> On Jan 9, 2017, at 10:51 AM, Phil Pugliese (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
>
> But starting from the very beginning there always were 'weird' systems that made me think, "Huh, wonder how that system came to be that way?”

There’s an article on system generation in “Challenge” where (iirc) Dave Nilsen described most of the systems in the First and Second Surveys as ‘generated by a computer with its random number generator stuck in a groove’ or something like that.

The data bears this out, there’s an amazing lack of variability in the official 3I, except for the Spinward Marches which was heavily hand-edited.

There’s been a lot of handwavium alloy welded on to these systems over the years to explain away the weirder ones..

--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs