/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/02/26/#ubuntu-us-mn.txt

TakyojiIf only we had entertaining things like this in Minnesota http://wiki.eth-0.nl http://wiki.eth-0.nl/index.php/ScavHunt :P02:47
tonyyarussoTakyoji: that is pretty cool03:52
tonyyarusso"Do 50 push-ups (on toes) with your laptop on your back, between your shoulders. Netbooks are NOT allowed ;)"03:53
tonyyarussoI could do that!03:53
Takyojiand all it really takes place at is a mowed area of grass, with a few basic life resources (electricity and internet)03:53
tonyyarusso"Cook/bake something absurdly huge and full of calories. Eat with friends until nothing is left."03:54
tonyyarusso"Build a huge 101-keys keyboard. It has work and be at least 3 times bigger than a regular keyboard."03:54
tonyyarussorofl03:54
tonyyarusso"Create an organic Object of Fascination, which must captivate one person for at least 5 minutes. The subject may not be informed." - these people are awesome.03:56
tonyyarussoTakyoji: Dude, we could totally pull this off.03:56
tonyyarusso"Calculate the value of pi using nothing more than pen and paper" - oh man, I will destroy you all.  One point per digit!03:57
tonyyarussoI could just do that all weekend and probably win.03:57
Takyojiunless if you have better ideas. :P03:58
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: How many digits of pi do you know now?04:02
tonyyarussonot may04:02
tonyyarusso*many04:02
tonyyarusso3.14159265358979 is all I can guarantee.04:03
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: Then how do you plan to destroy us all?04:03
tonyyarussosparklehistory: It says *calculate*.04:03
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: There's a way to calculate digits of pi?04:04
tonyyarussoI could know a million digits and get zero points for that, since I'd have to show my work.04:04
tonyyarussosparklehistory: um, duh?  How do you think we know what they are?04:04
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: I suppose - do you know what the formula is?04:04
tonyyarussoyes04:04
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: What is it?04:04
* tonyyarusso goes to work in GIMP04:05
tonyyarussosparklehistory: Hint: It's a limit.04:06
sparklehistoryokay04:07
tonyyarussohrm, wait, this might require a trig table to do by hand.04:10
TakyojiAlso randomly curious if anyone in here knows of Bitcoin in detail04:11
tonyyarussonope04:11
tonyyarussosparklehistory: awww, I need to know the Taylor Series for arctangent to do it.  I'd have to look that up to pull it off.04:15
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: Well if you know what you need to know then you're far ahead of me.04:15
sparklehistoryIt's also been a really long time since I thought at all about Taylor Series04:16
tonyyarussosparklehistory: If you have a set of trig tables handy, then it's easier.  You just treat it as a polygon with a very large number of sides, since anyone can calculate the apothem and circumference of a regular polygon with known trig values.04:17
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: Oh, I guess that makes sense.04:21
sparklehistoryIf one remembered what the apothem was....04:22
* sparklehistory doesn't use much math nowdays04:22
tonyyarussosparklehistory: line segment from the center point to a side, at a right angle to that side.04:23
tonyyarussoI don't either, but I still know that.04:23
sparklehistoryOh, yeah - that sounds familiar now.04:24
tonyyarussoActually, wait a minute.04:25
tonyyarussoI DON'T need trig tables.  Pythagorean theorem should be sufficient.04:25
sparklehistoryuh huh04:26
* tonyyarusso should find a piece of paper and confirm this04:26
tonyyarussoSometimes sketching in gimp just isn't the most efficient.04:26
sparklehistorywait, can you do it with the pythagorean theorem?  You can figure out all the angles but do you know any of the side lengths?04:28
tonyyarussoYou declare a convenient side length.  Pi doesn't change when the circle gets bigger.04:28
sparklehistoryoh, right - it's a ratio04:29
tonyyarusso:)04:29
tonyyarussowhere's my scrachpad?04:29
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: So basically as the number of sides increases, the apothem and the hypotenuse of your triangle are going to approach the same length and the third side is going to approach 0, right?04:31
tonyyarussoyes04:31
tonyyarussohmm, I'm missing a side still.04:33
tonyyarussowait, ignore that04:33
tonyyarussomaybe04:34
sparklehistoryI'm still not seeing it.  But then I'm severely sleep deprived, so that doesn't mean much.04:34
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: I can see how that could get your the radius of your polygon, but not how it would get you the circumfrence you'd need to calculate pi as a ratio between them04:35
tonyyarussooy04:40
sparklehistorytonyyarusso: Does your brain hurt now?04:51
tonyyarussonot quite04:51
tonyyarussoI think I do need the trig tables though.04:51
sparklehistoryI think so too, I don't see how you can do it without them.04:52
tonyyarussoI can express it in terms of the apothem (calling the hypotenuse 1), but I can't calculate the length of that.04:52
sparklehistoryRight04:52
tonyyarussoIt's the limit of (n*sqrt(1-r^2))/r as n approaches infinity04:53
sparklehistoryThat looks reasonably correct04:53
* sparklehistory is more scribbling than calculation - massive sleep deprivation is not helpful to this exercise04:53
tonyyarussoIt's an infinity/zero thing.04:54
tonyyarussoinfinity*zero rather04:54
tonyyarussoWith the trig, it's the limit n->∞ of n·√(1-(cos(180/n))^2)/cos(180/n)05:04
sparklehistoryAlso seems reasonably correct05:17
* sparklehistory 's conclusion is that she doesn't want to do either one of these by hand :P05:17
tonyyarussoyeah, maybe not05:18
ElsieBenoughHi05:26
tonyyarussoElsieBenough: Welcome.05:26
ElsieBenoughGreetings, Realmbrother05:29
tonyyarussoTakyoji: So you're totally organizing a scavenger hunt / game day for us now, right?  ;)05:31
Takyojiif someone has a location, and resources, and if people have interest. :P05:32
TakyojiI don't have equipment to supply power effectively to several nodes, and have a network of line 32+ systems without redundant cabling, etc05:33
tonyyarussouh, "equipment"?  It's a power strip.05:33
TakyojiI'm implying like sufficient gauge of wire; or breakers/GFCI, so that one person doesn't screw up the power for the entire place, etc05:37
tonyyarussoTakyoji: I think you greatly overestimate what our group would require.  We're not going to have 500 people at anything.05:39
sparklehistoryMaybe 5 people...05:40
TakyojiI thought you were implying something more publicized like 30 or so people. :P05:42
sparklehistorytonyyarusso probably was, I was being somewhat cynical/realistic05:44
tonyyarussoTakyoji: 30 would be well within the means of standard office gear.05:44
tonyyarussoI could supply a fifth of that just with gear that was in my car today :P05:45
TakyojiIt's just that a cheapass SJT cord isn't really something for running power to quite a handful of desktops/laptops/monitors/routers/switches/whatever-electrical-thing-used. :P05:53
Takyojias they can get hot with more wattage than a single standard appliance.05:54
TakyojiSteele County Fair will completely deny/shutdown your booth if you don't use something better than SJT even if you're using a simple single appliance through it.05:55
TakyojiBut anyway; it would be best to have a few people working on such an effort, rather than just assuming 1 person to do everything, which has apparently failed every single time with any thing brought up on this channel. :P06:03
TakyojiI believe a typical team facilitator does more than "Are you done yet? Are you done yet?" :P06:07
* Takyoji bugs and pesters tonyyarusso06:07
tonyyarussoTakyoji: So get someone else to help you?06:08
tonyyarussoWe have a mailing list with over a hundred people.06:08
tonyyarussoGet one of them to work on something!06:08
=== sparkle_history is now known as sparklehistory

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