous consequences that we’ll see in this post.

The truth is, you simply can’t… simplify things and treat any group of people as if they were a homogeneous lump. There are people who are old and can’t even turn on a computer, and there are people like Grace Hopper, who was recalled from retirement (twice!) to work on the US Navy’s IT infrastructure.

Obviously enough, there are many gradations in between, too. There are old people who perhaps can’t program but who can still use a computer. There are also old people who know how to turn on the computer, somewhat use it, but would be unable to troubleshoot it the moment something goes awry.

But all that isn’t very important.

Instead, what is important is to understand the dangers of correlating digital literacy to age – either old or young.

If you googled “old person using computer”, you’d get plenty of stock images of old people struggling in front of a screen, sitting next to a younger person, or holding a credit card and looking confused. Instead of perpetuating such stereotypes, here’s an image of Commodore Grace M. Hopper, nickname “Grandma COBOL“.

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