Search This Blog

31 August 2005

White House Aides Claiming Bush Has "Flipped-Out" Over Anti-War Protestors

no comment

Portland Gas Prices - Find Cheap Gas Prices in Oregon

They should combine this with Google Map API :)

Slashdot | New Material Harder Than Diamond

oooh... screw diamond-tipped blades...

CNN.com - Researchers: Distorting biometrics enhances security - Aug 29, 2005

interesting concept

W32.Wullik.B@mm worm burrows into shipping Zen Neeon - Engadget - www.engadget.com

how can you trust a device to not get a virus when IT SHIPS WITH ONE?

Unique Polymer Coating - Made of Silica Nanoparticles Eliminates Fogging

This is one of those technologies that you know will be completely undervalued in 100 years -- something that quietly changes the world without getting much acknowledgement...

The Escapist - Touching Aimee's Panties: The Reality of Virtual Commerce

These kinds of stories always make me want to start playing things like Second Life, or start some new game with its own economy, or something... I wouldn't mind being able to say that a game was my full-time occupation -- as long as it was fun and I could make it better... wouldn't want to be selling Breakout scores or anything.

The Escapist - Casual Fortunes

Really good writeup. Makes me consider having EOTI start with some shareware casual games instead of big ones.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Saturn moon delights and baffles

Cassini discoveries at Enceladus include:

* presence of a strange atmosphere concentrated at the south pole
* atmosphere mostly (91%) water vapour, but with some nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other simple carbon-based molecules (organics)
* large crevasse features at south pole dubbed tiger stripes
* intriguing hotspot at south pole - anomalous warmth in the area of the tiger stripes
* presence of 'orderly' water-ice at south pole, especially within tiger stripe features, indicates region must have been very hot, be very young, or both
* presence of simple organics along the fractures
* indication that water vapour and fine material are being ejected from tiger stripes
* fine ice material is probably the significant and sustaining source of ice particles that make up Saturn's outermost ring - its E ring

TIA-942: Cookie cutter or cost cutter?

Wouldn't this reduce innovation? I mean, I would rather fill my office with smart-home technology than follow a standard that cost $250 to read.

Slashdot | Mini Satellites Could Revolutionize Space Industry

oooh... wonder if this will increase the chance that we could send up personal satellites ;)

Slashdot | New IrDA Spec Shoots for 100Mbit/s Data Rate

From the article: 'Of note, existing IrDA-enabled devices can be upgraded to the new protocol, thus offering the opportunity to accelerate the IrDA data transfer rates of devices in the field via a software update.''


Wonder if that will work on the old P100 laptop or the Legos.

TrustedSource™ Portal - Information for IP Address 216.99.218.233

Current reputation Inoffensive
Real-Time Blacklists Not on any blacklists

Good :)

30 August 2005

J2SE Code Names

ah, so cute

James Gosling Q & A: Builder AU: Program: At Work

This is funny.

If picked as a crew member of the mission to Mars, which would you prefer to have controlling and managing the rocket -- .NET, J2SE, J2EE, or Jini, and why?

I actually have been doing a lot of work over the years in the real time world, and once upon a time, I’d get people from the real time world, particularly folks from the really spooky end, like the people who do flight avionics, and they say “I’d like to do this in Java”. And I’d say “I don’t really think I’d like to get on your airplane”. And then they’d say, “Do you want to know how we do it today?”, and it was always much, much scarier.

Something Awful - The Internet Makes You Stupid

Morax sent me this link. Kinda funny writing style ;)

27 August 2005

Wired News: NSF Preps New, Improved Internet

OOooh! EOTI needs one of these grants to work on new internet designs!

Evil Genius Test

I am 82% Evil Genius.
Evil to the Bone!
I am pure evil. I lie awake at night devising schemes of world domination, and I will not rest until all living souls bend to my will.

Idiot Test

I am 24% Idiot.
Friggin Genius
I am not annoying at all. In fact most people come to me for advice. Of course they annoy the hell out of me. But what can I do? I am smarter than most people.


Of course, they misspelled "you"

Promiscuous Test

I am 52% Promiscuous.
Love It but Not a Freak
I like sex and have a healthy sex life. I get just enough and know how to use my sexuality. Some people might have a problem, but that is their problem not mine. They just need to get more.

White Trash Test

I am 18% White Trash.
Not at all White Trashy!
I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box.

Asshole/Bitch Test

I am 31% Asshole/Bitch.
Part Time Asshole/Bitch.
I may think I am an asshole or a bitch, but the truth is I am a good person at heart. Yeah sure, I can have a mean streak in me, but most of the people I meet like me.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Scientists probe anti-ageing gene

interesting

25 August 2005

SPACE.com -- Water Flowed Recently on Mars, NASA Scientists Say

"'We find that the short length of the gully features implies they did form under conditions similar to those on present-day Mars, with simultaneous freezing and rapid evaporation of nearly pure liquid water.'"

Slashdot | Terabyte DVD Recorder Available Next Month

now this would be NICE for doing a PVR

Google Desktop: Plugin SDK Overview

It says that you can develop for it with Java, but all the code/documentation/samples are in C/C++ for Visual Studio.

