mgroves

One of the concepts central to computer science is the question of P vs NP. P is the set of all problems solvable in deterministic polynomial time. Algorithms that are O(n^k) are in P, for instance. NP is the set of all problems solvable in nondeterministic polynomial time. Algorithms that are O(kⁿ) are in NP, for instance (k is a constant in both cases). Many artificial intelligence algoritms are NP. We know that P is a subset of NP, since anything in deterministic time can easily be converted to a nondeterministic problem. We don't know if P is a proper subset of NP, or rather, if P = NP or not. This is actually one of the famous "Millennium" math problems with a million dollar bounty. I've found a very simplified and accessible explanation of the problem at VB-helper of all places.

I find the subject fascinating, because an eventual proof one way or another would be quite significant. If someone were to prove that P=NP, for instance, a lot of cryptography would become useless, but applied AI would vastly improve.

See also: NP-complete

So, here's something that could be cut from the federal budget without making too many people mad: CryptoKids, or as it used to be called: The Burger King Kids Club. It's good to know that the NSA has enough time and resources to recruit Sam the Eagle and the Taco Bell Dog to get kids interested in cryptography.

As long as tobacco remains a legal product to buy and sell in Columbus, I believe a public smoking ban is unfair and unjust. If an owner of an establishment wants to allow smoking of a legal product in his tax revenue generating restaurant, he should be able to. Conversely, if a non-smoker does not want to be bothered by smoke, he should be able to vote with his wallet and take his business to a non-smoking establishment. How ethical is it to collect a public tax on tobacco, but not allow the use of it in public? (I know that the tax is levied by the state, not the city)

Anyway, Columbus, Ohio, passed a smoking ban earlier this year in January. The Akron Beacon Journal [registration or bugmenot required] reports that most businesses are keeping the effect on their finances confidential, but a Vice President of the Ohio Restaurant Association says that his receipts are down about 35%.

If you know my good friend ckmon, you know:

• Be Right Back
• Burgertime

Burgertime is, perhaps, the greatest game involving food ever to be created. This site has pictures, history, downloads, clones, etc. If you want to find out something about Burgertime, if you can't find it there, it doesn't exist.

To complement my dream video game setup, these Mario Bros/SMB speakers would be pretty cool.

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to "The Blog of Anne Frank", based on this fresh new bash.org quote. It's so very, very wrong, but yet so very, very funny.

I have always been of the opinion that voting is a privilege, and not a right. I have always been of the opinion that voting should be a difficult, exclusive process, reserved only for those who care enough to research the issues and candidates that they are voting on. Because of this, I'm opposed to Ohio's State Issue #2. It appears that most voters oppose the issue as well, possibly for different reasons, of course.

If we only give driver's licenses to people who demonstrate that they have at least rudimentary skill at operating a vehicle, why not require some sort of basic test or application process to be able to vote? I'm not calling for "literacy" laws with the sole purpose of excluding minority groups--the uninformed/ignorant are certainly in no danger of becoming a minority. I'm just calling for a simple test to see if the person understands who they are voting for or that they have actually read an issue and understand what it would actually do. Could it hurt to exclude people from voting for a new auditor if they have no idea what an auditor does?

Here's a Flickr photoset of the original user manual for the home version of Pong (Atari). I think I will call all power supplies "battery eliminators" from now on.

Here we have a microcosm of the Prince Charles story that I reported about last weekend. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a man with strong Ohio ties, yet still the governor of California will be featured in phone calls to Ohio citizens, urging them to vote for Issue 4, which would take redistricting powers away from elected officials and give them to a court appointed committee. Now, I'm not in favor of Issue 4 at all, but that isn't the point. Why would an Ohioan care about the opinion of a Californian elected official, over say, another Ohioan. I'm not saying his opinion is invalid, but the outcome of the decision made by people he is trying to influence, does not affect him in the least. Kinda like non-land owners favoring a property tax increase...

Even though he's a Mac nut, Bill Amend may be the coolest comic strip artist ever. His homepage is in "NostaligiaVision