Golden Ball

It was thought to be a historical fiction, an ancient tale that bore no truth. Similarly, the expeditions were thought foolish, and indeed the expeditions were all fruitless. All but one, that is. The artifact was finally found buried deep under the earth, entombed in a sealed, gilded box.

An international committee was established to oversee the research program studying the artifact. Of course, they were not especially interested in the artifact's scientific value, but instead were wary of the potentially catastrophic economic consequences if the artifact was to be misused.

Despite the oversight, abuses were inevitable and unstoppable. Not everyone was immune to greed, and the markets teetered towards collapse with each influx of artificial gold.

To save the global economy, the oversight committee finally came to a decision: To destroy the Hand of Midas, thus forever preventing its use. The chosen method was destruction by atomization, reducing the artifact to a fine molecular dust.

That was a mistake, the greatest one in our history. The Hand of Midas was not destroyed even when reduced to dust; each atom retained its properties.

As the golden dust was scattered by the winds, the Earth was turned into a golden ball, slowly, but surely.

It was thought to be a historical fiction, an ancient tale that bore no truth. Similarly, the expeditions were thought foolish, and indeed the expeditions were all fruitless. All but one, that is. The artifact was finally found buried deep under the earth, entombed in a sealed, gilded box.

An international committee was established to oversee the research program studying the artifact. Of course, they were not especially interested in the artifact's scientific value, but instead were wary of the potentially catastrophic economic consequences if the artifact was to be misused.

Despite the oversight, abuses were inevitable and unstoppable. Not everyone was immune to greed, and the markets teetered towards collapse with each influx of artificial gold.

To save the global economy, the oversight committee finally came to a decision: To destroy the Hand of Midas, thus forever preventing its use. The chosen method was destruction by atomization, reducing the artifact to a fine
molecular dust.

That was a mistake, the greatest one in our history. The Hand of Midas was not destroyed even when reduced to dust; each atom retained its properties.

In the days to come, as the golden dust was scattered by the winds, the Earth was turned into a golden ball, slowly, but surely. - See more at: http://typetrigger.com/trigger/golden%20ball#sthash.PwQsmFhV.dpuf

It was thought to be a historical fiction, an ancient tale that bore no truth. Similarly, the expeditions were thought foolish, and indeed the expeditions were all fruitless. All but one, that is. The artifact was finally found buried deep under the earth, entombed in a sealed, gilded box.

An international committee was established to oversee the research program studying the artifact. Of course, they were not especially interested in the artifact's scientific value, but instead were wary of the potentially catastrophic economic consequences if the artifact was to be misused.

Despite the oversight, abuses were inevitable and unstoppable. Not everyone was immune to greed, and the markets teetered towards collapse with each influx of artificial gold.

To save the global economy, the oversight committee finally came to a decision: To destroy the Hand of Midas, thus forever preventing its use. The chosen method was destruction by atomization, reducing the artifact to a fine
molecular dust.

That was a mistake, the greatest one in our history. The Hand of Midas was not destroyed even when reduced to dust; each atom retained its properties.

In the days to come, as the golden dust was scattered by the winds, the Earth was turned into a golden ball, slowly, but surely. - See more at: http://typetrigger.com/trigger/golden%20ball#sthash.PwQsmFhV.dpuf

It was thought to be a historical fiction, an ancient tale that bore no truth. Similarly, the expeditions were thought foolish, and indeed the expeditions were all fruitless. All but one, that is. The artifact was finally found buried deep under the earth, entombed in a sealed, gilded box.

An international committee was established to oversee the research program studying the artifact. Of course, they were not especially interested in the artifact's scientific value, but instead were wary of the potentially catastrophic economic consequences if the artifact was to be misused.

Despite the oversight, abuses were inevitable and unstoppable. Not everyone was immune to greed, and the markets teetered towards collapse with each influx of artificial gold.

To save the global economy, the oversight committee finally came to a decision: To destroy the Hand of Midas, thus forever preventing its use. The chosen method was destruction by atomization, reducing the artifact to a fine
molecular dust.

That was a mistake, the greatest one in our history. The Hand of Midas was not destroyed even when reduced to dust; each atom retained its properties.

In the days to come, as the golden dust was scattered by the winds, the Earth was turned into a golden ball, slowly, but surely. - See more at: http://typetrigger.com/trigger/golden%20ball#sthash.PwQsmFhV.dpuf

It was thought to be a historical fiction, an ancient tale that bore no truth. Similarly, the expeditions were thought foolish, and indeed the expeditions were all fruitless. All but one, that is. The artifact was finally found buried deep under the earth, entombed in a sealed, gilded box.

An international committee was established to oversee the research program studying the artifact. Of course, they were not especially interested in the artifact's scientific value, but instead were wary of the potentially catastrophic economic consequences if the artifact was to be misused.

Despite the oversight, abuses were inevitable and unstoppable. Not everyone was immune to greed, and the markets teetered towards collapse with each influx of artificial gold.

To save the global economy, the oversight committee finally came to a decision: To destroy the Hand of Midas, thus forever preventing its use. The chosen method was destruction by atomization, reducing the artifact to a fine
molecular dust.

That was a mistake, the greatest one in our history. The Hand of Midas was not destroyed even when reduced to dust; each atom retained its properties.

In the days to come, as the golden dust was scattered by the winds, the Earth was turned into a golden ball, slowly, but surely. - See more at: http://typetrigger.com/trigger/golden%20ball#sthash.PwQsmFhV.dpuf

Remember-Me

According to projected medical advances, human life expectancy is expected to peak at 100 years within the near future. Within a century of your death, those who know and love you will themselves be gone. None will remember you, and even those scarce and meaningless traces of you, the proof of your existence, will be eroded to nothingness.

You will be forgotten in the sands of time.

