During the soccer world cup, I was intrigued as to the comparative strengths of the various national teams in relation to the leagues that they played in. I wanted to know if players the English Premier League actually performed better than those coming out of Serie A or Campeonato Brasileiro. Why? I just did.
So, I dug out all the rosters of all the teams, put them into one database table with links to another database table which had info about the league they played for, and then another table for the specific club team (I thought I'd find out which club team was the strongest while I was at it).
As the tournament progressed, individual players got points for playing in winning teams (starting players got more for players who were subbed on -- non-playing members got a 'base' score for at least being included in the team).
And the points were increased as the tournament progressed, so winning a semi-final got a player more points than winning a pool match. Each goal-scorer also earned another bonus score (which was likewise weighted more heavily as the final approached).
By the end of the tournament, just before the final was played, I had this beautiful database, brimming with data that was going to tell me just which league had the best players (it was a close-run thing between the Bundesliga and Serie A). And then Milo flicked the power switch on the plug that my PC goes into *just* as I was doing an update, and corrupted the whole database file.
I was remarkably unperturbed. I felt a bit like a weight had been lifted, to tell the truth. It was getting to be like watching the matrix: all the players were morphing into a series of numbers and equations...
When I was a kid I made a program (on the 64) to calculate those love things.
You know where you'd like take 2 people's names, and count the number of Ls, Os, Vs, Es, and Ss
and then
1 1 0 1 1
2 1 1 2
3 2 3
55%
to get a love percentage... except I never managed to make it deal when you got two finger numbers early in the addition.
Somewhat lacking imagination, I used to resort to typing in hundreds of lines of codes out of computer mags to play games like: Amazing Static 3D Perspective Maze! Make the Chicken Cross the Road! and Bad PacMan Ripoff.
Thing was, there was always at least a dozen typos in the magazine's code, so you inevitable spent more time debugging the damned thing, ultimately spending hours creating a game that invariably lost your interest in about 5 minutes.
Oh, and I used to write fantasy parody text adventure games using an game authoring tool called The Quill. This *before* I'd read Terry Pratchett.
in a similar vein i spent hours planning out levels for duke nukem 3d and exploiting various bugs in the code to create messed up rooms, tunnels and whatnot
it was kind of stink but i'd always put at least one incredibly cheeky and well hidden spot in them so that i'd have the advantage when i made my friends LAN them.
I took Comp Sci for two years.
I tried to fix my computer before taking it into the shop.
I used to be able to tweak the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files like a mofo.
I subscribe to PC World.
I've never taken my computer to the shop to get it fixed. And my frontline computer until sometime in 2000 was still a 486. I was running linux and a sport-modified version of win98 on it, and it was limited to taking hard disks of under 1 gig, but I had a 4gig drive in it.....
// I wanted a Luke Skywalker haircut when I was little.
One better, I had one.
// I took Comp Sci for two years.
This is really my downfall. I got a D and an E in first year comp sci at Canterbury and got so depressed I didn't touch a computer again for five years.
// I took Comp Sci for two years.
i took comp sci for four years at the university where info sci is equivalent to other universitys comp sci.
// I tried to fix my computer before taking it into the shop.
i did this and blew it up. and then fixed it.
// I used to be able to tweak the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files like a mofo.
im beyond them.
// I subscribe to PC World.
home user.
Has anyone noticed that you get to a certain age where it becomes really trendy to have been a geek at school? Everyone starts scrapping over who has the most conspicuous ugly-duckling story.
In christchurch we had this thing called Cantamaths. Not only was a member of the 4 person team each year I was eligible (Form 1-4), I also entered a computer exhibit into the side-stalls thing each year. One year I had programmed a whizzy teaching aide that demonstrated different ways of solving quadratic equations.
there was in christchurch. I think maybe preparing for the maths olympiad or something. It was then, when I turned up in a Supergroove top, and was disappointed about the lack of girls, I realised, that while i was pretty geeky, I was never going to cut the top grade.
//wicked. that was my highpoint as well I think. Form One, I recall -- got the maximum score but lost on a countback. dammit.
Form 1 for me as well. Then in Form 2 I had my first real lesson in the unfairness of life. The teacher picking the team hated my mother (also a teacher), so I didn't get selected, and even other students were asking me why I wasn't in the team....
We haven't even brought out the *L* word in are arguments of geekiness yet.
I did Cantamaths too! My friend & I also entered an exhibit & got highly commended (I think?) & we got gimpy Cantamaths medals & had to go up in assembly in front of the entire school & receive them.
// gimpy Cantamaths medals & had to go up in assembly in
// front of the entire school & receive them.
they give you medals now! I feel jipped. All we got some certificate. I do recall, though, the immense feeling of pride as I wandered into the Town Hall one day, made my way to my computer, and discovered a small green sticker stuck to my monitor. Highly Commended! *bliss*
// Has anyone noticed that you get to a certain age where it becomes really trendy to have been a geek at school? Everyone starts scrapping over who has the most conspicuous ugly-duckling story.
