it's my (old) blog: August 2009

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Robot ideas

A robot beating federer at tennis would be pretty cool.

Would a robot tennis tournament be interesting?

Already we have robot soccer (but it's not really prime-time ready).

A humanoid robot with the speed and dexterity of this guy would be capable of amazing things.

How about a decathlon type event where a single humanoid robot competes against its peers at:

tennis
judo
gymnastics
chess
jai-alai
fencing
etc
perhaps some kind of obstacle course ala american gladiator

The prize would be $X million. Sponsored by Red Bull and Virgin Galactic. The cost of entry would be large, but not incomparable to Formula 1. It would be televised once a year in a weekly format, possibly with elimination rounds. The winning robots become celebrities and would get sponsorship deals like Michael Jordon or Tiger Woods.

And for about $2000 (in today's money) you could buy a consumer model of the winner to do your vacuuming and fetch your groceries.

coordinating new maintainers for _why's projects

http://whymirror.github.com/
sniff...

Listen while browsing the above.

another way that php sucks

~> cat test.php
<?php
$a = array('foo','bar');
print_r($a);

$a .= 'baz'; # php: "i guess you wanted to convert that to a string? no problem"
print_r($a); # oh joy...
~> php test.php
Array
(
    [0] => foo
    [1] => bar
)
Arraybaz~> # weep

~> cat test.rb
a = ['foo','bar']
puts a.inspect

a += 'baz' # dear php. notice how this is an error? sanity prevails. thank you ruby
puts a.inspect
~> ruby test.rb
["foo", "bar"]
test.rb:4:in `+': can't convert String into Array (TypeError)
   from test.rb:4

Test if two date periods overlap in php

<?php

function overlaps($first_start, $first_end, $second_start, $second_end) {

    return !(

        ($first_start < $second_start && $first_end < $second_start)

        ||

        ($first_start > $second_end && $first_end > $second_end)

    );

}

$tests = array(

    array( 'data' => array(10,20,30,40), 'result' => FALSE ),

    array( 'data' => array(30,40,10,20), 'result' => FALSE ),

    array( 'data' => array(10,40,20,30), 'result' => TRUE ),

    array( 'data' => array(20,30,10,40), 'result' => TRUE ),

    array( 'data' => array(10,30,20,40), 'result' => TRUE ),

    array( 'data' => array(20,40,10,30), 'result' => TRUE ),

);

foreach ($tests as $test) {

    $foo = overlaps(

        $test['data'][0],

        $test['data'][1],

        $test['data'][2],

        $test['data'][3]

    );

    echo ($foo == $test['result'] ? "ok\n" : "FAIL\n");

}

Update
Here is fremnet's version that works even if you get the start/end dates the wrong way around:
http://pastebin.com/f62002cb5

Monday, August 24, 2009

bat for lashes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxSSoqJEt5Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjLxUeqXwpc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek3coSedm7o
yum.

Update:
especially: timpani, robert smith guitar sounds, the drummer in general, the drumming in general, stretch velour, bare feet, sparkle stretch velour, chunky fringes, wolves, medieval/fantasy themes, big brown eyes, that silky voice... ... ... ... ahem... is it hot in here?

Haven't had any robots for a while...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KxjVlaLBmk

Check out when he catches the phone.

Just as Kasparov has been beaten at chess, in in a few years a robot will be able to beat Roger Federer (or his modern day equivalent) at tennis.

Parking

Friday, August 21, 2009

#702

http://www.doublefine.com/news.php/comics/sc/?currentComic=702

#701

http://www.doublefine.com/news.php/comics/sc/?currentComic=701

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Last tweet?

RT: @_why: programming is rather thankless. u see your works become replaced by superior ones in a year. unable to run at all in a few more.

I don't think he would pull his code. It doesn't seem right...

Woah... I'm shocked.

http://ejohn.org/blog/eulogy-to-_why/

Retiring a blog and starting a new one isn't the same thing as disappearing source code for projects like like hackety, syck etc, and contributions like the poignant guide.

I'm worried about this guy. Thanks and great respect to Jeresig for writing this piece.

Fwd: MotionX-GPS Track: Track 002

Hello,

Simon uses MotionX-GPS on the iPhone 3G and is sharing with you the following track:

Name:	Track 002
Date:	20/08/2009 7:51 am
Distance:	1.81 miles
Elapsed Time:	32:59.2
Avg Speed:	3.3 mph
Max Speed:	12.7 mph
Avg Pace:	18' 15" per mile
Min Altitude:	185 ft
Max Altitude:	223 ft

Start Time:	2009-08-19T21:51:47Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	27.473003º S
Longitude:	153.023949º E

End Time:	2009-08-19T22:24:46Z
End Location:
Latitude:	27.472671º S
Longitude:	153.001089º E

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Sep 18, 2009 3:27 PM PDT.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Fwd: TomTom for iPhone. Available now!

Is it worth it? Actually I don't have a car at the moment. But I borrow one sometimes and I do get lost constantly.

This email was sent to you by TomTom. Having trouble viewing the email below? Click here to read the online version.

Go to shop | My TomTom


	TomTom for iPhone Turn-by-turn navigation for iPhone is here

It's here! TomTom has made navigation available for your iPhone 3G and 3GS. The TomTom app is now available in the iTunes App Store, from just AUS$ 99.99*.

TomTom app The TomTom app offers you:

TomTom's award-winning navigation technology
Always the fastest route with IQ Routes™
Detailed and up-to-date map
Designed and optimized for the iPhone

Buy now

TomTom app From AUS$ 99.99* Available in the iTunes App Store

*Or the equivalent amount in your local currency. This email was sent to you because you registered to receive email communications with us. Please do not reply to this message as we will not be able to answer you personally.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Starting to learn why no-one around here likes PHP...

These similar php functions have params in THE EXACT OPPOSITE ORDER.

    bool array_key_exists ( mixed $key , array $search )
    http://au2.php.net/array_key_exists

    bool property_exists ( mixed $class , string $property )
    http://au2.php.net/property_exists

Stick THAT up your PAAMAYIM NEKUDOTAYIM. (Or "double colon" in phpspeak/Hebrew...)

Fremnet contributed some more examples:

    http://au2.php.net/strpos
    http://au2.php.net/in_array

    http://au.php.net/array_map
    http://au2.php.net/array_filter