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  3. The value of smiplicity in designs and engineering

The value of smiplicity in designs and engineering

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  • L Lost User

    I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

    Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

    Requirements:
    a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
    b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
    little birds knock the feed to the ground.
    c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

    This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

    J Offline
    J Offline
    JimmyRopes
    wrote on last edited by
    #94

    Get a cat. :doh:

    Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
    Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
    I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes

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    • L Lost User

      I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

      Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

      Requirements:
      a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
      b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
      little birds knock the feed to the ground.
      c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

      This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

      P Offline
      P Offline
      PIEBALDconsult
      wrote on last edited by
      #95

      Some ideas: Post a "no pigeons" sign. Tell the pigeons that the smaller birds have cooties. Tell the pigeons that you are trying to fatten up the smaller birds, so you are using high-fat seed.

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      • G Gary Wheeler

        The unbreakable rule in all of The Good Doctor's robot stories and novels was that the Three Laws could not be broken. Ever. They could only appear to be broken; in fact, that was a central feature of his stories. The puzzle was how to explain the robot's behavior. The wuckfits who wrote the screenplay for the movie simply wrote the Three Laws out of the way when they became inconvenient.

        Software Zen: delete this;

        I Offline
        I Offline
        Iain Clarke Warrior Programmer
        wrote on last edited by
        #96

        Gary Wheeler wrote:

        ...simply wrote the Three Laws out of the way when they became inconvenient.

        There was plenty to dislike about the film, but... In Asimov's own writing, a robot (R Daneel Olivaw if I remember rightly) eventually derived a 0th law (If the robot programmers did their job correctly, the laws would have been 0 based in the first place!) about not allowing any harm to Humanity. As for the other part of the plot - a central "brain", downloading updating detrimental to the performance of individual units... they must have taken that idea from Windows Update! I too loved the I, Robot collection of stories - and cried at the end of Bicentennial Man (book, and the not-all-that-bad-surprisingly-film). Asimov was great at "Hmmm, nice thinking!" stories, so the emotional attachment over a few dozen pages was surprising. Iain.

        I have now moved to Sweden for love (awwww). If you're in Scandinavia and want an MVP on the payroll (or happy with a remote worker), or need cotract work done, give me a job! http://cv.imcsoft.co.uk/[^]

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        • I Iain Clarke Warrior Programmer

          Gary Wheeler wrote:

          ...simply wrote the Three Laws out of the way when they became inconvenient.

          There was plenty to dislike about the film, but... In Asimov's own writing, a robot (R Daneel Olivaw if I remember rightly) eventually derived a 0th law (If the robot programmers did their job correctly, the laws would have been 0 based in the first place!) about not allowing any harm to Humanity. As for the other part of the plot - a central "brain", downloading updating detrimental to the performance of individual units... they must have taken that idea from Windows Update! I too loved the I, Robot collection of stories - and cried at the end of Bicentennial Man (book, and the not-all-that-bad-surprisingly-film). Asimov was great at "Hmmm, nice thinking!" stories, so the emotional attachment over a few dozen pages was surprising. Iain.

          I have now moved to Sweden for love (awwww). If you're in Scandinavia and want an MVP on the payroll (or happy with a remote worker), or need cotract work done, give me a job! http://cv.imcsoft.co.uk/[^]

          G Offline
          G Offline
          Gary Wheeler
          wrote on last edited by
          #97

          Iain Clarke wrote:

          cried at the end of Bicentennial Man (book, and the not-all-that-bad-surprisingly-film)

          Agreed. They did a nice job bringing the story to film, and Robin Williams was a surprisingly good choice for the role of Martin.

          Software Zen: delete this;

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          • L Lost User

            One Word: Dyslexia!

            J Offline
            J Offline
            Jorgen Sigvardsson
            wrote on last edited by
            #98

            Are you sure it's one word? ;)

            -- Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit

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            • I Iain Clarke Warrior Programmer

              Gary Wheeler wrote:

              ...simply wrote the Three Laws out of the way when they became inconvenient.