So, although I am sure I could spend time figuring it out, why even bother installing Google Desktop in the first place?

22 August 2005

Verizon FIOS/VADI-West

Well, called 'Verizon Encore' (888-991-4999). Notes from the call:
currently no cost to sign up
they believe we can use our own isp with fios
speeds up to... not gauranteed...
$39.95 5/2
$49.95 15/2
$199.95 30/5
I don't know who he is, but saw a comment online about a business FIOS guy named Jarod at 888-991-5999. Haven't tried calling him.

Also tried to call Verizon Online to find out about the status of my line (see if they have ever upgraded that 26 gauge wire)...
The department (Verizon Advanced Data 877-483-5899) only provides the signal, not the line or service. Verizon offers the line, but not the signal or service. Verizon Online offers the service, but not the line or signal. Not only do they 'not offer' this or that, but know nothing about it and require that you call someone else. A few tidbits I did pick up....
1) Verizon Online accidentally said that 'VADI-West' was a separate company before catching herself
2) VADI-West said 'Verizon' was a separate company after getting upset that I called them VADI-West
3) Line = phone number
4) Circuit = 38.ACGJ.393728..VADI
5) 10000' from CO

Domain White Pages

Nice site

Star Wreck

I'll have to check this out...

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click Online | Supercomputer's key to the brain

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click Online | Supercomputer's key to the brain: "With the information gathered in the lab, each of Blue Gene's processors will be programmed to behave like an individual virtual neuron.

Markus Baertschi from IBM, which makes Blue Gene, says: 'We've got 8,000 processors all working in parallel, talking to each other.

'Every processor can simulate one neuron and they can communicate among each other to get to the result of thinking, essentially.'

The simulation will first build up, neuron by neuron, a working model of a part of the brain called the neocortical column."

Slashdot | New Online MD5 Hash Database

average crack time seems pretty damn fast

Slashdot | New MRI Technique Can Detect Diabetes

Wonder if I should do this.

Slashdot | Sun Spearheads Open DRM

I'm not sure how I feel about this... On one hand, at least it will be open source. On the other hand, DRM is always abused and misused.

19 August 2005

Slashdot | Is This the Holodeck?

sounds like fun

Researchers creating life from scratch - Science - MSNBC.com

ok ok... haven't actually read the article yet.. but slashdot said something about using organisms to create hydrogen and didn't want to loose the link.

Why BSD is superior to Linux

A friend showed this to me. Would you rather go to a BSD convention or a Linux convention?

Slashdot | Toshiba 40GB Perpendicular Magnetic Record Drives

ooooh. nice....

Whirlpool News - DSL Extender trial wraps up

that could really start broadening access to information

We The People

Over time, I have become more and more disillusioned in our system. While many of our generation have fallen into the pessimistic complacency so common with our parents generation, I feel that we have to do something -- if for no other reason than to give our children something better than we had.

But, it's difficult. Society has trained us to accept things at face value and to not fight. It taught us to give in.

Don't believe me? Look at how often airline travelers that get screwed by the airline sleep at the airport instead of demanding hotel accomodations be paid for. You don't think they will? When we came back from our honeymoon, they had overbooked. An AA representative purposefully sent a large group of us to the wrong floor, thus missing our flight. When we got to our window, we had noticed that many in front of us had asked for hotel accomodations, and were told they had to pay for them themselves. They left, mumbling and grumbling. A group of us, all from the same flight, all destined for Portland, revolted. Not in the sense of a hold up or anything like that -- but, we each took a line, blocking AA from doing any business whatsoever, demanding hotel accomodations. They couldn't kick us out, because we were legit customers trying to get help. However, after about 1-1/2 hours of AA hearing complaints from all of their lines, and not making any sales -- they gave us what we asked for.

Want another example? When I was in college, we were told that we could not invite anyone other that college students to our student-run events. However, when we started our club, we had went out of our way to write a 13-page constitution and bylaws, which the school had signed ;) In it, we had explained that part of what we were to do was to help bridge the growing gap between the students and the community. As such, and after pointing such out, the school felt obliged to let us try it once. We thought of the idea less than 2 weeks before the event, had no funds, and our club was very small. 2 days before the event, we photocopied some flyers at Minute Market, hung them around campus, at the highschool, and downtown, and crossed our fingers. We had over 800 people show up to the first Valentine's Vampyr Masquerade Ball. The following year, the school gave us an addition $900 to help us do the event -- because we were more successful than any college-run event. The club and event survived for 2 years past my graduation, and I still hear people talk about restarting the event here, 300 miles away.

How about another example? The college offers what they call Interdisciplinary degrees. Usually, that will be something like Business and Computers, or some similar marketable combination. What happens if you want a combination they don't currently list? They tell you that you can't, that you have to choose one that they offer. Most people accept that and settle. Instead, I demanded that they allow me to do it. They finally gave me a piece of paper with requirements listed and said "choose x credits from this column, y from this column, etc and explain how you will do your practicum"... End result? My degree is in Computers, Psychology and Writing.

