AdamCon.org > chat > Sat 2004-03-20

Chat for Sat 2004-03-20 14:59:38

rich-c: confirm
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Daniel Bienvenu
Daniel Bienvenu: ah bin!
rich-c: oops! hope I'm here
rich-c: that's better - I was on another screen
moved to room Meeting Place
Daniel Bienvenu: you are online then! :)
rich-c: tu es ici, maintenant?
rich-c: ah oui, j'etais quelque place d'autre
Daniel Bienvenu: tu étais ailleur quoi :)
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Dr.D.
Daniel Bienvenu: who's there?
rich-c: hey, here's Dr. D. - hi rich
Dr.D.: Hello guys.
rich-c: how's things doing in Cleveland?
Dr.D.: Taking a break from setting up for an experiment--I'm in the lab.
Dr.D.: Thunderstorms right now, torrents of rain.
rich-c: yes, setup can be a bind, especially when you have to come in on Saturday to do it
Dr.D.: I have a lab seminar to give in 2 weeks, need more data.
rich-c: we don't have the thunderstorms (yet?) but have the rain
Dr.D.: Lots of thunder, boom boom boom.
rich-c: had snow this morning but now it's being washed awy
Dr.D.: Pity that it is to turn to snow later...
Dr.D.: Ha, you got your snow first.
rich-c: yes, apparently there's a cold air mass coming through - we're promised -2C as a high tomorrow ;-(
rich-c: you are still quite cold in Quebec, aren't you, Daniel?
Daniel Bienvenu: yep
Daniel Bienvenu: about 5 feet of snow in front of the house.
rich-c: by teh way, I trust neither of you use PayPal
Dr.D.: Wow, 5 feet.
Dr.D.: That's equivalent to 6 inches of rain, wow...
Dr.D.: PayPal, nope.
rich-c: or say 150 cm so Rich will understand - he is a scientist, you know, only understands metric ;-)
Dr.D.: Pshaw.
Dr.D.: Forsooth, we backwardmost of Yanks understand only furlongs and fortnights.
rich-c: OK, the identity thieves are sending out forged paypay messages, it's easy to get taken in
Dr.D.: Prithee convert to our customary units, sirrah.
Dr.D.: Identity theft, ick.
Daniel Bienvenu: I'm programming connect four to be added in my explosion.rom.
rich-c: yes, they ask you to confirm your account data - including credit card number
Dr.D.: My kids played a lot of Connect 4.
Dr.D.: Also Battleship.
rich-c: as usual, I have to plead ignorance; games are not my thing
Daniel Bienvenu: connect 4 is a simple game like tic-tac-toe... but with gravity and you need 4 in-a-line to win
Dr.D.: 9.8 m / sec^2 : -)
Dr.D.: Connect 4 is fun.
rich-c: if it isn't a variant of Free Cell I likely won't play it
Dr.D.: You are rather limited, then, Richard...FreeCell would be nowhere at the top of any gaming list of mine :-)
rich-c: right now I have to chase down the URL for the NIST atomic clock on;ine
Daniel Bienvenu: this means that you still didn't play my own cardgame I named "patience carré".
Dr.D.: tick tock boom! :-)
rich-c: wouldn't doubt it, Rich, but I'm just not a games player
Dr.D.: Sorry, I am feeling silly today...been in the lab since 10:30 AM, and need to eat something.
rich-c: don't know why but by lunchtime I was extraordinarily hungry this afternoon
Dr.D.: Games we had at home: Monopoly, Battleship, Clue, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land!
rich-c: so I can identify with your problem
Dr.D.: And Life...complete with Art Linkletter on the $100K bill :-)
rich-c: oh, in my younger days we played Monopoly and Stock Ticker and Chinese Checkers; later we moved on to Hearts and Bridge
Dr.D.: The girls have gotten some of the same games, but they have changed all the artwork etc.
Dr.D.: Chinese Checker, fun....also Aggravation.
Dr.D.: Cards, I only ever played gin rummy and euchre.
rich-c: and for action, Crokinole
Dr.D.: Never learned bridge...or poker.
