Neal's Blog

This is me, trying out the Profiles journal.

I thought this ad was interesting for a few reasons.

First, "Hot Opportunity" and "Fresh Career" are not the same in English and Spanish, yet those bits remain consistent in the ads. Why?

Second, apparently English speakers are interested in "Friends and Fun" but Spanish speakers want "Satisfaction and Respect." So which set do you get working at KFC? (I suspect not much of either.)

Finally, why the red call to action for the Spanish-speaking crowd that's missing from the English poster? Odd.

Freecell used to be hard. At least I *think* it used to be hard. I installed a Windows Vista box the other day and ecided to give the classic game a whirl. 14 straight wins, no losses. Did they intorduce a heuristic to make the boards easier or something?

So, in the words of Willow: "Bored now."

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

I really like the comic xkcd. Of course, I *had* to solve the NP complete problem for the waiter.



There are 2 solutions, btw:

$15.05:, mixed fruit, mixed fruit, mixed fruit, mixed fruit, mixed fruit, mixed fruit, mixed fruit
$15.05:, mixed fruit, hot wings, hot wings, sampler plate

My solution was painfully naive and produced 13 results (duplicates were trivially eliminated by inspection), but I thought it would take minutes more to optimize it and clean up the code. And sometimes, good enough is good enough. Maybe later I'll freak out and have to go back and clean it up (so that I don't appear brain-dead in perpetuity). But not until after Thomas the Tank Engine entertains Aidan this afternoon...

public class xkcdTest {

public int[] costs = {215, 275, 335, 355, 420, 580};
public String[] descriptions = {"mixed fruit","french fries","side salad","hot wings","mozzarella sticks","sampler plate"};

public static class costContainer {
int cost = 0;
String costs = "";

public String toString () {
return (cost +":"+ costs);
}
}

public void findCost (costContainer currentCost) {
//test for goal state
if (currentCost.cost == 1505) {
System.out.println(currentCost);
}
//terminate this branch
if (currentCost.cost > 1505) {
return;
}
//iterate and try next
for (int i = 0; i < costs.length ; i++) {
costContainer tmp = new costContainer();
tmp.cost = currentCost.cost + costs[i];
tmp.costs = currentCost.costs + ", " + descriptions[i];
findCost(tmp);
}
}

public static void main (String[] strings) {
System.out.println("foo");
costContainer c = new costContainer();
xkcdTest xTest = new xkcdTest();
xTest.findCost(c);
}
}


cheers,
--neal

by killjoe (766577) on Monday October 18, @06:52PM (#10560192)

At the core being a better programmer has to begin by being a better human being. The same with being a better manager, CIO, architect or a plumber.

The problem is that there are all kinds of Gurus and books out there which claim to make somebody a better "whatever" without ever once touching on what makes a better human being in the first place.

What makes a better human being? Well the lessons are not new and have been written down thousands of years ago.

Be less selfish, be more humble, help others, be kind, share more, take care of others etc. The golden rule more or less.

Large companies instead of sending their staff to certification classes or management seminars should send their employees to become better human beings. This may mean yoga classes, budhist seminars, philosophy classes or something.