Theo Beers
@t6e.dev
Father, husband, Persian/Arabic philologist, programmer
Research software eng. @Drexel, prev. postdoc @FUBerlin
Socdem, civil libertarian, anti-identitarian
https://www.theobeers.com/
Research software eng. @Drexel, prev. postdoc @FUBerlin
Socdem, civil libertarian, anti-identitarian
https://www.theobeers.com/
The date conversion library underlying Muqawwim has always been open-source, but now it's also published in the NPM package registry. I'll put links below. I'm interested in adding more test cases to document the correctness of the code.
November 28, 2025 at 7:44 PM
The date conversion library underlying Muqawwim has always been open-source, but now it's also published in the NPM package registry. I'll put links below. I'm interested in adding more test cases to document the correctness of the code.
Of these two men, neither was stirred by love.
Wisdom was far off, the face of love not seen.
From fishes in the sea to wild horses on
The plain, all beasts can recognize their young.
But man who's blinded by his wretched pride,
Cannot distinguish son from foe.
(tr. Clinton)
Wisdom was far off, the face of love not seen.
From fishes in the sea to wild horses on
The plain, all beasts can recognize their young.
But man who's blinded by his wretched pride,
Cannot distinguish son from foe.
(tr. Clinton)
November 27, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Of these two men, neither was stirred by love.
Wisdom was far off, the face of love not seen.
From fishes in the sea to wild horses on
The plain, all beasts can recognize their young.
But man who's blinded by his wretched pride,
Cannot distinguish son from foe.
(tr. Clinton)
Wisdom was far off, the face of love not seen.
From fishes in the sea to wild horses on
The plain, all beasts can recognize their young.
But man who's blinded by his wretched pride,
Cannot distinguish son from foe.
(tr. Clinton)
The work goes on. I already post about these Shāhnāma projects as I make progress on them; a talk is a good way to force myself to keep moving forward.
November 14, 2025 at 6:37 PM
The work goes on. I already post about these Shāhnāma projects as I make progress on them; a talk is a good way to force myself to keep moving forward.
Xunzi on serving as minister to a ruler: “Treat him like riding an unbroken horse, like caring for a newborn, like feeding a starving person.”
I have often been reminded of Ghaznavid court literature while reading Xunzi.
I have often been reminded of Ghaznavid court literature while reading Xunzi.
October 30, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Xunzi on serving as minister to a ruler: “Treat him like riding an unbroken horse, like caring for a newborn, like feeding a starving person.”
I have often been reminded of Ghaznavid court literature while reading Xunzi.
I have often been reminded of Ghaznavid court literature while reading Xunzi.
The one context in which I've ever used bubble sort for real. Does anyone recognize this function? I asked a few LLMs, and they all identified it at once.
Bonus question: how much better can this be done?
Bonus question: how much better can this be done?
August 3, 2025 at 8:42 PM
The one context in which I've ever used bubble sort for real. Does anyone recognize this function? I asked a few LLMs, and they all identified it at once.
Bonus question: how much better can this be done?
Bonus question: how much better can this be done?
For those who use Claude Desktop or similar MCP clients (a niche group, I know): I just wrote an MCP server to facilitate use of my API for Steingass' Persian-English dictionary. It works! A link to the GitHub repo with installation instructions:
github.com/theodore-s-b...
github.com/theodore-s-b...
July 31, 2025 at 8:24 PM
For those who use Claude Desktop or similar MCP clients (a niche group, I know): I just wrote an MCP server to facilitate use of my API for Steingass' Persian-English dictionary. It works! A link to the GitHub repo with installation instructions:
github.com/theodore-s-b...
github.com/theodore-s-b...
I recently trained an ML model, fine-tuning XLM-RoBERTa and using data from Ganjoor, to predict the meter of a hemistich of classical Persian poetry. Still early days, but results are promising. Perhaps colleagues will find this interesting. Model on Hugging Face:
huggingface.co/katomyomachi...
huggingface.co/katomyomachi...
July 29, 2025 at 7:43 PM
I recently trained an ML model, fine-tuning XLM-RoBERTa and using data from Ganjoor, to predict the meter of a hemistich of classical Persian poetry. Still early days, but results are promising. Perhaps colleagues will find this interesting. Model on Hugging Face:
huggingface.co/katomyomachi...
huggingface.co/katomyomachi...
