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Topics - Othko97

#1
So, usually I have a 3 foot tree in my room, but seeing as how it would only have been up for about a week this year I figured there was no point. Plus it's slightly dull, the same thing every year, always decorated in the same fashion. I therefore decided to mix things up and have a bit of fun.


I first created a small approximation to some form of conifer using the Japanese art of origami, a craft of which I know little, and somehow am worse in practice. Unfortunately I do not have an image of this tree before the rest of my project began, but you can probably extrapolate backwards (dextrapolate?) to what it looked like.


I also own a raspberry pi, and during the summer I purchased a reasonable amount of electronic components, so you can probably see exactly where this is going. I began with testing various methods of attaching electronic components to paper and each other sans breadboard, and in the absence of solder, crocodile clips or anything else which may have been effective. In the end I adopted a method I dubbed "Tinfoil and Dreams", essentially wrapping the offending connections in tinfoil, applying sellotape and praying for success. I first tried this with a single LED, which somehow worked to my astonishment. So great was my shock I decided that this saga was worthy of record, perhaps an epic poem should things really get going. However, I waited until more LEDs were attached in order to acquire a more impressive picture, so I left it until an entire two were added and were working tentatively. (There should have been a picture here, but I can't figure out how to link to just one part of an imgur album so just open the album :P )


As you can see in the second image of the album, the method of tinfoil and dreams is not 100% effective, but the random dimmening of LEDs adds a somewhat twinkling effect, and knocking the tree has the charming effect of disrupting all the lights in a beautiful fashion.


This tentative process of prayer and construction continued for a long while, as applying the tinfoil was fiddly to say the least. Testing the full tree assembled was also beginning to prove difficult by about the fourth layer as the wires were shorter than ideal. The full extent of this was becoming apparent, so I began selecting longer wires at about this time, which alleviated the problem somewhat but also made my wiring look messier. I was kind of hoping it would look somewhat like tinsel, but this was a rather forlorn hope.


Eventually this process was completed, and I now have a paper tree upon which are several LEDs, barely working unless they really fancy it, tethered to a breadboard with an attachment stronger than the love of a newlywed couple. Personally I believe this only adds to it's personality.


I have now run out of layers on the tree and also electronic components (well, ones useful to a tree at any rate), and so will work on programming some pretty patterns into the lights tomorrow, should be fun.
#2
With festivities approaching I made a thing which allocates a thing in a set of things to another thing in that same set of things. This is suitable for generating a Secret Santa Mapping, which was its original purpose, but it is also suitable for generating games of Assassin, or possibly unsolvable versions of those 15-puzzle things made of slidey squares, or basically just any bijective function f from a finite set X into itself such that for all x in X, x =/= f(x). Requires Python3 because cx_freeze is too much effort right now (and I will probably edit the thing if I ever get the motivation), and it generates a .txt file for each name containing the mapping for that name, plus one containing the full map, all contained within a folder. This is overwritten any time you run, so watch out for that. This is so that the mapping can be secret to everyone if you want it to be.


This works by selecting two elements at random and transposing them, then repeating this until no element maps to itself. Not exactly the most elegant solution, or the quickest, but meh, it works.


Have fun. Note there is also no guarantee the program will halt, it is entirely possible (but unlikely) that it will run for an inordinate amount of time. File name stands for SecretSantaScript, thought it was a fun little contraction.
#3
Doctor Who / Season 9
November 18, 2015, 09:53:01 PM
What does everyone think so far?


To me this season has been very strong so far, although that last episode (Sleep No More) was weak (stupid monsters, was just boring really). All of the two parters have been good or better so far, I have high hopes that this will be a pretty stellar season.
#4
The Beer Garden of Babel / Svenska (Swedish)
February 11, 2015, 08:46:35 PM
Välkommen till Exilian och den svenska sektionen!
#5


Note that the creator of said video has said that this is practically nothing compared to the actual volume of content of the Silmarillion.

Generally I think this video is pretty good, definitely ideal for people who are just into the films or are looking to read the books and packs a good portion of lore into 4 minutes.

