I know some people that were going to go to a field and make their own designs with crops. They were drawing them out on peices of paper and trying to come up with things that were vauge yet apeared to have meaning. They were going to use big-ol-flat boards to do it with. I have no idea if they ever got around to doing it.
"Oh, I saw the sign.. and it opened up my mind; I saw the sign." *Whacks self several times*
I read this when penny arcade posted a link to it. I, unfortunatly, would have to agree that the unpleasent population in many online communities is much too large. I haven't tried magic online but I do know a couple of things that can help clear some stuff up in the article. The article talks about duping making everyone's account get erased. They have a protection mechnisim in place that goes like this. Each card is "born" when a deck is opened, it has a unique identifier to that specific card on the server and using that they keep track of all transactions the card has been in. Thus, if a card was duped, they could follow all the transactions back to the original duper and >ONLY ban their account. I beleive that in the contract it does say that you do own your virtual cards, not them. This would probably protect you from some of the nastyness. Now, granted, there's a lot more that can go wrong, but I don't think it's as horrible as the article implies.
The only problem being actually FINDING a dreamcast for 50 bucks. Enough people know that this is a great deal that virtually noone has them for this price. EBworld was (and still is)selling USED dreamcasts for 70 dollars a pop. This is without any games or any other such things. If you can actually FIND a (working) Dreamcast for 50 dollars, I would be happy to buy it from you for 60. (Despite the fact that I already own one)
I suppose I will relate my experience with Topcoder thus far.
I found out about it from my friend and singed up. Then I looked at some of the practice problems and decided that they were easy and didn't do any of them. (Ooops)
Now, I'm a pretty good coder, so I thought that I was going to tromp these other people. Instead I was slaughtered. I realized later that part of the problem is that Topcoder (and probably other similar contests) focus on the area of programming that I'm worst at. That is, taking input and generating a very specific output.
I am much better at overall architectural and design aspects of programming when essentially are not tested in Topcoder whatsoever. Some of the problems are actually reminiscent to puzzles I've had to figure out while coding before, so I can't say it's totally useless. The fact that it covers the area of coding that I'm worst at probably helps me become a more well rounded coder as well. It's pretty obvious that nearly everyone there is at least an above average coder. Those that aren't any good typically do one comp and then never compete again. Most all of the high-rated coders have been programming since they were lil tots, so there's a good chance that your rating has some relation to how good you actually are. However, it doesn't paint anywhere close to the complete picture, not by a long shot. The way it's currently set up is you are given 3 problems in increasing difficulty and point values and 75 mins to solve it. This is followed by a phase where you look for flaws in other's code and finally the system tests the remaining submissions. There are 10 coders to a room and the top 3 get money. (It's generally not enough to pay for the 75+ minutes you spent coding assuming you have a real job, so fun should be a higher priority than cash) You are placed with coders of very close ranking so there's always a reasonable chance that you will win. In fact, I don't think there are any coders that have participated more than 12-15 times that haven't won money.
Why I participate in Topcoder:
They have some neat puzzles sometimes. It helps me improve the area of coding I'm weakest at. It's fun and free. I can win cash prizes (so far I've won 75 dollars, many people have won much more.) If I get highly ranked enough it makes a nice resume addition. <shameless>Right next to my networked, user interface configurable tetris. (After I put in a console to parse and excecute commands I knew I may have been going a bit too far) <plug>If you decide to create an account on Topcoder (if you do, you don't have to compete, and the accounts are free.) Feel free to refer me as how you found out about Topcoder =) My user name is Zurmikopa.</plug></shameless>
Funny. Soon after he posted this and sent me a link to it I mentioned to him that I, along with many other geeks enjoy anime. Thus, anime news should be deemed appropriate in a news production that has the tagline: "News for nerds." In fact, with the prevalence of nerds in this vicinity, I'm amazed that he didn't get modded down for a disparaging remark about anime.
However, I suppose quoting myself now would be redundant.
I suppose I shall add instead. He mentions that this power in insignificant next to the force. I say that this power could become the force. With this many devices that emit electromagnetic fields I'm sure someone could figure out a way to synchronize them in such a way that they could lift objects (particularly metal ones) or if they were really ambitious; lift enemies into the air, choking them, then later throwing them into an abyiss.
that instead of doing all these calculations to determine what the amount of RF radiation might be that one might instead actually go on to one of these trains and take measurements?
Well, I have my speedpass linked to my credit card, so if it's stolen people would end up charging up my credit card, so through the transitive property I should be protected like I would be with a credit card.
Oh wait, math doesn't work in real life. Or does it?
The framerate on Halo, while not being the 100+ fps you can get on a PC with quake3, is definatly more than playable. There's some (very minor) slowdown when you have a mass of enemies on both screens in a large area with split screen, but that's about it. I also have metal gear solid 2, which is a totally different kind of very awesome game. Both are much too short. =( Or at least they feel too short.
