# 2013 Year in Reverse

Author: Zack M. Davis
Originally published: 2013-12-31
Category: meta
Tags: new year
Canonical URL: https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Dec/2013-year-in-reverse/

Dear reader, as another year comes to a close, it is perhaps wise that we should take a few moments to reflect on what we learned here at _An Algorithmic Lucidity_ in 2013—the year that was!

In the year 2013, this blog saw _103_ posts and (at press time) _40_ comments. Among these—

We heard [a poem about why you should hire me](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Dec/cover-letter/). We surveyed a few [numbers between 0 and 1](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Dec/numbers-between-0-and-1-non-exhaustive-list/). (Friend of the blog [Grognor](https://twitter.com/Grognor) told me that the funniest part was the explicit disclaimer that the list was non-exhaustive. I replied that not everyone knows about the [diagonalization argument](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor%27s_diagonal_argument)—but considering this blog's, um, _selective_ audience, maybe my readers do—all _five_ of you!) We mentioned some [hidden costs of talking about stuff](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Nov/conversational-overhead/). We noted that [some words have substrings which are other words](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Nov/you-cant-spell-x-without-y/). I wrote a series about my experiences studying web development at [App Academy](http://www.appacademy.io) ([9](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Nov/app-academy-diary-week-nine/) [8](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Nov/app-academy-diary-week-eight/) [7](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Oct/app-academy-diary-week-seven/) [6](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Oct/app-academy-diary-week-six/) [5](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Oct/app-academy-diary-week-five/) [4](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Oct/app-academy-diary-week-four/) [3](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Sep/app-academy-diary-week-three/) [2](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Sep/app-academy-diary-week-two/) [1](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Sep/app-academy-diary-week-one/)). I pasted [my first attempt at an OKCupid profile](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Aug/online-dating-profile-first-draft/). We observed that [I'm a moron](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Aug/im-a-moron/). [Books arrived in the post](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Aug/o-glorious-day/). We [mused on the nature of personhood](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Aug/personhood/) and implemented some classic algorithms: the [Ford-Fulkerson technique somewhat clumsily in Ruby](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Aug/ford-fulkerson/), [quicksort in the form of a letter to a fictional horse](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Jul/quicksort-in-fim/), and [Huffman coding in Python](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Jun/huffman/). We [lamented the nature of existence](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Apr/the-horror-of-naturalism/), noticed [the non-observance of an unusual tradition](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Mar/tradition/), and heard [a poem about watching a motion picture by someone you met at university](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Mar/a-possible-future/). [Three problems with unsolicited advice](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Jan/three-problems-with-unsolicited-advice/) were discussed, as was the [role of bases in the theory of vector spaces](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Jan/epiphenomenal-coordinates/), and the [subjective indistinguishability of propaganda and other forms of instruction](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Jan/education-and-indoctrination-feel-the-same-from-the-inside/).

So that was 2013 in the year of our Common Era. But what, I hear you ask (_both_ of you who clicked through after the break), what about twenty-<em>four</em>teen? Having considered the year that was, what of the year that hasn't yet? What is your faithful correspondent thinking about writing [("thinking about writing")](https://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/Dec/thinking-about-writing/)? Well, without giving too much away—and, come to think of it, without much of a track record of successfully predicting my future behavior—I'll say to expect more computer-scientific contrivances and more detailed fiction, but probably somewhat fewer overall posts (this last partially because I'm going to be busy contributing to world economic growth, and partially because I want to put more emphasis on the virtue of Quality rather than the virtue of Shipping). So don't touch that bookmark! The best is yet to come! I thank you for reading, and remain,

Your faithful correspondent,  
Zack M. Davis