[svfig-announce] Meeting - January 23, 2010

[Kevin Appert]

--- SVFIG Meeting, Fourth Saturday, January 23, 2010  ---
_______________________________________________

We'll be on the fifth floor of Terman Engineering Center --- Room 556
Directions and map links are below.

There are two buildings named Terman on campus so be careful. The
Searchable Map has the one you want as "TERMAN (FREDERICK E) ENGRG
CENTER  (04-700)  380 PANAMA MALL"

The Official SVFIG Announcement Editor's Parking Lot Recommendation is
the lot near the intersection of Teresa St and Morris Way.

_______________________________________________

AGENDA
(Please note that we have been experiencing website outages but usually 
it's a good place to go for late-breaking updates)
<<<http://www.forth.org/svfig/next.html>>>


09:50 --- Coffee and a Chat

10:00 --- Morning Session - C H Ting
"1.  Speculations on the genetic code
We know our chromosomes contain all the code necessary for life, from 
birth to death.  We know DNA contains code to make proteins, which 
participate and directs much of the activities in cells and in body.  We 
know only about 3% of DNA contains information to make proteins.  Other 
DNA is called junk DNA.  From a FORTH perspective, we can assume that 
protein producing DNA's are primitive instructions in chromosomes, and 
that the junk DNA's are likely to contain high level instructions.  In a 
major FORTH application, 3% of primitive instructions are reasonable.
It is possible to analyze junk DNA's to find out how the high level 
instructins are encoded in chromosomes.  We can speculate and discuss 
possible ways in doing so."

"2.  Livescribe Smarkpen Computer
I bought a Smartpen and I will bring it to do a demo.  It was the most 
impressive product I found in the last MAKE exposition.  It replaces a 
CRT with paper, and a pen for mouse/keyboard.  It also records voices 
and can recognize spoken words and written words.  It still sits in the 
original box, but I will play with it to give a reasonable demo in the 
meeting."


11:48:18 --- Lunch
The Treehouse most likely.

13:00 --- ANNOUNCEMENTS, INTRODUCTIONS, RUMORS, GOSSIP

13:30 --- Treasurer's Report--- John Rible

13:50 --- Break

14:00 --- Quantum Computing Preview  --- Jack Woehr
We'll try out some netconferencing technology and if all goes well, Jack 
will give us a preview of his upcoming talk on Quantum Computing. 
(please note that this is tentative)
http://dobbscodetalk.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&category=Quantum+Computing&Itemid=81

14:10 --- FPGA 1802 CamelForth or Makerbot --- Eric Smith
Eric has implemented an 1802 on an FPGA and had some success with 
CamelForth on it.  He has also built a MakerBot and he'll talk about one 
or the other or both.
http://www.camelforth.com/news.php
http://www.makerbot.com/

15:00 --- eCOS in GForth --- John E. Harbold
"I'm going to present a preliminary design for eCOS tasks under Gforth. 
  I'll compare the tasking C calls with the corresponding proposed Forth 
words.  I'm going to need input from everybody there for this design."

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're
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!

_______________________________________________

Wireless Internet access is anticipated (though not guaranteed) at
Stanford, so bring your wifi-enabled laptop.

_______________________________________________

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".

* Furthering the Cause of Forth - John Rible
IntellaSys has imploded, or something.  We'd be pleased to hear about
John's new outreach project when formulated.

* 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 at ...
send instead to forther_at_comcast.net
_______________________________________________

NAVIGATIONAL ADVICE

The Official SVFIG Announcement Editor's Parking Lot recommendation is
the lot near the intersection of Teresa St and Morris Way.

Terman Engineering Center can be found on these maps - just search for
Terman: (going to maps.google.com gives an erroneous result)

http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/map/

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 Teresa St and Morris Way.

Go to the Stanford links, GOOGLE MAPS HAS NO IDEA where Terman is!

The building's door may be locked, there will be a number to call posted
after the meeting starts and we will come down and check once in a while.

Once you reach Terman, take the elevator to the 5th floor. Walk across
the foyer and up the ramp just to the left of the glassed-in office.
Room 556 is at the top of the ramp - entrance on the left.