Canadian skill?

McDonald’s commonly holds contests to have people win something if they provide feedback about their service. Well, I was browsing their Customer Satisfaction Survey and found something quite interesting in the disclaimer:

Ha! Upon further inspection of the Official Rules reveals some more interesting details that this “skill-testing question” is a mathematical question. I found this odd and did a wiki search to reveal the reasoning Canadians must prove their “intelligence” because Canada bans “for profit gaming”. But if there is a game of “skill” involved, then it’s free of the law.

So what does Canada consider skill:

“A court decision ruled that these [an arithmetic exercise] must contain at least three operations to actually be skill testing”

I’m not even going to go there . out.

Benjamin Willis

Benjamin Willis needs Core Stability

Dearest Lori,

I noted your concern about my well being in a recent comment on a blog post of mine. It is not above me to admit I have many, many problems (83.45% mental, 15.34% physical, 1.2% other) leaving me with a small portion of sanity/normalcy. Do not think I have let your kind thoughts and gestures (“I’m here if you need help…..”) drift aimlessly into the forgotten caverns of my mind. I have taken it upon myself to re-orient the path that is my life by enrolling in a Core Stability course in my final quarter at RIT. The course “will focus on developing/strengthening the body” which I undoubtedly need.

In just my first session I must say I was excited to get started. Well actually, I showed up a little late and wasn’t sure I was in the correct room until I saw several females in front of the instructor- then it made sense because it’s usually women who need the most Core Stability. I snagged a corner spot behind all of the other pupils and began to soak in the environment. We began several exercises of which I intently focused on the tight concentration of those in need females.  With the intensity of the class, I was soon feeling mentally and physically exhausted. The class was over before I knew it and it left me feeling relax, tired and for some reason, hankering for a cigarette.  With 19 more classes left, I was feeling excited that this was truly going to help.

Lori, I appreciate you putting me in this position to help me help myself. I would recommend anyone else with as many problems as I have to join a class like this one.

Born Again,

Benjamin Willis

Core Stability class description:

Core Strength Conditioning will focus on developing/strengthening the body’s core muscles, lower back, abdominals, hips, & gluteus. The body’s core muscles are the foundation for all other movements of the body. Through use of Resist-a-Balls, weights, bands & conditioning exercises, the focus will be to develop and strengthen the body’s trunk and pelvis area where the center of gravity is located. Benefits include improved posture, increased flexibility & range of motion, increased strength and protection of the spine, more stable center of gravity and controlled movement. This class is designed for all fitness levels. Instructor lead exercises and explanation of core principles and proper technique will be covered. A course fee applies. Check SIS for quarterly course offerings (Core Glutes/Abs) options.

Seam Carving

Ok, what useful things ever came out of Intelligent Systems? Not much, but this topic is inspired by the area Computer Vision. Overall, this is one of those useful things that could have been done a long time ago, but the principles, though simple, were never applied. Here is the video, prepare to be amazed

A researcher who helped implement the algorithm is employed by Adobe so expect to seem some cool applications in the coming future. Maybe they will integrate it into browsers eventually and cause a whole new world of pain for front end web developers . Or, expect to see some awesome dynamically resizing videos for different devices, easily watch a widescreen dvd on your new n800.

Benjamin Willis

n800 + Ben = trouble

I broke down and have ordered the n800 internet tablet. Go ahead and look through the pictures-it’s really sweet, I’ll wait……Awesome huh? Some people say that it’s an iPhone without the phone, but I totally disagree, they are not even comparable. The n800 is really just a tiny ass computer that you can do anything on, because it runs a modified version of linux.  So, unlike the iPhone, Nokia has given anyone the ability to develop applications for this sweet tablet. So if someone hasn’t already added that sweet feature you wanted, you can do it yourself.

Here are some of the existing built-in features that make this device kick-ass:

• Cheap, less than 400$
• 2 sd slots, with 1gb (20$) and 2gb (40$) prices falling you have great storage ability
• Web browser (Opera or Moz) with Adobe Flash 9 support
• Skype compatible
• Built in video camera
• Google Video Conferencing
• Streaming Media Player (for your youtube or pron)
• Email
• RSS Feed Reader
• Bluetooth connectivity
• and much more…

As soon as I get this I will post pictures and movies of my in depth review, unless I’m too busy playing with it. But now I can do remote blog postings from almost anywhere-just need Google to take over the world and give everyone free wireless access.

If you absolutely need a constantly connected device, just wait, this same device is coming out next year with wiMAX ability – see here.

Excitedly yours,

Benjamin Willis