[svfig-announce] Meeting – April 24, 2010

Thu Apr 22 13:02:54 BST 2010

--- 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 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: <dljaffe at stanford.edu>

***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 <dljaffe at stanford.edu> 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:
<<<http://www.forth.org/svfig/next.html>>>

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 Tressider Union.
Here is a review:
      <<< http://collegerestaurant.net/default.aspx>>>
Here is the menu:
<<http://library.stanford.edu/depts/physics/related/treehousemenu.html>>

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 <dljaffe at stanford.edu> 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".

* 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

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 Teresa St and Morris Way.