Anyway, thoughts?
#7
A general thread for help with coding.

To start off: I'm trying to write a parser for statistical distributions, however I have run into a minor problem. When I use the parser to find the expected value of the distribution, it gives me the variance. I honestly cannot see my fault, especially seeing as how just using my modules for any distribution works like a charm.


"""Parser for Statistical Distributions"""

from PoiDist import * #Imports Poisson functions
from BinDist import * #Imports Binomial functions
from UniDist import * #Imports Uniform Continuous functions

global DistDict #Dictionary to store distributions

DistDict = {} #Sets up dictionary

class Parser():
def __init__(self):
pass

def parse(self, string): #Parse function for parser
if "~" in string: #If input contains a tilde key, denoting a new distribution
listA = string.split("~") #Creates a list split on the tilde, allowing separation of name
name = listA[0] #Declares variable name
listB = listA[1].split("(") #Splits ListA[1] to allow the type of distribution to be found
type = str(listB[0]) #Declares variable type

if type == "B": #If a binomial distribution
listC = listB[1].split(",") #Splits listC to show number of trials and probability of success
n = str(listC[0]) #Sets n to number of trials
n = int(n) #Converts n to integer
p = str(listC[1][:-1]) #Sets p to probability of success
p = float(p) #Converts p to float
DistDict[name] = B(n, p) #Adds distribution to the dictionary

if type == "U": #If a continuous uniform distribution
listC = listB[1].split(",") #Splits listC to show upper and lower bounds
a = str(listC[0]) #Sets a to lower bound
a = float(a) #Converts a to float
b = str(listC[1][:-1]) #Sets b to upper bound
b = float(b) #Converts b to float
DistDict[name] = U(a, b) #Adds distribution to the dictionary

if type == "Po": #If a poisson distribution
l = str(listB[1][0:-1]) #Sets l to average/variance
l = float(l) #Converts l to float
DistDict[name] = Po(l) #Adds distribution to dictionary

elif "Var" or "var" in string: #If asking for a variance
listA = string.split("(") #Splits to find distribution wanted
print(DistDict[listA[1][:-1]].Var()) #Prints the variance of the requested distribution

elif "E" or "e" in string: #If asking for an expected value
listA = string.split("(") #Splits to find distribution wanted
print(DistDict[listA[1][:-1]].E()) #Prints the expected value of the requested distribution
#8
So, the gaming community is currently riled up about ethics in journalism after what has become known as "gamergate". There is also some concern about biased coverage and censorship. There has been tension for some time between many members of the gaming community and radical feminists. The latter side of the debate have been pointing out that women are underrepresented in games, presenting some valid points, which were then backed up with frankly appalling evidence (i.e. lies and slander). This was pointed out by many people in the gaming community, but their criticisms were repelled, as some members were sexist and offensive in their criticisms, which negated much of what the side was saying.

Tensions were increasing and reached a head when a game by developer Zoe Quinn was greenlighted on steam and received dazzling reviews. It was revealed later that Quinn's relationship with some reviewers was more than professional, if you catch my drift. As a result the debacle was sparked about ethics in journalism, censorship and biased reporting, as it seems that gaming media and media in general were being biased with their reporting.

Some links:
FAQ from GamerGate side: https://github.com/GamerGateOP/GamerGateOP/blob/master/FAQ.md
Know Your Meme page: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/gamergate
An article from the other side: http://www.vox.com/2014/9/6/6111065/gamergate-explained-everybody-fighting

Views anyone?
#9
General Gaming - The Arcade / Gamespy
September 02, 2014, 09:37:15 AM
So, Gamespy is gone now, leaving any game which used its servers unplayable online. Does anyone have any alternative ways to play with friends or even just generally online? Obviously there's port forwarding and having a LAN party, but these can be a right pain to do :P
#10
I am interested in getting into Tabletop games, however I lack several things:


  • The funds necessary for figurines, boards, etc.
  • People willing to actually play games (other than SotK)
  • The knowledge of a good starting point

Obviously when I go to university there will be more opportunity, but that is still a year away.