It's an interesting read, it's kinda fun trying to seperate the stuff that actually makes sense from the stuff that's just bullshit that sounds good. (A suggestion to do this was in the preface) It really does made you question a lot, but for me it didn't really get interesting until the gods debris part.
Yes, all actual NP complete problems can be converted to each other in polynomial time. Factoring large numbers is not an NP complete problem. It's similar, but does not fall in the catagory of NP completeness. Neither is finding graph isomorphs, for that matter. Oddly enough one of the only problems thought to be unsolvable in polynomial time traditionally that can be solved in polynomial time with Quantum computers is factoring. But since factoring is not a real NP complete problem solving factoring of large numbers would still allow us to use NP complete problems. The only problem would then be finding one that has a key that can be generated in a short amount of time.
All this comes from my old Algorithms instructor, who also happens to be the A in RSA.
Good god, lemmings is one of the most violent games I've ever played. Exploding bodies, falling off clifs, things that smoosh them into a bloody pulp, and you can't forget the hanging machines. Then of cource in some versions there was multiplayer where you could go and try and slaughter the other player's lemmings. In few other games is total genocide always only 1 click away.
There's a wonderful new encryption algorithm. I call it ROT 0. You take the text and encrypt it by rotating it 0 letters. I shall use this encryption algorithm in all my copyrighted works. Now I can go sue/arrest anyone who distributes a program that copies pure text!
My old mac. (1984 one) got melted when a student set fire to the school it was residing in at the time. Perhaps I should have kept it, maybe some day there will be a market for creativly demolished clasic computers. Let me go check ebay...
I was able to move the sticker easily enough with my fingernail without damaging it so actually puncturing it seems kind of silly. I haven't been able to find my 2mm flathead to adjust the pot yet so I don't know first had how well it works but there have been varying degrees of success from others. It works best (probably quite obviously) on games that are normally dark because the dark colors stay dark while the slightly less dark colors get a bit lighter thus expanding the pallete. It could very well be intended as a flicker control because of it being an interlaced screen but it does also act as mild contrast control, at least according to a good number of people.
Slashdot Mirror
I know some people that were going to go to a field and make their own designs with crops. They were drawing them out on peices of paper and trying to come up with things that were vauge yet apeared to have meaning. They were going to use big-ol-flat boards to do it with. I have no idea if they ever got around to doing it.
"Oh, I saw the sign.. and it opened up my mind; I saw the sign." *Whacks self several times*
No, no, no. Everyone knows Shacknews gets you chicks. Slashdot just tells you which ones matter.
I'm going to go microwave me a Daikatana.
I read this when penny arcade posted a link to it. I, unfortunatly, would have to agree that the unpleasent population in many online communities is much too large. I haven't tried magic online but I do know a couple of things that can help clear some stuff up in the article. The article talks about duping making everyone's account get erased. They have a protection mechnisim in place that goes like this. Each card is "born" when a deck is opened, it has a unique identifier to that specific card on the server and using that they keep track of all transactions the card has been in. Thus, if a card was duped, they could follow all the transactions back to the original duper and >ONLY ban their account. I beleive that in the contract it does say that you do own your virtual cards, not them. This would probably protect you from some of the nastyness. Now, granted, there's a lot more that can go wrong, but I don't think it's as horrible as the article implies.
The only problem being actually FINDING a dreamcast for 50 bucks. Enough people know that this is a great deal that virtually noone has them for this price. EBworld was (and still is)selling USED dreamcasts for 70 dollars a pop. This is without any games or any other such things. If you can actually FIND a (working) Dreamcast for 50 dollars, I would be happy to buy it from you for 60. (Despite the fact that I already own one)
I suppose I will relate my experience with Topcoder thus far.
I found out about it from my friend and singed up. Then I looked at some of the practice problems and decided that they were easy and didn't do any of them. (Ooops)
Now, I'm a pretty good coder, so I thought that I was going to tromp these other people. Instead I was slaughtered. I realized later that part of the problem is that Topcoder (and probably other similar contests) focus on the area of programming that I'm worst at. That is, taking input and generating a very specific output.
I am much better at overall architectural and design aspects of programming when essentially are not tested in Topcoder whatsoever. Some of the problems are actually reminiscent to puzzles I've had to figure out while coding before, so I can't say it's totally useless. The fact that it covers the area of coding that I'm worst at probably helps me become a more well rounded coder as well.
It's pretty obvious that nearly everyone there is at least an above average coder. Those that aren't any good typically do one comp and then never compete again. Most all of the high-rated coders have been programming since they were lil tots, so there's a good chance that your rating has some relation to how good you actually are. However, it doesn't paint anywhere close to the complete picture, not by a long shot.
The way it's currently set up is you are given 3 problems in increasing difficulty and point values and 75 mins to solve it. This is followed by a phase where you look for flaws in other's code and finally the system tests the remaining submissions. There are 10 coders to a room and the top 3 get money. (It's generally not enough to pay for the 75+ minutes you spent coding assuming you have a real job, so fun should be a higher priority than cash) You are placed with coders of very close ranking so there's always a reasonable chance that you will win. In fact, I don't think there are any coders that have participated more than 12-15 times that haven't won money.
