Tournament of Shame
After Friday night anime, we had our first Tournament of Shame (air hockey). A tournament of shame is a sequential pairwise game in which the loser stays to play the next player in line. Very fun with a sufficiently silly group such as Michael, Erika, Jeff, Gabe, Calvin, Kay, Adrian, Helen, and me.
The idea of a tournament of shame is that no player will dominate the tournament: it's hard to be so bad that you lose to everyone else consistently. Or maybe the point is just to be silly by cheering players when they score on themselves.
Correction: It's called a "tournament of shame", not a "tournament of losers".
Multiple choice
The correct answer to this question is an:
A) aardvark
B) rat
C) cow
(Stolen from a Slashdot post by "j3110".)
Coincidence
Aurora Burd, Dave Gaebler, and I all have escheresque posters involving stairs behind our doors. I have Peacock's "The Courtyard", Aurora has Peacock's "Castle of Illusion", and Dave has Escher's "House of Stairs".
Mars Society t-shirts
- Mars Society Toronto: "Mars: Object is closer than it appears". This shirt and the next one are my favorites.
- "It's not what you drive. It's what drives you." The shirt has a photo of a Mars rover. I saw this shirt at the 2001 Mars Society convention at Stanford but I don't know which chapter made it.
- Mars Society San Diego: "It's not just for robots".
- Mars Society Canada: Maple leaf window into Mars.
- Mars Society Winnipeg: "Who wants to climb Olympus Mons?"; Plain with small logo.
- Mythic Creations / Mars Society Northern California: various.
I want a shirt that says "Because it's there" under a large photo of Mars.
Debris 32
I've been addicted to the shareware version of Debris 32 for over a year. Debris 32 is like Asteroids: you pilot a ship and go around shooting large asteroids to break them apart and small asteroids to destroy them. Debris 32 adds mines, aggressive enemy ships, and power-ups.
It took me a month before I was able to beat the game on the hardest difficultly level, and I can still only beat it half of the time. The hardest levels are 4, which has a hard-to-destroy enemy base, and 6, which has crystals. Small crystals grow into large crystals if you don't destroy them quickly, and shooting a large crystal results in several small crystals.
The shareware version is addictive despite only having 10 levels. I don't know how to get the full version. The publisher (MVPsoft) no longer sells it and I don't know how to contact the author (David Bollinger).
Download Debris 32 shareware for Windows (4 MB)
Bigger screenshot:
Continue reading "Debris 32"Fire drill and donuts!
There was a fire alarm in South Dorm last night. Unlike the first time I heard a fire alarm in South, I managed to leave my room quickly despite the deafening noise and strobe lights in the hall.
As I got to the parking lot where we gather after fire alarms, several South Dorm residents noticed 3 stacked boxes of donuts. We wondered what the donuts were doing unattended in a parking lot. Then we saw Dean Guy Gerbick carrying additional bags of donuts from his car. He told us the donuts were for us to eat during the drill.
Typo patterns
Most of my "typos" add extra words:
mozilla crashes at with the instruction pointer at an address not in its address space. [bug 157845]
my high school has a comedy sportz team. the team and an informal club that exists around it, and my brother is part of that.
I think my typo pattern has to do with my typing style. I don't compose entire sentences in my head before I start typing them, and I edit heavily. I edit sentences as I type them. For example, a few sentences ago, I typed "before typing them[Ctrl+Left][Ctrl+Left][Ctrl+Shift+Right]starting to type [End]". Later I changed "starting to type" to "I start typing".
I also move information between sentences in order to keep any sentence from being too complicated and to eliminate parenthetical phrases. When I'm done typing a paragraph, there are often lots of unnecessary parentheses around sentences, which I remove. Sometimes I spend more keypresses editing than typing new sentences.
In the first example, I probably typed "mozilla crashes at an address not in its address space" at first, and then realized I should make it clear that the instruction pointer was what was at an address not in Mozilla's address space. In the second example, I remember that the two sentences used to be one sentence, but I don't know how to explain the error.
Erika Rice also makes strange typos:
After about an hour we got bored (or, in my Case, started to get headaches) so we grabbed some other people and went and watched "Office Space" in the lack.
(Case is a dorm at Mudd and the LAC is the Linde Activities Center.)
Selene wins
I use a program called Sharescan to search the Windows network at Mudd. I have found students sharing archived mail, friends' backup CDs, photos of themselves naked, and entire hard drives. I usually look through the data to determine the owner and remind them that the Windows network is for sharing music inform them that they're sharing data that they probably weren't intending to share.
Today Selene told me over AIM that my shared folder was world-writable. Then she told me my printer was also shared and printed a page saying "Wuzza!" using my printer.
Mozilla Firebird becoming popular at Mudd
Twice this week I have witnessed Mudd students recommending Mozilla Firebird to other Mudd students. Both students mentioned pop-up blocking and tabbed browsing. One also mentioned themes, Flash Click to View and other extensions, and the customizable search bar (he uses IMDb and dictionary.com in addition to Google).
