Cheers for this, I didn't know the mathematical basis for it, but our eldest child brought this "puzzle" home for year 7 homework a while ago. We spent the weekend experimenting with loads of bits of paper on the floor coming to the conclusion that once you land on a base 2 number, you have a path directly back to 1.
He learned binary in a weekend and we had a fun few days hacking math :)
I was just thinking something similar. I would put more emphasis on the volunteering, as petition based stuff doesn't really improve things. Turn it into a location based community task site.
People and charities can pitch to projects that require volunteers in their area. Each project can be discussed with threads. Could be as simple as "We're landscaping the local park at the weekend, turn up bring the kids and help" one day stuff, to "shelter needs volunteers for ongoing stuff". The project could be discussed and planned in their own threads, and users gain karma for their volunteer work.
Thanks again for the advice, and the offer. Be warned, I may take you up on it :)
I shall investigate creating that image. I found ASDF to be a bit problematic when I tried it on it's own (which is probably down to my inexperience), but QL worked first time.
Cheers, I thought there might be something that was QL installable but didn't want to get sidetracked from the task at hand. I'll have a play with that in the morning :)
I bought the book the other day after it was posted here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1836935 and have been working through the chapters. The book contains some CLISP specific code but I'm running SBCL. So this is my SBCL hack for the first stumbling block I found.
disclaimer: I'm a LISP noob, so this is a beginners hack, but it may help others (like me) who have had difficulty installing CLISP.
I'm in the UK, I'm not sure whether Netflix is over here yet. Not to worry, it's on a retail website for reasonable money, and I wouldn't mind owning a copy :)
I agree that it's an informational site, but the nicest to read information adheres to editorial principle. To me, information for information's sake is a poor substitute to well crafted, and concise "simply what you need to know".
I would stress that not all of Wikipedia falls into that trap. Obscure information (histories of places, etc) read quite well, and tend to get the information balance right. However, pop culture and movies in particular, seem to attract a kitchen sink style, as though someone just sat through the film with a laptop, and typed up everything as it was happening on the screen in front of them.
I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen this movie yet, I must order the DVD this weekend, (now that I've been reminded for the umpteenth time).
On a side note, my biggest annoyance with Wikipedia is manifest in articles about movies. For some reason, they allow an editorial policy of essentially writing out a scene by scene account of a movie.
I have been using Spotify for a while now, and generally think it's a great idea, and provides a great service. I was considering subscribing for the access to their mobile service, though one factor recently put me off.
I don't know how widespread this is within their library, but Spotify interests me in the niche music they serve. When I first got the beta, I loved that I could find a few of the more obscure albums of Irish music on there (don't laugh!) However, a few weeks ago, a large selection of these disappeared. I signed in one day, and many of my playlists were next to empty.
I presume that they encountered a rights issue which forced them to withdraw the music. But from an end users point of view, my quality of service was diminished, without prior warning.
Shame really, but the experience was enough to put me off subscribing.