The point is, most people turn away the first time they are turned down. Unless they know they are supposed to haggle (like in some foreign countries), they assume that option isn't open to them. They see red tape like their own personal Berlin wall, and don't try to cross it. My view? Red tape can be cut with a simple pair of scissors.


So, back to the point. We need to do something about our system. About our government, our voting rights, our human rights, national fraud, etc etc... How? That's a good question. Perhaps we just need to notice that the reason we feel we can't do anything is because a simple piece of colored ribbon is blocking our path. Perhaps what we need to do is decide what WE want, how WE want it to work, and then tell those that are supposed to represent US how THEY are going to do what WE want.

Quiz: Is Your Boss a Psychopath?

does it have to be your boss you test? cuz, I know some people....

Slashdot | Nanotubes Start to Show their Promise

wow. the listed possible applications alone are... wow...

Slashdot | Wi-Fi Times Sixteen

I wouldn't mind having one of these ;)

Slashdot | Laser Surgery Goes Online

damn... power and telco outage would sure suck when this starts becomming popular, eh?

Exploring News & Features - Violent or erotic images cause momentary periods of emotion-induced blindness

damn, I really thought I would see it...

oh, take the flash test half way down the page

17 August 2005

EFF: Breaking News: Service Technicians Can’t Snoop on Your Hard Drive for the Government

damn

OhGizmo! » Interactive 3D Display: Its Here!

It's available!!! but they have been Slashdotted, so I don't know how much ;)

SPACE.com -- Milky Way’s Central Structure Seen with Fresh Clarity

slow site. somewhat interesting.

DigitalCamera@101reviews » New patented lens made of liquid paves way for slimmer digital cameras

I had seen it mentioned on TV before, but this shows a comparison of the images as well. nice.

JXTA Technology Brings the Internet Back to Its Origin

I used JXTA in the past. Thought it was a good technology, though I hated the password mechanism (I want it to run as a unix service without prompting for password and without having it in clear text)...

this seems to be a pretty good writeup. wonder how much it has changed over the years.

Slashdot | Crocodile's Immune System Kills HIV

interesting

Slashdot | Businesses To Be Censored on Use of Olympics

Wait a second... so, during the Olympics, any unofficial commercial can't use the word "summer"??? pubs couldn't write the word "gold" on the chalkboard? (sorry Baccardi)

Let me just repeat an earlier sentiment.
BULLSHIT.

Slashdot | Search Engines Break AU Online Gambling Ban?

Unless Google has an Australian office (which I admit they probably do) this is complete BS. If I write a website, I am not bound by the laws of Australia (and every other country in the world). If I were, why wouldn't nigeria make some law saying it is illegal to not respond to their scam letters? Bullshit.

Slashdot | U.S. Okays Virgin Galactic Plans

This is great news! Especially for anyone who has been concerned about the delay between NASA flights, costs of NASA flights, or problems every time they try.

16 August 2005

Gizmodo Japan: Auto door : Gizmodo

hmm, wonder if my cats would use it

EditLive! for Java Demonstrations

Not such a bad little editor. Wish Blogger used it.

: Wikipedia goes mobile with JAVA-solution JOCA - INFOSAT.INFO Nachrichten

I should try this

Slashdot | Rootkits: Subverting the Windows Kernel

ok, so I haven't bothered to read the review... but the title caught my attention ;)

New Scientist Breaking News - Y-shaped nanotubes are ready-made transistors

since transistors are the key to making oled's work... having them 100 times smaller could really lead to a breakthrough in oled as well.

as much as I want to be the original person to develop the idea -- here it is -- oled spray paint.

Our Documents - Home

To help us think, talk and teach about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in our democracy, we invite you to explore 100 milestone documents of American history. These documents reflect our diversity and our unity, our past and our future, and mostly our commitment as a nation to continue to strive to 'form a more perfect union.'

Business 2.0 :: Magazine Article :: What's Next :: Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet.

So is Google about to offer free Net access to everyone? Characteristically, the company is cryptic about its goal. "We are sponsoring [Feeva] because [it is] trying to make free Wi-Fi available in San Francisco, and this matches Google’s goal to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible," says Google spokesman Nate Taylor.


So, when they open their Hood River office... maybe we can finally start getting decent broadband. free wifi from google sounds good.

Golden Spire Farms - Alpacas Inspiring Greatness

A coworkers Alpaca page. He's breeding them, studding them, and plans on sheering them, etc.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Thin skin will help robots 'feel'

kewl... wonder if we can overlay an OLED skin on it so that we could customize how it looks as well...

Slashdot | FCC Wants to Track Wireless

Now that they realize their jobs are not needed (due to the fact that we are not as limited on radio frequencies as they claimed), now they appear to be going after home users. great.

Slashdot | Urine Powered Battery Developed

Can I just say, eeewwwww...

15 August 2005

The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net

in case anyone is in for some light reading

Slashdot | Hundreds of Hours of BBS Documentary Interviews

Kewl. I miss the BBSs.

Wiccan Wants Town to Pay Her Legal Bills - Yahoo! News

I've been to Medford City Council meetings, and had the same problem with it. I wish I would have taken up the stand and done what she did. Screw them. How can a legal body making decisions for the public be illegally going against the will of the public?

random AI thoughts

Generally, when doing Genetic Algorithms (as opposed to Genetic Programming), we try to model everything on life.
Specifically, we will generally do Chromosomes, Genes, etc....

But perhaps we don't need the one-to-one correlation. Perhaps there are better options if we don't. For example,
if instead we use a class called Tendency, that class could mix Genotype and Phenotype. How? Well, if your mother
had a tendency to fight when frightened, and your father had a tendency to run when frightened, using basic crossover
and mutation algorithms, the child would either obtain one, the other, a mix, or a slightly modified version of those
tendencies... Not genetic predisposition, but phenetic (?) predisposition.

Is there any other advantage to this approach? Well, unless we are trying to do a simulation of an existing model (ie:
the 46 human chromosomes), I think we are more likely to think in terms of tendencies. A troll has a tendency (high or low)
to attack, eat, sleep, run, fight, etc... When encode these as chromosomes with some arbitrary encoding? Why not allow
crossover and mutation on the Attack-Tendency (predisposition?)...

how does that work towards other things... like... genetic programming of circuit boards, solving Beale's puzzles, etc...
maybe things like "choosing AND-gate" or "using the letter 'E'" would have a specific tendency, and although you wouldn't
necessarily do them all the time, you might do them more often than not... thus, two programs with the same genetic makeup
still might behave slightly different? (Phenotype?) Maybe the act() method would allow you to base what you are going to
choose on the various preferences, environmental (knight nearby?), history, etc.... maybe, take it a step further, when
constructing your MMORPG character, maybe those preferences play out to determine you have blue eyes, and then that becomes
a static choice...?

the fact is that smarter programs adapt better and faster... thus, you need overlapping and conflicting desires/predispositions...
but this is very "fuzzy"... if the program were trying to determine whether a program infringed on copyright, then it couldn't
just choose that answer most of the time -- but it could do SpamBayes-style likelihoods...

Gizmos for Geeks | DX1 Input System

this looks kinda kewl

A Comparision of the Size of the Yahoo and Google Indices

it's a smackdown

Great Moments in Science - Mapping the DNA 2

Now you might think that if an animal is very big, then its DNA will be very big. But no. It turns out that a very simple, single-celled, amoeba called Amoeba dubia has 200 times more DNA than we humans have. And that we humans, with our very complicated internal organs and brains have roughly the same number of genes as some simple flowers.


Now that is too funny

Possible Pattern Found in Incan Strings - Yahoo! News

interesting

Joi Ito's Web: Sony FSV-PGX1 Portable File Server

ooh, wireless handheld file server

The Coolest Car in the World: LINUX based CarPC

Looks like fun

Motorola to Combine Powerline, Wireless

There are pros and cons, but at this point, anything would be better than the 384/384 I am capped at.

Slashdot | Microsoft's Bold Patent Move

Ummm. aren't the patent people noticing that there are numbers in boxes when they go to process the patent??? idiots.

Vonage VoIP Forum - Groups Slam FCC on Internet Phone Tap Rule

Creating back doors for the government never works. that's why everyone quit using the US-version of pgp for the longest time.

Slashdot | World's Largest Solar Array to use Stirling Engine

Interesting

The Observer | Focus | Death in Stockwell: the unanswered questions

That's fucked up.

Next Generation - The Laws of Online World Design

Pretty good read. Most of it is pretty obvious, but it doesn't hurt to remind yourself of these points before starting the design/development phase.

Project Offset

Wow. A game that could do this without pre-rendering.... a movie studio even... very nice...

12 August 2005

Senary for study of prime numbers

Senary may be considered useful in the study of prime numbers since all primes other than 2 and 3 have 1 or 5 as the final digit:

2,3,5,11,15,21,25,31,35,45,51,101,105,111,115,125,....


This is actually a really interesting thing... so, just to clarify:
in base 6 (0,1,2,3,4,5,10,11,12,13,14,15,20,21,22,23,24,25,etc) [NOT BASE 10], all prime numbers except the number 2 and the number 3 end in 1 or 5.... thus:

BASE6 BASE10 PRIME
---------- ------------ -----------
5 5 yes
11 7 yes
15 11 yes
21 13 yes
25 17 yes

ok, so... if we are thinking of base-6 in terms of hexagons... let's say top side is 0, clockwise, top-right is 1, bottom-right is 2, bottom is 3, bottom-left is 4, top-left is 5....

now, in the first hexagon, all but the bottom-left corner is prime. if we have additional hexagons to the left (more digits) they would be set to 0 which is the top-side.

flip the digit to the left to the 1-position (top-right). now, the far-right digit is prime is and only if it is in the 1-position (top-right) or the 5-position(top-left)... ie: either side of 0.

flip the left digit to 2 (bottom right). again, only primes are if the right one is in the top-left or top-right position.

flip the left digit to 3 (bottom). again, only primes are if the right one is in the top-left or top-right position.

flip the left digit to 4 (bottom-right). now it changes. only prime is if the right is the top-left.

flip the left digit to its last position (5, top-right). now only prime is if the right is on the top-right.

ok, let's add another digit. we have 3 now...
if the far left is in the 1-position (tr), center in the 0-position (top), and the right is in the top-right(1) or top-left(5) position, we got primes.

far left is in 1 (tr), center in 1 (tr), we got primes on 1 (tr) and 5(tl)....

