--- SVFIG Meeting, Fourth Saturday, April 24, 2010 --- _______________________________________________ *** MEETING PLACE SAME AS LAST MONTH, DIFFERENT FROM FEBRUARY *** The meeting will be held on the second floor of Building 550 (aka Peterson Building)in room 200. Directions and map links are below. Enter the building from Panama Mall. The door is labeled "Building 550 - Mechanical Engineering Design Group". Walk up the stairs just inside the doorway. Room 200 is on the left at the top of the stairs. (In the event that the building door is locked, there will either be someone on duty to let you in or a cellphone number to call. *** DO NOT ASK STANFORD STUDENTS TO LET YOU IN AND DO NOT ENTER THE BUILDING BEHIND STUDENTS *** The Official SVFIG Announcement Editor's Parking Lot Recommendation is the lot near the intersection of Santa Teresa St and Morris Way. There are other, closer lots but this one is easiest to navigate to. ***WIFI AVAILABLE*** There is no public Wifi. If you had a one-day password last month it iS the same this month. For a new one-day guest account (if you didn't get one last month) email Dave Jaffe at: ***MAKER FAIRE*** http://www.makerfaire.com/ We are considering substituting Maker Faire for the May meeting. Discussion will take place at the meeting and continue during the month on the SVFIG email list and through direct correspondence. Dave Jaffe is trying to get together a group discount so contact him and bring money to the meeting if you're going. ***EMBEDDED SYSTEMS CONFERENCE*** http://esc-sv09.techinsightsevents.com/ We're hoping to rendezvous for the Tuesday keynote and later for beer. Details will be discussed at the meeting. Is there a reception this year? _______________________________________________ AGENDA For late-breaking updates, check the web site: <<>> 09:50 --- Coffee and a Chat 10:15 --- PROGRAMMER'S CHALLANGE --- CH Ting "We haven't done a programmer's challenge for a long time. How about tackling this one for the morning session in our April meeting?" Programmer's Challenge: When did Jesus actually die? Clues: 1. He died on a Friday. 2. The Thursday before his death was Passover, which is the 14th day of 1st month on Jewish calender. 3. Passover occurs on the first full moon after the Spring equinox. 4. Passover was Monday 3/29/2010 this year. 5. The Spring equinox was Sunday 3/21/2010 this year. 6. A year has 365.256363 days. 7. A month has 29.530689 days. Which year around 30 AD had Passover on a Thursday? Both integer and floating point math are acceptable, but you will need six decimal digit precision. Go figure. Let's compare notes in the morning session. Bring and show your code. 11:45 --- Lunch We will walk to The Treehouse by Tresidder Union. Here is a review: <<< http://collegerestaurant.net/default.aspx>>> Here is the menu: <> 13:00 --- INTRODUCTIONS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, DISCUSSION --- All Assembled Maker Faire, Embedded Systems Conference and more! Some FIG-UK material, available for download: http://www.dougneale.co.uk/Forth.html 13:30 --- QUANTUM COMPUTING: OVERVIEW OF AN EXPENSIVE "MAYBE" --- Jack J. Woehr Quantum computing (QC) promises a path to solving in polynomial time computations which execute in exponential time on digital binary computers. But can QC be made practical, efficient, and affordable? And what surprises lurk in the mysterious underworld of quantum physics on our way to QC? Jack will present this talk via Skype. 14:30 --- BREAK 14:45 --- A (hopefully not) CONTINUOUS JOB HUNT --- Dennis Ruffer Landing four jobs in the last four years has given Dennis some experiences that he can pass on. Leaving time for questions, but to get the discussion going, here are some topics: *State of the job market for Forth practitioners? (Nada) *Relocating - how is it elsewhere? (Nice when you can get it) *Marketing firms - Expensive, but eye opening. *Resumes - 1, 2 ... 5 pages or more? *Job shops - Can be useful. 15:45 --- FIELD TRIP - "Design Unassigned" We'll migrate to the nearby Art Department gallery to take in this interesting display on its last day. http://art.stanford.edu/galleries-spaces/stanford-art-gallery/ 16:00 --- Adjourn _______________________________________________ Please note that the times listed above are precise but not accurate. We might go a little long or short on any agenda item or shuffle things on the fly with abandon. If you'ref desperate to see something at a particular time, please let us know! Remember that there are bugs in any non-trivial SVFIG meeting announcement. _______________________________________________ The schedule above may be reformatted or line-justified but please transmit verbatim or not at all. Any font you like is alright with me. No Newsgroup posts or other media distribution this month please! _______________________________________________ Public Wireless Internet access is NOT anticipated this month at Stanford. Email Dave Jaffe to request a one day guest account if you don't have one from last month. _______________________________________________ Coming to SVFIG: * FORTH DAY in November 2010! * Bring speaker suggestions TO EVERY MEETING! * Mitch Bradley's Forth in C (somebody needs to volunteer) * Blast from the past - a discussion of John James' CRC from his Xmodem implementation as enunciated in "Forth Dimensions". * Engineering TV http://engineeringtv.com/ Fifty engineering topic channels. Four new episodes per week. * BOTBASH 2000 --- Video A cheepie video of a May 2000 robot rumble in Mesa Arizona from these guys: http://www.battlebots.com/ Is it a hollow threat or emergency backup filler material? _______________________________________________ Check the SVFIG web site at http://www.forth.org/svfig/ for last minute changes to this schedule. The most up-to-date meeting information is at http://www.forth.org/svfig/next.html Many thanks to our wonderful Webmaster, Dave Jaffe. Preliminary agenda along with schedule updates and discussion may frequently be found on the SVFIG email list. To subscribe send email to geoperry_at_gmail.com Please let us know if this isn't your preferred email address for the SVFIG-Announce mailing list. Thanks for your patience. Please suggest a speaker or present at a SVFIG meeting. Please do not attempt to reply to svfig-announce@... send instead to forther_at_comcast.net _______________________________________________ NAVIGATIONAL ADVICE Enter the building from Panama Mall. Walk up the stairs just inside the doorway. Room 200 is on the left at the top of the stairs. (In the event that the building door is locked, there will either be someone on duty to let you in or a cellphone number to call.)***DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY TO PIGGYBACK IN THE DOOR BEHIND STUDENTS OR ASK STUDENTS TO LET YOU IN*** Google Maps does NOT work very well on the Stanford campus, use this map: http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/map/ Or the Searchable Stanford Campus Map: http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/map/ There is open parking on weekends. Park in any A or C or metered space, no coins needed even if there's a meter there.The Official SVFIG Announcement Editor's Parking Lot recommendation is the lot near the intersection of Santa Teresa St and Morris Way. _______________________________________________