text:
U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors
|5:49:19 PM, Sunday, June 12, 2011
"The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy "shadow" Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.
The effort includes secretive projects to create independent cellphone networks inside foreign countries, as well as one operation out of a spy novel in a fifth-floor shop on L Street in Washington, where a group of young entrepreneurs who look as if they could be in a garage band are fitting deceptively innocent-looking hardware into a prototype "Internet in a suitcase."
Financed with a $2 million State Department grant, the suitcase could be secreted across a border and quickly set up to allow wireless communication over a wide area with a link to the global Internet.
The American effort, revealed in dozens of interviews, planning documents and classified diplomatic cables obtained by The New York Times, ranges in scale, cost and sophistication.
Some projects involve technology that the United States is developing; others pull together tools that have already been created by hackers in a so-called liberation-technology movement sweeping the globe..."
UK Spies Hack al-Qaida, Replace Bomb Info With Cupcake Recipes
|1:34:48 AM, Saturday, June 11, 2011
"British spies hacked into an al-Qaida website to replace instructions on how to build a bomb with recipes for making cupcakes, newspapers reported on Friday.
The cyber offensive took place last year when the English language magazine called Inspire, aimed at Muslims in the West, was launched by supporters of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
British intelligence officers based at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service, attacked the 67-page magazine, leaving most of it garbled, British newspapers said.
Instead of being able to read how to "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," readers were greeted with computer code which actually contained recipes from The Best Cupcakes in America, published by U.S. chat show host Ellen DeGeneres.
The Washington Post reported that the British action followed a dispute between the CIA and the newly formed U.S. Cyber Command.
The cyber unit had wanted to block the al Qaeda magazine but the CIA, which had countered such an attack would expose sources and intelligence methods, won the debate and declined to allow an attack on Inspire..."
Ice Kayaking in Alaska
|12:11:26 AM, Saturday, June 11, 2011
-- Time to get a true white water kayak and drive to Alaska!!!
Voyager Probes Discover Bubbles at Solar System's Edge
|11:56:09 PM, Friday, June 10, 2011
"The Voyager missions have yielded many surprising discoveries about our solar system and, despite being 9 billion miles away from Earth, the data continues to pour in. Now, scientists at NASA are saying that they have made sense of some surprising readings from the spacecraft over the past few years. Their data indicates that the edge of the solar system is a frothy stew of magnetic bubbles.
For years it was assumed that the heliosheath, the outer limit of our sun's magnetic field and the boarder of galactic space, was composed of graceful arcs of magnetic energy that curved back toward the sun. The reality is far less neat and tidy. Instead of arcs, the magnetic field is broken into a membrane of distinct bubbles, each about 100 million miles wide. The whole mix is also apparently writhing around, its movement being compared to bubbles from a jacuzzi jet.
Don't worry, if none of this makes any sense, there's a soothing and explanatory video at the end of this post. With pictures!
While it was a surprising discovery, scientists believe they understand how this bubbly barrier came to be. Because the sun's spin has wobble to it, its magnetic field is twisted into ripples. At the edge of the solar system, those ripples bunch together and eventually split into massive magnetic bubbles.
With a working hypothesis about the nature of the bubbles, the next question is how this discovery changes our understanding of the solar system's interaction with the rest of the galaxy. For instance, our solar system is constantly bombarded with high-energy cosmic rays spewed out from other celestial bodies. The sun's magnetic field helps to deflect most of these away from us, but how the rays interact with the bubbles is still unknown..."
Rat Infestation on Australian Farms
|9:49:36 PM, Friday, June 10, 2011
Eminem - I'm On Everything
|12:24:56 AM, Friday, June 10, 2011
The First Globular Cluster Outside of Our Galaxy
|12:24:36 AM, Friday, June 10, 2011
""This nebula had such a resemblance to a comet in its form and brightness that I endeavored to find others, so that astronomers would not confuse these same nebulae with comets just beginning to shine." -Charles Messier
Astronomers have been scouring the skies for new discoveries since long before the invention of the telescope. Why, just with the naked eye and some dark skies, anyone can discover about 6,000 stars, five major planets, the Milky Way, and the occasional very faint nebula.
And of course, if you're very fortunate and very diligent, you could have been among the first to discover whenever a new comet brightened and suddenly appeared! By time comets get relatively close to the Sun, their tails become bright and extended, and often easily visible to the naked eye.
But the telescope changed everything. Because now, for the first time, you could discover a comet when it was still very faint. When it was, in fact, still invisible to the naked eye, but where a careful observer would notice an object where there previously was none. Something, perhaps, like 2004's Comet Machholz..."
NATO Chief Rasmussen Grilled LIVE on RT Over Libya Assault
|12:02:17 AM, Friday, June 10, 2011
Astronomy Picture of the Day: The Antennae
|11:16:53 PM, Thursday, June 09, 2011
-- "Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly constellation Corvus, two large galaxies collided. But the stars in the two galaxies, cataloged as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, don't collide in the course of the ponderous event, lasting hundreds of millions of years. Instead, their large clouds of molecular gas and dust do, triggering furious episodes of star formation near the center of the cosmic wreckage. Spanning about 500 thousand light-years, this stunning view also reveals new star clusters and matter flung far from the scene of the accident by gravitational tidal forces. Of course, the suggestive visual appearance of the extended arcing structures gives the galaxy pair its popular name - The Antennae. "
BMW 1M - Walls
|11:01:53 PM, Thursday, June 09, 2011
Underwater Spider Spins Itself an Aqualung
|5:12:46 PM, Thursday, June 09, 2011
"In the ponds of northern Europe lives a tiny brown spider with a bubble on its back. The 10-millimeter-long Argyroneta aquatica is the only spider in the world that spends its entire life underwater. But just like land spiders, it needs oxygen to breathe. So every so often, it leaves its underwater web home to visit the surface and brings back a bubble of air that sticks to its hairy abdomen. It deposits the bubble into a little silk air tank spun for the purpose. This "diving bell," researchers have now found, is not just a repository. It's actually a gill that sucks oxygen from the water, allowing the spider to stay under for up to 24 hours.
Fascinated by the water spider ever since he read about it as a boy, physiologist Roger Seymour of the University of Adelaide in Australia decided to study it "out of sheer curiosity more than anything else." So he traveled to Berlin to meet with physiologist Stefan Hetz of Humboldt University in Germany. The pair spent a summer collecting spiders, putting them in tanks, and watching them spin their silvery nets and fill them with air bubbles.
The researchers decided to try out a new technology: a tiny fiber-optic oxygen sensor called an optode. Only 15 micrometers in diameter, the optode was small enough not to rupture the diving bell when the researchers poked it through the webby membrane and measured how gases move across the bell's surface. The bell, they found, functions like a gill: As the spider removes oxygen from the bell by breathing it in, more oxygen flows in to take its place. This gives the spider a constant oxygen supply without requiring it to venture to the surface often. But after about 24 hours, water pressure on the silk begins to collapse the bell, so the spider makes a break for the surface to grab another bubble. The optode also showed that the spider consumes surprisingly little oxygen over the course of its trips back to the bell to grab a breath of air..."
Rihanna - Man Down
|2:10:38 AM, Thursday, June 09, 2011
-- Not a Rihanna fan, but heard this song on the radio today and liked it enough to look it up.
Boy Catches His First Fish
|12:18:10 AM, Thursday, June 09, 2011
Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2007 – Anthony Weiner
|11:57:18 PM, Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Anthony Weiner Sponsored Internet Sexual Predators Legislation.
In the interest of protecting the children, U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner (Pervert – N.Y.), sponsored the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2007 a.k.a. KIDS Act of 2007. The text of the legislation is below.
But here's a great quote from the Weiner about his interest in stopping Internet predators.
"Sadly, the Internet is the predator's venue of choice today. We need to update our strategies and our laws to stop these offenders who are a mere click away from our children." – Anthony Weiner
At first, Congressman Weiner accused others of the crime of hacking his Twitter account to tweet a special "weiner" pic of him in his undies. Instead of calling in the FBI to pursue the alleged crime, Anthony Weiner then relabeled the event as a "prank."
After denials and evasions for a week, Congressman Anthony Weiner was forced by additional lewd photos to admit he's been trolling for cybersex relationships for years and has engaged in them with at least six women.
And Anthony Weiner doesn't know if any of his communications have been with minors either. If so, would he qualify as the same type of Internet sexual predator he's pontificating against in legislation and related press releases?
Of course, now that he's said he's sorry (that he got caught), Weiner considers this to be a resume enhancer and refuses to resign from office. Perhaps he will continue with his plans to run for New York City Mayor.
I won't pretend to be the moral police. But then again, neither should Anthony Weiner..."
-- I think every possible Weiner joke has been made by now, so I'll just leave this at ironic and hilarious.
Two New Elements Added to Periodic Table
|11:33:20 PM, Wednesday, June 08, 2011
"NEW YORK (AP) — They exist for only seconds at most in real life, but they've gained immortality in chemistry: Two new elements have been added to the periodic table.
The elements were recognized by an international committee of chemists and physicists. They're called elements 114 and 116 for now — permanent names and symbols will be chosen later.
You're not likely to run into any of this stuff. Scientists make them in labs by smashing atoms of other elements together to create the new ones.
"Our experiments last for many weeks, and typically, we make an atom every week or so," said chemist Ken Moody of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who's part of the discovery team.
In contrast to more familiar elements like carbon, gold and tin, the new ones are short-lived. Atoms of 114 disintegrate within a few seconds, while 116 disappears in just a fraction of a second, Moody said.
Both elements were discovered by a collaboration of scientists from Livermore and Russia. They made them by smashing calcium ions into atoms of plutonium or another element, curium. The official recognition, announced last week, cites experiments done in 2004 and 2006.
In the periodic table, the number of an element refers to the number of protons in the nucleus of an individual atom. Leading the list is hydrogen (H) with one. Sodium (Na) has 11, Iron (Fe) has 26, and silver (Ag) has 47..."
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Yet Another P vs. NP Proof
"The paper has been on the site of Cornell University to conform its academic standards. This means the paper is of relevance and of interest to the scientific community."
No, it means he put it on the arxiv, a preprint archive that happens to be housed at Cornell.
"Dr. Kamouna is currently writing a book that will be entitled "Bi-Polarism Theory: The Death of Computer Science, The End of Mathematics, and The Birth of Logical Physics."
... which we are all looking forward to read with breathless anticipation.
If this silliness isn't enough to satiate you, you can look at Gerhard Woeginger's page.
95 comments:
You forgot to mention which way he claims to have resolved it. Which also means you left out the silliest part -- the abstract doesn't mention P vs. NP, but instead claims that SAT isn't actually NP-complete!
...and then in the paper itself he then goes and claims P=NP. Which would imply all problems in NP are NP-complete, but I guess expecting that sort of consistency is just not reasonable.
- 2:06 AM, May 17, 2012
I'm here with my true identity for any public disputation and the new papers based on lambda calculus are on my blog.
I hope you will not run away!
Rafee Kamouna.
- 11:32 AM, May 19, 2012
A great P vs NP paper is Barbosa's: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0907/0907.3965.pdf
The best are the dialogues with the imaginary enemies that try to refute the proofs :)
- 1:10 PM, May 19, 2012
Dear Jeffrey Shallit,
You are labeling my work as: bad mathematics, crank mathematics and silliness, may I know what you found wrong with my results and why. I find Scott Aaronson in your blog roll who is an editor of ToC which recently reviewed my work. I refuted all their arguments. So, don't run away! ToC (Aaronson) claims I'm not aware that I'm claiming that ZFC is inconsistent! They beleive that paradox recognition is unsolvable. That is their only way to refute SAT is not NP-complete. Which side do you take?
Rafee Kamouna.
- 9:27 AM, May 20, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
My position is that you are clearly an unrecognized genius who deserves every possible recognition from you government, the world, and the universe.
Thousands of years from now, the euphonious name of Rafee Ebrahim Kamouna will echo down the hallowed halls of mathematics.
- 10:34 AM, May 20, 2012
So, you chose to be sarcastic because you have no objective argument against my work.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 10:50 AM, May 20, 2012
- Takis Konstantopoulos said...
If you look at the paper of R Kamouna, http://arxiv.org/pdf/0806.2947v8.pdf,
you get the impression, merely from the style of writing, that he hasn't written too many mathematical papers.
What is interesting is not so much the content of the paper, but the reason why it is written. I am talking about psychology: what makes certain people firmly believe they have the answer to some hard questions and, regardless of negative messages, failed attempts, etc., they insist in publishing (=publicizing) their "results".