I think we have a easily visibly repeatable pattern here.
if the digit on the left of far right is on the right-half of the hex (including bottom or top), we get primes on TopRight and TopLeft. if the digit to the left of the far right is on the left side of the hex is on the left side (BL or TL), then we alternate (first TL, then TR).

I need to see this on a larger scale to see if the entire pattern repeats for each digit, or if it only relies on the right hand... I would think that the pattern would have to be bigger. Will have to try it to see.

11 August 2005

YCombinator

Very Nice!

Slashdot | HP Calls For Sun and IBM to Remove OS Licenses

Wait? HP wants IBM and Sun to change their licenses to GPL? Why, so people like me will quit using their software?

Slashdot | FedEx Cracks Down on Box Furniture, Citing DMCA

This is the kind of bullshit rules like DMCA get us into. Fuck you FedEx. Anyone remember AOL CDs being made into things? Can they sue you for every single unrequested AOL CD used in said furniture.

What do you think will come first? Real copyright-reform, or people's abolishment of whichever authorities create them?

Slashdot | Gov't.-published List of Computer Security Holes

Hmm, perhaps it will be much harder to keep my computer safe from script kiddies now?

Slashdot | The NetBSD Toaster

A BSD Toaster? All hail the smart home revolutioN!

ai thoughts

ok, realistically, I don't expect anyone to be seeing this anyways, so instead of putting these thoughts in notepad where I will obviously loose them, just going to blog them so I can find them later...

1. if no one succeeds, then one with most correct wins
2. if equal number correct, then one that is shorter wins

so... longer-no-match < shorter-no-match < longer-match < shorter-match < longer-correct < shorter-correct

3. if two are identical, mutate
4. chance of going to next round based on overall fitness
5. if equal fitness, one with ancestors of highest fitness win (ie: noble blood; ie: adaptive bloodline)

how best to do this? pass some "ancestoral fitness" value to children...?
if you really suck, but all your parents won greatly, chances are your bloodline might get better with mutation
so we want to keep you around... but not at the expense of an algorithm that did better..
especially not if it did better than your ancestors...

if each child knows what the fitness value of both parents were (duplicate if cloned)... then we have a 3-way to determine
child's fitness... a triangle if you will...can we just average the 3?
let's think about that:

parent A1: 0.5
parent B1: 0.0
child C1: 0.2 --> average: 0.233

parent A2: 0.75
parent B2: 0.25
child C2: 0.67 --> average: 0.556

child C1: 0.233
child C2: 0.556
grandchild D: 0.4 --> 0.396

so, what do we have? original parents were:
0.5
0.0
0.75
0.25
and grandchild is:
0.396

if parent A2 and parent A1 were cloned into second round, however:
parent A1: 0.5
parent A2: 0.75
child C3: 0.80 --> 0.683
and if child C2 mated with C3:
child c2: 0.556
child c3: 0.683
grandchild D2: 0.75 --> 0.663
which is much better than grandchild D at .396

what if the averaging function counted the child itself twice? so...
parent A1: 0.5
parent B2: 0.0
parent A2: 0.75
parent B2: 0.25
child C1: 0.2 --> .225
child C2: 0.67 --> .585
child C3: 0.80 --> .713
grandchild D: 0.4 --> .403
grandchild D2: 0.75 --> .7

yeah, I think that more accurately represents it...

then, even if children do semi-poorly, their heritage might help them stand out (as in the case of grandchild D going up slightly)
why, you ask, did grandchild D2 loose a little? because they weren't quite as good as their parent child C3.


so, if we take a real-world example, say... solving some truth tables....
let's say we define a truth table:
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
(ie: and)
and let's say our children do this:
child 1: no outputs correct, 5 components
child 2: 1 output correct, 20 components
child 3: 1 output correct, 5 components
child 4: all outputs correct, 100 components
child 5: all outputs correct, 3 components
child 6: no outputs correct, 100 components
then our ranking would be:
(high) 5,4,3,2,1,6 (low)
our new population might be:
5 cloned
4 cloned
5+4 breed
4+3 breed
3+2 breed
2+5 breed

something like that? or maybe we have custom reproduction routine:
1) clone all 'all outputs correct'
2) breed -- parental preferences:
a. all outputs correct
b. some outputs correct
c. least # components
so, let's say we give them a breeding fitness too?
((NumberOutputsCorrect+1) * (2*MAX_COMPONENTS)) - NUM_COMPONENTS
then, breeding fitness' are:
child 1: (1*200)-5: 195
child 2: (2*200)-20: 380
child 3: (2*200)-5: 395
child 4: (5*200)-100: 900
child 5: (5*200)-3: 997
child 6: (1*200)-100: 100
now, in order:
child 5: 997
child 4: 900
child 3: 395
child 2: 380
child 1: 195
child 6: 100
now, let's say we clone top 2
grandchild 1: clone of 5
grandchild 2: clone of 4
and let's say we give % chance of reproduction based on the breeding score... so...
we could do roulette... where child 6 gets the first 100 slots, child 1 gets next 195, etc... well, we could randomize slots too
but anyways, total # slots would be: 2967.. then each parent would be chosen based on a random turn of the slot? this would
give the better a higher chance...

of course, that could lead to local optimum... could instead give slots = rank:
child 5: 6 slots
child 4: 5 slots
child 3: 4 slots
child 2: 3 slots
child 1: 2 slots
child 6: 1 slot

Genetic Programming via Language-Oriented Progamming?

