tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68958401772231059402024-03-13T12:26:07.148-07:00ScreenGodJeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-17935706258150698592018-03-12T13:15:00.000-07:002018-03-12T13:18:19.924-07:00Newsgroups: I Made a DifferenceIn 2013, I had the idea of making a newsgroup search engine. All I had to do was download all newsgroup postings and index them.<br />
<p>Well I wrote some Python code which did multiple threads, and got a Giganews Diamond account which allowed a lot of threads and unlimited downloads.<br />
<p>After a month I had most newsgroups - excepting binaries - and it came to 800GB.<br />
<p>Trying to index THAT lot was impossible.<br />
<p>So in mid-2016, I just heaved the 800GB's onto a 1TB 2.5" USB hard drive and sent it to the Internet Archive.<br />
<p>I thought they hadn't done anything with the drive.<br />
<p>After a few weeks of confusion, a friend of mine - connected to the IA - got all it sorted out. They had uploaded all my data here<br />
<p><a href="https://archive.org/details/giganewsnewsgroups2003to2013">https://archive.org/details/giganewsnewsgroups2003to2013</a><br />
<p>(2003 - 2013 because 2013 is when I last indexed them).<br />
<p>There was a mystery of the missing drive. Basically, they mislaid my original drive, so said they couldn't send it back to me in the post. My friend got that sorted out too and a new drive is on its way.<br />
<p>Anyway, it's all there, independent of Google Groups.<br />
<p>To download a newsgroup, get the domain (below, gna-comp is comp.*)<br />
<p><a href="https://archive.org/download/gna-comp/comp.sys.amiga.announce.mbox.gz">https://archive.org/download/gna-comp/comp.sys.amiga.announce.mbox.gz</a><br />
<p>And unzip it. You'll be able to load it into your email client or newsgroup reader.<br />
<p>Hoping to index 2013-2018, but I have until 2023 to do so (it goes back only 10 years).<br />
<p>My 1981-1991 newsgroup search engine is at: <a href="http://www.dejadejadeja.com/">http://www.dejadejadeja.com/</a><br />
<p>Finally, the technology behind my newsgroup search engine is called MailXplorer, and it's here:<br />
<p><a href="http://www.sanfransys.com/mailxplorer">http://www.sanfransys.com/mailxplorer</a><br />
<p>I'm looking for some customers who want to search old hard drives for missing emails.<br />
<p>That's all! Thanks for reading.<br />
<br />
<br />
Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-72723905469249297882015-03-08T11:03:00.000-07:002015-03-08T11:03:53.179-07:00A Trip To Majikkon 2015A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing the Huddersfield Literary Festival brochure my Mum gave me. I saw a Manga/Anime ‘Convention’ or ‘Con’. £10 in, but maybe worth it. I took a chance on it and on the 8th, I awoke.<br />
<p>It started at 11AM so I decided to get there about 1PM.<br />
<p>I got off the bus, went to Sainsbury’s, and got 4 pints of milk for £1.<br />
<p>Then I went to the University, to where I thought the old Sports Hall was. I walked all the way round and it was just scaffolding.<br />
<p>Having doubts about the whole thing, I meandered along and met a guy with a bike. I asked him where the Con might be, and he said he’d seen some costumed people yonder. I followed his line of sight and nodded, and trudged therewise to find it.<br />
<p>5 minutes later, I found the entrance to the Con and went in. I bought myself a ticket. But at the Cloakroom entrance, I asked how much money to stash my bag and milk. She said £3, so I put the milk in my Ikea rucksack/bag. But the milk sprung a leak. A trail of milk followed me as I asked the woman what to do. She pointed to a nearby flip-top bin, and I put the milk in it. A kindly young lady went after the milk trail with a cloth and cleaned it all up with no blame attached. How kind! <br />
<p>Went round the corner looking for the main hall. I found a door and it appeared to open some 15 feet above the ground. Strange! But I went on and eventually reached stairs down, and showed my ID wristband to the guy at the door.<br />
<p>I was getting worried! What if it turned out to be a sham, just a bunch of tables selling stuff!<br />
<p>Luckily I checked my agenda sheet and it told me at the main stage in the centre front of the ‘new’ sports hall, there were ‘things’ on.<br />
<p>First I trudged around all the stalls. I found stalls selling T-shirts, buttons, manga books (MANGA means books, ANIME means cartoons). But no anime. Oh well. I did, however, meet the guy who runs the Role Playing club. He was pleased to see me, and said I can pop round in as early as May to join in some temporary/short RPG games. He said his stall was 10% off, but I didn’t want to buy anything as I didn’t have £20 to spare. Since I lost my wallet, I was taking care of my expenses.<br />