Dr.D.: There are many bridge fans here at CWRU, though.
rich-c: poker is how a genius friend of mine put himself through university
Dr.D.: Some of the Film Society folk play between movies.
rich-c: I enjoy bridge but Frances is not wiling to put in the time to be a good partner
Dr.D.: How do you be a partner? It always seemed that you had to use telepathy or some other signalling system...
Dr.D.: I always look at the bridge thingies in the newspaper and go "Huh?"
Dr.D.: But I know people who deal out those hands and then try to play them.
rich-c: essentially yes, by learning teh many bidding and signalling conventions
Dr.D.: As an ADAMite, I can hardly complain about the obscure hobbies of others...
rich-c: that is true enough
rich-c: but the bottom line is, we all have our fun in our own ways
Dr.D.: So how is the hip holding up?
rich-c: oh, just great, I routinely walk over to the plaza now, about 1-1/2 km round trip
rich-c: the muscles still are weak on that side so I use a cane for balance
Dr.D.: Good. Hope the warmer damper weather doesn't make it ache or anything.
rich-c: and have to go up stairs one by one instead of one over one, if you follow
Dr.D.: Understood.
Dr.D.: Are there exercises to strengthen those muscle.
rich-c: but basically I have no pain, returning flexibility (though it's still hard getting my rubbers on)
Dr.D.: muscles?
Daniel Bienvenu: well, my AI (for my connect 4 project) still not good... it's too easy to win.
rich-c: need to tweak it a bit more, Daniel?
Dr.D.: What is the AI algorithm, Daniel?
Dr.D.: I know that lots of AI classes use that game as a programming project, including ours here at CWRU.
Dr.D.: (The AI instructor is one of my co-instructors for the robot course).
Daniel Bienvenu: err... difficult to explain. it try to find the HOT SPOT to play there by counting.
rich-c: test - am I still connected?
Daniel Bienvenu: by counting the number of the same "coins" in a row at this place
Dr.D.: I didn't mean for you to try to draw me a flowchart here or anything :-)
rich-c: (yes, see that I am)
Dr.D.: How many people have you tested the game with, Daniel?>
Daniel Bienvenu: i didn't use an AI based on a mixmax strategy
Daniel Bienvenu: I've just finish the AI... I'm the only one who test it.
Dr.D.: I know that for games I've written myself, I can easily beat them, because (even unconsciously) I know what the AI is doing.
Dr.D.: Trying it on other people might be a good idea.
Dr.D.: If you make it so it's challenging for *you* to beat it, nobody else may be able to.
Dr.D.: And then they will say that your game is too hard.
rich-c: is it possible for a game like Connect 4 to be made too hard?
Dr.D.: If there are games with a well-defined strategy, perhaps.
Dr.D.: Like tic-tac-toe, it is possible to write an AI that will never do worse than a draw (cat's game, we called it).
rich-c: yes, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of
Dr.D.: For more open-ended games (like a space fighter shooting game, or an adventure game), you really have to test it with real people in order to figure out how hard it is.
Dr.D.: I'd think that Connect 4 is such a game.
rich-c: yes, you never know for sure when it depends on too many variables
Daniel Bienvenu: For now, my program doesn't detect when there is four in a row
Dr.D.: But maybe not...Daniel is the programmer, I will defer to his expertise.
Daniel Bienvenu: I tweak my AI a bit... I compile it right now to test it.
rich-c: that could pose major difficulties, Daniel ;-)
Dr.D.: It doesn't know when it has won :-)
rich-c: it is rather important in a game to know when one party has won
Daniel Bienvenu: I concentrate on the AI... I didn't finish the game yet. :)
rich-c: I am sure you will get it worked out
rich-c: me, I have other distractions this weekend
Daniel Bienvenu: grrr... I still win
rich-c: got up to watch practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix
rich-c: and soon as that finished, teh 12 Hours of Sebring started
rich-c: and I'm trying to get through teh Saturday papers (like the American Sunday editions)
Dr.D.: No auto racing for me, only slug racing...and I should get back to building the racetrack.
