ConwayLife.com

GUYTU6J wrote:Add two terms:B-52 bomber(Why it is a bomber?)
and AK-47 reaction(Is that just because AK-47 gun is famous? )

Just because guns are named after weapons, and their names show the period of the gun.

How about trafffic light?

GUYTU6J wrote:How about trafffic light?

It's composed with blinkers.

For [[minus zero]] ,I know that the beehive looks like a minus sign and the rest looks like a zero,but what does [] mean?

Alexey_Nigin wrote:
Ecologist

It has a huge spark that can be used to delete debris.

Code: Select all

x = 27, y = 18, rule = b3/s23
bo2bo5b2o15b$o8b4o14b$o3bo3b2ob2o14b$4o5b2o16b4$11b2o14b$2b3o7b2o13b$
2bo6bo2bo14b$2bobo6bo15b$3b2o3b2o17b$25b2o$25bob$bo2bo18b3ob$o26b$o3bo
22b$4o!

Let me know if my explanations are not clear enough.

This resembles a real-world ecologist travelling and picking up some life samples,right?

What is this called?

GUYTU6J wrote:For [[minus zero]] ,I know that the beehive looks like a minus sign and the rest looks like a zero,but what does [] mean?

I'm not sure of the specifics but I believe that names surrounded by [[ ]] came from an older list of names where the braces were used to denote that this was not necessarily the accepted name. In any case they're not actually part of the name and you can ignore them with regard to meaning.

GUYTU6J wrote:

Alexey_Nigin wrote:Ecologist

It has a huge spark that can be used to delete debris.

This resembles a real-world ecologist travelling and picking up some life samples,right?

I'm not familiar with the origin of the name but that's a reasonable interpretation.

wildmyron wrote:

GUYTU6J wrote:

Alexey_Nigin wrote:Ecologist

It has a huge spark that can be used to delete debris.

This resembles a real-world ecologist travelling and picking up some life samples,right?

I'm not familiar with the origin of the name but that's a reasonable interpretation.

The ecologist cares about the environment, so it cleans up the debris it leaves behind.

How about do-see-do?

GUYTU6J wrote:How about do-see-do?

That's a dance move, prevalent in Scottish ceilidhs, where two people orbit each other without axial rotation. These gliders exhibit similar behaviour.

Why is cuphook also called "MIT oscillator"?It is not listed in this page.
Also,why "Quadpole on ship"is redirected to "Ship on quadpole"?

EDIT on 2017.1.7 :The Lifeline Volume 1 says,"The M.I.T. group reports a period three oscillator which is unlike any of the five general types (Subclass II) known."The oscillator is cuphook.

GUYTU6J wrote:I decide to translate some English to Chinese,but I don't really understand why these objects are named so.

Here are a few that I either have personal knowledge of, or can make fairly good guesses:

----------still lives----------
aircraft carrier - Real-life aircraft carriers have multiple decks, and the still-life has multiple parts (?).
shillelagh - This is an Irish term for a gnarled walking stick. The still-life looks curved and gnarly.
----------osc p2----------
by flops - "bi" (2) + "y" (y-like ends) + "flops" (griddle-like flip-flops on each side).
why not - Similar to, but "not" by flops. One of the ends looks like a "y" ("why").
cha cha - The second in a similarly-named series of oscillators; the clock is the first. The oscillators consist of fixed stators, with moving ends that resemble legs kicking in a dance line (i.e. doing the "cha cha" dance).
----------osc p3----------
candelabra - Resembles a candle-holder with flickering candle-flames (i.e. the rotor) inside.
candlefrobra - This sounds like M.I.T-speak for "candelabra-thing". (They use "frob" as a generic term meaning "thing").
caterer - It supplies (i.e. caters) a point-spark.
biting off more than they can chew - two eaters attempt to eat a pond, but never quite succeed.
stillater - An oscillator within a still-life (?).
protein - Found by David Buckingham, who was a chemistry student.
hustler - A billiard table oscillator. (A professional billiard player is sometimes called a hustler).
jam - Something that one finds on a loaf (i.e. bread, as in real life). The rotor resembles a spoon and knife - used to apply the jam and spread it on bread.
(I recently coined the term "mango jam" for jam variants that grow on mangos rather than loaves).
----------other osc----------
mold,p4 - Something that grows on a loaf (as mold does, in real life)
mazing,p4 - When David Buckingham discovered this, Peter Raynham commented, "That's amazing!". This was turned into a pun, i.e. "That's A Mazing", based on a TV commercial from that era, whose punchline was, "That's amazing!", "No, that's a Volvo!".
jack,p4 - Probably because it resembles a hydraulic jack.
penny lane,p4 - Found by David Buckingham, who was a fan of the Beatles, who had a song by that name.
siesta,p5 - A variant of Sombreros.
chemist,p5 - Found by David Buckingham, a chemistry student.
mathematician,p5 - Found by David Buckingham (see Chemist).
technician,p5 - Found by David Buckingham (see Chemist).
pentoad,p5 - A period 5 oscillator ("pent"), whose rotor resembles a toad in one phase.
pentant,p5 - A period 5 oscillator ("pent")
$rats,p6 - Found by David Buckingham. "Rats!" was his favorite expletive. We also used "$" a lot. As far as I know, this is the only named Life pattern whose name contains a non-alphanumeric character.
extremely impressive,p6 - David Buckingham discovered this pattern, which appears to be a billiard table, but whose side actually collapses - and then, impressively, reforms itself.
burloaferimeter,p7 - Our group erroneously called the Loaf a Bread Loaf, which was shortened to Br'loaf, then burloaf, and this was David Buckingham's favorite pattern. When he found this period 7 oscillator, which was the very first known oscillator of this period, he gave it this name, becuause the "burloaf"'s population "measured" the period of this oscillator.
airforce,p7 - In one phase, the rotor is identical to an Aircraft Carrier
hebdarole,p7 - "hebda" is a variant of Greek "hepta", 7.
R2D2,p8 - The diamond-shaped oscillator posted above is the stator variant found by Peter Raynham, which I don't think he named. A different stator variant has table-like legs on one side, so when rotated 90 degrees, it vaguely resembles a can, or (specifically), the R2D2 droid from Star Wars.
jolson,p15 - One of the phases resembles the actor Al Jolson wearing blackface.
eureka,p30 - This was (I believe) the very first pre-pulsar hassler found. "Eureka!" is Greek for "I found it!", which Archimedes exclaimed when he discovered the effect of mass displacing water.
zweiback,p30 - Zweiback is a German term meaning "twice baked", and refers to a certain kind of toasted bread that is baked twice. In this oscillator, a loaf (i.e. "bread") is hassled by each sparker twice before being flipped over. (I'm actually quite embarrassed about this one - I found it, and named it for the above reason. Then, a year later, having totally forgotten that I had found it, I found it again, and renamed it to the same name for the same reason!)
hectic,p30 - Two gliders hectically bounce off four shuttles.
gourmet,p32 - A pi heptomino is "cooked" several times as it cycles around.
6 bits,p75 - In American slang, "2 bits" is 25 cents, so 6 bits is 75 cents - the period of this oscillator.
centinal,p100 - This oscillator has a period of 100 ("cent"). This is also a pun on "sentinel".
----------other----------
titanic toroidal traveler - The name is alliteration (all letters start with T). This is a puffer that travels on a torus.
washerwoman - A fuse that consumes tubs. In real life, a washer woman would wash laundry in a tub.
thunderbird - The explosion this causes resembles the Thunder Bird of native American folklore.
caber tosser - A caber is a pole that is thrown (e.g. as a Scottish sport). A caber tosser moves (i.e. tosses) an object further and further away from the central mechanism.
wasp,p3 ship - A wasp is a flying insect. Spaceships are often named after flying things.
enterprise,p4 ship - A spaceship that vaguely resembles the Enterprise, a star ship from Star Trek.
hammerhead,p4 ship - A hammerhead shark has a head that resembles a hammer, with eyes that extend out far to the left and right. The head of this spaceship extends out to the sides in a similar fashion.
lumps of muck - This methuselah starts out small, and grows into two separate messy patterns ("muck").
quetzal - In Mexican mythology, the Quetzalcoatl is a feathered flying snake. Herschel conduit guns are possible for any period 62 and higher. Unfortunately, at lower periods, the escaping gliders get too close to subsequent herschels to escape. Such conduits can be constructed in such a way that they do not emit gliders. These are called emus (i.e. in real life, emus are flightless birds). It is possible, by using special techniques, to coax gliders out of herschel conduits from periods 57 through 61, thus "giving them flight".
t-tetsons - These are named after the T tetromino engines. I am not sure where "tetson" comes from.
ecologist,p20 ship - This is a puffer train that "cleans up" its own debris, making it a clean spaceship. People who visit areas and leave no garbage are "ecologically friendly".
mosquito - A series of quadratically growing patterns. In real life, mosquitos are insects that reproduce very rapidly.
birthday puffer - I'm not sure. It's possible that Adam P. Goucher found this on his birthday.
Hertz oscillator - Named after Heinrich Hertz, who proved the existence of electromagnetic waves. The unit of measurement of frequency (i.e. cycles per second) bears his name. Oscillators in electronics are categorized by their frequency, in hertz.
B-52 bomber - The base mechanism turns every 52 generations. The U.S. Airforce has a war plane called a B-52 bomber.
AK-47 - The base mechanism turns every 47 generations, and releases a glider, making this a modulus-47 gun. There is a famous Russian machine gun called an AK-47.

