RubberMeat's New Writeups

dice games (thing)

2002-01-20T10:34:20Z

Destroyer (a.k.a. 6-5-4)

Requires:

At least 2 people (5-10 people works best)
5 six-sided dice
Money

Getting Started
At the begining of every round each player antes into the pot. For the first round everyone should roll a die and the highest roller goes first. Every round after the first should be started by the previous winner if there was one or whoever started the previous round if there was no winner.

Turns
Each player gets 3 rolls of 5 dice to try to get the highest score. Before a player can score they must roll a six, then a five, and then a four. The remaining two dice are the player's score. If a player rolls a 6 and a 5, or a 5 and a 4 after already getting a 6, or all three on any turn, they get to keep both/all. It is entirely possible that a player will not score on their turn.

Example
Say a player rolls 6, 4, 4, 3, and 2 on their first roll. They take the…

I can hear you (idea)

2001-11-27T02:21:02Z

This is by far the most unique track on Factory Showroom. They recorded it at the Edison Museum in West Orange, NJ when they were invited there to demonstrate to visitors how wax cylinder recording works. The recording process uses no electricity at all and involves singing into a four-foot cone that forces the sound pressure down and gathers it through a vibrating diaphragm then a stylus carves grooves into a heated cylinder of wax.

The lyrics consist of several instances where it is difficult to understand someone because of poor speaker technology. Perhaps the Johns were also poking fun at how frivolous we sometimes use speakers in our society.

Do we really need a mic/speaker setup at a fast food restaurant? Why don't we just order at the window?

Why call from a plane if you're going to call when you land anyway?

The following is an excerpt from an interview with John Flansburgh by Paul Goracke of earpollution.com. The full interview…

Integrity Constraints (thing)

2001-08-01T05:59:05Z

Integrity constraints, simply put, ensure that changes made to a database do not result in a loss of data. They act as a guard against possible damage to the database. There are a five different types of integrity constraints that I am aware of. The purpose of this node is to provide you with a brief description of each one and how it could be implemented in SQL. This node probably won't be a one-stop source of information. In fact it probably shouldn't be since the SQL here is in the SQL-92 standard and many database systems implement variants on the standard. If you have some SQL and relational database experience then it should provide you with enough information on integrity constraints to implement simple cases or, at the very least, make it easier for you to understand when consulting another source.

An alternative to using integrity constraints is to implement the constraints within the program that updates, inserts, or deletes the data. The advantage to using…

shaman (thing)

2001-07-03T19:33:14Z

The term "Shaman" is a commonly used term by anthropologists to refer to an individual who has acquired exceptional powers to deal with the supernatural. One usually becomes a shaman after being seized by spirits. The term originates from the Tungus people, reindeer herders of eastern Siberia. Many anthropologists use the term to describe the holy people of Native American cultures but many Native Americans dislike the term because it is of foreign origin and does not encompass the diversity of Native specialists. It is generally best to call these people "holy people" instead.

Death to the Daleks (thing)

2001-05-10T01:58:19Z

SPECIAL REPORT: MARINE SPACE CORPS As soon as we arrived within range of the planet, we suffered total power failure. Our ship landed without damage, but we were unable to take off again. We managed to get a message off to Earth before total power loss, but it didn't reach Earth. We explored the area and discovered a fantastic city that was thousands of years old. The Exxilon natives guarded this city fanatically, and the priests ensured that anyone caught there faced certain death. Wilkins was killed by the Exxilons, and Commander Stewart was seriously injured, only surviving on a diet of Sulphagen tablets. After a month a ship landed on Exxilon. As we watched its descent spiral, we assumed it must be the relief ship, possibly a Z-47. Daleks emerged and attempted to exterminate us, but they were also affected by the power-drain. (Their travel machines were powered by psychokinetic energy and still functioned, but their weapon circuits were useless.).…

Mapping Cardinalities (thing)

2001-05-08T06:38:45Z

Mapping cardinalities, or cardinality ratios, express the number of entities to which another entity can be associated with via a relationship set. They are most useful in describing binary relationship sets, however, they can be used to describe relationships sets involving more than two entity sets.

One-to-One: An entity in A is associated with, at most, one entity in B, and an entity in B is associated with, at most, one entity in A.

a₁ - b₁ a₂ - b₂ a₃ - b₃
One-to-Many: An entity in A is associated with any number of entities in B. An entity in B, however, can be associated with, at most, one entity in A.

a₁ - b₁, b₂ a₂ - b₃, b₄, b₅ a₃ - b₆
Many-to-One: An entity in A is associated with, at most, one entity in B.…