I read that link and it's true, you could easily reduce precision, and yes, you COULD reduce the randomness, but they are mutually exclusive. If I wanted to turn a d6 with a particular level of randomness into a coin flip (d2) by doing modular arithmetic, you don't automatically increase the predictability of that d2 merely because of the math you're performing.
It seems there is a fair amount of waste by the buckets not being full. When the machine started up, the buckets were all packed with dice. Only after they started cycling did you see the gaps. This tells me you could put many more dice in the hopper to ensure a full bucket each trip.
If you were okay with the current rate of rolls, you could slow the track down, thereby extending the life of your dice. So long as each bucket was full, you would get the same number of total rolls per day.
This is silly. If you have truly random d6s, applying math against their outcome doesn't make them any less random unless you divide the roll by itself.
Please don't use this method. You are not creating an evenly distributed d8. From all 36 possible outcomes of 2d6, your "mod" d8 comes out like this:
1 - 5 times; 2 thru 6 - 4 times each; 7 - 5 times; 8 - 6 times. You COULD use some kind of conversion table, but even then you would need to throw away 4 of the 36 combinations to make it work.
My oldest (now 8) never even tried to get under the sink, let alone get into anything really dangerous. She just listens to me and understands what not to do. (She has a gmail account, and I told her reading mail from people she doesn't know is like talking to strangers. That was enough for her.) My son, however, VERY different story. I would -never- allow him an email account until he actually stops jumping from the table to the couch after being told 1,000 times. (It shows a maturity level.) My suggestion as a parent; trust your instincts. Gmail is good enough for me.
All software is merely a set of instructions, and you can't patent instructions on how to do something. You can't patent a recipe, you can't patent the rules of a board game, you can't patent a piece of sheet music. How is code that is loaded from a hard drive into RAM then executed any different from music I read from a piece of paper (the hardware) retain in my head (the RAM) and play on my piano (execution)??
"It will call 'anti-evolutionary fervor' an 'indictment' on the Church."... Exactly how many indictments does that make? At what point do we convict it?
It's actually quite clear:
If you're a person who thinks your opinion is more important and valuable than others, you may have a tendency to go into A) academia, where you can pontificate all day and night as people 'ooh' and 'ahh' over your 'expert knowledge,' or B) politics in the Democratic party where you can exert your power over people because your ideas are, of course, what everyone needs.
So it's no wonder these two groups are similarly aligned.
"The root cause is not the labels - chances are if you were running a label you would make the same demands, since the law permits it." ----
This is ridiculous. You are always -legally- able to charge 'what the traffic will bear' but doing so is rarely the best business practice for the long term.
I've always wondered... Various state lotteries have little machines all around being run by people with minimal education and training. How is it possible we can't produce a secure machine to handle our votes?
I imaged over 200 diskettes and keep them on my laptop as a server. Then I connect the laptop to the 800 and play the original games on it. It took seven different pieces of technology to do it:
1) 1985 technology (Atari 800 using 6502 processor at ~1mhz)
2) Hand-made SIO2PC cable from Poland (eBay)
3) USB-Converter cable (Iomega)
4) Semi-recent IBM Thinkpad (T42) running Windows XP
5) Shareware server software (don't recall the name just now)
6) Video adapter which converts RCA-type composite (with audio!) to coax into...
7) 60" DLP High-definition television
Ahhh.. the good life of M.U.L.E, Archon, Bruce Lee, BallBlazer, Ali Baba and Ultima III... [basking in it!]
The difference is, the Chinese government sponsors the Chinese Olympic Committee. And, by extension, their Olympic athletes. Therefore, the Chinese government itself is asserting her age as 16. If a similar situation were to happen to an American gymnast, it would be the USOC, not the US government claiming she qualifies.
While their website http://en.olympic.cn/index.html claims to be a "non-governmental" sports organization, the fact is, the resume of its current president, Liu Peng is filled with government bureaucracy jobs until very recently:
http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Liu_Peng/career
They have enormous motive to lie about this. I wouldn't trust them as far as I can put a 7.26 kilo shot.
Great idea, accept documents created by the very people accused of cheating as proof that they didn't cheat.
Yes, the concept of accepting government-created documents as 'proof' is about as valid as accepting a business card with the word "God" on it from George Burns.
First of all, if this were merely about the interlocked rings it would not be a copyright issue, it would be a trademark issue. In that case, the IOC still has no standing because trademark infringement only occurs when a reasonable person would confuse the use of trademark as being represented by the IOC. Even if that were found to be true in this case, they would need to go after the person who made the handcuffs, not to what amounts to be a 4th party. (1st - IOC, 2nd - Protester, 3rd - Videographer, 4th - YouTube.)
If someone created a mock-up of a McDonalds hamburger and put that next to images of slaughtered cows as a protest, and I video taped it and posted it to YouTube, the idea that McDonadls has any leverage with YouTube is ridiculous.
Actually, that's not true. The only people who won't visit are the nice, law-abiding people willing to spend lots of Euros, Yen, Pounds, etc. Therefore, the Criminal-to-Tourist ratio will simply go up.
Slashdot Mirror
I read that link and it's true, you could easily reduce precision, and yes, you COULD reduce the randomness, but they are mutually exclusive. If I wanted to turn a d6 with a particular level of randomness into a coin flip (d2) by doing modular arithmetic, you don't automatically increase the predictability of that d2 merely because of the math you're performing.