Help me please?
#11
General Chatter - The Boozer / Raspberry Pi
April 03, 2014, 02:53:11 PM
Has anybody got one? I'm considering buying one to get Mathematica for £30 rather that £100, and I also think it would be a pretty cool thing to have :P

http://www.raspberrypi.org
#12
As someone who loves maths, I am involved in what is known as Maths Working Group in my college. Last week we were told to make a presentation on either Partitions or this other problem which is similar, which I'll come to later.

Basically a partition is how many different ways can you make up a natural number from summing other natural numbers, so 3 has partitions (1+1+1),(2+1),(3). We were basically told to do stuff with them, so I did.

The other problem was to do with bubbles, and nesting them. So say you have 3 bubbles, how many different ways can they be arranged - you could have all three nested, 2 nested with one outside or all three not nested. Again we were just told to play around with this problem. Thoughts?

I'll attach my powerpoint as a word document and a program which finds the first n partitions (where you enter n), and saves your previous runs to a file, called Previous Runs. It's a java file, so tell me if you have problems.
#13
Announcements! The Town Crier! / CA Modding Summit
January 28, 2014, 06:46:15 PM
QuoteHey Guys,
If you're a modder and interested in joining the Mod summit at the CA studio around early March- specifically the 3rd which is a Monday (though it can change give or take a few days depending on the feedback I get). I will let you know when I have get some replies.
If anyone is interested or you know someone that may be interested feel free to PM me.
I'd like to know:
-Where abouts in the world are you?
-Are you available the 3rd of March?
Hope to see some interest here!
Cheers,
Trish

Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/1wdhwh/are_you_a_modder_or_know_a_modder_click_me/

If anybody is interested, either PM u/Trish_CA on reddit or post here with the details and I'll PM off my reddit account. Alternatively, if there is any interest in an official Exilian reddit account, I can make one of those too!
#14
Elton Primary School is the school where the SotK Clan and I attended Nursery, although we went to a different school for actual school, as we live next door to one :P . Anyway, The school is a beacon to other local schools due to its exemplary activities, staff, administration and parent-teacher liaison. In fact, parents and peers view the school so highly that they are the ones who began this petition and are the most voracious in its completion.

You see, Elton Primary is being used as an example by the government to show what happens when a constituency refuses to academise schools. It is a political pawn in the Michael Gove's great game of educational reform chess - and the children at school are the ones who will truly suffer. To those who don't know, the government are trying to stop funding schools and hand them over to businesses to run, mostly to save cash in my eyes. Now, this will obviously have repercussions - a school is not a business, and nor should it be run like one or by one.  This is because a business will always have their own selfish wants before the children's needs; equipment will not be garnered unless cheap enough for the owners, and other such problems will occur. My area, Bury, is one of the only places in the country where the authorities have gone against the government and refused to academise schools which don't need to be. Obviously, this has caused some issues.

The government seem to have been desperately hoping for a loophole, allowing them to forcibly academise the area, and they found one. If a school is doing bad enough in its Ofsted report (basically an assessment of how good the school is, based on all sorts of pointless and irrelevant measures of how good a school is), then the government can make the school an academy anyway. Now, I feel I need to reiterate just how good this school is: not only does it offer a great nurturing environment for children to learn in, it is also the most accepting of special needs children, particularly mentally handicapped or disabled children. The inspection before the most recent was brilliant - only one point on the report fell to "satisfactory" - academic achievement - and the rest were either "outstanding" or "good". It is again important to remember the relatively high number of special needs children at the school - this is why the academic achievement fell low, you can't judge special needs kids against children without special needs, unless, of course, you are Ofsted.

