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Algorithm Glitch Voids Outcome of US Green Card Lottery
jayminer writes "Results for the United States Diversity Visa Lottery for 2012 were declared void due to a programming glitch in the random selection algorithm. At first, the results were published as promised on May, 1st. Then, on May, 6th, the results were withdrawn with the web site claiming to experience 'technical difficulties.' Today (May, 13th), it is declared that the results are invalid due to an algorithm glitch; the computer program has been fixed and the lottery will be re-run. The final results are expected to be published July 15th."
Picking 90% of the winners from the first two days of applicants is not great, yes.
Give them credit for owning up to their mistakes, at least. It could be worse -- it's widely believed that the 1969 draft lottery was so un-random that people born in later months were dramatically more likely to be picked for an early draft!
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
Wonder if this was offshored to a country that was eligible to be part of this lottery. Could be ironic, paradoxical or just plain funny.
Karma: Can only be portioned out by the Cosmos.
Wait, what! The visa lottery is real?? I thought it was just SPAM. This raises so many questions.
1. Why?
2. What is purpose of that? Larry Niven style luck evolution?
3. And why are you spamming people about it?
4. Really, why is the US sending out thousands of SPAM emails about it.
5. And last, but not least: WTF?
....to use /dev/urandom rather than the built-in rand() function?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Technically, the results were indeed random. If you get results based on a bug or glitch in your algorithm, those are obviously the results you weren't expecting. Unexpected results are, by definition, random. Who could have predicted the glitch? The results then were not "random" enough because they weren't the results you were expecting? Give me a break.
How would you feel if you got a notice saying you got a green card, but then two days later were told "sorry, just kidding."? The second batch of people might not want to celebrate just yet.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
YAY! My golden ticket to get off the plantation!
You're a free man now
No general, I's expensive!
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
http://xkcd.com/221/
They had
This is why you always put the constant value on the left-hand side.
Um, a pending past?
Bob Slydell: So we just went ahead and fixed the glitch.
Bill Lumbergh: Great.
Dom Portwood: So, uh, Milton has been let go?
Bob Slydell: Well, just a second there, professor. We, uh, we fixed the *glitch*. So he won't be receiving a paycheck anymore, so it'll just work itself out naturally.
Bob Porter: We always like to avoid confrontation, whenever possible. Problem is solved from your end.
Or it could be like the first FFXI Mog Lottery, in which all "random" numbers selected for PS2 users followed the pattern "even odd even odd even" meaning it was impossible for anyone on PS2 to win anything, since the (truly random) winning numbers all broke that pattern somehow.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/2848/dilberttourofaccounting.png
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
Um, a pending past?
It means you have to leave the QED box unchecked on the lottery form.
Also, Goobacks.
They took our jobs!
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
My girlfriend was one of the initial winners. I don't have to tell you how furious/disappointed we both are.
The incompetence demonstrated by the State Department is fucking mind boggling. They have 6 months to draw winners, sample the results -make sure everything is OK. They don't. Instead of drawing 100,000 applicants they draw 22,000 most of which were no randomly drawn, but were among the first to apply. They post the results and after a week shut down the website with no explanation. People email the Kentucky Consular Center to make sure everything is OK before they send in their documents (It can be very expensive for internationally tracked packages, especially from people all around the world-many of whom are not well off.) The KCC emails people telling them everything is fine and to continue sending in documents, even they know at this point that the whole lottery is a clusterfuck. Then they announce that the first drawing was not random and has been disqualified.
Why wouldn't the State Department at least try to request permission from congress to increase the number of VISAs awarded to 75,000 up from 50,000 or randomly draw another 78,000 names to that 78,000 would be random and the initial 22,000 would be less random.
It just seems so unfair to announce winners and then revoke that announcement two weeks later, all the while telling people everything is OK.
Saved the best for last: The State Dept has announced that they will not be taking disciplinary action against anyone involved in the "Incorrect results" being posted. I would like to know of any other job on the planet where you can fuck up 15 million visa applications, blame a computer for what clearly is a persons job to ensure the results are accurate before posting them, and not even receive disciplinary action.
David Donahue should resign in shame and Hillary Clinton should make a public apology at the very minimum
That nobody's made a Debian/OpenSSL joke yet...
Would you be screaming for heads to be cut off?
Your girlfriend was selected in an unfair lottery. It wouldn't be right to let all that stand.
How do you know the KCC was informed the results weren't accurate at the point they were telling people to send in their documents?
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Selecting the best would be elitist, and we can't have that.
Granting green cards to every English-speaking non-muslim would be seen as unconstitutional or something, even if it would be practical and go over rather well.
We simply can't pick and choose without being politically incorrect, and thus the lottery.
I believe that would be pending charges or an active investigation.
Random numbers should not be generated with a method chosen at random The Art of Computer Programming, Vol 2 (emphasis in original)
"Hay you want to be a real American? You won! You can has citizenship!"
Then later..."LOL YHBT UMAD?"
Some immigrants have a better work ethic and will create their own jobs.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Yes, the algorithm for choosing green card recipients is flawed. It should be:
if (applicant.wanted_for_crime = false) then
grant_green_card(applicant);
else
human_review(applicant)
end
On a more serious note, does anyone know what the error was?
But how about we just cancel the whole darn thing?
I'm going to assume that most of you here are Americans. And as such, you probably feel like America kicks butt and that we rock and everyone wants to come here (and you'd be correct). You've probably heard how it's REALLY HARD to come to America legally and probably have some view on illegal immigration. What you probably aren't aware of, because you've probably never tried, is just how difficult it is to immigrate to other countries.
These same countries that are condemning our immigration system offer an even more rigid, more unforgiving system. And these are really crappy countries. Countries that, objectively, are the equivalent of a tiny state in the US. 'Hey crappy EU country; you are the size of Iowa and have 1/2 GDP, who exactly are you trying to keep out?'
These countries don't have lotteries. They have standards (high standards). Upper middle class, educated, high paying job? If so, you've got a tiny shot....only if you happen to work in one of these 3 professions and only if you can line up a job while on the other side of an ocean. Anything less? No. Marry a citizen. That's it.
It's harder to immigrate into Mexico than it is the US. Stop and think about that for a second. Screw em. You don't want us? Well, we sure as heck don't want you. /Bitter //Really amazed at how difficult it is ///Will almost certainly be an 'illegal alien' in the next six months
The lottery doesn't get people a green card. It gives them the chance to apply for one, an application that may or may not be granted. It's basically just there as a publicity thing, to try to make the US look less judgemental than it really is.
We're talking about computer algorithms here. It's pretty obvious which is the correct usage in that context.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Um, a pending past?
It means you have to leave the QED box unchecked on the lottery form.
But if I prove I'm innocent, can I still check the QED box? Or does my last name have to be Feynman for that?
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But if I prove I'm innocent, can I still check the QED box? Or does my last name have to be Feynman for that?
I'm so sorry, but Mr Feynman was a natural born citizen and did not have to submit to this type of lottery. I'm sure if he'd had to at least one of his book would have been devoted to this subject and its inherent complexities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QED_(disambiguation)
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And are somehow still able to get work?
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.