<p>Okay, so after the stalls was the main stage. The Maids Of England. Some oriental-looking woman and one white. Okay. It was okay but I wasn’t bowled over.<br />
<p>Then the Hoshi Dolls! 2 girls who were doing some crazy dance moves to some J (Japanese) Pop. This was my kind of thing! I just loved the way they performed their moves effortlessly.<br />
<p>Dubb That Anime was next. For about an hour from 2PM to 3PM, 4 pairs of people each (pair) were assigned a short (30 second) clip from an anime (cartoon). They watched it, then discussed their angle and what theme and what words to use in dubbing the clip, and then watched it again, speaking their ad lib into a microphone. (We could see the anime from a medium-sized projector screen which was setup at the front).<br />
<p>The best ones were guys who apparently had done well the previous year. Their angle is best described as ‘Bro’s for Life’ with 2 large guys bopping fists in the anime. It was crass, but hilarious.<br />
<p>This went on for an hour, though I missed the first 15 minutes.<br />
<p>Next I popped upstairs to see the ‘Games room’. This was a circle around a partition, and was just a setup of classic consoles and screens – LCD or CRT TV, depending on the console.<br />
<p>It looked fun, but I didn’t play. I just watched the intro/demo and looked at people playing the games. I don’t play computer games as I’m not too great at them.<br />
<p>Went back downstairs for the Liam Morgan 30-minute set on a Japanese guitar (Tsugaru Shamisen) which was quite dull.<br />
<p>After this was the 15-minute ‘Do You Even Pose’ which consisted of showing stills from manga and anime on the projector, and a group of about 12 people would copy the pose the best they could. It was totally hilarious!<br />
<p>Soon after sometime, I bought a book about cyber crime for £3.50 which seemed fun.<br />
<p>Finally, 4PM. I was thinking of heading off at 4.30PM due to that being 3 hours at the con. And to think I didn’t think I’d last 15 minutes!<br />
<p>At 4PM was the ‘Cosplay Masquerade’. Cosplay – Costume Play and was just people dressing as their fave anime/manga character.<br />
<p>They trooped up one by one, did some posing, then strode down the centre aisle and sat down.<br />
<p>At 4.45PM, I left, but the feeling of joy lingered afterwards for a while. All those people, all those attractive girls, and the craziness – even people dressed up as Star Wars Stormtroopers.<br />
<p>I look forward to my next ‘Con’. It might be Manchester in July, but most likely, it’ll be next year’s Majikkon.<br />
<p>One footnote is that apart from the RPG guy, I saw nobody I knew. Not Jason or Paul – who I told it was happening - from next door to my Mum’s. What is it with people?<br />
<br />
Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-60420101222363883392013-06-21T07:30:00.000-07:002013-06-21T07:40:30.081-07:00Info: Cable for Seagate Freeagent Desktop hard driveIt's called a: USB 2.0 Male A to B Mini 5 Pin Cable Lead (XC03)
<p>
Get it <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-70cm-USB-2-0-Male-A-to-B-Mini-5-Pin-Cable-Lead-XC03-/271176094403?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:GB:3160">here</a>
Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-55973764587846748172013-03-23T13:00:00.001-07:002013-03-23T13:00:12.473-07:00Staying Online During Power Cuts (ADSL)When there's a power cut, typically your laptop can keep running on batteries, but your internet router may well have no power, being plugged into the mains.
Well, the BT Voyager 105 ADSL modem doesn't require any power other than over USB, so if you want to keep online during a power cut, keep a Voyager 105 handy.
Basically, one end plugs in your ADSL socket (which probably means unplugging the inactive router), and then a USB cable goes from the 105 to the laptop.
Do this, and you can send emergency tweets or whatever it is you do during a power cut.
Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-6915283661291273792013-03-08T06:30:00.002-08:002013-03-08T06:55:18.110-08:00School PunishmentI was bad at school once and got detention. We had to write out 1000 lines of something like "I wll not be bad again". I took the easy way out: I popped in the computer room and printed out the line "I will not be bad again" 1000 times on a dot matrix printer attached to a BBC Master. They didn't let me get away with it, but it was fun anyway.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-567125535382929532012-07-27T14:17:00.001-07:002012-07-27T14:17:33.829-07:00The Golden Age of NokiaWhen I was on holiday in Thailand, in 2002, a Korean guy on the same jungle trip as me, dropped his 2002-era Nokia phone in a stream. I thought it was toast, but he took it to pieces (case, circuit board, battery screen I think), and in a few hours it had dried and worked perfectly!
