OK, OK, I’ll stop ;-)

In the images at the METACOW site, those small protuberances underneath the COW (source of the MILK factors) are up-turned L-shaped membranes (they are MATLAB-compatible COW’s after all).

Computer navigation system declares “return to normality”. Arthur: “You can talk about normal ’til the cows come home”. Ford: “What’s normal?”. Trillian: “Where’s home?”. Zaphod: “What are cows?” (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).

Thus:

COW matrix: C(i,j) is the ij-th Coefficient Of Wavelet basis.

“return to normality”: an orthogonalization process that ensures all columns of C(i,j) are orthonormal.

“Normal”: two cows at right angles to each other. Exercise left to the reader (see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tipping , not to be confused with tipping the waiter-COW at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe).

“Home”: see “doc clc” and “doc home” … returns the CURSOR (COW User Reference for Status Output Recall) to the upperleft most corner of the Command Pasture.

Dihydrogen Monoxide: a dangerous chemical regulated by the FDA. Introduction of this chemical is prohibited by the FDA into the COW output matrix (also known as the Modifield Incomplete LK factorization, or MILK). However, there is no constraint on the introduction of this chemical into the COW matrix prior to generation of the MILK output. See www.dhmo.org for more details.

I know what I hope I get in my stocking this year….