While reading through the articles on genetic algorithms and more specifically on genetic programming,
I started wondering if there might be a better approach utilizing the Language-Oriented Programming...

What would a language tailored to genetic algorithms look like? Would there be a keyword to identify a fitness
function? Would there be any advantage over a GA API?

What if we consider that the goal of the program is to evolve... so that the program you write is just a starting
point... what if the whole point to a genetic programming domain-language is designed around the idea that the code
itself will be redesigned BY the code? Does that make any difference? Is there some way that the entire compile step
could be completely eliminated -- or perhaps JITd and never actually compiled manually?

If we consider that the LOP are basically tree structures, and genetic programming is usually done via editing tree
structures, it would make sense that LOP might be a good approach to genetic programming... Or perhaps the LOP itself
is what is getting designed automatically...

I will have to think about this more.

GamesIndustry.biz - Miniclip.com Hosts Online Game Development Contest

Wish I had time to do this.

Little Gamers ♥ Hot swedish love

Nice ;)

All speed camera fines in doubt | NSW/ACT | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (10-08-2005)

Interesting.... for 15 years, they have never been able to prove an offense using speed cameras? Specifically, they can't prove the picture wasn't doctored... We'll have to keep that in mind.

Free Software Foundation denies GPLv3 forking risk - ZDNet UK News

Wow, this is hypocritical... After emphasizing for years that the biggest reason Java isn't open source (claims of single point of control ignored, since they are completely unfounded since founding of JCP) was because it couldn't be forked -- they are now complaining that Linux could be forked. Fucking hypocrites.

10 August 2005

Spore

This might be interesting. From the maker of The Sims.

Slashdot | Blu-Ray to Include New Copy Protection

and a self-destruct code for Blu-ray disc players


Ummm... and why would I choose NOT to void my warranty and submit some hacked patch to eliminate the OPTION of self-destruct codes on my hardware? Fuck Sony.

promise.tv launched

Dominic Ludlam to me
More options 1:27 pm (8 minutes ago)
Hi,

This is to let you know that the promise.tv website has now launched.
It contains some information about the promise.tv project. More
information will be added to the site over the coming weeks.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email me
direct at dom@promise.tv

Dominic Ludlam
On behalf of the promise.tv team.



P.S. This mail was sent to you because we received your email
address through the form on our website. If you do not wish
to receive any furthur emails from promise.tv, please visit
http://promise.tv/contact.html

Monsanto files patent for new invention: the pig | Greenpeace International

Figures. Combine this with the fact that they started patenting human DNA a couple years ago -- and perhaps they will start making it illegal for interracial breeding, or for people with disabilities or...

Coke, Nestle developing calorie-burning tea - billingsgazette.com

If they don't add in that disgusting (and harmful) Splenda/Sucralose/Nutrasweet bullshit, I'll give it a shot.

Health and Safety at the Computer » Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Genetic Ethics

Damn, they are already using genetic predispositions to discriminate against potential employees!

09 August 2005

Libervis.com - Forums - Business & Economy - The MMORPG, a potential open source goldmine

Now that EOTI will have a new server, perhaps we should start an MMORPG project, with the expectation that it won't be mass-market friendly for a few years...

pineconeresearch spyware - Google Search

I had spent a couple hours looking for a Pinecone Research Banner ad, but then started noticing how many people had spyware problems ALSO had some ActiveX component from PineCone installed. Now, I am not one to draw THAT kind of conclusion without testing the theory, but -- since I can't find the banner ad, how about a simple question?

If they email me a link, and I complete a survey, why do they need ActiveX installed on my machine?

johnny.ihackstuff.com :: I'm j0hnny. I hack stuff.

This looks like there could be some fun stuff...

Turok's Bordello

Want some song lyrics? Check these out ;)

..|.. plaguelands.com » EQ2: The Dogs Duping Days Cont… ..|.. Where Only the Wrong Survive

Interesting account. some of the funnier comments....

That’s when the money started pouring in. Rediculous money. Money that made me so scared I went and consulted with a lawyer and an accountant. Needless to say, neither of them had a clue as to what the hell we were talking about. Try telling your accountant you’re making money by selling pieces of gold in a video game. You’ll get a good 20 seconds of them just straring at you and blinking. Throw the words “swords” and “dragons” into the conversation, with a thick and fake english accent, just for giggles. Bonus points if you can say “WE RESCUED THE MAIDEN FROM THE BALDUVIAN ORC MASTER FOR THE WIN,” with a straight face.


there was mass complaints of inflation. Where was all this money coming from, why were the prices set so high? Who was inflating the market. People were pointing fingers left and right. “He sells his spells too high!” “He buys up all the bone chips and then marks them higher!” etc etc. I had to admit, it gave me a giggle. I felt like the Illuminati, pulling economic strings from behind the scenes.


