Hack-o-Lantern

Earlier this week, my wife and I carved pumpkins. Lacking any semblance of artistic skill, I traced a circular object nine times onto the face of my pumpkin, carved out five holes, and ran a dremel around the other four. My wife's handiwork on the left is more aesthetically pleasing.




The Glider is one of the smallest moving self-perpetuating patterns in Conway's Game Of Life, which is a zero-player game that functions as a demonstration of cellular automation. It has a few very simple rules. In 2003, Eric S. Raymond proposed that hackers adopt the glider as their emblem. Read his Hacker Emblem FAQ to figure out why he thinks it's a good emblem. I agree with most of it, and I'm completely fascinated by Conway's Game Of Life. So this is just plain cool to me on many levels. Here's a java implementation of Life for you to tinker with.

Let's see your pumpkins!