Some of you may have noticed that Etymonline's website has been redesigned this year—multiple times, I think.
I try to keep up with changes to their markup so that my `gloss` CLI util still works (link in reply).
I try to keep up with changes to their markup so that my `gloss` CLI util still works (link in reply).
May 20, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Some of you may have noticed that Etymonline's website has been redesigned this year—multiple times, I think.
I try to keep up with changes to their markup so that my `gloss` CLI util still works (link in reply).
I try to keep up with changes to their markup so that my `gloss` CLI util still works (link in reply).
I have a very simple paper in this issue on occasional literature that recently came out (with a backdated publication date). There are some fascinating studies in this collection; just please don't read too much into mine if you happen to look at it.
riviste.unimi.it/index.php/in...
riviste.unimi.it/index.php/in...
February 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
I have a very simple paper in this issue on occasional literature that recently came out (with a backdated publication date). There are some fascinating studies in this collection; just please don't read too much into mine if you happen to look at it.
riviste.unimi.it/index.php/in...
riviste.unimi.it/index.php/in...
I named her Samak when I adopted her in the fall of 2011 because I was taking Frank Lewis’ Samak-e ‘Ayyār seminar. She lives with my parents now (never moved to Germany) but is doing well, finding warm spots in a big house.
December 24, 2024 at 5:51 PM
I named her Samak when I adopted her in the fall of 2011 because I was taking Frank Lewis’ Samak-e ‘Ayyār seminar. She lives with my parents now (never moved to Germany) but is doing well, finding warm spots in a big house.
I lost most of a work day to learn that I had to add these lines to a config file
December 19, 2024 at 3:30 AM
I lost most of a work day to learn that I had to add these lines to a config file
A couple years ago I bought one of these old Bell telephones, and this week I finally got an ATA and a number from a VoIP provider. The ringtone is quite nostalgia-inducing.
December 14, 2024 at 2:43 PM
A couple years ago I bought one of these old Bell telephones, and this week I finally got an ATA and a number from a VoIP provider. The ringtone is quite nostalgia-inducing.
Classical music provides the best reference points for prodigy. Mendelssohn wrote this string octet at age sixteen, as a birthday present for a friend. One of my favorite passages in the first movement (starts quiet)…
I listen to a lot of Mendelssohn in the cold season and will post more.
I listen to a lot of Mendelssohn in the cold season and will post more.
December 10, 2024 at 3:05 PM
Classical music provides the best reference points for prodigy. Mendelssohn wrote this string octet at age sixteen, as a birthday present for a friend. One of my favorite passages in the first movement (starts quiet)…
I listen to a lot of Mendelssohn in the cold season and will post more.
I listen to a lot of Mendelssohn in the cold season and will post more.
Looked at this colophon again today, from the oldest dated copy of the Arabic Kalīla wa-Dimna, ms. Ayasofya 4095 in the Süleymaniye Library. The date is perhaps not impressively early: the first day (mustahall) of Jumādā II 618, i.e., ~23 July 1221 CE.
November 18, 2024 at 11:20 PM
Looked at this colophon again today, from the oldest dated copy of the Arabic Kalīla wa-Dimna, ms. Ayasofya 4095 in the Süleymaniye Library. The date is perhaps not impressively early: the first day (mustahall) of Jumādā II 618, i.e., ~23 July 1221 CE.
Thought of this when I saw the photos of Biden's meeting with Trump
November 13, 2024 at 5:35 PM
Thought of this when I saw the photos of Biden's meeting with Trump
Giving a talk next Tuesday at NYU, on the source(s) of Qāniʿī Ṭūsī's 7th/13th c. versification of Kalīla and Dimna. It is a hybrid event.
November 13, 2024 at 5:03 AM
Giving a talk next Tuesday at NYU, on the source(s) of Qāniʿī Ṭūsī's 7th/13th c. versification of Kalīla and Dimna. It is a hybrid event.
Got a nice commit hash earlier today
November 12, 2024 at 8:58 PM
Got a nice commit hash earlier today