As you may have guessed by now, the school's most recent inspection yielded less impressive results, and I would like to say now that the standards of schooling have not dropped at all; if anything they have increased. It was given an average of a 4 - "unsatisfactory". How this number was gathered from a 4, two 3's and a 2 is beyond me in itself. Closer reading of the report brought up all sorts of, for lack of a better term, bullarmadillo, planted in there by the inspector. Rumour has it that the inspector was a nasty piece of work himself, who was grumpy from the outset and was physically looking to fail the school - he would ring up Ofsted High Command to check if he could fail the school for some small piece of paperwork or bureaucracy they failed to adhere to exactly to the rulebook. Anyhow, they were failed, but the headmaster (who is an amazing headteacher) naturally pointed out all discrepancies with the report and sent it straight to Ofsted. This resulted in a response basically saying "Thanks, but we don't give one".

A followup inspection in a year's time again yielded a poor result, blatant lies, and much more bullarmadilloting. You can come up with your own reasons as to why this happened, but I think it is fairly clear that Gove wants his academies, and Elton Primary is collateral damage for the borough of Bury. As a result, the government are bullying for an academy, harming these children's futures and more problems. If one school can be made an example of, then the rest of my area may also suffer from inadequate teaching due to authorities forcing them into academies. The school have done everything they can on an official level, and were essentially told to, uhm, go away. Therefore the parents have taken up arms against this gross attack on good schooling and a system that was in place for years without complaint. Against injustice and bureaucracy. Against their children suffering due to government pride. All I ask is that you stand with us and sign the petition, and if you feel truly adventurous, like the facebook page. Links are below.

Links
Some are tinyurls as they were like 300 characters long.
Petition: http://tinyurl.com/pzhgq59
Facebook Page: http://tinyurl.com/nw942xe
Local Newspaper article on the issue: http://tinyurl.com/pbrmhvf
Local MP's statement (note that he is a career tory): http://tinyurl.com/q229xlo


Oh, and if this is the wrong place, either tell me where to move it or do it yourself :P
#15
General Chatter - The Boozer / Cute stuff!
October 07, 2013, 10:18:06 PM
This is a thread for any adorable things you find on your internet journeys. For example:
#16
So yeah, American government doesn't seem too good at this moment. While our British politics seems to have dissolved into a slinging match between the two major parties, the USA seem to have decided to descend into bickering children...

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/30/20758038-shutdown-begins-as-congress-remains-deadlocked?lite

Also, the Queen ftw:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/10/01/australia-had-a-government-shutdown-once-it-ended-with-the-queen-firing-everyone-in-parliament/
#17
This is basically a thread to pool any cool educational sites or resources you find (preferably free ones :P )

Table Of Sites
























SiteDescriptionLink
Khan AcademyOnline video lectures on science, maths and computinghttps://www.khanacademy.org
TEDOnline video lectures on just about anything imaginablehttp://www.ted.com
Stack ExchangePortal to lots of Q&A sites ranging from maths to computing to anime (Basically loads of Stack Overflow-like sites)http://stackexchange.com/sites
education-portalFree courses which can earn Americans college credit!http://education-portal.com
CourseraSimilar to the above, although I'm not sure about the college credit part. Coursera are also teamed with universities across the globe, so the courses are wide-ranging and of high qualityhttps://www.coursera.org
NoExcuseListSearch engine specifically for educational sites (may be hard to get results in my experience)http://noexcuselist.com
DuolingoCourses in languages (limited to Spanish, English, German, Portuguese, French and Italian)http://www.duolingo.com
FSI language coursesLanguage courses in most common languageshttp://www.fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php
University of RedditMore informal courses in pretty much anything, but there seems to be an incredibly large focus on Starcraft IIhttp://universityofreddit.com
MemriseBasic courses on loads of stuff, however it seems like a lot of it is just key terms, not actual learninghttp://www.memrise.com/courses/english/

Edit: Added Table and links, but I don't know how to add a border to the table :P
#18
Spamfest! / Spam
July 18, 2013, 09:51:40 PM
Has anyone else noticed just how hard it is to get Spam out of the tin?
#19
Yeah, so SotK, the elusive Teejackbo and I have been playing some Minecraft (and will probably continue to eventually) and SotK recorded it, resulting in this:



There is also some single player SotK all by himself, and me and SotK playing a Portal inspired map.

P.S. the playlist is kind of dodgy, so the Dropper series doesn't work on autoplay properly...