Tuesday, February 24, 2009

new week, new ideas



Algorithms. They've revolutionized fields as diverse as baseball, finance, and biology. But only when that one iconoclastic pioneer had the courage to employ them. I am that pioneer. I lead that vanguard.

The man who can simplify cartoon captions to a mathematical formula will dominante. I will now propose and test an algorithm.

1) Look at cartoon image
2) Find the incongruous thing
3) Choose a noun related to the incongruous thing
4) Go to rhymer.com and find words that rhyme with the noun of part 3 (note: I am in no way affiliated with this website)
5) Is someone in the image speaking?
6) Can this person be saying a rhyme identified in part 4?
7) I allow for some creative license here
8) Enter the New Yorker cartoon caption contest

Let's try it on the above image.

1) O.K.
2) Cats are stacked up
3) Totem pole
4) buxom, whoredom, hokum, condom, datum, eardrum, bedlam, flotsam
5) Yes
6) Yes, although none of the "rhymes" have anything to do with cats, and many of them seem actually not to rhyme at all
7) Hmm
8) "They seem to have formed a flotsam pole."

5 comments:

  1. you should link each cartoon to the contest page so that my life is easier.

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  2. :)
    i prefer rhymezone myself.
    you could always just add an -em to a word that rhymes with 'tote' like 'they seem to be forming a float-em pole' or 'they seem to be demanding my attention with a dote-em pole' but you know actually sensical and/or funny. actually those things may be anti-requirements of winners, but you know what i mean.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "The cats are being gay again."

    ReplyDelete
  4. http://www.newyorker.com/humor/polls/cartoonidontgetit/081103sh_shouts

    ReplyDelete