The funniest part of his paper is the appendix (?) titled "A Spatio-Temporal Bi-Polar Disorder
Quantum Theory of Gravity
A Fuzzy Logic Programming Reconciliation". Sounds like material for a new edition of the Sokal & Bricmont classic.
- 12:52 PM, May 20, 2012
From the article:
"Days will either prove that Dr. Rafee Kamouna is no less than Albert Einstein or just like many other scientists who failed in their pursuit to prove their point."
This journalist seems determined not to be mealy-mouthed in his pursuit of journalistic fairness.
- 7:51 PM, May 20, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
What could I possibly say to detract from the evident merit of your paper?
- 7:42 AM, May 21, 2012
You are following a fuzzy logic programming paper which has been superseded by 3 lambda calculus papers. The FLP paper was reviewed by JACM on the grounds:"A Turing machine cannot diagonalize against itself as the author claims...". The proof is my 2009 paper:"P=NP iff P!=NP, A Turing Machine that Diagonalizes Against Itslef", which is still being reviewed. If you are serious, you can read those papers on my blog and try to refute them which is impossible.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 8:02 AM, May 21, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
But Rafee, if it is "impossible", then I clearly cannot do it! Are you trying to suggest yet another paradox in your clever but waggish style?
- 4:43 PM, May 21, 2012
In one paper, it is proved that SAT is both NP-complete and not NP-complete. In another, there is a language L in NP iff L not in NP. Those proofs are still being reviewed till the moment. If you input a paradox to a Turing machine, it constitutes a counter-example to NP-completeness after re-visiting Cook's proof of SAT being NP-complete.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 6:51 AM, May 22, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
I think we should bypass the referee process entirely and simply crown Mr. Kamouna king of the world.
- 9:10 AM, May 22, 2012
Your sarcastic position just reveals that you are incomptent to discuss this.
Rafee Kamouna,
- 11:07 AM, May 22, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Ah, but I know how to spell "incompetent"! Is that a paradox?
- 5:03 PM, May 22, 2012
You are incompetent, and you know how to spell it, then that's your best.
- 9:44 PM, May 22, 2012
This is what I love about this blog!
- 9:21 PM, May 23, 2012
I think we should bypass the referee process entirely and simply crown Mr. Kamouna king of the world.
Ben Stein should make a movie about him first.
- 11:30 AM, May 24, 2012
I proved that SAT is both NP-complete (syntax) and not NP-complete (semantics) and that there exists L:L is in NP iff L is not in NP, can you refute any of these results?
- 11:33 AM, May 24, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
But Rafee, you've already said that refutation of your results is impossible. Therefore if I produce a refutation, you get another contradiction! You have too many contradictions already -- I don't think you need any more.
- 6:30 PM, May 24, 2012
Yes, to refute my proofs, you have to refute yours. So, try. Any referee claims that paradox recognition is unsolvable, while it is trivial to solve. Check referee report on my blog.
- 9:40 PM, May 24, 2012
It is clear that the schoold kids are more competent that you to discuss this. see: http://apps.topcoder.com/forums/?module=Thread&threadID=745115&start=0&mc=299
Rafee Kamouna.
- 8:34 AM, May 29, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
I agree entirely, Rafee! "Schoold kids" are exactly the right referees for your paper. Good show!
- 9:36 AM, May 29, 2012
Be objective. there are 4 referees for the ToC journal where none of them superseded the school kids. Be objective: mention a specific issue.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 10:00 AM, May 29, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
What issue would you like to discuss? School busing, abortion, raising the retirement age? Please be specific.
- 10:21 AM, May 29, 2012
You're sarcastic. If you were competent you would have demonstrated any flaw in my proofs. You are the one who posted about me while you cannot refute my results.
- 10:50 AM, May 29, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
But your results are impossible to refute -- you said so yourself! And yet you are angry because I cannot refute them!
This is a paradox of the highest order and clearly deserves your attention.
- 10:54 AM, May 29, 2012
The ToC journal said that paradox recognition is an unsolvable problem, what so you think? I know you are incompetent to answer.
- 11:06 AM, May 29, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Since I am incompetent to answer, any answer would not be trustworthy - am I right? So hoping to know my answer suggests a willingness to rely on untrustworthy sources. That seems like a paradox to me! Maybe the extremely wise Rafee Kamouna can help resolve it.
- 11:32 AM, May 29, 2012
My proofs depend on CS undergraduate material only, do you cover that or....?
- 11:45 AM, May 29, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
You must be kidding. At Waterloo, all of the curriculum is devoted to studying Kamouna Theory. Why, we hosted the First International Conference on Mathematics is Inconsistent! If you were really Rafee Kamouna, you would have known that. I think you must be an imposter.
- 12:24 PM, May 29, 2012
So, you covered CS undergraduate, great!
- 12:29 PM, May 29, 2012
- Rafee Kamouna said...
See my presentation at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique:
Exposing 70 years of illusion!
Rafee Kamouna.
- 5:45 AM, November 08, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Thanks, Rafee. I am writing a book on mathematical crackpots, and this will be helpful.
- 6:52 AM, November 08, 2012
- Rafee Kamouna said...
So, you regard the CNRS, which is on top of all French universities as crackpots? And after all these months you cannot make any objective argument against my work.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 8:19 AM, November 08, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
And after all these months you cannot make any objective argument against my work.
How could I? You have already told me many times it is irrefutable. Therefore, it is clearly a waste of time to attempt to do so.
- 6:19 PM, November 08, 2012
"Rafee Kamouna's work is refutable iff it is irrefutable."
- 6:09 PM, December 24, 2012
Check my recent presentation at CNRS-Paris here:
Check my posts here:
I hope that you would comment constructively.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 11:39 AM, December 25, 2012
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
We are always amused by your waggish sense of humor. Your satire on a real academic paper is delightful and inspiring. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have nothing on you!
- 10:04 AM, December 27, 2012
The new paper:"The P versus NP Problem is Wrong:P=NP iff P!=NP" was recently submitted to JACM. It is available for download here: http://kamouna.wordpress.com.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 4:11 AM, August 17, 2013
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
And it has as much chance of being accepted there as a dog turd. Congrats, Rafee!
- 6:43 AM, August 17, 2013
Luca Trevisan rejected my JACM 2011 submission in 2 weeks without review. On 20th June 2013, I submitted a new paper with a letter to him and the editor-in-chief Victor Vianu. After 10 days, the paper status became:"Waiting for Referee Selection" which is its status till now. This means Luca Trevisan was unable to refute my 2013 paper as he did in 2011. Boaz Barak is the associate editor handling my submission after Laszlo Babai's rejection of my 2010 two papers.
1. Luca proved to me that the Kleene-Rosser paradox must be undefined, hence uncdecidable.
2. I proved to him it is defined iff it is undefined. Hence, it is decidable iff it is undecidable over both the lambda calculus and Turing machines.
- 7:49 AM, August 17, 2013
It is currently being discussed at the Foundations of Mathematics mailing list. This is an email that I have just received:
I skimmed through your exciting paper.
Do you, personally, believe that you have resolved the P vs. NP problem in it's intended meaning,(and you are going to win 1milion$)
or that contrary to this, there is a caveat, as it must seem to a novice, to that formulation in the lambda calculus?
- 8:18 AM, August 17, 2013
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Let's have a friendly wager, o great one! If your "paper" is published in J. ACM within two years (that is, a paper by you, with the same title, on the same subject), I pay you $1000. If it is not published, you pay me $500.
- 8:27 AM, August 17, 2013
I do agree.
- 8:31 AM, August 17, 2013
Because I'm quite sure I'm the winner and you are the loser.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 8:32 AM, August 17, 2013
And the discussion goes on:
Dear Rafee
I believe that I can add some important consequence to your paper.
There cannot be a polynomial TM solving SAT which would yield P=NP, which is impossible by your paper.
My paper did not claim that this is impossible. On the contrary my proofs show that both sides of the conjecture is provable. One can have two correct proofs, one for P=NP, another for P!=NP, provided by the same person, or by two different persons perhaps at different times.
P=NP says that *there is* such a TM, not that we can *prove* about it that it is such (polynomially bounded and correctly solving SAT problem)
But also we cannot prove *formally* that there is no such a TM.
Again, a correct proof of P=NP can never rule out a later proof of P!=NP and vice versa. The same holds for the Riemann hypothesis and any other conjecture/theorem.
As a result, it is the case that P!=NP is true, but we cannot formally prove it.
I proved both P=NP and P!=NP, hence mathematics is inconsistent. Since it is mathematics, it is about theory. If you want to switch to computer science, so here is not only mathematics where inconsistency is possible, but also PHYSICS, as computers are Boolean machines. No computer can print something if and only if it does not print it. No such inconsistency can be attained in the realm of physics, unlike the realms of logic, language and mathematics. So, in practice, anybody at anytime can devise a polynomial-time algorithm for SAT that works correctly for a particular experiment in a typical situation/instance. No proof of either termination or correctness of such an algorithm is meaningful. After proving mathematics is inconsistent, both proofs and disproofs of all conjectures and/or theorems are possible.
However, his claims of Polynomial-time SAT solvability would only be supported by experimental evidence like exhaustive testing of the algorithm.
The same phenomenon occurs with Godel's sentence Con(PA): it is true but formally unprovable.
Godel's results can be stated in relation to Hilbert second problem as:"A system can prove its own consistency if and only if it is inconsistent". Godel's results are:"If PA is consistent, then PA is incomplete". Now all theories are inconsistent, then Godel's incompleteness theorems are redundant as its antecedant is no longer true as he assumed it to be.
So, it is not the same phenomenon at all. The P vs NP/SAT issue is a theory vs. practice conflicting situation where contradictions can be obtained in theory but not in pracitce, unless you believe in parapsychology which is pseudo-science. But if the language of science (mathematics) is inconsistent, so science is no better than pseudo-science. This is a serious social/public consequence of any proof of the inconsistency of mathematics. What do you think?
- 10:38 AM, August 17, 2013
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Great! (Although in my experience, my chance of getting a payment once you lose in vanishingly small.)
- 11:13 AM, August 17, 2013
Dear Rafee
who would not be interested when (s)he sees a solution of a claymilenium open problem :-)
So is it correct to say that you have found a finistic formal proof of a contradiction in ZFC?
If so, can this be further improved to find a concrete sentence phi such that phi and not phi are both derivable from ZFC
together with theirs formal proofs in ZFC?
Thanks a lot for your message and interest. The concrete sentence phi is there in the paper. There is a result:"SAT is NP-complete iff SAT is (NOT) NP-complete". Re-read it. As you may clearly see, the proof is a one step argument. Just simply consider stating Cook's theorem in the case of a paradoxical input, the contradiction is established. As I said in the paper, all the proofs are not in the form of:"A => B => C => D etc", rather it is a one step argument. The Kleene-Rosser paradox was historically misunderstood as an example of an undefined function, hence undecidable. Rather, it is proved that it is decidable iff it is undecidable. This is because it is defined iff it is undefined, rather than just undefined. This paradox is transformed from the lambda-calculus to Turing machines via a simple diagonalization argument.
I would like to emphasize to you that diagonalization is not about mathematics at all. It is about physics. You actually perform an experiement, which is a counting one. It is like counting on your fingers, but you don't have an infinite number of fingers. It is a counting experiment to logically reason about an infinite sequence. It establishes a missing element in the sequence via arguing:"It is missing, because if it is not missing, a contradiction is derived".
How can anyone ask me to formalize both the lambda-calculus & the Turing machine proofs in a formal system. I would tell them how the proof of the existence of uncomputable functions can be formalized in any standard proof system. If one reviews, e.g. Arora & Barak, the diagonalization table is drawn and the result follows from negating the diagonal. No definitions, no theorems nor proofs. No ZFC nor PA. Just a logically compelling counting argument that's simple but robust.
- 12:17 PM, August 17, 2013
Your chance of winning is less than zero. If you know with whom I'm corresponding. He comes from a country that teaches differential and integral calculus at primary schools.
- 12:40 PM, August 17, 2013
The Church-Rosser Argument
A Function which is TOTAL if and only if NOT TOTAL
Definition: The Kleene-Rosser paradox reads: ``The $\lambda$-calculus expression consisting of the $\lambda$ term (k) which may not be applied to itself, when combined with itself, negates itself (kk)".
$$k\ =\ (\lambda x.\neg (xx))$$
$$kk\ =\ (\lambda x.\neg (xx)) k\ =\ \neg (kk)$$
k_i may be applied to $k_i\ \equiv\ k_i$ may not be applied to k_i
k_ik_i is total $\Longleftrightarrow\ k_ik_i$ is not total
Theorem 2.1: Established Belief: The Church-Rosser Argument
\forall i, k_ik_i = \neg k_ik_i is undefined
It is the $\lambda$-calculus corresponding counter-part for the Turing machine halting problem. Hence, it is undecidable.
Proof: The proof is by contradiction. After universal quantification over $\Lambda$, a counter-example is constructed:
1. If all functions defined by $\lambda$-expressions in $\Lambda$ were total, then one would have [k_ik_i = \neg k_ik_i] for the diagonal function $k_i$.
2. This means that some functions, including the diagonal function, are not total.
3. Since one does not have k_ik_i = \neg k_ik_i, instead one has [k_ik_i=\neg k_ik_i] is undefined.
4. It is the $\lambda$-calculus corresponding counter-part for the Turing machine halting problem.
A counter-example is constructed after universal quantification. Since the constructed counter-example (for established belief) is a contradictory expression, so if the universal quantification used an opposite property, still the same counter-example is derived.
Theorem: Refutation of Established Belief:
\forall i k_ik_i = \neg k_ik_i is defined
Proof: The proof is by contradiction. After universal quantification over $\Lambda$, a counter-example is constructed:
1. If all functions defined by $\lambda$-expressions in $\Lambda$ were not total, then one would have:
2. k_i may not be applied to k_i.
3. (2) \equiv k_i may be applied to k_i.
4. Implies: [k_ik_i = \neg k_ik_i]$ for the diagonal function k_i.
5. Implies: one has [k_ik_i = \neg k_ik_i]. Contradiction derived, (1) must be negated.
6. $\exists$ some functions, including the diagonal function, that are total.
7. The diagonal function [k_ik_i = \neg k_ik_i] is defined.
The Kleene-Rosser paradox can be articulated as in the following re-formulations:
[k_ik_i =\neg\ k_ik_i] is defined\ if and only if [k_ik_i=\neg\ k_ik_i] is undefined
[k_ik_i=\neg\ k_ik_i] is total\ if and only if [k_ik_i=\neg\ k_ik_i] is not total.
[k_ik_i=\neg\ k_ik_i] is decidable if and only if [k_ik_i=\neg k_ik_i]" is not undecidable.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 1:50 PM, August 17, 2013
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
I have a limited amount of patience for your incoherent babbling. Please make an effort to restrict your comments to one or two per week.
I am looking forward to my $500.
- 1:53 PM, August 17, 2013
- kamouna said...
Theorem: P=NP iff P!=NP.
The Kleene-Rosser paradox is a counter-example to NP-completeness.
Russell's Paradox: The set that contains all the sets that do not contain themselves. If you ask the question:"Does it contain itself?". The answer would be it contains itself iff it does not contain itself.
The Kleene-Rosser Paradox: Roughly, the function that may not be applied to itself, when combined with itself, it negates itself.
This function is a lambda expression as "k:= NOT (x x)" which reads: The meaning of k is: "x" may not be applied to "x". Then deriving "kk" results in the paradox:
kk= NOT kk
If you assume that this function is total, you derive a contradiction, then it is not total. Then, if you assume that it is not total, again, a contradiction is derived, then it is total. So, it is total iff it is not total. The Church-Rosser argument shows that this function is undefined. Here,
it has been shown as defined iff it is undefined and decidable iff it is undecidable, both on the lambda-calculus and Turing machines. Below is a proof sketch.
Step 1. Cook_Levin: For all w in L in NP,
M accepts w iff \exists A(w)=SAT.
Step 2. Assume M_KR Kleene-Rosser Paradox Recognizer Turing machine, then:
M_KR accepts w_KR iff e^-1(w_KR)= NOT e^-1(w_KR).
Step 3. Put M=M_KR and w=w_KR.
==> L.H.S. of (1) = L.H.S. of (2).
==> R.H.S. of (1) = R.H.S. of (2).
==> There is no SAT(w_KR).
==> L_KR={w_KR_i} is in NP and NOT NP-complete.
==> L_KR is a counter-example for NP-completeness.
==> SAT is (NOT) NP-complete.
==> SAT is NP-complete <==> SAT is (NOT) NP-complete,
Cook's proof is still correct despite the contradiction.
==> P=NP iff P!=NP.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 9:29 AM, March 13, 2014
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Fascinating drivel! Did your paper get rejected yet? I'm looking forward to my money.
- 10:47 AM, March 13, 2014
- kamouna said...
It will never get rejected. That's why Scott Aaronson doesn't allow the above proof at his blog.
Van you refute it? or can he?
the Theory of Computing Journal rejected on the grounds that KR is undecidable. I proved KR is decidable iff it is undecidable.
JACM rejected on the grounds that KR is undefined. I proved it is defined iff it is undefined. The decision took them 10 days only. The new paper is now 9-months pending.
Refute it, or tell me why Scott is banning me.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 12:56 PM, March 13, 2014
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Let's see, you already admit one good journal rejected your silly paper. But you claim rejection is impossible! I think that's yet another contradiction.
Get your checkbook ready, Rafee!
- 2:42 PM, March 13, 2014
- Joe Felsenstein said...
I do not know why you did not discover the truth, that P = NP, but only under particular conditions. Specifically, P = NP when either N=1 or P=0.
I expect lots of acclaim for this insight, which has escaped all computer scientists.
- 7:14 PM, March 13, 2014
- liav teichner said...
Less than a year remains for the bet to be settled.
Rafee, any progress?
- 5:27 PM, August 30, 2014
- kamouna said...
Yes, JACM rejeted based on out-of-scope.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 10:58 AM, October 05, 2014
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
When can I expect my check for $500? You can send it to
Jeffrey Shallit
School of Computer Science
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
I'm looking forward to it!
- 1:34 PM, October 05, 2014
- kamouna said...
Prove to me that the paper is not a computer science paper.
- 1:49 PM, October 05, 2014
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
That was not the terms of our bet. I quote, "If your "paper" is published in J. ACM within two years (that is, a paper by you, with the same title, on the same subject), I pay you $1000. If it is not published, you pay me $500."
Now if you want to wait for the full two years before paying, that would be reasonable.
But changing the terms of the bet is not. It is exactly what I expected, though.
- 1:56 PM, October 05, 2014
- kamouna said...
Since this is what you expect, can you tell me the topic of the paper as perceived by JACM.
- 4:23 AM, October 06, 2014
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
First, tell me whether you intend to pay up or not. A clear "Yes, I will pay" or "No, I intend not to pay" will suffice.
- 7:22 AM, October 06, 2014
- IThinkWithMy Liver said...
I now feel embarrassed for having published 2 papers on arxiv.org. After I uploaded, I grimace at the mistakes I made. Luckily, none that were fatal to the math. But, I had asserted more than I had proved.
Now, after reading some of THESE doozies, I don't think there's anything reputable about posting papers there.
- 5:08 PM, October 14, 2014
- IThinkWithMy Liver said...
I now feel embarrassed for having published 2 papers on arxiv.org. After I uploaded, I grimace at the mistakes I made. Luckily, none that were fatal to the math. But, I had asserted more than I had proved.
Now, after reading some of THESE doozies, I don't think there's anything reputable about posting papers there.
- 5:34 PM, October 14, 2014
- IThinkWithMy Liver said...
Ok. Now I feel embarrassed that I posted twice somehow, accidentally.
But, seriously - theorems such as Godel's and other theorems proving the impossibility of doing something, such as Matiysevich's resolution of Hilbert's 10th problem, make me very depressed & hopeless. And, I know, that there are other such "impossibility theorems" out there, that I have no idea how to formulate, since I have never taken a formal course in Turing machines & logic, that may (hopefully not) make my attempts to solve certain math problems a certain way impossible.
But, I wouldn't even know if I am working on such a problem.
- 1:08 PM, October 17, 2014
- IThinkWithMy Liver said...
Anybody else see the great news at http://vixra.org/combgt/?
"Best news. After over 30 years of debating, the debate is over. Yes, P is equal to NP."
(cough, ahem)
"The CMI Millennium Prize requirements have been satisfied."
Whew. I was afraid there for a moment that they hadn't been satisfied.
Oh, and, I may not be a robot, but apparently I'm as fire-able as one.
- 3:42 PM, November 14, 2014
- Rafee Kamouna said...
Don't ever think that I'm not paying you your $500. The 2013 JACM paper had the result:
SAT is NP-complete iff SAT is (NOT) NP-complete
Boaz Barak (after a complete year of refereeing) wrot to me that this result is in mathematical logic.
Obviously, it is not in complexity theory. What is your opinion.
What about you invite Stephen Cook and me for a Skype-CNN-televised PUBLIC DISPUTATION?!?!
Rafee Kamouna.
- 7:03 AM, June 27, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Why on earth would I be interested in debating with any person who refuses to pay up? A person who makes a bet and refuses to pay is not an honorable person. Therefore such a person's word could not be considered reliable. Speaking hypothetically, of course.
- 7:36 AM, June 27, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
The payment was subject to the JACM decision which said:
SAT is NP-complete iff SAT is (NOT) NP-complete
is a result in mathematical logic and not complexity theory.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 8:49 AM, June 27, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
There were no conditions on the wager at all, other than your paper appearing.
Your paper did not appear.
Therefore, by the terms of our wager, you owe me $500.
You have not paid.
It's as simple as that.
- 9:10 AM, June 27, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
Since you have no any technical comment, so you are not serious. Below is the (funny) review of another journal: They ask me for a proof of ALL mathematical problems; both in the affirmative and the negative.
Reviewers' comments:
There is no merit to this paper.
The author claims to have proved mathematics is inconsistent.
In particular the author claims to have proved SAT is NOT NP-complete.
Then the author has also proved NP is = P.
(In fact if, as the author claims to have proved, that
mathematics is inconsistent, then the author can prove everything,
including all the Millennium problems like the Riemann Hypothesis (and their negations!))
Hence, among other things, the author claims to have a provable
P-time algorithm for factoring. To take the claimed proof seriously,
the author should first produce some factorizations of the RSA challenge
problems that are available on line.
Unless and until correct answers are obtained, no referee effort should
be wasted in helping the author to find the mistakes in the paper.
The paper should be rejected.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 10:35 AM, June 27, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Rafee, what do you call a person who makes a bet, loses, and refuses to pay in your native language?
- 11:06 AM, June 27, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
You may not bet in Islam. Please re-check with others.
It is among non-allowable financial transactions.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 11:32 AM, June 27, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
So then why did you bet?
- 1:26 PM, June 27, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
I never bet. It is a sort of gambling. Yes, I offered a prize of one million dollar for whoever will refute Bi-Polarism Thery with its both sides:"Computer Science & Physics".
The relationship between syntax & semantics is Fuzzy Logic Programming is the same as between space & time in General Relativity.
The prize was declared at topcoder.com, thousands there know very well about it.
Eight years passed with failure to refute any claim; the prize was cancelled.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 2:16 PM, June 27, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
So when you said "I do agree" above you were lying?
- 4:50 PM, June 27, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
agree about what?
- 5:08 PM, June 27, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
You agreed to the wager above, when you said "I do agree" in your comment of August 17, 2013.
Were you lying then?
And are you really unable to do a text search on the page to find the words "I do agree"?
- 5:33 PM, June 27, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
That was on the assumption of a sound technical discussion which never happened.
- 6:11 AM, June 28, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
So, you engaged in wagering which is against your religion, and you agreed to a bet without conditions, which you then proceeded to lose, but refused to pay. Did I summarize the situation correctly?
- 6:38 AM, June 28, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
Cook-Levin states that for every string w in any language L in NP, a SAT formula is derived.
Tell me what happens if the string w represents a paradox.
This is the question that is BANNED by many complexity theorists.
On the other hand, is paradox recognition possible or impossible?
This is the question that is BANNED by many computability theorists.
Please address these questions and be serious, nt funny.
- 9:04 AM, June 28, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
First pay me what you owe me.
- 9:31 AM, June 28, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
You're funny!
- 11:14 AM, June 28, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Why is it funny? If you had won the bet, you would have expected me to pay, right?
- 1:27 PM, June 28, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
No, at all. Please answer the above questions and/or invite colleagues for that.
- 2:56 PM, June 28, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Too bad, because I expect you to pay if you wish to be considered as an honorable person.
- 3:39 PM, June 28, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
It seems that you are in a financial crisis and you don't care about your own research.
I'm ready to confront you (as well as anyone) on the BBC.
- 5:50 PM, June 28, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
All that verbiage, and still weaseling out of the bet!
- 7:29 PM, June 28, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
I'm ready to pay you your $500 if you invite me for a cup of coffee at Waterloo. I shall pay all the travel expenses.
Rafee Kamouna.
- 11:48 PM, August 18, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
Why are you silent?
Rafee Kamouna.
- 4:59 AM, August 27, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
There were no conditions on our bet. First, pay the $500. Then we'll talk.
- 6:13 AM, August 27, 2016
- Rafee Kamouna said...
You lost because the paper is being re-considered again.
- 8:20 AM, September 19, 2016
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
There were no conditions about "reconsideration". Read the terms of the bet. You lost. You will pay up if you have integrity.
- 9:16 AM, September 19, 2016

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
Sorry It Has Been So Long
Trip Start Aug 13, 2006
14Trip End Aug 12, 2007
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Well how about that another 10 days went by and I have written nothing. I swear I keep thinking about posting a blog. In fact I am certain that I have said that several times in the last oops 2 months. So here it is. I will post whatever I have done tonight and let the chips fall where they may and do my best not to get in to this writing hole again. I forgot that when digging yourself a hole that you should throw the shovel away as soon as you realize that you are digging. Unless of course you actually want to have a deep hole.
OK so what have we been up to? Well in the last week we have really over funned ourselves. Yes I said it over funned. My mom gave us one of those vacation packages where you have to go to a presentation to get Disney tickets and a few nights at a hotel
We have now fulfilled our commitment to the kids and done the Orlando theme park thing. We did not however go to Disney. No no we decided to do Universal where the rides are bigger, faster, louder and better. It is all true. We had a blast. But we totally over funned ourselves. Have you ever spent 7 days straight at a theme park? We are exhausted.
So now I am sitting in a hotel at the second part of our time share presentation stay in Daytona. Because we did not buy in Orlando we had to sit through another presentation, I took our presenter directly out to the van and said we really liked to travel this way and we appreciated the few nights out of the van in the hotel but we are really not interested and believe it or not he took me seriously. LMAO!!!!!
We have had a great day sitting on the beach boogie boarding and lounging by the pool. AHHHH the life of Riley. It is going to be tough getting back to the reality of being in the van. So maybe we won't for only 59.95 we get to stay at a 4 star resort for 3 nights and 4 days with only one annoying 90 minute presentation in St Augustine. You know a guy could get used to this. They are even going to throw in a $50 gift certificate for dinner one night and we get a $25 coupon a Bass Pro. I think I may just have figured out how to afford to stay in Florida a little longer.
Now for the back issues of our trip. I have been writing a little so here is what there is and will work on getting all the gaps filled in for y'all. We are still in the South ya know.
Friday, December 08, 2006
OK, OK, so now it has been a really long time since any up dates. I am sure y'all are wondering now what has been going on with the traveling Hopes? Well we have been having tons of fun and adventure. Meeting new people seeing new sights and generally trying to live in the moment.
I have a number of excuses for not writing recently, I won't go into all of them but the two main ones are these. 1) We have really just been too busy traveling and hanging out with such cool people that I get caught up in the moment and I am too tired at night to write anything. 2) We have meet and stayed at so many wonderful peoples homes that I cannot adequately describe each experience
So here is the new disclaimer. If we have stayed at your home on this journey and you are reading this you were the best LMAO. But really folks each experience has been special in its own way and we have cherished each one. So here it is I will continue with the up date.
I have found some time to write in the last 2 months so I will post all of that and hopefully there will not be too many gaps.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
OK, I know it has been a while since I have updated the blog, but what can I say we have been very busy lol. Actually I just have not taken the time to sit down and do any writing. We have had lots of places to stay indoors and great company to do it with. Since the last time I updated our adventure for y'all we were still in Canada. Perhaps it is the American influence that has had me mute?
So here is the attempt at bringing us back up to the present. There have been lots of adventures in the meantime and I am sure that in not writing everything down I have forgotten half of it. Fortunately I had done a little bit of writing so I will start there and pick up were I left off to fill in the gaps
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Well, how do I describe the last week adequately? It is very difficult because it really has been fantastic. We really have not done much and that might be why it was so nice. However; I think that it was the company that kept us and the HOME we got to stay in with our friend Carl.
Carl lives in Hancock, Maine and for starters has one of the nicest vegetable gardens we have ever seen. This is the place we stopped over for the night a couple of months ago when we were headed for Newfoundland and scared Carl's son Gus. Turns out that Gus was not too scared and rather pleased with our presence as April had done all of his dishes along with our own.
Secondly our friend Jan from Dancing Bones also tagged along with us for a self prescribed holiday. The energy in Carl's home was yummy, along with all the fresh bounty of the garden, complete with a chubby orange cat named Beanie
We arrived last Friday evening with Jan who rode on the bed in the van, to homemade vegetable/muscle soup and warm corn bread. Perfect after the long drive out of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Our purpose in coming back to Carl's house was for a Saturday night contra dance where his band played live music. Carl had invited me to play the bodhran with them. For those of you not familiar with contra dance it is essentially Irish folk dance done to very Irish music. In New England contra dance is a very popular thing to do for all ages. Saturday night was lots of fun. We all danced and as promised I got to play the drum.
We also got to meet a couple named John and Irene, who are in the process of starting an intentional community near Carl's house. Check out the pictures John has built the coolest sod roofed house I have seen since L'Anse Aux Meadows. They are doing their best to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and live off the grid. We went back on Sunday morning to their place and used an antique apple press to make about 30 gallons of apple cider. Tough work but delicious.
The rest of the time at Carl's was spent relaxing and seeing some of the local sights. Not too much traveling and lots of fresh veggies. There was music most nights and even some circle dancing in the living room. We also read a couple of short plays one evening with Carl and the kids. I also got a chance to transfer a number of CD's to our mass storage device and figured out how to burn wma files for the van stereo to play. Who would have thought that I would finally get around to the 21st century and mass music devices? Did any of you know that you can squeeze 10 discs onto one in the .wma format? Very cool
So it was off to Massachusetts and again with passengers. John and Irene our new friends starting an eco community were looking for a ride to western Mass. We said sure. It did mean leaving Carl's a day sooner than we would have wanted but that is the way of the un-aimed arrow. With a heart felt fare well to Carl and a big thanks for such a wonderful place to stay we departed with our new traveling companions.
When we left Maine we did not have anywhere to be until Saturday night and we were leaving on Thursday. Our Saturday plans were to go to Newburyport, Ma for circle dancing to live music played by our new friend Ashara's band the Village Circle Band, check there web site as Ashara would really appreciate the hits www.villagecircleband.com www.asharastansfield.com,
Anyhow, enough of the promotion we really did not have to be anywhere for a couple of days so we took John and Irene to their destination just outside of Amherst Ma where John's sister and brother live, same land different houses LOL. We spent most of our time at his sister's house Misha and her husband Bob. I got to do more of my favorite work, splitting wood, which I am sure more than paid for our accommodations for the couple of nights
Amherst was a very pretty little college town with lots of internet caf�'s and cool shops. We did not get to spend as much time there as we would have liked but that is just the way of it. All too soon it was time to move on but before we did I got another chance to play the bodhran with John at an old folks home where his father now lives. More fun, then it was off to Newburyport for our dance night.
At this point our plan was to go to the dance and come back to Ashara's for some driveway space to crash for the night and then head south. Good thing our plans rarely turn out how we expect. Ashara had just gotten rid of house guests and was looking forward to some time alone when we showed up. It is a good thing some of us are cute because she invited us into the house. Little did any of us know that we would be staying there for almost two weeks. It would seem that we make good house guests as there is always some little repair that needs doing and April is a great cook and we are great company. Or so we have been told.
While we developed our friendship with Ashara we also got to do lots of sight seeing in the Boston area
We also day tripped into Salem a few times. It seemed to hold a real attraction for all of us, but particularly Evelyn and I. Being there the week before Halloween was rather interesting as the city is all about the witch thing. It was a fun freak show and I think that we may have even been participants. We got to see lots there went to the docks in Salem and I never realized that Salem Ma was such a huge shipping power back in the 16 and 1700's. Apparently it was the war of 1812 that really knocked the poop out of the shipping in the area as it all moved down to Boston there after. Guess we showed them lol. It was rather humorous too when I pointed that out to the park ranger who said that there was really no decisive winner of the war
We got to spend Halloween with Ashara and we also got to make a couple of new friends Bob and his wife Lauren who live close to Ashara. I wish that we could have spent more time getting to know them as we really enjoyed their company. I did get to have some fun in Bob's basement installing a hanging ceiling. Hope that the rest of the reno in the basement goes well.
All too soon we were leaving our new found friends which made getting ready to leave Mass was very difficult but we needed to get to Virginia! We couldn't stay another day or could we? We thought that we were leaving Ashara's that day. I think that would have been the 3rd of November. In fact we packed up all of our stuff in the van and everything. Left the drive way choking back tears and even got all the way to the next town, when some one came honking up behind us and I do mean honking their horn that is telling us that the trailer door was open and that we had lost a few things. Sigh!!!!!! You can't be serious. I jumped out of the van to find most of our belongings still there. But what was missing?
Turns out we lost our important papers and business stuff and a couple of back packs a number of blocks back and around the corner. By the time we got there it was nothing but an explosion of papers across a busy street in the outskirts of Salem. There was paper everywhere. An ominous cloud of important stuff, like April's immigration papers. Words can do no justice to the expression on our faces as rush hour motorist were driving over April's carefully filed business box. We must have been quite the sight with the van in the middle of the street blocking traffic picking up volumes of important stuff with the kids hanging out of the windows
We found our back packs in the wheel well of a woman's car about half a mile down the street. She had driven over them sucked them up into her car and kept driving until she smelled smoke. So after picking up our traffic ravaged papers I now had to jack up this woman's car take off her front tire and liberate our now useless backpacks, which I might add had all the kids Halloween candy in them. Man talk about feeling stupid. One of life's little lessons. Always check to see that the trailer is locked shut properly before leaving anywhere. In the last little while I have pulled over for no good reason other than to make sure I closed the trailer door properly.
Needless to say after this ridiculous experience we went back to Ashara's with our trailer between our legs and stayed another night. Turns out that we rescued all of our important papers from the road. Tire marks and all. The only real causalities were the back packs and my pride. Lesson learned.
So the next morning we repacked our things and headed for Virginia via New York, Washington, Delaware and Maryland. More tomorrow. Good night all.


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Support Bay View
John Manke is an active former Bay View resident who is involved in numerous neighborhood organizations, including the Bay View Historical Society, the Humboldt Park Fourth of July Association and the Shore Shore Farmers Market. He believes Bay View has a fine tradition in its past that we do not want to lose in the future.
How did you enjoy the college football bowls on Tuesday?
We had a full day of college football to watch on New Year's Day. We had the Rose Bowl Tourniment of Roses Parade to watch. And to those who overdid their drinking on New Year's Eve, we had a day to recover. It was a nice day for sledding in the park. Did you notice that the Orange Bowl had a minor college team (Northern Illinois) to face the Seminoles of Florida State. They played a excellent game even though their talent was a little thin at times. The Rose Bowl was an excellent game. Both coaches planned a very clean and tough game. The best team won, and Wisconsin lost to Stanford. Kudos to both coaches for keeping the field calm without any rough penalties or fights. Michigan almost won against South Carolina in a very close contest. These games are the ones that I watched and enjoyed. I hope that everyone had a happy new year.
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|Classic Atlantic Salmon No pursuit rivals salmon rivers, flies & legacy
|Topic Review (Newest First)
Ste-Marguerite (Saguenay) July 24th
Got back yesterday morning.
I showed so new friends around the river sunday afternoon so they could choose a zone from monday.
Starting from the top, ... there were only a few adult salmon in the 5b zone (and I believe they have been there for 2 weeks already) ... there were several dozen sea run brookies in the #3 though.
The river level is low, .. but not extreme.
In the 5a, ... Big Pool, ... there were (according to the Warden) 27 salmon (including some really nice SILVER grisle). Too many trout to count. Some of the adult salmon are simply MONSTERS!
Driving along the #4 zone and stopping at the usual hot spots, ... there are salmon and sea run brookies in ALL the appropriate runs and pools, ... except 50 and 49, ... as the river is a tad too low.
43, 47 and 48 were full (of fish, ... not anglers).
We spend the whole day in 47 - 48. I think these trout have seen a few flies this season already and we only got some good "looks". David H missed a few real take on White Rabbit Strip muddlers from a monster of a trout.
I (finally) got a Ste-Marguerite imitation of a nuclear submarine to come up for a #6 Brown Bird at sunset, ... but being the idiot that I am, ... I missed the 3 takes that she did.
On a bright side, ... the grisle are really active and Boris's mom take a nice 62.5 cm (yes we measured it SEVERAL times) on the ole faithful #24.
Hope you all are having as much fun on your homewaters as we are
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It's Now Legal To Fuck Emily OsmentMonday, June 28th, 2010
Yep, she turned eighteen last March. This means it's now legal to have sex with Emily Osment! Emily is known to viewers of the Disney Channel as Lilly Truscott, Miley Cyrus' nubile best friend and sidekick in Hannah Montana. Emily's also the sister of Haley Joel Osment, the young actor who shot to stardom after The Sixth Sense.
This fuckable hottie got into show business at a very young age by way of TV commercials. She was in the movies by the age of seven, she had a part in the movie The Secret Life of Girls, and became known to young audiences through Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids movies, in which she played Gerti Giggles. After several auditions she earned a part in Hannah Montana as the spunky Lilly, a skateboarder with an inclination for screwball schemes. If it's any indication that this girl-next-door is all grown up, just check out how nicely her boobs are shaping up. Now the next question on all the horny guys' minds out there is this: When will it be Miley Cyrus turn to turn eighteen?
If you want to see more Emily Osment sexy photos, just click on the link.


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By The Associated Press
LUCEDALE — A south Mississippi man is accused of stealing a pet primate from an Alabama family and demanding a cash reward the family offered for its return.
The 2-year-old ring-tailed lemur named Gizmo was taken during a January burglary of a home in Mobile, Ala. The pet is valued at $1,500.
George County, Miss., Sheriff Dean Howell says Wednesday that James Edward Welborn Jr. of Lucedale, Miss., was being held in the Mobile County, Ala., jail. Officials want to return him to Mississippi to charge him with possession of stolen property.
Howell says the lemur's owner offered a reward and someone who had seen the animal contacted the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.
Welborn was arrested after contacting the lemur's owner with information about its location and seeking the reward, Howell says.


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Just handle them delicately when you use any of their articulation.
Only my Reman Viceroy broke, but I was able to affect repairs to him without any loss of articulation or visible damage.
But others have commented too that these are not as sturdy as they should be - but they are nice!


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Alternate name: Satyr Anglewing
Family: Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies view all from this family
Dimensions 1 3/4-2" (44-51 mm).
Habitat Forests & woodlands, Canyons & caves, Freshwater swamps, marshes & bogs, Meadows & fields, Cities, suburbs & towns.
Range Western Canada, Rocky Mountains, Southwest, California, Northwest, Plains, Alaska, Great Lakes, New England, Eastern Canada.


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i've been looking at some floss network monitoring systems lately. here are some quick notes.
Criteria (not necessarily in this order)
- LDAP authentication
- Web interface / User friendliness / Operator retraining
- Distributed monitoring
- Redundancy
- Documentation
- Community support, mailing lists
- Flexibility -- how easy is it to create custom monitors?
- LDAP integration? (computer groups, contacts)
- OpenNMS
- Zabbix
- Zenoss
- Nagios/GroundWork
1. OpenNMS
OpenNMS aims to be 100% Java, uses Tomcat, GWT, AJAX, XML, PostgreSQL, intends to implement SOA
- complex, error-prone installation -- could not get to work on RHEL5; downgraded to RHEL4.
- not configurable through web interface
- xml config files are really more complex than they need to be
- possibly unstable? coworker was able to generate an exception after playing w/ it for 5 minutes
- custom plugins are relatively difficult to write, and they discourage using any language besides java.
- documentation is rather poor: not well written, and had to gather info from different parts of web site and wiki
- good use of SNMP
- can use nagios plugins with nrpe monitor
2. Zenoss
Zenoss is written in python, using the zope framework and MySQL
- can distribute collection agents, but does not support distributed servers in the same way Zabbix does
- I am not really familiar with python or zope
- very easy to install using rpm. also can check for its own updates online.
- everything configurable through web interface
- excellent use of SNMP and WMI; no need to install separate agent on linux or windows
- can make use of nagios plugins, and custom plugins are easy to write in any language
- clean, object oriented design
- ui is pretty!
3. Zabbix
Zabbix has a PHP front end, can use MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, or SQLite
- not hard to install, but have to compile it yourself
- has its own agent that must be compiled for each type of host to be monitored (RHEL4-5, Solaris 8-10, Windows) -- maintenance nightmare
- does distributed monitoring
- most things configurable through web interface
- nice looking ui
4. GroundWork -- haven't tried yet, but based on nagios, which I have used...
- seems somewhat naive, like snmp was an afterthought rather than a central part of the design from the start?
- vanilla nagios ui is kind of ugly. maybe GroundWork is better.
- decent oo design (again referring to system abstractions rather than code)


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Dimplex GDS25-1057E $999.99
Montgomery Electric Log Fireplace Corner Media Console - Espresso
+ FREE Shipping
List Price: $1,249.99
+ FREE Shipping
Temporarily Backordered
Description & Highlights
Dimplex Montgomery Corner Media Console with Electric Log Fireplace - Espresso
If you're looking for an electric fireplace with built in media storage, look no further than the Dimplex Montgomery Electric Log Fireplace Corner Media Console (GDS25-1057E). This traditionally-styled corner media fireplace features a picture frame molding fascia with mitred corners, a multi-steped base, and matching top crown molding. Open center storage is perfect for media devices and cable management makes wiring easy.
The 25" self-trimming wide screen electric firebox produces a patented, life-like flame effect. Light shines and reflects off the asymmetrical glass pieces, creating an alluring and contemporary effect. The firebox can be used with or without heat, and features thermostat control.
LED Inner Glow Logs:Molded from real wood, the artificial logs in the firebox contain inner LED lights that glow through the detailed cracks in the bark for incredible realism
Remote Control:The included remote control allows you to switch the entire unit on or off from the comfort of your favorite easy chair or couch
Unsurpassed Realism:Dimplex's patented 3D effect gives the fire depth and dancing flames, something you can only get from Dimplex, inventor of the modern electric fireplace
Clean and Green:Using visual flames with zero harmful emissions, Dimplex electric fireplaces require over 90% less energy than gas fireplaces
- Model: GDS25-1057EDimplex Montgomery Electric Log Fireplace Corner Media Console - Espresso
- Brand: Dimplex25" self-trimming widescreen electric firebox
- On-demand heat with thermostat controlPatented, life-like flame effect
- On/Off remote controlFlame operates with or without heat
- Steel firebox enclosure~ 2¢ / hour with flame only
- Corner media console design~ 7¢ / hour with flame and heat
- Component storagePower output: 880W / 3,000 BTU
- Ships in two cartonsInput voltage: 120V / 60Hz
- Espresso finishWeight: 158.6 lbs
- Warranty: 1 year limited (firebox and console)Dimensions: 41 1/2" H x 47" W x 31" D
- Height: 41 1/2"
- Width: 47"
- Depth: 31"