I think you have to be still surrounded by geeks for that to be the case. But yes.
Two schoolboy claims to geekdom:
Not only did I enter maths competitions for fun, I won them (well the one I entered); and
I avoided PE so I would be put on detention so I could copy out pages of the dictionary.
ooh i've got a good one! for fun and out of laziness i wrote a convenient interface for our CMA when i had nothing to do at work one day and now they want me to cross over to the development team so that i can help them implement it :P
of course that means i'm the sucker since i won't get paid any more than i do now, and i'm already stuck maintaining the customer facing bits of our webmail platform on the side, haw haw!
Not only was I deeply ashamed of co-hosting the computer show, I didn't actually known much about computer. Old men would ring up with computer problems. Usually the resident geek would answer all the technical questions, but sometimes I'd get asked something and be like "Uh.... um... look on the internet!"
Just remembered: me and my website got a plug from Russell Brown in his Listener computer column a few weeks back. That's gotta be worth some geek points.
While you guys were talking about live journals, I started wondering whether A4's random paper measurements were anything to do with the Golden Ratio.
Then I couldn't remember what it was, so I thought I'd try to solve it 1/x=1+x. I got to the x^2+x+1=0 and then realised I couldn't remember the quadratic equation. Thankfully, it's available on the internet.
So maybe it's more procrastination than pure geekiness, but it was certainly geeky procrastination.
So the answer, A4 is close (0.70 something) whereas phi is about .618 etc. (It's better than letter paper anyway).
Comments
[waiting for noizyboy to say something]
I'm typing...
During the soccer world cup, I was intrigued as to the comparative strengths of the various national teams in relation to the leagues that they played in. I wanted to know if players the English Premier League actually performed better than those coming out of Serie A or Campeonato Brasileiro. Why? I just did.
So, I dug out all the rosters of all the teams, put them into one database table with links to another database table which had info about the league they played for, and then another table for the specific club team (I thought I'd find out which club team was the strongest while I was at it).
As the tournament progressed, individual players got points for playing in winning teams (starting players got more for players who were subbed on -- non-playing members got a 'base' score for at least being included in the team).
And the points were increased as the tournament progressed, so winning a semi-final got a player more points than winning a pool match. Each goal-scorer also earned another bonus score (which was likewise weighted more heavily as the final approached).
By the end of the tournament, just before the final was played, I had this beautiful database, brimming with data that was going to tell me just which league had the best players (it was a close-run thing between the Bundesliga and Serie A). And then Milo flicked the power switch on the plug that my PC goes into *just* as I was doing an update, and corrupted the whole database file.
gutted. absolutely gutted.
I was remarkably unperturbed. I felt a bit like a weight had been lifted, to tell the truth. It was getting to be like watching the matrix: all the players were morphing into a series of numbers and equations...
When I was a kid I made a program (on the 64) to calculate those love things.
You know where you'd like take 2 people's names, and count the number of Ls, Os, Vs, Es, and Ss
and then
1 1 0 1 1
2 1 1 2
3 2 3
55%
to get a love percentage... except I never managed to make it deal when you got two finger numbers early in the addition.
that's brilliant.
Somewhat lacking imagination, I used to resort to typing in hundreds of lines of codes out of computer mags to play games like: Amazing Static 3D Perspective Maze! Make the Chicken Cross the Road! and Bad PacMan Ripoff.
Thing was, there was always at least a dozen typos in the magazine's code, so you inevitable spent more time debugging the damned thing, ultimately spending hours creating a game that invariably lost your interest in about 5 minutes.
Oh, and I used to write fantasy parody text adventure games using an game authoring tool called The Quill. This *before* I'd read Terry Pratchett.
in a similar vein i spent hours planning out levels for duke nukem 3d and exploiting various bugs in the code to create messed up rooms, tunnels and whatnot
it was kind of stink but i'd always put at least one incredibly cheeky and well hidden spot in them so that i'd have the advantage when i made my friends LAN them.
whoa long list (so I'll just do a few).
I took Comp Sci for two years.
I tried to fix my computer before taking it into the shop.
I used to be able to tweak the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files like a mofo.
I subscribe to PC World.
I wanted a Luke Skywalker haircut when I was little.
I've never taken my computer to the shop to get it fixed. And my frontline computer until sometime in 2000 was still a 486. I was running linux and a sport-modified version of win98 on it, and it was limited to taking hard disks of under 1 gig, but I had a 4gig drive in it.....
// I wanted a Luke Skywalker haircut when I was little.
One better, I had one.
// I took Comp Sci for two years.
This is really my downfall. I got a D and an E in first year comp sci at Canterbury and got so depressed I didn't touch a computer again for five years.
//One better, I had one.
grrrr.
I saw MATH214 on the horizon and ran for the safety of a BCA.
Two better - I wanted Luke Skywalker. And I wasn't that little. I was 16.
// // I wanted a Luke Skywalker haircut when I was little.
// One better, I had one.
Actually, now that I look in the mirror...
// I took Comp Sci for two years.
i took comp sci for four years at the university where info sci is equivalent to other universitys comp sci.
