ZGeek

Worlds first competent programmer?

Spades — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:41:19 GMT

from http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd05xx/EWD594.PDF

Years ago a railway company was erected and one of its directors -- probably the commercial bloke -- discovered that the initial investments could be reduced significantly if only fifty percent of the cars would be equipped with a toilet, and, therefore, so was decided.

Shortly after the company had started its operations, however, complaints about the toilets came pouring in. An investigation was carried out and revealed that the obvious thing had happened: despite its youth the company was already suffering from internal communication problems, for the director's decision on the toilets had not been transmitted to the shunting yard, where all cars were treated as equivalent, and, as a result, sometimes trains were composed with hardly any toilets at all.

In order to solve the problem, a bit of information was associated with each car, telling whether it was a car with or without a toilet, and the shunting yard was instructed to compose trains with the numbers of cars of both types as equal as possible. It was a complication for the shunting yard, but, once it had been solved, the people responsible for the shunting procedures were quite proud that they could manage it.

When the new shunting procedures had been made effective, however, complaints about the toilets continued. A new investigation was carried out and then it transpired that, although in each train about half the cars had indeed toilets, sometimes trains were composed with nearly all toilets in one half of the train. In order to remedy the situation, new instructions were issued, prescribing that cars with and cars without toilets should alternate. This was a move severe complication for the shunting people, but after some initial grumbling, eventually they managed.

Complaints, however, continued and the reason turned out to be that, as the cars with toilets had their toilet at one of their ends, the distance between two successive toilets in the train could still be nearly three car lengths, and for mothers with children in urgent need -- and perhaps even luggage piled up in the corridors -- this still could lead to disasters. As a result, the cars with toilets got another bit of information attached to them, making them into directed objects, and the new instructions were, that in each train the cars with toilets should have the same orientation. This time, the new instructions for the shunting yard were received with less than enthusiasm, for the number of turntables was hardly sufficient; to be quite fair to the shunting people we must even admit that according to all reasonable standards, the number of turntables was insufficient, and it was only by virtue of the most cunning ingenuity, that they could just manage.

With all toilets equally spaced along the train the company felt confident that now everything was alright, but passengers continued to complain: although no passenger was more than a car length away from the nearest toilet, passengers (in urgent need) did not know in which direction to start their stumbling itinerary along the corridor! To solve this problem, arrows saying "TOILET" were fixed in all corridors, thereby also making the other half of the cars into directed objects that should be properly oriented by the shunting procedure.

When the new instruction reached the shunting yard, they created an atmosphere ranging from despair to revolt: it just couldn't be done! At that critical moment a man whose name has been forgotten and shall never be traced, made the following observation. When each car with a toilet was coupled, from now until eternity, at its toileted end with a car without a toilet, from then onwards the shunting yard, instead of dealing with N directed cars of two types, could deal with N/2 identical units that, to all intents and purposes, could be regarded as symmetrical. And this observation solved all shunting problems at the modest price of, firstly sticking to trains with an even number of cars only -- the few additional cars needed for that could be paid out of the initial savings effected by the commercial bloke! -- and, secondly, slightly cheating with regard to the equal spacing of the toilets. But, after all, who cares about the last three feet?

Although at the time that this story took place, mankind was not blessed yet with automatic computers, our anonymous man who found this solution deserves to be called the world's first competent programmer.

Dept of Games: Captain Forever and Captain Successor

Movius — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:29:34 GMT

Zgeek game making superstar Farbs has finished and released his latest game Captain Successor and made the original Captain Forever available free of charge.

Go play it now! Then sign up as a supporter to get Captain Successor or burn in Hell.

source = Captain Forever

*Yes there is a good reason the .swf wants webcam access.

Father executes son for molesting sister

PsychoNavigator — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:52:01 GMT

Quote:

A 15-year-old boy who was killed by his father in an execution style killing spent the last moments of his life pleading, "No, Daddy! No!"

Jamar Pinkney Sr. is facing a first degree murder charge after allegedly shooting his 15-year-old son after discovering he had been having inappropriate contact with a 3-year-old girl.

Jamar Pinkney, Sr. appears before Chief Judge Brigette R. Officer in 30th District Court in Highland Park, Mich. on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009. Jamar Pinkney, Sr.,a 37-year-old father irate over hearing his 15-year-old son had sexual contact with a 3-year-old girl made the teen strip at gunpoint, marched him to a vacant lot and shot him to death despite pleas from the boy and his mother, a relative said.

Jamar Pinkney Jr. was shot in the head Monday by his 37-year-old father, Jamar Pinkney Sr., who allegedly made the teen strip his clothes off and kneel in a vacant lot before he was killed by a single bullet.

The boy's mother, Lazette Cherry, told the Detroit Free Press that Pinkney Sr., showed up at her Highland Park, Mich., home after she told him that their son had made a startling confession.

According to Cherry, the 15-year-old had admitted to having "inappropriate contact" with his 3-year-old half sister.

Point blank source

Well, this will certainly present a conundrum for his fellow inmates. On one hand, he killed his own son. On the other, he took vigilante justice over his daughter being molested.

facebook trick...

hymartin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:35:23 GMT

Press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, enter key then right click, then press up then down. Magic circles will appear.

To stop this, you might need to reload the page or log off.

It works for me.:whistle:

Dragon Age - Appreciation Thread

MyPetMonkey — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:29:28 GMT

So what are you rolling?

Have you re-rolled already?

And anything else about this game...

One thing you must do this weekend

Pirate — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:31:52 GMT

And that is to get your geek on and take a photo and send it in. You could win a ZGeek t-shirt and an uncensored version of Left 4 Dead 2.

If you don't. Then you could regret it for the rest of your days. Serious, would you want that? It could be a long time. :uhh:

More info on entering is found here.