Illusions
MIT Perceptual Science Group: lightness; interaction between motion and form
Akiyoshi Kitaoka: static images that appear to move
"Anything but", "All but"
The idioms "anything but" and "all but" have confused me as long as I can remember. Now I know why: they have nearly opposite meanings.
- Cambridge ALD definitions for all but, anything but
- Bruce Todd tries to explain the idioms
- An English test for Japanese students (charset: Shift_JIS):
13. That boy is ( ) a great trouble to his parents.
A. all but B. anything but C. not but D. nothing but - An English test for Chinese students:
27. It was such a dangerous scene: the boy was ____ drowned in the river just now.
A. nothing but B. all but C. anything but D. but that
Google searches used: "anything but" "all but" idioms (lots of results, mostly noise), "all but * anything but" (only 16 results, but some were relevent).
These idioms do not appear in any of the idiom dictionaries I have:
- NTC's American Idioms Dictionary
- NTC's Slang American Style (generally the most useful of the three)
- Betty Kirkpatrick's Clichés
Security silliness at Mudd
From an e-mail titled "Terror Warning 3/18/03" and sent to all Mudd students:
The President of the United States has announced his intention to remove the current leadership of Iraq. As a result, the intelligence community believes there is a high probability of large and small-scale attacks that could involve mass casualties and seek to cause maximum economic, psychological and symbolic impact. Reports from Los Angeles County of Emergency Management, State Office of Emergency Services, and the Federal Department of Homeland Security suggest that terrorists may attempt multiple attacks against U.S. and allied targets.
Officials have expressed particular concern about buildings, subways, and other enclosed areas. There is also concern about Iraqi sleeper agents proficient in assassinations, kidnappings, and bombings.
To address the increased level of threat, the Department of Homeland Security has raised the national Terrorism Threat Level to Orange-Plus Alert (High).
Recommendations
In response to specific recommendations from the Department of Homeland Security, the HMC Incident Management Team suggests that as far as possible, we:
Limit visitor access to buildings and school campuses to a single entry point.
Effective Wednesday, March 19, 2003, limit access to each building to the main entrance. All other entrances will require key or combo access.
The "one unlocked door per building" policy was not implemented well. One building has a glass wall with many doors along it, and even there only one door was unlocked. The unlocked door for a building at the edge of campus faced a street rather than the rest of campus.
But even with those minor problems fixed, the policy was silly because it introduced inconvinience without protecting us at at all. The policy was killed within 3 or 4 weeks.
What security measures or "security" measures have you been affected by?
Two years ago
I connected to IRC soon after getting up on September 11. I didn't usually do that. My first class was at 8:10.
Session Start: Tue Sep 11 07:50:09 2001
[07:50] *** Now talking in #mozillazine
[07:50] *** Topic is 'Planes crash into world trade center's twin towers, Pentagon | http://www.abc.net.au/streaming/newsradio.ram Live Audio'
[07:50] *** Set by Hendikins on Tue Sep 11 06:52:42
[07:50] <ksosez> oh my goc
[07:50] <ksosez> god
[07:50] <ksosez> Jesse you okay?
[07:50] <nvs81> free to air tv does me good
[07:50] <rkaa> ...we have a report that ...airplane..pennsylvania...747...no details yet..but it's crashed southeast of pittsburg
[07:50] <ksosez> yeah i hear that
[07:51] <grissu> 2nd plane flying to pentagon !!!!!
[07:51] *** Hendikins changes topic to 'Planes crash into world trade center's twin towers, Pentagon | http://www.abc.net.au/streaming/newsradio.ram Live Audio [DOWN]'
[07:51] <Anthem> Arafat condemns plane attacks in U.S. - Reuters
[07:51] <sodapop3k> whoa.
[07:51] <Jesse> ksosez: yes, why?
[07:51] <doron> Anthem: he condemns everything
[07:51] <rkaa> poor sod
[07:51] <grissu> 2nd plane flying to pentagon !!!!!
[07:51] <Anthem> 10:48am 09/11/01 BOEING 767 CRASHES NORTH OF SOMERSET COUNTY AIRPORT
[07:52] <Hendikins> Jesse: read topic
How did you find out about the September 11 attacks?
Motherese
I learned a cool word in my Acquisition of Language class this week: motherese, speech that is high-pitched, repetitive, simple, and typically directed at young children.
I found a message from Steven Pinker about the term (and 8 synonyms or related terms). He also talks about an early version of the American Heritage Dictionary's definition for "child-directed speech".
Pinker prefers the term "child-directed speech", saying it is the most transparent. I prefer "motherese" because it is clearly a term and therefore must refer to some phenomenon worth naming. "Child-directed speech" could be mistaken to mean "any speech directed at a child". "Child-directed speech" tries to be more inclusive, but still misses the fact that people also use it when talking to cats. I also prefer "motherese" because it's short, easy to remember, and slightly silly.