The exact total of what I profited is not important. Just know it’s more than some people make in a year…hell..maybe 3 years, and it was enough to take my girlfriend and entire family on a vacation to Paris.


gizmag Article: Scientists demonstrate a mind-controlled future

Ok everyone.. if I ever have carpal tunnel so bad that I can't type, let's see if we can beta-test one of these.

The Great Internet Porn-Off

Interesting...

A World of Warcraft World

He brings up some interesting points... I will try to highlight some of it here, as well as grab some comments that make me laugh.

Wouldn't those long Calculus lectures have been easier to sit through if, every time you learned something important, gold light shot out from your body?


That's good. That would have been awesome.

Instead of quoting all of section #3, let me just say I had honestly not thought about it like that. Very interesting perspective.

Section #4 is similar... The point about Square buying Enix does point out the validity.

most manufacturing and farming and manual labor will be done with robots at this point, or, as I predict, genetically-engineered land dolphins


Genetically-engineered land dolphins? hmmm... interesting... what is he smoking?

a guy can't get a girl pregnant from 100 miles away unless he's, you know, me


hehe...

Slashdot | New Nanophotonic Waveguides developed at MIT

Nice, this could go a long way to making my computer design more efficient.

Slashdot | 'Uncrackable' Document and Product Security?

Just the other day, the EFF was asking for help in tracking which printers ink'd ids onto the paper, and how...

and now they are saying it can be done without modifying the paper at all? ouch.

EETimes.com - Bacteria grow conductive wires

Long live Cybernetics? Does anyone else get an urge to play Shadowrun when they read the article?

[quant-ph/0505062] Quantum information can be negative

In the classical case, partial information must always be positive, but we find that in the quantum world this physical quantity can be negative. If the partial information is positive, its sender needs to communicate this number of quantum bits to the receiver; if it is negative, the sender and receiver instead gain the corresponding potential for future quantum communication.


Wow... now I really want to go get a degree in quantum mechanics...

Slashdot | Copyright Office: Everyone Uses MSIE, Right?

Hmm, let me see if I can think of a few reasons.
1) I don't even have IE open now
2) I don't trust IE security
3) Some of my machines are Unix based
4) Requiring IE is effectively the government ENCOURAGING the monopoly

Perhaps the last point is the best.

Slashdot | Behind the Xbox Boot Code

this kind of detail makes me wish I owned one... ;)

Just testing out mobile blogger. You heard me right - i sent this from my cell phone as a multimedia message.

Binary, Ternary, Senary

First of all, I had to look up Senary, because I had no clue what a 6-based number system would be. Answers.com provided the following:
Positional systems

* b = 2: Binary, abbreviated bin.
* b = 3: Ternary (or trinary)
* b = 4: Quaternary
* b = 5: Quinary
* b = 6: Senary
* b = 7: Septenary
* b = 8: Octal or Octonary, abbreviated oct.
* b = 9: Novenary
* b = 10: Decimal or Denary, abbreviated dec. (a single system, but there are both long scale and short scale naming variants in widespread use)
* b = 12: Duodecimal (used in the Chepang language of Nepal)
* b = 13: Tredecimal
* b = 16: Hexadecimal, abbreviated hex. (properly sedecimal, but hexadecimal is standard)
* b = 20: Vigesimal (see Maya numerals)
* b = 25: Quinquevigesimal (see D'ni numerals)
* b = 26: Hexavigesimal
* b = 27: Septemvigesimal
* b = 60: Sexagesimal (see Babylonian numerals)
* b = 64: Quattuorsexagesimal
* b = 120: Centivigesimal


So, why was I looking up 6-based numbering? Well, I found that I liked Ternary better than Binary. I even wrote a Binary Tutorial and a Balanced Ternary Tutorial.

Well, the reason is that I am additicted to hexagons. I love hexagons. Hexagon grids, maps, games, etc... So, you might be asking why I am calling it Senary instead of Hexadecimal? Hexadecimal is base 16, not base 6.

Answer.com suggests that a Senary system uses the numbers 0-5 (easily represented by a fist of fingers on 1 hand)... Although that does appear very easy to type, I personally would prefer a hexagon-based solution... let me think...

I'll have to revisit this... but I have to think that a hex-grid based numbering would be kewl ;)

07 August 2005

Slashdot | When Pigs Wifi

Ok, ok... so, from Portland... go East and get good Wifi access... or go South and get good fiber access... why is Portland so far behind?

Slashdot | Scientists 'Read Thoughts' Using Brain Scans

See, I told you we could do this!

Slashdot | When Microbes Ate the Ocean

interesting little buggers, eh?

New Daylight Saving May Cause Tech Problems - Yahoo! News

Didn't I say this a few weeks ago?

like here or here or...

Slashdot | FCC Reclassifies DSL, Drops Common Carrier Rules

Great, just what we needed.

Maybe now Beaverton will finally develop the community fiber like Ashland did.

SPACE.com -- Hidden Black Holes Finally Found

These hyperactive black holes are called quasars.