Dept of Sadness: You have been conned

ewe2 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:18:30 GMT

Quote:

Anthropogenic or man-made Global Warming (AGW) alarmism is the biggest deception and mass hysteria in the history of modern civilization, because climate changes naturally.

The Climate Sceptics believe leaders of Australia should base their decisions on facts rather than moods. For those who like to keep as informed as possible on the facts about what the global climate is doing the website http://www.climate4you.com/ collects the latest relevent data for your convenience.

The Climate Sceptics support all practical measures to prevent environmental degradation. We support the development of cleaner and more efficient sources of energy. Unfortunately governmental taxes to stop climate change are a colossal diversion of funds from core obligations, and Emission Trading Schemes (ETS) will do absolutely nothing for the Murray-Darling basin, the Great Barrier Reef, or land degradation � just as it will do absolutely nothing to stop climate change.

We are here to demand rational debate and responsible leadership. We reject the extremist views that now threaten what Australians have sacrificed to achieve in living standards, rights and freedoms.

If you want your own children and grandchildren to enjoy these values as you do, click here to join, and get in touch with your kindred spirits in your local area. There are a lot more of you than some might want you to discover.

I became aware of this...person..from his TV ads on OneHD cunting up my NBA replays. Climate change is a con because surprise surprise "Leon and thousands of other Australian landholders have lost property rights due to the Kyoto protocol and other environmental laws". Handy hint Leon, don't recommend Andrew Bolt for further reading, that tells us something more than you think.

Beware: zoom has frightening lady. :mob:

One stop bullshit shop

LegoMatrix

Ziggythecablemo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:05:16 GMT

A mate of mine has put this together with Lego, stop-motion photography and far more patience than I could ever show.

LegoMatrix

Dept of Tunes: Friday Afternoon Headfuck

Pirate — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:32:55 GMT

Dept of Awesome: Russians protest against sexual harasment

Pirate — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:12:30 GMT

Quote:

As an old Russian saying goes, there are two problems in Russia, fools and roads. But lately one more has popped up and it is surely not a futile one. Since the fall of the Soviet Union there is a serious issue still gnawing all the countries of FSU. Corruption. And recently in the center of the capital of Ukraine, right at the entrance of Ministry of Cultural Affairs in Kiev, there was held a protest against sexual harassment in colleges of the country. And the girls� approach was not as commonplace as it usually happens but a saucy and even kinda bizarre one.

Source

Quebec woman says insurance benefits fucked by Facebook

Haggisboy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:19:51 GMT

Quote:

A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is taking her insurer to court over a decision to cut her benefits based, according to her, on photos she posted on Facebook.

Nathalie Blanchard, 29, is on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Que., since she was diagnosed with severe depression in February 2008.

But her benefits were suddenly cut off at the end of October. When she called to inquire with Manulife, her insurance company, she was told they established she was ready to go back to work based on photos they saw on Facebook.

Blanchard had posted photos her herself enjoying the beach at a sunny destination and partying in bars with her friends.

"They didn't ask her to explain those photos before making their decision," said Blanchard's lawyer Thomas Lavin.

Lavin said the Eastern Townships woman was encouraged by her doctor to take small vacations and go out more to try and forget about her worries and integrate herself back into her social network.

Blanchard is going to file a claim in Quebec Superior Court for wrongful dismissal and to seek damages against Manulife.

Full Story

While it's tempting to side with the insurance company here, I've known two individuals who went through depression and it's one of those illnesses that few take seriously and many chalk up to laziness and trying to beat the system.

Laser projector? What's it called?

DOGG — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:04:38 GMT

I'm trying to find out how much one of those drawing laser 'projectors' costs. And what the hell are they called exactly? I'm just finiding traditional projectors, or rave style laser projectors with preset effects.

I just need outlines of still images in a green laser.

I want to plug it into a laptop and project bacis outlines of images, such as vector graphics.

I know that there are colour/video versions available but i'm not after that (definitely not video). Unless it's a laser based traditional projector with a TFT film screen for the colours or something similar, then still images are OK.

And you think you have it rough with the 18+

kleph — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:55:33 GMT

Quote:

These games are a cherished part of my life, they helped to shape my young mind, they gave me challenges and vastly improved my English, opening the door to a whole new world of literature, music and people from all around the world. What I have achieved, all my research, how I have been able to travel even though I'm always broke, the hard work I've done to convince people to fund a start up for cheap biotech for developing countries and regular folks, none of that would have been possible hadn't I learned English through video games.

Now, thanks to the tiny horizons of the cast of morons who govern me, thanks to the stupidity and ham-fisted authoritarianism of the local authorities, so beloved of so many liberals, my 7 year old brother's chances to do the same could be greatly impacted.

Full document @ Source

Quote:

Guido N��ez-Mujica, a 26-year-old Boing Boing reader in Venezuela who is an avid gamer, writes in with this extensive personal observation piece about a new law that widely criminalizes video games in the South American country. As you read the piece, please also bear in mind that publishing this sort of thing under one's full name is not done without personal risk.

Peruvians Arrested for killing people to sell their fat

starf*sh — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:09:09 GMT

Quote:

Four people have been arrested in Peru on suspicion of killing some 60 people to sell their fat and other human tissue to Italian co-conspirators for cosmetic use in Europe, authorities say... The prosecutor's indictment said the gang allegedly targeted farmers and indigenous people on remote Andean roads, tricking them by offering jobs before killing them... Peruvian press cited him as saying the fat can be sold for $US15,000 ($16,000) per gallon (3.8 litres) in European countries.

Source

I think I saw this in a movie once...

Fable II freebies

sabreraider — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:07:20 GMT

If anyone is playing this and wants some free shit, let me know. I'm gonna be trading the game in shortly and want to donate my gold and crap to someone before I bail.