My son started high school this year and joined the robotics club and I became a half-assed mentor to the team. We've been to a couple of regionals now and they are a lot of fun. A surprisingly intense 3 days-

The first day you arrive, unpack the robot (after bag inspection- there's a strictly enforced 6 week build period at the conclusion of which you have to bag the robot and put a security tag on it, though you can keep up to 30 pounds separate to continue work on), setup your pit area in a 10' X 10' square (some teams have very elaborate pits), ready your robot for competition and pass final inspection (extensive- robot weight (minus battery) 120 lbs. or less, size constraints, bumper constraints, thorough electrical and hazard inspection) and do any practice rounds you can get in. All the while folks are coming by to see your robot and talk to you about it and we're scouting everyone else.

The next day and a half are qualification matches for the finals- you're randomly teamed with 2 other teams on either a red or blue alliance for each round and you have at it. About 10 rounds. In the qualification rounds you get 2 qualification points for being on the winning alliance plus there's 2 more qualification points available to both alliances if someone from your alliance and the opposing alliance manage to balance together on the "coopertition bridge". After the qualification matches the top seeded bots get to choose 2 other bots for their alliance to go through the playoffs with. 8 teams are formed and this is where the scouting comes into play, you want to pick team members that complement you bot.

The playoffs are best of 3 matches and are fast and intense- not much time for repairs in between matches. We made it to semi-finals in one regional, only the quarter finals in the other, very exciting. The winning alliance is crowned at the end, but that's not the top prize- top prize is the Chairman's award which involves your total involvement with FIRST and community outreach and involvement. Of course lots of other awards are given, various judging awards and what not, everyone has a blast. I'm looking forward to next year.

-Mentor Team 832 OSCAR

If I remember correctly there is a problem of "un-sprung" weight and it's detrimental effects to the handling of the vehicle. Motors attached to the wheels are unsprung weight and would require a more substantial suspension system. The additional weight worth the efficiency inpact?

His The Einstein Intersection had a big impact on me (hence the handle), though I'm still not clear on why I like it so much. Just be careful who you go around La-ing and Lo-ing.

All trajectories would just have to terminate pointing in a direction calculated not to cause harm, say directly at the local star with no important intervening objects.

Seems pretty coherent to me even if he is talking via a sock puppet. Perhaps you have the comprehension of a douche?

Scott Adams is not an engineer, he just writes a comic about one. If I remember correctly he's trained as an economist, but once worked with engineers.

No no, it will be a requirement that it work with legacy systems.

Anyone who thinks this initiative is about getting rid of passwords is naive. They want to be able to indentify users when they don't have their log in info.

oooo and look, I provided a valid argument in between there. (not an argument so much as evidence to the contrary). You're point about the sock puppet incident is valid however, although I think it was naivete on Scott's part as opposed to anything particularly nefarious. bocyomd

I'm sure he would agree with you, thus his proposal.

You're an idiot. In no frame of reference does Scott ever allude to such a thing. I'm sure you're referring to the backlash from his Pegs and Holes article where various parties chose to misconstrue what he said in pursuit of they're own agenda. You're just another jerk trying to use an ad hominem attack instead of presenting a valid argument.

Yea! And his comment "The last thing I want to see is an opinion survey of people who are just as ignorant as I am." from the article proves how intelligent he thinks he is. /s