Wow, this is very entertaining long list. Enjoyed reading it. Thanks!

mniemiec wrote:hebdarole,p7 - "hebda" is a variant of Greek "hepta", 7.

Perhaps it also has something to do with fumarole?

mniemiec wrote:wasp,p3 ship - A wasp is a flying insect. Spaceships are often named after flying things.

Also a wasp has a sting on its tail... (Come to think of it, a wasp can sting multiple times, right? Not sure if that's intended.)

Wasp: It produces a domino spark behind it that may be thought of as a sting
Queen bee: It produces beehives. Queen bees make beehives with help from worker bees.
5blink: The 5 comes from the period of the oscillator (5), and it has a blinker.
Sparky: It has lots of sparks in a phase.
Unicycle: It is composed of 4 unices arranged in a cycle
Sixty-nine: It's an oscillator with 69 cells in all of its phases.
Rattlesnake: The oscillator has a snake for a rock and "Rattlesnake" has 11 letters, which is the same as the period.

mniemiec wrote:Here are a few that I either have personal knowledge of, or can make fairly good guesses:

[[A lot of text]]

A couple of typos: Eureka is "I found it", not "U found it", and "Quetzalcouatl" should be "Quetzalcoatl". I really found all of those interesting, though.

mniemiec wrote: stillater - An oscillator within a still-life (?).

When there is only one living cell in the rotor,there are two ways to change it into a still life. None of these have appeared on Catagolue yet

Does the name "Orion" come from the constellation?
And how about "Long prodigal"?

I can't find the link but the "prodigal" family has been explained on these forums before. Basically, some math people were trying to devise a parallel notion to the integral, where the continuous infinite sum became a continuous infinite product, with terms raised to the power of an infinitesimal. The symbol used was very similar to the shape of a still life so the still life got the name prodigal.

I saw it in this page.

The name "Laputa" comes from the famous novel Gulliver's Travels.
Why is the name given to an oscillator instead of a spaceship that really looks like a floating island?

Remain unexplained Edition on 2019.07.08:add "pyrotechnecium" and remove "wavefront"

Why those patterns that can be easily constructed with a slow salvo are called Spartan?

GUYTU6J wrote:Add two terms: B-52 bomber and AK-47 reaction

Both are relatively well-known terms that correspond to the duration of the reaction (NOT the final oscillator)
The B-52 and AK-47 reactions take 52 and 47 generations, respectively.

GUYTU6J wrote:Why those patterns that can be easily constructed with a slow salvo are called Spartan?

Sparta was a warrior society in ancient Greece, a hundred miles west of Athens, who were famously devoted to keeping things simple. Even nowadays, living without a lot of stuff or having mostly empty rooms might be referred to as a "Spartan lifestyle" or "Spartan decor". Paul Chapman and I picked out the simplest (well, almost) set of stable objects that Conway's Life logic circuitry could be built out of, and decided to refer to them as "Spartan", and it seems as if the name has stuck.

Wavefront

A duoplet propagates through the oscillator like a wavefront.