              There was plenty to dislike about the film, but... In Asimov's own writing, a robot (R Daneel Olivaw if I remember rightly) eventually derived a 0th law (If the robot programmers did their job correctly, the laws would have been 0 based in the first place!) about not allowing any harm to Humanity. As for the other part of the plot - a central "brain", downloading updating detrimental to the performance of individual units... they must have taken that idea from Windows Update! I too loved the I, Robot collection of stories - and cried at the end of Bicentennial Man (book, and the not-all-that-bad-surprisingly-film). Asimov was great at "Hmmm, nice thinking!" stories, so the emotional attachment over a few dozen pages was surprising. Iain.

              I have now moved to Sweden for love (awwww). If you're in Scandinavia and want an MVP on the payroll (or happy with a remote worker), or need cotract work done, give me a job! http://cv.imcsoft.co.uk/[^]

              C Offline
              C Offline
              coding4ever
              wrote on last edited by
              #99

              Iain Clarke wrote:

              If the robot programmers did their job correctly, the laws would have been 0 based in the first place!

              Unless, of course, they wrote the robot logic in VB.NET which starts counting at 1. That also might explain some of the earlier robot issues detailed in I, Robot....

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              • L Lost User

                One Word: Dyslexia!

                P Offline
                P Offline
                peterchen
                wrote on last edited by
                #100

                That's a diagnosis, not an excuse.

                Don't attribute to stupidity what can be equally well explained by buerocracy.
                My latest article | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist

                L 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • P peterchen

                  That's a diagnosis, not an excuse.

                  Don't attribute to stupidity what can be equally well explained by buerocracy.
                  My latest article | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist

                  L Offline
                  L Offline
                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #101

                  Oh yeah, I still don't know which side of the division side I need to use to divide 2 by 4!?!?! But college level algebra is no problem so go figure...

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                  • L Lost User

                    Nagy Vilmos wrote:

                    Put the bird house on the ground. sheesh!

                    Hmm, might work. But supose you have larger song brids that feed as well. How would they get the food?

                    E Offline
                    E Offline
                    ecooke
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #102

                    The requirements say little birds. :)

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                    • L Lost User

                      I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

                      Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

                      Requirements:
                      a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
                      b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
                      little birds knock the feed to the ground.
                      c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

                      This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

                      C Offline
                      C Offline
                      ColtTaylor
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #103

                      Go around the corner to where your Father can't see what your doing and build a second feeder optimized for pigions. Keep it full of whatever seeds are preferred by pigions. Welfare for pigions. ...or... Enclose the feeder in a screened-in patio with the desired birds inside and all others (including the pigions) out in the cold. Welfare for non-pigions. ...or... Get your Father a new hobby that doesn't involve bird-watching.

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                      • L Lost User

                        Yeah, but what happens when a terrorist steals the robot and makes an assassin out of it?!?!?

                        S Offline
                        S Offline
                        Shelby Robertson
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #104

                        TheArchitectmc∞ wrote:

                        Yeah, but what happens when a terrorist steals the robot and makes an assassin out of it?!?!?

                        Then you unleash your bigger, more powerful robot killing robot...

                        1 Reply Last reply
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                        • L Lost User

                          Member 1709723 wrote:

                          put feeder on island in middle of pool with sharks with freekin' lasers coded to auto fire at pigeon shaped/sized birds ..ha, you call this a challenge...

                          Haha, I actually thought of this minus the sharks and pond. I was going to use CUDA to do the pigeon shape detector, based on 3D exsisting object libs, and face recginion.

                          L Offline
                          L Offline
                          Lost User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #105

                          CUDA Tracking System[^]

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • L Lost User

                            I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

                            Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

                            Requirements:
                            a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
                            b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
                            little birds knock the feed to the ground.
                            c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

                            This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

                            M Offline
                            M Offline
                            Marc Firth
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #106

                            use a net that only allows the little birds through?

                            Neonlight

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • L Lost User

                              I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

                              Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

                              Requirements:
                              a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
                              b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
                              little birds knock the feed to the ground.
                              c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

                              This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

                              P Offline
                              P Offline
                              pashkevich
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #107

                              solution #1 put the seeds in the flat dish, with an elevated edges, to prevent the seeds from being knocked/spilled to the ground. install the wire mesh (a flat, or a dome-shaped) above that dish, at the right height, to enable only the smaller birds to get to the dish under the mesh. solution #2 put the seeds in the flat dish, with an elevated edges, to prevent the seeds from being knocked/spilled to the ground. install long nails/poles all sticking vertically out of the dish, at the right distances, to enable only the little birds to land on the dish and to walk between the poles.

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