I got so furious with nerd rage, I didn't even read the last line of your post! :-)
It seems there is a fair amount of waste by the buckets not being full. When the machine started up, the buckets were all packed with dice. Only after they started cycling did you see the gaps. This tells me you could put many more dice in the hopper to ensure a full bucket each trip. If you were okay with the current rate of rolls, you could slow the track down, thereby extending the life of your dice. So long as each bucket was full, you would get the same number of total rolls per day.
This is silly. If you have truly random d6s, applying math against their outcome doesn't make them any less random unless you divide the roll by itself.
Please don't use this method. You are not creating an evenly distributed d8. From all 36 possible outcomes of 2d6, your "mod" d8 comes out like this: 1 - 5 times; 2 thru 6 - 4 times each; 7 - 5 times; 8 - 6 times. You COULD use some kind of conversion table, but even then you would need to throw away 4 of the 36 combinations to make it work.
ME: PISS OFF!
ELIZA: Would it make you happy for me to PISS OFF!?
ME: No.
ELIZA: Don't be so negative.
My oldest (now 8) never even tried to get under the sink, let alone get into anything really dangerous. She just listens to me and understands what not to do. (She has a gmail account, and I told her reading mail from people she doesn't know is like talking to strangers. That was enough for her.) My son, however, VERY different story. I would -never- allow him an email account until he actually stops jumping from the table to the couch after being told 1,000 times. (It shows a maturity level.) My suggestion as a parent; trust your instincts. Gmail is good enough for me.
All software is merely a set of instructions, and you can't patent instructions on how to do something. You can't patent a recipe, you can't patent the rules of a board game, you can't patent a piece of sheet music. How is code that is loaded from a hard drive into RAM then executed any different from music I read from a piece of paper (the hardware) retain in my head (the RAM) and play on my piano (execution)??
Or, how about getting a friend in a vet's office to swab YOUR mouth, then jam your OWN crap in all the boxes around town?
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one staring at my TV, minutes after the end of that commercial, mouth agape.
"It will call 'anti-evolutionary fervor' an 'indictment' on the Church." ... Exactly how many indictments does that make? At what point do we convict it?
It's actually quite clear: If you're a person who thinks your opinion is more important and valuable than others, you may have a tendency to go into A) academia, where you can pontificate all day and night as people 'ooh' and 'ahh' over your 'expert knowledge,' or B) politics in the Democratic party where you can exert your power over people because your ideas are, of course, what everyone needs. So it's no wonder these two groups are similarly aligned.
Step 4: GOTO Step 1
Yuck! Don't use GOTO....
Do
Bust(JoePervert).porn(kiddie)
select * from JoePervert.StoredData
JoePervert = StoredData.Owner
Loop Until YearsInOffice >= TermLimits
"The root cause is not the labels - chances are if you were running a label you would make the same demands, since the law permits it." ---- This is ridiculous. You are always -legally- able to charge 'what the traffic will bear' but doing so is rarely the best business practice for the long term.
I've always wondered... Various state lotteries have little machines all around being run by people with minimal education and training. How is it possible we can't produce a secure machine to handle our votes?
Since the vast majority of cows live in the northern hemisphere, the sun would tend to be in the south. Maybe they're just facing away from the sun.
I imaged over 200 diskettes and keep them on my laptop as a server. Then I connect the laptop to the 800 and play the original games on it. It took seven different pieces of technology to do it: 1) 1985 technology (Atari 800 using 6502 processor at ~1mhz) 2) Hand-made SIO2PC cable from Poland (eBay) 3) USB-Converter cable (Iomega) 4) Semi-recent IBM Thinkpad (T42) running Windows XP 5) Shareware server software (don't recall the name just now) 6) Video adapter which converts RCA-type composite (with audio!) to coax into... 7) 60" DLP High-definition television Ahhh.. the good life of M.U.L.E, Archon, Bruce Lee, BallBlazer, Ali Baba and Ultima III... [basking in it!]
The difference is, the Chinese government sponsors the Chinese Olympic Committee. And, by extension, their Olympic athletes. Therefore, the Chinese government itself is asserting her age as 16. If a similar situation were to happen to an American gymnast, it would be the USOC, not the US government claiming she qualifies. While their website http://en.olympic.cn/index.html claims to be a "non-governmental" sports organization, the fact is, the resume of its current president, Liu Peng is filled with government bureaucracy jobs until very recently: http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Liu_Peng/career They have enormous motive to lie about this. I wouldn't trust them as far as I can put a 7.26 kilo shot.
Great idea, accept documents created by the very people accused of cheating as proof that they didn't cheat.
Yes, the concept of accepting government-created documents as 'proof' is about as valid as accepting a business card with the word "God" on it from George Burns.
An air horn.
If Tyrell couldn't do it, what makes you think we can?
Is a Turing test valid if the human is an idiot?
Now THAT'S a sig!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/technology/13cyber.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
First of all, if this were merely about the interlocked rings it would not be a copyright issue, it would be a trademark issue. In that case, the IOC still has no standing because trademark infringement only occurs when a reasonable person would confuse the use of trademark as being represented by the IOC. Even if that were found to be true in this case, they would need to go after the person who made the handcuffs, not to what amounts to be a 4th party. (1st - IOC, 2nd - Protester, 3rd - Videographer, 4th - YouTube.) If someone created a mock-up of a McDonalds hamburger and put that next to images of slaughtered cows as a protest, and I video taped it and posted it to YouTube, the idea that McDonadls has any leverage with YouTube is ridiculous.
Actually, that's not true. The only people who won't visit are the nice, law-abiding people willing to spend lots of Euros, Yen, Pounds, etc. Therefore, the Criminal-to-Tourist ratio will simply go up.