// I tried to fix my computer before taking it into the shop.
i did this and blew it up. and then fixed it.
// I used to be able to tweak the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files like a mofo.
im beyond them.
// I subscribe to PC World.
home user.
well just degeekify my geekdom, punk.
all my friends in real life i originally met on the internet first, bar my brother.
hey shouldn't you guys be at work or something? (haha)
me too.... ;) well not all of them but the majority of them!
most of mine came from work, but all of the friends i met through them they met through the internet, and i work in the internet, does that count?
Has anyone noticed that you get to a certain age where it becomes really trendy to have been a geek at school? Everyone starts scrapping over who has the most conspicuous ugly-duckling story.
...and just in case you're wondering, it's me.
it's me! [bitch fight]
I entered maths competitions for fun.
[ http://www.takethatbeatch.com ]
yeah well i... er..... okay you win.
did you go to maths camp?
In christchurch we had this thing called Cantamaths. Not only was a member of the 4 person team each year I was eligible (Form 1-4), I also entered a computer exhibit into the side-stalls thing each year. One year I had programmed a whizzy teaching aide that demonstrated different ways of solving quadratic equations.
//did you go to maths camp?
there was a CAMP??? Why didn't anyone tell me???
I did cantamaths. We were even second once.
//there was a CAMP???
there was in christchurch. I think maybe preparing for the maths olympiad or something. It was then, when I turned up in a Supergroove top, and was disappointed about the lack of girls, I realised, that while i was pretty geeky, I was never going to cut the top grade.
// I did cantamaths. We were even second once.
wicked. that was my highpoint as well I think. Form One, I recall -- got the maximum score but lost on a countback. dammit.
//wicked. that was my highpoint as well I think. Form One, I recall -- got the maximum score but lost on a countback. dammit.
Form 1 for me as well. Then in Form 2 I had my first real lesson in the unfairness of life. The teacher picking the team hated my mother (also a teacher), so I didn't get selected, and even other students were asking me why I wasn't in the team....
We haven't even brought out the *L* word in are arguments of geekiness yet.
I did Cantamaths too! My friend & I also entered an exhibit & got highly commended (I think?) & we got gimpy Cantamaths medals & had to go up in assembly in front of the entire school & receive them.
// gimpy Cantamaths medals & had to go up in assembly in
// front of the entire school & receive them.
they give you medals now! I feel jipped. All we got some certificate. I do recall, though, the immense feeling of pride as I wandered into the Town Hall one day, made my way to my computer, and discovered a small green sticker stuck to my monitor. Highly Commended! *bliss*
I got a badge which had a bad pun on it. Can't remember what it was off the top of my head.
// Has anyone noticed that you get to a certain age where it becomes really trendy to have been a geek at school? Everyone starts scrapping over who has the most conspicuous ugly-duckling story.
I think you have to be still surrounded by geeks for that to be the case. But yes.
Two schoolboy claims to geekdom:
Not only did I enter maths competitions for fun, I won them (well the one I entered); and
I avoided PE so I would be put on detention so I could copy out pages of the dictionary.
The horror.
The horror.
... coming from someone who wishes they were geekier.
I co-hosted a computer talkback show on Radio Pacific.
Woah, Royal Flush. Game Ends.
goddammit robyn! next time i see you at a gig i'm going to have to think of some mildly nasty though not too nasty prank to play on you!
i really wanted to play my first in fifth form maths when i was in fourth form hand :P i think i'm gonna cry now.
ooh i've got a good one! for fun and out of laziness i wrote a convenient interface for our CMA when i had nothing to do at work one day and now they want me to cross over to the development team so that i can help them implement it :P
of course that means i'm the sucker since i won't get paid any more than i do now, and i'm already stuck maintaining the customer facing bits of our webmail platform on the side, haw haw!
Not only was I deeply ashamed of co-hosting the computer show, I didn't actually known much about computer. Old men would ring up with computer problems. Usually the resident geek would answer all the technical questions, but sometimes I'd get asked something and be like "Uh.... um... look on the internet!"
but that's appropriate AND fantastic advice!
"my computer's broken! help!"
"well hardy sailor, just look on the internet!"
Just remembered: me and my website got a plug from Russell Brown in his Listener computer column a few weeks back. That's gotta be worth some geek points.
While you guys were talking about live journals, I started wondering whether A4's random paper measurements were anything to do with the Golden Ratio.
Then I couldn't remember what it was, so I thought I'd try to solve it 1/x=1+x. I got to the x^2+x+1=0 and then realised I couldn't remember the quadratic equation. Thankfully, it's available on the internet.
So maybe it's more procrastination than pure geekiness, but it was certainly geeky procrastination.
So the answer, A4 is close (0.70 something) whereas phi is about .618 etc. (It's better than letter paper anyway).
[ external link ]
Cool.
[ external link ]
Heather years are cool.
Online IQ tests, anyone?
awww, got a bit fed up with those. When I'm getting IQs of 165 on a regular basis, I start losing faith. I'm really only around 140.