Does this scenario worry you? Do YOU want to avoid this fate? Worry no more, Remember-Me is here to save the day!

Remember-Me is a revolutionary service designed to enshrine the memory of your existence! For a flat-fee of $99.99, Remember-Me will specially arrange for a person in the far future to study your biography and to remember YOU! With Remember-Me, you can expect to not be forgotten for at least 200 years!

And if that's not enough, you can opt for the enhanced package, Remember-Me-Forever! For a modest sum of $999.99, we offer an UNLIMITED renewal of the basic Remember-Me package, lasting FOREVER! Now you can lie secure on your deathbed, knowing that even in the eons to come, someone somewhere will be aware that you once lived.

 

Call now to avoid disappointment!

A Report on the Feasibility of Terrestrial Expeditions

The preliminary finding of this scientific committee regarding the feasibility of terrestrial missions is NEGATIVE. The reasons for this conclusion are summarized below: 

As per prior computer simulations, the density of external medium is insufficient to support any sort of directed propulsion. The measured density of external medium is approximately 0.1% of standard medium, which provides too little reaction force for motion. 

Since it is not possible to rely on external medium, the only feasible alternative is to carry a supply of reaction mass, which can be forcefully expelled to generate a propulsive force. This is similar to the locomotion mechanism of cephalopods. However, since all reaction mass has to be carried locally, this greatly restricts the range of a terrestrial vehicle. The cost of any terrestrial mission will also be prohibitive. 

A final technical point is that while external medium contains a sizable concentration of oxygen, our organs are not adapted to extract oxygen from external medium. Thus, external suits are necessary for any exploration outside the landing module. However, the general opinion of this committee is that manned explorations are cost-ineffective and provide little scientific benefit. Besides the cost and weight of extensive life-support systems necessary to sustain the crew, any manned exploration would require additional specialized equipment for terrestrial locomotion. After all, it is impossible to swim on land.

In light of these technical obstacles, we do not advise any terrestrial undertaking. Instead, we recommend further research into alternative modes of locomotion, perhaps by making trade-offs into the possible axes of motion.

Agent Response to Stimulus

We cannot peer into another mind; all we can do is to observe an agent's reactions to stimulus. Nonetheless, it is possible to model an agent solely by its reactions to stimulus; the agent's mind may thus be considered as some hidden internal states of little importance.

Can we predict with some certainty the future behavior of a simple agent, such as a small insect or animal? With sufficient observation of the agent in a controlled environment, it ought to be possible. We might then describe the complexity of the agent's mind by the number of factors that need to be determined before the agent's actions can be fully predicted. 

Space Weapons

It has been suggested that militaristic civilizations will not develop spaceflight; the reason being that any aggressive civilization will sooner destroy itself. I think this is rather true. To be more specific, any civilization with the capacity for interstellar travel, if even the lowest grade of travel that takes centuries, will have acquired simple means of destroying themselves. Interstellar travel implies the capacity to accelerate and propel large masses to high velocities, possibly near-relativistic speeds. In other words, any space-faring vessel is necessarily a weapon.

In that vein, I wonder if a simple means to create a weapon of mass destruction is to simply launch a tungsten probe into space, let it acquire velocity through gravity-assists, and redirect it at a planetary target. If the probe is sufficiently hardened to survive reentry, then this is essentially an artificial meteor impact.

It would be a fitting weapon for any bond villain, and probably cheaper and easier to build and acquire than a nuclear weapon.

NUS Matriculation Number Checkdigit 2

Previously, I described how to calculate the checkdigit of the NUS matriculation number. Unfortunately, the numbering scheme for the matriculation number has changed since the turn of the decade, which means the old calculation method no longer applies.

I have studied the new matriculation numbers (which are prefixed with A) and have managed to reverse engineer the new checkdigit scheme.

Assume the numerical digits of the matriculation number are C1,C2,C3,C4,C5, C6. Take the sum of the digits C1 to C6, and find the modulus (remainder) of this sum when divided by 13.

Compare the remainder with the following table to obtain the checkdigit.

Y	X	W	U	R	N	M	L	J	H	E	A	B
0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12

Reverse-engineering the checkdigit scheme was easier this time round, for two reasons. First, the ordering of the checkdigits followed that of the earlier scheme, albeit reversed. Second, and more importantly, the checkdigit scheme was of a lower complexity, being a simple sum of the component digits. This I found puzzling, because it actually fails to preserve an important property that was present in the previous scheme.

A checkdigit serves only one purpose: it is a quick way to determine if a given registration number is correctly entered. Taking the remainder of a sum of the component digits allows us to detect if one digit has been wrongly typed; if one digit is mistyped, the checkdigit would be different. Also, if several digits have been mistyped, the error is still detectable, though there is a small chance that the sum of errors just happens to be a multiple of 13 and hence undetectable.

The weakness of taking the modulus of the sum is that it does not allow transposed digits to be detected. For example, if any or all the digits in a registration number were scrambled around, this would be undetectable as the sum of digits would remain the same. A more robust checkdigit scheme accounts for this by weighting each digit position with a different weight, thus allowing for most digit transpositions to be detected.

Transpositions are fairly common when typing strings of numbers, so it is fairly unacceptable for the checkdigit scheme to fail to account for this.

Practice makes Perfect

Practice makes perfect, so they say. In general, that's true; at the very least, it's difficult to become worse with repeated practice.

I work hard, and train everyday. My skill of choice? Lying. 

Now, the problem is that you can't simply lie alone. Lying to a wall, or to an inanimate object, isn't lying- that's called neurosis. You need someone else to lie to. 

Practice makes perfect; so my lies became better and harder to detect. The downer? Practice makes perfect; everyone got better at seeing through my lies.

All in all, I think I lost more through practice than if I had just slept everyday.