No, D most definitely stands for day in relation to D-Day. There was in fact only one canceled invasion of Normandy and that occurred on June 5, 1945. The original invasion date was scheduled for May but it was pushed back well before the attack was to begin.
Every military operation begins on D-Day and H-Hour. The first reference to D-Day was in World War 1. Since then, the military has used it to siginify the beginning of an operation. There have been many D-Day's besides the one usuaully referred to.
For those who think NASA is no longer up to the task of building a deep space probe, they should be happy to know that New Horizons is being designed, built, and run by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. APL has a fifty year history of building space craft with exactly one catastrophic failure. New Horizons happens to be the only space craft going to the outer planets that has not been built by NASA.
Besides the funding issue, the other main problem with New Horizons is the fact that neither of the two launch platforms (Titan 4, Atlas 5) have been certified. They both, however, did launch successfully last fall.
What your refering to, I believe Microsoft provided free of charge. They basically are donating copies of certain software to those who have taken Software Engineering classes (as best I can tell) so that students will become familiar with Microsoft tools. So this isn't really relevant to the discussion here.
The "Pluto Express" you mentioned is named New Horizons. And it's yet to be canceled. In fact, I sat in on a technical discussion of all its subsystems over the summer. It's still on track to launch sometime around 2007. However, Congress has yet to approve funding for New Horizons so its up in the air whether or not it'll actually fly. That said, development for the probe is still on going.
RIT does not have a Master's Program in Video Game Programming. There is, however, a Master's level class in Video Game Programming. There's a bit of a distinction there. It is part of the Information Technology department.
Yes, you do. In court-ordered breakups due to the violation of antitrust laws, there are very harsh restrictions on what the resulting companies can do. One of those restrictions would most definately be working together. They'd also probably ban aquisitions of other companies as well as cross-licensing. If they do a breakup, it'll be tough.
Given that the trade secret was gotten fradulently and that you knew that it was gotten fradulently, then spreading the trade secret would be a violation of federal law. So you would be responsible for it.
Beatty Machine Corp is a large national company? They were the national champions this year and frankly, before I did FIRST I'd never heard of them. They also happen to be the only repeating national champion FIRST has ever had. And contrary to what you said, students do work on the robots for the winning teams. This is a complaint that's leveled at many of the more prosperous teams without any real truth behind it. The reason most of these teams have better robots and more funding is because of the level of support at the lower levels. It's suprising to find out that the teams that have the most money actually don't get that from corporate. Instead, mid-level managers agree to "eat" the costs associated with the program. The reason they'll do that? Because they're engineers are so supportive of FIRST that they convince their boss to put the money in. I've also seen teams that have lots of money who can do almost nothing. It's not money nor will it ever be.
I think you don't really know what your talking about. A lot of the teams come from innercity urban areas. In particular, the high school we work with (Edison Technical and Occupational High School) is in innercity Rochester, NY. 75% of the school is on free-lunches. And just in Rochester, there are two other city-school teams. Also, three of the Chairman's Award Finalists (the Chairman's Award is the highest award given by FIRST -- it is given to the team that best exhibits the ideals of FIRST) were from innercity Pontiac, MI. I also know of about 20 teams from Manhattan, NY.
There are lots of teams from other areas besides middle class suburbs. Is it easier for teams to be from there? Yes, because a lot of the infrastructure is already there. But it doesn't mean that's where all or even the majority of teams are from. And yes, area's with some sort of engineering infrastructure will have more teams (witness Michican) but that's because of the availability of sponsors.
The FIRST competition is about giving everyone chance. It doesn't matter where you come from or how much money you get. It doesn't even matter whether or not you win anything. It does matter that we're showing high school students that science and engineering are cool and that they really can accomplish something. And that's why I do it.
A bit of info about the FIRST Robotics Competition. The FRC pairs engineering companies and high schools (and colleges in some instances, such as my case) to design and build a robot to score points in a game. There are 6 weeks between when the problem is released and when the robot has to be shipped. After that, there are a series of regionals (13 this year) and a national competition. The robots have to be under 5 feet tall, have a footprint of no more than 30"x36" and weigh no more than a 130 lbs.
The control system used is built by InnovationFIRST. It consists of three Basic Stamp 2X controllers where one is user programmable. These are remote controlled robots but sensor input can be taken from the robot and used to preform certain tasks (for instance, several robots could "autobalance" on this year's bridge).