<p>
I don't know if modern smartphones have the same build quality, but this is clearly a good user experience.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-13623623731414948482012-06-17T09:28:00.000-07:002012-06-17T09:30:32.060-07:00Homebrew Timed TapingIn about 1991, I bought a dictaphone from Argos. Before that, I bought a 'clock radio' which is a clock combined with a radio, so you could set a timer and wake up to Radio 2.
<p>
I had a bit of an inventive spirit. I was visiting a relative at about 6PM and going home about 10PM. But Dragnet was on Radio 2 at about 8PM.
<p>
My solution, though slightly heavy-handed, was to take apart the clock radio.
<p>
Now, I noticed that the radio had a power wire, so when the clock hit a certain time, the power went to it and it played out of the speaker.
<p>
So, given all that, there was only one thing I needed to do...
<p>
Well, I hit the record button on the dictaphone, then I connected the radio's power wires to that dictaphone, and connected the speaker output to the dictaphone's line input.
<p>
The idea was simple: The clock part of the machine would trigger the dictaphone to come on, and tape all that came out of the radio's speaker output. When done, it would cut off the power and the dictaphone would cease recording!
<p>
It worked! I could now record Dragnet while being away from the dictaphone.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-6239495498178236742012-03-26T07:05:00.002-07:002012-03-26T07:06:42.435-07:00The Best Biscuit Tin in the WorldA good biscuit tin today, is hard to find.<br /><br />My parents have 2 rather nice biscuit tins, and no biscuit has ever been known to have gone soft in one.<br /><br />So I wanted to buy one for my new dwelling.<br /><br />I found a Brabantia tin while shopping for curtains in a big mill out of town, but the problem was it was RUBBISH! The biscuits got soft real quick and stayed that way.<br /><br />So I decided to get serious... I studied the 2 parents' biscuit tins and read the patent number, amongst other things, and the phrase 'moisture absorbent lid'.<br /><br />I Googled the patent number but found nothing.<br /><br />However, when I went to Froogle.co.uk (Google Products UK), and put in 'moisture absorbent lid', I found a matching biscuit tin!<br /><br />It was here: http://www.janetpidoux.co.uk/products-page/tins/cat-design-biscuit-barrel-cookie-tin/<br /><br />So I bought it. Now I have used it for 1 week, and the biscuits are still crisp. This is a great biscuit tin!<br /><br />The important thing, I think, is the sides of the tin are metal, whereas the Brabantia tin is plastic-sided.<br /><br />I hope to treasure this biscuit tin for as long as I live.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-38399208550484271942011-11-24T13:10:00.000-08:002011-11-24T13:12:00.259-08:00Wherefore Art Thou, Superglue?As my old Superglue bottle had gone dry, it was time to buy another.<br /><br />Problem. I went to 3 shops in my local village and all they had was a 'tube', not a bottle. But I knew there must be hope!<br /><br />So I went all the way to town and went in a large store which sells everything. Luckily, I found it - a Loctite bottle with a brush.<br /><br />The brush turned out to be a bit small, so it's harder to apply the glue to your 'broken thing'.<br /><br />However, I went with my instincts and got what I wanted by going afar.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-5394855296735492412011-11-12T06:35:00.000-08:002011-11-12T06:36:38.403-08:00The zPadClive Sinclair released a portable computer in 1987, the 'Z88'. With a silent rubbery keyboard and a long battery life, journalists loved it for making notes on at meetings.<br /><br />The funny thing is that Apple executives were reported to use them in board meetings.<br /><br />So forget the iPad, let's hail the zPad!Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-78431880867753838462011-09-17T08:28:00.001-07:002011-09-17T08:29:18.032-07:00Robert E.Howard / Conan drinking gameFirst get a copy of 'the Conan Chronicles' which is a leather-bound collection of all REH's Conan stories.<br /><br />Start reading from the first story. When you come across a 'giant ape man', take a sip of whisky and move on to the next story.<br /><br />Soon you'll be very drunk! ;-)Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-37258421748206802382011-07-21T07:11:00.000-07:002011-07-21T07:12:47.424-07:00Beverly Hills Cop 2: Whodunnit?At the end of the bank robbery scene in BHC 2, we see a limo pull away; the license plate says "DENT". Later, a Mr. Dent is revealed as a main character. So now you have no reason to watch the last 98 minutes of the film!Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-2679656643828413932011-04-15T14:46:00.000-07:002011-04-15T14:48:30.177-07:00Escaping control characters (programming)Basically, in C, there is a control character "\" which is a slash. \n is one character, \r is another, \t is a tab, etc. Now, what do you think the control character itself should be? Well typically it is "\\". But this involves some silly search-and-replacing to change "\\" to "\".