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Showing posts from August, 2006

Flash update

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Hmm....it's getting busy...very busy. But before I have to knuckle down and do...stuff...I thought i'd update with why I may be hard to track down over the next week or five: 1) TCCC design has started! 5 weeks of consecutive UML designs to try to earn my place in America. This wouldn't be too bad, but the very first week, I pick a hard component. Ok, good in the sense that, if I pass, I get the US$1500 payment, 500 digital run points and 10 TCCC points, but bad in the sense that there were problems with the specs, so now its been extended til monday which takes time away from the next design. 2) SRMs go on as usual - most recent was cancelled due to server problems...at 1am in the morning before a 10am start the next day! :p - add to this the ACM regional and Google Code Jam, TCCC algorithm, plus training = so much coding, so little time :( 3) No assignments this week (*phew*) but...only because there's 4 or 5 due next week! One is doing a UML design (= TCCC design for

Two Twisted

In the spirit of the new Australian tv show (which I haven't seen, I'm just stealing the name, sorry) comes two back-two-back narratives from today: Tale #1: Bus Prophet (starring 4yo kid and grandfather) -- *bump*, bus hits kurb while going around roundabout -- kid] Papa...did we just hit something? man] Yes, our bus just hit the kurb when going around the roundabout. -- kid thinks for 10s -- k] Papa...why did we just the kurb? m] Because he's a lousy driver. -- kid thinks for 1 minute, waits until the bus is quiet, then in a REALLY loud voice: k] Papa...WHY IS HE A LAZY DRIVER?? {we now skip 20 minutes ahead in time} k] Papa...why are there no seatbelts on busses? m] They don't think they're needed. k] But...the driver wears a seatbelt? m] That's right. They say it'd be too expensive to put them on every seat. k] That's Silly!! *10s pause for thought* Papa...how much do seatbelts cost?? Deep. At least, about as deep as Australian drama gets :) But stay

Guilty of Gross Stupidity

It's happened again...sporting stars, found guilty of gross stupidity. Last time it was Barry Hall (there aren't too many words to describe 'punching someone in a semifinal') and now, the cycling world tops it with Floyd Landis . There would be few out there who think he's perfectly clean, but then again there are plenty of other athletes guilty of drug cheating. The thing that gets me about this case, though, is how he managed to get 10 minutes behind on stage 16, then the *very next day*, stage 17, suddenly thrash everyone by six minutes. Add to this his claim that he has naturally increased testosterone levels, even though the extra found was artificial , this seems to win the sporting stupidity award for the week. This is not confined to the sporting field though. Recently, a man put a 14-month-old girl into a tumble dryer because he thought it would be fun for her. It is unlikely that there was any malicious intent, but there's laws against being dangerous