2005-09-08 
 

compressed mystery

Showering is usually a time of contemplation for me. The warm water washing away the dust and residue of the preceding day activates a certain corner of my mind that often helps me solve a current question or gives me a chance to sort out my reactions to recent events. At other times, I'll suddenly discover the answer to a question I didn't realize I had.

Yesterday's shower brought about the latter sort of revelation. That being said, this entry is about to become rather technogeeky, so don't read on if that's going to bore you.

Compressed files have always bothered me. Not because I don't love the concept of getting more for less, but because I couldn't quite get my brain around how they worked. Information bits like 1s and 0s certainly couldn't get any smaller...could they? So, as with many other modern miracles like teleportation of atoms and seedless watermelons, I decided to enjoy the benefits and try not to worry about the how.

That's where the shower comes in. Yesterday, somewhere between the initial soaping up and the shampoo, I was randomly hit with the realization that certain longer strings of information could be categorized and represented by shorter strings of information and thus a larger file could be compressed into a smaller one.

Now the maths behind all this is too much for me to figure out. (Read I'm too lazy to sit down and try to figure it out.) So I googled "compressed files" and found this:
Compression software uses complex mathematical equations to scan a file for repeating patterns in the data. It replaces the data with smaller codes that take up less room.

Which brings me to the point of this entry. Long hot showers may not be the best thing for my skin, but they do wonders for my mind.

Labels: dose of mikey, linkage

* posted by me at 12:51 AM

Comments:

is it the soap or type of shampoo that determines what thought process happens during your shower? I kid :)

# posted by  rich : 9:25 AM, September 11, 2005

 

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