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Today before we left another great Order of the Arrow ordeal there was a Scouts Own Service.
During that service, a Scout that led the Scouts Own service talked about unity.
He read a short story about George Washington at Valley Forge. He spoke about a near riot that occurred between the soldiers of the Continental Army. They were frustrated at the long winter and the lack of "Victories" against the Army of the King.
The point of the story was that George Washington quelled the riot by getting in the mix and physically separating individuals. Then once the fight has stopped he spoke to his men explaining that we [the Army] could not, and would never achieve victory if they remained divided in purpose. They would have to gain a unity of purpose. They would have to stand together and move in one direction. They had to have unity in their purpose to start the nation. A house divided will certainly fall… and so you must by unified.
And so it is within the Boy Scouts of America. We must be united in our purpose. United in our values and ideals. Our Scouts should be united in the Law and Oath. They must understand our promise to help other people at all times. They need to be united in our duty to God and Country.
Our Patrols stand united in moving the patrol in a direction of success. The Patrol, united by a common set of values and ideals, a clear purpose, and boy led direction can achieve anything they set out to accomplish.
Unity. We must have it to succeed in Scouting.
Have a Great Scouting Day!


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Atmel makes ATtiny processors with no SRAM.
Since we are pressing on without the pleasure of the company of the OP, I was reading yesterday about how one of the first gaming consoles (or devices anyway) only had 128 bytes of RAM, because it was so expensive. It might have been Pong. So each frame refresh, the entire playing field had to be generated from scratch, because it couldn't be stored in RAM.
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Better late than never, the United States and her allies finally have acted to stop the slaughter in Libya. With strong American, British, and French support, the United Nations Security Council on March 17 approved a Lebanon-sponsored resolution authorizing member states to use "all necessary measures... to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack" in Libya.
Only hours before, Muammar Qaddafi had been issuing blood-curdling threats, promising to go "house by house, room by room" and vowing "we will have no mercy and no pity on them." Yet as soon as the U.N. resolution passed, Qaddafi's foreign minister announced an immediate cease-fire—although there were reports that offensive operations were still continuing.
Qaddafi may be a "mad dog" (as Ronald Reagan called him), but he is also shrewd and ruthless enough to have held on to power for 41 years. His ruthless streak has been on ample display in recent weeks as his armed forces have been on a rampage through rebel-held towns. Now we are seeing his pragmatic streak—the same instinct he displayed in 2003, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when he suddenly decided to give up his weapons of mass destruction program and support of terrorism. Presumably Qaddafi realizes that overwhelming military forces are marshaling against him and that his best bet is not to provoke the American-led coalition.
But while the cease-fire, if real, is good news—it gives breathing room to the rebels in Benghazi, Libya's second city, which Qaddafi had been on the verge of assaulting—it should not lead to complacency on the part of the West and our Arab allies. We cannot be content with the current stalemate, with Qaddafi holding Tripoli and most other cities while the rebels are ensconced in Benghazi and Tobruk in the east. We do not want to divide Libya indefinitely (unless its people vote to do so). Most of all, we do not want to get into a situation like that in Iraq between 1991 and 2003, when the United States had to devote considerable resources to maintaining a no-fly zone.
The longer Qaddafi stays in power, the more suffering he can inflict on the people under his control, and the more mischief he can inflict on other countries—including the United States. He has already threatened to retaliate against "all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea." That is no idle threat, given that in the past he has been responsible for numerous acts of terrorism, including the midair bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.
The only way this crisis will end—the only way we and our allies can achieve our objectives in Libya—is to remove Qaddafi from power. Containment won't suffice. We must make "rollback" the international strategy.
Such a goal is not compelled, but is permitted, under U.N. Security Council resolution 1973. That resolution "stresses the need to intensify efforts to find a solution to the crisis which responds to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people" and which leads to "a peaceful and sustainable solution." The Obama administration should argue that the only "peaceful and sustainable solution" would be for Qaddafi to abdicate power—as the president has already demanded (a demand he pointedly did not reiterate yesterday though he did say Qaddafi has lost "the legitimacy to lead").
Now we need to muster the will and the resources to oust the dictator. Resolution 1973 gives authority for a wide variety of actions. The only step which is explicitly excluded is "a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory," although it is not impossible to imagine a future U.N. resolution authorizing the dispatch of an international peacekeeping force to help Libya make the transition from Qaddafi's heinous rule. The immediate need is for the U.S., British, and French armed forces—along with, we hope, Arab allies—to unleash a devastating fusillade from the air and the sea to cripple Qaddafi's ability to threaten Libyan civilians. We should target not only his military forces but also their command and control infrastructure—including Qaddafi himself. The Libyan state is a one-man operation. Eliminate that man and the whole edifice may come tumbling down.
We should also dispatch special forces and CIA operatives to meet with the resistance and assess their needs. There is an obvious need for outside specialists to help train the rebels and to coordinate any offensive they undertake with allied forces. We saw in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001 how devastating an indigenous force can be when backed by precision American airpower directed by tactical air controllers on the ground. A similar combination should work as well in Libya's deserts as it did in Afghanistan's mountains—especially considering the fact that Qaddafi has significantly fewer supporters than the Taliban had. Few if any Libyans have been converted to the loopy gospel of Qaddafi's "Green Book." The bulk of his forces are mercenaries. It is doubtful that they will fight to the death. Many will desert once they see they are backing a losing cause.
We don't want to discount the difficulties of toppling Qaddafi. Like any other military operation, it will be filled with risks, costs, and hardships. In many ways, however, the harder issue will be cobbling together a post-Qaddafi government. The Transitional Council, under the leadership of Qaddafi's former justice minister, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, has made a good start in Benghazi. Behind the scenes, we and our allies should be working to build the most durable and democratic regime possible—while assuring Qaddafi's allies, especially in the army, that they will be welcome in the new Libya. A good start would be to recognize the Transitional Council as Libya's lawful government, as France already has done.
The passage of U.N. Security Council resolution 1973 is a step in the right direction. But it is only the beginning—not the end. Much dangerous and difficult work remains to be done to create a decent post-Qaddafi state where (in the words of the U.N. resolution) civilians will not have to fear "attacks" and "abuses."
This article appears in full on CFR.org by permission of its original publisher. It was originally available here.


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By Brandon Speck/NEMS Daily Journal
BOONEVILLE – A third straight trip to the MHSAA state tournament won't be easy for the Booneville Blue Devils, but the first step is complete.
Top-seed Booneville, the Journal's No. 4 team, overcame a seven-point deficit in the third quarter to beat McClain 70-58 Tuesday night in the opening round of the Class 3A North Mississippi tournament.
"We knew they were good, not a typical 1 (seed)versus 4, with several different kids who can score," Booneville coach Michael Smith said.
In his final home game, Booneville senior Kenny Paul Geno took an alley-oop dunk from Jack Nichols on Booneville's first play and finished with 33 points and 20 rebounds.
As Booneville (25-4) likes it though, it was a team thing. Daryl Barefield came in for defense and scored seven points in the fourth. His fast break layup gave the Blue Devils a 62-56 lead. Geno hit three big 3s, two to cut the 40-33 lead to one point and Jordan Miller hit a pair of free throws after Robert Jordan's jumper cut Booneville's lead to a point in the fourth.
Jack Nichols added 11 for Booneville.
"I thought (the 3s) took a lot of the pressure off our team. We needed a break and I thought he kind of made us a break or two there," Smith said. "We didn't play very well but I thought they had everything to do with that. They hit some unbelievable shots."
Rotavious Thurmond had 24, Jordan 13 and Johnathan Fisher 10 for the Mustangs (20-6).
Booneville trailed by five at the break. The Blue Devils' road continues to Mooreville, where it will face the host No. 2 Troopers for the third time this season in the North quarterfinals. The teams split regular season meetings.
"In the second half, we basically tried to stop Geno from getting offensive putbacks and running the floor," McClain coach Eleazarus Greenleaf said. "He can shoot it. He crashes the boards hard. He's a hard-working player."