<br /><br />My solution is to escape the control character itself. So you say "\e" which is replaced with a "\". Now you can process the string without first replacing all the slashes. Much better - and it doesn't even take up any more space.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-32322703150375898162011-04-15T14:45:00.000-07:002011-04-15T14:46:22.619-07:00Update on American hanging-up-without-saying-goodbyeI figured it out when watching a film. Basically, there is a click on the line when someone hangs up. That's how they know someone has gone without having to say goodbye.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-76144875926605148792011-02-22T11:36:00.000-08:002011-02-22T11:38:23.518-08:00No Such Number, No Such TailorIn the film Die Hard, the bad guy says he has 2 suits from "John Phillips, London". But a Google search reveals there is no such tailor. It doesn't exist!<br /><br />Still, we can forgive writer Steven E. de Souza this minor detail.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-67453544593806026142011-01-06T12:11:00.000-08:002011-01-06T12:13:27.226-08:00First version of my custom-written C++ string replacement function to be more like Perl'sHere's the code. Use it how you like.<br /><br />I don't know what'll happen with any inputs a blank string, but try not to pass blank strings in.<br /><br />string myreplaceall(string input,string match,string replace)<br />{<br /> //first find out how many matches in input<br /> long i;<br /> long mysize = 0;<br /> for (i = 0; i < input.size(); i++)<br /> {<br /> if (!strncmp(input.c_str()+i,match.c_str(),match.size()))<br /> {<br /> i += match.size()-1;<br /> mysize++;<br /> }<br /> }<br /> <br /> //mysize tells us how many matches there are<br /><br /> //first deduct the match strings * mysize<br /> long finallen = input.size() - mysize * (match.size());<br /> //add on the replace strings * mysize<br /> finallen += mysize * (replace.size());<br /><br /> //allocate a string of finallen<br /> char *outbuffer;<br /> outbuffer = (char *)malloc(finallen+1);<br /><br /> string retval;<br /><br /> long ptr = 0;<br /><br /> //copy text into outbuffer<br /> //either a single letter, or replace the 'match' string with the 'replace' string<br /> for (i = 0; i < input.size(); i++)<br /> {<br /> if (!strncmp(input.c_str()+i,match.c_str(),match.size()))<br /> {<br /> i += match.size()-1;<br /> long j;<br /> for (j = 0; j < replace.size(); j++)<br /> {<br /> outbuffer[ptr+j] = replace[j];<br /> }<br /> ptr += replace.size();<br /> }<br /> else<br /> {<br /> outbuffer[ptr] = input[i];<br /> ptr++;<br /> }<br /> }<br /><br /> //terminate string<br /> outbuffer[ptr] = 0;<br /> //make string of return value<br /> retval = outbuffer;<br /> //free outbuffer memory<br /> free(outbuffer);<br /><br /> //return replaced string<br /> return retval;<br />}Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-64585329881015140422010-09-04T04:01:00.000-07:002010-09-04T04:14:15.426-07:00A Decent USB Joystick for MAMEMAME emulates old arcade machines. The tricky part is you have to use the PC keyboard if you don't have a joystick. But any joystick has to have at least 2 separate buttons AND be USB compatible.<br /><br />The cheapest solution is to get a Speedlink Competition Pro USB Joystick. It comes with 99 pirated Commodore 64 games, but you can ignore them.<br /><br />In MAME, hit Tab, 'Input (This Game)'. Move up and down the list and hit Enter, then wiggle the joystick or press a button on it. Then go back into the game.<br /><br />You've now configured that game for your new Competition Pro!<br /><br />Click <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B002ZG7852/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&qid=1283598708&sr=8-1">here</a> to get it.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-11097671005969392052010-08-28T13:29:00.000-07:002010-08-29T06:35:20.256-07:00Making a Dell M70 Precision quieterSimple, get a Western Digital Scorpio 40GB drive, WD400UEDTL (or WD400UE) (not a newer 80GB one, the M70 BIOS doesn't like them) off Ebay, make sure it's EIDE not SATA, slot it into an M70 hard drive caddy, and put it inside the M70. Not sure how to remove the existing drive from the hard-disk caddy - I had to buy a new caddy from Ebay, and put the Scorpio in the caddy. Then you install Windows/Linux/whatever from a boot CD.<br /><br />If the CPU is noisy, get http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/ and set Main Operating Mode to Automatic temperature control.<br /><br />You'll now have a laptop quiet as a whisper!Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-72231251249237190142010-08-07T06:13:00.000-07:002010-08-07T06:17:29.035-07:00Movie cliche: The Bad Guys' Secret CodeIn films from all ages, we have the classic cliche.<br /><br />Basically, the bad guy, with the good guy (in captivity), and some henchmen (say, 2 of them) are in a room at the bad guy's base.