They are?

Slashdot | FCC To Require Backdoor Network Access for Feds

So, what can providers do to make them exempt from this ruling, thus protecting not only their network, but their users privacy?

06 August 2005

Slashdot | Researchers Create Radio Controlled Humans

Can I have one?

Slashdot | Making Fire From Water

wow... this is really kewl... wow... I want this....

Slashdot | Hacking the Fluorescent Light

damn, price not listed on their website yet

Slashdot | Former Health Secretary Pushes for VeriChip Implants

End of the World! The sky is falling! the sky is falling! ;)

Slashdot | The Social Impact of Gaming

When are they going to learn that they are full of shit? If they are right, then why after years of games like D&D and music like Slayer, Ozzy and Dio -- why have I never even so much as punched someone? Whereas, many of those that have listed regularly to country and go to church get in bar fights?

05 August 2005

Flexbeta - Wireless Data Transmission Security - Page 1 - Introduction and WiFi Standards

As I will be setting up a wireless network within the next week, this was an interesting read.

Slashdot | EU Proposing to Make P2P Piracy A Criminal Offense

If the directive is adopted, software used primarily for illegal file sharing, for example, could potentially make its developers criminally liable in one or several EU member countries


hmmm.. let's see... what might SOMEONE use primarily for that purpose, and thus would be considered illegal....

msn. google. websites (ie: IIS and Apache). windows/linux/etc. cds. tape cassettes. cameras. pencils/pens (writing down license keys). hmmm, can anyone say BAD IDEA?

Purity pays off for nanotubes (August 2005) - News - PhysicsWeb

This looks promising

» Should IBM release OS/2 as open source? | Open Source | ZDNet.com

If IBM is so adamant that Sun should open source Java, why aren't they open sourcing OS/2?

Details on FBI's secret call for Indymedia logs | News.blog | CNET News.com

The newly disclosed subpoena, which has been partially redacted, asks only for specific 'log files.'

But Rackspace turned over the entire hard drive at the time, taking the server offline and effectively pulling the plug on more than 20 Independent Media Center Web sites for about a week.

That sucks, I thought they were supposed to be a company we could trust...

Slashdot | FCC Considers Deregulation of DSL

Right now, none of them can help anyways. Although SpeakEasy sent me a letter saying that they can get me 6.0/1.5 at my house, upon testing said theory, they can only get me 384/384... Why? Because they refuse to run a new line (which Telocity used to do) and instead rely on Verizon (who said they had no intention on upgrading the 26-gauge wire). The only current solution available to me is to get a T1 (1.45/1.45) for about $500. Not an option.

The Network on Wheels -- Java Developers, Start Your Programming Engines!

must.... have....

04 August 2005

GHH - The "Google Hack" Honeypot

you know, I was trying to figure out what the point of this really was... then I tried their example in Google... wow.

The Escapist - Player-Prompted Paranoia

interesting article (note the 'next' button on the bottom right)

Why Arc Isn't Especially Object-Oriented

ok, it is obvious he is anti-OOP, but... the first comment does bring up an interesting point... for writing self-modifying code, is OOP the wrong paradigm?

What Business Can Learn from Open Source

Interesting article. I especially like the parts about the workplace and startups.

01 August 2005

John Huskey

**IMPORTANT**
We are trying to notify everyone, so I am posting this in case you are someone we were unable to get ahold of...

John got in a motorcycle accident.
He is in ICU at OHSU. He can not have visitors right now.
Robyn said that they won't know if he will pull through until he has been on the ventillator for about a week.
Robyn will call if there is any change, or anything we can do.
Call me if you have any questions.

Update:
John died yesterday (10 August 2005) in ICU. I don't yet know the details of how exactly (he was having a hard time breathing, even with the ventillator), or details about any services. Please call me if you need this information when it becomes available.

Slashdot | 19 million Amps

Wow. friggin wow. I can't even imagine that much power.

Slashdot | Homebrew Underwater ROV

I want one!

Slashdot | 20k Down Can Get You Up Into Space

hmmm, I have enough equity for me and dino to reserve a seat... but how will I pay it off?

Lan Game Reviews - Gaming Router / Firewall

Too bad we just bought the D-Link DGL(DLG?)-4300

Slashdot | 125-Mile WiFi Connection

Wow... 300 mile wifi connection... nice ;)

BBC NEWS | Technology | Wireless hijacking under scrutiny

anyone else think the (C)LECs are behind the push to scare people away from WiFi sharing?

Isolating Concurrent Java Apps In JVM, Java Virtual Machine @ SYMBIAN DEVELOPER'S JOURNAL

Wonder if this would change the design of Pandora?

FOXNews.com - Politics - Bolton to Get U.N. Job Today

A recess appointment is a procedure that allows a president to fill a vacant job when Congress is not in session. Lawmakers left for vacation last week. The move will allow Bolton to stay in the job without Senate confirmation until the end of the current Congress in January 2007.

It is the 106th recess appointment for Bush. Former President Clinton made 140 recess appointments during his two terms in office.


Sounds like we need to get rid of the ability to do recess appointments... It is extremely obvious that everyone (democrat and republican alike) are abusing this power.