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Full Text of Report (862K PDF)
Publisher Council on Foreign Relations Press
Release Date June 2010
Price $15.00 paper
96 pages
Task Force Report No. 64
The Korean peninsula simultaneously offers dramatically contrasting opportunities for and dangers to U.S. interests in Northeast Asia.
On the one hand, a democratic and free market–oriented South Korea has developed enhanced military capacity and political clout and an expanded set of shared interests with the United States. This enables more active cooperation with the United States to respond to North Korea's nuclear challenge and promote regional and global stability and prosperity. On the other hand, a secretive and totalitarian North Korea has expanded its capacity to threaten regional and global stability through continued development of fissile materials and missile delivery capabilities, and has directly challenged the global nonproliferation regime and U.S. leadership.
The challenge posed by North Korea's nuclear development effort has global, regional, and bilateral dimensions. An internationally coordinated response must take all facets of the challenge into account. This Task Force report identifies three essential elements: first, denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and an approach that attempts to resolve rather than simply manage the issue; second, regional cohesion, enabled by close U.S.-South Korea relations; and, third, China's cooperation and active engagement.
Given the high level of mistrust between the United States and North Korea, the United States will not be able to change the situation by itself. It will need cooperation from counterparts in Asia who have already affirmed their support—through the Six Party Joint Statement of September 19, 2005—for the objectives of denuclearization, improved bilateral relations in the region, regional economic development, and the establishment of peace on the Korean peninsula. The United States, China, Russia, South Korea, Japan, and North Korea have all signed on to this statement. The goal of the Obama administration should be to work with its partners to pursue its full implementation.
The United States and its partners have divergent interests and priorities regarding the North Korean challenge. China is more narrowly focused on the regional dimension and prioritizes stability. South Korea and Russia support denuclearization but want to achieve that objective by peaceful means. For Japan, the issue of how to deal with Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s has been a higher priority than denuclearization. The United States is understandably concerned about the global implications of Korea's nuclear program, the consequences for the global nonproliferation regime, and the potential spread of weapons, materials, and know-how to rogue states, terrorist groups, or others—especially in the Middle East. These different approaches and priorities were highlighted in the early responses to the March 2010 sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan; the United States and South Korea implicated North Korea and have taken a tough approach designed to punish the North Korean regime, while China—worried about further escalation—has downplayed the incident.
A strong U.S.-South Korea alliance remains the foundation for coordination of policy toward North Korea. Both U.S. president Barack Obama and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak have agreed that their top policy objective vis-à-vis North Korea is its complete denuclearization.
Their common goal is to promote a regional strategy that constrains North Korea's destabilizing activities and counters the risks resulting from its nuclear and missile activities. In the wake of the ship sinking, the two administrations have worked particularly closely to forge bilateral and multilateral responses designed to strengthen deterrence and ensure that Nuorth Korea cannot engage in such provocations with impunity.
Productive Sino-U.S. consultations on North Korea have been lauded in recent years as evidence that the United States and China can work together to address common security challenges. Conversely, the failure to collaborate to achieve North Korea's denuclearization will represent a setback and an obstacle to other areas of U.S.-China security cooperation. For this reason, it is essential for the United States and China to develop a clear understanding regarding how to deal with North Korea, thereby establishing a framework for lasting stability on a nonnuclear Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia.
There is widespread pessimism that North Korea will voluntarily give up its nuclear capabilities through negotiations alone, and China, Japan, and South Korea are reluctant to pursue tougher, coercive steps due to fears of instability. The rollback of North Korea's nuclear program will not be easy, especially given that no state that has conducted a nuclear test has subsequently reversed course without a change in political leadership. The Task Force notes, however, that despite the difficulty of the challenge, the danger posed by North Korea is sufficiently severe, and the costs of inaction and acquiescence so high, that the United States and its partners must continue to press for denuclearization.
Although the six-party process remains the preferred framework, the United States and its partners may in the end find it necessary to apply nondiplomatic tools such as sanctions or even military measures, especially if North Korea conducts further nuclear or long-range missile tests or proliferates nuclear materials or technologies to other states or to nonstate actors. Specifically, the Task Force calls for the establishment of a dialogue with China about the future of the Korean peninsula, for bilateral talks with North Korea regarding missile development, and for the continuation of close consultations with allies South Korea and Japan.
The Task Force finds that the Obama administration should deal with North Korea's policy challenges in the following order: prevent nuclear exports to others (horizontal proliferation), stop further development of North Korea nuclear capability (vertical proliferation), roll back Korea's nuclear program, plan for potential North Korean instability, integrate North Korea into the international community, and help the people of North Korea.
The report takes stock of the North Korean threat and the Obama administration's responses thus far, and considers the four major policy courses available to the United States. It then explores the motivations and interests of the other parties in the Six Party Talks and underscores the importance of a regional approach anchored by U.S.-South Korea cooperation and by Chinese action. The report then looks beyond the nuclear problem to take account of important items on the agenda with North Korea and the valuable bilateral relationship with South Korea.


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Aidan Davitt of Sherry FitzGerald Davitt and Davitt with Philip Sherry, and Una, Christine and Clare Cahalane of Knightsbridge, London at the London property Show.
Aidan Davitt of Sherry FitzGerald Davitt and Davitt with Philip Sherry, and Una, Christine and Clare Cahalane of Knightsbridge, London at the London property Show.
Hundreds of buyers visited the Sherry FitzGerald Countrywide exhibition in London on Saturday February 16, when the members of Ireland's largest property advisory group hosted their Irish property exhibition.
Sherry FitzGerald branded offices from all over Ireland were represented at the show, each displaying a great variety of residential and commercial property.
Mary Dillon, head of Sherry FitzGerald Countrywide, said: "We have been running property shows in London on and off since 2002 as so many house hunters have direct links with Ireland. Those who attended talked of affordability in the Irish market with property prices nationally now down almost 60%.
"Interestingly, many of those who were there were looking for family homes, which was a departure from the previous events where Ireland was seen as a holiday destination.
"The attraction of the low prices of property and the quality and low cost of education, lower pupil teacher ratios and the opportunity for children to be educated in small village schools, are undoubtedly an allure for young parents. Ireland compares favourably with the UK in terms of access and affordability of third level education."
It was a wonderful gathering of Irish people, said Ms Dillon – young and old – and there was a feeling of optimism about the country.
"Quite simply those who attended see value in Irish property and the general consensus was that it might just be time to return home," she concluded.
Keep up-to-date with the latest news from around the county with a Westmeath Examiner epaper subscription from €2.20*


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Actually, though. I do have one 'odd' habit that would probably get me smacked by some people.
if(condition) {/*dostuff in one line*/}
I never use 'braceless' blocks.
That's actually considered good, not something that'll 'get you smacked'.
It's not something I follow myself, but it is a good habit. It's not all that odd or uncommon either.
Edited by Servant of the Lord, 16 April 2013 - 04:50 PM.


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dB Logic EP-100 Earphones
Ultra-small in-ear monitors offer fantastic sound quality while reducing exposure to high sound pressure levels. Can be worn with cable behind-the-ear for on-the-go security or with cables straight down for quick fitting. Compact storage case is ideal for traveling and fits in any pocket. Three sizes of compliant eartips to fit any ear. dB Logic's proprietary Sound Pressure Level Limiting...
HHI Deep Bass Vibe Earphone - Blue
Revolutionary bass and high-fashion colors combine to form a new fashion attitude. Deep Bass with unique Soft Silicon earbud naturally reduces outside noise and enables unparalleled bass levels that can actually be felt. Complete comfort is assured through unique shape soft silicon earphone cover.


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My design followed from the premise that the definition of every action can be thought of as a triplet consisting of a subject, verb, and object. So for instance, Hand - pick up - item. So I defined three interfaces:
CanAct<type extends Action>,
CanBeActedUpon<type extends Action>.
Then what I would do would be to define a new action class, such as
Class PickUp implements Action{ PickUp(CanPickUp, CanBePickedUp){..} }, with two interfaces
CanPickUp extends CanAct<PickUp>and
CanBePickedUp extends CanBeActedUpon<PickUp>
The idea was that with this framework I could assign different components different CanAct interfaces, and then if an entity lost the component, for instance your hands are cut off, they would lose the ability to take actions, unless of course they had other components which also performed those actions. In addition, I could create menus of possible actions on the fly, since all I'd have to do was take the main entity, compile a list of all it's possible actions (for component in entity, if component instanceof CanAct, component.getType()), then look at it's surroundings for other entities with components that have CanBeActedUpon of that type. Meanwhile the action would provide it's own name, so the menu code could be completely oblivious.
The problem is that Java won't allow an object to inherit two interfaces from the same base interface. So for instance, if I add Hands, I want them to be able to PickUp, Equip, Attack, and Open. CanPickUp extends CanAct<PickUp>,CanEquip extends CanAct<Equip>. My Hands object can't implement both.
Additionally, it gets very messy for some reason. Because everything that handles these actions has to be type agnostic, I end up doing a lot of strange typecasting that I don't fully understand. For example:
public static CanAct<?> canActor(GameObject g, Class<? extends Action> actionType){ for(Part p : g.allParts){ if(p instanceof CanAct<?>){ CanAct<?> CA=(CanAct<?>)p; if(CA.actionType()==actionType){ return CA; } } } return null; }
Where for this code I should point out that both the CanAct and CanBeActedUpon interface have the function actionType() which returns a Class<? extends Action>, and then CanPickUp for instance would return PickUp.class . I haven't been able to figure out how to do this in a more elegant way... Not to mention having to iterate through all the parts in the Entity.
I suppose my question is, does anyone have any suggestions for me? Am I over engineering my problem? Is there an easier approach? Is there a pattern I've not tried here? Or am I on the right track, and if so, what is my work around for implementing two of the same interfaces with different types?


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We rolled cubed chicken, ham and Swiss cheese up in crepes and topped with hollandaise sauce for a savory dish that can be ready in just 45 minutes.
*Do not use margarine or vegetable oil spreads.
Want to save these for brunch? After filling and rolling up the crepes, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove from the fridge and uncover while heating the oven. Make the sauce while baking the crepes, and serve as the main course for a delicious weekend brunch.
Save time (and money) by chopping up deli chicken and ham slices for the filling.
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