Yahoo! Maps becomes printerless-friendly
In the middle of August, Yahoo! Maps made several changes to the way it displays directions:
- The first step, "Start on [street]", became "Start at [address], [city]".
- A last step was added: "Arrive at [address], [city]".
- "Left" and "Right" were replaced by black circles containing "L" and "R", and the column on the right side of the table with arrows was removed.
- Distances and turns used to be separate columns, but now the main column contains lines like "Turn R on MIRALESTE DR - go 0.8 miles".
All of these changes slightly improve the printed directions. But one change can vastly improve directions copied by hand: adding the destination address as the last step.
When I had a small party at my house early in August (before the changes), everyone used Yahoo! Maps for directions because I included a Get directions to my house URL in the invitation. One friend called just before arriving to ask what my address was. Another friend asked a neighbor which house was mine. They both forgot to copy down the address, which appeared in the invitation e-mail and at the top of the Yahoo! Maps page but not in directions themselves.
Yahoo! Maps joins Mappoint in including the destination address as the last step in the directions. Mapquest and Expedia Maps still do not. Expedia's last step is "End: Arrive End".
Vons delivers to my dorm room
I eat in my room a lot, but I don't drive and I don't like carrying heavy bags of groceries 2 miles. Instead of begging for rides, I order from vons.com. They deliver groceries to my dorm room. I've been using vons.com for a year, but most Mudd students don't know about it.
The site's "Favorites" feature makes it possible to order very quickly if you buy the same things each time. Many items have photos, so lists are easy to scan.
The minimum order is $50 and the normal delivery fee is $10. $10 is worth it for the time I save by not begging people for rides, riding to Vons, walking around the store to find the groceries I want, waiting in line at checkout, waiting for the people I rode with to finish, riding back, and carrying bags of groceries to my room in several trips. Orders over $150 have free delivery, but my orders aren't that large.
When you check out, you have to specify a 2-hour delivery window when you know you will be in your room.
My complaints about the site:
- The front page doesn't mention the $10 delivery fee.
- At 800x600, the "main" frame is tiny and I have to scroll a lot.
- I have to enter my credit card information for each order.
- The site isn't sure whether it's Vons or Safeway. (They're the same company. The store is called Vons in southern California and is called Safeway elsewhere.)
Tips for Mudd students:
- If you live in South, give your location as "South Dorm", not "Marks Hall". Many Mudders don't know where "Marks Hall" is, and there is also a "Marks Hall" at CMC.
- Give the address of your dorm (below), not your mailing address (340 E Foothill). I don't know if this is necessary, but it's what I tried first, and it worked for me. (Source for addresses: Dean Guy, "Cable Television" e-mail to all Mudd students, Sept. 2002.)
(More addresses -- link added 2003-09-23)Dorm Address Garrett House 495 East 12th Street Atwood 1200 North Mills Avenue Case 560 East Foothill Linde 550 East Foothill South 400 East Foothill East 445 East 12th Street North 440 East Foothill West 425 East 12th Street
Zeitgeist: Mars
Mars was on Google Zeitgeist's "Top 10 Gaining Queries" list 3 times in 4 weeks. It was not on the "Declining" list in any of the 4 weeks.
- Week Ending Aug. 11, 2003
- 9. mars
- Week Ending Aug. 25, 2003
- 4. mars
- Week Ending Sept. 1, 2003
- 3. planeta marte
Most of this interest is due to Mars being closer to Earth than it has been or will be for tens of thousands of years. But some of it is renewed interest in sending humans to Mars, triggered by the Columbia disaster.
Deep Fried Live
Deep Fried Live is a cross between Strong Bad and a cooking show. DFL is "hosted" by accident-prone Tako the Octopus. The show is funny, and I might have learned something about cooking by watching it. My favorite episodes are 3: Chocolate-Chip Cookies, in which Tako confronts his fear of food mixers, and 7: Steak, in which Tako is abducted by an alien who needs cooking tips.
When I told Helen about Deep Fried Live, she informed me that "tako" is Japanese for "octopus". Helen is amazing at picking up languages. She seems to know more Japanese than I do, even though I've taken a semester and she has not.
If you have disabled Flash because you hate Flash ads, you're missing out on some great Flash cartoons and should try the Flash Click to View extension for Mozilla Firebird.
Sign anywhere
Financial Registration cards don't have a spot for a signature. Most students behind the tables say "Sign your name anywhere". This semester, Michael Vrable was behind one of the tables, and he said "Sign your name at the bottom" or "Sign your name anywhere at the bottom" instead. Michael's instructions would have saved me a second of looking for the best place to sign (important when there's a line) but wouldn't have been as much fun. There wasn't a line when I was there.
Bagging
I bought a textbook, some paper, and some binders at Huntley Bookstore today. I asked the guy at checkout to put my purchase in two bags of roughly equal weight. He thought this was a strange request and expressed uncertainty about his solution, but the bags felt balanced as I walked back to my dorm.
Only later did I realize my grave mistake: I had casually asked him to solve an NP-complete problem.