For more information on FIRST, the following websites might be of interest.
Well, as far as PR stunts go, I doubt this is one. It's not Dean's style in the least. And before you ask, yes, I have met him although I do not know him personally. In fact I saw him last Saturday. Above all things Dean isn't really all that interested in making money anymore. He's more interested in changing the world (witness what he's done for FIRST). R Deka Research, Dean's company, is a completely R&D firm. They do contracts for some companies but I believe most of that's just to pay the bills. The real work is the stuff that Dean directs them to do. The iBot was one thing that Dean directed Deka to work on that was not something a company asked Deka to research. The more important projects Deka does (ie. those started by Dean) are usually too risky for any corporation to want to develop. In all honesty I almost expect Dean to reveal what this new invention is at either FIRST's Kickoff (January) or National Championship (April) next year. As to what it is, my guess is that's it's a Stirling Engine that actually works. They're pretty cool and can burn almost any fuel. Is this as big as they say it is? Knowing Dean, I would bet on it.
Matt Leese
The story I've heard is as follows. I heard it from a fairly reputable source (a Poe historian) but as with any story, it's authenticity is in doubt. Poe was a recovering alcholic. He had finally made his big break in writing by landing a position (editorial I believe) in New York. He was traveling by train and had a layover in Baltimore. It happened to be an election in Baltimore (Mayoral) and I believe this was in the time of the political machines. After he got off the train, someone approached him and offered to buy him a drink. At this point, he said no, because I'm an alcoholic. The man at that point offered him some Baltimore Lemonade. Poe accepted not knowing that it was highly alcoholic. In short, they were able to get Poe drunk and then they proceeded to have him vote at several different precincts. Later, he was found collapsed in a gutter and was then taken to a hospital. He supposedly woke up once, three days later and then died. That's why he's buried in Baltimore. As to the cause of death, the verdict is still out.
If I remember correctly the different flashing colors corresponded to different error codes. I had a list of what they translated to for a short while but lost it farely quickly.
In this case, yes, plurality gave the same winner as the run-off did (usually it's called plurality with elimination). However, there are elections where straight Plurality and Plurality with Elimination give different winners. This of course takes the assumption that they used Plurality with Elimination to decide the winner.
To use plurality with elimination, a preference schedule of voting must be used. In a preference schedule, you rank the candidates. When Plurality with Elimination is used as a voting mechanism, if their is a candidate with a majority of votes, they automatically win. However, if there is no majority, the candidate with the lowest amount of first place votes is eliminated. Then, the first place votes of all other candidates are recalculated with the votes of the people who selected the eliminated candidate going to their second choice. This continues until one candidate has a majority (which is guaranteed in this type of election).
For those who think that the US elections should change to this method, it doesn't really matter very much because we operate under a two party system for the most part (with some notable exceptions) and different voting methods only take effect with more than two candidates (otherwise a simple majority is guaranteed, except for a tie). The other reason this isn't particularly better is that there is no such thing as a perfect method of voting (and yes, that is a mathematical statement). However, certain methods of voting are better than some things than others. If you're more interested in this topic, find a math text book on voting theory.
This is way off topic, but there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution about a presumption of innocence. Instead, I believe the idea comes from Common Law. More specifically, it orginally came from British Common Law (I'm not very sure about this, but I'm fairly certain). That means that the Supreme Court could at some point change its mind about a presumption of innocence (although it is highly doubtful that anything along those lines would ever happen -- I don't believe there is any precedence for over turning such basic Common Law).
How about if we encrypt the source code to deCSS. Then, if the MPAA decrypts said source code, they are in violation of the DMCA. They can't sue us because to get the evidence is against the law.
PBasic is a subset of the BASIC language specifically designed for embedded systems (like robotics). It contains just about all the looping and conditional statements of BASIC and also has constructs for low-level things. It is possible to access individual bytes of words and individual bits of bytes. It also has special commands for using a serial port and sine waves.