Dr.D.: So, I will bid you both adieu until Wednesday.
Dr.D.: Good-bye Daniel and Richard.
rich-c: quite - we each have our preoccupations
Dr.D.: <poof>
Dr.D. left chat session
rich-c: Pam loaned me the first two LOTR sets - I figure that's about 27 hours of watching with all the supplements
rich-c: wow, he checked out quickly
Daniel Bienvenu: 27 hours?
Daniel Bienvenu: after 2 hours... I sleep well :)
rich-c: each movie is two dvds, then there are 3 supplements to the first and 2 to the second
rich-c: dvds can last up to 3 hours each, so 3 x 9 = 27
rich-c: well, I haven't gone to a movie theatre in teh last two decades that I can recall, maybe longer
rich-c: but very occasionally I may buy a videotape I like on eBay, or borrow one from the library
Daniel Bienvenu: is it why I didn't see my posts with roms to the adamcon mailing list?
rich-c: sorry, I don't follow, Daniel - I am getting your ROMs so I assume the list is getting them out
rich-c: in fact since you are on the list you should get your own copy back of everything you post
rich-c left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Daniel Bienvenu
Daniel Bienvenu: Hello?
Daniel Bienvenu: I was disconnected
Daniel Bienvenu: Rich?
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to rich-c
rich-c: hi Daniel, my connection did something strange
rich-c: are you still there?
Daniel Bienvenu: I was disconnected too
Daniel Bienvenu: i didn't get your last message
rich-c: guess the server was having some sort of snit
rich-c: anyway, you are on teh Adam mailing list, aren't you?
Daniel Bienvenu: but I wanted to told you that the only message I've got by the Adamcon mailing list was yours and those by Dr.D
rich-c: well, there are not too many postings these days and we tend to do them
rich-c: but when you post something yourself you should get a copy of that
Daniel Bienvenu: normally you receive your messages posted in the mailing list, right?
rich-c: yes, because you are an automatic recipient of everything that gets posted to the list by anyone, including yourself
Daniel Bienvenu: maybe it's because my posts was too big
rich-c: I do not think so, in fact I do not believe there is a size limit
Daniel Bienvenu: a zip file of 27K grow up to 40K for the mailing list and I only received messages about "waiting for approval"
rich-c: the request that we avoid big files is for teh benefit of the folks on the list, not server convenience
rich-c: there I can't help you, Daniel, as I can't even guess what that might be about
rich-c: you will have to ask Dr. D. on that one, he is likely to know
Daniel Bienvenu: "Message body is too big: 41608 bytes but there's a limit of 40 KB"
Daniel Bienvenu: Your mail to 'ColAdam' with the subject - "Matrix Movie Trailer for the ColecoVision"
rich-c: aha - 40K is 40960 bytes so you'd be over any such limit
rich-c: but does the limit apply only to teh bosy of the message or include attachments?
Daniel Bienvenu: my zip file was only 27K... how can I send a 32K rom in the mailing list then?
rich-c: I would expect that an attachment zipped to 32K (or even not zipped) wikuld be acceptable
rich-c: would be acceptable...
rich-c: the actual text of an email message uses up very few bytes
rich-c: I wonder if, after everybody got upset a while back, Dale did put a size limit on messages?
Daniel Bienvenu: so, i suppose you are only a few who get my rom files.
rich-c: onl;y if you sent a seaparate personal copy to me - to be honest, I have assumed they were either from the list or cc.'d to it
Daniel Bienvenu: It's 16h... and I still have to program connect 4.
rich-c: for what it's worth, I still have most of the ROMs in my Eudora attach file (haven't moved them to the Emulator folder yet)
rich-c: right; and I want to go see how the race is going at Sebring
rich-c: Ron Fellows, a Canadian, is doing very well
Daniel Bienvenu: see you later ... wednesday night! bye bye!<
rich-c: see you Wednesday, then?
rich-c: au revoir!
rich-c left chat session
Daniel Bienvenu: yep, this AI takes all my time right now. And I want to be ready to show it next saturday.
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AdamCon.org > chat > Sat 2004-03-20
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