An RGB image file, like those used by Corsetti in his analysis, is comprised of a series of data bytes. Three bytes - one red, one green and one blue - represent each pixel in the image. The numerical values of the bytes indicate the color of the pixel.When gzip compresses a file, it looks for multi-byte patterns in the data. It assigns a number to each pattern it finds and maintains a table that pairs patterns with their corresponding numbers. Each time a pattern recurs in the original file, instead of storing the pattern, the compressed file stores the number that represents the pattern. In this way, a pattern tens or even hundreds of bytes long can be represented by a number that is one, two or three bytes long. This is why the compressed file is smaller.Corsetti explains that the biogenic images are more compressible because theyre more predictable or redundant, which can be considered a form of biologic complexity.
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article415.html
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Popular Posts
-
... or, Decemberween. Whatever. http://www.homestarrunner.com/xmas04.html
-
It's been almost exaclty three years since I've updated this blog. In that three years, I've achieved a lot -- I've gone aft...
-
Very dry, dull book with some basic financial info like ROI and cash flow. Not a lot here.
-
Here's my (edited) journal entry for this event dated 12/01/98: Wow. I just sessioned and started reading "The Tao of Physics...
-
"The fish was delish and it made quite a dish." http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail120.html
-
After a year of hell, I've been given a reprieve. I've spent the last year dealing with contracts, negotiation, budgeting, and confl...
-
Kids sick. Hiyat sick. Me sick. Everybody sick. No fun. Seriously. Zack just gets over having baby measels and everybody in the house co...
-
I'm sure someone else has written the rules of business out in terms of the Bushido, but here's my take: Truthfulness You must speak...
-
Somewhere along the way I learned about this magic trick. It was probably from one of those “Owl” magazines you used to get for free or an e...
-
Nother confirmation Of einstein... the first images of light escaping a black hole show that they lose energy. In this case, it was a superm...