As far as I know, PBasic is only available on Parallax's line of Basic Stamp controllers. I personally have used the Basic Stamp II and Basic Stamp IIx. For those interested, these controllers have a wopping 16 bytes of RAM (not a typo) and about 500 bytes of ROM. These run a compiled form of PBasic and as far as I've been able to determine there is a one-to-one correlation between PBasic and machine code. That probably explains the ease of accessing parts of Bytes and Words and also the fact that conditional statements use a goto (i.e. if the condition passes it most goto a certain line of code). PBasic is also limited to 26 variables. It's powerful for what it needs to do and is more or less adequate although I do prefer other languages to it.
If I remember correctly, hazarding the spectators is illegal and grounds for disqualification so I don't think your plan will fly. Why would you want to destroy the corporate sponsors? They provide money and engineers. FIRST is more about engineering than it is about winning.
Unless they come in the kit of parts (they don't), can be purchased from Small Parts Inc (they can't), or are found on the Additional Hardware List (they aren't), then you can't use them. It would also be banned by the rule that bans intentionally damaging other robots. If you haven't gotten the point yet, FIRST is definately not about destroying other robots. It is however about encouraging science and technology by building robots. We are not, I repeat not, Battlebots nor do we have anything to do with them.
A bit of a nit pick, but Kamen did not start the "'bot battle program." What he did start is FIRST which, as the article states, is a program where high school students and engineers (working together) build a robot that plays a game. They do not destroy each other. In fact, there are rules for the competition that specifically designed to stop the destruction of robots (I've participated in FIRST for three years so I should know). We're just not about that kind of thing. We construct, not destroy. Watching a FIRST competition is much better than watching Battlebots.
For those who are interested in seeing one of the FIRST competitions in their area, a schedule is available online. I would encourage everyone to see a competition as they are much more exciting than any sporting event. There are some pictures of robots and some of the competitions. I also encourage people to start their own FIRST teams. If you are a high school student, try to start a team in your high scool. If you're a college student, try to start a college team. If you work for a company, try and get them to either sponsor a team or the FIRST Foundation. This is a very worthwhile program that I participated in for 3 years in high school and am currently trying to start a team at RIT.
Well, I believe US Federal law requires the credit companies cover any fradulent charges over $50. I also believe that there is a limited amount of time where you can report those fradulent purchases (I'm not sure how quickly it is). So, basically, the credit card companies have to eat the cost. Most credit card companies will cover the $50 also but YMMV. Now, debit cards are another matter and I don't believe that fradulent use of a debit card is covered.
Slashdot Mirror
No, D most definitely stands for day in relation to D-Day. There was in fact only one canceled invasion of Normandy and that occurred on June 5, 1945. The original invasion date was scheduled for May but it was pushed back well before the attack was to begin.
Every military operation begins on D-Day and H-Hour. The first reference to D-Day was in World War 1. Since then, the military has used it to siginify the beginning of an operation. There have been many D-Day's besides the one usuaully referred to.
Besides the funding issue, the other main problem with New Horizons is the fact that neither of the two launch platforms (Titan 4, Atlas 5) have been certified. They both, however, did launch successfully last fall.
What your refering to, I believe Microsoft provided free of charge. They basically are donating copies of certain software to those who have taken Software Engineering classes (as best I can tell) so that students will become familiar with Microsoft tools. So this isn't really relevant to the discussion here.
The "Pluto Express" you mentioned is named New Horizons. And it's yet to be canceled. In fact, I sat in on a technical discussion of all its subsystems over the summer. It's still on track to launch sometime around 2007. However, Congress has yet to approve funding for New Horizons so its up in the air whether or not it'll actually fly. That said, development for the probe is still on going.
RIT does not have a Master's Program in Video Game Programming. There is, however, a Master's level class in Video Game Programming. There's a bit of a distinction there. It is part of the Information Technology department.
Yes, you do. In court-ordered breakups due to the violation of antitrust laws, there are very harsh restrictions on what the resulting companies can do. One of those restrictions would most definately be working together. They'd also probably ban aquisitions of other companies as well as cross-licensing. If they do a breakup, it'll be tough.
Given that the trade secret was gotten fradulently and that you knew that it was gotten fradulently, then spreading the trade secret would be a violation of federal law. So you would be responsible for it.
Maryland also does not use the SSN for a driver's license.