<br /><br />Now, pay close attention: The good guy makes a wisecrack, and the bad guy nods to a henchman, who punches the good guy.<br /><br />Do you see the problem here? How do the henchmen know what a nod means? Or a finger click. Or a summoning finger? Simple: The screenwriter couldn't be bothered to have the bad guy say "Punch him" - or for that matter, to pay the cab driver after a long cab ride (another cliche).<br /><br />Now, examples of this:<br /><br /> *Casino - They're about to do something nasty in a casino backroom. De Niro nods to a guy and he stops.<br /><br />I can't think of any right now, but you heard it here first.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-40426020215868670952010-06-17T15:08:00.000-07:002010-06-17T15:09:32.066-07:00*£%$ Gibson-esque Cyberpunk novelsI'm reading Lethal Interface by Mel Odom, written in 1991.<br /><br />It robs a lot from Gibson's Neuromancer.<br /><br />However, I just don't get how you fly around this stupid networked world of graphics, with a headset on and - this is my basic point - instead of passwords they have silly games to play to let you in. Which is less secure than passwords.<br /><br />It's sad, because this book is quite readable. It's 50/50 whether I read any more.<br /><br />Obviously Mel never saw the web coming when he wrote this in 1991, but who did? A world of text (not wireframe graphics) to display information, and IP and domain addresses to avoid 'flying around' looking for a destination.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-71572758194486452302010-05-24T10:35:00.000-07:002010-05-24T10:40:17.481-07:00Most Overproduced Record of All Time AwardI hereby nominate and vote for Pat Benetar's Love is a Battlefield from 1983. More like the production is a minefield. Strange chunking guitars, melancholy synths swooshing and swarming through the mix. Echoing vocals, And the Wikipedia page is hilarious: "We asked these guys to write us a hit song and they did". Wow, it's that easy? Just ask someone and you sell millions of records? If this story is true, then anyone can have a hit. Just ask some guy.<br /><br />Michael Jackson's Beat It comes 2nd in this award. There is no 3rd place.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-34281075206983650732010-05-18T09:20:00.000-07:002010-05-18T09:22:30.083-07:00WebDiffI haven't Googled this yet, but here's the thought while it's still in my head.<br /><br />A server sends a user a HTML webpage. The user reloads it later, and only a tiny bit has changed - say, a text advert.<br /><br />With WebDiff, it only sends the difference between the last page and the new one, so saving 100's of kilobytes in big documents.<br /><br />The Diff is calculated using the Unix tool diff.<br /><br />This only works because HTML is raw text.<br /><br />Cute, huh?Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-81936319445648330242010-04-30T15:41:00.000-07:002010-04-30T15:44:43.100-07:00Why Swoopo is FlawedI know a lot about probability theory. When I first learned about Swoopo, I quickly found the problem with it...<br /><br />If 40 people 'bid' on a laptop which only 1 person wins (for say $40 instead of $400), statistically, you (the bidder on Swoopo) will only win 1 in 40 'auctions'. So once people figure out that they have a 1/40 chance, they might as well bet on a horse, or even play roulette - which is generous by comparison.<br /><br />And here's the really funny bit... Once people realise they only win 1 in 40 times, they're going to ditch Swoopo forever.<br /><br />Thus, Swoopo is a Ponzi scheme, because it relies on more suckers coming along just as everyone before them realises they've only won 1 in 40 auctions, and quits Swoopo.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-60716566012275790612010-04-20T13:00:00.000-07:002010-04-20T13:02:33.183-07:00Recovering lost TV shows by going faster than lightWhen we broadcasted Hancock's Half Hour in the 1950's, nobody kept a recording of the entire 1st series. But I was thinking... If the radio waves made it into space, we just have to race after them and eventually overtake them, and then record the lost broadcast out in deep space.<br /><br />The problem is you have to catch up with the radio waves, and that's impossible as we can't travel faster than light, which is the speed radio waves go.<br /><br />Our only hope to recover Hancock's Half Hour is therefore a wormhole.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895840177223105940.post-40233282384052031372010-04-15T12:46:00.000-07:002010-04-15T12:48:28.205-07:00From the BBC's archive via ZX81I just rented "Hancock: Volume 1". Good stuff, but the picture quality amuses me...<br /><br />They got it off some old tape which had gone all over the world and they flew it back and shoved it into a computer.<br /><br />But somewhere along the line, it got so blocky it puts Sinclair ZX81 games to shame. That's pretty funny too.Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11531076867234942309noreply@blogger.com0