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elcron

103 karma · joined June 5, 2009

http://github.com/alexhenning Contact: elcron@gmail.com adhenning@wpi.edu
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elcron··on Write code, fix the space station, win $10,000
NASA does have a number of contests. A number of the big ones are called the Centennial Challenges (http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/stp/centennial_challenges/in...) These currently include:

  - Sample Return Robot ($1.5 Million)
  - Night Rover ($1.5 Million)
  - UAS Airspace Operations Challenge (AOC) ($Half a Million)
They've also done other competitions, such as robo-ops for college students (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/releases/2011/11-08...) (https://www.wpi.edu/news/20112/rascalrob.html)
elcron··on Kay on the Meaning of "Object-Oriented Programming"
aeohu
elcron··on Tagsistant: a reasoning semantic filesystem for Linux and BSD
I think every version would be a bit much, especially on smaller drives if it had logarithmic diffs i.e. every change today. Every hour for the past week. Before that every day for the past month. etc. It would probably be more disk efficient for people with smallish SSDs, but everybodies "perfect" is different.
elcron··on My experience of selling the same apps on iOS and on Android (with numbers)
Direct link:http://jacquesmattheij.com/Double+your+price+(and+no,+Im+not...
elcron··on Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network
I consider emacs more of OS/environment rather than an application... but I've started to become an emacs addict over the past year.
elcron··on Ask HN: How many people here use iPad?
You might find this interesting, but this is was just before the 3g came out. http://blog.vovici.com/blog/bid/27710/iPad-Returns-Why-50-Bu...
elcron··on Ask HN: Who's using Clojure, and to do what?
I'm hoping to port it to the CRIO for FIRST robotics, but I haven't looked into trying yet. All my other projects have been relatively minor so far.
elcron··on I am now homeless - living on Airbnb for months
If you wanted to try it you could put most of it in storage and try for a week/month (or however long you want to try it).
elcron··on [dead]
Yes, but doesn't google limit google apps to approved devices? If google wanted to they could probably use these to force OEMs to use the default UI or loose the right to distribute google apps. Of course, the article doesn't say that, so google probably isn't even doing that.
elcron··on Ask HN: I feel my dream slipping away
- Work from home a few days a week and squeeze in extra startup work with the time/energy you save.

I think he's referring to time saved by not having to commute, not using company time for the startup. If that's true then it seems like good advice.

elcron··on Ask HN: Hacker Philosophy?
Thank you!
elcron··on Ask HN: Hacker Philosophy?
I didn't think there was, but I was wondering if there was and it just had a name I was unaware of.
elcron··on Ask HN: Please help test Mugasha audio player on linux distributions
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx / chromium dailt builds, clicking on buttons does nothing. Song length is always zero.
elcron··on Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?
This is basically what I did in 8th grade, then in 9th grade I joined the FIRST robotics team in our high school, which I would strongly recommend if there is one available.
elcron··on HN Members' Workspaces
I've tried it a few times out of necessity in robotics pits ( http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/ ). I've always found it enjoyable (except for the noise) , but I was normally doing quick changes. I think my max time was an hour and I didn't feel any noticeable pain/discomfort.
elcron··on Tell HN: Review of the free Motorola Droid sent by Google for Google IO
On 2. You don't have to boot the phone after a fresh build, just load the updated build onto the running simulator.
elcron··on The growing data-driven component to computer science
I think it was either Hal Abelson or Jerry Sussman in one of the SICP lectures. http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/
elcron··on Xkcd “Self-Description” solved with python+pygame
"sudo aptitude install python-pygame" works for me in karmic.
elcron··on Harvesting email addresses surreptitiously
1023 if no documents are embedded you can't harvest their email address.
elcron··on SAT Scores And Family Income
I interpreted it that way too, x axis is normally the independent variable
elcron··on Ask HN: Better alternative to daily RSS feeds reading?
I use hacker news. Seriously though, I've been wishing google reader allowed you to rate what articles you like and to what degree you like them, then have an algorithm sort them by how much it thinks you would like them. Maybe I should make that...

EDIT: looks like people mentioned services that do something similar.

elcron··on 80legs Web-Scale Apps Competition
Where does it say java? Afaik you can use any language that compiles to the jvm so languages that compile to it (e.g clojure) are fine. Not as much choice, but better than just java.
elcron··on Why hasn't Vista sold well?
It works fine on firefox with 32bit ubuntu.
elcron··on Ask HN: How to generate random terrain
The freeciv map generator is pretty good if your looking for sample code for a world scale map.
elcron··on Ask HN: Review ContextSense - deduces context and sentiment for any URL/text
It was accurate around 56% of the time classifying as positive, negative, or neutral. I used a naive Bayesian classifier and guessed the highest rather than showing the percent positive.
elcron··on Ask HN: Review ContextSense - deduces context and sentiment for any URL/text
Cool! I tried something like this, it classified blog posts into 100 different moods... it had ~8% accuracy (It also classified as positive or negative, but I don't remember the accuracy, I'll have to dig it up at some point...). Good luck with it.
elcron··on Ask HN: Your primary source of inspiration?
Find something that is pathetic and make a good version of it.

Find something that you feel should be done and do it.

I recall reading somewhere that the best way to find problems is to act like a brat and complain about everything, write down your complaints and start working on the first one you feel needs to be done.

elcron··on Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel around the World
He assumes you make more than $2 a day. http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/you-are-incredibly-rich/
elcron··on Ask HN: When are you most alert?
I'm most productive when it's light out, but I like to stay up late and get up late.
elcron··on Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens
Nice, I still take a few minutes (and a few more on bad mornings.)
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