Leon's Random Generators

RSS Feed of New Words

2006-02-26T21:51:00.000-08:00

I've just made it easier to get a view of the words coming into the database: an RSS feed. Put http://leonatkinson.com/random/index.php/new-words in your favorite aggregator (I use Thunderbird) and you'll get a daily report on the words added.

Band Names as Concert Posters

2005-11-12T13:03:00.000-08:00

Check out the new design for the band name generator. Gone is the ancient red-blue rainbow. Here now are random images with names overlaid in in a style of a concer poster.

Down, Down, Down

2005-06-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like the new functionality for voting words out of the database is getting some attention. I see that the work 'a' as singular noun is just one vote away from getting kicked out. The uncapitalized 'african' has been stuck needing seven votes for a while. Maybe I ought to drop the level down to 5 from 10.

Marko writes, "Your band name generator is awesome. I love it. I just have one problem: please change the background colors on the song lyrics generator. I can only read the last bottom lines!"

Really? Anyone else have this problem? Should I rip out the weird coloring?

Kirk writes, "You shouldn't let people add new words."

I think it's working well so far. This voting words out thing has legs, I tell you.

An anonymous person said, "Erm, at the risk of looking stupid, this site just confuses me... and the jokes... they aren't funny.."

It's funny to give people like this stuff out of the generators without telling them what it is.

Obi Wan Seven Beard writes, "I enjoy thsi site and adding words to it's database... thank you for your cooperation."

Move along.

Vote 'em Down!

2005-05-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

I added code last night to allow you to vote against a word. Once it has too many votes against it, it stops showing up in the generators. Let's see how well this works.

Hardening I lip, hardening I might

2005-05-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Herman asks, "I would like to commend you on the great random generators! I am wondering if you still do updates on it?"

Thank you, and yes.

Chris says, "I am the lead guitarist and vocalist for Super 17, a Band out of Melbourne, Australia....Is there a copyright law on Randomly Generated Files/Data/Stuff etc.?"

The text is all random. I don't claim any copyright on it. The images in the random comics are the ownership of the people who made them and can only be used for that exact purpose.

Ryan told me, "Hi. You may remember me. I wrote a song called Skull Cracking Windchime using lyrics from your random lyrics generator. You may be interested to know that Skull Cracking Windchime was played on the radio. It was number one on Louisville's local music show's request list for two weeks. I still perform it live, and I always plug your site."

Awesome! Ryan's band is Thirtysilver. You can email him to buy a copy of the CD.

It would be interesting if there were a compilation CD of songs inspired by the random generators.

Harry Cheesman writes, "My name is Harry Cheesman. At the following link amongst lots of famous people's names I saw my name! How is this?" And then he links to the dump of the database.

OK, who put Harry Cheesman's name in the database?

Another Chris said, "I have just found out that you are a googlewhack. It means that you are the only person who has the two words antidisenstablishmentarianism and hermaphrodite on your website."

It's a side effect of that database dump. It's attracting lots of strange google traffic, I guess. There are probably many, many googlewhacks from the database. For example, I found "trepidatiously tribally" pretty easily.

Craig asks, "What language are you coding in?"

I think the answer you want is PHP. There's a good book about it called Core PHP Programming.

Craig continues, "I started a new random URL site called CraigsRandomWebsite.com and would really really really appreciate it if you mentioned it on your site or in your blog. I also have other 'random' content that your readers might enjoy."

I thought the Jokes with Realistic Endings article on Something Awful was hillarious. It kind of reminded me of the random jokes. Maybe I should see if there are a few more patterns to pull out and put into the generator.

SCIgen - An Automatic CS Paper Generator

2005-04-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a cute generator of Computer Science papers I found through boingboing.net.

Alternative to Lorem Ipsum greeking?

2005-04-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

Mark Frauenfelder posted on BoingBoing.net about a generator that makes random text in hillbilly-speak. But we know the random essays at Leon's Random Generators are better. And if you want your greek to look like it was written by a hillbilly, use Samuel Stoddard's Dialectizer in redneck mode.

Comment Round Up

2005-04-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a fake dialog that makes it seem like comments I've received from the past year or so were delivered in a public forum.

Kalle Christiansen: There are many words in your database that don't actually exist. I propose you delete those words. Just a thought.

Leon: It's impossible to delete something that doesn't exist. However, there is a problem with garbage in the database. I've been ruminating about how to resolve this without me having to edit the words. My best idea so far is to allow words to be voted out of use.

Marcus: At last! A site that celebrates the lunacy of language, that can transport me to parallel worlds with ridiculous characters and unlikely scenarios. Thank you. It's good to know there are people out there that appreciate this kind of thing. Surreal bellylaughs.

Mark Summers: Thats not necessarily the correct adhesive!

Marcus: This is great but it would be nice if people were smart enough to understand correct grammar when entering their own words into the database. Even nonsense should make sense, if you know what I mean. It's so annoying to see singular nouns instead of plural nouns etc. Otherwise great fun.

Leon: I know.

Jimmy: Hey..love the generators! They're awesome! Keep up the great work. Anyway, I have a new generator to suggest. I think a random screen name generator would be cool. Just a thought.

Leon: Use the band name generator and remove the spaces.

Rita: I like the new look. When you add a word that is already in the list of words, does it show up more?

Leon: No. A work is in or out and they are all equally weighted.

Rita: I think one of your links is broken. It is on "News".

Leon: Yeah, I think that's right.

Chris: Theres a lot of really dumb words that look like they were added by teenagers that just [mess] up the system. I think any time spent filtering those out would be well spent.

Leon: Rotten Teenagers!

Adwanoc: Your site is very well made. Your random generators are a constant source of entertainment and inspiration. Your existence makes the Internet a little more worthwhile. Thank you for all the times your site has helped me write lyrics, name a band, or tell a joke.

Leon: You're welcome.

Emilio: I'm from Argentina and now studying in the USA. Found your website recently, It's quite amusing. I'm particularly interested in the topic of random comic generation. I hope you don't mind that I linked to your page from mine (http://www.randomcomics.netfirms.com/). A reciprocal link will be appreciated if you think it's linkworthy.

Leon: Ha ha! Yes.

Jaana: Hey, I'm new to this site but have been writing songs and singing for a really long time and was wondering, how can I make them into songs myself? Just woundering. Thanx!

Leon: Uhm, generate some random lyrics. Generate a random chord progression. Make up a melody. Record yourself singing the lyrics to the melody while playing the chord progression on a guitar or piano.

Leon: Happy New Year! Those are the most interesting comments from last year.

Blog Launched

2005-04-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

I get a regular stream of comments on the random generators. I hope the blog format will allow me to share the funny ones that don't require a response to the author and to respond publicly to the others.