Why I participate in Topcoder:
They have some neat puzzles sometimes.
It helps me improve the area of coding I'm weakest at.
It's fun and free.
I can win cash prizes (so far I've won 75 dollars, many people have won much more.)
If I get highly ranked enough it makes a nice resume addition. <shameless>Right next to my networked, user interface configurable tetris. (After I put in a console to parse and excecute commands I knew I may have been going a bit too far)
<plug>If you decide to create an account on Topcoder (if you do, you don't have to compete, and the accounts are free.) Feel free to refer me as how you found out about Topcoder =) My user name is Zurmikopa.</plug></shameless>
I just used the force to look into the future and watch it from the comfort of my own home.
Funny. Soon after he posted this and sent me a link to it I mentioned to him that I, along with many other geeks enjoy anime. Thus, anime news should be deemed appropriate in a news production that has the tagline: "News for nerds."
In fact, with the prevalence of nerds in this vicinity, I'm amazed that he didn't get modded down for a disparaging remark about anime.
However, I suppose quoting myself now would be redundant.
I suppose I shall add instead. He mentions that this power in insignificant next to the force. I say that this power could become the force. With this many devices that emit electromagnetic fields I'm sure someone could figure out a way to synchronize them in such a way that they could lift objects (particularly metal ones) or if they were really ambitious; lift enemies into the air, choking them, then later throwing them into an abyiss.
Will idkfa still work?
I may no longer use cheat codes, but nostalgia will force me to try this one.
that instead of doing all these calculations to determine what the amount of RF radiation might be that one might instead actually go on to one of these trains and take measurements?
Well, I have my speedpass linked to my credit card, so if it's stolen people would end up charging up my credit card, so through the transitive property I should be protected like I would be with a credit card.
Oh wait, math doesn't work in real life.
Or does it?
Well, I got my speedpass in San Diego and use it at the mobil in pq, so I'd have to vouch for it existing in sd.
I have no idea about other areas of the city besides pq though.
Winux 2004: The future can be a scary place, scare it back. -sluggy.com
The framerate on Halo, while not being the 100+ fps you can get on a PC with quake3, is definatly more than playable. There's some (very minor) slowdown when you have a mass of enemies on both screens in a large area with split screen, but that's about it. I also have metal gear solid 2, which is a totally different kind of very awesome game. Both are much too short. =( Or at least they feel too short.
It's an interesting read, it's kinda fun trying to seperate the stuff that actually makes sense from the stuff that's just bullshit that sounds good. (A suggestion to do this was in the preface) It really does made you question a lot, but for me it didn't really get interesting until the gods debris part.
Yes, all actual NP complete problems can be converted to each other in polynomial time. Factoring large numbers is not an NP complete problem. It's similar, but does not fall in the catagory of NP completeness. Neither is finding graph isomorphs, for that matter. Oddly enough one of the only problems thought to be unsolvable in polynomial time traditionally that can be solved in polynomial time with Quantum computers is factoring. But since factoring is not a real NP complete problem solving factoring of large numbers would still allow us to use NP complete problems. The only problem would then be finding one that has a key that can be generated in a short amount of time.
All this comes from my old Algorithms instructor, who also happens to be the A in RSA.
It already exists. At least amazon says it does.
2 3/ qid=1001196177/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/002-2092565-984 9639
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/00721926
Good god, lemmings is one of the most violent games I've ever played. Exploding bodies, falling off clifs, things that smoosh them into a bloody pulp, and you can't forget the hanging machines. Then of cource in some versions there was multiplayer where you could go and try and slaughter the other player's lemmings. In few other games is total genocide always only 1 click away.
There's a wonderful new encryption algorithm. I call it ROT 0. You take the text and encrypt it by rotating it 0 letters. I shall use this encryption algorithm in all my copyrighted works. Now I can go sue/arrest anyone who distributes a program that copies pure text!
My old mac. (1984 one) got melted when a student set fire to the school it was residing in at the time. Perhaps I should have kept it, maybe some day there will be a market for creativly demolished clasic computers. Let me go check ebay...
Yeah, I have. The url for it is http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/divineo/us-gba-fcl. html?id=uk5jJMrH
It's a little on the pricy side for me though.
I was able to move the sticker easily enough with my fingernail without damaging it so actually puncturing it seems kind of silly. I haven't been able to find my 2mm flathead to adjust the pot yet so I don't know first had how well it works but there have been varying degrees of success from others. It works best (probably quite obviously) on games that are normally dark because the dark colors stay dark while the slightly less dark colors get a bit lighter thus expanding the pallete. It could very well be intended as a flicker control because of it being an interlaced screen but it does also act as mild contrast control, at least according to a good number of people.
I personally have liked some of the Starwars games that have come out. (Tie fighter or Dark Forces anyone?)