Beatty Machine Corp is a large national company? They were the national champions this year and frankly, before I did FIRST I'd never heard of them. They also happen to be the only repeating national champion FIRST has ever had. And contrary to what you said, students do work on the robots for the winning teams. This is a complaint that's leveled at many of the more prosperous teams without any real truth behind it. The reason most of these teams have better robots and more funding is because of the level of support at the lower levels. It's suprising to find out that the teams that have the most money actually don't get that from corporate. Instead, mid-level managers agree to "eat" the costs associated with the program. The reason they'll do that? Because they're engineers are so supportive of FIRST that they convince their boss to put the money in. I've also seen teams that have lots of money who can do almost nothing. It's not money nor will it ever be.
Matt Leese
Team Leader
Team 73
There are lots of teams from other areas besides middle class suburbs. Is it easier for teams to be from there? Yes, because a lot of the infrastructure is already there. But it doesn't mean that's where all or even the majority of teams are from. And yes, area's with some sort of engineering infrastructure will have more teams (witness Michican) but that's because of the availability of sponsors.
The FIRST competition is about giving everyone chance. It doesn't matter where you come from or how much money you get. It doesn't even matter whether or not you win anything. It does matter that we're showing high school students that science and engineering are cool and that they really can accomplish something. And that's why I do it.
Matt Leese
Team Leader
Team 73
The control system used is built by InnovationFIRST. It consists of three Basic Stamp 2X controllers where one is user programmable. These are remote controlled robots but sensor input can be taken from the robot and used to preform certain tasks (for instance, several robots could "autobalance" on this year's bridge).
For more information on FIRST, the following websites might be of interest.
Matt Leese
Team Leader
Team 73
Well, as far as PR stunts go, I doubt this is one. It's not Dean's style in the least. And before you ask, yes, I have met him although I do not know him personally. In fact I saw him last Saturday. Above all things Dean isn't really all that interested in making money anymore. He's more interested in changing the world (witness what he's done for FIRST). R Deka Research, Dean's company, is a completely R&D firm. They do contracts for some companies but I believe most of that's just to pay the bills. The real work is the stuff that Dean directs them to do. The iBot was one thing that Dean directed Deka to work on that was not something a company asked Deka to research. The more important projects Deka does (ie. those started by Dean) are usually too risky for any corporation to want to develop. In all honesty I almost expect Dean to reveal what this new invention is at either FIRST's Kickoff (January) or National Championship (April) next year. As to what it is, my guess is that's it's a Stirling Engine that actually works. They're pretty cool and can burn almost any fuel. Is this as big as they say it is? Knowing Dean, I would bet on it. Matt Leese
Matt Leese
If I remember correctly the different flashing colors corresponded to different error codes. I had a list of what they translated to for a short while but lost it farely quickly.
Matt Leese
.....and then he could finally take on Grendel's mother.......
To use plurality with elimination, a preference schedule of voting must be used. In a preference schedule, you rank the candidates. When Plurality with Elimination is used as a voting mechanism, if their is a candidate with a majority of votes, they automatically win. However, if there is no majority, the candidate with the lowest amount of first place votes is eliminated. Then, the first place votes of all other candidates are recalculated with the votes of the people who selected the eliminated candidate going to their second choice. This continues until one candidate has a majority (which is guaranteed in this type of election).
For those who think that the US elections should change to this method, it doesn't really matter very much because we operate under a two party system for the most part (with some notable exceptions) and different voting methods only take effect with more than two candidates (otherwise a simple majority is guaranteed, except for a tie). The other reason this isn't particularly better is that there is no such thing as a perfect method of voting (and yes, that is a mathematical statement). However, certain methods of voting are better than some things than others. If you're more interested in this topic, find a math text book on voting theory.
Matt Leese
Matt Leese
Matt Leese
As far as I know, PBasic is only available on Parallax's line of Basic Stamp controllers. I personally have used the Basic Stamp II and Basic Stamp IIx. For those interested, these controllers have a wopping 16 bytes of RAM (not a typo) and about 500 bytes of ROM. These run a compiled form of PBasic and as far as I've been able to determine there is a one-to-one correlation between PBasic and machine code. That probably explains the ease of accessing parts of Bytes and Words and also the fact that conditional statements use a goto (i.e. if the condition passes it most goto a certain line of code). PBasic is also limited to 26 variables. It's powerful for what it needs to do and is more or less adequate although I do prefer other languages to it.
Matt Leese
Matt Leese
Matt Leese
Matt Leese
Matt Leese
Matt Leese
Matt Leese